Whensday: January 2, 1994 - Blender

In January 1995 a Dutch guy named Ton Roosendaal and his software company released version 1.00 of an application called “Blender”. The software had been released internally the year before, was publicly released in 1998 and was distributed as shareware (does anyone remember shareware?) until 2002. When the company holding Blender went bankrupt in 2002, Ton Roosendaal changed course and made it into free open-source software. 

This software is perhaps best known for its 3D modeling capabilities and what it has been used for. It is an extremely capable and useful application used for various forms of modeling. It can simulate smoke, dust, rain, fluids, hair, clothing and rigid bodies. The files are forward, backward and cross-platform compatible. 

The software was used professionally for Spider Man 2 for the storyboards. The French-language film “Friday or Another Day” was the first 35mm film to use Blender for all its special effects on Linux work stations. Most recently Blender was used entirely for the 2024 Latvian film “Flow” (assisted by a Belgian company). This movie received two nominations for the 97th Academy Awards and won the Best Animated Feature.