Blender Conference 2026: Android port, OpenPBR, physics nodes and BSL shading language detailed

The Blender Conference 2026 brought together over 700 attendees from more than 50 countries in Amsterdam this September, with 126 speakers delivering more than 100 hours of presentations. Blender HQ representatives contributed over seven hours of technical content now summarized on the developer blog. Key presentations include Jonas Holzman's ongoing work to port Blender to Android with a downloadable demo APK; Sebastian Herholz and Weizhen Huang's introduction of OpenPBR, a new surface shading model designed for cross-application consistency; Simon Thommes's walkthrough of new physics nodes for custom simulation setups in Geometry Nodes; and Clément Foucault's explanation of the Blender Shading Language (BSL), a custom solution to replace fragmented vendor shader compilation with a fast preprocessor. Additional talks covered compositor roadmap updates, animation layer development for Actions, design prototyping with the open-source Penpot-based Blender Design System, code refactoring principles, GPU draw call internals, and color science fundamentals.

What Blender developers revealed at BCON26

• Android port: Jonas Holzman demonstrated an in-progress Blender port to Android with multiple use-case demos; a BCON26 Demo APK is available for download and testing.
• OpenPBR material model: Sebastian Herholz and Weizhen Huang presented OpenPBR as Blender's upcoming surface shading model, designed to maintain consistent material appearance across different applications and improve team collaboration.
• Physics nodes in Geometry Nodes: Simon Thommes introduced brand-new physics nodes that enable building custom physics simulations from scratch within Geometry Nodes, with multiple methods for controlling the simulation.
• Blender Shading Language (BSL): Clément Foucault detailed BSL, a custom shading language migration targeting fragmentation, code duplication, and slow runtime compilation across graphics APIs; a custom fast preprocessor addresses vendor shader compiler performance issues.
• Animation layers: Sybren A. Stüvel, Christoph Lendenfeld, and Nathan Vegdahl covered progress on introducing animation layers to Actions, alongside broader Animation & Rigging module updates.

Why it matters

The Android port and downloadable demo APK signal Blender's expansion into mobile and tablet workflows, potentially broadening access for artists in regions where desktop hardware is less available. The OpenPBR and BSL initiatives address long-standing pain points in cross-platform rendering consistency and shader compilation performance, directly benefiting studios running mixed-software pipelines and developers targeting multiple graphics APIs. These developments reinforce Blender's position as a comprehensive, open-source alternative to proprietary 3D tools.