Back in 1995, when Blender was still an unknown in-house
application at a Dutch animation studio, few could have
imagined just how big the software would eventually become.
Over the past 18 years the free and completely open-source tool has
grown beyond all expectation, standing now as one of the most
exciting and forward-thinking content-creation platforms out there.
And:
Blender really is a tool created by artists, for artists. Not only is it
free, but the whole program is malleable; changed and improved by
the community itself. The Blender Foundation – established to oversee
and cultivate the development of Blender – is one of the most reactive
developers out there, ensuring every new release of the software
comes with the alterations and additions requested by users.
It’s for all of these reasons and more that we decided to swing the
spotlight onto Blender for this bumper 25-page special.
I don’t know that it really has much to do with Autodesk anyway. You kind of have to be able to walk the walk to have enough stuff to talk about for 25 pages, and obviously Blender does.
I think recognition like this has much more to do with the great work the Blender devs do rather than what Autodesk doesn’t do.
It is not fanboy-ism, it is just that, as Adobe move is making people look around for alternative 2D programs, the ever worsening behaviour of Autodesk is making people look around for 3D alternatives.
People don’t change because something else is better, they change because the have to.
My hope is that new users coming from Autodesk world will provide stimulus for the development of Blender thru script contributions and money donations.
B.t.w., have you noticed that on CGTalk Blender is no more a tabu subject?
Blender can use all exposure it can get. Some industry proffesionals already use it for personal projects mostly. Rest assured Blender has friends in high plces.
Maybe we can turn this into a little project. Creating a list on BA with all commercial studios that use or have used Blender as their primary software (both in general and project-wise). I know at least one which is Fabdesign.info (featured in 3D World), they created the Yellow Ribbon animation for MagnaLab.
Great to see a Blender Special in 3DArtist at long last…
Anyone else had problems rendering out the “FighterJet_Scene” supplied on the disc to accompany the tutorial in the mag. Keeps crashing out (CPU and 16GB Ram) and can’t figure out why. Tried turning off layers etc but no joy!!!
What makes Blender worthwhile now is the community and the efforts of the Blender Foundation to make it more accessible to users of other packages.
Keyboard re-mapping and Max’n’Maya presets are very much welcome. Yes, it still requires a bit of adjustment but it does make things a lot easier to add Blender to ones tool kit.
And the Blender community has helped in tackling the documentation issue. Trying to learn Blender, at first, is frustrating because the way it does things is radically different from other packages - one naturally expects it to work in a similar way. Its only when one hits that brick wall and says “Okay…so what IS the idea behind Blender’s way of working?” is any progress made. Books like “Blender for Dummies”, youtube videos, forums and the online manual are what make learning “The way of the Blender” so much easier.
And now there is the Blender Network. Wow! I think the only thing left to suggest to the Blender Foundation is maybe a joint venture with the UK’s Open University to present a nine month module that includes all-round Blender basics and a primer for Python, in its computing program. There is definitely an opportunity to be had there, and I know there are a lot of students there who would jump at the chance. Hell, I’ve already got a degree in computing and I would jump on it!
