Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software toolset used for creating animated films, visual effects, 3D printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, and video games. It's available for various operating systems including Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD.
Blender was initially developed as an in-house application by the Dutch animation studio Neo Geo in 1995. The software was created by Ton Roosendaal and his team to facilitate their own production work. In 1998, Neo Geo went bankrupt, and to save Blender, Roosendaal founded Not a Number Technologies (NaN), with the goal of making Blender commercially viable. However, NaN also went bankrupt in 2002, leading Roosendaal to release Blender as free software under the GNU General Public License.
In 2002, a community fundraising effort known as the "Free Blender" campaign was launched to buy out the rights to Blender's source code, which was successful. This marked the beginning of Blender as a community-driven project. Since then, Blender Foundation was established to oversee the development of Blender, and it has been continuously developed by volunteers and professionals from around the world.
Blender's development is largely driven by its community, with contributions accepted through the Blender Developer Fund and via a platform called Blender Cloud for collaborative work. The Blender Foundation organizes annual conferences like Blender Conference where developers, users, and enthusiasts gather to share knowledge and advancements in the software.
Blender has been used in numerous professional projects including films like "Elephants Dream," "Big Buck Bunny," "Sintel," "Tears of Steel," and "Agent 327." It has also been utilized in TV series, advertisements, architectural visualization, and in the creation of video games.