So I am in the process of setting up SVN on the Animux network. At this time it is not fully implemented, the actual SVN repository still needs to be created on their end but that should happen within the next 24 hours.
There has been some concern from Chris that this might not be a good idea, I did research this though before making the decision to do this. I also watched SVN work for Blender projects, most recently the 48hr Blender animation project this past weekend. It worked very well for them and they had quite a team involved on all parts of the project. So after watching this work for them with positive results I worked out details with Mark to setup something for us.
One of the issues we have is that filepaths are getting screwed up, Daniel and I have been trying to pinpoint the problem but it seems to be eluding us. It mainly has to do with texture maps, though it might not be a Blender path problem - it could be how I have setup the texture paths period. If that is the case then I will again go and edit each Blend file to a sub dir for each asset - putting texture folders in their parent models directory.
I think I am aware this is a bigger project scope than realized. Though now that I have gotten over the fear that this won't be done in a given time frame - I am determined to finish this. However the reason for the urgent SVN migration is due to Siggraph. After making the post on www.blendertorenderman.org I realized that we have 1 week to get some material done.
So I have decided to make a simple animation test, fully shaded and rendered. Using a couple of assets and the spider model. This will be a test only, a preview for siggraph only. The reason is two fold - one of our own means, another is for Animux - thus also a reason for the SVN migration, we can begin to use the renderfarm on a regular basis now. The animation test will be simple, though I will try to make it look as impressive as any shot should. Other material for siggraph will consist of still renders. The animation test will be 10 seconds in length. This will also be a way for us to "cheat" for our goal - the project itself became bigger than the initial goal which is prefectly ok - this test will be our "goal" of rendering a short animation of character animation. The final project is just the extended version of it - if any of this doesn't make sense I am sorry (lol). Either way this should be possible with the idea I have.
The test will just consist of our spider crawling down a strand of web, fully textured, motion blur, shaded, lit with volumetric fog (smoke.sl) and having at least one or two of the environment models in frame. A camera movement of some kind? Either way it is something I can personally animate, its simple enough so that it won't look too bad.
Well on that note I shall stop here, feel free to voice opinions or questions, or concerns.