What is Blender?

Blender was first conceived in December 1993 and became a usable product in August 1994 as an integrated application that enables the creation of a diverse range of 2D and 3D content. Blender provides a broad spectrum of modeling, texturing, lighting, animation and video post-processing functionality in one package. Through its open architecture, Blender provides cross-platform interoperability, extensibility, an incredibly small footprint, and a tightly integrated workflow. Blender is one of the most popular Open Source 3D graphics applications in the world.

Aimed at media professionals and artists world-wide, Blender can be used to create 3D visualizations and still images, as well as broadcast- and cinema-quality videos, while the incorporation of a real-time 3D engine allows for the creation of 3D interactive content for stand-alone playback or video games.

Originally developed by the company ‘Not a Number’ (NaN), Blender has continued on as ‘Free Software’, with the source code available under the GNU GPL license. The Blender Foundation in the Netherlands coordinates its ongoing development.

Between 2008 and 2010, key parts of Blender were re-written to improve its functions, workflow and interface. The result of this work produced the version of the software known as Blender 2.5.