## Bforartists 5 version 5.2.0 - Cummulative Refinement release βš’οΈ 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. ### ✨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 - 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)** β€” Brand new procedural hair & cloth simulations with customizable constraints - **Mesh Bevel Node** β€” Long-awaited procedural edge/vertex bevel control in Geometry Nodes - **Online Asset Libraries** β€” Dozens of materials, HDRs, and node groups downloadable on demand - **EEVEE Screen Space Raytracing Overhaul** β€” Backface tracing, reduced banding, faster GI, and major stability fixes - **Cycles Texture Cache** β€” Automatic optimized textures, drastically reducing memory usage - **Grease Pencil Delaunay Fill** β€” Exact geometry fill with gap detection, inverse filling, and faster performance - **Playback Loop Modes** β€” Infinite, Stop at End/Start, Bounce, and Restore Frame modes - **Sculpt Add Primitive Tool** β€” Drop cubes, cones, spheres directly into sculpts - **Compositor Gizmo Auto Keying** β€” Transform gizmos auto-insert keyframes in backdrop & Image Editor - **Thin Wall Mode (Principled BSDF)** β€” Physically accurate thin materials (paper, leaves, glass) **From 5.3.0 (Alpha):** - **Vulkan Default Renderer** β€” Vulkan backend now default on Windows & Linux; hardware ray traced shadows in Workbench - **Compositor Playback Caching** β€” Interactive compositor caches playback; up to 2x faster GPU performance - **Sequencer Ripple Delete** β€” Auto-close gaps when deleting strips (Shift+X) - **Sequencer Strip Thumbnails** β€” Scene, Text, Mask and MovieClip strips now show thumbnails in timeline - **Sculpt Automasking in Vertex/Weight Paint** β€” Topology, boundary, cavity, and normal masking support - **Animation Scrubbing Pauses Playback** β€” Scrubbing now pauses playback, resumes on release - **Node Editor Link Highlighting** β€” Highlight links through reroute nodes for clearer node trees - **Sculpt Transform Only Pivot** β€” Control pivot placement with transform gizmo without affecting geometry - **Outliner Scroll to New Collection** β€” Auto-scroll and auto-rename newly added collections - **Improved Brushes & Weight Paint Defaults** β€” Updated essential brushes, better defaults, and Cut Curves hair brush And many more bug fixes and more! Downloads available from both Github, the official Website, Windows store and Blender Launcher v2 **πŸ“₯ Downloads:** https://www.bforartists.de/download/ **πŸͺŸ Windows App** [Windows App Store](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9P3PLMNRD4SC?hl=en-us&gl=CO&ocid=pdpshare) **🧑 Blender Launcher** [Github Release](https://github.com/Victor-IX/Blender-Launcher-V2/releases) [For Arch](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/blender-launcher-v2-bin) **πŸ“ Release Notes:** https://www.bforartists.de/release-notes/ πŸ—’οΈ Blender Release notes now merged and updated into Bforartists: https://www.blender.org/download/releases/ 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_ -------------------- πŸ’œ Join the official [Discord server](https://discord.gg/yKuR77v) for weekly art challenges and live artist QnA interviews every now and then! And share your art. -------------------- # Bforartists 5.2.0 ## 56 Tasks Node Editors - Minimap size default should be smaller #6705 Essentials Asset - Curve to Mesh - Update to have "miter scale" #6681 Regenerate Theme #6673 Properties Editor - Object - Visibility - New Raycast Visibility toggle requires arranging the panels again #6633 Geometry Nodes - Volume - Utility - Grid Topology Boolean #6663 Geometry Nodes - Mesh - Operation - New Mesh Bevel Node #6644 Geometry Nodes - Utilties - Lists - New Sort Lists node #6627 Geometry Nodes - Grease Pencil - Read - New nodes #6654 Geometry Nodes - Utilities - Lists - New Closure to Lists node #6645 Geometry Nodes - Curves - Read - NURBS Order and Weight nodes #6664 Geometry Nodes - Volume - Operrations - Deactivate Voxels node #6662 Smart Delete - Improve final vertice handling #6696 3D View - Toolshelf - Update icons for new Pose operators for Object mode #6641 Image Editor - UV Mode - UV - New Move on Axis Operators #5679 Properties Editor - Mesh Data - Geometry Data - Add icon to Reorder Mesh Spatially #6364 Project Editor - Add Icon to Save Project #6624 Outliner - Filter - Missing icons #6623 3D View - Armature - Edit Mode - New Duplicate and Rename operator #6576 Asset Browser - Make Asset Library Paths show in Library menu and point to Asset Libraries path #6686 Asset Browser - Add Open Cache and Clear Cache operators for the Online Assets #6688 Asset Browser - Expose "Download Asset" to header #6687 Asset Browser - New "Open File Location" operator needs icon #6636 Asset Browser - Library - New "Refresh Remote Library" needs icon #6637 Asset Browser - Context Menu - Add icon to "Download Asset" for online repositories #6467 Sequencer - Select - Cleanup "Select All by Trait" and add icons #6665 Compositor - Sidebar - Option - Make Cache Frames better with indents #6661 Regression: 3D View - Mesh - Edit Mode - Object - Transform - Shrink/Fatten missing icon #6642 Properties Editor - Render - Cycles - Bake panel is broken #6149 Hotkeys - Add S for extrude with Cycle on (since there are multiple ways to extrude) #6516 Console - Remove redundant Languages menu under "Edit" and add Python icon #6629 Top Bar - Project Editor - Improve icon and add Sepeartor #6625 Sequencer - Text Strip - Line Height "Use Absolute Line Spacing" property button and layout needs updating to the sidebar #6634 Revert: Sequencer - Hotkeys - Make gizmos work on press instead of drag, they currently don't work #6557 Hotkeys - Add Marker with M #6666 Asset Browser/Shelf - Library Override on collection without instance mode is broken #6655 3D View - Header - Overlay toggles - Add "Lock Object Mode" button #6652 Essentials Library - Add new Film Grain nodegroup from Blender #6539 Startup Blends - Update editors to have right editors #6646 Essentials Library - Update library from Blender 5.3 #6540 Sequencer - Color Strip - Add Width and Height to sidebar #6635 UI - Geometry Nodes - Nodegroups based modifiers layout adjustments #6648 Node Editor - Remove double "New Group" oeprator #6630 Geometry Nodes - Utilities - Lists - New Closure to Lists #6628 Properties Editor - Camera - Viewport Display - Composition Guides broken #6631 Crash: Cycles on HIP-RT GPU mode #6617 File Browser - Expose hotkey only selection and walk operators to the header #6525 Outliner - Recent merge issues #6618 File Browser - Make a new operator to move to start or end of the folder with HOME / CTRL+HOME #6526 Ootliner - New Scroll to Active could collapse with indicator #6514 3D View - Edit Mode - Grease Pencil - Toolsystem > Separate panel - Rename "Separate Selected Strokes" to "Separate by Material" #6543 3D Viewport: Floor Grid Lacks Extra Subdivisions #6455 Hotkeys - Region Pie Menu on T for Bforartists Mac doesn't exist #6613 Text Editor - Expose "Save Autosave" operator #6537 UI - Themes out of sync #6610 3D View - Edit Mode - Toolsystem > UV Panel - Rename "Unwrap ABF" to "Unwrap Angle Based" #6527 3D View - Sculpt Mode - Mesh - Toolsystem > Sculpt tab - Rename "Meshfilter" panel #6545