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"Money doesn't interest me" - Ton Roosendaal 2017 Interview

Blender Guru

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  • Recommended by 7 people: 7 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2018 to 2025.
  • Presented by Ton Roosendaal, creator of Blender

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

1.1M views8 years ago7 recommendations

Graphics and audioHistory and cultureRenderingOpen sourceHistory of computing

Ton Roosendaal discusses the origins of Blender, its transition to open source, and why he is driven by creation rather than money.

Interview with Ton Roosendaal, the man behind the open source 3D software Blender! Chapter Marks: Intro How Blender got started An early design decision that paid off When Blender had $5.5M in cash How Blender almost didn't happen Why making Blender open source was the best decision Why Ton isn't interested in money What separates Blender from other open source projects Why Blender's game engine is lagging behind The fallout from my Blender UI proposal Ton's thoughts on Autodesk Disney buying Pixar What's holding Blender back The UI debate ----------------------------------------------- Follow me: Twitter: twitter.com/andrewpprice Instagram: instagram.com/andrewpprice Facebook: facebook.com/blenderguru ArtStation: artstation.com/artist/andrewprice Blender Guru: blenderguru.com Poliigon: poliigon.com/?utm_campaign=desc&utm_source=youtube&utm_mediu…

Why it's here

7 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as an inspiring interview about the history of Blender and a masterclass in open-source software success.

halirutanon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Why Wolfram Tech Isn’t Open Source”

Your last sentence reminded me of an interview with the Ton Rosendaal, the creator of Blender. He talks extensively about how Blender became OSS and not abandonware. I highly encourage to watch the whole interview (you need at least 5 mins to get used to his accent), but the important part starts around minute 14 link to this video
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gresharioon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Blender Foundation Annual Report 2020 [pdf]”

I reccomend watching this interview with him - at least the parts where he talks about money. It's incredibly refreshing to hear someone at the top of their game in the tech sphere say they're not interested in money except as a tool to help them create. link to this video
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solarkrafton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Gimp 3 Beta Released”

The Blender story is quite an impressive one of iterative development. Ton Rosensaal very explicitly doesn't want technology for its own sake and wants to "get it out of the door", but does it all while keeping an eye on it being usable for creatives (now more than before, but the ground work was laid long ago, see everything being animatable) Great interview with Blender Guru: link to this video
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solarkrafton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: What was the best software that you used during 2022?”

IIRC Ton Rosendaal, Blender's creator, still leads the project, but while listening very closely to its users and their pains and a very interesting approach to software development. The interview with BlenderGuru is great one: link to this video The last major redesign was started by a vision shared by the interviewer, who seems to be one of the many deeply invested artists. (This is all very much "IIRC", based on stuff I've peripherally heard or seen years ago)
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solarkrafton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ton Roosendaal to step down as Blender chairman and CEO”

Blender is one of those shining FOSS successes we should all learn from. I loved watching the BlenderGuru interview: link to this video Thank you, Ton!
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invaderon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ton Roosendaal to step down as Blender chairman and CEO”

Ton is a legend and a personal hero of mine. He is a great innovator and an open-source superstar who disrupted the entire industry, traditionally dominated by big corporations. The entire Blender story is captivating - from modeler and raytracer prototypes on Amiga to the Internet bubble startup to the famous crowdfunding campaign to free Blender... It is a story that deserves a movie. For anyone interested in open-source history who is not familiar with the Blender story, I would highly recommend Ton's interview with Blender Guru, where he reflects on his journey - link to this video
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dustinmooreneton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Blender’s Prehistory – Traces on Commodore Amiga (1987-1991)”

The history of Bender was pretty well explained in a long interview with Ton Roosendaal by Andrew Price of Blender Guru. link to this video
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dorenaon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Blender Is Free Software”

I‘m using blender every day and absolutely love it. the fact that it’s run by such a genuine and inspirational guy like Ton makes me like blender even more :) if you want to know more about him and his plan for Blender watch this interview link to this video or the tour of their new office (it’s really funny) link
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Lievelingsduifon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Gimp project gets $68.34 monthly”

Blender already has a solid and enthousiastic user base before the 2.7 UI update. Blender was also the forerunner in having a kickstarter-like scheme to raise enough money to make it opensource. There's an interesting interview between Ton Roosendaal and Blender Guru about the history. link to this video The Blender guys were also a lot less hostile towards people trying to make improvements to stuff like UX. One of the things that GIMP also desperately needs is a name change, while Blender is an odd choice it at least doesn't conjur up sexual images.
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Ralfpon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ubisoft joins Blender Development Fund to support open-source animation”

Ton Roosendaal (Blender creator) estimated in 2018 interview that 3D software market is very small, and pulled up Autodesk's (3DsMax/Maya, etc) business results from that time, which amounted to 25000 - 30000 yearly licenses. He also claimed that Maya has "maybe 20" developers behind with things being similar for other products. link to this video (jump to 1h mark)
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alexc05on Hacker News • Mentions

On “Don't End the Week with Nothing (2014)”

…to a one liner and reduces a week long job down to seconds DOESN'T?! You're telling me I have to go out and buy my OWN tiny little golden statue and play an applause loop on my cellphone? That's bullshit! At least that's where I want to start, I've seen some interviews in the last few days with people like Ton Roosendaal - the creator of blender - link to this video After I've developed the interview skills to talk to the people who genuinely make me feel a little like a programming fanboy…
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DonHopkinson Hacker News • Mentions

On “Autodesk criticised by 35 named architects (2020)”

….. of public interest, we have to act in that sense. I can't simply say, "Oh, I'm going to support Autodesk from now on". And then, you can't. You can bring me to court and I will most certainly lose this. Plus, what people don't know maybe, but the Blender code is not owned by the Blender Foundation. CRASH RUMBLE THUD What??! That was Autodesk! link to this video >"Money doesn't interest me" - Ton Roosendaal interview. Interview with Ton Roosendaal, the man behind the open source 3D software Blender! 46:52: Q: What do you think of Autodesk? link to this video >A: They're my best friends! Yah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! >...52:46 Nobody reads those licenses. Nobody. And this one is quite bad, isn't it? It…
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Qualadoreon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ladybird: A new cross-platform browser project”

> We should go back to the roots, forget about competing, focus on what's the best not for the end users but on what's fun for the FOSS developers, and bring back the hobby on open source projects. I prefer Blender's approach of heavily prioritizing users over developers 0. It's been a huge success. 0 link to this video
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