Blender 3.0 ships

Friday, December 3rd, 2021 | Posted by Jim Thacker

 
The Blender Foundation has shipped Blender 3.0, a milestone update to the open-source 3D software.

The release brings to an end over two decades of Blender 2.x updates, and ushers in a new, more conventional two-year release cycle for major new versions of the software.

Major new features across the board, from Cycles X to the new Asset Browser and Pose Library
But equally importantly, Blender 3.0 adds significant new features to the software, including Cycles X, a major rewrite of the Cycles production renderer, plus a new Asset Browser and Pose Library.

The update also extends Blender’s geometry nodes system with support for fields and text nodes, and adds a new USD importer for visual effects workflows, along with a lot of smaller features features.

You can find links to The Blender Foundation’s run-down of the changes below, but we’ll be adding our own pick of the key features to this story shortly, so check back for updates.

System requirements
Blender 3.0 is available for Windows 8.1+, macOS 10.13+ and Linux. It’s a free download.

 
See Blender Foundation’s overview of the new features in Blender 3.0

Read the Blender 3.0 release notes

Download Blender 3.0

 
Homepage image: part of the Blender 3.0 splash screen: a still from Blender Studio animation Sprite Fright.

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