Welcome to future home of Freedomware Marketing. The Tux Project is going to be shifting gears a bit. This site is set to become a grass-e-roots website where we can all work together to openly collaborate on promoting the use of Freedomware in our local communities. Whether you are a business owner who uses or offers Freedomware solutions, or an individual enthusiast. You will find that this is the place for you to share your promotional ideas and work together collaboratively in order to make them a reality.
LinuxTown
If you live in the US and watch any amount of network television, you probably noticed an advertising campaign a few months ago by Nikon called "PictureTown". The mammoth camera manufacturer picked out a tiny town in South Carolina and gave away 200 of their D40 model digital SLR cameras. See: http://stunningnikon.com/picturetown/
Ever since I saw the ads, I was struck by the similarities between Nikon's ad campaign and the challenges of promoting Linux and FOSS to the general public. They had a technology (the "prosumer" D40 camera) generally considered complicated and relegated to the realm of techie enthusiasts, professionals and those willing to expend far more effort photographing than your average Joe. So they created an ad campaign around the idea that anyone could use that technology to take great pictures... [click to read on!]
How uncanny that Linux experiences the same stigma! I've heard it said more than once that Linux is best suited for the "enthusiast" market, where power-users type cryptic strings of fixed-width text into XTerms and knock Microsoft users the way [some] Nikon owners scoff at someone who shows up with a Canon 30D or a Sony Alpha. If you're spending any appreciable amount of time on this website, you know that's not the world we live in. While Linux may have its little quirks (just as Nikon cameras do) it's certainly perfectly usable and perfectly affordable for a great deal more people than its market share would have you believe. Just like the D40!
I'm not an advertising expert, and I'm about as tuned-in to that industry as a TV with a broken knob (TVs had knobs?) so I don't know how well Nikon's PictureTown campaign did. Maybe D40 sales shot up after the ads hit the air? Maybe countless consumers questioned their assumption that their photographic skills limited them to point-and-shoot cameras? Or maybe it was money down the drain. But it went on for quite a while, which makes me think it was at least sufficiently successful for Nikon to stay the course and keep it on the air for a good part of the summer.
SO - how could the Tux Project emulate PictureTown? How could we improve on the idea?
To start, I think the term LinuxTown is a no-brainer. If the town happens to be in the US (where one such as myself might assume a sizable % of this site's volunteer base is also located) then using LinuxTown USA might be even catchier. Next, find a small town - a place where broadband is available, a good portion of the residents have PCs, and the population is small enough to allow a handful of volunteers to shake every computer owner's hand in the space of a few days. A picturesque location couldn't hurt, either!
Now that we've got the "where", how about the "when"? A good start might be Linux Day 2008 - nearly a year out on August 25th. Somewhere around that day, a team of volunteers from the Tux Project arrives in LinuxTown and kicks off the event - but we get the ball rolling long before...
The homework is extensive. Everyone from local government to local businesses will need to be contacted - the fire department, the library, the school - anywhere that both has PCs and could serve as a launching pad. This does two things: it creates a network of participants who can rally their resources when it's time to hit the streets, and it creates a network of advertisers/evangelists who benefit if the town's residents participate.
As Linux Day '08 approaches, we send literature and training material to participating businesses, groups and individuals. We identify any Linux users already in the community. We sow the seeds that we'll water and fertilize upon our arrival. As we do so, we solicit donations of frequent flyer miles to cover the travel expenses, and monetary support to cover the project's other costs. We beseech the kindness of the local supporters (B&B owners, anyone?) to provide lodging for the project's traveling volunteers, and we set up communication between them beforehand so that no one arrives a stranger.
August 25th draws near, the team goes wheels-up, and heads for LinuxTown. After a well-publicised "LinuxTown-Hall meeting" on the opening day, they spread out through the community, distributing LiveCDs and literature to anyone with a doorbell and a PC. They take photos and videos (some of the volunteers are handy with a camcorder, you know), talk up the virtues of Linux to anyone with an open ear, and answer questions of anyone who feels inquisitive. Most importantly, they let everyone know that there will be an installfest at such-and-such a time on Linux Day, and they're all invited down to the fire hall to plug in and be liberated.
After the blanketing, the team sets up at the chosen installfest spot, and helps those who attend install Linux. A follow-along format would seem to be optimal, but organizers might opt for a more anything-goes approach, or perhaps a one-on-one effort depending on how many folks show up.
After the last hand is shaken and the last goodbye hug shared, the team packs up and heads for home. But the work isn't over! Each face-to-face meeting gets a follow up in the coming months. We ask "how's it going?" and learn just how many people used those LiveCDs, or still have Linux loaded after the installfest fades from their memory. We answer yet more questions, and we encourage those who haven't yet installed Linux to give it a try. We collect data. We assemble statistics - if a sample size of 1000 is good enough for a medical study, it's sure good enough for us.
As we do so, the media team (you remember, the camcorder folks!) polishes up the product of the project which we ultimately serve to the world: A campaign showing - just like Nikon did - that regular, small-town folks can do great things with their PCs with Linux. It's not just an obscure toy for digital tinkerers, and it's not relegated to the realm of backoffice servers and TiVO boxes. It's a grassroots movement that's changing the way people use their computers. We show the stats - how "analytically well" the residents and businesses of LinuxTown took to their newfound freedom - but we also show the personal side of it. We show the look of satisfaction and relief on the face of the small business owner who no longer has to worry about a visit from the BSA. We show the kids doing their homework and loading up their iPods. We show what happens when people don't have to worry about viruses and spyware any more.
Now I realize this is a pretty pie-in-the-sky idea. It would be a major endeavor requiring a lot of people and a lot of resources. It's entirely possible that creating LinuxTown wouldn't be worth it - either because the resultant message wouldn't be strong enough or the encountered resistance would be too great. After all, it's not like we're giving away $800 digial cameras here! There are holes in the idea - gotchas that could take the whole project (and all of its funding and resources) down in a cloud of vaporware if they're not discovered and addressed. There are details yet to be filled-in, and there are many many decisions yet to be made. That's why were here - and it's in this forum that we can decide if the idea has any merit at all, if the required resources could be pulled together, if enough passionate and talented people could be rallied into action, and if a place sufficiently fertile to be LinuxTown even exists. I know I most definitely do not have the time, the capacity or the money to be the driving force behind the effort (at best I could be a participant and a source for a handful of frequent flier miles) and that an impassioned "someone else" who is in a better position to make it a success will have to make it their own. But I couldn't just sit on it - I think the idea of LinuxTown offers too much potential to wither on the vine in my head.
And so it begins!
One approach to LinuxTown
And yes, I know that there have already been cities/towns that have surfaced as potential candidates. The point here is to spread the idea and then see where the numbers fall. We might find that various other local groups in one particular region overlap in terms of when they peak with some marketing events or others. So we serve a useful purpose simply by letting everyone know of our intentions to provide backup and help funnel the communities support and focus at the right moment.
[Let locals compete and then we back that winning horse.. rather than to try and pick a horse ahead of time, investing large resources in in a nonoptimal manner (think of pushing a child on a swing at the right moment vs. running around pushing anyone). However, some events can be useful to many towns so can be planned at a broad level.]
We may want to build a list of people to get in touch with and then start listing and coordinating projects. Make sure people feel comfortable looking to us for the latest, ie, we may need to build/gather some infrastructure to support this coordinating (one eg, would be a calendar of local events.. ie, get in touch with as many lugs as necessary and let them try and keep the central repo in sync.. this also allows those traveling or looking for something to do, to know where events are going on).
And we don't have to do the work that others are already doing, so research first before planning too much. Let's spread the idea and see what others think or already have cooking.
medicdave had a lot of ideas on how to carry out what might be the final drive when the picture is clearer. By this I mean that once we know what volunteers and which resources are already enabled on which battlefield we can then focus to maximize the impact there. So I think this approach is consistent with what he said. We have to keep in mind that we are working with limited funds and bodies (ie, manpower). Then again, we might have more than what we think if we look carefully and push the right swing at the right time.
Felton: Linux Town, U.S.A.
Okay, folks. Sorry to have been AWOL, essentially taken hostage by setting up the HeliOS Solutions West/Tux Project office in the shade of the old growth redwoods in downtown Felton (not to mention being held at gunpoint by the daily chores of life that get in the way of doing what you want/need to do).
As in all things, Proceed with caution...
It's great to see Tux Project members respond with enthusiasm to this idea - I figured people would either love it or hate it, and it sounds like it's resulted in at least a few blips on the positive side of the radar-map!
I feel I should include a note of caution not present (or insufficiently present) in my original message. I've organized a handful of somewhat large successful endeavors, including hamfests, ambulance PR events, tradeshow efforts, and more - and I've seen a lot of organizers succeed and fail in their undertakings. Working for a big-3 automaker, I've seen all the planning and prep that has to go into a successful press event, product launch or development effort. It's led me to the general conclusion that nothing is easy. Ever. Even things that look outwardly easy - aren't.
LinuxTown - if it reaches critical mass as a concept and materializes - will be a very large, very geographically-distributed, very expensive, very complex project. It will pull together disparate resources and require multiple simultaneous approaches to solving specific problems. It is not impossible, but its magnitude must be respected.
At this stage (if you can even call the concept's present state a "stage") it is essential to focus on mission and strategy. As exciting as it is to delve into implementation, implementation doesn't create a solid foundation.
To borrow from the auto industry, what we need for LinuxTown is a PIGR. That stands for Program Initiation Gate Review. It's an accountability tool that brings together customers, implementers and funders to make sure all the ducks are in a row before a project is kicked off. The customer is not the purchaser of the car - it's the group that requested the function. So if you're responsible for designing an airbag module, your customer is the safety group. If you're designing a nav radio, your customer is whoever is responsible for infotainment.
In our case, the "customer" for LinuxTown is not the town or its residents or its businesses or its government. The customer is the Tux Project Mass Media team. They are the ones who will ultimately take the output of the LinuxTown project (adoption information, stories, pictures, video, etc) and turn it into a mass media presentation. The customer is the one who creates an exponential increase in the number of people who experience LinuxTown.
To bring LinuxTown to PIGR, a few things have to happen. First, the concept has to be firmed up. It needs a defined mission which is easily and comprehensively understood by everyone involved. If the mission is derived from my original post, then it's not to "create a town where the residents, businesses and government enjoy the freedom of Linux and FOSS." Rather it's to "create a town where the use of Linux and FOSS by [above groups] offers well-publicised proof that anyone can excel using free software" or something along those lines.
Once the concept has been distilled to a mission, the team has a goal. To follow the structured process, requirements must be captured around that goal. The requirements will set out everything from what outputs the project must produce to what attributes the town must have in order to be transformed into LinuxTown. Capturing requirements is hard, because you start with a blank page. Inevitably, more requirements will become apparent as implementation progresses, but you've at least got to have a canvas before you can start to paint.
After the project's requirements are captured, the team can define the strategy for implementation. You don't implement yet - remember, we still haven't had our PIGR - but you estimate what sorts of work, money and resources will be required to satisfy each of the requirements that you so dutifully captured previously. Once this is all pulled together, the PIGR takes place. You get the implementers, the customers and the funders together (maybe physically, maybe on freeconference.com, maybe on IRC, whatever) and go over the plan. If everyone looks at the goal, the requirements, and the implementation strategy and still agrees that the project should move forward, then it passes PIGR and moves on to implementation.
All this might sound very boring, or like a lot of work, or like enough beaurocracy to doom LinuxTown to failure. I can tell you from experience that none of this is the case. I've taken multiple automotive parts to market using this exact process, and it is worth every minute of time spent getting everything hashed out. You discover gotchas, identify unforseen failure modes, and discover interface problems that - from the perspective of a single designer - you'd never otherwise uncover. Best of all, it doesn't take forever. In fact, on my last part it only took about 2 weeks with 50% time allocation to get everything ready for a PIGR. Before I ever took pencil to paper and designed anything we followed the process and made sure the project stood a good chance of success - i.e. that is was a good investment. Only after that was established was I permitted to actually implement the design!
OK, so I've been enough of a process pounding pain in the posterior for now (everything in the automotive world is an acronym, you know). At this point, I'd suggest that we try to keep discussion here pointed toward the concept, and once we have a clear definition of what LinuxTown is to be, we move off to a project-dedicated collaboration site to hold the PIGR and get started on the implementation.
Oh, one more thing: You guys, unquestionably, rock.
The Tux Project annual convention...
...will create Linux Town each year different location. Our conventions will be different than most. Eg. The presentation on how to set up kiosks using such and such tool will be prep course before going out into the community and setting them up! How to successfully convert small businesses over to Linux will be followed by actually doing it. This is how our conventions will be! We would develop the agenda and plan of action using a similiar paradigm that we use here. Projects made up of project leaders and project members would facilitate the training and action sessions for each leg of the Linux Town upgrade.
I can see it now.....
screen blurs cue wavy distortion...
Possible future news story.
Grassroots Linux advocacy groups will be converging on the little town of ______________ in the USA this year. One week before the event a group of IT professionals will desend on ______________to setup and tweak the towns new freedomware based Wifi system in atticipation of the main event. People from all over the world will be coming to _________ to take part in the Tux Projects annual grassroots Linux promotional convention.
Screen returns to normal.
Why 1 a year?
Many towns have Linux User Groups (lugs) that do what they can promoting Linux, but more importantly for us, a lot of them have annual "Installfests", encouraging people to bring their pcs/laptops to install Linux and sort out problems.
Why not hook up with some of these lugs and see if we can turn their installfests into Linuxtown events? We'd need to provide project planning advice, possibly materials, whatever, but imagine 10 Linxtown events either on the same day or consecutive weekends (Probably best, learning as we go). I can see some entity like the Discovery channel or National Geographic making a doco of something like this.
Just a seed...
The original idea was centered around a single epochal event (not even an annual one) because that's what Nikon did. They invested a chunk of cash in one town for one event that they used to create a media campaign.
There's no hard requirement that LinuxTown would have to follow the same model. We could make it an annual event or a distributed event - but in doing so we must maintain the overall purpose for the endeavor. It's not to get Linux installed on more machines. It's to prove a point to a much larger audience by getting Linux installed on more machines.
As long as the ROI remains greater than a handful of new Linux users, the concept can change to anything we want it to be!
The beauty of the...
...beast. This idea has the possibility of being a best of both worlds that is a Publicity stunt + Tux Project Convention. Why is it so important that the convention be a part of the Linux Town? Because in all honesty even if Linux Town fails as a publicity stunt the first time around we will have succeeded on follow through and be able to build on that follow through the next time around.
Whether or not you see Linux Day 2007 as a success or failure no one can say that the Tux Project did not follow through. Was it wiz bang? No. But, It does not matter because we have something in place to build on for next year. Lets take this follow through merge Linux Day! 2008 with a Tux Project get together in Felton under the name of Linux Town. With the amount of time that we have to plan this (11 months) we could have a great foundation in place for a really incredible get together.
Hey Larry any good size camp grounds near Felton for us to take over?
Linux Town ideas all sound good
The string of posts chuckful of ideas from here on up (and elsewhere) are not all completely consistent. I don't think people should be put off by that fact that everyone presented a slightly different view. If you really believe in your particular view, work on it and keep selling it. The further advanced it gets (even if you initially have to work by yourself) the more likely others will join in the vision.
I know this isn't like it's done within companies that *pay* people decent full-time salaries. We take what we can get.
I won't comment on specific ideas from any of the ancestor (and numerous other) posts because I am not sure if I found anything I didn't like.
LinuxTown advancing according to plan
Let me chime in that this is a super project in the sense that it will
encompass many smaller projects. Many things that have been discussed
on Tux Project in the past can play a role.
For example, you want people to use Linux to take picture and do
amazing things. Well, we have discussed projects to provide various
resources to help one do multimedia or anything else in particular with
Linux. We have discussed various advocacy campaigns to peek the
interests of potential newbies and to provide support later on. In
general, we should work to help individual Linux users. Various
projects address this goal.
We have discussed projects to build contacts with businesses and to
reach out to businesses in various ways (eg, working with them to
build/sell LiveCDs). In general, we should work to help businesses.
Various past discussions are relevant.
We have discussed various marketing stunts, computer labs, install
fests, and work through lugs, where participation is faciliated when
done at a local gathering.
We have discussed over and over how to grab attention on a large scale.
These would be useful especially as the big days draws near. We would
also work with our contacts to help them find ways to sell the big day
and to get the message to be heard by many (eg, clients).
So, I like the new elements introduced by LinuxTown (although some
parts do sound a bit familiar). It "proves" how important it is that
various projects should be tracked together (subprojects and related
projects ideas). It shows the importance of working out the details of
many projects that are idling. It provides another unifying force to
tie many past discussions together (maybe this will stimulate more
action or participation).
Anyway, all good stuff here but definitely we are talking about
potentially a very large undertaking. On the positive side, we already
have had discussions on how such a large project might be broken down
to element steps (at least as concerns the items I mentioned above;
naturally, there are many new details to be looked at).
This project also highlights the need for volunteers. As we plan this,
we have to make sure we are working on ways to increase participation.
I think a key to increasing participation is to (continue to) work on
tools and campaigns that will make it easy and *worthwhile* for others
to participate. It always helps out when, rather than to ask for help
(and we can ask for help), we instead work with what we have in order
to find a way to help a bit larger group in a way that they would help
themselves by participating in yet another task that would be able to
help an even larger group, etc. For example, if we want artists to
help, we can try to provide FOSS tools and easy guides and useful
challenges to them. They might bite if they see a way to learn to use
free tools they can control and help design (being open source) and/or
to spread their works to an established community. We try to coordinate
so that some of the work they do we can use to fulfill our art needs.
[We may also get some participation on building demos and tutorials
(which they would work on to hone their skills and build some material)
which would be useful to find yet more artists.] As this needed artwork
gets completed, we might now have nice artwork to do a campaign that
reaches out to businesses. This campaign would help businesses reach
the larger population in a way they would be helping themselves (eg,
saving money and gaining clients by offering their clients better
value). This sort of chaining/multiplying effect continues over and
over at many levels. It's what ultimately could lead the modest number
of active volunteers we have today to actually accomplish the large
steps needed to make a LinuxTown successful. And of course, LinuxTown
will get us slashdot, many more contacts (and money), serve as a model
other may emulate, help establish our credentials as a group willing
and able to succeed with large projects, provide yet another set of
case studies of Linux victories and migrations, etc.
Something to keep in mind is not to overpromise or put deadlines that
are too tight. Whatever we do, we mostly rely on volunteers. This helps
bring out the importance of working on independent reusable smaller
projects. If we don't accomplish the big thing, we accomplish some of
the smaller things that can be reused in many other campaigns.
Anyway, we all work on what attracts us. Now we have yet another
project in the works which means yet another opportunity to gather more
volunteers that might be attracted when perhaps they weren't before.
OK, I wrote everything above up to this point before I read your last
paragraph. I see we are on similar wavelengths. In reply to your
concerns about the scope of LinuxTown: we already have those willing to
work on LinuxTown because they are willing to work on the many number
of smaller projects that will help realize LinuxTown. It's as if we
started the planning for LinuxTown even before Tux Project got started.
Let's keep documenting ideas, organizing them (so others can more
easily pick them up), and adding to the implementation of various
projects whenever we can as suits our interests naturally. Over time,
we'll get the motivation to do the work that now seems too difficult or
tedious. And we would then accomplish these more difficult tasks much
easier than if we attacked them immediately.
World domination keeps advancing steadily according to plan.
dejaVu
Larry and Ken had a conversation about an idea similiar to this. Then Larry shared it with me and we speculated about it for a bit. You would almost think that you got a hold of the chat logs.
Larry thinks he has the perfect town for this BTW.
Two thumbs way up!
OK...This is how it will start.
Just another Example Dave...Just another example...
Never mind...it was something we talked about in an email yesterday, LOL
I'm going to use Felton because since that is the world hq for K4K, HS and TP, it only makes sense. Here is how we build the hype...
And yeah...there is one person who might take the fact that I used the word hype and make an issue of it. Go for it pal...dig your own hole.
The TV spot would be absolutely easy and cheap...not a word will be spoken...not one. Tux comes onto a stage and he holds up a sign. That sign says.
We are going to prove that (work with me here on choices)
1). The world doesn't need MS
2). You've been paying something that's been free for a decade.
3). It's time for you to learn a secret.
I don't know, I'm just wingin' it here...a little free association as it were.
He then holds up another sign that says we are going to march into SmallTown USA and prove our point.
The next sign says something like "A nation will change the way they use their computers when we leave...
It can be cute...maybe he struggles with over-sized signs, maybe he scribbles a bit to cross something out before he presents it to the front.
But this is important...not one sound is made during the commercial. From there, Tux makes billboards with signs, t-shirts with signs, coffee mugs, Entertainment today interviews with signs.
Now who can do animation. And yes, this is a big deal here...Larry and I talked about it for about an hour one night a few weeks ago. We can make this work.
h
Too often it's the unsoiled hand that feeds The Critic's mouth.
We are making it work, but let's be smart about making promises.
[updated hour after initial post to include name of GPL drawing app: synfig]
>> We can make this work.
I really like how LinuxTown is shaping up. I do think it can be
accomplished because the more we do and closer we get the easier it
will be to get help. Also, LinuxTown can always be done on a small
scale. The worry I have is to promise too much. Kind of how 1992 was
going to be the year of the Linux desktop (I just made that up.. I
don't know anyone that made that particular prediction).
I know what I am saying conflicts with what you propose of taking a
stand right now on what is to happen a year from now. What I'd like
people to be conscious of when working out the details is that maybe we
can be bold without predicting a specific date until we are close
enough to recognize the finish line.
>> We are going to prove that (work with me here on choices)
>> 1). The world doesn't need MS
>> 2). You've been paying something that's been free for a decade.
>> 3). It's time for you to learn a secret.
...
>> He then holds up another sign that says we are going to march into SmallTown USA and prove our point.
Why pick. I like those three items. I am sure if Tux can afford to buy
all the equipment to make this stuff, "he" can pay for 2 extra signs.
All three in succession works. Item 3 even works as item 3 or as item
1. OK, I would change "MS" to something else but related ("Windows"
comes to mind).
As always, it's my nature to think that maybe we are going overboard
with the claims. Sorry but I just have to point out that some part of
the world probably does need Windows no matter what we offer them (for
starters, many in Redmond probably do).
This is only a small step better perhaps (or not).
1) The world doesn't need Windows.
2) You've been paying for some things that have free for over a decade.
3) It's time for you to learn a secret.
Line 3 used at the end implies the secret is something along the lines
of "Linux is what you've been looking for without knowing it." Line 3
used as line 1 means we start to tell the secret with line 2 and beyond
(ie, world doesn't need MS...).
>> Now who can do animation.
At first I thought you were describing someone in a Tux suit doing this
on a live stage somewhere. Then I thought you did that but before a
camara on purpose to edit it. Now I see you had animation in mind. I
think all sort of work (the last two for getting a commercial done).
To start an animation, lets describe the various scenes (grouping them
by changes in camara angles or breaks). Each scene is just a series of
skeches (maybe a single sketch) with words describing the scene (to
guide the upcoming animation work). We can start off with stick figures
if we want. We can use sketches first to help convey a particular
scene, to be put to words later, or we can use words first to help
materialize a drawing. Both should be done. Neither need be
professional. Think of it as brainstorming. With each iteration,
someone with more skill writing or drawing can take over to reach the
next level... and our storyboard and silent script will get done that
way. Afterwards we have to make the frame drawings. We can clean it all
up or color it or use CG at a later point. [This is how I imagine it
gets done and how I would approach the problem but I have no
experience.]
I think we should make at least a rough version of this. We can then
have an easier time selling the concept to real artists (or those
somewhere in between a real artist and a complete faker like we might
be).
I may be able to draw a few things from the earlier stages (perhaps
taking over after stick figures), but I take a very long time to draw
and I could be helped out with as many pictures as possible of the
items that will be drawn.
We should also discuss the style of animation. Will it be a toon? Might
we rely on 3d rendering? Some of this can be decided later depending on
who steps forward and with what vision, but we should at least set some
parameters to guide us. No matter which way, we can start with stick
figures.
Finally, check out this post I wrote a short while ago
http://thetuxproject.com/linux_town#comment-639 . The more ambitious
the earlier projects the more difficult it will be to get them done
efficiently and cheaply. An animation right off the bat may be
difficult if we have to rely on our small crowd mostly (but I am
willing to participate to get it moving). That said, I am already
working on the ideas for comic strips. I think I could pull off an
amateur comic strip eventually that could be used as a starting point
for others. This commercial as an animation would start off not that
differently from a short comic strip (except we aren't developing
characters or complex storylines/plots/imagery/etc).
I am speaking from the gut, not from any training in this area.
And let me repeat. I like all the elements being discussed despite some complaints and worries.
Oh, yes, how will we get the sketches online? We can use paper, pencil,
scanner, upload, but there are also tools to do the actual drawings on
the PC. We should explore the tools to present some options and see
what conveniences exist already. There is a FOSS toon drawing app whose
name escapes me right now.. I'll bring it up later. And apparently
there is a Ktoon. [Update: it's called synfig
http://www.synfig.com/overview/ .]
If we use these PC tools, we should try to document what we do and
maybe even do a demo that others can follow. ...And we can have someone
write up a demo on how to do demos... Demos (by us or by others) are
key to making these steps easy for other to follow. It's also generally
a user-friendly thing to do (to sell Linux to ma and pa).
Keep in mind activities and projects that can serve those whose
participation we seek. We may approach individuals with simple
proposals on how both parties can benefit and then see what they
suggest. In the process we raise awareness of FOSS and may end up with
talented volunteers (eg, artists). Even a simple demo on using, eg,
gimp may be useful to an amateur artist who perhaps uses mostly off
line tools or wants to move away from pro tools (or from pirating).
This posting has some interesting links http://thetuxproject.com/node/182 .
[this may be one of my last posts until midday sunday.. should anyone
ask me anything, now you know you'll have to wait for a response]
Create animations from live film work
My earlier reply could have useful info, but I have a better suggestion
(than I presented there) for accomplishing the animated commercial.
If we stink at drawing (ie, we work very inefficiently), and even if we
don't stink, we might do much better to use a digital camara to
"sketch" out the scenes instead of relying mostly on our imagination
and (un)steady hands. It is probably much easier and faster to use bad
human actors and bad human camarapeople to capture the basic idea on
film. This would allow the concept and many details of the commercial
to get developed quickly. Afterwards, we can shoot more carefully (or
look for film online) so that the sequence follows the then developed
commercial (or whatever is the project) more closely. For example, once
we have the majority of the structure to the commercial (using bad
human actors/camarapeople) we might act out the commercial more
carefully using penguin dolls or we might gather penguin footage or
anything else that would allow us to build the actual commercial, if in
a rough unpolished fashion. The last step would be to animate using
this last take [assuming we want an animation]. It's much easier (for
me) to "clean up" an almost done film by generating an animation
sequence that tracks it very closely than it would be (for me) to have
to create the animation just from a few clips and my imagination. I can
force myself to be fairly meticulous when trying to draw/paint an
actual model accurately.
I already said that I can do this for the time being, but there are
many people that would do this job much better. Without doing a great
job, we can take the commercial almost up to the end. It *may* be much
easier at that point to get someone to animate the thing nicely.
Has anyone tried this http://www.synfig.com/overview/ ?
Also, there are a lot of talented amateurs (and professionals) that
submit artwork to http://www.deviantart.com/ [the link was provided in
a TuxP discussion some time ago]. Actually, many offer drawings for
money so that makes them professionals I guess. I think we can woo a
bunch of them to help out if we approach them right and are willing to
negotiate. We might be able to hook them up with deals to have their
works (depending on the licensing) distributed as a part of numerous
distros. Larger sized DVD based distros and those dedicated to artists
might include samples of the artists' works. Smaller distros and those
not focused on art might include bookmarks or urls to the works. We
just have to offer the distros a bit of something.
Here is a theory on making impressive drawings. I am guessing that a
lot of digital drawings start off as pictures of real settings or
people and then someone uses brush strokes (as well as various special
effects) found in art programs/apps to eliminate or blur details to
hide the origins as a highly detailed digital picture. Other tricks
might involve outlining contours. In some cases, the drawings might be
sketched out by hand, but I think many people "cheat" by effectively
tracing real images. [I am refering here to the really impressive
pieces and not to the stuff that is clearly hand drawn without aids.]
This doesn't eliminate the step of coming up with really good
photographs, and 3d tools add a whole dimension.
We should take the approach of using people, dolls, actual animals,
etc, to get most of the commercial done after a few iterations. Then we
can try to draw over the commercial using programs (like gimp and maybe
synfig). We don't even have to "trace" along the lines exactly as we
might very well want a final product that defies the laws of physics. I
think this will be the most efficient way to get a decent looking
commercial cheaply.
Should we start a new forum topic and/or project to hash this out?
We should also gather lots of info on various apps. As we make the
commercial (or any similar work), we should try to document the steps
we took and any interesting discoveries (discovered online or
discovered through trial and error).
Any contributions on conquering Gimp? Synfig? anything else?
Synfig
I have it installed and tried to play with it for 15 mins. The bad news is I didn't get anywhere with it. I could not even draw a rectangle. I'm sure I missed some essential step. I hate admitting that a program got the best of me, if only it was a intutitive as Inkscape or maybe I should read the manuel.
Oh and Ktoon is a different app i believe.
This could work
I'd be willing if I could swing the airfare to come for a couple of days and we could shoot some film showing how we got it started in Felton...that would be too cool.
Too often it's the unsoiled hand that feeds The Critic's mouth.