Petr Dlouhý & Vilém Duha are the co-founders of BlenderKit. For BlenderKit's 7th Black Birthday, we talked about everything important, including open-source, community collaboration, and the art of sharing.
Hi, Vilém and Petr, would you tell us something about yourselves?
Vilém: I live in a campervan with my two beautiful daughters. We often travel but are based in Brno, Czech Republic. I’m a 3D artist. At least I was before BlenderKit.
Petr: My entire life I have lived in Prague, Czech Republic. I studied software engineering and used to work for the NGO Auto*Mat, promoting biking and people-friendly city infrastructures. I was involved in the open-source movement and became intrigued when a friend told me about Vilém and his idea of BlenderKit.
Vilém: It was a wonderful coincidence that we met. We have very similar attitudes towards open-source. Both of us are very committed to it.
Why are you so passionate about open-source?
Petr: For a developer, open-source is great. In university, it’s the standard. You can see the code, learn from it, and tweak it. Moreover, the concept of community collaboration is very powerful. Wikipedia is an excellent example. It is about accessibility and freedom.
Vilém: Definitely. Open-source is the connection between computers and freedom. Historically, it proved to be crucial in supporting people from disadvantaged communities. For example, Blender managed to push the prices of 3D software down and thus, open the industry to people with lower incomes. This happened in other areas as well. The fact that Linux can run on old hardware enables people from economically struggling countries to gain education. Generally in politics, it assists government transparency. Surely, it can be misused, and corporations repeatedly try to pull it out of people's reach for obvious reasons.
Petr: Personally, I love that my work will last longer than me. Open-source has the potential to transform itself into different things over time.
Vilém: It just feels good. It feels good to share. It feels good to contribute. It feels good to work together and not against each other.
In 2017 you co-founded BlenderKit. Why did you decide to create a 3D asset library?
Vilém: I was always a Blender fan and already created a few free Blender add-ons. However, I was looking for something substantial that I can make a living with.
As a 3D artist, I knew the Blender community needed an asset library. At the time, there were some free libraries awesome in spirit but without validation. Compared to commercial platforms, the quality wasn’t high. This made beginners afraid of Blender. I wanted to reduce the entry gap and give Blender a fighting chance. Generally, I wanted Blender to be even better. It’s very important for us that we raise money for the Blender Foundation and open-source development with BlenderKit.
My further motivation was to develop a system through which asset creators could have a regular income. Other libraries buy assets from creators but don’t pay royalties. I was dreaming about something durable, and that’s why we came up with a revenue sharing subscription system.
Of course, I also hoped that BlenderKit would speed up my workflow as an artist. Ironically, it took over my life and left very little space for art.
What is it like to run a community-driven asset library?
Petr: I like working on projects with less distance between the product and the user. It’s fantastic to receive feedback directly from the community. Simply put, you couldn’t create such a diverse and large-scale library without a community.
Vilém: Sometimes it can be challenging too. We have many newbies submitting assets to the library. Therefore, the validation process is extremely time-consuming and requires patience. We end up teaching beginners how to use Blender for free. Nevertheless, we get to see how these individuals evolve. Some of our best creators started this way.
How do you handle revenue distribution?
Petr: We use our Fair Share distribution model to handle revenue. Basically, each month we split the revenue made with subscriptions. Creators get 70%, BlenderKit gets 25%, and 5% goes to open-source development. The amount each creator gets depends on the asset score and the asset number of downloads. Vilém invented this model.
Vilém: It wasn’t easy to develop because it wasn’t an easy task. Some assets take longer to create, some are of higher quality, and there is plenty to consider. Our model isn’t perfect, but it aims to be balanced. I believe it works well. Other platforms only showcase their prime assets and ignore the majority. Additionally, our creators don’t have to promote their assets, because all assets are included in one package deal, and we promote it. This helps users too, because they only pay for one subscription to enjoy everything.
About 50% of the assets on BlenderKit are free. Why?
Petr: Creators decide if to share their assets for free or not. It’s their work and their choice.
Vilém: It’s true that open-source projects don’t have to be free. As already mentioned, we care about accessibility and freedom. We want to ensure our library is open to everyone. It makes us satisfied that, for example, all the materials on BlenderKit are free. This is something that other 3D software offers and Blender artists truly need and deserve.
Honestly, we don’t want people to subscribe because they have to. We want them to subscribe out of love for BlenderKit and because they want to support creators and open-source development.
Reflecting over the years, what are you most proud of?
Petr: I’m very proud that BlenderKit constantly grows. There are more team members, more creators, more users, and more assets. I’m proud that we are able to manage it all.
Vilém: Yes, we exceeded our expectations. BlenderKit is huge now. There are more people visiting our server monthly than people living in Brno. It’s an amazing feeling that we had this crazy idea and actually did it. We had to overcome a lot, learn many skills. It makes me very happy when I read the thank you emails sent to us. There are kids using BlenderKit in their first Blender projects and on the other hand, there are studios using it for high-end productions. I’m mainly proud of the community we created and that after seven years we are still growing together.
