Sign In
Sign in
English

  BlenderRetrospective2017.jpg    


January 1, 2018 9:00 AM

 

by Editor in Chief

 

What was the biggest Blender news in 2017--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 the use of Blender in product and arch viz--may have been omitted. 

BR1710.jpg

  

10. Experimental & Third-Party Custom Blender Builds


Talented artists and specialists continued to develop amazing task-specific custom Blender builds. Among them are Fracture Modifier and Mantaflow.

Related link: 
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aOiiiiDSds
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m6hiHfYyz4
3. https://blender.community/c/today/vZbbbc/mantaflow-builds-available-on-sebbas-github-win64
4. BlenderNews.org http://graphicall.org/1199
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFREDHkAMZU
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i17Wod4k-o4&feature=youtu.be
BR1709.jpg

  

9. AMD and Nvidia Battle over Speed for Blender Cycles


AMD seems to have an upper hand in lower-end cards while Nvidia has it in its high-end cards.
Related link: 
1. https://code.blender.org/2017/11/cycles-benchmarks-nvidia-update/
2. https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Source/Render/Cycles/OpenCL
3. https://pro.radeon.com/en/software/prorender/
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SoNUeAPtgk 

BR1708.jpg   


8. Massive Exodus of General 3D Forum Visitors
to a Blender-related Forum

An interesting phenomenon has been confirmed in 2017. The number of daily users of Blenderartists.org now almost doubles that of a world-renounced general 3D forum site--cgtalk.com. "It used to be the other way around just a few years ago," says a frequent visitor of both sites. Check it out yourself. It might reflect increased popularity of Blender at least among hobbyists, freelancers, and small studios. It's a phenomenon major players in the industry cannot afford to ignore.
Some have already made the move. Last year, Maxon has made Cycles available in C4D. This year, AMD has become an official sponsor for Blender Conference and worked closely with Blender developers to make Cycles work in AMD graphic cards. And AXYZ has added export option for Blender in its 2017 version of ANIMA

Related link: 

1. http://forums.cgsociety.org/

2. https://blenderartists.org/forum/index.php

3. https://www.blender.org/conference/2017/news/announcing-blender-conference-2017-sponsors

4. http://cgpress.org/archives/cycles-coming-to-cinema-4d.html

5. http://blendernews.org/xe/Feature_Articles/13294

6. https://www.blender.org/press/industry-support-for-blender/


BR1707.jpg

  

7. Blender Noted for Industrial Use


2017 saw a Blend4Web-powered project won a Red Dot Award. And a jewelry brand "Caviar", a Russian-Italian company specializing in bespoke iPhones, Samsungs, have designed 3D-constructor of mobile phones. 
Moreover, Softsynth UIs of music industry's major players such as KORG turned out to have been made using Blender.

Related links: 
1. https://www.blendernation.com/2017/11/11/phone-configurator-made-blend4web/
2. https://www.blend4web.com/en/community/article/357/
3. https://yandex.com/everest/
4. http://blendernews.org/xe/Feature_Articles/13612

BR1706.jpg   

6. Blender Conference 2017


Held on 27~29 October, this year's Blender Conference turned out to be most informative ever. Please check out the recorded sessions on official youtube channel

Related link: 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa1F2ddGya_9XER0wnFS6Mgnp3T-hgSZO
BR1705.jpg

 

5. New Short Films Released by Blender Animation Studio 


"Agent 327" was released with good reviews. "The Daily Dweebs"--a pilot episode--also successfully demonstrated Blender's capabilities.
Related link: 
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN0zPOpADL4
2. https://cloud.blender.org/p/agent-327/blog/gold-award-at-the-aeaf-festival
3. https://cloud.blender.org/p/agent-327/blog/more-festival-selections-klik-and-siggraph-asia
4. https://cloud.blender.org/p/agent-327/blog/agent-327-selected-for-stash126
5. https://cloud.blender.org/p/agent-327/blog/festivals-update-tmmf-himpff-nafa-spark
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJnKaAtBPhA
7. https://www.dailydweebs.com/

BR1704_.jpg

 

4. Use of Blender for Films & VFX


With Barnstorm VFX nominated for VES award for their outstanding work on the TV series “The Man in the High Castle,” Blender has been noted by industry experts and have been used in impressive projects.
Related link: 
1. https://www.blender.org/user-stories/visual-effects-for-the-man-in-the-high-castle/
2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-one-dutchman-changed-world-david-andrade/
3. https://www.blender.org/user-stories/title-design-from-wonder-woman-to-xxx/
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QiBJB0-okA
5. https://vimeo.com/202027380
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmCmpb3UGg4&t=2m52s
7. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/LXAGA
BR1703.jpg

 

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


Growing number of third-party add-ons and products are making Blender more attractive than ever--sometimes even irresistible.
Among them are Animation Nodes, Boxcutter, and Hardops.

Related link: 
1. https://www.blendermarket.com/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB8R_xPpaSc
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U7U-4ar91w

BR1702.jpg 

2. Blender 2.79 Released 

Among new features that will have a profound impact on real production includes Denoiser, Filmic Blender, and improved
Grease Pencil. 
Not to be overlooked are many new built-in add-ons to be explored

Related link: 
1. https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.79
2. https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.79/Add-ons
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuGYwZX35u4
BR1701.jpg

  

1. Real-time Rendering in Blender Evee


Evee--Blender's new production-quality realtime rendering capability became the hottest Blender news in 2017. 
Even before its official release in Blender 2.8 and with limited features, "early-adapters" have released stunning results.
You too can test it yourself with the latest test builds released by Blender Foundation.

Related link: 
https://code.blender.org/2017/12/blender-2-8-xmas-report/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWSBYZ6bd7U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3H3G_YwU_I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LydQVCj8ICg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZVpc9sJOM&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAVjwXEjDdo

List of Articles
Subject Datesort Views
Blender Retrospectives 2020 Blender Retrospective Feb 20, 2021 211175
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 25, 2020 563311
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 25, 2020 426414
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 432172
Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 376071
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file Jan 23, 2019 345238
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 23, 2019 684536
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 23, 2019 408623
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file Jan 23, 2019 345144
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2019 381883
Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file Jan 02, 2019 376270
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file Jan 09, 2018 969207
Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file Jan 01, 2018 697005
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file Dec 26, 2017 550979
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file Jan 16, 2017 765617
Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Dec 29, 2016 1060536
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file Jan 20, 2016 790770
Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file Jan 12, 2016 762501
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file Jun 26, 2015 805855
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2015 814058
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file Dec 11, 2014 852936
Render of the Week 'King' by Manuel Grad - the Winner of the Week of August 7, 2017 file Aug 11, 2017 20040
Render of the Week 'Old Industrial Shed' by Lorenzo Drago - the Winner of the Week of July 31, 2017 file Aug 05, 2017 19427
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 19768
Render of the Week 'Trap' by Waqas Malik - the Winner of the Week of July 17, 2017 file Jul 22, 2017 19986
Render of the Week 'Project - Assemble' by Marco Cheng - the Winner of the Week of July 10, 2017 file Jul 14, 2017 20306
Render of the Week 'Artificial & Natural' by Robin Janowsky - the Winner of the Week of July 3, 2017 file Jul 07, 2017 19716
Render of the Week 'the Harvester v1.0' by Cheggour Hamza - the Winner of the Week of June 26, 2017 file Jun 30, 2017 22824
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 30539
Render of the Week 'TRIBESMEN logo' by Dennis Mabuka - the Winner of the Week of June 12, 2017 file Jun 16, 2017 21363
Render of the Week 'Nahil - the Builder Hero' by Daniele Viagi - the Winner of the Week of June 5, 2017 file Jun 09, 2017 55281
Render of the Week 'Geely Emgrand EC7 RV' by Roman Volkov - the Winner of the Week of May 29, 2017 file Jun 02, 2017 23718
Render of the Week 'Through the Woods' by Sebastian Zapata - the Winner of the Week of May 22, 2017 file May 25, 2017 22874
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 24232
Render of the Week 'Gamourosaurus' by Vassilis Kakoulantonakis - the Winner of the Week of May 8, 2017 file May 13, 2017 23421
Render of the Week 'Tale Chronicles vol.1' by Mateusz Wielgus - the Winner of the Week of May 1, 2017 file May 04, 2017 22968
Render of the Week 'Holbein. The Hamster' by Ismael Fuentes - the Winner of the Week of April 24, 2017 file Apr 27, 2017 53597
Render of the Week 'Forgotten Temple Statue' by Jonathan Lampel - the Winner of the Week of April 17, 2017 file Apr 19, 2017 23079
Render of the Week 'Logan' by Kanishk Chouhan - the Winner of the Week of April 10, 2017 file Apr 13, 2017 25393
Render of the Week 'Putrid Mourner' by Kirill Buzmakov - the Winner of the Week of April 3, 2017 file Apr 05, 2017 23279
Render of the Week 'Cartoon Spain' by Sergio Raposo Fernández - the Winner of the Week of March 27, 2017 file Mar 29, 2017 37261