Ton Roosendaal
Encyclopedia
Ton Roosendaal is a Dutch software developer. He is known as the original creator of the open-source
3D
creation suite Blender
, as chairman of the Blender Foundation
, and for pioneering large scale open-content projects. In 2007 he established the Blender Institute in Amsterdam, where he works on coordinating Blender development, publishing manuals and DVD training, and organizing 3D animation and game projects.
Due to low sales and the ongoing difficult economic climate, the NaN investors decided to shut down all operations in early 2002. This meant that the development of Blender was discontinued. In May 2002, with support from the user community and customers, Ton Roosendaal started the non-profit Blender Foundation.
's first goal was to find a way to continue developing and promoting Blender as a community based open source project. In July 2002, NaN investors agreed on a plan from the Blender Foundation to attempt to open source Blender. The "Free Blender" campaign sought to raise 100,000 EUR as a one-time fee so that the NaN investors would agree on open sourcing Blender. To everyone's shock and surprise the campaign reached the 100,000 EUR goal in only seven weeks. On Sunday, October 13, 2002, Blender was released to the world under the terms of the GNU General Public License
. Blender development has continued to present day, driven by a team of dedicated volunteers from around the world, coordinated by Ton Roosendaal.
With Blender originating as an in-house creation tool, feedback from the use of the tool has fed into its ongoing development. In the first two and a half years of open source development, it was especially this unique attribute of the Blender project that has proven to be difficult to organize and maintain. Instead of funding the project directly by bringing together software developers, the Blender Foundation decided to start a project to bring together the most outstanding artists in the Blender community and challenge them to make a 3D animation movie short, as this would in turn both prove that Blender can be used to make a professional quality animation, and help the development of the project.
On July 16, 2009, Roosendaal was awarded an honorary doctorate in Technology at the Leeds Metropolitan University
for his work on Blender.
. - Review1 2 3 The end-result and all of the assets as used in the studio were published under an open license, Creative Commons Attribution
.
Because of the overwhelming success of the first open movie project, Ton Roosendaal, established the "Blender Institute" in summer 2007. This now is the permanent office and studio to more efficiently organize the Blender Foundation goals, but especially to coordinate and facilitate Open Projects related to 3D movies, games or visual effects.
In April 2008 the Peach Project, the open movie Big Buck Bunny
, was completed in the Blender Institute. In September 2008 the open game Yo Frankie!
was released.
The third open movie, Project Durian, also known as Sintel
was released September 30, 2010. Currently, he is working towards a fourth project, known as Project Mango, and has already announced a Project Gooseberry to follow it in 2012-2014, both announced on Twitter on Jan 10, 2011.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
creation suite Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...
, as chairman of the Blender Foundation
Blender Foundation
The Blender Foundation is a non-profit organization responsible for the development of Blender, an open source program for three-dimensional modeling....
, and for pioneering large scale open-content projects. In 2007 he established the Blender Institute in Amsterdam, where he works on coordinating Blender development, publishing manuals and DVD training, and organizing 3D animation and game projects.
Early years
In 1998, Roosendaal founded a company called Not a Number (NaN), in order to further market and develop Blender. NaN's business model involved providing commercial products and services around Blender. In 2000 the company secured growth financing by several investment companies. Target was to create a free creation tool for interactive 3D (on-line) content, and commercial versions of the software for distribution and publishing.Due to low sales and the ongoing difficult economic climate, the NaN investors decided to shut down all operations in early 2002. This meant that the development of Blender was discontinued. In May 2002, with support from the user community and customers, Ton Roosendaal started the non-profit Blender Foundation.
Blender Foundation
The Blender FoundationBlender Foundation
The Blender Foundation is a non-profit organization responsible for the development of Blender, an open source program for three-dimensional modeling....
's first goal was to find a way to continue developing and promoting Blender as a community based open source project. In July 2002, NaN investors agreed on a plan from the Blender Foundation to attempt to open source Blender. The "Free Blender" campaign sought to raise 100,000 EUR as a one-time fee so that the NaN investors would agree on open sourcing Blender. To everyone's shock and surprise the campaign reached the 100,000 EUR goal in only seven weeks. On Sunday, October 13, 2002, Blender was released to the world under the terms of the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
. Blender development has continued to present day, driven by a team of dedicated volunteers from around the world, coordinated by Ton Roosendaal.
With Blender originating as an in-house creation tool, feedback from the use of the tool has fed into its ongoing development. In the first two and a half years of open source development, it was especially this unique attribute of the Blender project that has proven to be difficult to organize and maintain. Instead of funding the project directly by bringing together software developers, the Blender Foundation decided to start a project to bring together the most outstanding artists in the Blender community and challenge them to make a 3D animation movie short, as this would in turn both prove that Blender can be used to make a professional quality animation, and help the development of the project.
On July 16, 2009, Roosendaal was awarded an honorary doctorate in Technology at the Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India...
for his work on Blender.
Open-content projects
In 2005 work on Project Orange began. It became the world's first widely recognized open movie Elephants DreamElephants Dream
Elephants Dream is a computer-generated short film that was produced almost completely using the free software 3D suite Blender . It premiered on March 24, 2006, after about 8 months of work...
. - Review1 2 3 The end-result and all of the assets as used in the studio were published under an open license, Creative Commons Attribution
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
.
Because of the overwhelming success of the first open movie project, Ton Roosendaal, established the "Blender Institute" in summer 2007. This now is the permanent office and studio to more efficiently organize the Blender Foundation goals, but especially to coordinate and facilitate Open Projects related to 3D movies, games or visual effects.
In April 2008 the Peach Project, the open movie Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny is a short computer animated film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation.Like the foundation's previous film Elephants Dream, the film was made using Blender, a free software application for animation made by the same foundation.-Overview:Work began in October 2007...
, was completed in the Blender Institute. In September 2008 the open game Yo Frankie!
Yo Frankie!
Yo Frankie! is an open video game made by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation, originally scheduled for release in August 2008. It is based on the universe and characters of the free film produced earlier in 2008 by the Blender Institute, Big Buck Bunny...
was released.
The third open movie, Project Durian, also known as Sintel
Sintel
Sintel is a short computer animated film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation. The name comes from the Dutch word sintel, which can mean cinder or ember, as confirmed by Ton Roosendaal in a blog comment: " “Sintel” is [a] piece of glowing coal or metal...
was released September 30, 2010. Currently, he is working towards a fourth project, known as Project Mango, and has already announced a Project Gooseberry to follow it in 2012-2014, both announced on Twitter on Jan 10, 2011.