Blender 5.0 has officially entered public beta, marking one of the biggest steps forward in the software’s recent history. This version introduces major upgrades across rendering, geometry nodes, and the UI, setting the stage for the next generation of 3D creation in Blender.
Blender 5.0 is in Beta! 🚀
— Blender 🔶 (@Blender) October 13, 2025
Featuring artwork by @donchuan3d
Please take a moment to test your files, update your add-ons, and report any issue you may find by going to Help → Report a Bug.
👉 Download https://t.co/LnRbEMXq5L
📖 What's New https://t.co/tZvWWjz1C1#b3d pic.twitter.com/LKipGHLZOU
According to the Blender Foundation, this release focuses on three main goals: improving performance and responsiveness, expanding procedural workflows, and refining the artist experience. The release candidate is scheduled for November 5, 2025, with the official stable version arriving on November 11.
Among the most notable additions are the arrival of EEVEE Next, Blender’s fully re-engineered real-time renderer, new simulation nodes, an overhauled viewport, and updates to the Grease Pencil 3.0 system.
Key New Features
- EEVEE Next
The most anticipated change in Blender 5.0 is EEVEE Next, a complete rewrite of the real-time renderer. It adds real-time ray tracing, improved shadows and reflections, and a new global illumination system. The update brings EEVEE’s visual output much closer to Cycles, making it suitable for final renders as well as previews. Performance has also been improved for complex materials, volumetrics, and large scenes.
- Geometry Nodes
The Geometry Nodes system continues to expand, with new tools for simulation and improved caching. Added nodes for physics-based interactions, attribute transfers, and mesh deformation make procedural asset creation more predictable and flexible. Simulation zones have also been refined, allowing artists to control caching behavior and timing directly within the node tree.
- Grease Pencil 3.0
The Grease Pencil rewrite is nearing completion in version 5.0. Stroke rendering, layer management, and overall responsiveness have been improved, resulting in a smoother workflow for both 2D animation and hybrid 2D/3D projects. The new structure also supports procedural effects and offers better stability for complex production setups.
- Viewport and Interface Improvements
The viewport now offers better responsiveness, color management, and GPU performance. Playback is smoother when working with dense geometry or simulations. The user interface receives several quality-of-life updates, including reorganized menus, refined themes, and layout improvements for better consistency across tools.
Simulation Nodes and Physics
Simulation Nodes now include support for rigid body and particle-based systems. This lets artists build procedural simulations directly inside node workflows, reducing reliance on traditional modifiers or baked physics setups.
- Rendering and File Handling
Beyond EEVEE Next, Cycles benefits from faster sampling and new adaptive rendering optimizations. File handling has also improved, with better support for compressed textures and updates to USD, Alembic, and OpenVDB import/export pipelines, allowing smoother exchange with other DCC tools.
These are just some of the key additions in Blender 5.0. The update includes many more features, fixes, and workflow improvements across modeling, rendering, and animation. You can explore the full list in the official Blender 5.0 Beta Release Notes.
New Features in Action
Some artists have already been experimenting with the Blender 5.0 Beta, creating impressive scenes and tests that showcase the new features in action. Here are a few examples worth highlighting.
- Shahzod Boyhonov
Black hole shader using raymarching in realtime.
— Shahzod Boyhonov 🔶️ (@specoolar) October 10, 2025
Blender 5.0, Eevee, repeat node.#blender #raymarching #shader #procedural pic.twitter.com/iFBJO8rN1D
- ashlee3dee
ohhh so if you derive the normal for an SDF you can pass it into the principled BSDF shader and render fake geometry with environment reflections and lighting :d https://t.co/l7ChnmORNn pic.twitter.com/9z9mPgOclX
— 🔸ashlee3dee 🔸 (@ashlee3dee) October 14, 2025
- Cartesian Caramel
Testing volume simulation in Blender 5.0 #b3d #geometrynodes pic.twitter.com/dpRlzoLwqZ
— Cartesian Caramel (@Cartesian_C) October 11, 2025
- wolfstudioart
Blender 5.0 has a new Multiple Scattering Sky Texture!#b3d pic.twitter.com/1E0Ci5xN3H
— Wolf (@wolfstudioart) September 16, 2025
- SLAVO
WOW! Compositor for Video Sequencer in Blender 5.0. It looks Fast and Awesome @blender 🤝 pic.twitter.com/U8jQYVSV2u
— SLAVO | c g s l a v (@slavoartist) September 29, 2025
If you haven’t tried Blender 5.0 yet, this is a great time to explore what’s new. Just remember to keep backups of older projects before importing them into the new version, and take some time to experiment with the updated tools and workflows.
✨ The Blender 5.0 Beta is available now on the official website.
📘 Want to start building your own tools? Check out Blender Tool Development Fundamentals, a complete guide to creating custom operators, UI extensions, gizmos, and Qt widgets for advanced add-on development.
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