Cumulative Refinement Release ⚒️

This is a point release with much work on performance, stability and polish.

This is part of the latest from Blender 5.2.0 and 5.3.0 to the date - with 56 new features from us.

⚠️ Mac builds coming soon

✨What's new in this release

• Improved default size for the Node Minimap
• Geometry Nodes Mesh Bevel Node, Sort Lists node, Grease Pencil Read nodes, Closure to Lists node, and NURBS Order and Weight nodes
• Expose UV move on axis operators to top level
• Library operators to open preferences tab, open and clear download Cache
• Other refinements to Sequencer, Properties Editor, Outliner, Smart Delete, Compositor, and more

🧡 Top Usability Features from Blender 5.2 and 5.3

From 5.2.0:

• Node-Based Physics (XPBD Solver) — Brand new procedural hair & cloth simulations with customizable constraints
• Mesh Bevel Node — Long-awaited procedural edge/vertex bevel control in Geometry Nodes
• Online Asset Libraries — Dozens of materials, HDRs, and node groups downloadable on demand
• EEVEE Screen Space Raytracing Overhaul — Backface tracing, reduced banding, faster GI, and major stability fixes
• Cycles Texture Cache — Automatic optimized textures, drastically reducing memory usage
• Grease Pencil Delaunay Fill — Exact geometry fill with gap detection, inverse filling, and faster performance
• Playback Loop Modes — Infinite, Stop at End/Start, Bounce, and Restore Frame modes
• Sculpt Add Primitive Tool — Drop cubes, cones, spheres directly into sculpts
• Compositor Gizmo Auto Keying — Transform gizmos auto-insert keyframes in backdrop & Image Editor
• Thin Wall Mode (Principled BSDF) — Physically accurate thin materials (paper, leaves, glass)

From 5.3.0 (Alpha):

• Vulkan Default Renderer — Vulkan backend now default on Windows & Linux; hardware ray traced shadows in Workbench
• Compositor Playback Caching — Interactive compositor caches playback; up to 2x faster GPU performance
• Sequencer Ripple Delete — Auto-close gaps when deleting strips (Shift+X)
• Sequencer Strip Thumbnails — Scene, Text, Mask and MovieClip strips now show thumbnails in timeline
• Sculpt Automasking in Vertex/Weight Paint — Topology, boundary, cavity, and normal masking support
• Animation Scrubbing Pauses Playback — Scrubbing now pauses playback, resumes on release
• Node Editor Link Highlighting — Highlight links through reroute nodes for clearer node trees
• Sculpt Transform Only Pivot — Control pivot placement with transform gizmo without affecting geometry
• Outliner Scroll to New Collection — Auto-scroll and auto-rename newly added collections
• Improved Brushes & Weight Paint Defaults — Updated essential brushes, better defaults, and Cut Curves hair brush

And many more bug fixes and more!

• Bforartists-5.2.0-Linux.tar.xz
• Bforartists-5.2.0-Mac-Intel.dmg
• Bforartists-5.2.0-Mac-Silicon.dmg
• Bforartists-5.2.0-Windows.zip
• Bforartists-5.2.0-x86_64.AppImage
• bforartists_5.2.0.deb
• Install_Bforartists5_520.exe
• releasenote_bforartists5_520.txt

Geometry Nodes

• Volume - Utility - Grid Topology Boolean #6663
• Mesh - Operation - New Mesh Bevel Node #6644
• Utilties - Lists - New Sort Lists node #6627
• Grease Pencil - Read - New nodes #6654
• Utilities - Lists - New Closure to Lists node #6645
• Curves - Read - NURBS Order and Weight nodes #6664
• Volume - Operrations - Deactivate Voxels node #6662
• Utilities - Lists - New Closure to Lists #6628

3D View

• Toolshelf - Update icons for new Pose operators for Object mode #6641
• Armature - Edit Mode - New Duplicate and Rename operator #6576
• Header - Overlay toggles - Add "Lock Object Mode" button #6652
• Edit Mode - Grease Pencil - Toolsystem > Separate panel - Rename "Separate Selected Strokes" to "Separate by Material" #6543
• Edit Mode - Toolsystem > UV Panel - Rename "Unwrap ABF" to "Unwrap Angle Based" #6527
• Sculpt Mode - Mesh - Toolsystem > Sculpt tab - Rename "Meshfilter" panel #6545

Asset Browser

• Make Asset Library Paths show in Library menu and point to Asset Libraries path #6686
• Add Open Cache and Clear Cache operators for the Online Assets #6688
• Expose "Download Asset" to header #6687
• New "Open File Location" operator needs icon #6636
• Library - New "Refresh Remote Library" needs icon #6637
• Context Menu - Add icon to "Download Asset" for online repositories #6467

Properties Editor

• Object - Visibility - New Raycast Visibility toggle requires arranging the panels again #6633
• Mesh Data - Geometry Data - Add icon to Reorder Mesh Spatially #6364
• Render - Cycles - Bake panel is broken #6149
• Camera - Viewport Display - Composition Guides broken #6631

Sequencer

• Select - Cleanup "Select All by Trait" and add icons #6665
• Text Strip - Line Height "Use Absolute Line Spacing" property button and layout needs updating to the sidebar #6634
• Color Strip - Add Width and Height to sidebar #6635

Hotkeys

• Add S for extrude with Cycle on (since there are multiple ways to extrude) #6516
• Add Marker with M #6666
• Region Pie Menu on T for Bforartists Mac doesn't exist #6613

Outliner

• Filter - Missing icons #6623
• Recent merge issues #6618

Essentials Library

• Add new Film Grain nodegroup from Blender #6539
• Update library from Blender 5.3 #6540

UI

• Geometry Nodes - Nodegroups based modifiers layout adjustments #6648
• Themes out of sync #6610

File Browser

• Expose hotkey only selection and walk operators to the header #6525
• Make a new operator to move to start or end of the folder with HOME / CTRL+HOME #6526

Other

• Regenerate Theme #6673
• Crash: Cycles on HIP-RT GPU mode #6617
• 3D Viewport: Floor Grid Lacks Extra Subdivisions #6455
• Node Editors - Minimap size default should be smaller #6705
• Essentials Asset - Curve to Mesh - Update to have "miter scale" #6681
• Smart Delete - Improve final vertice handling #6696
• Image Editor - UV Mode - UV - New Move on Axis Operators #5679
• Project Editor - Add Icon to Save Project #6624
• Compositor - Sidebar - Option - Make Cache Frames better with indents #6661
• Regression: 3D View - Mesh - Edit Mode - Object - Transform - Shrink/Fatten missing icon #6642
• Console - Remove redundant Languages menu under "Edit" and add Python icon #6629
• Top Bar - Project Editor - Improve icon and add Sepeartor #6625
• Revert: Sequencer - Hotkeys - Make gizmos work on press instead of drag, they currently don't work #6557
• Asset Browser/Shelf - Library Override on collection without instance mode is broken #6655
• Startup Blends - Update editors to have right editors #6646
• Node Editor - Remove double "New Group" oeprator #6630
• Ootliner - New Scroll to Active could collapse with indicator #6514
• Text Editor - Expose "Save Autosave" operator #6537

Splashscreen is kindly provided by Belzunze, the latest winner of the Splashscreen submissions competition hosted in the Discord server! Thank you!

Thank you for using Bforartists while making art - and for sharing to this art community.

Draise, Reiner, Blenux (Juso), Znight (Trung Pham), Quackers, Eyad, Shaley, Sean and all you arty people

💜 Join the official Discord server for weekly art challenges and live artist QnA interviews every now and then! And share your art.