[Bf-committers] Ask for advice to prepare applying Blender GSOC

[Tom M]

You are definitely off to a promising start

1) You've shown that you can understand the code and write documentation
2) You've shown you can understand and implement advanced mathematical ideas
3) You've demonstrated a deep interest and commitment to contributing to blender
4) You've shown that you can work independently and will likely not
need extensive mentor time commitment

That places you on an extremely competitive footing.

The next issue is mentoring bottlenecks - often we have more promising
candidates than we have mentoring capacity, so it comes down to who is
interested in (and has time for) mentoring what.

Next steps I'd recommend -
a) look through the bug tracker and see if there are things you can
fix and submit patches to fix them, especially in areas of code that
you might wish to contribute to

b) visit/hang out in irc - perhaps even start showing up to the sunday meetings

c) find out who the module owners are for areas you are interested in
and start bouncing ideas off of them

d) start submitting patches in general - new functionality; scripts;
bug fixes; etc.

As to your specific questions - proposals can go either way - you can
develop  a proposal independently or talk with a developer about some
ideas they have as a starting point and work from there.

For learning Blender - all three approaches work - I'd focus on 1 and
2.  Bug fixing on whatever modules interest you the most.

Tom M.

On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 8:38 PM, Ounan Ding <ounanding at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I will be a graduate student in University of California, Riverside(UCR)
> this fall.
> I am eager to participate in Blender GSOC in the next year.
> May I ask for some advice here?
>
> * What I have tried in Blender developing
> During my undergraduate time I worked for a 3D printing company.
> We use Blender's Python interface to implement tools for geometry
> processing.
>
> After I finished my undergraduate study I started to work for Tencent(a
> game company).
> I got experience in artistic tools design(for particle system) and graphics
> programming.
>
> I accepted admission from UCR and then quit my job on June, 2015.
> At the same time I started to learn Blender coding.
> I take notes here: http://thebusytypist.github.io/learnblenderdev-site/
>
> Currently I am still learning modifier's system and BMesh system.
>
> * How to choose a direction and then make it a proposal?
> I have seen the plan for future 2.7x release and visions on Blender 3.0
> from Ton.
> Must I choose a direction that tightly adheres to Blender's release
> schedule?
>
> As a applicant to GSOC,
> am I supposed to compose a proposal independently first
> and then discuss with a mentor to fit my ideas into Blender project?
>
> Or I should contact a mentor first and form a preliminary proposal idea
> together,
> then I refine this idea into a proposal?
>
> * Which way is the mostly suggested to learn Blender coding in depth?
> Currently I have following ideas to improve my skills on Blender coding
> before I apply GSOC:
>
> 1. Resolve bugs in Blender.
> 2. Focus on one single subsystem of Blender(e.g. BMesh, Physics, or Cycles
> renderer).
> 3. Look at as many subsystems as I can for a broad understanding of Blender.
>
> Which one is the mostly suggested?
>
>
> I understand there are so many competitive applicants every year that my
> proposal may be rejected.
> But I think the preparation for GSOC itself can be an opportunity to learn
> Blender coding.
> And I am always willing to contribute to Blender community.
>
> Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.
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