Sign In
Sign in
English

  BlenderRetrospective2016.jpg   

December 29, 2016 3:00 PM

 

by Editor in Chief

 

What were the biggest Blender news in 2016--especially for professional users of Blender? Here are some of the top 10 Blender news from 2016. Please remember hobbyist-grade news or well known facts--such as use of Blender in product and arch viz--may have been omitted. 

Retro2016_10.jpg

  

10. Blender Cloud Service Launched


Blender Foundation has launched a membership service; where, for less than $10.00 a month, a user can have access to all the contents from official training DVD and videos and the assets and blend files from previously released Open Source movies as well as 1,500+ textures and HDRIs that are directly accessible within your copy of Blender through internet connection.


Related link: 
Retro2016_09.jpg

  

9. Game Development


Blender continued to serve as a quality tool for game development. Blender has been more than good enough for game content creators.
Related link: 

Retro2016_08.jpg   


8. Use in Commercials, Game trailers, and Music Videos

Blender continues to be an attractive 3D solution for established professionals as well as new startups

Related link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cEH7uL0S-k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWEMq0JiB0Y

https://www.facebook.com/outputmedialtd/

https://vimeo.com/184682770

https://www.blendernation.com/2016/09/12/alessandro-dalla-fontana-vfx-reel-2016/

https://www.blendernation.com/2016/09/20/jamberoo-action-parks-perfect-storm-tv-commercial/

https://www.blendernation.com/2016/09/01/rujienas-ice-cream-commercial/

https://www.blendernation.com/2016/05/03/warhammer-40k-inquisitior-martyr-destruction-trailer/


Retro2016_07.jpg

  

7. AMD and Nvidia's Support for Blender Development


AMD as well as Nvidia have been supportive for Blender development. AMD reportedly has even helped to hire full time developer on Cycles. And Nvidia has provided latest GTX cards to Blender developers.

Related links: 

Retro2016_06.jpg   

6. Blender-driven Entries Noted at CG Competitions


Some of the CG competition entries created in Blender have made it all the way to the 2nd place in even in the noted CG challenge organized by the CGSociety. This reflects growing recognition among industry experts on Blender’s potentials.

Related link: 
Retro2016_05.jpg

 

5. Blender’s Potentials Recognized 


MAXON’s move to import Blender’s Cycles render engine into C4D has drawn much attention in the industry. Even the VFX supervisor for Warcraft (2016) have confessed using Blender for a character in the movie for budget reason—but with good reviews.

Related link: 

Retro2016_04.jpg

 

4. RenderMan21 Support Blender


Perhaps the most notable sign of industry’s acceptance of Blender is PIXAR’s move to support Blender in RenderMan.

Related link: 
https://renderman.pixar.com/view/non-commercial-renderman
Retro2016_03.jpg

 

3. Success of Short Films Created in Blender


Short films created in Blender have successfully demonstrated Blender’s potentials and some of them have been honored by industry experts. Cosmos Laundromat, for example, have won the SIGGRAPH 2016 Computer Animation Festival's Jury Award. Caminandes series have made it to the Disney Channel. And the short “Alike” has reportedly won 64 awards in film festivals.

Related link: 

Retro2016_02.jpg  

2. Blender-specific Third Party Add-ons and Products 

Amazing third party addons and products—mostly paid versions—specifically designed for Blender continued to put Blender to a newer level:

Related link: 
Retro2016_01.jpg

  

1. New Features in Blender 2.77 to 78a


The most exiting news regarding Blender during 2016, of course, are the new features added to Blender, such as native stereoscopic VR rendering, fire and smoke rendering in GPU, Grease Pencil, Bendy Bones, Micro Displacement, Alembic support and so forth.

Related link: 

List of Articles
Subject Date Views
Blender Retrospectives 2020 Blender Retrospective Feb 20, 2021 210920
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 25, 2020 562979
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 25, 2020 426111
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 431848
Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 375748
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file Jan 23, 2019 344833
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 23, 2019 684133
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 23, 2019 408230
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file Jan 23, 2019 344756
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2019 381514
Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file Jan 02, 2019 375905
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file Jan 09, 2018 968814
Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file Jan 01, 2018 696622
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file Dec 26, 2017 550595
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file Jan 16, 2017 765264
Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Dec 29, 2016 1060147
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file Jan 20, 2016 790405
Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file Jan 12, 2016 762112
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file Jun 26, 2015 805465
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2015 813684
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file Dec 11, 2014 852559
Render of the Week 'The Construction Site' by Oday Abuzaeed - the Winner of the Week of June 24, 2019 file Jun 29, 2019 8882
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of June 24, 2019 file Jun 29, 2019 77621
Blender Whiz The Artist Behind 'Ferrari F12 Berlinetta:' Saksham Kumar (June 17, 2019) file Jun 22, 2019 9847
Render of the Week 'Hydra' by Alan Owen - the Winner of the Week of June 17, 2019 file Jun 22, 2019 10316
Render of the Week 'No More Dragons!' by Oleg Zherebin - the Winner of the Week of June 10, 2019 file Jun 15, 2019 8857
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of June 10, 2019 file Jun 15, 2019 10445
Render of the Week 'Guilty Puss' by Alex Bitsadze - the Winner of the Week of May 20, 2019 file May 23, 2019 9245
Render of the Week 'Fallen' by Daniel Aubert - the Winner of the Week of May 27, 2019 file May 30, 2019 9567
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of May 27, 2019 file May 30, 2019 10247
Render of the Week 'Endless Journey' by Egor Belyakov - the Winner of the Week of May 13, 2019 file May 15, 2019 9300
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of May 13, 2019 file May 15, 2019 10110
Render of the Week 'Portrait' by Seungho Choi - the Winner of the Week of April 29, 2019 file May 02, 2019 9499
Render of the Week 'Citadel' by Oleh Koz - the Winner of the Week of May 6, 2019 file May 08, 2019 9107
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of May 6, 2019 file May 08, 2019 10013
Render of the Week 'The Old Boat' by Gregory Smith - the Winner of the Week of April 22, 2019 file Apr 23, 2019 9486
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of April 22, 2019 file Apr 23, 2019 10107
Render of the Week 'The Collapse' by Maxime Herpin - the Winner of the Week of April 15, 2019 file Apr 17, 2019 9642
Production Focus 'Jesus Christ Lizard' by Aleksandar Misic - the Winner for the Week of April 8, 2019 file Apr 10, 2019 7232
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of April 8, 2019 file Apr 10, 2019 10290
Render of the Week 'Dancing Pig' by Colory Animation - the Winner for the First Week of April, 2019 file Apr 03, 2019 9672