Development
Following the 2.80 release plan, we should stop doing significant user interface and Python API changes next week. After that the focus will be on bugfixing and documentation. Developers should focus on finishing user interface and API changes as soon as possible.
New Features and Changes
Animation
- Pose mode mirroring for the transform tool was added, similar to other modes that already supported it. This works in either absolute mode to ensure the bone position and rotation is exactly the same on both sides, or relative mode to apply the same relative transformation to both sides. (Sebastian Parborg)
- Armature and lattice deform is now multithreaded. (Alexander Gavrilov)
Sequencer
- Sequencer scene strip performance for has been much improved, and available settings have changed. For wireframe solid display type, it will now use the workbench render settings from the scene used in the strip. Optionally this can be overridden with the workbench render settings from the scene containing the strips. (Jeroen Bakker)
Viewport
- Anti-aliasing settings for the workbench render engine have been changed to match the viewport. Viewport Render now uses faster anti-aliasing by default for quick playblasts. (Jeroen Bakker).
- Eevee now supports viewport preview of background alpha. (Clément Foucault)
- Lookdev HDR preview balls now have a configurable size in the preferences. (George Vogiatzis)
- Sculpt mode support for displaying multiple materials. (Clément Foucault)
User Interface
- Clicking in empty space to deselect now works in all editors, not just the 3D viewport. (Bastien Montagne)
- Proportional editing is now a toggle in all modes, with additional settings depending on the mode in the popover next to it. (Campbell Barton)
- Remove Doubles was renamed to Merge by Distance, and is part of the Merge menu. (William Reynish)
- Industry standard keymap: many tweaks based on user feedback. (William Reynish)
- New and updated icons. (Andrzej Ambroż)
- UV sculpt tools are now integrated into the new tool system. (Campbell Barton)
- Annotate is now available in sculpt and paint modes. (William Reynish)
- Outliner visual tweaks to make it look less busy. (Harley Acheson)
- On macOS, shortcuts in menus now use icons for modifier keys. (Harley Acheson)
- The tool settings user interface has been tweaked further. The properties editor now always shows tool settings for the 3D viewport, while other editors like the image editor show them in their own sidebar. (Campbell Barton)
Grease Pencil
- Add stroke color to materials popover, API additions to check annotations and create/remove grease pencil settings on a material. (Antonio Vazquez)
- New video about textured brushes. Brushes available for download on cloud.blender.org. (Daniel Martinez Lara)