Blender 3D – Open Source Animation to the Max

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be a James Cameron, or a Steven Spielberg, and watch your dreams and creative impulses take shape before your eyes?

Imaginary worlds, imaginary characters come to life; through the magic of computers and software.

I’m not an artist, a movie producer or director, but I like to “fool around” with creative software of every stripe and color. I suppose that goes with the “geeky” side of my nature, and I do have some experience with 3ds Max.

Last year, I came across an astonishing open source, cross platform program, capable of building complex and realistic simulations, and interactive 3D applications.

Blender is an incredibly robust 3D software animation program. It’s been designed for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulating, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications.

The program is made up of a feature set that is characteristic of high-end modeling software such as Cinema 4D, 3ds Max and Maya. These features include advanced simulation tools including rigid body, fluid, and soft body dynamics, modifier based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, Python for embedded scripting, and a node based material and compositing system.

Take a look at a number of movies and videos (just click on the pic), created with Blender; I guarantee that you will be astonished!

My Australian friends will love this first one!

In a review of this type, it’s  not possible to adequately describe all of the advance features that make up this incredible software package. Only selected features have been highlighted review, and there are many more features other than those noted below.

Features:

· Revolutionary non-overlapping and non-blocking UI delivers unsurpassed workflow

· Flexible and fully configurable window layout with as many screen setups as you prefer

· Undo support on all levels

· Anti-aliased fonts with international translation support

· Windows for animation curves/keys, outliner, schematic scene diagram, generic node editing system, non-linear video sequence editing, character animation action editor, non-linear animation mixer, image/UV editing, file/image selection and file management

· Built-in text editor for annotations and editing Python scripts

· Graphical user interface for Python scripts

· Custom themes

· Consistent interface across all platforms

Rigging:

· Fast skeleton creation mode

· Interactive 3D paint for vertex weighting

· Fast envelope based skinning

· Mirror editing (bone creation and weight painting)

Animation:

· Armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics

· Auto IK allows posing FK chains easily

· Non-linear animation editor for mixing individual actions created in Action editor

· Automated walk cycles along paths

· Animated constraint system

· Vertex key framing for morphing, with controlling sliders

· Edit and create new blend shapes from existing targets

· Character animation pose editor

3D/Game Creation:

· Graphical logic editor for defining interactive behavior without programming

· Collision detection and dynamics simulation now support Bullet Physics Library. Bullet is an open source collision detection and rigid body dynamics library developed for Play Station 3

· Shape types: Convex polyhedron, box, sphere, cone, cylinder, capsule, compound, and static triangle mesh with auto deactivation mode

· Discrete collision detection for Rigid Body simulation

· Support for in-game activation of dynamic constraints

· Full support for vehicle dynamics, including spring reactions, stiffness, damping, tire friction etc

· Python scripting API for sophisticated control and AI, fully defined advanced game logic

· Support all OpenGLTM lighting modes, including transparencies, Animated and reflection-mapped textures

Modeling:

· A range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, Bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, vector fonts (TrueType, PostScript, Open Type)

· Very fast Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces with optimal iso-lines display and sharpness editing

· Full multiresolution sculpting capabilities with 2D bitmap/3D procedural brushes (Paint, Smooth, Pinch, Inflate, Grab) supporting symmetry

· Modifier stack deformers such as Lattice, Curve, Armature or Displace

Rendering:

· Very fast inbuilt ray tracer

· Over sampling, motion blur, post-production effects, fields, non-square pixels

· Tile-based and fully threaded

· Render layers and passes

· Render baking to UV maps (full render, ambient occlusion, normal, textures)

· Render engine tightly integrated with the node compositor

· Halo, lens flares and fog effects

· Vector motion-blur post-process effect (using node compositor)

· Realistic defocus (DOF) post-process effect (using node compositor)

· Edge rendering for toon shading

· Interactive preview rendering panel in any 3d view

Shading:

· Diffuse shaders such as Lambert, Minnaert, Toon, Oren-Nayar, Lambert

· Specular shaders such as WardIso, Toon, Blinn, Phong, CookTorr

· Node editor for creating and mixing complex materials

· Material previews rendered by main render engine

· Fast, realistic subsurface scattering

Physics and Particles:

· Particle system can be attached to any mesh object. Control methods include weight painting, textures, curve guides, wind and vortex effects. Particles can be deflected by moving geometry

· Hair strands can be created by a static particle system, supporting all particle control methods

· Fluid simulator with fully animated inflow, outflow, obstacle and fluid objects. Gravity and viscosity settings can also be animated. Supports vector blur and is integrated with the particle system

The Blender Web Site is an astonishingly complete site which includes the following: Features & Gallery, Download, Tutorials & Help, Community, Development, and e-Shop.

If you’ve ever wanted to try 3D creation, then this solid, free program, will more than meet your needs.

System Requirements:

Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 (64bit compatible).

Note: The 64bit release of Blender for Windows is still in a development stage: it doesn’t support all possible features yet, like FFMPEG, OpenAL and Quicktime.

Mac OS X (PPC and Intel)

Linux (i386)

Linux (PPC)

FreeBSD 5.4 (i386)

SGI Irix 6.5

Sun Solaris 2.8 (sparc)

Download the latest version (2.49b), from the Blender Foundation .

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AbiWord 2.8.1 – The Best Free Multilingual Word Processor?

AbiWord is arguably one of the best light word processing applications at any price. But FREE, makes installing this superb application a “no brainer”.

I recently downloaded and installed the Beta version of MS Office 2010 for testing, and I must admit, I’m blown away. Microsoft seems to be hitting all the right notes lately with the release of a bevy of updated products, including Windows 7.

But, not many of us need the power and the amazing functionality of Microsoft Word – or, lets face it, the major expense. A free word processor, like AbiWord, will meet the every day needs of the majority of users.

AbiWord, which is an open source application, has been designed to integrate perfectly with the operating system it runs on, and there are many, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X (PowerPC).

There’s no need to worry about document compatibility issues with AbiWord since it can read, and write, all industry standard document types, including Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Office Open XML (MS Word 2007), Rich Text Format (RTF), HTML web pages, and many more.

If you’ve used MS Word in the past, you’ll encounter no learning curve with AbiWord. It features a similar looking interface to Word, with it’s basic character formatting, paragraph alignment, spell checker, interactive rulers and tabs, styles, unlimited undo/redo, find and replace, and image support.

If you’re running on an older system with limited resources, you’ll be glad to know that this application has a very small resource footprint, and that allows full functionality on systems that are not considered “State of the Art”, by today’s standards.

I find AbiWord with its surprising amount of features and simple straightforward interface, to be the appropriate word processor I need running in the background, while I’m on the Internet on one of my older systems. Its small memory footprint, as opposed to memory hogging Microsoft Word, is ideal. In fact, portable AbiWord is my word processor of choice for my portable office on my USB key.

The following graphic shows a previous review of AbiWord written on this application.

Fast facts:

Multi Platform

Internationalized

Advanced document layout options

Tables, bullets, lists, images, footnotes, endnotes and styles

Available in most common, and many not-so-common languages

Spell checker

Dictionaries for over 30 languages

Supports right-to-left, left-to-right, and mixed-mode text

The above feature allows support for languages like Hebrew and Arabic

Mail Merge capabilities

Powerful collaboration capabilities – allowing multiple people to work on one document at the same time.

Integrated with a new online web service called AbiCollab.net, which lets you store documents online, allows easy document sharing with your friends, and performs format conversions on the fly.

System requirements: Most UNIX systems, Windows 95 and later, QNX Neutrino 6.2.  A Mac OS X native port is also available.

Download at: Download.com

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

3D Creation with Blender – Free Open Source Animation Program

I’m not an artist, movie producer or director, but I do like to “fool around” with creative software of every stripe and color. I suppose that goes with the “geeky” side of my nature.

Last year, I came across an incredible free program capable of building astonishingly complex and realistic simulations and interactive 3D applications.

Blender is an incredibly robust 3D software animation program. It has been designed for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulating, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications.

The program is made up of a feature set that is characteristic of high-end modeling software such as Cinema 4D, 3ds Max and Maya. These features include advanced simulation tools such as rigid body, fluid, and soft body dynamics, modifier based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, Python for embedded scripting and a node based material and compositing system.

Take a look at the movies and videos created with Blender; I guarantee that you will be astonished!

In a review of this type it is impossible to adequately describe all of the advance features that make up this incredible software package. Only selected features have been highlighted for this review.

There are many more features other than those noted below.

Features:

· Revolutionary non-overlapping and non-blocking UI delivers unsurpassed workflow

· Flexible and fully configurable window layout with as many screen setups as you prefer

· Undo support on all levels

· Anti-aliased fonts with international translation support

· Windows for animation curves/keys, outliner, schematic scene diagram, generic node editing system, non-linear video sequence editing, character animation action editor, non-linear animation mixer, image/UV editing, file/image selection and file management

· Built-in text editor for annotations and editing Python scripts

· Graphical user interface for Python scripts

· Custom themes

· Consistent interface across all platforms

Rigging:

· Fast skeleton creation mode

· Interactive 3D paint for vertex weighting

· Fast envelope based skinning

· Mirror editing (bone creation and weight painting)

Animation:

· Armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics

· Auto IK allows posing FK chains easily

· Non-linear animation editor for mixing individual actions created in Action editor

· Automated walk cycles along paths

· Animated constraint system

· Vertex key framing for morphing, with controlling sliders

· Edit and create new blend shapes from existing targets

· Character animation pose editor

3D/Game Creation:

· Graphical logic editor for defining interactive behavior without programming

· Collision detection and dynamics simulation now support Bullet Physics Library. Bullet is an open source collision detection and rigid body dynamics library developed for Play Station 3

· Shape types: Convex polyhedron, box, sphere, cone, cylinder, capsule, compound, and static triangle mesh with auto deactivation mode

· Discrete collision detection for Rigid Body simulation

· Support for in-game activation of dynamic constraints

· Full support for vehicle dynamics, including spring reactions, stiffness, damping, tire friction etc

· Python scripting API for sophisticated control and AI, fully defined advanced game logic

· Support all OpenGLTM lighting modes, including transparencies, Animated and reflection-mapped textures

Modeling:

· A range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, Bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, vector fonts (TrueType, PostScript, Open Type)

· Very fast Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces with optimal iso-lines display and sharpness editing

· Full multiresolution sculpting capabilities with 2D bitmap/3D procedural brushes (Paint, Smooth, Pinch, Inflate, Grab) supporting symmetry

· Modifier stack deformers such as Lattice, Curve, Armature or Displace

Rendering:

· Very fast inbuilt ray tracer

· Over sampling, motion blur, post-production effects, fields, non-square pixels

· Tile-based and fully threaded

· Render layers and passes

· Render baking to UV maps (full render, ambient occlusion, normal, textures)

· Render engine tightly integrated with the node compositor

· Halo, lens flares and fog effects

· Vector motion-blur post-process effect (using node compositor)

· Realistic defocus (DOF) post-process effect (using node compositor)

· Edge rendering for toon shading

· Interactive preview rendering panel in any 3d view

Shading:

· Diffuse shaders such as Lambert, Minnaert, Toon, Oren-Nayar, Lambert

· Specular shaders such as WardIso, Toon, Blinn, Phong, CookTorr

· Node editor for creating and mixing complex materials

· Material previews rendered by main render engine

· Fast, realistic subsurface scattering

Physics and Particles:

· Particle system can be attached to any mesh object. Control methods include weight painting, textures, curve guides, wind and vortex effects. Particles can be deflected by moving geometry

· Hair strands can be created by a static particle system, supporting all particle control methods

· Fluid simulator with fully animated inflow, outflow, obstacle and fluid objects. Gravity and viscosity settings can also be animated. Supports vector blur and is integrated with the particle system

The Blender Web Site is an astonishingly complete site which includes the following: Features & Gallery, Download, Tutorials & Help, Community, Development, and e-Shop.

If you’re into 3D creation, then this solid program will more than meet your needs.

System Requirements:

· Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista

· Mac OS X (PPC and Intel)

· Linux (i386)

· Linux (PPC)

· FreeBSD 5.4 (i386)

· SGI Irix 6.5

· Sun Solaris 2.8 (sparc)

Download the latest version (2.48a), from the Blender Foundation.

The Best Free Word Processor – AbiWord – Multilingual MS Word Alternative

A friend called me recently and wondered if he could “borrow” my copy of MS Word so that he could update a saved copy of his resume in Microsoft Word format. It seems he no longer had access to Word.

I pointed out to him that he could simple download any one of the many free alternatives to Word that are available for download; most of which “save” and “open” in Word’s .doc format. It surprised me to learn that he was unaware that there are free alternatives to Word, of which, AbiWord is arguably one of the best of these light word processing applications.

AbiWord has been designed to integrate perfectly with the operating system it runs on, and there are many, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X (PowerPC), ReactOS, and BeOS. This great application has been written to take advantage of the functionality provided by the system it runs on, such as image loading, or printing capabilities.

AbiWord is no slouch when it comes to being able to read and write all industry standard document types, like OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Rich Text Format, HTML web pages, and many more.

There’s no learning curve involved with AbiWord since it features a similar looking interface to Word, with it’s basic character formatting, paragraph alignment, spell checker, interactive rulers and tabs, styles, unlimited undo/redo, find and replace, and image support.

AbiWord has a very small resource footprint, which allows full functionality on systems that are not considered “State of the Art”. For those users with underpowered systems (by modern standards), this alternative light word processors should prove to be ideal.

I find AbiWord with its surprising amount of features and simple straightforward interface, to be the appropriate word processor I need running in the background while I’m on the Internet. Its small memory footprint, as opposed to memory hogging Microsoft Word, is ideal for most of my day to day work. In fact, portable AbiWord is my word processor of choice for my portable office on my USB key.

As you can see from the picture below, this article was written on AbiWord.

Features:

Multi Platform

Internationalized

Advanced document layout options

Tables, bullets, lists, images, footnotes, endnotes and styles

Available in most common, and many not-so-common languages

Spell checker

Dictionaries for over 30 languages

Supports right-to-left, left-to-right, and mixed-mode text

The above feature allows support for languages like Hebrew and Arabic

Mail Merge capabilities

Download at: Download.com

AbiWord – Free Multilingual Word Processor for Windows, Linux

Recently, I got a call from a friend who had saved his resume in Microsoft Word format, but who no longer had access to Microsoft Word. As a consequence, he could not update his resume. He wondered if, he could “borrow” my copy of Word to install on his computer so that he could revise his resume. It struck me that he, like many computer users, was unaware of the many free alternatives to Word that are available for download, most of which “save” and “open” in Word’s .doc format.

AbiWord is arguably the best of these in the class that I refer to as, light word processing applications. AbiWord has been designed to integrate perfectly with the operating system it runs on. It will take advantage of the functionality provided by the system, such as image loading, or printing capabilities.

As important, AbiWord is able to read and write all industry standard document types, such as OpenOffice documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages and many more.

AbiWord has a quite small resource footprint, which allows full functionality on systems that are not considered “State of the Art”.

I find AbiWord with its surprising amount of features and simple straightforward interface, to be the appropriate word processor I need running in the background while I’m on the Internet. As stated earlier, its small memory footprint as opposed to memory hogging Microsoft Word, is ideal for most of my day to day work.

In fact, as you can see from the lead picture, this article was produced on AbiWord.

Quick facts:

• Multi Platform
• Internationalized
• Advanced document layout options
• Tables, bullets, lists, images, footnotes, endnotes and styles
• Available in most common, and many not-so-common languages
• Spell checker
• Dictionaries for over 30 languages
• Supports right-to-left, left-to-right, and mixed-mode text
• The above feature allows support for languages like Hebrew and Arabic
• Mail Merge capabilities

Download at: Abisource

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Blender – Free Open Source Tools for 3D Creation

Blender is a very robust free 3D software animation program. It has been designed for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulating, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications.

The program is made up of a feature set that is characteristic of high-end modeling software such as Cinema 4D, 3ds Max and Maya. These features include advanced simulation tools such as rigid body, fluid, and soft body dynamics, modifier based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, Python for embedded scripting and a node based material and compositing system.

In a review of this type it is impossible to adequately describe all of the advance features that make up this incredible software package. Only selected features have been highlighted for this review. There are many more features other than those noted below.

 

 

 

 

Supported Platforms:

· Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista

· Mac OS X (PPC and Intel)

· Linux (i386)

· Linux (PPC)

· FreeBSD 5.4 (i386)

· SGI Irix 6.5

· Sun Solaris 2.8 (sparc)

Interface Features:

· Revolutionary non-overlapping and non-blocking UI delivers unsurpassed workflow

· Flexible and fully configurable window layout with as many screen setups as you prefer

· Undo support on all levels

· Anti-aliased fonts with international translation support

· Windows for animation curves/keys, outliner, schematic scene diagram, generic node editing system, non-linear video sequence editing, character animation action editor, non-linear animation mixer, image/UV editing, file/image selection and file management

· Built-in text editor for annotations and editing Python scripts

· Graphical user interface for Python scripts

· Custom themes

· Consistent interface across all platforms

 

 

 

Rigging:

· Fast skeleton creation mode

· Interactive 3D paint for vertex weighting

· Fast envelope based skinning

· Mirror editing (bone creation and weight painting)

Animation:

· Armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics

· Auto IK allows posing FK chains easily

· Non-linear animation editor for mixing individual actions created in Action editor

· Automated walk cycles along paths

· Animated constraint system

· Vertex key framing for morphing, with controlling sliders

· Edit and create new blend shapes from existing targets

· Character animation pose editor

3D/Game Creation:

· Graphical logic editor for defining interactive behavior without programming

· Collision detection and dynamics simulation now support Bullet Physics Library. Bullet is an open source collision detection and rigid body dynamics library developed for Play Station 3

· Shape types: Convex polyhedron, box, sphere, cone, cylinder, capsule, compound, and static triangle mesh with auto deactivation mode

· Discrete collision detection for Rigid Body simulation

· Support for in-game activation of dynamic constraints

· Full support for vehicle dynamics, including spring reactions, stiffness, damping, tyre friction etc

· Python scripting API for sophisticated control and AI, fully defined advanced game logic

· Support all OpenGLTM lighting modes, including transparencies, Animated and reflection-mapped textures

Modeling:

· A range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, Bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, vector fonts (TrueType, PostScript, Open Type)

· Very fast Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces with optimal iso-lines display and sharpness editing

· Full multiresolution sculpting capabilities with 2D bitmap/3D procedural brushes (Paint, Smooth, Pinch, Inflate, Grab) supporting symmetry

· Modifier stack deformers such as Lattice, Curve, Armature or Displace

Rendering:

· Very fast inbuilt ray tracer

· Over sampling, motion blur, post-production effects, fields, non-square pixels

· Tile-based and fully threaded

· Render layers and passes

· Render baking to UV maps (full render, ambient occlusion, normal, textures)

· Render engine tightly integrated with the node compositor

· Halo, lens flares and fog effects

· Vector motion-blur post-process effect (using node compositor)

· Realistic defocus (DOF) post-process effect (using node compositor)

· Edge rendering for toon shading

· Interactive preview rendering panel in any 3d view

Shading:

· Diffuse shaders such as Lambert, Minnaert, Toon, Oren-Nayar, Lambert

· Specular shaders such as WardIso, Toon, Blinn, Phong, CookTorr

· Node editor for creating and mixing complex materials

· Material previews rendered by main render engine

· Fast, realistic subsurface scattering

Physics and Particles:

· Particle system can be attached to any mesh object. Control methods include weight painting, textures, curve guides, wind and vortex effects. Particles can be deflected by moving geometry

· Hair strands can be created by a static particle system, supporting all particle control methods

· Fluid simulator with fully animated inflow, outflow, obstacle and fluid objects. Gravity and viscosity settings can also be animated. Supports vector blur and is integrated with the particle system

If you’re into 3D creation, then this solid program will more than meet your needs.

The Blender Web Site is an astonishingly complete site which includes the following: Features & Gallery, Download, Tutorials & Help, Community, Development, and e-Shop.

 

AbiWord – Free Multilingual Word Processor for Windows, Linux, QNX, FreeBSD and Solaris.

Recently, I got a call from a friend who had saved his resume in Microsoft Word format, but who no longer had access to Microsoft Word. As a consequence, he could not update his resume. He wondered if, he could “borrow” my copy of Word to install on his computer so that he could revise his resume. It struck me that he, like many computer users, was unaware of the many free alternatives to Word that are available for download, most of which “save” and “open” in Word’s .doc format.

AbiWord is arguably the best of these in the class that I refer to as, light word processing applications. AbiWord has been designed to integrate perfectly with the operating system it runs on. It will take advantage of the functionality provided by the system, such as image loading, or printing capabilities.

As important, AbiWord is able to read and write all industry standard document types, like OpenOffice documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages and many more.

AbiWord has a quite small resource footprint, which allows full functionality on systems that are not considered “State of the Art”.

I find AbiWord with its surprising amount of features and simple straightforward interface, to be the appropriate word processor I need running in the background while I’m on the Internet. As stated earlier, its small memory footprint as opposed to memory hogging Microsoft Word is ideal for most of my day to day work.

In fact, as you can see from the lead picture, this article was produced on AbiWord.

Features:

• Multi Platform
• Internationalized
• Advanced document layout options
• Tables, bullets, lists, images, footnotes, endnotes and styles
• Available in most common, and many not-so-common languages
• Spell checker
• Dictionaries for over 30 languages
• Supports right-to-left, left-to-right, and mixed-mode text
• The above feature allows support for languages like Hebrew and Arabic
• Mail Merge capabilities

Download at:  http://www.abisource.com/