3D modeling and VFX software is incredibly expensive. Licenses for Maya, Cinema 4D, or 3DS Max cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year. This makes it very difficult for beginners to learn and too expensive for most independent artists and developers.

For a long time, there were no good alternatives. Blender wasn’t good enough to compete with the industry-leading programs. However, everything changed with the very impactful Blender 2.8 update in 2019. The free and open-source software took a big step to catch up and is now up to par with the other programs (if not better in some areas). As the Blender development continues, more and more companies are starting to integrate it into their workflows.

The Old Blender

“Hey, I have an idea! Let’s go against every common piece of software and use right-click to select something instead of left-click.”

This is the decision Blender made back in the 90s. They wanted to separate selection from action to create a faster workflow. Maybe that’s true when you are used to it, but it was extremely unintuitive for new users to learn because it went against years of training and muscle memory from other software.

Blender’s user interface was also very uninspired in its early versions. The middle gray might have looked great in the early 2000s, but it looked very outdated by the 2010s and it remained far longer than it should have before it was finally changed in 2019. Besides the outdated look, it also had accumulated a lot of bad user experience features over the years.

I used Blender for the first time in 2008 but it didn’t feel great to use and I made a lot of mistakes. Back then, I also had a backup copy of Cinema 4D from a friend and it was a lot easier to use, so most of my early 3D modeling and rendering has been in Cinema 4D. However, as a student, paying for newer Cinema 4D licenses was out of the question, and when I got into game development and wanted to create 3D assets I went back to Blender. I became somewhat proficient with the older Blender versions and was able to create some decent models. However, I always felt limited by the software, and even though I had no direct comparison anymore, I still felt like it couldn’t compete with the other industry-standard 3D software.

The old and outdated middle gray look of older Blender versions, image from blenderartists.org.

Blender 2.8

But then came the Blender 2.8 update, which is certainly the most impactful update in its long history. It finally adopted left-click as the default selection button. You can still use right-click if you prefer, but even though I got used to right-clicking over time, I switched to left-click and I didn’t experience any slowdowns in my workflow.

However, while the selection button is certainly the most memed about change, Blender 2.8 also made a lot of other improvements. For one, the user interface received a well-needed modernization and now has a cleaner and better structured dark gray interface.

The update also added Eevee, a new real-time rendering engine that can be used in the viewport and final renders. With it, photorealistic looks can be previewed in real-time in the viewport, which speeds up the workflow considerably. It’s also an option for creating the final renders, although, in my opinion, ray-traced Cycles renders still look a lot better.

When I first tried Blender 2.8 I was extremely impressed. I cannot remember any other software update that had so many significant improvements. With that update (and some of the smaller updates after it) Blender can finally compete with every 3D software out there and I don’t feel like I’m limited by the software anymore. Now, I’m only limited by my skill and that’s something I can (and should) work on.

A recent render I made for a weekly render challenge by Clinton Jones, image by author.

Blender 3.0

The next big Blender update is already around the corner and preview builds are available. The most significant addition is going to be the asset browser, which is a way to manage all your assets within Blender and easily reuse them in other projects.

It also improves geometry nodes, which are a recent addition to scatter objects and manipulate geometry in an easy-to-use node-based editor.

The Blender project is also working on Cycles X, a new path tracing renderer that’s going to replace Cycles in the near future. Depending on the scene it can significantly improve render times, which is one of the most important factors in 3D rendering. I’m really looking forward to these changes because all of them will impact and improve the way I am using Blender.

After stagnating for many years, the number of visitors to the Blender website has increased a lot since the 2.8 update in 2019, image from blender.org.

Mainstream Adoption

Just a few years ago, Blender was a niche 3D software for amateurs. But with the recent updates, it is starting to become common in the 3D and VFX industry. More and more big companies are using it in their workflows and many of them support the Blender project. Not only by investing money into the development but their employees contribute to the open-source software as well. The list of companies includes some of the biggest names in the industry like Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Epic Games, and it is used in anime studios and even in Hollywood movies.

Because Blender is open source, it’s also possible to create your own plugins and even change the source code of the program itself, if you feel like it’s missing a feature you really need. For example, big 3D studios could implement their own extensions that are specific to their workflow.

Blender is very popular with independent developers, artists, and filmmakers. Ian Hubert, an indie filmmaker, has recently released his very impressive 20-minute short film Salad Mug — DYNAMO DREAM, which is made in Blender by himself.

A VFX short film made in Blender by Ian Hubert