Architosh Staff (info@architosh.com)

30 Jul 00 UPDATED: 25 Oct 2000

OS X WishList: Blender, 3D modeling/rendering program

As we move closer to the first finished release of Mac OS X, Architosh will begin indentifying Unix and Linux apps in the CAD/3D and animation market that would be suitable (or even ideal) candidates for porting to Mac OS X.

Blender: An open-source Linux App

Blender is a growing open-source Linux and Unix 3D graphics and animation tool. The software is available on the Linux, SGI Irix, Sun Solaris, FreeBSDx86, PPC Linux, BeOS and Windows platforms. Because it is open-source a group of enthusiastic programmers could port it to Mac OS X.

Currently there are two downloadable versions of the version 2.0 demo available that are near ready to for OS X. The FreeBSDx86 version could probably be ported to PPC realiviely easy and there is a PPC Linux version which one could run on a Mac now running some version of Linux for PowerPC (PPC).

If any Macintosh users running Linux on PowerPC are out there and would like to dip into Blender (or have already?) please share your experiences with us. We would love to hear more about this program.

A gallery contains some good examples of what is possible in Blender.

Updated: 25 Oct 2000

We were contacted by Ton Roosendaal of Blender about OS X. Here is what he said:

Thanks for the interest in Blender! We are currently in the Apple OSX dev program, but we are still looking for someone who can do this port... it is impossible for me to do any predictions about timing or schedules.

Anyways, *when* we have the OSX port finished it will be available as a freeware download from www.blender.nl. We consider having this port as the final jewel in our crown! It won't be postponed for other reasons than not having the resources available right now.

On our website you can find a lot of information about Blender. There is also a press section. If you are interested in writing about Blender please contact our PR man, Chris Knight (chris@blender.nl).

-Ton-

We were incorrect in saying Blender is Open-Source as well. It is not.