Blender Development

Blender 4.2 LTS Overview

Michael Bridges ·

Blender 4.2 videos keep coming in – here’s another good overview by Michael Bridges!

Blender 4.2 LTS has arrived, bringing an array of impressive updates that elevate the software to new heights. This version promises long-term support for two years, ensuring stability for your larger projects. However, backing up your old files before upgrading is essential to avoid any unexpected issues.

Eevee has undergone a significant overhaul, boasting out-of-the-box performance improvements. Bloom is now a compositor feature, global illumination enhances realism, and the light limit has increased dramatically. Automatic shadow settings and unified motion blur settings between Eevee and Cycles streamline the workflow.

Cycles has also seen substantial enhancements. Ray portals offer exciting possibilities for visual effects, thin film effects add realism to surfaces like soap bubbles, and improved denoising ensures cleaner renders. The shared motion blur settings with Eevee create consistency across render engines.

The compositor benefits from GPU acceleration, speeding up processes and providing real-time statistics on node performance. A new Bloom mode within the glare node and limited viewport compositing for better performance are notable additions. Python API changes introduce an extensions platform, altering how add-ons function and requiring developers to adapt their code.

If you’re eager to explore these features, the release candidate is available now, with the full version just days away. Dive in and experience the enhanced capabilities of Blender 4.2 LTS.

Author Michael Bridges
I am a self confessed technology geek, and love teaching people new things.I think it is a real shame that so many people carry around such wonderfully capable devices yet do nothing but the basics on them. Computers, laptops tablets and smart phones can do much more than most people know. I would like to guide, reassure and educate people in using their technology to add to their livesI have been playing, yes playing, with technology for as long as I can remember and I still do that today! Admittedly these days with other commitments I do have to watch what I spend as technology can burn a very deep hole and quickly!As my parents will testify, I have always been inquisitive! even if it meant taking something apart to see how it worked. Of course not knowing how to put it back together again! To this day I love learning new things and developing myself as a person.Despite my techy background I remain firmly grounded and talk to people using every day language, unnecessary techno-babble drives me bonkers. This allows me to chat with people with limited knowledge on a subject and help them understand more.By day (and sometimes night) I run a successful local technology support company in Nottingham (UK).
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