[Bf-docboard] Proposal for restructuring the user manual

[Greg Zaal]

We have two currently supported renderers (game engine is it's own thing
imo, and not technically a renderer in the same context):

   - Cycles
   - Blender Render

Freestyle is not a renderer, rather a post-effect as I understand it (it
works on top of either BI or Cycles renders).

Currently we have `Materials`, `Textures`, `Lighting` and `World` as their
own sections - which made sense when BI was the only supported renderer.
However now that Cycles is around, It'd make more sense to me to move the
materials, textures, lighting and world sections into the folder for each
renderer. So the structure would be:

   - Rendering
      - Blender Render
      - Materials
         - Textures
         - Lighting
         - World
         - Cycles
      - Materials
         - Lighting
         - World
         - [no need for a textures folder for Cycles]

One problem with that is that textures can be used for brushes and
particles too - should we then add `Textures` folders under those
categories as well? Or instead keep it as it is currently with `Textures`
in the root, and cover all the applications (BI/Brushes/Particles...) there?

Alternatively, since Cycles is technically an external renderer, should we
remove all Cycles docs from this manual, and instead have them documented
elsewhere separately?

Cheers,
Greg

On 29 December 2014 at 16:16, Gaia <gaia.clary at machinimatrix.org> wrote:

>  I have set up a "test page" on our blog for trying how the manual
> structure could be improved:
>
> http://blog.machinimatrix.org/blender/manual/
>
> The accordeon menu that is displayed on the top left side of the page is
> hand made. And of course the blender documents are from the official
> document server, so they do not reflect the structure of the accordeon menu.
>
> If you like you also can post a comment at the bottom of the page.
> Maybe this is a better way to play with possibilities and share ideas :)
>
> cheers,
> Gaia
>
>
> On 28.12.2014 23:37, Campbell Barton wrote:
>
> On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 12:16 AM, Gaia <gaia.clary at machinimatrix.org> <gaia.clary at machinimatrix.org> wrote:
>
>  Hi;
> That was a lot of feedback so far :)
> Below is a revised version of a Blender Manual structure
> based on all comments and further ideas:
>
> Getting Started
>
> Introduction
> Installation
> Basic usage
>
> Interface
> 3D Interaction (not sure what to do with that)
> Setting the Default Scene
> Help System
> Render Engines (brief)
> Quick steps (to be defined)
>
> User Preferences
> The Data System
> Game Engine
> Extending Blender
> Troubleshooting
>
> Render Engines
>
> Blender Internal
> Cycles
> Freestyle
>
> Import/Export
>
> FBX
> Collada
> Wavefront
> ...
>
> Topics
>
> Modeling
> Materials
> Textures
> World
> Physics
> Modifiers (not sure if this is a topic or a reference article)
> Animation
>
> Rigging
>
> 2D
>
> Rendering
> Compositing
> Motion Tracking (maybe this is NOT 2D)
> Grease Pencil
>
> Constraints (not sure if this is a topic or a reference article)
>
> Reference (could be added later?)
>
> 3D View
> Timeline
> Graph Editor
> Dope Sheet
> NLA Editor
> UV Image Editor
> Video Sequence Editor
> Movie Clip Editor
> Text Editor
> Node Editor
> Logic Editor
> Properties Editor
> Outliner
> User Preferences (link to User Pref in the Getting Started Section?)
> Info Window
>
> Glossary
>
> -gaia-
>
>  Some brief comments,
>
> - Is "Topics" intended to be a Page on its own? Titles like
> "Animation" seem like they should be top level links.
>
> - having '2D' as a section seems a bit arbitrary... are UV's 2D?
> Grease pencil can be 3D too..., think its an unnecessary category.
>
> - Space-Type Reference,.. can be nice, but would be wary of people
> adding too much content there,
>  they should be a quick reference of the space-type, but as details
> about workflows should go in the manual.
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