17. September 2026

Krita 5.3.4 released!

17. September 2026 By admin

Krita, my favorite free and open-source paining application, has received another stability and bugfix release. Beside that, it also adds video export for Android, but also removes the old, and not maintained GIMP XCF import. So, be aware of that!

More information here:
https://krita.org/en/posts/2026/krita-5.3.4-released/

Thanks to all developers and supporters for this great project!

Happy painting,

Helge

P.S. You also can read my news about GameDesign, GameDev and open-source production pipelines on my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/pixeltrain3d

Godot Game Development courses with Helge Maus / pixeltrain
10. September 2026

Game development mit Blender & Godot Engine

10. September 2026 By admin

🇩🇪 Meine nächsten Blender und Godot Engine Grundlagenkurse in Kooperation mit der Visualisierungs-Akademie Schweiz GmbH sind nun online.

Möchtest Du beginnen selbst Games zu gestalten und zu entwickeln?
Dann sind Godot Engine und Blender eine ideale Kombination. 
Beide Tools sind frei verfügbar, open-source, leistungsfähig und gut zu erlernen. 
Egal, ob Du als Freelancer oder im Firmenkontext arbeitest.

Meine nächsten Kurstermine, online und in deutscher Sprache:

Blender Grundlagen, 15. + 16. Oktober 2026
Blender Modeling, 19. + 20. November 2026
Blender Shading & Lighting, 05. + 06. November 2026

Godot Grundlagen, 22. + 23. Oktober 2026
Godot Fortgeschrittenen, 19. + 29 November 2026
Godot Games entwickeln mit C#, 12. + 13. November 2026

Hier die komplette Liste:
👉 https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurse

🇬🇧 If you are looking for Blender or Godot training or consulting in English, please contact me.

Godot Engine Community Poll 2026
21. August 2026

Results of the Godot Community Poll 2026 are here!

21. August 2026 By admin

As in previous years, the Godot community was surveyed to gain a better understanding of its users, projects, and needs. The results of this year’s survey are now available to everyone.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetTdpj9_KESbMNPSJGHkWQZTOHioyXkGgpitgLse-PBZ6c7A/viewanalytics

For me this poll is an important cross-section of game development with Godot.

It answers questions such as:
Where do new users come from, what projects are being worked on, how many commercial projects are made, are there more commercial studios using Godot meanwhile, etc.

But of course, it also addresses questions about the further development of the engine, as wished by the community.

If you want to read more about that and also about GameArt & GameDevelopment with Godot Engine and Blender, jump over to my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/pixeltrain3d/posts/results-of-godot-167278276?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Have fun,

Helge

By the way, if you want to learn Godot Game Development with GDScript or C# or you are looking for an fast Introduction to Godot coming from Unity or another Engine, please contact me.

As a Senior trainer I am more than happy to help you in training and consulting. Even for small budgets 😉

More information: http://www.pixeltrain.net or directly per email: info (at) pixeltrain.de

Blender Kurse 2026 mit Helge Maus - pixeltrain
3. August 2026

Blender Grundlagen Training 20. & 21. August 2026 / (remote / in Deutsch)

3. August 2026 By admin

🇩🇪 Mein nächstes Blender Grundlagen Training (remote / in Deutsch) findet am 20. & 21. August 2026 in Zusammenarbeit mit der Visualisierungs-Akademie Schweiz GmbH statt. 

In diesem 2-tägigen Online-Training lernst Du Blender von Grund auf kennen.

Wir starten mit der Einführung in die Benutzeroberfläche, lernen Polygon-Modelling mit den zahlreichen Blender Werkzeugen kennen und bauen kleine Szenen.

Anschließend beleuchten wir diese mit verschiedenen Techniken (Sky, HDRIs, Lichtquellen), texturieren die Objekte und lernen den leistungsstarken Shader Editor von Blender kennen. Ein besonderer Fokus wird auf das Erlernen der beiden in Blender integrierten Render-Engines Cycles und EEVEE gelegt und das finale Rendering.

Zum Abschluss machen wir noch einen kurzen Abstecher in die Welt der Animation mit Hilfe von bewegten Cameras und rendern eine kleine Animation.

Zum Ende des Kurses bist Du in der Lage, in Blender erste eigene Projekte umzusetzen.

Ich freue mich auf Dich!

Helge

P.S. Mehr Informationen über Blender for Production oder Godot Game Development findest Du auf meinem Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/pixeltrain3d/posts

🇬🇧 My next Blender Fundamentals training (remote / in German) will take place on August 20th & 21st, 2026, in cooperation with the Visualization Academy Switzerland GmbH.

In this two-day online training, you’ll learn Blender from the ground up.

We’ll start with an introduction to the user interface, learn polygon modeling with Blender’s numerous tools, and build small scenes.

Then we’ll illuminate these scenes using various techniques (sky, HDRIs, light sources), texture the objects, and explore Blender’s powerful shader editor. Special emphasis will be placed on learning about the two integrated render engines in Blender, Cycles and EEVEE, and the final rendering process.

Finally, we’ll take a brief look at animation using moving cameras and render a short animation.

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to implement your first projects in Blender.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Helge

P.S. More information about Blender for Production oder Godot Game Development? Visit my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/pixeltrain3d/posts

Godot GMTK 2026
30. July 2026

GMTK GameJam 2026 – Godot is now everywhere! (Vol. 2)

30. July 2026 By admin

Two years ago, I wrote an article on Patreon about the annual GMTK GameJam. Title was “GMTK GameJam 2024 – Godot is now everywhere!”

“The free, open-source game engine Godot managed to climb from 19% to 37% in 2024, thus challenging the long-standing market leader, Unity”.

This year, 2026, however, was simply indescribable 🔥

Godot Engine not only overtook Unity, but did so with 47% compared to Unity’s 34%. Wow!

Some thoughts on my (free) Patreon:
👉 https://www.patreon.com/pixeltrain3d/posts/gmtk-gamejam-is-165243666?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Have fun!
Helge

P.S. Want to learn Godot? I offer remote training for companies and freelancers (www.pixeltrain.net).
You can find tutorials and publications on my Patreon.

Blender Kurse 2026 mit Helge Maus - pixeltrain
30. July 2026

Blender Modeling Training 13. & 14. August 2026 (remote / in Deutsch)

30. July 2026 By admin

🇩🇪  Mein nächstes Blender Modelling Training (remote / in Deutsch) findet am 13. & 14. August 2026 in Zusammenarbeit mit der Visualisierungs-Akademie Schweiz GmbH statt.

https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurse?software=b45db5db-1c20-4778-88f1-23f4753a12f9

In diesem 2-tägigen Online-Training lernst Du die leistungsstarken Polygon-Modelling Tools in Blender für das Erstellen von Hardsurface Modellen kennen. Zudem tauchen wir in die Welt der Modifier ein und lernen, ausgehend von Referenzen, verschiedene Typen von 3D-Modellen mit unterschiedlichen Techniken umzusetzen, saubere UVs zu erzeugen und wie ein Low- / High-Poly Workflow funktioniert.

Auch schauen wir uns die umfangreiche Blender Sculpting-Umgebung für das Hinzufügen von lebensnahen Details an und “baken” diese dann als Normal-Maps für den Texturing-Workflow heraus.

Blender ist ein ideales Tool für das Erzeugen von 3D Modellen für Games, VFX und Architektur.

Ich freue mich auf Euch,
Helge

P.S. Mehr Informationen über Blender for Production oder Godot Game Development findest Du auf meinem Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/pixeltrain3d/posts

🇬🇧 My next Blender Modeling Training (remote / in German) will take place on August 13th & 14th, 2026, in cooperation with the Visualization Academy Switzerland GmbH.

https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurse?software=b45db5db-1c20-4778-88f1-23f4753a12f9

In this two-day online training, you will learn everything about Blender’s powerful polygon modeling tools for creating hard-surface models. We will also delve into the world of modifiers and learn how to implement various types of 3D models using different techniques, starting with references, creating clean UVs, and how a low-poly/high-poly workflow works.

We will also explore Blender’s powerful sculpting environment for adding lifelike details and then bake these as normal maps for the texturing workflow.

Blender is an ideal tool for creating 3D models for games, VFX, and architecture.

I look forward to seeing you there,
Helge

P.S. More information about Blender for Production oder Godot Game Development? Visit my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/pixeltrain3d/posts

Godot Engine Community Poll 2026
20. July 2026

Godot Engine Community Poll 2026

20. July 2026 By admin

It’s that time of year again – the annual Godot Engine Community Poll is online:
👉 https://godotengine.org/article/godot-community-poll-2026/

Especially in a community-driven project like the open-source Godot Engine, it’s crucial to understand the user groups, their needs, and the challenges they face. Regardless of whether they work on AAA games, indie games, or as hobbyists. Or even outside of games themselves …

Only then can the developers and, of course, the maintainers make the right decisions how to further develop this project in the most effective and community-friendly way possible. Furthermore, it allows us all to identify trends in user behavior, technologies, and applications.

Therefore, it’s important that as many Godot Engine users as possible participate in this (anonymous) survey.

And for those who would like to see how the users and the use of the Godot Engine have evolved over the past few years, you can find the analyses for previous years here.

GODOT Community Poll 2025
👉 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKWGJoLEeNW1qrsDfZRfk7gHultapacH5ZhQmo9XRZADW1IQ/viewanalytics

GODOT Community Poll 2024
👉 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1eicOppRQG2RFZ8CjIGFf5Kha5yklO854fV8-YFtlWxk/viewanalytics 

GODOT Community Poll 2023
👉 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXRE1nF64PUilO6fA7Pevh2lWukJtpdBvc2_A3fGfuciy-gQ/viewanalytics

Have fun,

Helge

P.S. More news about “Blender for Production” and “Godot Game Development for Indies” on my (free) Patreon:
https://patreon.com/pixeltrain3d?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

The screenshot is from the game Stackflow - A game by Cauê Ferrareto
16. July 2026

First Maintenance Release: Godot 4.7.1

16. July 2026 By admin

Just one month after the release of Godot 4.7, the development team has now released the first maintenance release with more than 78 fixes and improvements: Godot 4.7.1. This will make project work more stable and is therefore recommended for all 4.7 projects.

Work on the next release, Godot 4.8, is progressing in parallel rapidly.

As always, the versions for GDScript, C# Mono, and the export templates can be downloaded directly here:
https://godotengine.org/article/maintenance-release-godot-4-7-1

Thanks to all the developers, testers, and of course, everyone who supports this great project.

P.S.: The screenshot is from the game Stackflow – A game by Cauê Ferrareto

Godot CSharp tutorial by Helge Maus / pixeltrain
8. June 2026

My first “C# Development in Godot” tutorial is released!

8. June 2026 By admin

Today I’ve published my first tutorial of my new series “C# Development in Godot Game Engine” on my Patreon:

👉 https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-c-in-godot-160421061?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

In this tutorial, I explain how to set up an working development environment for Game Development with Godot Engine and the C# programming language.

Have fun,

Helge

Helge Maus May 2026
31. May 2026

May 2026 & beyond!

31. May 2026 By admin

Dear Followers,

A creative break of almost a month, combined with a tour through three countries – that’s how Karin and I spent this years May.

I visited my “old homeland” in the Westerwald region of Germany, we traveled along the Rhine, then we went to Graz in Austria to visit family and dear friends.

We experienced buzzing city life and the green Styrian countryside.

To top it all off, we treated ourselves to a week’s beach vacation in Bibione (Italy) before the holiday season started.

It was an exhausting but also very joyful and inspiring time, which we spent together with Bailey and Mickey in various locations and Airbnbs.

Now I’m back in office and I also have some new stuff coming shortly:
First of all the DevLog#3, but also some tutorial capturing is planed for the near future.

I will release these tutorials mainly on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/pixeltrain3d

Enjoy!

Helge, Karin, Bailey, and Mickey