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Have you even used Blender? It has the functionality to do almost all of those things, the only ones I haven't seen is import/export of characters from/to 3dsmax and Maya. But Poser model and animation has been done, skys/clouds/suns/moons is easy, landscape can be done in loads of different ways, "sean"? you probably mean scene, and yes, duh. Most of your notes are pretty vague, like "burning" an object, but the other stuff like clothing simulation, trees, fur, yes has all been done, lots can be found in their gallery...

Some really great features that Blender has over the competition:

• Open-source (obvious, but a plus)
• Embedded python scripting (can import other modules, cross-platform)
• Cross-platform to a ridiculous extent
• Platform consistent (meaning it looks the same whatever you run it on), OpenGL-accelerated user-interface
• Less than 10 megs for any platform!!
• Loads in a few seconds, compare that to the behemoths Maya and 3dsmax are
• No funky copyprotection servers/dongles to worry about
• Runs well on older hardware

Heck there is even a ton of free documentation, ranging from a wikibook to other books and guides.

Painting, animating, and modeling tools are fun. I'd do a quick demo with Blender http://www.blender3d.com/cms/Home.2.0.html , perhaps do a quicky animation (of your logo or some such), or sculpting using the sculptmesh http://wiki.blender.org/bin/view.pl/Blenderdev/Scu lpMesh (shameless self promotion) plugin.

LetterRip

Complexity, or lack of efficiency? Blender is a pretty complex piece of software, but does it in a remarkably low LOC. This results in a nice tiny (compared to commercial apps with similar functions) fast binary.

Programmers today all think everyone has a 3.0 + Ghz processor, and a gig of ram. Coupled with a Uni system (at least here in the US) that follows the "more is less - sell software by the Mb, but hold the functionality so we can sell plugins and upgrades" corporate mentality, is it any wonder that American commercial software companies are world famous for producing bloatware?

Oh, so that explains why most of your (Anonymous Coward - uid 12268242) posts are just a string of insults. You need to grow up and get over yourself. You aren't smart and superior as you seem to think, you're petty, insecure, and vile. See, I can insult people I've never met too. That must mean I'm superior and smart also. (Do I need to add the sarcasm tags, or are you smart enough to see it for yourself).

If it's free 3d software (that doesn't suck) you're after, there's a fair bit around these days:

• Wings - Utterly wicked sub-d edgeloop modeler, offering better poly tools than the majority of commercial packages (Maya's poly tools are cack, and need to be extended with scipts).
• Blender - The UI was designed by mutant space robots on peyote, but other than that minor deficiency, it is a pretty capable package.
• Pixie - Free renderman renderer. It isn't prman, but pretty nifty all the same.

Regarding piracy of 3d software.. I think most vendors probably accept that this is going to happen amongst home users / students. Otherwise, no one would be able to learn their products, the price is simply prohibitive. That being said however, both Alias and SideFx are offering free uncrippled (featurewise.. they create watermarks) learning versions of Maya and Houdini respectively. Discreet don't appear to be doing the same.. but honestly I can't understand anything Discreet does these days.

Ever heard of Blender or Jahshaka?

QCad

QCad is probably the closest thing to AutoCAD LT that you will find for Linux. It has a nice easy-to-use interface, seems mathematically correct, and is still under active development. Most Linux distros offer it as a binary package; i.e. apt-get install qcad or emerge qcad.

Other currently usable engineering type tools which you may or may not be aware of are:

• Blender3D - You probably heard of this
• FElt - Open Source Finite Elements Program

What needs to happen is these tools should all be made to interact now. Draft your model in BRL-CAD (or Blender), run FEA on it using FElt, and then import views into QCad to dimension and plot out hardcopies. Some nice tight integration between these packages would be great.

My car has a completely different set of layout for dash controls from my girlfriends.

Wow, multiple girlfriends? One disqualifies you from slashdot, with more than one you should hand in your UID.

And yet, after a short period of familarisation, I find I can cope pretty well with all of these things, as can everyone else I know.

Go try Blender, then come back and tell us that...

Hey, it worked for Blender. (-:

How many home-baked cookies would FreeCiv need to sell to raise 15.5 megaeuros, I wonder?

First off, if you are wanting to teach, set aside time when you've learned the program to create some multimedia tutorials. Get camtasia studio and record tutorials, export them to flash. It's better and fast than writing a book with screenshots.

If you are wanting some linux movies, check out xvidcap.

It's a great idea to promote and use open source software. Some might say that those skills will have no marketability because the apps are open source and not industry standard. However, when teaching an art class and including computers, all you have to do is emphasize "Now this is free so you can use it at home. Photoshop is what most people in business use, but the same principles apply." Kids will remember that and they will pick up the right app if they are really interested in that field.

Save the money by using OSS and buy some really nice digital cameras for everyone to use. Have the kids go out and capture the world. They'll love it. Then bring the pictures into gimp, try different things from contrasts to layermasking, and painting. Create meaningful collages. If they learn the gimp, they'll pick up photoshop, and then freehand, etc. They'll be fine. I'd recommend gimp over photoshop elements any day.

Here are learning links I've found on blender. This is really a cool program to teach, but I know it will be difficult for some people to pick up. Teach them how to create a text object, write their name and render it with different light setups. Future filmmakers will really appreciate it I think.

http://www.bl3nder.com/tutorials/ http://www.ctr.co.at/swf/3ds_max_1_zb1_num_calc.ht m http://www.blenderama.com/index.php?id=276 http://www.vrotvrot.com/xoom/tutorials.html http://blendedmind.i8.com/tutorials.html#tutorials http://www.blender.org/modules/documentation/htmlI / http://www.tutorialguide.net/software/blender/ http://www.blender3d.com/cms/Tutorials.243.0.html http://www.tltsu.ru/archive/blender/BlenderTutoria lPart3_.pdf http://project-blender.onlinehome.de/ http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~mein/blender/ http://www.ingiebee.com/Blendermania/tutorial_list .html http://renderosity.com/ http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/0 4/30/217225 http://www.geocities.com/paulthepuzzles/aardvarks. html http://blender.excellentwhale.com/ http://www.selleri.org/Blender/ http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/index.html http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=11202 6#112026 http://vrotvrot.com/xoom/tutorials.html http://www.linuxgraphic.org/section3d/blender/page

This Blender User Interface Tutorial demonstrates the basics of the interface, even explaining how to create the 4-pane view you speak of. There are a slew of other tutorials on that same site as well.

Unless, of course, free software can match commercial equivalents.

The Blender UI is no longer that difficult, just different to 3DS or your other favourite 3D editor. I'd be surprised if your comment applies to the most recent version unless by "a bit" you mean 5 minutes.

If you go through the blender3d.org tutorials then get back on the "cumbersome" UI.


Agreed. Admittedly, my first two experiences with Blender lead to me throwing in the towel. However, I once read an encouraging post on a message board somewhere (hey, I think it was /.) that basically said "if you haven't worked through the basic tutorials, then you don't have room to discuss the UI" ... hence, I revisited Blender once again, and lo and behold, I saw the light.

Also, I'd like to mention (as others have already) that the Elysiun Forums are a great place to learn about Blender along-side other Blenderheads!

-Vizionary

Blender is one tough program to master. I've meddled with it a bit, but I found the interface cumbersome.

Ergo, a large focus of the development since becoming open source has been to make the UI more intuitive and consistent.

The Blender UI is no longer that difficult, just different to 3DS or your other favourite 3D editor. I'd be surprised if your comment applies to the most recent version unless by "a bit" you mean 5 minutes.

If you go through the the blender3d.org tutorials then get back on the "cumbersome" UI.

use the direct link which is mentioned on the blender.org page.

if this doesn't work, try my very own mirror (which hopefully doesn't die within the next seconds...)

--
[adv]
schoene Klamotten fuer Ilmenauer und andere nette Leute

the site is a little slow, but i'm getting around 200KB/sec in wget right now, here's the link for people not wanting to wait for it to load (from actual site, not a mirror):
clicky

Is it really that hard to move a mouse to the top of the screen?

But with multi big-monitor layouts, going to the top of the window each time you need to click on a function is just plain insane. It's a tremenduous waste of time, and at times, it can be just what you need to lose your train of thought.

At one point, once you have passed the thrill of discovering the computer for the rest of them, and you start doing $eriou$ work with the computer, you need to turn pro and ditch the amateur computer, and move to one that doesn't have a crippled user-interface designed for brain-dead amateurs who get confused when the mouse has more than 1 button (and, heaven forbids, a scroll wheel!).

For that matter, once you learn it, Blender's user-interface is pretty efficient and puts things right where you need them.

Here's your software replacements:

3DS Max, Photoshop,Illustrator,sampling software, looping software, midi software, etc.

Sorry it took me so long to write them all!

Parent post is right : who gives a turkey about some piece of crap software nobody knows that becomes free as in free beer for non-personal use ?

Not sure if it's quite up to Maya's strospheric standards, but Blender 3D is a Free (as in beer) modeling and rendering tool that stacks up pretty well against the competition.

Another really nice aspect of Blender (aside from having the sources) is that you have a wider selection of platform choices than Maya ever likely will.Win32, MacOS X, Linux, LinuxPPC, FreeBSD, Solaris, and NetBSD. Bet THAT!

Parent post is right : who gives a turkey about some piece of crap software nobody knows that becomes free as in free beer for non-personal use ?

Not sure if it's quite up to Maya's strospheric standards, but Blender 3D is a Free (as in beer) modeling and rendering tool that stacks up pretty well against the competition.

Another really nice aspect of Blender (aside from having the sources) is that you have a wider selection of platform choices than Maya ever likely will.Win32, MacOS X, Linux, LinuxPPC, FreeBSD, Solaris, and NetBSD. Bet THAT!

You mean there's a project to create bender? Sweet! That's much cooler than that weak-ass blender project!

Note that this has already happened for the Blender3D toolkit. Not under the O-STEP license, of course, but using a similar scheme -- raising enough funds, then open-sourcing the product.

There was also an abortive attempt for a while to open source the GoBe Productivity suite. That cost a bit too much to purchase though, apparently.

*shrug* So it can work sometimes...

the successful conversion of Blender from proprietary to GPL?

Repair the perception by explaining to me how I'm going to get rich by creating software.

If you actually meant "make an honest living" instead, then there are plenty of examples: Dual licensing, Hardware bundling, the "ransom" model, etc.

No... the GPL represents a software distribution model that favors the rights of the user over the rights of the producer.

(Notwithstanding that the intent of the GPL was to discard the notion of producers and consumers in software. Any user can become a producer if they want to.)

Largely because it's motivated by envy and spite rather than any positive virtues.

I really wish people would open their eyes to new possibilities, instead of blindly fighting things that they just don't understand.

It seems linux games don't get the respect they deserve, and I think someone should really show them off. Give 'em tux racer, nethack, and some cool GL stuff in x. And, for that matter, show off the cool fully themeable x, with stuff like enlightenment and kde and gnome etc. And wine, and all the other (not an) emulators availible. Really show off that Linux is fun, too. And some of the cool rendering with stuff like blender or some blender games (now that blender is open sourced).

This week we learned that Windows and Office are the heart of Microsoft's monopoly, financially speaking.

Office, one of MS's two profitable divisions, gives Microsoft a 79% profit margin for each product sold. I have a feeling that if your average Joe only KNEW about openoffice.org as an alternative, they'd use it in a heartbeat. Businesses might be harder to convince, but when I told my dad about OO.o, he just about shat himself. $400 saved.

If the Internet community can raise $100K (in what was it, 5 weeks?!) to free Blender, surely if given enough time we could raise a million for say, a Superbowl or Oscar ad in 2004. I'm sure there's more than one corporate competitor of Microsoft's that wouldn't mind kicking Bill in the financial balls by making a modest contribution to the OO.o publicity effort.

I can see the ad now...

"Coming up next, the Oscar for Best Picture..."

CUT TO BLACK.

FADE UP:

MEDIUM SHOT OF a SILVER CD-ROM on a DESK with "openoffice.org" scrawled in BLACK SHARPIE.

AS WE SLOWLY ZOOM IN TO THE CD-ROM...

ANNOUNCER: Hey, America. Four hundred bucks is too much to pay for Office software, don't you think? But now there's an alternative you can download for free and copy for your friends. It's called OpenOffice.org. The people who make the "monopoly" version of Office don't want you to know about it. But we do. So visit www.Openoffice.org and give it a try. This message was paid for by thousands of Internet users around the world who thought you should know about alternatives to supporting the monopoly.

TEXT: "OpenOffice.org -- A free alternative"

FADE TO BLACK.

I'd put ten bucks in for this ad. Just the articles ABOUT the ad and how it was financed would be great publicity.

(Oh, and I hereby release all the text above under the open content license, v1.0.)

Seeing as its based on code that is 4 years old, maybe the doom users could use it for new levels,
Hell Quake 1 modders might find a use for it too !, but for more serious 3D use i think they have a long way to go.

Maya, 3DMax users, i think you can assume your job is still safe :)

Ps. If you want Open source then please donate your time to something more worthwhile, after all no point in re-inventing the wheel again.

It would deffinetly help to have something to look at as far as designing the program and Blender would deffinetly be a great place to start.

P.S. - Please make the interface easier to use then Blender.

You can read more about it at http://www.blender3d.com/. Here's a brief synopsis of their goals:

Goal 1
Make the sources free

Goal 2
Establish artist/coder services

Goal 3
Make Blender a better product, and promote free access to 3D technology in general

So, not to totally discourage you, but perhaps you could simply learn how the code works for this project (which is very mature and powerful) and then contribute to it.

Good luck regardless of whether you start your own project or learn about Blender and help those folks out. Most importantly, have fun!

Wait 3 months [and] Purchase 3D Studio Max

If you can't get your software from 0 to at least barely usable in nine days, then wait for blender.org to go live on October 13. My $10 helped; did yours?

The source for Blender will be out soon...

I like the licensing scheme in Maya. There's a downloadable learning edition which has all the basic functionality of the purchase version and a tonne of online docs. The difference between the two versions is that they can't read each other's files and the learning edition's rendering has a watermark embedded over top.

I personally think that Blender is a better solution for people on no budget, but if you really need to learn Maya at home the Personal Learning Edition is great. Other companies should follow suit with similiar programs.

The Blender Foundation has done an unprecedented thing by raising so much cash to bring Blender into the Free Software Fold. I'm not aware of any program in the free software base which is so sophisticated as a 3d modeler. I think they are pioneers and should be lauded for their efforts!

What I'd like to see is that anarchistic utopia of free software developers squash software corporations like Adobe into the ground. There's only one way capitalists will learn and that's for them to watch the very markets that make them rich disappear from right under their nose. Not only software, but media, TV, music, etc. will all experience the effects of the mythical anarchistic utopia you've mentioned. Or maybe they won't... but it sure looks to me like free software is giving Microsoft a run for its money. Who do you think will be next?

I like capitalism. I'm quite good at it (and make a very good living at it). Capitalism, in the form of competative free markets is generally good for dealing with most naturally scarce things (not all mind you, as sometimes other pressures can cause the free market to break down. Natural monopolies, such as the road to your home and your drinking water are one type of example. Medical services, where the pressure of having an alternative of dying if you chose not to be a customer, is arguably another area that lends itself only very imperfectly to a competative, free market.)

However, in the realm of ideas, invention, software, and infinitly copiable content, there is no natural scarcity, and capitalism breaks down. So much so that the government feels compelled to create monopolies, with no pretense of a competative, free market.

And you are right, a thriving, cooperative commons, with its own internal (mostly friendly, though sometimes not) competition will outcompete a monopoly cartel every time ... unless the cartel in question buys legislation from a corrupt government to kill individual innovation.

Which is exactly what Microsoft is all about with Palladium, and the RIAA and the MPAA are all about with so-called DRM (digital rights revocation). They know they can't compete. Microsoft can't compete with free software and, in the long run, the recording industry and movie studios will not be able to compete with a vibrant community of artists creating free (or very inexpensive) music and movies (the latter quite possibly with blender, as I am doing). Online copyright violators and file sharers aren't any more of a threat than VHS and cassette tape users were fifteen years ago, and they know that. It isn't about preventing file sharing, its about preventing competition, something a corporation with a cartel mindset simply cannot abide.

Years later, I was still broke, and still using Linux. I couldn't afford crap for software, so I really appreciated the freebies, even though they were not as flashy as commercial programs.

Now I finally have two nickels to rub together, and guess what, I'm spending it on Linux stuff. I have a pile of Loki games, frequently browse around on TuxGames, I pitched in on the Blender Foundation, I bought a copy of LinuxCAD (which was a mistake), and I'm saving up for a Zaurus.

So there was a long incubation period for me, but now I'm contributing to the Linux microeconomy in a big way, and its just a matter of time before others reach my stage.

This is exactly what the Blender Foundation is doing with Blender 3D. They're raising funds to buy the Blender sources in order to publish them under the GPL.

I just took a wwwalk over to the Blender site. I'd like for everyone to realize that this campaign will make Blender open source -- but it may NOT make it FREE.

The deal is to make Blender "'free software' or 'open source' forever". Please note the "or". The term "free software" isn't mentioned elsewhere.

While it would be nice to have an open-source 3D environment, please note that open-source does NOT mean GPL'd or completely free. You might be donating your money for the purpose of creating more commercial software.

I just took a wwwalk over to the Blender site. I'd like for everyone to realize that this campaign will make Blender open source -- but it may NOT make it FREE.

The deal is to make Blender "'free software' or 'open source' forever". Please note the "or". The term "free software" isn't mentioned elsewhere.

While it would be nice to have an open-source 3D environment, please note that open-source does NOT mean GPL'd or completely free. You might be donating your money for the purpose of creating more commercial software.

Polygons, as in maybe an OBJ file, are fine, but if you have a more advanced modeler which uses nurbs or splines or something, your drawing will be almost useless after conversion into polygons. Usually the edges don't match, it doesn't form a true solid, and the wire count increases by about a thousandfold.

Some sort of standardized vector format which can use equations to represent curved surfaces is absoultely needed. Polygons just can't cut it anymore.

With Cinelerra, Ardour, and Blender, I may finally have reason to buy a new machine and stuff this Celeron 366 in a car or something. It's been going strong for 5 years and I'd hate to have to replace it, but there's sadly not enough power in it anymore. :(

Ahh, the joys of been a poor (as in beer) teenage geek.

well this is BS, we can't pay with a credit card but we can happily finance F'n paypal. Sorry LWN guess you aren't getting a donation.I refuse to use paypal, after thye locked my account for 5 weeks because of a paperwork error and their side.

It is stories like yours (of which there are a vast number it seems) which is why I have never, and will never, use paypal.

Even when not doing so is damn inconvinient, or expensive.

When I made my $100.00 donation to the Free Blender Fund, I paid $20.00 to Western Union to wire the money to Holland rather an open a paypal account. At least I know Western Union won't "freeze" my account indefinitely the way Pay Pal is wont to do, and while I'm sure there are more effecient ways to wire money overseas, paypal will never be an option.

This sounds a bit like what is being done with the Free Blender Project , as covered in this story.

Umm according to this at the very least a full third of the money raised will go to the FSF if they don't hit the 100k mark. And NaN has already agreed to sell it under contract if the money can be raised. So stop spreading the FUD and code.

Blender is in the process of becoming open source, and would make an awesome tool for game modeling. Blender had a built in game engine and modeling tools.

Visit Blender3d or elYsiun and help open the source on this program. It could become THE gaming modeller for Linux.

Now, go away to www.blender3d.com and read that page... and then come back and continue to read.

Yes, Blender is closed sourced, but it will be GPLed or get a similar license, with all old and new development released, hopefully this will happen soon, I long for a new dose of blender...

For those looking for a pov-modeler take a look at truevision seems pretty nice, and probably need a bunch more testing by all of you, so give him/them good bug-reports and feature requests now :)

Revenue expectations (July-December 2002)
- Initial funding (community, e-shop, sponsoring): 100.000
- Member License subscriptions: 1000 in 6 months, 50.000
- E-shop revenues general products: 20.000
- Product License subscriptions: 10 x 5k = 50.000
Total: EUR 220.000 (See here)

Doing nothing at all, leaving all IP locked in the Holding, will simply downgrade the value of Blender to close to zero within 12-18 months.

Calculations for Revenue expectations are off. In the proposal, we see that membership will cost:

B. Membership
For a reasonable fee, EUR 50 per year, you get access to the closed Membership area, which includes all user services, all executable versions, all source codes.

Later, we see the revenue expectations:

Revenue expectations (July-December 2002)

- Initial funding (community, e-shop, sponsoring): 100.000
- Member License subscriptions: 1000 in 6 months, 50.000
- E-shop revenues general products: 20.000
- Product License subscriptions: 10 x 5k = 50.000

Total: EUR 220.000

Costs:

- Website: 6k
- Webmaster / sysadm: 6k
- Full time operations (wages) 30k
- General costs 10k
- NaN Holding license fee: xxxx

First of all, 50 * 1000 for membership revenue is PER YEAR, not for 6 months. Divide that by two. That knocks about 25k off their revenue.

Where can I find a webmaster for 12k a year? Or a full-time operations staff for 60k? The site only costing 12k per year? Is bandwidth really that cheap?

I'm not sure, but these numbers aren't sounding that realistic to me. Best of luck to them - I will probably try to support them with my $$, but I sure hope they have a clear idea of where they're going with this.

At least, that's what it appears to be from the proposal. Looks like you'd have to pay to get a copy of the sources (but not necessarily binaries). I'm not sure if the GPL will be legal in the case that they're proposing. Nevertheless, it still seems like a great deal to me. I'd love to get my hands on that source code for the cost of a yearly membership.

And I quote:
Blender Foundation activities

To establish a solid revenue model, the Foundation will limit access to free services and free copies of Blender Creator. The web portal will be reorganised to serve this purpose. In general there will be four levels of access (or licenses) people can get.

The licenses can be defined to match standards for 'Free Software' or 'Open Source'. Key isue here is the right for Foundation Members to re-use or re-distribute the source codes, but strictly limited to projects that work within the (same) GPL structure. Challenge for the Foundation then is to establish a good services and management system, to provide a strong incentive for users and coders to regularly visit the web site, and participate in making Blender a better product.

A. Free (gratis) access
Limited parts of general user information (executables, tutorials, help files, discussion forums) will be accessible for free. The Foundation board can decide on the level and quality of free access , related to exploitation requirements.

B. Membership
For a reasonable fee, EUR 50 per year, you get access to the closed Membership area, which includes all user services, all executable versions, all source codes. The license for the executables and codes will be the 'copylefted GNU GPL' license, also known as 'GPL' for short. This allows Members to freely use and redistribute the code, but restricts building new applications with Blender codes to other GPLed software projects. Membership is personal and cannot be transferred. For companies or schools a Bulk Member license (10+ users) can be obtained for EU 495.

$95,000 USD is fairly cheap to move all of Blender's IP into GPL. Ton's proposal for the Foundation didn't explicitly state (unless I missed it) how the group would obtain the starting cash.

Perhaps they are hoping for an angel investor of their own?

$95,000 USD is fairly cheap to move all of Blender's IP into GPL. Ton's proposal for the Foundation didn't explicitly state (unless I missed it) how the group would obtain the starting cash. It outlined a membership for exclusive offers.

We should keep an eye out for the Foundation to be set up and gathering capital. I would also be curious to see any big corporation (Red Hat, IBM, Mandrake, etc.) donate a few thousand each to the cause. It used to be that the best way to support Blender was to buy the manual (which I did, VERY nice looking btw), but now we'll have a non-profit organization handling the continued development and support of Blender. 'Tis a good day.