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When did you start using Blender?

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The Blender.org site now contains a historic overview of splash screens. Take a look and see which ones you can still remember. When did you start using Blender? I think mine was around 1.37 - one of the very first Linux releases. I'm not even sure they HAD a splash screen back then :)

And for extra fun: which splash screen so far is your favourite?

Below is a list of splash screens from previous Blender versions, you can even go further on your walk down memory lane and download these versions. For production it’s recommended to always use the latest stable release. Have fun!

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.

77 Comments

  1. 2.48 I think maybe younger, I mainly got it because at the time it's uv mapping was leaps and bounds better then 3dsmax or maya. It just clicked for me, so after I finished university I basically taught myself the rest in my own time. Never regretted it.

  2. Niklas Holmberg on

    I think around, 2.42 or something like that.
    Before Big Buck Bunny and before cycles was on the table.
    Still remember the first demo-scene that was shown when cycles were being developed, it was a train.

    • I think the first time I saw Blender was 1.76 in an IRIX, but mine was 1.80 as well, something between 1999/2000. I even bought a 3 buttons mouse because of Blender!

  3. I actually think my first install was actually 2.42 with the Oranges, just before 2.43 withe the "Big Eye Boy". You captured it perfectly Bart!

  4. I had my first contact with blender in a 3D magazine long time ago (cannot even remember the year), there where a tutorial to create a manta ray and Blender was shipped with the magazine. At this moment I was completely lost in front of this complex and not so sexy software, I barely finished the tutorial and put blender on side... many years after, I reinstalled it and pushed more effort to understand how to use it.. now I proud to use this jewel, even if it's for personal purpose. Long life to Blender ! \o/

  5. Early on, I believe 2.23, but gave up too soon as I wasn't able to get the grasp of it. Then circled back around to it around 2.31a (fuzzy but I believe memory serves me correctly). Gave up again before finally committing myself to learn it however long it took. Believe it was 2.49 that sorta broke through my knucklehead. Took awhile to lock it in but it's been absolutely the best decision to stay with it. (And there are still many things yet to learn). Enjoying the ride!

  6. I had to pop over to blender artists to jog my memory when I started posting. Looks like 2004 when I started tinkering with scripting, so I must've been using it for at least a bit before then. My gut wants to say 2.33?

  7. Long time ago I've tried 2.31.
    Abandoned 3D sw for long time and really start using from 2.70
    But I have the 2.31 still installed on and old '99 laptop. :D

  8. Jefferson Moreira on

    I started with 2.47 - 2008.
    I used cinema 4D, but I did not have satisfactory access to the documentation and tutorial (in that time), so I was attracted to the blender.
    Thanks to blender Brazil community!!!

  9. When you still had to add the C key. . . have to check my home computer to see, but I was in on the "buy out" from Ton's earlier employer.

  10. Demetrius Harris on

    Started 2010 i'm in the second wave blender pro experts being that the first wave of pros started 2005.but i got the skills and talant I consider my self a true artist . working on a Rpg game and an animation to show cast my talents soon to....glad eevee is on the raise -_- 3dsmax,maya what...Its that blender baby...funny thing i actually almost cried when i first meet up with ton back at the siggraph 2013 thats how inspired i am by his creation. Meet Andrew and Collin those guys was cool ....lol this is caring on longer then i expected but i do love blender and i appriciate everything the Blender Foundation is doing and i'm here to say it won't go to waste over here.

  11. Two Things missing I found, the date attached to the version and secondly a link to each version cause it's always possible to the Blender Site to find it.
    By the way, I don't remember my first one, even if I'm a young user (:-p) Iused Blender since 2013 after 11 years using 3DS M... (Rhhooooo!!!!) And it was my second love at first sight after the discover of the 3d World in the early 2000. Hope this joy never stop.

  12. I started about 2-3 years ago, spring 2015, but on 2.72 version (I know there were few newer versions, I don't remember why i have chose older one)

  13. Okay. I was unable to recognize the splashes after 2.42. I remember I was actually just playing around with it. Rendering my fist default cube was awesome.

  14. v2.49 was the start of my Blender career indeed. I remember I was amazed at the little thrust effect coming from under the little alien's space vehicle, it looked so impossible for me to ever pull off it drove me nuts. Fun times, and hopefully much more fun in the years to come!

  15. As for me, 2.45. Felt great amounts of pride when I made my very first projects with this version.
    Now if I feel down, I just need to have a look at my 2008 files, and I immediately start laughing !

  16. First taste of blender came back in 1997 or 1998 I believe. I don't know which version that would be, but it was back in the c-key days.

  17. I think that I first started messing around with Blender right after "Big Buck Bunny" came out. 2008 maybe? That'd be v2.46 or so.

    I really didn't jump onto the Blender wagon seriously until v2.69 in 2013 though. By that time, I had long abandoned Cinema4D and told Maya to take a hike.

    Currently, I'm using Blender as my key 3D app in the production of a commercial PC game - code named "Karner Blue" atm.

  18. 2.3. It's amazing how much Blender has changed from 2.3 to 2.79. Most software would of chalked up all those changes to at least 5 or 6 major revision numbers by now. Makes me wonder just how major the 3.0 update will be, should be huge!

  19. started messing around with 2.44 in spring 2007 and later learned a lot with Mr bomb tutorials from montage studio something and I owe you a lot Jon, great cookies after that. And of course thank you so much Ton and the community :-)

  20. Before it was open source for me - 2001 I believe, which is around 2.22 I guess? Maybe 2.12? So long ago... I was only using it to create logos for online computer game guilds back then, and was using Cinema 4D more at that time (I had actually paid for CINEMA 4D GO V5 when it came out, but it didn't do particles which were needed for the logos) I will also have to admit to a Maya stint after that, so in truth Blender only became my main tool with 2.40 - I'm fairly sure it was Elephants Dream that made me put in the time to learn it properly. These days it's 100% Blender, and the idea of returning to Maya et al. makes me laugh;-)

    As for favorite, one of the Sintel ones I think - maybe the one with the baby dragon?

  21. Hey there !
    I started at version 2.44
    This just made me realise how long I've been using Blender.
    It's a long story full of good memories.
    Many thanks to the Blender Foundation and all the people responsible for this incredible software!

  22. i can't remember exactly, what version of blender it was...
    as hobbyist, i came from POVRay (i made all my graphic constuction in a texteditor),
    but i came to a point, where it wasn't possible to do everything in a text editor and was looking for a real 3D polygon graphic software.
    i tried out blender 2.3x or 2.4x? but at that time blender crashed alot on my first or second PC.
    and the user interface of blender was ugly. so i throw blender away into the wast bin - that was my very first and very short contact with blender...
    and i used 3DS Max 5.2, 6, ... after each trail period, i zeroed and formated my hard-drive and made a fresh system installation to get a new trail period.
    then, after a long time, by coincedence, i saw an article about blender 2.5 development and the fresch userinterface. i followed that development for blender 2.5 about 6 month with big interest, before blender 2.5 was released.
    since blender 2.5 was released, blender was/is my absolute favorit 3D software.
    no 3DS Max anymore.
    no unknown/questionable legal situations anymore.
    no more timeexpencive reinstallations to re-arm the trail period.

    just using Blender and being happy ...

  23. I think it was 2.43, it's been so long...
    I'm not sure which one is my favorite,but I'mnot gonna lie, the composition in 279 is supperb.

  24. First came across it in late 2002. Really struggled with it's quirkiness for about a year but persisted.
    So getting on 15 years - my how time goes.... :)

  25. 2.21, maybe 2.19. It was 2001 and I got my first PC. Blender had no smart unwrapping tools then, you had to do it by hand. But it was so much fun to make 3D content with a free app. And it still is today. :)

  26. Blender 2.46.

    Back in the days when I was also playing around with Art of Illusion, K-3D, trueSpace, and Anim8or.

    Just a pixel in a virtual world of planes.

    Ahh. Good times.

  27. 1.72, c-key days. Got it on a magazine CD, they had a bootable version of BeOS 5 on it and some programs for it, including Blender 1.72.
    I started it up, couldn't get anywhere with the interface and gave up for maybe 6 months. Then I started again with tutorials (iceman's) and from there I was hooked :)

  28. My parents didn't let me play PC games, so i was looking for some other thing to play on computer. I 'd found Blender 2.28 in a Linux (maybe Suse) softwer center. It's still a good 'game' :)

  29. ~97 or 98 I think you had to pay for a key to ulock some features. I think it was the Ckey maybe? It's been a long time!

  30. 2.43 for me. Ran out and bought a copy of Blender Noob to Pro and dove in. There's something amazing about putting time into a character and then watching it finally come to life.

  31. I started in 2.23. A friend's dad gave me his copy of the Blender manual and the installation CD (yes, you would/could buy an installation CD back then!) and ran it on my Celeron powered desktop with 512MB of RAM, and did all the special effects in my super campy first short film: Star Wars: The Frolile Gambit. Found here if you want a laugh at a campy VHS Star Wars shortfilm from the early 2000s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix0C59CoVlo

  32. Ha! I think it was 2.43 in 2007, when I first got out of Cuba and met the internet. Great memories! Blender have been the source of so much joy and inspiration!

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