The development of Blender, our 3D software of choice, is driven by "open movie" (and "open game") projects. As Elephant's Dream, Big Buck Bunny, Yo Frankie!, and the upcoming Project Durian are produced, the artists and programmers work together to develop new tools for Blender.

Our concept of the open movie is a little different -- instead of developing software, our students are developing skills!

The Mercury Open Movie was created by participants of the 2009 Mediaglobe Users Group Conference. Most of the participants walked through the door with little or no Blender experience. By the end of the week, the group had planned, built, and animated most of the visuals.

The instructors put the finishing touches on the show at the home studio (Ott Planetarium). Now the show and most of its source is available to the world under the Creative Commons Attribution License!

Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Music Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Full Credits:
docs.google.com/View?id=dc38njhf_86f238bhdr

weber.edu/planetarium/mercury