Blender 4.5 LTS

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Platform & HDR Support (Wayland vs X11 vs OSes)

  • A sub‑thread centers on HDR: a link shows Vulkan/Wayland HDR work is targeting Blender 5.0; it’s unclear what 4.5 itself ships.
  • Some are pleased that modern features (HDR) land only on Wayland, seeing it as leverage to move away from X11.
  • Others dislike Wayland-only features, citing longstanding issues with their work/game setups and saying X11 “just works” for them.
  • One commenter claims HDR works on macOS (and likely Windows) via Display P3 settings; this is not independently confirmed in the thread.

Blender in Professional Pipelines & Platform Share

  • One side argues most commercial users and third‑party tools are on Windows, so Linux‑only features serve a small fraction.
  • Others counter that the majority of film/VFX/animation studios use Linux workstations, so Linux is not “negligible” for Blender’s pro ambitions.
  • Survey data is cited to claim studios are a small fraction of total downloads, but others argue raw downloads don’t reflect strategic importance.

Stability, Add‑ons, and Production Readiness

  • Complaints that repositories often ship old Blender versions and add‑ons frequently break across releases; production teams must version‑lock.
  • Blender is described as having a “perpetual beta” feel: new features can break existing ones or internal add‑ons; unit‑test coverage is questioned.

AI/LLMs and Blender Workflow

  • Several people already use general LLMs to ask “how do I…” questions for Blender and find this valuable versus long YouTube tutorials.
  • MCP-based integrations that let LLMs drive Blender directly are mentioned, but early experiments are seen as weak for complex modeling.
  • Strong skepticism that LLMs can replace essential manual steps like retopology, animation‑ready topology design, and UV rework.

Blender’s Role in the 3D Ecosystem

  • Many see Blender “eating the world” of 3D for students and hobbyists, displacing tools like 3ds Max/3DCoat.
  • It’s called “the Python of 3D”: rarely the absolute best in any niche, but good enough across almost everything.
  • Comparisons: Maya praised for decade‑long stability; Houdini for its node/HDA ecosystem and tight modeling–simulation integration; geometry nodes are powerful but still not Houdini‑level.

Learning Curve & Documentation

  • Blender is widely acknowledged as powerful but hard to learn; mastery often requires months and version‑specific tutorials.
  • Some praise the strong community (e.g., donut tutorial) for making it accessible to students and kids.

Funding, Governance, and Code Quality

  • Multiple comments encourage donating or subscribing to Blender Studio; some support it despite not using it, viewing it as cultural infrastructure.
  • Blender is lauded as one of the best FOSS end‑user apps, yet dev‑side anecdotes mention code duplication and weak architectural cohesion (e.g., separate importers).

Notable 4.5‑Era Technical Notes & Misc

  • Custom mesh normals in 4.5 are celebrated as a major workflow improvement, replacing hacky material‑level tricks.
  • New OSL‑defined camera models are noted as enabling more realistic lens effects and bokeh.
  • One person complains the release web page feels slow, with the rejoinder that “luckily Blender is not a webpage.”