Blender, the flagship open source software for 3D creation, is about to take a new major step: its portage on tablet, starting with the iPad Pro. It was Dalai Felinto, one of the development managers at Blender, who announced it in a post published on the official project of the project. The objective is ambitious: to make blender fully usable on touch platforms while retaining its functional richness, its modular interface and its community spirit.
CUntilly to other software that adapts their features to seduce a wider audience, the Blender team insists: the tablet experience will aim for usual software users, whether 3D artists, animators or digital illustrators. It is therefore not a simplified blender for the general public, but a redesigned interface to meet the specific constraints of tablets such as the iPad Pro, the surface of Microsoft or the Matepad of Huawei.
The porting work will start on iPad with Apple Pencil, before spreading to Android and graphic tablets like the Wacom Movinkpad. The emphasis is placed on the adaptation of interaction methods, the ergonomics of the workspace and the creation of personalized application models which turn above a conventional blender.
A redesigned interface for touch and multi-touch
The first prototypes, visible in the mockups published by the team, show an interface in mono-window mode, with contextual elements displayed in the form of floating overlays. This makes it possible to maximize the workspace without giving up quick access to essential tools such as outliner or the properties of the object. The sculpture mode, for example, is equipped with a floating palette dedicated to brush tools and parameters, with touchscreen shortcuts and an interactive help panel.
Some functions are already in development in Blender’s Desktop version, such as the possibility of folding the lateral menus, the icon display in the toolbar, or the new favorite Quick system, which should benefit tablet users as well as to computer designers.
A live demo planned this summer
A blender prototype on iPad will be presented in preview during the Siggraph 2025 fair in Vancouver, before a working workshop in Blender HQ in Amsterdam. The team also promises demonstrations during the Blender Conference 2025, where participants will be able to directly test this new approach.
Development will be done in a separate branch, with call to contributions for experienced iOS developers. Among the key subjects to be treated: the management of touch gestures, integration with the iOS file system, iCloud support or even compatibility with Airdrop. All the details can be found on the page dedicated to the project on Projects.blender.org.
Blender thus remains faithful to his open source philosophy, by opening the door to new uses without sacrificing the technical requirement. With this port to the iPad and graphic tablets, the software could conquer a new audience of nomadic creators, while strengthening its reference role in the world of free 3D.