Comments on: Blender on the BBC

By: Normand C.

Normand C. — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:25:20 +0000

I just linked to this article in my blog, which is dedicated to CAD on Linux. Pasted Mr. Williams’ comment in whole, hope you won’t mind. :-)

I have to respond to pixnolve’s preposterous remarks. This documentary is about an event which shaped North America’s history. Whether you like the results of this battle or not is beyond the point. Whether it does not agree with your political values is not the point. Like it or not, this event is part of our history, and to imply that Blender shouldn’t have been used in the documentary’s making (or that After Effects was more suited) is at best obtuse and narrow-minded.

BTW, I’m a French-speaking Quebecker living in the Quebec City area. Although I’ve obviously wondered quite a few times what would’ve happened had the results of this battle been different, no amount of wishful thinking will rewrite history. So why don’t you get a grip on reality?

I haven’t watched the program (no BBC channel here), so I hope that it’s broadcast here some time in the future.

@ Charlie
you spelled “tabernac” wrong. ;-) Although based on the French word “tabernacle”, the way we say it, it’s better spelled “tabarnac”. :-P

By: scorpion

scorpion — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:34:59 +0000

Happyyyyyyy B’day…..!!

By: munhu

munhu — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:56:44 +0000

@pixnolve:
Blender is for the community with various uses of it and for various purposes. We have different backgrounds, opinions and feelings towards things. You cannot impose what you think should be the right way of using Blender using your own ideas of whats good and wrong. It is Open Source and licensed in that regard, there is no statement in that license as regards its use in whatever production. That would cease to be open and also cease to declare the essence of community.

And besides all that I have said. This is a documentary. This one in particular seeks to inform on history. And I cannot go through all the merits of illustrating or telling a story that actually happened to the general public or to students who may learn and remember better by visualising.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:14:43 +0000

@pixnolve: You seem to be complaining and bashing in nearly all of your posts here. Is it that hard to take Blender and it’s community for what they are?

@Nathan: Great documentary! I loved the way the graphics looked; very stylised ineed! =)

By: Charlie

Charlie — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:05:42 +0000

@pixnolve: ferme ta gueule tabernac.

Would you prevent people from using blender to create scenes from sci-fi movies, or any kind of movie involving explosions, or is it just films relating to our conquering of Quebec that offend your Quebecois sensibilities?

Watched it last night, and hadn’t realised that the effects were made in Blender. Nice job considering you obviously did a lot of it on the fly and quite quickly. Well done, it really added a lot to the documentary.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:36:41 +0000

@Christian @Nathan: Honestly, I loved that bring-to-life-effect style. Looked great. I didn’t really like the jumpy animation on the composited soldiers, but it wasn’t so bad. I didn’t really notice the flat-disappearing effect, so I don’t think it was much of a problem.
@pixnolve: Let people do whatever they want with Blender. Are you suggesting that some other 3D software should have been used because those are… more violent? Or that Blender is too advanced to be used for anything other than super-fancy graphics?
@Bart: Best response ever.

By: nobody

nobody — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:22:09 +0000

@pixolve: The 2D-style is sufficient to explain, besides a better contrast between the black-lined-maps and e.g. the black-bomb-and-paths, I think Nathan Williams got some of the thrill he got when he finished his first programme. So, you’re anger must be the war… The war of ‘what-is-aloud-to-be-made-with-Blender’…

Cheers

By: Bart

Bart — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:02:48 +0000

@pixnolve: no.

By: pixnolve

pixnolve — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:29:32 +0000

This is disgraceful…
There is positive feeling in this documentary and it about just colonisation of territory.
Stupid war between American and British again the French and the Canadian.
It is ashamed that Blender was used on this documentary. Blender a piecefull piece
of software it should be design for advanced 3dCG Animation not for Plane soldier that move on the ground.
After Effect has been design for that use it !!!

..a battle that should change the history of the world ….
…conquer vast area of the world and it led to the creation of modern
america….
So typical…

This is truly disgusting..
MODERATOOOR do something

By: joeri67

joeri67 — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:52:21 +0000

Frankly, the CG is not so good.
The ideas are great, and the style is fine. But its not executed very well.

For instance. When the boms are falling on the map they z-buffer drop through the floor. One can see that the balls are going into the 3d sphere. Very ugly.
This “cut-off” is through out the production. It has nothing to do with choice of style, just not executed very well. Like the soldiers walking on the strand. Nice idea, cool graphics, but when the feet hit the ground their outline drops in the sand. And it doesnt drop in the sand according to the shape of the sand, there seems to be an imaginairy floor… The soldiers should have kept their outline. Maybe even a drawn “touch” of the sand.
I’d could argue for the camera movements, most of them are not bad I guess. Some do look machinery, most of them don’t feel handheld or driven by a cameramen. Then again most of the reallife footage dont feel like they are made by a cinematographer.