Attached Link: http://www.rendergods.com

A site the size of R'osity generally requires a chatroom even if it's not used that much. It adds to the interaction between users and is a welcome place for planned events. DAZ has it, CGTalk also. Now in terms of actual chat rooms, to my knowledge, there are really only a few site-integratable chat rooms. The following are the *ways* or client apps which you can integrate the chat into the site:

A) Java - The previous one R'osity had. Somewhat long time to load and required users to have Java installed. Java is also bulky and prone to crashes, so that was -thankfully- out.

B) Javascript - This one takes less to load, doesn't come with any installation kits, but in the examples I've seen it in action it wasn't very customizable in terms of looks and so on. Also it  basically relied on refreshing the page constantly, which if you have that click sound in IE or in some other browser, can get horribly annoying.

C) PHP - Probably the best option. I looked at FlashChat, the same app that R'osity bought, and it is pretty customizable, although for some reason, on my P4 2.4Ghz HT 1GB RAM computer it seemed bulky, almost java-ish. All the same, most likely the best choice until a lightweight AJAX chat comes along that will be fast and customizable enough not to be burdensome. For the record, the reason why you have to log in to FlashChat is that it comes with its own database. What you guys probably did was simply pair it with your list of users so they could use the same login and passwords as on the site. Spiffy, although doing it automatically with a little hacking could probably work.

Now in terms of chat rooms, you still need a server for your client to join. The grand daddy of all chat 'technologies' is IRC or Internet Relay Chat. It's been around for years and there are milions of people still using it. You might have heard of mIRC, its most popular chat client (an actual windows app instead of on-site client apps). I'm not exactly sure if FlashChat functions off IRC or just mimes an IRC server (seeing how many of the commands are the same)... Most likely the latter. Anyway, there are hundreds of IRC servers and millions of rooms out there, it's customizable on the client side with dozens of apps for Mac, Windows, Linux, etc. While it has received a bad rep over the years for being rather un-monitored and therefore full of piracy and lamers, it really has been a success story in terms of an almost universal way of getting people to communicate. Some servers are worse than others, depending on the size and so on.

A few years back when I noticed people wouldn't come to R'osity's Java chat room because it was slow, bulky and took a long time to load, I created RenderGods, an IRC channel first hosted on EsperNet and now on Freenode. It's received hundreds of users and has proven that if you give someone a chat room to talk about 3D art, people will come. I've only advertised it here, mostly in the Bryce forum, and I have to say that it's been a sucessful experiment in terms of offering people a place to talk about things that matter to them. It's been policed superbly by fellow Renderosity users with the very same rules that govern this place and it's helped many people with advice, tutorials, free models (you can trade files on IRC). As a case study, it's been magnificent. Most importantly, because of the variety of ways to join it (all of the above plus mIRC), and because Freenode is absolutely excellent in terms of reputation, people came. It's no wonder that CGTalk has its own channel there with some 60-80 users at all times. RenderGods, with no huge site or advertisement behind it, manages to pull off anywhere between 7 to 20 users daily with few dead times in terms of chat. You could even make regular announcements, links to different sold items from the store, etc.

Unfortunately I haven't had as much time as I wanted to keep up the work with the site and the channel, lately, but I do believe that if you guys made the effort to at least consider it as a place for people to go to, according to your own rules and with the adequate support (even unofficially), you would gain a whole lot from it. In my experience, a steady influx of users, especially with IRC, where with broadband I can keep myself logged in via mIRC for days, better channel security with ChanGuard than any human, and basically no extra bandwidth on your end given the external server, you could gain a whole lot more.

So basically I'm asking R'osity, hat in hand, to consider making RenderGods its unnoficial chat channel, at the very least, provided adequate security measures are in place. It's better for the users and the community. If not I will most likely shut it down due to a lack of resources and time on my end, although I am willing to help out with this experiment as much as I can.

Email is mihnead@gmail.com. And you're welcome to visit us on www.rendergods.com. I think the java client works.

m

It's an amazing experience. It's like Krishna with MDMA.

I have been using irc(mirc, pirch and others) for 9 years now. Been in your channel a few times Drac and found it to be like anyother irc channel/chatroom i have been in.

Now just so you get an idea about mirc(irc) unless you fully understand the dangers of the irc clients such as mirc and others on the same line be careful with it. They are always updating mirc because there are so many backdoor trojans and other forms of hacking it that even now irc servers are placing scans on someones irc client when they connect to it. 
Also if you have no idea or can't get help with setting it up then you are a target for a virus being passed onto you via the DCC client on mirc, this can happen even by just connecting to a server and joining a channel on that server, its what we call "Auto DCC'ing". There are a few servers that this happens on in quite a few channels and some it only happens on in just one or two channels, one i wont mention its name is one of the worse ones for this kind of thing.
Not only are you targets for virii but you will get links sent to you in PM(private message) that are for adult sites and some links are for sites that give you trojans/virii.

Look i can go on for days with the ins and outs of irc(miRc) but i wont, what i will say is if you use it and take the time to ask someone and set it up correctly you can be safe 90% of the time..jump on and use it without setting it up correctly and you are a talking target on there..

Ahh, this brings back memories of my old IRC days. Used to chat on that but had more fun on a MUD as a chat engine. Personal rooms, weather, and the occational fireball ;-)

Would like to point out that even though i posted what i said in my last post i still use irc and enjoy using it.

What i find good about it is you can have it on your computer and have a shortcut on your desktop. its there to use anytime you feel like logging on to it, you don't have to open  a browser to log on and have 2 or 3 windows open so you can chat. you don't need flash or java installed to run irc. with irc its one program, you log on and join as many channels/rooms as you like. you can be in 4 of them and if someone says something to you in one while you watch another then you can see the message and that channel name along with the name of the person who said the message.
Unlike webbased/browser chat in my honest opinion IRC is more a user friendly/easier way of going..

I wont stop using irc/mirc just because of a few idiots out there want to spoil it for others. like i said with the correct setup, precortions and server security, irc can be a lot of fun and great way of meeting new friends.

An irc server is something the staff of Renderosity should look into and opening chatrooms/channels for each forum on there...think about it guys, imagine the help people could get on irc in a 1 on 1 basis in pm(private message), this has great potential and would make renderosity the only irc based 3d community..

Maybe I got this all wrong.. I'm not into the tech parts of IRC or not, or versus other stuff..

What I AM into is RenderGods, and I'd like to mention that is has been THE most important resource of learning for me.

I started out totally clueless with Bryce about 1½ yers ago. The forum turned out to be a great ressource, and I received a lot of help and advice there. I found out that some of the people who were most helpful at the forum, were also part of RenderGods, so I went there... and the rest is history, as they say :) I found it an easier, faster way of learning than the forum was. I made great friendships there too, which turned out to be very important as I went through some difficult periods in my life since I joined the channel - but that's not the issue here.

Lately RenderGods has seemed to be slowing down a lot. I don't know if it is due to everyone just being busy, or something else - but I sincerely hope the channel will survive in some form! I learned 90% of what I can from there, and it's truly a heart issue to me.

Drac, DON'T shut it down. Please.

well im not much of an on-site chatter, but i know the major pain a flash platform can be in the ass.... It's a strange platform of choise to say the least. mIRC sounds like a much more proven platform. As you stated before, an AJAX chatbox would be a good choise also, but it'd require some resources to program ofcourse. Resources 'rosity might not be willing to dedicate? (if they did they've either not thought enough of the possibilities or didnt realize the potential)
I'm not much of an on-site chatter myself, but you cant get a much better deal then an IRC channel...

if they are showing reluctance to make yer channel the official 'rosity channel, then perhaps y'all can create some good will by just inviting folks in (like yer doing here), making them feel welcome, being patient with newbies who haven't yet used irc, being patient with those who may have concerns about trojans, warez, viruses, rootkits, et al. I know I had fun using irc in relation to porno artist groups back in the 90s, but I was using OS 9, and there were no security threats to it at the time.

Chatzilla extension for Firefox seems to be pretty good as an IRC client if you don't need anything flashy and use that particular browser anyways. :)  I'm not sure if has that backdoor issue like mirc though.

I'm also a regular at Rendergods, but my hours have been odd working the evening shift and getting off work at 11PM and staying up through the wee hours of the morning... Usually this is when everyone else is sleeping/working (depending on what side of the dirt & water ball they live on). So even if you drop by when it appears quiet, feel free to say hello.

Sometimes you might not get a quick response, it's not that anyone intends to be rude, it's just that we're usually multi-tasking. Just give it a few minutes. (Although some of us might have the chat set to blink when specifying their name, so you could do that if something's urgent.)

And nobody's a cry-baby or nanny at our chat. (At least that I'm aware of.) So we have some degree of freedom in what we say or can be said. We even debates and arguments sometimes. To get kicked you really have to go out of your way to harass or offend someone.

Quote - (depending on what side of the dirt & water ball they live on).

~hehe~ I like that ;)

Opera has a really nice IRC client as well so you don't even have to know how to use IRC or how to protect yourself at all to enjoy the wisdom of R'Gods >:) Michal 4blueyes

There's also an IRC connection in Trillian.  I use it for a podcast fan channel I go to regularily.

The great thing about IRC is that there ARE so many ways to access it.   The trouble with any web based chat room is just that...  it's web based. you need a browser running in order to chat.   THere are several clients out there.  mIRC of course and even Trillian is great and also is an MSN, Yahoo, ICQ client too.

Like everyone, I've not had as much time to spend at rendergods.  But it is always nice to see that little icon flash up and tell me someone is chatting over there.  And if I need to vent, not just about CG, I know someone will be there to at least be sympathetic.

Check it out people

Love Rendergods, wish I wasn't at a residential college so I could go back to visiting now and then.

I just hope it's still there when I leave college and get back to normal.