Blender, the popular open source 3D software, has just been updated to version 3.1, which includes significant enhancements — particularly for Mac users. Metal GPU rendering is now available in Blender 3.1 for Macs with the M1 chip and its derivatives.
Blender 3.1 with Metal support was published as a beta version in December 2021, and it is now available to all users. Blender has never offered the option to enable GPU rendering on Macs since Apple dropped support for OpenCL in favour of Metal in macOS.
The software now works with the GPU built into the M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips, as well as the GPU integrated into the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips. Rendering times using Metal GPU rendering are up to 2x faster than regular CPU rendering, according to the Blender website.
Blender 3.1, on the other hand, utilises less memory, improves ray tracing precision, indexes asset browser libraries for faster loading, and adds 19 new nodes to the app.
On Blender’s official website, you can see all of the new features and download Blender 3.1. Metal GPU rendering requires a Mac running macOS Monterey 12.3 or later, and it only works with Apple Silicon chips and AMD graphics cards.
