Η Microsoft will support the development of the 3D design suite Blender.
In one announcement of Blender revealed that the Windows maker entered the Foundation's Development Fund as Corporate Gold member (as of July 1, 2020) to help the company continue to provide its software for free.
Microsoft uses the Blender application to create XNUMXD models and images of people that can be used for education AI models.
For researchers, access to high quality free/open source 3D software code it has proven to be of great benefit in scientific projects. You can see some of their work here (PDF).
Unlike other popular alternatives like Cinema4D and Maya, Blender is completely free and open source.
Of course Microsoft's contribution is € 30.000 according to Blender's membership page. The amount is not large for the company's expenses, but the move alone could significantly contribute to providing more reliability in the Blender application.
If you do not know the application and want to see what it can do, visit it Blender subreddit, and you will appreciate the software.
Blender may not be as widely accepted as Cinema4D (although things change very quickly), but it certainly is no less capable. The quality of the works that users share on subreddit is a very good proof of that.
Help from a brand name like Microsoft will help the company reach a new audience and continue to grow.