Microsoft is now a Corporate Gold Blender Partner

[Professor Moriarty]

https://thenextweb.com/apps/2020/07/30/blender-microsoft-free-development-fund/

(Moderators: While this isn’t exactly “Trek Art”, it’s undeniable that many forum members including @scifieric and @Tallguy use Blender for their trekkery, so it seemed appropriate to post this here. Please move if you feel otherwise; thanks.)

Agreed, €30,000 is only a tiny smidgen to start, but trust me on this: this won’t be the last contribution. Microsoft has done a full 180° on open source in the past 15 years (I’m a .NET systems architect by day, so I know whereof I speak). They use Blender themselves for their work on HoloLens, and I really do think MS has quaffed deeply from the open source well. Will they feel this way ten years from now? Maybe, maybe not. But I have a sneaking suspicion this announcement is only the beginning.

If I was the CEO of Autodesk (Maya) or Maxon (Cinema4D), I’d be sitting up and taking notice. And if I was the CEO of what’s left of NewTek (LightWave)? I’d be on the phone with my attorney to ensure my golden parachute was in place.

 

[Rekkert]

Just looking at the Development Fund page is a who's who of big tech companies pouring money into the Foundation, and most of the big ones are fairly recent.

It's incredible how much Blender's perception changed fairly recently. Just 5 years ago Autodesk was every school's choice for 3D software (either Maya or 3DS Max). Now every school here is scrambling to get Blender instructors, because that's what studios are switching to.

The time for other companies to take notice was 2 or 3 years ago, now it's the time for them to either finally innovate, or slowly die off. I stopped using 3DS Max precisely because it didn't offer anything new for years and Autodesk was smug af about being monopolistic.

 

[valkyrie013]

Well, When you compare a Maya or Max License at .. last I checked.. 150+$ a MONTH Free sounds very good.
Sadly.. I opened blender once.. .. just once.. I really wish they'd streamline Menu's and interfaces and the like.. I had zero clue how to work the darn thing.. and gave up..
Guess this was 10 years ago?
I can re arrange the Hotkeys, but its like another language! AND I SUCK AT ENGLISH!

 

[ashleytinger]

I really REALLY need to try out the Blender for Artists option...

 

[scifieric]

I find the whole concept of Microsoft getting involved to be horrifying. (And THANK YOU, Professor, for including me alongside @Tallguy. I really feel honored!)

Blender is good enough that I could probably stop on the version I've got, keep a version of Windows that will run Blender, and never advance again. 2.79 does everything I've wanted from a 3D package.

Although I am heavily invested in the Microsoft OS (because of work), every time they got involved in software that I loved in the past, it has been bad for that software. Remember TrueSpace 3D? That was my original 3D software of choice. Purchased by Microsoft ... and dropped. No more Caligari TrueSpace.

I don't mind if they throw money at Blender. That's fine. I just don't want them to take it over, then stop it in its tracks.

 

[Santaman]

Blender is open source, M$ can't take it over, at the most they can make their own version.

 

[Soran77]

I have blender, and as an avid sketchup make user, the learning curve for blender is really bad

 

[Rekkert]

Yeah I mean that's the beauty of the Development Fund and of the Blender license, companies can throw money their way, but got no say in the development process, it's literally a corporate level Patreon. And given the level of money at this stage (and the fact that Blender still only has less than 20 employees) they can lose several corporate backers if they demand anything and keep things going pretty much as normal.

Roosendaal already confirmed that Microsoft had no specifics on how the money was spent or got anything out of the donation, it's just that, a donation. It just goes to the total pool like the rest of the funds.

@Soran77: Any 3D design tool has a learning curve if you're coming from CAD software like SketchUp, they are completely different workflows meant for different things. I used SU for like 5 years before moving on to 3DS Max, and it took me months of constant use to get to the level I was used, then when I moved from 3DS Max to Blender it took me a week to resume at a relatively similar level. The jump from a CAD mindset to a 3D design one cannot be overstated.

 

[publiusr]

If Microsoft really wants in, let them come up with a program to turn any CG art into 3-D prints, or model kits

I’d hate to code it

 

[Irishman]

I have blender, and as an avid sketchup make user, the learning curve for blender is really bad

I think that there’s certainly a 3d app for everyone, and I say that as someone who tried Sketchup first, and it just was not intuitive at all for me, so I gave Blender a go. The rest is history.

I would say that Blender is kind of like Photoshop: easy to pick up and create something with it, but you’ll be learning new things about it for as long as you use it.

Plus, it’s free!