Why Blender 3D?

I’ve been asked from time to time why I moved from Autodesk 3ds max to open source 3d software Blender 3d. I’ve been a 3ds max user for the vast majority of my career. Investing in a graphics package is more than just the cost of the software, it’s time invested in training. Most professional 3d graphics software takes years to master depending on the discipline and career path.

What’s best for one person and their career path may not be the best choice for another.

If you're hoping to create games, maybe 3ds max is the best choice. If you want to work in Hollywood, perhaps it’s Maya or Houdini. Motion designers often choose Cinema 4d because it integrates well with After Effects. So why did I make the switch to Blender? First I’d like to dispel two of the most common misconceptions about Blender 3D.

The people who program this software are hobbyists and work on it in their spare time.

While this may be true for some open source projects, the Blender foundation actually employs full-time professional developers through various fundraising revenue.

The software can’t be any good because it’s free and likely full of bugs.

The Blender foundation runs like any other software company. It’s organized in much the same way with development goals, release cycles and bug tracking. It’s very stable.

What made me decide to jump ship? About two years ago I decided it didn't make sense to pay the high subscription price for 3ds max. At the time I think it was around $200 a month. Autodesk has since made it much more affordable for indie artists. I didn't use the software on every project, nor did I use it to it’s full potential since most of what I did at the time was After Effects and 2d motion design. Furthermore I felt like 3d studio’s render engines had become out of date. Most of the 3d models I needed to purchase on TurboSquid used V-ray and 3ds max. I didn't want to shell out another thousand dollars on a third party render engine like V-ray. If I was going to learn a new render engine, part of that meant learning a new shader and lighting. So, it was going to be...drum roll..Cinema 4D. That still meant I was going to have to shell out some cash for a license though and make the bigger investment in learning a new 3d package. The latter was the bigger issue. What if Autodesk swallowed up Maxon, the maker of Cinema 4d? After all they had done the same with several other competitors.

Then I remembered Blender 3D. I had dabbled with Blender off and on since 1998 or so. Yep, it’s been in development that long! I’ve always loved the spirit of the open source community and really wanted to integrate Blender into my work flow, but it was never quite as good as 3ds max. So I’d always end up back with max. I decided to try one more time. I downloaded the current version at the time, 2.78 and caught up with what had been going on in the Blender community. To my surprise it was still in full development and had blossomed into a full fledged professional level 3D application with a large community of professional artists and contributors. Since my last dabble, they had worked on several animated shorts each looking more like a Dreamworks or Pixar quality production. It had been adopted by a few visual effects studios and had been used to make the movie Next Gen by Tangent Animation studio. The UI was still slightly rough around the edges but all the features were there. At times it was painful to tool over. Blender's UI was unique to put it nicely. Then came Blender 2.83. This was a major new release and with it many of the frustrating UI issues were addressed. It's two years later now and the biggest advantage is the amazing amount of training material, resources and artists who have adopted the software. The community and work being generated keeps me excited and motivated as a 3d generalist and motion designer, which has become the biggest payoff on my investment.

Check out 9 Great Blender films you must see

https://lollypopman.com/2019/04/18/9-great-blender-films-you-must-see/