[Bf-committers] Add-ons in Blender for commercial services

Patrick Shirkey pshirkey at boosthardware.com
Thu Aug 8 11:48:59 CEST 2013


On Thu, August 8, 2013 7:39 pm, Ton Roosendaal wrote:
> Hi Terry,
>
> The 'compliancy' and 'user benefit' rules would be sufficient to function
> as veto. It's quite subjective anyway :) I will make sure such vendors
> understand that the judgement of these criteria are being handled by us
> only. The have to make a convincing case.
>

It sounds like a good idea to me.

>From a marketing perspective it increases overall visibility and exposure
if the companies that are funding addons are also promoting them (and
Blender) to their client base. Simple mass marketing.

>From a user perspective it might need some regional filters to make it
relevant, at least by continent, but maybe also by country or even city
unless the suppliers are all globally active.



--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd



> -Ton-
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Ton Roosendaal  -  ton at blender.org   -   www.blender.org
> Chairman Blender Foundation - Producer Blender Institute
> Entrepotdok 57A  -  1018AD Amsterdam  -  The Netherlands
>
>
>
> On 8 Aug, 2013, at 11:16, Terry Wallwork wrote:
>
>> On 07/08/13 12:40, Ton Roosendaal wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Hopefully this doesn't become a huge thread - I'd mainly like to get
>>> some feedback from frequent contributors.
>>>
>>> Some companies have contacted me about the possibility of having an
>>> add-on in our releases that hook up Blender with their services. That's
>>> for example Shapeways, but also render farm providers.
>>>
>>> Such addons would make it easier for users to submit 3d models to a 3d
>>> printing service (one click submit, costs feedback, etc). Or for
>>> submitting render jobs to a farm with some feedback mechanisms.
>>>
>>> I'm still struggling with how or if we want this... I certainly don't
>>> want to open up Blender for crappy commercialization with logos,
>>> banners, etc.
>>>
>>> A workable proposal I formulated is below, for which I'd like some
>>> feedback.
>>>
>>> ------
>>>
>>> BF will accept add-ons in a release from commercial vendors/services
>>> under the following conditions:
>>>
>>> 1) Compliancy
>>> The add-on should comply to the same quality/design rules as we do for
>>> regular add-ons. That includes license compliancy, but also to not
>>> include banners, logos or advertisement.
>>> The add-on would default be not enabled, users have to activate it
>>> themselves.
>>>
>>> 2) Clear user benefit
>>> The add-on should provide functionality to 3D artists that's useful to
>>> have inside Blender. It can't be for promotional usage of
>>> non-functional features (like linking to websites only, for tutorials,
>>> book stores, etc).
>>>
>>> 3) Developed and maintained well
>>> The add-on is being created and maintained by the service provider (or
>>> a contracter managed by them).
>>>
>>> 4) Development Fund support
>>> The service provider signs up for Diamond Sponsor level (250 euro per
>>> month). Cancelling a payment then also means we can drop the add-on.
>>> Any service that's not making this profits per month with an add-on,
>>> can be considered to be not interested to have such an add-on either.
>>>
>>>
>>> -Ton-
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------
>>> Ton Roosendaal  -  ton at blender.org   -   www.blender.org
>>> Chairman Blender Foundation - Producer Blender Institute
>>> Entrepotdok 57A  -  1018AD Amsterdam  -  The Netherlands
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Bf-committers mailing list
>>> Bf-committers at blender.org
>>> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>>     Would there be some sort of catch all condition which would allow
>> you to reject an addon even if it meets all the rules you specified.
>> Giving you overall veto.  I ask because the commercial addon writers
>> will try to game the system if it becomes popular to get addons in
>> Blender.
>>
>> Ton/BF having a veto would help stop arguments with writers that try and
>> game the system.  Because then you can just say to them there is
>> veto/your decisions is final sort of thing.  It could act as a safety
>> valve to keep out the sneaky addons that are gaming.
>>
>> Other than that it seem like an excellent idea to me what you are
>> proposing.
>>
>> Terry Wallwork
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bf-committers mailing list
>> Bf-committers at blender.org
>> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
>
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