Release notes

2.6.4 - released 28.07.2026

macOS hotfix — the definitive fix for the "framebuffer stack depth 16" session-killer.

fixed:

  • macOS: sky updates no longer share GPU state with EEVEE's live sampling path. On Apple GPUs the sky now publishes through the same CPU path final renders have always used, so Blender's Metal image-texture machinery can no longer leak framebuffer slots and take down the session. Windows and Linux are unchanged.

improvements:

  • Practical trade-off on Apple GPUs only: sky updates cost tens of milliseconds instead of ~3 ms, and motion reprojection is disabled (the view re-marches instead) — a slightly less snappy sky in exchange for sessions that no longer die.

2.6.3 - released 28.07.2026

The responsiveness release: quality switches drop from seconds to a blip, the status bar narrates the heavy stages, and macOS sessions that used to die at "framebuffer stack depth 16" now diagnose themselves and keep Blender alive.

improvements:

  • Quality switches are ~5x faster (measured heavy-tick wall time ~2.9 s → 0.6 s, after the earlier shape-volume fix): the cloud light grid rebuilds in the background while the old grid keeps lighting the scene, and texture uploads skip a slow Python-list conversion on Windows.
  • The status bar narrates heavy work ("Compiling sky shader…", "Baking cloud light grid 12/32…") — and predictably heavy updates announce themselves one frame early, so the message is actually visible during the freeze instead of after it.
  • MS Multiplier defaults to 2.0 — the Hillaire multiple-scattering LUT reads better at 2x.

fixed:

  • macOS: sessions could still hit "Maximum framebuffer stack depth 16" through silent leaks the earlier counter never saw. Every framebuffer bind now verifies the GPU state it restores; a detected leak is logged with its exact source, and the sky stops safely at 8 lost slots — Blender survives. Please report those console lines if you see them.

2.6.2 - released 28.07.2026

Hotfix for a Windows crash in 2.6.1, plus the first responsiveness work and two cloud-shading refinements.

fixed:

  • Windows: crash when switching Quality (also possible on other platforms): the sky renderer could touch a live image texture while EEVEE was still rebuilding its world probe. The guard now waits for two completed viewport redraws instead of a time window.

improvements:

  • Live status feedback: heavy pipeline stages (shader compile, shape-volume bake, light grid, LUTs, full bakes) now announce themselves in the status bar and as a small text label riding the mouse cursor in the viewport.
  • Cloud shape volume is disk-cached: baked once per machine, then quality switches load it back in a fraction of a second (measured 12.3 s → 0.05 s). The cache invalidates itself when the noise shader changes.
  • Quality presets only write what changed — no more redundant shader/texture/probe rebuilds when a preset re-applies values that were already set.
  • Ground bounce reworked (was splotchy and missed the lit undersides): cloud bases receive fuller physical ground visibility — undersides get twice the previous bounce; tops are unchanged.

2.6.1 - released 28.07.2026

A stability release for two field crashes, plus the first wave of post-2.6.0 sky physics.

fixed:

  • Linux: a hard crash from the GPU safety check is fixed.
  • macOS: repeated display hiccups could eventually take down all of Blender. The add-on now stops its own sky pipeline first and asks for a restart, and Blender itself stays alive.
  • Switching Quality presets no longer risks a crash.
  • The setting sun is no longer cut off early above the horizon, and aerial cameras no longer show a sharp sky seam (both with refraction enabled).

improvements:

  • Fresh scenes now start at Normal quality (was Low), with Exposure (EV) at 5.0.
  • The cirrus and rain cloud layers start disabled in new scenes while they are being reworked.
  • The Rendering Settings section, with its Quality presets, now also appears in the Scientific layout.
  • Deep twilight looks better: the dark wedge fills with scattered light and the banding in the high sky is gone.
  • The bundled weather snapshot was refreshed.

prototypes / research:

  • Atmospheric Refraction — physically modeled bending of light in the air: the horizon rises, distant terrain looms, and the sun flattens as it sets, all driven by your scene's air pressure and temperature. One checkbox on the Atmosphere tab turns the whole suite on. Off by default while it collects feedback.
  • Cloud Shading models — a Model dropdown in Cloud Shading with three looks: the new default KSA (a clean, production-proven reference look), the fully tweakable Hybrid (PSA2), and Octave MS. The hybrid and all its knobs remain one click away.
  • LUT Multiple Scattering (Hillaire) — an alternative, film-industry-standard way of computing the sky's multiple scattering, available as a toggle on the Atmosphere tab.
  • Baked Ground Shading (experimental, Scientific layout) — a fully shaded planet surface with water glints, coastlines and night lights, folded straight into the sky.

2.6.0 - released 27.07.2026

The biggest release since the cloud system landed: a foveated sky pipeline that puts render-resolution detail where the camera looks, a ground-up rework of cloud light transport validated against Cycles path tracing, and the toolkit that made that validation possible.

new:

  • Foveated Sky — the sky is now rendered at full resolution where the camera is looking, while a lighter version keeps feeding lighting and reflections everywhere else. Sharper skies in the viewport and in renders, without paying the full cost for the parts you don't see. A new Sky Resolution setting (Full / Half / Quarter) controls how sharp that view is.
  • Cloud lighting, validated — every part of the cloud lighting was compared against Blender's Cycles path tracer, and the parts that disagreed were replaced with measured ones. Ambient light on clouds now comes from the actual rendered sky, so dawn golds and overcast blues finally match reality. Deep cloud interiors darken naturally while rims stay bright, giving real cumulus their bright-core, dark-outline character.
  • More control over cloud shadows — Shadow, Indirect and Out-Scatter depth are now independent sliders instead of one compromise value. The "Cloud Phase" section is now Cloud Shading, with the related controls grouped together.
  • Ground-truth toolkit — for the curious: render any lighting component alone (Isolate Light), view clouds without atmospheric haze (Raw Clouds), or bake the exact procedural clouds into an OpenVDB volume and render them side by side in Cycles.

improvements:

  • Quality presets redefined — all five rows (Potato to NASA) now set everything: resolution, steps, lighting quality, anti-aliasing and temporal features, in one click.
  • Physical defaults — out of the box the lighting is now physically correct with no boost multipliers. The defaults match the release hero scene.
  • Rendering Settings reorganized — a clearer Resolution section, sampling folded in, and the overall Quality preset always visible in the header.
  • White balance presets named by scene — "5600 K (Daylight)", "4000 K (Sunset)", "2000 K (Candlelight)" and friends.
  • Smooth motion everywhere: camera movement shows full-resolution content that refreshes continuously, and the image converges to clean anti-aliased quality the moment you stop.

fixed:

  • The final anti-aliased image now appears on its own in EEVEE, without needing a nudge in the UI.
  • Striping artifacts on cloud decks are gone.
  • Stutter while orbiting the camera is fixed.
  • Reflective materials no longer show a seam from the high-detail sky region.
  • The experimental "Blend Objects into Atmosphere" compositor toggle is temporarily disabled while it catches up with the new sky pipeline.

2.5.3 - released 24.07.2026

new:

  • Live Reflections — reflections can now follow the moving clouds automatically (off by default, as each refresh costs a little), plus an Update Reflections button for one-shot refreshes.
  • Cloud Time Scale — one slider for the speed of all cloud motion. 0 freezes the sky completely, negative values run it backwards.

improvements:

  • Cloud rendering got roughly 20% faster in its heaviest stage.
  • The five separate Rolling toggles are now one switch: Rolling Updates (reprojected).

fixed:

  • Animation renders no longer crash at high anti-aliasing settings.
  • Cloud shadows on your scene now animate during renders instead of freezing on the first frame.
  • Clouds no longer drift out of place in camera view and renders at wide aspect ratios.
  • Rolling updates no longer silently stop working until the file is reloaded.

2.5.2 - released 22.07.2026

The first public release of Physical Atmosphere². 🎉

new:

  • A complete, physically-based sky: atmosphere, sun, moon, planets and stars, live in the viewport.
  • Volumetric clouds in three layers (low, mid, high) plus a rain layer, each with its own coverage, shape and lighting controls.
  • Real weather: generate cloud coverage maps from live GFS forecast data for your scene's location, date and time.
  • Earth mode — pick a real place, date and time and get the true sun, moon, planet and star positions. Or use Artistic mode and simply drag the sun and moon where you want them.
  • Three interface layouts: Simple (one screen, no science), Advanced (the full working set) and Scientific (every knob).
  • Camera-style exposure (EV or aperture/shutter/ISO), white balance, and optional compositing that blends your 3D objects into the atmosphere.
  • Cloud shadows on your objects, object shadows in the atmosphere (god-rays), quality presets from fast preview to final render.
  • Ships as a Blender extension for Blender 5.2+.