[Bf-docboard] automated screenshots

[Landis Fields]

> Luke Stodola writes:
>  > It seems it will be a lot of needless work to keep making screenshots 
>  > manually.  Can't we instead store the .blend files for the scene, along 
>  > with the coords of where it should be cropped, and have a program go 
>  > through and update them for each release?  That way we also get full 
> 
> Nice Idea! Wish I had that idea in NaN times.
> 
> Think that calls for Python to do so.

I had an idea that I breifly discussed with the func board some time ago. I 
am not sure if any of you have used Macromedia's Dreamweaver but they have 
done an exceptional job at integrating corporate authored tutorials into the 
interface itself. They can be accessed from the same location one would 
access the manual from in the main menu (typically the "help" option). Other 
companies such as Adobe are starting to acknowledge the strengths of such a 
concept as well. 

Now, heres what I got. What all of these companies are missing is the fact 
that some of the strongest literature comes from the user community itself! 
Why not enable the user to create tutorials using Blender? This would 
require nothing more than some sort of screencapture utility that was 
incorporated into the code (previously discussed), perhaps even flashed 
based to allow for the author to customize info windows (typically yellow 
boxes) that would pop up in specific locations (such as where to click) 
while the reader is participating in the tutorial...thats 
right ...participating...it would be interactive! 

The files would be stored in a new Blender directory titled "tutorials". 
Users could create and trade these files on thier own as they currently do, 
however, this would bring organizational bliss to what now seems like 
educational chaos amongst the industry....the information is out there but 
in miliions of different formats and ends up all over the hard drive and 
burried into ones favorites! This way users could download a tutorial, dump 
it into the tutorials directory and access it inside of Blender....thats 
right...not only would Blender allow for users to create a tutorial but it 
would also allow for users to play them as well! No other application has 
EVER stumbled upon this approach...EVER!! 

Now, I'm not a programmer but I am sure that this wouldnt be that difficult 
to achive. Please, someone let me know on this because I havent felt so 
strongly about a feature in a very long time. This could sweep the other 
apps by storm! At a bare minimum this could generate positive publicity for 
the foundation not to mention the Blender effort as a whole and that is 
always a good thing for everyone. 

Anyways, take care and thank you all for your time.

Cheers,
Landis