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Interview with Ton Roosendaal, the man behind Blender (2018) [video]

72 points by nalinidash 2y ago

belter 2y ago
Really, really great interview...But being from 6 years ago, is there something similar and more recent, about the current state of the Blender ecosystem?
- Risse 2y ago
  FOSSPod did an interview with Dalai Felinto and Pablo Vazquez from Blender in July 2022 https://fosspod.content.town/episodes/blender-with-dalai-felinto-and-pablo-vazquez https://fosspod.content.town/episodes/blender-with-dalai-fel...
- rajveermalviya 2y ago
  Not really an interview, but they did answer some community questions on "Blender Today LIVE" 3 months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUrBhlcY1E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUrBhlcY1E
ramon156 2y ago
TIL that the creator is dutch, very cool (:
mstade 2y ago
Ton is an incredible person and Blender truly would’ve died in a box had it not have been for his perseverance and focus. That’s not to say there haven’t been many many more people who’ve contributed massively to the success of Blender, but had it not been for Ton they wouldn’t have had anything to build on and improve. I was very vocal against the fundraising to purchase and free the blender source code back in the day, and had very harsh criticism for Ton, saying things like Ton ran NaN into the ground, why should we trust him to deliver on freeing Blender etc. etc. It was a divisive time, and people in the community said stuff like if you don’t like it, leave – and I did. I remember one guy saying “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” :o) I was very wrong in doubting Ton and the community, and I’m very happy to admit it. Blender is an amazing piece of software, and it’s wholly and completely free. It never would’ve been without Ton. So Ton if your read this – thank you so very much for proving me (and many others) very wrong!
dang 2y ago
Discussed (a bit) at the time: “Money doesn't interest me” – Creator of Blender talks about its future - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17989373 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17989373 - Sept 2018 (1 comment) “Money doesn't interest me” – Creator of Blender talks about its future - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16480431 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16480431 - Feb 2018 (2 comments)
solarkraft 2y ago
I occasionally come back to this interview because it's so beautiful. Blender is such a success story of a project putting a focus on practically improving its UX with code quality being one way of achieving that, but not the ultimate goal.

72 points by nalinidash 2y ago

Really, really great interview...But being from 6 years ago, is there something similar and more recent, about the current state of the Blender ecosystem?

Risse 2y ago
FOSSPod did an interview with Dalai Felinto and Pablo Vazquez from Blender in July 2022 https://fosspod.content.town/episodes/blender-with-dalai-felinto-and-pablo-vazquez https://fosspod.content.town/episodes/blender-with-dalai-fel...
rajveermalviya 2y ago
Not really an interview, but they did answer some community questions on "Blender Today LIVE" 3 months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUrBhlcY1E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUrBhlcY1E

ramon156 2y ago

TIL that the creator is dutch, very cool (:

mstade 2y ago

Ton is an incredible person and Blender truly would’ve died in a box had it not have been for his perseverance and focus. That’s not to say there haven’t been many many more people who’ve contributed massively to the success of Blender, but had it not been for Ton they wouldn’t have had anything to build on and improve. I was very vocal against the fundraising to purchase and free the blender source code back in the day, and had very harsh criticism for Ton, saying things like Ton ran NaN into the ground, why should we trust him to deliver on freeing Blender etc. etc. It was a divisive time, and people in the community said stuff like if you don’t like it, leave – and I did. I remember one guy saying “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” :o) I was very wrong in doubting Ton and the community, and I’m very happy to admit it. Blender is an amazing piece of software, and it’s wholly and completely free. It never would’ve been without Ton. So Ton if your read this – thank you so very much for proving me (and many others) very wrong!

dang 2y ago

Discussed (a bit) at the time: “Money doesn't interest me” – Creator of Blender talks about its future - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17989373 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17989373 - Sept 2018 (1 comment) “Money doesn't interest me” – Creator of Blender talks about its future - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16480431 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16480431 - Feb 2018 (2 comments)

solarkraft 2y ago

I occasionally come back to this interview because it's so beautiful. Blender is such a success story of a project putting a focus on practically improving its UX with code quality being one way of achieving that, but not the ultimate goal.