I have been thinking about using Blender 2.49 and 2.5 to work on some big projects. Then i thought whether Blender was capable of such things and whether it had all the necessary features because Blender is a freeware and according to myexperience, you don’t get a lot from freeware (except Open Office and a few others). So can you tell me a few things about Blender? Thank You.
depends on what your project entails dude…
blender is a 3d application and can do practically anything some of the more expensive apps like 3ds max can do.
“except Open Office and a few others.” Blender definitely falls in the “few others” category. Calling it “freeware” is a bit of an insult because of the connotations of lameness associated with that word – “Open Source” is much more accurate, and it also includes the concept of “free” as “not encumbered” as well as no cost.
Take a look at the many examples of both still renders and movies done with Blender, and if those don’t convince you that the capability is there, then you’re not willing to be convinced.
I have to say, I’m relatively new to Blender, having spent several years doing NO 3D stuff rather than try and decipher it. Once I did steel myself to understand it, I realised what a waste that had been. It can do practically everything 3DSMax could do when I was at uni, it just has a more roundabout way of doing some of those things. Lets face it, a project like Blender, if it can’t do something, there’s at least one person in the world working out how to make it do just that!
Look around here for its capabilities, Blender.org, blendercookie.org, blendernewbies, heck even do searches on google or your favorite search engine if it isn’t google and look for Blender 3D related stuff. Some of it will be good, others will be bad, but that’s the way it goes with all software when the end user is included in the mix. I come from (and still use) commercial software, and I have to say that Blender is a strong contender in many areas. Blender had its start as a “commercial” app for game development and since then has evolved into something pretty robust, and it’s still growing. You can find the history of Blender on blender.org
That being said, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by Blender, or by the third party software that has been developed for use by or in conjunction with Blender. Trust me on this. The images on this site when you first enter should be one indication of its capabilities, other than that, watch these videos on the net… Just search for:
Elephant’s Dream
Big Buck Bunny
Sintel
And there are more that weren’t done by the Blender Foundation that are really good. It’s good for large scale projects, but just how good isn’t clear and depends on the people using it. Blender is a tool and like all tools, if a person doesn’t know how to use it effectively, it won’t work well. Given time and practice, and becoming acquainted with Blender changes a lot.
'nuff said.