How Blender won over the design world

For decades, Blender—the open-source 3D software tool—had a quirk that distinguished it from other animation software on the market. Instead of clicking to select with the mouse or trackpad’s left button, it required users to right-click selections. It was a small but strange defiance of usability norms, and it was illustrative of Blender’s unconventional approach to design software.  

For years after launching in 1994, Blender was considered an under-the-radar tool. Its challenging...