[Bf-committers] Camera Guides

[Lars Krueger]

A few comments:

1. My composition guide patch (http://projects.blender.org/tracker/?group_id=9&atid=127&func=detail&aid=19609) has been available for 1.5 years now. It has been recently updated (thanks to Daniel Salazar).

2. There is a fundamental difference between Grease Pencil and a composition guide IMO. A composition guide encodes a "rule of thumb" regarding aesthetics. Most of these rules do not have any free parameters (e.g. rule of thirds). Therefore, hardcoding these rules seems acceptable. Grease Pencil OTOH is basically of a visual "TODO" list with an infinite number of free parameters. Why do you think it is necessary to have a composition guide adjustable by python? What is the application of that?

3. BG images are in the background. Compositions guides are drawn over the 
view. While one could use a BG image containing a composition guide, it is sometimes (almost always?) more useful to see the guide instead of obscuring it by the very geometry you want to align.

4. I don't get the "elegant or integrated well" part. Please elaborate.

5. Regarding necessity: I saw it as a beginner's feature, rarely used by power-users and professional who simply see "a good composition".  Ton asked for opinions from artists regarding the patch. I assumed there have been few answers.

6. Campell's idea of using (abusing?) Grease Pencil for this has its merits. I'm not entirely sure if the aspect ratio change is such an important use case. Most projects, I'd think, set the aspect ratio at the beginning of the project. Worst case is you have to re-import the guide.

6. Even if my comments seem mostly negative, I want to thank you for bringing up the topic of the guides again. I also want to thank you for investing time in a feature, we both think worthwile.

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Thu, 05 May 2011 20:03:19 +1000
> Von: Michael Fox <mfoxdogg at gmail.com>
> An: bf-blender developers <bf-committers at blender.org>
> Betreff: [Bf-committers] Camera Guides

> In the past few days i have been working on adding guides to the camera 
> object, to be used for perspective and eye line tracking  as well as 
> composition guides (rule of thirds, etc etc) ,  now granted there is 
> patches available to do this but they are all hardcoded and don't allow 
> for much in the way of adjustment or precision, and certainly not 
> elegant or integrated well.
> 
> However there has been concerns over this feature is really necessary, 
> like people should use BG images or Grease pencil, really slapdash stuff 
> and that custom guides are not needed nor should be developed, so I 
> would like to ask, do I continue on this project, or call it a day and 
> let the patch pass around the community because I do not want to keep 
> going if it is deemed of little or no interest or need.
> 
> the Patch
> http://mfoxdogg.com/development/cam_guides.txt
> 
> Pros.
>      -uses SDNA/RNA
>      -fully accessible via python
>      -update real-time
>      -both ends of each guide are independent and can be put anywhere in 
> the area of the camera
>      -has a transparency value
>      -position values are percentages of the camera area so no need to 
> redraw guides if resolution or camera scale change
>      - due to accessibility of python, a preset system could be 
> developed for this
>      - guides are saved in the file
> Cons
>      -only exist in camera view
>      -only a dashed line and no colour support at this time
> 
> The patch has a few issues
>      - need a way to clear memory made where the guide is made
>      -due to this files saved with guides will crash
>      -the remove guide button does not work, for some reason
>      -only very basic UI has been developed
>      -no documentation at this time
> 
> Now please don't view this as me sulking and being a primadonna its just 
> i have very little time these days and havn't developed anything for a 
> while, there is not design docs for the object colour rules system yet 
> so i took on this challenge, which has been in the back of my mind for a 
> long time.
> 
> Thank you for your time
>      Michael B. Fox
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-- 
Dr. Lars Krueger


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