While they are safe to download, they can be potentially unstable to use and may crash from time to time, as they are versions that have been altered to include new tools and have not been fully debugged. Like the stable release, these builds are absolutely safe to download from the blender website, although, unlike the stable release, you will not find these versions anywhere other than. In addition to the current version of Blender, you can also gain access to experimental builds of future Blender versions. It will always be free under the GNU GPL. It would return as a result of the free blender crowdfunding campaign and the founding of the nonprofit company the Blender foundation.īecause it is a part of a nonprofit company, Blender cannot and will not be sold to another organization. At one point early on in its life, Blender was discontinued due to the collapse of its parent company NaN (Not a Number technologies) which was also founded by Roosendaal. Blenders’ history has had a permanent influence on its future. Blender’s founder and creator Ton Roosendaal has gone on record many times over the years to state that Blender will always be free software. ToN Roosendaal, Founder of blender foundation, 2019
Blender is free to share with others, free to study its sources and free make new versions. Free to use for any purpose, also commercially.
You can learn more about the license here at the blender website and the license terms here.īlender is Free Software. You don’t need to know the difference between the versions, only that the GPL license promotes the distribution of free software, which is what Blender is.
the source code at uses version 2 or newer, while all the individual components used for Blender itself fall under GPL version 3. There are different versions of the GPL that have slightly different terms but the general purpose of the license remains the same regardless of the version used. These add ons are nearly always safe as they are often developed by members of the Blender community to improve the user experience but always double-check to see if anyone else has used the add-on just to be sure. It should be noted that when downloading add ons you are not often downloading from the Blender foundation but a third party.
Add ons can be distributed for free or can be sold by the creator, but must always benefit the end-user in Blender. A far more common approach though is for users to develop what are known as add ons using Python script to improve on the functionality of what is already there. In addition, you can even make changes to the version of Blender that you have downloaded and redistribute that adjusted version to the Blender community.
With GPL (General Public License), you as the end-user are permitted to download and use Blender however you wish, whether that be personal and commercial.Īny work that you create using Blender is your own work and you are free to use or sell that work however you see fit. Because it is considered open source, the code used to format Blender is free to download for all who wish to use it. It is categorized under the GNU General Public License.
So how can Blender be free?īlender is an open-source 3D modeling suite supported by the not-for-profit Blender foundation.
The fact that a full 3D modeling suite is free to download and use while comparable programs like Maya and 3DS Max can cost $100’s and even $1000’s can attract a little bit of suspicion for new users. So when should you download Blender and when should you not? You can either download from or a third-party marketplace like steam.
The software normally tops out at 200MB and is very easy and safe to set up on your computer. But is Blender legit or is it something that you should avoid downloading and is not what it claims to be?īlender is NOT a virus and is 100% safe to download from the website. You may have heard about this wonderful thing called Blender 3D that can perform all sorts of tasks from modeling 3D sculptures to editing full video files, and all for free.