The open-source 3D creation software Blender 5.3 has been released, introducing native support for 3D Gaussian Splatting. Users can now import PLY and SPZ data formats, store them as point clouds, and edit them via Geometry Nodes for rendering in Cycles, EEVEE, or Workbench.
A major technical shift in this version is the transition to Vulkan as the default graphics backend for Linux and Windows, excluding ARM devices. The minimum requirement for Vulkan has been lowered to version 1.1, with developers focusing on performance optimizations across various hardware configurations.
The update introduces the Blender Projects system for centralized management of assets, resource libraries, and OpenColorIO configurations. Additionally, the Video Sequencer has been overhauled with a new ripple editing system, a redesigned Blade Tool, and support for OpenTimelineIO.
Rendering improvements include dispersion support for the Principled BSDF shader in Cycles and NVIDIA DLSS denoising for viewport rendering. EEVEE now features Material Lighting Nodes for stylized effects, along with panoramic camera support and enhanced sky texture rendering.
The user interface has been updated to allow manual arrangement of objects in the Outliner and sidebar searching across all editors. Furthermore, the minimum macOS requirement has been raised to macOS 13 Ventura, with older versions supported only up to Blender 5.2 LTS.
