Farewell at the Blender Conference

At the opening keynote of the Blender Conference 2025 in Amsterdam, Ton Roosendaal confirmed what had long been anticipated: after more than three decades of steering Blender, he will step down as Chairman of the Blender Foundation and CEO of the Blender Institute. His departure takes effect 1 January 2026.

Roosendaal will move into a supervisory role, joining a newly established Supervisory Board. The operational and strategic reins will pass to a four-person management team: Francesco Siddi (incoming CEO), Sergey Sharybin (Head of Development), Dalai Felinto (Head of Product), and Fiona Cohen (Head of Operations). The new board was formally announced by the Blender Foundation in September 2025.

In his speech, Roosendaal acknowledged the inevitability of change: “The big question is, are they going to be as good as me? Of course not. But they will be really good at doing things their way. Some things will change, and that is good.”

A Year of Highlights

Roosendaal opened the keynote with a look back at the past year. Blender shipped three releases in 2024, each closely tracked by the wider internet of influencers, bloggers, streamers, and reviewers. Rather than dwell on them, he shifted attention to Blender 5, already in development.

Blender’s role in the industry was underscored by recognition on Hollywood’s biggest stage: director Gints Zilbalodis won an Academy Award for Flow, a project where Blender featured prominently. Roosendaal noted how Zilbalodis publicly thanked Blender in his acceptance speech, saying this kind of visibility was invaluable: “In some circles in Hollywood, having an Oscar is the sexiest thing you can do. So Blender actually won the Oscar.”

Blender 5: Real-Time Mode and Story Tools

Blender 5 will introduce a real-time / interaction mode. This mode extends Blender’s physics nodes to allow physically simulated interactions updated in real time, enabling animation and tools to respond immediately without time-consuming baking. Equally notable is the story tool. Building on Grease Pencil and the Video Sequencer, it integrates drawing, editing, and scene switching into one workflow. Artists will be able to storyboard, preview, and cut sequences directly while drawing, effectively allowing a full short film to be produced inside Blender in record time. Roosendaal described it as “mind-blowing” in its potential for small teams and independent creators.

Tablets: Blender Beyond Mouse and Keyboard

Blender has long been compiled on mobile devices, but never optimised for actual use. Roosendaal announced that this will change: Blender’s architecture is now ready to support tablets as serious platforms. Work is underway with Apple and Wacom to bring Blender to iPad and Android tablets. The challenge is not merely running the application but ensuring that gesture and pen-based interaction translates into production-ready workflows. The keynote also highlighted community work like Daniel Lyra’s clay pencil, where 2D strokes in the viewport become 3D models—an example of how touch and pen workflows can be meaningful in practice.

Passing the Baton

After introducing the new management team—Cohen, Felinto, Sharybin, and Siddi—Roosendaal announced his decision to step aside at year’s end. Francesco Siddi then took the stage. He traced his Blender journey back to discovering the software in a Linux magazine in 2004. From early contributions to involvement in open movies like Tears of Steel, to co-founding Blender Studio projects, Siddi’s career has been bound to Blender for two decades. In his speech, Siddi emphasised continuity, stability, and openness: useful and usable tools, open and accessible technology, and storytelling as Blender’s cultural thread. He also highlighted the need for research and disruptive development alongside stability.

A Conversation from the Past

For context, in a 2018 Digital Production interview titled What’s Next in Blender 2?, Roosendaal stressed many of the same themes he repeated in 2025: stronger usability, open movie projects, asset workflows, and design-driven development. The continuity of these priorities across nearly a decade shows both consistency and persistence in Blender’s direction.

What‘s next in Blender?

What Happens Next

Roosendaal will remain connected as part of the Supervisory Board but intends to “find out if I can get in touch again with the maker inside of me.” He mentioned possibly enjoying more time in his garden with his dog—but made clear that Blender will remain close to him.

The new board will lead Blender into 2026 and beyond, inheriting a project that has grown into one of the most widely used 3D creation tools worldwide.

The post Ton Roosendaal Steps Aside: Blender’s Founder Hands the Keys to the Next Generation first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.