Synfig Project Forum

Hello,

I think we have great material available in this forum, ie synfig source files (demos, templates, challenges entries...) and that this material should be promoted in a more visible way. The actual wiki page that lists these stuff is pretty out-dated, and I don't want to update it for it would be a too big work load on my own. On the other hand moving the material from the forum to another place seems pretty overkill.

Therefore I'd like to introduce you to an alternative presentation means: the Synfig resources repository prototype.

It indexes available material with a thumbnail and links to the forum/wiki/youtube/vimeo for viewing/downloading the resource. Finding interesting material by tags/keywords, author, licence or more should be easy this way, and updating the content only means adding these info in a simple google spreadsheet (see for yourself)... which volunteers could maintain collaboratively (hopefully) more easily than the wiki.

Let me know what you think of the idea before I go any further in collecting existing material from the forum, eg if you:
- are interested or not in the basic idea
- like or not the navigation means (detail & thumbnails views + timeline)
- want to get involved in dev/layout (CSS and/or javascript knowledge is a +)


This prototype integrates (mostly) nicely with the current website: http://www.synfig.org/exhibit-test (only registered admins for now, sorry...) screenshot:

edit: new link: http://www.synfig.org/en/examples-repository

For the interested audience I used the Simile Exhibit opensource framework. Source file attached, simply unzip and open in a browser with a working internet connexion.

Have a nice day,
Berteh.

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- discovering, learning about and liking Synfig, open source animation software -
| feel free to browse my Synfig archive | running v0.63.05 on Ubuntu Quantal |

Hi berteh!
The idea looks fantastic and the website integration is nice.
I just want to know where are the sources of the files stored really, in synfig.org somewhere or in your repo?
-G

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Synfig needs your help!
Developers, packagers, bug testers, translators, artists, web developers, wiki writers... you can contribute!

It sounds like a very good idea! All except the google doc part I think (They alone controls most of the personal data in the world, a situation I feel is quite scary).

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www.rylanderanimation.se
Synfig scripts, etc.

Hi Genete, rylleman.
Glad you like the idea.

To answers your comments I moved no material wrt to the current situation, but merely made links (as you can see in the google spreadsheet ~database):

• the thumbnails images are those of the synfig forum when available, or from youtube/vimeo/other else.
• the videos are mere links to the streaming platforms (youtube/vimeo)
• the source files are links to the synfig forum attachements... and therefore you need to be logged into the forum to be able to download any source file.

One question I'd have is: would you like to see in such a repository all the creations, or only the ones that provide the source file? eg: to be a gallery or a repository?

I'd personally prefer the repository option (only material with source)... but usage as a gallery would be easy too: we could easily have a "thickbox" to switch between showing all material or only those that provide the source.



As for google, I don't like "Big Brother" much neither, but need to make the datasource maintainable. Alternatives data sources to google doc could be: JSON (structured text) file in GIT, Excell / OpenOffice spreadsheet in GIT, or EditGrid.com online spreadsheets.

I don't like the 2 options with data file in GIT much, as it would not enable "non-tech" people to contribute easily. EditGrid.com is fine by me as an alternative to google docs, only needs the contributors to register. I'll try it in the next days to confirm... but should be fine with something like http://www.editgrid.com/synfig/common/SynfigResources

Berteh.

Hi, Berteh!
The idea is great and I sure repository is "must have" for synfig!
But my suggestion is to use more global solution - like ccHost (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CcHost). It was earlier used by openclipart. Though, openclipart moved to Aiki. That makes me think...
Currently I'm busy reworking the website and thought to make the repository later, but if you are willing to help with that, maybe it's good time to start. ^___^

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Morevna project:
Recently completed tasks: Demo released
Top priority tasks: Website reorganization

Hi Zelgadis,

Nice to read about going for ccHost. I like the idea a lot. Only issue is with content that is not releasable under CC and that we would still want to promote (eg: former Voria material) how would you handle these?

I'll gladly join on the cchost hosting of material if you want help with that. What are your plans?

Meanwhile I did a few updates on the above repository prototype, please have a look at http://www.synfig.org/en/examples-repository (available for a short test/comment period; if we don't spread the link outside this forum we could withdraw it anytime)

A related question: what about providing a "level of difficulty": identify files newbies would be higly inspired to open, and ones that would scare them off? (currently proposed as a "complexity" scale.)

Included material (~50 examples for now) is still listed in google docs (https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key ... utput=html) because editgrid.com export to JSON turns out to be a problem, but i'll keep looking at it in the next days, depending on available spare time.

have a nice day,
Berteh.

-edit: typos & missing words-

If that helps, it is possible to setup a git repo at sourceforge.net. Multiple git repos can be handled now.
-G

_________________
Synfig needs your help!
Developers, packagers, bug testers, translators, artists, web developers, wiki writers... you can contribute!

Put it into another place? I.e. gallery.
I see the purpose of repository is like openclipart.org - lots of content ready for re-use.


My plans were to set up cms first. But maybe it will be good to setup ccHost now, so we can play with it. I think to set up ccHost on the synfig.org.


I think that can be solved with tags.
Still I think that's not a big issue, because that's repository, not gallery.

_________________
Morevna project:
Recently completed tasks: Demo released
Top priority tasks: Website reorganization