Moulinette 3.0 coming soon! [UPDATED]

== Update : Nov 6 ==

The initial versions of Moulinette (3rd generation) are now available for Blacksmith supporters and above. If you'd like to support development, now is a great time to consider upgrading. Otherwise, don’t worry; the final versions should be available to all supporters in December, and the modules will officially open to everyone (with most features remaining free and open-source) in early 2025. Thank you so much for using Moulinette <3 !!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/114837318 (blacksmith+ supporters)

==

Hello,

Moulinette will soon be celebrating its 4th anniversary. Over the years, new features have been added, and the number of supporters has grown from just a few to nearly 4,000 members! <3

Over time, some limitations have become apparent, stemming from elements developed in the early stages, when I could never have imagined the platform's success. It was time to tackle these issues, and I have spent the past few months completely redeveloping the FoundryVTT modules, optimizing content processes, and improving part of the hosting platform (Moulinette Cloud).

I am very excited to make everything available to you, but I also want to ensure that the updates won't impact the existing modules and that the new ones support essential features. In the meantime, I'm sharing some screenshots, the intended improvements, and more so that you can provide me with your feedback and suggestions.

I hope to make the new versions available by mid-November.

Motivation and Goals

A comment I occasionally see on Discord is that Moulinette is complex to set up and use. This saddens me because I'm developing the module to make it easier for users to access creators' content. Through the development of Moulinette 3.0, I have focused on finding ways to simplify interfaces, processes, and functionalities.

Starting with the toolbar, I have created new icons to identify Moulinette and to represent certain interfaces more clearly.

The main module's interface has been redesigned to resemble the experience of other popular sites, with filters on the left. You'll notice that collections are displayed more clearly, rather than as tabs like they are currently.

Indexing your own local content has been simplified. There's no longer a distinction between "images," "tiles," "maps," or "sounds." Moulinette can now automatically detect the different types based on file extensions and image dimensions. You can also choose whether to generate thumbnails and extract certain metadata (e.g., the duration of an audio track).

The content display has also been updated. Useful metadata, such as image dimensions, file size, or the number of pages in a PDF document, has been added.

Scenes

PDF

Music / Sounds

 Icons

Core Principles

Here are the new guidelines adopted for future developments :

• Keep interfaces as simple as possible while offering maximum flexibility (advanced options separated or available through hooks) for power users.

• Automatically deduce certain parameters. For example, identify whether an image is a map or a tile, or adjust the image size based on tiles already on the scene.

• Support all content types available in FoundryVTT.

• Make modules compatible with "The Forge" hosting

• Support content hosted on S3

Moulinette 3.0 will also enable me to extend the service in the following ways:

• Add new data sources (through partnerships)

• Offer advanced features (e.g., Google Image Search, image conversion, etc.) for supporters at higher tiers.

• Expand Moulinette Cloud to other VTTs.

Thank you so much for all the support you provide me! Feel free to comment, share your thoughts, and suggest features.

--

Sven