Top 10 talks from BCon 2023 that You Should Watch

BCon 2023 was this past weekend. Lots of great speakers and presentations. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend this year, but I got to watch them all on YouTube.

Without further ado, here are my top 10 talks, in no particular order:

1. Keynote by Ton - along with some announcements + a cool demo reel, he gives an easy-to-understand analogy about GPL and how it applies to companies in regards to Blender.

2. ”Developing an add-on with UX in mind” - While more high-level (more practical tutorials were recorded at the conference too), it focuses on the user’s experience with the add-on, how information is presented, the workflow, etc. Loved it and learned a lot.

3. ”AI, the commons and the limits of copyright” - very balanced argument about not only the good and bad of AI, but also the limitations in the legal system around copyright, and how it’s affecting open source.

4. ”The ins and outs of modeling impossible figures” - making visual Escher-like paradoxes in Blender, fascinating to watch.

5. ”How to Actually Finish an Epic Short Film in Blender (By Yourself)” - Martin Klekner, who got nominated for a Suzanne Award for his Heroes in Bronze short, shares a concise set of tips for those who want to do the same. As someone who also finished an animated short this year (albeit smaller), I highly agree and recommend his tips.

6. ”Practical Pipeline without Coding” - for those who don’t want to code their own pipeline for an animated short, here’s a good set of conventions you can use to organize and save time.

7. ”The Photorealism Mindset: What About the Physical Camera?” - a more practical talk from Polyjford about planning your scene. Because even if everything is photoreal, a given camera setup and animation may not make sense for the context of your render, giving away its CG-ness. He talks about how to solve that.

8. ”Test, Build, Release: Streamlining Add-On Development with Automation” - I do think my test method is better though, which I share here. But he gives a lot of tips and shares his setup.

9. ”Why my 3D animated NPR project doesn’t look 2d enough” - making 3D scenes look 2D, using effects and animation tricks. Amazing talk with results that actually look convincing.

10. ”My Journey Across the Spider-Verse: from Hobbyist to Hollywood” - from the kid whose Lego trailer got him to work on the Spider-Verse movie. Great to see his process and how he’s improved in his own art.