Getting Started with The Open World Film Project
Welcome to the Open World Film Project! If you are just joining us, you’ve probably noticed that the site moves very quickly, and the sheer amount of information to take in can seem daunting. This section is here to act as a guide to the project, the website, and the features. Due to the rapid growth of this website and community, this page will avoid specific topics, and will instead focus on the overall points a new member needs to know.
History
The Open World Film Project was launched on August 19, 2007, on the BlenderArtists forum. Like most open project proposals, it was greeted with skepticism. Still, a few people signed up, and the project took flight. Starting with no script and open concept submissions, the long process of selecting an idea, and developing it began. An initial plot formed and was developed heavily for the better part of six months, changing form a number of times until it became the full-length “The Serpent And The Guide”. The plan for this film was to produce it in three sections, at roughly 25-30 minutes each. The first ten minutes would be produced in its’ entirety, and act as a trailer and recruitment tool.
After three months of concept art, storyboarding and initial animatics, it became painfully obvious that even the first ten minutes of TSATG would require the development of a massive amount of assets. For this reason, the practical consideration was to build a separate, ten minute story, setting up the TSATG universe, but requiring far less character development or setting work. Being a relatively small team, this was a more feasible option. TSATG will remain on the back burner until the short version is complete, and for this reason, there is not much information available on the forums regarding it. All the posted information is in regards to the shorter film. There are a huge number of posts in the forum regarding this longer project, though they have been hidden to cut down on confusion for newer members.
For a more in-depth view of the last year and the developments of the script, please take a look at these posts:
How can I sign up?
You can sign up by visiting this link and registering with our forums.
What is expected of me?
1.) Keep the content appropriate
Please keep in mind that this site is open to people of all ages, and your language should reflect a respect for that. Please refrain from using bad language, or posting inappropriate images.
2.) Treat others with respect and an open mind
Since the first day, there has been a mutual respect and professionalism from the members of this project, making the OWF a very friendly place to spend your time on the net. Flame wars are not tolerated here, nor are they an issue. While it is unrealistic to think everyone will always agree, we choose to work out the tough debates in a friendly, professional manner. Treat others with respect, and you will receive the same treatment in return.
3.) Ask questions!
Spend a day or two reading through posts, becoming familiar with the scene, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. There is a lot going on here, and it always takes a few days to get caught up with everything. Just remember, anyone here is happy to answer any question for you.
4.) Have fun, and learn new things
How can I contribute?
As of the time of this writing, we are currently in greatest need of concept artists. While we can always use modelers and texture artists, we need a lot of basic visualization to be taken care of. The OWF rule about concept art is that it can be done in any medium. While we prefer hand-drawn art, we’ll accept any form of art, from models to music. If you feel inclined to make a model of anything in the script, while we are still producing concept art, you do so at your own risk. Rapid visualization changes are taking place, and for that reason, modeling can become a large waste of time. As long as you are prepared to change your designs, you should have no problems; a large number of our members actually prefer to concept in Blender.
Unrelated to the production, we can always use people to help with the web programming, as OWF tries to stay fairly cutting-edge with it’s features. This requires a lot of maintenance and coding, and while we have an existing team for the web design, new help is always welcome.
Currently, the assignment system is part of the file management system, and is not active yet. Since the current step is creating storyboards and animatics, assignment is being handled in the forums. If you’d like to jump right in, make a post and one of us will reply with a list of available task relatively quickly. This is a temporary workaround for now.
Website quick-start guide
One of the things OWF takes very seriously is the belief that a proper work environment is essential to the growth and coordination of the team. For this reason, the website is almost always in a state of development and improvement. Most portions of this site are based on open-source web platforms, with heavy modifications and add-ons developed by our own team. This page is meant to provide you with a tour and brief explanation of these features and how to use them. As stated before, the site is always growing and improving, and as such, this page may fall slightly out-of-date as time goes on. If you see that this page needs to be updated, please contact an admin to have it updated (or volunteer to update this page!).
Forums
If you’ve ever been a member of an online forum community, then OWF’s forums will be quite easy to use. The forum structure is based on phpbb3, though heavily modified. All the standard forum functions (posting, polls, private messages) are all available for registered members. The forums are broken into 2 sections: ”’Production Forums”’ and ”’Project Forums”’. The Production Forums are meant for specific discussion and coordination of the project and art. Each forum contains sub-forums related to specific production topics, so be sure to post in the right place. The Project Forums deal with the larger picture; what’s happening with the site, overall project updates, off-topic discussion, etc. This is the “administrative” section of the site. If you’d like more information on using the core phpbb3 features, please visit the official documentation here:
Chat
Our chat rooms are AJAX-based, and do require javascript be enabled. The chat consists of three rooms: General Chat, Development Chat, and Off-Topic chat. General chat can be used for almost anything project related, while development chat is meant specifically for project-related discussions. Off-topic chat is for anything at all. To switch chat rooms, click on a different room, and allow a few moments for the room to update. This process can take 5-10 seconds on some occasions, so be patient. If you are a registered member, your screen name will appear when you post. If you are a guest, you are allowed to post, but your name will appear as “guest.x”, where
“x” is a number to distinguish you from other guests. On a practical note, you can find someone in the chat most of the day. As our members come from a variety of timezones, there is almost always someone on to chat with.
Messenger
The messenger is a dedicated instant messenger system, built to accomodate OWF members. Simply click on the “Messenger” link, and choose a person to talk to from the popup window. You will be able to see who is logged into the messenger at the time. This is similar to the chat, except IM works 1-1 only, group conversation is not possible. You must be a registered member in order to use the IM system. This system is a stand-alone feature, tied into phpbb3’s user data to eliminate extra logins. This system was developed by OWF member TheEvilMonkeyMan, and is exclusive to the project. A phpbb3 mod may be released in the future.
File Management System
The FMS is currently being integrated. While available for testing, the documentation is not available yet. As soon as it is available, this section will be updated. The FMS will be used to assign and process all project data in a central, web-accessible location. This system has been developed from scratch by members of OWF, namely Travellingmatt (core) and Rumadon (integration), and is unique to our site. Currently, you can find a “files” link in the header of the forums that will take you to a page with downloads. This system was based on the SVN file system, and will be replaced in full by the FMS. For the time being, you can find some existing project files there.
Gallery
The OWF gallery is slightly different than many web galleries, in that it is a gallery of ongoing art. While most galleries try to include only the best, our gallery is meant to be a visual archive of the work process, and as such, many images will be placed there for reference. To have an image submitted, simply ask a mod or admin to upload it for you. Clicking on a picture will allow you to download that image.
Email
All new members are entitled to an Open World Film email address. When you first sign up, you will be prompted to reply with an address choice (ie; yourname@openworldfilm.com), and optionally, an address to forward it to. This email is hosted through 1&1 hosting, and you may check your email through their site (follow link in forums), or by adding your information into an email management program.
Wiki
The wiki is where all project documentation is written. If you’d like to be able to edit the wiki, please contact an admin for editing rights. The wiki is a standard Mediawiki installation, and full documentation can be found here:
Blogs
The primary blog is the OWF blog, which has articles relating to the project, along with updates and meeting information. Any member is welcome to add to the blog, but you must request to be added as a user. Our blog system is a wordpress multi-user installation, so in addition to the primary blog, there are a number of hosted blogs as well. Any member of OWF is welcome to a free hosted blog, with no ads, simply by requesting one. Once your blog is up and running, you can change themes, add plugins, and personalize your site. If you require any modifications to files or plugins added, you will need to contact an admin, who will upload and enable them for you. Official Documentation for the blogs can be found here:
Calendar
The calendar is just a basic organization tool. It is a simple way to see upcoming deadlines or meetings, and is not integrated with any other portion of the site. For users, this is simply a way to view events quickly. Events are added manually by admins. Clicking on an event will reveal more details of that event.
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