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Audit and Outlook
The goal of this document is to get input from the community regarding the graphics and their needed updates/corrections, formats, and use cases.
Most of the graphics uploaded to the artwork repository or website are now dated or still incomplete. In the past, I’ve hoarded the complex graphics commonly used in Arquillian presentations because of my lack of Git skills (I feared breaking the internets with my commits) and disorganization (I’ve used at least 7 computers and even more hard drives while creating graphics for the project). Also, the final percentage of graphics, mainly the logos, are digital vaporware.
Now, I’m no longer a Git novice, I desperately need to retire some of these cranky computers, and I have substantially improved my design tool skills through classes and hardware (yea! drawing tablet).
So look over the following list of graphics and consider these questions for each one (or just the ones you’re interested in):
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Is this image still relevant? Or should it be archived/retired?
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If the image should be retired, does a new and different image need to be created to represent the concept/topic the old image was associated with?
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Is this image correct? Or does it need to be updated?
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If it needs to be updated, how so?
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What are the 3 graphics you think need to be completed as soon as possible?
Please add headings and comments for images not listed below that you think should be included in the artwork repository. This includes ideas for images that have never existed, but you think would be helpful to users and developers.
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Note
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This is a living, breathing document. Feed it! Add comments, notes, additional topics, and questions. I know I didn’t add all the graphics we use. |
The logos are my first priority. The Graphene, Drone and Spring logos will be completed before I start extensively drafting or updating the other graphics on this list.
SVG digitalization of two concepts is in progress.
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Digital molecule banner - Pending
PNG version is published but has not been finalized. Pull request #11
SVG has not been published.
Initial analog concepts were uploaded and reviewed by the community, but I have not started the digitalization process. Pull request #9
Bartosz has proposed logo ideas, but I have not drafted any initial concepts for review. Issue #4
UPDATE: Aslak has confirmed that the font used to create the Arquillian logotype is called Juice. It can be downloaded here.
Many of the Arquillian graphics were created quickly (i.e. late at night) for presentations, and therefore, were never really discussed/reviewed by the community, modified beyond their initial design, or finalized. Additionally, most of these graphics are now 2-3 years old and may no longer be correct or relevant as the Arquillian code base has advanced.
Initially, I thought to inventory of all the graphics that have been used in Arquillian presentations over the years. It turns out I’ve got over 460 graphics files related to the Arquillian project (many of these are snapshots of previous versions of an image or a backup of a backup). Most of those graphics are probably no longer needed, so instead, let’s talk about the graphics that are used repeatedly.
These were originally GIFs someone got from somewhere… At some point, I recreated them as SVGs so they would scale well. Later I updated them with new titles and axis labels per Dan’s request (maybe about a year and 1/2 ago?).
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I’m working on locating working versions of these graphs, the most recent one Dan used online in this slidedeck is not rendering correctly. |
They have not been uploaded to the artwork repository.
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Are these graphs still relevant?
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Do they need to be changed or updated?
These graphics have gone through lots and lots of iterations over the years. Mostly to correct errors I introduced and to refine and reduce the number of steps.
The lifecycle steps, containers and container label graphics, as they looked in June 2012, are in the repository. Pull requests #15 and #17
For the presentation Dan did on May 7th and 8th, I removed the AS7 logo on the middle container and added the TomEE container.
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Is the Arquillian lifecycle still applicable?
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Are there new containers?
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What’s missing?
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What’s incorrect?
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Do they make you want to brew beer instead of test your code?
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What about other core concepts, extensions and modules?
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Do they have lifecycles or basic concepts that could be represented with a graph, diagram, or set of images?
These graphics were created for the title slides of presentations. They’re all products of late night, rapid prototyping and so the SVG files are not fit to upload as they currently exist because they contain lots of artifacts and margin sketches. The related PNGs in the repository are snapshots of specific areas or layers of the SVG canvas.
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Do we still need these images or can they be retired?
I am working on a 3D version of Ike (complete body) in Blender. This will allow us to pose him in different positions from any angle without having to create new graphics and new shading layers.
Snapshots of modeling Ike’s face in Blender:
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The following three graphics are on the Features page of the website. |
Represents Test Enrichment. This image was created with a script that creates custom tag clouds. It is not in the artwork repository.
Represents Container Agnostic. This image has not been uploaded to the artwork repository.
If still applicable, the cloud container needs to be changed to the OpenShift logo.
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Should TomEE be added?
Represents Extensible Platform It has not been edited beyond its first draft.
Pull request #14
The Invasion banner is on the Home page and G+ page. The Invasion banner is final, but has never been uploaded to the artwork repository. It’s probably creeping toward end-of-life.
Issue #5 Create Project Banners for Home page carousel
There are a number of screenshots on the website’s Home page, Features page and Community page:
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Don’t write another test until you study this one
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Earn your first Arquillian green bar
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Real Tests
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IDE Friendly
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Debug the Server
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Forums and Wiki
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Chat
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Issue Tracker
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Source Repository
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Are the screenshots still valid?
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Still applicable?
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Still the best representation of the concept?
The final format of a graphic dictates its best uses and display quality. Most of the Arquillian graphics source files are SVGs. In the past, for presentations and the website, I would export the SVG to a PNG after making slight scaling modifications depending on use case (such as slide size (16:9 or 4:3)) and if only a part of the original graphic was required (ex. just need one container or only Ike’s torso). I never uploaded the SVGs because most of them contain numerous sketches, artifacts, experimentation layers, or other unrelated graphics. Needless to say, at a minimum I need to clean up the files so users aren’t confused by the extraneous graphics and to reduce the file’s size.
Additionally, HTML (or is it the browsers?) has implemented SVG capabilities. However, it seems that there are some bugs when it comes to handling complex SVGs. If an SVG has other SVGs embedded in it, the associated XML seems to have difficulty correcting the new file paths and parts of the image don’t render in the browser. However the advantage of using SVGs in the browser is that they don’t require scaling and can be manipulated with JavaScript.
I need to do some further research on the best way to save and/or construct the SVGs so that they work well in-browser.
As far as sizing, I propose the graphics be uploaded to the repository in SVG format as well as some common resolutions in PNG format, such as 800 x 600 (SVGA), 1280 x 720 (HD 720), 1920 x 1080 (HD 1080), as well as the size(s) most applicable to its use case.
I’ve listed the tools I typically use, their output characteristics, and applicable information, below in case you’re not familiar with them.
Inkscape
2D vector graphics editor. SVG file format. SVGs retain their editing capabilities and scale without distortion. Can export to PNG and JPG and be imported into Blender. The majority of the Arquillian graphics are in this format.
Blender
3D vector graphics, animation, and video editor. BLEND file format. Can export as STL, PNG, JPG, SVG (but has some limitations/not always a perfect match), and all common video formats.
Over the past 2 months, I’ve made a concerted effort to get up to speed on the latest Blender techniques. The most common request coming in for the Arquillian graphics was to use them modularly within other scenes but then the positioning and shadowing no longer applied. This meant rather painstakingly separating layers, creating new shadows and even new objects (case in point, Ike’s straight arm and bent arm). Doing this on the fly got messy, which is why there are several SVGs with Ike’s arm hanging out in the canvases' gutters.
By recreating the applicable graphics in Blender, I’ll have much greater control over lighting, can take a snapshot of an image from any position, lighting angle or distance with no editing. Eventually, graphics that are made up of multiple parts could be posed into new positions once I set up animation rigging. This will also ensure the sides, front, and back of an image are of the same quality, scale and consistency.
And don’t worry that this means you’ll have to wrestle with a .blend file in order to review/evaluate the images in 3D. GitHub recently initiated 3D viewing of STL files, so you will be able to rotate and zoom in on the 3D graphics right in the browser.
Gimp
Raster graphics editor. File format XCF (preserves individual layers, extension settings, lines and nodes, masks, etc.). Export to PNG, JPG, or embed in Inkscape as a component of an SVG. Will begin to pixelate when scaled improperly or beyond limits dependant on original resolution (ex. if an image is created at 1024 x 768 it’s going to look grainy/blurry if you try to scale it to 1600 x 900, SVGs don’t have this handicap).
I use Gimp to manipulate GIFs, PNGs, and JPGs (for example: to remove the non-transparent background around a graphic) as well as create such effects as the background of the invasion banner.
Photographs
Off the top of my head, I believe I have photographs from the Devoxx Hackathon and the NightHacker Session that still need to be processed.
Video
Also from Devoxx, there are 3 videos in need of editing and rendering:
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Recording of Testing BoF
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Interview with John Smart
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Interview with David Blevins
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Add your ideas, thoughts, and questions to this document, with a focus on the questions in the introduction.
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Speak up about which graphics you think are a priority.
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Think about the ways you use graphics in presentations or online. Do you find yourself always thinking they’re too big or too small? That you wish they were in X file format versus Y format? That they take too long to load? Let us know what your common graphics use case issues are.
Meanwhile, after I locate working versions of the testing graphs and upload them, I will be working on the logos.