Article: How can you make money with Blender?

A little while ago, I asked a simple question on Twitter: “How do you make money with Blender?” I didn’t post a poll, since Twitter only allows for 4 options. I’m glad I didn’t, because I could never have predicted the many ways people apparently make money with Blender!

Below, I’ll list a few. Personally, I’ve been using Blender for a few years professionally - sometimes working in it exclusively for months (on big Archviz projects) and sometimes together with other software, mostly the Adobe creative cloud.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to make money doing something you love. Sometimes, it’s even better (more free and less stressful!) to just do it as a hobby. Working for clients can sometimes mean working on things you don’t especially care about. It can mean incredible stress. But, it does force you to learn new skills quickly and step outside of your comfort zone.

Anyway, without further delay here’s a list of ways people are making money with Blender, in no particular order:

• Product visualisation (packaging)

  If you think about it, every package you see in the supermarket is designed by somebody. However, before the real product is made, visual mock-ups are produced - usually either by using Photoshop (with Smart Objects), or with 3D software. Someone out there right now is modeling a perfect 3D shampoo bottle…

• Selling models

  Those of us making ArchViz renders are definitely familiar with websites selling models - 3Dsky.org and Turbosquid.com are ones I frequently go to when I need a specific piece of furniture. But of course, someone has to make those models as well. If you love modeling furniture, plants and other kinds of architectural elements then this could be a good way to make some extra money.

• Selling add-ons

  Blender may be free, that doesn’t mean you can’t make commercial add-ons for it. There are some amazing ones out there - I couldn’t live without Greg Zaal’s “Gaffer” add-on anymore - and the people who make them basically make our lives easier, and Blender better.

• Modeling

  Instead of just selling models on dedicated marketplaces, you can also work as a freelance modeler. I’ve personally done this quite a bit - I’ve done a lot of retopology for artists doing 3D prints, as well as made a lot of furniture for a company that wanted to create a 3D catalog of their products. Obviously this is a wide field, which includes modeling for games, amongst other things.

• Broadcast TV graphics

  You may not notice them, but there are a lot of 3D graphics between TV shows. Little “idents”, “transitions” and longer segments like a fancy 3D introduction for a news show.

• Commercial advertising

  Another broad category, this could really include all kinds of 3D visuals. There’s some overlap with VFX as well, as these are usually photorealistic graphics.

• Games

  Together with Unreal or Unity, Blender is a powerful tool for creating games.

• VFX

  Part of the film post production pipeline, VFX stands for “Visual Effects” and means all the digital special effects that are added to a movie. This can go from simple greenscreen removal to creating entire characters, explosions and more.

• Previsualisation

  Another part of the film production pipeline, previsualisation (or “previs”) is the process that comes after (or sometimes instead of) storyboarding. It still looks rough, but now there’s some animation and the camera movements are being planned. The big advantage of this, is that you can see how much of a film set really needs to be built. It also makes planning stunts and elaborate visual effect sequences easier. The Third Floor is a company famous for making these.

• Archviz

  If you love photoreal rendering, this is a field in which that is really important. It also helps if you love photography, as you’ll need to bring an artistic eye to the camera compositions and lighting.

• 3D printing

  Although still not perfect, 3D printing has come a long way. Some artists are using this as a new tool for producing large sculptures. Of course it is also used for product prototyping, as well as for replacing hard to find (or no longer produced) parts in old machines. They are even using 3D printing in the medical field now. Do you need to print a new hip for your grandpa?

• Car industry

  Although less obvious, car design and visualisation are a large part of the 3D industry. This is a very niche corner of the 3D world, where very precise modeling is required.

• Educational content

  These days, there’s an amazing amount of great educational material online. And just like with the add-ons: just because Blender is free, doesn’t mean you can’t make money from it. Educational content is fun to make, because you’re not just selling something: you’re actually helping people.

• Teaching

  Similar to producing educational content, some people choose to do one-on-one training. Though I personally prefer to try and teach as many people as possible through the use of video, this is definitely an option. Many schools now have 3D as a required course, and Blender is an obvious choice for them since it’s free. So get your Blender Foundation Certification and start teaching!

• Industrial design

  Like CAD design, this requires very thorough and precise modeling. Which is definitely possible in Blender.

• Illustrations for newspapers and magazines

  Magazines and newspapers often need illustrations. Think for example of science magazines where they need to explain some complicated things in a very visually comprehensible way. 3D graphics are a great tool for this.

• Motion Graphics

  Motion graphics are very popular for music concerts, for example. They are also sometimes used for projection mapping onto buildings - this is something you see often now at “light festivals” in cities. It looks really cool! Another kind of motion graphics is those used for explainer videos - those videos where something is explained visually in detail. Though they often use 2D vector animation, 3D is also used.

• Web comics

  3D with toon shaders, or as a starting point for a paint-over or draw-over, can be a great tool for making a web comic. It helps to keep shapes consistent, and can be quite a shortcut for drawing anatomy.

• VRChat avatars

  Quite a new thing, VRChat avatars are characters that people can use, well, as avatars. In VRChat. Yup.

• Virtual reality and Augmented reality

  Wow, we’re really in the future now! Just like games, VR and AR can be made by using Blender with an add-on like Marui or together with Unity or Unreal engine.

Whew, that’s quite a list. Do you do something with Blender that I didn’t list here? I’d be very interested to learn. Please comment below if you do or if you have something else you want to add.

And check out the 883-page book filled with Blender tips if you haven’t yet :-)