The Blender Community is awesome but is sometimes rife with fanboys
The Blender community is a very cool and humbling place that is unlike most any other online community. I have been a part of the Blender community for nearly 10 years now and I owe a very large part of my success to this community. Without the Blender community I would not have received answers to my numerous questions, I would not have gotten critiques on my work, and most importantly I would not have continually been inspired by the incredible artists around me.
The Blender community is an awesome place and it’s an honor to be part of it. In the time that I have been part of it, the community has accomplished some really incredible feats. For example, how many communities do you know that came together and raised over 100,000 euros to buy it’s own software in order to release it under GPL?
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 short weeks. – source
How many communities do you know that have helped fund a significant portion of not one, but four Open Movie Projects and one Open Game Project?
How many communities can say they actively help support, fund, and develop the continued progression and success of the software it revolves around?
Blender is being made by 100s of active volunteers from all around the world; by studios and individual artists, professionals and hobbyists, scientists and students, vfx experts and animators, and so on. – source
In short, the Blender community has a lot to be proud of. However, the community has one big downfall, it’s users. The majority of Blender users are friendly, responsible, and contribute to the community and the software in positive ways. There is, however, a small minority of users that do more harm to the community and Blender’s reputation than good. This group of users are generally referred to as the “Blender Fans.” They are the users that refuse to hear anything bad about Blender and will standup in blind support of it, regardless of what the issue at hand might be. As is common with these small minority groups, they also speak the loudest and often give a false impression of Blender and its community.
These are the users that commonly say things like:
Blender is the greatest!!! We’re so much better than those crap Maya and 3DS Max softwares!
And this:
Oh my god! Blender is the greatest thing ever made! We should all boycott Max and put Autodesk out of business!
When I see these kind of comments this comes to mind. Having been a part of this community for a long time now (since before BlenderArtists was BlenderArtists) I have seen these comments over, and over, and over again. The problem is these comments do nothing but harm to the Blender community and Blender’s reputation. I constantly hear professional artists from other software talking about the “Blender Fans” and how it’s one of the things that keeps them from even considering Blender to be a professional tool. Let’s face it, these comments and the people making them represent the essence of fanboyism.
Fanboyism: The collective outlook and behavior of a group of people concerning a subject (movies, games, hardware, comic book characters, etc.) which when challenged results in an antagonistic, passionate, and unreasoned response.
Fanboyism doesn’t help anyone. It just hurts the rest of the community and particularly those trying to make a living with Blender. I love Blender as much as the next person and I love what it represents. However, we must all keep in mind that Blender is merely a tool that provides a means to an end. In this industry, it has gotten to the point (for the most part) where the tool does not matter, the results do. And I think this is the way it should be. We are in the practice of making art and making tools that enable us to make art so let’s please, for all our sakes, stop putting Blender on a pedestal and throwing everything else to the dogs. It’s just a tool. Albeit a tool that we all love and have a stake in.
Let’s help this progression to keep moving forward, rather than backwards by adopting a more positive, constructive outlook on Blender and trying to avoid being a fanboy.
Over the last few years, Blender has slowly fought back against its hobbyist and amateur status in the professional realm. Let’s help this progression to keep moving forward, rather than backwards by adopting a more positive, constructive outlook on Blender and trying to avoid being a fanboy. Instead work to actively contribute to the narrative, accept criticism of Blender (and its users) with an open mind, and accept that Blender is not always better.
-Jonathan
“Jonathan”
I agree with you completely “fanboys” most the time take the fun out of industry because of their prejudice against other tools, I started with 3DS Max, Maya and now Blender, From a personal experiance “Fanboys” always had problem with that “.. Why would you change from this to this? You better stay with this? and so on..”, but for me it is as you said we have to think of them as a tool always choose witch tool that suitable for your next project and work with it.
I’m learning via your community “Blender” for personal fun only I hope in the near future I use it on a profissional level when I reach a higher knowledge of it and participate in the development of it.
Thanks for thoughts :]
**Sorry for my bad english.
I think blender and 3d modeling is an awsome software challange I am learning blender myself. people should feel lucky to have an open source free proffesional program. i watch your tutorials a lot it is better and easier to use then 3d max or maya. I like it a lot better. maya and 3d max costs thousands of dollers. i would love to get involved with the blender community. i also give you a great recommendation you seem very proffesional and intellagent. you speak very fast but that is part of being skillfull. I hope i hear from you. you can write me at [email protected]. don’t worry about the fans we live in a very cruel society.
zzzzz…..zzzzz…..zzzzz…
Well said! Though I do believe Blender is an amazing program and community, I also agree that bashing others that have already proven to be as amazing if not more is an immature and childish way to love our community. I cant wait for the day where Blender is just another tool in the professional world.
I consider myself very lucky to be able to use Blender, as I am not a university/college student, so I don’t have access to commercial software that costs $5000, like Max or Maya, and I wont use “pirated” software either.
Thankfully, I get to learn 3d in my spare time, it is an amazing area to study.
I have several friends who are hard core Mac/ Apple fanboys,(I used to be a Linux fanboy myself) and contrary to them making me interested in Mac, in repels me with this rediculous obsession, Dude its just a computer, a tool.
Their lack of actual computer knowledge and parroting the Apple marketing terms like “it’s not about specs, it’s about the experience” and other such nonsense just makes me not want to use a Mac, I can build my own pc running windows or linux that outperforms any mac, for far less than a Mac. But I have no issue with them using mac, it’s totally the fanboy-ism that really is bad for Apple in my opinion.
I am not trying to start a battle, its just wastes everybody’s time in a fanboy war! Omg, like a school-yard verbal shout down contest, it’s not very productive or factual, usually a lot of opinions, but I expect some Apple fan will just rip me to shreds over my comments!
Cheers.
Great topic. I am not a CG professional. I am a hobbiest, and I enjoy making adventure videos of my grandkids fighting characters which I create mostly in Blender. Because of my interest in the end-to-end process of making sim-over-live, I also use 3 other CG packages, graphics editing, audio editing, motion capture, text-to-speech, soundtrack generation, and video editing. Some of these are “high end” packages and I enjoy them all. All have a user forum and every one of them has more than their fair share of fanboys who pretty much ruin meaningful dialog. Because I am not a professional, I tend to ask “newbie” questions to help with concepts that I don’t fully understand. Except for Blender, I have a 100% hit rate on getting at least one response from some fanboy who reminds me how stupid I am to ask basic questions. The CG Cookie community is by far the most professional – and your tutorials are outstanding.
you make some good points but i think it is more politcal that blender gets a bad name. ie: maya and max have contracts with colleges, movie industry, and game industry, each time they make a new one they get paid again.. they dont want to adapt to how blender is distributed. Blender is revolutionary in the way it is distributed and still makes money, a model that has been argued would never work in the real world, but now proves that argument wrong. Its in the best interests of the corporations still functioning on old business models to keep blender in the dark in mainstream.
This is just my opinion
Well, I think that you are only in part right (right anyway).
Consider though that, while I see a score of guys/gals around, making things quite awesome with Blender (look at the gallery in BlenderArtists to find some), people doing things at the same level (or better) with other software (Autodesk the more common) are legion, and they are spread worldwide (look at gallery in CGSoc for that).
We have to admire and be grateful to Ton and mates for their unbelievable efforts and achievements, but it would be unfair to compare them with Autodesk or Pixologic. It would be the same as comparing Rovio with Ubisoft: Angry Birds can well win a round or two, but in this kind of nasty world, brute force is still paying in the end.
I myself really do not feel the need, at the present moment, of anything better or different from what Blender is offering to me, but, were I a large studio, chances are that my needs should be different.
Anyway, let’s look to the future with a confident stance. If Win 8 turns to be the sidestep that someone fear, Linux (and open source in general) may enjoy some big boost of users. I’m currently using Win7, mostly for compatibility, but if I’ll see Microsoft going closing API access and adopting a developers’ policy similar to Apple, I’ll go to Linux in a sec.
WOW!! This much hubbub about fanboys? I want to be one!!
Seriously, If professionals can not recognize a fanboy and keep their distaste out their decisions then they themselves are not thinking clearly.
When I see a fanboy post I just assume it’s a kid. Professionals must not have this ability. Maybe they are the ones who need to be edjucated
I as a new person to blender,
I have found this web site CG Cookie 100% professional not at all amateur, with the help and Tutorials featured here you all take amateurs and bring them to a professional level (based on there learning curve).
For the reason of the Professional content (and conduct in Forums) here I subscribed and would urge others to support this education
Thank you to the team of CG blender (including members)…..
Regards
Delazouch
I see 3D applications and their users as F1 cars and their drivers. A Ferrari in Alonso hands is a Ferrari, but the same car in Felipe Massa hands seams to be a popular car in a drunk driver.
LOL! Massa isn’t that bad. hahaha.
I think a lot of this phenomenon comes from the fact that Blender’s userbase is overwhelmingly young and inexperienced. Lots and lots of kids are using Blender since it’s free and they can’t yet afford a commercial package. Sadly, many kids today haven’t mastered the art of tact yet. But this shouldn’t affect people’s perception of the software, its capabilities are what they are, regardless of how a few vocal users act.
I believe that is very likely true, at least in part. However in can be very difficult to discern the age of a user on the internet. If fanboy behavior is seen often enough it can color a person’s bias towards Blender.
That’s true.
And I think it also have to do with the fact that professional have a professional attitude to maintain, and most tend to have a mutual understanding that the tools are a matter of personal preference (and many of them tend to be proficient in other tools anyways).
Of course, Blender wasn’t just built for the professional alone, but I think the young, inexperienced and non-professional Blender user should keep in mind that there’s a respect to maintain about the community regardless. Any one of use have to keep in mind that, when actively-involved in the community, we DO help represent a community of users from all walks of life–including a growing number of professionals.
Way to provide a voice of reason about the matter, Jonathan. I’m glad someone finally brought up this issue in a widely public and reasonable manner, especially coming from someone a respected in the Blender community as yourself. Thanks.
“first, if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility.
Secondly, though the silenced opinion be an error, it may, and very commonly does, contain a portion of truth; and since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied.
Thirdly, even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth, unless it is suffered to be, and actually is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it will, by most of those who receive it, be held in a manner of a prejudice, with little comprehension or feeling of its’ rational grounds. And not only this, but, fourthly, the meaning of the doctrine itself will be in danger of being lost or enfeebled, and deprived of its’ vital effect on the character and conduct: the dogma becoming a mere formal profession, inefficacious for good, but cumbering the ground and preventing the growth of any real heartfelt conviction from reason or personal experience.”
John Stuart Mill – from On Liberty
Maybe we should just advocate some critical thinking skills and leave Blender out of it. ??
We can always use more critical thinking skills but I’ll admit I’m a little lost on what your point is?
My point:
I just don’t see the need to rag on some overzealous newbies. If and when they appear, that is your chance to enlighten them. The tile had so much promise in it… but then it just pooped out so much poop. 
You are much better at Blender tutorials than critical thinking.
I do look forward to your next Tutorial.
I believe that this article is more concerned with the behavior rather than the opinions of fanboys. To me Jonathan is asking for more critical thinking rather than blind devotion.
That’s the point I was trying to convey, I just didn’t say it quite so clearly
Thanks!
Sorry but feel some of the “Fanboy” coments are little over the top
We all have dumb days any one of us have been a “Fanboy/girl”
With Internet as the 21st century social network is the Internet to blame for the Fanboy/girl culture ?
CG cookie covers many graphic environments like having all your football clubs all in one building there will always be rival options, it’s how the opinion is delivered or extreme option monitor all coments before letting them post
Of course, we all have our moments. I’m really not concerned with that. The more destructive behavior is from the users that consistently adhere to a fanboy/girl attitude.
This actually has very little to do with just CG Cookie, but rather the Blender community as a whole.
I agree the trollers are the down fall to any web site with forums
For every posative Coment there will be a negative one
It comes down to the members click ignore the troll comments and not respond to feed the ego of the troll comment
So if you see a harsh comment don’t respond and they can’t bring the professional conduct to the trolls level
@ Guitar:
To be frank, nothing anyone says is really going to make one a better critical thinker unless they exhibit an honest will to reason to begin with, anyways. This article merely gave a good point to consider about a particular topic of concern: “Fanboyism” among the Blender community hurts much more than helps. For the purpose in addressing this concern, it’s best to just provide a voice of reason objectively on the more relevant issue at hand, and hope it works.
To whom it will work, anyways.
And should I more clearly add that, with what I already said, I don’t think the article here was out to put an end to all such “fanboyism” either, but rather to bring greater awareness to the situation and makes a good point to consider. It’s only the honest ones who are going to consider it anyways.
But at least now, perhaps, there is expressed a voice of reason on the matter that some people will consider as such. Perhaps with such expressed, someone will reconsider just what kind of input they contribute to the community overall, to make sure they’re not exhibit such “fanboyism” which goes to hurt the very Blender they like.
Just wanted to be clearer there.
” It’s only the honest ones who are going to consider it anyways.”
I don’t think this is completly true, I saw 1 or 2 comments saying : “I was a fanboy, I’m going to stop being one”
Plus, with a topic like this one the message won’t just stop to the honest people.
All of us who agree to Jonathan’s position are capable of spreding the info. For example : I teach the basis of blender in my school to all those who want to. Plus, I also do french video tutorial on youtube. I can very easaly talk about fanboyism and try to stop it.
I know it’s not much but it still helps.
I’m not saying there is an objective as if we must all try as much as we can to find fanboys and “convert” them, I’m just saying that if we inform people on whats fanboyism and what harm it does, it will already be a big help (and not only to the Blender Community).
Thank you! This has been a subject on my mind for quite some time now. I just did not know who to talk to about it, who to share it with. I completely agree that Blender’s community is it’s best and worst thing about it. Unfortunately I don’t think Blender will get where it could be with the negative stigma that fanboys give it.
This is the biggest reason that I have not been an active part of the community. If it were not for the cost I would own another software package, simply to get away from the fanboy section. I have used Maya, Max, Modo, as well as Blender. I like and dislike aspects of all of these packages. I have personally been shunned by others in the industry simply because I said that I used Blender, that is not the default reaction, but it has happened. I have learned not to mention the package I use until I have shown my work.
I hope that some reasoned discussion will occur on this topic, but I know that there will be some hissing and booing, but I also know that you CG Cookie guys won’t let it bother you too much. I believe that your work, along side others and the open projects, has improved Blender immensely! Keep up the good work!
This is the silliest TOPIC I ever saw on this site , and I mean It . Okay I do like the guy J Williamson and I don’t get it why he has to be in the mode of divide and conquer . Fan boys , Blender users , Good member bad member etc …these are stupid division points that he feels so free to put the weight on the community . So what if someone say Gee BLENDER RULES and IT is the BEST next Motofex’s JOJO 3D program . I would like to ask …is it the time SIR ???to harvest so called all the loving free knowledge which you have provided to feed your EGO and FANBOYS destroy the very core of IT ? come on … bro just relax . Blender community is another community with care free global users . Try not to grow up , think as a KID would do . and that is the very beauty in it . Dont stamp it with labes that divide minds and no you cannot aproach to this topic with any kind of kind angles because it is young and full of joy and often childish . If you feel so up there , than try to take the father role be better at understanding and let go .
Oh yes bro another thing … Since you are in the ” get the gang up / separate these users mode . Get your gang to pitch in some cash cold money to JOJO 3D 2012 licence for me and I will not use or do anything under Blender .
Cause I dont have to deal with these kind of gay attachments and funny feelings for the blender ( that includes all the ,no strings attached knowledge of tool use )because I love blender and I truly feel free to do and say whatever I want .
Wow, did somebody pee in your cornflakes? I think Jonathon brings brings a very valid point. There is a lot of other people from other forums that stop by to check us out,and it’s that childlike mentality, that pushes them away or stops them from from taking us or Blender seriously.
CAuse you know JOJO 3D wants only your money after that you are completly free with your Imagination .
What’s JOJO 3D
Sorry for making you guys search for motofext’s JOJO 3D program, I just did not wanted to say Autodesk’s Maya . You know you ,trying to be a good blender user .
Sales man gives you the pitch tells you all good things about the car ..this and that and in the end he or she tells you one tiny feature that is bit bit better than Porsche , and you drive home what he sells you.
You go to buy a sports car think you got enough money ,and you want to drive back home that day
What a feeling !!!
I don’t know if I ever will be good enough in Blender to be able to say that it is the best.
On the other hand, I feel able to judge tutorials.
Thank you for putting into words what most of us are already thinking. Blender does not need counterproductive propaganda. The art work and dedication of the user community is all the voice that Blender needs. If other professionals respect the artist, they will respect the artwork. Stop worrying about who made the brush and pencil set. Be thankful that some very talented and generous people provide us with a free tool set and free tutorials.
This way of thinking is so wise I am almost speechless. As a matter of fact, fanboyism and any other extreme judgment, even with good intentions, hurts its cause more than it serves it. Blender, Maya, 3ds, etc. can and should coexist. The fact that they do coexist tends to make them better as time goes on and enhances the user experience.
I am a blender fanboy !
Y’m a fanboy.
And y dont think other soft are bad or better, or someting else.. I juste use blender and love this soft.
Ym a “Good Fanboy” ?
Moderator for the http://blenderclan.fr (fr blender user )
I think you confuse how I mean “fanboy.” In the article I refer to fanboyism based on the Urban Dictionary definition:
The collective outlook and behavior of a group of people concerning a subject (movies, games, hardware, comic book characters, etc.) which when challenged results in an antagonistic, passionate, and unreasoned response.
ok, im a frensh guy ..
In french Fanboy dont have the “Unreasoned response”part.
ok, the french Wikipedia make give this result to. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboy
But it’s a only on English Word. it’s on american pratice.
For the Word comprehension (spanish french..) perhaps use : Fanatic, or directely “unreasoned guys”.. is more clear
.
I’m a blender fanboy and I’am proud.
I work erveryday on blender and I like that.
Most likely people don’t really understand the term “fan boy”. It doesn’t imply you’re a fan of Blender. Its more like: “I’m a fanatic, and just happen to really like Blender…” “Fan boy” implies imbalance. Not sure people get that.
Well said, Jonathan. The Blender community needs more guys like Kent Trammell. Here’s a guy with a Maya background who has learned Blender and demonstrated its strengths in a brilliant, humble, and professional manner. He consistently complements the software throughout his tutorials without belittling the competition. That’s how you win over potential new users.
To me a tool is a tool. Be it blender or Aftereffects. It matters not what someone thinks of another piece of software, if it’s used well that’s all that matters. Blender works for me and I’ll advertise it as such but you won’t hear me saying “Oh cool the is the best thing ever”
I 100% agree, Josh.
And for others the community is reason to travel lots of miles just to go watch the new bF movie or visit the BConf and meet loads of interesting people.
Making blender more than a tool but a group of friends that you share part of your life with.
And then somebody starts posting morals that mostly only fit the tutorial part of the community, and start preaching about what the rules to good membership should be.
[ And all who don't obey shall burn in hell ]
Of course this is done without any prove.
Fanboys are a part of any brand and they are in no way a burden to any given brand. Be it Nintendo, Sony, AE, Adobe, Ford, Google or Apple. So why would it be to Blender?
Annoying? Maybe.
But harmfull? Bad? No.
Not constructive? So what? There are very many ways of creation/work styles.
How is blender not stepping up in the very professional world bad for blender?
Where can I read the goals the foundation has for blender and how do fanboys obstruct these goals?
The bf goals are all for developers and none for users…
Anyway. I’m well aware my ideas don’t walk the beaten paths, but with being conform there would not be a blender.
-Joeri Kassenaar
I wonder a little why so many people point out that the majority of Blender users are young, I mean is that all based on there assumption or is there a proof?
And do we know how many young people use other products educational version or cracked doesn’t matter?
There are many adult who can’t or don’t want spend the money for expensive products either. (No, Autodesk products are not free for everyone)
Fanboys are from my point of view of any age.
Even though I agree on what you wrote I actually have to criticize the title, I didn’t pay much attention to it when I first read the article.
I think nearly no one likes to hear “how to be a good [whatever]”
From some comments here and on other websites I had the feeling that people, who might not be native English speaker were a little confused about what you actually want to say.
Stay cool everyone and enjoy your [program] and the results.
Thats what I do at least
I would characterize Blender as an example of technological trickle-down; 3D-modeling, rendering and animation, which used to be the cutting edge of technology (and horrendously expensive) have in years of widespread use become part of the knowledge-base of our culture. A software suite is a product, but the mathematical principles that it runs on are not owned by anyone. As computer users we should focus on knowledge rather than products. It used to be that you had to be a computer scientist or a superstar of the design professions to have access to good 3D-modeling tools; today schoolkids can download and learn Blender if they want to.
Ford vs. Chevy… Democrat vs. Republican… Dr Pepper vs. Diet Dr. Pepper… the list goes on and on.
Mac vs. PC is really Apple vs. everyone else. It took brilliant marketing for Apple to get where they are today considering they were building computers that used a different operating system than the industry standard. They understood that to differentiate themselves from the competition they needed to take a different approach. They have spent billions of dollars on advertising and have had a strong presence in the American educational system almost from the start. The iPod and iPad were both innovative, but the marketing behind them has been the real star, in my opinion.
What differentiates Blender from the rest is: community driven product vs. commercial product. For Blender to hold its own against commercial software as well as it does should speak for itself. Many of us are artists, programmers or both. As part of the Blender community, we are ALL part of the marketing department.
To both doubters and fanatics I would quote Einstein. “Its good to keep an open mind, just not so open your brains fall out.”
As you say we are all part of Blender’s community !
And what that means is that in a way, we all share some equal values.
Therefore each time we talk about Blender or post something linked to it, we should be aware that we represent those values, we represent the whole community, in a way, we are speaking for each and every member of the community.
Don’t take this comment at it’s extream meaning but think of it. We still remain free to say what we think. ^^
I never represent the community.
Every time I say something about blender I say something about myself.
And people should except that some people experience blender different from what they are experiencing themselfs.
Telling others how they “harm” or are “no good members” is absurd and very not-blender.
People who do that should leave the community at once.
( hope you catch the 22 here ).
got the 22. ^^
Well my point of view is : whenever you talk about Blender as a user of it or a programmer, people who listen to what you say will associate what you think with the Blender Community (whith you are part of being a user or so), or Blender’s philosophy.
Imagine you’re being a fanboy and you say Blender’s the best and rest is crap !
Some people can associate your saying as being part of Blender’s philosophy and then think that Blender has been created to be the best and crush all it’s competitors.
Well my example is a bit extream (but just a bit ^^).
Anyways, that explains why fanboyism is bad for any community on the net (I think ^^’ hope I didn’t misunderstand what a fanboy is).
I hope you understand what I want to say.
I wish to be employed in the industry in the near future, and would love to keep blender in my pipeline. So naturally, it doesn’t help prospective studios trying to decided whether to incorporate blender or not when you have users showing immaturity on the subject. But realistically, I believe that would happen anywhere to any ‘thing’ with a big enough fan base. I think that one of the only reasons it is taken so seriously with blender is because it is such a fresh, young software package; with little impression in the professional industry. Hence, what fame or recognition we do have, we want it to be purely good.
Blender is the greatest thing ever made!
I guess what I find so annoying about this topic is the inference that some professional types are put off of trying Blender due to the actions of a few over zealous individuals. That reaction I find to be easily as narrow minded as the fanbois they criticize. Lets be realistic here for a moment if these folks that are so put off about Blender have been feeding Autodesk or other companies mass amounts of cash over the years that is what there going to be using….and defending, Max and Maya etc.
I would submit that anybody that rates the software and its community bye the actions of a few lacks the common sense God gave the chicken. I realize that sounds a bit harsh but thats my opinion. Using the fanbois as an excuse to not try a product is lame at best.To rate the entire community and those folks that have worked hard to develop Blender because of a tiny minority of users is down rite insulting especially considering those very same kind of posters exist in much greater numbers within there own communities.
As for me I find fanbois are annoying and I would be happier if they didn’t exist.Make no mistake about it,they exist on both sides of this argument so there is a fair amount of “the pot calling the kettle black” going on.
Does Blender deserve to be refereed to as the best CG software out there….No at least not yet. However it has provided a great number of very talented people a viable starting point in CG and that has to be worth something.
I have never allowed some “dime a dozen” Fanboy to influence my thinking if they have yours I am sorry for you.
Best regards
Walt
I agree, the attitude of a few users should not affect other people’s view of Blender. However, unfortunately this is not the case. If you want to read an interesting discussion about this very article from the other side then check out the “Blender Trying Really Hard” thread on PolyCount, starting with post #1036: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72805&highlight=blender&page=42
Ok…I read the thread and to be honest it doesn’t change my opinion.I do find a surprisingly high level of shortsightedness.The reason I say that is because fanbois have been part of forum posting life since day one,don’t get me wrong I am now and have always been against that type of behavior. Some are way overzealous supporters of the software…any software you care to mention and some do it to get a rise out of folks because its the Internet and they can get away with it.
How many fanbois have you really seen in action?…the ones that fill your description above,leave out the folks that may have made the mistake of praising Blender in the wrong place at the wrong time in a reasonable manner. What do ya think …lets figure how many in the last year ? whats your best guess ? Wander over to Graphicall and check out the number of downloads of the latest Windows development build in the last 7 hours ( was 83,389 when I checked )ignore the folks that only use the official releases and older versions or other development builds. A comparison of numbers should give you some perspective of why I object to whats being said. Not what you are saying mind for the most part I agree you but how the actions of what amounts to a very tiny minority of people is being used to color the community as a whole.
zzz…zzz…zzz…
That was a very well made article. I like a lot of features in blender but I have also noticed that each software package has its own strong points and weak points. I have played a little with maya, 3ds, bryce, truespace, poser and infini-D. Blender just happens to be what fits me best. With other people blender may or may not be something that works for them. Just like some people like to draw and others like to paint.
Just my thoughts
Right on Jonathan, it would be like arguing that chalk is better than a pencil for drawing. Regardless of the tool it’s not going to turn an amateur into an expert though that seems to also be a mind set of many fanboys.
An artist is judged by their art, not the tools they used to produce it.
(tried to find a picture but was unable. about 2 decades ago I recall an article about an artist that used a forklift to paint portraits of a photo quality when viewed from afar.)
There are people who are looking for every fault in Blender and it’s community. They are going to create hyperbole to discredit the Blender project. Fanboys aren’t going to listen to this article or any other. And as pointed out above, is a part of every product in existence. Even companies are guilty of being fanboys. So, I think this article was unneeded. It is essentially, preaching to the choir. And helps prop fanboys up, by giving them more attention and fame than they deserve. Even if it is notorious. If people are not using Blender because of fanboys, they are ether thin skinned or lairs, using them as a scapegoat. Lets focus on Blender and the community’s strengths and not give the fanboys more credit than they deserve.
it’s good that blender gets all the free commercial on youtube comments and stuff. i bet alot of artists find blender that way, that never have ever tryed out any 3dsoftware before.
I totally agree that fanboyism does not do the Blender community any good and personally, I have never truly been a ‘fan’ of anything. ‘Fan’ is short for ‘fanatic’ and, as they say, ‘don’t let anything turn you into a fanatic because, while not every fool is a fanatic, every fanatic is a fool.’ Still, maybe I could understand — though not share or justify — fanboyism about a movie, say, or a favorite character, or some such: some people of a certain age take it very personally and very seriously. But fanboyism about software?!! Linux vs. Windows? iPad and iPhone against the world? Give me a break. And the same Blender fanboys, I’m sure, loved Avatar (the movie). Now, realistically, could it be made in Blender? No? So maybe we should spare Autodesk and its Maya for now — to learn from them, if nothing else.
I had a blast reading the comments with my coffe this morning. I didn’t know Blender had such a huge fanbase.
This sound like the DAZ forum where the debate is Poser over DAZ Studio. Poser is more Artsy. Great. I like lots of buttons, and chocolate ice cream, but vanilla is ok too.
When I mention Blender in any CG forum I get, “If you were a serious modeler, you’d use Max or Maya”. What difference does it make? Will Max make me a better modeler?
If I use your hammer as opposed to mine, will the house get built better?
The engineering circles will tell you AutoCad is the best out there.
I came from a Max/Maya background. Autodesk AutoCad was my first introduction to computer graphics. I worked as a draftsman for several years using ACAD. I started with AutoCad 2.6 and at version 10 they had a sort of 3D.
Max was a natural move for me but if it wasn’t for 3dbuzz.com, I’d have never really learned how to use it. Those guys have a place in my heart as does my instructors here at CG Cookie.
I really wanted to see why some sneered at me because of the package I used so I tried Maya and it felt weird. The workflow just didn’t fit for me. I tried Lightwave and because it’s in parts, it felt weird too. I messed with Modo, and Wings, but they felt weird too.
Sorry, didn’t mean to put those 2 in the same sentence. OMG! I just did it. Sorry.
Wings could have been a great package.
Blender pre 2.5 was a stretch because it didn’t feel right either. By the time I left my job I was willing to pay the $4500 for 3ds Max so I could have my own copy.
Why? To fit in? Designer jeans?
Then I tripped over Paolo Ciccone’s Blender tutorials on Creative Cow. He was doing a series on Blender. He starts out with ok, when you open it you get a pink square. What the heck is this? I love it! I thought the same thing because Blender looked 2d to me.
I watched the entire series then started seriously looking at Blender. Pre 2.5 was pretty bad but 2.5 rocks.
In the meantime, I found CG Cookie and watched Jonathan make a praying Mantis.
I haven’t looked back since. I’ve done a lot in Max and it’s a really great piece of software, but to say that it’s better then Blender is like saying Poser is better then DAZ Studio. Rocky Road rules.
It’s a poor craftsman that blames his tools.
Hey Gary,
I’m glad to see you chime in! Thanks for the comments.
Jonathan
I must say that you not a fanboy if you just use blender because its free. And I also believe that you wont get good in it.
Well said. How good you are in the software you use, only depends on how well you know it. How can you say that max, maya, blender one can go on. Honistly speaking. I’ve worked on max and lighwave. I believe a guy that is good in blender will kick other modeling speed in other packages everytime, but that is my opinion.
On the other hand, every package got its pro’s an cons. That is why most studio’s use more than one package. I believe blender got it righfull place in a studio’s production pipeline.
We currently working on a priject and blender is used as part of the pipeline together with vue.
So if you rather want to use other software use it. Dont let the price stop you.
Proove your point. See if max is really as kickass. To know that you probably will have to know max as well as blender, and nont compare features. Sure some features is better but then there is a lot that is better in blender too. That is a bat assumption to make. And you dont even use max, first learn the package before you make assumptions..
Fanboyism is basically Tribalism or “pack mentality”, at one stage in human history it served a purpose, i.e. to try and stay alive. There is strength in numbers and a group or tribe of people stood a better chance than an individual in many circumstances.
It is of course still relevant to many Animals and on a larger human level in the shape of Nations, politics and religions (probably best to stay away from those areas here though).
So I guess it is pretty embedded on an instinctual level, and is therefore likely to be prevalent in children. However many will carry this into adulthood as “sports fans” for example, following their teams as a tribe, which was, certainly in Europe not so long ago, often extremely violent on quite a large scale, and probably still would be if it were not for modern surveillance equipment.
It is interesting how tribalism has evolved into computing in general, and even now has its own new name to fit the social network platform. Not so long ago hardly anyone could afford a computer, let alone work one, and in just a few years we have, Mac vs PC’s and Linux, Android vs iPhone vs BB and even Intel verses AMD processors etc etc…
But graphics software, designed for creative use is a bit strange to say the least, surely truly creative people understand that the tool chosen is a individual preference and may or may not be anything to do with cost, a band made of of all bass players would not be very interesting for long (although I would love someone to prove me wrong).
I do totally Agree with Jonathon, try and rise above it, I am sure we all can be (and all have been) guilty of this base instinct at one stage or another though.
@ bishop knight’s comment “Too many people I’ve ran into, who won’t use Blender or Gimp, dismiss them because it’s freeware”.
Open source software isn’t freeware, freeware is generally more of a ‘taster’ of a larger piece of software, open source is software where the source code of the software is accessible and legally editable by the user. Another misconception is that open source software has to be free, legally, you can charge people to buy open source (though it’s rare) but you have to make the code freely available to the user.
Though, I have to admit, there seems to be a misconception that free software is tacky and rubbish but I expect that comes from the fact that most free stuff is tacky.
And now for my fan-boyism, I’ve used maya and blender and can say that for something that is given out for free, blender is comparable to other commercial software.
Thanks for the correction.
I should have said, “Too many people I’ve ran into, who won’t use Blender or Gimp, dismiss them because they’re free.” And not referred to them as freeware. I am aware of the difference. It just came out wrong.
I think in the past, free software’s user interface hasn’t been real user friendly. And sometimes,even confusing. Blender was that way up until 2.5.
I tried it out before 2.5 when I was learning a bit of 3ds max & AutoCAD and was turned off by the interface. I too, was convinced it was sub-par. But, when I no longer had access to AutoCAD and 3DS Max, I decided to look into free alternatives and Blender again. Man, was I blown away by 2.5. Between Blender 2.5 and Blender Cookie I was back to learning something I love to do. It wouldn’t be possible otherwise. And not to mention all the advancements that have come to blender since 2.5 was introduced.
I think that’s how many who favor Blender over other packages feel. Fanboys, just let their enthusiasm get out of hand. They see a tool that let the little guy get his foot in the door when the expense of the other packages shut them out. Blender shows that it’s possible to think outside the box. That innovation can come from sources other than powerful companies. And that with some vision, drive and the right people, big things are possible.
I think that the fan-boyism is a sign. Blender is known, and liked…even loved. I personally believe that nice things are said and bad things are sent…to the bugs section of the support forums, but that’s me. And even though most of the time I find the fanboy comments only interesting enough to skim over….some are funny…..this makes me think if I take part in not accepting it and fighting it…I would miss something….the silver lining….something creative might be happen. And I can’t hamper that. So, I say live and let live. That is what I plan to do while the battles rage on.
Honestly the Only reason that I use Blender is because it’s free, if I had the choice between 3D Max,Maya and Blender, then I would chose max because I find it has the best tools for modeling.
Personally I find many Blender developers are very lazy(hey I’m lazy myself that’s a fact), for instance we are still waiting on a better bevel(adjust roundness/segments would be nice) and that is one of the simplest tools and yet we barely have it usable and tools such as chamfer(chamfer is not a bevel) we do not even have. Or look at particle nodes which as had £4000 donated dating back from September last year and no updates sense may, the last £1000 of that money was for the developer to finish it.
Yet blender has been helpful for me sometimes, for instance when I had 3D max(license expired sense then) I was using reactor physics to fill a container with fruit. Well shocking in Max it crashed many times and was extremely slow, Yet then I was told about Blenders Game Engine and I used that instead ,and with in under 5mins i had created the same effect much faster then i could in max.
In my opinion its the Artiest that matters not the software, but if someone was to ask me if Blender is industry standard ready, well i would tell them a big fat NO not yet!
Honestly its time Blender put more work into fixing and upgrading what it does have working instead of adding more features.
1.) It is a disability! I made ambitious pictures since the 1980´s. Ok i am apologized because i was a teenager when i thought “oh Nikon is the best brand for 35mm Cameras.” I never stop to make images. But today i do this with every possibility i can catch. For example: I liked my old Nokia Smartphone camera of the early 2000 years, with that surreal distortion and defocus effect and that special magenta color fault only this smartphone camera has. With that i took pictures that i can´t take anymore today (until i buy another one on ebay) with that very unique look and now i believe, the camera (tool) doesn’t matter, it is only the artist who makes the image (artwork in any case) and not technology or the tools. For now, my range of technologies i do photography has a much broader range than before, since i love defocused, dark, fault exposition and even noise of film or digital on my images and my experience that only a very few technologies could make better images like less distortion or more sharpness or resolution. But therefore it is no more the matter of brands than more the matter of a bigger format like Medium or large format photography. Now i take the best images with every possible camera i can grab and i like it very much to test every – even the cheapest cameras. Or putting things in front of my lenses like Tee glasses or other non compatible optics. But i love doing perfect images too. But what is perfection? There are some images i did with my actual smartphone i can´t take this picture with that force with my professional Cameras . I found it funny but i do not care, it is only the result and the feeling behind a picture, or the atmosphere that is the only importance for me. And now i have much more productive equipment than ever before!
2.) But, and there is always a but, for me Blender has the ability to change the world for artists who wants to use a 3D Images software. Because now one can do realize Projects with no or low budget. Therefore i hope this will bring a “new Wave” of who can realize projects like independent or even commercial but creative and new Games or short or even longer Movies and Computer Images. It opens also a door for artists who are not 3D Artist in the first case. I am a poor book author and i will realize some images for my next novel and i was looking for solutions on the market. I dreamed of Maya but it will keep a dream. At the first time i met Blender it was not the thinking “oh i don´t cost anything so this can only be garbage” it was more the fact that to learn a 3D Software and to become a 3D Artist will take many time and effort to do this. Therefore the choice of the right tool stands at the beginning of a very long and intensive way to become a good 3D Artist. Many friends of mine told me, please think over this very good before you use or learn a software with this giant complexity. But i don´t have the choice to take or learn or use another tool because of the costs. For me now i have the possibility to visualized that scenes of my novel i have in my head and the results are getting better than my imagination. And that is more than i expected!
But the biggest problem for the blender project is its reputation, because many of my friends where not so sure if Blender is good or powerful or professional enough that was for me also an aspect. But researching in the internet showed me the power of Blender.
So that i have to thank everyone very deeply who is involve in the blender project for the software development and education, the great tutorials and people who did this in their free time! I hope in my future i can give a bit back to you for your help!
Though I will say I’m not surprise to see an article like this come up. I do question though what was hoped to be achieved out of it? As you quoted in the definition of a Fanboy challenging their belief results in “antagonistic, passionate, unreasonable response”.
Being someone that does like Blender a lot (Particularly because it’s Open Source so aside from being an effective tool, it’s in my price budget). For a professional to shut out the option of a tool because of a fanboy base is silly, considering I know Maya and 3DS Max fanboys as far as I’ve gauged from initial searching around for such tools those fanboys are just as bad.
I think the more prudent use of this fandom is to use it as a gauging method (Taken with a grain of salt of course). The more they spread the word about it over others at the least tells you it’s a contender in such an industry and should be given at least equal consideration.
It’s usually these outbursts, though I understand were a lot of the professionals are coming from with it, that I tend to feel are more damaging and almost equally as childish. I mean it’s an attack on itself in essence, which I just don’t see what the point is. Fanboys are a human element, like all human elements it’s going to be present in many things humans do (No real way of getting past it) so why attack it? Is it not better to find a way to live with in a symbiosis?
Don’t get me wrong, on my questioning. I think this site has done an excellent job up to this point at finding such a symbiosis. I just really have to question on this article as to what outcome is it really expecting?
And there you have it.
Yesterday I went to Tears of Steel.
And the audience was filled with fan-boys.
Cheering and Applauding and buying $30,- t-shirts…
Really, this whole topic is a none-topic.
Blender fanboys don’t harm Blender, they pay the Foundation that makes blender possible.
Hey Joeri,
I think you’re seeing a different definition of “fanboy.” Clearly people cheering and supporting Blender are great, but that’s not the point of this article.
-Jonathan
Oh and I’m quite envious you got to go to the pre-premiere
That’s not what Jonathan is talking about. Nothing wrong by being a fan. I,ve been following the whole development of Blender and it’s community for the past 12 years or so since 1.85, contributing as much as I can by supporting the projects and in buying Blender free. What Jonathan is talking about are the “Blender Rulez, awesome Blender will take over the world, Blender will obliterate Autodesk” trolls who won’t hear anyting about the flaws and shortcomings that it still has, certainly not from the users of those other packages, and who can become outright agressive if you even try to point out those shortcomings and suggest that it may nót take over the world.
From Wikipedia:
“Fanboy is a term used to describe a male who is highly devoted and biased in opinion towards a single subject or hobby within a given field. Fanboy-ism is often prevalent in a field of products, brands or universe of characters where very few competitors (or enemies in fiction, such as comics) exist. An example is the market for CPUs for PCs, where AMD and Intel together hold a market share of 99.6% (as of Q1 2009).[6] In this market, users of home computers realistically only have a choice between two brands, and hence, a fight over which is better easily ensues. In this field, an “Intel fanboy” prefers CPUs made by Intel, and might aggressively defend their supposed superiority compared to the other brand(s), be skeptical or in denial about negative reviews of the product, and exert a high level of brand loyalty. The same brand war ensues when comparing video card brands Nvidia and ATI, which together dominate the video card market.”
Regarding a specific brand of ‘fanboy’:
“The scenes I witnessed at the opening of the new Apple store in London’s Covent Garden were more like an evangelical prayer meeting than a chance to buy a phone or a laptop.”
— Alex Riley, writing for the BBC
Fan != Fanboy… got it?
I consider that as a part of the blender community we should realize Blender has weaknesses but this is an ever evolving piece of software. It will become better with time. Jonathan brought up a very good point and I appreciate his courage to come out with things that were bothering him and I agree with him.
In the end we are all artists ever inspired by things around us. It doesn’t matter what type tool we use but what we make the best of with what we have.
My first post on here…and a great post to make a first comment to.
Well said Jonathan, but I must play a little “devils advocate”
, After over 20 years in the graphics industry, I’ve tried a few software’s in my time and seen fanboy fanatics amongst the software communities of my choice and of competitors products…3DS Max and Lightwave spring to mind. C4D was a pleasant community, as was Modo, but the Modo developers do get involved with the community, although something did upset me with the release of Modo 301.
I really liked Modo (and it’s community), but at that early stage it was buggy…with 301 they introduced “pay for” demo download with no free demo option. I just thought that was ridiculous as a registered and supportive user since version 1, for a number of reasons. I left Modo, to find something else to use…and I did, but not Blender. I digress…
Jonathan, I WAS like many – for many years, I installed Blender, then a couple of weeks later delete it, because I was baffled by it’s workflow and interface. Blender created it’s own bad rep (the interface) for many years, that put far more people off using it, than any fanboy, or group of fanboys could.
So lets fast forward – I decided to install 2.6 after hearing good things…again! WOW! What a change – impressed at the advancements would be an understatement! I could see that compared to a few years back the community had also evolved nicely as well. It’s sites like this one, that help repair bad reputations, that I feel, have been caused by the software itself in the past (not that I want to blame Blender pre 2.5 for it’s ills, it was a powerful software, but with a GUI that looked like it had been cobbled together during a coders lunch break).
Fanboys are everywhere (as mentioned in posts above), but are certainly not a threat to Blender…in fact, I’m sure Blender will go strength to strength, at a pace never seen before. The changes post 2.5, with the resources available, such as this site, not to mention the pace of development, put it at a high level…certainly on a par with many established, commercial tools!
Did I really make a point…I’m not sure? I know I babbled a lot, just to say – fanboys or not, I’m glad to be part of the Blender community, and am sure Blender has nothing to worry about.
I started blender before four months and I don’t know hw to deal with blender community thing so this page helped a lot thanks .
Semegn from addis Abeba Ethiopia
I like blender because its a good, average program, and it wasn’t easy to learn but 3ds max had an overwhelming interface, honestly I like blender the most because the interface is easy to understand for the most part, it could use improvements (like when hovering over a button a short description of that button is shown, similar to auto cad.) I know 3dsmax is good, but its got so many features that its just to many for messing around in my opinion. If I ever have the time I’d love to learn Max and Maya, but I want to learn blender first because I have the most experience with it’s interface.
Jonathan, I have one suggestion – run such topics through a forum or a mailing list prior to publish, so that they get refined by several points of view. It really helps a lot to formulate a concise, precise article that addresses all the right issues, and omits all the unecessary
I am afraid this is a wasted effort, because we’re gonna have fanboys regardless. Human development stages guarantee that. Like, we are all fanboys of stuff at a certain age, because we all go through adolescence.
Maya and 3Dsmax don’t get so much (immature) fanboys, because not all adolescents can whip out the necessary cash.
From my experience Blender has gotten the persisting bad opinion for one reason, and this article is just a generalization of it. The reason is as follows:
“Blender is a piece of software with an impossibly difficult interface, medieval features, and it’s labelled by its users as the best thing ever.”
There. Instant stigma for life, just add zealots. And this attitude has been passed for generations amongst the users of other software packages (mechanism is called ‘peer pressure’)
But changing this is not only in advertising and promotion – it’s in professionalism and development. Look at the dev fund, Blender Foundation manages to keep up with just a fraction of the budget the commercial software has! How cool and awesome is that?
I think that the best way to serve the community is NOT to BE (this or that), but to DO. So many people voicing out opinions, and the Blender Dev Fund is stuck at €1935 monthly. So much cool development going on, and I rarely see the devs get any financial support from the community.
Why not highlight that? Why not get a ‘best features in development’ vids once in a while? Personally, I was really looking forward to the voxel engine for Blender that was under development by Farsthary. Before he was snatched by the Pilgway team to work on 3D Coat, that is.
Direct your efforts strategically. Use all your resources in the most efficient way. Ranting is not doing it right >:)
I’m a carpenter by trade. I love my hammer, but if you ask me what brand it is, I couldn’t tell you as I’ve used it for so long it’s brand name wore off long long ago. Though I’d die without “A” hammer, It is just a tool, and I would grab any other hammer to get the job done if mine wasn’t available. I guess I feel the same way about Blender. Yes I do love Blender and wouldn’t like to give it up. However if I had to use a different program to get the job done, I would grit my teeth and do what I had to. Not that I think blender is the most awesome program and all others suck (Though Blender is Truely awesome). It’s just a thing of “I’ve become use to it and am actually getting good with it”. Starting a new program would slow me down cause I’d have to get to know all of it’s little differences as well and I’m far too lazy for that. LOL