Bforartists 5.2.0
Cumulative Refinement Release ⚒️
The refinement release: performance, stability and polish, synced with Blender 5.2 and 5.3.
Blender 5.2.0 and 5.3.0
Convert rotation mode for animation
Convert keyframes between rotation modes with Ctrl R.
Geometry Nodes for volumes and curves
Rasterize Points, Poisson Solver and Construct Curves.
EEVEE lighting nodes and panoramic cameras
Toon shading and lighting effects, plus equirectangular, fisheye and mirror ball cameras.
Compositor effects stack and Bundle nodes
Effects organised as a stack, with grouped data handling.
Smarter scene strips
Scene strips update their length on their own, and many datablocks drop straight onto the timeline.
OpenTimelineIO
Import and export edits to and from other editing software.
Ripple editing in the Sequencer
Ripple, Shuffle and Overwrite overlap modes (R, S, V), Ripple Trim and Ripple Delete.
Comment node
Annotate node trees, with Markdown formatting.
Custom Outliner sorting
Arrange objects anywhere in the Outliner.
Sidebar Search
Find any property or operator in any editor's sidebar, add-on tabs included.
Easier extensions
Legacy pre-downloaded extensions install and uninstall in fewer clicks, and the Asset Libraries filter has an icon.
Clearer themes
Node highlights stand out more, and curve handle colours are easier to read.
Cleaner menus
Double entries are gone (Import FBX, Link to Scene, Snap, Implicit Conversion). Pose and Weight Paint get Show/Hide submenus, and tool shelves follow the Add menu order.
30+ new node icons
New Geometry Nodes, Shader light nodes and Compositor nodes get icons and tool shelf entries: Comment, XPBD Solver, Construct Curves, Rasterize Points, Grid Solve Poisson, Combine List and the Bundle nodes.
Ripple Delete, lasso select and tidy footers
- Ripple Delete closes the gap when a strip goes.
- Lasso select uses the same hotkeys as the other editors.
- Keyframing tools sit together in the Timeline footers, with matching frame range icons.
Edit scene strips right in the Dopesheet
Scene strips get gizmos in the Dopesheet: drag their edges to change the frame range, without opening the Sequencer.
Roll the view from the navigation gizmo
Drag left or right on the navigation gizmo to roll the view. An angle readout follows the drag, so a tilt is easy to undo.
Roll buttons and a hotkey sit in the 3D View sidebar too.
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.