Happy Fugio Friday!
So I really had it in mind that I released the first version of Fugio in May, and I was planning on doing this birthday round up of the previous years activity. Only getting around to checking the actual release date today, I found it was April 8th, so I missed it. Not to be disheartened, I plan to push ahead anyway with my excellent post idea, and will get the date right next year!
In the first year of Fugio
- First release on April 8th 2016
- 32 binary releases in 2016 for Windows and Mac
- 35 plugins released
- 242 nodes
- GitHub repository:
- I did 719 commits, adding 256,162 lines of code, and deleting 30,424
- BigHoss added 2,011 lines, which were for the German translation
- Facebook page has 569 likes
- Facebook Users Group has 169 members
- Fugio’s web page had 7,725 page views,
- I ran the first Fugio workshop in Brighton
- I made 9 tutorial videos
- I wrote 44 Fugio Friday or otherwise Fugio related posts
- I exhibited Fugio based artworks at the V&A and Imperial College in London, and in Birmingham, Bournemouth, Oxford, Brussels, and Irvine California
Looking back
Looking back over the year, I’d say it’s been an enjoyable project to undertake. There has been a really positive response from many people, and it’s been exciting to see how other people are using the software for their own projects.
For my work, it has completely fulfilled it’s purpose, enabling me to quickly develop new artworks, and keep existing works up and running in a state ready for exhibition. I find I’m able to try out ideas faster because there are now a good range of nodes that replace the need to write code.
In regards to running an open source and public project, I’ve found it often it takes up more of my time than it probably should as I get stuck into some tasty new idea or feature, or track down bugs reported by users.
It’s also not easy to justify spending time on a project that doesn’t make me any money directly, and sometimes I find myself thinking that I should implement a feature because it might be popular with users, even if it’s not of any use to myself.
Overall, it has developed into exactly what I hoped it would be: the start of a fascinating and challenging voyage, with new people, new ideas, and new opportunities.
Looking forward
Looking forward I have a long list of improvements and features to add, and I will work through them as and when I can.
One of the main features of this coming year will be the announcement of a major new Fugio installation that I’ll be spending much of my time working on, which is using many Raspberry Pi computers that play video and provide interactivity. While Fugio already runs on the Pi, there is going to be much more native support for it soon.
Outside of the code, I hope that the Fugio community continues to grow and people share more examples and experiments and ideas with each other. I will continue to try to provide support and tools to facilitate this happening where I can.
I would like to get a lot more feedback from users about the software and how it could be improved. I’d like to give more talks, and perhaps speak at some conferences, which I’ve always found an excellent way to connect with people.
Personally I’d like to see Fugio helping people realise their creative ideas, while learning as they go.
However, this project isn’t just about what I want: what would you like to see happen with Fugio over the next year?
