Changelog

Virtual Cam preview and connection recovery

Virtual Cam now waits for a decoded preview image instead of treating a loaded webpage as a live view. Changed stream ports, reconnects, app resume, and WebView failures retire the old viewfinder; late callbacks cannot make a replacement look ready before it receives an image.

The Blender add-on checks delivery for each viewer separately. A stalled MJPEG connection can recover without depending on browser image-load events, while an unchanged but healthy camera view does not trigger repeated reloads. Network interruptions are distinguished from a paused Blender viewport. Status requests are bounded and deduplicated, and a hidden preview releases its stream and stops polling.

The phone can reopen a failed native UDP socket for the paired PC, without replaying camera commands. Invalid stream ports keep the last working address. Pairing listens for the first reply before sending its request.

Install Virtual Cam add-on 1.1.3 for the preview-server changes and accept the compatible Virtual Cam OTA update for the phone fixes. No new APK is required for supported existing runtimes. Keep Blender open with its camera viewport visible; minimizing it still pauses capture by design, without falling back to desktop capture.

The controller animation, demos, startup animations, controls, and design are unchanged. Render Control and Camera Pad are not changed by this release.

More reliable live previews and downloads

Render Control now writes Android downloads to a temporary file one validated chunk at a time, rather than holding the entire render or video in memory. Brief connection failures retry the missing read without starting the whole transfer or video encode again. Retries are bounded; changed pairings and missing or changed files are not retried automatically.

Gallery permission is checked before downloading an image. Partial downloads are cleaned up, previous saved files remain protected, and browser downloads avoid an unnecessary whole-file copy. Download progress updates only when its displayed percentage changes.

Failed automatic saves no longer acknowledge a pending power action as ready. The app requests cancellation and reports if Blender cannot be reached to confirm it. Cancelling or skipping the download retires its pending completion so it cannot advance the power sequence again. A lost connection still requires checking the PC if cancellation cannot be confirmed.

Render Control add-on 1.36.4 retries failed preview/status pushes and refreshes cached frames on reconnect. Separate animation frames still stream when their rendered pixels are identical. Registered downloads check file identity, size and modification time, including before and after each chunk read, to reject a file overwritten during transfer.

Repeated identical preview pushes no longer rebuild the phone’s film buffer. Malformed preview envelopes and invalid dimensions are handled without replacing a valid frame with malformed transport data.

The design, 3D controller animation, interactive demos, and startup animations are unchanged. These Render Control app changes use the compatible over-the-air update flow; no new APK is required. Install Render Control add-on 1.36.4 for the PC-side fixes. Virtual Cam and Camera Pad are unchanged in this pass.

Reliable downloads and gentler settings controls

Render Control checks every transferred chunk before saving a video or original render. Incomplete transfers report an error instead of saving a broken file. Saved document downloads keep earlier files with the same name, and failed temporary writes are cleaned up. Switching PCs prevents an older multi-step operation from sending its next command to the newly selected PC.

Preview images without frame numbers now play in arrival order. Real negative Blender frames stay distinct from those unnumbered previews and show their actual frame label.

Virtual Cam settings distinguish vertical scrolling from a deliberate horizontal slider adjustment. Scrolling past a control no longer changes it, while tapping or dragging horizontally still works as before. The camera controls and controller mappings are unchanged.

Render Control add-on 1.36.3 keeps exported image sequences in numeric order even when frame numbers exceed their filename padding. An incomplete encoder setup reports a failure instead of producing a frozen video. Invalid frame-rate values fall back safely.

The website was checked at phone, landscape, desktop, and enlarged-text sizes. The design, 3D controller, interactive demos, scroll choreography, and startup animations are unchanged.

The app changes use the existing compatible Android over-the-air update flow; no new APK is needed for this pass. Install Render Control add-on 1.36.3 for the PC-side export fixes. Camera Pad and the Virtual Cam add-on are unchanged.

Native reconnect cleanup

• Reconnecting retires the old network receiver instead of leaving a closed-socket thread running in the background.
• Temporary Blender server restarts can recover on the current socket, and replies are accepted only from the selected Blender address.
• Scene and camera names containing semicolons or escaped quotes no longer split a reply into incomplete messages.
• The design, startup animation, controller mappings, scene adaptation, and live view remain unchanged.

This native fix requires Virtual Cam 1.1.1, Android build 8. Install it over the existing app; do not uninstall first. The separate OTA connection fixes remain available to older compatible installations. Native update prompts still wait for a fresh, idle launch and your confirmation; they do not interrupt a connected session. No Blender add-on update is required.

Cleaner reconnects and PC switching

• Render Control: late replies from a previous PC cannot overwrite the current connection, revoke the wrong pairing, or stop the replacement polling loop. Disconnecting cancels in-flight HTTP requests and prevents new commands through the stopped connection.
• Virtual Cam: malformed replies are ignored instead of marking the connection live. A new session clears stale lens, timeline, and stream state; rapid stream-refresh notifications are no longer lost.
• Preserved: the website design and wording, 3D controller animation, phone-only opening, separate demos, startup animations, control mappings, and update safety remain unchanged.

These app fixes are available through Settings → Updates on compatible Android installations. No Blender add-on update is required for these fixes.

More dependable saved settings

• Render Control: simultaneous preset saves and recent-render records no longer overwrite one another. Malformed saved entries are skipped safely. Storage failures show a retry message instead of pretending a preset was saved or deleted; failed reads do not replace your saved collection.
• Virtual Cam: settings writes stay ordered, the latest committed settings are flushed when leaving the app, and failed writes can retry on return. Existing settings, control behavior, and scene adaptation are preserved.
• Camera Pad 1.1.4: a Linux joystick reporting an empty or incomplete packet is treated as disconnected, rather than continuing to use its last stick position.
• Website: the current phone layouts, screenshot viewer, interactive demos, and 3D controller sequence were checked again without redesigning them.

The visual design, product wording, 3D controller scroll animation, phone-only opening, separate demos, and startup animations are unchanged. Compatible Android installations receive the app fixes through Settings → Updates; Camera Pad requires a separate add-on update. The Render Control and Virtual Cam Blender add-on versions are unchanged.

Queue and controller reliability

Render Control keeps failed files selected after a partially successful batch. Closing its file picker or changing PCs stops further unsent batch requests, and late responses no longer close a newly opened picker. Already-sent jobs are not cancelled. Repeated taps cannot submit the same configuration twice, and old camera lists cannot replace the current file’s settings.

Virtual Cam ends a touch gesture when its control is disabled or removed. Late layout measurements no longer replace the bounds of a newer control. The controller bindings, scene adaptation, focus controls, and transparency settings are unchanged.

Camera Pad 1.1.3 handles fast stop/start and controller startup failures more cleanly. Disconnecting restores temporary focus and clears movement acceleration; reconnection no longer treats an already-held recording button as a new press.

On the website, restricted-storage browsers still respect the system theme. Keyboard users can leave the mobile navigation without leaving its menu over the page. The 3D controller scroll animation, phone-only opening, interactive demos, startup sequences, and product wording remain intact.

The two Android app fixes arrive through the existing over-the-air update flow on compatible installed versions. Camera Pad requires its add-on update. The Render Control and Virtual Cam Blender add-on versions have not changed in this release.

Smoother controls and more dependable editing

• Render Control app: folder retry returns to the folder you requested. Switching jobs or PCs no longer lets a late camera-list response replace the current editor. If a replacement job is added but the old job cannot be removed, the queue now explains what happened.
• Virtual Cam app: smoother slider movement without per-frame layout changes, safer restoration of saved display settings, and keyboard dismissal while scrolling Settings.
• Virtual Cam add-on 1.1.2: lens keyframes can be deleted even when the camera has no movement animation. Left/right deletion keeps the current frame and unrelated channels. Update errors include a retry action.
• Render Control add-on 1.36.2 and Camera Pad 1.1.2: confirmations before stopping a render, unpairing a phone, or resetting controller mappings. Copying an unavailable pairing code now explains the problem.
• Website: the enlarged demo keeps the page behind it still; closing it preserves your place. Demo drags and reset confirmations clear when you leave the relevant view. Keyboard shortcuts leave form controls alone.

Compatible Android installations receive the app changes over the air through Settings → Updates; the APK version number does not change. Update the Blender extensions separately, then restart Blender. Reload the website or browser app for their changes.

A smoother opening for both apps

• Render Control and Virtual Cam: a paced logo reveal, soft warm light, then the name and status lamp before a clean cross-fade into the app. The normal sequence takes about 1.8 seconds; reduced motion keeps the shorter, still opening.
• Virtual Cam: startup text stays readable on its dark launch background even when the app is set to light mode.
• Website demos: the same startup timing now comes directly from the apps’ shared animation score. Replay remains available, and the animation does not loop while you browse.

These are over-the-air UI changes for compatible Android installations, not a new APK version. The native launch screen, alarm-launch skip and offline safety limits remain intact. Update checks do not hold the Virtual Cam startup.

Easier setup, searchable settings and better phone browsing

• Both Android apps: find settings by name or topic, with a clear way to reset the search. Your existing settings and scene calibration stay intact.
• Render Control: simpler pairing, explicit scan retry after a failed connection, camera fallback, clearer offline queues, and folder filtering. Slow file responses no longer replace a newer selection. Bottom-tab labels have more room on small screens; the browser app explains web updates instead of showing APK-only controls.
• Virtual Cam: copy the connection link in Blender and paste it into the address field to fill both connection details. Reset now confirms what changed.
• Blender add-ons: Render Control 1.36.1 exposes encrypted pairing links during first-time setup. Camera Pad 1.1.1 groups controller, recording and movement settings, with clearer active-camera requirements. Virtual Cam 1.1.1 keeps phone connection status visible when the server section is folded.
• Website: notch-safe navigation, less header flicker during phone scrolling, a better short-landscape layout, and a non-sticky walkthrough when the screen or text size cannot fit it comfortably. Both interactive demos remain available.

Compatible Android installations receive the app changes through the existing in-app update system. The APK version number does not change for an over-the-air UI update. Install the new Blender extension versions through Get Extensions or your download page, then restart Blender.

Adding a second device now works

• You can pair more than one device again. Adding a second phone, tablet or the web app used to offer only the 6-digit code, and a device paired that way could not actually control your PC once another device had been paired by scanning. The Blender panel now shows the QR code whenever pairing is open, so every device you add connects the same way your first one did.
• Devices that cannot scan get a link instead. The web app on the same PC has no camera, so the panel now has a Copy Pairing Link button. Paste that link into the app’s pairing screen and it connects with full end-to-end encryption, exactly as scanning would.
• Every device is encrypted. Extra devices are no longer the weaker option: they get the same protection as the first, rather than falling back to a connection your PC would refuse.

Update in Blender (Get Extensions ▸ refresh), or download the add-on again from your purchase page. Update the phone app too, so it accepts the pairing link.

Pairing is quicker and more reliable

• The pairing code on screen is always the current one. Regenerate now updates it instantly, so scanning works first time.
• Your paired devices are listed in the panel, with a Pair Another Device button for adding a second phone or tablet.
• Pairing recovers on its own if Blender is closed or restarted midway through setting up a device.
• The 6-digit code switches off once you are paired, and comes back for 10 minutes whenever you ask for it, so it is never guessable while you are not using it.
• Blender no longer pauses while the add-on refreshes your code.

Update in Blender (Get Extensions ▸ refresh), or download the add-on again from your purchase page, then restart Blender.

Alerts that reach a closed app, clearer status, frame recovery

• Render alerts now arrive even when the app is closed. If Android shut the app down mid-render, whether you swiped it away or it was closed to free up memory, your phone still gets an alert the moment the render finishes or fails. Phones paired by QR are end to end encrypted, so their alert stays deliberately vague. The details fill in when you open the app.
• One status indicator instead of two. The connection line and the render state have merged into a single colour and icon. If your PC cannot be reached, the app no longer claims to know what it is doing.
• Get your frames back if the app missed them. When a render finished while the app was not running, the preview screens now offer Download from PC. Your render PC turns the finished frames into a video and sends it over, so you are no longer told there is nothing to download while a finished sequence sits on your machine.
• Downloads always serve the newest build. The download link picks up a new release straight away instead of possibly handing out an older cached one.

Install the 1.3.0 APK from your purchase page. This one is a new build, so it is a download rather than an automatic update.

One note for testing alarms: Android’s Force stop button puts an app in a state where the system delivers it nothing at all. That is how Android works, not a fault in the alarm. To test, swipe the app away instead.

Denoising control, faster camera picking, smarter alarms

• Denoising, per render. The app’s Advanced settings gain a Denoising control. Force Cycles denoising on or off for a single run, or leave it on the file’s own setting. No more re-opening the .blend just to flip one checkbox.
• Camera picking no longer hangs on heavy files. Choosing a camera for a queued .blend used to spin forever on big scenes; the app now waits as long as the read genuinely takes, and your PC remembers the answer per file, so the second look is instant.
• Failed renders sound different. A failure alarm now shows why it failed (the actual error from Blender), turns red, and buzzes with its own urgent pattern, so you can tell success from failure without looking.
• Permissions that ask up front. The app requests notification permission on first open, and enabling the wake-up alarm walks you straight to Android’s full-screen-notification setting.

Update the add-on from Preferences ▸ Get Extensions, then restart Blender. App changes arrive automatically.

Pairing and storage hardening

• Your pairing code is no longer always on. It used to stay guessable for as long as Blender was open, even when you weren’t pairing anything. Now it is live only while you are actually pairing: before your first device, or for 10 minutes after you press Pair Another Device in the Blender panel. Each code is also genuinely single-use now.
• Credentials moved into your phone’s secure keystore. The token that controls your render PC and the key that encrypts your traffic are now held in the Android Keystore / iOS Keychain instead of ordinary app storage, and are no longer included in cloud backups.
• Plain-HTTP connections to the internet are refused. The app will only send your pairing token over an encrypted connection.
• Faster Blender panel. The License section was re-checking your key on every redraw, which made the panel feel sluggish. It now checks once and remembers.

Update the add-on to 1.22.3 (Blender offers it automatically if you added the update repository), and install the latest Android app from your purchase page. Existing pairings keep working, so there is nothing to redo.

A sharper-looking app

• The app now looks like Render Control. The phone and web apps use the same typefaces as this site, so headings, labels, and readouts all read in one voice instead of the generic system font. Numbers and live readouts keep their monospaced instrument look.
• A proper welcome screen. The first screen you see now carries the Render Control mark and a cleaner layout, in place of the old placeholder dot.
• Includes the wake-up alarm and the multi-window fix from the releases below.

Download the latest Android app from your purchase page, or get it here. It installs straight over your current version.

A steady view when several Blender windows are open

• One window connects at a time. If you had two or more Blender windows open, each one connected to your phone as the same PC and they took turns describing it, one mid-render and one idle, so the app’s preview and progress blinked out about once a second. Render Control now picks a single window to do the talking; the others quietly stand by and say so in the Render Control panel.
• Automatic hand-off. Close the connected window and another open one picks the job up on its own, within a few seconds. Nothing to click.
• Steadier during long frames. The hand-off keeps working even while a frame is rendering and Blender’s interface is busy.
• In the app: the live preview film no longer resets on a brief connection blip, and if the app ever does see two windows competing it now tells you which fix to apply instead of just flickering.

Update from Preferences ▸ Get Extensions, then restart Blender.

Wake-you-up render alarm

• Full-screen wake-up alarm (Android). Turn it on and Render Control keeps watching your render in the background. The moment it finishes or fails it wakes your phone and takes over the lock screen with a full-screen alarm you dismiss with one tap. It works exactly like a morning alarm: rings even when the phone is locked, dozing, or on silent, so a long overnight render can actually wake you.
• Audible + vibration alarm. The alarm loops your chosen tone (Chime, Bell, Beep or Alarm, set in Settings) and buzzes until you tap Stop, on silent too.
• Smoother, more accurate live timing. Elapsed time and ETA tick smoothly and stay correct regardless of any clock difference between your phone and your render PC.
• Cleaner loading. Stats that are still loading show a gentle shimmer instead of a bare dash.
• Plus reliability and security hardening under the hood.

Smoother connections, lighter monitoring

• Reconnects after a network drop or relay maintenance are now spread out and much gentler, so the connection recovers quickly without hammering the network.
• Hardware monitoring on the render PC is lighter: GPU stats are sampled every 2 seconds instead of twice per second, freeing CPU for your render. CPU and RAM stay at half-second resolution.
• APK and demo-video downloads are faster, resumable, and served from the edge.

Licensing and AMD support

• License keys: your purchase now issues a signed license, shown once on the purchase page and pasted into the add-on preferences. The add-on panel shows license status.
• Licensed auto-updates: add the Render Control repository in Blender with your license as the access token and updates install like any extension.
• AMD and Intel GPU telemetry alongside NVIDIA: utilization, VRAM, temperature, and power where the hardware reports it.

The clean console redesign

• Phone and web apps redesigned in the light “clean console” style with dark device screens for previews and graphs.
• The web app installs as a PWA and works great on iPhone (guide).
• Per-GPU hardware graphs with gauge and history views, power actions for the render PC, and frame download/export.