It goes without saying—Blender is the most loved 3D program in the world, with the largest cult following, and I’m proud to be part of it. But how did we get here? How did Blender take over as the most beloved 3D program?

I’m going to skip the obvious reasons, like the fact that it’s free—because professionals who have no problem paying for Maya or 3ds Max subscriptions are also using Blender. In fact, many of these artists pay for Maya or Cinema 4D and still use Blender on the side because it’s that good.

Obviously, if Blender were the absolute best 3D program, they wouldn’t need to subscribe to another one that does the same things.

It’s impossible to call any single 3D tool the best 3D program in the world. Try it—pick any software: Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini, Cinema 4D, Substance Painter—no matter which one you choose, you’ll always need a companion program to cover its weaknesses.

If you choose Houdini, it’s great for procedural workflows and simulations, but you’ll need another program for modeling—and Blender is excellent at that.
If you go with 3ds Max for its superior modifier stack and modeling tools, you’ll still need something for texturing and procedural tools—and Blender is great at that, too.
If you use Cinema 4D for its superior motion graphics system, you’ll eventually need a sculpting tool, and Blender will come in handy since it’s one of the best sculpting tools out there, second only to ZBrush.

Blender has positioned itself as every artist’s favorite secondary 3D tool—and in many cases, artists end up spending more time in Blender than in their “main” 3D software. Why? Because they realize that most of what they need can be done inside Blender—either by default or with the help of an addon.

why blender took over modeling

Every 3D project starts with a model. It can be procedurally generated, created through poly modeling, sculpted, or generated via photogrammetry. The only thing Blender doesn’t do out of the box is photogrammetry. But if a project requires 3D-scanned models, most artists would rather buy a curated collection of 3d scanned models like this than go through the hassle of doing it themselves. It’s a lot of work, requires a lot of gear, the right weather, and a proper setup. And most of the time, you don’t even have access to the objects you want to scan. So instead, it’s much easier to look for a curated collection rather than spending hundreds of hours scanning everything yourself.

When it comes to polygon modeling, 3ds Max has the best modifier stack I’ve ever come across. But in terms of ease of use and speed, I find that modeling in Blender is much faster—once you get used to the shortcuts.

If you’re coming from 3ds Max or Cinema 4D—both of which have a lot of modifiers that assist with modeling—investing in tools like BoxCutter can be a game-changer. It’s a collection of additional tools and operators that are especially useful for non-destructive hard surface modeling. When combined with Decal Machine, you can create a highly detailed model in just minutes.

One of Blender’s biggest strengths is its flexibility—the ability to morph it into whatever you need. And because it’s open-source, some have taken it even further by forking Blender and turning it into something completely different. For example, the makers of UPBG reimagined Blender as a game engine, bringing back its pre-2.5 deprecated features while integrating modern additions like Eevee.

Why blender took over Skulpting.

When it comes to sculpting, there’s ZBrush, 3DCoat, Mudbox, and Blender. For €441 per year, you can get ZBrush—but remember, you’ll still need another program for rendering, texturing, animation, lighting, and more. Or, for €370, you can get 3DCoat—but you’ll still need another program for animation, texturing, lighting, and more. Maybe you prefer Mudbox at $100 per year, but again, you’ll still need an extra application for everything else.

Or—hear me out—you can get Blender for €0 per year. At the same zero price, it comes with built-in animation, texturing, lighting, and more.

Of course, ZBrush, Mudbox, and 3DCoat all have features that Blender can only dream of—but let’s be real: for most artists, Blender’s sculpting features are more than enough.

Why blender has the largest Assets Collection

Outside of large movie and game studios, Blender has the largest collection of assets, thanks to its community. Everyone contributes—albeit for a small commission.

Modeling a simple low-poly chair might take a minute or two, but anything more detailed starts to take hours. A detailed, textured table? About 30 minutes. A sofa set? Maybe two hours. A full kitchen with utensils, furniture, and appliances? That could take a full day.

That’s why artists love asset collections—and with over a million creators, it’s no surprise that Blender has the largest 3D asset collection in the industry. If you need a model, you can trust that someone has already made it—and often, there are multiple variations from different artists, so you can be choosy.

Take the Interniq library, for example—it’s an architect’s and interior designer’s dream. The collection includes everything an interior designer could need: furniture, appliances, decals, plants—all with high-quality materials and textures, fully customizable to fit your style.

And if you’re an interior designer, there are artists creating complete interior collections like this. Each set is a project file with unique furniture, appliances, and designs. All these assets can be saved to your personal collection and used however you like. Just one collection can contain over a hundred reusable assets, including models, materials, textures, lighting setups, furniture, decals, paintings, and more. Plus, you get to see how other artists set up their projects—a great way to learn and improve your workflow.

You can also find hybrid collections, which are essentially a mix of assets and templates—like the Cloth Library. As an asset collection, it includes a variety of clothes and fabric designs that you can use to dress up your characters. But since characters come in so many different shapes, getting the clothes to fit perfectly without too much manual work can be tricky. That’s where the Simply Cloth addon comes in. It includes a set of templates that can be simulated using Blender’s physics system, making the clothes fit your characters effortlessly. There are templates for jackets, shirts, dresses, and more, giving you a solid starting point for character clothing.

Why Artists love blender for instancing

We mostly use 3D applications to do what’s impossible—or too expensive—to achieve in real life. Take filmmaking, for example: closing off a city block (or an entire city) just to shoot a movie would be unrealistic. So, instead, you sit down and model building by building, block by block, until you get the city you want—one that you can do whatever you want with.

Obviously, it’s not that easy, especially if you try to make everything on your own. But you don’t need to model every single building to create a realistic-looking city. With just a few modular building blocks, you can use Blender’s instancing tools to bring your city to life.

Greeble Town has been my go-to artist for creating different cities with different vibes. They offer the Skyline Ukiyo collection, a set of modern-looking buildings perfect for urban environments. If you need something more industrial, their Grunge Factory pack gives your city that worn-out, industrial feel. Their assets are lightweight, so you can scatter hundreds of them without performance issues. And then there’s my favorite—the Grid Armada military base collection, perfect for creating detailed military bases.

There are many reasons why Blender is artist-friendly, and these are just a few. And we haven’t even touched on Blender’s procedural capabilities—that part of Blender deserves an entire video on its own.

But if you want to dive into Geometry Nodes right now, check out this Geometry Nodes course from my colleague, TopChannel1on1. He’s also started teaching Houdini for those who want to go pro—because while Blender is powerful, when it comes to simulations, you sometimes need to bring out the big guns. And when it comes to simulations, there’s no bigger gun than Houdini.