

Why Gooseberry, the open animation film, matters - unwind
http://gooseberry.blender.org/why-gooseberry-matters/

======
nwatson
>> There's a real growing unrest out there about how a few greedy people
control [the movie] business - making their billions

Those greedy people understand the importance of "story." The Gooseberry
trailer showed no promise there. The industry story telling isn't always that
great but I could see none in the Blender trailer.

If this is just a technical showcase label it such. The early pixar public
demos were such but their stories were so great audiences looked forward to
the five minute delay to see them before the main feature.

~~~
panzi
Besides the problem illustrated in LIFE AFTER PI I think that AutoDesk seems
to buy up all/most of the competition is a bit worry some and every bit of
more competition is a good thing.

~~~
berkut
Well, Rhythm and Hues used their own proprietary software for just about
everything other than texture painting (Mari), so that doesn't really apply
here.

~~~
panzi
I mentioned two different problems. One of them was that there is not enough
diversity in 3D software. If you say that Rhythm and Hues used their own
software, now that they are no more this means that there is even less
diversity. So what does not apply here? I'm not sure you got what I meant and
if that's so then I don't understand what you thought that I meant.

~~~
berkut
That VFX companies often write their own software (happening less and less
these days) to do something commercial packages can't - or at the very least
_heavily_ customise something like Maya.

So the lack of diversity in software for VFX doesn't hurt the big studios
_that_ much.

~~~
panzi
Now I understand what you meant.

------
fidotron
I've been attached to the Blender community since 1998 or so (had it running
on Irix at one point, and still have one of the original manuals).

The slight rise of it, but mainly the consolidation of Maya, 3DS Max and
Softimage all under the Autodesk roof has been curious to watch. (It's a more
extreme variant of the stagnation resulting from Adobe's now dominance of DTP,
especially after effectively killing Freehand). What was a space in the mid
90s where software would cost tens of thousands per seat has experienced
massive decline, despite the growth in consumers of end product. Those
historically high barriers to entry protected the VFX studios of the era,
granting them a degree of stability they haven't had since about 2000.

There's a lesson in there somewhere, but I have no idea what it is.

~~~
userpasswd
Maybe that FOSS is slow and steady, but slow and steady should win the race...
Eventually.

------
stuaxo
I hope they get better writers than the one they made with the robots.. I know
it's important to show off the tech, but make it fun to watch too!

~~~
mpnordland
I enjoyed Tears of Steel, a little crazy and wacky with the robotic romance
stuff, but then I like a little crazy now and then.

------
melling
Here's a podcast interview of the Gooseberry director:
[http://www.blenderguru.com/podcast-interview-with-
gooseberry...](http://www.blenderguru.com/podcast-interview-with-gooseberry-
director-mathieu-auvray/)

------
vertex-four
So, I got all excited about funding this, and went to their page[0] to see
what funding options are available. Unfortunately, there's nothing there
that's reasonably priced and exclusive. I'm not a film maker - I'm a film
watcher - but I'd love to see more open technology for making films come out
and reduce the barrier to entry, so that I can find more of what I enjoy. I
just can't justify giving away a significant amount of money without getting
something in return. $25.60 to get to see a film a few days before everyone
else is not worth it.

Compare that to something like The Mechanisms's new album's Kickstarter[1]. If
you pay anything more than £15, you get unique stuff that ties into the world,
from patches and t-shirts to toys, books and bags. The point is that you won't
be able to get this stuff once the album's finished.

While I get that Gooseberry is likely to be a large and extremely ambitious
project, I think that if it's to meet its goals, it needs to provide something
compelling for the majority of people who have no intention of making a film.

[0]
[https://cloud.blender.org/gooseberry/](https://cloud.blender.org/gooseberry/)
[1] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1985371014/record-
high-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1985371014/record-high-noon-
over-camelot)

~~~
akuchling
The price point is just too high. I'd give $5 or $10 without a thought, even
if there were no benefits at all, but $25 is too much for an impulsive
donation to a project.

~~~
mikecupcake
The last option lets you pick an amount, I almost didn't see it myself.

------
bayesianhorse
I already pledged. And it is sad to see the campaign failing. Baring some very
large scale donors, the progress is not enough to reach the goal...

------
milliams
Or, formatted nicely on the website: [http://gooseberry.blender.org/why-
gooseberry-matters/](http://gooseberry.blender.org/why-gooseberry-matters/)

~~~
unwind
Thanks. I learned of this from the Blender developers' mailing list, didn't
think to look for a website article.

