My First Steps into Blender: Why I Decided to Start Developing Addons
For more than a decade I’ve been fully immersed in the 3ds Max world—using it every single day for production, and building plugins and scripts under the Spline Dynamics brand to make workflows faster, smarter, and a lot less painful. 3ds Max has been my home, and honestly, I still love it. But over the past few years, it’s been frustrating to see Autodesk holding back on 3ds Max development, while Blender keeps expanding impressively across every corner of 3D production.
Like many of you, I was skeptical at first. Blender looked interesting, sure—but could it really compete with 3ds Max in professional pipelines? I’ve always believed that software is just a tool, and what really matters is what you create with it. Still, Blender kept popping up everywhere: in ArchViz, motion graphics, VFX, game development, even among freelancers and small studios that traditionally relied on Max. Why? It’s free, open source, growing super fast, and the community is insanely active.
So at some point, curiosity won. I started learning Blender on the side, playing with Geometry Nodes, digging into the Python API, and comparing it to my experience developing for Max. And here’s my honest take so far:
What I really like about Blender:
- It’s free and open source, which lowers the entry barrier for tons of artists, and allows for continuous updates and revisions.
- The software is really lightweight and opens in a few seconds.
- Geometry Nodes are just brilliant. They open up procedural workflows that in Max would require either plugins or a lot of custom scripting.
- The community is massive, helpful, and super engaged. There’s a constant flow of tutorials, addons, and experiments.
- Development is active and transparent—you can see the roadmap, the commits, and even influence the direction.
What I still miss from 3ds Max:
- Some workflows still feel more polished and robust in Max (especially when it comes to precision modeling and certain CAD-related tasks).
- The modifier stack in Max is simple but extremely powerful—sometimes Blender’s approach feels a bit messy.
- As a developer, the MaxScript environment (combined with the SDK) is very mature, while Blender’s Python API is powerful but still has quirks you need to work around.
- Let’s be honest: switching after years in Max is not painless. Muscle memory is a thing!
After a while, I realized something important: I don’t need to choose. I can keep developing and supporting plugins for 3ds Max while also exploring Blender. Both have strengths, and many professionals (maybe you too) actually use them side by side depending on the project.
Which brings me to some exciting news: I’ve just released my very first Blender addon!
ECM, a simple and powerful Blender modifier
ECM – Extrude Curve Modifier is a non-destructive modifier built with Geometry Nodes that lets you extrude curves quickly and parametrically. If you’ve ever tried to create 3D geometry from curves in Blender, you know it’s possible but not always straightforward. ECM makes it simple, intuitive, and flexible—something I always aim for in my tools.
This is just the beginning. My plan is to keep developing addons for Blender while continuing my work in 3ds Max. I see this not as “switching sides” but as expanding the toolkit—for myself and for you, the artists who follow Spline Dynamics.
So if you’re a Blender user (or curious about becoming one), feel free to check out ECM, it’s already available on Blender Extensions and on Gumroad. I’d love to hear your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future tools.
This is a new adventure for me, and I’m honestly excited to see where it leads.
