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If you are interested in supporting this project you can preorder the DVD which will come with the complete 3D, texture, and assets to make the film under CC Attribution 3.0 - http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=120

You do realize that this means a porn version is sure to follow shortly?

If you are interested in supporting this project you can preorder the DVD which will come with the complete 3D, texture, and assets to make the film under CC Attribution 3.0 - http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=120

Like all Blender Institute open movie projects, these help to drive forward Blenders capabilities and put them to the test in a production environment.

Some of the major improvements that have happened for this project are things like increasing how many millions of polygons our sculpting tools can handle (45 million on decent hardware); another major upgrade to our animation tools; improving our rendering quality; improvements in simulation quality; and of course numerous interface upgrades.

Here's a typical bit of Open Source design suckage.

I just installed the latest version of Blender, over an existing installation. The installer can't find the exact version of Python it wants (which, incidentally, is not a currently supported version.) The program itself can, it's just the installer that's broken. Typical.

Now I want to draw a spiral spring. Naturally, that's not built-in; I'll need a third-party plug-in. So I find the Blender Plug-In Repository using Google. That says "The main page for Blender python scripts is now: here. That gets "If you are not redirected within 5 seconds, click here", which then redirects to a dead link.

OK, let's try Blender's main site and search for "plugins". That leads to documentation on how to code a plugin. Another search result returns "Plugin functionalities varies so much that it is not possible to describe them here. Differently than Texture Plugins Sequence Plugins do not have a Buttons in any Button Window, but their parameters are usually accessed via NKEY." Really.

OK, let's just try "blender spiral" in Google. This gets a script for drawing spirals. That's nice. But it's a ".rar" file. That's not something Blender-specific. It's a proprietary Russian archiving format. The RAR site promotes something called "RegistryBooster", which is a strong indication of involvement with hostile code. So I probably don't want to buy the WinRAR product so I can decompress something which is a few lines of Python. This

Typical.

Hmm for some reason the link to Big Buck Bunny, didn't show up. Also I should mention the blog that showed the development of Big Buck Bunny as it was being created.

Please consider picking up a copy of the Big Buck Bunny DVD it supported a lot of the development that was done for this release. You can see the trailer here.

Or consider preordering Apricot the game that is currently in development that is based on the Big Buck Bunny movie. You can see the development reports here.

Or you can donate here.

Thanks for your support and we hope you enjoy the latest release,

LetterRip

'The Essential Blender' is a pretty good book for learning the basics of Blender - after that use the Blender Wiki and other sources for deeper information.

After getting proficient with the E-Toys, they might like to progress to Blender, which has the Python programming language built-in.

If instead you shell out 50$ for Essential Blender, you will find that Blender is fairly easy to learn and has a quite usable GUI. As pointed out in the review the majority of 3D applications have a similar learning curve to become productive. (Although high school students taking a couple day summer camp course have done complete animations including, modeling, texturing, rigging, animating and lighting in that time period - so I think the time needed is greatly exaggerated).

If you are interested in supporting Blender you might want to purchase the Peach DVD. Also the UI is getting a rewrite and hopefully will be ready for the next major release. So purchasing the DVD will support that effort. /p LetterRip

If instead you shell out 50$ for Essential Blender, you will find that Blender is fairly easy to learn and has a quite usable GUI. As pointed out in the review the majority of 3D applications have a similar learning curve to become productive. (Although high school students taking a couple day summer camp course have done complete animations including, modeling, texturing, rigging, animating and lighting in that time period - so I think the time needed is greatly exaggerated).

If you are interested in supporting Blender you might want to purchase the Peach DVD. Also the UI is getting a rewrite and hopefully will be ready for the next major release. So purchasing the DVD will support that effort. /p LetterRip

LetterRip

Actually the next version of the manual is still being developed, the wiki is part of that.

And you still can get the paper version, albeit the slightly off-colored first printing run edition: http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?p roducts_id=79. You can also get a PDF of the manual as well. It's old and again we're working on the new one, but for most things it's quite fine as a reference.

The manual will continue, after all, it's part of how the blender foundation is financed. (Clue the conspiracy theorists that say we make the software hard to use on purpose in 3... 2...)

~D.J. Capelis
Blender Dev

I've used blender before, and the tutorials out there stepped me through the interface quite nicely. I prefer their e-shop to a donate button, and just look at all the goodies you can have by supporting this project, including a guide. Well done. I just wish they'd update the Gamekit package (but no biggy, I'll order it anyway).

First we'll toss in one some people will kick and scream about: Graphic Design. Yes, I know all about the Gimp.

I disagree.

Not about the GIMP; for production work on raster images it doesn't make sense to leave the known comforts of PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro for a FOSS equivalent that might do the job as well, but offers no significant improvements. Yet tomorrow's graphics designers are currently on student budgets and are learning The GIMP because of that— something that should be making Adobe nervous about tomorrow's profits.

But Blender and POV-Ray are major presences in animation and ray tracing work: many of the younger people working in the field cut their teeth on these, and still use them for exploring some concepts. Inkscape has compatibility benefits over Illustrator and is beginning to attract commercial use for that reason, even though it is a long way from its v1.0. Scribus is poised to shoulder its way into first tier desk top publishing.

FOSS has become majorily important in the graphics sector.

I don't know anything about audio mixers. Maybe the value of 1 kazillion is closer to 10 than to 8. Maybe FOSS products like Audacity are making significant inroads among the independent bands. I've no idea.

I know nothing about games, either. I know a lot of tomorrow's animators and game designers are developing their techniques with Blender and POV-Ray— I expect that they will continue to use these to some degree when they get paying jobs.

I didn't see a live ribbon anywhere, except in some videos and descriptions on the web. A first rough description might be tabbed toolbar.

But then it struck me where I saw that before: the button window of blender. And it's been around since '95.

Linux simply killed our capacity to produce here...

The commercial Autodesk Maya was used by Weta Digital to create the Lord of the Rings triology. Maya is, as you can see, available for use under Linux.

For Desktop Publishing you can use the Free Scribus which I have used to produce very nice pamphlets and booklets.

Linux has come of age in recent months and the excuse that it is not suitable for ordinary folks to do ordinary computer jobs is simply not true any more.

I'm gonna go back to coding my own Final Fantasy VI clone

Got it posted anywhere? :-)

If you think that commercial renderers are amazing, what I've found is that the free software world is even more-so. For example, projects such as Blender and Cinelerra are amazing in their capabilities. Even with such software as the GIMP you can do rather wicked things.

Now stepping into the arena of game creation, I'm becoming increasingly impressed with projects such as OGRE 3d, which unfortunately lacks somewhat in samples/documentation (it's a little hard to get started as the documentation IMHO starts off in a little after the starting line), but otherwise is very powerful and seems to a very good building-block for big things.

Uh, yeah. If it was good and up to speed, it wouldn't have needed to be a google summer of code participant. See, the summer of code was for writing code. Stop me if this isn't making sense, and I'll see if I can use smaller words.

I hate this fucking argument. Not everyone is a programmer. Build a bridge, and get over this fact. There's lots of valuable skills out there and programming is only one of them.

If someone says that a program needs help, they're not automatically wrong if they aren't one.

If someone says that a program needs help, they're not automatically wrong if they aren't one.

That's very helpful. Thanks for the info. I know nothing about games or graphics, but I do know that there are some great FOSS tools available like ICE for distributed computing, blender for graphics, so maybe the time is ripe for such a project. Or maybe the idea isn't feasable. Time will tell.

Try the Blender Game Engine. You have all your 3d tools right there in one package. The engine is quite versatile, and now supports GLSL shaders, multi view ports, and physics. http://www.blender3d.org/

I'm glad that they want to improve FOSS in this way, even for many projects that will probably never benefit Google directly. For example, anyone that uses Blender for animation would definitely say that last year's SoC project to add fluids simulation is an awesome feature: http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Fluids_simulation.675 .0.html

I'm not a scientist, but a geek interested in computer graphics and 3D modeling and just thought of share this tip with you guys hoping it may be useful.

When you design 3D graphics, you need a software tool to design your artwork in 3D and render it to get the final output. The Blender is one of the best open source 3D modeling and rendering tool. See the 'Art Gallery' section in the Blender home page to understand what you can do with it.

Another very useful 2D vector graphic design tool is Inkscape, this is similar to Adobe Illustrator, and again its open source.

The Gimp is similar to Adobe Photoshop and again this too open source.

Latest versions of these software are included into Tomahawk Desktop, this is a very useful multimedia Linux OS.

Looks a bit like a Blender (& Nemo & Qoobee & Virtools) rippoff to me. And considering that Blender Real Time runs on Linux and even some more OSes and Blender Logic Bricks are even easyer to programm with than JavaScript I'd recommend you check it out.
And since Blender is open source you'll be paying 0$ rather than 999$ :-) . And the Blender Real Time Engine uses Python, which I think is pretty neat aswell.
Check out Blender.org and also check out the Blender Game Kit Book. Not for the newest Version of Blender, but quite up to date with the Blender Game Engine Features.
(newest Blender Version)

Can anyone identify the artist and/or supply a pointer to the original image?

I'm interested in what ray tracer was used (POV-Ray?, what modeller (looks like maybe Blender?, and time and details about the rendering.

I also think the artist should get some credit.

http://blender3d.org/cms/typo3temp/pics/0f8f634142 .jpg

That's a good MS promoter!
If it doesn't run on Windows, it's Jerry-rigged, and pushing companies to write cross-platform software would just be pushy.

Here's a little-known-fact about linux: Many major software manufacturers write software that runs on linux. The ones that don't, are doing it based on marketing strategies. If the market changed, so would their coding practices. As a business owner, I do not have the type of money to back up a Microsoft platform, and I also cannot justify using the software due to quality and corporate tie-ins. When I'm bigger, maybe I'll dig myself a hole and dive in head first (Microsoft said they already have it started for me whenever I feel like jumping).

Honestly, if Adobe made their software for Linux, then I would guess at least another 29 million people would switch over to linux. I just love how software like Blender 3d, Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, Zend Studio, Star Office, MySQL, Oracle, Apache, PHP, and many many others all work on Windows and Linux, and oftentimes MacOSX, but lazy companies like Adobe/Macromedia, Autodesk, and most gaming companies choose to single out one or two platforms to target simply because of marketing strategies.

Microsoft has chosen time and time again to refuse to implement global standards simply because they want to lock people into using their software. Your post proves that their marketing strategy works.

Also keep in mind that hardware working with the operating system says more about the hardware manufacturers than the operating system. Microsoft has been known to strongarm hardware manufacturers to not create linux drivers, and many hardware manufacturers are just too lazy to work with the linux community.

So while Linux, being about half the age of windows, is still lacking in a few areas, it is still more stable and provides enough features for me to use. I still keep a windows box around at work for troubleshooting other users' microsoft office problems, and for running the Adobe Creative Suite, but you can bet I'll be formating every windows box I own as soon as Adobe releases Linux binaries. (considering how closely related OSX and Linux are, I still don't understand why they don't make a linux port)

In short, if industries really did shift to linux, companies that write software wouldn't hesitate to change as well. It is our fear of something different that keeps us on Windows, and keeps software developers from writing linux code, resulting in jerry-rigged solutions like Firefox, Thunderbird, PHP, Apache, Oracle Enterprise server, and others. (note the sarcasm)

Yeah, you corporate weenie knob-polisher, there is games after E.A. EA has the Sims. EA did not have Doom, Myst, Mario, the original Sim City, Tetris, Quake, Pac Man (scoff only if you never put a quarter into a Pac Man (or any of his relatives') machine in your entire life), or ten zillion other blockbuster titles that leap instantly to our minds when we think of popular games in history. And like any software gaming company, EA has had it's share of stinkers, too. (I have almost - after intense exorcism - forgotten about the one with the baby angel you fly around possessing people, which I purchased during one of those 24-hour brain tumors you get every year during flu season.)

Meanwhile, how's "free software" for indy? Truly, we may believe that there is only one kind of computer in the world and it proudly sports the bent-squares-in-Fischer-Price-colors logo on it's case, but I insist that non-Windows computers are not a myth - I'VE SEEN THEM! The truth is out there...running on an ext2 file system.

Now, while we're on the Sims, lemme just say that we played the Sims to death in our household for about a week, until we realized that the fun derived from playing the Sims came entirely from dressing up the little pixel dolls and downloading templates to draw precious little furniture pieces for them. Then we started mesh modeling instead. It's better because: (a) You can download it for free http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Home.2.0.html here, (b) It fits on a floppy instead of needing 2 Gigs to stretch out in, (c) It's all there, and doesn't need a $60 expansion pack every two weeks to keep current, (d) You can download some equally free starter dolls and furniture pieces to start playing with http://www.katorlegaz.com/index.php?a=download&c=B lender_3D_Model_Repository here, (e) You can make everything look like you want it too, even the naughty bits, and you don't need to wrestle with a transmogrifier to try to correct the blurry-pixels that appear when your model takes a shower, and finally (f) your models will never get so wrapped up in making breakfast that they forget they have to go to the bathroom and pee on the kitchen floor and then go take a shower because now their hygeine is red and leave breakfast to set the kitchen on fire, causing them to miss work and get fired over the telephone.

Yes, EA has had some home runs. No, they will not own the world. Now, don't you feel *better*?

Most of the changes happened in Python API, for which documentation is automatically generated and is up to date as of 2.37 (I don't think 2.37a changed anything).

The user interface changes weren't that major, the old documentation should be more or less good enough to figure out most of the functionality in the new versions too (I think; I'm pretty sure the new stuff is documented somewhere though, just not in the manual yet).

It's not.

With version 2.37 the book designed for 2.32 is still completely relevent.

There are improvements in stability and features, but everything in the book is still accurate. Very little of the UI has changed between the versions, of that was changed is minor improvements in visability/useability that won't confuse you, the keycombos are the same, the major features such as the modeler, animation and UV mapper are the same (just less quite a few bugs and improved stability). It's evolutionary improvements, not revolutionary ones.

Major differences between versions are outlined on their websites. Things that generally don't get covered in 'learn howto use' manuals such as the excelent blender manual. And you know that irregardless of the application, Maya, Photoshop, 3dsmax, etc etc the manual can't be 100% accurate with the latest and greatest versions of any applications.

Beleive me, a few years of taking graphic art classes has taught me that you actually have to use this thing called a 'brain' that when it comes to learning to use new applications, even with good books. It takes some interpretation.

New features for 2.37a include things like a optimized and subsurf division features, New support for 'softbodies' and some force feild and deflection tools for those softbodies. Some new features added to the Python blender API. SMP support for the blender application renderer for faster rendering, added support for transparent filtering in the renderer.

Everything in the book is still valid. You can go thru the step-by-step instructions for modelling, animating, rendering and not get lost. Most new features and changes won't matter too much except to more advanced users.

Changelog can be found at http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Releaselogs.34.0.html
It's all very easy to understand.

Major incremental upgrades in features are in 2.32, 2.34, 2.36, 2.37a versions. The rest are mostly bugfix releases.

Remember this is Free/OSS software. You get the improvements as the developers work on them.. it's not like Maya or Softimage were it's price tag forces developers to do huge changes between versions to generate sales.

If your worried about versioning scew just use the version supplied with the book. It has binaries and source code for Windows, OS X, and Linux. No need to download anything at all if you don't feel like it.

I feel that's its worth it to upgrade to the newest version, even when following out of the book.

Pretty fucking good.

Blender 2.3 manual: Buy it, learn it, love it.

http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Manuals___Books.111.0 .html

Btw Blender is maturing nicely and is up to 2.37a stable version. Big improvements and stability happenned around 2.34-2.35 or so and the Python scripting framework rocks the house.

Blender is much more than just 3d modeling. It is a full suite of 3d modeling, sound syncing, animation, physics, great scripting capabilities, game engine, and an extremely fast renderer. It was used in parts of the development for Spiderman 2, so its obviously starting to catch the big guys' attention. Quite a few professionals already use it. It really is quite a product, and although its gui paradigm is different than most are used to, it turns out to be extremely effective. Other than that, blender has all your standard features, it can render to a cluster, it can do just about anything you want it, its just a matter of getting schools to start teaching it.
Regards,
Steve

I have some artist friends in the entertainment industry. Every so often I hear about great Maya is from some, and how great Max is from others. So I know that both have their fans.

But my question is: How does the open source Blender modeling and animation package compare to Maya and Max for creating content for movies, animations and games. What is it missing, what does it not do as well, what would it need to be able to compete? Is Blender even a worthy substitute for Maya or Max?

I'm new to all of the above don't know what the strengths of all these different programs are - besides Blender being $0 and the others being $haha for someone on a budget.

But yeah, on the wider Windows stuff, it comes from the wider open source community, and isn't Linux only (eg. things like Inkscape, Ethereal, Orbiter, Celestia, Blender, ...). They're all stand-outs, and they'll all either still be here with us in 20 years, or some better open-source software will have surpassed them.

Actually, tutorials is one of Blender's weak points right now - especially considering the relative pro-iness of the UI. Other people have posted links to the two most prominent sources, other than that you may consider buying the Blender 2.3 printed manual. It includes a 3D beginners section. It's quite cheap for what you get, I'm getting one myself soon ;-)

"If you are looking for free as in speech 3d-modellers and renderers, look at http://blender3d.org/, an exellent and highly advanced program."

Which was created originally using the Cathedral model. And now is in the hands of the Bazaar model for incremental improvements.

What the hell are you smoking? It started as a professional product, and the community bought the rights to it. It was used in some parts of Spiderman 2, if you don't believe that then go to your local book store, pick up the book about the making of Spiderman 2, find the storyline screenshots and you'll see Blender. It produces 3d graphics just as good as any other product (see for yourself). It also has one of the fastest known general renderers (not specialized for one kind of scene or another) in existence. It isn't just a 3d modeling suite, you can do all of your post production with it as well. Its featureset is rarely matched (hell it even has a game engine). Its interface has a high learning curve (as all 3D programs do), but it is designed as well as say Vi or Emacs are for text editors. Blender is truly one of the hallmarks of open source and it is finely catching the eyes of many professionals, these are just a few.
Regards,
Steve

What the hell are you smoking? It started as a professional product, and the community bought the rights to it. It was used in some parts of Spiderman 2, if you don't believe that then go to your local book store, pick up the book about the making of Spiderman 2, find the storyline screenshots and you'll see Blender. It produces 3d graphics just as good as any other product (see for yourself). It also has one of the fastest known general renderers (not specialized for one kind of scene or another) in existence. It isn't just a 3d modeling suite, you can do all of your post production with it as well. Its featureset is rarely matched (hell it even has a game engine). Its interface has a high learning curve (as all 3D programs do), but it is designed as well as say Vi or Emacs are for text editors. Blender is truly one of the hallmarks of open source and it is finely catching the eyes of many professionals, these are just a few.
Regards,
Steve

Blender 3D is a good alternative for the Linux users: http://www.blender3d.org/

Meanwhile, a good project like Blender scrapes and begs for a measly 500 bucks.

Note that this program is only free as in beer and is not Free Software. If you are looking for free as in speech 3d-modellers and renderers, look at http://blender3d.org/, an exellent and highly advanced program.

Productivity:

Graphics:

Media:

Internet:

Survival Kit:

Development:

I changed my pants, but I'd do it all over again if I could figure out a way to easily export the data into formats that other programs understand (eg. Celestia, or even just Blender).

Thanks to GPL weve got thousands of pieces of codes that the community can both learn from and distribute amongst each other.

Dont even think for a minute that the world is so "well-adapted" and would play nice if we took away GPL.

Let me take http://www.blender3d.org/ as an example. The community bought this excellent piece of 3d software free from the grasp of shareholders and re-licensed it to GPL.

Thanks to that, its relatively safe from its actual competitors such as Discreet(AutoDesk), Alias etc. This program is so powerful that it actually can compete with the big ones, I know... I use it commercially today to develop artworks for ad-campaings that bring food on the table, but the GPL license made it affordable for me to get a "start" on my own instead of having to invest thousands of dollars into expensive 3d-software.

The big companies see us as potential customers as long as Blender where inferior to their software, but now as it has grown bigger...and more companies/personal users etc. are using it...

Dont go thinking theyll play it nice forever...losing customers theyll look for an "edge" somewhere...such as a license infringement...maybe code or functions that are equal to theirs SUE SUE SUE!

Darl McBride anyone?

We need GPL, now more than ever!

It can import and md2, md3 and md5. If the neccesary scripts aren't in the release yet, you can get them (and many other scripts) at:

http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Import___Export.5.0.h tml

I'm simply amazed at how great the Blender artwork and movies have become. I tried Blender over 5 years ago as a hobby. Unfortunately, as I already knew, I was probably the worst artist in the entire world and couldn't produce anything that the software didn't create for me. But that doesn't keep me from admiring the hard work and amazing abilities of those that posses much greater skill than I do.

Anybody know if any major motion picture studios are using Blender? I know Pixar has their own proprietary software that they use. I'm not sure about any of the others.

I'm simply amazed at how great the Blender artwork and movies have become. I tried Blender over 5 years ago as a hobby. Unfortunately, as I already knew, I was probably the worst artist in the entire world and couldn't produce anything that the software didn't create for me. But that doesn't keep me from admiring the hard work and amazing abilities of those that posses much greater skill than I do.

Anybody know if any major motion picture studios are using Blender? I know Pixar has their own proprietary software that they use. I'm not sure about any of the others.

Actually a good read. He's got a point, mice aren't exactly the best tool for the job. I mean, from a programmer's perspective it doesn't make sense to have anything BUT a keyboard, but he got me thinking...

We're getting closer and closer to 3D window managers, and once they do actually spread, a mouse won't be enough...

We'll need a peripheral that'll be able to control not only distance in 2 dimensions, but also distance in the 3rd, and rotations in all 3 axes!

So what's the idea, you might ask. Well, think about a gamepad like any of the latest gen consoles... I'm not saying something that uses both hands, but we need a mix of keyboard and gamepad to somehow achieve the most productivity.

I like the 105 keyboard layout, at least the QWERTY layout lets programmers access all programming essential characters as well as alphanumeric characters fairly easily and with some logic (that of slowing down typing, for typewriters at the time). I don't want to get rid of something this useful, but There's also the new "holographic style" keyboard I saw somewhere, where the "keyboard" is actually projecting the keyboard layout on a flat surface, and has an optical read on where the letters are.

Now mix that holo-keyboard with a dimensional input, for both hands, and an easily accessible button that allows to switch between both modes.
This would ultimately lead to a control of the computer far more precise and faster than what we have at the moment. Of course, there's also going to be a hybrid mode for FPS players. I have a hard time imagining them switching between modes... they'd get neurastenic pretty quickly.

So I'm wondering when we're going to see things in the style of Final Fantasy... Since MIT has a working prototype of a 2D holographic projector.

Other than that, he's obviously never tried to use a program like Blender, where keyboard AND mouse are required for input. I personally like trackballs better (the finger kind, not the thumb ones, those are just confusing).

Anyway, just my $.02 worth.

It would be great if people submit ideas for working on Blender http://www.blender3d.org/

It is advancing at a breakneak pace already and already provides superb functionality, but more coders is always welcome,

LetterRip

Take Blender http://www.blender3d.org/ and re-write its UI. It's got a massive learning curve like any other program, but maybe if someone was obsessed with usability took a crack at it, something revolutionary might happen. It gets you further along than you'd want to go on your own.

I love the concept of being able to just mark two places in a room and tell a character to walk from A to B, and worry about subtleties once the basics were down. Making the software work for the artist is the first step to something better.

So yeah, start coding. I say that cause I can't code at all.