Re: [brlcad-devel] [GSOC] Scientific project

[Christopher S. M. <br...@ma...>]

On Mar 27, 2012, at 4:49 PM, Aurélien Marion wrote:

> I'm Aurelien MARION. I'm a student in engineering at the university of Brussels, Belgium.
> I'd be really interested on working with you this summer through Google Summer of Code.
> Two projects particularly caught my attention : Astronomical units and Celestial mechanics particle system.

Thanks for the introduction, Aurélien, and welcome!  Those are both very interesting and useful projects.

> Concerning the second project, I've already done a physics-based game in space and I'd love to take this a step further.

So the important aspect for that project is to build upon the existing simulation code started last year (src/libged/simulate), implemented by SOCIS student Abhijit Nandy.  He implemented a great "simulate" command that utilizes the Bullet Physics Engine and it's the framework to build upon going forward.

> I've read the applications guideline. I'll send mine in by this week-end.

Excellent, look forward to reading it!

> Do you have any tips on preparing my submission?

Lots of suggestions detailed here:  http://brlcad.org/wiki/Summer_of_Code/Application_Guidelines

Other than that, for students that have the time, I highly recommend everyone interested in working on BRL-CAD write up two proposals just so you don't have to worry about others proposing the same idea.  Quality is still better than quantity and a good patch is better than no patch, but it sometimes helps to include a secondary interest.  If we get to know you and like you but someone else has a much better proposal, it's nice to have the backup.

The ordering I'd suggest is 0) introductions/questions, 1) strong complete primary proposal write-up, 2) strong source code patch ideally related to what you're proposing (optional but it's a huge vouch of your abilities), then 3) secondary proposal write-up. 

> P.S If this e-mail was inappropriate, sorry for any inconvenience. Please let me know.

It's not inappropriate in the least bit.  Everyone who has yet to introduce themselves on the list should do so.

Cheers!
Sean