Blender 4.2 LTS released: major upgrades to EEVEE, Cycles, compositor & GPU acceleration

The Blender Foundation has released Blender 4.2 LTS, a long-term support version aimed at sustaining projects for the next two years. This update includes a complete overhaul of the EEVEE Render Engine, now featuring global illumination, displacement, and improved subsurface scattering. The Cycles engine has also been upgraded, adding support for Ray Portals, Thin Film Interference, and enhanced volume rendering.

Significant improvements have been made to the Compositor, which now benefits from GPU acceleration for offline renders and faster CPU performance. More nodes are available in the 3D Viewport, and a new system has been introduced for sharing, installing, and updating add-ons and themes directly within Blender. Additionally, Blender 4.2 LTS supports portable installation for use across different systems, enhancing its versatility.

Other noteworthy features include the Khronos PBR Neutral Tone Mapper, new sculpt tools, and a redesigned Video Sequencer with better performance and functionality. File format support has been extended to include USD, Alembic, glTF, OBJ, PLY, and STL. Users will also benefit from faster undo actions, improved animation editors, and more interactive tools. The release also highlights improved studio pipeline integration and a new socket type for matrices, among other enhancements.