An up-to-date look at free software and its makers

PROJECTS ON THE MOVE

Article from Issue 92/2008
Author(s):

Free software enjoys an excellent reputation in the field of 3D graphics. In addition to Blender, other projects stand out: MakeHuman creates realistic 3D humans, and Art of Illusion – with its intuitive interface – lets users enter the world of animated movies.

Although the free 3D program Blender enjoys an excellent reputation for its performance in the free software community, other programs can compete with Blender in some aspects of 3D rendering. Blender’s quirky interface has confused newcomers. The program assumes familiarity with fairly unintuitive icons and keyboard shortcuts; in fact, in terms of usability, Blender is very much a child of the 1990s.
Without doubt, learning Blender is worthwhile – as animated movies such as Elephant’s Dream and Plumíferos provide ample evidence. Peach is another major Blender project that will be released under a free license, just like Elephant’s Dream.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subs
Digisubs
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Free Software Projects

    The free high-end game, Yo Frankie, in which players steer a flying squirrel through a colorful 3D world, is almost finished. KI Research still faces major issues, but FreeHAL, a dialog program, gives users a behind-the-scenes look at the current state of affairs.

    more »
  • Free Software Projects

    Free software at the movies: Thanks to projects such as Blender and Synfig Studio, fans of animated movies now have the right choice of tool. The "Social Media Guide" suggests how to improve the marketing of free software projects on the web.

    more »
  • Free 3D animation

    You need good software and plenty of CPU power to create virtual worlds. Luckily for today’s animators, powerful PCs are inexpensive, and some excellent animation tools are absolutely free.

    more »
  • Scary Monsters and Stinky Fruit: The New Blender Open Movie Project

    Are you an artist or a 3D specialist? If so you can apply for a job at Blender. The project will begin work on its latest open source movie in September. The film title: Durian.

    more »
  • Blender 3D Animation

    Blender not only generates realistic single frames; it is also capable of capturing the natural movements of people and animals. We’ll introduce you to some of Blender’s animation features.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Visit Our Shop

Trial Subscription

Digital Subscription

Subscribe

Direct Download

Read full article as PDF:

094-095_projects.pdf (395.23 kB)

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source