Still from "Sintel"

I’ve been a big supporter of the Blender Foundation over the last few years. If you don’t know, Blender is a the FREE, open-s0urce 3D application that allows you to create 3D films, create games and build models (and more). Very much a tool that rivals applications like 3ds Max and Maya, Blender has benefited enormously from several feature film projects where teams from all over the world come together to create a feature-length animated film and at the same time upgrade Blender and add to the applications “real-world” functionality.

One of the things I love about the Blender Foundation is that they are true to their word. In a fund raising campaign last year, I paid about $60 toward their special DVD release of Sintel. In addition to the hi-res version of the film and dozens of Blender tutorials created during the filmming of Sintel, you also get all of the films assets for free. Unbelievable! And you know they raised their money in a very short time. I’ve been following the development of this film step by step. If you are interested check their blog.

“Sintel” is their most recent film project and the Blender Foundation has just released a short trailer of the film-in-progress.  You can also download hi/low res versions here.