"Big Buck Bunny" (Open Source Movie Teaser!)

[fitchmicah]

I just noticed that the Peach team has posted the trailer for Big Buck Bunny. It seems like more of a teaser to me, but it's still cool:

http://peach.blender.org/index.php/trailer-page/

[Geta-Ve]

WOW! Visually stunning! Man I am super impressed.

[Geta-Ve]

Posted in general forum already... suppose both threads should be merged though.

[azozel]

This is killer stuff ! Congrats to the team that worked on it.

My hat is off.

[jendrzych]

Strange - used "search" function before i posted it here...
Sorry in any case.

[Swizzle]

Holy hell. That is absolutely gorgeous!

[RobertoOrtiz]

WOW!!!
I consider this a shot across the bow to all non open source apps.

Great work!
-R
PS NOTE If anyone involved on the projects post this trailer in our galleries I will personally plug it. This is a BIG deal.

[Gentle Fury]

Are you serious??? This is blender??? That app has come a LONG way. This is the reason i am ALL about open source! Sure it has taken a while to develop it to this point...but figure in the next few years this free app might be a viable solution against its expensive counterparts.

Congrats to all working on this project, you are doing an amazing job and I can't wait to watch the full film!

[cresshead]

i've not seen a news story for the trailer which came out today...so this must be the first thread of it...and boy does the trailer look good!

i've ordered the dvd now...can't wait to see the whole thing..stunning fur on the characters and for a open source program really good looking results from the renderer up there with the big boys in tinsle town imo.

awesome stuff:thumbsup:


here's the link to the HD res trailers for you

http://peach.blender.org/index.php/trailer-page/

http://www.blendernation.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/watchtrailer.gif

[Phrenzy84]

This short is going to make some big waves.

[Phrenzy84]

i will say the same thing in the other thread.

This short is going to make some big waves.

[cresshead]

this will def put blender ''on the map'' with this short they went up against the likes of
pixar's films plus shrek, iceage, open season, over the hedge and alike and so far they look to be 'in there' amongst them...and not a 'also ran' or have a go versions

looks really great from what i have seen so far and for them to take on the major studios main output type of cg film rather than some offbeat eastern european weird animation and instead go 'mainstream' well..they sure are delivering the goods with this.

brilliant stuff..

the dvd will be one to sift thru as that will have the scene files and how to videos as well

cool!

http://peach.blender.org/wp-content/uploads/splash_template_245.jpg

[Jassar]

Looks great, can't wait for the movie :)
Cheers.

[Gentle Fury]

I am seriously impressed with this project. The overall quality is WAY up there with the big studios and the big packages...the animation looks great...the fur is incredible, the lighting is soft and clean. Top honors to this crew...I really didnt realize blender had come this far! Congrats!

[RobertoOrtiz]

Merged the duplicate threads.


-R

[BubaBrown]

This is simply amazing!!! Such excellent top notch quality done in open source Blender? Cannot wait for final short. Excellent lighting, very soft, unbelievable particles and did you noticed on their blog that Blender even have very strong node compositing features. I am really chocked what these days can be done in Blender.

Also "open source" film idea is very revolutionary. On film DVD there will be all production files of the whole film. Really GREAT.

(PS: Maybe Autodesk should start to reconsider their pricing policy :-))))

[lukep]

Roberto, you want us to post in finished anim gallery or you can grab from the download site ?

I'm not directly involved in Peach, but part of the blender coding team and just spoke with Ton which is Blender leader and Peach Producer.

download from here : http://peach.blender.org/index.php/trailer-page/

[RobertoOrtiz]

Please do post it here:

Finished Work: Animation (http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=154)

And Ill plug it as soon as the thread is up.
And please tell the producer we would LOVE to have him join the thread.
-R

[x70]

What is the deal with the fruit names?
First was project orange now it's project peach. What's next an animated gay midget porno called Project banana?

Nothing against the creators. This is a spectacular film, As was the last one.

[BubaBrown]

On the blog there is already fruti onformation. Besides Peach there is project Apricot (to make 3d game based on the Peach film) http://apricot.blender.org/
And then there should be project Durian which should be FX Blender film (smokes, explosions, fire etc.).

So you are right. Next "fruit" produced by Blender should follow :-))))

[cresshead]

..edited due to dual info in above post..

also you have to note that as of this project blender delivers:-
fur
sculpting like modo/silo/mudbox
fluid simulations
cloth

it's a full on app now

[lukep]

Roberto done

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=5024677#post5024677

I will ask Ton to come there Tomorrow (Europa night)

[BubaBrown]

Seeing this I definitely think of switching to Blender!!!

Next release 2.50 should have brand new "standard" interface. That was considered as main reasons why "Windows used people" where "afraid" of Blender.

[Papa Lazarou]

Technically, I think it's right up there with the big studios and really does a good job of showing off the capabilities of Blender.

Creatively speaking, it's a bit dull. Looks close to on a par with stuff like Over the Hedge, but not as artistically accomplished as the visuals on something like Open Season or Horton.

Don't get me wrong, it's definately impressive, but as soon as people are saying it's as good as the major studios, well, I still think they could go that extra bit further. It'll be a great boost for Blender and bodes well for the future of the app.

[RockstarKate]

Seeing this I definitely think of switching to Blender!!!

Next release 2.50 should have brand new "standard" interface. That was considered as main reasons why "Windows used people" where "afraid" of Blender.

Quoted for agreement.

I'm a Max user, but seeing this led me to the Blender site. Seeing the features led me to download and install. I feel like kicking myself for not checking it out sooner.

[lukep]

Seeing this I definitely think of switching to Blender!!!

Next release 2.50 should have brand new "standard" interface. That was considered as main reasons why "Windows used people" where "afraid" of Blender.

Next release is 2.46, which will be the version used to produce this. the "Peach" release.
Released on 10th April or shortly after.

Following that, 2.50 and further will indeed some profound changes in interface.

[CurtisS]

I will chime into this discussion to say that all on the Peach team are very talented, longtime Blenderheads and it shows in this productions. Great job, guys!!! :applause:

[BubaBrown]

...
Creatively speaking, it's a bit dull. Looks close to on a par with stuff like Over the Hedge, but not as artistically accomplished as the visuals on something like Open Season or Horton. ...

I understand you. This is also matter of opinion. I have already seen threads where people where yelling that Ratatouille was really bad and Surfs Up really great and vice versa. So this is really just matter of personal point of view. (For example to me Horton sneak teaser seemed really bad but I understand and do not argue that to someone it may seems like artistic summit :-) No offence here

[cresshead]

it made the main page graphic banner on cgtalk!

yeah!...promote the heck out of it!
and go buy the dvd...great way to learn the app i reckon

eshop>>
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/

http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/images/peach_premiere.jpg

[Phrenzy84]

Following that, 2.50 and further will indeed some profound changes in interface.

I think thats the quote that is really going to make people go crazy for this piece of kit. :)

[BubaBrown]

and go buy the dvd...great way to learn the app i reckon

eshop>>
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/



Thank you very much for this link. I did not know there are so many new resources to learn Blender. This is really great. Really good help to start to learn Blender.

[jesterking]

Following that, 2.50 and further will indeed some profound changes in interface.

I want to add that the profound changes won't necessarily show in 2.50 already, as most of the changes will be under-the-hood. Expect no dramatic changes (a la standard interface), but do expect more from future versions :)

/Nathan

[bluecanvas]

Following that, 2.50 and further will indeed some profound changes in interface.

Don't make me laugh. Blender is always getting a user interface overhaul in a future release.

It just never gets one. Because everyone is too busy playing with the source and adding little technical tricks to it.

I estimate based on past track record that it will be 2011 or 2012 before Blender becomes as usable as a normal 3D package.

And I'll be very, very surprised if a Blender release with a really good UI appears before then.

[wolfmanyoda]

Been following the progress of this for awhile, can't wait until it's done.

[Papa Lazarou]

I understand you. This is also matter of opinion. I have already seen threads where people where yelling that Ratatouille was really bad and Surfs Up really great and vice versa. So this is really just matter of personal point of view. (For example to me Horton sneak teaser seemed really bad but I understand and do not argue that to someone it may seems like artistic summit :-) No offence here

I was going to use the example of Ratatouille, but it didn't seem fair to hold them up to that standard, especially when that film is so lauded as among the best animation to date. I also like Horton and Open Season because the visual direction on those is strong, confident and artistically literate.

What's on show here looks terrific, but stylistically I don't find it as exciting as those big studio productions I mentioned. However the mere fact that it would be compared to such efforts is something of a testament to what they're accomplishing here.

[Papa Lazarou]

I want to add that the profound changes won't necessarily show in 2.50 already, as most of the changes will be under-the-hood. Expect no dramatic changes (a la standard interface), but do expect more from future versions :)

/Nathan

awww ffffudge.

[blaize]

However the mere fact that it would be compared to such efforts is something of a testament to what they're accomplishing here.

I agree, seeing as this movie was made by a team of only 8 people, compared to a whole lot more at Pixar comparng is a great compliment.
This team are some of the best Blender artists, not the best cg-artists in the world, but the visual quality shows it's more then possible to create a movie with blender that is (imho) up to par with commercial animation movies, you just need a good crew ;)


The interface changes wont replace the current one, but will make things easier to change the interface to your liking.
menu's and headers are being re-designed and a completely new icon set is underway (which is looking really nice)

[CaptainBarbosa]

I estimate based on past track record that it will be 2011 or 2012 before Blender becomes as usable as a normal 3D package.

And I'll be very, very surprised if a Blender release with a really good UI appears before then.The Blender UI is not bad, it's just very different from other CG apps. When you get used to it it actually allows a very fast and efficient workflow, and many native Blenderheads have just as hard a time getting used to other 3D apps as you have getting used to Blender. Especially 3DS Max.

[fitchmicah]

The Blender UI is not bad, it's just very different from other CG apps. When you get used to it it actually allows a very fast and efficient workflow, and many native Blenderheads have just as hard a time getting used to other 3D apps as you have getting used to Blender. Especially 3DS Max.

Well said. I can't handle Maya for modeling. It's absolutely horrendous.

[bassaminator]

hey this is supposed to be about Big Buck Bunny Teaser! don't let every thread devolve into an endless blender UI debate!

Congratulations on (almost) finishing the movie to the core team, there is an incredible amount of amazing and super-fast work that went into this. I'm looking forward to the release- the trailer looks great, but I know it barely scratches the surface )

[mfoxdogg]

Don't make me laugh. Blender is always getting a user interface overhaul in a future release.

It just never gets one. Because everyone is too busy playing with the source and adding little technical tricks to it.

I estimate based on past track record that it will be 2011 or 2012 before Blender becomes as usable as a normal 3D package.

And I'll be very, very surprised if a Blender release with a really good UI appears before then.

I have to say yes it has taken a long time, but now is the time after peach all coders efforts including my own will be focused on 2.5 so it will happen this year for that i am certaina sthe ground work has already been laid and there is already a 2.5 taskforce keeping development ticking over,

only a few design issues need to be sorted then porting/redesigning can begin

to get all the facts hear it straight from the the lead developer himself
http://www.blendernation.com/2008/02/18/the-future-of-blender/

in short the event system recode will definatly be done this year :)

[lamegamefixer]

The difference between this short film, and the above films mentioned, is that EVERYTHING under the hood is going to be released. Characters, Materials, Scenes... the whole works.... all the .blend files...

[Apoclypse]

I must mention that drive behind projects like project peach, apricot nd orange is to have a goal to improve blender. That is why Blender has been progressing at a such an astonishing rate. The features needed for this project were hair and fur, sculpting and many other things that we are now seeign released in the next version (2.46) though most of these thing have been in the svn repo for a while. With apricot the objective is to enhance blender as a game making tool. A lot of features are being worked on, this includes better sculpting tools, texturing tools, exporters and better integration with externl game engines.

This is one of the main reasons why I think that blender is o succesful as an OSS project. they have a drive. I think there are other OSS projects which can use the same drive or full on production test. The gimp is a huge example of a project that needs this same type of attention.

[FloydBishop]

This looks really great. I think more artists will be looking at Blender than ever before as a result.

It was on and then off the front page awfully fast!

[Kanga]

Quoted for agreement.

I'm a Max user, but seeing this led me to the Blender site. Seeing the features led me to download and install. I feel like kicking myself for not checking it out sooner.
Yup, just an 8mb download initially. Don't forget to hop over to graphicall.org and download the latest build for your os!

Cheerio Chris

[BitsAndBytes]

impressive to say the least. Blender seems to be making insane headway. also it's great advertisement to open source development as it seems to attract developers en masse. Blender 'summer of code' could be VERY crowded this year. the idea of releasing all the files for the scenes that make up the animated feature is likely a treasure trove for the budding animator/renderer etc and will further help gravitate users towards Blender.

[LetterRip]

RockstarKate,

I'm a Max user, but seeing this led me to the Blender site. Seeing the features led me to download and install. I feel like kicking myself for not checking it out sooner.

Blender only recently (past year or so) has become a reasonable choice for professional users (although those doing strictly stills, simple object animation, or modeling it was fairly reasonable choice two years ago). When it first became open source it didn't even have undo for most operations. Prior to project Orange (Elephants Dream) it had quite weak character animation and rigging tools, and the rendering pipeline wasn't able to do render passes. After Orange they were much improved but still behind most of its commercial competition for animation tools - then during the time between the start of Peach and end of Orange they underwent further improvements and with Peach have taken another large step forward to the point where in many respects they surpass much of the commercial competition. (As will be seen with the 2.46 release).

So all of that to basically say that while you may have missed out on a bit of value, most of the tools that make Blender a 'professional grade' 3D tool, have only come about in the past year or so. So you are really getting on board just about the right time :)

Also only this past year or so has there been a 'Blender Documentation Renaissance' - for instance there will be at least two new books related to learning Blender shortly after the 2.46 release. Of course I'd recommend getting 'The Essential Blender (http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=96)' (bias warning - I wrote two of the chapters) or 'Introducing Character Animation With Blender (http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=95)' since those cover the basics - whereas the upcoming books - one covers creating a complete short with Blender, the other covers the various simulation and particle tools (cloth, softbody, hard body, fluids, hair, assorted particles).

(Note that the above books can also be purchased via amazon, borders, etc. but if you purchase then via blender eshop then a bigger percentage goes to fund future Blender development).

LetterRip

[BubaBrown]

... It was on and then off the front page awfully fast!

Quite awfully fast put off the front page. I am wondering what are the real reasons because new pictures that replaced the Big Buck Bunny are rather quite ordinary ... (fear of commercial 3d business infuencing owners of CGSociety maybe???)

... have taken another large step forward to the point where in many respects they surpass much of the commercial competition. (As will be seen with the 2.46 release). ...

LetterRip

Being amazed by the trailer I have downloaded Blender 2.46 release candidate. Mainly to check animation tools.

After few hours playing with it I have to say UI is no problem at all (actually quite sort of Apple style).
But I cannot find some important functions for animating:
- animation preview such as playblast
- spline IK (but this is probably hidden somewhere)
- order of rotation axis
- mirroring of armature including constraints
- coping of keys in the time line (only in F-curve editor)
- not everything is animate-able (like in XSI :-)
- FK/IK blending

As you may see I am used to some XSI animating "standards". But I think all these functions may be hidden somewhere because I really do not know Blender. But anyway Blender after these few hours seems to me as an excellent choice really very powerful.

I hope some Blender user here will comment on my first questions.

PS: I really do not understand how all the code could be pressed into few MBs.

[jinchoungforever]

absolutely professional looking and can stand among stuff from big studios. heck, even the music is pitch perfect in tone!

surprised to see blender detractors still but no matter what they can hold up as weaknesses, if the blender community has stuff like peach to point to, the unconvinced argument becomes untenable indeed.

and the fact that the movie was modeled, animated, rendered, edited and composited in one free program... and can create results like that? nothing short of stunning.

for those who are interested, do google searches for "2.46 RC1" ... the version that the peach team used to make peach is available to check out... still a release candidate with a final release to come but i haven't run across anything resembling broken yet.

there's some neat character stuff like ability to align bone roll angle to cursor and pole vectors and stuff. bunch of other enveloping stuff, hair stuff, etc etc.
--------------------------------------------------
also note how almost incomparably nimble the development on blender is - here's a cgsociety article about ilm tech:

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3889

now check this out:

http://peach.blender.org/index.php/approximate-ambient-occlusion/#more-252

dejavu....

jin

[LetterRip]

BubaBrown,

Got some answers to your questions for you, Joshua Leung (aka Aligorith who has been doing a great deal of animation coding for Blender) was willing to fill in the holes in my knowledge for you,

for playblasting - in the 3D header (right above the buttons) on the far right - there is a button with mountains - click on it to render the view using opengl, ctrl-click to render the animation (playblast it) using opengl. If you are in camera view it will render it from the cameras perspective.

Spline IK - Two approaches Curve Deformer and BBones. According to Aligorith "Curve deform is closer to that sort of effect though. Cessen uses this for the tail on Frank (the evil squirrel)"

Order of rotation axis - According to Aligorith "Not really possible currently. If control over this is really needed, a 3-empty-control needs to be used, with each empty controlling one degree of freedom, with the empties parented to the thing in the desired order.

I can't remember exactly how un-feasible it would be to hack this in, but if it's only a few places, then it is quite possible."

Mirroring of armature including constraints - According to Aligorith "Work on half the armature first (add constraints too), then in Edit Mode, shift-d (duplicate) + ctrl-m (mirror). This duplicates constraints and assigns them accordingly."

copying of keys in the timeline - According to Aligorith "That's never been there, and I doubt it will be there for a LONG time."

Without a convincing arguement for its usage probably not likely to appear (at least not coded by him :) ).

everything animatable - not yet, possibly for 2.50 (although a lot of parameters that aren't obviously animatable such as many material properties, can be animated by pressing the ikey while hovering over the parameter) - According to Aligorith "I'm working on it. In the past few days, I've come up with a new proposal for how we might do this, and have it be usable for UI and PyAPI too. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Aligorith/250_AnimPropertiesPlans

FK/IK blending -It is there but according to Aligorith "The user will need to put some effort into this. It can be done, and has been done. malefico's method is the most interesting, although the solutions for Mancandy are also quite good (though getting it to 'blend' nicely is a bit more problematic)."

(Malefico was the TD and rigger for Plumiferos a feature animation done entirely in Blender that will probably be in theaters later this year (not clear what countries are going to be doing theatrical distribution yet...)- Mancandy is a rig/character that one of the more prominent Blender animators has provided for the community to use and explore). At Blender artists you can find more details - or probably asking in the CGTalk blender forum.

Hope this was helpful.

LetterRip

[BubaBrown]

Thank you LetterRip very much!!! I really was not expecting such exhaustive answer. Nearly all my issues were solved. Thank you very much. I am also really surprised how active and cooperative you are as a community :-)

[Cessen]

LetterRip & BubaBrown:
The curve deform modifier isn't actually a good substitue for Spline IK, unfortunately. It's the *best* substitute currently in Blender (hence why we're using it) but it has a lot of problems that we have to painstakingly animate around, and it's very annoying to setup.
Hopefully spline IK will be added to Blender in the near future. I'll certainly be pushing for it.

BubaBrown:
All bones in Blender use Quaternion rotations, so "order of rotation" isn't applicable. It would be nice to be able to choose what sort of rotation representation any object or bone uses, and then the order of the axis' if applicable, but unfortunately that's not the case right now.
And you are correct, unfortunately not everything is animatible in Blender. :-(

PS: I really do not understand how all the code could be pressed into few MBs.
Personally, I look at it the other way around. I don't understand how other packages manage to bloat their code up to hundreds of megabytes.

[cosmonaut]

Great Work, Can't wait to see the finished short!

[RobertoOrtiz]

Well guys, I was a pleasure to post the plug.

I am completly convinced that this short will cause HUGE waves in the cgworld.

I am looking forward to playing with the latest build
-R

[toontje]

Don't make me laugh. Blender is always getting a user interface overhaul in a future release.

It just never gets one. Because everyone is too busy playing with the source and adding little technical tricks to it.

I estimate based on past track record that it will be 2011 or 2012 before Blender becomes as usable as a normal 3D package.

And I'll be very, very surprised if a Blender release with a really good UI appears before then.

Hmm... a little too negative about the UI are we? I guess if you want to call a full fledge composer, a fluid sim, cloth sim, fast SSS, sculpting, softbodies etc. 'little technical tricks',
then yes, I hope there are more 'little technical tricks' to come (and they WILL come).

But before you scare everyone away for trying out Blender, I have to say, as others has found out: there is always a learning curve (for any app for that matter). Any 3D app is a complex piece of software. And there are choices to be made with its GUI. None of the other apps GUI are the same. And even more, Blender's GUI does not the 'MS Windows' GUI paradigm. It has its own paradigm. As with anything, if you are not willing to learn, it WILL seem useless to you till the end of time (or until you learn/ master it).

Just out of curiousity... what is a 'normal' GUI in your view?

[paintbox]

This is great news! It's a wonderful teaser (it is very short for a trailer) I hope it delivers story wise as well.

I use Blender alongside C4D and it is a nice complement to any software package you might be running. I like the modelling in Blender myself. The sculpting is fun as well.

It's free and it's able to make CG. What more could any 3D artist want?

[Kanga]

,...
Personally, I look at it the other way around. I don't understand how other packages manage to bloat their code up to hundreds of megabytes.
Yeah I was absolutely amazed at the size of the install. To be fair though, as a max user it has been said that the foundations of the app are rather old and changing the base would mean rewritting everything on top. I've been using max for years and have never seen every page in the referance file, it's simply too vast. Satisfying archiviz at one extreme and then character creation and animation at the other (everything in between) must be madness at the coding end. I think we will see big apps like this start to fragment and give the engineers a chance to concentrate on fewer aspects, like the archi split at autodesk. Meaning more specialised software that is lighter, cheaper and more efficient.

Still amazed at the blender install though:)

Cheerio Chris

[LetterRip]

Actually there are a number of things that impact the size difference between Blender and other 3D packages, the two biggest are probably

1) Most commercial software bundles a lot of data with their installer - textures; training videos; and help files with screenshots can take up quite a bit of space.

2) Usage of external libraries without any means to exclude what they don't need - when we added ffmpeg a requirement was to chop out a lot of the unneeded codecs to keep the download size down. Also instead of a full python install we have one stripped down to essential functions, enough that it can run most of the bundled scripts. Most 3D applications external libraries only have an API and a binary so it is take it or leave it.

LetterRip

[kelgy]

Really impressive.

I like the distinctive character design too.

Great to see choices opening up for people who cant/wont access a traditional commercial application.

[lukep]

Still amazed at the blender install though:)

Cheerio Chris

There is several reason for that.

First, blender download is the app itself without any goodies in term of presets, help files, doc ...

Secondly, a commercial app will likely use other companies libs for stuff, and will inherit unused parts as well. A mesh kernel for example may include for 3D but also bits designed for CFM calculations or such. This can add quite a lot of weight.

Thirdly, blender is mostly coded in C. most commercial ones are in C++. The latter offer quite a lot of advantages for big teams of devellopers, as each part can be worked independently. Object Oriented coding became standard in the industry for exactly that reason. By contrast, blender coding is much more closer to the bare metal which almost mandate to understand whole of source to do anything for it. That makes contributing a bit harder.

But C++ output is a lot bigger than C. This does not make it inferior nor slower.

We do not either graft Bell and whistles on features. This is both a strength and a weakness (not the place to discuss that) but such things take a lot of code. features are there, but often with less options than competitors. We may even have better ones (eg UVs) but often less polished. A commercial software on the contrary will typically put a lot of care on things like previews, user options, and interactivity while making changes.

Lastly, pretty graphics. Blender UI is somewhat bare too, by intent design. But that makes it also smaller than one with fancy graphics and/or transitions.

However, blenser size is growing quick now. Not so long ago, you could fit blender on a floppy disk. Well as nobody use anymore floppy, that is ok, and we have still lot of room to fill a CD or DVD ;)

[toontje]

However, blenser size is growing quick now. Not so long ago, you could fit blender on a floppy disk. Well as nobody use anymore floppy, that is ok, and we have still lot of room to fill a CD or DVD

Even putting Blender on a 128Mb usb stick is like parking your bicycle in a hangar!

I haven't commented yet on the trailer. TOP NOTCH! Nice animation. Especially Big Buck Bunny. I can't help but feel that the way it moves is trully how Nathan moves.

One crit though: The log that fell on the chinchela doesn't seem right. It does feel as if something fell suddenly on him. I think there should be much more blur and just a couple of frames of animation there, camera shake, dust flying up after the impact......

But all in all, the animation feels like it is motivated by the characters themselves, unlike the puppet on a (IK) string like animation of elephant dream. Even the blinking of the eyes is well timed. Nice facial expressions. And the big bonus: It is almost Easter after all... ;)

[yolao]

the animation, the lighting, the enviroment, everything looks beautiful. Congratulations guys.

The music is fantastic too. Would this music be as well in the movie?...or it was just for the trailer?....

[cresshead]

Q. what renderer are the team using for the short film?

is it the built in renderer, yafray or some other add on renderer?

[DanielWray]

they used blenders internal renderer. they have some very good information on there blog about how there render engine/ render farmed works and how they render out and use the nodes to compile scenes from layers etc.

im currently working with a group of animators/ modellers and im going to try and get them to switch to blender for rendering/ lighting as it is such a tightly bound app now with the node compositing being right there in the app

[Zinkmaster]

Edit: Meh was too slow to post :D

Go get the poster now ;P!
http://peach.blender.org/index.php/press/

[Apoclypse]

In one of the productin interviews Ton was talking about what was in store for the next project from the blender institute. Apparently the next major film project is supposed to be a special effects extravaganza so you can expect huge improvements in Blender's physics, and particle system (which saw great imporvements for Peach already). I'm crossing my fingers for a node based rigid body, soft body, and particle system, but I don't see it happening.

[jinchoungforever]

ooooh, a specialfx extravaganza? nifty... i'm not sure if this means live action short with vfx and even if it's not, i hope that something like that is being planned at some point.

demonstrating the ability to work in a vfx pipeline would be another nice feather in blender's cap.

a cloverfield-ish "Big Big Buck Bunny Takes Manhattan (or Amsterdam...) ..." ?

unfortunately, such a thing requires sets and actors and things but if they make a story small enough in scope, it could be do-able and cool.

oooh, and probably having to work extensively with video footage may move development in video processing and all the headaches and heartaches that entails... especially now that we have the added joy of hd and hdv and all that....

jin

p.s. d'oh, but there's no camera tracking now and such a thing ain't trivial to build in.... and not a lot of open source options (there's voodoo tracker but that's limited license....).... i'd recommend syntheyes if cheap is close enough to free... : )

[liquidik]

Well, durian (the actual project name) will be all about monsters, robots and explosions. Something with a lot of adrenaline and no plot at all :D

About the motion tracking thing. Something is in the work right now, but there's no code in svn yet, as well as a new muscle simulation things :D

Is a bright future for blender!

Gian

[LetterRip]

There are two movie projects that are 'planned' - Durian - which is a adolescent adrenalin rush action film and is pure CG - among other things it will likely include explosions and other fun FX, and Mango - which will focus on integration with live action but isn't defined beyond that vague concept.

Neither of these are likely to be started till after Siggraph.

LetterRip

[jinchoungforever]

dang!

i was hoping for "mango"....


jin

p.s. haha, letterrip's post came while i was writing.... cooooool. i love mango. so juicy and moist and delicious... aaaauuuuuuuuuughggghghghghhhh.....

[BubaBrown]

Blenderartists may be very lucky, I guess there are hundreds of fruit kinds ...

[RobertoOrtiz]

it made the main page graphic banner on cgtalk!

yeah!...promote the heck out of it!
and go buy the dvd...great way to learn the app i reckon

eshop>>
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/

http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/images/peach_premiere.jpg


I promise to use this image for the plug of the final short.
To all involved, please post the final short in our galleries
and drop me a line.
Considering the QUALITY I have seen so far, I wil have no problems to plug it.

[LetterRip]

RobertOrtiz,

the final short will premiere in Amsterdam first (April 10th?), then the DVDs ship (a couple of weeks later possibly +/-), then it will be posted on online, so it will likely be awhile yet before it makes it to the CGTalk finished projects section.

LetterRip

[cresshead]

got my dvd on order....will be looking for my name in the credit list!..what agreat idea to fund the production via pre sales...brilliant stuff!

[monovich]

wow everything looks great. I'm definitely interested and psyched to try Blender in the near future.

[Squeakypics]

Wow.
Just checked the Peach blog and there are some groovy videos showing the rigging and animation.

.......Blender can do all that!

wow.

[antimatter289]

I loved this teaser! Especially the characters' presence in the eyes, and the jiggling chin on Big Buck.

I'm a blenderhead of about 5 years, and still have lots to learn. Character stuff being the main thing on the list right now.

What I love about Blender is, as has been said, it's an all-in-one (Particles, Hair, Node Materials, Node Compositor (oEXR/render layers), Non-Linear Video Editor (Sequencer), Multiple Export formats, Soft Body, Cloth, Rigid Body, Logic/Game Engine, Sculpting, ReTopo, customizable Interface layout, Appending (like xRef), etc!!). AND, it runs on pretty much any computer system that any normal or semi-normal person has access to (x86, PPC, SGI, Windows, OS X, Linux, Irix, Solaris, etc).

The only really big limitation with blender isn't with blender, but with the artist. There are a few tools and niceities missing, some are on the way in 2.50 (customizable keyboard shortcuts being one). But workarounds can often be found (as has been mentioned with the Spline IK tool..somewhat).

I've used Max for ArchiViz for about a year and a half (done as of last Oct), and I prefer Blender's UI and workflow. Though I haven't finished a real Arch-Viz project in blender yet, though it is more than possible.

Another thing, is that if you're like me: stubborn and cheap, it's great. The app, as well as enough documentation, tutorials, Wiki and Forums are free and can help you get more than well on your way. If you want more formality, there are books to purchase (as has been mentioned) to increase the learning in Animation and other techniques, which monies actually go back to the Blender Foundation!!

I agree that this Open Movie will cause some big waves...much more so than Elephants Dream.

Imagine what could be done if a studio with more than a handful of people, with more ideas/brainstorming/etc were to use Blender, and what they could come up with (Using the current 2.46 version) !!!

[fktt]

This is slightly off topic but to all those interested in trying out blender with some "hand holding" so-to-say, bassams DVD is really cool, and as everything released by Blender institute is CC lisensed, well.. just read this article on blendernation:

http://www.blendernation.com/2008/03/21/watch-the-mancandy-dvd-streaming-or-on-bittorrent/

[cresshead]

thanks for the link to the training vids:thumbsup:

not long till the dvd arrives thru the post!

[Andres]

WOW (yes it is, big wow)

[richcz3]

Selected "Introducing Character Animation" and was ready to pay PayPal - but it requires a Paypal credit card. What's up with that?:shrug:

Nonetheless, Blender has really been brought up to speed. The last news I was up on was when Fluid dynamics were incorporated. Allot has been done since then. I never thought I'd see the day such an app could produce such compelling work. :thumbsup:

[DingTo]

The trailer is great. Really good graphic.

Blender is a really powerful application.

[Kid Dynomite]

Are the trees/grass going to move or be affected by dynamics in any way?

[toontje]

The grass are particles. Particles can be influenced by the forces available in Blender (like wind etc. ). Besides if I'm not mistaken, there is a new gizmo like a new deflection object that basically bends the grass where the characters walk. As for the trees waving in the wind; If you look carefully, the leaves are moving in the big tree.

[antimatter289]

I don't know for sure, as I'm not invloved at all - but I think there will be a few select plants swaying with the breeze, but overall the environment is static (According to a render test they had on their blog a while ago). Any Peachees to correct me?
edit: (toontje and I replied simultaneously) - yes they are controllable by wind forces, but I doubt that the entire field of grass is - too heavy to compute. Just a hunch though.

[ZanQdo]

it doesnt have to be so heavy since the strands are parent-child based, computing wind on 8k or 10k strands is not so much while the rest of the strands are created and interpolated at render time on demand

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