Hey Reader,

We’re back with more news, resources, and inspiration from the 3D world.

Today we’ll kick off with the new Blender 5.3 release, our favourite new features, and our freshly updated Hotkey Sheet PDF.

Next, we’ll share a new animation retargeting tutorial from Martin Klekner and a great ‘Gauntlet of Gods’ breakdown video.

As a cherry on top, we’ll share a great Black Friday deal from Polygon Runway.

Let’s dive right in.

​Blender 5.3 is out! + Our Favourite 5 New Features​

The new Blender 5.3 version was released this week. If you want to learn about all the new features in this release, you can watch this video by Jonathan Lampel and Wayne Dixon.

We’ve also picked a selection of our 5 favourite new features:

• New NPR shading nodes - The Light Accumulation node, along with some other additions to the shader system, opens a whole new range of possibilities for stylized shading with full artistic control of how each light contributes to the shader’s look. I bet we’ll find Martin Klekner diving deep into these cool new toys!
• Gaussian splats support - Now you can import, display, and render Gaussian splats in Blender. This opens new possibilities to scan and add realistic environments or objects to your 3D workspace. Exciting times ahead!
• Grease Pencil’s Draw Mode - Now allows you to select and edit the strokes without switching to Edit Mode. This, along with the improved fill and carver tools, makes drawing in Blender easier and more fun.
• New Compositing Effects Stack - This works a lot like the modifiers stack, but for Compositing effects like Bloom, Chromatic Aberration, or any other post-production effect that you can now layer on top of each other and rearrange as needed. Fast, flexible, and fun.
• Improved Video Sequence Editor - finally supporting proper ripple editing in the timeline (dynamically adjusting other content to your added or moved clips). This finally makes Blender a competitive alternative to other dedicated video editors.

These are just a few cool features out of many, so go ahead and download the new version to find out yourself what makes you a happier Blenderhead. 🙂

​Our Hotkey Sheet PDF Updated for Blender 5.3​

To make your life easier, we’ve updated our handy PDF with Blender’s shortcuts to work with the latest Blender 5.3 version.

​You can download it here (100% free)

​Retarget Animations in Blender with Martin Klekner​

If tweaking your Blender animations is a struggle and using pre-made animation libraries (such as Mixamo) seems like black magic to you, this tutorial from Martin Klekner is here to save your day.

Martin’s favourite Blender add-on, ‘Retarget’ (free and available to download straight from Blender), greatly simplifies both of these tasks.

You’ll learn how to easily retarget Mixamo (or other libraries) animations to your characters in Blender, how to combine parts of different animations, and how to easily tweak and adjust parts of the animation without spending hours in the Graph Editor.

​4th Place in Pwnisher’s Challenge Breakdown​

Indiecat​ (4th place winner of the ‘Gauntlet of Gods’ 3D Challenge) used Blender as his main tool to make his impressive animation.

He shares his whole creative process and a lot of valuable tips in this fun breakdown video.

Warning! Huge amounts of passion and creative joy contained in the video can be contagious and inspire you to create your next big project. 😁

​Polygon Runway’s Black Friday Sale​

Black Friday is right around the corner. If You’re looking for a good deal on Blender tutorials and courses, Polygon Runway is running a 50% Sale.

You'll find beginner and advanced tutorials to choose from, so you can pick what best suits your needs.

​Check out Polygon Runway’s courses here (affiliate link)

That’s all from us today. Have a great weekend, and till next time.

Jarosław & Zach (the CG Boost Newsletter Team)