Why Blender Is Usually A Preference Despite Falling Short Of Industry Standard

The most commonly used software, Blender, is an ideal approach for 3D Modeling, animations, game development, sculpting, motion graphics, and whatnot. Almost every developer in the industry recognizes the tool’s potential, and Blender has made its presence quite well over the years in the animation and game development industry.

However, despite being free, open-source software that has revolutionized the 3D world, significant factors prevent Blender from reaching industry standards.

Where Does Blender Lose Its Efficiency In The Industry

Unofficial Support

The major factor why Blender is currently below the industry standard is its development reliability in its community. There is no official team for supporting queries at the very moment.

However, I have never found this an issue; I believe no one ever has. This is because Blender’s community is thriving with active support in publishing thorough guidelines and tutorials to instantly pull you out of any hard-to-get phase. 

Still, the major game development companies might overlook this factor due to an additional training phase that conflicts with time management. Following this, time is a significant aspect to consider during the development stage, for big studios.

Therefore, being free-to-use might not always be a plus point at the industry level; efficiency mostly counts.

Open-Source Raises Trust Issues

Blender’s official motto is “The Freedom To Create,” but this freedom is not limited to its front-end workspace interface. Being open-source, you can add a new Add-on or plug-in by downloading one from anywhere on the internet or by creating your own Add-on and officially publishing it.

Now, big studios have the opportunity to develop and make new Add-ons anytime they intend. This will significantly enhance their production phase, as they can maintain a steady workflow without additional pipelines. However, the open-source factor is a drawback that prevents developers from introducing industry-level Add-ons in Blender.

This logic sure looks legitimate, as developing an industry-level Add-on requires heavy investment and a high degree of coding skills. However, an open-source feature can not respect these attributes since anyone can access the source code.

A Consistently Changing Workspace

Blender is prone to making adjustments in its interface from time to time. This is because its development depends on its community, which thrives with active support.

Every new update makes Blender user-friendly, and feature improvements or additions make it a precious asset in the industry. As a hobbyist, I consider this an intriguing fact about Blender, but it is not a good approach for developers.

The mindset of big studios contradicts the idea of a dynamic environment. This is probably because the change in the workspace will never happen upon developers’ consent. Instead, the community will decide how often the software will be updated. This will be tiresome for developers as they will first be required to acquaint themselves with the features now and then.

If we take Bethesda, for example, the Creation Engine might appear to be an outdated tool, and the company adapted it in 2011 with the release of Skyrim. At that point, Skyrim’s success firmly put the company’s faith in the Creation Engine, which they later used for the Fallout series. This gave the developers the freedom to update the software only when the need arose. 

So, Blender might not satisfy the majority of game studios’ requirements. However, Blender is still holding its ground because some of its features deliver the same quality as its competitors.

Blender Has The Same Tendency As Other 3D Software

Blender’s rapid development pace is making it surpass its competitors. Whatever features the industry standard tools have introduced, Blender has also adopted those features over time. So, the massive plus point this software has is its capability of providing an equivalent feature-rich interface cost-free.

Convenient Character Designing

Explicitly, I have observed Blender’s Sculpting feature is much more gripping and allows working in a 3D environment. Compared with Maya (an industry-standard tool), which is ideal for character design, Blender seems to have much more control due to its advantage of allowing organic Modeling. The NURBS feature of Maya is unbeatable for effective Modeling.

Still, the free-style work environment of Blender is just more prominent when it comes to designing landscapes or character sculpting from scratch.

Support For Pipeline

Furthermore, Blender supports the Pipeline Model, although its pipeline feature is not as feature-rich as other 3D software, such as Unreal Linking with Maya.

Yet, what I adore most about Blender’s pipeline feature is its support for a wide variety of 3D file formats, including OBJ, FBX, USD, SVG, etc. 

Ideal For Modeling

Now, on a general note, Modeling is an essential aspect of any 3D software, and Blender has seen progressive changes over the years. The hard-surface Modeling in Blender is made relatively easy with its friendly user interface and community sparing no effort in providing much efficient Add-ons. 

Blender provides numerous Modeling modifiers. Moreover, the Sculpting feature of Blender acts as a complete system that helps you modify or create complex and detail-oriented models.

Blender Is A Perfect Pitch For Indie Developers

If you are an indie game developer who wants to create a 3D game, Blender is an ideal approach because it is a diverse game engine. The process of character design, level design, procedural material, and even the animation are all accessible using Blender. 

Blender’s free access to almost every industry-level feature is remarkably favorable to indie game developers. Blender’s learning curve might not be tedious compared to other 3D software due to the abundance of tutorials made by expert content creators that are also free to access.

In my opinion, Blender’s most appealing factor is its fast Rendering Engine. Blender uses real-time render features, Eevee, to produce efficient results while maintaining outstanding quality.

Although Cycles exist in Blender that generate results based on Ray Tracing, I highly appreciate the presence of Eevee. 

Also, I believe Eevee can be essential for the development phase due to its interactive environment with the final results. The fast-paced render engine can help test out final results more often and quickly. However, Eevee’s capability to produce high-end results can not be neglected, which can prove ideal for fast and less tiring development.

Blender is used mainly for building assets, poly Modeling, or animation in game development. However, It has also been used as a full-time game engine to produce high-quality games such as “The Future’s End” or “KRUM.” 

From my perspective, Blender is a dominating tool in the industry that has proven its worth by consistently providing up-to-date and innovative features. This software’s support has seen rapid growth with time.

Since Blender now also gains massive support from major studios such as Epic Games, and the fact that Ubisoft considers Blender a reliable tool for their animation production entirely backs up Blender’s pre-eminent presence in the gaming world.