Globe trottin'

It's been a few months without an update here.

Well, the reason is I've been workin like a dog. I now get to jet over to the other side of the world and continue doing it on set.

Wish me luck.

Merry Christmas

and/or Happy Holidays to you out there.

 

Short break here from work, well, another day or so before I head back.  Doing some cool stuff on this one, nothing ground breaking, but cool to me at least. 

 

Haven't had much time to play with Blender 2.5 alpha yet, but can anyone tell me if there's a way to set the tool tray in its own window with everything on display?  That's probably my biggest gripe.  Sure I have others, maybe they'll be addressed, maybe I'll have to adapt.

 

So there ya have it, as much of an update as I have right now.

Blender 2.5

The new interface is HORRIBLE in my opinion.  Maybe come version 2.55 or so I'll have managed to get caught up and adapt it to the last few years of learning the "old" interface.  I really don't understand the option to change from horizontal to vertical after 7+ years and every pervious version. 

 

Maybe with a widescreen monitor, or maybe two of them, you could regain screen space and actually be able to see what you're doing.  I've got dual monitors and the only decent way to do things is open another window but that presents issues unless you duplicate things on both.

 

Maybe it's the whatever bug I caught, but I'm really not liking this right now.  Unless this release comes with a full manual, not a link to an online manual (as I won't have internet where I'm at for the next 4-6 months), that covers everything I'm going to suffer the same fate that led to the purchase from NaN that gave us blender in the first place.

 

 

Not on a jet plane

But I will be leaving and don't know when I'll be back again (besides holidays.)

Heading off to do some shop work and whatever else comes my way, so expect even fewer updates here. Actually, I'll be dragging at least one computer with me to do some work on a few things as I have time. Mostly cgi stuff that I've already posted, the project with the bullet, but if possible some more product related things as well.

Also, someone asked about a custom cartoon prop that I've thought about building for a while now, so perhaps I'll end up making one and post some progress stuff on that.

So, that's the haps here. Since I probably won't be around that much I'll drop those seasonal type things on you now.

Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays, in case those two don't cover you.

A Polish Winter

Slacking with the blog posts again.

I just noticed that APW was nominated for the Suzanne Awards 2009 best short film. Unfortunately they didn't win.

Memory, a well done, but disturbing post apocalyptic sci-fi short took the prize. I guess anyone who pays attention to Blender goings on already knew this. The good news however is that those who haven't seen it now can by following the above link.

Heck, with everything I've been doing I haven't had much of a chance to play with Blender lately. Props, parts, shoots, and getting ready to go away for a while and do a (hopefully) long stretch in the movie trenches.

Anyway, congratulations on the nomination guys, better luck next time. Congrats to the winners, one of these days I'll get around to doing a short instead of just some shots for live action stuff and product type stuff with Blender.

whole lotta shakin' going on

Last weekend was another shoot. Got to make some stuff that sounds like it should be awesome.

It would have been had it worked correctly. Oh well...into post we go.

My first course will be adding a bullet and distortion to a shot. The plan is Blender for the bullet. Particle illusion for the distortion layer, which will be brought into Blender and used as an input on the distortion node. I'll probably render out something that might be used in AE since I have raw footage and am not doing the editing. There will be a few other vfx shots I get to play with. Go me!

I may have a few other courses coming along in my big feast of "if only it had worked on set"

So it goes.



In other news, things need molded. Samples need made. Personal projects to play with as well.

long winded, as always.

I should stop by more often. This started out as a response to a comment left on my post here. It's gone a little long so it'll get its own post.

My max access was back in school, after that I had a couple friends with a copy. They moved, or switched to other things and I drifted away from CGI for a little while as I had nothing. One day I came across something that reminded me of Blender. I had downloaded version 1.73 or something like that, I've mentioned it elsewhere before. The new version was much more powerful, but still a PITA as there was no included documentation. However in the decade or so between the initial introduction the internet had become more mature, and much faster. Youtube, wiki, many more user sites and tutorials helped answer the mystical and mysterious functional questions I had regarding Blender. Both the program and the community had grown into something that deserved another look.

Blender, for the price, can't be beat. It's made and continues to make giant leaps forward in terms of features and function. I see the same "hobbyist" sentiment elsewhere as well. People dabble in makeup or sculpting as well. I know some who have opened a business after a few years of dabbling.

I don't expect Blender to take over the industry as some in the community do, but they've made 2 short films, a game, and are working on another film with it. Many other people have used it to make short movies and games. Hell, a company used it to do a full feature film. The community support and development is.. perhaps rabidly anti other software at times, but very active. I don't see that as a negative for the most part, the bashing is uncalled for, but the passion isn't bad.

Look at it this way. Since I have no idea of your age, experience, or anything like that assume for a moment you are a young teen with no money but a decked out computer and some interest in games or CGI. Your parents already dumped $3000 on a computer so they won't buy you another high end program that you may lose interest in. Along comes Blender, a small download that will run on damn near any system and provide you that gateway into the world of CGI, as well as possibly programming.

Is that a bad thing? Getting a large jump start into a field that is quite complex and ever changing? Learning a complex program that shares many of the same basic functionality as the others but with no financial investment (at first) that also requires some effort by the user as it rarely has up to date documentation (a major drawback as I've said in the past) isn't quite the negative you make it out to be. Were I better with the program and able to talk some friends into it I'd consider a summer camp type of program for children based around Blender, as well as some of the other open source software that the community lauds. Audacity, the gimp, and some others. They may not be the hollywood blockbuster behind the scenes programs, but damn I wish they had been around at their current levels when I was in high school. Programs like them were far outside of what I could afford. Couple those with a mini DV camera and you CAN make a movie today.

I do believe that the there is quite a bit of truth behind "It's not the tool, it's the craftsman." Blender might force a few extra steps or have a harder time getting there, but it will do the job.

As for why I use it, let me run down a few of the reasons.

The cost. Free.

The learning. I'm forced to learn new things, to not stay still. The learning curve is pretty steep, or at least it was/is for me. I had a couple of classes in 3DSM when I was in school. I screwed around with it a little bit, but I never actually took classes in it to learn the real basics. With Blender I was forced to go back to the very basics and start from there. I'm far, like drifting in interstellar space type far, from being good at animation, modeling, or damn near any of the things I can do with it. It gives me something to focus on, that is getting better and doing things the right way.

The features. This goes hand in hand with cost. Nothing else comes close to the features at this price. Besides the basic modeling and animation you get a video editor, a node system that can be used to adjust pictures or do some color correction, fluid simulation, sculpting, and a very active user base to name a few.

In the end I guess it comes down to personal preference, need, and justification. I can't justify dropping thousands on something I use in a production rarely. I'd rather put that money towards tools or things I use constantly as opposed to the rarely used program. If max were in the $1000-1500 ballpark I'd consider buying it and starting from scratch. Same goes for many of the other programs out there that are considered "professional" and mainstream in this area.

With the 2.5 release I think Blender will be making another large leap away from the "hobbyist" world. How large remains to be seen, and how successful will be determined to a large extent by the users of other programs such as max, maya, and the rest that dominate the industry. The future of its hobbyist status will be determined by the community. All those 13 year old kids growing up with it and using it may take it with them into their jobs in the future.

In the end it all boils down to what gets the job done.

I'm totally blushing

Or maybe it's just because I was outside for more than 5 minutes this weekend.

The new BlenderArt magazine is out. The 2 regular readers here may notice something familiar about the cover.

I'm also dealing with an extra heavy dose of "D'OH!" as I totally forgot that I might have been able to include something on the Jean Claude the Gumming Zombie stuff in there as I used Blender heavily on that project. Well, at least I finally got around to uploading some of the videos to youtube. They're in no way tutorials, just a brief glimpse at a little of what went into the movie.


Hey, maybe it's time to mention a little something on the next project. There will be heavy Blender usage, here's a little tease. Traditional FX fans fear not as there will be as much real stuff as possible, but some of the shots need CGI and some post tweaking. Blender will be used for modeling, animation, and some post work on this project.

Now, go check out the magazine I'm sure if I can make the cover there's probably plenty of much better stuff inside.

Blender raytracing build

It's showing promise and was mentioned over here.  I know it's just a build and not finished and all that, but a bunch of things are bothering me already.  Yes, I hate to complain about free software, and all the hard work, but I feel I have to.

 

The time wasting animated view changes, see for yourself, click any of the view buttons (numpad) and you get a little time waster.  It spins quickly, in large files/scenes it takes a bit of time and  I can see it being even worse once you start getting really complex with particles and things of that nature.

 

Default vertical button window.  Automatic resizing of the buttons to stretch to fit.  I hope shift+space will be able to be configured to maximize the current window, so much faster than ctrl+up arrow. Another is the having to hit the pause/stop button for playback of the timeline. 

 

While there seems to be some speed increases in the interface, I really am not digging the new cartoony feel it's got, much like I hate XP, OS X, and VISTA looks.  All those flashy little things might be cool and trendy but I don't need/want them in functional software.  Yes, there's probably a compromise somewhere, or it could be configured or whatever, but turn it off by default.  Please.

 

If it will be possible to download or configure a basic layout like the default setup of the past few releases, or something very close I'll be happy.  Over time I'll work with their defaults, but I'm finally getting the hang of it as is.  There's a steep enough learning curve already, so having to relearn everything in a cartoony (not high enough contrast theme, yes, sadly my eyes are getting older)

 

Will there be a render window or are we going to be limited to image editor?  Size presets? 

 

 

The single thing I dread the most is that there will not be current up to date documentation.  PLEASE guys, spend some time getting that together, at least a list of changed locations, key commands and combos, and/or a much better intro guide before you release this.

 

That's just my impressions on the first  few minutes of messing around with it.  I understand a lot of my complaints might already be addressed but I'm worried about having to relearn the interface and a whole lot more plus the unneeded/unwanted slowdowns that (and some of the features) bring with it.