Sintel

[wayfarer]

Advertisment for Blender. Quite Interessting and Open Source of course.
Link

[thespaceinvader]

Saw that on Epic Win FTW the other day. NICE.

[sur.nhm]

Advertisment for Blender. Quite Interessting and Open Source of course.
Link

But really hard to use, compared to commercial programmes like Carara.

[Velensk]

Not bad in the technical department.

Spoiler:

I figured out the twist before the character did which is always a bit annoying especially if things turn tragic because of it. Can't say I blame her though. I cannot figure out why the man at the start attacked her though I suppose no reason is needed for the purpose of the story. I don't like tragedies. Even if by some chance they manage to deliver their message (assuming they have one) in a way that is intelligent, they are not fun.

[thespaceinvader]

I have to agree with every bit of Velensk's spoiler there.

[johndh]

I always love the Blender Institute's movies. I torrented the high-quality version of this one a while ago, but I need to find a bigger screen to do it justice before I actually watch it.

But really hard to use, compared to commercial programmes like Carara.

Blender is initially somewhat difficult to learn, as it is a lot of things bundled into one. Beginners often find themselves utterly frustrated that their actions provide completely unexpected results, because they don't release that they're accidentally dabbling in the NLA editor, or something of that nature. You can end up messing with things you don't know exist if you're not careful (and then you don't know how to fix them, obviously). However, once you get the hang of it, you'll wish every piece of software worked the way Blender does. It really is a phenomenal program, and I'll take it over anything Autodesk can churn out.

[thespaceinvader]

I found blender wildly unintuitive when I tried it. I was able to obtain the results I wanted, but the experience turned me RIGHT off using the program again, particularly because it was MASSIVELY memory hungry. It's like GIMP, only worse.

[Astoria]

I already saw it somewhere on the dutch television, it is indeed very nicely done.

[johndh]

particularly because it was MASSIVELY memory hungry

Really? Blender is one of the lightest 3D modeling tools around.

[thespaceinvader]

Maybe I just had a computer that couldn't handle 3D. But I know that by the time I finished this model http://thespaceinvader.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dq32dn , my PC was really, really chuntering. I didn't want to risk some huge crash.

[johndh]

Maybe I just had a computer that couldn't handle 3D. But I know that by the time I finished this model http://thespaceinvader.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dq32dn , my PC was really, really chuntering. I didn't want to risk some huge crash.

Oh wow... I can see why. The kind of stuff I'm used to working with is around the 500-3000 polygon range (RTS buildings and characters), and I have a feeling that thing's nose cone is around a thousand all by itself.

As for the original topic, for those who don't know all of the content developed in the Blender Foundations projects -- including the short films Elephants Dream, Big Buck Bunny, and Sintel, as well as the game "Yo Frankie!", which was made using Blender's game engine -- is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution licenses and is free to use, and the movies (and the game) themselves may be freely distributed and shared as you wish. Blender itself is free and open-source software, and these projects serve as testing grounds for development of new features in the program, such as improved hair/fur simulations that came with BBB and smoke simulations as a result of Sintel. A fine example of free and open media.

There is also at least one full-length feature film that has been made using Blender and other FOSS software. Plumíferos is an 80-minute Spanish-language cartoon comedy film that focuses on the lives and adventures of the various flying denizens of a typical city.