Editing Blender (software) (section)

==History==
[[File:Cube in Blender Editor.png|250px|thumb|right|A cube in Blender (version 3.6.2)]]
Blender was initially developed as an in-house application by the Dutch animation studio NeoGeo (no relation to the [[Neo Geo|video game brand]]), and was officially launched on January 2, 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://code.blender.org/2013/12/how-blender-started-twenty-years-ago/|title=How Blender started, twenty years ago…|website=Blender Developers Blog|date=27 December 2013 |publisher=Blender Foundation|language=en|access-date=2019-01-10}}</ref> Version 1.00 was released in January 1995,<ref name=":19">{{cite web|url=https://archive.blender.org/wiki/index.php/Doc:DK/2.6/Manual|title=Doc:DK/2.6/Manual - BlenderWiki|work=Blender.org|access-date=2019-01-11}}</ref> with the primary author being the company co-owner and software developer [[Ton Roosendaal]]. The name ''Blender'' was inspired by a song by the Swiss electronic band [[Yello]], from the album ''[[Baby (Yello album)|Baby]]'', which NeoGeo used in its [[showreel]].<ref name=":20">{{cite web|date=2021-10-19|title=Ton Roosendaal Reveals the Origin of Blender's name|url=https://www.blendernation.com/2021/10/19/ton-roosendaal-reveals-the-origin-of-blenders-name/|access-date=2021-10-20|website=BlenderNation|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/3CdA_NMw7lc Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190216080628/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CdA_NMw7lc&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CdA_NMw7lc|title=NeoGeo — Blender|publisher=YouTube|date=2011-10-28|access-date=2019-06-11}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mopi.nl/blogo/p1.html|title=Brief history of the Blender logo—Traces|last=Kassenaar|first=Joeri|date=2006-07-20|access-date=2010-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122234804/http://www.mopi.nl/blogo/p1.html|archive-date=2010-01-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some design choices and experiences for Blender were carried over from an earlier software application, called Traces, that Roosendaal developed for NeoGeo on the [[Amiga|Commodore Amiga]] platform during the 1987–1991 period.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://zgodzinski.com/blender-prehistory/|title=Blender's prehistory - Traces on Commodore Amiga (1987-1991)|website=zgodzinski.com}}</ref>

On January 1, 1998, Blender was released publicly online as [[Silicon Graphics|SGI]] freeware.<ref name="25th"/> NeoGeo was later dissolved, and its client contracts were taken over by another company. After NeoGeo's dissolution, Ton Roosendaal founded Not a Number Technologies (NaN, a reference to the [[NaN|computing term of the same name]]) in June 1998 to further develop Blender, initially distributing it as [[shareware]]<!--did the c-key make it shareware?--> until NaN went bankrupt in 2002. This also resulted in the discontinuation of Blender's development.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/foundation/history/|title=Blender History|website=Blender.org|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref>

In May 2002, Roosendaal started the non-profit [[Blender Foundation]], with the first goal to find a way to continue developing and promoting Blender as a community-based open-source project. On July 18, 2002, Roosendaal started the "Free Blender" campaign, a crowdfunding precursor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2002072201226OSBZCY|title=Blender Foundation Launches Campaign to Open Blender Source|publisher=Linux Today|access-date=2017-01-22|archive-date=2020-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128082249/https://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2002072201226osbzcy|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blender3d.com/campaign.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021010045558/http://www.blender3d.com/campaign.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2002-10-10|title=Free Blender campaign|date=2002-10-10|access-date=2017-01-22}}</ref> The campaign aimed at open-sourcing Blender for a one-time payment of €100,000 (USD 100,670 at the time), with the money being collected from the community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blender3d.com/members.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021010174347/http://www.blender3d.com/members.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2002-10-10|title=members|date=2002-10-10|access-date=2017-01-22}}</ref> On September 7, 2002, it was announced that they had collected enough funds and would release the Blender [[source code]]. Today, Blender is free and open-source software, largely developed by its community as well as 26 full-time employees and 12 freelancers employed by the Blender Institute.<ref name=":13">{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/institute/|title=Blender.org About|location=Amsterdam|access-date=2021-02-01}}</ref>

The Blender Foundation initially reserved the right to use [[Multi-licensing|dual licensing]] so that, in addition to [[GNU General Public License|GPL 2.0-or-later]], Blender would have been available also under the "Blender License", which did not require disclosing source code but required payments to the Blender Foundation. However, this option was never exercised and was suspended indefinitely in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blender.org/BL/|title=Blender License|access-date=January 19, 2007|last=Roosendaal|first=Ton|date=June 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090101/https://www.blender.org/BL/|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Blender is solely available under "GNU GPLv2 or any later" and was not updated to the [[GPLv3]], as "no evident benefits" were seen.<ref name="libredwg-gplv3-opinion">{{cite web|url=https://librearts.org/2012/01/whats-up-with-dwg-adoption-in-free-software/|title=What's up with DWG adoption in free software?|last=Prokoudine|first=Alexandre|date=26 January 2012|access-date=2025-03-09|publisher=librearts.org|quote=[Blender's Ton Roosendaal:] Blender is also still 'GPLv2 or later'. For the time being we stick to that, moving to GPL 3 has no evident benefits I know of. My advice for LibreDWG: if you make a library, choosing a widely compatible license (MIT, BSD, or LGPL) is a very positive choice.}}</ref> The binary releases of Blender are under GNU GPLv3 or later because of the incorporated Apache libraries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Blender |title=License |url=https://www.blender.org/about/license/ |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=blender.org |language=en}}</ref>

In 2019, with the release of version 2.80, the integrated [[Blender Game Engine|game engine]] for making and prototyping video games was removed; Blender's developers recommended that users migrate to more powerful open source game engines such as [[Godot (game engine)|Godot]] instead.<ref name="bge-removed">{{cite web|title=rB159806140fd3|url=https://developer.blender.org/rB159806140fd33e6ddab951c0f6f180cfbf927d38|website=developer.blender.org|access-date=2019-02-28}}</ref><ref name="OSgodotRec">{{cite web|title=Blender 2.80 release|url=https://www.blender.org/download/releases/2-80/|website=blender.org|access-date=2020-01-16}}</ref>