[Bf-committers] Blender App Central / Add-on Manager

Mon Jan 9 16:34:34 CET 2012

I must disagree with you on that
All add-ons or scripts are for users, not for developers.
If I want my addon to be used only by me - I wouldn't have made it  
public in a first place.
Believe it or not, but current system is way too difficult for artists.
Artists don't have a clue what SVN and other such things are and they  
will never learn because this is not their field.
There are several scripts or addons that people don't know about  
because it's simply impossible to find them for "human being".
If I know how to write a script, decided to maintain it - it shouldn't  
be that hard to follow some rules.
I personally maintain a simple script and don't find that very hard to  
take care about all required stuff.
Script without documentation is worth absolutely nothing, no matter  
how fantastic it is. If it can be used only by its developer? Who  
needs it?

Cheers

Bartek Skorupa

On 2012-01-09, at 16:19, Aurel W. wrote:

> Another managment overlay for scripts? The current scheme is already
> way too bureaucratic, wikipages, script tracker, svn,... all sorts of
> conventions. It's hard what you have to care about, when you just want
> to maintain a simple script.
>
> aurel
>
> On 9 January 2012 15:23, Ton Roosendaal <ton at blender.org> wrote:
>> Hi Moraes,
>>
>> Good you remind us, and a promising concept this... it is probably  
>> well possible to make this work inside a browser and somehow hook  
>> it up via python with Blender itself. Makes it more feasible to  
>> implement too.
>>
>> Next steps could also be to add import/exporters, themes, default  
>> startup blends, material repositories, node groups... or then even  
>> docs, tutorials, video tuts?
>>
>> And then the obvious question pops up "But would it allow  
>> commercial offers too?". I am well aware of the success of Mac's  
>> appstore, Android Market and Ubuntu Centre.
>>
>> It's something we could carefully look into and investigate.  
>> Blender Foundation/Instutute is doing good bizz still selling dvds  
>> and books, but that won't last forever. Selling (licensed) digital  
>> data is not something BF itself should do though, we have a mission  
>> to keep things free and open.
>>
>> However; there must be ways to cooperate with a 'closed' world,  
>> especially if the boundary is clear, and when the spirit of our  
>> project is not in danger (Blender as a full functional open and  
>> free environment for 3d creation).
>>
>> -Ton-
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Ton Roosendaal  Blender Foundation   ton at blender.org    www.blender.org
>> Blender Institute   Entrepotdok 57A  1018AD Amsterdam   The  
>> Netherlands
>>
>> On 9 Jan, 2012, at 14:22, Mango Jambo wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> At Blender Pro, the Blender conference Brazil, I was talking to  
>>> Ton, Dalai,
>>> Pablo Vasquez and other artists about a great idea for Blender:  
>>> the Blender
>>> Addon/App Central.
>>>
>>> *The problem today:*
>>> - It is hard to find an add-on if you never did before;
>>> - Even if you did it, you need to find it again: Blender.org >  
>>> Download >
>>> wiki Python Scripts (add-ons?) > Script Catalog;
>>> - Some of them gives an outside link to download, like  
>>> blenderartist,
>>> dropbox, etc.;
>>> - To install you need to Download and then install by Blender Add-on
>>> install button or copy straight to the add-on folder (and find this
>>> folder). Some Add-ons has folders and other files, so the install  
>>> button
>>> doesn't work for it;
>>> - We never know if there is a new add-on version (Contrib and  
>>> External);
>>> - We don't know which add-ons are most downloaded or even users  
>>> feedback
>>> about it. Well, there is some Blenderartists threads, but nothing  
>>> more
>>> "official" about it;
>>> - Every time we need to install Blender in another computer, we  
>>> need to
>>> copy/download add-ons again. Some people makes use of Dropbox for  
>>> it, or
>>> copy the Blender user Preferences Folder, but it is not a casual  
>>> task
>>> (mainly for artists, thrust me! ;] );
>>>
>>> *Proposal*
>>> To transform the current Script Catalog into a friendly and  
>>> intuitive
>>> Add-on/App Manager inside Blender, showing votes, comments, updates,
>>> favorites, etc. and, optionally, being able to log-in and  
>>> automatically
>>> install "my add-ons" in another computer/Blender installation.
>>> An image is better than a thousand words:
>>> http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=24117 (initial layout  
>>> proposal from
>>> the designer and my friend Allan Carvalho)
>>> Probably being inside Blender it should be more Blender colors and  
>>> layout
>>> like.
>>>
>>> *Goals*
>>> - To make add-ons looks more friendly, like apps. This could  
>>> attract more
>>> users and more developers;
>>> - Being able to log-in for easier management and consistence on  
>>> any user
>>> machine(laptop, home and work pc), like in Google Chrome. This  
>>> could work
>>> for preferences too;
>>> - To have vote and comments, increasing user participation,  
>>> feedback and
>>> sharing;
>>> - To manage channes (repositories), like on Ubuntu: Official and  
>>> Partner
>>> channels (to exempt Blender Foundation Servers from some "Contrib  
>>> Scripts",
>>> how already is today);
>>>
>>>
>>> *References*
>>> - https://chrome.google.com/webstore
>>> - Unity Store;
>>> - Android Market.
>>>
>>>
>>> The big problem is: I can´t code! So I need help, ideas,  
>>> suggestions from
>>> you developers.
>>> There is more ideas that I want to discuss about it, so lets keep  
>>> it warm
>>> if you like it! :)
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Moraes Junior - aka mangojambo
>>> Animator & 3D Artist
>>> +55 43 88133399 <http://www.oniria.com.br>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Bf-committers mailing list
>>> Bf-committers at blender.org
>>> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
>>>
>>
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