Hi to all POV-Ray users!

I have read first the "POV-Ray is free..." thread and then the following
"Group Movie Project" thread with growing interest, and while I don't have
too much time myself (between my job, my TreeDesigner-project and my other
hobbies :-) I think I can find some, so here comes my proposition:

I would be willing to coordinate the following project:
(This is a rough outline only)

Target is an episode-movie with all episodes around a common theme and
weaving themselfs together (like "Night on Earth" or "Shortcuts").

Minimum length is 30min, up to feature-length (depending on how much
response with get).

Rendering must be done with POV-Ray, modeling is up to the individual
artist.

The theme, storyboard, episodes etc. are decided on and created by a central
team (see below). The actual job of modeling and programming animation is
then distributed to all POV-Ray users that want to participate (and that can
deliver a certain standard of quality)

The project is purely non-profit oriented. All profit that may be generated
by selling the finished movie (or license or I don't know) - that is,
everything beyond paying for actually producing the stuff (like preparing
the distribution media etc.) - will go to a cause yet to be determined. This
could be:
- the povray.org site
- charity
- the next movie project

The project would be tightly coordinated between different teams, each team
consisting of it's "Director" and his/hers assistants:

- Coordinating Director and Team:
Responsible for coordinating all the other directors and teams, quality
ensurance, talking to the outside world etc.
(I guess my job would be this one :-)

- Technical Director and Team:
Responsible for the technical issues (software, distributed rendering,
helping with technical stuff, compiling the rendered frames into the
MPEG-movie, preparing the distribution media etc.) as well as for
distributing the render-jobs to the Render-Slaves (see below) as far as the
rendering is not already done by the individual artist.

- Art Director and Team:
Responsible for the artistical issues: Creation of the Theme, Storyboard,
coordination of the artists (see below)
(I want to be involved here too!)

- Legal and Marketing Director and Team:
Responsible for all legal issues, like copyrights, funds, liabilities etc.
as well as for selling and distributing the finished product

- Artists
All POV-Ray users that want to participate in creating models and/or
animations. A certain level of quality must be delivered by each artist (so
that the drop between the quality of different episodes is not too large)

- Render-Slaves (maybe we find a nicer name for them :-)
All POV-Ray users that want to donate processing power. They only need a
computer that runs POV-Ray, an internet connection to transfer the rendered
images (be aware that this can be a *lot* of data, that you probably don't
want to send over a 14.4 line), and time...

Since POV-Ray is TMed I don't think we can/should use it in the name for the
project, so I suggetst the following project-name:

MovieProject

I have a few megs of web-space available for MovieProject, which can be used
for the initial homepage and as a kernel for a yet to be developed
distributed MovieProject web.

So now I wait for your responses. Please answer to the newsgroup (so that
others can read it too) as well as by e-mail (so that I don't have to wait
until it shows up at my provider).
If enough people answer, and if there are people willing to fill the
different "Director" seats, you will (hopefully soon) hear from me again.
Watch this newsgroup!

And of course: If you have additions, suggestions, ideas etc. for the rough
concept above, send them!

Greetings to all,
Johannes

jhu### [at] algonetse
---------------------

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Ok.
Right after posting I realized what I forgot:

- Music/Sound Director and Team
Responsible for the music, soundtrack and voices

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Sounds like a cool idea!!!

I decided to post an anim of that figure I was telling about (it's in
povray.binaries.animations der...)  It's simple but shows what can be done.
Be warned, it took me two minutes to make that animation!!!  Literally!!!
Okay, so I already had the model made.  I know it's not full blown IK but I
can easily adapt it to do that two.

I was thinking that it would be posible to replace each body part with a
mesh object (well, patch anyway).  Just a thought.

Back to the original thread!

I think this is a good idea Johannes.  I say we aim for one hour!  (and if
we can do more, so be it!).

I'll be a producer of one of the teams (if that's okay), that is, if I have
enough time... I'm moving location soon (gulp) so I guess I'll find out soon
enough!

In response to a question a while ago about different versions of POV-Ray, I
suppose you can use them, that's up to each team (right?).  The better the
resulting animations the better!!!

--
Lance Birch
Remove the smiley to e-mail.
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/ambient/lance

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Lance Birch <:-)Lan### [at] tpgicomau> wrote in message
<6j9cvm$858$1@oz.aussie.org>...

>In response to a question a while ago about different versions of POV-Ray,
I
>suppose you can use them, that's up to each team (right?).  The better the
>resulting animations the better!!!


That's how I see it. As long as it is POV-Ray (or some custom compile of
POV-Ray) it doesn't matter. Coordination of which parts have to be rendered
with which POV-Ray versions would be up to the Technical Team.

Johannes.

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Johannes Hubert wrote in message <6j94so$7r8$1@oz.aussie.org>...
>Hi to all POV-Ray users!
>
>I have read first the "POV-Ray is free..." thread and then the following
>"Group Movie Project" thread with growing interest, and while I don't have
>too much time myself (between my job, my TreeDesigner-project and my other
>hobbies :-) I think I can find some, so here comes my proposition:
>
[snip]
>- Render-Slaves (maybe we find a nicer name for them :-)
>All POV-Ray users that want to donate processing power. They only need a
>computer that runs POV-Ray, an internet connection to transfer the rendered
>images (be aware that this can be a *lot* of data, that you probably don't
>want to send over a 14.4 line), and time...
[snip]
>Greetings to all,
>Johannes
>
>jhu### [at] algonetse

I can be a Render-Slave if required. My own machine is a K6-233 and it sits
idle during the day, and I have access to two Pentium 133 which can be used
during the night and weekends.

It's not great but it's what I can donate to the cause.

Justin
jus### [at] virginnet
http://freespace.virgin.net/justin.whitton

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Sign me up.  I am willing to help on the art (as a team member), a
render-slave, as well as web coordination.  I have access to several
machines and can setup any extra web space needed for this.  Actually I can
fit in anywhere help will be needed.

One note on this project.  Maybe it should be broken into two seperate
movies.  The first one created would be a 10 min short with simple animation
and sound just to test the setup of the organization.  That way big problems
are fixed before we start to invest alot of time.  Also, people wanting to
get started right away with rendering can work on the 10 min short while the
most difficult part, the story board for a 60+ min movie, is finished.

Mark Arrasmith
arr### [at] mathtwsuedu
ISS / Mathematics Instructor

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Might I suggest, for ease of coordination/communication, setting up a "chat
room" of some sort? I operate one on IRC, and I can easily set up another
 REALLY easily =) ). It's as close to real-time as it gets, and it can be
moderated, if need be. Plus it makes it possible to transfer files directly.

Let me know, and I'll even find IRC software for everyone, and give links to
resources.

I run the #povray channel on EFnet, and with the help of a LinkBot, you can
talk to people in the #povray channels on DALnet and NewNet.

Twyst=====================================
pov-ray news, reviews and tutorials
http://twysted.net
e-mail: twy### [at] twystednet
==========================================

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>Hi to all POV-Ray users!
Hi Johannes (and everybody else)

>I have read first the "POV-Ray is free..." thread and then the following
>"Group Movie Project" thread with growing interest, and while I don't have
>too much time myself (between my job, my TreeDesigner-project and my other
>hobbies :-) I think I can find some, so here comes my proposition:
>
>I would be willing to coordinate the following project:
>(This is a rough outline only)
[snip]

>The project is purely non-profit oriented. All profit that may be generated
>by selling the finished movie (or license or I don't know) - that is,
>everything beyond paying for actually producing the stuff (like preparing
>the distribution media etc.) - will go to a cause yet to be determined.
This
>could be:
>- the povray.org site
>- charity
>- the next movie project

I'd recommend a split between  1) and 3)  -- mainly because one man's
charity is not necessarily another's.  

But that may be getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

I have a national broadcast TV production & administration background (Now a
semi-retired, stay at home Dad.  (No, that does not mean I have loads of
spare time --quite the opposite :)    )  I have written a screenplay that
was independently produced (read: lost in obscurity)  and I will be happy to
help with this project, within my time limitations.

Let me make a few comments on what has gone before.
1)Distribution- If you make it, they will come.  I'd recommend rendering to
NTSC standards and time it to a 22 minute runtime on DV tape, for starters. 
This would make it extremely attractive to cable outlets such as SCI-FI, 
Discovery, TLC, etc.  This would lend itself nicely to a three act format.  
If this raises international interest, we could re-render to PAL, SECAM,
HDTV--- once the basic scene files and organization are in place, it
shouldn't be a big deal to re-render "to order".  There are tech issues
involved in all formats-- let's minimize the headaches by focusing on one
format/distribution at a time.

2) Subject matter- Again, let's focus on a market.  Computer animation is of
greatest interest  to those also interested in Science Fiction and
technology.... and CGI isn't well suited for Romantic Comedy :).
Eye candy isn't enough, though.  There has to be a good story(s)... and it
should be accessible to a reasonably broad market.  S-F comedy?  An
adaptation of some kind?

3) Coordination- Rather than try and run a web server, news server, web
chat,FTP etc.  let me recommend Hotline <http://www.hotlinesw.com>  It's
available for Win 95 and Macs in both client and server form, integrates
news, chat, resumable file transfers and operates on a non-crowded port.  As
a shareware product that provides a vehicle for group coordination, it's
worth a look.  
Regrettably, I don't think it comes in a Linux flavor yet.  (I appreciate
Linux users a lot.  You guys are more devoted than even we Mac folk) 

This is an exciting project!  Imagine users of all computer platforms in
many countries contributing to a single purpose!  Very cool.

On a quasi related note (or not), Richard Hatch is looking for CGI
volunteers to help him put together a presentation to revive Battlestar
Galactica as a series....seriously!

(Ok. I confess.  I'm a fanboy.  But it might not be a bad practice stepping
stone...)


Ian
<ian### [at] bellsouthnetwork>  
(remove "work" from above to email me)

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Mark Arrasmith wrote in message <6j9tgn$8ue$1@oz.aussie.org>...
>One note on this project.  Maybe it should be broken into two seperate
>movies.  The first one created would be a 10 min short with simple
animation
>and sound just to test the setup of the organization.  That way big
problems
>are fixed before we start to invest alot of time.  Also, people wanting to
>get started right away with rendering can work on the 10 min short while
the
>most difficult part, the story board for a 60+ min movie, is finished.


Sounds like a good idea to me. We will certainly have to discuss it once we
are over the initial phase of "recruiting" people...

Johannes -:- MovieProject Coordinator

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Sound advice. We will have to discuss this further.

About the Hotline shareware: I am a little bit in doubt to settle on a
program people *have to* buy (register) just to participate. And it would
leave all the nice Linux/Unix/whatever POV-Ray users outside, wouldn't it?

Johannes -:- MovieProject Coordinator

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