30 December 2011

Big Buck Bunny


This is a treat.  All is well in the world of the Big Buck Bunny, an oversized rabbit with a heart of gold.  However, on his patch there is a trio of rodents (Frank, Rinky and Gamera) who are duty bound to cause as much trouble as they can and they proceed to terrorize the local animals without mercy.  One day, however, they go to far and make an enemy out of Big Buck himself.

The story of how Bug Buck gets his own back is wonderfully told with many knowing asides to animations of yesteryear if you know where to look.  As a tale of vengeance, however, it is gentle - and this story is suitable for most age groups (especially if you like your toon humor of a level of sophistication between Tom and Jerry and Shrek.

The movie is completely made using the Blender platform which is open source. Blender developers worked extensively to improve the software in accordance with the needs of the movie team. Improvements were made in hair and fur rendering, the particle system, UV mapping, shading, the render pipeline, constraints, and skinning. Also introduced during the project was approximate ambient occlusion. These features were released to the public with Blender v. 2.46.

While the video reveals the power of Blender naturally, it also contains a very cleverly told story, full of fun. Oh - and watch it to the very end - one of the funniest elements of the whole short movie is after the credits have rolled...