python tips v1

i am now used to of following(but tired of googling this again n again), just in case.

install python 3 ( assuming windows)


Console2 was better than windows cmd
i used it for quite some time, recently having issues with it using bash..
ConsoleZ, its definitely better. to set it for using bash (git)..in settings:

• Shell: C:\Program Files(x86)\Git\bin\bash.exe -login -i

EDIT : 2019
On Windows : Cmder based on ConEmu is ultimately what i was looking for
On Ubuntu : Tmux is solution
 

virtualenv now part of python like pip else install (pip install virtualenv) and breath happily. common commands, i mostly need(use)

• mkdir _env # create dir
• virtualenv _env # set it for virtual env
• env\Scripts\activate # activating env, (for cmd)
• . env\Scripts\activate # activating env, (for bash windows)
• or
• source env\Scripts\activate # activate env,(for bash windows)
• deactivate # deactivating
• pip freeze > requirements.txt # updating requirements file (for future)
• pip install -r requirements.txt # resuming from file again(if needed)

Fred Doc 01

FrED is small web based application developed in house at FF for following reasons(needs).

• Employee Attendance Management
• Employee Performance Rating system.
• Employee Holidays consumption
• Employee Overtime monitoring.
• Making all above transparent / clear to user in team. so one can compare his week over other team members etc.

I wasn't sure, it will help me that much to keep moral high, if i had idea, we have done it earlier. I can imagine huge / small open source HR systems, but truly wasn't sure, its worth searching as i was more sure about what i expected as employee in last 15 years.

Ali (colleague) worked on it as developer, i helped him design / conceive details. Its written in python(entirely).

Application scope:

• Server app (using flask) - deployed on local server (Ubuntu)
• Client app (using pyside)- deployed on each node ( OS boot)  

Hopefully will be our first contribution to open source some day if it gets bit more completion for user roles management, currently a bit hard-coded in sq-lite.

User Experience:

• as person boots OS (client app, opens from tray, ask to mark in for logged user or request to log in)
• or person can open server from browser (http://server:5000) and do same process
• browser also shows a simple unique new quote (inspiration)
• person can view his details average (Time In / Out / Working Hours)
• person can view his/her leaves / working hours etc
• person can view his performance comparing to his relevant team.
• supervisors can mark reporting ppl performance per week

RULES for performance

• 2.5 score - come one time (limit 10 am) 24 hours late per week total limit to lose that score.
• 2.5 score - complete 48 working hours (minimum)
• 5.0 score - review from supervisor on assigned tasks
• 1.0 score - extra measure supervisor have.
• user can score 11 / 10 if performed really well and on time.:)

Python Client
it has only 3 intentions initially and was working fine, then we broke some features in mid, and hopefully will come back soon.

• show pop up as pc gets on (user won't forget to mark TimeIn)
• work as central tool to maintain updates of all art tools customization from server (blender/natron/maya/nuke)
• also integrate with tactic in future(hopefully soon)
• lastly, some secret features(which every knows in team,lols) on which i don't have consensuses with senior team, (taking screen shots / measuring social activity vs real work differentiation)

Project / Task Management & Tracking in 2017

Previously in my life, i have used MSProject(2003) then Dot Project (2006). Then for small scale projects google sheets works perfectly fine.
Since 2010 or so, i have used Asana and Trello and my life really went nicely with such amazing tools at free of cost for small / mid sized teams.
Recently, in last couple of years, one of issue i faced was not everyone in team has internet access due to various reasons. So i was looking for smarter / simpler solution for myself and team. In December 2016, i almost read about 10 to 15 software's here, compare here. Shortlist 5 apps, give them quick tests on internal Ubuntu Server in urge to find best tool. Each one of them is strong and complete and i have huge respect for development teams behind these tools. Conclusions below, didn't meant any comparison but truly are for my own brain, so i can save time in future where & when needed.

1. YouTrack
• Amazing and very impressive(personally i love it), if working with small team of dev's then its very reasonable, for artists, it might be issue to digest etc.
2. MyCollab
• I have actually used this for two weeks with everyone in team using it happily(almost). its only downside for me was, its based on Java or JVM(if needed, hard to setup on shared hosting). Setup was easier. well documented.
3. ProjectPier
• I really loved this one as well, themes were amazing, i love how they let you add clients and let them view their part / review etc. It was slightly bigger in context. Kind of CRM (not sure) but marketing / pitching phase tracking etc was cool(i might need that in future). only downside for me sub tasks addition / management wasn't too good.
4. Kanboard
• my only regret was i found this very late, almost at time, when i was a bit hopeless from each bit here or each bit there, tired of testing. Its super cool with easier installation and Git Hub community is very nice and supportive. Currently, using this, almost very happy. Learning few bits. Reporting is amazing as well.
5. qdPM
• its definitely beautiful, well thought out tool. this was second choice after myCollab. it has some additional good stuff over that, so i was about to move to this(before i found kanboard). my only blunder was, at some point, i wanted to remove multiple tasks (redundant) so i used select all from page(showing only redundant ones) at that point(actually it selected all of them). not sure, but they have some additional value able plugins which have cost attached.
6. Phabricator
•  smart name, smart company.lols, fun part is, i have installed it. realized, its so big, detailed, professional, well thought that we can't use it. generally this means, focused on developers team again. later on i realized blender.org using it. waow. it won't let you work comfortably without proper version control integration.
7. OrangeScrum
• wasn't able to setup successfully, but based on so many reviews, web presence,looks interesting. its more then project management.
8. Restyaboard
• its unique direction, i wasn't aware of previously. wasn't able to setup completely, a bit tough. looks impressive. idea of sandstorm server was really cool.

Film Factory another shop (hopefully last)

in 2014 last quarter, i finally joined a company named FilmFactory with a hope that it would be end of job carrier. still working there,..in first 3 months, i was working with extremely small team for vfx work on a project. majorly greenscreen, wireremoval, cg extensions etc, which was offcourse very fun and huge learning experience. few shots and breakdowns of project

Frag Games (awesome memory)

After finishing my contract at Creative Village in March 2013, i joined a Game Studio named FRAG as Lead Technical Artist. Being a young company, my job was to primarily work after assets preparation. This includes Rigging and Animation for Project named SR (Sorcerer's Ring). Working in games after 8 years was definitely fun. Lot has changed since then. This was first time,i had a chance to work with unity. As i have to deliver finished animation files in unity.
Few game animation videos from frag vimeo channel are here(on which i worked) all assets were offcourse prepared by wonderful team of Artists ( Kabir Talib, Jawad, Sana , Nada, Shuja).


As we were reaching near end of game project, couple of free week, i worked on small cinematic in AE, for which Artwork was done by Sana.

Reason for awesome memories, other than cool work environment

• Product and Game Design thought process and refinements.
• Closely observe and learn agile workflow.
• How team of tallented ppl possibly can create fun and beautiful game.
• One of most interesting thing, i had a chance to do at that time was. Do all in game cinematic animatoins in unity. At that point in time, two famous cut scene editor plugins were available and i picked one of them named () .unfortunately, i never find time at frag to compile that by anymeans...

Wireframe InternalArtwork - Unity Port Experiment - Documentation

This post is dedicated to an old Genius Friend of mine named Ahmed Siddique. As i owe him that credit ("GENIUS") from quite some time. Coincidently, post is also about work i did with him. Once again i wanted to mention thanks for permitting me to show this here and or elsewhere.

Brighto Paints Live Coat Documentation / Status

i might have to work on this after six months. thought was to document where i am leaving so continuing wasn't that big headache. it was typical intresting project for tech cg artist like me. lot of plans ahead, time is only constraint right now.

CreativeSect Photoshop automation(csv) documentaiton.

EDIT : 2013 / 08 ( source uploaded )
One of my friends (Creative Sect) have to finish project with EBooks website. where they have finished first 500 designs and then wanted remaining 25000 designs automatically from photohop from database (excel / csv). it took me almost 2 days to write tool for them.


Conclusion:

• adobe scripting via javascript. its ok/good. but not ideal(one should work)
• next time, i'll prefer python.this guy looks good.

Creative Village maxscripts demo / features

I recently finished contract with creative village studio as technical director. It was definitely very interesting project. I have learned so much. this video shows what had been went into production after development. I'll share more about whats in development later on..

creativeV_Tools for blender

I had been studying blender python (bpy) from last few months and its amazing. creativev tools is small set of functions, which i wrote in last few months to help my collegues. Primarily to make sure, animators can use motion capture data on our character rigs and refine/cleanup with slightly more ease.

master tiles logo splash(realflow study)

recently, for some reason, i have to develop a single splash image for a logo for some agency. day1, i attempted to save my a** using simple stuff, Glu-3d. water shaders etc and soon, i realized. that i have to dig more detail. so i started with real flow. keep browsing documentation and common knowledge on internet (including youtube). i was able to solve two basic sims, with different parameters setup for behavior and slightly different physics conditions....

then i render multiple frames from this sim ( same camera angle) ... almost 10. with few different passes. mainly for transparency, reflections and colors....

4d render farm ( flex development notes )

few months ago, i was contacted by an friend company (cgmentor) for project named '4drenderfarm'. they were starting company to provide services in network rendering for 3dsmax(initially). i developed their client application (desktop) and 3dsmax  script to package everything from 3dsmax and send to their ftp server.

it was simple and interesting project as i am learning more and more development familiarity. most of stuff was simple, except for the fact, that first time, i had chance to touch php. huge thanks for all the guidance from my friend Alvi @ evolve. rough workflow steps were as follow