Summary of What's New in Blender 4.4! Official Overview
Key Features and Improvements:
- Modeling Enhancements:
- Introduction of the tries to quads operator with a new topology influence setting for better grid results.
- New operator for selecting vertices by edge count to easily identify poles.
- Improved UV editor with standard hotkeys for copying and pasting UVs (Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V).
- Enhanced status bar warnings for non-uniform or negative scales.
- Updates to the knife tool overlay and a new brush type in sculpt mode for better customization.
- Animation and Rigging Updates:
- Slotted actions allow multiple object animations to be stored in a single action, streamlining the animation process.
- New features in the pose library for creating, modifying, and deleting poses.
- Enhanced noise modifier settings for better control over animation playback speeds.
- Geometry Nodes Improvements:
- New nodes like finding string and normal input node for more advanced string manipulation and proper face corner normals.
- Performance improvements, especially with the triangulate node, which sees a significant speed boost.
- Grease Pencil Features:
- Reintroduction of legacy tools for improved stroke placement and sculpting workflows.
- New functionalities like auto masking for better control over sculpting areas and a simplified copy-paste function for layers.
- Rendering Enhancements:
- Upgraded Nvidia Optics denoiser for improved color accuracy and rendering quality.
- Performance improvements in the viewport and compositor, including faster rendering and better handling of HDR content.
- New options for rendering video files with improved codecs and color space settings.
- User Interface Improvements:
- Enhanced asset browser functionality and interface tweaks for better usability.
- Improved readability and visual feedback in various menus and tooltips.
- Python API and Developer Features:
- New access to VFX libraries from within Blender for easier development of add-ons.
Conclusion:
The video emphasizes that Blender 4.4 is a solid upgrade, focusing not only on new features but also on fixing numerous bugs, making it a worthwhile update for users. Viewers are encouraged to download the latest version from the official Blender website and support its development.
Main Speakers:
- Jonathan Lampel from CG Cookie
- Wayne Dixon (animation and rigging expert)
- Harry (geometry nodes specialist)
- Paul (grease pencil features expert)
Notable Quotes
— 07:21 — « This is one of 4.4's minor but mighty quality of life improvements. »
— 08:02 — « These like their longer standing siblings are unassuming but incredibly convenient allowing the same object or collection to be used by multiple nodes at once. »
— 09:08 — « You beauty and that is what's new with geometry nodes in blender 4.4. »
— 12:43 — « It does have a slightly harder time with some features but overall it's a big step up. »
— 16:22 — « Just kidding there's no way I'm using this light theme for the rest of the video. »
Category
Technology