Blender Releases Linux 3D Web Plugin

Qbertino writes: "Not a Number, producer of Blender, the Linux community's favorite professional 3D Package (get it for free) has released the beta of their 3D Web Plugin for Netscape 6.1 / Mozilla on Linux/Unix. It offers full integration of Blender's realtime 3D enviroment based applications into the browser's enviroment. Including OpenGL acceleration and all. Check out the Demos. Feedback on the beta-release is welcome and kindly requested on the Blender Community Discussion Board."

Comments

Cross-platform

[maggard]

What didn't get noted is that one can go to the same demos running Wintel and IE and get a working plugin automagically installed. This isn't just Linux/Mozilla but reasonably cross-platform. Next gotta check with MacOS & MacOS X.

Re:Does it support Internet Explorer?

[proxima]

The Blender plugin for Internet Explorer has been available for some time. Here is the link to the Blender 3D plugin download page.

Re:Blender in general

[brondsem]

Take a look at the learning path. It helped me get a good grasp on the interface. I haven't used other editors, so I can't say it's better or worse than any.

Market

[peterdaly]

Seeing how the site is slashdotted, I might as well reply.

I see the market for this not being "VRML" like things, like someone said, but remote viewing of blender files (and other supported formats?) without having to have blender installed. The same reason many companies use PDF for "print" documents. You don't have to have the DTP tool used to create the document, you just have to have a common web based viewer (Acrobat.)

I know companies charge thousands for web plug-ins that let people view ProE models and the like without having ProE installed. Is this much different?

-Pete

Blender's User Interface

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi, I have used Blender for a couple of years, and I have some comments on the user interface that would probably shed some light here.

The interface is not obvious at first, but it seems to follow a *nix like trend, in that it is:

1) Confusing, and difficult to pick up.
2) Way faster than the more widely known packages, once you get the hang of it.
3) High degree of customizability in workflow and layout of the screen.

It takes time to understand the interface (and the manual helps a lot), but it does boast a very direct feel in the workflow, there are few cumbersome elements in the interface.

-Adrian

Re:Free as in Free Beer

[Fizzlewhiff]

Come on, that link is almost 4 years old. Go to the official site and download the latest version for free. It is not open source but lack of that does not make it non free. It is a good product. I have used the Linux and the Windows versions and it is capable of amazing things.

Alias|wavefront is supposed to be releasing a free (for non commercial use) version of Maya soon. I heard it will embed a watermark in your work. But still, having access and getting exposure to software that costs thousands of dollars is well worth it.

Yet Another Proprietary 3D Format

[Animats]

The Blender player is free. Blender as a 3D package rendering videos is free. But the part of Blender that outputs to the player is not free.

And the player file format is proprietary.

There are other 3D players. Shockwave 3D, for example. VRML, despite lack of interest, actually works quite well now, if you have a 3D accelerator board and DSL or better. There's X3D, which is just VRML text expressed as XML, but nobody uses that.

X3D would be a useful format if it was used, because it's one of the very few non-proprietary, documented 3D scene formats out there. Consider it if you're doing open-source 3D tools.

I'd like to see X3D import and export for Blender. VRML 2 export has been done as a Python script, so it's possible. Blender itself only does VRML 1.

Blender future: !Open-Source && !Free-as-i

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt about the Open Source part, specially because they aren't 100% Free as in Beer anymore. If you want to get the latest updates and features, like locking files to avoid others editing yours, you've to put $300 or more in their pockets. and they are targeting more the game and plugin part than the animation part.

Just browse thier site (if it works now) and check the shop (Publisher product) or the forums (some unhappy members).

Re:Blender in general

[Qbertino]

Blender in general still is free ('beer'). For everything classical 3D packages are actually used (stills, videos, sfx, etc.).
Only if you want to produce stand alone realtime 3D applications or web content without the blender logo displayed in a corner at the bottem do you have to buy a license.
Which is, on top of that, somewhat resonable in pricing (around 300$, single license) for such a package.

Notice that the other thing in this game is NeMo/Virtools for something like 5000$. And that's a windows-only gadget.

Oh, and btw, just for the book :-) , Blender's most outstanding feature is - believe it or not - it's user interface and workspace management. Unmatched speed, usability, versatility and customizability. No shit. The first two weeks I thought their GUI designers had smoked some really bad stuff (everybody does!) - then I caught on.
Once you've grasped what they were up to when they programed this, you'll NEVER ever touch any other 3D Modeller again. I actually consider Blenders interface on of the most remarkable feats in interface design in general.
I honestly thought cinema4d was king in this area. It actually is just another also-ran.

Re:why is Blender not open source?

[MrResistor]

Some of it is.

I think this page gives some good insight into their business model. Basically, Publisher (not free) pays for developement, and thus gets all the new features first. Once development is paid for the features get rolled into Creator (free). I think this sort of model is an excellent way to run a project like this, as long as no one gets greedy. The developers are paid, and therefore more motivated to do the "less sexy" jobs, and all the hardware and software necessary to develope a truely cross-platform package are acquired without relying on donations.