[Maya-Python] [ANN] Call for Contributors - Publish

142 views
Skip to first unread message

Marcus Ottosson

unread,
Jul 31, 2014, 1:00:39 PM7/31/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com
Hi,

Me and a few pipeline developers just initiated an open source project involving a publishing utility for feature film, commercial, games and visualisation called Publish, and we're out looking for interested participants!

We're currently working on breaking down exactly what it should do, how it should work and what types of content it should handle - i.e. requirements gathering. Have a look here for more info:


If you're interested in joining, let us know here and have a look at the Contributions page for details.


The goal is for Publish to be directly applicable in various production and to avoid tapping into managing files and folders; but rather focus on the quality assurance aspect of asset management. Including a user-friendly GUI and validations per type of resource; model, rig, shader etc.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Marcus


--
Marcus Ottosson
konstr...@gmail.com

Kurian O.S

unread,
Jul 31, 2014, 1:14:55 PM7/31/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com
I am happy to join this project :)


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Python Programming for Autodesk Maya" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to python_inside_m...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/python_inside_maya/CAFRtmODcyfYFq5%2B65fLujpNfhiK8vAUWXSic0bYEGynpBV3DRA%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



--
--:: Kurian ::--

Marcus Ottosson

unread,
Jul 31, 2014, 5:17:14 PM7/31/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com
You would be very welcome to do so. :) Nightfall has hit London at the moment so I'll have to delay a more thorough response, but do skim through the wiki to get a handle on things and we'll talk shortly!

Best,
Marcus

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


--
Marcus Ottosson
konstr...@gmail.com


Christopher Crouzet

unread,
Jul 31, 2014, 5:29:28 PM7/31/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com
The Blender guys are onto a similar project and are at the same development stage after a recent step-back due to the complexity of the task.

Why not contributing to their project instead of starting a new one?




For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



--
Christopher Crouzet
http://christophercrouzet.com

Marcus Ottosson

unread,
Aug 1, 2014, 2:19:14 AM8/1/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com

Why not contributing to their project instead of starting a new one?

Hey Christopher, good to hear from you again. :)

I’m glad you asked that question; to answer it properly, we’ll have to define what exactly the Redcurrant project is. As you can see from the comments in that thread, the general understanding of the word “asset management” is quite broad - from sketching in the viewport to decentralising and securing data - and I’m not sure we’ll do any better describing it then they have, but my understanding of the project so far is that:

  • It is touching on responsibilities similar to those of Shotgun and FTrack
  • And less so their integrations and file-management utilities - Pipeline Toolkit and Connect respectively

Perhaps most importantly, the Redcurrant project also seems to:

  • Target 1 project, Gooseberry
  • Target 1 software, Blender

I’d might even turn the question on its head and ask; why develop Redcurrant, when there is Tactic and Stalker?

And, realistically:

  • Some may need what Redcurrant/Shotgun/Tactic/FTrack/5th Kind offers (which doesn’t include validations)
  • Whereas some may just need publishing

Finally - to clarify where the responsibility of Publish starts and ends - Publish is used in applying validations on (i.e. to “quality assure”) outgoing data - the destination of said data isn’t in scope of its responsibilities as it is at that point where requirements starts becoming individual. On the other hand, everyone (should) need validations on their data, and it is, as you can see, quite a task on its own, and that’s where we invite developers to join. :)

I’m working on properly defining the boundaries of the project here, finding a solid definition is one of the major goals at this stage: https://github.com/abstractfactory/publish/wiki/boundaries

I’d love to have you with us Christopher, I’ve seen your code and documenting skills and I take it you’ve got experience in working with tools such as these in major pipelines. Your input would truly be helpful, would you consider it?

I am happy to join this project :)

@Kurian: If you’ve got any questions about the project, this is a good place to ask. Otherwise, I’ll get in touch with you privately and we could start exploring where to go next!

Best,
Marcus




For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



--
Marcus Ottosson
konstr...@gmail.com

Marcus Ottosson

unread,
Aug 1, 2014, 3:01:06 AM8/1/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com

Actually, Kurian, I was about to shoot an email your way introducing ourselves and ask a little bit about you, but this might be as good a place as any, and it’d be out in the open for others to see too.

First of all, glad you’re interested in joining us on Publish! It’s bound to be exciting and full of challenges and hopefully you’ll learn a few things along with sharing your expertise. This is us so far:

  • Me, running a pipeline startup here in London
  • Liju, is a Pipeline TD at Prime Focus in India (and is on this mailing list too!)
  • Sebastian, former head of pipeline at Trixter Germany
  • Mahmoodreza, Pipeline developer looking to get into the industry
  • Daniel, game developer, working on infographics

Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself? Such as what you do, where you are, what you enjoy, your availability and a little bit about your experiences. If you’d rather do it privately, email me directly and I’ll hook you into the others!

Best,
Marcus

--
Marcus Ottosson
konstr...@gmail.com

Christopher Crouzet

unread,
Aug 1, 2014, 9:33:16 AM8/1/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com
If you'd contribute to RedCurrant by sharing your point of view and ideas, maybe it'll end up going in a similar direction than yours for at least a subset of their project? Who knows, it might be worth a try if it can help joining forces.

Also, from their high-level requirements page, they don't seem to target only Blender... nor 1 project, which would be absurd. Instead, Gooseberry is "only" a real-world testing scenario, bringing continuous feedbacks of users needing to get their stuff done, which is undeniably a wonderful thing to have from a developing standpoint. “Developed for productions during productions”. It might get a bit messy from the artists side though :)

And thanks for your kind words, I appreciate your invitation but I've got way too many projects of my own that I want to work on already.

Anyways, best luck with whichever direction you take.




For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Marcus Ottosson

unread,
Aug 1, 2014, 9:48:01 AM8/1/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com

they don’t seem to target only Blender… nor 1 project, which would be absurd.

That’s what I thought too:

The RedCurrant project should become a tool to help us manage the Gooseberry Pilot project assets and processes, gain insight into the current state of the project and engage the community.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Org:Institute/Open_projects/Gooseberry/RedCurrant

If you’d contribute to RedCurrant by sharing your point of view and ideas, maybe it’ll end up going in a similar direction than yours for at least a subset of their project?

I suppose I don’t see the point. Even if they were targeting other products and projects, they’re in too deep waters without a clear goal; trying to affect a beast of that size just to get publishing done is an overwhelming task. I expect Publish to be in a working state long before they’ve even settled on a direction.

No worries, looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in the works!




For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



--
Marcus Ottosson
konstr...@gmail.com

Marcus Ottosson

unread,
Aug 25, 2014, 11:43:45 AM8/25/14
to python_in...@googlegroups.com

Hi all,

Originally from a post on the tech-artists thread, here’s an update on how things are going, 25 days since its inception. At the moment we’re heading into GUI-land and are currently spawning ideas on how it could end up looking.

We’re also in the midst of vamping up the codebase, some highlights here:

We’ve also been spawning on ideas for a Node-based workflow in creating steps for validations and extractions and such:

Related to that, we’ve also had a look at adapting Depends to Publish.

To run:

$ git clone https://github.com/mottosso/deplish.git
$ cd deplish/deplish
$ python depends

Which will boot up a stripped down version of Depends, you can play around with the few nodes we’ve made so far.

We’re looking at integrations with various third-party suites, like Asana and Git, along with Maya. Shotgun and FTrack are other potential targets, maybe Trello too.


So, come and share your likes and dislikes in the issues, or here on Tech-Artists. We could use a few hands with experience in Shotgun and FTrack to help us consider how to involve it with an integration. Along with a few heads with experience in path templates and variable substitution for placing assets in a configurable manner. But mostly it would be great to just have you around. :)

Best,
Marcus

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages