Apple Pledges Support for 3D Graphics Tool Blender

Blender today announced that Apple has joined the Blender Development Fund to support continued development of the free open source 3D graphics tool.

blender banner
Alongside a contribution to the Development Fund, Apple will provide engineering expertise and additional resources to Blender and its broader development community to help support Blender artists and developers, according to the announcement.

Blender CEO Ton Roosendaal said the announcement means that "macOS will be back as a complete supported Blender platform."

Blender said its Development Fund accepts donations "to support activities to provide free and open accessible services for all Blender contributors," including bug fixing, code reviews, technical documentation, and onboarding.

The fund will also provide grants and subsidies to developers on generic and widely agreed development projects, according to Blender.

Top Rated Comments

batmanofvietnam Avatar
28 months ago
This is huge for Mac blender users. The lack of GPU rendering is an enormous problem!
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
terminator-jq Avatar
28 months ago
This is pretty big news actually and could open even more doors for GPU rendering on Apple silicon allowing Apple computers to compete in a space normally ruled by Nvidia (with CUDA). The timing is very interesting too... announcing this just a few days before the big M1X event. I wonder if Blender will have an appearance during the show to help show off the GPU capabilities of the new chips. Also makes me wonder if we could see some raytracing abilities on the larger M1X (Jade C Die).
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrono1081 Avatar
28 months ago

Apple didn’t want to lose their last 3D creation tool still used on their platform haha ? Seriously all the serious 3D tools aren’t used on Mac
Yes they are. Maya, Houdini, Zbrush, Mari, Substance, and more all have Mac versions.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kalafalas Avatar
28 months ago
Gotta get blender and cycles Metal and arm ready before the M1X benchmarks drop
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
28 months ago
This is fantastic news. Blender is a great tool. I wonder if this has anything to do with Apple's AR ambitions?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ryanmillercg Avatar
28 months ago

So apple plans to pivot MacBook as GPU rendering machine now? Not to say it’s a bad thing but I guess gaming on Mac will never catch up with Windows PC.

Wonder how much it would do in 3D modelling world and how it competes against windows and Linux.
Local GPU renders for development (yes, even with cycles) is part of an artist workflow that doesn't require extended rendering times. Even 3D Artists working on beefy RTX Windows machines will use cloud render farms for long batch renders. Mac is perfectly competitive in the 3D modelling space; Blender, Maya, Zbrush, etc all run great on Mac. I think it's unlikely that Mac will be looking to challenge high-end GeForce GPUs, but I'd love to be wrong about that.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple card 1

Apple Ending Apple Card Partnership With Goldman Sachs

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:09 pm PST by
Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple plans to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months, and it is not yet clear if Apple has established a new partnership for the Apple Card. Apple and Goldman Sachs will dissolve their entire consumer partnership, including the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account....
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.2 Beta 4

Tuesday November 28, 2023 12:18 pm PST by
Apple is wrapping up development on iOS 17.2, with the update expected to come out in December. While we're getting to the end of the beta testing period, Apple is still tweaking features and adding new functionality. We've rounded up everything new in the fourth beta of iOS 17.2. Default Notification Sound Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to ...
ios 17 namedrop

Police Departments and News Sites Spreading Misinformation About How iOS 17 NameDrop Feature Works

Monday November 27, 2023 5:11 pm PST by
Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how NameDrop functions. As noted by The Washington...
All New CarPlay Five New Features Article 2

What to Expect From All-New CarPlay, Still Listed as Coming 'Late 2023'

Tuesday November 28, 2023 7:44 am PST by
At WWDC in June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, increased personalization, and more. Apple's website still says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in "late 2023," but it has not shared...
iOS 17

iOS 17.1.2 Update for iPhone Likely to Be Released This Week

Monday November 27, 2023 8:24 am PST by
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
Apple 5G Modem Feature Triad

Apple to Discontinue Custom 5G Modem Development, Claim Reports

Wednesday November 29, 2023 4:19 am PST by
Apple is discontinuing in-house modem development after several unsuccessful attempts to perfect its own custom 5G modem chip, according to unconfirmed reports coming out of Asia. According to the operator of news aggregator account "yeux1122" on the Naver blog, supply chain sources related to Apple's 5G modem departments claim that the company's attempts to develop its own modem have...
Apple Logo

Apple Discontinued These 5 Products This Year

Monday November 27, 2023 7:03 am PST by
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
Google Drive

Some Google Drive Users' Files Have Mysteriously Vanished

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:55 am PST by
Google Drive users have been warned not to disconnect their account within the Google Drive for desktop app, after a spate of reports of files going missing from the cloud service. Alarm bells began ringing last week on Google's community support site when some users reported files mysteriously disappearing from Google Drive, with some posters claiming six or more months of data had...