Is Blender Available For Free?

Blender has become one of the most popular choices for aspiring 3D artists to begin their journey to becoming masters of creating 3D art and virtual product design, thanks largely to its incredible repertoire of toolsets and usage flexibility. But how much will this program set you back financially?

Blender 3D is a free, open-source modeling application and 3D graphics suite that is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3. This means that not only is blend up free to download and use today, but it will always be free for just about any purpose.

The key here is that Blender falls under the General Public License, which ensures that it will always be regarded as a free application that users can download and edit to suit their needs.

Will Blender Always Be Free?

Blender would always be free to any user anywhere in the world. No registration is required to download or use Blender, nor is there any license key. All you need to do is download blender from the main blender.org website. And then, as soon as it’s downloaded, you can open up the software and begin using it immediately.

You may think this is likely to change at some point in the future and that Blender may eventually become a paid application, either through a one-off payment system or a subscription service.

However, this could not be further from the truth as it is blender’s current licensing that protects it from ever being sold off as a paid asset.

The GNU General Public License is the key to Blenders’ accessibility. Under this license, you can download and use the blender software for any purpose so long as the software is capable of meeting that purpose.

And if the common blender software is not up to the task, then you are free to edit the version of Blender that you have downloaded as the source code for the software is also made available as a part of its open-source nature.

This means that you will be able to add or subtract various aspects from your specific build of Blender, allowing you to redesign it however you see fit to meet your purpose.

Can You Sell Your Own Version Of Blender?

You can edit your own build of Blender however you see fit, and you can even redistribute that software through your own means. However, Blender is protected using copyleft licensing. This means that Blender cannot be sold in any form in any way. That means that the original form of blender cannot be sold by the Blender Foundation, either through subscription, license, or one-off payments.

This also applies to any altered versions of Blender that the Community may create, because these versions of blender use the original open source code as the foundation, they fall under the copyleft licensing.

As a result, no matter how much you make changes to the original source code, you will not be able to sell your own version of Blender in any way, shape, or form. However, you are allowed to redistribute your form of Blender so long as you share it for free.

Can You Sell Things That You Create In Blender?

The licensing is there to ensure that Blender itself remains free to use for anyone who has access to a computer. But it doesn’t stretch to the assets that are created using the blender software. These assets, such as 3D models or video animations, are your own creations, and they are yours to do with as you wish.

Therefore, you can sell any assets you create using the blender software, and you can do so using any means you wish.

Does Blender Require Internet Access?

At this point, you’re probably thinking that there is some sort of catch to using the blender software, such as requiring an Internet browser, which is true for other applications, such as the browser-based version of SketchUp.

However, Blender does not require an Internet connection after the initial download of the software. Once you have downloaded Blender 3D onto your computer, you are able to open it up like any other program and begin using it immediately.

Perhaps the only catch here is the actual hardware that is being used. The required hardware is depending on what tasks you are planning to perform. Using Blender 3D and most modern computers will be able to use and run blender to some degree. The more complex your projects, however, in the 3D suite. The more powerful your computer will need to be to complete those projects.

Another catch may be that blender is only usable on actual computers and laptops. There is no form of Blender on devices like phones or tablets, except for Windows tablets that use the Windows operating system.

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