Hand Turkey Studios will be offering a Training Workshop on the open source 3D modeling and animation suite, Blender in January of the new year. Details on the workshop are listed below:

Date: Friday, 12 January 2007
Time: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: The Work Factory (1113 West Main St., Richmond, VA 23220 – map)
Cost: $45, payable via Cash, Check or Credit Card via Paypal

If you’re interested in attending, please send an email to info@handturkeystudios.com.

We will cover the basics of using Blender; becoming familiar with its interface and creating a 3D model and a small animation. Copies of Blender for all modern computing platforms and all files used in the workshop will be made available on CD for course participants.

There is limited space available, so please confirm your attendance early.

We will have a very limited number of computers on hand, so if you have laptop, it is highly recommended that you bring it with you. If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting us.

On the 28th of June at 8:15PM, Hand Turkey Studios is organizing a screening of the first 3D Open Movie, “Elephants Dream”, at C3 in Richmond, VA.

“Elephants Dream” is an 11-minute short film produced by the Blender Foundation in the Netherlands. The film was released as an ‘Open Movie’. What’s an Open Movie? It’s a movie that comes with all of the production files used to create it. Don’t like the way the film was made? You have the files to make it your way! Want to find out how they created that awesome effect? You can look and see exactly how it was done! And not only that, all of the visuals for this film were created using freely available Open Source Software. So you have the tools, too! All for free.

“So waitaminute,” you say, “you’re organizing the screening of someone else’s movie? What gives?” Yes. Yes we are. It’s a great short film and the small team of artists who created it are our friends. Not only that, but since the film and just about everything around it is free and open, we figure this is a great way to get to know the rest of the creative community in the Richmond area.

Come on out to C3 and watch this movie with us. Find out a little bit about what went into the making of it. Share your thoughts on it with others in the community. Maybe even lay the groundwork for your own project! Admission is free, but donations to C3 are welcome.

For more information feel free to email me (groo at handturkeystudios dot com). You can also get some more information about “Elephants Dream” at www.elephantsdream.org.