It is now available to download and install the third update of the current branch of Blender 2.8x, this being the new version "Blender 2.83" which is special, because it is a version with long term support (LTS). Therefore, this version will have updates and bug fixes for two years.
In total Blender 2.83 presents about 1,250 corrections, support for importing OpenVDB files, OpenXR support, eliminating noise directly in the work view using the cycles rendering engine thanks to NVIDIA OptiX, a rewrite of the Grease Pencil, EEVEE engine improvements, performance improvements and video sequencer improvements.
What's new in Blender 2.83
This new version of Blender Introduces Initial OpenXR Support for Virtual Reality, which is limited by the ability to inspect 3D scenes using VR headsets directly from Blender. The support is based on the implementation of the OpenXR standard, which defines a universal API for creating virtual and augmented reality applications, as well as a set of layers for interacting with computers that summarize the characteristics of specific devices.
Another important novelty of this version is the introduction of NVIDIA OptiX, un noise reduction algorithm For lightning track renderings (such as those produced by Cycles), you can work on your scene, without any extraneous noise.
On the part of the animation toolset, 2D Grease Pencil has received a rewriting and integration enhancement in Blender, as well as in performance. More specifically, you can now use your way of handling Grease Pencil objects as if they were models. Also, each path can now have as much color as you like.
Meanwhile in Cycles is now possible to preview the different steps of a rendering. At the moment, this functionality supports ambient, normal, depth (fog), and underpass occlusion. In addition, transparent materials with volumes (eg lights) can now be used.
Also, this version of Blender 2.83 offers new improvements in the sculpting functionality. Now You can set the proportion and shape of the sculpting strokes to create regular patterns. Also, you can use two planes at the same time to create steep edges between the two planes.
The topology can be changed by following the movement of the brush. Also now can combine the masks, the effect modifiers have been rewritten to be more flexible and faster, and fast movements give better visual results. In the end, this rewrite has doubled performance with many Grease Pencil object files.
Obviously, the "Grease Pencil" tool has also received improvements. In particular, new path modifiers have been added. It is also possible to create a polygon from a path.
But that is not all, the global user interface has also received improvements, including adding a backup solution when clicking outside of a gizmo or even adding gizmos in the UV coordinate editor.
On the rendering engine side EEVEE, now it is possible to make the rendering pass composition, just as we would in Cycles. Also, the reflection probes cache is now stored in cube maps and no longer causes artifacts. The normal high settings can be used to reduce problems in dense models and the hair geometries now support transparency.
This version 2.83 offers performance improvements: rewinding is much faster, sculpture mode has a new option to reduce the number of graphics window updates, collisions in fabric simulations are five times faster.
The video sequencer has also received significant improvements, especially in the user interface and has a new toolbar that makes it easier to use and allows performance improvements. There will be a new cache on disk, preview opacity and audio in segments, better handlers to control segments.
Finally if you are interested in being able to obtain the new version, you can do it from the following link