Programs like Blender or GIMP are big help for students learning animation. They can also be used by freelancers as alternatives to expensive apps like Autodesk Maya and Adobe Photoshop.
Gone are the days when you have to buy expensive desktop machines to start animating. The computer apps were not that cheap and only companies could afford one. And the worst thing is, those are difficult to learn.
Some people resort to piracy. People bought apps in flea markets, or if they have access to broadband internet, the could download the software illegally.
Then came open source software. Some people shy away from it because the thought those programs are in low quality. There’s Linux, an office suite like Openoffice, and a lot of them. In animation, there’s Blender. I’ve been using it for more than 5 years and I have to admit, it’s difficult to learn at first. Those tutorials you see on the internet are not that helpful, especially if you are new to 3d animation. There’s a lot of jargon.
Then came useful information like video tutorials where you can actually see the action. I viewed some of them and they managed to keep it simple. After one month I became productive, I even created a short film.
Blender is really a great software. It’s actually a 3d animation app, but its design allows it to become a sculpting tool, a game engine, a compositing software, and a video editing software. It’s like a swiss knife, it’s useful and portable.
To avoid legal problems, I always do my project using this software. And I hope most learning institutions can use it too.
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