Los Angeles Blender Community

A couple of guys here in L.A are planning to start a meeting group for the local people so we can share ideas,works,tips or just some laughs in the area. For the moment we are coordinating the most basics aspects so maybe this thread is a good starting point to consolidate the things for the actual group and also to make it more noticeable for some others if they want to join our group. You’re more than welcome :wink:

Open software… Open community… Open people.

http://www.meetup.com/Blender/Los-Angeles-CA/

would be nice!

Unfortunately, I’m not totally independent yet.

Let’s make it known !

For those of you who use Facebook a lot I created a group there.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/512899425391610/
You can add yourself I think. I’ll make sure what’s up there reflects other channels and vice versa.

Someone was going to set up a web site?

Man, if only LA weren’t …LA… :stuck_out_tongue:
J/K, good luck guys!

If you ever do one outside of LA I’ll be there… just not big on the traffic/parking/etc. that comes with LA.

EDIT: I just checked on Am-Trak and a few of the other rail services back and forth… I might actually make the trip if getting from the station to the meeting and back is feasible.

Agreed on the LA traffic/parking/etc, but I’d still be willing to come and participate. And while the Facebook page sounds great, I wouldn’t sign up for Facebook… ever.

I’m definitely in, we just need to figure out a time and place.

Should this first meeting be pretty open, as far as what we discuss? Basically just meeting people and talking about what we can do with the group? Or should we come up with some general idea of an agenda, like maybe people bring some Blender projects to show everyone else what you’ve been doing with it?

@ hype Yeah I think the first meeting should definitly be a meet and greet meeting. We should also figure out how we want to run the group, communications and what we hope to get out of it.

So just to put it out there and get the conversation started how does everyone feel about the Long Beach area?

I work out of San Diego also as well as L.A., OC and Vegas…so expect to have some SD action. This is an all inclusive socal group. Not everyone will be able to do everthing but in staying flexible we can all stay connected in one way or another…

For the time being, unless we want to use Blogspot or Wordpress, I can manage any custom web presence as well as a mailing list. I have a host for my clients’ websites and will donate domain names as well as hosting space/bandwidth. I can assign additional managers and editors also as the group develops.

RE: the diversity of the group and making it an asset rather than a liability

So far in talking to the original members of the group, we all are interested in making the group flexible enough to assist the needs of all socal blender users. That means bringing together those from Culver City, to Burbank, to Orange County and San Diego County. I will through in Vegas when I can ;p

Also there is a mix of professional and hobby users that will have different needs and interests. So with that in mind and the geographical layout a flexible approach and not a one size fits all is looking like the best path to me. More thoughts on this later so we don’t get bogged down in details that don’t give a good ROI of time.

I think determination and persistence to find ways to have meetings of any type, big or small, occasional or frequent as well as collaboration and information sharing will benefit not only each other but encourage the CG industry in socal to use blender more.

As a long term goal and interest I have, it would be great if the the group as a whole or segments will be mature enough to participate in the Blender Institute Gooseberry project. It is a full length feature animation that the institute will be using studios from all over the world to produce.

I sent PMs for email addys to those who’s profile lists a socal location. So check your ba messages please.

Long Beach sound fine. Anyplace between San Diego to LA sounds fine too, 'cause I’m right at the halfway point.

Well, lets try and stick to the L.A. area. Long Beach is pretty far from L.A., especially with traffic. It doesn’t have to be in downtown L.A. There are plenty of places that don’t have parking issues. Like in the San Fernando Valley near the studios. Universal, Disney, etc…

First meeting set up for Thursday, August 16, 2012, 6:00 PM at Starbucks: 10965 Ventura Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 91604

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=10965+Ventura+Blvd,+Los+Angeles,+CA+91604

More information:

http://www.meetup.com/Blender/Los-Angeles-CA/765412/#

That is close to me.
I’ll try and be there Wednesday.

Thursday is best I am hearing. So plan on Thursday. Sam will edit the post to change the day. I already changed the meetup date.
Speaking of which: http://www.meetup.com/Blender/Los-Angeles-CA/765412/

Done, thanks JT, hope to see you on Thursday guys, we need to start thinking in the contents now that we have date & place. Any suggestions for contents???

Sweet!

6pm traffic is ugly. I’ll try and make it but I might be a bit later (coming from Woodland Hills).

I’ll be there, hopefully around 7pm.

For contents, I’m pretty open. I’ll be bringing a little flash drive with some of my work on it, in case we all want to go around and talk about or show what we use blender for. But that’s not necessary, might just be a good introduction.