Blender Gets Audio Sequencing

Qbertino writes "The universal GPLd 3D tool Blender that was bought free by the Blender community not so long ago, has gotten audio sequencing added to its feature set. This has been missing ever since the integrated Video NL (Non-Linear) Editor/Sequencer was introduced. The only other 3D package known for its integrated Video NLE is the proprietary Houdini, which also runs under Linux but comes at something like $3000 for its small featureset. This finally gives the OSS community a lightweight alternative to this and eases syncing 3D animation and audio a great deal. Audio sequencing will be integrated in the upcoming 2.28 release of Blender. Early adopters can download here."

Comments

But can it still

[Anonymous Coward]

Make smoothies? I hope so! Mmmm, smoothies...

Blender?

[Anonymous Coward]

Blite my shiny metal ass!

It doesn't make too much sense

[Samir Gupta]

Just like those all-in-one cell phones, or printers/copiers/scanners/faxes, I suspect that they will have to compromise on quality, lest they end up with some bloated software product.

I'd much rather have separate best-of-breed software packages, than an integrated one that does everything OK, but not great.

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee, Nintendo's "head of advanced R&D" must not have much to do if he can post on slashdot all day.

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a holiday weekend.

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[the uNF cola]

You have the counter argument. Look at dvd players and cdplayers. Every dvd player I know can play a regular cd. Every oven has a broiler. Every shower has a tub. Well... mine does :)

Point is, some things go well together. Scanners and printers use such different technology, no wonder one does well and the other doesn't. Same with these cell/pda's.

A phone has 12 buttons minimum, to dial a number and communicate via audio. The technology used are for converting audio to digital signal and back. It also has a battery used for high power situations, transmitions. A PDA uses either minimal input, i.e. a touch pad/pen or maximum, such as a keyboard. It uses low power and needs a bit of ram. It also needs a larger screen. No wonder you can't find a well integrated device.. usually. It's getting beter though.

I can't speak for blender, the format of its files and such, but all-in-one devices aren't always bad. Heck, computers double as typewritters and game systems. :)

A PDA usually has either typewriter

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[the uNF cola]

Skip the last sentence.. keyboard burp?

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[Anonymous Coward]

By the way, everyone who modded this jerk-off up should take a look at his posting history, in which he's claimed to be an employee for several different companies, lied, trolled, and generally made an ass of himself.

I wish you moderators would put down the crack-pipe long enough to make sure this guy doesn't keep worming his way back.

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[darc]

Although your point does make sense, have you seen Maya? The thing IS an intergrated package that does everything. 3d Studio Max is kind of like what you speak of, where plugins make it best of breed, but Maya is bundled with just plain everything, and it IS basically quality all over the place. Version 5.0 finally includes mental ray that everyone was using anyway.

So, compromise is not an issue if you happen to have $2000 to blow.

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[czion3]

Just like those all-in-one cell phones, or printers/copiers/scanners/faxes, I suspect that they will have to compromise on quality, lest they end up with some bloated software product.

Isn't Mozilla an all-in-one program, it might big in size. IMHO Mozilla is the best all around internet application packs you can obtain.

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[Ogerman]

I suspect that they will have to compromise on quality, lest they end up with some bloated software product.

I'd much rather have separate best-of-breed software packages, than an integrated one that does everything OK, but not great.

I disagree with the myth that addition of features necessarily compromises quality or causes bloat. If you're talking about a highly monolithic application, then yes, that *can* be an issue. However, proper modular design entirely dispenses of the drawbacks of feature 'bloat'. Furthermore, memory is a non-issue with modern hardware, so that argument falls flat. What's left is something along the lines of: "will adding this feature compromise the integrity of other features?" If the answer is no and the feature will add to the program's usefulness, there is no reason not to add it. Granted, if someone tried to integrate a word processor into Blender, *that* would be useless bloat. But trying to be the ultimate integrated 3D modeling / NLE package is a worthy goal. There are a lot of advantages to combining the two tasks, such as being able to do all rendering and compositing in one pass and without having to constantly switch back and forth between applications, doing renders / re-importing results back and forth, etc.

Re:It doesn't make too much sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude! he's a PhD!! Worship him!!!

Like putting "PhD" at the end of your posts is supposed to give it credibility.

Hah. Like HAVING a PhD is supposed to give YOU credibility.

--
Anonymous Coward, PhD

Hi,

[Anonymous Coward]

I have read the article(s) several times, and I just have to say that I think this is swell.

I hope you enjoyed reading my post!

Bye.

Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[digitalhermit]

Blender is definitely a great success story. Like Gimp is to Photoshop, Blender is to Maya. Though Photoshop is still the heavyweight tool for photo manipulation and though I'm an experienced Gimp user, I know that there are things that Photoshop can do that Gimp cannot do as easily. But the $500 price tag for Photoshop makes me a big, big Gimp fan. It does everything I need. Same for Blender. It is not in the same class as Maya but with a little work, can do many of the same things. In fact, it's at the point where it competes well against many of the lower end commercial packages costing hundreds of dollars.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

You pay for photoshop?!?!?
At 500$ a pop you're practically obligated to pirate it.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[the_real_tigga]

Like Gimp is to Photoshop, Blender is to Maya.

AAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHA!

I like blender but this is hilarious.
Have you ever even *glimpsed* at the things Maya can do?

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[digitalhermit]

Actually, yes. I own the Windows version and have been learning Maya for the past year. But you quite obviously didn't read my post or else you wouldn't have made such a comment. Maya can do many things that Blender cannot, but the $1200 price tag puts it out of reach for many people who just want to experiment.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[the uNF cola]

That was the point. Photoshop can do everything Maya can do, but not vice versa. Maya can do everything blender can do...

m'thinks you misread. :)

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Osty]

But the $500 price tag for Photoshop makes me a big, big Gimp fan. It does everything I need.

Unless you're a graphics design professional (in which case, $500 is a business expense and can be written off on your taxes, and is a small price to pay to have the industry-standard tool), you probably don't need most of what Photoshop does. However, Photoshop's interface is one of its greatest assets, and you can get that and all the functionality most enthusiasts need in Adobe's Photoshop Elements product. It's $99 and available for Mac and Windows. If you're too lazy to go to the store, you can pay online and download it.

If $99 is still too much for you, then I can't help you.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

Photoshop can do everything Maya can do, but not vice versa....m'thinks you misread. :)

m'thinks you mistyped :)

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[the_real_tigga]

I agree with your post in general, I just giggled at the relations.
I think Gimp / Photoshop >> than Blender / Maya (if you catch my drift).

And Gimp has much better chances of ever reaching Photoshop than Blender to reach Maya.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

Blender is definitely a great success story. Like Gimp is to Photoshop, Blender is to Maya.

How is that a success story? Photoshop >> GIMP

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll buy Photoshop Elements as soon as they release a Linux version. Until then, I'll continue to use and contribute to the GIMP effort.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Osty]

I'll buy Photoshop Elements as soon as they release a Linux version. Until then, I'll continue to use and contribute to the GIMP effort.

Of course you will, because you don't have a choice. You also can't use Photoshop. That's not the point. The original parent brought up Photoshop pricing as a reason to use the GIMP, which means that he must be using (or willing to use) an operating system which Photoshop supports. Therefore, if Photoshop Elements satisfies his needs and fits within his budget ($99 vs. $500), it should also be considered a valid alternative.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[the uNF cola]

m'thinks me is on crack. unf.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

Gimp is useful to some casual users. But it lacks many basic elements of a professional tool of its category. Here's a missing function that you don't hear about that often, but I promise you it's a biggie: STEP AND REPEAT.

I've gone looking for an analog to this in the Gimp interface and Gimp manual. It simply doesn't exist. The closest thing to it --"offset cloned layers"-- just doesn't WORK.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

Photoshop can do everything [Gimp] can do, but not vice versa.

Hey, crackpuppy, point me at Photoshit's scripting system. Photoshit had to play catch up for quite a while. Gimp's prepress side is stymied by Photoshit patents, and nothing matches Gimp's 16-bit version... And to the other person, write your own damned offset repeat and step toy...

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[calethix]

"Photoshit had to play catch up for quite a while"

huh? Photoshop catch up with Gimp? I've used several different paint programs and Gimp irritates me more than any other one except maybe Microsoft Paint.

I really don't know if it's just the interface or the features but at least for me, Photoshop blows the Gimp away.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

I would like to add that I use Gimp alot, because I use Linux alot--constantly really--, and i'm grateful to the people who code Gimp. In fact I hope you breed like rabbits and multiply the number of Gimp coders to the moon.
But it's because I use Gimp alot that I miss this function. (It's too important to be called a "feature").

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

here you go sunshine.

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou. jsp?ftpID=1535&fileID=1469

It's not a toy. Step and Repeat is an essential tool. It (should) works in x,y and/or in degrees of rotation. Just you try taking it away from a studio full of designers on Monday --and see who's still showing up in your offices for work by Thursday.

Then you'll understand that if any program is a "Toy", it would be the program that purports to be an image editor but doesn't have a step and repeat function.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[FooBarWidget]

Do home users and non-professionals really need everything Maya can do? Or everything Photoshop can do? Why should they spent $400+ on Photoshop or Maya when they can do what they need for $0?

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

Do home users and non-professionals really need everything Maya can do? Or everything Photoshop can do? Why should they spent $400+ on Photoshop or Maya when they can do what they need for $0?
>
>
Of course not, since software like Maya *WAS NEVER INTENDED* for use by the home market.

The people who develop software like Maya must be laughing their heads off at the people who run out and buy software like this for home use.

Re:Counterparts to Photoshop, Maya

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the point genius.

Have you ever *glimpsed* the thinkgs photoshop can do?

Sure gimp and photoshop look about the same to amateurs but...

WARNING! Hidden GPL agreement found!

[Anonymous Coward]

RMS slipped this into the license while no one was watching. Any equipment used to create a derivative work with GPLed material is now considered to be GPL as well! This means ANYONE can come and use said GPLed equipment, and you have no legal right to refuse them! You no longer own these physical items.

Reject the GPL, RMS did this to steal our property.

Re:WARNING! Hidden GPL agreement found!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't be the first time RMS slipped something in while no one was watching, if you catch my drift... that he's queer... you know... gay? HOMOSEXUAL!

Oh please.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Gimp doesn't even compare to Paint Shop Pro 5, and you can get that nowadays for the price of a pizza.

Re:Oh please.

[bumby]

Paint Shop Pro 5 doesn't even compare to MS Paint, and you can get that nowadays for free, it comes with windows, you only have to pay a $100 for windows. Or whatever it costs, I have never seen it for sale actually, haha.

Re:Oh please.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooooo, mspaint. Wow, with the XP version I can now save images in jpg and gif instead of just bmp.

Mod this girl down because she is nothing but a troll.

Re:Oh please.

[grolschie]

I use Photoshop at work, but far prefer PaintShopPro 7AE. I find more in PSP for my needs than with Photoshop. GIMP, I didn't have much fun there, however I guess we still to what we know.....

I am glad that there are viable alternatives these days for most tools.

OSS is feature obsessed

[Anonymous Coward]

why o why is the OSS community obsessed with features ? why cant you fkin fix bugs instead of the current obsession with adding more and more features that add more bugs making it even more unstable, is it boredom or pride ?

do yourselves a favour and make the original application perfect ie: bug free , before adding more features/bloat?

even mozilla had to branch firebird cos the original application has become too bloated and unmanageable in its current form

and people wonder why with all this free software about , business still choose M$

*sigh*

Re:OSS is feature obsessed

[lowmagnet]

Good example of featuritis is the GIMP and their script-fu menus. Who else but a geek would write a library framework for plugins that often crash and take the program out with them.

The easier the interface, the less features, the better. All of the software I love to use (except Photoshop) fits this mould. Not that Photoshop is bad; it's the best. The problem with Photoshop is too many features to get to the work I need to do.

Re:OSS is feature obsessed

[Hamster Of Death]

Simply because fixing bugs is boring and often tedious. Not many people get their kicks bug fixing. Writing new features is much more appealing since it is a) new and b) makes Open Source Project X that much more comparable to Closed Source Project Y

So new features are added first because they are fun and increase product visibility. Bugs often take a back seat due to the drudgery associated with them.

Re:OSS is feature obsessed

[Ogerman]

Good example of featuritis is the GIMP and their script-fu menus. Who else but a geek would write a library framework for plugins that often crash and take the program out with them.

First, if you're seeing crashes, something is wrong with your installation or you're using a really old version. Second, script-fu, while ultimately not necessary, is very useful for automating certain image processing tasks, and is actually one of Gimp's strengths.

Re:OSS is feature obsessed

[MourningBlade]

If we accept as given that most people code open source to "scratch an itch" not "replace something that works" (and that does seem to be true. Most "replacements" are replacements that do something more/different), then I don't think that this is true. Well, it is and it isn't. Hear me out.

A programmer working on a package to get it to do something that he needs done will work on it to the point that it does what he wants. A bug that blocks him from doing what he wants means that he's not done yet, hence bugs will get fixed as well. A counter-argument might be made that the programmer is less likely to write good code to fix a bug than to write good code to implement a feature, but, honestly, this is not a big issue. Fix the bug to where it's fixed, and next time you implement a feature, re-organize the code. That seems to be what most people do anyways.

But why, then, do we have buggy programs and no one willing to fix those bugs before implementing a feature? Well, very few people get up in the morning and thing "I'm going to knock out some bugs that don't really affect me today." Unless that person is the maintainer, of course, then he might think that.

People are goal oriented, not task oriented. I think that's one of the reasons why so few of us have the ability to do very good time management, yet most of us have the ability to get something done.

Anyways, that's my theory, let me know what you think.

Re:OSS is feature obsessed

[Tyler Eaves]

Except that you can do basically the same with macros in photoshop, without ever writing a line of code. Not that coding is bad, nessesarily, but the GIMP API is majorly fugly.

Re:OSS is feature obsessed

[lowmagnet]

Photoshop has had this functionality for years, and it's user-friendly, process-oriented, and intuitive. Seriously, have you ever *used* photoshop? I gave GIMP a try, on several occasions. I think you owe it to yourself to see what the GIMP needs.

Re:OSS is feature obsessed

[arose]

So we have an advanced(?) macro recorder versus 3 full featured program languages.

It *does* make sense

[AsparagusChallenge]

Blender's primary target is to be able of making ready-to-publish video from scratch. Composing audio is a priority, unless you aim to recreating the beginnings of cinema.

Jinkies!

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought it was really keen, too.

Houdini != small feature set

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry for the nitpick, but for the sake of not propogating mis-information, Houdini has anything but a small feature set, modeling/rendering/compositing very powerfull scripting, CHOPS/SOPS very powerfull particle systems, its been around quite a bit longer then blender as well. More along the lines of Maya Unlimited and Softimage XSI featureset wise.

http://www.sidefx.com/

Re:Houdini != small feature set

[Tyler Eaves]

Not to mention they offer a FREE learning version. It even runs on Linux ;)

Re:Houdini != small feature set

[be-fan]

In addition, it has UI more towards Blender's end of the spectrum in the ease of use department, and a pricetag of $15,000, not $3000.

This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

but what I really want is Linux alternatives to the Sonic Foundry Range of superior audio-warez!
if you can match that set of high-quality audio sequencers and editors i'd swap to linux in an instant!

release time?

[the_real_tigga]

Blender.org is gonna release a new version?

You gotta be kidding.

I thought they were gonna go the ways of xmms and the gimp and the dodo: famous, cute, but dead.

(Yeah I might be trolling a bit, but at least I didn't throw in BSD as well...)

Re:release time?

[FunkyChild]

Erm.. 2.27 was just released earlier this month - the second release after the open-sourcing.

Re:release time?

[KeyserDK]

gimp isn't dead. Far from.

There is a free version of Maya.

[Anonymous Coward]

It is free and complete and equal in power to the commercial version. There are no time limits.

Of course there's a catch. This version uses a non compatible file format that is only read by this version. But then again, you're learning how to 3D model, right?

http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/products/maya/p le /index.shtml

Re:There is a free version of Maya.

[digitalhermit]

I've played with the demo version from the Alias site, but it does not do justice to the real program. For one, it watermarks all pages, has the incompatible format that you mentioned, and is extremely crash-prone. I ended up getting the Maya Complete version (still paying back the credit card). Oh, it's also only for Win2K/MacOS.

Re:There is a free version of Maya.

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a version of Maya for linux as well..... (pixar is using it that way)

Re:There is a free version of Maya.

[Anonymous Coward]

but no free Learning version of Maya for Linux. That's what they were talking about. Demo-> Personal Learning Edition.
Maya PLE is Pretty Lame & Expendable though, so not having it on Linux is not a big loss.

Re:There is a free version of Maya.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, only for Win2K and OS X... and Win XP Pro... and IRIX.... and Linux...

Maya Unlimted is available for all the above except for OS X.

How in the ... ?!

[gergi]

I'm totally impressed. I can't even figure out how to use blender much less resequence my audio (or whatever)!

Seriously... Anyone out there know how to use Blender? Wanna send me some links to documentation, particularly tutorials? Even better would be tutorials that are up-to-date!

Re:How in the ... ?!

[digitalhermit]

I started a page here. I'm preparing a section on shaders and animation that should be ready in a couple weeks.

Re:How in the ... ?!

[FunkyChild]

This should get you started. There's a good community site at www.elysiun.com - they can help answer questions in the forums if you get stuck.

Re:How in the ... ?!

[shibbydude]

On my site, reblended.com/tutorials. Or just google for it.

Re:How in the ... ?!

[OnarGrindlewald]

Yep, I was there, too. There are a ton of hidden menus/command/button combos that will trip you up without a goo doc. Try this. This is a great way to break into this otherwise rather obtuse piece of software....

Re:How in the ... ?!

[fucksl4shd0t]

I checked out your page, but didn't find anything particularly helpful. :( I've been working with blender for awhile and already got past the basic stuff.

That said, considering that tutorials and crap are pretty hard to come by, and it's great that you're doing this. But I'll tell you what, 4 months ago that page would've been a godsend to me. :) (the stock blender tutorial was broke when I was working through it)

I realize you're doing stuff on animations right now, but is there a chance you might know something you could write about the animation effects? (you know, build, particle, and wave) I've had some luck with particle systems, but it'd be really nice if there was something to tell me exactly how to use them. :)

Re:How in the ... ?!

[fucksl4shd0t]

Hey dude, the script didn't work! I suppose this isn't the place for me to send bugs, is it? :) Um, where should I send bugs? I don't know any python (or anything about programming blender), but I'll see if I can find something with it...

Re:How in the ... ?!

[Qbertino]

You've got a point here.
Blender's learning curve at first sight isn't just steep, it seems like a wall.
For instance there is no way for a Blender-newbie to suspect the interface to be manipulatable with the same functions you manage the viewport. Try zooming (ctrl&Keypad+/-) on the viewport and on the button windows for starts to see what I mean...
The fist 3 weeks I started with blender my head was spinning and I couldn't get a grasp of doing stuff that was remotely usefull in a reasonable amount of time. Blenders interface seems to make a sport of doing *everything* different. That's especially tough when you're used to Cinema 4D, 3DSMax or stuff like that. One point being the difference between edit and select mode, the other being selected & active condition (grasp those for starts).
The keyboard shortcuts are not standard due to the extremely bizare amounts of them. Check this
overview of shortcuts from the 1.8 version (still very usefull!) to see what I mean.
Yet, beyond all this, one you've grasped the interface you'll be faster with blender than you could possibly be with *any* other 3D tool.
It's a little extreme a copmarsion, but one might be able to say that Blender is the Emacs of 3D tools. With all the downsides, but also with all the benefits.

Bloated?

[metalhed77]

Blender may be crap, but at 2 megs it is hardly bloated.

Re:Bloated?

[ovapositor]

I agree. People who comlain about "bloat" make me nuts. I wish they would just shut the hell up.

missing functionality, but adding new toys?

[SuperBanana]

Maybe it's just me, but they seem to be rather confused between the "About Blender" pages, the Changelog, etc...2.2.7 specifically says cartoon shading doesn't work. "About Blender" says it does. Which is it, guys?

Then, note that a lot of file formats don't work on Linux- only Win + MacOS X. None of the plugins work in OS X yet...so on. It's beta quality stuff, like walking into a house and the owners keep telling you "no, don't open that door, it's not on the hinges!" or "watch your step" when you pass by the 3-foot hole in the floor. Oh, but look at the MARVELOUS sun porch they just finished!

See this all the time- developers working on the bright+shiny things, while leaving behind major, glaring problems. Guys, fix it up so existing stuff works, THEN add new toys. What good is a car that has a really sweet stereo setup, but only 3 wheels?

I get the distinct impression Blender developers have bitten off more than they can chew, but are back in the kitchen for dessert regardless...

Re:missing functionality, but adding new toys?

[FunkyChild]

Maybe it's just me, but they seem to be rather confused between the "About Blender" pages, the Changelog, etc...2.2.7 specifically says cartoon shading doesn't work. "About Blender" says it does. Which is it, guys?

Blender already has basic toon shading capabilities - it can render toon-style 'edges' on models, and with a bit of fiddling with textures and normal-dependent falloff gradient textures, you can get a reasonable result (as is on the left in this thumbnail image, however this isn't dependent on light sources.

One of the new volunteers, Cessen, has been working on an updated shading system which adds on an Oren-nayar blinn shading and a toon shading method to the current phong shading. Cessen's new work is a much easier and more accurate way of toon shading (works based on light sources, specularity etc), not to mention the obvious improvements in adding blinn shading too. Unfortuately there wasn't enough time to integrate Cessen's changes for the 2.27 release, but it should be in the next.

Also keep in mind that Blender has only been open source for a relatively short time, and want' originally developed in an open source context (a la netscape->mozilla). It will take some time for developers to properly familiarise themselves with the huge amount of code in there, and start to re-organise it into something that facilitates an open-source model rather than the previous.

Re:missing functionality, but adding new toys?

[SuperBanana]

Blender already has basic toon shading capabilities - it can render toon-style 'edges' on models, and with a bit of fiddling with textures and normal-dependent falloff gradient textures, you can get a reasonable result (as is on the left in this thumbnail image [blender3d.org], however this isn't dependent on light sources.

Excellent clarification- thank you.

It will take some time for developers to properly familiarise themselves with the huge amount of code in there, and start to re-organise it into something that facilitates an open-source model rather than the previous.

All the more reason to focus on "familiarizing" themselves with the code, and not adding new glitzy functionality. Adding -major- new features that rather dramatically change the direction of the software...well, that should be bottom of the priority list IMHO. Sorry, I still say their priorities are out of whack.

Re:missing functionality, but adding new toys?

[Anonymous Coward]

How many more piss-poor analogies could one cram into a post?

Re:missing functionality, but adding new toys?

[Anonymous Coward]

See this all the time- developers working on the bright+shiny things, while leaving behind major, glaring problems. Guys, fix it up so existing stuff works, THEN add new toys. What good is a car that has a really sweet stereo setup, but only 3 wheels?

You can't drive a 3 wheeled car, but you can use slightly braindead software to do what it was meant to

Re:missing functionality, but adding new toys?

[paRcat]

and just which priorities would those be?

Blender is stable. There are certain things that some want it to have... hence, they are being added. In the mean time, other specific parts are being re-written/optimized.

Just because you say their priorities are 'out of whack' doesn't really mean anything, with all due respect.

Re:missing functionality, but adding new toys?

[brianosaurus]

My guess is that most of the Blender developers are using Linux, or Windows, and fewer of them use Mac OSX. While I would love to see all of the features running on OSX, I can understand that a Linux developer would have a different priority set that I do.

If they already have working plugins, why shouldn't they work on new features? If there are Mac users who want the plugins to work, they can look at the source code and start making it happen.

I think a common misconception with Open Source software is that its trying to "beat" commercial software. That's silly. The Maya (and Photoshop) programmers get paid to implement that their customers see as a priority. As long as someone is willing to pay enough for it, it will get done.

On the Open Source side, there is a group of motivated programmers who are making a tool that does what they want. They are motivated primarily by their own needs and desires of what the tool should do. They don't have customers. If it work on their computers, then it works. If it doesn't work on YOUR computer, you have the option to download the source and make it work.

But for a Linux programmer to sit on his thumbs waiting for the Mac port to be finished before adding new capabilities to the system is ridiculous.

xmms is dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

say what?!

Some guy just sold me a shiny new xmms version 2 cd on the street....are you saying its a fake??

Re:xmms is dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, that is EXtreme Maiden Madness 2, Hentai game, quite enjoyable.

Kudos to the Blender community!

[stox]

The Blender project is a major milestone in the progression of open source software. For the first time, a closed project was brought into the open by the users. Compared to others, they have been remarkably fast at bringing a working product to market. They have also been extremely responsible in respect for copyright, and are currently helping to bring more closed work into the open. This project is one class act, and I hope that their model is extremely successful.

Bloated?

[crunchywelch]

It's interesting reading the posts bewailing software bloat, I wonder how many of these posts are submitted by media creation professionals? Have you taken a look at Newtek's VideoToaster lately? Or how about Final Cut Pro? Granted, both are more NLE video editors (Although VideoToaster comes with Aura and Lightwave) but both of these products are chock full of "bloat" and causing the industry leaders like Avid take notice. I'd much rather have a production suite with some "bloat" in order to curtail some of the endless Render -> Export -> Import/convert -> re-sync -> export -> encode -> master -> blah -> blah -> blah process..... I for one can't wait to try out the new blender features, nice work and full steam ahead!

bah!

[Anonymous Coward]

Adding useful features is such a waste of time!

Now, rewriting it in Java, That would be a REALLY good use of development time!!

Re:bah!

[Anonymous Coward]

Laugh all you want, but there is a pretty decent modeller/raytracer called Art of Illusion written entirely in Java. Check out the screenshots!

YOU FUCKING KARMA WHORE

[Anonymous Coward]

This is obviously a karma whore. Why the fuck are you moderating this arse up? It's just five unoriginal words stolen from a mildly amusing creation of Matt Groening. Fucker.

Re:YOU FUCKING KARMA WHORE

[Anonymous Coward]

How can I be a karma whore if I post anonymously?

douche.

Re:YOU FUCKING KARMA WHORE

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah. I guess you're right. I am a douche. Sorry.

Re:YOU FUCKING KARMA WHORE

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, Anonymous Coward will get the karma won't she now?!?!

Pathice. Pedicabo ego te et irrumabo.

Re:YOU FUCKING KARMA WHORE

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey! Don't go taking credit for my posts.

Re:YOU FUCKING KARMA WHORE

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you stop taking credit for my posts!

Doppelganger!!!

Re:YOU FUCKING KARMA WHORE

[Anonymous Coward]

I hereby declare this the most successful shindig of the season!

A toast...to the Simpsons!

Ipaq Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

I love the IPAQ port of Blender!! 'Wireless 3D creation!'. Hopefully they will port another pocket pc version soon.

omg!

[Anonymous Coward]

Your psychedelic arguing with yourself and someone else simultaneously is too much for my divvy little brain to handle!


[brain explodes through monitor]

Re:omg!

[Anonymous Coward]

excuse me sir have we met?

I d0nt rema3mb

brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

not a dog or rat...animal control

yellow mat

Re:omg!

[Anonymous Coward]

I am Jack's raging bile duct.

Re:omg!

[Anonymous Coward]

[me pictures that] rofl!

seriously, to get ontopic again: it's blender not bender!

bender is a character from a tv show called futurama

All very nice, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Blender has some really nice features, but the user interface really is as bad as its critics say. I have tried to get comfortable with blender a half-dozen times now, but every time I have realised that it isn't worth damaging my brain like that. I am no expert, but I managed to pick up 3ds MAX in a couple of hours, but blender is utterly opaque.

It is a great shame, as there are a ton on brillint features buried beneath that hideous UI.

Re:All very nice, but...

[paRcat]

i've always wanted to say this...

RTFM.

Re:All very nice, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

What FM? The $20 book? It is a pretty sad indictment of a piece of /free/ software that one has to go and buy a book before it is usuable.

Other software writers long ago learned that when the interface is standardised, the user can leverage his/her knowledge on one program to quickly learn another. I guess the blender developers are just too fucking l33t to consider that.

Using Blender

[Anonymous Coward]

Blender has more buttons then a 747 Jet Airliner. While its amazing to see that Blender raised enough money, I wish that they would rework the entire GUI.

I also use Windows (please dont kill me), and seem to experience some annoying problems with blender (like the window not resizing correctly to my resolution, and just annoying GUI bugs)

Unless I need something complex, I'll stick with milkshape.

missing functionality?

[swerk]

Just because some of the newest features aren't fully fleshed out yet (quicktime support, multilingual interface, this new audio stuff, etc) doesn't mean things are broken.

Every single blender developer (of which there are many now, thanks to Ton's hard work and the fundraiser resulting in the code being opened) shouldn't have to concentrate on one new feature at a time. So naturally there will be several things being added at a time, at various stages of completion.

By the way, toon shading does work, we've had lots of releases since 2.2.7.

Blender just keeps getting better and better. I personally didn't/don't use the game engine features much, but plenty of people do and I think it's great that they're getting rebuilt now without the proprietary code that had to be removed for 2.2.16 (first release under the GPL). I DO think I'll be using these new audio tools, and I'm glad the people who have been working on them do not share your view that all existing features should be polished before anything new is added.

The GIMP, KDE, GNOME, the Linux kernel itself, are all huge projects with many facets which would never be as sophisticated as they are today without many developers plunging in and doing new stuff. Does the technique make for some rough edges? You bet. But it also results in full-featured and useful software.

WTF is that shit?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot performance art or something? This is not a fucking poetry slam! This is a fucking trolling session going out live on air! FUCK!

Re:WTF is that shit?

[Anonymous Coward]

SLASHdot trolling session

LIVE on WTFUCK

tune in
turn on
drop out

Re:WTF is that shit?

[Anonymous Coward]

OmG I h4x0r3d yuo

# Important Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic.
# Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads.
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# Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)

Re:WTF is that shit?

[Anonymous Coward]

I am smart - much smarter than you - Hibbert!

if i ever meet you i will kick your ass

Yes, this is a fucking "SLASHdot trolling session". Yes, this is going out live. See the fuckign cameraman? And the smashed up autocue? The boom operator's pointing at YUO , you stupid penis head.

user interface blues

[sashang]

I've tried several 3d modelling packages. Most of them have innovative and different user interfaces. I've found blender's ui to be hard to get to grips with. It's incredibly cluttered and the shortcut keys aren't standardized. You're also presented with a myriad of buttons and switches that easily confuse.

Re:user interface blues

[digitalhermit]

Keep this in mind:
The focus of the mouse pointer determines what each key sequence does. This can be confusing at first but makes it easier later. In other words, if your pointer is in the modeling window then keys will have a different effect than if you're in the controls pane. The alternative may have been to assing a modifier sequence, but you could argue that this forces you to put two hands on the keyboard. As it is, you keep one hand always on the mouse and the other always on the keyboard.

Re:user interface blues

[Anonymous Coward]

Riding a bike doesn't make any sense, at first, either.

After a while of puttering around with Blender intermittently, I have begun to assimilate the tutorials and I'm beginning to get the sense of a rhythm with the Blender UI that comes from keeping "one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard". I have glimpsed it: a rapid intuitive rhythm in which I don't have to spend much time reminding myself what I'm doing or how to do it. (feel free to insert joke about what I'm doing with my third hand).

Sure, without the tutorials or some prior experience with 3D modellers, a new user of Blender will never figure out his ass from his elbow. However, that's not necessarily an argument that Blender should change. A 3d program is hideously complicated just by its nature. A UI that lends itself to casual experimentation may not be an efficient UI to work with once you know what you're doing. How many people really need or want to use a 3d modeller/renderer? How many have the patience? Probably a tenth of those who use real 2d programs like Gimp or Photoshop. So what if tire-kickers like me are stunned & put-off by the "opacity" of the UI ? If the Blender coders feel that they have hit upon the way proficient 3d modellers would design their application UI to suit their own productivity, and it happens to have a steep learning curve, so be it. (As long as they know what they're doing and know what they want.) When I found that I had a little project that HAD to be done in 3d, couldn't be done right in 2d, I got a little more serious about working through the tutorials. And like I said, after a little practice I found that the UI started to click for me (although I am definitely still a novice).

Now a UI that needs rethinking, IMO, is Gimp. I've been using it for 5 years now and the constant searching and poking through nested menus to get to the same old things annoys me crapless. (just tear off the menu parts you use, sure, then theyget lost under a half dozen open canvasses I usually have going) But on the other hand, that's an interface that can be explored with relative freedom by a newcomer since basically all options start from the same place -- the rt click menu. Though it's easier to figure out at first than Blender, and even though I've been using it for 5 years, I still can't remember where some of the options are, because the way to all the options looks the same (You're in a maze of twisty passages all the same")

Re:user interface blues

[sashang]

yeah - maybe i shouldf give blender another try. it's a good package and i shouldn't let the ui get in my way.

Re:user interface blues

[Anonymous Coward]

The focus of the mouse pointer determines what each key sequence does.

This is a fucking retarted interface. Confusing, not friendly, just stupid.

Two hands on the keyboard for modifier keys? Hardly. Besides, in a well designed 3D app you can assign the hotkeys you need and be able to do everything without modifiers anyway.

Blender over complicates the process by requiring too damn many (unneccessary) hot keys.

The keys change depending on window focus?! Any other application that worked like that would piss users off so much they wouldn't use it and the company would go bankrupt. Oh wait, who was Blender made by? ;)

Re:user interface blues

[visgoth]

Give Softimage|XSI a try. The basic hotkeys are standardized, as are the dialog boxes. It takes all of an hour to get used to the basics. Beyond that it may take some time to get GOOD output... XSI gives the user basic tools with which one builds up different effects. Check out XSIBase for a good discussion group, complete with links to tutorials.

read your posts

[Anonymous Coward]

# Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.

flex and yacc suck the manham

[Anonymous Coward]

TRANCE MUSIC MAKES YOU STERILE.

Now to insert some random gibberish words to make sure the lameass filter doesn't pick up on that sentence of uppercase letters. Fuck malda!

Goodam two minute limit. Oh, well, at least my IP ban seems to have automagically been undone.

And who the fuck are you?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want to post it, you have to post in the better-developed sibling thread of insanity and hilarity. Fucktard.

Slow Down Cowboy!

Slashdot requires you to wait 2 minutes between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

It's been 53 seconds since you last successfully posted a comment

Can you smell RMS through this picture?

[Anonymous Coward]

a mixture of semen, sweat, funyuns, doritos, and mountain dew.

Ya'll are overlooking something

[Anonymous Coward]

So I've reading all these posts, and a good number of them are trolls. But the odd thing is, no one is commenting on the name Jazilla. I mean c'mon!!!!! JIZilla, as in it makes me want to cum and squirt JIZ everywhere. You trolls need to get with the program. Now, back to work.

MOD PARENT DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

-1 redundant

Funny this is mentioned

[Anonymous Coward]

I was just using Blender this afternoon and was wondering if a new version was available, so I went to check out their website . Lo and behold, I saw this news announcement. Dammit! ! I could have submitted the story way earl ier!

Re:MOD BIOLOGICAL SON DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

cloneboy...

don't talk to your genetic proprietor in that tone of voice. go to your room.

Gupta Eats it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you.

My sentiments exactly!

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's obvious that the person who originally started this fucking retarded thread was a complete plagiarising moron. If you agree with me, post a reply plz plz plz!

Bad info on Houdini

[functor0]

Does anyone do any fact checking at all on /. ? Here's the current pricing which ranges from 1299 to 17000:
http://www.sidefx.com/sales/pricing/index. html

Re:Bad info on Houdini

[ocelotbob]

The article was talking about the NL features, which aren't available on the $1300 or $1800 packages. Yes, you can get houdini for less than $3000, but you have to leave out the features this article is talking about.

Re:Bad info on Houdini

[Anonymous Coward]

And I don't know what the author referes to when using the words "small featureset", since Houdini is perhaps the most complicated and capable 3D application ever created, it must be the video editing features the author was refereing to.
Oh, and then there's of coarse Houdini Apprentice, wich is one of those "learning" editions, free-with-restrictions type of thing (tho the only one of it's kind that's actually fully usable and without distracting watermarks)

Sigh...

[Anonymous Coward]

...it's been fun screaming at you people for the last half hour, but I'm afraid I must leave now. It's time for bed. Bye. Maybe I'll check this thread out in the morning.

OMG OMG you'll cum ur pants! You forgot your cinastix!!!11

elySiun.com

[FunkyChild]

Damn.. That link should be www.elysiun.com not elyiun.

It does make sense

[Anonymous Coward]

b l e N d E R ' S p r I m A r y t a R G e T i s T o b e a b L E O f m a k I N g R E a D Y - t o - p U b l I s h V i D E O F r o m S c R a t c H . c O m p o S i N G a u D I o I S A P r I o r i T Y , u N l e S s y o U a i m t O R e C r e a T i N g t H e b e G i N n I N g S O f C i N e M A .

Bender?

[PHAEDRU5]

Hoe is audio sequencing going to improve anything for a drunken robot?

Oh, wait, remembering my own drunken ramblings, this makes a lot of sense.

0 TROLL

[Anonymous Coward]

THE STUPID GUY GOT A KARMA BONUS!!! THIS MEANS THAT THE UGLY TROLL CAN GET A MINIMUM SCORE OF ZERO!!! AND NO I'M NOT TROLLING... Not like that big guy. I'm guessing that you'll MOD ME DOWN BEFORE MODDING THAT UGLY PARENT to this post DOWN. WELL, THAT'S NOT FAIR. DO NOT MOD THIS POST DOWN UNTIL YOU MOD DOWN THE PARENT... Or I'll cry

That's right... I'll cry

Like a big baby...

Waaaa Waaaaaa
waaaa
waaa
waaa
waa
waa
waaa
waa
w aa
waa
waaaaa
waaaaa
waaa
waa
waaaaa
waaaaa
waaa

Now that that's taken care of

[fluxrad]

How's about someone get to work on a fully featured audio sequencer for linux?

I'm super happy that we can now sync music to animation in blender. It's just too damned bad we don't have an app to actually make that music in linux.

Re:Now that that's taken care of

[sharph]

You want to make music in linux?

Ever heard of audour?
Or audacity?

You want an audio sequencer? Check out soundtracker.

Or if you like to mess with oscillators and stuff, spiralsynthmodular.

don't you DARE tell me we have no sound apps in linux.

if you're STILL unconvinced, check out http://linux-sound.org/

Re:Now that that's taken care of

[digitalhermit]

The May 2003 issue of Linux Journal features Linux and sound. Check out Linux Journal then navigate to the May 2003 issue in the archive section. The ones they mention are still in beta or development stages but some are useful, according to the articles.

Re:Now that that's taken care of

[Anonymous Coward]

> Ever heard of audour?

Great. Where are the RPMS?

Undo?

[Tyler Eaves]

Okay, and UNDO is going to be implemented when? Seriously, I can't take a graphics package without an UNDO feature seriously.

Re:Undo?

[Kunta Kinte]

Seriously, I can't take a graphics package without an UNDO feature seriously.

And my wallet can't take a graphics package with a $1000 price tag seriously. In fact it's cracking up, laughing at the thought.

Really people, coders are busting their ass working on this.

Re:Undo?

[Mex]

You know, Lightwave only has an Undo feature that is one level deep (IE you can only undo your very last move). I don't know if that says more about lightwave or about undo's in general.

Re:Undo?

[Tyler Eaves]

Better than nothing. Understanable too, since complex vertex ops could easily involve thousands or even hundreds of thousands of points.

Re:Undo?

[Jacek Poplawski]

Seriously, I can't take a graphics package without an UNDO feature seriously.

Learn how to use save then.

Re:Undo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, that's efficient. If you've used graphics software extensively you would realize that you do a lot of experimenting and make lots of mistakes. Undo is essential for graphics manipulation. Go use Photoshop for an hour and you'll understand.

Re:Undo?

[Phil Wilkins]

IMHO it says "it's almost impossible to retrofit an unlimited undo/redo system into an application that wasn't designed with it in mind".

Re:Undo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Blender als ohas some sort of an 1 level undo. When you [tab] into the object it saves it and you can press the u-key anytime to restore the saved mesh

Re:Undo?

[geggibus]

And that's a good thing, there's also autosave. Another smart thing to do is duplicate..(undo and you can compare with the old version too) ..

Re:Undo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Blender is a piece of shit, period.

That's why the company went bankrupt and dumped the thing.

The UI sucks, no undo (duh?!), all sorts of stupid crap.

Re:Undo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah and some coders work really hard to bust a nut. What does it do for me?

Re:Undo?

[brianosaurus]

Multiple levels might involve storing more than one temporary copy. "Undo" doesn't actually undo what was done, it just has to revert to a state before the action was taken.

Even one step of undo could involve thousands of points, but still they have it. So extending that to muliple steps may mean more storage, or writing to files or whatever.

Re:Undo?

[erinacht]

Of course blender has an undo function

Press U to undo changes made in edit mode
pretty simple really
(not saying it's a terribly GOOD undo, but it DOES HAVE a Undo)

If you Download Blender 2.27 , read this.

[zymano]

The 2.27 has international languages for the widgets. When you start it up you will get CHINESE syntax,fonts. Go to the Blender 2.27 folder and then the .blender folder and delete the only FONT . Will get you back to english . I emailed those guys , maybe they fixed it.

Anatomy of failure: What Killed FreeBSD

[Anonymous Coward]

The End of FreeBSD

[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]

When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.

Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.

FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.

It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.

So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.

Discussion

I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.

From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.

There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.

Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.

Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?

Shouts

To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.

To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It'

Blender progress

[HiNMity]

Thats just awesome. Blender is an nice 3d package and its coming along nicely. Though it needs a more configurable user interface and alot of graphical refinements which gives the n00b a more straight forward approach to it i think its cool to see every new added feature. Its not fair to compare it to Hodini though since that is the biggest powerhorse of all package and beats the crap out of maya with its procedural workflow (but Maya is easier with character animation and houdini makes the FX job). So hopefully Blender will adopt many features from the bigger packages and will be an alternative for small studios trying to make there way in the biz.

Perhaps well see flash/shockwave output someday ;)

Re:Blender progress

[FunkyChild]

Some people in the blender.org forums have mentioned making SWF and SVG export scripts. As far as I know, they're still in very early stages of development though.

SWF:
http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=modload&name =phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=754

SVG:
http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=modload&name =phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=992

Hmm.

[fluxrad]

don't you DARE tell me we have no sound apps in linux.

Woah there, brother. Taking this a bit personally?

Yes, I will dare tell you that there aren't any sound apps in linux or, rather, no decent ones. I've used most of the apps you mentioned above (and then some) and have found them all lacking. Name one artist who says "Oh man, I could never give up my linux box for audio."

Give me something with the feature set and usability of apps like Reason, Cubase, etc. and only then will I tell you that Linux has made it in the synth/sequencing world. Give me the Gimp for sound, then I'll shut my piehole.

Re:Hmm.

[fucksl4shd0t]

Name one artist who says "Oh man, I could never give up my linux box for audio."

fucksl4shd0t

:)

But then again, I found the audio world of Linux to be a rich and colorful world.

Re:Hmm.

[philicorda]

I think what was irritating was your statement that their are no audio apps for Linux, when it turns out that there are just none that meet your specific need. Not everyone wants a softsynth-tracker like Reason, some prefer synths like JMax, PD, etc. Not everyone wants a sequencer like Cubase, many are looking for a SADiE or audio PT solution, which is filled nicely by Ardour.

Re:Hmm.

[crunchywelch]

I don't klnow if I'd say that Ardour is a solution for the PT market that "is nicely filled by Ardour" by any long shot. I've been using pro tools since '95 and have since used pretty much every other audio NLE that exist with the exception of nuendo and I can say that Ardour has a ways to go. I've never heard a studio engineer saying "so, you run ./configure, then make install.....?". Granted if you are a masochist and need a studio to work in but don't want to pay for software with time instead of money then Ardour may fill your needs. If you have to make a living using your studio forget it. We'll see once they finally release a package but until then it's a strictly Linux gear-heads market IMO.

Re:Hmm.

[sharph]

I could never give up my linux box for audio.

Really.

And I know other people who feel the same way.

Re:Hmm.

[Anonymous Coward]

None of your songs are there (404)

Re:Hmm.

[philicorda]

Really, compiling a program is not a big deal. I have heard many engineers saying "So, I need to terminate the SCSI at the sampler rather than at the external HD?", "So moving the card to another slot and dowloading new chipset drivers may fix the interrupt problem?","So the pops and clicks are caused by windows update starting while I'm recording?", "So by reverting to MacOS 9 and using OPCODE drivers my midi might work?". Most of us studio engineers are fairly technical bears, and have dealt with much worse than compiling software. There are already unofficial rpms too, if you want to go that way. I don't think I will be replacing my main rig with Ardour for a long time, but using it on the location rig works OK, and is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying OS+Software again.

Re:Hmm.

[fucksl4shd0t]

None of your songs are there (404)

There's a good reason for that, actually, but irrelevant. I know that none of them are there because I deleted them off the server they were on, they were taking up too much space. My personal website won't take them, because I can only have 10MB on it, so I haven't yet found a home. I also haven't had time to remove the links.

Re:Hmm.

[crunchywelch]

well, I see what you are saying but there is a big difference between downloading patches, turning off options in windows, and swapping cards then configuring a low-latency kernel, configuring and installing Jack and ardour (not to mention if you don't have GCC and company loaded up to compile all the previous to begin with). I tried Ardour out, it works, sort of, when it doesn't crash, but it is nowhere as mature as PT or the rest of that crowd. I literally spent over 40 hours getting that system running as well as it would (even upgrading to a dual chip MB) and had to go back to windows last minute to get my design done on time... Not to say that I don't wish them well, or that some people aren't currently using it, but it's just not a feasable solution for 99% of the market. My best wishes to them, I'll be happy to download the release once they set it loose. For now I'll stick to tools that don't require me to be root to run.... ;)

PROOF taht open source is more better!

[Anonymous Coward]

hah top that, built in sound syncronization! Pretty soon it will have a built in lisp interpreter, and email client, and newsreader, just like emacs! Or maybe it will have an IRC client and javascript debugger like mozilla! I bet this makes microsoft wish they open soured all of their software so they could match all thse great features. I'm sure this will make all end users decide to swtich from photoshop or microsoft word or whatever to blender, because its open source and it has more features! Go GNU!

Use AnimationMaster from Hash

[dnoyeb]

Personally I have been using Hash Animation Master for about 3-4 years now. Has all the power of the big boys, but its only $300 and has a community which is very open and helpful. Patches come out all the time, and most bugs are found by the community.

If you want a 3d package but do not have $3000, but want something easy to use than any other, check out www.hash.com.

Re:Use AnimationMaster from Hash

[Qbertino]

I'll use Hash when he makes a Linux version.
Since it doesn't look like that (which is a shame, imho) Blender will do just very(!!!) fine and often even better.

Re:Use AnimationMaster from Hash

[dnoyeb]

I have to admit that I would love to have a linux version as well. but linux is not really a big Multimedia Platform yet. It seems to be heading that way within 2 years though. Not that the applications will be there, but the US itself will be very appealing to MM application developers the way its going now.

Of course their is never an excuse not to have a network renderer that works on Linux even if the main application does not...

Re:If you Download Blender 2.27 , read this.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are just karma whoring, posting on the top most posting and offtopic. I downloaded 2.27 for both windows and linux, there was no such chinese thing. This is a lie.

Closed source is feature obsessed

[FooBarWidget]

why o why are closed sourcecompanies obsessed with features ? why cant you fkin fix bugs instead of the current obsession with adding more and more features that add more bugs making it even more unstable, is it boredom or pride ?

do yourselves a favour and make the original application perfect ie: bug free , before adding more features/bloat?

MS word gets more and more features every release, and most users don't even use a lot of those features. photoshop gets more and more features every release, while most non-professionals and home users don't even need everything photoshop can do.

*sigh*

Now back to reality. Why do you blame OSS? Closed source is no different. If anything, it's *closed source products* that add more and more features without looking back. Compare the latest version of Opera with Opera 3. On the other hand, compare GNOME 2 with GNOME 1: they actually cleaned up the GUI and *removed* a lot of config options and replaced them with sane defaults and autodetection, sped up Nautilus many times, and fixed numberous of bugs.

As for your Mozilla comment: Mozilla is meant to turn out this way. The Mozilla browser suite as we know it is just a "technical demo": it was never meant to be the final product. Mozilla was destined to split off in seperate products that use the same browser engine.

Re:Closed source is feature obsessed

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea and hiroshima was just a technical demo too

Missunderstood (Re:Houdini != small feature set)

[Qbertino]

That was a missunderstanding. Predictable though, I'll admit that.
Houdini is a kick ass product if you pay the price which is something like 9000$ for the full featureset version (renderman and mental ray included!).
The smaller featureset versions cost aprox. 3000$.
That's what I ment.

Having used both I must say Houdini is OK, but it's interface builds up slow as hell whenever it's redrawn which gives the impression of a somewhat clunky piece of software. I'll still have a look at the new version though, allthough I'm gonna stick with Blender. Also because Houdinis pricing is somewhat silly.

Re:If you Download Blender 2.27 , read this.

[zymano]

idiot. The chinese fonts were default. And i posted up near the top as a warning. So fuck off.