Blender Has Reversed Its Decision to Ditch the VFX Reference Platform

Blender Foundation has reversed its decision to stop following the VFX Reference Platform in Blender based on the feedback from artists working in the VFX industry who were against such a move.

The organization has released a new blog post detailing its plans regarding the platform for the years 2023 and 2024 saying that all new Blender releases will be compatible with the VFX Reference Platform specs during this period.

In addition, Blender Foundation noted that it has added a new build option that makes it possible to compile the current Blender 3.3 Long-Term Support release with the VFX Reference Platform’s 2022 specification.

The VFX Reference Platform was launched in 2014. It is overseen by the technology committee of the Visual Effects Society and is a common target for building software for the VFX industry. The platform includes annually updated specifications that set out which versions of common components applications intended for visual effects pipelines should use.

Blender Foundation announced in February that Blender, which had previously also followed the specification, would no longer support the VFX Reference Platform. At the time the organization wrote in a blog post that it saw the platform as "a limitation with users lacking benefits such as the latest Python version in Blender."