Production Pipeline

Here is the definition of file formats and tools we’ll use to make shure the exchange works fluently.

The production pipeline is built around open/standardized file formats and open source tools in order to ensure that everybody can access them at ease. All listet software was already successfully used on projects and is classified for having sufficient functionality/stability.
Further on, open source software and this project share the same idea of a community creating goods for everyone. This project may also become a test scenario which may help the used open source tools to improve upon bug-reporting. So it’s a win-win-win situation.

However, you are free to use other tools than the recommended ones, as long as you stick to the given exchange formats.

Text/Story/Screenplay

Accepted file formats: forum posts, simple text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), open document format (.odf) or PDFs (.pdf).
Recommended software: Editor that ships with your operating system, Open Office

The screenplay editing will be done in the media pre-production software CeltX. There will be a central Celtx file with read-access for anyone (via ftp and/or subversion). I will update the file as additions and alterations are accepted by the community in the forum.

It’s not a good idea to edit the Celtx file yourself directly, because if multiple people do that at the same time, we’ll likely have version problems. In order to avoid that post your suggestions in the forum.

Storyboard

To be decided: Use of CeltX. Comment your opinion!

Images

for drafts/preproduction:

file formats: JPEG (.jpg .jpeg), Ping (.png)
Recommended software: GIMP, MyPaint, Krita, cinepaint

for quality / production:

file formats: Ping (.png), lossless OpenEXR (.exr, in case of HDR, more than 8-bit per channel or multiple channels/layers) and multilayer EXR
Recommended software: GIMP, cinepaint, Blender

Illustrations

file format: SVG
Recommended software: Inkscape

3D

The final animation will be done in Blender since it is the most powerful and mature open source 3D solution available. This means that the final file format of choice is Blenders native .blend format. You can use other formats and software packages as well, as long as you mind the drawbacks. For example,  it is not a big deal to model a mesh in softwar X, export it into a COLLADA-file and import it in blender. However, you may loose certain parts of your work, like your NGons, advanced material or your rig. Therefore it is the safest to do all work in blender or at least test the workflow sufficiently before starting another app. I’ll leave this decision up to yourselfes.

Which Blender version?

You may have heard that the Blender foundation is about to release a new, heavily reworked version of Blender (version 2.5), that has a lot of improvements and benefits. Since it is not stable yet, our version of choice for now will be the current stable release: Blender 2.49.

We can reconsider this decision at any time. Once 2.5 gets stable enough and there are no overwhelming drawbacks, we can switch. You can take a look at Blender 2.5 release roadmap. I think it’s not wise to use 2.5 before Beta 2/3. Personally I would appreciate using 2.5 as soon as possible. Please post your opinion in the related thread in the forum.

file formats: Blender 2.49 (.blend), COLLADA ( .dae)
Recommended software: Blender, Wings 3D, K-3D, Moonlight 3D

Audio

for draft:
file formats: OGG-Vorbis (.ogg), MP3 (.mp3)

for production
file formats: FLAC (.flac), WAV (.wav)
at least 48kHz and 16-bit depth

Software: To be decided. Possible candidates: Ardour, Audacity. Rosegarden, … Comment your opinion/recommendation!

Personally I would love to use a JACK enabled DAW software since Blender is also JACK compatible. Having one central transport system (synchronized playback) sounds cheesy to me when it comes to lipsync etc.

Compositing software

To be decided. Possible candidates: Blender, Cinelerra-CV, Lumiera, …Comment your opinion/recommendation!

Video format

for draft purose:
file formats: web-links (youtube, vimeo, etc.), any format/codec that keeps files small and that can be opened by popular free players like VLC.

for production:
preferably image sequences (see quality/production image formats). uncompressed AVI.

Video editing software

To be decided. Possible candidates: Blender, Cinelerra-CV, Lumiera, OpenShot …Comment your opinion/recommendation!