FreeCAD demo video

[Joel_graff]

Just curious, has any further thought or effort brb done on a freecad demo video? I'm not much of a video person, but having a video seems like a really good idea. I was thinking we could use (with permission) youtube videos, or get submissions of people who have posted work to be included. The rebar GSOC addon, for example, looks great!

Anyway, I'm no expert at video production and wouldn't care to be the creative lead, but I'd like to help. ..

[NormandC]

@ Joel_graff

It has been discussed numerous times, but no one has come forward to make it happen. I'm not sure any of the current FreeCAD contributors have the skill to do a good showcase video. On the other hand, many FreeCAD contributors (such as myself) think that we are doing quite enough already...

So we need fresh blood.

[Joel_graff]

I've done enough to know my way around kdenlive and openshot, but that's it. Kinda really a question of how the video needs to look, I guess.

I had in mind just doing a collage of time lapse videos of various projects. Maybe have users submit screen casts of a project, and remix them with a sound track

I suppose a list of the features we would want to showcase would help. Given the relatively low exposure freecad has, it probably doesn't need to be focused to heavily on features specific to 0.17 (or is it 0.18? )

[NormandC]

Given the relatively low exposure freecad has, it probably doesn't need to be focused to heavily on features specific to 0.17 (or is it 0.18? )

On the contrary, I think if a showcase video is to be worked on, it needs to focus on the new stuff in 0.17/0.18! It will take time to make such a video and meanwhile, 0.17/0.18 may very well come out.

Maybe I'm being naive or overly optimistic, but I think that with all the new stuff, we may very well be on the verge of a massive growth of the user base:

• PartDesign brings long awaited new features that have been sorely missed by experienced CAD users that are knowledgeable about commercial parametric CAD programs. I'm sure many of them have refrained from switching to FreeCAD for their personal needs because of lack of these features.
• FEM has seen huge improvements as well as Path, let's not forget Arch!
• The new TechDraw workbench finally brings easy dimensioning of views on a page without having to install an external add-on.

[Joel_graff]

I'm generally unaware of FreeCAD's evolution, given that I'm pretty new here and my interests aren't well-represented, so I really have no opinion on what to feature. That said, some careful thought and planning is certainly in order.

Perhaps we should start a new thread for a video and see if we can get some open discussion on what to feature and how to go about getting the footage? I saw a suggestion for a storyboard, which seems like a good idea.

[triplus]

Hi @Joel_graff.

We had some discussions about creating official (promotional) video for FreeCAD releases. The outcome was we need a volunteer/s that is/are good at creating such videos and is/are prepared to invest the time needed. Likely at minimum of 3 months of medium to hard work required.

P.S. If video production quality wouldn't be high there likely would be a problem when gathering consensus.

[Joel_graff]

Hi @Joel_graff.

We had some discussions about creating official (promotional) video for FreeCAD releases. The outcome was we need a volunteer/s that is/are good at creating such videos and is/are prepared to invest the time needed. Likely at minimum of 3 months of medium to hard work required.

P.S. If video production quality wouldn't be high there likely would be a problem when gathering consensus.

Yeah, I definitely don't have any real video production expertise apart from cutting tutorial videos here and there. Still, it would be good to see examples of the sort of quality of video we'd like to have for FreeCAD release promotionals. I would think with one person who has sufficient skill and can train others on specific tasks to help make the process easier might work. Finding that person, though, seems like it would be tricky.

[NormandC]

Maybe follow Kunda1's lead and post a "job offer" for a FreeCAD volunteer position in https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewforum.php?f=31

[triplus]

Yeah, I definitely don't have any real video production expertise apart from cutting tutorial videos here and there. Still, it would be good to see examples of the sort of quality of video we'd like to have for FreeCAD release promotionals. I would think with one person who has sufficient skill and can train others on specific tasks to help make the process easier might work. Finding that person, though, seems like it would be tricky.

Well there is another option involved. You don't have to be the best but you basically do need to love video production (and FreeCAD) enough to spend (unreasonable amount of) your free time on it (and still to enjoy the experience (up to a point)).

P.S. That i guess has a chance too. I am guessing most of such effort stop after realizing this can't be done by spending "only a few days" of working on it.

[Joel_graff]

Well there is another option involved. You don't have to be the best but you basically do need to love video production (and FreeCAD) enough to spend (unreasonable amount of) your free time on it (and still to enjoy the experience (up to a point)).

You make it sound so tempting.

I have a month of downtime, since microelly2 is off on vacation and I need him to help me move forward with the transportation prototype we're trying to work up.

Anyway, working on a video seemed like a good way to use the time. That said, I don't mind spending hours on it, but I know I'm going to get busy in a few weeks, so I don't want to start something I don't know I can finish. I think it's one of those things where I'd be more willing if I weren't going it alone... and had a better idea of what I was doing.