..::StoryTracer::.. collaboration software

#1

Hi all,

Well I told in the collab unlimited forum that I should set a forum up for this little tool (I hope Kirt that this okay, it isn’t a 100% collab project but I think it could become quite important for all the collabs, just let me know if it is in the wrong place :slight_smile: )

The idea of this thread would be to get different inputs on this software that should help all these collab projects to organise and ease this organisation so things are easier to manage and there is more time to actually work on the project.

The idea of Storytracer is to provide a desktop application that can run on its own so no need for fancy forum setups, CMS etc. The application will take care of all this in an online or offline environment.

These are some of the features:

News and contact/email system for basic information and requests.
A task and calendar system to set up small deadlines and assign tasks to everybody on the team.

the second part of the program would be to organise the project.
A simple script writer would be usefull
adding to this a node based storyboarding tool. To easily adapt the storyboards.
A scene tool to set up scenes with the different characters and props, the advance of the scene with the different parts of the scene left to do: light, modeling, texturing VFX etc…

of course templates for character design, universe designs. a simple media database.

To make it an online system a versioning system with supervisors and administrators should be nice to have in there so that updates can be validated before actually being made available to everybody on the project.
So there would be need for an ftp and one database online but it just needs to created the installation even online will be taken care off.

Of course for those who want it everything is pretty much made with templates and can be adapted to be for use of all types of projects.

This is the main idea. The goal of this thread is to go through the different problems of such a tool, ow things should look according to the different collab teams.

Development might take a while (currently enroled here at VFS for another couple of months but I think for a solid tool there should be a solid plan something I hope you all can help me with )

Thanks for the help and of course this program will be freeware :smiley:

Cheers
Jozef

ps: This is a new screencap of version 2.0 of Storytracer:

#2

Look forward to seeing this progress. :thumbsup:
I’ll keep adding whatever I can to help out.

#3

I think two of the most useful tools for collaborative projects are a website wiki and a Subversion server for digital asset management. Your application should interface to those if possible.

#4

Thanks softdistortion, You being a member well the leader of one of the more not to say most succesfull collabs here on cgtalk I would be wondering what you would like to see in this tool. you’re probably the one with the most experience in team leading a collab so looking forward to hearing from you :slight_smile:

@Bryan: Yups the idea is to be able to update any type of website. It’ll come with its own website for those who dont feel like setting up a complete website but it should come with modules that allow integration into forums like phpbb and SMF as well as templates so people can adapt the way the info is put into the online database and this way it would probably take about one or two lines of code inside one of the templates to make it work with your website/wiki. The idea though is to somewhat stay away from websites etc as far as organisation etc goes but keep it inside storytracer but i dont want to cut the websites out so yups integration in those type of websites is planned. as far as CMS goes Storytracer is based on a core I developed a while back for a companies stock management and can thus keep track of files in an organised way and is in some sort of a way coming with its own CMS that will keep the installation simple for the all day user that isn’t a computer expert

thanks so far :slight_smile:

Looking forward to more ideas and tips

cheers
Jozef

#5

Thanks Jozef.
to be honest we really mainly used a forum for our CMS, so anything would be better.:slight_smile:
I like what you have happening so far.

I’m not sure if you are planning on it, but i think adding visual fetures like thumbnails for images and also models asset files would be good for artists.

#6

Another idea i would like to see is an organic mode like we used on shirowproject -for character development and story creation and editing,

Basically a simple WIKI format that allows you to put a story rough online and allow members or the public in general to be able to make any changes additions they want. All the revisions would be highlighted and the original and changes viewable side by side with the option to burn in the changes as permanent, re-edit or roll them back.

#7

A slightly slower reply as what I had hoped for sorry for that been madness here…

The idea would be to add a “media” to each “part” of the software this way u can attach references etc. The idea would be to use the integrated webbrowser that is inside Storytracer and it will allow you to import files directly into storytracer and even take them through a small paint tool kinda program (the tool is coded and already integrated same for the webbrowser) so you dont have to go through all the different programs when you would like to make a small note on the refs.

The wiki should be possible to integrate I think. would definitly be a nice option, didnt think about that one yet ^^

Thanks softdistortion
Lets keep on brainstorming

cheers
Jozef

#8

That’s pretty much what I was saying in my earlier post as well.

I’ve worked on developing a few website ideas with a partner, and we always set up a wiki during the development stage to allow us to notate ideas, reference material, categories, basic premise, etc. It’s probably the single most useful tool to bring together ideas and codify them into one organized and accessible structure available to all team members. And when someone thinks of something new, rather than having them forget it, they can immediately put it into the wiki. An example is when a list is being developed, it slowly accumulates items as members add to it over time.

Since the wiki is freeform, members are allowed (and encouraged) to create whatever pages they feel are needed. In such a case as animation development, a wiki would naturally evolve into a set of pages representing the script, character descriptions, prop descriptions, storyboard images, concept art, rendered images, outside links to tool resources, links to inspiring imagery, division of labor, outside links to tutorials, an introduction, and most importantly, anything that anyone thinks is important that nobody thought of.

#9

Jozef- that would be good.
I know it’s probably near impossible but…:smiley: … it would be super if some kind of a file reader could be placed on the server to scan folders read the various graphic and .obj etc and generate associate thumbnails. Then there would be no extra step to upload assoc images…and never be wrong graphics associated with files.

Bryan, yeah I am thinking the same, except while I would like a Wiki style system, I don’t want anything like the free Wikis I have looked at so far. They’re not streamlined enough.

#10

The best wiki I ever used was Trac, a web-based project management tool. Open source, uses wiki markup, automatically interfaces to a Subversion server (CMS), helps manage projects, allows the opening of tickets, and is a lean and clean wiki to boot.

#11

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