As part of a project to create a game engine on retro hardware, Dante Leoncini from Argentina is writing his own Blender version to run on a Nokia N95 - a phone from 2007!
Dante writes:
The project's goal is to highlight the planned obsolescence of phones, both those from 18 years ago and current models. I aim to generate consumer demand for more sustainable and durable phones, reducing the vast amount of electronic waste. This would also help more people access technology through the recycling of these old devices.
The project is currently called Blendersito (this will be changed later), and it's created entirely from scratch. There is no shared codebase with Blender as Dante tries to avoid the license restrictions of the GPL. However, in his recent video he explains he'd like this to become part of the main Blender project so he can take implement support for the .blend file format and other features.
This video from about a year ago gives a good overview of the project:
Don't expect too much yet - Blendersito does less of 1% of what Blender can do. That said, it already handles PlayStation 4 models, supports effects like cell-shading and basic modeling.
Seeing some of these videos I can't help but be impressed by the performance of such a simple and old phone. I also really enjoyed seeing how you can hook up a screen, keyboard and mouse to it.
You can follow the project along on its Github page.
This recent video gives an update on the project and the attention it's been receiving lately:
Here are some videos of the
Multiple selection of objects/vertices!.
??+ ? = Select/deselect all
??+ ? or ??+ ? = Add the next/previous object/vertex to the selection.
?? = Deselect the active object/vertex and move to the next in the list.#blendersito #b3d #blender #nokia #symbian #s60v3 #3dmodeling pic.twitter.com/ILHHu1ILOD— Dante Leoncini (@dante_leoncini) August 4, 2024
Michael's GTA 5 model with 31,608 triangles on a Nokia N95! Blender had a RAM memory limit of 1MB. I increased it to 64MB, and now it allows textures of more than 256x256px and loading extremely complex models! #gta #gtav #gta5 #b3d #blender #blender3d #nokia #symbian pic.twitter.com/cwRjMKEw4K
— Dante Leoncini (@dante_leoncini) June 1, 2024
Blendersito now allows you to parent objects, animate them, and render animations! I will be refining these features and uploading examples in the coming days.#b3d #blender #blender3d #animation #nokia #3d #3dart #render #openGl #symbian pic.twitter.com/TTjtM2A6lg
— Dante Leoncini (@dante_leoncini) May 27, 2024
