[Bf-webcontent] Demoreel - top or down of page?

[Piotr Arlukowicz]

​@olivier:
>
> I would even suggest to limit those videos to one level (like it is now),
> and to only 5 minutes length.
> I believe that's enough to quickly show the feature and to.be sure the
> viewer watches it until then end.
>
> Then there could be a link at the end of the paragraph that says "if you
> are interested in detailed videos and tutorials about feature bla bla
> please check out these additional.videos". There we can get links to bguru
> cgcookies etc.
>
Olivier, my proposal of three levels is not about Features Page only, it's
just about the whole Educational system, to which Features Page belongs. So
I agree that we need short simple movies with huge impact to show main pros
quickly. Another levels are not for that page, and even you already
mentioned this, by pointing that we need also other resources linked.
I'll keep this simple: three levels of videos are not for the same
purposes. Also they don't mean any directional order. Let's think about
them as about diffrent TYPES of presentation: levels mean different types.

TypeA: Feature Film - about 1-5 min long, no commentary / music in the
background, desired page: Features Page

TypeB: Updates/changes/new things, longer, with explanation, made by people
close to developers - we all need those just to know about new features.
This is for the advanced community. The reviews of "what's new" in new
versions done by CGCookie already belongs to this section.

TypeC: Regular Tutorials about Blender, covering many areas or specific
subjects, as it is done by sometimes by diffrent companies/individuals.
Could also be released in series if the subject is huge.


​@Elijah:​

Yeah, 5 min max length is good. And I guess one level of videos would be a
> much better idea, now that I think about it.
>

​For the Features Page this is the only way. Only short has to go there,
just for the clarity. There should be also a link for "more..." resources,
if somebody is interested.​

Obviously to be professional they would have to be all made by the same
> person or group. I think somebody who speaks fluent English should be the
> commentator, if commentary is necessary.
> ​ I​
> n fact…as I run that thought through my head…maybe we don't actually need
> someone to voice over the videos. With a little background music, and some
> other things…who knows. Whatever. Just thinking out loud here.
>

​I think we don't need a human voice in Feature Videos. This way they can
be even faster, and they should not be tutorials. The reason of Feature
Film is to quickly show something awesome. Explanations should go to
different type of material, and be presented in "Education" section, not in
the "Features". I hope this is clear now :)


> Actually, if no commentary is needed, maybe I could make the videos…we'll
> see.
>

​Yes, you can! We all can help and I think I also can record part of the
screen. We can record things using Blender screencasting tool​ (Alt+F3),
but this can easy be accidentally stopped by for example rendering etc. So,
there are better ways - just plain screen recording.

Actually, I'm working under Linux, and I already have well prepared system
and good capabilities of recording screen, using ffmpeg and another tools.
This is a technical topic, so maybe it's not good time to explain details
here. Anybody interested could ask me using my private email (
piotao at gmail.com or piotao at polskikursblendera.pl). I've recorded more than
270 tutorials so far using my solutions and this worked very well. For
Windows there's a bunch of simple/advanced programs for screencasting, i.e.
camtasia studio, etc. Some of them are not free, however.

We need a Feature Films made for different areas. I can imagine that we can
establish a simple board for submissions and acceptance of such films. I'll
ask Francesco for his opinion. This way we can have a 'green-light' or we
should discuss another story.

I think that feature films should present ONE single nice thing. Let's say,
sculpting. It's easy to make a human head with some details, in few
minutes, using symmetry, dynamic topo, and different tools. Such a movie
needs then be speeded up to not waste time, and the background music can be
added. We should also define a 'standard' format for such movie, and a list
of subjects and topics to cover.

Let's say just for start, that we need more Feature Movies in the following
categories (detailed roadmap needs to be prepared):

1. Modeling (with meshes, curves, metaballs, surfaces, etc.)
2. Materials (quick glass, transparent, ssscattering, bump+normals,
specularmaps, emitmaps, nodes, etc)
3. Textures (procedural, bitmap, mapping, uv, painting)
4. Node system (composite, material, texture, cycles nodes, and in the
Future - particles and modifiers nodes)
5. VSE
6. BGE
7. Movie tracking (tracking, reconstruction, masking, etc.)
8. Simulations (particles, softbody/cloth, physics, force-fields, etc)
9. Dynamic Paint
10. Rigify,
etc.

A you can see, the list is VERY long and short movies will be rather
numerous if we'd like to show most important, funny parts. This is Blender
Richness! :)

Format of the movies:
1. We should do this in FullHD format, 1920x1080p, 15fps is enough. Of
course we can downsample them to 720p, but such movies will stay a bit long
and FullHD seems to be best choice. What do you think?

2. I can prepare such movies if somebody just send me a pack of frames or
raw recordings. I can do this by using Blender, as for all my tutorials
already recorded. This way I can help, if you are interested.

3. We should try to make best of the best, and if they will be more
submissions, we have to select best of them. I think this is OK approach,
but let's discuss this too.

Who would like to attend to submission committee and who will make feature
movies?


​regards
​
piotr
--
Piotr Arlukowicz
​Polish Blender Course, http://polskikursblendera.pl
​
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