This update improves Blender performance and adds new nodes.
Animation & Rigging
Core
EEVEE & Viewport
Grease Pencil
Modeling
Nodes & Physics
Pipeline, Assets & I/O
Python API & Text Editor
Render & Cycles
Sculpt, Paint, Texture
User Interface
VFX & Video
Add-ons
The Blender Foundation has released Blender 3.1. It is promised to be much faster and more efficient.
This update introduces a new Metal GPU backend for Cycles that significantly reduces rendering time on Apple computers.
A PointCloud object has been added to Blender to allow you to render in Cycles to create sand, water splashes, particles and even motion graphics. It can be generated using geometry nodes or imported from other software.
Blender's procedural system has also grown with 19 new nodes, including mesh modeling tools, time access, advanced field control and more.
Geometry nodes introduced in Blender 2.92 have improved performance because many nodes are multithreaded and use less memory. Blender has added an Extrude node to allow different approaches to procedural modeling.
The subdivision modifier has gained GPU acceleration support to accelerate playback in 3D viewports.
Blender's 2D animation tool, Grease Pencil, has also been updated. Several new options have been added to the LineArt modifier, negative values are available in the Fill tool, and contract effects are created.
