Blender 5.1 Is Out

As life goes on, another Blender version is released.
Blender 5.1 is here! Released on March 17, 2026, this update focuses on speed, smarter procedural tools, and a smoother animation workflow.

Here are the highlights:

VFX Standard 2026: Fully updated to Python 3.13 and the latest industry libraries, ensuring Blender remains the backbone of professional pipelines.

Cycles Power Boost: AMD users get hardware ray-tracing (HIP-RT) by default. Rendering is now 5–20% faster across the board, with better memory management via Vulkan.

Next-Gen Geometry Nodes: New nodes like Mask To SDF and Radial Tiling expand procedural possibilities, while a new Raycast node in the shader editor is a game-changer for NPR artists.

Animation Refined: The new Gaussian Smooth F-Curve modifier lets you clean up shaky animations non-destructively. Performance for heavy rigs has also been significantly optimized.

Smarter UI & Tools: Enjoy precision snapping to face centers, a more reliable Grease Pencil fill tool, and upgraded 3D text that finally handles modern fonts perfectly.

And as with every new release, an additional Recap Video was also released on YouTube.

Blender YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@BlenderOfficial

Normal Map Nodes Switch

What’s probably of interest for game modding (materials) is that the Normal Map node can now be switched to use DirectX.