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January 9, 2019 12:00 AM

 

by Editor in Chief

 

What was the biggest Blender news in 2019--especially for professional users of Blender? Here are some of the top 10 Blender news from 2019. Please remember hobbyist-grade news or well-known facts--such as the use of Blender in product and arch viz--may have been omitted. 


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10. New trend: ‘Tutotainment’


Ton Roosendale, the President of Blender Foundation calls it "Tutotainment," which is a tutorial that is both entertaining and effective. Started by Ian Huber with his one minute "Lazy Tutorials" series it has set a new standard for Blender tutorial. Another that fits the description is those by Jorge Gutierrez. Interesting thing about Ian and Jorge is that they both are directors, having released film of their own.  No wonder their work stand apart from so many others.
Related link: 

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9. External Tools Come to Blender


Popular tools that were available for other propriety software are coming to Blender. Among them are TextTools, KeenTools Facebuilder and Atoms Crowd.
Related link: 

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8. Feature films and Shorts and Commercials

This year also saw many projects realized with Blender. Some of them to note are:
Skywatch
PETA commercial made fully in Blender
VFX--VFX Reel by POSTKINO FX on Tobol
The Super Stretchy Sticky Lizard | MyRodeReel2019

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7. Spring (Blender Open Movie) Released


The long-awaited Blender Open Movie "Spring" was released.
Related links: 

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6. Ubisoft and Other Studios Move to Use Blender


Ubisoft has announced that the Paris animation studio would be moving to Blender for series production.  And Japanese anime studio Khara also made to to use Blender. And others are also using Blender.
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5. Industry's Recognition for
Blender-created Feature Films
 

'Next Gen' Won 2 Kidscreen Awards (the Best Animation and Best Design) in the Creative Talent category of 
the 10th Kidscreen Awards.
"I Lost My body"--another feature film created using Blender--has won the Critics Award in Cannes, and the two main
prizes 
in Annecy. Regarding the film Ton Roosendale the President of the Blender Foundation noted:
"For a lot of film makers 
I lost my body will be a game changer – if anyone had a doubt, animation is definitely “just like film” now. And not only for Hollywood blockbusters, especially for indie teams on lower budgets. We’re proud that Blender plays a role in this movement."
Related link: 

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4. Powerful Blender-specific External Addons

More have been added and continuing to be added the lists of powerful Blender-specific external addons that would help to set 
Blender apart from its competitors. Some of them even costs as high as $549.00 US dollars. Check out some of them at the following links.
Related link: 

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3. Blender Development Fund Joined by Major Players

First the Epic Games, then Nvidia, AMD, Embark Studios and others--even Adidas--have joined the Blender Development Fund. 
Ton Roosendale, the President of Blender Foundation notes: "If there’s one thing that defined 2019 for Blender it was the massive support for Blender via our Development Fund membership program. It more than quadrupled in a year. Blender now has a much larger team of people working on core development; but not only that, the team is so large that other roles such as managers, writers and devops engineers needed to be filled in."
Related link: 

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2. Ub Iwerks Annie Award for Technical Achievement


"ASIFA-Hollywood is one of the premiere organizations in the world promoting the art and industry of animation. Their annual Annie Award ceremony is the ‘Oscars of animation’, with the top of producers and directors of the animation world attending. Each year the Annie Awards jury rewards a technical achievement that made a significant impact on the art or industry of animation. In February 2019 that prize went to Blender."
Related link: 

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1. Blender 2.80~81a Released

Blender 2.80 and subsequently Blender 81a have been released, living up to hypes created by Blender 2.80 Eevee demos released in 2018. 
With left click select as the new default, the interface has been redesigned, attracting professional new users. 
Armed with top-notch render engines Cycles and Evee and powerful AI denoiser, new and improved features include: 
Related link: 

Related Links:

1. 2018 Blender Retrospective

2..2017 Blender Retrospective

3. 2016 Blender Retrospective 

List of Articles
Subject Date Viewssort
Blender Retrospectives 2020 Blender Retrospective Feb 20, 2021 211362
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 25, 2020 563530
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 25, 2020 426631
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 432386
Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 376295
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file Jan 23, 2019 345490
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 23, 2019 684829
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 23, 2019 408842
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file Jan 23, 2019 345405
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2019 382133
Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file Jan 02, 2019 376484
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file Jan 09, 2018 969455
Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file Jan 01, 2018 697269
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file Dec 26, 2017 551204
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file Jan 16, 2017 765882
Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Dec 29, 2016 1060779
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file Jan 20, 2016 791025
Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file Jan 12, 2016 762786
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file Jun 26, 2015 806124
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2015 814320
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file Dec 11, 2014 853186
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of February 28, 2022 Dec 31, 2022 5333
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2022: Winners Are ... Jan 01, 2023 5543
Render of the Week 'ISS-900 Lyda Interceptor' by Bert Willemsen - the Winner of the Week of October 31, 2022 Jan 01, 2023 5656
Render of the Week 'Appalachian Path' by Cov Phillips - the Winner of the Week of June 6, 2022 Jan 01, 2023 5693
PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of January 3, 2020 file Feb 07, 2020 5694
Production Focus '814' - Interview with Gerrit Kudge the VFX Artist for the Short Film Mar 31, 2021 5694
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2020: Candidates Announced file Dec 16, 2020 6090
'Heroes of Bronze - A Spartan Noble' by Martin Klekner - the Winner of the Week of November 19, 2018 file Nov 21, 2018 6102
Render of the Week 'Traces of the Past Old Alley' by Kim, Ilkwon - the Winner of the Week of December 13, 2021 Dec 18, 2021 6296
Render of the Week 'King of the Jungle' by Pawel Palenica - the Winner of the Week of August 16, 2021 Aug 21, 2021 6374
Render of the Week 'Intruders' by Steffen Hartmann - the Winner of the Week of July 26, 2021 Jul 31, 2021 6418
Render of the Week 'Wormhole' by Victory Luode - the Winner of the Week of October 11, 2021 Oct 16, 2021 6419
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of February 1, 2021 Feb 04, 2021 6439
Render of the Week 'Dropship' by Gino Stratolat - the Winner of the Week of October 25, 2021 Oct 30, 2021 6450
Render of the Week 'Scorpio' by Javier de Jesús Cárdenas Hernández - the Winner of the Week of December 21, 2020 file Dec 25, 2020 6452
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of March 1, 2021 Mar 03, 2021 6484
Render of the Week 'Landing Asteriornis' by Joanna Kobierska - the Winner of the Week of November 15, 2021 Nov 20, 2021 6555
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of February 8, 2021 Feb 11, 2021 6558
Render of the Week 'Space (Punk) Ship' by Alberto Petronio- the Winner of the Week of March 1st, 2021 Mar 03, 2021 6579
Render of the Week 'The Lake' by Jonathan Opgenhhafen - the Winner of the Week of February 15, 2021 Feb 18, 2021 6639