Gooseberry and the Blender Cloud

I haven't written about Blender in a while, and this is the perfect time to talk about what's going on with my favorite open-source CG program. In fact, they're currently gearing up for the next open film code-named project Gooseberry. For those who don't know, the Blender foundation pushes development of its software by creating an open project, meaning a project released under the creative commons license, which allows anyone to reuse assets from the film in ways consistent with the specific license. The projects are usually funded in part by the foundation itself, and part by sponsors, but also with donations and pre-orders of the film. But in the words of every action movie cliche' "This time it's personal!" Well, not really, but it is different. The Gooseberry project is intended to be a feature-length animated film done by studios around the world in collaboration. This will require more money, and a place where shared assets, information, and probably a lot of other things will need to be housed.

Enter the Blender Cloud. This is a new service proposed to be a creative hub for not only the Gooseberry project, but future and community projects as well. It has a base infrastructure that contains all the previous open movies, including all assets and extras. It also houses all of the Blender Foundation's training DVDs, made available to members, and according to Ton Rosendaal, the founder and CEO of the foundation, will grow to allow others to house their personal and community projects in the future.

Not only that, but as usual, Blender will undergo major enhancements to it's asset management and VFX pipeline functionality. After all, they're recruiting diverse professional studios from around the world for this project, so Blender should scale to the challenge. I really like that.

All of these reasons led me to sign up for the cloud. And I think others interested in the capabilities I mentioned above should consider it, too. Yes, Blender is free. But for it to grow, it does needs support.

Now, don't think you have to jump right into the cloud, and pay $12 per month. There are other avenues of support as well, many don't require any cash unless they reach their goal. But even $1 donation can help.

For more information head over to the main page of the Gooseberry project, and the FAQ. And don't forget to check out Blender itself. If you haven't seen it for a while, you will be surprised.

How do I learn Blender? Check out Blender Cookie

Now that Blender 2.57 has been released -- a stable/production-worthy version completely re-written from the ground up -- more people are considering it for their projects.

I have been tinkering with it for years, and am now using it for Crawler,  so I had planned to write an article about how I learned this amazing (and free) piece of software, but it looks like Blender Cookie beat me to it. They just posted the Blender Community Starters Guide, a comprehensive guide to the who, what, where, when, and why of learning Blender. Of course I recommend Blender Cookie itself as a good starting place for training. They have free streaming video tutorials covering most topics you need to get started, and plenty more for advanced users. They also have exclusive content for a modest fee. If after visiting their site, as well as the others on the list, you still don't know what Blender's all about, maybe you should consider another line of work (or hobby).  ;)

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Blender 2.57 Released

The Blender Foundation just released the first stable release in about 2 years. 2.57 is a complete re-design from the ground up, and addresses many of the issues that have kept mainstream CG artists away. There's a whole new interface (the largest complaint in the past was how confusing and non-friendly the interface was), and nearly every feature has been greatly improved. There's also additional features like volumetric rendering, approximate indirect lighting, and many others. There are still a few things missing from this version (like BMesh), but Ton Roosendaal stated that they're going to try to release new versions every couple of months for the rest of the year. Good times!

The link to the latest version is here.

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Rebranding Blender

Word is spreading throughout the Blender community of a few companies (3DMagix, 3DMagixPro, IllusionMage) who are rebranding Blender and using copy-written material to sell "their" product.

Ton Roosendaal explains:

With the success of blender.org projects, and publishing all the exciting Blender releases, we're now being challenged by third parties who like to ride the waves and do business with Blender.

There's nothing wrong with that. In its very nature, GNU GPL is about freedom, the freedom not only to use and modify the sources, but also to distribute and resell our releases under another brand name.

Recently we received several concerned emails and forum postings from people who were worried about Blender resellers using especially Ebay to sell Blender.

...

On their web pages they intentionally hide that the products are distributions of GNU GPL licensed software, and that the software is freely downloadable as well. More-over, even after contacting them several times, they don't remove copyrighted content from their websites.

Here's a link to the full article on the Blender Foundation's  site: 3DMagix and IllusionMage, scam or open source leeches?

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Sintel Now Available Online

Image via Wikipedia

The wait is over. The Blender Foundation's 3rd open movie is done! It premiered,  and is ready for download here. The DVD should be available soon. I pre-ordered that, and am really excited to watch all the extras.

Congrats to the team of artists and developers who made it happen. I know from experience how hard it is to put together a film project -- of any size.

And my heartfelt thanks for the hard work on Blender 2.5. It's getting closer to 2.6 and it's looking great!

blender cgi sintel

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New Creative Cow Forum for Blender 3D

Image via Wikipedia

I'd say this is a huge step forward for Blender 3D. Creative Cow forums are for production-worthy tools. This truly signifies Blender has opened some eyes in "the industry".

Here's the link: Blender - NEW ! Forum.

Import Blender Fluid Simulation into Lightwave

The latest Lightwave newsletter mentions a plugin that allows the import of Blender fluids. Blender's simulator is very cool, and Blender is completely free, of course. Once in Lightwave, you can texture using Lightwave's awesome surfacing system and render engine. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks great.

You can find the plugin and tutorial here.

Camera Mapping in Blender, for Charity.

I read a post on Blendernation, a cornerstone of the Blender 3D community, that I felt bared repeating--for two reasons.

First, Colin Levy (Peerless Productions), created a 30 second public service announcement (PSA) as an entry for PSAId, a contest sponsored by the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI). It's very impressive and has a strong message; no wonder it was a finalist. You can view his entry here.

Second, because he uploaded a video on how he used Blender 3D for camera mapping in order to create the proper setting for the scene. He also has a full camera mapping tutorial on his Web site.

Can Blender 3D Compete with the Big Boys?

Blender, the open-source 3D application, has come a long way. According to a 2007 comparison of 3D applications published on the TDT 3D (The Dream Team) Web site, Blender performed well against Maya, Softimage XSI, Cinema 4d, and Lightwave. And considering each of the others costs at least $500, Blender should be especially appealing to a low-budget filmmaker.

As the comparison chart shows, Blender scored Good or Very Good in animation, rendering, particles, and dynamics. In fact, it outscored Cinema 4D in character animation, and Lightwave and XSI in UV tools. It was also listed as the only package with built-in compositing; though, XSI's higher-end versions (the entry-level version was used for the comparison) do have compositing as well.

Blender does need work in some areas. It scored poorly in NURB and curves modeling, and low in 3D painting. Plus, it's still doesn't have an industry-standard interface. But the developers are constantly working on updates, and there is a tremendous 3rd party community adding plug-ins and scripts all the time.

Blender's growth can mean a lot for those who need to use CG for their movies but can't afford a $500+ price tag. Do you need matte paintings, pyrotechnics, space ships, dinosaurs? Try Blender. It's free!