Blender 4.3

https://www.blender.org/download/releases/4-3/

by antome • 2 years ago

241 111 2 years ago

blender.org

TOMDM• 2 years ago

Blender continues to be an inspiration and aspiration for open source.

Huge congrats and thank you to everyone who contributed.

stevage3• 2 years ago

It's really puzzling (but extremely welcome) that Blender continues to be such an open source success story. Seems rare for such complex pieces of software in a niche space to get that level of development. I wonder what the secret is.

greenknight• 2 years ago

What really kickstarted their development... was the introduction of the Blender Development Fund -- https://fund.blender.org/

They made tiers, made it simple and easy, and promoted it.

Before the fund really was pushed... they were getting about 5,000 USD per month to develop it... Now it is sitting at 215,000 USD per month.

More money = More developers. More Developers = Better product.

Yes it didnt happen overnight that increase, but it was slow and steady.

iamgopal• 2 years ago

tell me more or write a blog post.

prox• 2 years ago

And apparently only 2% percent (according to their ad) donates. I wish people would be more in the “giving back” spirit. If you can afford a designer coffee, throw that money to the Blender Fund!

I donate yearly, and its worth it.

diggan3• 2 years ago

What really kickstarted their development... was the introduction of the Blender Development Fund -- https://fund.blender.org/

Before that, I'd say open sourcing the project is what really gave it a second wind.

If I remember a talk correctly by Ton Roosendaal, the company behind Blender development went bankrupt and development stopped for a while, as it was closed-source at that point. Eventually, he started a fundraiser to get funds to re-acquire Blender and open sourcing it (the goal being 100K EUR or something) which was successful and made Blender into the open source project we know today :)

jasode• 2 years ago

What really kickstarted their development... was the introduction of the Blender Development Fund [...]
More money = More developers.

There was actually another "kickstart" before that kickstart.

Blender's open-source timeline has a very unusual history in that it was a commercial product funded by €4.5 million in VC capital. Those original investors lost their money by selling in a "down round" to a 2nd set of investors. Those later investors also then lost their money by selling back the source code for a discount of 100k EUR to today's non-profit Blender organization.

https://docs.blender.org/api/htmlI/x115.html

One of the reasons (but not the only reason) that other examples of open-source projects like ... Gimp lagging Photoshop, or FreeCAD not being as polished as Fusion360/SolidWorks ... is those tools never had millions in investor money paying the salaries of 50 developers to kickstart them. E.g. FreeCAD has a non-profit fund but it doesn't attract the same mindshare as Blender did in 2002: https://www.google.com/search?q=freecad+non-profit+fund

Just because Blender started a fund doesn't mean any open-source project can also just "start a development fund" and attract the same level of donations. Blender has some extra history and circumstances in the timeline of "cause & effect" that a random open-source project can't easily replicate.

Blender circa ~2002 had a level of mindshare + evangelism + momentum that most open-source projects do not have. Those ingredients have to be there first to help attract donations to the fund.

exitb2• 2 years ago

At the same time, I'd expect it should have its Linux-moment by now and eat the world, but it doesn't seem to be the case for high profile productions.

flohofwoe10• 2 years ago

In a way, Blender has eaten the world, it's just very hard to replace an existing and highly customized 3D production pipeline across hundreds or thousands of seats in an existing business. But I bet everyone has created an Autodesk exit-strategy by now and is waiting for an opportune moment to realize it.

Using Blender for a video game production is entirely normal now, but was unthinkable 15 years ago, and starting a new game company which depends on Autodesk tools instead of using Blender is quite foolish tbh.

psychoslave• 2 years ago

Not sure what you mean with Linux-moment exactly, but Blender is sitting rather in a niche need compared to Linux which sit just above the hardware. So in that sense, Blender can’t have a Linux moment: it won’t be deployed in most servers, it won’t be embedded in a mission to Mars…

flohofwoe10• 2 years ago

Autodesk monopolizing the 3D tooling ecosystem and having entered an aggressive 'customer milking phase' via an overpriced subscription model about a decade ago played a very important part.

swiftcoder3• 2 years ago

Yeah, I think this is definitely a good part of the driving force behind Blender's more recent successes.

That said, Adobe has been doing pretty much the same thing in all their spaces, and it hasn't spurred open-source competition in the same way (though plenty of proprietary competitors have been boosted by it)

DonHopkins• 2 years ago

Outstandingly excellent leadership who attracts and inspires an extremely skilled dedicated international team. Ton Roosendaal is the open secret, who's earned all that great credit, reputation, and loyalty over the decades.

BLENDERHEADS - Ep.07

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8A59Jtluxw

Enjoy the seventh episode of Blenderheads, a series about the people behind the Blender project. In this episode, we follow the process around Blender's showcase named Project Gold, by ‪@BlenderStudio‬ . The editor and director –documentary maker Maaike Kleverlaan– works embedded in the Blender headquarters to cover the activities and conduct interviews.

xiaomai• 2 years ago

What's the best way to get started with Blender these days? I'm mostly interested in making art and possibly even 3d printing some stuff (do these skills overlap at all?).

klysm• 2 years ago

Depends on what you want to 3D print. If you’re going for functional parts, then you probably want a CAD package rather than something like blender. If you want to 3D print art than by all means blender is your friend

tritiy• 2 years ago

Donut tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0J27sf9N1Y&list=PLjEaoINr3z...

As for 3d printing there are other software which is simpler if you need to do simpler things. But you can not go wrong in learning Blender for 3d printing as well.

KeplerBoy3• 2 years ago

I'd say that depends a lot on what you want to print. Some people might be able to use Blender for technical parts, but for most people traditional CAD software would be the better choice here.

salviati• 2 years ago

This post from three months ago discusses the donut tutorial (a famous blender course) and another one I've never heard about.

https://old.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1eekomd/beginner_d...

I think to get an expert answer on the topic you'll need to listen to what a beginner has to say, so I believe the link I provided is a good source to look into.

Tomte2• 2 years ago

CG Boost‘s apple basket course (free) or their Blender Launchpad course (cheap).

countrymile2• 2 years ago

I've been running Blender training for 17 years and Grant Abbitt is what we normally suggest:

https://www.gabbitt.co.uk/course-filter/beginner

timonoko2• 2 years ago

Best way is to steal somebody else's model and improve it to your taste. That is the main use of Blender in 3D-printing, because parametric modelling is not the best property in Blender. Although it is almost feasible to define OpenSCAD model and ask AI to redefine in blender-python.

Hey ChatGPT, how you define an empty box in Blender Python?

  import bpy 
  empty = bpy.data.objects.new("Empty_Box", None)
  empty.empty_display_type = 'CUBE'
  empty.empty_display_size = 1.0
  bpy.context.collection.objects.link(empty)

timonoko2• 2 years ago

It seems to be "empty" in name only. Lets try again.

ChatGPT: The OpenSCAD statement difference(){ cube(11); cube(10); } creates a shape by subtracting a smaller cube (10x10x10) from a larger cube (11x11x11). Here's how you can create the same effect in Blender using its Python API:

  import bpy 
  import bmesh

  # Create the larger cube 
  bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(size=11, location=(0, 0, 0))
  cube1 = bpy.context.object

  # Create the smaller cube
  bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(size=10, location=(0, 0, 0))
  cube2 = bpy.context.object

  # Add a Boolean modifier to subtract the smaller cube from the larger cube
  mod_bool = cube1.modifiers.new(name="Boolean", type='BOOLEAN')
  mod_bool.operation = 'DIFFERENCE'
  mod_bool.object = cube2

  # Apply the Boolean modifier
  bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = cube1
  bpy.ops.object.modifier_apply(modifier=mod_bool.name)

  # Remove the smaller cube from the scene
  bpy.data.objects.remove(cube2)

gebar3• 2 years ago

I am a 3D (jewelry) artist & goldsmith who specializes in 3D printable models and sculptures, 99% done in Blender.

You might want to check out my Youtube channel for some free tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@PhialoDesign

Or classes on Skillshare:

Here is one of my most successful classes, a complete workflow "From Sketch to (printable) Model": https://skl.sh/3219zVE (from 2020 but still 100% doable with current Blender version!)

Or my "Blender for Absolute Beginners" class that is a bit more recent, a thorough introduction to Blender and creation of a simple 3D printable bird :) https://skl.sh/3xw8S77

(Both links give you a one month free trial of Skillshare, and you can watch the intro video without logging in)

You may also buy my beginners course directly here: https://gesa-pickbrenner-s-school.teachable.com/p/learn-blen...

Cheers :)

wolframhempel• 2 years ago

Blender, in my view, is one of the best arguments to develop native desktop applications over web view wrappers like Electron. Everything is responsive and instant, you can open new 3D view windows by just sliding them open at 60 frames a second, performance is stable even with multiple windows open and the download size is a reasonable 334MB.

cultofmetatron2• 2 years ago

and the download size is a reasonable 334MB.

I remember when it was 2 MB!!

ideasman42• 2 years ago

I remember downloading it from my library on a floppy disk (hoping the librarian wouldn't hear it the floppy drive working - since it wasn't allowed). :)

It's in fact still quite small if additional 3rd party libraries are disabled.

It's possible to make a much smaller download that removes OpenCollada, FFMPEG, OpenEXR, OpenImageDenoise, OpenVDB ... etc. However it's a hassle to distribute a second version at a time when the current size is manageable for most users.

flohofwoe10• 2 years ago

It notably doesn't use any 'standard' UI framework though, which is frowned upon by some people just as much as using Electron (but for different reasons - usually missing accessibility features and not looking consistent with 'system applications').

jbggs• 2 years ago

I think that's the smoking gun for why most UIs are terrible. it is definitely cheaper to use a framework, but maybe, sometimes, doing something yourself (for 25+) years is worth it

InDubioProRubio• 2 years ago

Should be separated out and reused by many Electron apps in my opinion

bzzzt• 2 years ago

As if there's still a consistent option. It doesn't matter if you use Microsoft, Apple or an OSS desktop: all offer multiple UI toolkit options with varying amounts of consistency, maturity and hardware support.

geenat• 2 years ago

It's not a web view

flohofwoe10• 2 years ago

That's what the parent is saying, I also had to read twice though ;)

lukan• 2 years ago

Electron apps can be very responsive as well. But a 3D designer is definitely in the category of needing all the performance you can get. So yes, native makes sense here.

aurareturn3• 2 years ago

Blender, in my view, is one of the best arguments to develop native desktop applications over web view wrappers like Electron.

Different class of products.

For Electron apps, often it's the choice of having a desktop app or not having one at all.

McDyver• 2 years ago

In my opinion, the actual problem is the focus on making everything web first.

For Electron apps, often it's the choice of having a desktop app or not having one at all.

Maybe it would be better to have none at all. Having an electron app is an excuse to say "we already have a desktop app, so we won't make a native one".

rounce5• 2 years ago

I wonder if this relationship will invert as wasm and web guy and their tooling matures, to the point where these types of applications where drawing performance is a must are being targeted desktop first and then thrown through a OSFA wasmification step to run on the web.

daemin3• 2 years ago

I would prefer they do not make an electron app and just have people use the web-app contained in a browser like it was meant to be.

cageface• 2 years ago

Of course there are still categories of app that should be native. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for things like Tauri and Electron too.

raincole• 2 years ago

3D DCCs are very different from todo lists.

demarq• 2 years ago

Please check out plasticity, this “electron bad” argument is pretty outdated and never evidenced. There is absolutely nothing that says browsers can’t do 60fps with multiple 3d views.

flohofwoe10• 2 years ago

There definitely are a couple of annoying details. For instance visual mouse lag (when dragging items around) in WebGL and WebGPU can be higher than in a well written native application (just one or two additional frames of latency make a huge difference). Then there's WebGL2 being stuck on a GPU feature set from ca 2 decades ago, and WebGPU starting at a feature set from about a decade ago (and not being quite ready yet anyway).

Then there's also annoying differences between browsers when capturing the mouse - which is needed for camera controls (all browsers show some sort of popup while the mouse is captured, with Safari even shifting the canvas around).

TL;DR: it's possible in theory, but can be very annoying when actually trying to do it, mostly because most web APIs are badly designed (WebGL2 and WebGPU are notable exceptions, but they still lag far behind native 3D APIs).

divan• 2 years ago

"electron bad" argument will always be valid. I wish people could "see" what actually happens in the app they running. Electron is essentially a hidden browser that runs a web app.

It doesn't matter if it can or can not do 60fps. Installing yet another copy of the browser just to run that small web app is just wrong.

lucsky• 2 years ago

How in the everlasting love of rollerblading Jesus is a post about a new version of Blender devolving into a squillionth bullshit nonsensical rant about how boo-fucking-whoo Electron is so bad. My mind is blown. You guys are absolutely exhausting.

hi_hi• 2 years ago

From a beginners perspective, a good mouse is crucial for working in these kind of tools. It's touched on at the start of the donut tutorial (linked elsewhere) but I just wanted to re-iterate it here.

Now, I haven't done serious 3d work for many years, and recently tried getting into Blender again on my Mac laptop with a Magic mouse. It was a horrible experience.

Can anyone recommend a good mouse you can buy nowadays (so not something like the original SGI workstation mouse that had 3 buttons and no scroll wheel, unless those are still readily available...I loved them!) that works well in these programs. I remember the key differentiator being the scroll wheel which also acts as the middle button. Getting this wrong can make for a frustrating experience as it will zoom the view while trying to middle click.

Kaijo• 2 years ago

One thing that at least doubled my modelling efficiency was my acquisition of a multi-button gaming mouse with a twelve-button thumb grid. In Blender I have that mapped mostly to the numpad which enables 3D navigation at the speed of thought, and without me having to move my other hand away from the cluster of most-often-used hotkeys at the bottom-left of the keyboard. You also get five functions out of the MMB which also can really speed up working in the Node Editor. But. I'm left-handed. The only suitable mouse I can find like this is a Razer Naga Left-Handed Edition, and I don't like the build quality. It's too light and small for my hand, and on the two specimens I've used, the MMB is a little bit glitchy (occasionally registering scrolling the wrong way, and click turns into push-left or push-right). So I wouldn't be without it, but I wish there were better options.

akerr• 2 years ago

I really like the MX Anywhere 3S (with BetterMouse for macOS instead of Logi Options+ to configure gestures like middle click move to pan). It’s closer to a Magic Mouse in functionality/simplicity but more ergonomic and USB-C on the front.

gebar3• 2 years ago

I have found a simple 3-button-mouse (so LMB, RMB and MMB/clickable scroll wheel) to be absolutely sufficient for Blender. I tried the Space Navigator for a few months. But honestly, the navigation in Blender is so straightforward, I sold it again.

Now I use this somewhat anatomical three button mouse from logitec: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07W4DGC27?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_a...

What I wouldn't recommend is one of those Apple mouse types, where everything is touch. In general, touchpads do not do well with Blender.

And the recommendation further below, getting a gaming mouse and mapping the numpad to it, is very smart!

HelloNurse• 2 years ago

The key differentiator between mice is RSI. Try them for a few days and figure out whether they hurt or not.

pcblues3• 2 years ago

I'm too old to remember the mappings for 20 button mice, but I've found the lowly Logitech G305 useful because it has a hardware button to toggle between DPI settings. That makes it useful without using any other key to change the speed of the mouse. Other than that, it has four buttons, and the scroll wheel clicks and goes left and right.

diggan3• 2 years ago

Another mouse I'm currently using for 3D stuff is Logitech G502, which also has a DPI toggle switch but more importantly, it has a "soft aim" button which temporarily lower the sensitivity while you hold that button. Great for precision stuff in 2D/3D arts, although I think the original use case is for snipering in video games or something like that.

Nothing beats using a Wacom tablet or similar though, even for boring 3D stuff. Not sure why, but I just end up with ridiculous precision compared to any mouse.

regularfry2• 2 years ago

I'm quite fond of Steelseries gaming mice for this sort of thing. You want the resolution.

But also it's worth giving a graphics tablet a try and see if that works for your workflow. I find it much easier for sculpting.

1jss• 2 years ago

I switched to an Evoluent vertical mouse for its ergonomics, but the feature I like the most is the middle click button! It has 3 buttons for left, middle and right click, a vertical scroll wheel and two navigation buttons for back and forward (that I never use). Find it really comfy to use in Blender and elsewhere.

adrian_b• 2 years ago

I have continued to use 3-button Logitech mice many years after they were no longer manufactured, because, especially in EDA/CAD programs, I valued the ability of making gestures with the middle button as far more useful than a scroll wheel.

Later, I have used various mice and also other alternative pointing devices, e.g. trackballs, track points and touch pads, but in the last few years I have settled on using a small Wacom Intuos tablet and stylus as the pointing device, instead of a mouse, with the tablet configured in its "Relative" mode, not in its default "Absolute" mode. In the "Relative" mode, the stylus behaves exactly like a mouse.

In my opinion, a good stylus is much better than any mouse. It is much more comfortable, due to the natural position of the hand. It is much faster, because it is extremely light and it does not touch the tablet. A minute movement of the hand would move the cursor instantaneously from one corner to another. It is more accurate than any mouse, as you can easily draw or write freehand with it. Because the stylus is very light, I can keep it between the fingers when typing on the keyboard (while touch typing with all fingers), so unless I want to type a long text, when I drop the stylus on the tablet, the transitions of the right hand between keyboard and pointing device are much faster than with a mouse.

The Wacom stylus has 3 buttons (one being the tip of the stylus). They can be programmed for any function. I prefer the tip to be left click, the next button as the right click and the last button as the double left click. The functions can be changed at any moment, so if you want within a program to have one button as middle click, you can do that instantaneously. There are a few buttons on the tablet (which has the same size as a mouse pad), so you could also put middle click or any other function there.

dv35z• 2 years ago

Check out the Ploopy trackball. It's open-source. - https://ploopy.co/classic-trackball/

xyst5• 2 years ago

If you are remodeling your home, strongly suggest using Bonsai (previously Blender BIM) add-on to model and plan.

In addition to getting my layout just right down to the ft, and using current materials (ie, hardwood, cabinet placement). I modeled out HVAC ducts and overall system.

I had planned on doing major renovations (including plumbing, electric, networking) and would have modeled those as well since the walls would be exposed. But ultimately, due to changing political atmosphere, decided to put these on hold.

It does have a learning curve but would have been made collaboration with at architects much easier (exchanging ifc files).

rnewme• 2 years ago

How does it compare to Revit, for smaller basic projects like you mentioned (residential house/simple office, with hvac etc)?

xyst5• 2 years ago

I am not a professional architect or engineer (in the construction space), so I haven’t tried it. The subscription pricing turns me away.

Seems like it has most of the same offerings as Bonsai just by browsing the marketing materials (support for IFC). Not sure if it’s native IFC or translated to their proprietary format, likely the latter.

With that said, seems like it’s more or less the same learning curve (ignoring price)

smusamashah• 2 years ago

It looks like its for people with engineering backgrounds. For me something like Sketchup is lot easier to plan a mockup.

https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/bonsai/

Joel_Mckay• 2 years ago

Blender needs additional add-ons for auto-generated floor plans to 3D scenes.

https://github.com/grebtsew/FloorplanToBlender3d

The learning curve on your own is like a kick to the berries... However, we found these courses, and some after market assets libraries make it workable.

Should wait for the $19.99 deals to take these courses, and pay attention to the stated Blender version during instruction:

https://www.udemy.com/course/blendertutorial/ (low poly model skills)

https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-animation-rigging/ (some overlapping material, more rigging)

https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-3d-sculpting-course/ (stuff is out of date in this one, but if you can tolerate the kids antics... one may learn a lot about retopo and non-human sculpts.)

Textures:

https://blendermarket.com/products/sanctus-library-addon---p... (Awesome... can bake wood, metal, brick, tile, plastics etc.)

https://tinynocky.gumroad.com/l/tinyeye (Fantastic totally underrated eye tool)

Assets:

https://blendermarket.com/products/poly-haven-asset-browser (assets are free on their site too)

https://static.makehumancommunity.org/mpfb/releases/release_... (free low poly random people)

Would also recommend looking at speed sculpts for tips about how to fix humanoid meshes:

https://www.youtube.com/@BranSculpts/playlists

For advanced users, there are also working rudimentary ZSpheres/Metaballs support similar to ZBrush, fabric quad stitching, and volume aware re-topo process tools:

https://bartoszstyperek.gumroad.com/l/ahwvli?layout=profile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0GW8Na5CIE (how to get blender workflows to work on lower end GPUs)

Rigging tools:

https://blendermarket.com/products/auto-rig-pro (UE5 export helps)

Went through several grand worth of plugins this year for a project, and these paths proved useful.

Best of luck, YMMV... =3

xyst5• 2 years ago

Downside with sketchup is that it likely has to translate IFC into its own format. Could result in loss.

Might be easier up front but lose out on sharing/communicating your designs to different types of people.

haunter• 2 years ago

For the average person Sweet Home 3D is a much better choice http://www.sweethome3d.com/

xyst5• 2 years ago

Right - if you only care about interior design. Might be overkill.

diggan3• 2 years ago

Different use case, as far as I can tell.

To put it into web programming terms, Bonsai is for making the backend/structure, while Sweet Home 3D looks more like HTML/CSS/frontend.

oever• 2 years ago

Is it possible to model thermal performance of a building with Bonsai?

xyst5• 2 years ago

I haven’t explored it myself, but at least the IFC spec allows you to define thermal properties of materials.

https://ifc43-docs.standards.buildingsmart.org/IFC/RELEASE/I...

I suspect it’s something that’s not offered out of the box though.

countrymile2• 2 years ago

Blender really is a gem, for beginners there really is little reason to learn anything else, fully featured, free and runs off a USB or shared drive, can run on pretty old hardware. For examples of what teenagers in the UK are making with Blender see these:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42113898

https://younganimator.uk/submissions/16f0edf9-4fff-43d5-b82b...

https://younganimator.uk/submissions/96059d6c-796e-485f-9582...

pcblues3• 2 years ago

They were gorgeous.

masteruvpuppetz• 2 years ago

Love Blender's interface. I wish MS Excel was built like this. Dragging the border to create new viewports, customizable views, ease of binding keyboard shortcuts to functions.. FA-BU-LO-SO

flohofwoe10• 2 years ago

Your statement is remarkable insofar as I can remember that Blender was famous for having an absolutely terrible UX (IIRC 2.8 was the version where it really started to improve).

gebar3• 2 years ago

Today it really has one of the best UI I have ever seen in any program.

Kuraj• 2 years ago

That is true. In my opinion the introduction of the command palette was the game changer, but of course it's more than just that. Today you can really say the UI is nice and discoverable.

pavlov• 2 years ago

The "Geo Nodes Meets Grease Pencil" demo video is so cool. Makes me want to download Blender again just to play with this 2.5D effect.

I don't think there's any other open source project that does release notes with such amazing quality as Blender.

For that matter, very few commercial software companies reach this level of quality in their product websites. Note how the Blender page doesn't break scrolling, doesn't fluff up everything with useless adjectives like "delightful" and "beautiful", etc.

zerop• 2 years ago

Is it possible to generate code in LLM and create animation using Blender. I want to create Animation for educational video content.

eblanshey• 2 years ago

Like others have mentioned, Blender has become quite the successful open-source story. They used to be riddled with bugs and UX issues, much like FreeCAD was. Yesterday FreeCAD released v1 of their software, and they seem to be on the same redemption path as Blender. It's too bad their v1 release didn't gain much traction on here, as more people ought to give FreeCAD another whirl. The improvements there are massive. And it's the only proper parametric CAD software available on Linux.

amelius4• 2 years ago

To what extent can Blender replace FreeCAD for mechanical engineering purposes?

cultofmetatron2• 2 years ago

I would say avoid it. blender is an excellent MESH modeler but that puts it fundamentally at odds with being a good parametric modeler. a parametric modeler's base primitives are based in deformations on solid objects. mesh modelers are just vertices connected by line segments where 3 form a face. servicable if you're just doing simple objects for a 3d printer but disastrous if you need precision.

rounce5• 2 years ago

Why? They’re fundamentally different applications for different purposes.

regularfry2• 2 years ago

Rigging. The assembly bits in FreeCAD just haven't been great historically, and the Ondsel assembly layer is very new. If you want to visually check for clashes I can see how someone might prefer to just import a bunch of STLs into Blender, rig them up, and wiggle them about.

hannofcart• 2 years ago

Blender's success is a lot due to how welcoming they are of new contributors.

15 years years back, this was the first big OSS project that I contributed to. Since I was a greenhorn, the patch I submitted (there weren't 'PR's back then :) ) was, to say the least, rather shoddy.

Ton Roosendaal helped me patiently on the IRC (I think they were on Freenode back then, not fully sure), guiding me through the changes needed to make it acceptable to merge it.

I learnt a ton just hanging out in the dev channel. Good times. It was a great product even back then but it's amazing how much more awesome it has gotten since then.

Great work Blender team.

Crudodev• 2 years ago

I started reading Hacker News a year ago, and it was amazing. Sometimes, very smart people get involved in discussions.

But what I see here now is disappointing—people who most likely don’t even have an understanding of the CG industry, real post-production, 3D programming, and so on, trying to push immature arguments. Discussions about whether Blender can have an "abstract Linux moment," or if it can be adopted by big players, lack depth and seriousness. It's just sad to see discussions at this level.

On the other hand, in the world of post-production, we face big problems with very expensive per-seat software from large vendors. We need solutions because even the best industry-standard software—not Blender—has bugs and lacks necessary features. Sometimes, small software projects build communities, push boundaries, and save you at the peak of a deadline, but they’re still not perfect.

You need to understand that Blender is young and has only recently started its own path. It's a very good tool, first and foremost, and it can offer much more if you’re a strong artist or programmer.

But it’s a tool that anyone with knowledge of coding or 3D programming can improve. You don’t need to pay for a license or deal with closed SDKs.

Sure, businesses build around stability, and Blender isn’t a first choice for many. Investors don’t want to make risky decisions. But very soon, we’ll see Blender integrated into pipelines alongside other tools. In the end, it will become the first-choice software for many tasks in the CG industry.

Over the last decade, I’ve seen different companies acquire solutions, integrate them into their own tools, and claim they "innovated"—but they often killed the original ideas and didn’t push anything forward. Most of the major advancements in the CG industry have come from open source or studios that made their tools available for everyone.

Just look at how many new technologies Autodesk has developed in the last decade: none. They just bought solutions or received them from open source.

Stop being narrow-minded and look at the bigger picture

Blender 4.3

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