{"slug": "blender", "name": "Blender", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Free, open-source 3D creation suite for modeling, animation, rendering and compositing.", "recommenders": 27, "commenters": 51, "warners": 2, "score": 29.087, "rising": 3.11, "first": "2025-11-01", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "HN commenters like it as a fast, free 3D suite that rivals commercial tools, with Python scripting that supports automation and AI-driven workflows, and many use it to make models for 3D printing.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 28, "neutral": 21, "compare": 1, "warn": 3}, "spark": [2, 0, 1, 0, 2, 5, 0, 0, 8, 4, 3, 3], "listed": true, "loved": ["Python scripting", "Industry standing"], "caveat": "Learning curve", "short_quote": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it.", "icon": true, "domain": "blender.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.blender.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Blender"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like it as a fast, free 3D suite that rivals commercial tools,", "cites": [{"id": 790375184, "item_id": 49398449, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49398449", "by": "bdhdhduuyd", "date": "2026-08-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's always been the case that Blender is way faster.", "excerpt": "Well, I have been using 3DsMax and Blender from the early versions and it's always been the case that Blender is way faster. Legacy baggage has nothing to do with it, in my opinion.", "context": "has used 3ds Max and Blender since early versions", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "There's no reason for software to be slow anymore"}, {"id": 783470448, "item_id": 48966903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48966903", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it.", "excerpt": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it. So for anyone on the fence about picking up blender and reading this comment above, no it doesn\u2019t require hundreds of dollars of plugins to be useful. Not for every use case.", "context": "3D printing user", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 789282912, "item_id": 49330182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330182", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "might even be the leading software in its domain", "excerpt": ">I don't understand the frequent comparisons to Blender at all, to be honest. From the very beginning it was trying to be an alternative to Photoshop, you know a software used by the professional industry, and 30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that. Whereas Blender is not just an alternative to Maya, 3DS Max and all the other options but might even be the leading software in its domain", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}]}, {"text": " with Python scripting that supports automation and AI-driven workflows,", "cites": [{"id": 793122337, "item_id": 49570146, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49570146", "by": "commieneko", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the official Blender MCP to drive Blender from Claude.", "excerpt": "I use the official Blender MCP to drive Blender from Claude. Mostly creating specialized Geometry Nodes and Python utility scripts. I have made a couple of add on plug ins with it. And Claude, more or less by itself, came up wth a workflow to create asset library Geometry Nodes that we distribute over our internal network. An example: I told Claude to do research on the design and nomenclature for straight back chair", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling with Geometry Nodes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who is using MCP in production?"}, {"id": 782779745, "item_id": 48923734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48923734", "by": "coreyp_1", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless.", "excerpt": "3d print models, parametrically generated. Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless. My Blender skills are nigh useless. I know how to describe what I want mathematically with variables/constraints, but I don't know what magical incantation to use to make it appear in Blender... and don't get me started on the hotkeys! About a year and a half ago, I started writing a script (by hand) to generate a non-", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D print models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Building with AI?"}, {"id": 802366256, "item_id": 50147891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50147891", "by": "verdverm", "date": "2026-10-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Blender has a python integration, though I have only toyed with it once or twice myself.", "excerpt": "Any of the big ones should be fine. What I would recommend is finding non-imageful ways to accomplish tasks. This will be more reliable and consume far fewer tokens. (I'm assuming by computer use, you mean the kind that takes screenshots and drives the mouse/keyboard) Blender has a python integration, though I have only toyed with it once or twice myself. This would be what I look at first if/when I get into Blender ", "context": "", "use_case": "3D with Python scripting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the best open models for computer use?"}]}, {"text": " and many use it to make models for 3D printing.", "cites": [{"id": 783473825, "item_id": 48967114, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967114", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender because I also like to do a lot of 3d printed art", "excerpt": "FreeCAD is great if someone mainly wants to print functional, usable parts. That\u2019s totally valid and honestly even more powerful than Blender for that use case. Autodesk Fusion (prev. Fusion 360) is also a popular option. I use blender because I also like to do a lot of 3d printed art, and as you mentioned, that sculpt tooling is one of many fantastic tools for that purpose. Also LLMs know a lot about Blender, making", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "use_case": "3D printed art, sculpting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783470448, "item_id": 48966903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48966903", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it.", "excerpt": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it. So for anyone on the fence about picking up blender and reading this comment above, no it doesn\u2019t require hundreds of dollars of plugins to be useful. Not for every use case.", "context": "3D printing user", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 764832786, "item_id": 47802049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47802049", "by": "hgoel", "date": "2026-04-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I modeled the shell in blender, it was a low poly design", "excerpt": "CadQuery and build123d have been very handy for prototyping stuff for 3d printing. AI still isn't quite good enough to generate correct scripts, but AI autocomplete at least helps with putting together small snippets. My last project involved making a cosplay helmet. I modeled the shell in blender, it was a low poly design, so I exported it to an OBJ, then put together some Python to load the OBJ, give the triangles ", "context": "", "use_case": "modeling helmet shell", "switched_from": "", "story": "CadQuery is an open-source Python library for building 3D CAD models"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is a steep learning curve and an unintuitive UI that sends users to tutorials and forums.", "cites": [{"id": 783495984, "item_id": 48968499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968499", "by": "Geee", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I find the Blender's UI really terrible after years of occasional use. It's very unintuitive", "excerpt": "I used to use 3ds Max and I find the Blender's UI really terrible after years of occasional use. It's very unintuitive and you'll have to learn everything from tutorials / reading Blender forums. It seems to have many annoying quirks, which make me angry every time I use it.", "context": "former 3ds Max user", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "3ds Max", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783477232, "item_id": 48967327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967327", "by": "embedding-shape", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "just trudge through the horrible experience of having to look up a bunch of stuff", "excerpt": "Do tiny projects in Blender and just trudge through the horrible experience of having to look up a bunch of stuff. I also moved from 3ds Max to Blender, but back in the Blender 2.7 days, I'm sure it's easier today. Basically take whatever you'd do in 3ds Max normally, commit to doing in in Blender and prepare to Google/Ask an LLM \"I can do X in 3ds Max 2025, how can I do the same or equivalent in Blender 5.2?\" A LOT.", "context": "moved from 3ds Max", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "3ds Max", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783550688, "item_id": 48971918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971918", "by": "socalgal2", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly.", "excerpt": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly. That said, I can't help but feel something is wrong with 3D asset creation in that becoming an expert at Blender or 3DSMax, Maya or literally any other 3D creation software, it's a multi-month if not multi-year project. There are 1000s upon 1000s of options buried all over in nested upon nested options. Maybe AI will solve this. You ask fo", "context": "", "use_case": "3D asset creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 766389408, "item_id": 47899338, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47899338", "by": "knolan", "date": "2026-04-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blender is fast and user friendly, even if it has a learning curve.", "excerpt": "I love that Blender can be a powerful scientific tool. Unlike a lot of software build for research, Blender is fast and user friendly, even if it has a learning curve. The addition of geometry nodes adds so much more capability too. I\u2019ve used it to help students visualise topologies for meshing in command line CFD tools. It\u2019s also great for motion tracking objects in video footage. I\u2019ve even used it to simulate vario", "context": "works with students and CFD tools", "use_case": "scientific visualization, motion tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Python scripting", "summary": "Commenters drive Blender through Python, the CLI and MCP to automate modeling and build add-ons.", "quotes": [{"id": 793122337, "item_id": 49570146, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49570146", "by": "commieneko", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the official Blender MCP to drive Blender from Claude.", "excerpt": "I use the official Blender MCP to drive Blender from Claude. Mostly creating specialized Geometry Nodes and Python utility scripts. I have made a couple of add on plug ins with it. And Claude, more or less by itself, came up wth a workflow to create asset library Geometry Nodes that we distribute over our internal network. An example: I told Claude to do research on the design and nomenclature for straight back chair", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling with Geometry Nodes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who is using MCP in production?"}, {"id": 782779745, "item_id": 48923734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48923734", "by": "coreyp_1", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless.", "excerpt": "3d print models, parametrically generated. Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless. My Blender skills are nigh useless. I know how to describe what I want mathematically with variables/constraints, but I don't know what magical incantation to use to make it appear in Blender... and don't get me started on the hotkeys! About a year and a half ago, I started writing a script (by hand) to generate a non-", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D print models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Building with AI?"}, {"id": 793948881, "item_id": 49621805, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49621805", "by": "sznio", "date": "2026-09-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It uses Blender CLI + my custom tools", "excerpt": "I struggled to give this a less clickbaity name. Original: \"AGI has been achieved in GTA San Andreas\" From author's comment: - Each demo was 3 prompts max - Prompts were intentionally short and simple - Model used : Astra 6 with medium reasoning - It uses Blender CLI + my custom tools : gta-3d-ai to build, Ariane to explore the map, and Blender CLI + gta-sa-traffic to create traffic nodes. I released all the tool her", "context": "", "use_case": "3D model editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GPT-6 Astra creating GTA San Andreas mods, editing the map and 3D models"}]}, {"label": "Industry standing", "summary": "Commenters see it as a leading 3D tool that has grown into use in professional settings.", "quotes": [{"id": 789282912, "item_id": 49330182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330182", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "might even be the leading software in its domain", "excerpt": ">I don't understand the frequent comparisons to Blender at all, to be honest. From the very beginning it was trying to be an alternative to Photoshop, you know a software used by the professional industry, and 30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that. Whereas Blender is not just an alternative to Maya, 3DS Max and all the other options but might even be the leading software in its domain", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 783516896, "item_id": 48969806, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48969806", "by": "viccis", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I started pre-1.8, in the C-key era. Haven't used it in many years so looking at it every now and then is genuinely shocking to me how much it's progressed. I remember a family member who worked at a triple A game dev studio giving me a tour and when I talked to the 3D modeler guys there and told them I used Blender they stifled a chuckle. To be fair, it was a very rudimentary tool back with UI flows invented by and ", "context": "long-time user since pre-1.8", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 735589552, "item_id": 45974347, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45974347", "by": "manifoldgeo", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The studio that makes Evangelion moved from 3DS Max to Blender as their primary 3D software", "excerpt": "The studio that makes Evangelion moved from 3DS Max to Blender as their primary 3D software according to this article: https://www.blender.org/user-stories/japanese-anime-studio-khara-moving-to-blender/", "context": "", "use_case": "anime production 3D", "switched_from": "3ds Max", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}, {"label": "Interface and search", "summary": "Some users praise the spacebar command search and call its panel layout polished and established.", "quotes": [{"id": 785575392, "item_id": 49098462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49098462", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love the discoverability of blender", "excerpt": "I love the discoverability of blender in the sense that I can hit space and start typing the name of the thing I want to do and run it from there while it shows me in what menu I could find it and what shortcut to use. And next space it remembers the last thing I ran so to repeat it its even faster. This requires however to remember the name of the command (or parts of it). I often remember that but not where to find", "context": "casual user", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "KOReader"}, {"id": 781907040, "item_id": 48869190, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48869190", "by": "slopinthebag", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender a lot too. I bind space to search and then use that instead of shortcuts", "excerpt": "I use blender a lot too. I bind space to search and then use that instead of shortcuts for pretty much everything that isn't the few shortcuts I've memorised (and g/s/r xyz etc)", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Good Tools Are Invisible"}, {"id": 760398657, "item_id": 47524916, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47524916", "by": "rcarmo", "date": "2026-03-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "its right-aligned panel and progressive exposure of toolbars feels infinitely more polished", "excerpt": "TL;DR: I wish they'd just align with Blender on UX, TBH. I wish they settled on a nicer UX with less visual clutter. I use Blender and it is a _massively_ more complex application in every regard, yet its right-aligned panel and progressive exposure of toolbars feels infinitely more polished than FreeCad's clunky panel (which is often rendered with huge, oversized fields and buttons) and their legendary five-stacked ", "context": "Blender user", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeCAD Version 1.1 Released"}]}, {"label": "3D printing", "summary": "Hobbyists use it for sculpting and modeling 3D-printed art and parts.", "quotes": [{"id": 783473825, "item_id": 48967114, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967114", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender because I also like to do a lot of 3d printed art", "excerpt": "FreeCAD is great if someone mainly wants to print functional, usable parts. That\u2019s totally valid and honestly even more powerful than Blender for that use case. Autodesk Fusion (prev. Fusion 360) is also a popular option. I use blender because I also like to do a lot of 3d printed art, and as you mentioned, that sculpt tooling is one of many fantastic tools for that purpose. Also LLMs know a lot about Blender, making", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "use_case": "3D printed art, sculpting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783470448, "item_id": 48966903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48966903", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it.", "excerpt": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it. So for anyone on the fence about picking up blender and reading this comment above, no it doesn\u2019t require hundreds of dollars of plugins to be useful. Not for every use case.", "context": "3D printing user", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 764832786, "item_id": 47802049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47802049", "by": "hgoel", "date": "2026-04-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I modeled the shell in blender, it was a low poly design", "excerpt": "CadQuery and build123d have been very handy for prototyping stuff for 3d printing. AI still isn't quite good enough to generate correct scripts, but AI autocomplete at least helps with putting together small snippets. My last project involved making a cosplay helmet. I modeled the shell in blender, it was a low poly design, so I exported it to an OBJ, then put together some Python to load the OBJ, give the triangles ", "context": "", "use_case": "modeling helmet shell", "switched_from": "", "story": "CadQuery is an open-source Python library for building 3D CAD models"}]}, {"label": "Speed and stability", "summary": "Users describe it as faster than 3ds Max and very reliable.", "quotes": [{"id": 790375184, "item_id": 49398449, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49398449", "by": "bdhdhduuyd", "date": "2026-08-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's always been the case that Blender is way faster.", "excerpt": "Well, I have been using 3DsMax and Blender from the early versions and it's always been the case that Blender is way faster. Legacy baggage has nothing to do with it, in my opinion.", "context": "has used 3ds Max and Blender since early versions", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "There's no reason for software to be slow anymore"}, {"id": 766389408, "item_id": 47899338, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47899338", "by": "knolan", "date": "2026-04-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blender is fast and user friendly, even if it has a learning curve.", "excerpt": "I love that Blender can be a powerful scientific tool. Unlike a lot of software build for research, Blender is fast and user friendly, even if it has a learning curve. The addition of geometry nodes adds so much more capability too. I\u2019ve used it to help students visualise topologies for meshing in command line CFD tools. It\u2019s also great for motion tracking objects in video footage. I\u2019ve even used it to simulate vario", "context": "works with students and CFD tools", "use_case": "scientific visualization, motion tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes"}, {"id": 801074709, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender)", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}]}, {"label": "Free to use", "summary": "Users say it is free and useful without paid plugins, and many choose to donate to it.", "quotes": [{"id": 783470448, "item_id": 48966903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48966903", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it.", "excerpt": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it. So for anyone on the fence about picking up blender and reading this comment above, no it doesn\u2019t require hundreds of dollars of plugins to be useful. Not for every use case.", "context": "3D printing user", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 765199922, "item_id": 47824995, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47824995", "by": "Tanoc", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Meanwhile Blender, ffmpeg, Krita, ZIM, and Inkscape are all free but which I support with donations.", "excerpt": "I bought CS6 Suite back in 2012 and used it well into 2021. Before that I had a patchwork of CS3 programs from 2005 I was given the discs for second-hand. Nowadays I use Krita, ffmpeg, Blender, Zim Desktop Wiki, and Inkscape to replace Flash/Animator, Photoshop, Premier, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks. CS6 cost me $549 back in 2012 under a pretty generous student discount, but would've been $1,800 otherwise. That's $790 ", "context": "", "use_case": "3D / animation", "switched_from": "Adobe CS6 Suite", "story": "The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe"}, {"id": 783550688, "item_id": 48971918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971918", "by": "socalgal2", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly.", "excerpt": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly. That said, I can't help but feel something is wrong with 3D asset creation in that becoming an expert at Blender or 3DSMax, Maya or literally any other 3D creation software, it's a multi-month if not multi-year project. There are 1000s upon 1000s of options buried all over in nested upon nested options. Maybe AI will solve this. You ask fo", "context": "", "use_case": "3D asset creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Learning curve", "summary": "Users say the UI is unintuitive and takes a lot of looking things up to learn.", "quotes": [{"id": 783495984, "item_id": 48968499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968499", "by": "Geee", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I find the Blender's UI really terrible after years of occasional use. It's very unintuitive", "excerpt": "I used to use 3ds Max and I find the Blender's UI really terrible after years of occasional use. It's very unintuitive and you'll have to learn everything from tutorials / reading Blender forums. It seems to have many annoying quirks, which make me angry every time I use it.", "context": "former 3ds Max user", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "3ds Max", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783477232, "item_id": 48967327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967327", "by": "embedding-shape", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "just trudge through the horrible experience of having to look up a bunch of stuff", "excerpt": "Do tiny projects in Blender and just trudge through the horrible experience of having to look up a bunch of stuff. I also moved from 3ds Max to Blender, but back in the Blender 2.7 days, I'm sure it's easier today. Basically take whatever you'd do in 3ds Max normally, commit to doing in in Blender and prepare to Google/Ask an LLM \"I can do X in 3ds Max 2025, how can I do the same or equivalent in Blender 5.2?\" A LOT.", "context": "moved from 3ds Max", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "3ds Max", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783550688, "item_id": 48971918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971918", "by": "socalgal2", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly.", "excerpt": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly. That said, I can't help but feel something is wrong with 3D asset creation in that becoming an expert at Blender or 3DSMax, Maya or literally any other 3D creation software, it's a multi-month if not multi-year project. There are 1000s upon 1000s of options buried all over in nested upon nested options. Maybe AI will solve this. You ask fo", "context": "", "use_case": "3D asset creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}]}, {"label": "Too heavy", "summary": "One user finds it too heavy for lighter node-based work.", "quotes": [{"id": 743190884, "item_id": 46449430, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46449430", "by": "neoCrimeLabs", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "find Blender too heavy for most of my needs", "excerpt": "As a Nuke, Fusion, and formerly MagicMusicVisuals user, I am excited to give TiXL a try. Love node based workflows, but find Blender too heavy for most of my needs. I'm surprised I have not run across it yet. Thanks @nateb2022 for sharing it here!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tixl: Open-source realtime motion graphics"}]}, {"label": "Motion graphics", "summary": "One user says it is not yet a good motion graphics tool on Linux.", "quotes": [{"id": 743133250, "item_id": 46445828, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46445828", "by": "rsolva", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Blender could be it, but it is currently not there.", "excerpt": "Does it work (well) under WINE / Proton? Having used both After Effects, Apple Motion and a bit of Blender on and off for about 20 years, I really miss a good motion graphics tool that runs well on Linux. Blender could be it, but it is currently not there. Will definitely check out TiXL when I have some spare time, if it is possible to run under WINE! Bonus question: How does TiXL compare to Friction? (https://fricti", "context": "", "use_case": "motion graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tixl: Open-source realtime motion graphics"}]}, {"label": "Material setup", "summary": "Setting up materials in modern Blender is described as more involved than in 2.79b, especially for non-PBR targets.", "quotes": [{"id": 782104416, "item_id": 48881526, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48881526", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-07-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blender 5.1.2 (i.e. the latest one) can import and export DirectX .x files using an addon", "excerpt": "FWIW Blender 5.1.2 (i.e. the latest one) can import and export DirectX .x files using an addon you can download from[0] (from inside Blender itself). Though i'd stick with Blender 2.79b for such projects because Blender 2.8 (i think) switched to a PBR pipeline that looks \"wrong\" when targeting non-PBR renderers (in theory you can recreate the original shading using material nodes or whatever they're called, but setti", "context": "retro gamedev", "use_case": "retro game asset creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xbox 'OG' Adventures"}]}, {"label": "Hotkeys", "summary": "Some users find the hotkeys hard to master.", "quotes": [{"id": 782779745, "item_id": 48923734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48923734", "by": "coreyp_1", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless.", "excerpt": "3d print models, parametrically generated. Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless. My Blender skills are nigh useless. I know how to describe what I want mathematically with variables/constraints, but I don't know what magical incantation to use to make it appear in Blender... and don't get me started on the hotkeys! About a year and a half ago, I started writing a script (by hand) to generate a non-", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D print models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Building with AI?"}, {"id": 759704049, "item_id": 47481503, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481503", "by": "shraddha92", "date": "2026-03-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "No more having to open blender and increase your blood pressure", "excerpt": "Hi everyone, so if you\u2019re working with or planning to work with Gaussian splats- this is for you Slice and Dice for Gaussian splats allow you to slice and export your Gaussian splats (ply and glb Format for now) however you want interactively. With one click split your Gaussian splats and export both at the same time. If you want, you can also enter sliceception by further dividing those slices further. Every slice i", "context": "built a Gaussian splat slicing tool", "use_case": "slicing Gaussian splats", "switched_from": "", "story": "Launched HN: I built the Worlds first Slice and Dice tool for Gaussian Splats"}]}], "who": [{"by": "diogopmonteiro", "context": "builds simple furniture and cabinets", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50100302", "date": "2026-10-15"}, {"by": "SmasherEpilepti", "context": "3D artist", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49692293", "date": "2026-09-14"}, {"by": "embedding-shape", "context": "audio and 3D/VFX professional", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564556", "date": "2026-09-04"}, {"by": "bdhdhduuyd", "context": "has used 3ds Max and Blender since early versions", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49398449", "date": "2026-08-22"}, {"by": "zmilou", "context": "author of the children's music book", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49386173", "date": "2026-08-21"}, {"by": "oneneptune", "context": "hobbyist game dev", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234210", "date": "2026-08-09"}, {"by": "panzi", "context": "casual user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49098462", "date": "2026-07-29"}, {"by": "summarity", "context": "former Blender teacher", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976426", "date": "2026-07-20"}, {"by": "viccis", "context": "long-time user since pre-1.8", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48969806", "date": "2026-07-19"}, {"by": "cheschire", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967114", "date": "2026-07-19"}, {"by": "badsectoracula", "context": "retro gamedev", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48881526", "date": "2026-07-12"}, {"by": "knolan", "context": "works with students and CFD tools", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47899338", "date": "2026-04-24"}], "tags": ["for 3D printing", "scriptable with Python", "for game assets", "for Linux users", "for scientific visualization"], "use_cases": ["3d modeling", "3d", "3d asset creation", "modeling tentacles", "3d with python scripting", "long-term woodworking cad workflow"], "compared": [{"slug": "freecad", "name": "FreeCAD", "co": 8, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "openscad", "name": "OpenSCAD", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "gimp", "name": "GIMP", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "kdenlive", "name": "Kdenlive", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "davinci-resolve", "name": "DaVinci Resolve", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911021", "title": "Blender 5.2 LTS", "mentions": 9}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067325", "title": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49953495", "title": "Run Qwen 3.8 Flash Next (125B) on consumer hardware (RTX 4090) at 100T/s", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49326156", "title": "GIMP Development Update", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47521945", "title": "FreeCAD Version 1.1 Released", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46394651", "title": "Tixl: Open-source realtime motion graphics", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 5}, "2026-05": {"compare": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 8, "neutral": 1, "warn": 2}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 3}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 4}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 5, "recommend": 3}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804862913, "item_id": 50303932, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50303932", "by": "leonardsouza", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The time I spent modeling them by hand in Blender was 100% worth it.", "excerpt": "Hi! I love me some spooky season, and I thought what better way to celebrate than to unleash a horde of monsters on your OS's trash bin. hyperbin watches your Trash or Recycle Bin as it fills up. Too full? It draws flies, ooze, or tentacles over it. The fuller it gets, the nastier it becomes. Free for Mac and Windows. How it works: - Finding the bin. Mac: the Dock's Accessibility tree, read fast enough to follow magn", "context": "", "use_case": "modeling tentacles", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: hyperbin \u2013 This Halloween, take out your Trash before monsters move in"}, {"id": 802366256, "item_id": 50147891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50147891", "by": "verdverm", "date": "2026-10-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Blender has a python integration, though I have only toyed with it once or twice myself.", "excerpt": "Any of the big ones should be fine. What I would recommend is finding non-imageful ways to accomplish tasks. This will be more reliable and consume far fewer tokens. (I'm assuming by computer use, you mean the kind that takes screenshots and drives the mouse/keyboard) Blender has a python integration, though I have only toyed with it once or twice myself. This would be what I look at first if/when I get into Blender ", "context": "", "use_case": "3D with Python scripting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the best open models for computer use?"}, {"id": 801631859, "item_id": 50101991, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50101991", "by": "reacharavindh", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have noted FreeCAD + Blender + $ai_model to be a good general purpose workflow that yields more control", "excerpt": "OP here. writing for my own reference. Found great pointers so far. I'm going to try https://sawdust.diy and https://fluidcad.io/ for the short term. For the long term, I have noted FreeCAD + Blender + $ai_model to be a good general purpose workflow that yields more control, and will probably get me lost into the details. https://janne-alatalo.fi/en/articles/silhouette-modeling/ and its accompanying SKILL - https://g", "context": "", "use_case": "long-term woodworking CAD workflow", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?"}, {"id": 801604833, "item_id": 50100302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50100302", "by": "diogopmonteiro", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "blender to render previews of the full thing", "excerpt": "I use a combination of openscad, blender to render previews of the full thing, and opcut to generate cutlists. I usually ask the models to generate a workshop pdf with the cutlist and the exploded view of the assembly. I'm doing mainly simple furniture and cabinets.", "context": "builds simple furniture and cabinets", "use_case": "rendering previews", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?"}, {"id": 801074709, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender)", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}, {"id": 800596481, "item_id": 50037280, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037280", "by": "timonoko", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "simple Blender-tool that rounds all edges in STL-file", "excerpt": "For these eternal Fillet-Whiners: Antigravity made simple Blender-tool that rounds all edges in STL-file. Sharp edges never look good in print and avoiding them feels often like too much extra work. https://github.com/timonoko/OpenSCAD-rounding-in-Blender", "context": "", "use_case": "rounding edges on STL files", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 799474259, "item_id": 49967141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49967141", "by": "nickserv", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "basic 3D modeling/printing (freeCAD, Blender, Orca)", "excerpt": "I use it for a bit of everything: dev work (InteliJ), basic 3D modeling/printing (freeCAD, Blender, Orca), light video editing (OBS, Kdenlive), gaming (wine) ... Could probably go with an Arch based distro, but the Ubuntu/Debian base is useful for the good compatibility.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "The work by Valve's Timur Krist\u00f3f on improving old AMD GPUs on Linux"}, {"id": 799436482, "item_id": 49964780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49964780", "by": "bitexploder", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use build123d + blender", "excerpt": "Real world: I use QFN38 to build 3d models. I use build123d + blender and this model is the first local model that does a good job. It is kind of amazing. This model is as good as DSV 4.1 on most tasks and I think it only loses when specific knowledge matters.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Qwen 3.8 Flash Next (125B) on consumer hardware (RTX 4090) at 100T/s"}, {"id": 799436017, "item_id": 49964751, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49964751", "by": "bitexploder", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I Have it 3d model in blender", "excerpt": "There is a magical quant GSQ-RCO that at 3-bit XS beats the full unquant. I have tested it. It is on par with the full unquant on DeepSWE. Give it a shot, it is magical. ITSA lab, they basically devised a way to selectively quantize parameters. I am a GSQ-RCO truther at this point... it is so fast on my V100s and I can't find an instance where it has acted weird or fell short of the full quant on agentic coding. I Ha", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Qwen 3.8 Flash Next (125B) on consumer hardware (RTX 4090) at 100T/s"}, {"id": 797496497, "item_id": 49843531, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49843531", "by": "armcat", "date": "2026-09-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "embedded them in a Blender+Unity 3D level", "excerpt": "There is also a 2.5D paradigm. I made a small demo of a 2.5D where I generated pure 2D pixelart sprites and embedded them in a Blender+Unity 3D level. Personally I find this mix very exciting. Demo: https://acatovic.github.io/afterlight-play/ Tool I used to create 2D sprites: https://github.com/acatovic/ai-game-studio", "context": "", "use_case": "3D level", "switched_from": "", "story": "2DWillNeverDie"}, {"id": 795248673, "item_id": 49703042, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703042", "by": "yeutterg", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "scrolling animations built with Blender and three.js", "excerpt": "The Restful Atmos Bedside Lamp [0], which automatically shifts between dim, low-blue light at night and energizing morning light instead of an alarm. After 3 years of dev, we're just about finished shipping preorders. For US customers, black units will ship immediately + white within 3 weeks. Lots of learnings on this one. Getting lots of great feedback from early customers. As always, hardware is hard! Lately I've b", "context": "", "use_case": "scrolling animations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 795076688, "item_id": 49692293, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49692293", "by": "SmasherEpilepti", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "OpenEXR, which I use a lot in Blender right now", "excerpt": "It's a great option for 3D art texturing and compositing. I could see using it over OpenEXR, which I use a lot in Blender right now.", "context": "3D artist", "use_case": "3D art texturing and compositing", "switched_from": "", "story": "The case against JPEG XL"}, {"id": 793948881, "item_id": 49621805, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49621805", "by": "sznio", "date": "2026-09-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It uses Blender CLI + my custom tools", "excerpt": "I struggled to give this a less clickbaity name. Original: \"AGI has been achieved in GTA San Andreas\" From author's comment: - Each demo was 3 prompts max - Prompts were intentionally short and simple - Model used : Astra 6 with medium reasoning - It uses Blender CLI + my custom tools : gta-3d-ai to build, Ariane to explore the map, and Blender CLI + gta-sa-traffic to create traffic nodes. I released all the tool her", "context": "", "use_case": "3D model editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GPT-6 Astra creating GTA San Andreas mods, editing the map and 3D models"}, {"id": 793546896, "item_id": 49596681, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49596681", "by": "Joel_Mckay", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "procedural textures with bake export (actually made Blender usable for mere mortals)", "excerpt": "Indeed, keeping track of every shader/asset/texture under CC BY-SA 4.0 was a nonstarter. For media, 3D files, game FX, and icons it is only CC0 Public Domain projects we recommend to folks having fun. Keeping track of every Copyright and Copyleft trolls content demands is just too much work for small hobbies. =3 We also financially support people clearing barriers for future artists and creatives (clean Blender resou", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "I changed my license"}, {"id": 793122337, "item_id": 49570146, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49570146", "by": "commieneko", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the official Blender MCP to drive Blender from Claude.", "excerpt": "I use the official Blender MCP to drive Blender from Claude. Mostly creating specialized Geometry Nodes and Python utility scripts. I have made a couple of add on plug ins with it. And Claude, more or less by itself, came up wth a workflow to create asset library Geometry Nodes that we distribute over our internal network. An example: I told Claude to do research on the design and nomenclature for straight back chair", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling with Geometry Nodes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who is using MCP in production?"}, {"id": 793032902, "item_id": 49564556, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564556", "by": "embedding-shape", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "works amazingly on Linux, better than Windows in fact, like Houdini, Unreal Engine (the runtime, not the Editor), DaVinci Resolve and Blender", "excerpt": "Well, when this alcoholic is the only one that works properly for the sort of audio and 3D/VFX work I do, and a bunch of tools are only able to run (well) on Windows (Yes, I've tried WINE and everything else under the sun, for a decade), so dual booting is really the only option here, unless I wanna throw out a bunch of licenses I've paid thousands for and stop accepting that sort of work. Ableton is probably the big", "context": "audio and 3D/VFX professional", "use_case": "3D", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}, {"id": 791853713, "item_id": 49490857, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49490857", "by": "cbenz", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm thinking of VSCode, Blender", "excerpt": "Keyboard driven, and a lot more! I love the following patterns for GUIs: - command-driven (e.g. command palette of VSCode) - keyboard shortcuts call commands, are customisable - scriptable: ability to call those commands from the outside, controlling the running app, for example with CLI calling D-Bus (or socket), and not necessarily having macros from inside the GUI - reorganisable: the different GUI elements like p", "context": "", "use_case": "keyboard/command-driven GUI example", "switched_from": "", "story": "GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven"}, {"id": 790375184, "item_id": 49398449, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49398449", "by": "bdhdhduuyd", "date": "2026-08-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's always been the case that Blender is way faster.", "excerpt": "Well, I have been using 3DsMax and Blender from the early versions and it's always been the case that Blender is way faster. Legacy baggage has nothing to do with it, in my opinion.", "context": "has used 3ds Max and Blender since early versions", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "There's no reason for software to be slow anymore"}, {"id": 790178768, "item_id": 49386173, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49386173", "by": "zmilou", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "using Blender to create an animated page flip 3d model", "excerpt": "Sharing this online children\u2019s picture book I developed. During covid lockdowns I started writing it to introduce kids to different music genres, because I realised that what I like today is what I heard growing up. Each genre has a kid-friendly music playlist embedded. The digital edition of the book is very much a prototype (greyscale, proof of concept), using Blender to create an animated page flip 3d model and de", "context": "author of the children's music book", "use_case": "animated 3D page flip model", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: My Lost Bop \u2013 A digital children's music book"}, {"id": 789282912, "item_id": 49330182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330182", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "might even be the leading software in its domain", "excerpt": ">I don't understand the frequent comparisons to Blender at all, to be honest. From the very beginning it was trying to be an alternative to Photoshop, you know a software used by the professional industry, and 30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that. Whereas Blender is not just an alternative to Maya, 3DS Max and all the other options but might even be the leading software in its domain", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789262817, "item_id": 49328926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328926", "by": "Liftyee", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "other software like Blender or Darktable (or even Davinci Resolve)", "excerpt": "I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years, once you learn where things are I can get what I need done. The learning curve (finding where functions are, the right tools for each job, etc.) wasn't much different from other software like Blender or Darktable (or even Davinci Resolve). The panels concept might be the most intuitive part of it, but Blender also has different panel", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 787747362, "item_id": 49234210, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234210", "by": "oneneptune", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "plays nicely with the tools I use; unreal engine, unity, and blender", "excerpt": "I've been a hobbyist game dev for years; nothing published. Over the time I've built a massive collection of assets from various stores and stuff I've built. The solutions for managing assets seem to be largely in house tools studio build themselves and don't share. So I'm working on a digital asset management system that plays nicely with the tools I use; unreal engine, unity, and blender. I don't have anything publ", "context": "hobbyist game dev", "use_case": "3D asset creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)"}, {"id": 786222688, "item_id": 49138918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138918", "by": "ElemenoPicuares", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blender is still an absolute juggernaut.", "excerpt": "I think there\u2019s a (fixable, if difficult) reason the FOSS world contributes such a small percentage of heavily-used end-user facing tools to our software landscape. We\u2019ve got the commercial provided spanked on a lot of things, like web servers. Competitors almost stopped trying. Marketing is a way smaller reason than many people imagine\u2014it\u2019s mostly usability. See the nearly immediate mastodon mass-exodus after gettin", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}, {"id": 785575392, "item_id": 49098462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49098462", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love the discoverability of blender", "excerpt": "I love the discoverability of blender in the sense that I can hit space and start typing the name of the thing I want to do and run it from there while it shows me in what menu I could find it and what shortcut to use. And next space it remembers the last thing I ran so to repeat it its even faster. This requires however to remember the name of the command (or parts of it). I often remember that but not where to find", "context": "casual user", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "KOReader"}, {"id": 783622824, "item_id": 48976426, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976426", "by": "summarity", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If I were to teach again, I would still use Blender in the classroom, and I fully support the project.", "excerpt": "To answer the question at the top, yes there are countless suites that are instantly resumable even after months away. I used to teach Blender (v3) and I think I could find my way around but the overhead isn\u2019t worth it. I\u2019m also though in a privileged position to be able to afford more, smaller commercial tools. CAD: MoI (cool kids nowadays use Plasticity, but that is taking on similar feature creep - in any case I o", "context": "former Blender teacher", "use_case": "teaching 3D", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783550688, "item_id": 48971918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971918", "by": "socalgal2", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly.", "excerpt": "I love that Blender exists and I donate to it at a high-ish $$$ level monthly. That said, I can't help but feel something is wrong with 3D asset creation in that becoming an expert at Blender or 3DSMax, Maya or literally any other 3D creation software, it's a multi-month if not multi-year project. There are 1000s upon 1000s of options buried all over in nested upon nested options. Maybe AI will solve this. You ask fo", "context": "", "use_case": "3D asset creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783519936, "item_id": 48969996, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48969996", "by": "lvl155", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend you to donate to the organization", "excerpt": "Even if you never use Blender, I highly recommend you to donate to the organization if you happen to donate to non-profit tech organizations/projects.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783516896, "item_id": 48969806, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48969806", "by": "viccis", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I started pre-1.8, in the C-key era. Haven't used it in many years so looking at it every now and then is genuinely shocking to me how much it's progressed. I remember a family member who worked at a triple A game dev studio giving me a tour and when I talked to the 3D modeler guys there and told them I used Blender they stifled a chuckle. To be fair, it was a very rudimentary tool back with UI flows invented by and ", "context": "long-time user since pre-1.8", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783495984, "item_id": 48968499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968499", "by": "Geee", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I find the Blender's UI really terrible after years of occasional use. It's very unintuitive", "excerpt": "I used to use 3ds Max and I find the Blender's UI really terrible after years of occasional use. It's very unintuitive and you'll have to learn everything from tutorials / reading Blender forums. It seems to have many annoying quirks, which make me angry every time I use it.", "context": "former 3ds Max user", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "3ds Max", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783477232, "item_id": 48967327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967327", "by": "embedding-shape", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "just trudge through the horrible experience of having to look up a bunch of stuff", "excerpt": "Do tiny projects in Blender and just trudge through the horrible experience of having to look up a bunch of stuff. I also moved from 3ds Max to Blender, but back in the Blender 2.7 days, I'm sure it's easier today. Basically take whatever you'd do in 3ds Max normally, commit to doing in in Blender and prepare to Google/Ask an LLM \"I can do X in 3ds Max 2025, how can I do the same or equivalent in Blender 5.2?\" A LOT.", "context": "moved from 3ds Max", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "3ds Max", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783473825, "item_id": 48967114, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967114", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender because I also like to do a lot of 3d printed art", "excerpt": "FreeCAD is great if someone mainly wants to print functional, usable parts. That\u2019s totally valid and honestly even more powerful than Blender for that use case. Autodesk Fusion (prev. Fusion 360) is also a popular option. I use blender because I also like to do a lot of 3d printed art, and as you mentioned, that sculpt tooling is one of many fantastic tools for that purpose. Also LLMs know a lot about Blender, making", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "use_case": "3D printed art, sculpting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783471104, "item_id": 48966944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48966944", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Done. I was feeling bad for saying how often I used blender without paying a cent not 20 seconds earlier in this very thread. Then I saw your message. The fact that Apple Pay is an option made it take only another 20 seconds for me to throw some money at a great project.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 783470448, "item_id": 48966903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48966903", "by": "cheschire", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it.", "excerpt": "I use blender constantly to make things for 3d printing and I haven\u2019t spent a cent on it or any plugins I use for it. So for anyone on the fence about picking up blender and reading this comment above, no it doesn\u2019t require hundreds of dollars of plugins to be useful. Not for every use case.", "context": "3D printing user", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.2 LTS"}, {"id": 782779745, "item_id": 48923734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48923734", "by": "coreyp_1", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless.", "excerpt": "3d print models, parametrically generated. Blender can run Python... with the app open or headless. My Blender skills are nigh useless. I know how to describe what I want mathematically with variables/constraints, but I don't know what magical incantation to use to make it appear in Blender... and don't get me started on the hotkeys! About a year and a half ago, I started writing a script (by hand) to generate a non-", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D print models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Building with AI?"}, {"id": 782104416, "item_id": 48881526, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48881526", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-07-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blender 5.1.2 (i.e. the latest one) can import and export DirectX .x files using an addon", "excerpt": "FWIW Blender 5.1.2 (i.e. the latest one) can import and export DirectX .x files using an addon you can download from[0] (from inside Blender itself). Though i'd stick with Blender 2.79b for such projects because Blender 2.8 (i think) switched to a PBR pipeline that looks \"wrong\" when targeting non-PBR renderers (in theory you can recreate the original shading using material nodes or whatever they're called, but setti", "context": "retro gamedev", "use_case": "retro game asset creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xbox 'OG' Adventures"}, {"id": 781907040, "item_id": 48869190, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48869190", "by": "slopinthebag", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use blender a lot too. I bind space to search and then use that instead of shortcuts", "excerpt": "I use blender a lot too. I bind space to search and then use that instead of shortcuts for pretty much everything that isn't the few shortcuts I've memorised (and g/s/r xyz etc)", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Good Tools Are Invisible"}, {"id": 769407809, "item_id": 48087988, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48087988", "by": "zeta0134", "date": "2026-05-10", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I'll probably give Blender and Godot both a whirl", "excerpt": "Still chugging away at my NES rhythm game. Currently, in addition to climbing the content mountain (so, SO much pixel art and music needs to be made) I'm also slowly learning video editing workflows. I was able to put together a brief gameplay trailer this last week: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4129270/Tactus/ Right this second I'm looking for an alternative to After Effects that runs on Linux systems, as kden", "context": "NES rhythm game developer on Linux", "use_case": "video editing / game tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)"}, {"id": 766992048, "item_id": 47937003, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47937003", "by": "slopinthebag", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Blender, it's the greatest software of all time according to myself", "excerpt": "Ugh. I love Blender, it's the greatest software of all time according to myself, and I absolutely hate this and I am terrified at what it implies. If they just want name recognition ok fine, but my guess is Anthropic will want changes to Blender itself and I find that totally unacceptable. Ah well, the online artist community is unusually principled on matters like this, especially compared to here. If they start doi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Anthropic Joins the Blender Development Fund as Corporate Patron"}, {"id": 766389408, "item_id": 47899338, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47899338", "by": "knolan", "date": "2026-04-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blender is fast and user friendly, even if it has a learning curve.", "excerpt": "I love that Blender can be a powerful scientific tool. Unlike a lot of software build for research, Blender is fast and user friendly, even if it has a learning curve. The addition of geometry nodes adds so much more capability too. I\u2019ve used it to help students visualise topologies for meshing in command line CFD tools. It\u2019s also great for motion tracking objects in video footage. I\u2019ve even used it to simulate vario", "context": "works with students and CFD tools", "use_case": "scientific visualization, motion tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes"}, {"id": 766309969, "item_id": 47894373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47894373", "by": "chancitag", "date": "2026-04-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Love OBS and Blender.", "excerpt": "Love OBS and Blender. Recently started using Kdenlive and it is awesome. Big fan of OpenSCAD[1] and solvespace[2] for making functional 3D prints. I'm going to branch out a bit here and say GrapheneOS is my favorite thing going on right now. [1] https://openscad.org/ [2] https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are your top open source apps/software?"}, {"id": 764832786, "item_id": 47802049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47802049", "by": "hgoel", "date": "2026-04-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I modeled the shell in blender, it was a low poly design", "excerpt": "CadQuery and build123d have been very handy for prototyping stuff for 3d printing. AI still isn't quite good enough to generate correct scripts, but AI autocomplete at least helps with putting together small snippets. My last project involved making a cosplay helmet. I modeled the shell in blender, it was a low poly design, so I exported it to an OBJ, then put together some Python to load the OBJ, give the triangles ", "context": "", "use_case": "modeling helmet shell", "switched_from": "", "story": "CadQuery is an open-source Python library for building 3D CAD models"}]}