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Friday Hangout: Do you make money with Blender?

252

Howdy! Today I was wondering how many people out there are actually making some money with Blender. Is Blender part of your job, do you do freelance work or even run a business? Is Blender a small part of the work, or is it your main work horse? What is it that you do? Can you make a living with your Blender work?

(I fire it up occaisionally to fix some models for printing at Shapeways, but that's about it - commercially speaking).

Have a good weekend!

Update: don't hesitate to post links or samples of your work!

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

252 Comments

  1. Hi Bart, I'm a teenage freelance artist and I make a bit of money with blender !
    I also am a Dupstep/electronic artist so I make my album covers with it (if that can be counted as commercial)

      • Bart, please forgive me but most of the new stuff is still under NDA, but you can see some of the older stuff under my blog (http://andzbrazil.blogspot.com), there are some max stuff in there too. They are all educational games for kids from grade 1st to 4th and used in schools. Even the 2D games we use blender either for background images or modeling simple planes for the objects.

        The newer games will all be online, and in a few weeks we might open up for beta the website. I'll let you know, if you're interested in checking it out.

  2. i don't make any money with blender
    i'm glad if i go through a tutorial successfully ;D
    i'm not a good blender artist at all :/

  3. I'm currently finishing my first commissioned work.  It's a short animation to promote an event for business entrepreneurs.  I hope the first of many others to come!

  4. Yes, I repackage it and sell it on eBay at $10 a pop.  
    I deceive buyers into thinking this is a very expensive package of 3D graphic algorithms ( I don't really know what that means, but it helps sell) used by graphic artists the world over.
    I sell about 320 DVD's of this a day, allowing me to buy the best cocaine and bikini models money can buy.
    It also pays the mortgage on my Beverly Hills mansion.

  5. I use Blender at my agency for two purposes:
    Work for projects that are for the public are often modeled, unwrapped and textured by me in Blender, then they will be imported into C4D via obj. Rendering then happens with C4D.

    Internal stuff (previsualisation for the client) will sometimes be rendered with Blender. If Cycles wouldn't render so slow, then I could definitely use it for the "real" production as well.

    Blender fits good into the C4D pipeline, I can work much faster when I model and texturize in Blender, instead of C4D.

    • Hi Andreas, similar situation to you. I primarily use Cinema 4D for work and freelance because of it’s fantastic internal renderer (Advanced Renderer). However I’ve always kept an eye on the development of Blender and I’ve been very impressed with 2.6 and up. I find modeling in Blender to be superior, UV unwraping to be easier than C4D.
      I can see myself using Blender far more often (to earn money) than I use to.

  6. I do not use it for commercial purposes in terms of making money with it but I use it for my research in order to visualize  neural networks with it. I also developed BrainBlend (http://brainblend.sourceforge.net) for the fMRI-community, but this is now out of date since MRIcroGL came out.

    • Hi Martin,
      Pity that you didn't continue brainblend. I do use Blender for my work (scientific illustration) and this would be a great asset. I tried to get MRIcroGL to work, but I got all access violations etc. Plus: it would be great to be able to incorporate MRI data into "normal" blend files.

      • with the newest version of blender it should be very easy to import nifti-files directly in blender. I just have no time to write the plugin. :( If anyone has a template plugin with an open file-button and some checkboxes, I could implement the import.

  7. I started using blender at work besides 3ds max. Because the modeling is so much simpler and more intuitive. So anyway... I'm using it at work where I make money, so I guess i make money partially with blender :D

  8. Hello, Bart.
    I'm a professional designer and illustrator working mainly for the games industry and switched my complete 3D-workflow to blender. I create in-game objects, complete levels and illustrative elements for cover illustrations in blender. 
    Can't wait to see the new network coming to life.
    Best wishes to the community,
    Tassilo

  9. I'm having a furniture label ZitenZo and use blender as wel for design, marketing and production.
    My subcontractor uses the exported STL file to cut the model of the seats and backs out of with a milling machine.The flyer is made with blender and gimp. ( some of the text at the flyer is in dutch)

  10. Hi, Bart. I`m working as a graphic designer and using blender a lot. Better saying more and more. Especially for product visualizations or to create specific (design)-elements for layouts and stuff, which i can't achieve in photoshop. I also finished my first complex animation for a customer quite recently. But the main problem with all that stuff is, that i unfortunately can't post these things because of their copyrights. The most stuff i visualize isn't out on the market yet or never will be. And till that point the rights are reserved by the customer or the agency i'm working for. But yeah, i'm making money with blender, though ;)

  11. Shamus O'Donnell on

    I'm currently learning Blender and adding it to my arsenal at work. I recently made some image promos compositing our on-air talent into a 3D set I made.

  12. I'm a freelancer from France using blender in my professional work for about 6 years now. At first I feel a bit lonely but now I know a few company that use it as their main 3D tool since 1 or 2 years. The 2.5 new interface and improvements has convinced a lot of people. I work mainly in motion graphics/animations ect... 

  13. I am the VFX Supervisor at Crawford Media Services (
    http://www.crawford.com/ ) and have recently introduced Blender into the pipeline.  I have used Blender professionally for several years now and it integrates well into mixed pipelines.  I am also using it for game design (using the Kinect interface).  The Maya artists here are constantly amazed by Blender and I think I have created a few converts already.  I just want to thank the devs and the community for making such a great piece of software!

      •  Actually not that many people know about Blender in Greece.. :-( I've been using blender for the last 2 or 3 years mostly for freelance work. BTW, I am Greek but live in England and personally I don't think there's a big enough market for cg things back home. Germany looks like the right place to start a 3d business I think. I am tempted to start a VFX studio next year there if all goes as planned.

        • Here is the same situation. As far I know, there's only one company here doing serious CG works. They seceded by doing TV commercials, but I don't think that there is any making just animation shorts and pretty much believe there's no one just living on cinema industry because there's none here.
          I would like to start a CGi cinema oriented business here, for the worldwide market, but for the moment I don't really see how :) Maybe if one of the good sirs of the government gave one month of their paycheck, then I could do it for sure :P

          • Hehe,I don't want to get political Rogerio but seriously, have you ever seen a politician give up any money? ^^ Especially their own? It would be pretty amazing though do get involved in a CGi movie production. Maybe some blender heads would manage this remarkable feat. I am pretty sure that with a group of dedicated people it would be possible to make a movie with great effects and amazing story line. Have you seen the latest Mass effects trailer? I'd love to see something like that done in blender. Unfortunately I am only now starting to delve into the more complicated aspects of blender...So it will be a while before I will be able to do anything remotely similar to Mass effect.

          •  :) Yeah, you have say it all regarding to politics.

            I've seen Mass Effect 3 cinematic trailer, (FarCry3 also nice). It's possible to do that with blender (or at least mostly on blender) now, but would require a great amount of workers armed with proper hardware tools. Also Everyone would have to or should be monetary compensated so would keep motivated during the 3 to 6 years of production :) It's allot of time, people usually get a life at some point and have kids to feed and such.

            It's possible to do with allot of money and production know how.

            Volunteered work doesn't work, I've been involved on Acclaim Project Top Secret that promised prizes of hundreds of thousands dollars and even so failed.

            I guess the most promising project will be Gooseberry from the Blender Foundation itself.
            They have the knowledge and user base to accomplish a proper project like that.

          •  Hehe i knew the Portuguese would understand what I said abt politics ;-).  Wow, worked for Acclaim that's pretty amazing stuff. Do you have a portfolio of your work somewhere? I'd love to have a look as I am currently busy trying to get my website ready for launch this summer and I am look for ideas to get my own portfolio. ;-) Thanks.

          •  Hei, well I don't like portfolios... I hate them in fact. Feel old every time I think about making one :P and can't choose which stuff I want to include, it's like leave a son behind just because it's ugly :) ...But my finished best stuff usually goes to Vimeo, is there my work for the Acclaim project Top Secret too (it was just work and everyone could have joined in at the time) http://vimeo.com/rogerioperdiz

    •  Mate, I'm from Portugal also! I though 3d freelance work in Portugal was low, but apparently I was mistaken. What kind of jobs did you take?

  14. I am an editor/graphics artist/compositor at JEHproductions.com . I've been using Blender for two and half years now, and everyday as I get better it becomes more integrated as part of my software arsenal at work. Blender is my only 3D graphics weapon, and I LOVE it! :)

  15. As a music composer I use it to do graphics for my packaging for video game music. So it helps makes some money. Here's some basic packaging I did for a video game music (Epic Battles) library package I did not too long ago w/ a music link to the actually music (scroll down on the left for those who don't have latest Unity) for those interested. 

    graphics made w/ blender  http://u3d.as/content/bonix/construction-kit-epic-battles

    music not made with blender   http://soundcloud.com/bonixmusic

  16. It's a Job for me, I have work for a production company for the last 8 years. I freelance 3d, video and photography as well. Blender is my main forte. It is the only 3d application I use. I have never worked a day in my life, its all play all the time and I get payed for it. I love it.

  17. I've just set up my own CGI company (www.digitalmirage3d.com) in South Korea last month and designed a website (www.ipgmall.co.kr) for a client--using extensive product visualizations made with Blender and currently working on other websites as well.

    • Energyoverflow on

      Oh, I remember the models on the site you created. You showed them on blenderartists, didn't you. Like it.

      • Yes, I did. In fact, all the product visuals featured on the front page of "www.igpmall.co.kr" are Blender renders.

  18. HI, I’m from
    Portugal, I’ve 48 years old. Almost my entire live job was a ceramic artist and
    graphic enthusiast. I discovered Blender in 2005; only in the last 2 years I’m trying
    to become more professional. So, in this period, I’ve make some money working
    in urban models for a local company. You can find some of this work in
    http://www.pintazul.viewbook.com

    • Hey there fellow blender user!
      Do we know each other for one or other blender forum (like the blender-pt.com)!? Some times I don't associate the alias to the real name :) Anyway is nice to discover more blender user from here.

  19. Renato Sousa on

    I started making some money since December, by creating 3d models of furniture from photos, but I do it just as an hobbie in my free time. I just want to get the same money I spent in tutorial DVD's, Sintel, Mango, Nature Academy, so that at least I don't loose money with Blender ;)

  20. I design and build trade show booths, and do product design, and I've used blender to create renderings of the final project for clients. I've only recently started using Blender, so most of the stuff on my site is from other programs. There's some on my blog, but none of that was done for money. In a way, the renderings isn't what I'm selling, it's the idea or final product being represented.
    http://www.argosdesigns.com

  21. Hi! I´m mainly doing retouch work, but will mix with more 3D in time. Background in Cinema 4D (was a betatester even). Blender has so far been a part of one (non-public) project with a big client so far, so a little money has been made so far. Aiming at getting high quality results first with Cycles and further with some external renderer that is more physically accurate (caustics for example and Thea Render has surprised me...). But, in general for the time being - getting a better overall grip of workflow, modeling, texuring and rendering.

    Cheers! :)

    http://www.bildretusch.se

  22. I get paid to teach blender in 3DWorld, as well as use it for making footage for my commercials, and soon i'm going to be teaching it at highschools here in wellington :)
    people are really interested at the quality you can get from blender, even though it's usually easier than doing it in maya anyways :P

    I think it's funny that I use expensive software like maya, mari, 3dsmax, Adobe Master suite etc, and I have made more money using blender than the rest combined :P

    To be honest I used my blender income to buy the fancy software, but my heart lies with blender :)

  23. claas kuhnen on

    I use Blender as an allround tool for animation / game design (Android GameSalad) and product/jewelry modeling when organic shapes are needed and of course rendering while I use Thea or VRay mainly, sometimes Blender Internal and recently keep an eye on Cycles - but my CPU is too slow for Cycles which is why I fall back to VRay a lot. Currently I also use Blender to do interface animations like one would do with After Effects.

  24. As a artist more akin to working on canvas using blender from a tutorial perspective has been inspirational. Not from a direct visual use of creation at this point but to create stories for animation. I see myself story boarding. being in my forties and  commitments elsewhere do not give me time to sit great length of time in front of a computer.
    I am currently trying to embark on getting a script into some form of animation. Most of my efforts have been via online reasearch.
    I would like to put it out there if any one can give me direction or advice to bring this animation to frutition i.e schools, studios, sponsorship.
    thanx!

  25. I have been working on a 2D Animation for TV, and I am exploring what Blender can do for me.  I have made in 3D a strip of film, and was trying to project a 2D image to each frame of the film and run it through the camera like the traditional animators filmed their animations.   It has been trial and error, and I am hoping some day it pays off.

  26. We are a small animation and motion design studio based in Riga, Latvia and yes, we use it as our main 3D application for about a year now. There are some things Blender can't do, but I must say it covers 95% of things we need to do in 3D. 
    Here are some works made in Blender:

    https://vimeo.com/19773336
    breakdown:
    https://vimeo.com/19911790
    https://vimeo.com/19910541

    and other:
    https://vimeo.com/27893703
    https://vimeo.com/27893484
    https://vimeo.com/33931681

  27. Florian Huber on

    Right now my money comes mostly from freelance video editing (on avid, mostly). Recently I spent a weekend in Kitzbühel at the alpine skiing downhill race, working for Audi (they sponsor the world cup), and I had my first opportunity to integrate blender into a commercial project. The result can be found here: http://tv.audi.com/video/26128
    On this I did only the motion graphics (the intro for instance). They were mostly done in after effects, but if you look closely, you can see a cloud of stylised snowflakes flying towards the camera. I had some spare time there, so I decided to model some snowflakes and animate them (using a particle system). The animation was rendered using Cycles in the background while working in Avid and AE on the same machine. I did the graphics with and without snowflakes, and the clients liked it better with them, so that was my first paid job involving blender! If only very subtly...
    Couple weeks later I edited something else, a film about a workshop. The clients had an animation of a ticking clock they had used there (in the style of "Das aktuelle Sportstudio". The Germans here might know... ;o) The animation was done in Powerpoint, and I had the footage of it projected on a screen. Then filmed with a shaky camera. They wanted me to use that. I thought, well, I could do better than THAT, so I modelled the clock and did an animated fly-by, rendered in Cycles overnight at fairly low sample rates (animated motion graphics can often take some noise I think), and they really liked it. So did their own clients, one of them (representing a big corporation) even inquired who had done the film (and the clock certainly helped making it look expensive), so blender might have opened up new job possibilities for me, who knows. 
    Usually I do far more detailed stuff with blender (concept art, currently), but I think it´s also a great tool to do quick motion graphics on a tight budget, if you´re fast enough to set up effective shots without compromising the project. Clients often want great looking results but wouldn´t want to pay top dollars for that, so for an editor blender can be, I think, a valuable tool/skill to stick out of the crowd, if you can whip up some motion graphics quickly and get a reputation for that. The only problem is that clients could get used to that and then always expect fancy 3D motion graphics without paying for them...

  28. I've used blender to make animations and promotional materials for inventors, and for a patent drawing.  More recently I used blender to visualize/plan a fleet van wrap.

    • Other modeler's/animators may consider attending a local inventor's group/club, I found quite a bit of business and connections there.  Interesting group too.

  29. I've modelled some graphics, logos and designs for manufacturing - but was never paid for the work - though I had lotsa fun with creating the objects. Blender is really cool though I'm battling to adjust to the new interface - still used to 2.49 commands.

  30. Trying to learn as much as i can at the moment and then maybe i will be going with it more professionally (im 16 at the moment, have some time..) , so far i have earned 100 $ with Blender, did a very small visualization..

  31. I use Blender for graphics, creating elements for painting and stage set design. Spent today modelling props for laser cnc cutting :)

  32. Thomas Nordstrøm on

    I made a 10 min. video presentation for a museum in Norway featuring some 3d animations, all done in Blender of course including the video edit. Started out as a volunteer but eventually ended up getting paid. I think its likely I'll do some related work later on. Here's a picture from the 3d animation part: http://3dnett.no/?page_id=13 (Norwegian)

  33. I use Blender around 30 Hours per week to produce 30-40 seconds of sports graphics, animations, promos and commercials for Channel 4 in the UK. I guess individually I make around £50000 per year from the Blender aspect of my job. Never use Cycles. Never use the Compositor. Never use the Editor.

  34. Thomastimmins080 on

    im a teenager so the now i use blender just for folio work. but would love to use as part of a job. :D

  35. Many people make money out of Blender.
    However when profits become higher than a hobbist average level, or either the popularity of your business for X or Y reason grows, then "some" Blender comunity folks as well as administrators from Blenderartist.org, Blendernation etc turn against you. Saying than you do not deserve that money, that your quality is not as good as other artists, they open false threads about Copyright issues and so and so on.
     It seems that you guys want hobbists writing posts on your blogs as part of this Forum business since you make money little out of the number of views and popularity of Forums etc.
     But I do highly recommend to everyone reading this not to bite this one, don't tell how much money you make out of Blender because that will make administrators jelaous of your business skills since most of then do not have money to pay their own bills. They post everyday stupid stuff for you to follow up and keep yourself hook on this. Friday Hangout? Who cares ! Get a real life man !
     That's the true. I remember Jonathan Willianson asking me to fill out forms for approval about some models of my own for him to approve???? I sent him to hell !!!, he banned me from Blenderartists and he opened a false thread about my business.
    Politics...Politics... Read this as it last !  Bart, one of the biggest Rats in here will delete this post in no time.
    My respects to Blender's developers and Tom R. who hardly work for honest and decent causes.

    Animaticoide

  36. Pawe? ?yczkowski on

    I'm modeling, retopologizing, and texturing low poly models for mobile devices, all in Blender. Can't post samples yet.

  37. Interesting topic! I'm last year student at UAS, studying game development. Although studies take much of my time and I'm not so great blender artist (yet!) I have managed to get some modelling and animation gigs. I could say that learning to use blender hasn't yet paid it self back, but I'm quite confident it will in near future. I hope to develop mobile games after graduation and use blender as modelling tool and level editor. 
    http://vvisuals.blogspot.com/

  38. Hello This is Mehmet , some of you may have heard Sendercorp , a fictional Aerospace big :) corporation , oh yes , I am the lead designer there . I have published many SCIFI models in Turbosquid , and , I do have a ten year plan .... I made little money so far , but the big goal is to get that  white9 11 GTS 2011 model just before 2020 , yes ! 

  39. I'm a game artist for one of Disney's (many) media companies. I use Blender about 5-6 hours a day. Officially, Max is the 3D suite used in our pipeline, but I find it clunky and nearly unusable in it's current shape. Every asset I create is done in Blender, without exception.  Nobody else in the office gets why I do, but they wonder why I'm faster than them, haha. 

  40. Philip Witte on

    Submitting an iPhone game this weekend for review, of which all the graphics where made with Blender, Inkscape, Gimp, and MyPaint. So if it does well I'll be making more games all of which will use Blender for the art to one degree or another.

  41. Looks like more and more people are getting serious about Blender. And for good reason too.
    I'm an architect doing some freelance archviz work from home while raising my kid. Working on a project right now, 100% Blender BI + Gimp, and I have no complaints. I don't put clients designs online but when I find time for personal and training projects I use that on my blog:  http://www.blendermama.com

    Would have been very difficult to do this without Blender, and much less fun.

  42. Benjamin Harling on

    I use it quite a lot at work for video editing and some 3D, though the bulk of what I do is HTML/JS/Flash.

    I cut together our latest showreel in blender ( plus generated the title sequences and some of the cut scenes )

    http://www.doner.co.uk

  43. Scott Hsu-Storaker on

    I have been fortunate enough to use Blender for paid work at various times over the past 10 years. I sometimes sneak it in at my day job, and other times I do paid freelance work on the side. Here are a few examples:

    - For this one http://bewilderbug.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=71 I used it to replace the need for a new photoshoot. We were making a new UI for buying posters to show the posters on walls and the Art Director needed a room that could be moved around as we developed it. It ended up being the default room for the tool on the live site (it still is, surprisingly, 3 years later). At other times, I have used Blender to make pre-visualizations for photoshoots.

    - I have used Blender quite often in design studios to show how packaging designs will look during the design phase. This works fantastically well when presenting designs to non-visually oriented people. example: http://bewilderbug.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=72

    - I have done a lot of little jobs for various social gaming companies over the years. example: http://bewilderbug.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=64 Blender is wonderful for creating isometric art of this style because I could take renders from 4 angles whereas without it I would have to draw the asset 4 times. The lighting and scale were tricky, but once I had the setup it became very quick.

    These are just a few examples. Every time I have gotten a new job, the first thing I ask the IT folks is if I can download Blender -- if they yes it makes my day.
    Scott

  44. JeannotLandry on

    I am also a freelance artist. I did manage to make a few bucks with Blender. However, most of the time, clients ask me to use their apps. At some occasion I was able to use Blender and the result and speed at which I can create in Blender is a lot faster then I do in Maya. I do also use some Sculptris and Zbrush as well as Photoshop and GIMP. As a freelancer, we are often required to adapt to whatever we are asked of. However, I wish I could use Blender as my only tool (Along with GIMP, MyPaint and Sculptris) instead of using Maya and PS. Website -->  http://www.jeannotlandry.com

  45. Eduardo Ruz Vargas on

    I do architectural renders in blender, and after using 3dsmax for some time, i switched to blender like 2 years ago. Here is some of my work

    http://materiavirtual.deviantart.com/gallery/
    http://www.materiavirtual.cl

    In Chile architectural renders are done mostly in pirated software, so i'm very proud of using open-source tools like blender and gimp for my renders. And making money with that is really good (but not so much, renders in Chile are not so valuable as they should for architects, so they spend little time, money and prepararation to obtain high quality renders)

  46. Electronicpulse on

    I do use blender for work in our studio in chile, mainly for sketching out quick ideas, animatics and such,  and for my own stuff, i also teach it on the side, but my two other business partners are still on maya, i've been slowly brainwashing them, but we can't change our entire pipeline in the middle of a project, what we'll end up doing, is that we have a project on hold that is a shortfilm of our own, and we'll use that as an excuse to learn blender in production wich is totally a great idea i believe.

  47. I'm also a freelance car designer and modeller. In Juni 2011 I tried to sell my models through blendernation to fund a new computer so that I can increase my productivity. It was the first time I started to sell models. It wasn't so successful but I tried it. But hey the offer ist still available. And if you want to do something good for the blender community you can still buy my models at psrenderer.wordpress.com. Each model costs only 5 Euros. Making of of the models are at youtube.com/ypp22010

    Thanks in advance

    psrenderer.wordpress.com site admin

  48. Hey,
    I am educated as an architect and used blender on my schoolprojects a lot. When I started to work in various offices, I've switched unfortunately more or less to MAX since it is used by all your colleagues, there's Vray integrated in it, material/asset banks and so on. But I'm stil convinced that except these "external" factors, the blender is superior. In one office we used the BGE (2.49) for interactive project presentations:
    http://vimeo.com/26665901
    http://vimeo.com/26663992
    and some simpler animations:
    http://vimeo.com/27086426
    It's not a big 3D art, but we were architects/engineers, not 3D graphicians. I would like to play and perfectionate in BGE more in the future though if I'll have time (I am doing architectural/3D jobs only occasionally at the moment).

  49. Hi!
    My name is Kamil. I work with Blender freelance and stationary at http://www.brontesprocessing.com/. Here is my site adrian2608  weebly.com .At work i work with animation's. rendering the hole process. Also rigging for XNA export via FBX plugin. 
    Some links: 

    Last promo for SeeMe Rehabilitation program- http://vimeo.com/35329556  (http://www.virtual-reality-rehabilitation.com/)

    That was made some time ago (in Blender 2,49 and I belive also 2.48)- http://vimeo.com/21697447

    With Blender I use AfterEffects and Photoshop. 
    Now We finish (I think it should be finish end of the next week) another promo for game CyclopsBallz- 

    http://www.eyegames.info/games/cyclops-ballz 

    In CyclpsBallz al of the models, animation's etc was made in Blender. 

    Some Freelance work's (I omit static graphic's and some little production) :

    http://vimeo.com/14742204 

    http://vimeo.com/30544361 

    Any question's ? Write to adrian2608(at)o2.pl

    Cheers!

  50. I make money with blender, and it is my prefered hobby too. Here in Brazil, especialy my state, is hard to live with this. Sometimes you have job other not. It is not constant. So I am studing mechanical engeneering to live and make some freelances with blender. Basicaly I do animations to show mecanical process to local industry. Here is some sample:
    http://vimeo.com/17307012

  51. Richard White on

    I've been useing Blender for years. But I've made next to no money. My work tends to be for companies without money or out of faith. Right now I'm designing/redesigning a Public Basketball Court for my city. The funds are not there yet and may never be there. Only time will tell. But I'm not foolish, I keep the renders/modeling simple unless I'm paied. Of course I have no clue what to charge for my work. The only money I ever earned off of Blender has been the few sales from a Xbox Gamer Pic I made to promote someone else's website. There's just too many great 3D artist online for me to make a living. Regardless of how good I might be. For the record, I no longer earn anything off the Gamer Pics. Disruptive Publishers screws over their independent artists BIG TIME. I didn't make more then $50 total off of any of the content I created for them.

    God Speed,
    SEspider

  52. Michael Sersen on

    I've used Blender to make money in a couple of ways. I've worked under contract for Linden Lab, creating content for Second Life. I've also done a lot of modeling for cnc machining, mostly for ornate wood carving for cabinet makers. I am currently looking for new contracts, please feel free to check out some of my work or contact me at https://plus.google.com/107889818752517370475

  53. Demo reel: http://vimeo.com/37789574

    I've used blender for the first 2 characters here in my demo reel I made
    this mounth. I'm migrating from maya so the rest are made there. I used
    blender last year but only for modeling (attached pics), now I'm
    capable of making the whole process.

    I'm really kind of inlove of Blender and I admire the developer team for
    their excelent job! I daily visit the website and read the updates! 

  54. I am a sound designer/consultant primarily, but in my many hats my full time work is doing tech at a church, where yes I have used Blender to make money.  Along with this I use blender on occasion to make graphics for websites etc. I make money off of.  So while I don't use it for my audio (Got Ardour and Mixbus for that) I do use it to make money.

  55. kimballdenetso on

    I've been working as a motion/graphic artist at a small advertising agency for the past year and a half and using Blender for the past two years. Due to the tight deadlines I've slowly been working Blender into the workflow to the motion graphics of our TV spots. Our Agency did not have any 3D software and has no plans of getting any but Blender does not discriminate. I even use the older computers as a wimpy render farm.

    I've also done a bit work for mobil applications and have incorporated Blender into my illustration work, especially when it come to architecture. Attached is an image of three different structures made in Blender and topped off with Photoshop.

    All the 3D elements in the video linked below have been created in blender. WARNING: The video might be a little intense (they like their videos to be flashy). I used both BI and Cycles depending on the time constraints. Compositing done in After Effects and FCP.

    Enjoy!

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/185321/BlenderForPay.mov

  56. Haven't made a dime with it yet. I was supposed to in the field of architectural visualization but got stiffed. Now I'm getting one of those "virtual bands" (think The Archies or The Chipmunks, only with monkeys) together, using Blender for the videos and hopefully the videos will draw enough attention to get at least a few digital album sales.

  57. ??????? ?????????? on

    I work as motion designer, and
    have already made some work with Blender. If interested, you can download video here: https://www.wuala.com/huzik/Public/pm.m2p/?key=Srtwro9SrcY9 - it was my first project in Blender of such a type. It was a difficult decision - to dismiss 3dsmax and start using Blender)  Since I created it, I fell in love with Blender))
    And a pair of images..
    Hope, you like)))

  58. I do short (8-12 second) introductory videos/fancy splash screens for educational simulations for middle-schoolers that my company has been contracted to do for DHS.  Sadly, none of them are online yet.  I also use Blender for some of the graphics inside the simulations.

  59. I make money with Blender - literally!
    I work at a company where we make security features for currency (anti-counterfeiting technology).  I use blender as my main graphics tool in this work because it's open source and therefore fully customizable. 

  60. Now that I mention it, we may be looking to hire a full time blender master starting sometime this summer.  That detail isn't completely ironed out yet, but tweet me if interested:  @capedsam 

  61. Comeinandburn on

     I work as a promo producer/editor and I also do my own motion graphics.  Like many people I use After Effects quite frequently but gradually wanted to start using some 3D.  My company would have never bought me a license for a 3D package since it wasn't officially part of my job.  Well once I started Blender I've never turned back and it's becoming a larger and large part of my daily work.  It's even removing my dependence on Adobe:) 

    One of my favourite daily activities is showing off Blender features to the designers I work with that use C4D,  they typically walk away muttering "Blender can do that?"... ha ha.  Thanks to all the Devs and everyone in the Blender community for all your hard work and sharing what you know.  We all grow stronger together.

     Here's a sample of a promotion that showcases Blender, simple but effective I think.  http://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=8a6f65885c6373b9a766

    Cheers!

    BTW I recently merited a copy of C4D but haven't even touched it Blender does everything I need.

  62. Beauregard Heimer on

    I am a highschool  student, but I am working on a short film in Blender that I hope to make a little money off of. (Youtube ads, etc.)
    I also would like to do freelance work when I am in college. (or now-if someone wants something).
    I use Blender (and Gimp) exclusively for every aspect, but Blender's VSE is kinda slow so I am looking into Lightworks, Kdenlive, Cinnelerra, etc.
    (To know my quality, think Ian Hubert's SBFP with a high-definition camera, motion tracking, and with all Blender's new features)

    • I have also made a small amount of money via YouTube (ads).  I have about 66 videos uploaded.  Of those only one did not involve blender some way in the production.  Even the audio book and the timelapse videos used blender.  My work varies greatly.  I have tutorials, abstract art, feature test, audio visualization, etc.  Currently,  I have spent more on promotion then I have made.  That's because you seem to need more than a thousand views per day to be able to make a living this way. This is my channel.

      http://www.youtube.com/user/RealizedPotential?feature=mhee

  63. I use Blender at work all sorts of things, e.g. video editing and making motion graphics, and cleaning up meshes for engineering work. An example of the motion graphics (note that the satellite model and background image at the start are from NASA)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6eBaakPnkQ

    I also develop applications that run on Blender, and have contributed patches back that were created at work :)

  64. Hi Bart!
    I started with with Blender and 3d seriously in the last November after lurking around at Blender's community for some years. I've created some game assets for Unity's Asset Store and made some decent sales with it (several hundred dollars to date) This package made it in the Top ten (grossing and paid) for the whole 3d category (with over thousand 3d packages) for several weeks. That is really cool and I'm somewhat proud that I used Blender to model this. Of course I donated some of that money to the Blender Foundation. Here is a promo video I did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpU-EOwPFd4

    However, I would like to work with VFX and animation stuff for movies and commercials. (Look at the video in my YT channel to get an idea)  But I guess with games related stuff it is easier to make money now a days if you are a Blender user. The movie and animation related studios are still pretty much wrapped around Audodesk pipelines, unfortunately.

  65. I'm still learning Blender.  So, not yet.

    However, I've been slowly building to make shorts of a parody superhero team I created a couple years ago.  All I need to do is rig the characters.

  66. David Landwehr on

    I'm not getting paid explicitly for doing 3d graphics as I'm a software developer, but I used it when I'm working at clients for diversity. I have just completed a top image for a flyer about the product I'm developing http://solidapp.dk/dc.jpg (the product handle QA documentations and the client really has a storage with selves for storing binders. 

    I also made a promotion video for a company I used to work for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIviQjzs8cA.

    Beside that I used it for doing modelling a fireplace in my home, (http://solidapp.dk/pic.jpg, http://solidapp.dk/op.jpg and http://solidapp.dk/cm.jpg)

    Mostly it is for fun :-)

  67. Yes I make money with blender. All projects involved are made ​​in blender 3d, video clips, print, web (eg http://www.awadesign.ro), and many areas in which you can express easily in 3D. For me blender is essential in daily work.

  68. Ganesha Adiguna on

    I'm from Indonesia, a graphic artist. I use blender (and inkscape) for freelancing, and i do make money with blender (and inkscape). I use it for video editing, animating, sculpting, vfx, depends on the project.  Check: http://www.youtube.com/user/gagzter87 for my old works, mainly college assignment with blender and afterfx. Check  the showreel bandung (university project), and fly a kite (animation winner for ITB digital media festival). The fly a kite is my very first 3d animation ever, but kind of suck though.. :D

  69. Mitch Hughes on

    I have been using blender for years in a commercial environment.
    Heres a few things Ive done with blender.

    A visualisation showing a Boot washer for the meat industry.
    http://www.brownbrush.co.nz/demo.php?demoId=34

    This is an old project a kab the kids can ride in around the supermarket, modelled in ProEngineer and imported into Blender for Rendering.
    http://www.formworks.co.nz/project_kidKabs.html

    Concept Vehicle (My First Subdivision modelling Project)
    http://www.formworks.co.nz/project_landcrabATV.html

    I diddnt do this but trained up the guy that did.
    Blender was used for concept visualisation aswell as figuring out hinging
    to make sure components did not hit each other, the parenting and contsraints are gret for that.
    http://www.formworks.co.nz/project_trimaxMerlin.html

    The same guy modelled the concept for this:
    http://www.formworks.co.nz/project_martinMacjet.html
    Theres a couple of renders near the end of the slides.

    Several of us worked on this one contracted to Air NZ to develop the concept, Blender was used for concept modelling and figuring out the folding of compopnents and fit of the people as well as visualisin interior fabric and colour finishes.
    We used subdivision cages from the concept models and exported to another 3d App which we used to convert to surface models so we could CNC Polystyrene prototypes - without blender to make the models so fast we could not have developed these as fast as we did.
    http://www.formworks.co.nz/project_airnzSeating.html
    I cant show you any of the development work due to NDA but the photos look much like the renders.

    We also used blender for visualisation, these cutaways were all modelled and rendered in blender, some components were imported from Solidworks or ProEngineer.
    http://www.formworks.co.nz/project_keaCutAway.html
    Here's the actual client website they appear on.
    http://nzrentals.keacampers.com/en/vehicles.aspx

    There are many more I did while working at Fomrworks allot of it inclusing allot of the animations which I cant show as they were never released to the public.

    I now work for another company, Retail Dimension (www.retaildimension.co.nz), doing quite different work and still using blender for everything from concept modelling to rendering graphics for print (large ivy walls) to visualisation which includes walkthroughs both using BGE and more recently Unity which plays very nicely with blender.
    We use Solidworks for production of final models for manufacture but blender plays a big part.
    I dont have links to blender specific images but many of the items in the gallery were visualised using Blender, there are renders of a Toy store and Sony Vaio stand which gives you an idea of what we do with Blender, most of the rendered images in the gallery are from Blender, a few are from Solidworks photoview.

    Blender is awesome.

  70. Hi,

    http://www.pictofilmo.com is a small french company, created in 2004. We worked with windows,3dsmax, aftereffects and photoshop, but since the first blender 2.5 alpha, we're working under ubuntu, with blender and gimp !!! we love our new pipeline and the community around !

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_gaorLLB20
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzGNAzR7kDA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKJcSi6n52w
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4kbx3c3Kzs
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNdTyy5CRj0

    go on and thanks for all blender community !

    Frantz

  71.  https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/101897/money.html
    https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/101868/money.html
    https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/101880/money.html
    https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/977695/on-air-studio-lamp.html

    All the above are video clips made ENTIRELY in Blender. I am also doing a lot of video editing in Blender as is the case for the following:

    https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/8660301/closeup-of-pretty-young-lady-eye.html

    You can view my entire portfolio here:

    https://www.pond5.com/stock-video-footage/1/artist%3Aionescu.html

  72. Heiner Stiller on

    Hi there,
    i wrote a book about Blender and make some money with it, and i do some freelance work for agencys with it.
    Cheers
    Heiner

  73. I'm a student and actually I've earn around 500 $ with Blender. 
    And I think most important : I've juste present Blender to big architect study, and the guy was impressive by the quality of a free software ! I me I was juste : "That's juste my own work, and it's nothing compare to other works !"

  74. Although I'm essentially a hobby modeler, I do make money from using Blender by selling my models optomised and rigged for Poser through Renderosity and Ontarget3D. My primary interest is military models and although I don't make a fortune it's enough for my beer money. They are all modeled and  textured in Blender but rigged in Poser.

  75. have a company recently started, completely built on Blender. Have some pretty sweet deals with some relatively big Chinese Clients. Should be an interesting next few months! All our artists are pretty sweet generalist but rather new to Blender, so gonna be an interesting ride! =D

  76. Well, I'm working in a big company of mobile videogames, in the packs section. We use officially 3DsMax, Zbrush and photoshop, but I'm using Blender because I'm tired of crash of 3dsmax, the UV system, the viewports problems... I cannot use blender for render (I must keep this part) but in some works all the assets have been modeled and textured in blender and Zbrush.

    My bosses don't have any problem with this and now the workflow is best and I save a lot of time, they like it. I don't think that 3DsMax is necesary for my work, but by now it's a dogma for the compatibility of the works with other studios. Blender Internal and Cycles have some problems now, but I think that in a future we won't have any problem.

    i don't see any reason to make the AAA games in 3DsMax or maya and not in Blender. Only tradition.

  77. Hello! I have a CG school (Curitiba, Paraná state, Brazil) called Guilda Digital ("Digital Guild") and I have teaching 3D fundamentals with Blender and some other FOSS, like Inkscape and GIMP, for just more than one year now! 

  78. cartoon.five on

    Ah, time for some confessions: I've been using blender for the last 8 years for commercial works. The most notable is probably a documentary animation / animated infographics about the the former concentration camp Mauthausen/Austria. It is nowadays a museum which is administrated by the Austrian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The work included tracking a lot of aerial footage (that was pre-tomato and hence done with SynthEyes) and building an overlay scene in blender which shows old plans, all kinds of different buildings and different parts of the various camps. I ended up with multiple scenes per blendfile and loads of rendering layers. Those enabled the postproduction-unit to blend in and out each part/complex individually.

    I'm currently in the planning phase of my new personal website, which will include some blender work (also the project mentioned above). Stay tuned :)

  79. JeannotLandry on

    With so many talents on here, some of us should team up and make something like a game or a short movie and try to start a small online company, maybe that way, we could really show to everyone out there that Blender is just as Good if not Better then any 3D Commercial apps out there and that it is totally possible to make a living out of Blender :P Again, website --> http://www.jeannotlandry.com

  80. I've been gradually incorporating it into my workflow over the past couple of years as part of my motion graphics arsenal making local tv commercials. I used to use Cinema4d buy since I don't do a whole lot of 3d work so I can't justify the expense of constant upgrading. I'm hoping to start incorporating blender more and more as I get to know it better,and particularly since the motion tracking has been added, I can see me using it a lot more in the future.

  81. Yes! I use blender for all my commercial animation and design work. I also play around and make simple games with it.
    In my opinion, blender, inkscape, and photoshop elements will solve all your animation/design needs.

  82. Hello guys!
    I didn't make any money with Blender, it's mainly a hobby, but last september I entered a modding contest by Thermaltake with a design I made with Blender and Yafaray, and I won a keyboard and a mouse plus the opportunity to build my project.This is the worklog link:
    http://www.modders-inc.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5166

    and a video of the finished product, just completed one week ago:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMzopvYVXs8

  83.  Hello I am Brazilian, currently don't do money using the blender, but I'm working hard to make this happen, I am passionate about the images that I can do with this software, and soon will be posting work here, and I would like to thank Bart for putting my header yesterday 3/2/2012.
    My workhttp://twitpic.com/photos/darlanserra 

  84. Hello! I used to make money with 3ds max but now I am trying to put blender in my pipe line. The first project was successfully an now I am working in the second. I will post soon my work wen the company for I design give my work to public

    PS. I work in archViz with an architect and as a freelancer

  85. Hello. I am 3d artist in the studio of producion social games. I am working in Blender. Before that I was working as freelancer, all modeling and texturing was created in Blender and Photoshop, but renders in 3dsmax with vray as my customer demanded. Here is my old portfoio, but i have many new works 
    http://jobgood.daportfolio.com/. In the near future I want to start my own commercial game project with blender and blender game engine or gamekit. Blender rules !!!

  86. http://www.flickr.com/photos/45797967@N07/page2/
    The link above is for some images I did as staff 3d Visualiser at a Manchester based architectural in Uk about 4-5 years ago.There are plenty more but due to confidentiality I cannot put them up. My assistant did some too but I cannot put those up either as not my images. The jobs were fast turnaround (time is money guys n gals) so are not precious in the production of them. Just for the record I always built the models in either Sketchup or Autocad and my bosses charged out £50.00 per hour to our clients for 3d services and on, I never got paid anything like that...

  87. i made about 200 $ for a small freelance project this past summer, i also use blender daily at my internship (unpaid) and i got through the Ferris animation program with it too, sometimes to the annoyance of the teachers

  88. i have been using Blender as main tool for work for ~3 years now. i currently have permanent job on it-company working as a test engineer on product development.
       Blender is such a great tool for creating beautiful renders, but it is also very capable for producing simple test videos fast; from time to time when i'm facing an error that i can't understand, Blender gives me the performance to solve many of these errors. And after all, what i do is not about beautiful renders and add-ons inside the software: it is about simplicity, flexibility and cheap basis to get the information what i need in order to solve the probblem: software really does not matter - but Blender does it perfectly.

    so my "beautiful renders" are mostly just test videos; numbers, lines, looping video and repeating patterns in different formats and resolutions. mostly the videos are pretty ugly, but they give a lot of information about the problem. and actually designing and producing test videos is really fun to do! i like my job!

    But i also do installations, here is some previous projects:
    http://www.blendernation.com/2011/10/25/large-scale-media-for-showtech-berlin-2011-done-with-blender/
    http://www.blendernation.com/2010/12/23/concert-medias-made-with-blender/

    my imagery and style are heavily affected by 80's computer graphics and minimalism but of course, the outlook might vary, because it always depends on customers demands. but i hope that someday i have enough time to make my own show.

  89. I don't make money using blender but I used blender to make title animation for our sports highlight videos for our school. I got my friend involved in it too, so now we're working on a title animation for the start of our senior slideshow video and also a title animation for our names on the video.

  90. I've created some sample models for my software. It is for making 3d animations in flash - 
    http://www.ninevectors.com/esquimo .
    I've made a tutorial for my editor ( http://www.ninevectors.com/tutorials/t03 ) and I needed to texture low poly model for it. I've checked few commercial applications but none can do texturing as convenient as Blender. And finally I've learned Blender a bit just for this purpose. Since then I keep my eye opened on this excellent software.   

  91.  I earn a bit money with blender around 8000USD/ Year. Do visiualisation for small  window-builder company`s.
    Sad that the new blender cant`t import 2D DXF-files correct. So i have to work with a mix out of 2.49 and 2.6.
    But Blende is the best freeware ever. For me is a 3D Max or C4D not affordable, especially in beginning of my small bussines. Greez from switzeland. Michael

  92. I do some freelance work.  All my software is open source and I wouldn't want it any other way.  I mostly do 2D and print, but I've used blender a few times for jobs.  I'd love to be able to use it more.

  93. Im since september last year a freelancer and use primarily blender. I would like to make a living with blender since I love the program and I not that bad with it but its not easy to find jobs here in the southern part of the Netherlands. Im also not quite sure what all my options are to use blender to pay the bills. anyone any tips?

    my site is http://www.racoon-media.nl

  94. I use it for backpack design. (www.targetbag.com). It got me job in the first place as textile industry is still mainly in 2d vector graphics and I made impact with 3D stuff. I'm using it for all design process and workig towards pattern production via uv unvraping. It is only 3D software we use in company, so I can say I live out of blender as a toll 100%. I would love to see blender also developing tovards industrial design. (rulers, volume calulations, dimensioning....).

    I also use it for freelance custom interier and furniture design and visualization.

  95. Hello all, Ive started to make a little money with Blender in recent months, mostly though its been used to create models for small film productions (just the model no texturing, just uv and normals). 
    I have made a little money on a recent gaming project but unfortunately it nda at the moment. I currently reside in the UK and have wondered if there is any companies that use Blender here?Also if people don't mind the question, where do you find paid Blender work, or a better question, do you mention to your employers that you use Blender when doing your 3D work? Ive often wondered if its a good thing or not to mention.

  96. I use Blender almost every
    day in my pipeline for making graphics for commercial games
    (unfortunately I can't bring any sample). Blender is a great program
    and I love it, although it has still quite a few weak spots here and
    there. I appreciate, that it is greatly and easily extensible with
    Python.

  97. I have a question: Where can I find a decent tutorial (or book) on texturing in GIMP for 3d models?

    I've found some "OK" links, but nothing like the quality seen here. Perhaps that's because it's not GIMP! I see some of the models here, and I think "Yeah, I could get close to that". Then I see it textured, and I think "WOW! That pops out at me!". I'm trying to work out how to start learning about it, but can't seem to get my foot on the ladder.

    Cheers all. And again, great work!

  98. I started using Blender recently professionally, doing some work for an independent game-studio. I'm by no means a pro though, with blender :). But I like it a lot, as I don't depend on photos anymore and can create everything myself. Especially with cycles, rendering images has become very easy and of a excellent quality. I also love modeling in Blender quite a lot. I used to work with Modo in my company before, but actually think, there are too many clicks needed do get something done.
    Here some images of what I do, on my recently started blog: http://www.aureliobarrios.com

  99. I am earning some money (if you say that some cents of Euro is money...) making free games for kongregate.com website. I use Unity for the games and Blender for the models and animations.

    http://www.3dart.es/ (see the "Juegos" section)

    Game proyects in development:

    -FPS Multiplayer game (more realistic in the way that you get damaged and in the ammount of ammo and in their use).
    -Extreme Sport game (BASE Jump).

  100. I have been using Blender for commissioned works since 2006.  Currently I use it for many of the animations for the Blue Man Group.  We do use C4D, 3DS, XSI and Maya depending on the project and what a particular freelance artist might be comfortable with.  For most 3D work done in house;  I am using Blender.

  101. I run a side business (Laszer Visuals - http://www.laszer.com) that specializes in visualizing products for manufacturing and food production companies. I've also had the pleasure of creating logos and animations that enhance company branding. I have used blender since the late '90s. The examples on the portfolio page of the site above are a bit out of date... recent work is still pending upload. :-)

    In my "main" job, I work as a mechanical designer (CAD) where my experience has helped a lot in meeting my side business' customer's needs.

  102. Alex Delderfield (ADEdge) on

    I've probably made a little bit so far here and there with freelance stuff (mostly web design with occasional 3D graphics). Should change in the next few months however...

    About 2 years ago some guy started selling one of my old BGE games, it was a ~10mb game, and he had it as a dual DVD edition (why you need 2 DVD's for a 10mb game I wouldnt know...) Either way, hes probably made more money off my work than me (thus far) ;)

  103. hernando ramos on

    I'm a freelance video editor an motion graphics designer have been using Blender for all my 3d work in allmost every proyect since more than eight years now.

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