Comments on: Review: Advanced Fluid Dynamics In Blender DVD

By: John Caldwell

John Caldwell — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 04:30:18 +0000

While I'm sure it is a great video full of very useful inormation, I have a problem with this guy making money from selling Blender knowledge in any form. It goes against the grain of the whole open source and free spirit of what I feel Blender is all about. So many people have contributed so much of their time for free to the Blender cause. I would feel better if I knew he was giving at least half of it back to Blender.

By: Joeri

Joeri — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:40:11 +0000

" With Blender, maybe we’ll have a bunch of new fluid options in a few weeks from now… and we’d have to wait for a new DVD on the matter… "

I'm glad to see the releases are slowed down to two a year. This makes it far more feaseble for projects like this to be profitable.
In my opinion CVS is no option for small animation/video studios, making a half year official release a good interval; I hope th BF sticks to that.

By: Baboule

Baboule — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:39:04 +0000

It's probably logical in effect that when it comes to freeware learning, a non-free product would be a subject to debate.

However, free product doesn't always mean amateur users or even moneyless users.
Everyone will be able to juge the price according to their needs, eventual return on investment, time spent gathering the same amount of information, etc.
It's gonna be interesting to see how much this DVD sells.
(I would have bought it, but I don't really need fluids in my projects et the moment.)

On the other hand, the real problem in my opinion is that of the true nature of Blender itself : a constantly envolving software with new builds at a fast rate.
With "regular" software like Max or Maya, you know you have about one year between versions.
With Blender, maybe we'll have a bunch of new fluid options in a few weeks from now… and we'd have to wait for a new DVD on the matter…

By: AndyD

AndyD — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 07:48:45 +0000

I guess everything's relative. As another Aussie, I too thought $60 US was on the high side (that's over $80 plus postage for us in Oz) – but then, I wouldn't have bought it for $20 either so my opinion on the price is irrelevant.

In defence of the price I think it's fair to say that if you'd paid $3000 for your software, $60 to learn advanced techniques would seem paltry. When you pay nothing for software, $60 is comparatively high :) – but whether the price is justified or not depends on how desperately you want this information, or whether you're happy waiting for the same information to filter through to tutorials and forums.

I've paid over $60AUD for oil painting videos that usually run to about one hour and involve far less work than was probably involved in this production (a video camera, a canvas and some paints and if all goes well, you can produce the vid in a few hours straight) and oil painting has a much bigger target audience – and I haven't regretted one cent of the expense. But then, I make money from oil painting so expenses are easier to justify.

Good luck with it. If projects like this fail, it'll only get harder to get hold of good information when you do need it.

By: Meko

Meko — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 07:46:29 +0000

For anyone who's trying to get into the 3D industry or make games who immediately scoffed at a video like this.

http://www.mr-chompers.com/tutorial/money_mouth.htm

By: grafixsuz

grafixsuz — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:53:29 +0000

I think this is a great boost for blender's image all round, I congratulate all involved in producing this DVD and I wished we had more professionally made instructional DVD's around. Well it is a great start, and yes it maybe out of reach for some, but if you are planning on making a living out of using blender, then this is by all means a good investment and should be thought of as such.

I must say I was surprised at some of the images shown here, I am thinking of getting a copy myself now.

By: SoulVector

SoulVector — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 06:50:55 +0000

Seriously! The price is nothing. I was really positive surprised to see a DVD on BlenderFluids so soon and having previous experience from ordering DVD´s from CMI I can highly recommend them because they delivers fast overseas.

By: Luigino

Luigino — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:14:31 +0000

Well, a good book about 3D software is cheaper. But anyway, the people that will buy this DVD will use it to make projects where they'll gonna win hundred or thousands of dollars.

By: Alden

Alden — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 01:37:02 +0000

This is cheap compared to the price of the training dvds of commercial aps (which would you rather pay, $60 or $300?)

This is very tempting to buy… Cannot…. resist…. Haha, I'm definitely getting a copy of this.

By: zxayant

zxayant — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:39:03 +0000

Too expensive for me :-(