[Goo Engine] 4.3.2 now exists...with NEW GOO FEATURES!

We’ve done it again!

Another HUGE mid-month update for everyone, including a special bonus teaser at the end.

Since our last update, our dev team has been working hard to make Goo Engine compatible with Blender 4.3. This new version is one of our biggest updates in a while, and features our very own Amethyst rig on the splash screen!

NEW GOO ENGINE FEATURES:

• GreasePencil 3.0 - With Goo Engine updating to 4.3.2, it now has Grease Pencil 3.0! But we also had Goo Engine specific Grease Pencil features that we needed to port over. And we got those working, as well!

  • Context-based GreasePencil sculpt mode smoothing for Thickness and Strength modes

  • Randomize options feature in the Texture Mapping modifier.

  • You can read about these in the Goo Engine 3.6 patch notes

• New Goo Engine Nodes - Added the Twirl, Light Info, Water Ripples, and Hex Grid Texture nodes to the Goo Engine Nodes Menu.

  

  • Twirl Node - Creates fully procedural twirl textures for your convenience

  

  • Light Info - Can select a single light object to read Color and Power as flat values. NOTE: is not currently compatible with keyframed Color or Power values, and will glitch a bit while changing values in the light itself. But otherwise works as intended.

  

  • Water Ripples - A useful procedural animated texture that simulates Water Ripples, Water Flow, and Water Caustics without any dynamic simulation!

  

  • Hexagon - A fully procedural hexagon repeating texture that function similar to the Brick texture node. Gives multiple options for the generation pattern.

  

• OKLab Color Ramp - Added a special OKLab Color Ramp node to the Converter Nodes Menu. This mixing algorithm gives a much cleaner transition between colors.

  

  • NOTE: Adding OKLab color space to Blender’s own node would risk versioning, as well as other potential issues, so we intentionally made this a separate node.

• Material and World Overrides - You can now select material and world overrides per view layer, replacing all shaders with a single shader. Useful for render passes without having to duplicate geometry!

• Scene Camera Drop Down - This option can now be found in the top bar for convenience!

• Transparency Toggle - This setting is usually hidden away in the Film settings, but only affects whether the World shader renders out. So, it's now located in the World Tab for easy access!

• Topology Mirror - We added a button for Topology Mirroring ( T ) next to the X/Y/Z Axis Mirroring buttons. It's an already existing feature that's normally tucked away in the options menu, so we added it here for convenience.

And, of course, all other 4.3 features that were added in native Blender! Feel free to read up on those patch notes!

We’ve Fixed:

• Updated Assets Library - Restored lost icons, libraries, and submodule versions during updating

• Bug Fixes - Various bug fixes that were reported by the Goo Engine community!

We’re Working On:

• Mac Compatibility - Mac users, please stick with Goo Engine 4.2 for now! A separate post will be made when the Mac version is ready.

Due to Eevee Legacy deprecation, future builds beyond 4.3.2, Goo Engine will get harder and harder to update. But Blender 4.5 and 5.0 both have some incredibly powerful NPR tools, and we’re still in communication with the main branch team about implementing the features our style needs in vanilla Blender builds in the future. In the meantime, we’re excited to watch you dig deep into this latest version of Goo Engine and create the best possible anime-style shading that you can!

Download Goo Engine 4.3.2 now!

As a bonus to celebrate the release of Goo Engine 4.3.2, this month’s Crew Animator Stream will be all about Goo Engine 4.3! Wyatt, our compositing lead, will be diving into this new version and using it to comp Mira’s Soul Mart animation from last month. Download the update, try out the new features, and come to the stream with your questions! This stream will take place exclusively on Discord at 8PM CT on Thursday, October 23rd.

Oh, and we have one last surprise for you all 👀 

We’re bringing back our KATSU CATS series as a way to dig deeper into the animation pipeline over on the Professor Goo second channel. Curious if you can guess what fight we’re adapting first... 🗡️🌀🐻‍❄️

That's all for this update! Don't forget to tag us on Twitter/X and Instagram if you give Goo Engine 4.3.2 a shot, and report any bugs to the #bug-reporting channel in Discord. We can't wait to see what you make!