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 Viewssort
Blender Retrospectives 2020 Blender Retrospective Feb 20, 2021 211009
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 25, 2020 563115
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 25, 2020 426221
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 431961
Tutorials Top 15 Highest-Rated Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2019 file Jan 25, 2020 375862
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 for Blender 2.8 file Jan 23, 2019 344995
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for CG, Games & Viz file Jan 23, 2019 684299
Tutorials Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 Worthy of Your Note - for Animation & VFX file Jan 23, 2019 408386
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2018 file Jan 23, 2019 344904
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2018: Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2019 381645
Blender Retrospectives 2018 Blender Retrospective file Jan 02, 2019 376050
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2017 file Jan 09, 2018 968984
Blender Retrospectives 2017 Blender Retrospective file Jan 01, 2018 696767
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2017: Winners Annouced file Dec 26, 2017 550733
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials (Videos) Released in 2016 file Jan 16, 2017 765395
Blender Retrospectives 2016 Blender Retrospective file Dec 29, 2016 1060293
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2015: Seven Winners Annouced file Jan 20, 2016 790553
Blender Retrospectives 2015 Blender Retrospective file Jan 12, 2016 762261
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2015 file Jun 26, 2015 805607
Render of the Year Render of the Year Awards 2014: Five Winners Annouced file Jan 02, 2015 813829
Tutorials Top 12 Free Online Blender Tutorials Released in 2014 file Dec 11, 2014 852703
Render of the Week 'New Monster Friends' by Mohamed Chahin - the Winner of the Week of October 1, 2018 file Oct 02, 2018 10260
Render of the Week 'Liac Store' by Alexander Lagunovich - the Winner of the Week of September 16, 2019 file Sep 22, 2019 10256
Render of the Week 'Classroom' by Tim Diaz - the Winner of the Week of March 4, 2019 file Mar 06, 2019 10237
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of October 7, 2019 file Oct 12, 2019 10217
Render of the Week 'Black Marble Baths' by Toivo Huhtaniska - the Winner of the Week of September 24, 2018 file Sep 26, 2018 10210
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 10199
Render of the Week 'Treehead - Alien World' by Donald Çela - the Winner of the Week of February 10, 2020 file Feb 16, 2020 10197
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of October 15, 2018 file Oct 16, 2018 10188
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of September 10, 2018 file Sep 11, 2018 10182
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of March 11, 2019 file Mar 13, 2019 10162
Render of the Week 'The Queen' by Bernardo Iraci - the Winner of the Week of September 3, 2018 file Sep 04, 2018 10161
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of July 13, 2020 file Jul 15, 2020 10145
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of November 25, 2019 file Dec 01, 2019 10138
Architectural Visualization ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of April 22, 2019 file Apr 23, 2019 10135
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of May 13, 2019 file May 15, 2019 10133
Render of the Week 'Neuromancer' by Rafael Moco - the Winner of the Week of October 8, 2018 file Oct 09, 2018 10128
Render of the Week 'Uruk Hai Soldier' by Juan Hernández - the Winner of the Week of March 11, 2019 file Mar 13, 2019 10124
Render of the Week 'Kayan Tribe Woman' by George Siskas - the Winner of the Week of January 3, 2020 file Feb 07, 2020 10117
Render of the Week 'Alternate KONG:Skull Island Movie Trailer - With Blender' by Nilushan Rajakaruna - the Winner of the Week of March 2, 2020 file Mar 10, 2020 10091
Product Visualization PRODUCT VISUALIZATION IN BLENDER for the week of August 19, 2019 file Aug 24, 2019 10067