NeXus for Blender is now free in beta
Originally posted on 20 April for the previews, and updated on 6 June for the beta.
Insydium has released a free public beta of NeXus for Blender, the new edition of its previously Cinema 4D-only GPU-based particle simulation system for the open-source 3D software.
The new Blender edition is actually faster than the Cinema 4D edition, has all of the same functionality, and will be available as a perpetual license.
Below, we’ve compiled our FAQs on what we know of the new edition. But first…
So what is NeXus anyway?
NeXus is a new-ish GPU-accelerated counterpart to X-Particles, Insydium’s popular CPU-based particle-based multiphysics plugin for Cinema 4D.
Both add-ons are staples of many Cinema 4D artists’ workflows, for VFX and motion graphics.
As well as particle effects, NeXus includes granular fluid, liquid and gaseous fluid simulation toolsets, and being Vulkan-based, is compatible with AMD, Apple, Intel and NVIDIA GPUs.
Why is Insydium releasing a Blender edition of NeXus?
Insydium has had a foot in both the Cinema 4D and Blender worlds for some time, having previously developed the now-defunct Cycles 4D, which enabled Cinema 4D artists to use Blender’s Cycles renderer inside the software.
A Blender edition of NeXus also fills an obvious gap in the market: over the past few years, a number of Cinema 4D users disenchanted with Maxon’s subscription-only licensing and the size of recent updates to the software have moved to Blender – or at least incorporated the software in their workflow – and they often cite X-Particles and NeXus as the tools they miss.
Wasn’t this supposed to be released years ago?
Insydium first announced a Blender edition of NeXus back in 2022, alongside 3ds Max and Maya editions of the add-on, all originally due for release in 2023.
2023 came and went, and it looked like the ports had been shelved – until this April, the firm began posting preview videos of the new Blender version on its YouTube channel.
How does the feature set of NeXus for Blender compare to the Cinema 4D edition?
Insydium describes NeXus as having been “completely reimagined for Blender, bringing a powerful GPU-driven workflow with real-time performance and rapid iteration”.
According to its replies to YouTube comments, “all of the existing features of NeXus in C4D” are available in the Blender edition.
Workflow is “very similar” to the Cinema 4D edition, and it is possible to export NeXus particles to the “native Blender particles and Geometry Nodes along with caching export”.
How does performance of the Blender edition of NeXus compare to the Cinema 4D edition?
If anything, it should be better: Insydium says that “the Blender add-on keeps more of the work on the GPU, reducing overhead and improving scaling”.
The Blender edition also uses 64-bit VRAM addressing, making it possible to run larger simulations on GPU.
The performance gain depends on your hardware, but Insydium says that its aim is “not just [to support] high-end cards”: the demo videos were recorded using a two-generations-old NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090.
How much does NeXus for Blender cost, and is it subscription-only?
Anyone with a subscription to Fused, Insydium’s Cinema 4D product bundle, will get the Blender edition of NeXus for free when it is officially released.
However, it is also available separately, and as a perpetual license: although Fused was initially a subscription-only product, it is now possible to buy individual perpetual licenses.
What happened to the 3ds Max and Maya editions of NeXus?
3ds Max and Maya editions of NeXus still seem possible, if not guaranteed.
Insydium says that the Blender edition is a “first step”, but that it has “already tested beyond Blender”, and is looking for user feedback on which other host applications to target next.
Price, system requirements and release date
NeXus for Blender is now available in public beta. It is compatible with Blender 4.3+ on Windows 8.1+ and macOS 13.0+. A Linux version is in development.
You can request a beta license for free by registering for a customer account on Insydium’s website.
It is also now possible to buy NeXus for Blender: perpetual licenses have a standard price of £140 (around $162), but are currently available at a pre-release discount.
The software will also be included as part of Fused subscriptions, which cost £390/year.
See preview videos of NeXus for Blender on Insydium’s YouTube channel
Read more about NeXus for Blender on Insydium’s website
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