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Blender Demo Reel Released

James Cho writes "The Blender demo reel has been released, showcasing some of the best artwork made with what has become the most powerful open source 3d content creation software. It will be later shown at SIGGRAPH 2004, the premier international computer graphics exhibiton and conference."

120 comments

  1. Interface by Television+Set · · Score: 3, Informative

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

    --
    EOF
    1. Re:Interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's kinda like GIMP/Cinepaint that way. Personally, I think blender's interface sucks for different reasons to most people - I grew up with Imagine and other Amiga raytracers, and blender's interface feels like a bad imitation of them. It's like they got the Amiga spirit of full-screen apps that "fit the UI to the task, not the task to the UI" but they failed to actually finish the UI, stopping once they'd got every function accessible via some button, somewhere, or maybe instead of thinking about where the buttons should be, they decided to shift that burden to the user, then tout that configurability as an advantage while making it _necessary_ rather than optional to reconfigure to do anything useful.

      Realsoft 3D, the descendant of Amiga Real3D also has such configurability - but out-of-box, the default layout is okay (at least on windows, the linux version apparently was written by people who think "Unix==Motif" and it therefore sucks in the buggy,slow Motif way.).

    2. Re:Interface by Deusy · · Score: 5, Informative

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

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

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

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

      --

      Free Gamer - Free games list and commentary

    3. Re:Interface by melgeroth · · Score: 1

      I agree. Although I have very little experience with 3d editing programs, I've used lightwave exclusively before grabbing blender. I was unable to do anything without rolling my eyes, to be honest. Naturally thats biased, as I didn't take the time to rtfm or even a tutorial, but still Open Source isn't always better. I'm interested in what serious 3d editors and designers and animators have to say about blender though. Oh, and why was grandparent modded down? heaven forbid we make light conversation about the effectiveness of a tool thats headlined on slashdot...

    4. Re:Interface by baxissimo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't think the interface is that bad, and they are working on making it better. And also documenting it better -- the new blender guide is a great thing. Besides, aren't you willing to put up with a little quirkiness for a free 3D modleing and animation program? Any 3D program is going to take some serious time to learn well, and the core modeling operations in Blender really are pretty efficent once you get used to them.

      But the number one thing that annoys me with the blender UI, which will probably never be fixed, is that, flying in the face of 20 years of WIMP software conventions, they chose to use the LEFT mouse button for selecting things, and the RIGHT mouse button for positioning the cursor. I used it for several weeks and never did get the hang of that. Kept moving the cursor around when I meant to select something. I can't count how many times I carefully placed the cursor exactly where I wanted it only to turn around and carelessly right-click on some object to select it and -- DOH! I just moved the cursor. And there's no undo of cursor repositioning. Very annoying. So you just have to go back and redo your careful cursor placement manually.

      Oh, and the lack of global undo is another major annoyance, but that'll probably be fixed someday. Undo has been added for certain sub-modes already. But I think the main Blender developers are too attached to the whole RMB for cursor positioning/LMB for selection thing to ever change that.

    5. Re:Interface by gilroy · · Score: 1
      Blockquoth the poster:

      But I think the main Blender developers are too attached to the whole RMB for cursor positioning/LMB for selection thing to ever change that.

      That sounds like an easy thing to be user-configurable. Maybe it's not too late... :)
    6. Re:Interface by FunkyChild · · Score: 4, Informative

      But I think the main Blender developers are too attached to the whole RMB for cursor positioning/LMB for selection thing to ever change that.

      Blender 2.34, due to be released in the next week or so, contains a user preference to choose between LMB or RMB for selection.

      --> http://mke3.net/blender/interface/interaction/mous esel_pref.png

    7. Re:Interface by baxissimo · · Score: 1

      Sweet! I keep an eye on the blender dev mailing list but somehow I missed that one.
      --bb

    8. Re:Interface by lawpoop · · Score: 1

      If you're using windows, you can switch your mouse to a left-handed mouse, and get the functionality you want.

      --
      Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
      -- Pablo Picasso
    9. Re:Interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wow, that's intuitive. Right on the left and left on the right.

      I've never actually seen blender (I just use Maya and Max) but that screenshot just looks more f'ed up then anything in Max or Maya.

    10. Re:Interface by Shinobi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've been using Blender to and from since 1996, when it was only available for Irix. Even looking at this latest release, it's not that much that has changed UI wise, it's still an enormous kludge. It always ends up with me giving up and going back to Maya so I can get things done, with a proper 1 hand on mouse, 1 hand on keyboard UI that works superb.

    11. Re:Interface by shibbydude · · Score: 1

      You've got your left and right buttons mixed up. It's left for moving the cursor and right for selecting objects (object mode) and vertexes (vertex mode).

      --
      We're only gonna die from our own arrogance, that's why we might as well take our time...
    12. Re:Interface by Mr.Zong · · Score: 3, Informative

      For 3d modeling (not animating mind you), might i recommend http://www.wings3d.com/. Wings 3d has pretty much the best GUI i've ever had the pleasure of using. It's learning curve is really only about a half hour, and you can do some amazing modeling with it. Also open source.

    13. Re:Interface by resurepus · · Score: 1

      where whould you placed the interface compared to Maya? Personally I don't think Blendsr's interface is that bad.

    14. Re:Interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi, I implemented that part. I suppose it was subconsciously done that way, since Blender has been using the right mouse button for selection by default for ever, hence having it first. I suppose it would be a bit more clever though to switch them around, which I'll do right now ;)

    15. Re:Interface by Vizionary · · Score: 1

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

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



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

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

      -Vizionary

    16. Re:Interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree with you. The button layout is downright rubbish. It will be looked at and reviewed for Blender 2.35 though...

    17. Re:Interface by baxissimo · · Score: 1

      Yikes! Wow I can't believe it took two and a half hours for someone to point out my stupidity.

      Yes you're right: I meant that Blender uses RIGHT mouse button for selection, LEFT mouse button for placing the cursor. Sheesh. Amazing I got modded up to 3:Interesting with me effectively blabbering on and on about how annoying it was that Blender works exactly like every other Windows program.

      Note to self: thumb and forefinger of Left hand make an L shape.
      Ok, now back to work on my autonomous robot navigation system. ... wait a minute ... oh crap! Left, robot! No! The other Left!!

      Good thing the elections aren't for another few months, huh? I might have accidentally voted for the wrong side!

    18. Re:Interface by shibbydude · · Score: 1

      No problem, really. I blabber on all the time. Kerry or Bush; what's the difference.

      --
      We're only gonna die from our own arrogance, that's why we might as well take our time...
  2. slashdot effect by +hr33 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Wow... we haven't killed it yet...

    1. Re:slashdot effect by KD5UZZ · · Score: 1

      *Wow... we haven't killed it yet...*
      Yes we have...

      --
      -Daniel
      KD5UZZ
      www.w5yj.org
    2. Re:slashdot effect by +hr33 · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but it took a good 7 minutes or so... Slashdot's getting lax.

  3. Not good.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    php served pages and large video files... it's not looking good folks...

  4. boom by Wuffle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not even 10 comments and the link already seems dead.

    Impressive to say the least...

    1. Re:boom by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1
      From the website:
      Oh, how nice it would be to get an advance warning every time we're about to appear on Slashdot ;-)
      They've got a torrent going now, and the link is alive again.
      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. Re:mirror by bartman · · Score: 1

    a torent would be nice...

    --
    -- bartman
  6. Let's not use BitTorrent by eddy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because if you do, you might survive a slashdotting, cut down on bandwidth costs and, finally, actually reach your intended audience.

    We wouldn't want that, now would we?

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
    1. Re:Let's not use BitTorrent by shish · · Score: 1
      Erm, the torrent itself got slashdotted, the tracker can't cope XD

      Anyone got a mirror of the tracker?

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
  7. bittorrent mirror.. by Harald+Paulsen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    .. here

    Karma-whoring since 1976

    --
    Harald
    1. Re:bittorrent mirror.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seeding @ 100 mbit connection.

    2. Re:bittorrent mirror.. by imsabbel · · Score: 1

      Just finished with 160k average speed. Well seeded

      --
      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    3. Re:bittorrent mirror.. by CvD · · Score: 1

      Hella fast... 375 KB/sec!

      Nice!

    4. Re:bittorrent mirror.. by Tore+S+B · · Score: 1

      Takk så meget.
      My faith in BT has yet again been confirmed.

      I wonder, why can't kernel.org user torrents?

      --
      toresbe
    5. Re:bittorrent mirror.. by slavemowgli · · Score: 1

      You may want to fix your webserver to return a proper mimetype for the torrent file, though (currently, it sends video/x-msvideo, which certainly is not appropriate - change it to something like application/x-bittorrent or so).

      --
      quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
  8. Re:mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

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

  9. Re:mirror by caino59 · · Score: 4, Informative

    siggraph_movie.avi

    someone want to set it up as a torrent?

  10. mod up parent Re:bittorrent mirror.. by dj42 · · Score: 1

    seeds coming.

    --
    We are one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. Back to you with the weather, Bob!
    1. Re:mod up parent Re:bittorrent mirror.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What video codec does this avi use? I can't seem to play the video now that i've downloaded it via torrent.

    2. Re:mod up parent Re:bittorrent mirror.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will someone please answer? I tried winamp - no error message, it just plays the sound. I tried Windows Media player - some kind of codec error message flashes (too fast to read - typical Microsoft) then it just plays the sound.

    3. Re:mod up parent Re:bittorrent mirror.. by CvD · · Score: 1

      Its a standard DivX codec with an MP3 sound layer. Works fine under MPlayer in Linux.

      Cheers

  11. direct link and mirror by yruf · · Score: 5, Informative

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

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

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

  12. oh.. Blender.. with an L by njcoder · · Score: 3, Funny

    Damn I misread it. I got my hopes up thinking there was a futurama movie coming out

  13. Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago. by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was an avid lightwave 3d user. I have a copy sitting right here in front of me. The dongle and disks have not left their box for almost a year now cince I doscovered blender.

    It's faster, easier to use (yes, after the initial learning curve that is there with every single piece of software ever made.) and produces massively better output when coupled with yafray.. Hell I am able to render on a renderfarm of older computers for only the price of hardware!

    Blender is going to steal the show. It certianly outshines lightwave already.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  14. A-Team by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seeding A-Team too? How embarrasing for you :-)

    1. Re:A-Team by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I PITY THE FOOL caught flaunting his A-Team rips in public :)

  15. Re:Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago by janbjurstrom · · Score: 1

    That is pretty impressive. I've never used LW, so tell me: have you found any areas lacking (obviously not enough to go back, but still), and/or any specific functions where Blender falls short compared to LW?

    --
    668.5
  16. Re:Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Shaders...

    Its much easier to create and tweak good looking shaders in almost any commercial 3d app than in blender (for now).

    If blender gets this right, and some more modelling tools, it can seriously compete with some $1000+ offerings!

  17. Oh my god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...they've slashdotted blender!

    1. Re:Oh my god... by Solosoft · · Score: 1

      Who's Online
      We have 2491 guests and 22 members online

      Just givin them a workout

  18. ed2k link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    help distribute the load
    remove spaces from filename (slashdot adds them)

    ed2k://|file|Blender.Siggraph.reel.(2004) .DivX4.avi|41623564|95E0365F40991923D741201B170312 33|/

    AVI File Information:

    File and Container Information:
    File Name : Blender.Siggraph.reel.(2004).DivX4.avi
    File Size (in bytes) : 41,623,564
    Base Type (e.g "AVI") : AVI(.AVI)
    Subtype (e.g "OpenDML") : AVI v1.0,
    Interleave (in ms) : 40
    Preload (in ms) :
    Audio alignment : Aligned
    Total System Bitrate (kbps) : 0
    Number of Audio Streams : 1

    Video Information:
    Video Codec Type : DIVX
    Video Codec Name : DivX 4 (OpenDivX)
    Duration (hh:mm:ss) : 00:07:50
    Frame Count : 11738
    Frame Width (pixels) : 320
    Frame Height (pixels) : 240
    Frame Aspect Ratio (e.g "1.3333") : 1.33
    Frame Aspect Ratio (e.g. "4:3") : 4:3
    Pixel Aspect Ratio ("SAR") : 1.#IO
    Display Aspect Ratio ("DAR") : 1.#IO
    Frames Per Second : 25.000
    Video Bitrate (kbps) : 2
    B-VOP ("B-VOP" or "No B-VOP") : No B-VOP
    QPel ("QPel" or "No Qpel") : No QPel
    GMC ("GMC" or "No GMC") : No GMC

    Audio Information:
    MPEG Stream ID (e.g. "0xbd") :
    MPEG VOB file Substream (e.g. "0x80") :
    Audio Codec (e.g. "AC3") : 0x0055(MP3, ISO) MPEG-1 Layer 3
    Audio Sample Rate (Hz) : 48000
    Audio Bitrate(kbps) : 128
    Audio Bitrate Type ("CBR" or "VBR") : CBR
    Audio Channel Count : 2

    1. Re:ed2k link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not use a clickable link?

      Y'know, HTML can be useful sometimes. Especially that "spaces in URLs" crap we have to put up with thanks to the damned trolls.

  19. Your Opinions Please? by ThisIsFred · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So this is slightly off the topic (but I've seen a lot of blender demo work as rendered scenes already - nice stuff). Anyway, has anyone else used some of these OSS modelling tools for game modding? The biggest problem seems to be the lack of converters to the industry defacto standard of 3DS Max binary format.

    --
    Fred

    "A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
    -RMS
    1. Re:Your Opinions Please? by TheQwe · · Score: 2, Informative

      Thanks to blender's python interface, you can write import/export scripts for just about any format. This guy has written the exporter you're looking for... along with an OBJ exporter, quake2 md2, quake3 md3, and doom3.

    2. Re:Your Opinions Please? by ThisIsFred · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Thanks! :D

      --
      Fred

      "A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
      -RMS
  20. The really interesting thing... by FyRE666 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...for me was not so much the graphics as the soundtrack. I followed the link to Magnatune to see what else the artist has produced and I was surprised by how good the other artists were on there too! You can play/download almost all the tracks by the artists (that I've tried) for free, although they also sell the music. I took a loot at the info page, and there's an interesting piece by the site's owner about why he started the site (after his wife went throught the grinder of the music industry).

    Overall, I'm impressed, and if anyone else is on the lookout for something new, it could be worth a look (no I don't work for them, or have anything to do with the site!)

    1. Re:The really interesting thing... by SuperBanana · · Score: 1
      ...for me was not so much the graphics as the soundtrack.

      Agreed, and I'm glad they listed the group(or individual), Cargo Cult- but it would have been nice to know what specific (two?) song(s) were used. Invariably I find that I love whatever they used for piece X, but when I listen to the whole album, the rest is not even remotely my taste. Ironically, the stuff used for soundtracks and such is usually when the artist does something "different".

      Currently downloading song 2 of about 20...

    2. Re:The really interesting thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I made the compilation. The songs are:

      - Entry
      - Dilemma

      Enjoy!

      B@rt

  21. Blender's success by codexus · · Score: 1

    When I first heard about the rally to gather the money to free the Blender source I was a bit skeptical that it would work but then I was amazed to see how quickly people answered the call.
    It seems that all this great stuff we can see in the reel was in part possible thanks to that.

    --
    True warriors use the Klingon Google
  22. Post Full screen sources here? by eddy · · Score: 1

    I can start off with The Gate by Endre Barath [Endi]

    Walkthrough.

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
  23. Nice by Sunspire · · Score: 1

    The video resolution is crap, but on the other hand it's quite long. Overall the quality of the works seems quite high. There's a couple pieces I'd have left out that are a bit mediocree, but there's also some really impressive and funny ones (love the Three Kings parody with the camel in the desert ;)

    It certainly got me interested in Blender again, once the website isn't Slashdotted I'm giving the program a second look. At least this reel proves that you can create professional quality works with Blender.

    --
    It's like deja vu all over again.
    1. Re:Nice by Duositex · · Score: 1, Informative

      The official SIGGRAPH file is over 400MB. This is compressed. For those of you looking for Blender demo material, the Blender 2.3 guide comes with a CD-ROM that has several demo movies and images on it. All are great to look at. In addition it comes with the sources for the manual. The manual itself is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to start learning or for experienced folks who want a reference. Covers technique and technical which is good.

    2. Re:Nice by jesterkinky · · Score: 1

      You can also get the Demo Reel in DVD quality through bittorrent. The link to the torrent is: http://www.blender.org/~bart/BlenderDVD.iso.torren t giving you 400+MB in download. And if you wait a few more days, you'll probably be able to get your hands on the newest and hottest release (due this week).

  24. Re:mirror by akeyes · · Score: 1

    it has already been mentioned, here it is

  25. Re:mirror by akeyes · · Score: 1

    it has already been done, here it is

  26. Re:Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Saying blender is easier to use is a personal preference, but I don't think objectively anyone would agree with you. Lightwave is known for having a simple interface that's easy to understand and use.
    Lightwave's renderer may not be the most accurate but it's simple to use, doesn't spit out crazy errors, and it's damn fast. It supports HDR lighting, radiosity, caustics etc. You also get unlimited render nodes so your "I am able to render on a renderfarm of older computers for only the price of hardware!" doesn't really mean much because the cost is the same for lightwave. Even taking into account the cost of your OS because it only runs on windows and OSX, Lightwave did come with a Linux render node, although I'm not sure if it still does.

  27. Nice demo reel by CvD · · Score: 1

    The scenes are pretty impressive, although many of the stills don't exactly look like you need Blender or any 3D app to make them. The GIMP would suffice. Like 'Lily' and 'Old Man Willow'? I mean, isn't it masochistic to do something like this in a 3D rendering program? Seems like the wrong tool for the job.

    The animations were really nice and impressive... I especially liked the one-eyed guy from Monsters, Inc with the Monty Python voice over. Very funny.

    Cheers

    1. Re:Nice demo reel by FunkyChild · · Score: 1

      I mean, isn't it masochistic to do something like this in a 3D rendering program? Seems like the wrong tool for the job.

      Well, try animating them in a 2D program like GIMP ;)

    2. Re:Nice demo reel by codexus · · Score: 1

      Well in theory, GIMP is enough to create any picture, no? It's a question of the skills of the artists and what they want to achieve.

      If I need a photorealistic picture of a flower for some commercial purpose, I'll buy one from a photograph. But if I'm a 3d artist doing 3d for fun, I'll make the picture myself and improve my skills in the process.

      I don't think there is anything masochistic in using the tools you like.

      --
      True warriors use the Klingon Google
  28. Blender Vs Lightwave by Wizard+Drongo · · Score: 1

    I tried Blender bout a year ago. I found it very unintuitive, and I've used most of the 3d apps out there. I eventualy settled on Lightwave, being it one of the industry standards. 3DS Max, for all it's populariy is pretty poor in comparison, being mostly used fo games where low poly count is more important than realism. It seems most of the big films requiring cgi are either done on in-house stuff, or Maya or Lightwave. I tried Maya but my hardware doesn't like it. When I upgrade to an e-mac (hopefully) I will give both Maya and Blender a go, since people are saying there's some very tasty work coming from it.

    --
    The truth shall always be free: Boris Floricic is Tron.
    1. Re:Blender Vs Lightwave by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No mention of the king, ie. XSI?

      Name one recent big production where Lightwave has been used.. Hmm...

  29. This is probably the right time to ask by carlmenezes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Among all you people out there who have worked on a wide variety of 3D graphics packages out there including 3DSMax, Maya, LightWave, Blender, etc...can you guys shed some light on how well Blender stacks up against the competition? Any links to some great tutorials would be really appreciated too, because, since it's free, I'm thinking of setting it up for a poor orphanage here in India that just had some pretty decent computers donated so the kids can start messing around on them.
    So, let's say I just install it there on the school computers and kids from 3rd to the 10th grade mess with blender. What chance do you think they have of developing some decent 3D graphics skills that they could use in the real world? Let's take willingness to learn as a given - in fact, it's so much, it's WAY past enthusiasm. The barrier is literacy - therefore, the tutorials will just be there, but the fact that they will be used cannot be taken as a given.
    In short, what do you think the chances are that a kid, with very little knowledge of a computer can start using blender and learn it in a few years to the point where the 3D skills developed give him/her a pretty decent chance of an entry level job in the graphics industry? The reason I ask is because I have seen some of the kids there and they are true artists. You should see what they can do with MS Paint.

    --
    Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
    1. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      blender is a extremely powerful and capable tool. i haven't used it too much and am still learning the ropes. but you will not make a mistake in choosing it and letting children fool around with it. i've fooled around with many 3d packages before. mostly 3ds, maya, rhino 3d etc (mostly trials or the learning editions). from my experience blender is just as capable as any of the packages mentioned above. just give teaser tutorials on capablities of the package and basic usage of the UI.. and let the kids do stuff on their own. plus switch to other open source packages. gimp, inkscape, scribus etc are very capable tools. dont make people use tools that they will be locked into and not afford at a future point. promote open source software. and let them know there is a difference between open source and proprietary.
      the key to get them used to it is to show some easy examples and letting them experiment.. u will get great results. best of luck.

    2. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      i agree that you won't be making a mistake with giving them this. when i was a wee one around 5th and 6th grade, there was a copy of InfiniD on the computer lab computers at my school. Messing around with it I made some cool stuff; it was fun. in particial, i can thank that computer lab and that program for the confidence and 'mess-around-until-you-get-it' additude (atitude, attidude...not spelling, thats for sure) that i have now with computers.

    3. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by carlmenezes · · Score: 1

      That's some really good feedabck, thanks. Yeah, I was thinking about The Gimp too - it's really excellent and since PhotoShop is too expensive, I think The Gimp will more than make up for it. Inkscape might round off a very interesting range of graphics capaibilties - Gimp for raster, Blender for 3D and inkscape for SVG. Plus they're all installable on Windows. I have just given a lot of Knoppix CDs to the principal. Hopefully, by the time these kids are looking for jobs, Linux will be a lot more widespread and an exposure to Linux combined with a decent computer knowledge in something like Graphics should help them out some - it is reasons like these that make me support open source - you can really do some good work with it without corporate greed getting involved. Thanks to every person who contributes - you're defintely helping to make a difference.

      --
      Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
    4. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3D professional programs are not easy to learn or use, and I'm not sure most kids will like or learn because there are some concepts involved you only understand when grow up. Every year an important part of the schedule of the SIGGRAPH conference is devoted to educators, many of them teach to K-12. This indicates me there are some ways to use certain animation and visualization programs for kids.

      Blender functionality is specially daunting and maybe 90% of the first time users drop the program after 5 minutes, some of them return later and give a second chance to this prograa. In Blender most functions doesn't have a button (i.e. move, rotate, scale, etc), you have to memorize "hotkeys" or assigned keys for those functions, for many years Blender doesn't had an undo button, etc.

      I teach animation to art students at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City (one of the most important fine arts schools here). All these artists already have a bachelor degree and they are all very good artists at this point, so they start creating amazing things just when they only master a 10%-20% of the program.

      Titus Maledetto

    5. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are MUCH better off hooking them up with GMAX (the free version of 3DS Max from Discreet) or the free vesrion of Maya.

      Not only are they vastly better tools, but there are more demos out there to help and the skillsets will be much more relevant.

    6. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by Rxke · · Score: 2, Informative

      I just started dabbling(sp?) with Blender, and the tutorials are a great help to get you up to speed real quick.
      If they have basic understandig about how to work with a computer (saving files, using the mouse etc.) I think, if you can get them over the initial learning curve, it might be very rewarding.
      Download the blender tutorials, they're esp. made to use in a classroom enviro (but you can do it on your own, of course) they cover the very basics, and get more complex during following 'sittings' you advance from basic things to stunning stuff (for kids, at least)

      I suggest you take the 'course' yourself first, the basics take less than an hour.
      Then make something simple in Blender, to show the kids. Like the house example in the tutorial for instance... Then you ask them if they'd like to give it a try, etc etc...

      A scanner or cheap digital camera could come in handy, for digitizing their hand-drawn artwork, so they can use it as textures, backgrounds etc.

      Kids have an amazing fantasy, and if they'd be able to put their ideas into 3D, you may be quite impressed. And other people might be too.
      Originality is a big asset. And if they learn the skills young, they may grow up as real virtuoso's in their area.

      Try it. It's free. You can't lose, that's the beauty of open sourse. Even kids in poor orphanages can use it, to make a better future for themselves. That's one good reason to make the fine people that contribute to this project happy.

    7. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was about to criticize your for being an educator and using such poor English. Then I saw that you were from Mexico, so English is probably not your first language. I therefore can't criticize your English (since it is much better than my Spanish), but I feel that I should inform you of your mistakes:

      "there are some concepts involved you only understand when grow up." should be "there are some concepts involved that you only understand when you grow up." (Note that many native English speakers also incorrectly omit "that".)

      "This indicates me there are some ways" should be "This indicates to me that there are some ways".

      "after 5 minutes, some of them" should be "after 5 minutes. Some of them". (Those should be two separate sentences.)

      "In Blender most functions doesn't have a button" should be "In Blender, most functions don't have a button". ("don't" refers to "functions", and thus is plural. ("doesn't" is singular.))

      "for many years Blender doesn't had an undo button" should be "for many years Blender didn't have an undo button" or "for many years Blender had no undo button".

      There are some other minor things, like missing commas in several places. There were also a couple of typos, but nearly everybody makes those, and so I ignored them.

      Two final things:
      1. My intention with this post is to be helpful. I hope that you don't view it in a negative manner.
      2. I have used incorrect English in this post in some of the punctuation and capitalization. When I quote text, I quote it exactly, including capitalization and punctuation. This means that I may start a sentence with a lower-case letter or place a period or comma outside of a closing quote, when correct English dictates that I do otherwise. This is because I just can't bring myself to use a construct that just feels so wrong, even though it is correct.

    8. Re:This is probably the right time to ask by O2dude · · Score: 1, Informative

      Well, I;ve used Maya, Mirai, Houdini and Lightwave. The truth is that all Real World(tm) 3D apps are very hard to master. Master=feel totally comfortable with so that it feels like writing with a pen or pencil. This fluency is essential to any artist. Casual 3D dabblers really haven;t got a clue about the level of 'mastery' proper artists have in their favourite 3D tools.

      In my experience Blender simply 'makes sense': use the mouse to select objects and vertices, use a hand on the keyboard to select a feature. R for rotation, B for box select, G for grab and move, S for scale, the list goes on and on. Zooming, panning, view selection, all of it is very compact, and direct. Yes, it takes time to learn, but once you 'get it' it's fantastic.

      Even on a older 400Mhz SGI workstation, Blender is responsive enough to be a completely reasonable choice. All in all, Blender has proven to be a capable, incredibly fast, productivity enhancing 3D 'pencil' for me. All I needed to do was learn the program and support it with a couple of euro's as a donation to the Blender Foundation.

      As Linus is so fond of saying: like Sex, Software is better when it's free ;)

      --
      - It took western civilisation 2000 years to ensure popular literacy, and now we work with icon driven GUI's. Go figure.
  30. siggraph got warned though. by TheHawke · · Score: 1

    They switched the page to quicktext and posted mirrors, including one for bittorrent.
    Even with all of the mirrors, i'm betting that their webserver is waving a little white flag, screaming "I GIVE UP!" ^,^

    --
    First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
    1. Re:siggraph got warned though. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL - you had me rolling on the floor there. How do you come up with such original material!? Yeah, for sure that webserver is under so much straing, I mean it needs to serve like a whole few hundred kilobytes! I know the server I run from my parents basement wouldn't survive!!!11!!!!111!

  31. Found the two songs... by SuperBanana · · Score: 1

    ...and they are Entry and (when the insane sports announcer comes on) Dilemma.

    Both are off Alchemy.

    I only wish the guy got his levels right, there is quite a bit of clipping...or the encode wasn't done very well.

    1. Re:Found the two songs... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the divx encoding - I suck at it, I'm afraid. Once the DVD ISO torrent is up, I'd be happy to accept a recompressed file!

      Cheers,

      B@rt

  32. mirror temporary down by yruf · · Score: 1

    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    All my traffic has been eaten up (about 140 GBytes only for this file), that's why i took the file down.
    It will be back in about 6 hours (midnight in europe, new month==new traffic).

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

  33. Re:mirror by woulduno · · Score: 1

    This mirror is already overloaded.. Try this one: http://mirror.unixheads.com/siggraph_movie.avi

  34. Re:direct link - USE FREECACHE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great. Blow the blender.org server completely out of the water, why don'cha.

    If you're going to post a direct link to a huge file that thousands of people will want to download, PLEASE freecachify it!

    http://freecache.org/http://blender3d.com/~bart/ si ggraph_movie.avi

  35. Only problem with Magnatune is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. that they have so much new age crap that I don't care of. I just went into their Rock area and it seems if the artist consider themselves 1% rock they are in this group. So if there is a group that had 99% new age with a hint of rock it's in this group. Other than that there is nothing in there that really interest me.

    I just wished Magnatune focused more on mainstream music instead of the niche market that the founder seems to be tuned to.

    I can see how most of the sales go to the classical genre because most want to support this venture yet unable to find something else they like. With how they mix up the music for the 'radio station' most mainstream people tend to 'tune it out' fast.

  36. Trying freecache and not working :( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    wget says the freecache gives a 302 from freecache and it goes to the original server. Blender original mirrors could have used it to begin with, after making sure there are no problems. But go figure what is going on now that the slashdoting is going on...

  37. Re:Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    there are a couple of quirks. If you to a lathe object the "wrong" direction then all your lighting is inverse of what it should be... I.E. it makes the inside surface the outside and the outside surface the inside with no easy way to reverse it other than saying dammit and starting over.

    but I have ran into the same kinds of problems with lightwave. Objects and nodes that will not attach to the surface like they are supposed to. They might have fixed that little annoyance in the last 2 versions but I dont care to spend thousands to find out.

    Documentation for Blender far surpasses that of lightwave. the Blender Book is absolutely outstanding to the point that my 12 year old daughter can understand it and is interested in CG now.

    One last thing that will change soon is blender's interface to yafray or renderman is very lacking. textures can get lost easily or the scene will render "wierd" for no apparent reason. Yafray seems to be their raytracing engine of choice. (I've seen things done in yafray that suprises even seasoned renderman artists.)

    Better exportability for animation is one item that is really needed, but it's on their plate and expected to be there soon.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  38. Pros using Blender by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In case anyone's interested, Blender was used for pre-viz on action scenes in Spiderman 2.

    http://www.blender.org/bf/spidey1.jpg

  39. Amazing by omegakidd · · Score: 0

    This is so amazing! It just enspires me to get off my ass and try and do shit with blender.

    1. Re:Amazing by barista · · Score: 2, Informative

      A good place to start would be to look at the Elysiun forums. It's a great place to learn the ropes. A lot of the works in the demo reel were created by people who regularly hang out there, and some of the works were first displayed there. Check it out.

  40. ed2k and Slashdot by 0x0d0a · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Incidently, FWIW, the Slashdot editors have chosen to disallow ed2k links. I've posted about it before on Slashdot, and there have even been filed bugs on it.

    Jamie has a point -- that ed2k URLs launch external programs, and that he doesn't want to help trolls -- but man, I wish that we were able to use them, even if we lost the ability to use gopher, mailto, etc. Every time Slashdot links to a large file, we end up with some random reader having to set up a bittorrent entry (which is great for the immediate link, and keeps the server from being killed). However, inevitably that user kills the link after a couple of days, and then all the links to large files in old stories are dead. If we could just embed ed2k links, we could maintain links that would be useful months later. Adding ed2k wouldn't mean having to add any other protocols -- Gnutella and most P2P networks lack an URL format, and the only competitor, Kazaa, has a broken non-unique URL format that shouldn't be included.

    It'd be especially nice if users that wanted to allow ed2k links could enable them in their preferences, and then see them (though I guess that wouldn't work well with the pre-generation approach of Slashcode -- sigh).

    1. Re:ed2k and Slashdot by evilviper · · Score: 1
      Gnutella and most P2P networks lack an URL format

      Not true. Gnutella has had a URL format for a good long time now.

      It's really just "urn:sha1:" followed by a base64-encoded SHA1 hash of a file. Very, very nice, it's just a shame so few people use it. It's not the same Gnutella it used to be.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  41. zerg by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 1

    If you're one of those people who don't like reading through docs online, the "Official" Blender 2.3 Guide was just released from No Starch Press. They had problems shipping the first batch, but they are definitely here, as evidenced by the one just in reach of my grubby hands.

    I know you think that the interface is cumbersome, and if you've checked my slashdot comments, you'll see that I've said the same on a number of occasions... but my lab partners, who swear by it, have convinced me to stick it out and learn.

    --
    [o]_O
  42. Re:Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago by underpar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    try ctrl-n... you can recalculate normals to the outside and it normally fixes those kinds of quirks.

  43. 403 by chocolatetrumpet · · Score: 2, Informative

    Forbidden

    You don't have permission to access /siggraph_movie.avi.torrent on this server. :-(

    Just me?

    --
    Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
    1. Re:403 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    2. Re:403 by Mr2001 · · Score: 1

      I'm getting it too.

      --
      Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
  44. Re:Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Arrgh!!! that is not in the blender manuals! you would have saved me gobs of work 18 months ago when I was starting to learn blender.

    Thanks a ton.

  45. Re:Blender has surpassed lightwave a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually lightwave's renderer is the most accurate.

  46. Another mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  47. Hello Slashdot! by evilmf · · Score: 1
    The link now shows a nice message directed to us:
    Hello, Slashdot! Oh, how nice it would be to get an advance warning every time we're about to appear on Slashdot ;-)
  48. Re:mirror by saberworks · · Score: 1

    Thanks!

  49. Before I install... by SharpFang · · Score: 1

    I'd like to know what formats can Blender export its files? I mean especially the 3D models. Is dxf/dwg on the list? What other 3D data file formats are supported?

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    1. Re:Before I install... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blender 2.34 exports 3D files in VRLM 1.0, .dxf, Videoscape (.obj), AC3D (.ac), Lightwave (.lwo), Motion Capture (.bvh), Nendo (.ndo), Object File Format (.off), Pro Engineer (.slp), Radiosity (.radio), Raw Triangle (.raw), TrueSpace (.cob), Wavefront (.obj) and Wings3D (.wings).

      Blender 2.34 with the new export functions will be out in a matter of weeks.

  50. A working torrent seed by galmeida · · Score: 1

    here is a working torrent link

  51. All links and mirrors dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    wow - its that hard to host a bittorrent file now? Can't get the torrent or anything else from any of the mirrors.

  52. warning webmasters (was: boom) by skidv · · Score: 1

    Oh, how nice it would be to get an advance warning every time we're about to appear on Slashdot ;-)

    Since the mirror/bit-torrant system is user-managed, why shouldn't the warning system also be user-managed? If you post a story on slashdot, e-mail the webmasters of sites with large files so they can set up coping mechanisms.

  53. OT: P2P Mirrors by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This would be a good example to send to your state and federal representitives, showing one of the many LEGAL uses of P2P networks..

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  54. Re:direct link - USE FREECACHE! by cos(0) · · Score: 1

    Thank god; this is the only working URL I've found thus far.

    Here it is again, this time linked and with a bonus so that most people can actually see the message:
    http://freecache.org/http://blender3d.com/~bart/si ggraph_movie.avi

    I don't think there's any concern of Slashdotting Freecache.

  55. Well, wow by sammyo · · Score: 1

    Just from a brief peek there has been tremendous advances since the last time I looked at this app! Seems vastly more stable, the menus are clearer and the UI very responsive.

    3D modeling preferences will continue to be subjective for a long time due to the large learning curve for any of the packages. Blender should allow kids the determined to do amazing work. I bet folks have built portfolios that got them jobs with Blender.

  56. reminds me of the demo scene from the early 90's by zbaron · · Score: 1

    Watching the reel reminded me a lot of some of the demos that were coming out of Europe back in the early 90's. Seeing demos like Future Crew's Second Reality got me very interested in "coding" back then.

  57. New Age is not newage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's nothing wrong with New Age muisic. I like New Age music because it relaxes me and makes me feel kind and warm to my fellow man. If you don't like it, then start your own record company, you stupid retarded bitch-monkey.