Blender to get GPU-based OpenSubdiv support

The Blender Coders YouTube channel has posted a video showing a work-in-progress GPU-accelerated implementation of Pixar’s OpenSubdiv subdivision surface modelling libraries in Blender.

Designed for create tools that provide real-time feedback even on ultra-dense meshes, the libraries were released under an free Apache licence last summer, making it possible for Blender to incorporate them.

The video is a bit shaky – we’d guess it was recorded on Blender Foundation chairman Ton Roosendaal’s phone – but shows the Koro rig from Caminandes moving at a workable 30fps, before optimisation.

According to the caption, the technology “will certainly be” in the next-but-one 2.72 release of Blender.