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 Datesort Views
Blender Retrospectives 2020 Blender Retrospective Feb 20, 2021 210930
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 25, 2020 563002
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 25, 2020 426132
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 431865
Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 375766
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file Jan 23, 2019 344860
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 23, 2019 684162
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 23, 2019 408256
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file Jan 23, 2019 344779
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2019 381535
Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file Jan 02, 2019 375921
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file Jan 09, 2018 968852
Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file Jan 01, 2018 696643
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file Dec 26, 2017 550617
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file Jan 16, 2017 765288
Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Dec 29, 2016 1060169
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file Jan 20, 2016 790435
Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file Jan 12, 2016 762142
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file Jun 26, 2015 805489
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2015 813704
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file Dec 11, 2014 852577
Render of the Week 'King' by Manuel Grad - the Winner of the Week of August 7, 2017 file Aug 11, 2017 20025
Render of the Week 'Old Industrial Shed' by Lorenzo Drago - the Winner of the Week of July 31, 2017 file Aug 05, 2017 19409
Render of the Week 'Brooklyn 60's Foggy' by James O'Brien - the Winner of the Week of July 24, 2017 file Jul 29, 2017 19756
Render of the Week 'Trap' by Waqas Malik - the Winner of the Week of July 17, 2017 file Jul 22, 2017 19969
Render of the Week 'Project - Assemble' by Marco Cheng - the Winner of the Week of July 10, 2017 file Jul 14, 2017 20292
Render of the Week 'Artificial & Natural' by Robin Janowsky - the Winner of the Week of July 3, 2017 file Jul 07, 2017 19704
Render of the Week 'the Harvester v1.0' by Cheggour Hamza - the Winner of the Week of June 26, 2017 file Jun 30, 2017 22808
Render of the Week 'Deep in the Forest' by Team Dee van Hoven / JLE Studios - the Winner of the Week of June 19, 2017 file Jun 23, 2017 30515
Render of the Week 'TRIBESMEN logo' by Dennis Mabuka - the Winner of the Week of June 12, 2017 file Jun 16, 2017 21352
Render of the Week 'Nahil - the Builder Hero' by Daniele Viagi - the Winner of the Week of June 5, 2017 file Jun 09, 2017 55260
Render of the Week 'Geely Emgrand EC7 RV' by Roman Volkov - the Winner of the Week of May 29, 2017 file Jun 02, 2017 23705
Render of the Week 'Through the Woods' by Sebastian Zapata - the Winner of the Week of May 22, 2017 file May 25, 2017 22861
Render of the Week 'EUHEMERISM - EATEN Character Concept' by Domenico D'Alisa - the Winner of the Week of May 15, 2017 file May 19, 2017 24208
Render of the Week 'Gamourosaurus' by Vassilis Kakoulantonakis - the Winner of the Week of May 8, 2017 file May 13, 2017 23407
Render of the Week 'Tale Chronicles vol.1' by Mateusz Wielgus - the Winner of the Week of May 1, 2017 file May 04, 2017 22954
Render of the Week 'Holbein. The Hamster' by Ismael Fuentes - the Winner of the Week of April 24, 2017 file Apr 27, 2017 53581
Render of the Week 'Forgotten Temple Statue' by Jonathan Lampel - the Winner of the Week of April 17, 2017 file Apr 19, 2017 23059
Render of the Week 'Logan' by Kanishk Chouhan - the Winner of the Week of April 10, 2017 file Apr 13, 2017 25374
Render of the Week 'Putrid Mourner' by Kirill Buzmakov - the Winner of the Week of April 3, 2017 file Apr 05, 2017 23265
Render of the Week 'Cartoon Spain' by Sergio Raposo Fernández - the Winner of the Week of March 27, 2017 file Mar 29, 2017 37246