Netflix Animation Studios are now funding Blender development

Blender, the free and open source 3D creation software has pulled in another major supporter, with Netflix now funding future development.

Announced on the official Blender website, the Blender team noted it will go towards general core development, to continuously improved content creation and tooling for individuals and teams working in media and entertainment-related workflows. Everyone benefits from this since Blender is completely free - awesome news.

Netflix have joined as Corporate Patron, the highest level membership for companies. This means at a minimum Netflix will provide Blender with €240k a year.

Statements from the press release:

This membership is a significant acknowledgement of Blender becoming more embedded in high-end animation studios’ workflows. I deeply appreciate this strategic initiative from Netflix Animation Studios as an investment in a diverse, public, and open-source friendly ecosystem of creative tools that will benefit the global community of content creators.

Francesco Siddi, CEO at Blender

Netflix Animation Studios’ corporate membership with Blender reflects our ongoing support for open-source software in the animation community. We are proud to be the first major animation studio to support Blender’s continued development and growing adoption by current and future generations of animation professionals.

Darin Grant, SVP Global Technology at Netflix Animation Studios