Blender DVD training: Creature Factory by Andy Goralczyk

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This extensive tutorial set, created by the renowned Blender artist Andy Goralczyk, teaches artists how to craft a fully finished 3D animated scene. Tracking the evolution of an idea from creation to final render – and beyond. The result of the tutorials is an epic 90 second trailer.

Andy has recorded all of the time spent in Blender: over 40 hours of modeling, shading, lighting, animation, rendering and compositing. These recordings have been selectively sped up, edited and enriched with a detailed commentary, resulting in a riveting 6 hour documentation of the creation of a cinematic movie scene.

Apart from the time-lapses, the DVD further contains a selection of short tutorial videos explaining in more detail the various techniques as used. Andy will reveal all his state of the art modeling tricks, the secrets of shading and lighting, how to get more out of your render with compositing nodes – everything that will help to give birth to your idea in Blender at lightning speed!

Creature Factory

Creature Factory from Andy Goralczyk on Vimeo.

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    • Andrew

      WHOA

      This looks good. I watched the teaser a while back and was hooked.

      However character animation isn’t really my department, so I don’t think I’ll be buying it as of yet.

    • http://arkavision.co.nr Howitzer

      I’ll buy it as soon as possible. Thanks @ndy for your amazing efforts!

    • Tony

      Awesome. Just ordered mine!

    • http://www.venomgfx.com.ar Pablo Vazquez

      @ Andrew
      “However character animation isn’t really my department, so I don’t think I’ll be buying it as of yet.”

      nor modelling, texturing, rigging, lighting, compositing, is?, because this DVD covers all that :)

      great job andy!!

    • http://www.lenwest.org Len

      I’ve been looking forward to this one! Just ordered mine also :)

    • http://www.FreezingMoon.org Dread Knight

      Looking forward to own it and learning from it :-)

    • Madpsychot

      I’d pay just to watch the trailer! It’s spectacular! I will be ordering this DVD for sure.

    • http://redbirdiii.blogspot.com RedBirdiii

      I’ve ordered mine.. Wow!! Yeeehooo!
      I love you Andy and I love your work!
      Thank you very much for this!

    • http://www.artificial3d.com andy

      the HD version of the teaser is now on vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/1164490
      with HD switched on it was playing a bit choppy on my laptop, but the standard one seemed to work. on a decent computer the HD stream should work properly… i hope.

      .andy

    • http://www.animationbytim.com/ Tim Formica [Room335]

      andy, I added the VIMAEO video

    • Dusty

      WOW! That was kept quiet! I knew this might be done someday, but what a nice surprise!

      Well done Andy and the team!

    • campbell barton

      @Dusty. What team?, This is 100% Andy blood sweat and tears… Ton nagged, I bumped the max sequencer zoom-level, Brecht re-enabled negative particle frames. We all got told off for making noise! ;)

    • mookie

      Why does every beast made in a 3D graphic have to do its “roar-thing” at the end???

      Anyway – I just love the camera movement! Outstanding!

    • http://shanenewville.deviantart.com Ghost_Train

      Holy crap that looks awesome!
      Please send me a FREE copy ASAP!!!!

      (kidding)

      But still, feel free to do so.

    • http://spotmeon.blogspot.com Gaurav_M

      Andy we love your Work

      @mookie – Why does every beast made in a 3D graphic have to do its “roar-thing” at the end???

      i think it try to spell his master name – who created him :P

    • blendercross

      WOW!!……orderd the DVD this morning. I am shure that it will be a great resource for my training.

    • Digitist

      Wow. Looks good. The music makes more than half of the tension. GreaT!

    • Anthony, Ireland.

      Ordered. Looks fantastic.

    • Boro

      No talk about!! Awesome work Andy I’ve order one !!!
      One question! How I read the commentary are in Audio is that right ?
      I ask because I’m deaf and it would be a great option to switch the commentaries
      to subtitle! Anyway Geil gemacht :-) !!

    • Duranial

      I’ll buy one, when I can get some money, but it’s some awesome work of course!

    • Gryphon

      Finally! I had completely forgotten about this DVD since the last time it was posted about here. This’ll be awesome.

    • Þiðrekr

      Ordered. I also threw in the Mancandy DVD, which I had been meaning to get for a while, but I find it hard to “impulsively” order something that has to be shipped from overseas. Nonetheless, I’ve wanted a resource like “Creature Factory” for a long time now, and it is just too perfect to pass up!

    • http://blenderzin.de blue_bone

      This looks very nice.
      but under which license it will be? CC or something else?

    • Marslyr

      Wow, Looks great! (This is definitely going on my shopping list.)

      @blue_bone

      From the e-shop link (http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=105)

      “Licensing details: All content, such as video tutorials, textures and Blender files is Creative Commons Attribute 3.0 licensed (similar to the Mancandy training disc)”

      Good work Andy.

    • http://nyquist.net/ John R. Nyquist

      It looks fantastic! Ordered a copy and now I’m looking forward to July!

    • Aka

      At last BF has it’s own learning resources, that are official and you can get them through blender shop, or even download them for free if you don’t have money at the moment. It’s really necesary if you want to promote software. In internet you have many options if it comes to other apps. There are tuts from Digital Tutors or Gnomon Workshop, and now yuo can also buy some DVD for Blender. It’ very important when you talk about good marketing. So, Blender is starting to making it’s own brand in that area. I hope there will be news about this on cgsociety.

    • http://www.taddmencer.com Tadd

      man .. I’d love to get this series! Too bad I’m a poor man! It looks great though. I’ve been wanting to get into Blender – trying to work on a 3D based graphic novel – but I’m just too .. confused. This looks like the perfect … PERFECT … solution.

      Ah well. I’ll keep dreaming :)

      Well done Andy. Well done.

    • Christer Leuhusen

      This is a must. Ordered as soon as I saw this. The result is stunning and I can´t wait to get it.

    • jboadas

      When I can download It, Im from Venezuela and have no chance to buy it soon…

      Best Regards

    • yellow

      I really hoped this DVD would materialise, there’s just so much to learn from such a blender master and other software master too no doubt. :-)

      Great news, congratulations Andy, it’s bound to be a huge success.

    • Micra

      wauw really great stuff! I knew Andy is a great artist! :) can’t wait to have the dvd !!

    • rogper

      The couriosity about the glow lines in the beat and the beast lair is killing me :P

    • CD

      This looks very cool. Do you think it would be ok for a newbie?? or too complicated??

    • KritikAll

      All the supporting products for Blender are sooo expensive!! Are these costs justified? Why must people in capitalism always be so greedy?! 15-20 Euro would be a more reasonable pricing for ‘training’ DVD’s'!

      With HALF the price you can sell more thean double! (read “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson and you get a new perspective on ‘economics’)

    • http://freshsurge.com RH2

      Old news,
      Probably just another high quality tutorial/training package with a high price tag… the price is probably justified by the effort that went into it.
      but If the price was lower I might just buy it….

    • http://www.vagaweb.com.br/lucio Lucio Cavalcanti

      Hey! Where’s the mine!?

      It’s incredible! Perfect!

    • roofoo

      Really high quality!

      But am I the only one who thinks the “creature’s” head looks like a robotic xenomorph?

    • roofoo

      @KritikAll: If you compare the price to other commercial DVDs such as from Gnomon, it’s really not that much.
      But if you really can’t afford it, if you are patient I’m sure there’ll be a download version later, just like with the Mancandy DVD (after all, it IS creative commons licensed.)

    • http://www.smickworks.com smick

      @bluebone:

      I read the site, he says it’s licensed, both materials and vids under a CC 3.0 license. Sweet!

    • Anthony

      @KritikAll: If you can’t afford it then maybe you need a bigger tin cup?

      I purchased mine last night.
      Thanks Andy!

    • ArtIsLight

      Wow……………………………
      Praise God. That’s amazing – the music is superbly fit. Excellent job. I can’t wait till I can see this online – great efforts, masterful product – bravo Andy. Thanks a lot!

    • http://www.blender3d.at carlinhos

      WOW, it’s amazing! I will order it immediately.

    • mmelo

      Looks absolutely awesome – congrats!

      If such greatness wasn’t wasted on someone like me, I’d buy it right away. As it stands I’ll probably buy it later after I can talk myself into believing I’ll be able to learn from such greatness…

    • MattGS

      This is BEAUTIFUL! I’m ordering the DVD right now. 27,50 € is a steal. Incredible job!

    • xvisx

      Ordered it right away, if only to see what is able to be achieves in a distant future…

    • http://www.viseal.de sen

      Yeah. Ordered mine, too!!!

      More stuff like that please!!!

    • steffen

      will the workshop be availible as torrent or stream? like the Mancandy DVD

    • Joeri

      Yup, got me one.
      Great stuff @ndy. Thanks for lending me the trailer btw.

    • CrackIt

      Is the sound- and video-quality on the DVD so bad as in the previews???
      Thats awful!!

    • http://www.quantumanomaly.com Quantum Anomaly

      @CrackIt: ummm, check your settings and connections. It sounded just fine for me – especially considering it’s compressed for web.

      Anyway, I’m buying this for sure! I’ve always wondered about the video compositing for Elephants’ Dream (and now Big Buck Bunny), but I’ve never been able to find any tutorials that answered my questions. This looks promising.

    • joeri

      I know bart hates me, but this i need to write:
      Its not intended as bashing, just to get some details clear.
      ”
      All the supporting products for Blender are sooo expensive!! Are these costs justified? Why must people in capitalism always be so greedy?! 15-20 Euro would be a more reasonable pricing for ‘training’ DVD’s'!

      With HALF the price you can sell more thean double! (read “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson and you get a new perspective on ‘economics’)
      ”

      I dont find this post very fair.
      1. “Are these costs justified?”
      Not sure what you make per hour, I’m sure Andy has put more hours into this then what he’ll ever get back for it. I think that working at a MacFrommel flipping burgers would pay off better.

      So I’d go for: “Yes this is costs justified”

      2.”With HALF the price you can sell more thean double!”
      Only if there is a public for the sale.
      So its true for bread, but not true for, say, Mychael Danna cd’s. ( who? right! )
      Chris Anderson is just putting the responsability with the seller, what you can do is take responsability yourself: If you think 30 euro is expensive and know the price could be lower because everybody wants this dvd, then just find somebody who also wants this dvd and buy it together. And copy it. Its released under cc 3.0 making copies legal. That cuts down the price in half immidiatly, something very hard to do by the blender institution by pushing up the volume.

      3. “…in capitalism always be so greedy?…”
      Euh… What are you talking about? A Maya license is $1000,= and one Autodesk tutorial dvd is $70,= .
      Blender IS about freedom. The software is 100% free. Gratis and free. No need to pay for anything, not even the bandwith nor the electricity… And its all Open. Free to learn anything 3d; from source code to epic movie making… I repeat: Gratis and Free!
      And all educational material from the blender institute is gratis and free.
      With common creatives and FF licences it relies on its community to share.
      And the blender community DOES share. There is not one single file I was not able to download.

      I think you are bashing the wrong institute. Please point your arrows at Pixar, who dont share anything of their files at all. Or at autodesk, who buys out all 3d applications and is becoming monopolist very fast.

    • rogper

      @Joeri
      … well Pixar does share the withepapers of the technics they developed, and allot of them are even implemented in blender, being the most recent the Mesh Deform modifier I think ;) But I get your point ^_^

    • Aka

      @joeri “Maya license is $1000″ – which one. I think you are talking about some not comercial for students. Full featured Maya costs almost $7000 xD. And btw, this DVD isn’t expensive. There are many other DVD’s that costs more and have less material covered. Cheers

    • http://projecttall.blogspot.com/ Studio Stockwell

      I will get round to buying this soon, Looks awsome, Thanks Andy!! \^_^/

      @ Andy

      Do you know if the rest of the Orange Team will release any DVD”s? Its you and Bassam so far. It will be nice to see what Matt, Lee, Bastian & Toni have to share. :)

      Thanks again :)

      Peace ;)

    • Aka

      @Studio Stockwell – why oh why you didn’t mention a man resposible for animations in BBB? This could be really good. I know that there’s Bassam’s ManCAndy, but it’s main issue is that it’s ManCandy only x)

    • http://projecttall.blogspot.com/ Studio Stockwell

      @ Aka

      Hence the DVD name “ManCandy FAQ” ;)

    • Aka

      @Studio Stockwell- yeah truly but sad ;)

    • http://projecttall.blogspot.com/ Studio Stockwell

      @Aka

      Sad hardly. I have the DVD its great :)

    • pictorali

      That’s a very impressive, if not inspirational trailer!

    • amk

      Steep price for “epic 90 second trailer” :P LOL

      I’ll probably purchase it later this year…

    • amk

      Uh am I stupid – trailer is NOT Tutorial LOL,that’s what happens when your english sucks hee heeee
      Cheers

    • brokenjack

      Is this DVD targeted towards a more experienced user? I’ve been getting pretty comfortable with Blender for a few weeks now.(For some reason after 4 years of picking it up and putting it down, it’s finally clicked) I’m kind of in noob/intermediate limbo where I’m starting to venture into more complicated things. Also, I’m more interested in mechanical animation and robot stuff and not so much the organic right now. Would this DVD be right for me?

    • Tom

      joeri, there is plenty of people here who would gladly buy this at half price, but like me don’t want to spend $37.40 (USD) I hate that people are so ignorant with their prices, for they WOULD make more money if they would LOWER their prices, (this isn’t the only thing I’m talking about) also, having such high prices for these training DVD’s defeats the purpose of having an open source program in the first place. It would be much more reasonable to have it lower-priced. You underestimate the size of the blender community, and even economics. I’m sure he has gotten plenty of profit, and would get MORE if the price was LOWER.

      “If you think 30 euro is expensive and know the price could be lower because everybody wants this dvd, then just find somebody who also wants this dvd and buy it together. And copy it. Its released under cc 3.0 making copies legal. That cuts down the price in half immediately, something very hard to do by the blender institution by pushing up the volume.”

      I disagree. I personally DON’T know anyone within a radius of a few HUNDRED miles whom I could convince to collaborate in this way, and am sure that I am not the only one. Also, generally, this is a real problem, and mostly, this isn’t a legal possibility.

    • a user

      In my country my salary is 130 €

    • Yasa

      As much as I want to buy this right now, I just can’t afford it. :-(
      If it could help me as much as BBB entertained me, (Best DVD purchase of the year), I’m sure it will be money well spent.

      In the meanwhile I’m confused about the CC thing. Does that mean that anyone could redistribute the DVD at no charge? I apologize for my ignorance on that, it just seems … bizarre to me that it could be legal. And if it were what would a common distribution channel be? A series on youtube perhaps?

      I guess I’ll poke around and see what my friend google tells me.

    • Rezonance

      I just ordered mine also! Hope it does not take too long to arrive. I am moving away from the country so it may end up sitting at my parents place for a while till I can see it :( Hope I can download it if that is the case.