Planet Blender v2 beta4 - 'Turning Pages'

Mysterious "PR" toggle
pixel-sized - 2009-11-30 23:04:00
Project Durian, aka Sintel, is gaining momentum!
mike's digital anthology - 2009-11-30 22:00:20

Movie making is an expensive business. Blender Foundation’s upcoming short film Sintel is no different. Luckily the Dutch Film Funds had just approved another grant to help extend the project to June 2010, this much-needed funding might even allowing them to hire more artists.

Seriously, if you haven’t pre-ordered the DVD, do it! For 34.00 Euro, you get not only the movie, but every file, texture and asset that is used to create the movie. Isn’t that super cool? This DVD will probably be the best (and cheapest) learning resource for Blender you’ll ever find.
First post from within OpenOffice, about spaceships and Ralph McQuarrie
Starbright Illustrations (blog) - 2009-11-30 20:14:01

OK test time, I’ve just added the blog client for OpenOffice to the version I’m using on my Linux machine, and naturally I’m very curious about whether it’s going to work or not.

I’ve also been doing some more work on the 3D spaceship I started much earlier.

I have added detail to the inside of the mesh and am considering what kind of strange space aliens to populate it with. I’ve been trying out ideas using my graphics tablet in Gimp, just hashing lines in over the render of the spaceship interior.

I’ve also been looking at Ralph Mcquarrie images as inspiration. As you can see from the image it is very early days for this conceptual drawing and it should develop a lot over soon.

I’m very interested about how, and if this is going to work, but I’m rooting for this because I like OpenOffice very much – despite the dodgey spell checker – and it’ll be cool to use it for blogging.

OK, here goes, apparently I just export the document to Webblog. There is even a new button in the icon bar which looks a bit like a feather. OK, I’m about to push the button…
Netherlands Film Fund supports Durian
BlenderNation - 2009-11-30 19:15:13

The Blender Foundation have secured additional funding for the production of Durian in the form of a large grant of the Netherlands Film Fund. The impact is huge: "… This will allow us to extend the project with three months (end of june), cover up for much needed expenses (like voice actors, hardware, PR) and [...]
graphicall: WOW! Approximate AO: Diffuse Bounce Hack! Brings back the single bounce indirect diffuse lighting for AAO, in trunk since r25034 by Brecht!
Twitter / graphicall - 2009-11-30 18:45:10

graphicall: WOW! Approximate AO: Diffuse Bounce Hack! Brings back the single bounce indirect diffuse lighting for AAO, in trunk since r25034 by Brecht!
Netherlands Film Fund supports Durian
Sintel, the Durian Open Movie Project - 2009-11-30 16:46:33

We already had a small contribution from the Dutch Film Fund to develop the script and storyboards. After a careful deliberation the Film Fund board today decided to also grant us support for the realization of the film. This will allow us to extend the project with three months (end of june), cover up for much needed expenses (like voice actors, hardware, PR) and most likely even extra team members!

We’re all incredible happy here… Sintel is very complex to make, much more than previous projects. This additional funding - which nearly doubles our current budget - is crucial for that.

In past conversations the Film Fund’s main concerns were with the quality of our projects, to some extent the movies didn’t exceed the level of a technical demos. It’s a great confirmation of our current work and quality demands that we now have their blessing this time.

-Ton-
Blender Developers Meeting Notes
BlenderNation - 2009-11-30 16:16:01

I think everyone's recovering from last week's 2.5 alpha 0 release, but there are still some interesting updates. Ton Roosendaal writes: Hi all, The Alpha release went very well, congrats to the dev team and everyone who helped out! As usual after a release, meetings are short, not many new things to mention. Here's some notes: We will need [...]
A conversation with Tom Dell'Aringa 12-09
processdiary.com - 2009-11-30 14:00:00

This month's conversation is with creator and artist behind "Marooned: A Space Opera in the Wrong Key". I've released this a few days early because pre-orders for his first book, Out of Orbit, close on December 2nd. Details below.

Tom Dell'Aringa has been working on Marooned for about a year and a half, now. Throughout that time, he has experimented with various styles, story-telling techniques, and has even embraced the digital revolution to a small extent!

Tom gives some detailed information on his methods, goals and the ongoing process which he is discovering as he produces. He is certainly full of info for the beginning artist, and hearing about his trials and errors can't help but inspire.

You can find Tom's work at:
- www.maroonedcomic.com
- www.wishtales.com
If you like his work, and wish to support Tom's efforts, why not pre-order a copy of the Out of Orbit today!

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Meanwhile, in Sydney
Virgilio Vasconcelos - Animation - 2009-11-30 13:43:24

A few days ago, the great developer/artist/genius Matt Ebb sent me this image via Twitter, which made me very happy:
[read the full article]
Blender 2.5 Freestyle Integration Update
BlenderNation - 2009-11-30 13:26:32

The Freestyle Branch of Blender 2.5 has the Non Photo Realistic (NPR) renderer Freestyle built in. Freestyle allows you to render images in cartoon, brush-stroke, charcoal or any other style. The Freestyle integration blog offers regular updates on the state of development, and also some nice examples of the capabilities. From the Freestyle integration blog: Since the [...]
Blender 2.5 r25000
Letwory Interactive - 2009-11-30 12:37:00

Blender development has surpassed 25000 commits! Mike Pan shows a nice graph of the development on his blog. I had yesterday created some builds to celebrate r25000, but I “forgot” to upload and publish them. So for those who still want r25000 win32 and win64 builds, do download here:
- Blender 2.5 r25000, win32
- Blender 2.5 r25000, win64
These are 7z self-extracting archives, built with the same settings as Blender 2.5 alpha 0.

I would also like to thank all the people who took the time to comment on the Blender 2.5 alpha 0 message. Most of the problems will be solvable, and I hope that we can get the fixes into SVN soon.
"Open Source 3D Software for cg-architecture", Buenos Aires, December 5th
BlenderNation - 2009-11-30 11:00:09

Irene Coremberg will be giving a presentation on the use of open source software for 3D designers or architects in Buenos Aires next Saturday. Irene wrote: A lecture about "Open Source 3D Software for cg-architecture" will happen in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I will give this conference as a part of a lecture series about "Free Software", that [...]
Lesson n.04: Lighting
Trickle Project - 2009-11-30 10:46:00

Here we are with another Blender lesson. This time we speaks about lighting: we will see the different types of lamps and how to make an effective illumination using the spot lamp. Hope you enjoy it! To download this video click here: -> (MOV 115Mb)<-
Future of gaming – games on demand?
Elvis Alistar's Blog - 2009-11-30 09:50:28

With the speed and accessibility that broadband internet is providing now, more and more companies are creating versions of their games that will run directly from a browser. A few examples are Id with Quake live(FPS), EA Games with Battlefield Heroes (Third Person Shooter) and Ubisoft with the soon to be released Heroes of Might [...]
Weekly update October 26-November 30
Freestyle integration into Blender - 2009-11-30 08:50:33

Since the last blog update, the dev team worked on internal improvements concerning the interface between Blender 2.5 and Freestyle. The context issue reported in the last blog post was partially addressed, and now the branch is capable of .blend files having multiple scenes. Freestyle module parameters can be independently specified for each scene. The compositor should work with multiple Freestyle-based scenes as expected.

The remaining context issue is the question of how to provide style modules with a way of accessing the current scene being rendered. We have been contacting core Blender developers to discuss the most appropriate extension of the Freestyle Python API design.

In the meantime, the branch has been merging those changes made in the trunk. On November 24 the long-awaited Blender 2.5 Alpha 0 was finally released. The Freestyle branch has incorporated all functionality in the Alpha 0 release including the new splash screen (below).

The render of the week is a set of images offerred by Nakeyta Schulz. Precise models, approximate ambient occlusion (AAO) and strokes with Freestyle all together result in a very descriptive appearance. Node-based hatching and “fake” tone are also nice additions. Check out his blog for more renders and the node setup for the fake tone. Thank you Nakeyta for sharing the Freestyle results with us!
Don't do Drugs!
BlenderNation - 2009-11-30 08:28:32

Another hilarious 2D animation by Albinal (see his previous work too). He writes: I've just finished two animations about the perils of taking and dealing drugs! The animations were required for the ACPO Drugs Conference but also for use on the Avon and Somerset Constabulary youth website. Read more and check the second animation on his blog. Link Don't do [...]
Stu (Animation)
Reyn's Blog - 2009-11-30 04:52:00

A turntable animation of my recent Blender project "Stu" > http://reynantem.blogspot.com/2009/11/meet-stu.html