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  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. 

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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: 
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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: 

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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/


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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
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Notice Blender Retrospectives 2020 Blender Retrospective 211021   Feb 20, 2021 Feb 21, 2021 01:20
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Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file 431977   Jan 25, 2020 Mar 24, 2020 10:15
Notice Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file 375877   Jan 25, 2020 Mar 24, 2020 10:12
Notice Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file 345006   Jan 23, 2019 Jan 23, 2019 23:35
Notice Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file 684310   Jan 23, 2019 Jan 25, 2019 23:34
Notice Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file 408397   Jan 23, 2019 Jan 23, 2019 15:48
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file 344919   Jan 23, 2019 Jan 25, 2019 10:33
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file 381656   Jan 02, 2019 Jan 02, 2019 13:20
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file 376066   Jan 02, 2019 Jan 02, 2019 13:42
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file 968994   Jan 09, 2018 Jan 25, 2019 23:35
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file 696778   Jan 01, 2018 Jan 09, 2018 04:55
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file 550751   Dec 26, 2017 Jan 09, 2018 04:55
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file 765412   Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017 05:18
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Admin 1060308   Dec 29, 2016 Feb 01, 2017 10:28
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file 790568   Jan 20, 2016 Feb 02, 2016 03:35
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file 762275   Jan 12, 2016 Feb 20, 2016 22:40
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file 805622   Jun 26, 2015 Jan 01, 2016 05:33
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file 813846   Jan 02, 2015 Jan 02, 2015 16:04
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file 852713   Dec 11, 2014 Jan 24, 2015 21:31
486 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of February 20, 2017 file 26907   Feb 21, 2017 Feb 21, 2017 20:52
 
485 Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of February 13, 2017 file 26784   Feb 15, 2017 Feb 15, 2017 01:26
 
484 Render of the Week Project 'Advisor' by Eugene Sergienko - the Winner of the Week of February 6, 2017 file 29673   Feb 08, 2017 Feb 08, 2017 02:29
 
483 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of February 6, 2017 file 27131   Feb 08, 2017 Feb 08, 2017 02:12
 
482 Render of the Week 'Extreme Makeover' by Guilherme Henrique - the Winner of the Week of January 30, 2017 file 31995   Feb 01, 2017 Feb 01, 2017 01:08
 
481 Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of January 30, 2017 file 28239   Feb 01, 2017 Feb 01, 2017 00:56
 
480 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of January 23, 2017 file 26312   Jan 25, 2017 Jan 25, 2017 02:08
 
479 Render of the Week 'Ear to the Ground' by Simon Thommes - the Winner of the Week of January 23, 2017 file 34714   Jan 24, 2017 Jan 25, 2017 01:59
 
478 Render of the Year Render of the Year 2016 - Candidates Revealed file 29559   Dec 29, 2016 Dec 29, 2016 05:38
 
477 Render of the Week 'Artworks from Space VFX Elements' by Aidy Burrows and Gleb Alexandrov - the Winners of the Week of December 19, 2016 file 32230   Dec 20, 2016 Dec 20, 2016 22:23
 
476 Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of December 19, 2016 file 28720   Dec 20, 2016 Dec 20, 2016 21:44
 
475 Blender Whiz The Artist Behind 'Attic Workspace:' Krystian Niemiec file 25682   Dec 14, 2016 Dec 20, 2016 17:39
 
474 Render of the Week 'Rail-mounted Sci-Fi Gatling' by Victor Karp - the Winner of the Week of December 12, 2016 file 32032   Dec 15, 2016 Dec 15, 2016 00:19
 
473 Render of the Week 'Inside the Inventor's Barn' by Łukasz Hoffmann - the Winner of the Week of December 5, 2016 file 31608   Dec 06, 2016 Dec 06, 2016 21:16
 
472 Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of December 5, 2016 file 27188   Dec 06, 2016 Dec 06, 2016 20:41
 
471 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of November 28, 2016 file 27681   Nov 29, 2016 Nov 29, 2016 23:57
 
470 Render of the Week 'The Vegan Black Metal' by Lucas Falcao - Winner for the Week of November 28, 2016 file 28853   Nov 29, 2016 Nov 29, 2016 23:56
 
469 Render of the Week 'The WELL' by Mustafa Kurtay - the Winner of the Week of November 21, 2016 file 29196   Nov 22, 2016 Nov 22, 2016 21:08