The development of Blender 4.4 has focused on improving stability and optimizing existing tools rather than introducing radical changes. As part of the Winter of Quality initiative, more than 500 reported bugs were fixed in January, which has improved the software's performance and reliability.
Fixes in Grease Pencil and Other Tools
The Grease Pencil system, used in 2D animation and storyboarding, has received the highest number of fixes since its overhaul in Blender 4.3. Other areas have also been optimized, including:
- User Interface: with over 70 improvements for greater accessibility.
- Viewport: optimization in the display of complex models.
- Geometry Nodes: fixes to improve stability in simulations and effects.
Interface and Workflow Improvements
The Blender 4.4 interface has been refined with small but useful updates. Among the most notable changes are:
- Improvements to fonts and tooltips to facilitate reading and navigation.
- Updates to tool panels for more intuitive access.
- The status bar now shows warnings about negative scale values on objects.
Advances in Modeling and Sculpting
3D modeling has been optimized with new options and tools:
- Improved selection of three and five-sided vertices to clean up mesh topology.
- Optimized conversion of triangles to quadrilaterals for more uniform geometry.
- Unification of the Flatten, Fill, and Scrape brushes into the new Plane brush tool.
Optimization in Animation and Rigging
Improvements in animation and rigging make working with characters and bone structures easier:
- Ability to mirror bone assignments when symmetrizing rigging structures.
- The Pose Library allows reusing poses in different projects with external libraries.
Updates in Rendering and Grease Pencil
The Cycles engine has received an update to NVIDIA's OptiX denoiser, improving blur on graphics cards with older drivers. On the other hand, Grease Pencil recovers tools removed in the previous version, combining its new structure with classic features appreciated by animators.
New Features in Video Editing and Export
The Video Sequencer editor has been improved with new export options:
- Support for the H.265/HEVC codec, expanding compatibility with professional standards.
- Video export with 10 and 12-bit per channel formats, optimizing quality.
- Compatibility with the BT.709 color space, used in HDTV.
Better Integration with Professional Workflows
Blender 4.4 continues to improve its interoperability with the industry through:
- Expanded compatibility with the USD format, allowing the export of animated volumes.
- Support for instanced objects like point clouds and curves.
- Incorporation of the AAC audio format for more versatile editing.
- Optimization of UsdPreviewSurface displacement for better integration in professional renders.
"Bug fixes and tool optimization in Bl