Editing Blender (software) (section)

==Development==
[[File:Stucco-blendergame.jpg|250px|thumb|Game engine [[GLSL]] materials]]
Since the opening of the source code, Blender has experienced significant [[Code refactoring|refactoring]] of the initial codebase and major additions to its feature set.

Improvements include an animation system refresh;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.blender.org/wiki/index.php/Dev:2.4/Source/Animation/AnimationUpdate|title=Blender Animation system refresh project|publisher=blender.org|access-date=2019-01-14}}</ref> a stack-based modifier system;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.blender.org/wiki/index.php/Dev:Source/Modifiers|title=Modifiers|publisher=blender.org|access-date=2019-01-14}}</ref> an updated particle system<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-240/new-particle-options-and-guides/|title=New Particle options and Guides|publisher=Blender.org|access-date=2012-07-06}}</ref> (which can also be used to simulate hair and fur); fluid dynamics; soft-body dynamics; GLSL shaders support<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-241/glsl-pixel-and-vertex-shaders/|title=GLSL Pixel and Vertex shaders|publisher=Blender.org|access-date=2012-07-06}}</ref> in the game engine; advanced UV unwrapping;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-241/subsurf-uv-mapping/|title=Subsurf UV Mapping|publisher=Blender.org|access-date=2012-07-06}}</ref> a fully recoded render pipeline, allowing separate render passes and "render to texture"; node-based material editing and compositing; and projection painting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.blender.org/wiki/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.49/Projection_Paint|title=Dev:Ref/Release Notes/2.49/Projection Paint&nbsp;– BlenderWiki|publisher=blender.org|date=June 3, 2009|access-date=2019-01-14}}</ref>

Part of this development was fostered by [[Google]]'s [[Google Summer of Code|Summer of Code]] program, in which the Blender Foundation has participated since 2005.

Historically, Blender has used [[Phabricator]] to manage its development but due to the announcement in 2021 that Phabricator would be discontinued,<ref>{{Cite web|title=✩ Phacility is Winding Down Operations|url=https://admin.phacility.com/phame/post/view/11/phacility_is_winding_down_operations/|access-date=2022-08-09|website=admin.phacility.com}}</ref> the Blender Institute began work on migrating to another system in early 2022.<ref>{{Citation|title=GitLab? Gitea? Call for participation on the future of Blender's development platform| date=16 March 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5EyDQkqMUw|language=en|access-date=2022-08-09}}</ref> After extensive debate on what software it should choose<ref>{{Cite web|date=2022-03-16|title=Developer.blender.org - Call for comments and participation|url=https://devtalk.blender.org/t/developer-blender-org-call-for-comments-and-participation/23451|access-date=2022-08-09|website=Blender Developer Talk|language=en}}</ref> it was finally decided to migrate to [[Gitea]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Marijnissen|first=Arnd|date=2022-06-27|title=[Bf-committers] Gitea as choice for Phabricator migration. Reasons and timeline|url=https://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-committers/2022-June/051378.html|access-date=2022-08-09}}</ref> The migration from Phabricator to Gitea is currently a work in progress.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Foundation|first=Blender|title=Gitea Diaries: Part 1|url=https://code.blender.org/2022/07/gitea-diaries-part-1/|access-date=2022-08-09|website=Blender Developers Blog|date=12 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

===Blender 2.8===
Official planning for the next major revision of Blender after the 2.7 series began in the latter half of 2015, with potential targets including a more configurable UI (dubbed "Blender 101"), support for [[physically based rendering]] (PBR) (dubbed EEVEE for "Extra Easy Virtual Environment Engine") to bring improved realtime 3D graphics to the viewport, allowing the use of C++11 and C99 in the codebase, moving to a newer version of [[OpenGL]] and dropping support for versions before 3.2, and a possible overhaul of the particle and constraint systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://code.blender.org/2015/07/blender-2-8-the-workflow-release/|title=Blender 2.8 – the Workflow release|publisher=code.blender.org|date=June 20, 2015|access-date=September 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://code.blender.org/2015/11/the-2-8-project-for-developers/|title=2.8 project developer kickoff meeting notes|publisher=code.blender.org|date=November 1, 2015|access-date=September 9, 2017}}</ref> Blender Internal renderer has been removed from 2.8.<ref name="bi-removed" /> ''Code Quest'' was a project started in April 2018 set in Amsterdam, at the Blender Institute.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/press/announcing-blender-2-8-code-quest/|title=Announcing Blender 2.8 Code Quest — blender.org|last=Foundation|first=Blender|website=blender.org|date=12 February 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-07-07}}</ref> The goal of the project was to get a large development team working in one place, in order to speed up the development of Blender 2.8.<ref name=":0" /> By June 29, 2018, the Code Quest project ended, and on July 2, the alpha version was completed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://code.blender.org/2018/06/beyond-the-code-quest/|title=Beyond the Code Quest — Blender Developers Blog|last=Foundation|first=Blender|website=Blender Developers Blog|date=29 June 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-07-07}}</ref> Beta testing commenced on November 29, 2018, and was anticipated to take until July 2019.<ref name="release-2.8">{{cite web|url=https://code.blender.org/2019/04/2-80-release-plan/|title=2.80 Release Plan --- Blender Developers Blog|date=April 12, 2019|website=blender.org|access-date=April 18, 2019}}</ref> Blender 2.80 was released on July 30, 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/download/releases/|title=Release Notes|last=Foundation|first=Blender|website=blender.org|language=en|access-date=2019-08-14}}</ref>

===Cycles X===
On April 23, 2021, the Blender Foundation announced the Cycles X project, where they improved the Cycles architecture for future development. Key changes included a new kernel, removal of default [[tiled rendering]] (replaced by progressive refine), removal of branched path tracing, and the removal of [[OpenCL]] support. Volumetric rendering was also replaced with better algorithms.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |last=Foundation |first=Blender |title=Cycles X |url=https://code.blender.org/2021/04/cycles-x/ |access-date=2021-05-01 |website=Blender Developers Blog |date=23 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/awMjwhJVRMw Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20210423165250/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awMjwhJVRMw&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation|title=Cycles X| date=23 April 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awMjwhJVRMw|language=en|access-date=2021-05-01}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite web |date=2021-04-23 |title=Blender Announces Cycles X: The Blazingly Fast Future of Cycles |url=https://www.blendernation.com/2021/04/23/blender-announces-cycles-x-the-blazingly-fast-future-of-cycles/ |access-date=2021-05-01 |website=BlenderNation |language=en-US}}</ref> Cycles X had only been accessible in an experimental branch<ref>{{cite web|last=Foundation|first=Blender|title=Blender Experimental Builds - blender.org|url=https://builder.blender.org/|access-date=2021-05-01|website=Blender Experimental Builds - blender.org|language=en}}</ref> until September 21, 2021, when it was merged into the Blender 3.0 alpha.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=2021-09-21 |title=Cycles X now in Blender 3.0 alpha! |url=https://www.blendernation.com/2021/09/21/cycles-x-now-in-blender-3-0-alpha/ |access-date=2021-09-23 |website=BlenderNation |language=en-US}}</ref>