Mar 27, 2025 14:45:00

'Blender 4.4' officially released, adding action slots, geometry node improvements, rendering engine improvements, Grease Pencil enhancements, UI improvements, etc.

Blender , an open source integrated 3DCG production tool, released version 4.4 stable on March 18, 2025. It includes revamped animation management with action slots, expanded functionality for geometry nodes, faster rendering engine, and practical improvements.

4.4 — blender.org

https://www.blender.org/download/releases/4-4/

4.4 - Blender Developer Documentation
https://developer.blender.org/docs/release_notes/4.4/

What's New in Blender 4.4! Official Overview - YouTube


One of the new additions in version 4.4 is the concept of 'action slots' introduced to the animation system. Objects that previously could only have one action can now be assigned multiple actions and managed by switching between them. This makes it possible to more efficiently and intuitively manage character animation variations and layered animation editing, which was previously a time-consuming task.

In addition, the 'geometry node', which is the core of

procedural modeling , has been further expanded. In particular, the addition of the bake node makes it possible to temporarily cache and reuse processing by the node network, greatly improving performance when processing large amounts of data. Furthermore, improvements such as the expansion of the simulation node and group inputs make it easier to handle expressions that include a time axis and parametric control, making it easy to create dynamic expressions that were previously difficult to create.

Cycles, a rendering engine for reproducing 'realistic light behavior', has also undergone technological evolution. Optimization of ray tracing and more efficient processing of specific lights and materials have improved rendering speed and made noise reduction smarter.

In addition, Cycles now runs better on Intel Arc GPUs and Apple Silicon than ever before. In addition, improvements to the shadow catcher, optimizations to volume rendering, and enhanced custom AOV output have been added, providing greater expressiveness and flexibility in compositing and post-production work.

The 2D animation tool 'Grease Pencil' has undergone a major upgrade to version 3, with a new internal structure. Drawing performance has improved dramatically, allowing for smoother work even when working with large-scale drawings or multiple layers. In addition, the new material system, drawing order, and effect control have become more flexible, expanding the scope of expression in hybrid expressions that combine 2D and 3D.

In addition, the overall user interface has been redesigned, with new icons and menu structures for improved visibility and a smoother workflow, while the expanded Python API allows for greater flexibility in developing add-ons and building custom tools.

In addition, Blender 4.4 includes improvements that allow for more flexible video production and compositing, such as enhanced functionality in the Video Sequencer (VSE) and the addition of new nodes to the compositor. The VSE has more transitions and effects to choose from, improving the efficiency of editing. In addition, the node-based compositing function has been updated to include new nodes that allow for more intuitive expression in addition to improved operability. In addition, modeling-related functions such as UV unwrapping, sculpting, and texture painting have been finely tuned to provide a smoother workflow than ever before.

Blender 4.4 is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD, and is distributed freely under the GNU General Public License v3 .