I am not a Blender guru but I have done a couple of things in it. And lately I am spending alot of time on the Blender related websites. It seems the community is strong and some members are really good at what they do.
My fear is that Blender is finding it hard to compete with the likes of maya and 3Dmax because it is Opensource and doesnt cost millions. What I am trying to say is that Blender can be much stronger if it is more visible to the public and clients as a 3D package. Everyone knows aboyut maya and Lightwave thanks to movies like Toy Story and the likes.
What I am proposing is getting Blender 3D work into the mainstream by using it more for commercial projects. One way of doing this is possibly by creating a 3D freelancers repository purely for people working with Blender. Something like Joomlancers: http://www.joomlancers.com/
Potential clients can view artists and their work, ask for quotes and freelancers can possibly bid or tender for work. I would expect people to make money off this, another factor in growing the strength of Blender is using it and making money off it, off which some can be put back into the development and growth.
What does the community think of this? Who would want to participate?
I am happy to supply the hosting and web development for it but I would need help and input.
Maybe the process should be reverse of what u propose.I mean rather than expecting pros to use blender,blender users should become pros.This itself already could be in a natural flow.I prefer blender users to proof the sufficiency of the program by using it in common and extensive work on the projects that can contribute the common good.Project based thinking can make the blender usage more extensive.It can be used(actually it is used but not that much) in enginneering,architectural,histrorical(such as recontructing the historical places) projects etc.It doesn’t mean what u propose should be excluded what i propose is better.It’s a huge community and things can be done at the same time.
There are lots of things can be say and to be proposed.For example as an engineer i may propose to reconctruct the ancient engineering masterpieces (such as roman ,chinese,ottoman etc.) with the contribution of forum members.These works can be a boat,a pyramit,a water mill or a weapon.We can make a virtual museum of them.
Things like this can be more suitable to the sprit of a open source/free software and can collect more volunteers
Not sure that site does as much as it can, look at http://www.joomlancers.com/ I think they set a great example.
Maybe the process should be reverse of what u propose.I mean rather than expecting pros to use blender,blender users should become pros.This itself already could be in a natural flow.
TBH that is what I have in mind, if more Blender users actually need to step up their quality because they are doing commercial projects it should bring their, and Blenders reputation and visibility up.
Blender is already used a lot and it grows. however the industry is not that flexible and well Blender will not be used for many main stream movies for which more advanced engines are needed.
The major mistake people do here is when they say horay Blender has particles and Maya so Blender will overrule it soon is that Particle system is not Particle system.
The render and shader options in Maya with Mental Ray are let me say quite more advanced than any engine for Blender can produce. Blenders compositor system is good but often they use Shake / After Effects / Combustion for their jobs and they do often a better job.
Blender is not a Maya killer and I do not think ever will be because also Maya for example is being develloped.
However when you look into small size projects Music Video / Game / Educational Material you will notice that Blender is quite present there.
There are different markets out there. Maya would be seriously an overkill for some projects which will not utilize Mayas great specialFX system.
The problem is getting the word out but I think the situation changed drastically lately.
Over the past years Blender is being presented in major CG magazines.
Now it is up to the designer to decide which way they want to go.
One thing that always amazes me is that a lot of people (that goes for every software out there) are hunting for features. WHY oh WHY is everyone interested in getting more features when 99% of users never produce/create anything worth while.
This is not a criticism as it’s ok to just fool around and yes, there’s amazing stuff on here but still, when will we (the blender community) stop worrying about features and start making animations that can be done with blender ever since the NaN days.
When I first joined this forum (2000ish), plenty of posters were interested in working for pixar - that was their goal. I never understood that! By having access to blender and google, all of us are a mini pixar/dream works … you name it.
There are so many animations on the net and if memory serves me right, they all were made by using simple tools that have been around for years now to tell a little story. Yes, it is cool to have hair and dynamics but no matter what features a 3D package will have, creativity has to come from us.
I choose blender above any other app BECAUSE my limitation is my imagination, not the software tool set.
Ouch, looooong reply!
p.s. I know it’s not always easy. I’m having a hard time with a helicopter animation to make the rotor blades bend a little upwards on lift off but I don’t blame blender. There is a way to do it and hunting down that solution will teach me more about blender and lattice animation.
I think one of the things that would help would-be freelancers (like me) is a freelance wiki of sorts. Everyone could share tips about doing freelance business, like quoting, billing, project estimation, and the one thing no once seems to have advice on - where to find freelance jobs (locally or not)
… I’ve been using blender at work a lot recently, in some fairly high profile TV shows.
I find that producers don’t really care what you use, as long as they get their pixels.
I use blender by choice, as I really prefer it to 3D MAX (the standard app where I work ), and my colleagues are starting to show interest.
…I figure once it gets a proven track record at various studios and graphics departments, it will mean more work for the blender freelancer.
(However, here’s a tip for freelancers: never tie yourself to one application. Blender is great, but software comes and goes and it’s really your talent that they want.)
I know you’ll all say this is about my site, but what I have started is blender contests. It was a suggestion from a member (admin level), and I think it would help if we did contests to showcase the work of blender (so in fact, this post has nothing to do with my site :))
I know, it is a good line - but actually a very true line.
The situation you discuss is nothing else as “technology gathering”, 3D interested people want to learn how to do something and look for the approaches and techniques avaible.
Well that is very often the initial step, well it was my one as well. How many tutorials did I learn from lightwave to maya to c4d before I found Blender.
With Blender, when I entered Grad School, I was still trying to go towards character animation, until because of time issues I needed to focus on Products only. Today that is ok, you cannot do everything.
But the fact is that through Grad School I found my message, my area, my niche to fit in and since I have that I can use Blender now for my works.
I think the last one is what is missing with many new users here. They approach it from the tech side without having any conten / subject matter to express.
You find this less with Maya because most people who use Maya have a subject matter through their education / job.
Those modeling contests are a good way to stimulate new users here.
While I used Blender for over 4 years now, it is time for me to say good buy to its render capabilities until it is mature, on a level I think is appropiate for today.
I need full SSS, complete GI for my work. For polygon modeling I will contiune to use it. Maxwell or vray are the next steps. Well the school buys it for me.
I am curious where Blender will be in 1 year because cracking up the render engine is not a mini step.
I don’t entirely agree with you - but I know what you are getting at.
It’s not so much Blender that have to compete as it is the individual artists themselves
Blender is just a tool even though we LOVE the tool and think its absolutely FANTASTIC.
Without the artist - Blender is nothing but another piece of software, it is what WE can
do with it that makes it really useful.
You may not know this - but I use it as a commercial tool every living day of my working
life, I’ve been employed using Blender as my main graphics tool now for 2 years and keep
going strong. Many of my fellow graphics-artists in other companies have constantly
asked me why I don’t use their preferred software (Maya, Max etc.) but the answer is the
same every time - Blender gets the job done, while I love Maya etc. for its fantastic
stuff - there are no reason for me to “switch”. I have used Maya when I freelanced for Lego
a little while…not really difficult to switch to if you are skilled in Blender (trust me!) it took
two days to get into Maya modelling after using Blender for 5 years so …it’s not in the
tool alone.
It has even been mentioned on our website that I used Blender (OpenSource software)
but of course our clients have NO CLUE what that is - they just want the END RESULT,
and thats the way it should be - this is a GREAT tool - thanks again to all the coders
for this amazing piece of software.
If I should wish for something - It’d be faster effects on certain render-elements
and higher quality Oversampling/lights-antialiasing etc, nothing that can’t be
overcome in post-pro…but still.
Oh yeah…and Fabulous FUR/Hair tools of course - Kind of hope that comes
with Project Peach…that’ll be a blast!
i totally agree with JoOngle, its us, we as the artists are the ones that make the CGI, blender is just the tool, and its quite darn capable too!
this is why the projects like orange&peach are so darn important, they produce finished content, and thats what possible clients/employers are looking for! if we want blender to be more used in more places then we should first produce somethings our selves to show for it!
