Blender is making strides towards tablet integration, focusing on user interface and experience improvements for devices like the iPad Pro. Initial development targets object manipulation, sculpting, and Grease Pencil workflows, with a tech demo slated for SIGGRAPH 2025.
Blender is expanding its horizons beyond the traditional mouse and keyboard setup, with a significant push towards full integration with tablets and multi-touch devices. The goal is to bring the complete Blender experience to platforms like the Apple iPad Pro, Microsoft Surface, and Wacom MovinkPad, adapting the software to suit platform-specific paradigms and offering task-oriented user interfaces.
Design Overview
The development team is carefully considering the design implications of using Blender on a tablet. The primary audience remains existing Blender users, with no intention of simplifying the software for newcomers. Instead, the focus is on making Blender fully accessible to artists who require pen devices for specialized tasks, those who use tablets as their main devices, or those who need Blender on the go. According to the official announcement, initial efforts will concentrate on basic object manipulation and sculpting, followed by Grease Pencil and storyboarding.
Tablet UX Challenges
The team acknowledges the unique challenges presented by standalone tablets, including single full-screen window workflows, limited screen real estate, optional keyboard/mouse use, multi-input interfaces, limited processing power and battery, and siloed file systems. These limitations are driving the design of a more streamlined and efficient user experience. According to the official Blender blog, the aim is to provide a consistent experience across devices, so that working on a desktop with a graphics tablet feels similar to working on a standalone tablet.
Mockups
Early mockups illustrate how Blender’s UI could adapt to a single-area environment, with temporary context available through floating regions. While this approach deviates from the non-overlapping design paradigm, it strikes a balance between providing sufficient workspace and quick access to essential editors. These mockups are exploratory and subject to change as development progresses.
Object Manipulation
One mockup demonstrates kit-bashing using an asset library, showcasing the ability to view files prepared on a desktop while on the go. This demo features a custom application template, a wheel menu window overlay, icon-based sidebar tabs, and quick access to the Outliner and Properties Editor in the 3D Viewport.
“Object Manipulation Demo” via code.blender.org.
Sculpting
Another mockup explores single-window mesh sculpting, with collapsed menus, a helper overlay with curated shortcuts, and a floating tool panel. Tool-specific settings are displayed in the floating Tool panel, while mode settings/options have been moved to the sidebar.
“Sculpting Demo” via code.blender.org.
Development
The development roadmap involves implementing new core features while designing a custom application template tailored for devices like the iPad. Many usability improvements will benefit the desktop version, including a Quick Favorites editor, helper overlay with curated shortcuts, icon support for sidebar tabs, and togglable sidebar tabs (already in Blender 5.0 alpha). Tablet-specific features will include multi-touch events and gestures, handling multiple active editor/regions, a wheel menu, and an interactive status bar.
Tablets and iOS
Development is taking place in a separate branch, and developers with experience in this area are encouraged to contribute via chat.blender.org or DevTalk forums. iOS-specific contributions are particularly welcome, including building Blender, touch event and gesture support, file system/iCloud/AirDrop support, and OpenSubdiv.
Next Steps
A tech demo will be available at the Blender booth at SIGGRAPH 2025 in Vancouver, showcasing Blender running on iPad Pro. A workshop will follow at Blender HQ in Amsterdam to revisit the current design and workflows. Live demos may also be presented during Blender Conference 2025.
Blender’s move towards tablet integration promises to open up new creative possibilities for artists on the go. By addressing the unique challenges of tablet computing and designing intuitive multi-touch workflows, Blender is positioning itself to remain at the forefront of 3D creation tools. You can read the full announcement here.
