I want to stress my concerns regarding the content currently available on the Cloud.
My reasons for donating are irrelevant at this point.
The main problem I am currently finding is that the training videos available are so outdated that Youtube currently holds more advanced videos…for free. I just received a letter from the developers, saying that they will update their video library in the coming months.
I have to say this, and I really struggled if it is worth it to speak in the first place, I just hope something good comes out of it.
The Cloud currently has quite low value for the money they demand. I think same goes partly for Blender Cookie tutorials, at least to me it feels that the artists are a few steps back from the most recent developments. The reason for this is good, a lot of blender artists are progressing quite fast and the information available has become so rich and advanced, it becomes hard to keep up.
Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot from Blender Cookie and I am thankful to all the devs behind Blender. I think the competition is becoming more ‘fierce’, which is a good thing. That demands from people, offering such services, to bring their ‘A’ game.
Best regards.
Kalin Parushev
Edit:
I just checked what will happen if I cancel my subscription and found the subscription editing page is still not ready. It has been quite some time since the launch…
Kalinaki: the video above was from the first tutorial DVD which has been made in ca. 2008. Creature Factory 2, which is coming out on the Blender Cloud (exclusively) is currently being produced. 2 is not an updated version, it’s actually a completely different workflow, featuring modeling, sculpting, retopo, texturing, rigging, lighting, rendering in Cycles. It’s not a step-by-step-follow-this-or-die kind of tut, more a complete documentation of the whole process from the first sketch to the final creature - which is something you do not see that often on Youtube.
In general with the cloud, of course I’d really recommend to stay on board, the cloud team is working really hard to add more of the current Blender e-shop offerings and improve the quality of the service in general.
Soon work on the Gooseberry pilot will begin as well, the cloud will offer you more than just a glimpse behind the scenes of a professionally produced movie, you’ll have access to everything the team makes in the process.
Track, Match, Blend and Venom’s Lab 2 are two years old and use 2.63a, Blender for 3d printing is based on 2.67. I don’t think you can find more advanced videos about these topics on youtube, at least not that teach you something from start to finish. Ofcourse, if you already know how to do tracking and you need to learn how to use a new feature, you might want to watch a more recent short tutorial. And as was pointed out, the next blender dvd will be a cloud exclusive.
Thank you for restraining my finger from the cancelation button…at least for now.
Track, Match, Blend and Venom’s Lab 2 are two years old and use 2.63a, Blender for 3d printing is based on 2.67. I don’t think you can find more advanced videos about these topics on youtube, at least not that teach you something from start to finish. Ofcourse, if you already know how to do tracking and you need to learn how to use a new feature, you might want to watch a more recent short tutorial. And as was pointed out, the next blender dvd will be a cloud exclusive.
What you said is why I am a bit bothered. Why not give something exciting right away, something that will keep people excited and occupied while things move on with the short(and other projects). That is the main reason why so many people won’t sign right away. They will wait for new content. I think I am making sense here.
The other problem is that a lot of people already own the said DVDs, which for me is a bit…
Ok, if you already own the dvds, you don’t have as much benefits. And ofcourse, it would be nicer if there would already be unique content in the cloud. However, producing the dvd just takes its time, and they wanted to start with the gooseberry campaign.
The issue is that all the videos are licensed under creative commons, meaning that you can just watch them on Youtube for free if someone went through the hassle of uploading them like the user 4ap21did: LINK. So if you are looking to “save money” there is little need currently to have a cloud subscription, if all you want to do is watch the DVD Training.
The real “current” benefit to having a cloud sub is that the money will be used to support BI projects and development. Although the Cloud does do a good job of displaying the DVD’s in HD with all the accompanied files, some have over 1Gb of extra’s you cant get on Youtube.
Future benefits of having a cloud sub will be that you can access production pipeline tools and share/manage large projects with lots of people “or at least that’s what the EU money is earmarked for”. I also think that the content that others upload will be a large part of the success of the cloud.
Ok, if mister 4ap21 uploaded the videos and will continue to do so with future training videos, why should I even bother to subscribe to the cloud, if lets say my only goal is to see the DVDs? Why pay when even only one subscriber can make all the videos available to the general public?
If the idea was to award subscribers with unique content, that idea logically and practically failed.
If I want to support Blender, I could always donate to Blender Foundation.
@Kalinaki
The BF “Blender Foundation” and “Blender Institute” are two different things, being a cloud member generates money for BI projects, donating money to BF does not. Its about what you want to do, there is no right answer you can donate to either and the money will be spent to improve blender in different ways.
I personally prefer being a cloud member to donating £10 a month to the BF because it “currently” supports the Gooseberry project, lets me access the open movie content and watch the training movies in HD without ads or popups. It will in the future offer more that I will use such as cloud storage, collaboration tools and project management tools. I will also soon be able to watch them working on the Gooseberry Pilot. Donating direct to the BF gets me a good feeling and nothing else.
If you are looking for Online training the Blender cloud is currently a bare minimum, you would be better of going with CG Cookie if you just want Online blender training.
The Blender Institute is the corporate shell for the creation & promotion of Open Movies made with Blender (in general). The Blender Foundation is the corporate shell for the development & promotion of Blender software. This is a very important distinction if you wish to for your funds to go towards Blender itself.
If you are not interested in the open movie being made (and I can understand this), but want to see further development of Blender - donating to the Blender Foundation is what you should be doing. Whilst it’s possible the Blender Foundation donates on your behalf to Blender Institute projects (e.g. Steam/Valve donation funds in the Gooseberry campaign), for the most part money remains in the Blender Foundation coffers for the purposes of development.
I too am currently subscribed to the BC (Blender Cloud) and finding the content underwhelming. I already got the good DVD’s purchasing them from the Blender Foundation. Whilst the Creative Commons allows people to share everything they get from the BC (& the DVD’s which it is sharing), I like to pay for the content I make use of. Should there not be improvements over the next three months - I will likely be letting the subscription lapse.
Latest Gooseberry update says Sebastian will work on new content for Track Match Blend to update it, and there’s also talk of updating Big Buck Bunny and Sintel to work with Blender 2.71 (there’s a 2.5 compatible Buck on BlendSwap, but it’s BI only).
Right now for me the Blender Cloud subscription is a down-payment for when Gooseberry kicks off in July. I’ve already got all the training DVDs currently up there.
They’re going to need to get going on that, there’s a lot of people out there who are going to demand a ton of new content on a quarterly basis to keep them onboard (considering the price).
I also mentioned in the other thread suggestions on also adding a continual stream of value for when content is not being released, that should be looked at as well.
Remember it was me who said it first. I predict the first updates will happen after the 3 months have passed, so anyone who is interested will want to continue subscription. This alone will force me to unsubscribe. Among many things, cheap marketing tricks I hate the most.
Allow me to say it again, I will put my mind at ease and just donate to the Blender Foundation.
I think I am happy with the fact that I am 45 bucks short. That is not the issue here. Among all the posts above, if you try to be neutral you will see that I actually make a valid point.
Actually, there is a very good argument as to why you should. Ironically, it’s the same argument as to why you would want to buy a commercial dvd when you can just download it from the pirate bay: To support the creator.
I don’t mean the Blender foundation or Institute, those are the commisioners of those training videos. I mean the people making those videos.
If the Blender Cloud is succesful, the BF has more incentive to commision new training videos, which means those people making the training videos get to do more work, and we get more quality tutorials. Consider that you fund Blender development as a side effect to this
The Mancandy dvd is labeled as training dvd #1 and it came out in 2008 they are currently on number #12 so that is about 2 dvd’s a year. Sorry if I call BS on the whole training video side of the cloud. Unless the Foundation scales things up to the level of Gnomon, Digital tutors or similar companies there is no way the can generate enough content to sustain a subscription service.
Let’s just say a person has about 12 hours to spend on the cloud a month 2/hrs a day over six days. You need to have about 2 to 3 training dvd’s worth content a month most of my training DVD’s are about 4 to 6 hours long and that is what I am estimating with here.
Personally I hesitated to subscribe to the cloud because I own a few DVD’s already and I’m frankly extremely skeptical about there been enough content on the cloud worth subscribing for. You need 3 Creatures Factories a month to keep this up otherwise you customers will get bored and unsubscribe.
With the infrequent manner that the Foundation releases training video, many months can pass between a release, a digital download from the e-shop makes more sense.
Supporting the creator is one thing, being naïve is completely different.
Person like me perhaps can have the ‘luxury’ to be broad-minded and have the money to give to projects like the cloud. Even if such person exists, he might as well chose the ‘free’ option- pirate bay or whatever your poison might be. It is not irony, you are trying to imply guilt on people that won’t subscribe.
Yes, Blender is free. Yes, it is justified to ask for a monthly fee for content. No, it is not right to delude people that you are offering a product that answers to the demanded fee. As soon as you place a monthly subscription, you need to be ready to defend your claim and your product. Open-source, free, CC-0 or whatever…you are asking money from people, you need to provide adequate service in return.
What Tyrant Monkey said makes incredible sense, it is mind-numbing to me.
Really, why I have to stay subscribed if:
-I have already donated?
-I have watched all the current content?
Are you suggesting I have to stay subscribed for 4-6 months until new videos/content is released?
That is non-sense.
If someone still has any doubts that I am here to just troll, instead of trying to make a constructive point, I will gladly dig up videos showing how existing sites post content that is already free to the public and tons of other examples where tutorials are obviously outdated( even though they are marked as ‘new’). There are plenty of examples out there and curious person like me is sometimes disheartened by the way people try to shove their views in your face.
