Goo Engine Devs Team Up With Blender Foundation On Blender NPR Prototype

If you've been following animation trends lately, particularly since the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you've likely observed a growing number of CG movies and shows adopting a hand-drawn style. However, this aesthetic remains challenging to achieve at a high level and large scale, as most 3D software is designed for photorealistic rendering.

DillonGoo Studios, known for its Goo Engine, a specialized version of Blender with extensive modifications for NPR and anime-style rendering, has announced that it will lend its expertise to the official Blender releases and help guide the development of NPR features in Blender. In fact, it has already been contributing for some time, having introduced Light Linking for Eevee in Blender 4.3. 

The studio is working on the experimental NPR prototype branch, which avid Blender users are likely familiar with, some of which have even been showcased before, like this striking DMC-style VFX by Mingwei "CMZW" Lim:

In true Blender tradition, DillonGoo Studios will also be creating an Open Movie to showcase the stylization features developed for the Blender NPR prototype, with assets available on its Patreon. If you're already a supporter, you've helped make this possible, and if not, you can still contribute to this goal.

To celebrate this milestone, DillonGoo Studios is also releasing several assets from over the years, starting with three of its best background designs: the Makoto Shinkai-inspired postbox scene, the Arknights night and day interior set, and the desert "treadmill" from the Nameless Road set.

Learn more here and download Blender 4.4 NPR prototype by clicking this link. Also, join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.