The Blender team is back from The Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2018 and MIFA, the industry marketplace which takes place during the festival. Annecy is a major international event for over 11000 animation industry professionals and having a Blender presence there was an extremely rewarding experience.
The entrance of the MIFA, at the Hotel Imperial
Hundreds of people stopped by the Blender booth and were amazed by the upcoming Blender 2.8 feature videos, the Blender Open Movie reels, the Hero showcase and the live set of Grease Pencil demos prepared by Daniel M. Lara. Breaking down production files step-by-step was a crowd pleaser and got an impressive number of compliments, good feedback and follow-up requests.
Daniel M. Lara showcasing Grease Pencil
While two years ago our presence was more focused on the upcoming Agent 327 film project, having a clearer focus on software lead to active outreach from studios currently using Blender in their production pipeline. In France alone, there are dozens of small and medium studios using Blender to produce film and TV series. These companies are often looking for artists and professional trainers, and have expressed positive remarks about the Blender Network and the BFCT initiatives.
Café des Arts is where the festival happens at night
Overall, this experience confirmed the growing appreciation and adoption of Blender as integral part of the production pipeline. This is made possible thanks to the Blender development team, and the Blender community, which is often seen as one of the main reasons for switching tools.
A shout out to Pablo, Hjalti and Daniel for the great work at the booth. Keeping the show running 10 hours a day for 4 consecutive days was no joke :)
Until next year!
Francesco
The Annecy 2018 Team