Introduction
What Bforartists is, who it is for, and what this reference manual covers.
This is the official reference manual for Bforartists 5. This explains the tools, operators, panels, and concepts you’ll encounter in the software. Each chapter and section is designed to help you understand how features work and how to use them effectively in detail.
What this documentation is not: this is not a general art tutorial. You won’t find step‑by‑step lessons on how to create a finished artwork here. Instead, you’ll find the technical knowledge you need to make the tools work to later make art efficiently with full control.
For creative fundamentals, the Blender community offers countless tutorials and a rich ecosystem courses that translate seamlessly into Bforartists workflows.
Too impatient? Try the Quick Start Tutorials!
These tutorials will have a step by step pathway to get started based on some artistic workflows and artwork to help you kinetically get going quickly.
Bforartists is a free and open‑source 3D creation suite built on top of Blender.
Its mission is to provide an accessible user experience with mouse/stylus first, visual and artist‑friendly interface, with out-of-the-box convenience assets and functionality while keeping the full power of Blender’s production pipeline. Whether you’re modeling, sculpting, animating, or compositing, Bforartists offers a streamlined workflow with a focus on day to day usability.
Bforartists stands for "Be for Artists", a reminder to develop for the artist.
The project exists to make 3D creation approachable to visually focused artists.
Blender is powerful, but its interface can be overwhelming. Bforartists simplifies menus, improves readability, exposes common operators to a top levels, adds out-of the box assets and convenience tools, and reduces clutter - so artists can focus on creativity instead of fighting the UI. It’s designed for professionals and hobbyists alike who want the freedom of open‑source software with a friendlier learning curve while maintaining full ultimate control for artistry.
If you’re new, start with the the Getting Started section, then move onto each Interface element and Workspaces. Each Workspace can help you get started for their particular usecases.
These cover navigation, panels, and the basics of working in Bforartists. Once you’re comfortable, explore each Editor, which dive into each shelf, panel and its tools with detail of properties per editor.
Use the search to the top right if you are looking for something specific.
This manual will guide you through every operator and panel, editor, shelf and interface element. Expect concise explanations, screenshots, videos, gifs and references to help you understand what each tool does. You’ll learn how to activate features, adjust settings, and integrate them into your workflow.
Get the latest version of Bforartists and get directly involved here:
📥Downloads for free
https://www.bforartists.co/download
📝 Release Notes
https://www.bforartists.co/release-notes/
🧰 Source Code
Official Bug and Feature Requests Tracker
https://github.com/Bforartists/Bforartists
🪟Windows App Store
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9P3PLMNRD4SC?hl=en-us&gl=CO&ocid=pdpshare
Flatpak App Store
https://flathub.org/en/apps/de.bforartists.Bforartists
🧡 Blender Launcher
https://github.com/Victor-IX/Blender-Launcher-V2/releases
📄Manual Tracker
https://github.com/Bforartists/Manual
📁Files
https://github.com/Bforartists/files
Join the community, share your work, and stay updated:
💜 Discord
https://discord.gg/yKuR77v
💙 Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/bforartists/
🖤 X
https://twitter.com/bforartists
🖤 Threads
https://www.threads.net/@bforartists_official
❤️ Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@bforartists
🧡 Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bforartists/
💙 Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/bforartists.bsky.social
From the .odt manual (1 Introduction)
Note: The earlier text of this page from the .odt manual, kept word for word. It is merged with the text above in the Refine phase, after the full migration.
The Bforartists 5 Reference Manual
Version 5.1.1
Introduction
Welcome to the reference manual for Bforartists 5, the free and open source 3D creation suite.
First let's explain what the manual is and what it is not: this is a reference manual. This means every chapter lists and explains the available tools, operators, the interface and general concepts.
What his is not: this is not a general CG tutorial. This manual will not explain workflows on how to create artwork. If you’d like to learn the creative fundamentals, there are numerous courses and tutorials for Blender from the community which will translate to Bforartists workflows seamlessly. This manual does however cover the needed workflow to get a tool working or explains how the tool is meant to work.
Chapters 1 to 5 covers general interface fundamental concepts. Chapters 6 to 30 explain the single editors and their tools. And every chapter afterwards is additional information.
This reference manual is for Bforartists 5 version 5.1.1 published on 23.04.2026
📥 Download Free
https://www.bforartists.de/download
📝 Release Notes
https://www.bforartists.de/release-notes/
🧰 Source Code
Official Bug and Feature Request Tracker
https://github.com/Bforartists/Bforartists
🪟Windows App Store
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9P3PLMNRD4SC?hl=en-us&gl=CO&ocid=pdpshare
🧡 Blender Launcher
https://github.com/Victor-IX/Blender-Launcher-V2/releases
🔗Other Links
Forum
https://www.bforartists.de/forum
FAQ
https://www.bforartists.de/wiki/FAQ
Wiki
https://www.bforartists.de/wiki/bforartists-wiki
Manual Tracker
https://github.com/Bforartists/Manual
Files
https://github.com/Bforartists/files
🫂 Socials
💜 Discord
https://www.facebook.com/bforartists/
🖤 X
https://twitter.com/bforartists
🖤 Threads
https://www.threads.net/@bforartists_official
💖 Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@bforartists
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bforartists/
💙 Bluesky