I am a software developer from the UK who has an avid interest in practically anything to do with computers. I’m also a keen photographer, have an interest in cinematography and have been following 3D animation since I first saw Luxo Jr. way back in the '80s. I first came across Blender about 2 years ago and was, as you would expect, incredibly impressed. Due to home and work commitments I hadn’t been able to do much with Blender until recently, however I did have the time to research 3D animation and to learn more about the processes behind film making; topics which, when combined, led me to start thinking about creating a 3D animated film. Now this is a story that I’m sure many people are familiar with, so I’d like to add a twist. I want to make a feature-length 3D animated film.
Obviously I understand that this is a very large undertaking and one that no individual, regardless of their talent, could achieve alone. Hence this post and the subject “Collaboration”.
I’d like to form and be part of a team of people all working toward a common goal: the creation of a computer animated film. As I see it this team would be structured in a way similar to how open source software projects are; however, instead of having project co-ordinators you have a producer and a director. Instead of lead programmers you have key animators, and so on. Anyone who wanted to join the team would be assigned a role and would carry out their work using their own tools and in whatever time they could spare. A community web site would serve as the focal point for the effort, with forums and e-mail providing the conduits for communication. Volunteers could help by using their talent or just by providing resources, such as processing power for rendering or web space. Obviously much work would be needed to co-ordinate the team, but many examples of successful Internet collaborations exist to serve as a guide to such a project.
So where do we currently stand? Well, this post is the first step. If people think that this is something that is possible and that they would be interested in supporting it (in whatever shape or form) then let me know. If you think I’m raving mad, well that’d be good to know too
I think that it’s a great idea! I aready asked myself a lot of time why there are so few open artwork projects that work on the same model than the open source software projects. My conclusion is that cool artwork is something that is faster produced than cool software, but artwork is much more complicated to manage if there are many people that contribute than it is for software. Thus, for big projects where several people are working on, artwork is more complicated and slower to manage, because it is hard work to make something graphically coherent if there are many people.
But I think that your project is worth the try, really!
Another thing I realized by starting a few free projects, there will not be a lot of contributions while there is nothing yet. YOU need to make the first BIG step, because if you have nothing to show people will not get motivated to dedicate their time to the project. You should do some sketches, texts, shemas, etc, and do a small web page that explains what you have in mind (and that is updated frequently with a visible date showing that), and list the more or less precise elements you need. You also nee a forum, mailing list or something like that to welcome and introduce new people to what’s going on.
But even if I have actually very few free time, I’m ready to help if there are small specific tasks to solve. Keep me informed!
I completely agree that until people see something tangible they won’t commit and it is my intention to start putting together a community web site, but first I wanted to test the waters to see if others were interested.
If only 5 people express interest then I have to consider whether I will ever put together a team sizeable enough to tackle such a project, however if 50 people express interest then I’d be a fool not to proceed.
Actually your question can be answered with a big YES in general!!!
In case it matters there are a couple of such projects ongoing around here in elysiun… So actually it is possible to form some group of people working together on the same project…
Take for example the project me and others are working on… It started with an X-Warrior’s post… Me and some others replied… Right now we have a group of 22 -25 people (I 'm not sure, I lost the count somewhere… ) working on it… I really can’t predict if it is going to be a success, but we are doing a really nice team work for the moment…
So, as =diz= said, you only have to make a specific suggestion, giving some information of what the project is going to be about, or else you won’t be able to raise the interest… If the idea is really good, you’ll be astonished by the interest you’ll get from people here…
I say GO FOR IT… Even though I’m pretty much busy modelling for “The Exodus” project, I even may find some time to give you a hand if you need me…
) working on it… I really can’t predict if it is going to be a success, but we are doing a really nice team work for the moment…