In nuce: The Blender Foundation has published a project proposal for Blender Apps. The apps are designed for specific tasks and are based on the main Blender software. The new .blendx file format has also been proposed. This information can be found in the blog post Blender Apps by Pablo Vazquez (Senior Lighting Artist at Blender) from 2 November this year. The special feature: The apps should be able to run independently; it is not necessary to install Blender itself in order to use the apps.
The proposed apps are intended to be suitable for product presentations, for example, but also for the education sector or for VFX production and video game development pipelines. According to the blog post, Blender 101, for example, is tailored for use in schools. The app for product presentations should, according to the plan, also be usable for those who are not familiar with Blender’s handling. For example, a customer would receive a single zip file containing an executable file. An image viewer is a conceivable example of the Pipeline area; according to the blog, this would bundle video sequencers, image editors and annotation tools, for example. According to the blog post, a version of this is already in use at the weekly Blender Studio meetings (see blog post Media Viewer by Blender Studio by Technical Director Paul Golter).
The proposed file format is called .blendx, and double-clicking on it should open Blender directly – provided the software is installed. More complicated apps, on the other hand, would be communicated as a compressed archive (including .blendx file and user-defined content such as additional scripts or assets).
Clicked further: The above-mentioned blog post by Pablo Vazquez provides all further information – including instructions on how to create the apps as a developer. The lead image above is from the comedic scary short film Sprite Fright (Digital Production reported on 28.12.2021).
Sources: docs.blender.org ( about application templates in Blender), cgchannel.com ( report by Jim Thacker), code.blender.org ( blog post by Pablo Vazquez)
