Blender Foundation published the release of a free 3D modeling package Blender 3.6, suitable for solving various problems associated with 3D modeling, 3D graphics, computer games, simulation, rendering, compositing, training movements, sculptural modeling, creating animation, and video installation. The code is distributed under the GPL license. Ready-made assemblies have been formed for Linux, Windows, and MacOS. The release has an extended term of support (LTS) and will be supported until June 2025.
Among the added features of Blender 3.6 are:
- The initial support for simulation zones which allow the result of processing one frame to affect the next frame. This feature can be used to simulate physical processes when exposed to an object. The simulation is based on the use of geometric nodes and is determined by the input and output state. The results of the simulation can be saved for subsequent visualization on a temporal scale.
- In the Cycles rendering system, the loading of large geometric objects has been significantly accelerated, leading to a reduction in delay before rendering after changing geometry or transitioning to the viewing mode of rendered contents. Various optimizations have been introduced, resulting in accelerated copying of mesh attributes, accelerated loading of curves objects, and accelerated loading of point clouds.
- The performance of the Light Tree mechanism used in Cycles has been optimized to increase noise suppression efficiency when processing scenes with a large number of light sources. The assembly time has been reduced thanks to the transition to multi-flow processing. Light Tree support has also been added
/Reports, release notes, official announcements.