Forum shake up

[Mike-3DT]

Personally I think these boards are overdue for a shake up. So I've decided to open it up to you guys for any ideas on what needs changing.
The first thing is to get rid of some of the older sticky threads & then maybe delete or reform forums that don't get much activity & then introduce new ones or alter old ones to include new things like including tradional art as discussed in Jenn's sculpture poll in the general discussoin forum.
I also think we ought to get the FAQ updated (I did start a while back,) so that we can refer commonly asked questions to that - so start suggesting entries now. (the 'o' & 'x' hotkeys in max is one possible entry, "which package is best" is another.)
Since I'm the guy pulling the forum strings, I'll be implementing the changes so either post here, PM me or email & I'll consider all suggestions. This is your chance to change these forums so don't hold back. I'm not saying all or even any of the suggestions will be put into practice, but we will consider them & I'll get the mods to vote on promising ideas.

Gimme your ideas people.

[Fizzy]

How about a thread about texturing? I know it kind of falls under general CG but it would probably help some people who are new to the forums find texturing help - a lot of people tend to ignore the Tutorial thread and just ask anyway. Personally I find the tutorial thread fantastic.

[geoMan]

i like the idea of a texture forum...... moreover... it wud be a very good thing to have a forum on lighting, and some sorta debates.....it wud be fun.... good luck mike my pal!

[Yanik]

Small suggestion:

I'd like to see some more forum skins, they bring colour in this forum.
Looking everytime at the default blue skin becomes boring after a while.
If you want i can make one if you don't know how.

[Merrow]

If you folks have the time to rework threedy I would rather see that time used to organize a new competition. We don't need a huge prize. In fact I was hoping for a smaller prize so that someone of my skill level would have a chance.

That is what threedy needs most, a new competition.

[Goig!]

A textures forum? he he... hehehe ;)

I support introducing a forum for traditional arts, drawing, sculpture, photography.

The CG Shorts forum seemed like a good idea *wink-wink* :D But the only movement there is an ocational tumbleweed; so I think it´s a good candidate for the axe or redefinition.

[lillypusher]

the scrpiting forum could probably go too.

how come it claims to have 85 posts? when it has 2? strange.

allthough IMO i don't think there should be a seperate traditional art forum (as stated in Jenn's thread) and that people should feel free to post whatever they want, it might convice more people that they can show whatever they want, and that there's a specific place for their photography, nude modeling and poetry.

i don't know how usefull the FAQ is - hardly anyone goes and checks it before posting. ok, that's not fair, i don't know whether people do, there could be 150 posts a day not written because people HAVE looked at the FAQ, but based upon my experience with mankind, they don't.

i think that a texture forum isn't a bad idea, could turn out well. both a place to find textures, and ask texture related questions.

as u can see (or read rather) i haven't really added a whole lot to the current suggestions..... oh well. if i think of anything really brilliant, i'll stick it in.

p.s. i was joking about the poetry. but the nude modeling is fine by me.

[Vitor]

It would be cool a texturing, a traditional art, and a lighting foruns. But I think they'll be almost dead. Like the scriping forun and the Cg short discussion one.

As Merrow said, new competitions would be cool. The prizes don't need to be very expensive. I think just a Cg book or a 3Dtotal's Textures CDs would be enought.

I really would like a monthly gameart comp.

[F. Hultqvist]

Hey there Mike, it's been awhile:) If anything, these forums need four thumbnail pictures on the top of the main forum that shows the latest and best work from any thread in any forum, except the competitions section. The competition section should probably have their own seperate 4 thumbnails.

Also, personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a new forum/section dedicated to jokes (links to sites, animations, stills, anything artistically funny). I always get a kick out of some of them, and they are usually hard to find because they are mingled with everything else.

Otherwise, a new comp wouldn't hurt:D

Keep up the great work mods:)

__Fred__

[Mike-3DT]

Hmm some conflicting opinions so far.
Ok, first off, the new comp is very close now - probably this week. That's all I'm going to say for now about that as this thread was about the forums themselves.

Some people would like to see a seperate texturing/lighting/modelling forum etc, but I can't help but think that they would be pretty quiet. As it is the general CG forum should cover that, but it might help to rename it as people get confused about what to post there.

I think regarding the traditional art issue, the best thing might be to add it into the 2d forum. Since a lot of people start out with pencils even when doing a digital painting, there is some trad art there already. Extending it to include things like photography and sculpture is only a short hop.

What about what Kuman mentioned about crits? Would anyone like to see a little form to fill in on replies? Something like:

What I liked about the image:
What I didn't like:
What I think could be changed:
Anything else that might improve the image:
Random comments:

Would that encourage people to give more constructive crits or would they just skip those parts & carry on posting, "looks good, let's see more" type comments. Should we have a seperate "crits only" forum where we ask people who reply to pick the image apart, warning posters to take all comments on the chin?

Also the cg shorts forum & the scripting forum are pretty much dead. People asked for them, we put them in & then not enough people used them. Time to get rid of them? Merge them into general cg?

Fred - how's it going? Definately been a while but I've been lurking on the cgchat realtime board & keeping an eye on your stuff. Princess Dye-Ku was cool.
Thanks for your suggestions - the thumbnails thing is a nice idea, but it might look like we were copying cgtalk. As for the jokes thing, we do have a fun forum which gets a fair amount of traffic.

Thoughts on these issues? Other ideas? Keep em coming.

[Fizzy]

Yeah, I thought my idea for a texturing forum might produce a rather quiet thread, but I thought it might help to separate it from the glut of questions in General CG or software specific help.

My other suggestion would be to divide up the software help thread. Have a separate thred for max, miya, softimage, and a catch all. I've been noticing a lot of posts there that just say I've rigged a model and it's broken with no info on their software package.

I guess it all comes back to people not reading the FAQ stickies. I almost missed them when I started, but I didn't want to be that annoying new guy so I checked them out and try to follow them. I guess people find it easier to just post instead of search through for information. I try to give head's up to the tutorials thread, but I find myself posting less often although I want to help out when I can.

I'm not sure if the questionaire would help. I think you'd get a lot of "What don't you like about this image? - Nothing!" posts.

[F. Hultqvist]

Now how did I miss that one (the fun forum), oops:o

As for the four thumbnails, there must be some way around it so that it doesn't look like you are copying cgtalk. How about if you create another partition on 3dtotal's home page dedicated to the threads. This way, you could even give a small discription of the person and his work and why people should see it. Something like you have now with the "offsite" sections.

Otherwise, I agree with your "some people would like to see a seperate texturing/lighting/modelling forum etc, but I can't help but think that they would be pretty quiet."

As for cgchat, heheh yes, I see your name there occassionally. I keep wondering if one day you will enter:)