Journaling | BlenderCon 24

This year, I attended two Blender Conferences. Yep, it's true. 2024 signifies the year of many events, one of which was an additional Blender Conference in North America, Los Angeles, in April. Nonetheless, the one in Amsterdam always feels like a home run—to me personally, literally, since I usually connect it with visiting my parents in Germany.

Blender Con 2024 Impressions

But let's get back to the conference, which consisted of a packed three-day agenda. Many of the program points focused on filmmaking, and there were not as many game development topics as I would have liked. Nonetheless, the conference reminds a recurring visitor such as myself of home. Every year since after the pandemic the conference has been held in the Felix Meritsis building. A stunning piece of 18th-century architecture, which was very befitting, was initially built for a society of the same name, which prompted arts and science. The building features many floors, most of them used simultaneously by Blender for talks, community meet-ups, live sessions and more. Probably everyone's favorite space is the big hall and the yellow café on one of the upper rooms where everyone meets to converse and eat during lunch.

Upper row middle: Gleb Alexandrov from CreativeShrimp wearing my virtual jewelry
Upper row right: Andrew Price during his talk on the Blender UI
Lower row left: Nikodem Bredelich during his talk on a one-shot scene from his short movie series
Lower row middle: Zach, Travis, and myself
Lower row right: Sybren, developer at Blender Foundation, and I are just chatting and taking a break.

Blender Con 2024 Playlist

Same as every year, the Blender Foundation takes care of its entire community, not just the few who are able to visit the conference, by recording every single talk given. So, in case you want to binge-watch the entire Blender Conference, this is the link, of course beginning with a Keynote speech by Blender Founder Ton Roosendaal:

On that note, I would like to remind all 2.8 million users of Blender that open-source software needs support to maintain and develop further. Blender is no exception here, but its offers are unique. To support Blender, you can do two things or choose one over the other:

I personally opted into both options as I see a lot of value in keeping open-source software alive and kicking. When I was short on money, I donated as little as $3/ month to the Blender Development Fund, and I encourage fellow creators who use the tool to do the same. Giving back is important and matters more than we sometimes think or acknowledge!

If you are curious about a more curated playlist with my personal notes, I suggest you continue reading!

Curated List for Blender Con 2024

Virtual Crafting: Photorealism for Design & Marketing

Jess Wiseman's talk is about crafting virtual products first to identify what consumers want. Her process is stunning, and so are her final products. Check out her video below, as well as her Instagram, which I have been following for a while.

Building a Career around Blender

Don't we all want to know more about how we can transform our passions into what pays the rent? Jason van Gumster had some pretty compelling answers. Check out his talk below:

Concept Art for Star Citizen

I had a fantastic time at this talk by Alberto Petronio, showing the Star Citizen way of designing out-of-this-world starships for this booming online gaming universe! My absolute favorite was the mind-boggling development steps around a ship called "The Syulen." Have fun!

Cycles is better than you think...

Everyone always fights about the more suitable rendering engine in Blender, but to be honest, Cycles rules (sue me)! Turpal Alex Saytiev confirms my belief in his talk. Cycles is suitable for high-end renderings and actually leading the way, even to the point that Ton, founder of Blender, couldn't believe he was using Blender for most of the work on his portfolio:

Publishing on Fab - New Destination for Creators (Sponsored Session)

While this was a sponsored session, it came with a ton of good advice by Abby Crawford on publishing and selling your digital assets. If you are interested in getting started with that (not necessarily on Fab), this is a fantastic talk to watch:

Animation Previs/Layout Workshop

Hjalti Hjálmarsson is a Writer and Director at Blender Studios. His expertise has contributed to many inspiring works that have emerged from Blender Studios over the past years. His talks should never be missed because every single one makes you realize and learn something about your own work. This year, indeed, I missed the talk, and I was again very grateful to the Blender team for recording all sessions!

1619 Days of Artworks: The Pursuit of Creative Consistency

This inspiring talk by Jorge Alejandro Castellanos Paz, aka. stupidgiant, is all about consistency and passion. He has been challenging himself to do one piece of art daily (now for over four years). His portfolio is an admirable visual diary of creation! During his talk, he also shares how he keeps being focused and what worked and didn't work for him. Beyond that, he even does a live session sharing his entire process of creation, which is nothing short of genius!

Synthetic data generation for AI training

Many creators are either against AI or opt-out without even trying. Usually, the healthy approach lies in the middle, but more importantly, Yuan Miaomiao explains in her talk exactly how AI is being trained. She also shares how Blender-created 3D data can be used to train AI models more intentionally and accurately. This session creates a more profound understanding of how AI "sees" the world according to current standards.

Mesh Hair with Geometry Nodes and Hair Curves

I was sad I missed Sara Matsumoto's live session, but thanks to the Blender team, I could catch up on the recording, which I am also sharing with you here. Her live session demonstrated her entire process using geometry nodes to create hair cards.

Hyperrealism In 3D Plants

Plants are probably one of the first things newcomers to Blender start modeling, but making them look hyper-realistic is a secret that Iwo Pilc shared during his talk!

Game Art Insights: Art, Tech and Teamwork

Matthias Patscheider gave one of the few talks on game art. In his speech, he focused on sharing his pipeline with the audience. While working for a mid-sized company, he was allowed to keep his own pipeline with Blender active and, in the process, invented a method and some tools to embed his flow into the company's existing one actively.

How to Improve Blender's UI

Andrew Price, also known to many as the Blender Guru for his excellent Donut Beginner series, showed us a new, exciting talk this year by recycling one from eleven years ago. He investigated and proposed how the Blender user interface could improve, hitting many topics that feel very familiar to many fellow Blender users. This talk will help newbies understand some of the most common issues they might encounter while using Blender.

Building Good Topology and Retopology

Jonathan Lampel from CGCookie goes over the "history" of topology and binds it into his own journey. Good topology is very important in using assets throughout different applications, and the process is not the easiest part to understand in 3D modeling. If this is something you know is not your strength yet this talk will help you wrap your brain around it!

Personal Challenges

Personal challenges are part of every creator's journey. My personal goal is to speak up more clearly for myself, say "NO" more often, and learn to do what I want. I have debated asking Ton for a selfie for the past three years, and I finally did it. Hence, this picture made it into the collectible frame for this article. I even told him it was a bit of a journey for me, and with his friendly smile, he just said there was no reason for me to be hesitant. Most often, we have to learn to challenge ourselves to keep growing, and it was good to hear it from someone like Ton once again!