Hi Ton,<br><br>That's great. So perhaps we publish a "Blender Bookshelf" series, based on the wiki content, with volumes based on your proposed divisions. Some tentative titles:<br><br>Blender Bookshelf, Volume 1: User Interface<br>
Blender Bookshelf, Volume 2: Modeling<br>Blender Bookshelf, Volume 3: Animation and Rigging<br>Blender Bookshelf, Volume 4: Materials, Texturing, and Lighting<br>Blender Bookshelf, Volume 5: Rendering and Post Production<br>
Blender Bookshelf, Volume 6: Extending Blender With Python<br><br>We could divide the group into teams, to work on the volume (or volumes) they have the most interest in, to basically edit the wiki sections.<br><br>Then we end up with 6 books (perhaps more, if we decide there is too much content for one volume), worked on by people who the most motivated. <br>
<br>Ira<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 7:44 AM, Ton Roosendaal <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ton@blender.org">ton@blender.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi Ira,<br>
<br>
It was always my intention that our printed guides would be create<br>
using wiki, and donating all new stuff back to wiki. We do that<br>
already since 2003.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
-Ton-<br>
<br>
------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
Ton Roosendaal Blender Foundation <a href="mailto:ton@blender.org">ton@blender.org</a> <a href="http://www.blender.org" target="_blank">www.blender.org</a><br>
Blender Institute Entrepotdok 57A 1018AD Amsterdam The Netherlands<br>
<br>
</div><div><div></div><div class="h5">On 6 Mar, 2010, at 8:03, Ira Krakow wrote:<br>
<br>
> An idea just came to me. Please feel free to poke holes in it.<br>
> Why not publish the wiki, with the author as The Blender<br>
> Foundation? The principle is just like Durian or Elephant's<br>
> Dream. The title would be "The Blender 3D Wiki", by The Blender<br>
> Foundation. The benefits:<br>
><br>
> 1) The content not only exists, but has been peer reviewed, edited<br>
> (by the community), and known to be high quality and useful.<br>
><br>
> 2) The authors can be given credit for their efforts, just as was<br>
> the case with the community generated movies. We could even give<br>
> anyone who buys the book author credit, just like the Blender based<br>
> movies.<br>
><br>
> 3) It's useful. How many of us would buy it? I definitely<br>
> would. There are many people who feel more comfortable with a<br>
> printed book than with always looking things up online. We could<br>
> even have a Kindle edition of the wiki, which would give the content<br>
> search capability. It would be published under the same GNU license<br>
> that applies to Blender, or the variant that applies to books, where<br>
> the Foundation keeps the copyright and grants publishing rights to<br>
> the publisher without giving up creative control.<br>
><br>
> 4) It's in the same spirit of open source that has made Blender<br>
> such a success. It's been proven, for example, in the Linux<br>
> community, that these types of books are profitable. Look at:<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://oreilly.com/openbook/" target="_blank">http://oreilly.com/openbook/</a><br>
><br>
> Tim O'Reilly has been very successful with this model. I even think<br>
> O'Reilly Media would be interested in publishing it.<br>
><br>
> 5) Last, but certainly not least, this would be nice revenue for<br>
> The Blender Foundation :). It would be our way of saying thanks to<br>
> everyone who has made Blender such a wonderful program.<br>
><br>
> What do you think?<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 12:19 PM, Mike Belanger <<a href="mailto:mikejamesbelanger@gmail.com">mikejamesbelanger@gmail.com</a><br>
> > wrote:<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> We already have excellent online documentation, in the form of the<br>
>> wiki. It is organized very closely to the ideas that have been<br>
>> proposed. Reading the wiki has helped me tremendously. Between<br>
>> the wiki and Google, what more would the reference book(s) provide?<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> There should be a distinction between what sort of topics the wiki<br>
> covers, and what the books do. The books should be<br>
> value-added over the wiki.<br>
><br>
> I agree with Ton et all on organizing books by common areas, ie<br>
> Animation, Modeling, Texturing, etc. Those<br>
> could all have specific tutorials, step-by-steps, on creating<br>
> something.<br>
><br>
> I think the wiki should be a generic glossary of tools, terminology,<br>
> and settings. Specific tutorials in the wiki shouldn't have as much<br>
> priority.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Mike Belanger ( Mikahl )<br>
> <a href="http://www.watchmike.ca" target="_blank">www.watchmike.ca</a><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Watch my Blender 3D videos:<br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/irakrakow">http://www.youtube.com/irakrakow</a><br><br>Subscribe to my Blender 3D forum:<br><a href="http://forum.irakrakow.com">http://forum.irakrakow.com</a><br>