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List of Project Ideas for GSoD 2020

Kevin Masson edited this page Apr 19, 2020 · 8 revisions

Introduction

This page contains the list of ideas for Google Season of Docs 2020 for the appleseed project.

Appleseed is a complex project with various applications that require docs for both end-users and developers. Participating in GSoD will allow us to improve/create docs for appleseed and that is really important for our users and contributors.

The following list is not exhaustive, feel free to suggest your own ideas!

Existing documentation

Appleseed documentation and how-to's can be found on appleseedhq.net/docs but here is a list of all existing docs:

We also keep a list of third-parties docs that are necessary for some use of appleseed:

Community needs

We recently asked our community what they needed most in matter of documentation regarding appleseed. The answer was clear and is blenderseed documentation.

We currently have blenderseed documentation but it is not up to date and lack tutorials.

Ideas

Make a video tutorial series on how to use appleseed in Blender

Most of appleseed users are using Blender. We have a Blender plugin called blenderseed that allows to use our renderer inside of Blender. At the moment, if you want to learn how to use this plugin, you would need to ask developers themselves and read our reference documentation which is not very helpful for beginners. A tutorial series which cover most important things such as installation and rendering a simple frame can be very helpful for users but also for new contributors.

  • Requirements: Know your way around Blender and video-recording
  • Challenges: Making short but comprehensive videos
  • Primary mentor: Kevin
  • Secondary mentor: To be determined

Tasks:

  1. Learn how to use the appleseed plugin
  2. Determine what you want to explain in the guide
  3. Record, edit and publish your videos
  4. Write subtitles in your native language and explain how the video can be translated by other people
  5. Reference your tutorials in appleseed's written documentation

Show usage examples of appleseed shader in Blender

Many new users are asking how to set up correctly appleseed materials and utility shader node groups. A visual guide of best practices how-to set-up shader nodes will be very valuable for less experienced user and artists transitioning from other render engines.

  • Requirements: Know your way around Blender, have knowledge about shaders and an artistic touch
  • Challenges: Setting up small, visually pleasing example scenes in Blender
  • Primary mentor: To be determined
  • Secondary mentor: To be determined

Tasks:

  1. Examine node groups of small example scenes in other render engine e.g. Cycles, Arnold, etc.
  2. Set up a small scene in Blender, typical for the shader's use in a real (production) scene, to show the shaders behaviour
  3. Document the node tree and resulting render for the shader (screen-shots included)
  4. Additionally, one could add do's and don'ts for the particular shader node.

Modernize, rewrite and combine all reference documentation

We currently have various forms of documentation that are located in different places. Each documentation style and structure is not consistent. It can be hard for new users to find information about appleseed programs and plugins. We would like to merge all our documentations into one place and rethink the style and structure of it.

  • Requirements: Know how to use readthedocs
  • Challenges: None in particular
  • Primary mentor: Kevin
  • Secondary mentor: To be determined

Tasks:

  1. Combine and rewrite all existing documentations in a singular place
  2. Reference the new documentation location in previous documentations
  3. Create an overview page that helps users find their way in the documentation
  4. Organize the new documentation so that contributors can easily add new information
  5. Prepare for translations
  6. Help us to make our documentation less look like a wall of text

Document the use of appleseed.cli

The command-line program is our simplest program. It can be used to make renders without any GUI or DCC app like Blender. Moreover, we use the cli to run tests and to create plugins for DCC apps. Explaining how to find and use this program will be very helpful for new contributors and advanced users. The cli also has features that are not exposed in other applications like checkpoint rendering.

  • Requirements: Don't be afraid of a terminal
  • Challenges: None in particular
  • Primary mentor: To be determined
  • Secondary mentor: To be determined

Tasks:

  1. Find out what appleseed.cli can do
  2. Write a reference document of the program
  3. Write tutorials on most common uses of the program
  4. Talk about the features that are only available in the cli but not elsewhere
  5. Organize the reference and the tutorials along with other docs
  6. Help us to start translating the documentation
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