I was just thinking, why can't we collect all the best tutorials, have people write some new tutorials, for the various programs Renderosity uses, stuff all of them on a cd, sorta like a kinda training course, and sell the CD? Maybe throw some of the best utilities on there too, mover, uvmapper, etc. That could make a few bucks. Between the tutorials and the knowledge in the forums, we should be able to create mini training courses for just about every program.

That's actually not a bad idea. And it would allow those of us with CD burners to contribute as well. Kate (who can contribute some Vue 3 tutorials, but nothing really fancy cuz I don't know anything fancy yet)

hmmm... but having a reference book is good, also. (or a reference cd, in this case.) if people didn't sell knowledge... i'd never have my photoshop WOW books. :) i like tutorials and training info, so i like this idea.

Thanks bone. that is something we've considered as well. though if we do it, it won't be a few things slapped together. for some reason, we just can't do things small around here ;)

I absolutely don't agree with this idea. I think this tutorials are one of the most important part of the forum, thats for me the real life of the forum. Let's think to the end: If i can buy a cd with all really helpfull programms and all tutorials WHY A HAVE TO GO IN THE FORUM ? You can say to communicat with others, ok thats correct but in which direction would this communication go ? Read the messages and you will find many mini-tutorials for free, from which i personally learned a lot. I hope we don't have to miss this in the future. Please, please think to the end. SHARKEY

One of the things I love about the forums here is the little mini tutorials, and that's one of the things that keeps me coming here. BUT (and this is my whole point here) there is no real organization of the helpful tidbits we find in the forum messages. And past tips are a nightmare to find, even using the search option. And trying to print a tutorial off the web drives me nuts because I'll wind up with the text on one page and the illustrations on another, etc. Downloading them to re-format and print out for my own reference involves loading my HD with each and every image as well as the html coding. So, for ME, I would LOVE to have all that done for me. I would pay the cost of processing a CD so that I could have it all at my fingertips, so to speak. The stuff that's here would still be here and still be free, but what I would be willing to pay for is not the information but the convenience of having it all organized into something that I can print out to hard copy. PLUS, with a CD all those little mini tuts could be expanded to include illustrative screen shots for those of us who don't follow written instructions well or which, frankly, were too large to include in the forum posting. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to follow some of the stuff and not been able to because I don't have a visual reference to aid me, or how often I've attempted to search the site for instructions on how to do something that I know I saw only to give up in frustration at not finding it in the archives because I'm not using the right keyword or can't recall the title of the post. If done properly, I think a Tutorials CD could be used to enhance, not replace, the information we find in the forums and on members' websites. Kate

I must (with some regret; I'm a cheap SOB) agree with Kate's comments. It would be great to have some of the tips, tutorials, etc. in a handy reference format (I could delete about 20 bookmarks then... ;-)).

I didn't say take the stuff off the forums and tutorials and stuff. Nor did I say slap it together. I can see a nice CD with an HTML user interface that allows you to access all the content, similar to what Maximum PC used to do. Starting with FAQs and beginner's level up to expert. Hell, we could even have a contest here to design a 3D user interface for it. There is as well, a lot of usefull information in the various forums. I've been going thru the forum archives (very slowly) with my notepad open, and cutting and pasting various answers and tips and stuff just for my own use. I've looked at a lot of the tutorials and there are several that I'm not willing to wait for while acrobat downloads a 5 or 6 meg file. As much information as we have here, we could almost do a CD on each seperate program. And I suspect that the members of this community wouldn't be the main buyers for the CDs. Given a bit of work to get the thing reviewed on various sites and magazines, it could sell to people who do 3D, or want to, with the side benefit that they might join this site. Make a nice Bryce CD and you might get Corel to distribute it with the package. Electronic books and content are the way of the future, they're exploding right now. I think this community could make a bit of money with a comprehensive set of CDs that covered FAQs and tutorials about the various programs we use. There are other people making big bucks for providing on line training in various programs. Why shouldn't we make a few?

I think this is a good idea, I'd certainly buy it, just to have all the reference material in one place. At present I have various bits culled from here spread across several CD's. Often whilst I can recall having seen and saved something relevant to what I'm doing, I either can't find it, or I come across something else whilst searching and get sidetracked. I would see the CD as a compilation of existing information rather than the place where new information is put. Usually new techniques develop from interaction between members, and that works best when ideas are posted on the forum. Plus if someone comes up with something new they naturally want to talk about it at the time, rather than waiting until the release of the 'next CD'. Just my opinion though.. Ian

I agree with Darth, it is a great idea, almost brilliant in it's simplicity (congrats bone :-). You're not really selling the information, what you're selling is the convenience & time savings of having all the tutorials & tips in one place. If a person wishes to they can still seek everything out on their own, but if this idea is adopted save a CD for me. IMHO my time is much more valuable than any nominal charge the compilation might carry.

Well, my english isn't so good like yours, maybee you have missunderstand me. Allie brings my considerations to the point. What i see as a really good idea is to bring all this helpfull programms on one cd. About the interface, i would be glad to do this. SHARKEY

I think that rather than "special" or "new" tutorials, what would be better is "expanded" tutorials. For instance, some of the instructions on how to do things that are text only could be reworked to include graphic illustrations for some of the more confusing steps. For example, there is a thread by Anton on the Poser forum describing how to make complex props like trees and such, but I can't make heads or tails of the instructions. I just don't get what he's trying to explain. But if he were to take those instructions and add screen shots to illustrate I would probably be able to follow it very nicely. That's what I mean when I say "expanded." Kate

It would be so wonderful to have a cd with it's own gui or what have you (html or flash or whatever, I don't know what I'm talking about) that is divided into categories of information, just click through till you have the tutorial you need. Sample pics, links to demos of used programs outside of poser... any freeware that is offered to distribute with it.... It would not be an elitist esoteric commercialization move, it would just be a crystalization of everything that is already here for free. New ideas would continue to be posted here, new revelations, etc...all for vol 2! I would be thrilled to see my few revealations on a CD that was being sold to help renderosity! (Click here for Darth_Logice's Fake Gravity technique) that would be so cool. Also, nobody would say buy the goddamned CD, we would continue to offer the same help for free to all members as we always do. -Darth_Logice

I am not against another tutorial disk that IS Esoteric Commercialism. There are Masters at these sites. If they could be coaxed to reveal their unique methods for another Cd, that would be great. I would pay good money to see exactly how allie did the transmapped hair, for example. I would pay good money to figure out how (can't remember the name) gets such vivid colors out of his/her images. Individual trademark secrets disk. I'd even have something to contribute to that one. It's the kind of information we DONT readily share here in the forums that could/should be for a good cause. -Darth_Logice

Heck, I'd pay good money just to find out how renapd makes all those fabulous texture maps! Her work goes beyond anything "professional" I've seen out there (sorry Zygote, but rena's got y'all beat in the texture dept. smile). As for what someone said about not wanting software tutorials, um, hate to say it, but yes, we DO want them. I have TrueSpace 2 and 3 and can't use them because the manual just says "do this" and "do that" but it doesn't say HOW to do them. Which buttons do I push? Which direction do I move the cursor? How do I get this to work or that to work? Too many tutorials assume that we have a basic working knowledge of the interface, no matter what program we're using, and for some of us, the interface is more confusing than the instructions, so YES we DO want "(insert program here) for idiots" tutorials grin At least I want them. :) Gimme pictures. Gimme simple, step by step instructions. Help me learn the interface, THEN teach me the techniques. So, why couldn't we put together tutorials into "Pre-Beginner", "Beginner", "Intermediate", "Advanced" and "Way Beyond Advanced" sections on the CD? That way everyone, at every stage of development would be covered. What do y'all think? KateTheOftenConfusedBySomeInterfaceOrOther

I hear what you're saying about software tutorials; I tried to teach myself Flash from a demo and a tutorial. The screens I saw looked NOTHING like the ones in the magazine, and they only covered about 1/3rd of the steps needed to do ANYTHING. I realize they had space constraints and such, but at least showing where some of the commands are hidden would have helped a LOT! And I know a lot of other programs are like that too (I remember playing with the free (save-disabled) Version of Truespace 2 a while back and wishing I had at least a small tutorial for it too).

We could call it "Renderosity's Greatest Hits", eh, Allie? :) Kate

Yeah, I get pissed trying to work tutorials for 3DS and Rhino because the users manual and all the tutorials simply assume you know where all the tools are and what they do, so they just tell you do this, but they don't tell you where the tool is or exactly what it does. 3DS I'm starting to comprehend barely. Rhino is a complete mystery to me. Strata 3D, though a high end program, is at least somewhat intuitive and you can figure things out there. Hell, if I had money, I'd pay for a CD that had nothing but a description of every tool in 3DS and Rhino, what they do, where they are and how to use them. Users manuals SUCK. both Rhino and 3DS users manuals read like they were written in japanese and translated to english by illiterate koreans. Haven't these people ever heard of totally ignorant beginners?

I feel the same way about the TrueSpace interface, bone. Not to mention Max still has buttons that I haven't figured out what the heck they're for yet. I gave up on Rhino's interface back when it was in beta (which was a LONG time ago in cyber-time). btw, do they have a win95 version of Strata? All I could find is win98 and you couldn't pay me to install another windows OS on my system. Bad enough I had to break down and get 95 shudder Kate

No, they only have Strata for win 98 and nt. But hey, I was stubborn about win 95 too. But I finally upgraded, and once I set win 98 to look basically just like 95, it's much better. And Strata is damn near worth the upgrade hassles.

Well, that leaves me out, then. I won't upgrade. I have programs that I still use that just won't run under win98 or NT and there are no comparable replacements for them. Oh well, that's life. Kate