Well, it's been quite a year. For me, for Blender, and probably for you.

The video (also on TILvids Peertube) is more of a summary — I recorded (ranting, unrehearsed) for an hour. So instead of giving you an hour-long video, let me share more here.

Reviewing 2025

This got completely cut from the video, but wanted to just share a few brief highlights I’m really proud of from this year.

Finishing CG Cookie Course

I released my scripting course on CG Cookie at the beginning of this year. Lots of recording and re-recording and editing and reviewing with CG Cookie. I learned a lot about video editing and teaching online. But I'm really glad I finished it beginning of this year.

Wes and Kent has asked me of if I was interested in doing another course. Mostly, I've been tired.

But I admit I had some thoughts recently on making a sequel course. We’ll see.

Upgrading Add-ons (to 4.4)

This little video was a refreshing format. Creators rarely share behind-the-scenes of how they update add-ons, let alone all the quirks and issues to resolve. I’ve never seen anyone else do this, and it seemed to get a nice response.

I think I’ll continue this one.

Compositing Tutorial + 1000 subscribers

And in July, which probably why most of you on YouTube subscribed this year, is my updated compositing tutorial.

It was a huge ordeal, took nearly an hour to record, on top of rehearsing it several several times over. But it was well worth it, and y'all have shown you loved it.

Within a month of uploading, I got to 1000 subscribers on YouTube, and continuing to slowly but steadily climb. And it seems like my PeerTube channel also got a followers bump later this year -- don't think I'm forgetting you, fediverse.

I'm not a full-time content creator, so subscriber count is not really a goal for me. But I’m grateful to have a growing audience I can connect to. So thanks again.

Default Cube: the Game

A very on-and-off project where I got to see how I could mess with artists and content creators from within Blender. A strange but funny and insightful exercise in how Blender works, and how Blender wants add-ons to work.

I really meant to market this game more. But when my computer died the same week as release (and remained dead for a week and a half), and only one livestreamer got back to me on sharing it, I lost all momentum. So making the one late video was enough to me.

I do hope to add more as I go. I already added the option to export some of the haunts.

Open source is great (but transition slowly)

I've also been moving to open source in my personal usage of software. This past year:

• I moved from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice

• Using Mastodon as my main social media platform (I’m here, for those interested)

• crossposting most of my new videos to PeerTube

• Web browsing with Firefox and a hardened Chromium build. Not Chrome. Chromium. Part of the reason is I’m a big fan of PWAs — web apps that are “installed” to feel more like internal apps. They are much smaller, have less permissions, and cross-platform. Sadly Firefox doesn’t support them, it’s mainly a Chromium-browser thing. But I love them. I spent 10+ minutes in my original recording talking about how much I love them.

• Moving my code repositories off GitHub; if you're looking for updates to my add-ons and code there, go to Codeberg instead.

• Edited a few of my vertical videos using Blender. It has a long way to go to be my main video editor, but for simple stuff, it's grown quite nicely I'm all for open source. It just needs more audio effects like compressor, noise gate, and normalization, and I’m ready to jump!

But I will say, unless you really know what you're doing, transition slowly. One app at a time.

I’m curious to figure out which distro to use. I’ve used Mint quite a bit in college. But I’ve heard good things about newer ones like Pop OS and ZorinOS. Worst case, I go hardcore with Arch or something.

My only real complication is Davinci Resolve. Apparently some distros handle it better than others.

Let me know your favorites.

Art vs Coding (vs distractions)

I've always been walking the line with art and coding. But this past year, it's felt like art has kinda put off too much.

As much as I love add-ons, they can turn into never-ending projects, and expected to have never-ending support. I haven't really added any new features to some of mine.

And I've been still wanting to do art. There's art projects I've started to do that I'm excited about. Things I want to finish, but I just never find the time. Well, I have the time. But I've noticed it somehow goes away when making videos or simply gaming.

So with the new year, I want to make more time for art. I know that means less time for gaming and add-ons. I'll still find time for them. But I've been feeling the itch to do art, and I just need to make sure I make time for it.

How to Set Goals

So here’s a written write-up of goal-setting that I talk about in the video, plus some extra things.

1. State your high-level goals. When asked by your family this holiday season, what will you say? No checkboxes, nothing like that. What do you want for 2026?

2. Think of actionable tasks that can contribute to each goal. For example:

   1. “Learning Blender” is not too actionable, but you can:

      1. Open Blender every day (daily habit)

      2. Make 2/3 of these animations for the year (publishable result)

         1. Chicken crossing the road

         2. Selling seashells by the seashore

         3. The pickle one (can’t remember it off the top of my head)

   2. “Lose weight” is too generic, but:

      1. Exercise daily

      2. Pick 2+ exercises to use

         1. Running

         2. Dancing (lots of videos on YouTube!)

         3. Football

      3. Pick replacement to buying Oreos by July (wean off!)

You’ll notice I mixed up these example goals. Some are daily goals, more low-effort to build habits. Whereas the longer-term goals have results I work towards.

Another thing I did is have “option goals”, where you get to pick one or multiple options for a goal. I love doing these, because then I can choose what works with me. It appeals to the procrastinator some, but makes me feel like I can adjust and branch off as needed.

Failing Goals is Okay (just learn from them)

Please, please accept that you’ll fail some goals. That’s okay. I’ve failed several of my goals this past year.

The point is these goals stretch you and make you learn more about yourself. Your limits, your desires, your abilities. If you beat all your goals with a few months to spare, you’re probably setting the wrong kinds of goals.

But let’s go over common reasons why you may fail goals:

• Too ambitious. Honestly, if you still tried to go for it in a healthy way, that’s fine. You pushed yourself to something you didn’t think you could. Just find ways to dial it back. It takes experience to know your limits. It may take a few tries. The trick is to aim just beyond your limits.

• No actionable tasks. This is when you just say “lose ten pounds,” but then don’t set any goals to get you there. That’s why actionable sub-goals and tasks is important. So you have something to latch on to.

• Too reliant on external factors. This is for goals like “get a job at Pixar.” It’s a variation on no actionable tasks. Even if you do have actionable tasks (make a portfolio with Pixar-style characters), the ultimate goal is not up to you.

• Lack of motivation/desire/willpower. This is a tough one, and intensely personal. While you must accept human weakness in yourself, you should really reflect on your desires to see what may be missing. Why do you want this goal? What’s (not) pushing to towards it? Among many options, it could be that your desire isn’t strong enough. This is what I meant by “rock bottom” in the video. If it’s not something you really want, it’s going to be harder to push through the hard days.

Hope you find these useful. Have a happy new year!