See the proposed dev schedule for Blender 2.8
Mainly bugfixes for a year, then a major update in 2016 - which may not be 100% backwards-compatible.
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015
renderer
Download PRMan for Blender
Free alpha plugin headed up by Pixar's Brian Savery lets Blender users render using RenderMan 20.
Friday, July 10th, 2015
Pixar ships RenderMan 20
Latest update adds Denoise option for raytraced renders, new Visualizer view for debugging complex scenes.
Thursday, July 9th, 2015
Luxion unveils KeyShot 6
New video: next update to the renderer to add node-based material system, interior lighting, region rendering.
Tuesday, June 9th, 2015
Chaos Group releases V-Ray for 3ds Max 3.20
New video: Service pack adds new VR cameras, GPU-based texture baking, option to render fluid sims.
Tuesday, June 9th, 2015
Solid Angle releases Arnold for Cinema 4D
C4DtoA plugin lets Arnold render "most Cinema 4D features", plus scenes created using TurbulenceFD or X-Particles.
Tuesday, May 19th, 2015
Andrew Hazelden releases PlayblastVR for Maya
Dover Studios co-founder's previz renderer outputs images in panoramic VR formats, or as 360° YouTube videos.
Tuesday, April 28th, 2015
Otoy releases OctaneVR
Updated: Get a free three-month trial of Otoy's renderer for VR content, plus Blender and Poser plugins.
Tuesday, April 28th, 2015
The Foundry announces Modo 901
Price of an individual licence up $300, but MeshFusion comes free. See the new modelling, UV and rendering tools here.
Wednesday, April 8th, 2015
Pixar makes RenderMan free for non-commercial use
Use for tools development is fine too. Ships with Maya and Katana plugins; Houdini and C4D to come.
Tuesday, March 24th, 2015
Nvidia launches Iray 2015
GPU-based renderer gets support for instancing, AxF material format. New Maya plugin and server edition also in development.
Monday, March 23rd, 2015
DNA Research ships 3Delight for 3ds Max 2.0
RenderMan-compliant renderer used on Elysium now available for 3ds Max. The first licence is free.
Thursday, March 19th, 2015
E-on software releases LumenRT VIZ for free
New non-commercial edition gives SketchUp users free access to e-on's real-time rendering system.
Thursday, March 12th, 2015