Current Release

• 2026.13 July 14, 2026
  -change (dkulp) Render jobs now suspend and reschedule instead of blocking threads,
  reducing the thread pool to roughly CPU+GPU core count and lowering
  memory use on large sequences
  -enh (charlie) Effect Symbols: define a reusable effect once and link any number of
  effects to it; editing one propagates to all linked effects. Symbols
  round-trip through .xsq with a “Convert All Symbols to Effects” escape
  hatch for compatibility export (#2671)
  -enh (scott) Windows: experimental Vulkan preview rendering backend (model preview,
  sequencer grid, waveform, color canvases), switchable via Preferences >
  Other > “Preview graphics”; defaults to OpenGL with automatic fallback
  -enh (dan) Linux: Vulkan preview rendering backend with X11 and native Wayland
  surface support; new “Auto” default picks Vulkan only when OpenGL would
  fall back to software rendering (llvmpipe)
  -enh (dkulp) Linux/Windows: GPU-accelerated rendering (Vulkan) for blur, rotozoom,
  transitions, layer blending and most effects, mirroring the Metal
  backend on macOS; enable via Preferences > Other > GPU rendering
  -enh (dkulp) macOS/iPad: Shader effect now renders natively on Metal (GLSL translated
  to Metal via SPIR-V and cached); set XL_NO_NATIVE_SHADER=1 to force the
  OpenGL fallback
  -enh (dkulp/scott) Linux/Windows: Shader effect now renders natively on Vulkan (GLSL ->
  SPIR-V via glslang); falls back to OpenGL when Vulkan is unavailable
  -enh (dkulp) GPU/SIMD rendering for additional effects: Tree, Shimmer, Candle
  (per-node), Wave, Garlands, Fill, Life, Twinkle, and Meteors
  -enh (dkulp) Galaxy effect: faster per-pixel rendering method (ISPC/Metal/Vulkan)
  -enh (dkulp) Galaxy effect: blend passes now scan only the bounding box instead of the
  whole buffer, up to ~5x faster on large 2D models
  -enh (dkulp) Much faster saving of large .fseq files via multi-threaded zstd
  compression
  -enh (dkulp) Add headless render mode (–headless -s ): renders
  sequences to .fseq with no window, then exits
  -enh (cybercop23) Effect Presets track unsaved changes independently; preset-only edits no
  longer mark the RGB effects file dirty
  -enh (alex) Tools – Test: defer controller connection until a model/port is selected,
  eliminating startup delay; re-resolve hostnames on demand for controllers
  that were offline at startup
  -enh (daryl) Recall the last directory used in Open Sequence and Save Sequence As
  dialogs (#3107)
  -bug (daryl) Undo of a Model Set move now restores every member of the Set, not just the grabbed prop (#6681)
  -bug (daryl) Mark the layout as needing a save when aliases are added
  -bug (charlie) Fix app hang when changing a color to a gradient/color curve on an effect
  linked to an Effect Symbol (deadlock in symbol propagation)
  -bug (daryl) Fix Align To Closest Timing Mark doing nothing when both ends of an
  effect are closest to the same mark (#6659)
  -bug (daryl) Fix Align To Closest Timing Mark creating impossible effect overlaps
  (#6652)
  -bug (cybercop23) Fix crash configuring a 3D Servo model when servo count is increased
  (#6663)
  -bug (cybercop23) Fix “Copy Layers/SubModels to Models” for submodels with trailing empty
  layers (#6647)
  -bug (dkulp) Fix crash cancelling or failing a model download/import with a malformed
  .xmodel (double-free)
  -bug (dkulp) Fix crash in 3D layout preview after deleting a model (stale cached
  model list)
  -bug (dkulp) Fix crash closing the Key Bindings editor with an uncommitted property
  edit
  -bug (dkulp) Fix crash clicking “Render All” while a sequence is closing
  -bug (dkulp) macOS: fix crash after deleting a model while a property-grid combo
  popup is being torn down (wxWidgets fork fix)
  -bug (dkulp) Metal: fix crash when the GPU refuses a texture allocation (memory
  pressure or zero-sized image)
  -bug (dkulp) Windows: fix crash rendering Shader effects after a GPU device reset
  (WDDM TDR)
  -bug (dkulp) Linux: fix random startup crash from Moving Head panel adding its Color
  page to a notebook twice (use-after-free)
  -bug (dkulp) Fix non-deterministic Meteors effect rendering (threading race in
  overlapping trails)
  -bug (dkulp) macOS GPU: fix layer blending ignoring CPU-computed transition masks,
  causing wrong/non-deterministic transitions
  -bug (dkulp) Fix non-deterministic rendering with “Per Model” buffer style (race
  reading effect settings during parallel member renders)
  -bug (dkulp) Fix non-deterministic rendering of groups containing a nested group plus
  its own members (race on shared channels)
  -bug (dkulp) Fix “Random” value/color curves re-randomizing on every render instead
  of producing stable results
  -bug (dkulp) macOS GPU: fix non-deterministic Blur output (replaced MPS tent filter
  with deterministic compute kernel)
  -bug (dkulp) macOS GPU: fix RotoZoom X/Y rotate writing past buffer bounds into
  adjacent layers, causing run-to-run corruption
  -bug (dkulp) macOS: fix Video effect occasionally dropping frames or choosing
  different frames per render; playback is now frame-exact
  -bug (dkulp) macOS GPU: fix non-deterministic Canvas layer output when group nodes
  share a buffer pixel
  -bug (dkulp) macOS GPU: fix non-deterministic Rotate/Zoom output when multiple source
  pixels map to the same destination
  -bug (dkulp) Fix non-deterministic Twinkle effect when twinkling by node on groups
  with shared buffer pixels
  -bug (dkulp) Fix non-deterministic Kaleidoscope effect (Square/Triangle) rendering
  -bug (dkulp) Fix headless render not honoring the “Use GPU For Rendering” preference
  -bug (dkulp) Fix Galaxy effect rendering extremely slowly on very wide/short buffers
  (e.g. “Single Line” render style)