Blender an open-source 3D graphics software, has been making waves in the animation, visual effects, and gaming industries. Developed by the non-profit Blender Foundation based in Amsterdam, this software has come a long way since its inception in the mid-90s.
Blender began in 1995, a Dutch software developer and art director Ton Roosendaal started working on a 3D software project called Traces for an animation studio in Amsterdam. Over the years, this project evolved into Blender and was eventually released as open-source software in 2002.
With continued development, Blender has undergone many updates and improvements. In 2007 the release of version 2.5 featured a new user interface and improved animation tools, a new particle system, and support for the Open Shading Language. Now the latest version of Blender 3.3, added geometry nodes or some refer to it as geo-nodes, an asset library, and improved performance in their rendering engine Cycles.
As someone who started using Blender 2.78 back in late 2016, I found the initial interface challenging. However, with the release of Blender 2.8, I experienced major improvements, thanks to its new user interface and the ability to quickly model up 3D objects. There are tools I just love, modifier which allows for quick and in some ways non destructive allowing for more creative freedom for us artist. With each update, Blender always has exceeded my expectations.
Blender has also been used to create several award-winning films, including the short film Elephants Dream, and the animated feature The Dam Keeper. Major Hollywood films such as The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia have also used Blender in parts of their production, as well as television shows like Doctor Who and Game of Thrones for their visual effects.
The future of Blender Foundation has a number of goals, these include improving the user experience, expanding its toolset for more possibilities and allowing for artist freedom to be creative. When I heard from watching their conference, they aim to make rigging a simple process in the future is something I'm really looking forward to, especially since rigging is so complex.
Blender has come a long way since the mid-90s and is already quite popular among many artists, independent game studios and small film production houses. With its continuous updates and improvements, I believe Blender will have a bright future and best of all this software is free.
You can download Blender from their website and you can use it for free forever!
Link: blender.org
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