We’re doing the last bits on the dvd set… encoding and authoring a video DVD and collecting and testing all files for the DVD-ROM is just a bit too much work to be really fun… especially for people suffering post-BBB fatigue! :)
Even after about 6-8 manweeks of work on this DVD we could easily add another four or so. Nevertheless, we should now finish! Here’s a quick shortlist of what you can expect, at least:
Yesterday morning, the talkshow producer from “De Wereld Draait Door” (DWDD, or “The world revolves”) phoned me if we were interested to be guest in the monday show. Surprise!
It especially was good news for our project and for Blender because the show is very well known in the Netherlands. It’s prime-time from 19.30 and 20.30, broadcasted on the quality public TV channel. Usually it hosts a varied mix of entertainment and information. Items typically don’t last more than 5-10 minutes. About half to a million people watch it daily.
The nice thing was also that the studio is literally around the corner, a few minutes walk away from the Blender Institute. So, we were there in time, got our make-up, drinks as much you wanted and excellent dinner. As groupies we could get Margreet, Campbell and William in.
Apart from getting surrounded by the obligatory Dutch tv celebs (the show host, a famous radio DJ, a political commentator, some actors), it was interesting to see how smooth and well organized it all went. For a daily show that already runs a couple of years quite logical though!
On the moment supreme it all went so fast that I’m still surprised a bit… it was overwhelming to suddenly have the talkshow host and cameras turning to you, and firing the first question to Sacha while you expected a movie fragment to be shown. You also clearly feel that the program makers are in extremely tight control, you’re merely a puppet that acts when they want you to say something… and please don’t be boring!
If you click on the image above you can watch the interview with subtitles on BlenderNation.
Thanks!
-Ton-
Here’s the first major newspaper article about the premiere. It’s the #1 newspaper here in Amsterdam, with mostly Amsterdam related topics. You can find most of this also on their website here:
“Big Buck schudt filmwereld op”
(”Big Buck shakes the movie world”)
The images:
First clipping is from page 8, right-bottom corner.
Second clipping is in the weekend supplement.
Note that they consider the “gratis” aspect most interesting! But, the “free software” concept is pretty well covered in the text.
Other news: currently the dvds are being authored… end of april it should be at the printer’s still. Expected release is May 15. But… you know how it goes when you announce dates! Let’s try at least. ;)
-Ton-
In the past years I’ve been asked a couple of times by companies to make the original renders if Elephants Dream available. They sent me a usb hard disk, and I just copied all of the OpenEXR files over. That made us think (great idea Campbell!) to just put a entire copy of our studio backup in the e-shop, on a 250 GB usb disk. Everything! All Creative Commons of course.
Now the first reports from the premiere get posted (check videos on Blendernation) almost everyone now is banging on o
ur doors to get the film as well! So… here’s some answers about what do now and what the intended schedule is.
- People who pre-ordered the DVD were our investors!
This is an important aspect we should never forget. We were able to make BBB thanks to the generosity and confidence we received from people who ordered and paid for the DVD set. The deal we made was that they would get the dvds first, and only after that the files get released (which will go automatic, because the dvds are “CC-by”, open content).
- You can still help us by purchasing a DVD!
To be able to wrap up the project and continue work in the Blender Institute and get ready for a new open films we depend on DVD sales still. This is a special hint for everyone who’s screaming for the downloads btw! :)
Recently I realized that we never really made a complete Blender Institute tour after this project started. Sure, there was Ton’s first round trip waaaay back, but we needed something new, shiny and classy like this to show you how great this place actually is! Luckily Nathan, our master of rigging, animating and hugging, agreed to improvise a very sincere and pertinent guided VIP tour through the marvels of our beloved work- and living- space.
Welcome to the Blender Institute!
For two days we have Roemer around. For school he has to do a practical assignment to focus on the future and get more information about which direction he wants to go to. And luckily he choose Blender :) He interviewed Sacha about the externals helping out the Peach team to get to movie finished on time.
Download the .ogg file here.
as we mentioned earlier, it’s getting quite busy over here. and now that the Apricot Team is moving in finally, it’s gonna get even more busy! Last friday we had Bart from BlenderNation over to do interviews with us… i shot a fun little timelapse video during the entire day. it’s interesting to see how often people get up from their chairs, how much coffee we drink and how crazy our heads bob around…
enjoy!
As the schedule starts to get close, we recently realized that we are not going to be able to finish on time. We now have finished animation for less than a third of the film, and we only have about six weeks to go before all animation has to be locked, so that we can get all the final renders out on time. Weeks are going by with a few shots coming out here and there, which is not going to cut it.
So far our workstations haven’t been mentioned much, partly because it’s not as fun as furry animals but also because they don’t break down!
Now the artists are working hard and don’t want to “waste time” blogging, I’ll go into some details about our workstations.
At the moment we have 8 workstations…
5x Maqina C6850DC 3D Blender Workstation’s
(Dual Core 3ghz, 4gig ram, GeForce 8800 GTS)
2x Maqina X5130DC Workstation’s
(Quad Core 2ghz, 4gig ram, NVidia Quadro FX 1700)
1x Maqina X5345QC Workstation
(8 Core 2.33ghz, 8gig ram, NVidia Quadro FX 1700)
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