Image via Wikipedia

The Blender Foundation just released the first stable release in about 2 years. 2.57 is a complete re-design from the ground up, and addresses many of the issues that have kept mainstream CG artists away. There’s a whole new interface (the largest complaint in the past was how confusing and non-friendly the interface was), and nearly every feature has been greatly improved. There’s also additional features like volumetric rendering, approximate indirect lighting, and many others. There are still a few things missing from this version (like BMesh), but Ton Roosendaal stated that they’re going to try to release new versions every couple of months for the rest of the year. Good times!

The link to the latest version is here.

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Rob Long at Smash or Trash Indie Filmmaking published a detailed article that documents the long journey that we at Timewarp Films have traveled in our quest to complete Don Dohler‘s last film. It’s been a tough road, but the end is in sight.

Image via Wikipedia

Word is spreading throughout the Blender community of a few companies (3DMagix, 3DMagixPro, IllusionMage) who are rebranding Blender and using copy-written material to sell “their” product.

Ton Roosendaal explains:

With the success of blender.org projects, and publishing all the exciting Blender releases, we’re now being challenged by third parties who like to ride the waves and do business with Blender.

There’s nothing wrong with that. In its very nature, GNU GPL is about freedom, the freedom not only to use and modify the sources, but also to distribute and resell our releases under another brand name.

Recently we received several concerned emails and forum postings from people who were worried about Blender resellers using especially Ebay to sell Blender.

…

On their web pages they intentionally hide that the products are distributions of GNU GPL licensed software, and that the software is freely downloadable as well. More-over, even after contacting them several times, they don’t remove copyrighted content from their websites.

Here’s a link to the full article on the Blender Foundation‘s  site: 3DMagix and IllusionMage, scam or open source leeches?

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The wait is over. The Blender Foundation‘s 3rd open movie is done! It premiered,  and is ready for download here. The DVD should be available soon. I pre-ordered that, and am really excited to watch all the extras.

Congrats to the team of artists and developers who made it happen. I know from experience how hard it is to put together a film project — of any size.

And my heartfelt thanks for the hard work on Blender 2.5. It’s getting closer to 2.6 and it’s looking great!

blender cgi sintel

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I know a lot of folks–cast and crew, as well as Timewarp fans–have been wondering when (and if) it would ever be finished. Well, the FX will be completed, and I’m shooting for the end of this year.

A lot of work has has already been done, and some FX are in the can. But one thing I plan to do is rework the look of the creature. While Don and Joe were okay with it, I was never completely satisfied. And I think now that my skills have improved and the tools available are simply amazing (I’ll be using the current version of ZBrush–check out the mind-blowing gallery), I want to go for something that will WOW people. Don always said that the creature would make of break the movie, and I don’t want to let him down.

Over the last few months, in addition to finishing Sealed Fates, I’ve been ramping up my CG skills to get ready. I hope to have the new Crawler ready by sometime in June, then fully rigged to animate by August. That leaves several months to do the rest.

I plan to post updates as much as possible with stills, clips, etc. So, stay tuned.

vfx, don dohler, crawler, zbrush, cgi

The latest Lightwave newsletter mentions a plugin that allows the import of Blender fluids. Blender’s simulator is very cool, and Blender is completely free, of course. Once in Lightwave, you can texture using Lightwave’s awesome surfacing system and render engine. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks great.

You can find the plugin and tutorial here.

trueSpace was one of the first 3D applications I tried, way back in 2000. It was version 4 back then, and while its interface was a little different and it didn’t have all of the state-of-the-art features, it was quite capable and got me through a few projects.

Now on version 7.6, trueSpace has quite a lot to offer, based on the features page. And to make that deal sweeter, it’s completely free! Seems Microsoft purchased Caligari, the creators of trueSpace. I guess they want to compete with other free 3D apps, particularly Google SketchUp. Gee, I wonder why?

There’s only a PC version, so Mac users are SOL in terms of trueSpace.

I read a post on Blendernation, a cornerstone of the Blender 3D community, that I felt bared repeating–for two reasons.

First, Colin Levy (Peerless Productions), created a 30 second public service announcement (PSA) as an entry for PSAId, a contest sponsored by the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI). It’s very impressive and has a strong message; no wonder it was a finalist. You can view his entry here.

Second, because he uploaded a video on how he used Blender 3D for camera mapping in order to create the proper setting for the scene. He also has a full camera mapping tutorial on his Web site.

I started a section for showcasing the projects I’ve worked on. Projects from the Cellar will have stills galleries of FX and videos, with some behind the scenes commentary, and how-tos.

I’ve already added sections for Amateur Short Films, a Stakes FX gallery, a Monster Planet FX gallery, and a video on how to create a quick and dirty vampire death. Stay tuned for more.

Blender, the open-source 3D application, has come a long way. According to a 2007 comparison of 3D applications published on the TDT 3D (The Dream Team) Web site, Blender performed well against Maya, Softimage XSI, Cinema 4d, and Lightwave. And considering each of the others costs at least $500, Blender should be especially appealing to a low-budget filmmaker.

As the comparison chart shows, Blender scored Good or Very Good in animation, rendering, particles, and dynamics. In fact, it outscored Cinema 4D in character animation, and Lightwave and XSI in UV tools. It was also listed as the only package with built-in compositing; though, XSI’s higher-end versions (the entry-level version was used for the comparison) do have compositing as well.

Blender does need work in some areas. It scored poorly in NURB and curves modeling, and low in 3D painting. Plus, it’s still doesn’t have an industry-standard interface. But the developers are constantly working on updates, and there is a tremendous 3rd party community adding plug-ins and scripts all the time.

Blender’s growth can mean a lot for those who need to use CG for their movies but can’t afford a $500+ price tag. Do you need matte paintings, pyrotechnics, space ships, dinosaurs? Try Blender. It’s free!