Big Buck Bunny Is Now Online! Check It All Out Now...

The long awaited "Big Buck Bunny" is now available for free download right here! This open source 3D animation project is donation based, so please consider buying a DVD or giving something for the entertainment value of it.

Big Buck Bunny tells the story of a giant rabbit with a heart bigger than himself. When one sunny day three rodents rudely harass him, something snaps... and the rabbit ain't no bunny anymore! In the typical cartoon tradition he prepares the nasty rodents a comical revenge.

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

The downloads are available in various formats (MP4, H.264, OGG, MSMP4) and resolutions ranging from HD (1920 x 1080) to Low Res (854 x 480) - lots of mirrors online too. The DVD ISO is coming soon!

Congratulations to the development team of "Big Buck Bunny" - Your work looks AWESOME!!

Here is the YouTube version of it:

"Peach": Update From the 3D 'Open Movie'

Guys - here is an update on the 3D 'open movie' called "Peach" now under development in Amsterdam! I first posted about "Peach" and this new movement in animation called 'open movie' back in October '07. It's a great idea: The Blender Foundation flys animators from all over the world to a central location (Amsterdam) and pays all of their living expenses. There are no salaries. The developers themselves and Blender are the financiers and you can pre-order their DVD on the site for 34 Euros.

Some recent development notes (Andy) from their site:

"Now we’re able to brush our characters in real time and render 2 million hairs in HD resolution in about one minute."

-and-

"Some more food for the stat junkies: Rinky currently has 1.4 million hair strands (800 children hairs per parent particle), Gamera around 1.5 million (400 childs per parent for the body and 1000 for the tail). Child particles are generated per tile at rendering time, so memory consumption is very low. Furthermore, all textures are created in png format, currently at a resolution of 4096 pixels."

Some recent video to enjoy too! Thanks to Campbell and William:

Rock on guys!! According to their schedule, the trailer will be available in February with release pegged in March 2008. Looking forward to it...

Great Concept: Open Source 3D Movies !

What a great idea: The Blender Foundation has set up another go at an open source movie (short) after their initial success with "Elephant's Dream". This time the effort is known as "Peach" and it will be a 3D animated short film. Looks tremendously cool. The idea is to bring out talented 3D animators and programmers to Amsterdam from now until April 2008 - all expenses are covered by the sponsors: Airfare, accommodations, meals and top notch studio space. The city itself would be a huge attraction of course. The Blender Foundation and these developers in the community are the financiers and they are also offering a pre-order for the DVD on their website.

From the Peach website: "the movie itself and all of the production files will be published under the Creative Commons, free to be reused and for everyone to learn from. More importantly, the team is going to challenge Blender itself to the max, inspiring the entire development community to prove Blender is ready for feature quality 3D cartoons. Special attention will be paid to fur editing and rendering, and animating cartoonish characters."

Here's what they have been up to until now:

• June 16: Public call for portfolio submissions


• June 26: Closing date for submitting portfolios


• June 30: Announcement team (+ define spares)


• July 1-15: decisions on team roles, concept, how to get script, contracts, payment details


• August 3-12: Siggraph, San Diego


• August 17: Final decision on project duration and team size


• August 20-24: Preproduction workshop. With script writer, with a script! Final contracts signed with all team members


• Sept 1: Final Script

...and here's what their schedule looks like in Amsterdam (click to enlarge):

It looks like they are going to have tons of fun and who knows - maybe this will become a very viable way to make feature length 3D movies. The idea is intriguing to say the least. It has many of the overtones that a James Cameron movie may have in the future with a community of programmers designing environments and creatures for integration into CGI movies; complete with their credits at the end. If revenue sharing was part of the plan, then the sky is the limit. I am really looking forward to buying the "Peach" DVD and seeing the result. Best of luck to the team.

Links: Peach Main Site Pre-order their DVD (and get your name in the credits!)