My special Blender project

Hey guys,
Micah here from Film World. I am working on seeing how I can make Blender a “After Effects equivalent”. Basicilly, a layer based compositor. I think this could be easily accomplished by using the VSE. I have got basic UI pretty well figured out. There are a few proplems though… it need to be able to edit images and videos strait from the VSE viewport, plus a few other “After Effects” type jobs. This is where you guys come in. I would love your help to find and/or make addons to accomplish these jobs. I would love to get this working, it can really be awesome if we work together and make a layer based compositor in Blender.
I need your help to get this done. It will be a community effort. This would also bring many cool features and possibilities to Blender. So join me and lets do this, together.
Thanks from,
Micah and all VFX artists

Dream Big, Pay Small

Sounds like a worthy undertaking, Micah. I don’t have the Python skills to help out, but I can certainly lend a hand with testing.

It sounds interesting. I think the important thing is to make a clear list of requirements, so that someone with Python skills can find out if everything can be done on the addon level. For that, you should post that list in the python support forum. Someone like codemanx can help with finding things on the list that are a problem in the python level. If something (I’m thinking editing in the vse viewport) turns out to not be possible, you can try to find a workaround.

OK. Thanks. I will post this on the Python thread. I would love help with testing rontarrant, thanks for the offer. Keep this thread going going though, I would love to get ideas and comments from the actual Blender uses, then I can get more filmmaker ideas.

If you want a thread moved, report it, asking for it to be moved to wherever you think is more appropriate.
Please do not just start a new duplicate thread (duplicate threads are deleted, including the duplicate of this one)

OK. Would you please move it? :frowning: :slight_smile:
Thanks

Moved from “General Forums > Blender and CG Discussions” to “Coding > Python Support”

In the future, you can use the Report Post feature (it’s the link with the triangular “yield sign” icon at the bottom left of every post). That way, you don’t need to ask in the thread and the request is seen by whole moderation team (otherwise you’re relying on a moderator stumbling into the thread). :slight_smile:

My opinion is that unless you have a lot of money (I mean a lot!) to pay for lot of developers focused on this project you will never get Blender to even be close to an AfterEffects equivalent. Good luck with the effort, and it would be great to get some aftereffects type features in the VSE for those that can not afford or don’t want afftereffects. But I would not hold my breath waiting for it. If you are in the film industry you already understand people that are not getting paid tend to lose interest in a project after about 3 weeks.

Signed Debby Downer
(had to throw that in…)

OK. Now let’s get back into what this thread is about.

Is there anybody that would like to be a part of this project? If so, I will take this project to stage 2… Development, Coding, and testing.

I think youfirst have to make clear what you need, in a detailed way. Then one can judge whether it can be done.

Part of what project? You basically said “hey lets make this better by making the video sequencer more like AfterEffects.” You need to specify exactly what your goals are what features need you would like to see added. What is your contribution to the project? Are you a coder? Money man? Or just the idea man? Is there even money involved or do you want everyone to work for free? People that can do the coding have no idea what you want. List the features you want to see then list the benefits of each of the features to the blender community. Saying you want it more like aftereffects is meaningless to someone that doesn’t use aftereffects. Should the new features be developed as a package or as individual features?

I am not trying to be rude, but I was a C++ developer for 20 years before I changed careers 10 years ago and started making training films. The plan you have proposed so far is little more that a conversation one might have over a few beers. You have to be specific. Maybe the first phase is a planning phase to define what you should add to blender? Perhaps a thread about what kinds of features would the community want would be a better start than stating it the way you did.

Typical development has these phases:

Planning: Define EXACTLY what features should be added. You are not even close to phase 2. You need to do phase 1 first.
Designing: Design the features with mock-ups. Menus, tabs, etc… Watch Andrew Prices videos about the Blender interface. He had very specific examples of what he would like to see changed, and why the changes would be a good thing.
Development: Now you start coding. If this is code for free, then plan on developers dropping out when something that pays comes a long or they just get bored.
Testing: Test, test, and more testing. Developers are horrible testers because they know the way it is supposed to work. So they don’t make the dumb mistakes real users would make.
and finally finger pointing phase when things do go wrong. (And no, I am not being factious with the last one)

Don’t be so defensive if someone tries to point out issues you WILL run into.

OK, thanks Place57. After your model I will state what I am, and what I am looking for.
I am a filmmaker. I do not know Python. I am the “Ideas Man”, UI development, Tester, and Organizer. There is no money involved… I am sorry.
Planning: The features need to be added is:
1: The ability to adjust scale, rotation, and four corner adjustment to each video/image. All in the VSE viewport and keyframeable.
2: Easier keyframeing of effects. (such as seeing your keyframes in the VSE)
3: Being able to edit tracks in the compositor.
4: Be able to view what is happening in the compositor from the VSE viewport.
5: Be able to motion-track strait from the VSE viewport.
[B]Designing: I am working on a design and will be posted soon.
[B]Development: I will need volunteers for the actual coding. If you want to drop out during the process, that is fine, all I need is the code so the work can continue. You can send me an email to tell me your in and I will get you started. (Email: [email protected])
[B]Testing: I have many people that watch my show that would LOVE to test it, so , I have no shortage of testers. Plus I will be testing it too.

[/B][/B][/B] I hope this gave you some kind of idea of what I’m looking for. Thanks for reading this, I would love your help on this project.

Thanks again,
Micah

Dream Big, Pay Small