Blender 1.x Theme for Blender 5.0
Because I needed to know, I was curious how similar you can theme modern Blender to look (and behave!) like Blender of the 90s. Turns out, somewhat??
The Theme and Font
Get the theme file here: .zip you can drag and drop into blender | .xml you install from the preferences
Get the font here: B180.ttf, then set it as the Interface Font in Preferences -> Interface -> Text Rendering
With those two things in place, your interface should already be looking pretty retro:
The Retro Visuals (optional)
Blender didn't have antialiasing in the viewport in the 90s, so let's turn that off:
- Viewport -> Quality
- Viewport Anti-Aliasing: No Anti-Aliasing
- Uncheck both Smooth Wires boxes
Next up is getting a studio light that mimics the solid shading of old: B18x.sl
Then there's some per-viewport settings you may want to set for the full effect:
- Viewport Shading -> ☐ Outline
- Viewport Overlays -> ☑ Origins (All)
- Viewport Overlays -> ☐ Outline Selected (optional)
With those in place you should be getting this kind of look:
The Retro Behaviors (even more optional)
These will fuck with your muscle memory and overall enjoyment probably but I'm listing them for completeness
- Interface -> Accessibility -> ☑ Reduce Motion
- Interface -> Editors -> Temporary Editors -> File Browser: Maximized Area
- Viewport -> Display -> 3D Viewport Axes: Off or Simple Axes
- Editing -> Objects -> New Objects -> Align To: View
- Editing -> Objects -> New Objects -> ☑ Enter Edit Mode
- Editing -> 3D Cursor -> ☐ Surface Project
- Editing -> Annotations -> Default Color: semitransparent black
- Animation -> F-Curves -> Default Handles: Automatic
- Navigation -> Orbit & Pan -> Orbit Method: Trackball
- Navigation -> Orbit & Pan -> ☐ Auto Perspective
- Navigation -> Orbit & Pan -> ☐ Auto Depth
- Navigation -> Zoom -> Zoom Method: Continue
- Keymap -> Blender 27x
- System -> Memory & Limits -> Undo Steps: 0 (lmao don't actually)
Trivia