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 211275
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 25, 2020 563402
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 25, 2020 426487
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 432258
Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 376161
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file Jan 23, 2019 345335
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 23, 2019 684647
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 23, 2019 408718
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file Jan 23, 2019 345247
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2019 381990
Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file Jan 02, 2019 376359
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file Jan 09, 2018 969319
Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file Jan 01, 2018 697141
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file Dec 26, 2017 551079
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file Jan 16, 2017 765708
Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Dec 29, 2016 1060629
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file Jan 20, 2016 790886
Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file Jan 12, 2016 762629
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file Jun 26, 2015 805956
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2015 814170
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file Dec 11, 2014 853044
Render of the Week 'Subway' by Antoine Bagattini - the Winner of the Week of September 7, 2020 file Sep 09, 2020 8925
Render of the Week 'Advanced Guiding Unit' by Oli Timéro - the Winner of the Week of August 24, 2020 file Aug 26, 2020 9222
Render of the Week 'The Forgotten' by Pranjal Choudhary - the Winner of the Week of August 17, 2020 file Aug 19, 2020 9047
Render of the Week 'Mechanical Dandelion' by Olya Deeva - the Winner of the Week of August 10, 2020 file Aug 12, 2020 8638
Render of the Week 'Small Things' by Bernardo Iraci - the Winner of the Week of August 3, 2020 file Aug 05, 2020 8997
Render of the Week 'LTX' by Nika Zautashvili - the Winner of the Week of July 27, 2020 file Jul 31, 2020 10321
Render of the Week 'Timewasher' by Adriano D'Elia - the Winner of the Week of July 20, 2020 file Jul 22, 2020 8955
Render of the Week 'Iceberg' by Damian Moroski - the Winner of the Week of July 13, 2020 file Jul 15, 2020 9814
Render of the Week 'F1 2000 - Imla GP - Variante Alta - Michael Schumacher' by Maxence Leret d’Aubignyi - the Winner of the Week of July 6, 2020 file Jul 08, 2020 10604
Render of the Week 'Invictus' by Marco Iacopetti - the Winner of the Week of June 29, 2020 file Jul 03, 2020 9758
Render of the Week 'Cherries' by Ivan Stephan - the Winner of the Week of June 22, 2020 file Jun 24, 2020 9788
Render of the Week 'ACID RAIN' by Carlos Andrés Sosa - the Winner of the Week of June 15, 2020 file Jun 17, 2020 9632
Render of the Week 'Hansel and Gretel' by Théo Coeugniet - the Winner of the Week of June 1, 2020 file Jun 02, 2020 10343
Render of the Week 'Hedgehog' by Anagrama the animation studio - the Winner of the Week of June 8, 2020 file Jun 10, 2020 18423
Render of the Week 'The Two Towers - Part 2' by Kim Chul Min - the Winner of the Week of May 25, 2020 file May 27, 2020 10206
Render of the Week 'Skelfie' by Metin Seven - the Winner of the Week of May 18, 2020 file May 20, 2020 10338
Render of the Week 'Farmhouse Kitchen' by Clayton Sjoerdsma - the Winner of the Week of May 11, 2020 file May 12, 2020 10535
Render of the Week 'British Sailing Ship' by Juan Pablo Fuentes - the Winner of the Week of May 4th, 2020 file May 05, 2020 10346
Render of the Week 'Characters' by Michael Weisheim - the Winner of the Week of April 27, 2020 file Apr 29, 2020 12586
Render of the Week 'Scarlett Johansson 3D WIP' by George Siskas - the Winner of the Week of April 20, 2020 file Apr 22, 2020 10873