Just before the beginning of 2001, Blender 2.0 was released and it was during this time that things started heading south. Soon, NaN gathered close to 50 employees working all over the world and the company was spending huge amounts of money in attending conferences, business meetings, and flying business class. The huge injection of cash meant NaN could expand and hire more CG artists to further develop Blender. The spark came from the SIGGRAPH conference where NaN secured a staggering €4.5M from venture capitalists. It was a bold move as NaN’s growth was based on an overnight success. In 1998, Not a Number (NaN) was created by Ton after selling NeoGeo. And with the boom of the dot.com era, it was apparent that NeoGeo couldn’t keep up with demand. Initially, Blender was only compatible with silicon graphics computer OS called Irix, but later on released versions for Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows.Īs Blender was playing a huge role in NeoGeo, Ton thought of expanding its reach to other non-NeoGeo users.
He eventually developed his own 3D software. He felt that the, at that time, current 3D tools were outdated and did not have enough rendering performance to meet demands from their clients. NeoGeo was at the peak of its journey and it was during this time that Ton started thinking of a new 3D software that would speed things up. NeoGeo had clients as big as multinational electronic arts firm Phillips. It did not take long before NeoGeo became a household name in the animation industry. In 1991 Ton bought the company’s first big silicon computer which they used to do real-time renderings of wireframes and solids.Ī computer that cost around $60,000 and was among the best at that time. It started out small, the company only had 7 employees, Ton, and his co-founder. The story of Blender dates back to 1988 when Ton Roosendaal co-founded NeoGeo, an animation studio. Its journey is quite interesting and filled with a couple of ups and downs:Īt one point, the company developing Blender after it was originally created, nearly collapsed, but developers at Blender found a way to regain its glory.
Let’s take a closer look: A quick look at the history of Blenderīlender is a well-known 3D software and though it is not as widely used in studios as others, the user-base is one of the largest in the industry. Why is Blender free, today, when other 3D Applications cost an arm and a leg? Was Blender always free?
There is enough incentive for working professionals using Blender to pay for their tools, but still – Blender continues to be free. When seeing the price tags on some of those Content Creation Packages, one might wonder how Blender, a highly professional and competitive 3D Software can be – free?īlender offers cutting-edge tech, and the huge user base creates professional work every day. The 3D industry is full of expensive professional 3D Software. How long does it take to learn Blender?.
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