Hey Reader,

Zach here,

With fresh news and inspiration from the 3D world.

Today, I'll start with the Blender 5.0 release and our Hotkey Sheet PDF update. Next, I’ll share a music video made in collaboration with the Blender Studio and a cute Grease Pencil animation breakdown.

Let’s dive in.

​Blender 5.0 is out!​

The biggest news of this week is, of course, the release of Blender 5.0! 🥳

It’s packed with tons of new upgrades and features. I’ll just list a few of them that I believe are most interesting:

The first thing that pops is the newly added (Geometry Nodes-based) modifiers, like the new Array modifier. Finally, we have an option to easily make circular arrays and randomize the instances in an array, without digging deep into Geometry Nodes.

There’s also a new modifier for scattering objects on surfaces.

The "make things easier to use" approach seems like the main theme of this release, and it shows in the Compositor as well. It now comes with presets that you can simply drag and drop from the asset shelf to add effects like vignette, chromatic aberration, or film grain with a single node.

What’s even greater is that node groups from the Compositor can now be easily shared as assets between blend files for easy reuse. Huge time saver! The Compositor can also be used in combination with the Video Sequence Editor, which opens up a whole new range of possibilities.

A cool new feature that can easily go unnoticed is the new procedural Sky shader. It works both for Cycles and Eevee, producing more realistic results than the previous Nishita Sky model (which was already quite nice).

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to dive deep and see all the changes, you can watch this summary video by CG Cookie.

​Our Hotkey Sheet PDF is updated for Blender 5.0​

We’ve already updated our handy Shortcuts PDF to work with Blender 5.0.

​Grab it here and learn all the Hotkeys that can help you speed up working in Blender.

It comes with a clickable menu for easy navigation and a printable version (that you can keep close at hand and use when needed).

​OK Go + Lucas Zanotto - Music Video made in Blender​

​This music video was made for OK Go (a rock band from the USA, known for their quirky and unique videos) by Lucas Zanotto (a designer with a very recognizable style) and Will Anderson (filmmaker/animator), using Blender and in direct collaboration with the Blender Studio.

The project involved using facial motion capture directly linked to the main character’s rig. This allowed for recording the entire video live in Blender’s viewport in a single take! 🤯

If you like the video, you can even download the working Blend file of the project from the Blender Studio website (subscription required).

​Cute 2D Blender Animation Breakdown​

The creator of this cute spider animation made with Blender’s Grease Pencil (and some stylized 3D mixed in as well) shares a clear breakdown of the entire animation process in this video.

Starting from blocking out the shapes and main keyframes, through refining the in-betweens, to cleanup and coloring. You can watch it come alive step by step, and learn how it’s done.

In the age of AI slop (that provides near instant, but poor results), this shows how passion, dedication, hard work, and attention to detail are still the best way to create beautiful art.
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That’s all from me today. Have a great weekend, and till next time.

~Zach