Hippo3D has its first public release as a free and open source CAD modelling plugin for Blender. The project experiments with bringing Rhino-style, command-based, and coordinate-driven modelling workflows into Blender while keeping the tools integrated with Blender’s wider ecosystem. ...
Bonsai v0.8.5 has been released with 962 new features and fixes. The release is described as a “line in the sand”: a compatibility and consolidation checkpoint driven partly by Blender 5.1 support, the move to Python 3.13, and a lot of structural work preparing for larger changes ahead. ...
Blender 5.1 has been released, with the Blender Foundation describing it as a refinement-focused update for performance and stability across the production pipeline. Cycles receives faster GPU rendering on benchmark scenes, faster CPU rendering on Windows, and shading consistency fixes, while the wider release includes hundreds of bug fixes, cleanups, and refactors. ...
Bonsai v0.8.4 has been released with 1111 new features and fixes. The release brings Bonsai compatibility with Blender 5.0, which matters because Blender 5.0 is a major platform update and required compatibility work throughout the add-on. ...
Blender 5.0 has been released. The major headline is a redesigned color management pipeline with native wide-gamut and HDR support, including ACES 1.3 and 2.0 views, Rec.2100 PQ and HLG display support, AgX HDR, and improved image and video export for P3 and Rec.2020 workflows. ...
The Blender Foundation has announced a major leadership transition. Ton Roosendaal, Blender’s founder and long-time chair and CEO, will step down from those roles on 1 January 2026. Francesco Siddi, currently Blender’s COO, will take over as executive director. ...
Bonsai v0.8.3 has been released with 770 new features and fixes. The release notes describe this as a polish-heavy update, with a lot of work going into bug fixes, usability, optimisation, and smaller improvements across the project. ...
Google Summer of Code is an annual programme that helps students and those new to open source software make their first steps into contributing code to software projects. GSoC Contributors work with an open source organization on a 12+ week programming project under the guidance of mentors. ...
CAD Sketcher is an add-on to Blender based on SolveSpace that brings the ability to draw parametrically constrained CAD profiles, arcs, and circles. These sketches may have multiple orientations, and are then booleaned together to form parts. ...
In the AEC industry, integrating game engines into the design process has become increasingly popular due to technological advances. Add-ons such as Enscape, Twinmotion, Lumion and D5 Render provide real-time visualisation and VR capability to traditional authoring software, including Revit, Rhino and Sketchup. The common ground of that software is that those add-ons are developed based on game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity 3D. Even though they are free to use for the AEC purpose, they are not entirely open source but rather source available. ...