Sintel’s Cabin, sneak peek!
on May 26th, 2010, by Pablo VazquezYo!, Pablo here. *hey before you scroll down to the video, this is work in progress!*
Remember that old blogpost I did the first week I got here?, well, once that shot was “there”, I moved on to light another environment for 2 weeks, then another environment for 2 more weeks.. so I left all the other shots for Sintel’s cabin abandoned, until a week ago that I got time to actually work on it and call it finished.
What you’ll see here is work in progress, a bunch of render tests put together, so you’ll get to see the progress of this scene until it makes it to the final movie.
What’s missing:
The lighting and compositing is pretty much done (missing floating particles and stuff, that’s already there but not in this render), now is more about fixing the flickers here and there, which are produced mostly by low quality settings (low AA, GI samples).
There is no hair sim for sintel, and no cloth sim for the dragon’s wings, so you’ll notice a hell amount of intersection there, yes we know that 
What’s new:
Besides low quality settings, you’ll also notice that Scales (the baby dragon), actually got scales now! thanks to Kevin Hays (Jeepster) who volunteer to sculpt it, compared to the trailer one which was mostly normal maps. You’ll also notice Sintel got better hair now, again compared to the trailer (and the Shaman hut’s shots shown here couple weeks ago), so you can see we really read all your comments and take your advices! 
Download OGV video file.
That’s it, I hope you read this before commenting about the errors I already pointed up here (I usually do the same, run to the video, press play and complain without reading ), is about sharing isn’t? why wait to the very final tweaks if we can show the work in progress
Thanks for passing by!
venomgfx
May 26th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
wow looks great! even without those things you mentioned i likee
She does seem a little out of place in the picture though… maybe cause she so clean and the place is so dirty =P
also i think the smile could be warmer when she plays with the dragon at the end.. kinda looks fake. maybe its just me though.
May 26th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Forgot to mention! the hair looks fantastic! Is this from the current blender svn trunk?
May 26th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Your little dragon is so cute!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Yea! You make the movie in Dutch? “Zit stil”
I don’t think so?
May 26th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Great! It looks fabulous, even without post.
Is it just me, or is Sintel not moving her lips? It looks like the voice is coming from nowhere, but maybe that’s just the low video quality on youtube.
May 26th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Great! Keep going!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
@ Keen: we are using the render branch, but that hair would render exactly the same on trunk, no special features used, will tell william about the smile!
@ Arco: Yeah quite similar to “sit still”, whole movie will be english tho, with subtitles for many languages (like in Elephants Dream).
May 26th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I am speechless! Thanks for sharing this!!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Thanks all!
Updated with link to download OGV video!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
That looks frikin´ awesome !
much much better than the trailer , cant wait to see the end job!
keep it up!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Thumbs up! *****
May 26th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
WOAH! looks awsome!!!
Not sure if her voice volume was a little too loud on the distance shot, but hey that’s more personal preference than a critique!
Awesome work guys! Keep going!!!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
great! i love Sin’s voice!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
wow the hair looks beautiful now, I now know the first thing I will buy when my shiny new credit card gets approved.
Thank god the scale thing got fixed I watched the trailer, I was a bit confused when I saw the big dragon. I spotted the normal map and had a bit of a WTF moment where did all the displacement map/micropoly stuff go. Looking at the baby dragon I have a wide grin on my face.
The only thing am not sold on, and I guess its a like it or not thing. Is Sintel’s face it doesn’t sell experresion the when she is in a neutral frame of mind it works well. Bit as soon as the face is trying to pull off a smile or frown I am not 100% sold on the emotion.
You guys are doing great work and should be proud of yourselves. I can’t wait to see this short
May 26th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Oh yes! This is the good hair!
Amazing! great work
May 26th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Waw guys ! it’s really improving thanks a lot for sharing the news !
Good job, very exciting !
May 26th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Outstanding, wonderful, awesome JOB!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
I think this totally rocks! The trailer was very good, but this is already better. Keep up the awesome job guys!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
wow.. great..
wow ..
i see some mistake/error on render.. but >> “That’s it, I hope you read this before commenting about the errors I already pointed up here (I usually do the same, run to the video, press play and complain without reading
), is about sharing isn’t? why wait to the very final tweaks if we can show the work in progress :D”
thank and good luck for durian n blender team
May 26th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
This is going to be way to much fun to watch.
May 26th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Realy nice work !
I hope i will have enough time this saturday, to see more “Sintel sneak peeks” at the libre graphics meeting in Brussels.
http://www.libregraphicsmeeting.org/2010/index.php?p=en/talk/durian
May 26th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Very nice!
Question:
You’re doing the renders in 2K, so why no HD version of this clip?
Music is also superb, btw!
May 26th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
That’s awesomely awesome, Pablo!
I just wanted to voice an opinion, I personally do not prefer the use of ramped diffuse colors to approximate glancing speculars – it is just so darn difficult to make them look real or right since they are utterly non-physical. I hope to find a good BRDF in the specular settings of Blender one day, to perhaps make good-looking glancing speculars in our next open movie.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
wow, this looks really great! there’s much more detail than in the trailer
i only had to wonder about her eyes: her pupil and iris are so huge; sometimes half of it is hidden by her lower eyelid, although her eyes seem opened up completely.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Awesome! I thought the smile was fine.
you people are awesome!
May 26th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Grande Pablo, se ve genial.
Saludos desde Argentina.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Some amazing work!!! the quality is astounding, hehe i don’t think anyone can dare harp about her hair anymore. I cant Imagen what the high quality renders are going to look like or the render time for that matter. This is truly gonna be an epic movie.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
You kinda blew my expectations trough the roof.
Tough look at these eyes, doesn’t she look a bit mad? http://durian.blender.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/3.2d.png
May 26th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
First off…. gooooo Jeepster!!
Each time looks better. More realistic look, also the animation is looking quite natural already.
The only nitpick would be to add subtle movement to the camera.
But congrats everybody, it’s shaping up really well.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
BANG! just exploded with excitement! This film is going to be wonderful Your all doing a fantastic job, we can all see how hard you are working, and the results are truly amazing! Just keep going!
May 26th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Wow! this is really exiting. this 15second video (and the text of course) really shows improvements! go on like this!
May 26th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Awesome quality! Even better than the trailer!
About that smile: I think very realistic. Looks like Sigourney Weaver smile from Alien movie series.
There is something strange going on with the dragon wing though. If you look it on those close ups it seems to have some sort of “perfect reflection” of something dark. o_O
May 26th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
oh forgot to say, the baby dragone is really cute:)!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Hey guys!
Great work, but I saw something with the shoulder pad at 0:07. It was going a bit through the skin. Just wanted to mention it ;). Keep up the great work!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Mooi!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
So awesome!! Now they can’t complain about her hair anymore ^_^
May 26th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Sweeet!
I can only agree with the other posters, this is shaping up really nice – animation feels great and natural, I loved when Scales was trying to get away.
So congrats everybody, now I really can’t wait to see the whole thing
May 26th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
wow….gr8 work
May 26th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
love it ! love it ! love the hair ^_^
May 26th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Nice. Real nice
Way to go, friends!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
This a multitude times better!!! (even though I liked the trailer as well)
Keep going!
Gian
PS: just to be picky on animation, hands on Sintel are a bit stiff and not too feminine. Better design pose ? If you have time…
May 26th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Great job !
I have a little critics to do, but I is really a personal taste. The scene looks really static. Sintel and the baby dragons moves really well in the middle of a static image. Like a good old game with moving sprits on top of a static bitmap.
You said something about flying particles, this may really improve the situation. The cabinet looks open to the outdoor (the light comes from the sun I guess), so why not adding some little light modifications (cloud movments…) ? Sorry to bother you with that, It is not a really concret fact, only the felling of a non artist guy.
But please, continue like that. I love the baby dragon
May 26th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
These improvements are very very nice.
I don’t really agree with some other opinions: Sintel’s skin is dirty, look at the detail on her nails and her cheeks. And the smile is warmer enough, attentive, and it goes with sadness: little dragon is hurt ! Movements look really realistic, I can feel the dragon’s weight in Sintel’s arms.
Apart from the low quality settings that Pablo has already mentioned, I found the scene excellent. Maybe I’m not skilled enough …
My only criticism will be on the dragon’s screams, which didn’t really convinced me (especially, his second). It may be still in progress. I however was very impressed by the trailer’s soundtrack.
Good work guys, you all rock !!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
This looks way BETTER!!! Love it!!!
There have been some cool improvements, like the hair and the Scales’ scales haha 
Good job!!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Wow. If i was scared about the Animation of the little dragon before and his role in the story, this has convinced me to belive the dragonbaby beeing a real feeling character.
The Animations are so real…
There is some flickering on them but i´ve seen on your project SVN that your just doing something against that and rerendering many things…this will be awsome…and as far as i´ve seen there will be some other characters in this film…they are on SVNlog, but i really can´t image how they could make it into the story…so i will have to wait for it…
There is much improvement compared to the Trailer… only the Picture looks like it was only upscaled from a low-res-frame…
Run Durian Team, run…always forward and behind eternity
May 26th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
addition: I only spoke about the last Stillframe, the others are good…
May 26th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
WOW, it is well done , i like it. I feel a bit of background music, and i think it is important take care that because this take is very emotional, and tender, i cant wait to see it finished, greets to Durian´s team
May 26th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I thought the trailer was good, but this is excellent! Everything looks great! Can’t wait to see the new hair with proper simulation.
May 26th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Wings seem a bit over reflective/glossy. I do think Sintel should have a small amount of dirt on her to fit with the environment more. Looking good on a whole though!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Before this clip, I didn’t think Scales was all that cute. I was wrong!
May 26th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Positively stunning, I’d say it looks better than the trailer
May 26th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I want a dragon! =D Looking great, guys!
I have no idea what dragon’s scream would sound like. I am happy with the current state. For my taste, maybe a *bit* more bass and tremble? Anyway, very enjoyable result so far.
Cheers!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I think you guys are doing an incredible job!
She has dirt under her fingernails!
It’s nice to see that kind of thought going into the little details.
One crit though. It’s nit picky but should be very simple to adjust if it is what I think it is.
The shader applied to Sintel’s clothing appears to be either using a colour ramp set to normal or maybe a texture assigned to normal coordinates which appears to give her a rim type highlight.
Which I think is good. Its a good way to fake things and cheap.
However is there a way that you could make that highlight take on the colour of the lighting environment more? Altering it for every scene might be too time consuming. Maybe a new feature that makes a rim highlight based on the ambient light or the average colour of the scene? “Did he say, ‘New feature!?'”
The thing is that the blue rim light seems out of place in this lighting setting. Maybe it was a choice based on colour contrast, but I think another colour might make more sense.
Maybe it needs to be toned down?
More green would grey it out and contrast with the reds and oranges.
I’m only commenting on this because it really stuck out to me as a trick I’ve used often with GLSL. So it made me think video game.
I think what I am suggesting here is very SUBJECTIVE and in no way even needs to be considered.
Like I said – I think you guys are doing a stellar job. It is coming together really nicely and I think the community should be pleased and ecstatic with what you’ve done.
What would the community say to PIXAR if they left the doors open during development? The fit would hit the shan!
Cheers!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Animation is fantastic, lighting is mind-blowing, big <3 to Jeepster too for doing the sculpting. Also Sintel's expressions feel very real, I found the smile quite warm myself, it's all in the subtlety I guess. I can't see anything that you didn't already mention, even after staring at it enchanted for the past 15 minutes.
Keep it up! I'm longing to see the end product
May 26th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
hey i’m really liking that lighting!
i’ll be curious to see how you guys handle shallow depth of field. in these shots i’m guessing they’re separate foreground/background passes? i always have poor luck with getting background bleed on in-focus foreground, and bumping up ‘threshold’ just creates a hard line of focus/blur
May 26th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Looks amazing – I’m really stoked.
Is it just me, or do Sintel’s hands look really big – and for some reason, I never noticed this before.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
The lighting, everything looks amazing. Still stunned it’s a WIP. Am I the only one that just can’t stand Sintel’s voice? Sounds like she’s 50 years old or something.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
The hair is AMAZING! Same with the dragon. This is turning out to be just as I was hoping. Keep up the good work. As said in another comment, it might be an idea to add a very subtle noise modifier to the xyz rotation of the camera to give it a bit of a handheld camera feel. But that all depends on what feel you are going for. Since we have only seen a few seconds of the film here and there, we don’t have the whole idea as to what the movie is supposed to be like.
But great work!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Great stuff…. But for two things:
* Her hands seem waaay to large…that was the first thing that came to my mind
* The top-shot when she ist stroking the dragon -> i can’t see her touching it. it seems like her hand is hovering above the dragon. i guess a little AO and/or minimal deformation would help
cheers
May 26th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Simply AMAZING, the past trailer seems to be made long time ago!
Che pablo gracias por compartir esto! Te mando un abrazo y felicitaciones por el impresionante trabajo. Desde BsAs!
Agustin.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
wow, holycrap this looks even better than what one would expect from the trailer…awesome work on character and lighting there….
I’m totally stunned and cant wait to see more of sintel:)
Thanks for keeping us update, and best regards to the whole team!
Amazing Work!!!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Wooohooo!!! GREAT JOB ON THE LIGHTING!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Awwwwwwww…..
Those 40 bucks will be so worth it. That shot is near-to-enough tweaking, so stop before it can only get worse. =)
May 26th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Good work. Trailer was rather disappointing but this is promising!
And animations here seem more natural.
Looking forward to see the movie. Good luck to you guys.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Espectacular Pablo, estan haciendo un muy buen trabajo. Felicitaciones a todos
saludos desde Ecuador
May 26th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Progress indeed. If this level of quality is representative of the whole film then…congratulations!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Awesome!!!
Keep it up!!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
The hair looks fantastic like everything else. Though I’m having some problems with the angels. The first is when Sintel is speaking, I guess the angle hide some of the lipsync, because I can’t see a lot of it the whole time.
The other thing that I found is disturbing is the angle between 0:07-0:10. I find it unnatural(if an angle can be that?!), dunno why. If you came up with a better one, use it. Just my personal opinion.
I think you doing a SUPERB job. Can’t wait to see it!
May 26th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
WOW!!! This is like 100 times better than what i saw in the trailer. And i really, REALLY mean it! I`m totally in love with the last render. And for the first time i have the impression Sintel is a real (and a very cute) person and not some random anime doll. I see so much character in her face. The hair looks great too. Now i`m totally happy. THANK YOU!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
I thought the trailer looked great, aside from some of the small errors that you all pointed out and already knew about.
This is a 100% improvement over that. venomgfx, as always, you add so much to a scene with your talents. Lighting is great and I think the character movements are really good.
Keep up the great work Durian team.
BgDM
May 26th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Wow great job!! this looks really amazing.
It’s already been said but I think the animation seemed very natural, the lighting is awesome and I was amazed to see in the still that she even had dirt under her fingernails. Talk about attention to detail!
I have to agree with knekke, I find the hands way too big as well. I know it’s stylized but this a bit over the top.. they look like mitts.
As always great effort by everyone! I can’t wait to see more, thanks for sharing!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
SVN commit 3906: Coo coo ca CHOO! (ben)
that’s bill cosby rap
at 1:18 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5crsfe-NUw
May 26th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Yikes! I think the bar just got raised for all of us Blender users.
Congrats on the amazing results. I can’t wait to show the completed movie to my CG industry friends. The lighting, animation, modeling, rigging, texturing, is all looking really spectacular.
May 26th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Super Pablo: the shoulder’s armor spec is flickering in 0:07.
May 26th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
That is amazing work! I totally love it!
Just fix the eyes.
May 26th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
epic trailer, epic first look, epic movie!
you guys are doing such a good job, I really admire your work!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
this is absolutely beautiful for a WIP. You mentioned things that are fairly obvious, which when fixed will ad dimension to this already nice render. I love the lighting, though some rays coming through would add a more realistic feel to it, as was mentioned earlier in the post.
I would have to confer with everyone about the hands, they appear to widen out too much where the palm and the finger knuckles connect. And they remind me of proogs hands from the Elephants dream movie, including the gloves. It is distracting to say the least, well for me that is.
I love her smile, and her voice ..well I have friends who are around 16 / 17 with just as mature voices as she has, personally I think it is nice to have her sound like that, than to have a whimpy whinny girly voice that doesn’t match the task that Sintel has to take on.
I maybe wrong but around the 10-12 second mark where she raises her elbow up and forward then back down, seems to be a little unnatural, almost like she dislocates her arm then puts it back in place. This could be because of the camera angles, but it was noticeable straight away.
The Dragon and it’s movements were marvelously well done. It really portrayed it’s emotions and evokes in the viewer (me at least) pity toward it’s situation. Nice sculpting too.
Durian team, I never had anything to comment about the trailer other than it was loved by my son’s. I have watched it so many times trying to examine how you guys are approaching things, it is really a lesson in itself.
You are doing a great job and I have to say thank you for your sharing this wonderful example to us today.
May 26th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
thank to everyone for such a warm response!, we’re very glad you like it
Will pass the suggestions to the right guys
(william for animation tweaks, nathan for rig stuff, and me for lighting/comp).
Thanks for pointing out some issues, even when we are aware of most of them (since its a WIP), is nice to see what you think about it.
Thanks all once again!
Gracias a todos!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
By the way, some things I didn’t point out:
* The 2nd shot (wide), the camera is moving forward a little bit, there is currently a small bug in Blender that makes linked cameras (from another scene) not animate on render if their layer is not enabled (any dev around to look on that?
)
* On the last shot, fingers are a bit static, she is supposed to be holding a piece of cloth (you can see it on the wide shot), to heal Scale’s wound, but I forgot to enable that layer when rendering, silly me
May 26th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Looking good, can’t wait to see the final release!!!
May 26th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
I’ve said this before when the trailer came out and was ignored, anyway here I come again…
The hands are HUUUUUUUUUUGE. That looks bizarre in a little girl, not stylized.
The rest is great.
May 26th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Awesome job!!!!!!!
Two things i have a problem with.
1) As most people, her voice is too old for her, but it is too late to change.
2) Her eyes. You can see a little bit too much skin on the lower lid i think. It looks a bit creepy. I looked at my own eyes while doing different expressions, and the pupil was never covered a lot, the most is just a bit on the bottom and/or top, never halfway, as you see in the HD Picture. But it looks like her eyes are bigger than human eyes so…..
The scales look reeeeeaaaaly good compared to the trailer’s bump maps.
Very cool scene.
I cant wait ’till the final product!
May 26th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Felicitaciones!, les está quedando muy bien, nada que envidiar a La Era del Hielo o Toy Story.
Congratulations, they look really good, nothing to envy the Ice Age or Toy Story.
May 26th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Whoa! The hair is simply perfect!
May 26th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
One more thing I wanted to add.
I think you guys should be very proud of what you have created here.
May 26th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
wowwwww!!! beautifull! simplemente hermoso!
felicitaciones pablito y equipo!
May 26th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Trabalho magnífico é bom saber q o blender teve um grande e poderoso progresso, vocês estão de parabéns.
Translated (Magnificent work is good to know qo blender had a great and powerful progress, you are to be congratulated.)
May 26th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
AWW!! So freakin’ cute!
May 26th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Amazing lighting and mood Pablo!
you’re a machine!
May 26th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
AWESOME!! More than what I could ever immagine! MUCH better than the trailer! (not better as “now it is acceptable” but better as “now it is truly beautiful”)
Guys, this is an awesome movie already, you’re doing a fantastic work!!
These are my 2 cents…
I’m quoting, Nate, tyrant monkey and prooq…
Things that need an improvement are:
-espressions (I personally don’t like them too much, and I think they are very important)
-some camera angles (WIP, I know), maybe you can get the camera grabbing and rotating a little here and there
-Sintel’s eyes (those eyelids cover the pupils too much)
My admiration to everybody, perfect team (made of great artists) and beautiful general atmosphere (for what I read on the Blog)
Let’s finish it!
May 26th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I forgot to say
HER HAIRS NOW ARE PERFECT
May 26th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
One time I picked up large turtle on the side of the road. those tiny little arms were flailing around pretty quick. It was so scared I was going to hurt it. It had really sharp claws, and I was afraid it was going to cut me.
Scales is acting a lot more like really tame cat, and Sintel is reacting like — though timid — that he isn’t scaley and maybe a little bit pointy.
Another perfect example, Sam brubaker and I tried to eat a durian last night. That wasn’t easy! We ended up laughing at ourselves. I didn’t realize they were going to be so sharp and difficult to handle.
In a nutshell, I’m just saying “make the sloppy part look more sloppy”
May 26th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Wow! Thanks for the update, Pablo! I had no problems with Sintel’s hair in the trailer, but now it looks even better. You guys are doing a fantastic job!
May 26th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
That baby dragon looks delicious. I wonder if the dragon wing soup is best served with beansprouts and hoisin sauce.
May 26th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
i watched the clip without reading the post and i instantly recognized the Pablo Vazquez style- the color composition, the colors… and i really like it.
May 26th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
woooooaaaaaaaaa !!! great!
May 26th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Stunning! When I compare this to some recent commercial animated movie productions I think this will hold up even though the scope and realism is so much more demanding than some of the “pro” Pixar-human-style work we’ve seen in these big movies. It will work as a powerful showcase of both Blender and the Durian team.
I really like Sintel’s voice, too. There’s criticism and then there’s just projecting your own ideas of how things “ought to be”…
Can’t wait to see more.
May 26th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Her face looks really well lit in this scene, and so does the baby dragon. The scales look great, it’s just what the doctor ordered! This really looks like a huge improvement from the last WIPs and even the trailer.
Some crits, her hands look a little dead. It’s really tricky to animate a scene like this with so little movement and really close up though. I can tell alot of work has been going into it. You might tone down the lighting on her hands though to save the animators some time, the focus is really on her face anyway. The animation on the whole is a little jumpy, but I only point it out because the textures are so realistic looking.
I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this before but the choice of eye color on Sintel makes her look really evil lol.
May 26th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Well, now everyone’s gonna want a baby dragon. You may have to sell little stuffed Blender dragons
Excellent stuff
May 26th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
You guys never ceace to amaze me! Out of all of the movies coming out this year, I have been most exited about this one.
May 26th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Wow..
that little girl has some big-a** hands… man hands!
The ring finger looks to be longer, or as long as, the index finger… a trait associated with males. (@ 0:09) That, coupled with the width of the hand at the knuckles… well, as an old ex-drunken sailor, let’s just say one learns to spot the tell-tale signs of a tranny even in extreme low light.
Everything else is looking pretty spiffy… but hose hands just jumped out at me… sorry… I hate being negative about this project.
May 26th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
You. Guy. Are. Freaking. Amazing.
Man, this is going on awesome! Problems aside, it looks like a full blown CG Movie! Can’t wait!
May 26th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I know I’m like the 5000000th post but this is really really good… you should be proud of yourself it look AMAZING!!!!!!!
May 26th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
I have to admit this is so much better than the trailer and has definitely restored my faith in you guys. I hope to see the same quality level throughout the movie.
Minor crits:
*The dragon’s wings do look over-reflective.
*The characters’ eyes don’t look very believable to me (shader-wise, the animation is fine). Maybe these notes can help you guys make the eye shaders more believable:
http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/max/lerabbit/lerabbit5.html
Cheers and good luck
May 26th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Simply luxurious. Animation, shade of colour, atmosphere, lighting, bokeh effect …
May 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Whao o_O ! I can’t say anything else just… Whao !
May 26th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
That looks really fantastic! The establishing shot feels very static though. I think it may be worth having a very slow rotation around the characters as the shot unfolds. Just a little movement to make the scene feel 3D and like the characters exist in that space.
May 26th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
@Husam wings have reflection because Sintel was washing it
May 26th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Okay….will ya just leave it out. I will by the DVD but please, please, please…..make the baby dragon uglier.
My 4yr old daughter has just placed her order…(cute dragon no1 for me please)
Its Looking like the dogs danglies…..
regards
May 26th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Looking even better!
Great job all around on the work and polish.
About Sintel’s hands; the size might be influenced by focal length and proximity to the camera.
Thanks for the update, Pablo.
May 26th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
SVN commit 3933: Added alternate ending for the dvd with the army of samurai squirrels to svn. I still think that was the way to go… (ben)
what the deuce??!
May 26th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Wow things are really starting to feel alive in this project, keep crankin’ and tweakin’!
May 26th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Ótimo! (brazilian hope)
Essas tiradas só fazem a gnt querer mais…
Wonderful
A inspiração de continuar estudando animação vem disso ai…
Thank guys… I Hope this
May 26th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
[QUOTE]About Sintel’s hands; the size might be influenced by focal length and proximity to the camera.[/QUOTE]
Look at the long shot (@0:03)…
if those aren’t some massive mits for a teenage girl, I’ll eat a Durian.
May 26th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
I noticed a lot of comments on these posts about Sintels hands being too big. I have faith that the guys working on the film would have caught that, or at least explained it away as Sintel going through the “awkward stage.”
If anyone on this post has played Dragon Age:Origins the hands in that game are much worse – and that is a game that advertised its great ‘professional’ clip scenes.
May 26th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Now this is absolutely jawdropping! What a difference with the quality from the trailer. Every step is a serious improvement over the previous one. Keep up the superb work. You guys are simply amazing!
May 26th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
nice one
May 26th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Perfect! Sintel is more beautiful now. Dragon’s so cute. Background music is emotional. I hope final movie will be excellent.
May 26th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
This sequence is so very well done that any possibly mistake is completely irrelevant
Everything is looking cool, including the hair now… I like it!
Ho! Great work on the dragon scales!
May 26th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Heyyy, Amazing, I just have to say five stars, OMG sooo good this so so good, I hope one day to be there in a project
May 26th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Big difference comparing with the trailer… even without living moving noise (floating particles, some smoke to emulate a little mist maybe??) the scene is superb.
And about hands… well.. i’ve seen worse in games or some other 3D movies… and not only hands… nah… details details…
¡Gran trabajo chicos!
May 26th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!
Keep working ! You’re half-gods of graphical arts !
But I agree with some of the posters : the cameras a too statics ( I saw your post Pablo but for me, cameras movement are realy important -> it give some life to the pictures)
I find the dirty room a little bit special : it’s realy dirty, so it musst to have a fog of dirt when she move. And I can’t guess what kind of light it is… Sun?–> it miss some variations of the light
that’s it.
REALY GREAT WORK!!!!!!! Can you do a 2:30 houres movie please ????????
May 26th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
I have to say about improvement using real geometries on scales…
YEAH! much, much better!
Thanks guys, for listen the critics, and take into account…
congratulations for all crew! :))))
anyway , appear some very weird type
of “emboss” effect on “sintel cabin reloaded” ???
May 26th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Great! Sintel looks better here than in the trailer. Keep it up! I’m looking forward to an outstanding movie.
May 26th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Hey guys. You’re doing an absolutely amazing job. Sintel’s hair has improved tremendously, and Scales is pretty damn cool. Look forward to seeing more.
May 26th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Amazing! It is really coming alive! She has some special shaped eyes, remind me a bit of buddhas eyes. I like
May 26th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Animation!!
I dont know if it’s time for comment, but
has a pop in his right knee of the girl when she looks at the dragon.
You are doing a great job!!
May 26th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Wow, this looks really awesome!
It’s almost hard to believe that this was made with Blender.
The “characters” ar especially well made, but the background/enwironment looks good too (though it still could be improved a little).
Only Sintel’s voice is a little… too old maybe?
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help feeling that it doesn’t match so well.
Anyways, keep going like this, guys! You’re doing great work and I can’t wait to watch the final movie.
May 26th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
… holy… … heaven…
guys, I’m almost speechless…….
Such an unexpectedly fast and consistent, and great, let me say awesome improvements!!!
I.. I really can’t catch how do you all manage to get “here” “now”, after only, what? not even 2 weeks?
If I hadn’t liked a lot, really a lot the trailer, I’d thought that teaser was a joke of the team for the community when compared whit… this… !!!!
Ok, to say something more useful:
1- hairs on Sintel are now *superb*
They are rich in colors and specular highlights but what is important for me they are now consistents, thicker than in trailer, the tips fade very well in the background and they look gorgeous: Sintel at the hairdresser
2- Sintel expressions are beautiful and she’s becoming a very cute girl
Her smile at the end is conveying a lot of emotions
3- baby dragon is fantasticly improved from the trailer too.
its scales are excellent (thanks jeepster!), everything in it is now extremely detailed and well defined
4- animation is another superb gain you reached here over the trailer.
And this is nothing less than a 90% of my C&C.
here some of critics for you to fill that remaining 10%:
Now, to not let you bask too much…
1- Sintel:
you’ve heard this many times and this is one more, hands are huges, really. Sintel is now a very cute girl with a very attractive hairs too, but with such a hands I think she can easily scare guys out there
2- Animation wise I think camera should make some little random movements to add “dirtiness” and/or make circular movements approaching Sintel and Scales before changing shot to make the scene more attractive
3- Render.
Guys, I and you all too, know very well the good Colibri image at the blenderartists forum. It makes a good use of ramp specular lights simulating color bleeding beetween objects.
But it is a still, only a still! Please reject the temptation to transform everything in the scene in something similar to what the objects in that image appear, it could be a mistake because you should change color ramp almost in every scene and that would be very time consuming.
It was particularly evident in the trailer, alley scene, and in this short scene too.
4- Light
I suppose this can be considered only as a matter of taste, but I feel this scene on the left
http://durian.blender.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/sintel_cabin_indirectlighting.jpg
more warm and better lit than this new one:
http://durian.blender.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/sintels_cabin_reloaded.png
Color were warms and they bled better, and the overall light of the cabin was just more spectacular and audacious than the new you posted here.
May 26th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
1. The horns alone on Scales looks awesome!
2. Sintels Hair looks tons better!
Thanks for your continuous effort on the film
The first time I watched the video, I didnt notice a thing… and then I read the post, and you pointed the mistakes out
One thing I really liked about this though was the out of focus lights at the begining
probably the only crit I have is Sintels shingaurds (at about 8-10 seconds) they seem… ‘staticy’? it seems like it has a bump/normal map that has a High influence value
I dont know if thats just me, but for sure, the Good out weighs the bad
,
B <– thats supposed to be a thumbs up
May 26th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
about her hands. many of you say that are very huge. well. they fit with the style. big hands and big feet in consonace with a big head and big eyes. I like that enormous hands yeah
you can like it or not but the hands are not a mistake. you can think that those hands are wrong but that’s opinion. not a fact. i think we should point technical issues, not style stuff. because that’s liking and it’s too late to change important stuff like style or script
May 26th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Very nice guys. i have only 3 observations, all in this picture.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/K3JeeRWk9bZAAFHLGsTL9g?feat=directlink
Good job!
Malcolm.
May 26th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
ooops… wrong link!
this is the picture.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wOl7awASQ_IOHfQSphyjiQ?feat=directlink
thanks.
May 27th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Great how everything has improved since the trailer, which already was amazing on its own
I really wonder how the ~12min layout is supposed to fit for all the scenes, shown so far.
I love the new look of the hair
May 27th, 2010 at 12:21 am
wow thank you all for such helpful and constructive criticism!
Can’t answer each comment, is past midnight and the render team is still at the Institute to fill the renderfarm with stuff to see tomorrow, thanks to all specially the long and constructive comments, I know they take a lot of time to think and write, also thanks Malcolm for taking the time to make that image pointing those issues, some of them are already sorted out in a more recent version.
The 2nd shot, as said, the camera has a small movement forwards, which really brings a lot to it, is just not on this shot due to a blender bug explained on my last comment.
Hands look a bit big yes, but the camera angle is doing most of the work IMO, sadly is impossible for us to change that right now, she is already animated in almost all shots of the movie, holding stuff, interacting with the environment, which makes it impossible for us to change the size and then tweak every single shot.
I’m overwhelmed by the amount of nice comments guys really!, it really motivates us to keep going, specially now that the crunch times are here and the snowball started rolling…
huge thanks and a ginormous hug to everyone!
May 27th, 2010 at 12:25 am
big improvement, looking better and better.
May 27th, 2010 at 12:47 am
* jaw hits the floor
May 27th, 2010 at 1:23 am
Oh yes Sintel’s hair does look quite awesome now. I like that darker mix of colours.
I know this is a WIP I just have to mention the background. It feels weird and maybe sorta dead. I’m not sure it that’s the right word but is there some sort of filter on it that creates those dark spots like comic book filter? I’m guessing but it look like it’s just a flat picture with Sintel and the Scales rendered over it. Maybe it’s because you guys haven’t added the moving particles and stuff. Oh and when you add the simulation is it possible to add a little sway to the hanging bits of cloth? I thing it would add a nice touch in bringing the whole scene to life.
Also on Sintels voice. Yeah I thought it was fine in the trailer but in this scene I have to agree with the others in that she sounds a bit old for her looks.
Everything else looks great to me. Loved the animation of Sintel and Scales in this bit btw.
Keep up the good work guys. I’m really looking forward to this.
May 27th, 2010 at 1:49 am
Thanks Pablo!
May 27th, 2010 at 1:54 am
GOSH that dragon IS SO DARN CUTE! ! ! !
Kudos Sintel team!
May 27th, 2010 at 3:00 am
LOVE IT
I seriously cant sit still atm, anticipating this movie….
May 27th, 2010 at 3:11 am
Wow looking great!!! love that you’re back with Blender Open Movie, i bet you being there will be a tremendous help to the team!!!
(1. thing, the completely black eyes of the dragon kind make it creepy, can you add a little white???)
May 27th, 2010 at 3:15 am
Oh, sorry about the eyes thing, i meant to say that a while ago, but now i see the is some white, THX!!!
May 27th, 2010 at 3:48 am
The small dragon animation is looking great!
These 15 sec made me smile!
Thank you! And keep working! You are on the right way!
May 27th, 2010 at 4:11 am
GROSOO!!!!!! IDOLO!!!!
Si podes hacer eso gracias al mate, espero que te quede yerba!!!!!
great stuff, cant wait to see the movie, hope you and all the team will have a clean bugless road ahead!
luck
May 27th, 2010 at 4:52 am
I hope it’s just me but the lighting and compositing looks so and so in the trailer as well as here. The lighting and texturing does not have a professional or cinematic feel as Alma short story.
May 27th, 2010 at 5:39 am
Well, there’s one *major* thing I can see wrong with this…
It’s only 14 seconds long! I want the rest of my 11 minutes and 16 seconds… NOW!
Seriously. It’s looking very atmospheric with a touching balance between tough and tenderness. Can’t wait to see how it looks with particles / lightbeams / background animation. You guys rock!
May 27th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Thanks for listening to the earlier criticisms. They were all good intentioned.
With regards to this,
Wow. Now this is what I call a KILLER VIDEO. Fantastic!
May 27th, 2010 at 7:05 am
At first I did not notice it. But after looking at it closely, her hands do appear huge.
That is my only comment. Everything else to me looks 75% better than the original trailer.
Fantastic. The extra push you guys did really made a big difference.
Keep it up. We are rooting for you!
May 27th, 2010 at 9:03 am
looking GREAT!!!! cant wait to see the full short, keep up the awesome work. Go Blender Foundation GO!!!
May 27th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Wahoo !! It’s very very good and beautiful.
This is a very professionnal animation, lighting, rendering, and so.
You have made a great work !! Thank you for that, and thank you all the dev for Blender ;).
May 27th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Some comments on lighting design:
shot 001: Looks good overall. Dragon baby stands out against background really well. FG and BG have contrasting color temp and dragon is rim lit such that it stands out and draws the viewer’s focus well.
shot 002: establishing shot. Characters completely blend with the background as they are the same color, same intensity, same position. Bleh. Sintel’s hair really needs some specular here. Sintel looks really flat and undefined here. Background has a lot of haze, but characters do not which makes them not integrate well either.
shot 003: Lighting direction and quality completely change. No strong sense of key light, and now Sintel is lit primarily by screen right cold light. Legs/clothing don’t seem to be lit by a key light anymore.
shot 004: Hair doesn’t seem to be lit by the same lights as the rest of the scene. The unmotivated cool rim is still there, but should probably match the color temp of the light coming in from the hole in the roof. Sintel and the dragon also seem to have different quality of light on them, possibly by sub-surface scattering being turned up a slight bit too high on Sintel (or missing on the dragon). Separation of characters from the background is good, but would be improved by an edge light on Sintel’s hair.
Both Sintel and the dragon could use stronger eyelights (specular hits) in all of the closeup shots.
It’s definitely coming along pretty well though, overall.
Cheers,
Michael
May 27th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Great work guys! It’s getting better and better, well done!
May 27th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Great improvements in a very short time! You guys rock!
May 27th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Hi guys,
Good work, the post above mine adressed some shots problems, but I have a problem with Sintel, and it’s her hands… they are way too big for the body she have. Maybe you want to stylise the look but to me it looks odd.
The hands and the face look very static (maybe because it’s just work in progress), and the overall colors look all similar, some contrasts and colors breaks could help the scene to stand out.
Also the shots are somewhat “static”, adding a subtle camera movement (very subtle) could bring us more into the scene and be less of just spectators.
Keep going guys !
A.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:49 am
great job!!!!!
May 27th, 2010 at 10:59 am
It’s looks much better. Well done. There is few glitches:
Dragon wings skin need (more) SSS, and some vain
Skin on Sintel face have darker spot on the left cheek.
Is that on purpose, coz it’s don’t look like dirt, more like texture defect.
Textures looks little flat.
Hairs looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!
There some issues with lightning but I’ll wait for the final.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Oh wow, her hair looks absolutely fantastic now, as does everything else! If someone happened to stumble across this clip on YouTube, they would probably just think it was from the latest Pixar or Dreamworks CGI movie. I am now so looking forward to seeing it, although I’m now regretting missing out on getting my name on the credits by a day :(.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Better but please stay alert because this movie is our answer to the 3D world free and opens source can be used on a professional job.
I’m happy to see the Durian Team hard work.
Congratulation too all.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:46 am
“Better but please stay alert because this movie is our answer to the 3D world free and opens source can be used on a professional job.”
I can’t speak for the team, but I have a feeling they don’t intend to take responsibility for whatever political meaning people see in this project.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Not sure if anyone has suggested this, the struggle of the dragon reflected upon his/her cries doesn’t really match up. I would suggest a bit more erratic movement as a means of escaping Sintel’s lap like scratching her legs, pushing her hands away etc.
Overall this is unbeliveable. Lighting is dead set top of the line!
May 27th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
That’s it! You already won! The movie will win the hearts! No doubt.
What a row of breathtaking events!
Hands that cover your whole face!
All the comments about too big hands or whatever – know what? – that’s going to be the new ideal of beauty!
The touch of Mannerism fits – just my humble opinion.
I don’t know why I’m always paralyzed reading through all the comments.
I’m cheering like a young boy! You are the team!!!
May 27th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
yeah!! Mannerism! that’s the word. Like michelangelo’s David. Big hands. I love Sintel big hands. Tha’t the new way of beauty. So Durian team, keep that hands!
May 27th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Firstly, That was awesome!…(I watched it at work without sound today, and then again tonight with the sound turned right up – it’s amazing how much that helps the whole feel!)
P.S. (just in case it’s not already been mentioned/noticed) – the amour plate on her left shoulder “cuts” into her shoulder a few times (well it seems to I think)
May 27th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
yeah… the hands are huge… they really grabbed my eyes. Otherwise awesome
May 27th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
That’s just frakin beautiful. No more to say. Cant wait for the movie!
May 27th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I don’t know what you guys have done, but she suddenly looks WAY better. So does the dragon
May 27th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Here’s a wish list item for when you’ve completed the movie.
Could you create a Google Gource animation based on the last 6 months on the commits to the svn tree relating to the movie?
May 27th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
SVN commit 4013: the battle between Proog and Frankie (beorn)
what the deuce?? this is going too epic!
May 27th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Good stuff! ‘Nuff said.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Hi, I’ve downloaded the latest build of the render branch but can’t get GI working correctly.Some buckets ar ok, some are a mess. Any help would be much apreciated, thanks.
I like very much the cinematic quality, even more than the technical prowess.
May 27th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Oh god it’s all wrong! Grumble, grumble.
Just kidding! As expected, the closer you get to a final product the more it *looks* like a final product. Keep up the great work, and keep pushing what Blender can do. The community really appreciates you guys because we know we’ll all benefit from your hard work and passion for this project.
May 27th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
That does look very good indeed.
She could have tidied up a bit if she knew a film crew were coming round!
May 27th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Haha ,who made the noise for scales, I bet it was nathan!
May 27th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Looking great. the baby dragon looks way better now too, and so does the hair.
Loving the lighting, keep up the great work!
May 27th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
I want to take back what I said before about the animation not being sloppy enough — I wasn’t hearing the audio at the time. Sintel has such command! I can already tell that Colin made sure that this piece was like that on purpose, and it’s kind of awesome.
TWO THUMBS UP!
May 27th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
WOW!
May 27th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Just seen an awesome video of an ordinary pc camera and someone with coloured gloves which picked up their hand movements in amazing detail.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
With this video you made Sintel more beautiful than Final Fantasy.
If you could keep this quality with the rest of the shots, I’d say you will give SquareEnix, and NCSoft a run for their money.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
♥ it. Great work guys. Keep up.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
This looks great !!
But there is a little problem of animation between 7 and 8 seconds, the left paw of dragon crossing the sintel “boot”.
Otherwise it’s awesome !! thanks for this movie !
And stay strong !
May 27th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Bravo!!!
May 27th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
How many time do you take to render those 14 seconds with the high quality (if that’s you’re doing yet) ??? I want so see how slow is my computer ^^
May 28th, 2010 at 5:27 am
Ya’ll are doing an awesome job!!! Keep up the good work!
May 28th, 2010 at 6:12 am
First off, you guys are amazing and I am incredibly impressed with your work. I work at a small production company in Hollywood and am constantly showing your work to my co-workers and going “See this! This is what you can do with Blender! Told you!” I think you guys rock and your work is definitely something we can all aspire to.
The one major thing I noticed other than what you already prefaced your post with was the cut between the 1st and the 2nd shot. Something about the match cut seemed off to me, like it didn’t quite fit, and I think the issue may be that of camera angle. Essentially, you’re moving from a close-up to a wide shot without really changing your camera angle, a jump cut. I read your comment above about the blender bug affecting the 2nd shot, so this may also be an accidental result of the bug making it so that the shots don’t cut like they should. Regardless, I definitely have faith in the team’s work. Just thought I’d point it out for discussion.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:12 am
SVN commit 4053: kartoffelbrei mit schlagsahne, zimt und ketchup (soenke)
Soenke, was ist das denn bitte?
May 28th, 2010 at 10:38 am
wasn’t the idea was Sintel is a teenager? she doesn’t look like one now.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Oh. Gods.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Another note, in the last screenshot, it kinda looks like her left middle finger (the hand on the right) looks like it bends a LOT in the second segment. I dont know if this Camera tricks, but it was just somthing that caught my eye
May 28th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
That looks awesome! I love the music too.
M
May 28th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
First, I would like to agree with all the positive comments. I am amazed by the quality of this shot.
The reason for this post is the smile. I know I am two days slow, and it is probably better by now, but just in case I thought I’d give my two cents. The first time I watched it I didn’t even notice the smile, because the focus of the shot is more on the dragon and the hand, but looking at the stills and the shot a second time, I think I can see the problem.
The main problem is in the eyes, or more specifically, the lower eyelids. The awesome animator correctly noticed that the lower eyelids lift during a smile. However, this looks kind of weird unless they are fallowed by the cheeks. What ‘we’ want to see in a smile is more cheek meat movement. The amount the eyelids move up the eyes is really good, but more than half of that movement should be covered by the meat under the cheek.
You probably already fixed it, but on the odd chance may help, here is a picture of where the cheeks read to me (left), and where I personally would like to see them read (right).
http://yfrog.com/83cheesep
Looking forward to the move. Keep up the good work!
May 29th, 2010 at 12:18 am
WOW , the scales on the dragon is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Great Work
May 29th, 2010 at 1:49 am
Very very great renders.
I wonder how that hair was done. *.*
May 29th, 2010 at 3:29 am
FRICKIN AWESOME! You guys are changing open source for 3D artists. Very inspiring!
May 29th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
A W E S O M E!!! I can even see the dust under her nails!!!! =O
G R E A T W O R K GUYS!!!
I hope some day I can be as good in Blender as you are
May 30th, 2010 at 3:53 am
I’m really really glad you are aware of the intersection issues with the wings. I’d have hated for this to have got released in the final push and was going to suggest several ways of fixing it, but I can rest now that you have it in check.
Keep it up – looking forward to this.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
WOW!!! seriously guys, this is just awesome work!!!
And the major improvements on the hair and dragon in such a short time!! 
Can’t wait for the final movie! 
May 30th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
200th!
Live from Brussels! at libre graphics meeting 2010, aawesome!
Sorry I don’t answer I’m about to hop on the train back to Amsterdam!
May 30th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
That must have been good Pablo. Have a safe trip.
May 30th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
solo hay un pequeño error
en el cortometraje no se olviden de los hispanohablantes
May 31st, 2010 at 7:41 am
theres alot of spam on several blog posts. something should be done (delete them)
May 31st, 2010 at 10:04 am
Hello. I’ve wanted to post some line before but did not have much time. Firstly a big applause for the Team. The trailer was great but with this little video really you made us see that you guys are just going for the best and that Blender is gonna be more Owesone than ever!
To think that it was actually made with blender, fills me with excitement.
But I have a little question, thats gonna throw the raffs of everyone on me but I’ll go for it.
Do you guys have a date for the release of the first Beta? I’ll be frank that I do check the site nearly everyday hoping that a release date would be annouced :).
Thanks again to the team for their absolutely stunning work.
May 31st, 2010 at 11:34 am
This looks great! Can’t wait for the final film.
The only thing that “bothers” me are the hands… (as some has pointed out before). They look a little too big, and the fingers a little too thin. However it’s like Elephants Dream style… So somewhere it’s okay…
Dreamworks have the eyes and Blender Foundation the hands ;-).
/D.
May 31st, 2010 at 11:43 am
One other thing.
The “issue” with the static background. I think it can be “solved” with the camera moving just a tiny little bit where it’s now completely still. No need for a “handheld camera script”, but just a little movement would be great…
My 2 cent… keep it up!
/D.
May 31st, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Are you guys planing to apply cloth sim to the cloths above her bed as well? It would be cool to see the shadows moving around subtly, it would hopefully add some life to the scene.
May 31st, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Wow! This is really great! The hair is awesome. One thought though: seems like Scales’ eyes should be slightly shinier; more wet looking. Just an opinion.
Keep up the good work!
May 31st, 2010 at 8:04 pm
pablo post algo
May 31st, 2010 at 10:04 pm
He visionado más de diez veces el vídeo y en todas tenía la boca abierta. Felicidades por vuestro trabajo y os envío una luz de energía positiva para que el equipo siga a este ritmo.
Awesome!!!
June 1st, 2010 at 7:26 am
omG…the dragon is so cute :”)…seriously guys, this is just awesome work!!! Keep it up!
June 1st, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Even though it’s still a WIP, I have to say it looks quite good. Keep up the good work, looking forward to the result
June 1st, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Fantastic work! I’m really looking forward to the final
Blender is kicking butt and taking names, and the Open Movie Project is the reason why. Keep it up!
June 1st, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Wooooooooooow , cool pablo , you gotta show some pictures of the LGM ;D
and i really think its time for a new blog post !!! ;D
yippiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!!
June 2nd, 2010 at 12:00 am
The hands really are not as bad as some people are making them out to be. When you look at the very first part of the clip where sintel is holding the rag you don’t notice them at all. Also, it seems many people are commenting on the size of sintels gloves which go up her forearm. With a little context and complete props being used I don’t think this will be a problem.
As a side note, sintel is a pre-teenish girl who beats the crap out of trained soldiers. Thanks for not drawing her up as a Disney style princess.
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:25 pm
No one has mentioned it yet but I love the skin, the SSS is superb!
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:08 pm
pablo post algo men.
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:35 pm
http://www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=79325#79325
Take a look at that and reply, i guess theres no more to say, but PLEASE TAKE A LOOK
June 2nd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
At 00.07, the dragon’s arm are trespassing Sintel’s leg.I wish i’m not the one who catch it. Hope i have helped someway.
Thank you guys for all the fantastic work. I love Blender.
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 pm
we can has new blogpost?
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:06 pm
This makes me want to watch my favorite show… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrbztnX5apU
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Wait. No. This is even better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBp-d50lee8
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
haha im watching right now (while im writing) Dinosaurs right now in spain’s disney channel
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:02 am
That’s awesome. I’d love to do some sound design for something like that.
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:38 am
Woah guys! That looked absolutely amazing! Voice doesn’t go the greatest. But that may just be me. Excellent work! Can’t wait to see the finished project.
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:49 pm
wow 225 replies, thats insane guys! I’ve read through all of them, and learned a lot from your comments and critics, big thanks to everyone!
I’m kicking the durianers over here to make a new blogpost ASAP!
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I have to be honest and say that I am a bit disappointed about the lack of updates on the blog. Actually one of the reasons why I payed ahead of time for my DVD this year was because we were promised more frequent updates this time compared to what was the case during the older open projects.
It might not be a lot of fun to write blog updates, but that is part of the game. You are a lot of people at the studio now, so it would only take ONE update per person per week to make it run – and that may even be over the top! I think you owe it to your costumers, this being an “open” movie and all.
In any case, I wish you the best of luck with the whole project and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the final movie.
June 3rd, 2010 at 6:08 pm
I totally agree with Brons. More frequent updates are more than welcome. If you really don`t feel like writing you could just post some fresh renders. Please
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:07 pm
hey. post some wallpaper with renders.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:46 pm
I think that there should be something moving in the shot apart from Sintel and the dragon. Maybe the big cloth over her head might move a little in the wind or something like that. But if it’s a secluded area, no wind gets there at all, si tgere would be no reason for that.
You could also make the camera move, but that may confuse the watcher if it’s too fast or inappropriate to the scene.. a little zoom?
Even though I admit that still camera is the best solution in most cases, since it gives you the feeling that everything’s right when you watch it – you’re not moving, the camera’s not moving too. I believe it affects the subconsciousness in a way.
I believe you said you’ll add little particles for dust in the air, so that’ll surely get it moving.
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:56 pm
I have to say that I am disapointed too about the lack of updates to the blog, just once in a week or so is to little, it makes Sintel movie seem less “open”.
Great work nevertheless.
June 4th, 2010 at 12:04 am
3dmagix dot com
son of … they sneaked in the blender GPL license in the terms so what they are doing might be legal but so deceiving since they place the link in a very hidden place at the bottom of their page and then the license is mentioned
making people pay 47 dollars for a program they did not code and is free and open source
June 4th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Just my opinon, but I think the hand size is just fine. Sintel appears to have a generally slender build and I have seen people with very similar proportions, hands included.
p.s. I can’t express how excited I am for this project. A July premiere probably means a DVD release in late August or September? I can’t wait!
June 4th, 2010 at 10:16 am
I wonder if we will be able to preorder a blu-ray version with all project files etc included? I really want to preorder so I can support you guys but I only want the blu-ray version. I know the dvd box includes full HD versions but I do not have a blu-ray writer =\
June 4th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
C’est vraiment impressionnant !
La seule chose que j’aurais à dire pour le moment, c’est que je trouve que le mouvement des mains me semble trop rigide. Sinon à par ça, bravo à toute l’équipe !
June 4th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Blender Foundation
SVN commit 4546: i did this bit in 3ds MAX! (beorn)
FTW! beorn explain me THAT
June 4th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
wow it’s not bad it’s not bad
i like it.
going on don’t worry any-thing
June 4th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I like how the updates on the durian blog are quite frequent. They’re only not that frequent when you guys are really busy XD
June 4th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
This is just a fantastic work. The world out there will have to know Blender exist.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
So nice!!!
Hint: let the dragon swallow a bit at 0:14
June 12th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
I don’t quite like her mouth, it doesn’t quite fit into her face.