The state of open source 3D modelling

gmueckl writes: "Since Blender got released as open source in 2002, it has basically owned the open source 3D modelling scene. Its development has seen a massive push by both the open source community and supporting organisations. However, the program has been showing its age all along and efforts to improve on that have either been blocked or have failed in the past (note the dates). Authors of new modules are forced to jump through hoops to get their work glued onto the basic core which still dates from the early 90s and has gone almost unchanged since. There are many other active projects out there like Art of illusion, K-3D and Moonlight|3D. Each one of them offers a modern, much saner, more coherent and more powerful basic architecture and could match Blender in a couple of months' time with some extra manpower. So how comes that these projects don't get the level of support they deserve? How comes developers are still willing to put up with such an arcane code base?"