That makes it possible to create more complex overhanging forms – including noses, ears, horns and tails – with a single dab of the brush. Whereas conventional displacement with height maps only displaces the surface of a model in the normal direction, vector displacement maps can displace it in three dimensions. The feature – previously only supported in specialist sculpting tools like Mudbox and ZBrush – makes it possible to use vector displacement maps as brush alphas. Sculpt facial features in a single click with vector displacement mapsįor digital sculptors, particularly character artists, the main new feature in Blender 3.5 will undoubtedly be support for Vector Displacement Map (VDM) brushes in the Draw brush. Video: Jan van der Hemel of Blender Secretsġ. Vector displacement maps, now supported on Blender’s Draw brush, make it possible to sculpt complex forms like horns and hair braids with a single brush stroke. New features range from support for vector displacement maps when sculpting to the foundations of an interactive real-time compositor, by way of a huge set of readymade assets for generating and styling hair.īelow, we’ve picked out five of the most significant changes, along with smaller updates to the core toolsets, including hidden gems like the ability to copy and paste UVs between models. The Blender Foundation has released Blender 3.5, the latest version of the open-source 3D software.

Main image: Blender 3.5’s splash screen art, created by Nicole Morena.

Blender 2.93 lts