openshot.developers team mailing list archive

[Jonathan Thomas <jonathan.oomph@xxxxxxxxx>]

Helen,
Thanks for answering the questions.  I am really getting swamped by the
popularity of OpenShot at the moment.  The emails just keep piling up. =)
I'm glad to have you on our team.

I've had sooo many people have trouble installing OpenShot, I've started
working on some .DEB files and a PPA.  I'll let you know once I have it
ready for testing.

Also, feel free to modify any aspect of OpenShot (it is open-source after
all), but it would be great if you could keep me in the loop as to what
files / features you are working on.  This really helps when we have to
merge all the code together later.  I'm not sure how much Python coding you
are thinking about doing, but these were just a few thoughts off the top of
my head before you get too deep into everything.

Also, feel free to make mockups using Gimp / Inkscape and send them to the
distribution list.  It might make for some good discussions before we start
work on a new feature.

I like your idea of using LaTeX for building manuals.  We definitely need to
start working on tutorials, documentation, and manuals.  I'll be honest
though, I'm not sure what "correct" format is for help files / manuals for
GTK apps in Ubuntu.  Is creating a PDF the best choice?  Ya know what I
mean?

Thanks!
-Jonathan



On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Helen McCall <wildnfree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Hello Jonathan.
>
> Thanks for getting back to me quickly
>
>
> > Thanks for offering your services to us!  We would be happy to have
> > you on the team.  You can join our team at
> > https://launchpad.net/~openshot.developers<https://launchpad.net/%7Eopenshot.developers>
> .
>
> I have joined on the OpenShot developers page.
>
> > 1) What timezone are you in / what country do you live in?
>
> I'm in Britain (same timezone as London)
>
> > 2) What language(s) do you speak?
>
> English (my French and Spanish are too poor to be included!)
>
> > 3) Do you have any experience packaging .deb files (or PPAs)
>
> Not really, though in the early days of Debian I did produce some very
> simple .deb files for some data acquisition software I wrote for a
> scientific project I was working on then. I would class myself as a
> novice on .deb files, especially as they are more complex these days.
>
> > 4) Are you interested in writing help files, wikis, tutorials, etc...?
>
> I am reasonably expert in using LaTeX, and have defined my own document
> classes to produce professional theatrical scripts etc. All my HTMl
> coding has been by hand using the vi editor! I have in the past written
> Perl cgi scripts for automatically generating HTML pages, and for
> generating LaTeX PDF documents on the fly on commercial web servers.
>
> I am a raw novice with respect to wikis.
>
> I could start work on producing a PDF manual
>
> > 5) Are there certain aspects of OpenShot you would like to work on?
>
> I've started tinkering with your code already! ;-)
>
> I've set myself a very simple project to start me off. I'm investigating
> how to write fully compliant AVCHD videos, complete with aac sound.
> "ffmpeg -formats" shows me that separate drivers are used for decoding
> and encoding aac codec. The decoder is "aac", and the encoder is
> "libfaac".
>
> I've read through all your source code, and played around with Glade.
>
> I think the input parameters for ffmpeg come from ExportVideo.glade, and
> the parameters for audio codecs are in cboAudioCodec in the "items"
> combo box. Intuition suggests to me that if I add the word "libfaac" to
> that items list, then selecting that in OpenShot will give me a file
> with aac sound!
>
> Likewise, to get the correct audio bitrate for AVCHD, I think I should
> add the option "448 kb/s - aac rate for AVCHD format" to the items list
> in cboAudioBitRate. I was about to try this when I saw your email.
>
> If I get this right, then for my next project, more ambitious to give me
> a chance to learn more python and Glade, I thought I might investigate
> how to add a "Container Class" option to the "Project Type" selection.
>
> A "Container Class" option would be something like "DVD .vob" or "AVCHD"
> or "CDV .vob", etc. Then have OpenShot pre-select the optimum parameters
> for Video and Audio Settings in ExportVideo.
>
> The form to select "Container Class" would also have to offer a
> selection from all the relevant profiles for resolution etc, so that it
> helps the user to select between PAL and NTSC etc, but not showing
> inappropriate profiles.
>
> If I can succeed in this, it will result in my being sufficiently
> experienced in Python and Glade to be able to tackle other software
> development tasks
>
> Best wishes, Helen
>
>
> > On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 5:24 PM, Helen McCall
> > <wildnfree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >         Hello Jonathan,
> >
> >         I would like to offer my services to your team.
> >
> >         My programming skills are a bit rusty, and I've never used
> >         Python before.
> >         I used to program in 'C' and Perl.
> >
> >         As a Research Scientist in the '90s, I developed and published
> >         mathematical
> >         and statistical methods for automated visual identification
> >         from digital
> >         imaging systems. This involved developing all my own image
> >         analysis and
> >         processing software for use on a Sun SparcStation running
> >         SunOS.
> >
> >         For a few years I earned my living freelance developing
> >         commercial web cgi
> >         backends for database handling using Perl and SQL.
> >
> >         I first started using Debian Gnu Linux in 1996, having used
> >         SlackWare before.
> >
> >         I switched to Ubuntu about 5 years ago.
> >
> >         My programming skills might be a bit too rusty to be of great
> >         benefit in
> >         the immediate future, but I might be able to help with
> >         producing a Manual
> >         or help with testing etc.
> >
> >         I look forward to your reply.
> >
> >         Helen McCall
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>