The art of open source Open source powers every part of the creative arts. Jim Thacker explores how is conquering animation and movie effects.

lender has been used to create It may not be the market leader – animations for national commercial tools, particularly those television channels and developed by Autodesk, are still used for Bcommercials for Coca-Cola, the majority of professional animation, Pizza Hut and BMW. It creates slick and game development marketing images for brands ranging from projects – in the West, at least. But it is Puma to Philippe Starck. It has even been capable of great work. used on Oscar-nominated movies. And Over the next four pages, we’ll meet best of all, it’s open- source software. “Blender, a classic underdog Blender is a classic underdog story. story, is the world’s most Originally the in-house 3D toolset of a small widely used 3D software.” Dutch animation firm, it has survived early financial hardships and some of the companies using Blender for even the collapse of its original distributor to commercial projects, from illustrations win widespread popular acclaim. With over for cereal boxes to the visual effects four million downloads each year, it is now by for Red Dwarf. We’ll explore how the far the world’s most widely used 3D software. software powers an international But more importantly for the purposes network of animation studios on every of this article, it’s software that commands continent except Antarctica. And we’ll even the respect of professional artists. Once try to answer the question: ‘If Blender is so dismissed as a tool for hobbyists, Blender is great, why doesn’t it get used on more now praised by some of the world’s largest Hollywood movies?’ animation studios. Even five years ago, the But before we do that, it’s time for a news that another new feature had been brief history lesson… added to the application would routinely be greeted on industry A complete 3D animation pipeline forums with the response, in a box, Blender is an ideal tool for CG commercials, like Character ‘Yes, but… it’s Blender’. Mill’s long-running series of ads for Today, the response is Bridgestone tyres. more likely to be: ‘I wish my software did that.’

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2008’s was the Blender Institute’s breakout short. The assets – also open-source – got reused in everything from kids’ books to ads for Google’s Nexus S phone.

hroughout its history, Blender has Faced with the choice between seeing short Big Buck Bunny. Its cast of animal been inextricably linked to one man: seven years of work go down the drain or characters proved irresistible to marketers, TDutch programmer, producer and all- going open-source, Roosendaal chose open with images from the movie popping up in round maverick . It was he source. A crowdfunding campaign quickly everything from pamphlets for the Boy who co-founded NeoGeo, the animation raised the €100,000 needed to buy back the Scouts of America to ads for Google phones. studio where, in 1995, Blender would begin code base, and on 13 October 2002, Blender Subsequent open movies would help life as the company’s in-house 3D toolset. was released under a GPL licence. tame Blender’s idiosyncratic user interface Originally, Blender seemed destined to Now chairman of the fledgling Blender and develop a new suite of tools designed for become a far more conventional product: Foundation, Roosendaal began to accelerate live-action visual effects work. By 2014, the Not a Number, the company that Roosendaal the development of the software through a Institute was ready for its most ambitious launched in 1998 to market the software series of ‘open movies’ – crowdfunded project yet: a complete feature-length open publicly, originally planned to produce a free animated shorts used as a platform from movie, codenamed ‘Project Gooseberry’. version of the tool for creating online content, which to develop the new tools necessary Sadly, Gooseberry failed to reach its and paid versions for everything else. for serious production work. The movies €3.5 million funding target, eventually being But things didn’t quite work out that way. themselves are released under a Creative scaled back into the surreal animated short Even at the time, the 3D software market was Commons licence, as are all of the CG assets – First Cycle, released saturated with established competitors, used to create them. earlier this year. But it still became the most including early versions of Autodesk’s now- By 2007, Roosendaal had established a successful crowdfunded animation project in ubiquitous Maya and 3ds Max. Early sales of permanent studio, the Blender Institute, to history, while the Institute’s proposed list of Blender were disappointing, and in 2002, Not oversee the work. The next year, the Institute partner companies demonstrated something a Number’s investors decided to pull the plug. had its first real breakout hit, the comedy else very important: that there was now a More key tools for open-source animation

Even the Blender Institute doesn’t just use LibreOffice (libreoffice.org) Blender in its animations. Here are the other The ubiquitous office suite gets used on the open-source tools used to create its ‘open Institute’s movies for a range of tasks, with movies’. We’ll be looking at some of them in LibreOffice Draw often used to assemble more detail in future articles in this series. storyboards for print or to distribute as PDFs.

Krita (krita.org) Flamenco (flamenco.io) The Institute’s main tool for concept art and Developed for use on the Institute’s latest short storyboarding, Krita had its own resurgence. Its and still in beta, this render manager distributes successful recent Kickstarter funding campaign animation jobs across the network of computers aims to make it “faster than Photoshop”. used to render them. Not sexy, but vital.

Gimp (gimp.org) Attract (cloud.blender.org) Although it hasn’t seen a major update for three Also developed for Cosmos Laundromat, shot- years, Gimp is still a reliable workhorse for management tool Attract does another heavy- An unused concept image for the general image-editing tasks, such as creating lifting job: tracking who is doing what on the Institute’s short Cosmos Laundromat, the 2D texture maps used in animation or production. Not out yet, but will become part created in Krita by David Revoy. adjusting rendered stills. of the Blender Cloud.

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Each Blender Most of movie acts as the Blender a platform for Institute’s adding new movies have features to the been animated software. 2015’s shorts. 2012’s surreal Cosmos Laundromat proved that the threw project- software could management also tackle tools into the live‑action mix as well. visual effects.

complete international network of studios Lax. “When you’re starting out, it’s very handy “We’ve found the Blender community to be using Blender on commercial productions. to have software you don’t need a licence for. much more responsive to our needs than One of those studios is London’s Gecko But it’s a misconception that there’s no commercial software vendors,” he says. “In 10 Animation (www.geckoanimation.com), money in open-source development. I’ve paid years of using proprietary 3D software, we whose work ranges from visuals for Puma to more for Blender through donations to the never received usable support from either visual effects for the Red Dwarf comedy series. than I have for any piece software vendor or reseller – except on “I trained in Maya when I worked for other of commercial software.” problems with registering our licences.” companies,” says studio co-founder Jonathan Blender also plays increasingly nicely Lax. “But over time, I became more and more Beating commercial tools with the other tools that studios need for interested in open source. Larger programs One of the reasons for those donations is to commercial graphics work. Most of the main don’t tend to help you if you’re working on ensure that bugs are fixed in a timely fashion – render engines, used to convert raw 3D data lots of different parts of a production, which another key benefit of Blender, according to into finished 2D images, now support the a small team has to.” James Neale, founder of Sydney’s Character software – including, as of earlier this year, Whereas commercial software tends to Mill (http://charactermill.com), a five-person ’s Academy-Award-winning RenderMan. be more tightly focused on specialist tasks, studio working on projects ranging from In fact, support for Blender in some third- Blender provides a complete studio setup in animated TV commercials to illustrations. party tools is better than that for commercial a box, including tools for sculpting and “Blender developers are generally users software, since the fact that the source code animating 3D models, rendering the finished of their own tools, so it’s easy for them to is freely available makes it easier to do the animation, and even integrating it into live- understand our requests for fixes,” he says. “If necessary development work. action footage or editing video. I ever encounter a bug or need a workaround, Neale uses the popular Unity game engine “Blender is extremely versatile,” says Lax. I can reach out to the community and get a to create interactive applications, and points “Because the program does so much, and response within 15-20 minutes.” out that it can read Blender’s scene files integrates it so well, you can work on many Like Lax, Neale used commercial software directly, rather than requiring data to be different areas of a production at once.” in the past, but says that when it came to exported in an intermediate file format. “You It doesn’t hurt that Blender is free. But customer support, the needs of larger just save the .blend file into the Unity folder that isn’t the main reason to use it, stresses studios crowded out those of smaller users. structure and use it as an asset,” he says.

Open-source technology and Hollywood

Big Hollywood visual effects and animation OpenVDB provides a standard format companies often write their own proprietary 3D for volumetric effects like these clouds software. But that doesn’t mean they don’t use from How to Train Your Dragon 2. open-source technology. Industrial Light & Magic led the way by open- sourcing OpenEXR (http://openexr.com) in 2003, its proprietary file format for HDR images, now familiar to most photographers. followed suit with a whole set of open-source technologies (http://opensource.imageworks.com), including Alembic, now the industry’s standard format in which to transfer complex 3D Image © DreamWorks Animation geometry between software packages. Disney has also got in on the act with Ptex The big studios open-source their incorporates OpenSubdiv, Pixar’s technology (http://ptex.us), which controls the way in technologies to ensure that there are standard for “high-performance subdivision surface which the 2D texture maps that determine the formats in which data can be exchanged when evaluation”. (Among other things, it enables local colour of a 3D model are mapped onto its companies have to collaborate on a movie, as is animators to preview the movements of their surface, while DreamWorks has released often the case in visual effects – but the benefits characters more accurately in real time.) OpenVDB (http://openvdb.org), used for are felt by everyone, since they quickly become The work seems to have found favour at volumetric effects like clouds. You can see it in incorporated into off-the-shelf software. Pixar, which even switched OpenSubdiv from a action in the still from How to Train Your Dragon Blender itself uses several of these code Microsoft Public Licence to an Apache Licence 2 (above). libraries: the most recent release, Blender 2.76, so Blender could make use of its technology.

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“That wouldn’t work with 3ds Max or Maya Gecko scene files.” Animation’s So if Blender is so good, why aren’t more photorealistic studios using it? Of the five Oscar nominees visual effects for 2015’s Best Animated Feature, only one – for ‘Words Can Hurt’, an NSPCC independent Irish animation Song of the Sea commercial – is known to have used Blender, whereas to highlight Autodesk can claim that its software played emotional abuse, a ‘significant role’ in the remaining four. were created There’s a caveat hidden in that phrase entirely in “is known to have used”, which we’ll come Blender. back to later. But in general, the studios using Blender as their primary production tool are smaller than those using commercial or – typically 20 people or fewer, in contrast to the hundreds of artists who work on big Hollywood movies. One reason for this, says James Neale, is initiative, which aims to develop a version of requiring support, and of feeling a bit the lack of suitable staff. Many of the artists Blender configured for teaching 3D to high- ashamed of using ,” he says. that Character Mill hires are only familiar with school students, another stumbling block That reluctance to speak publicly makes it commercial software, and have to be taught may be harder to overcome: the lingering harder to get a true picture of how widely how to use Blender. belief that use of ‘free’ tools is unprofessional. Blender is being used in production. One “The main limitation is finding competent “There’s always a stigma attached to using thing we were often told while researching people who use Blender regularly,” he says. open-source software,” says Jonathan Lax. “I this article is that many artists at large games “Each time we take on someone new, there’s and visual effects a training period, and if it’s a tight deadline, studios do use the we need someone who can hit the ground “The Blender community is software, they just running. Sometimes there are jobs we can’t don’t tend to talk take on because we can’t staff them.” much more responsive than about it. commercial vendors.” However, that may Overcoming prejudice finally be changing. The Blender Network, the social network for base everything on the strength of the output This year, Pixar announced that Blender is Blender pros that the Blender Foundation [but] larger clients have expressed concerns one of the small number of off-the-shelf 3D launched in 2012, now makes it far easier to when I say what software I’m using.” applications that it officially supports for use recruit artists internationally, but Neale says According to Ton Roosendaal, this within the studio, and namechecked the the software needs to be taught more widely problem is compounded by the fact that software in its press release for the latest in schools and universities. “There are so many artists in Asia and South America – version of RenderMan. many Maya artists out there because all the where the largest studios using open-source And as Roosendaal points out, the fact schools teach it,” he says. “And because tools in production are currently located – that large studios were traditionally more there’s a pool of artists, the big studios have switched to Blender from cracked willing to talk about commercial 3D tools continue to use it. It’s chicken and egg.” copies of commercial software. “They switch doesn’t mean that they use them as their While the Blender Foundation is now from being an illegal user to being a legal primary means of production. “People have addressing this issue with its Blender 101 user, but they don’t change the habit of not some kind of romantic fantasy that big Five great Blender animations from around the world

Babioles Vlad & Louise employs over 300 people), Indonesia’s MD (http://bit.ly/babioles) (http://bit.ly/vladlouise) Animation produces a huge range of animated Broadcast on France’s Canal+, this animated Another animated series, Vlad & Louise stars series, including the award-winning Adit & Sopo series features a trio of cute toys and the terrible an eight-year-old girl who finds a winning ticket Jarwo. Clips are on YouTube. things that happen to them. Director Mathieu in a cereal box to become a Mexican lucha libre Auvray has put nearly 30 episodes on YouTube. wrestler. French studio, In Efecto plans to Song of the Sea produce 52 13-minute (http://bit.ly/songoftheseamovie) Masked episodes, but for now This Irish animation got rave reviews on its marauders: French you’ll have to content release – not to mention an Oscar nomination animation studio In yourself with the for Best Animated Feature. Much of the Efecto’s charming charming trailer. animation is 2D, but some of the vehicles and Vlad & Louise. effects use Blender. Adit & Sopo Jarwo (http://bit.ly/ Sabogal aditsopojarwo) (http://3da2animation.com/sabogal) Probably the world’s It wasn’t the first feature film to be produced largest studio to use primarily in Blender (that was Argentina’s Blender as its main Plumíferos), but gritty thriller Sabogal is production tool (it arguably the best.

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studios use desktop software to make films, have to get the Red Dwarf series 10 blended the and suddenly they might start using Blender,” professionals on sci-fi comedy’s traditional miniatures he says. “But that’s not true. They hardly use board. And the only with Blender digital effects by Gecko. [commercial] software either. They have their way to do that is to own in-house tools. reach out to studios “Studios like Pixar are awesome, but they and make them stakeholders in taking care of are the tip of the pyramid,” he adds. “Below parts of the future development of Blender.” Useful resources that, there are millions of people doing stuff Ultimately, Roosendaal’s goal is still to www.blender.org with 3D, and those people need tools, too.” make a feature-length open movie, both as The official Blender website hosts software an ultimate proof of Blender’s capabilities downloads and news of new features Where next for Blender? and a means of further fostering that www.blendernation.com The coming year looks likely to be another professional user community. Daily news from the Blender community, plus significant one for Blender. Rather than “If we can get a decent budget – say a smattering of free video tutorials continuing the recent cycle of smaller three- $12‑15 million – to make a good-quality www.blenderartists.org monthly updates, the Blender Foundation animated feature film, we can adopt some Hang out or ask for advice from other artists proposes taking a year out to focus on major Krita or Gimp developers [as well as hiring] in one of the best-known Blender forums development projects aimed at readying the more Blender developers,” he says. “Once you www.blendswap.com software to tackle even larger productions. have a feature film plus a 100% open-source Free assets of all shapes and sizes for Blender It is, admits Roosendaal, a huge challenge pipeline, you get something very interesting users: from models to tech resources. for a non-profit organisation that currently indeed. You could even set up a facility to https://cgcookiemarkets.com supports fewer than 10 full-time developers, train technical artists who could go on to A newer online marketplace than Blend Swap, particularly given the increasing complexity work in other studios.” aimed at sharing commercial assets of the work. “Many of these improvements It’s a lot to ask. But, on the evidence of www.blendernetwork.org are just not possible in a normal volunteer- what Blender has achieved over the past 20 The Blender Foundation’s official directory driven open-source project,” he says. “You years, you wouldn’t want to bet against it. LXF and social network for Blender professionals. From Blender to Pixar

For Colin Levy, open- what Levy describes as “some pretty deep and composing shots to tell the story source software led themes – motherhood and loss and death, cinematically. It was those skills that got to a job at one of the friendship and letting go”. him the internship – and ultimately, a full- biggest animation It’s also very beautiful. Although clearly the time job. studios in the world. work of a small team (just 14 people at peak), For the past five years, Levy has worked Having started some of the shots in wouldn’t look out as a layout artist for the studio on movies experimenting with of place in a Hollywood production. like Monsters University, eventually Blender while he was Pixar evidently thought the young director becoming director of photography on LAVA, still in high school, by had promise: Levy was accepted for an the animated short that Pixar released 2006 he was helping out at CG industry internship at the studio. “It was actually the alongside Inside Out. conference SIGGRAPH, where he met the third time I’d applied,” he says. “The previous He also continues to use Blender in his Blender Foundation’s Ton Roosendaal. time, as a sophomore in college, I had the own work. On his current side project – an “I didn’t interact much with Ton at the worst interview of my life. By the last round, I’d as-yet-untitled live-action sci-fi short – all time,” says Levy. “But I guess he kept me on grown a lot, both as a person and artistically. the visual effects are being created using it. his radar, because three years later, I got an But the main difference was that I had Sintel “I still really enjoy working in Blender,” h e email from him, asking if I’d be interested in on my reel, and it definitely wasn’t just a says. “It’s a fabulous tool for short film working on his next project.” student short.” projects with a dozen or so artists.” That project was Sintel, the third of the It wasn’t the fact that Levy had directed “I feel so indebted to Ton, and to the Foundation’s ‘open movies’ – short films Sintel that interested Pixar. He’d also done the Foundation, and to Sintel,” Levy concludes. made entirely using open-source software, layout work on the film: choreographing the “I don’t think I’d be at Pixar today if Blender then released under a Creative Commons action of the 3D characters within virtual sets, didn’t exist.” licence. Partly a showcase for the software and partly a way to develop new tools, Sintel Sintel, the third Blender open was also the Foundation’s most ambitious movie, provided young director production to date – and, with a budget of Colin Levy’s calling card to Pixar. €400,000, then the second most expensive animated film in Dutch history. “It came completely out of the blue,” says Levy, who was midway through his studies at Savannah College of Art and Design at the time. “I was lucky: it could have been a foolish decision to hire me.” The story of a young woman who adopts a baby dragon, Sintel isn’t a typical comedy short. The 15-minute animation explores

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