I don’t think it’s so much philanthropy as the companies making a financial calculus and realizing that funding Blender saves them money in the long run. If their artists had to use a commercial product then they’d have to license it, and the cost of that can ramp up pretty fast.
With Blender the company can donate whatever they want whenever they want without any strings attached, and the cost of development and maintenance is amortized across many companies all funding the project. And since these companies aren’t in a business of making a 3D editor themselves the product itself doesn’t threaten their own business.
Ultimately it comes down to a simple cost benefit analysis.
It’s possible that Adobe will just shut down these products if they’re not financially viable for them. The thing to remember is that Adobe is now in direct competition with Blender and all the other companies funding it. In order to stay competitive Adobe would have to match the level of aggregate effort all on their own, and to convince people to use their proprietary products over the one that’s rapidly becoming industry standard. This goes beyond simply having good features, it’s a question of ecosystem and community as well. If anybody can start playing with Blender then that’s what most people are learning. The more companies use Blender the bigger the market for people who know how to use it becomes, and so on. I expect that Adobe is simply throwing in the towel here.
I don’t think it’s so much philanthropy as the companies making a financial calculus and realizing that funding Blender saves them money in the long run. If their artists had to use a commercial product then they’d have to license it, and the cost of that can ramp up pretty fast.
With Blender the company can donate whatever they want whenever they want without any strings attached, and the cost of development and maintenance is amortized across many companies all funding the project. And since these companies aren’t in a business of making a 3D editor themselves the product itself doesn’t threaten their own business.
Ultimately it comes down to a simple cost benefit analysis.
How does this work for Adobe? Blender is a direct threat to After Effects and cinema 4d for example.
It’s possible that Adobe will just shut down these products if they’re not financially viable for them. The thing to remember is that Adobe is now in direct competition with Blender and all the other companies funding it. In order to stay competitive Adobe would have to match the level of aggregate effort all on their own, and to convince people to use their proprietary products over the one that’s rapidly becoming industry standard. This goes beyond simply having good features, it’s a question of ecosystem and community as well. If anybody can start playing with Blender then that’s what most people are learning. The more companies use Blender the bigger the market for people who know how to use it becomes, and so on. I expect that Adobe is simply throwing in the towel here.