Advancements in Blender 4.2 Beta: What’s New?
Brief:
The premier open-source 3D modeling and rendering software, Blender, has recently transitioned its latest version, Blender 4.2, from alpha to beta. This shift invites more users to test the upcoming features and identify any bugs or issues before the official release.
That being said, here are a few of the interesting advancements coming in the latest version of Blender
EEVEE Next Render Engine (EEVEE-Next):
EEVEE Next? 
Yes, we finally have the much-awaited advancements in EEVEE!
EEVEE Next is an upgraded version of its predecessor, the EEVEE render engine. With improved and more accurate global illumination, support for motion blur, enhanced control over transparency passes, and many more added features, EEVEE Next is set to elevate the rendering experience. The new engine is referred to simply as EEVEE, while the older version is now named EEVEE Legacy.
Significant changes coming to the EEVEE render engine includes:
- Enhanced global illumination
- No limit to the number of lights in a scene (previously, only 128 active lights could be supported by EEVEE in a scene, with only 8 shadowed sun lights at the same time; now there is no limit, and up to 4096 lights can be viewed at once in the viewport)
- Improved shadows using virtual shadow maps
- Replacement of the material shader blend mode with the render method
- Renaming of the screen space refraction option to raytraced transmission
- Support for material-based displacement in EEVEE
- Viewport motion blur support
Thin Film Layer in Shader:
- A new input slot has been added to the Principled shader called “Thin Film.” This addition allows users to render typical film interference effects without needing to use complex shader trees to achieve the desired outcome. However, this feature is currently limited to Cycles only.
Ray-Portal Shader Node:
- A new shader node, the Ray-Portal, has been introduced in this version. This node allows for the creation of magical transport portals with ease, enabling creators to render any part of a 3D scene on an object’s surface.
Modifiers Pinning:
- We are also getting one little update in Modifiers.
- You can now pin any modifier to stick at bottom of the modifiers stack by clicking the pin icon next to it.
- this is mainly useful for Auto smooth modifier which by default has pinning active on it
- and you can manually pin any modifier that you wish to according to your requirements
GPU Acceleration:
- As from past few updates we have seen compositor effects working in Viewport in real time with new Node Support is Adding up gradually we can now get those effects super fast with the addition of GPU Support for compositing which we can set up from render properties panel.
Extensions:
Extensions in Blender can be add-ons, themes, or potentially anything else that extends Blender’s native functionality (e.g., key maps, assets). An extension is an archive (.zip) containing the necessary files and a manifest with metadata such as license, copyright, permissions, and useful links.
- All these extensions can be downloaded from extensions.blender.org. This move appears to be aimed at reducing the Blender package file size.
- Users also have the option to load their own developed add-ons or extensions from their local directories.
- How ever recently taking into account the response from the community Blender Developers have decided to keep the addons tab unchanged while also introducing the Extensions as well.
Collection Exporters:
This feature is a significant time-saver for those who frequently export the same file in multiple formats. The Collection Exporters feature allows users to batch-export in multiple formats simultaneously.
Khronos PBR Neutral:
For those keen-eyed users who want their colors to be highly accurate to the reference, the Khronos PBR Neutral color space addresses this issue effectively. This feature ensures that the colors in your scene remain true to their original appearance, even under varying lighting conditions.
Release Date:
This latest version is expected to be released in mid-July, so get ready to experience even more amazing and innovative posts from all the Blender users!
Conclusion:
With these substantial updates, Blender’s EEVEE-Next is poised to revolutionize real-time rendering technology. The enhancements and new features will empower artists and developers to achieve more realistic and dynamic scenes with greater ease and efficiency. Stay tuned for the release and get ready to explore the future of 3D rendering with EEVEE-Next.