Blender Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Blender Foundation (stichting Blender Foundation) is a non-profit organization responsible for the development of Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...

, an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 program for three-dimensional modeling.

The foundation is noted for having produced the animated short films Elephants Dream
Elephants Dream
Elephants Dream is a computer-generated short film that was produced almost completely using the free software 3D suite Blender . It premiered on March 24, 2006, after about 8 months of work...

(2006
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...

), Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny is a short computer animated film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation.Like the foundation's previous film Elephants Dream, the film was made using Blender, a free software application for animation made by the same foundation.-Overview:Work began in October 2007...

(2008
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...

) and Sintel
Sintel
Sintel is a short computer animated film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation. The name comes from the Dutch word sintel, which can mean cinder or ember, as confirmed by Ton Roosendaal in a blog comment: " “Sintel” is [a] piece of glowing coal or metal...

(2010
2010 in film
The year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...

).

Goals

The foundation is chaired by Ton Roosendaal
Ton Roosendaal
Ton Roosendaal is a Dutch software developer. He is known as the original creator of the open-source 3D creation suite Blender, as chairman of the Blender Foundation, and for pioneering large scale open-content projects...

, the original author of the Blender software. It is funded by donations from entrepreneurs
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

, companies, and the community. On of the foundations goals is "to give the worldwide Internet community access to 3D technology in general, with Blender as a core".

The foundation provides various resources to support the community formed around using and developing Blender. In particular, it organizes an annual Blender Conference in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 to discuss plans for the future of Blender, as well as staffing a booth to represent Blender at SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...

, a large conference on computer graphics. Donations are also used to maintain the Blender website, as well as hire other developers to work on the Blender software.

Open Projects

The Blender Foundation has organized several community-driven "Open Projects" through its affiliated Blender Institute program, including several freely-licensed
Free content
Free content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work...

 films and a free, open source
Foss
Foss may refer toPeople*Foss , people with the last name Foss*Foss Shanahan , New Zealand diplomat*Foss Westcott , English bishop...

 video game . According to the Foundation, these projects are intended "to validate and improve the 3D open source content creation pipeline with Blender". Each project was created using the Blender software and released under permissive license terms, along with the source material. In addition to demonstrating the capabilities of the software, the Open Projects provided detailed production material (sketches, tutorials, textures and models, etc.) to serve as examples for the Blender user community, as well as finished products that could be widely used for other purposes.

On 18 May 2006, the Blender Foundation released its first film, Elephants Dream
Elephants Dream
Elephants Dream is a computer-generated short film that was produced almost completely using the free software 3D suite Blender . It premiered on March 24, 2006, after about 8 months of work...

.. In response to the success of Elephants Dream, the Blender Foundation established the Blender Institute to support future software and content development projects. The Blender Institute operates out of a studio within the Entrepotdok building in Amsterdam, where the Blender Foundation is also located, and is headed by Ton Roosendaal.

On 10 April 2008, the Blender Institute released its second film, Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny is a short computer animated film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation.Like the foundation's previous film Elephants Dream, the film was made using Blender, a free software application for animation made by the same foundation.-Overview:Work began in October 2007...

. Based on the movie, the Blender Institute released its first Open Game project Yo Frankie!
Yo Frankie!
Yo Frankie! is an open video game made by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation, originally scheduled for release in August 2008. It is based on the universe and characters of the free film produced earlier in 2008 by the Blender Institute, Big Buck Bunny...

, in November 2008.

On September 30, 2010, the Blender Institute released its third project, Sintel
Sintel
Sintel is a short computer animated film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation. The name comes from the Dutch word sintel, which can mean cinder or ember, as confirmed by Ton Roosendaal in a blog comment: " “Sintel” is [a] piece of glowing coal or metal...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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