[Bf-docboard] Proposal for restructuring the user manual

[Greg Zaal]

Ok, so at the moment this is how the structure looks (with some notes of
mine below it):

- Getting Started
   - Introduction
   - Installation
   - Basics
      - Interface
      - Navigation
      - Help System
- Editors (reference for functions in each editor not covered in other
sections - e.g. layers, outliner usage...)
- Data System (data blocks, scenes, link/append...)
- Modeling
   - Sculpting
- Physics (particles, smoke, forces...)
- Modifiers
- Rigging
   - Constraints
- Animation
- Rendering
   - Blender Render
      - Materials
      - Textures
      - Lighting
      - World
   - Cycles
      - Materials
      - Lighting
      - World
- Compositing
- Motion Tracking
- Video Editing
- Grease Pencil
- Game Engine
- Extending Blender
- User Preferences
- Troubleshooting
- Glossary

(raw <http://upl.io/view/nhporj/proposal.rst> - in case you want to edit it)

*Notes:*

   - No need to classify things as '2D' - each of those topics could be
   considered 3D by at least some stretch of your imagination anyway (depth
   channels, deep compositing...)
   - The "Getting Started" section should be as simple and brief as
   possible. Troubleshooting is it's own thing that shouldn't be needed to
   start using Blender. Same for: Render Engines, User Preferences, Data
   System, Game Engine, Extending Blender - all important info, but you don't
   *have* to know any of that to start using Blender.
   - As mentioned in my previous mail, Materials/Lighting/Textures/World
   have been moved under Rendering, since those all change based on which
   engine is used.
   - Constraints are under Rigging - I think of constraints as a tool for
   rigging, but this is just my opinion.
   - Should Import/Export be its own topic? Or under Data System or
   Extending Blender?

Cheers,
Greg


On 3 January 2015 at 10:54, Campbell Barton <ideasman42 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 12:50 AM, Greg Zaal <gregzzmail at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 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
>
> This is an awkward case, especially since Blender-Internal isnt having
> much development and we may make Cycles default soon.
>
> Suggest have 'Render -> Blender Internal', 'Render -> Cycles'
> sections, as suggested.
>
> Brush docs can just link to `Render -> Blender Internal -> Textures`
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