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AI developer Anthropic<\/a> has become the latest Corporate Patron of the Blender Development Fund, contributing \u20ac240,000\/year towards development of the open-source 3D software.<\/p>\n The Blender Lab has also developed a new MCP server connecting Anthropic\u2019s Claude<\/a> AI models to Blender, for debugging scenes, or to batch-apply changes to objects within a scene.<\/p>\n The announcement has proven controversial with Blender users, so below, we\u2019ve tried to unpick some of the key issues it raises.<\/p>\n How much is Anthropic donating to Blender development? Its \u20ac240,000\/year roughly equates to the annual salaries of four full-time Blender developers.<\/p>\n Anthropic\u2019s funding will be \u201cdedicated towards Blender core development\u201d, particularly the Python API. <\/p>\n How have Blender users reacted to the donation? Blender users are, as a whole, more sceptical of big corporations than those of other CG tools, so the ongoing donations from Google and Meta<\/a> have also proven controversial in the past.<\/p>\n However, given some artists\u2019 visceral dislike of generative AI, responses to Anthropic\u2019s donation have been particularly polarized.<\/p>\n Blender CEO Francesco Siddi alludes to this obliquely in the Blender Foundation\u2019s press release<\/a> announcing Anthropic\u2019s corporate patronage, commenting:<\/p>\n \u201cIn these uncertain and divisive times, we appreciate Anthropic offering support to the Blender project [\u2026] This enables the Blender team to keep pursuing projects independently, and to focus on building tools for artists and creators.\u201d<\/p>\n Unusually, the press release also links to Blender\u2019s funding policy<\/a>, which includes the statement:<\/p>\n \u201cCorporate participation in the Development Fund does not imply alignment between Blender and the donor\u2019s mission, products, or strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n Can Anthropic now influence Blender development? When it comes to influencing future development, the Blender Foundation does \u201creach out to Corporate members to discuss the annual planning for grants and review past supported projects\u201d.<\/p>\n Patron status<\/a> also gives a company \u201cboard contact\u201d with the Foundation.<\/p>\n According to the most recent Blender annual report<\/a>, corporate patrons were Blender\u2019s largest individual funding source.<\/p>\n However, if we\u2019ve done the math correctly, each individual Corporate Patron currently represents around 7% of total funding: significant, but far short of providing a controlling vote.<\/p>\n Why is Anthropic donating to Blender development? The add-ons connect Claude, Anthropic\u2019s family of large language models, to CG applications.<\/p>\n As well as Blender, that includes Adobe software like Photoshop, Affinity, Autodesk\u2019s Fusion CAD software, and SketchUp. <\/p>\n Suggested uses range from simply using Claude to summarize technical documentation, to automating repetitive tasks \u2013 as with the Affinity connection<\/a> \u2013 to writing custom tools.<\/p>\n What is the new Blender connection with Claude? It\u2019s an extension to Claude Desktop that makes it possible to \u201canalyze and debug entire Blender scenes, or build custom scripts to batch-apply changes to objects in a scene\u201d.<\/p>\n The connector is built on the Model Context Protocol<\/a> (MCP), the open standard for connecting AI models to external data, so it can be used by other LLMs, not just Anthropic\u2019s.<\/p>\n According to Blender\u2019s press release, \u201cwe maintain APIs for individuals and corporations to extend Blender, also beyond what\u2019s aligned with Blender\u2019s mission.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe consider this part of the Software Freedom that\u2019s embodied with Blender\u2019s GNU GPL license.\u201d<\/p>\n The add-on is available now for Blender 5.1: you can find instructions for installing it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read the Blender Foundation\u2019s announcement of Anthropic\u2019s Corporate Patron status<\/a><\/p>\n Read Anthropic\u2019s announcement of the connectors between Claude and CG tools like Blender<\/a><\/p>\n Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and X (formerly Twitter)<\/a>. As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don\u2019t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.<\/p>\n \t\t\t
Anthropic becomes Blender\u2019s latest full corporate patron, alongside other recent donors like Bolt Graphics<\/a>, Wacom<\/a> and Netflix Animation Studios<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The announcement has proven divisive within the Blender community, with responses on social media<\/a> running the gamut from \u201cthis is a smart move\u201d to \u201cI will never donate to you again\u201d.<\/p>\n
For context, Blender is open-source, so no donor can own or control the code base.<\/p>\n
Corporate patrons clearly do use their donations as platforms from which to promote products, and in Anthropic\u2019s case, that\u2019s the new connectors<\/a> between Claude and creative tools.<\/p>\n
In the case of Blender, the new connector has been developed by the Blender Lab<\/a>, the Blender Foundation\u2019s new program for developing experimental features for the software.<\/p>\n