We just got back from the Blender Conference in Amsterdam. It was an impressive show, with lots of engaging presentations and many talks you could learn from. The overall atmosphere was very close to the Blender spirit: open source style, a bit chaotic, but kept on track and delivering good content.
Marius Iatan and Sorin Vinatoru, founders of RenderStreet, among other participants at the Blender Conference. Cheers guys!
The De Balie location in Amsterdam is an old building, with a charm of its own. The conference program was split between two audience halls. The bigger one was used for presentations that were intended for a larger audience, while the smaller one was for workshops and seminars, designed for a more targeted public. I strolled between the two halls, depending on what I found interesting. There were various subjects, ranging from very technical Blender how-to sessions, to 3D movie screenings.
They had also a nice Blender shop, very well stuffed with lots of Blender books and tutorial DVDs. I was happy to see that Blender 2.69 and the Caminandes movie were available on credit card sized USB sticks. We bought a few books and DVDs that are going to be put at good use in the company.
The value of such events is in the opportunity to get to know lots of interesting people. We’ve met some of RenderStreet’s customers, the guys from the Foundation, others just Blender users – professionals using it for business, or enthusiasts using Blender because they like it. We spent a lot of time talking to people and good things came out of it.
At the conference Marius, CEO RenderStreet, took part in a panel about making money using Blender (aka commercialization). It was an open panel about how people can make money using Blender, in other ways than using it for 3D work. You can see the full panel talk here:
We got to speak to many professionals who were working on open movie projects. We officially announced our rendering sponsoring program for open movies and are happy to announce the first ones selected: Caminandes 2, Luke’s Escape and The Tube. If you are working on such a project, get in touch with us, and your movie might get sponsored as well.
At the end of the conference, there was a discussion about finding a larger venue for the 2014 edition. The current De Balie venue can only hold 250 people, and it seems there were more requests from people wanting to attend the conference.
On Monday, we got to visit the Blender Institute, where we saw how the artists and coders there work. It was an interesting experience for us, we got to check out their office space and work together with the guys there.
That same day, Amsterdam was subject to a powerful storm, with heavy winds. We got to see trees getting uprooted, and also the highly efficient way the Dutch people deal with such nasty events.
Overall, Blender Conference left an impressive experience on us. We’re surely on the list for next year’s edition.
— by Sorin Vinatoru, CTO RenderStreet
