Did you ever meet another Blender user by chance?
Sometimes I forget just how popular Blender is becoming these days, and I’ve had several unexpected run-ins with other Blender users. One time, I was on Amsterdam Airport on my way to New York when I spotted a guy in a Blender shirt. We started chatting and it turned out he was a fan of BlenderNation. Similar things have happened in co-working spaces when people spotted the large Blender sticker on my laptop.
Jonathan Willamson recently shared a similar experience:
Seeing a stranger drive by with a Blender sticker in #kansascity makes me all giddy. #b3D
— Jonathan Williamson (@carter2422) February 19, 2016
It’s always amazing to meet fellow Blender enthusiasts in such a totally unexpected way! Did you have similar encounters? I’d love to hear about them!
i gotta get some blender apparrel at least then the autodesk girls will stay away.
I was on a shoot in Morocco recently and I met a prolific Danish practical VFX supervisor who uses Blender to 3D print various bits to blow up. Car parts, body parts, architectural bits… You name it. Very cool.
Hey, I don’t mind Autodesk girls. They all feel the same in post-processing! Gimme here!
shes a real mental ray.
As long as I get the V-Ray. :D
But I’m mentally raytarded
When I worked at a technical illustration studio I felt like the only Blender user in the world.
Now that I work in a games studio, i think there are at least three other Blender users in the office. Although we use Lightwave at work I use Blender when no one is watchng “alt tabbing when my boss walks in”.
My car was in the shop and they offered me a ride home because it was going to take longer than they expected. The guy that gave me the ride asked me what I did for a living and that’s when I found out he was a Blender enthusiast.
I don’t think it’s as hard to find another Blender user as it is to find another Blender professional.
I run into folks who use Blender (or, are at least familiar with using Blender) quite a lot. As the top free creative suite in the world, it’s not too surprising when you run into enthusiasts and hobbyists who use it.
It’s finding fellow professionals who keep Blender in their pipeline that’s the rarest sighting.
Can’t say I’ve yet met one in person yet, though, I do engage with a few professionals online who at least keep a copy of Blender installed.
Though, I have spotted a couple unreported Blender sightings at a couple tech conventions here and there–if that counts.
In 2014 I found a guy a year ago that used blender in the past. We were at some meeting. He said blender was by far the worst of softwares he has used…. Then he showed me a World of War Craft character he built in AutoCAD Architecture with intersecting cubes. I felt sorry for the guy. It was hard but I kept from laughing.
This reminds me of a 25 years old dude who told me that he also makes 3D pictures and showed me a photo of an hand draw picture in a very childish way. He was so serious about it. What could I say … I hope this is not your job.
My auntie.. ;)
I was shopping in Sam’s Club in Fargo, North Dakota and walked by one of the blue vested workers building a fork lift in Blender on one of the display computers during his break time. We had a good talk and have kept in touch.
lol. at first i read that “i was shop-lifting…” idk why. but thats really cool that you just happened to meet someone. can’t say it has for me yet. :P
I actually find Blender users on a large occasion, but I do tend to go to social gatherings where there is a higher chance of finding one.
I did spoke with a stranger in the train last week when I was doing some blender work and he noted that I was using Blender, the interesting bit, he was a tech artist at a game studio who uses Blender while the rest of his co-workers are still on Max.
Pretty cool to meet a colleague in the wild.
Well, I made my Blender user social environment by myself.
I made even python developer, (that wrote to me Bargool_1D_tools under my financial support), and can program pretty much complex tools, but still don’t know Blender as editor.
Everything around me germinates with Blender…
I met two 60 year old men discussing which one was better – 3ds Max or Blender. Didn’t expect people at that age being interested in 3d graphics.
lol, Edwin Catmull is 70, John Lasseter 59 and Ton is 55.
The CG industry may be very yong but its main players are not in their 20’s.
Not trying to be confrontational, just turned 30 so you may have it a nerve :P
Funny! I’ve been into it for over 30 years now. : )
The taxi driver who took me to the airport after Blender Conference 2015 turned out to be a Blender user from way back. :)
I think this is my favourite story so far :) Great timing, too!
Would like to someday, but for now I’m just doing what I can to get the word out in my little neck of the woods. There are one or two users in my city that I know of, but haven’t met them yet and haven’t had the time to make the run up to K.C. to rattle Jonathan Williamson’s cage! Maybe someday!