Blender Foundation

The Blender Foundation (Dutch: Stichting Blender Foundation) is a non-profit organization responsible for the development of Blender, an open source 3D content-creation program.

The foundation is noted for having produced the animated short films Elephants Dream (2006), Big Buck Bunny (2008), Sintel (2010) and Tears of Steel (2012).

Goals

The foundation is chaired by Ton Roosendaal, the original author of the Blender software. It is funded by donations from entrepreneurs, companies, and the community. One of the foundations goals is "to give the worldwide Internet community access to 3D technology in general, with Blender as a core".

The foundation provides various resources to support the community formed around using and developing Blender. In particular, it organizes an annual Blender Conference in Amsterdam to discuss plans for the future of Blender, as well as staffing a booth to represent Blender at SIGGRAPH, a large conference on computer graphics. Donations are also used to maintain the Blender website, as well as hire other developers to work on the Blender software.

Blender

A blender (sometimes called a liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, purée, or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender jar with a rotating metal blade at the bottom, powered by an electric motor in the base. Some powerful models can also crush ice. The newer immersion blender configuration has a motor on top connected by a shaft to a rotating blade at the bottom, which can be used with any container.

Characteristics

Different blenders have different functions and features but product testing indicates that many blenders, even less expensive ones, are useful for meeting many consumer needs. Features which consumers consider when purchasing a blender include the following:

Countertop blenders

Countertop blenders use a 1-2 liters (4-8 cups) blending container made of glass, plastic, stainless steel. Glass blenders are heavier and more stable. Plastic is prone to scratching and absorbing the smell of blended food. Stainless steel is preferred for its looks, but limits visibility of the food as it is blended.

Big Buck Bunny

Big Buck Bunny (code-named Peach) is a short computer-animated comedy film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation. Like the foundation's previous film Elephants Dream, the film was made using Blender, a free software application for animation made by the same foundation. It was released as an open-source film under Creative Commons License Attribution 3.0.

Overview

Work began in October 2007. The film was officially released in an April 10, 2008 première in Amsterdam while online movie downloads and files were released on May 30, 2008.

The film was followed up with an open game titled Yo Frankie!, in August 2008.

Plot

The plot follows a day of the life of Big Buck Bunny when he meets three bullying rodents, Frank (the leader of the rodents), Rinky and Gimera. The rodents amuse themselves by harassing helpless creatures of the forest by throwing fruits, nuts and rocks at them.

After the deaths of two of Bunny's favorite butterflies (one by an apple falling on top of it and the other by Frank smashing it with a rock) and an offensive attack on Bunny himself, Bunny sets aside his gentle nature and orchestrates a complex plan to avenge the two butterflies.

Marian Breland Bailey

Marian Breland Bailey, born Marian Ruth Kruse (December 2, 1920 – September 25, 2001) and nicknamed "Mouse", was an American psychologist, an applied behavior analyst who played a major role in developing empirically validated and humane animal training methods and in promoting their widespread implementation. She and her first husband, Keller Breland (1915–1965), studied at the University of Minnesota under behaviorist B. F. Skinner and became "the first applied animal psychologists."

Childhood and education

Born to Christian and Harriet (Prime) Kruse, Marian Ruth Kruse grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. German-born Christian worked for an automotive supply store, and Harriet was a registered nurse. Marian's father and then others called her "Maus" ("mouse"), a common German nickname for little girls. After graduating from Washburn High School as her senior class's valedictorian, Marian Kruse went to the University of Minnesota to major in Latin and minor in Greek. Although financial times were difficult as her family had lost everything during the banking collapse of the Great Depression, a full scholarship and a Works Progress Administration award for writers supported her undergraduate education. Before long, she also became a research assistant for B. F. (Fred) Skinner.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons licenses free of charge to the public. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators. An easy-to-understand one-page explanation of rights, with associated visual symbols, explains the specifics of each Creative Commons license. Creative Commons licenses do not replace copyright, but are based upon it. They replace individual negotiations for specific rights between copyright owner (licensor) and licensee, which are necessary under an "all rights reserved" copyright management, with a "some rights reserved" management employing standardized licenses for re-use cases where no commercial compensation is sought by the copyright owner. The result is an agile, low-overhead and low-cost copyright-management regime, profiting both copyright owners and licensees. Wikipedia uses one of these licenses.