What changed in Blender in 2026

Unable to change keyframe type of NLA strip influence/strip time unless done via Python.

Fix: Grease Pencil: Missing pressure curves for 5.2.

Makes Blender aware of context beyond the open .blend file with project-wide features.

New Flatten operator doesn't work with vertices and edges without faces attached.

Python: Update certifi to 2026.10.19 and pip to 26.2.2.

VSE crash: `RetimingKey.timeline_frame` reads/writes the wrong strip when another strip without retiming keys exists.

Holes in the result of the skin modifier.

New features for glass and transmissive materials to reproduce rainbow effects.

Fix: Handling of invalid values in GreasePencil readfile code.

Adds operators to copy/paste world-space animation and convert rotation modes, with friendlier playback.

GreasePencil: Hide 'Duration' parameter from 'Insert Blank Frame' operator.

Fix: Grease Pencil: Assert on Eval with multi-users Drawings.

Fix: UI: Text-box trackpad scroll not working.

Provides precise control over how materials react to lights, useful for NPR and physical effects.

Cycles Metal: data race in `path_cache_get()` crashes kernel compile threads.

libraries.write crashes copying a newly created scene with an unsynchronized view layer.

Asset Libraries can now be shared as extensions, accepting Public Domain (CC0) assets.

OpenEXR DWA compression should not apply to non-color data passes.

Fix holes in the result of the skin modifier.

Fix: Crash symmetrizing bones with Action constraint animation.

Fix #163829: Cycles: Crash with bump from displacement and emission.

Nodes: Multi-selection not cleared when auto-selecting new group input.

Geometry Nodes: Crash with Bundle List in simulation zone.

Crash with delaunay grease pencil fill tool on empty frame.

Line Art Modifier not recognizing Hair Curve objects.

Fix: Curves: Attribute validator allows invalid curve type.

Graph Editor: Vector/Aligned handle pair no longer possible (regression from 4.5/5.0).

Fix: Handling of invalid values in Curves readfile code.

Can't find 'Generic Tool: Annotate' category in the key map editor.

GreasePencil: Hide 'Duration' parameter from 'Insert Blank Frame' operator.

Workbench shadow: artifacting with duplicated vertices.

GreasePencil: Disable 'duration' and 'end frame' features.

Map range plugged into Blur Crashes Blender.

GreasePencil: Disable 'duration' and 'end frame' features.

Fix: Grease Pencil: Replace end frames on load by empty drawing.

Fix: Curves: Attribute validator allows invalid curve type.

On NVIDIA GPUs, a new DLSS denoiser provides a cleaner image faster by upscaling and reusing samples.

Auto masking cavity Not working.

Includes memory optimizations for NVIDIA RTX Spark devices running Windows 11.

Compositor: Wrong Matrix->Rotation conversion on GPU.

libraries.write crashes copying a newly created scene with an unsynchronized view layer.

Fix: Handling of invalid values in GreasePencil readfile code.

UV Editor Pixel Grid overlay is rendered only partially in Blender 5.2.0 LTS.

New tools for Draw Mode, including the ability to cut shapes with boolean subtraction.

Import 3D Gaussian Splats from PLY and SPZ files as point clouds for editing and processing.

Introduces new volume grid nodes and a low-level node for building curves with custom topology.

The Compositor can now use a stack of effects, similar to Geometry Nodes modifiers.

Fix: Grease Pencil: Replace end frames on load by empty drawing.

Blender fatal Crash/Infinite freeze with specific setup with Curve to Tube node.

The Object Lineart properties are missing the overridable flag.

Includes a full ripple editing framework, rewritten blade tool, and initial OpenTimelineIO support.

VSE: Freeze with text strips.

Vulkan is now the default backend on Windows (except ARM) and Linux, with lower minimum requirements.

Overlay: Minor fixes to overlay grid following 2dbeb1167d.

Fix: Node Wrangler: Error with `Reset Nodes` when active node is `None`.

Python: Update certifi to 2026.10.19 and pip to 26.2.2.

Fix: Handling of invalid values in Curves readfile code.

Deps: Update Brotli to 1.0.10 for Blender 5.2 LTS.

Fix: unescaped node group name in Python expression when swapping nodes.

UV Editor - Show Overlays - Grid - Fixed Subdivision is incorrectly offset.

Communicate risk more effectively.

Fixed a crash that occurred in Armature Edit mode after duplicating an animated bone.

Fixed an issue in VSE where adding a crossfade between two strips did not set the crossfade inputs based on selection.

Fixed a crash in VSE when prefetching frames for a scene strip that only contains a sound strip.

Resolved an assertion error that occurred when undoing Make Single User with a linked mesh.

Corrected the handling of ID name uniqueness during ID name removal.

Asset Libraries now support remote hosting, allowing access to the Blender Online Essentials library.

Introduces a new procedural approach to physics for hair and cloth simulations.

General polish and optimization for the UI.

Enhancements to the Principled BSDF Thin Wall mode for improved rendering.

New feature for VR location scouting.

Quality-of-life improvements for Animation and Video Sequencer.

Introduces a new fill algorithm for Grease Pencil.

Resolves long-standing usability issues in EEVEE.

Improvements in texture cache for better rendering performance.

New Scene Project brush and Add Primitive operator added to Sculpting.

A variety of new Geometry Nodes and support for string nodes in the Compositor.

Voxel remesher now preserves vertex colors and other attributes.

Expands the brush toolset with new online assets for Grease Pencil.

Fix for constraints not being properly cleared when baking bones on macOS.

Backport Camera Marker Selection Logic Fix to 4.5.

Fix for error when converting rotation mode from Quaternion to Euler in Rigify.

Fix for crash that occurs while joining strokes.

Fix for GL Compilation Subprocess file locking.

Fix for crash when clicking in a cleared/uninitialized Video Sequencer Editor with specific keymap.

Fixed an issue with Vulkan that affected shader results when mixing color and BSDFs.

Fixed a crash issue when editing mesh with geometry nodes and armature.

Addresses crashes and improves functionality in various areas.

Resolved an issue causing black renders when using Vulkan with NVIDIA driver 595.71.

Resolved an issue that caused Blender to crash when users set a render region in camera view.

Crash when loading file from within asset library.

Collection preview lost when writing via bpy.data.libraries.write().

Line Art modifier has incorrect boundary on ortographic camera sensor fit vertical.

Editing custom prop of 'Temp' type in °C/F crashes Blender.

Normalize in graph editor no longer centers flat curves.

Addresses multiple crashes and improves functionality.

Shading gains the powerful Raycast node, ideal for NPR workflows.

#153226

#155207

Many libraries have been updated to align with the VFX Platform 2026, including Python 3.13.

Sockets of linked node tree group can be added or deleted.

#154087

#82669

9663231430f

#153137

Hundreds of bug fixes and optimizations make Blender faster, stable, and more reliable.

Geometry Nodes expand further, especially for volumes and string handling.

Major performance boosts in rendering, animation, and the viewport.

#154962

#154399

#155341

#154651

Grease Pencil adds a new Fill workflow with support for holes.

Resolved crash in Blender 4.2 when trying to enable HIP with AMD GPU driver 26.2.1.

#154632

Compositing, Video Sequencer, modeling, and snapping get polish.

#154678

#155162

Occurs when updating any property after rendering.

#150016

#152624

#150749

#150364

#147705

#150408

#149724

#150036