Tone Roosendaal (Dutch: [tɔn roːsɛnˌdaːl]; born March 20, 1960 [1] ) is a Dutch software developer. He is known as the creator and chairman of the Blender Foundation , which has developed a professional open source software package for creating Blender three-dimensional computer graphics. In 2007, he founded the Blender Institute in Amsterdam , where he coordinates the development of Blender, publishes manuals and DVD-training, as well as organizes 3D-animation and game projects.
Early years
Roosendaal studied industrial design in Eindhoven , in 1989 he founded the animation studio NeoGeo, which quickly became the largest 3D animation studio in the Netherlands [2] . At NeoGeo, Roosendaal was responsible for software development, in 1989 he wrote a retracer called “Traces” on Amiga and in 1995 he decided to start developing software for 3D animation based on “Traces” and tools that wrote NeoGeo. This tool was later called Blender . In January 1998, the free version of Blender was released on the Internet, and in April, versions for Linux and FreeBSD appeared [3] . Shortly after, NeoGeo was transferred to another company in parts. This was when Thon Rosendal and Frank van Beek decided to found a company called Not a Number (NAN) for the further market and development of Blender [2] . NaN's business model is to provide commercial Blender products and services. In 2000, the company received funding for growth [4] from several investment companies. The goal was to create a free tool for creating interactive 3D (online) content, as well as commercial versions of software for distribution and publication. [5] . Roosendaal moved to Amsterdam in 2002 [6]
Due to low sales and the ongoing difficult economic situation, NaN investors decided to close all operations in January-February 2002. This meant that the development of Blender would be over. However, in May 2002, with the support of the user community and customers, Ton Rosendal founded the non-profit Blender Foundation [6] .
Blender Foundation
The first goal of the Blender Foundation was to find a way to continue developing and promoting Blender as a community-based open source project. In July 2002, NaN investors agreed to a plan to try and publish Blender under an open source license using Street Performer Protocol [7] . The Free Blender campaign needed to raise € 100,000 as a one-time fee, and the campaign achieved this goal in just seven weeks. On Sunday, October 13, 2002, Blender was released under the terms of the GNU General Public License . After this success, Ton Roosendaal began coordinating the development of Blender as volunteers as chairman of the Blender Foundation [8] .
Instead of funding the project directly by pooling software developers, Blender Foundation decided to start the project with the best artists in the Blender community and challenge them to create a short 3D animated film. The aim of the project was to simultaneously prove that Blender can be used to create professional-quality animation, as well as help the development of Blender itself [6] .
On July 16, 2009, Tone Rosendal was awarded an honorary doctorate in technology at Leeds Metropolitan University for his work on Blender [9] [10] .
On February 2, 2019, Ton Roosendaal and Blender software won the Aba Iverks Award (Ub Iwerks Award) for technological advances as part of the 46th Annie Award [11] [12] .
Open-content projects
In 2005, work began on the Orange project, the result was the world's first widely recognized “open” film, Elephants Dream . The film and all assets used in the production process were published under an open license Creative Commons Attribution .
Due to the success of the first open film, Ton Roosendaal created the “ Blender Institute ” in the summer of 2007 [6] . Currently, the permanent office and studio of the Blender Foundation is mainly used as an office for the staff of the Blender Foundation and to coordinate and implement open projects related to 3D films, games and visual effects. [13]
In April 2008, the Peach project, the Big Buck Bunny open film, was completed at the Blender Institute. In September 2008, the open game Yo Frankie! Was released. The third open film, the Durian project, also known as Sintel, was released on September 30, 2010. On January 10, 2011, Tom announced the fourth project [14] [15] , titled "Steel Tears", which was released in 2012, and the "Project Gooseberry", which was released in the summer of 2015 under the name "Space Laundry".
Notes
- ↑ Bart Veldhuizen. Article: Happy Birthday Ton! BlenderNation (March 20, 2010). The appeal date is March 20, 2010.
- ↑ 1 2 Wartmann, Carsten. Das Blender-Buch : [] . - Dpunkt Verlag, 2011. - P. 1. - ISBN 978-3-89864-610-9 .
- ↑ Ben Crowder. Blender . LinuxJournal.com (April 1, 1999). The appeal date is July 16, 2012.
- ↑ Not a Number Growth Financing; NPM Capital to Provide Venture Capital Funding for Blender Products. Business Wire (February 1, 2000). The appeal date is July 15, 2012.
- ↑ Not a Number The to the Preview Real-Time The 3D Package-- the Blender 2.0 We do the Animation - AT the LinuxWorld Expo AllBusiness (February 1, 2000). The appeal date is July 13, 2009. Archived October 12, 2010.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Blender Foundation: History . Blender.org (January 2011). The appeal date is July 15, 2012.
- ↑ Blender Goes Open Source . Slashdot (July 5, 2002). The appeal date is July 13, 2009.
- ↑ What's the deal? Blender.org (July 2002). The appeal date is July 15, 2012.
- ↑ Leeds Met - News and Information 2009 - - Computer graphics innovator awarded honorary degree . Leeds Met (July 16, 2009). The date of circulation is July 16, 2009. Archived July 21, 2009.
- ↑ Bart Veldhuizen. Ton Roosendaal to receive honorary doctorate today . BlenderNation (July 16, 2009). The appeal date is July 16, 2009.
- IF Ton Roosendaal and Blender receives ASIFA-Hollywood Ub Iwerks Award
- ↑ Blender creator Ton Roosendaal won the Annie Award
- ↑ Blender Institute . Blender.org. The appeal date was July 16, 2012. Archived June 20, 2012.
- ↑ Tears of Steel: About . Blender Foundation. The appeal date is July 15, 2012.
- ↑ Bart Veldhuizen. Project Gooseberry announced Unsolved . BlenderNation (January 10, 2011). The appeal date is July 15, 2012.