‘Against Another’ – Community movie project based on Big Buck Bunny
An international group of Blender Maya users are working on their own version of Big Buck Bunny. Their story:
Alex Barbulescu wrote:The Story will be based of the BBB movie. The squirrel is possessive, and wants to get rid off all other animals from the forest by making traps to get rid of his first arch enemy, The Bird, who doesn’t care about what the squirrel think and get on with his daily life.
Hello I’m Alex Barbulescu , one of the team leader for the Against Another project , is a small movie based on the Big Buck Bunny Project. This is a legit project, allowed by Blender Fondation.
The team is made by freelancers around the world. Working together online to make a small movie project.
Were currently in the first month of the project . Nothing much to show , but we are working on.
This is entirely in the spirit of open content, I wish you guys the best of luck!
Links
Too bad they seam to be using Maya.
Yeah, using maya isn’t too cool, until you realize some of the folks who do are paying attention to blender. Plus as long as they play by the rules people who pay attention to their story will probably check out BBB/Blender.
Is there anyone out there who wants to make a “switching over to blender from maya/max/whatever tutorial that specifically deals with getting comfortable with blender? Maybe we could convert some more people.
It’s not all bad. Should be interesting to see when it’s done and compare to BBB.
I can’t believe I missed that they use Maya! Still, I see that as a great compliment to the power of Open Content.
‘Using Maya isn’t too cool’? Oh really? Go tell Pixar ;-)
wow…….. how pathetic……………..maya copying a blender movie………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
1. A new movie using the BBB stuff – hey, neat!
2. What, it’s gonna be made with Maya? – *cue the deflating balloon sound of disappointment*
Isn’t the whole point of movies like BBB to be pushing the limits of OpenSource software, contributing with new features and therefore improving it?
Also, why do they bother to painstakingly port over everything when it’s already made for them and ready to use…
“Isn’t the whole point of movies like BBB to be pushing the limits of OpenSource software, contributing with new features and therefore improving it?”
I tend to think that it’s all about creativity freedom. It doesn’t matter if they are using Maya, Max, Blender or stop-motion …
All the best to the team !
Cool, this show that Maya is crap and well, even maya people copy Blender. Sorry, I just really don’t like Autodesk and their products, But hey, best luck for them, maybe they will open their eyes and see that Blender is way better solution for this ;) all that matters is freedom of creativity. Good luck and well, if maya will end up in causing your hair fall down, remember – blender is your solution to make life better ;)
Waiting for this project see its final state.
It’s not Blender VS Maya.
It’s probably Blender VS Maya + (premiere, after effects, photoshop) – or whatever they’re using. Using Blender instead of ALL of these other packages is what makes the Blender Foundation’s OpenSource movie projects so impressive.
@AS: How can this show that Maya is crap?
I think they do an excellent work and looking forward for the end product.
hello i’m Alex From AgainstAnother
why we use maya , many people ask why , like i said , our team is made only by freelancers on the net.
what that means is that everyone learnd what they could , and they addjusted to maya , from 15 members we have 14 know to work with maya and 1 with maya and max , but none with blender ,
i can’t force the people to to work with blender just because i want to .
another thing that i need to mention is that they work for free .
this project is only made to learn more about the program that they use , and develop a team,
olso some said that we don’t give anything to the people , yeah we do , our guys will develop some mel scripts and tutorials so check http://www.cgfx3d.com
And it’s not like were copying a blender movie , that’s why they made it open source
Thanks for the time , Alex
I love donation page of those guys :D Taking all free characters and probably sets, tweaking it and trying to make money on it. Jeez…
“Were only asking for donations because making a small movie is not that easy as we thought .”
Well, somehow many people do shorts in a single-handed manner (every 3DWorld is featuring one, loads of them is made as last project in school like VFS and so on). Noone said is easy but what you do guys is just CHEAP. Come on – you could not even get bloody font right so far but you are already asking about money.
And ofcourse ALL of you have legitimate copy of Maya, and you will prove it somehow, right?
All that looks pathetic so far. You bring shame to Maya community with your lack of creativity.
————————–
AS – Youre entire post is childish, funboy mumbling, showing that you dont know much both about Maya and Blender. Otherwise you would know pros and cons of both and you could judge with some dose of objectivity. Sad.
Just to clarify my rather rough point of view on it – you would get my deep appreciation and respect if you would do all from scratch but not in this way.
Whoa. I’m just gonna slip in here and say this looks awesome. *slinks away to let bitter blender heads resume conversation*
Wow, what a big deal over the software used. BBB assets were released under the creative commons, so they do have the right to use them. Also, as Alex said, he can’t force people to use Blender. You will get your best work if you use the software you are familiar with.
I would hope that the freelancers who are making this project, having seen what Blender can do, may try to learn Blender. After all, if they have legit copies of Maya and have to pay for the upgrades, Blender suddenly becomes very appealing.
I just hope this doesn’t turn in to Blender vs Maya – Against Another.
We didn’t force anyone to donate ,if someone wants to help , it’s free to do so , at least be respectfull with what we want to do , it’s not like we have 10 years 3d experience and we have relations with all kinds of peoples that could help us for free ,
this is not a blender – maya battle , the only thing that matters is what we want to acomplish,
and the things we use form blender will be the trees , props and some characters , all other will be done from scratch , it’s not like we took all what was in BBB modified a bit and that’s all
This is a new story , some characters will be the same , and the movie will tend for a funny story.
please don’t comment stupid things like that , were not doing this for money , me to be honest i think no one will donate , but some will help us with advertise , render farm or any other ways they can , and that’s all that matters.
Alex
While I have mixed feelings about them using Maya, I still think this is really cool. Why would we release BBB as open content if we didn’t want people to be able to do things like this?
This is still going to take a lot of work on their part. Sure, they get the models and textures. But there is so much that won’t transfer to another app: fur, rigs, materials, lighting, etc.
And since it’s a unique story, even if it was possible to transfer animation from a technical standpoint, they will need to do the animation from scratch anyway.
So even though it is based on BBB, don’t for one second think that they are somehow getting a free ride. It’s still a ton of work.
The one thing I hope is that they be kind enough to also release their movie and files as open content when they are done. (But this is not required, of course.)
x
This is a joke? Well, if they must use content from open movie then they should correctly credit Blender, so it seems that they cant’ get rid of Blender presence, even if it looks like Maya is absorbing BBB…
I often use Maya depending mainly on who I’m collaborating with or whether the assets are already made for me (for example, if I’m just animating something or if I have to make the model myself)
If I’m working on a project alone I tend to default to Blender, but keep in mind that there are some capabilities that Maya has that Blender just doesn’t have yet. My list is getting smaller and smaller though, especially as 2.5 is coming on the horizon, but even then my list won’t be completely eliminated. I was forced to use Maya for a mascot character when I couldn’t find a way to make fur interact realistically with cloth without seriously labor-intensive manual keying, as an example. (this situation comes up surprisingly often, I’d like to see fur+cloth interaction in Blender)
You can argue all day long about how these guys have that option, but you’d be surprised at how many people say “ick!” when I reveal that my software of choice is Blender… then follow up by trying to tell me how much more powerful Maya is. (I usually shut them up by showing some of my artwork, and revealing that yes, I have Maya installed too and know how to use it)
That said, if you want to see Blender spread— which I’m sure we all want because it would help support development— then encourage these guys in spite of using different software. That speaks volumes about the maturity of the community. The devs should keep doing what they’re doing and focus on 2.5 and making Blender as good as possible, listening to user feedback too of course, and as for the users, the majority of us, just keep producing awesome work. Nothing serves as a more effective demo than users actually using the software.
the power of bbb, like for ed, is freedom
so, all the big ones (even microsoft) had to use those movies
i think that os philosophy is not to be against something, but to let everybody do what they want
i’m glad they use bbb characters, so they show that a tool made in blender and given to the people
is very good
sorry 4 my english…
use of english X]
What Dalai Felinto said, all the best! :)
Alex,
All the best with your project! BBB was released under Creative Commons, and despite what some here have said, there is nothing pathetic or wrong about what you are doing. Just because we love Blender doesn’t mean we must also hate Maya.
I’ll be interested in watching both movies and seeing how they compare.
I’m with Dalai on this one. Its about creative freedom, not about the exclusive use of OSS. Creative commons stuff
is made with proprietary systems all the time, nothing wrong with that.
That being said, I don’t know why they went through the trouble
of re-rigging something in Maya – isn’t it easier to just learn Blender, and have the rigs ready to go?
Use the tool that fits you, whatever it is. I hope someday you try Blender, but it’s just a tool. I’m a die-hard Blender fan myself, but that has nothing to do with your movie. Best of luck with it and I can’t wait to see it when you’re done!
*yawn*
Best of luck!!!! This is exciting to see BBB crossing so many barriers!
Bart May 11th, 2009 at 4:06 pm:
‘Using Maya isn’t too cool’? Oh really? Go tell Pixar ;-)
If i’m remeber correctly, and i think i do, pixar wouldn’t care much about Mayas coolness,
as they use an in house tool by the name of “Marionette”.
:-D
Well at least now I know why Hitler* hates Blenderboys so much…
GEEZ guys, it is just a freaking program, but you are acting like they are foreign invaders on the doorstep to your religious temple…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7UWImpG54
I am not surprised people feel this way about maya being all that they have done to help promote open content :)
People, it’s not Autodesk creating this, it’s a bunch of enthusiastic artists. Not only do I think this is ‘ok’, but I really think it’s good to see, and useful for Blender too. It can be very interesting to see how different people with different tools approach similar challenges to the BBB team, even from the point of view of Blender development we can potentially learn a lot from this.
And all the best wishes to Alex and the team, taking on a challenge like this is never easy and I hope you guys have the best of luck! Keep us updated!
TobiDn: Watch the Wall-E making of.
sloppy journalism Bart, as this is made with maya its not realy blender related news and could as well be placed in your rapid fire one liners.
Against Another Project. hmmmm… which project? what’s the point of this project? to celebrate BBB as an open source project or to illustrate that they can produce a much better one? Let’s wait for the final output
Well, there’s nothing wrong with using Blender-created assets in Maya. And there’s nothing wrong with anybody working with open content.
However, as I think the team has already begun to see, there’s a big difference in the amount of goodwill a project generates. I’m betting people are much more willing to donate money to a movie that is original and *creates* open content rather than simply uses it, and people are more willing to donate to a project that gives something back to the community in the form of software development. I don’t support open movies just to see my name on the list at the end. I support them to help promote the open movie model of creating original open content and mainly of course to support Blender development.
This looks like a potentially fun Maya exercise for the participants, but it’s not something I would ever consider supporting with a donation. If a project offers nothing to the community, there’s no reason it should be donation based. If they make something worth buying, they can sell it when they finish, just like any commercial movie does.
It’s not about the gun. It’s about the man behind the gun. Best wish for the project…
Tony above has a key point here about funding. Personally, I would not have donated money either to Elephant’s Dream or BBB unless one of their primary objectives was to develop Blender. The assistance to Blender from both the orange and peach projects has probably been worth far more than the money spent on them by the community! ;-)
We should wish these guys all the best, but also educate people about the benefits they receive from funding Blender Foundation projects as opposed to something where open source and open content are not primary objectives. After all, there is only so much money to go around (at least in my bank account, that is!).
Really it does not matter either way. If they do better in areas with maya it will show sections in blender that need improving.
Problem is blenders engine has improved a lot since big buck bunny. Its pity they could not come up with there own data to show case Maya.
Really does not matter next Blender movie project starts at end of year completely new show case.
There are two points I have in mind when I write the following:
1) Alex has given good, sound reasons as to why he and his have selected the tools they have
2) Nothing this project is doing goes against either the letter or the spirit of the license that BBB was released under
I have been very impressed with Alex’s professional response to the racist flaming he received at Blender Artists and the obnoxious tosh that constitutes the bulk of the replies above. I for one will be very interested to see how the project turns out and particularly how the BBB characters look when animated and rendered in Maya. Good luck Alex and I’ll be following the projects progress.
And ysvry; What on Earth gives you the right to dictate to ANY website owner what constitutes appropriate content and how that content should be presented?!
I have to agree with the supporters of these guys doing what they are doing. There is no reason for all this outright anti-Autodesk / Maya talk. It is shamefull, it is disrespectfull, it is wrong. Blender is a great tool, the best 3D open source tool there is, however it is ONLY a tool. It is not the end all be all and under license of the Creative Commons, anyone using any kind of 3D program has the full right to use such material for use. This kind of talk makes us all look bad and considering this subject has reached several websites, each with it’s own amount of uproar over a program, not too cool. Sets a bad example for anyone in the industry to look at anything we do seriously.
Don’t you realize that if Maya was cheaper some of you would use it? Not only that but considering that it is one of the top 3 software used for pretty much any part of the CG industry that one day you too might end up using it? Maya is an awesome piece of software and while it’s current owner Autodesk may not be everyone’s favorite company – Maya has survived through many others, helped innovate current methods and has become a staple for visual effects and animation. Point is, while Blender may be open source and powerful in it’s own right it still has a long way to go to achieve that kind of use. Remarks like the ones I have seen just knocks that credibility down a few notches.
Give these guys a break. They have come up with their own story around the BBB characters. They also have to rebuild the model rigs, design shaders and so on. That is a lot of work no matter what app you are using. Also again it is in CC so they have the right to do what they want, with whatever app they want.
What is REALLY bad is that nobody gave any kind of objection when Karl Erlandsen re made Andrew Silke’s GeneriRig! In fact all you see are stamps of approvals.
http://www.blendernation.com/2008/06/02/generi-model-and-rig-ported-to-blender/
That model was originally a Maya only model until then. So it’s ok for people to port Maya meshes into Blender but not the other way around?? That isn’t fair and quite hypocritical.
Quite funny the title of the short though, in some ways it kind of describes the atmosphere seen here and elsewhere. I say congrats! Good job!
I agree with toast way up there. Would you move out of your house if you found out the nails were driven with an Estwing hammer?
when I said “using maya isn’t too cool” I wasn’t maya bashing. I was attempting to defend them and how this may open blender to some from that side of the software spectrum who haven’t looked at it. I thought I might have clarified that when I asked if anyone who was familiar with both might be willing to write up a basic primer for maya users who wish to use blender in order to make the transition a little easier.
Sorry for any misunderstandings.
That said, the storyline does sound like autodesk as the squirrel ;) and the free flying bird is blender, so if Alex and the team work in some jokes along those lines it might be a nice little hat tip to some of the more fanatical blender folks. (again, a joke)
Seriously, all the best Alex. Will you be releasing this in the same way, as an open movie so that others may benefit from your work as well?
Mmmmmmm…..if I had Maya I sure as hell wouldn’t try to imitate a Blender movie. Too many tools in Maya that I can leverage in an original story (like fur was leveraged in BBB). Unless this is some kind of technical/collaborative exercise I find this project really weird. It would have made more sense if the project exploited some Blender functionality in the pipeline to explore software integration, but there isn’t even that. Just Maya Freaks making a ‘forest movie’, which there are already a million of- thanks to paint effects (but now based on an open movie).
Just cant wait to see this. “Come and watch the BBB series” :) Maybe the next part will be produced with MAX. I wonder if there are enough Pro-Blender-Users willing to build and render a high quality 4th part of this sequel using Blender again — for free of course ;). If so I’ll take care for the hosting., traffic and website. :)
This should help Blender to integrate into real world work flows.
incredible how you guys react !!! are you that blind ! You make me think of Redneck that only see what they know and what they like !
Blender is not the answer to everything, many companies are using several softwares at the same time, because each of them got something or different people feel more comfortable with software that they know about. that’s all. Maya is a great software as XSI and over. Blender is also a great software which like all other has is down side too !
You should be proud that assets made with your favorite software gets involved in other projects made with commercial software! it means Blender is getting in the big playground.
This community is supposed to be “Open”, means Open in everything as workflow, pipepline, mind, artists, software ! The goal is not to get rid of all commercial software, the goal is to bring Blender to a next level that will make it equal to commercial software. It will never replace an XSI or a Maya, as Maya will never replace an XSI or a blender and so on !
Guys this should be the spirit, there is no war here, please be more “Open” !
thx
Oh, I like it!!
Finally an OpenMovie project with commercial software!!
Good luck and make the best out of it!!
Sounds like fun, good luck to you guys, and remember to post the results / progress threads when you’re doing it here.
PS: Dear Blenderheads (from a long-time Blenderhead):
Maybe you should offer to HELP the Maya users with your knowledge of Blender so it’ll
make it easier for the Maya community to use the content for their movie instead of bickering?
This will seem a lot more professional, not to mention – mature.
Cheers
/JoOngle
The benefits to Blender and community are obvious:
1. Comparison on tools – think of this as another Blender project – but how can we learn from Maya’s toolset and workflow using the same assets etc?
2. Promotion of Blender to artists using other tools – some will be likely to pick up Blender on the side and use for other projects – both personal and commerical;
3. Blender’s Diplomatic Goodwill – it doesn’t hurt to become the friendly, neutral, stable ‘nation’/application amongst many rival commercial tools – let’s act diplomatically and let them enjoy our gift! (As long as attribution and Creative Commons are obeyed. Hence why it’s good to have a community appointed Blender Diplomat for this sort of thing/relationship/cross-application project….whatever.)
hello all
i’m Ali from against another team (animation supervisor)
just let me ask question from all of u: “would you show same reflection if some blender user guy get’s a free model from anywhere in web and uses it in blender”?
and one more thing : if you guys think that the software is doing everything then i’ll call you amature not a professional animator because when i saw the back stage of final fantasy (spirit of within) i surprised how they used such a basic and simple way for such a nice looking animation and final resault , then i understood that the main thing is how we use the package not the package itself
and two more things as alex told we don’t respect anyone to donate but we need money just for website development and etc.
and the last thing : we developed some MEL scripts in this project and if you look in cgfx3d.com and download section of the against another website u’ll find them, so we are developing something for community and if u don’t know maya i’m sorry
and as some of u know, the project will be free like BBB .
thanks
Ali wanted to say insted of “we don’t respect anyone to donate but we need money just for website development and etc.” – “we don’t force anyone to donate but we need money just for website development and etc.”
it’s happens to him to change some words , sorry for that
sorry i have poor sentence making in english :D
Personally i cant see this as anything but good publicity for blender.
whats with this Anti AD/ commercial software is evil buzz. blender wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the commercial research thats produced the majority of tools and ideas that blender has so happily borrowed. seems like some people are so far up their own back ends that they cant see the sun shine
Good luck, Alex and team.
And to the maya-bashers… you’re doing the Blender a great disservice with your rants, it’s no wonder why we get scorned on cross-software forums and chat rooms.
We are all artists, lets all just get along and encourage the creative process.
Personally, I didn’t mean to sound like I was bashing the project because it’s using Maya. Maya is fine with me.
And there’s nothing wrong with asking for donations. My point was simply that I doubt they are going to get much, for the reasons I mentioned. If the community contribution is MEL scripts and Maya assets, that’s fine, but I would expect the Maya community to be more inclined to contribute, since they’re the ones who will benefit. That’s really just common sense.
Anyway, I wish the team the best. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
Okay, seriously, this negative attitude is childish. This project isn’t going to hurt anything, and frankly I find it flattering that they were sufficiently inspired by our work to do this. The worst that *might* happen is some kind of brand confusion, but since they are legally obligated to credit the Blender Institute I doubt that is really a substantial issue. If anything, people might mistake their movie for being done in Blender.
“My point was simply that I doubt they are going to get much, for the reasons I mentioned. If the community contribution is MEL scripts and Maya assets, that’s fine, but I would expect the Maya community to be more inclined to contribute, since they’re the ones who will benefit. That’s really just common sense.”
Agreed. Excepting for a slight ego boost, I don’t expect to really benefit from this project. But that’s okay!
Besides, we have future open movie projects like Durian to benefit Blender and the community.
Good luck Alex!
@Ted Gosek this guy is soooooo right it even hurts! hahahahaha
MAYA is a software so incredibly powerful it’s not even possible to begin to imagining it’s limits, so the word ‘crap’ shouldn’t even be in the same sentence. I am NOT comparing software i’m just saying whenever you are comparing Blender, Maya, Max, Softimage there is no such thing as crap! If you are ever lucky enough to extensively use EACH and EVERY on of these software, yes some will have more and/or better features than the others but when the likes of pixar clearly say they couldn’t care less what software you are used to – it tells you something…
@Alex Cant wait! It will be interesting what differences you’ll be able to bring. Hopefully you’ll employ some unique Maya features just to freshen up the story with new things! and as christian lehman said I’m sure some blender heads will complete another version just to follow on :-)
Wow… I’m at a loss for words at the immaturity being displayed here. I use 3dsMax, Maya, Silo, Zbrush, and Blender. Frankly, Blender’s animation tools aren’t as powerful as Maya’s… mainly because of the custom shelfs I have. The tools I’ve seen for Blender (anisculpt is amazing) are far more cumbersome for me. I am an animator, a student at Animation Mentor, and an instructor.
Because of how I see the Blender community act when someone mentions any other software, I have STOPPED recommending Blender to my students. I do tell them it’s out there…. but this… this is unacceptable. Would you tell Michelangelo that he could only paint…and then that he could only use oils? Or tell Einstein that he could only use formulas that are currently accepted by science… how petty of you all.
disclaimer… by you all I was referencing those who made the inflammatory comments towards other software.
@Mike L, honestly if you’ve stopped recommending Blender because a few Blender users out there display an immature attitude towards other software, I really question your criteria for choosing software. I’d like you to point to the comment in this thread that’s so outrageous it makes Blender no longer worth using.
In fact, I don’t see such a strong negative reaction here at all. On the other hand, I see a few negative comments, a lot of positive comments, and a ton of “What an outrageous immature reaction!” types of comments.
Actually, given the support/controversy in this thread and the impact Blendernation often has, I wouldn’t be surprised if the project has gotten a few donations.
What would be really funny would be to see how the donations from Blender users compare to the donations from Maya users. If the project does receive a good chunk of its support for Blender users, I hope they report this to Blendernation, because it would be interesting to hear about!
I’m not trying to set up a comparison of Brand X versus Brand Y software or users here. I’m making the point that for all the accusations of insularity and immaturity, the Blender community is generally a very supportive and very generous bunch of people. As this thread shows, if you read it all.
I never said that I don’t like Blender… the main criteria that I recommended Blender to new users on was the community. I have seen large portions of the community take an extremely isolationist attitude that makes it sound like the world should only operate on Blender. I tell all students and peers that I believe it is the artist that breathes life into their work and that whatever software x, y, or z, it’s all just a tool. The attitudes that I was pointing out pop up every time someone even breathes about another program.
I was the one that submitted the Big Buck Bunny piece from Highend3d.com and I saw the EXACT same reactions there. People having sour grapes that this community’s special characters are actually not just ours… that flies in the face of the idea of open-source. It’s not open-source to prove a point or to make some execs cringe in their office…it’s so that the world may experience our visions and that everyone may share their vision.
I also find this controversy to be extremely ironic given the nature of the film and the point it proves. That we should learn to exist harmoniously.
You’re exaggerating the amount of negativity. There are only a couple of mildly negative comments. This is a public noticeboard and there are tons of very young people using Blender and posting, and yet the vast majority of these posts are positive. I don’t see the “extremely isolationist” attitude you’re talking about. It’s not here in this thread anyway aside from two or three posters.
I admit that there was ONE pretty unappealing poster on this topic in Blenderartists, but he was immediately shut down and his post edited by the moderators.
Idiot List:
AS
m-e
Nezumi
Agile
ysvry
jpjurilla
Mike L
Genius List:
Tony, for realizing there aren’t that many negative comments. The amount of outrage makes it seem worse.
I agree with Tony and blengine. This post started off with a fair number of negative comments (maybe they have more time to get on the stories as soon as they come out), but the majority of the comments since have been supportive of the project and, I believe, somewhat embarassed by the negativity at the beginning.
@Mike L:
“I also find this controversy to be extremely ironic given the nature of the film and the point it proves. That we should learn to exist harmoniously.”
I don’t think that was the theme of the movie… If you recall, the big bunny beats up and tortures all the rodents. It’s more a tit-for-tat theme, I would say. And in that sense I’d say people are following the theme of the movie pretty well, which is very unfortunate.
However, even though I don’t agree with the few upset people, I can at least see where they’re coming from. For a long time Blender has been shunned as a mere hobbiest app. So the Open Movie projects (BBB included) are more than just movies to the Blender community: they represent Blender itself, and serve as validation that it *is* a worthwhile and capable tool. In that way ED and BBB are downright iconic to much of the community. So when a sequel is created in another app, it sort of tarnishes that. The characters and setting no longer “belong” to Blender, so to speak.
And to be honest, I feel a little bit of that too. But I also recognize that the point of the movie was to be open, and not just to the blender community.
And regarding tools being just tools: from a purely practical non-emotional standpoint, sure. I totally agree.
However, I feel an emotional attachment to the small family-run bakery down the street, whereas I feel no such attachment to Safeway. Sure, it’s “just” a store, and it’s “just” bread, but that ignores the human element.
I’ll always want to support the family-run bakery more than I’ll want to support any nation-wide grocery chain. Even if the bread isn’t as good.
I’m not suggesting that this human element is absent in all commercial 3D offerings. But when you see how people in the Blender community not only participate in and track Blender’s development, but actually know the developers and interact with them, it’s easy to see why people get so attached to Blender. And this is something that actually pre-dates Blender being open source: there has always been very little business/customer separation. It’s all just people interacting and getting to know each other, and doing cool stuff. And people get attached to that. And I think that attachment is totally valid.
Ah, I’ve written too much already. I guess all I’m trying to say is that there really can be a lot more to a tool than just being a tool.
I was referring to the nature of the Against Another movie..not BBB
@Mike L:
Ah! I see. Don’t know how I missed that.
Ironic indeed.
they can ask for donations, this allows to make the movie better and in better quality, The sound it self takes a lot of money if they want it to be made specially for this project. Maybe they will have to rent some sort of a online render farm. The Maya thing sound a bit well, fishy and not attractive at all, I believe if it was other software there wouldn’t be much of complaints but you know, Autodesk has its devil position, no wonder why there is so much of negative reaction. And when people hear Maya they forget that Maya is only a product that is used by artists, all people can see is Autodesk behind this even when it is not.
I said that Maya is pathetic software because of my experience with it, and in some ways this project sounds (it just sounds like that and isn’t true) like Maya users wants to prove that they are better but they must face it, there are better solutions by these days.
Anyway, this is very interesting, this is a lousy project and the authors are putting them self in a position where they can slip and fall or make huge glory.
I wish them to not fail their goals, don’t surrender for pressure because there will be huge one, Never stop believing in what you do and be yourself.
“I said that Maya is pathetic software because of my experience with it, and in some ways this project sounds (it just sounds like that and isn’t true) like Maya users wants to prove that they are better but they must face it, there are better solutions by these days.”
Chill out you sound like you have an inferiority complex, If they think that they are better because of a program they use, then they are dumbasses and not worth caring about :). I however doubt they are thinking that. If they did they’d make their own content and announce how much better than bbb it is.
So far as maya being sub standard i dont think downloading a crack and deciding its crap after 2 days of frustration count as useful experience, anyone who uses maya for an extended period of time will realise just how powerfull it is, it may not be totally user friendly but then neither is blender. You need to get into the correct mind set with both of these apps.
@As it’s a good thing software isn’t rated on As’s extensive two day trials.
Really Maya is… Ah what the hell, not worth going through all that again. Summary -maya kicks butt.
@Alex and team. Good luck and I hope that your project is a great success.
Just to throw this out there, I was a 3DS Max user; shelled out a good deal of change for the perpetual academic license which I still have but don’e use anymore in preference of blender.
One of the main reasons I but switched to blender was that it’s development has been tremendous in the last few years and I feel much better about putting my money towards a community effort by supporting projects like Peach and Apricot instead of paying huge dollars to upgrade my version of 3DS Max every year to get new features.
I’d also like to say that not all the people at Autodesk are evil greedy bastards.
Years back I was looking for an animated short called The Cathedral and couldn’t find it anywhere but some renders where on a 3DS max brochure and so I e-mailed Autodesk. 2days later I had a copy at my home. One of the guys at Autodesk burned me a copy and send to priority mail. He did not have to do that and I’ve talked with a couple of 3DS Max trainers as well and they seen like very nice people.
As has been pointed out before, software alone does not make you a great artists. And as most artists will tell you, they look for inspiration everywhere and anywhere and don’t ignore it just because it was made with x or y. Art should be enjoyed and it should be fun to create. I guess I’m ranting now. I’ll just end by saying I love blender and the community behind it and I can’t wait to pre-order Durian!
Now that everyone has chilled…
The benefits to Blender and community are obvious:
1. Comparison on tools between Blender and Maya
– think of this as another Blender project – but how can we learn from Maya’s toolset and workflow using the same assets etc?
2. Promotion of Blender
– to artists using other tools – some will be likely to pick up Blender on the side and use for other projects – both personal and commerical;
3. Blender’s Diplomatic Goodwill
– it doesn’t hurt to become the friendly, neutral, stable ‘nation’/application amongst many rival commercial tools – let’s act diplomatically and let them enjoy our gift! (As long as attribution and Creative Commons are obeyed. Hence why it’s good to have a community appointed Blender Diplomat for this sort of thing/relationship/cross-application project….whatever.)
Be smart to argue over how to maximise aims like the ones I’ve suggested above.
They would take everyone forward.
I hope the unnecessary arguments eg app wars, are over.
Tomas, I hope you check this. That was an awesome short. It’s one of the reasons I decided to figure out blender. About the time that movie came out I realized, “Holy hell, that’s not a square, it’s a cube!” Oh man, that takes me back. I forgot all about that movie until now. I’m going to go find it.