Version numbering should reflect what the product is and not internal development methodology. New numbering, after 21 years the Blender 2.x series gets a wrap! 4.0 series

Proposal: 1 LTS per year, major release cycles each 2 years 2.8 + 2.9 series wrapįinish the original 2.8 targets and focus on polishing for the first two LTS. Let us know in the comments below what you think! Blender 4.0 could be there in 2023 already!īelow is a summary. I suggest to do minor releases (3.0, 3.1, 3.2, … 3.7) for two-year periods, and then move to a new major release. This summer we’ll do Blender 2.90 (new particle nodes), and in summer 2021 the Blender 3.0 series begins! By then we will implement a more conventional release numbering. Release numberingĪlong with this, I also propose to accelerate a bit our release numbers this decade. This rapid pace of releases is great to get new features to users quickly. Expect a continuous stream of new features and improvements. It means we will be able to more easily add experimental and new features in regular releases. We will further investigate this topic in the coming period.įor our daily testers and early adopters this is also good news. An official LTS with controlled install would fit their procedures much better.

Nice for studios with large projects, but also for add-on maintenance.Ī surprising amount of requests for LTS ‘agreements’ came from corporations who have more strict installation procedures internally – for various reasons they do not want individual employees to download our releases. LTS versions also will help to ensure that a project that started with an LTS version can be completed with the same version in a reasonable amount of time. The next release (2.83) although big, will be relatively less experimental, thus a good candidate to keep supporting for a while.

This release would be supported for two years with important bug fixes and updates for new hardware, while strictly maintaining compatibility.Ī good reason to do an LTS now is the focus on fixes and patches of the past months. The first proposal is to do one Long Term Support (LTS) release every year. February 2023 update: the release schedule has been restructured.Īfter evaluating the massive support for Blender 2.80 – and with the 2.8x release cycles running as planned – here is a proposal for the long term Blender release organization.

Blender 3.0 alpha download