The Blender team announced the release of Blender 4.0 – the major version upgrade of this modelling tool. This update is not just a numerical increment but a substantial leap forward, introducing game-changing features and improvements that will elevate your creative experience.
Blender 4.0 features
Shading gets a facelift
Blender 4.0 introduces the new Principled BSDF, boasting enhanced energy conservation, efficiency, and flexibility. This means a smoother and more intuitive shading experience for you. The adjustment of layer orders allows for seamless mixing, opening up a world of creative possibilities.
Coat layer
The coat layer takes centre stage, now positioned atop all base layers, including the emission layer. Ever wanted to simulate emissive textures behind glass, like a phone screen? Now you can, thanks to the added coat tint and IOR inputs. Say goodbye to mundane white clearcoats; Blender 4.0 lets you play with tinted car paint coatings like never before.
Sheen
Traditionally associated with fuzzy cloth, sheen now employs a new microfiber shading model that sits atop all layers. Dust on arbitrary materials? Absolutely! Blender 4.0 expands the horizons of sheen, giving you unprecedented control.
More BSDF updates
The Principled BSDF receives a substantial upgrade with a new Glossy BSDF featuring anisotropy control, a Subsurface Scale input, edge tinting for metallic surfaces, a Specular Tint input, and an IOR Level input for specular reflection. These additions translate to more realism and control over your materials.
Colour management
In colour management, Blender 4.0 introduces the AgX view transform, enhancing colour handling in over-exposed areas compared to Filmic. Your bright colours now transition towards white, mimicking real cameras for a more authentic visual experience.
Texture and rendering
The Voronoi Texture node now supports fractal noise, offering unlimited procedural detail in a single texture. With three new inputs—Detail, Roughness, and Lacunarity—alongside the addition of a “Normalize” property, Blender 4.0 takes your texturing game to new heights.
Lights are now more energy-preserving, the Noise Texture node boasts new inputs, and all lights now have UV in the Image Texture node. Cycles, Blender’s powerful rendering engine, introduces the highly anticipated Light Linking feature, providing granular control over which elements in the scene lights affect.
Path Guiding now works on glossy surfaces, significantly reducing noise and uncovering missing glossy light paths. And that’s not all; expect more efficient multiple scattering GGX, a 1.76x speed improvement when uploading large meshes, and Metal Hardware Raytracing for an even more immersive experience.
These highlights are just the tip of the iceberg. For a deep dive into Blender 4.0’s transformative features, check out the official change log.
If you want to download this version, visit the official website link below.
Via Blender news
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