Been a member here since Dec 2009 starting with 2.49b. Blender is the only 3d program I have used.
I have been interested in trying my luck with 3d modeling for quite some time but was always concerned my 45 year old brain wouldn’t be able to handle it!
Life in general keeps me pretty busy so my blending time is a few hours here and there so my learning curve is a slow gradual one. Maybe some day I can reach the level most of you have!
i first installed blender back in… 2006 but didn’t really use it much, because it was - in my estimation - butt-ugly. Looking back… i can only say that my commitment just wasnt there. So i was a bit promiscuous with other packages until 2010 (most of those years were not spent modeling at all), February.
Now i’m really digging blender 2.5+ for various reasons, one of them being the pricetag, another being the community and the python integration.
I first downloaded it in 2007 but did not start using it seriously until late 2008 so it puts me at about a year and a half.
I found out about it on the forums of other software where it was talked about a lot. I’ve been learning how to use it mostly with the online manual and some tutorials here and there. And of course this great forum.
I first downloaded Blender last summer. As I was continually reading and researching in my ongoing effort to improve as a Graphic Designer, I learned that some of the effects and graphics I was admiring in print work were created using 3D software.
I found Blender through my researching different 3D packages and since I couldn’t afford the other programs, I decided to dig into Blender. I’ve since found it to be a very good solution for creating 3D graphics and even prefer the updated 2.5x UI to most of the other 3D programs.
I think the reputed difficulty of learning Blender is a misnomer. From what I’ve read here on the BlenderArtist forums, most new Blender users are also new 3D users. Learning how to navigate, model, texture, light, render, animate, composite, and sculpt all in 3D space is very difficult to do; especially since a new 3D user won’t even know that most of those are even necessary. I can’t imagine that Blender is all that much more complicated than 3DStudio Max or Cinema4D to learn if you have an understanding of general 3D principles.
I learned about Blender in german magazine c’t, when they had a small article about the linux version being released for free. I actually installed Linux for the first time just to try it out (I had always been very interested in 3D Software, ever since Videoscape3D on Amiga, and Blender sounded awesome for a free program). So, looking at the Blender History, that must have been Version 1.30 or at least one of the 1.3x versions in 1998. The company name was still “NeoGeo (not the gaming console!)”.
Getting something done wasn’t easy but as it’s been so long ago I can hardly remember my first steps and/or frustrations now… There was a simple forum on the NeoGeo site where the NeoGeo people, including Ton, were posting hints and tips and shortcuts. I think that was the only source of Blender knowledge at the time and it was REALLY helpful. Every new post was an eye-opener.
I have used Blender ever since (scrapped Linux though when the Windows version was released), but only sporadically and for little personal projects. But it’s always been a lot of fun.
A few years after I learned Maya back in 2005 I was facing the very real and very expensive reality of non academic licenses. One of my favorite professors at the time was getting into the open source movement and was teaching students all about it. I can still remember learning that there was a open source 3D application, it was amazing. That was 2007 which makes me 3 years young… man, 3 years… I need to make more stuff.
I was searching for a free 3D design tool and I found Blender 2.49. I have been using it for around six months now.
Hehe, late 2006 I downloaded it… Means I was 10 
anyways, didnt really use it till about that time the next year…
I have been using Blender about 3 years then! wow… 
I first tried it in mid 2006, I found some things to be confusing (I think I pressed the indicated keys for edit mode in object mode, and such), lost interest. Then in early 2008 gained interest once again, and has kept going.
first played with it around 2001
no documentation
no tutorials
looked cool but gave up, other stuff I needed to do
about 18 months ago I ran across a video on youtube showing simulation of a fluid man
awesome!
tried again and now it’s a whole new deal
software is mature and plenty of docs and educational material
one of the neatest tools I’ve ever found
Dave
2.31 was the first time i did anything “for real” in blender
“in my day this site was called elysiun…”
Don’t worry too much about it! 
I’m twelve years older than you and even i know that quite few things in 3D will no more be at reach to me, they is still a bucket of nice fun to get out of any creativity!
I downloaded my first blender around 1999/2000 ( where it still was owned by NanN) and had no idea what to do with it.
I tried again 7 years later and seriously started in the beginning of 2007 and until now this journey has been full of rewarding experiences. It opened up a world I always wanted to be a part of.
When I started I had the goal to make my first short in a 10 year time frame, and as it turned out I started earlier and hopefully I will be finishing it in the next 6 months.
And, btw, currently I am 47.
I jumped in at the 2.4x series - probably around 2.48 I think (~Jan. 2008?). I’d tried Max, Maya, Softimage and Sketchup before, of which only the last made some sense to me. The site I used to buy tutorials for Flash off (CartoonSmart) suddenly offered a course on getting started with Blender by John Nyquist.
I decided to give 3D one more chance and I’m glad I took it! I followed on the tutorials with SMCs and a learning project of modeling a house. Then along came David Ward’s Youtube channel and Blendercookie and here I am. =) I’m currently 19 years old.
I do post-production for TV commercials. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff using After Effects.
In 2005 or 2006, don’t remember exactly, I begun to look for some free or cheap 3d app just to add some simple 3d elements to my commercials. Found blender, watched some tuts, created some simple stuff and now I’m into it for good. It makes me 4 or 5 years old…
Don’t know any other 3d software. At the beginning I didn’t treat 3d seriously. It was just an “Add-On”. After some time I realized that I do it “professionally”. I dare to say so because I have clients who come back to me.
… and I’m 37…
1000 years old (to answer your subject title)
I started using Blender in the office at my family’s pizza shop (Jaymo’s Pizzeria…R.I.P.) in the late 90’s. I was stumped. The interface had me feeling like I’m piloting a space ship without any training. I made simple 3D images, but left it alone for a few years. In that time I messed around with TrueSpace…discovering I could create even less than I did with Blender.
Off and on I messed around for a few years. Then in 2004-ish I got serious about Blender and starting learning how to use it for animation. I’ve got stories and this seems to be the only too available to me (legally) to get going on them.
So here I am, animating my own shorts as a hobby. Also I work at a record label (Syntax Records) which also has a design company (Syntax Creative). I’m not the main designer, but when I do help, it’s because I know how to use Blender and try to include it in the workflow whenever possible.
My personal work: http://shanenewville.deviantart.com
My personal YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/shanenewville
Syntax Records: http://www.syntaxrecords.com
Syntax YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/syntaxrecords
Syntax Creative: http://www.syntaxcreative.com
Since before it was open source. But with a couple of pauses.
I think 2.46? I would give you a date, but i can’t access blender.org.
Anyway, i was looking for a free 3d modelling program to create 3d models so i could mod freespace 2.
I searched my ISP’s file library and it came up with blender and gmax. I downloaded gmax, but it asked for a key. At that time i had a sparse (and precious) 200mb of downloads, so i could only download off of the file library. Since gmax asked for a key, which i had to go outside the unmetered zone, i decided to go download the other one.
I still haven’t finished many projects, but i’m getting there.
Haven’t started using 2.5x, as the keyboard shortcuts are too screwed up for me. I have gotten very good at repetitive tasks involving the a, b, c keys. Poor circle select, i always loved you when you were just bb.
Long Story beware
My friend who lives in Italy was a AMV editor [Anime music video].
His name was AlucardX or something like that i forgot.
Anyway we were having a talk about this AMV called “auriga” by Nostormo.
There was a beginning scene that had these 3D tvs, we were talking about how he did it.
And he said "i think he used a program called “Blender”.
I was like “what is that”. He said “a 3D program”. I said “is it free?” he said “Yeah”
I was like :D.
[I later found out that the 3D tvs were from the anime]
So i downloaded it and was like :eek:
So i forgot it for like 3 months.
I then watch super3boys tutorials.
Then other various tutorials on the web.
Slowly i became more avid with it.
Downloaded: March 2008
Started: June 2008
Frequently used: jun 2009
Human Age:15
Now im making stuff like this
