Blender 4.4 is currently in Beta, and while it’s just one release away from the next Long-Term Support (LTS) version, it still brings several small but impactful improvements.
From animation and rigging enhancements to Compositor updates and Grease Pencil fixes, let’s explore what’s coming in Blender 4.4.Check out full list of changes on the Developers Release Notes
Where to Download Blender 4.4 Beta
To test out these features yourself, download the Beta version from Blender’s official site:
- Visit the Blender Download page.
- Scroll to the “Go Experimental” section.
- Click the link to access daily builds.
Your platform should be detected automatically, displaying all available builds.
Major Features and Improvements in Blender 4.4
Animation and Rigging: New Action Slots
A new concept called Slots will make its debut in 4.4, making Actions easier to manage. You could consider action slots to be material slots for an object with multiple materials or groups for grease pencil objects: they now allow you to organize distinct parts of your animation data in each slot.
🔹 You can name each slot, reducing the need to scroll endlessly through long animations.
🔹 Action Slots are also added to Non-Linear Animation (NLA) Actions.
🔹 When opening older Blender files, Actions will be automatically converted to slotted actions and labeled as "Legacy Slots"
If you're opening an older file in Blender 4.4, Actions are upgraded to slotted actions automatically, and labelled "Legacy Slots".
If you want to delve deeper into the changes, you can see the full list of documented changes here
Compositor: Faster and More Efficient Workflow
The Compositor sees significant performance improvements in Blender 4.4:
🔹Non-Destructive Transformations: Scale and translate transformations are now applied only when necessary, reducing processing overhead.
🔹Denoise Node Improvements: You can now trade off quality for speed at render time.
Glare Node Enhancements:
- Threshold & Smoothness controls give better control over highlights.
- Adjust strength and saturation for more refined effects.
- The Glare factor for Bloom and Fog Glow is now relative to image resolution, ensuring consistency across different render sizes.
⚠️ Note: The Glare node options are deprecated. If you open older projects, the settings will appear as inputs but may be removed in future versions. If your Bloom or Fog Glow looks different, adjust the Size and Strength sliders to restore the previous look.
If Compositing interests you, be sure to check out VFX artist Sean Kennedy's complete Fundamentals of Compositing Blender course.
Grease Pencil 3.0: Fixes & Feature Restorations
There were a lot of bugs that shipped with the first version of the new-and-improved Grease Pencil tool, and many much-loved features were depreciated in a trade-off for backward compatibility.
🔹 Simplify functions such as Fixed and Merge return, making it easier to optimize strokes.
🔹 Smooth Points is now available in the edit point contextual menu.
🔹 Stroke Placement is restored in Draw Mode, while Auto-masking is back in Sculpt Mode.
🔹 Layer Groups now respect Show/Hide All and Lock/Unlock All commands.
🔹 Solid Shading Mode properly displays color attributes when set to "Attribute," even for tinted layers.
I'll explore a few of these with screen shots and descriptions below.
It may not seem like much, but bringing back simplify functions such as Fixed, and Merge to Simplify makes a big difference. As does bringing back "Smooth Points" in the edit point contextual menu.
Draw mode and Sculpt mode lacked Stroke Placement and Auto masking, respectively.
They are now returned!
Layers in groups are now responsive to commands like Show/Hide All and Lock/Unlock All.
Solid Shading Mode now shows color attributes when Color is set to "Attribute". This goes for tinted layers as well.
🍪 Here is my shameless plug for my introduction to Grease Pencil in Blender! DRAW. You should take it! ;)
Video Sequencer: Text Editing & Performance Upgrades
🔹Text can be edited directly in the preview window!
Proper alignment and rounded box corners are now options for text strips, allowing you to create text overlays in custom fonts, colors and styles more efficiently.
🔹Speed enhancements for the following:
- Image sequence proxies
- float/HDR content playback during preview
- text strip background fills for large areas
- Curve, Hue correct and white balance modifiers
User Interface & Workflow Enhancements
Blender 4.4 includes subtle UI changes that improve usability:
🔹 Asset Browser will sort by Asset Catalog by default, but sorting by Name is still an option.
🔹 You can remove an asset's preview in the sidebar if necessary.
🔹 Batch Rename now has icons when filtering by Type
🔹 The Material Properties Icon is now flipped - its orientation was too similar to the World Properties Icon, so this minor visual fix keeps things recognizable but less confusing!
Other fixes such as Status Bar improvements, previews, and a list for specific Operating Systems have been included. for a complete rundown, check out the Release Notes for User Interface.
Cycles: More Consistent Denoising & Faster Rendering
Denoising for nVidia Optix is now more consistent, especially if you're running older hardware (note: latest drivers and GPUs will handle these automatically). Render speeds have also improved.
Modelling: Better Topology Control
A new "Select by Trait" option allows selection by poles.
When joining triangular faces to make quads, the direction will favor quad topology. Using the Tris to Quads operation will bring up a dialogue box where you can fine-tune relevant factors.
Conclusion:
Blender 4.4 is shaping up to be a feature-packed release ahead of the next LTS version. While this isn't an exhaustive list, these changes could significantly impact your animation, compositing, and modeling workflow.
If you encounter bugs or missing features, remember that LTS versions offer stability and are the best choice for production work.
Stay tuned for more updates, and test out Blender 4.4 to see how it enhances your projects.
Share your experiences and questions on our community forum or our Blender Discord server.
- Paul Cageggi
