Blender 4.0 Release Notes

Blender 4.0 was released on November 14, 2023.

Check out out the final release notes on blender.org.

• Animation & Rigging
• Geometry Nodes
• Modeling
• Sculpt & Paint
• Shading & Texturing
• Cycles
• Color Management
• Compositor & Sequencer
• Import & Export
• Core
• User Interface
• 3D Viewport
• Node Editor
• Keymap
• Add-ons
• Python API
• Asset Bundles

Compatibility

Blend Files

• The mesh format changes from previous versions are now included in the Blender file format.
  • Blender 3.6 LTS can read files saved with 4.0, but earlier versions cannot.
  • Blender 3.6 LTS will save meshes in a format compatible with older versions of Blender, so it can be used as conversion tool if needed.
  • See the section in the Python API section for more details.
• The new blendfile compatibility policy (#109151) has been implemented (see PR#110109).
• Unused linked data is not kept anymore when saving and re-opening .blend files. See the core page for details.

Graphics Cards

• The minimum required OpenGL version has been increased to 4.3 for Linux and Windows. (3478093183)
• On macOS only Metal is supported now, and the OpenGL backend has been removed. A GPU with Metal 2.2 support is required. Intel Macs without an AMD GPU require a Skylake processor or higher. (cdb8a8929c)
• Due to driver issues, support for Intel HD4000 series GPUs has been dropped.

Corrective Releases