The Blender Foundation have previously made two short computer animated films codenamed Orange and Peach to help drive development of their 3D modelling and rendering software. Earlier this year they announced a third codenamed Durian. Very little is known about it at this point but I’ve every confidence it will be as distinctive and as well-made as the first two (which I reviewed for Furtherfield).
Not just the final films but all the modelling and other files used to make the films are included in the DVD and online releases of each project. Everything from the film is licenced under Creative Commons’s Attribution licence, and all the improvements to Blender are under the GPL. It’s a great contribution to free culture and free software, and although some of the costs are covered by sponsorship it’s also partly paid for by pre-sales of the DVDs.
You can see the announcement here -
http://durian.blender.org/news/durian-project-announcement/
The project’s blog is here -
And you can pre-order the DVD(s, there’s 3 of them in the box) here -
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=120
The DVDs are sent out before the film is released online. Order now and get your name in the credits at the end of the film!