Blender Foundation has announced the release of version 4 of Blender, the popular 3D design app, featuring interface changes, feature enhancements, and speed boosts for Apple Silicon Macs. Blender is a renowned 3D modeling application available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and it is widely used by artists, game developers, and animators. The application allows users to create, import, modify, and export 3D models.
The new version, Blender 4, introduces several new features that have been requested by users for years. One of the highly anticipated features is light-linking, which allows for the individual control of each light source in a 3D scene for each object or collection. Additionally, users can now determine how shadows and lights interact with each object, as well as set which objects cast shadows in a scene.
Blender 4 also introduces an asset shelf for pose assets, providing easy access to assets without requiring the opening of a separate editor. The new asset shelf allows users to preview pose animations on assets using on-screen slider tools.
Improvements to the shaders tool palette allow for more precise control over shader properties, including enhancements for specular highlights, fabric, dust, and sheen. The new version also enhances object snapping and transforms, allowing for more precise snapping and interactive definition of how objects should snap together.
Blender 4 introduces node tools, enabling users to define reusable tools using a drag-and-drop tool editor, making it easier to perform multiple actions on objects without repeating the steps. The new version also features AGX color management as a default, providing more accurate support for combining and mixing colors when objects are rendered.
Incremental file saves have been introduced, allowing users to save files with multiple incremental versions for easy reference. The File Menu now includes a new menu item, Save Incremental, and most menu items can be searched for quick location.
Blender 4 has been optimized for Apple Silicon Macs, resulting in a much more responsive user interface, faster scene rendering and redraw, and smoother window resizing and repositioning. The performance improvements are noticeable even on low-end Apple Silicon Macs.
Overall, Blender 4 brings a host of new features and improvements, making it a significant update for 3D designers and artists. The new version of Blender requires Metal 2.2 or later and is now available for download.
