Understanding Blender’s Release Schedule

It’s been said, “One of the great things about Blender is it’s updated all the time, one of the bad things about Blender is it’s updated all the time.” In this article let’s talk about Blender’s updated release schedule and when you can expect the next version of Blender to be released. 

1. What is Blender 3D?
2. Understanding Blender's release schedule.
3. What is Blender LTS?
4. When is Blender 4.0 expected to be released?
5. How to contribute to the development of Blender.
6. How to update Blender?

What is Blender? 

Blender is a free, open-source 3D creation software that is widely used by CG artists, and developers to create stunning 3D animations, visual effects, and 3D models. 

Since its first open-source release in October of 2002, Blender has become one of the most popular tools of choice for 3D artists around the world, downloaded more than 16 million times a year according to the 2021 Blender annual report. 

Blender has an incredible number of features built-in which make it a jack of all trades and a master of one or two. Here are a few things you’re able to do with Blender.

• Modeling: Creating essential 3d models and characters for your animated short film, 3D printer, and or VR immersive experience. 
• 2D in 3D: A tool inside Blender called Grease Pencil enables traditional art and animation workflows in a 3D environment. 
• Animation: From animating a simple object in Blender to more complex animation topics like character movement, users can bring their 3D models to life in Blender. 
• Texturing: With using photos, procedural textures, or hand-painted textures to add life and color to your 3D models and animation. 
• Rendering: Convert your 3D scene into an image or movie to share online with others.

Blender is available on all major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of users. Read more about various hardware requirements. 

• Read about Blender's story.
• Stream the Blender Basics tutorial course,
• Where and how to download Blender.

Understanding Blender's release schedule

Blender release cycles have fluctuated a lot over the course of its life. It started on a "release when it's done" model with an emphasis on "release early, release often" to ensure that users could test new features as soon as possible. 

Needing a little structure to this, they then tried for a release ever two months. However, that pace was quite breakneck, so they attempted to slow down and do 1-2 releases a year across the development of 2.5 (and I think until 2.8). 

Unfortunately, while those slow cycles were more predictable, it didn't offer much opportunity for testing since users tended to only try out newly released versions rather than betas. New features sat in the wings waiting for development energy to finish. 

That brings us to the release schedule that we've had up until now with LTS releases and overlapping development cycles. And this new schedule is a tweak on that.

Recently the Blender Foundation announced an update to the Blender release cycle. Most notably reducing the planned releases to three a year, and gave us a glimpse of when to expect the next version of

The new schedule extends development periods Bcon1 and Bcon2 to better align with annual events such as SIGGRAPH and Blender Conference. It also slates Blender 3.6 as the next LTS version, expected to be released this July, with support through July 2025. 

To stay on top of the Blender release schedule and development updates check https://code.blender.org/. Additionally, the team there offers weekly blog updates you may subscribe to. 

What is Blender LTS?

If you’re looking for a stable and consistent version of Blender for your work in education or production, Blender LTS is an important version of Blender for you to be aware of. 

Blender LTS stands for Long Term Support. It’s a specific version of Blender that is supported with updates, bug fixes, and security updates for two years after its initial release. This helps mitigate compatibility issues with users working on long-term projects and ensures your workflow stays functional and secure. 

The current Blender 3.6. LTS can be downloaded here and the release notes can be reviewed here.

There you can view the change log and download the various platform versions of LTS. You may also have Blender auto-magically updated if you download and install Blender through Steam, Microsoft Store, or Snapcraft. 

For educators and production studios, we recommend sticking to the LTS releases, with the next LTS version expected to be Blender 3.6.

When is the expected release date of Blender 4.0?

Update: it's been released as of November 14th! https://cgcookie.com/posts/everything-new-in-blender-4-0

Anticipation is growing for the next major version release of Blender. Following the Blender Foundation’s recent update, Blender users can expect Blender 4.0 to be released on November 14th 2023. 

Stay on top of release notes by visiting the Blende Wiki’s release notes page. 

Just announced! Grease Pencil 3.0 is targeted to be included in the Blender 4.0 release. 

• https://code.blender.org/2023/05/the-next-big-step-grease-pencil-3-0/

Additionally, we’ll keep this page updated as release notes become available. Bookmark this page!

• Everything new in Blender 4.0

How can users provide feedback or contribute to the development of Blender?

As open-source software anyone can contribute to Blender’s development, reporting bugs or proposing new features. To get involved visit https://projects.blender.org to report bugs to make Blender more stable or join the Blender developer community. 

For non-developers, one of the most valuable contributions you can make is to Blender’s documentation. If you’ve ever looked through the Blender user manual and found a typo or thought something was missing, you can be the one who fixes that! 

• How to report bugs in Blender. 
• Read all the new things in Blender 3.5.

How to update Blender?

It's not uncommon for Blender users to retain multiple versions of Blender on their local machines. Either to help follow along on tutorials, preferences for running the Blender LTS version mentioned above, or playing with new experimental builds.

With no auto-update feature built into Blender, the majority of users download the latest version of the Blender software from http://blender.org/download directly. By choosing their operating system and downloading it to their local machine. 

If you're interested in the LTS (Long Term Supported) version of Blender, this is done directly by visiting https://www.blender.org/download/lts/ with the current version of Blender 3.3LTS to be supported through September 2024. 

Those hungry for daily builds of Blender to test new features and cool bug fixes have access to fresh versions of Blender daily to be downloaded from https://builder.blender.org/download/daily/ 

It should be mentioned there are two platforms that will help with auto-updating of Blender if you've installed Blender from the Steam Store or the Microsoft Store.