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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
No. Subject Author Viewssort Votes Date Last Update
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2020 Blender Retrospective 294370   Feb 20, 2021 Feb 21, 2021 01:20
Notice Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file 646675   Jan 25, 2020 Mar 24, 2020 10:13
Notice Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file 509876   Jan 25, 2020 Mar 24, 2020 10:13
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file 516756   Jan 25, 2020 Mar 24, 2020 10:15
Notice Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file 459913   Jan 25, 2020 Mar 24, 2020 10:12
Notice Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file 430784   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 772294   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 493604   Jan 23, 2019 Jan 23, 2019 15:48
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file 428703   Jan 23, 2019 Jan 25, 2019 10:33
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file 465620   Jan 02, 2019 Jan 02, 2019 13:20
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file 459487   Jan 02, 2019 Jan 02, 2019 13:42
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file 1055881   Jan 09, 2018 Jan 25, 2019 23:35
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file 781494   Jan 01, 2018 Jan 09, 2018 04:55
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file 635012   Dec 26, 2017 Jan 09, 2018 04:55
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file 849708   Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017 05:18
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Admin 1145662   Dec 29, 2016 Feb 01, 2017 10:28
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file 874660   Jan 20, 2016 Feb 02, 2016 03:35
Notice Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file 846479   Jan 12, 2016 Feb 20, 2016 22:40
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file 890067   Jun 26, 2015 Jan 01, 2016 05:33
Notice Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file 898688   Jan 02, 2015 Jan 02, 2015 16:04
Notice Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file 938430   Dec 11, 2014 Jan 24, 2015 21:31
288 Render of the Week 'Hunter's Cabin' by Robert Welling- the Winner of the Week of October 27, 2014 file 37355   Oct 28, 2014 Nov 11, 2014 20:00
 
287 Render of the Week 'The Bunny' by Glenn Melenhorst - the Winner of the Week of January 25, 2016 file 37399   Jan 26, 2016 Jan 26, 2016 22:12
 
286 Render of the Week 'Daenerys Targaryen' by Sardushkin Maxim - the Winner of the Week of November 20, 2017 file 37454   Nov 25, 2017 Nov 25, 2017 01:57
 
285 Render of the Week 'Brother Bear' by Pratik Solanki - the Winner of the Week of August 25, 2015 file 37480   Aug 25, 2015 Aug 25, 2015 12:35
 
284 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of June 17, 2013 file 37492   Jun 17, 2013 Jun 17, 2013 14:55
 
283 Render of the Week 'Misdirection' by Julian Santiago - the Winner of the Week of September 7, 2015 file 37523   Sep 09, 2015 Sep 09, 2015 00:32
 
282 Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of March 30, 2015 file 37531   Mar 31, 2015 Mar 31, 2015 21:20
 
281 Render of the Week 'Nocturne' by Den Voloskov - the Winner of the Week of February 10, 2014 file 37577   Feb 11, 2014 Feb 11, 2014 00:16
 
280 Render of the Week 'Intergalactic Music Pilot' by Oleg Memukhin - the Winner of the Week of June 30, 2014 file 37592   Jun 30, 2014 Jun 30, 2014 13:02
 
279 Render of the Week 'Rocky, My Water Dragon' by Sébastien RENAULT - the Winner of the Week of February 2, 2015 file 37618   Feb 04, 2015 Feb 11, 2015 02:13
 
278 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of July 28, 2013 file 37635   Jul 29, 2013 Jul 29, 2013 20:06
 
277 Render of the Week 'Beast in the Snow' bySteffen Hess - the Winner of the Week of December 22, 2014 file 37693   Dec 23, 2014 Dec 23, 2014 20:47
 
276 Render of the Week 'R2D2' by Neil Taylor - the Winner of the Week of December 7, 2015 file 37713   Dec 08, 2015 Dec 08, 2015 22:13
 
275 Render of the Week ' Princess' by Jakub Vondra - the Winner of the Week of August 5, 2013 file 37746   Aug 06, 2013 Aug 06, 2013 02:30
 
274 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of April 6, 2015 file 37781   Apr 07, 2015 Apr 07, 2015 18:32
 
273 Render of the Week 'Mercenaries' by Kalinin Dmitrii - the Winner of the Week of September 1, 2014 file 37782   Sep 01, 2014 Sep 01, 2014 23:26
 
272 Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of June 10, 2013 file 37797   Jun 10, 2013 Jun 10, 2013 17:48
 
271 Render of the Week 'Steampunk Vault Room' by Pascal Deraed - the Winner of the Week of May 9, 2016 file 37843   May 10, 2016 May 10, 2016 20:50
 
270 Blender Features Food and Blender - a Veteran's Observation file 37847   Jul 10, 2012 Jul 10, 2012 17:31
 
269 Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of November 24, 2014 file 37851   Nov 25, 2014 Nov 25, 2014 17:51