Home bult stabilizers

Using stabilizers and other contraptions for getting better camera movements can be a big factor in how a film looks. Unfortunately, such things aren't particulary cheap.

To help the aspiring film-maker, the site Homebuild stabilizers contains heaps of advice on how to build your own stuff.

Cloud generator

Blender, the open source 3d-software, is now in it's second alpha-stage of the 2.5 version. One interesting script that is created for it is a Cloud Generator script. Blendernation says:

A cloud generator script has recently been completed to aid in the creation of clouds in Blender 2.5.  It uses boxes to allow an artist to individually sculpt each cloud to the size and shape of the aritists liking.  I cloud can be created with all materials added in literally two mouse clicks.

Read more about the Cloud Generator Script for Blender 2.5

Abstract drawings with Flame

Flame is a neat little web-application that easily lets you create abstract drawing to use for desktop backgrounds, parts of webpages etc. And also, it's fun to just play around with.

First minute from the Durian project

The Durian project is a collaborative project, building a 3d-movie using only open-souce software (primarily Blender).  A little while ago they published the first minute of animation on their web-page. It looks good from what I can see!



Read more on the project on the Durian Webpage

Image sequence to video-file via Blender

It is often recommended that you render out a 3d-animation not as a video-file but as a sequence of image files. Now, this leaves you with the task of converting this image sequence to a video-file in some other way. Of course, almost all video editing packages can do this, but what are the free options. One often overlooked tool for this purpose is Blender (an open-source 3d-package), which includes some basic video-editing functionality. In the video below I've tried to outline the basic steps for converting an image sequence to a (in this case) quicktime MOV-file.

Mini-tip: Working from multiple locations via Dropbox

I'm currently working on a Maya-project where I sometimes work from my office and sometimes from my home. I thought I'd share a small tip on how to do this without to much headache.

The solution is rather simple, and also makes it possible for multiple co-workers to work on the same project (although I wouldn't try to work on the same file).


First of all, I have a dropbox-account (which can be created for free). Then, after I have installed the client, I open Maya.

Now, Dropbox creates a folder on your hard-drive where you can add files. These files are then accesible from any other computer where you have installed dropbox and connected it to your account.

When I have my Dropbox in place, then I start to work in Maya. So, create a new project, but don't place it in the default location, but instead, place it in your dropbox folder. Whenever you change something in your files, it's updated in the dropbox folders on all your computers (as long as they are connected to the Internet, of course).


Additionally, you can share a folder with other Dropbox users, which means that you can share your project folder, and work together with multiple people on the same project.

Finally, this also serves as a decent backup if something should go very wrong.