Despite what I said when I moved to Carrara (not gonna be around much, etc.), I did continue to come around this place and it's still in the links bar on top because I consider the people in this place my extended family and I like you more than the Carrara community (which is virtually non-existant).

Now I've noticed this place has started to be deader than a date with a goth. At first I thought it was just the summer period, people going out on vacation and so on. Secondly I blamed myself for drawing most of the usual and active posters (i.e. Mahray, xenic, ek-art, phil drawbridge, etc) away to RenderGods. And thirdly I blamed the migration of users to other apps such as Carrara, linked to the growth of DAZ's Bryce forum as the premier place for the app.

It's probably a combination of those three things. Certainly, when it comes to RenderGods, we do talk about this place and the artists here a lot. My original thought was to integrate and even replace the god-awful site chat, at least for the Bryce Forum, with the one we already have. At least in terms of viewership and so on, we've acheived more in the 2 years we've worked on it than most of the better times the site chat has had-read: we have 7-20 active people in there constantly.

At any rate, Phil, xenic and I discussed the matter and decided as the three owners of RenderGods, that we'll try to relocate some of our time and work in order to try to help out this forum. Non-believers should not be too cynical about this attempt, as our concerted efforts have acheived some pretty amazing things on this site (such as getting all of Flak's images into the Hot20 at one point, as a gesture of appreciation to his incredible art). Ergo whenever we make freebies for Carrara we will port them over to Bryce as well. We have other plans involving linking off of our sites to this place and giving it as much positive spin as possible. As we discussed it, it became apparent that we all owe quite a lot to you guys and to Agent Smith. We never considered ourselves different or separate from this place, but rather RenderGods a natural extension of the forum and the site in general.

So that's that, your thoughts would be appreciated. For myself, I continue to offer free hosting for your projects through digitallights.net (formerly freewriters.ca). Brycers get first dibs no matter what :)

mihnea

Well I can speak for myself. I have been doing more modeling latley and have been spending more time at modelign sites (subdivisionmodeling.com highpoly3d.com) and occasional stints here and to the Wings forum. Not much into chat more of a bulleten board type of person. Mostly due to time difference. (China Time) Also you think I make a lot of typos here wait till you see me in chat mode.

I'm not a modeler, but I do play one on TV..;) Careful what you ask for, I think I'm up to about 600 'models'..;) I should stop by...

I guess it's about 5 years give or take a few months since I've been here, and I've seen so many come and go. Yes, summer attendance does drop off considerably, and also the effect of changes here has lead to a large switch up from old to new members. Many old dogs don't like new tricks, and the new dogs on the block don't see this place as the veterans do.

Getting back to the basics of creating an inviting atmosphere where newer people feel challenged and rewarded with a sense of belonging is a great way to revive this place. Listening to the feedback of change can sour anyones taste. So Yes, a change in the wind can definately make this a worthwhile place when the focus is on the shared efforts and challenges.

Another thought too....Everbody loves it when their team is winning, and just recently there is a boost of revitilazation in our beloved Bryce, so this is certainly a good time to rev up the place most of us at one time considered home away from home. I would almost put money on the fact then when rubber of "6" hits the road, there's going to be a pretty large re-influx of patrons here, all buzzin, and excited.

So.....Some patience and faithful effort sounds like a good thing to these "Old Dog" ears. (hehe...and I'm not even one of the oldest Bryce dogs in the neighborhood).

Thanks Mihn, Phil, you other RG's too

Rod

Hey, Drac, just thought you should know .... I tried clicking on any of the IRC links on Rendergods, but got nowhere fast.  Just error messages telling me that the link was no good, or in the case of the java link ... just nothing.

I for one have just been too busy putting out fires on the homefront to Bryce much, or to post much.  I still pop in to read from time to time and to look at other people's renders and wish that I had time to create something of my own, but no such luck.

However, I'm sure I'll always be lurking in the background and I hope that some of the people I've come to really like won't go away just because the forum and the program are in a transitional mode.

yeah, the mirc link is still on the 'to-do list'.. i will get to it eventually. as for the java and cgi ones.. those SHOULD work.

m

well, i think for me its a combination of switching over more and more to 3dsmax, spending more time at work, and the forum going rather silent. Btw, goth dates dont need to be that bad if she's hot just as long as she's not into SM

i certainly noticed a downsizing in the use of the site, although i still consider myself fairly new, i'd like to see anything that would help increase usage once more.

Like with Rayraz, many of us explored other Apps, which I don't have to explain can take lots of time for the learning curve. We become integrated into the new apps, thus less time spent on a product with it's limits. Like I said earlier, with the upcoming B-6 I'm sure this will create lots more interest and time spent re-learning the updated version. Sharing the experience will be part of that.

"Now I've noticed this place has started to be deader than a date with a goth."

The opposite is the reality - it is coming back to life. You can see this for yourself. Check out page four - it covers a period of fifteen days. Page one covers a period of six days. Loads more posts. The DAZ Bryce offers (5.01 / 5.5) have generated new users and the new users are generating new discussions. The release of 6 is likely to bolster and continue this trend for a while.

"Non-believers should not be too cynical about this attempt..."

Heh.

Real life (read work) issues here. More overtime than I want at the moment.

mouse ben lurkin', workin' and mostly just shirkin'. ... also something about microphones and machine operators and spiders and flies. - curse you, Mick Jaggar!!! 

Despite what I said when I moved to Carrara (not gonna be around much, etc.)

Bryster is on vacation so I'll say for him..."heretic"  LOL

Like I said earlier, with the upcoming B-6...

I thought that was a myth

All seriousness now.  to Drac and other masters-- you know I am only a hobbyest and don't amount to much.  (if any doubts view my gallery and see how I have regressed) I relished the mini-tuts and viewing evolving wip's on this forum in the past.  From them I learned, albeit slowly.  That stuff is gone now.  I even miss the elitist facade of LSD (Lordstormdragon)  AS is still here giving unselfishly.  I for one will welcome your visits.  I didn't visit RG because I'm not worthy of first hand dialog and would be intimidated. 

Browse the Bryce gallery and see the new screen names and note the increase of new users because primarily to B5 free.  They/we need help to grow.  Help for all levels of users used to be in abundance here.

There are babies to be claimed and hands to be held.  And get Ang25 back while ur at it.

( skiwilllgee gets off knees from pleading, too old, they hurt and creak)

Well, I'm back after a 2 year sabatical of sorts.... Okay I had other things going on.  But I'm back now shooting off my big fat yap as usual... that counts I think for a little bit in livening up things again.  Good to see you're still around here a bit Drac.  Been way too long. :c)

It had picked up a bit after the free bryce 5 thing for sure, but was starting to slow down again by the looks. The bryce 6 date is when the Bryce 6 revealed thread was posted at DAZ.

I can speak for myself here. I got sick of our slow this site became, sick of getting the market place page full of poser stuff so i stop coming to the site and now i'm busy using D|S and i will be installing poser sometime before long and learning that. So there is the reason you see little from me here, still come by now and then to see whats going on.

For my part it's mainly to do with uni (last semester of Grad Dip program, so hectic), partly to do with lack of motivation, and partly to do with computer problems...

In my own case, I've become a bit less active because I'm currently suffering from a flare-up of my back problem, bad enough to put me on medical leave and undergoing out-patient treatment at a local hospital (epidurals. due for my second one on Thurs morn).

So I've either been too doped up to care or in too much pain to sit at the computer. I'm still checking e-bots every couple of days, but not feeling up to much input. Getting better, though.

Still keeping up with the major issues, even if I'm not commenting much.

Peace out,

John

See, when you guys get into the "mine is bigger then yours" I don't have much to say, since mine is bigger then all yours put together. :P

Now that we settled "that" once and fo all, let's talk about what to render next... :)

Yup, reasons has been stated;

-July, August, & September - The slowest months of the whole year for the forum.

-August & September - The busiest months of the whole year for me. I gave up going back home to the midwest to visit & Siggraph this year, and I was still beat.

-PHP Forum switch.

-Carrara/Hexagon sale from DAZ - LOTS of new Carrara users spending time with their new app.

**But...**with all these reasons, attendance always rises back up, (then dips back down a little during Thanksgiving/Christmas), it's all good, we just had more reasons for slower attendance here this year than other years.

And, of course we have the Bryce 6.0 debacle coming to look forward to. The yea-sayers, the nay-sayers...my primitive made obps made into obj's to be given away...it's gonna be like old times...sniff.....can't wait......;o)

Hah, you wanna talk big, bet none of you have  up to 3/4 billion US dollars worth of hardware riding on your ability to bust ass over the balance of this month.  One good thing at least, I get overtime!

Note that this is not intended to belittle in any way anyone else's issue, particularily Tjohn's  - back pain sucks bigtime!

If anyone is offended, I do apologize - that was not my intention. I just got in from work, my blood caffeine is crashing and I have to be at work in time for a 0700 conference call with vendors in the UK and Germany tomorrow morning.

One quick run through the forums and its off to bed.

...and if anybody can figure out how to get rendo to see I'm in GMT-5 not -6 time zone, I'd like to know!

now you wanna talk 'dead', you shoulda seen The Tavern; a week went by without a post..;)

I'm glad to be a part of this forum as well as carrara and Vue, rarely zbrush and I lurk but don't post in the photography forum to.
Thanks to all.

I'm going to be perking up the ZBrush Forum a little here myself this next month.

My apologies to all about my grumpiness last night, much better mood this morning. A bit of food, some rest and a good shot of fresh brewed and I am off the face the world (at least by phone).

Quote - See, when you guys get into the "mine is bigger then yours" I don't have much to say, since mine is bigger then all yours put together. :P Now that we settled "that" once and fo all, let's talk about what to render next... :)

How bout renderin ur biggest render yet?

Quote - Despite what I said when I moved to Carrara (not gonna be around much, etc.)

Bryster is on vacation so I'll say for him..."heretic"  LOL

Like I said earlier, with the upcoming B-6...

I thought that was a myth

It is... isn't it?

Quote -  I didn't visit RG because I'm not worthy of first hand dialog and would be intimidated. 

Now don't say that, at RG there are usually long periods of silence punctuated by brief sessions with Miss Kitty's Whips, or else I turn up demanding urgent in-depth tutorials and bore everyone to death - but that's okay I can't do that so much now as at college I can't use mIRC.

So you're fairly safe just now.

I'd like to join in more here.  I've been a member here since 2003 but used to have terrible trouble getting here on dialup.  Now with ADSL things are much better and I've been coming here more and more of late.  Some of you will know me from my activities at 3DCommune and I have never been sure how welcome I am here as I shall continue to be a member of both sites (as well as Daz forums, CP forums, PlanIT3D,  numerous C4D forums and CG talk :D  I'm a forumholic really trying to learn as much as I can anywhere).

All I care about is learning as much as I can and shamelessly search any forum I belong to when I'm working on an image to pick up tips.  I like writing tutorials and if I ever think I've got something worth sharing that not everybody knew before the dawn of time apart from me then I happily pass it along.

I owe a great deal to this site for some things I now practice regularly in production of my images, not least Bikermouse's Tiffer and AgentSmith's tips on Greyscale.  I finished a pic using these on Monday and must get round to putting it up in the gallery here :)

I don't come to the chat btw, though I've nearly tried a few times because I just don't think fast enough to join a conversation involving more than one person other person.  :D 

;o)

I don't type fast enough for chat. I just grab my keyboard and repeatedly smash it into my forehead, in hopes that my thoughts will somehow transfer.

I've tried the Carrara demo and i'm sorry to say that i'm just not comfortable with it.  For me it's no replacement for Bryce.  What should be done is for advanced Carrara features to be implemented into Bryce, although any advanced models can always be made in some other 3D app and imported.   For overall scene manipulation and final rendering, Bryce excells.  Actually, if I could just get ambient occlusion for that realistic shadowy effect I could stick with Bryce forever and ever. 

By the way, I haven't posted anything for months because of endless delays in getting my new workstation up and running, but i'll be back as soon as I can.

max-! Yeah, long time no see. Good to see ya poke yer head up. ;o)

What should be done is for advanced Carrara features to be implemented into Bryce

-Amen to that! There is a "light" version of Carrara, which is absolutely perfect for a dismantling, and reconstruction inside of Bryce, imho.

DAZ has stated that they just didn' thave time to implement any Carrara technology into Bryce, or at least have them share it, but after Bryce 6........(I hope)