Thank you so very much PJF for the tweaks! I added those to my custom style and it works wonderfully! This is the way it should be; one click, one view. I don't think it will get any better than this...until they mess around with the code again.

As far as the site modifying our images and the legalities of it all, that definitely raises some interesting points. I don't spend all the time that I do on my work to have it anti-aliased, even my thumbnails are compressed with Ulead WebRazor and are thought out precisely to the kilobyte. Even though this is a free site, and Renderosity holds the right to run it the way they see fit, does that give them the right to duplicate, alter, and publically post our work as non-intellectual right holders of said works?

With the styles and these wonderful tweaks to the scripts that now enable the galleries to perform like they should quite efficiently, I really don't see a demand, need, or function that calls for duplicating and anti-aliasing anything whatsoever.

One click, one view. It's just that simple! I'm not sure why they are over complicating something so overly simple that is apparently already fixed, in my opinion. It's kind of like flying to Japan to eat sushi, or building a spaceship to get closer to the sun for a better tan. It just doesn't make any sence at all and I hope they take all this into consideration before the general populace rebels.
 

Ok, the Shardz-Unit will chime in once again, and I'm sure there will be lots of enthusiastic viewers [sic]. This time I will start with some positivity, and there have been quite a few changes thus far for the better after the conversion. I can imagine what a nightmare this must be to the staff as we all had anticipated it would be months ago.

I understand the concept of creating a presentation page, conforming its' size to a standardization, then implementing an algorthm which attempts to polish it the best it can. What that will do to my 1600x1200 conversions is yet to be seen, and even understanding this concept without really agreeing with it, the bandwidth issue is indeed a valid argument.

Just to view my Favorite Images in my profile, there are four pages to click on. To view images in full original form is yet another click and another image downloaded. This is effectively doubling the load on the servers, time on our side to view them, and just a whole lot of extra clicking going on. The Mouse Over popup stat window was a clever idea to save on some of that non-sense, but I'm already finding it a bit annoying as it gets in the way.

What it comes down to is OPTIONS, as I have posted previously and have always been an advocate of in my relevant membership here. It strikes me funny that the old site had more user control and was more steadfast in viewing images in just one click. The start of this downfall was allowing the extra browser to open a separate window, and now that option has been included in our profile options, we are still essentially opening a new window to see the full image!

When I start to hear of 'hard coding' anything I get nervous because whatever that instance will bring us, we are stuck with it. It's all about choice and opinions, especially in the art world. I like black, you like pink, I might not like nudity, you might thrive on it. You might have more time than me to click around 100% more, or perhaps I might be on Pogo playing games until this is all fixed. =)

Personally, I spend weeks ensuring that every detail in my work is the best I can get it at my skill level, and to have anything altered simply to conform to a silly schematical preference of a single person, I don't believe this is going to work or be very popular to say the least. Hopefully the people will be heard on this issue, and that we can all arrive at a comfortable medium. Slaps forehead

Business as usual from my standpoint. It's all about Options and the fact that we always end up screaming for them for months before we see them, if at all. I do appreciate the "Open New Window" option, but doesn't it contradict itself when we have to literally open a new window to see the original version of the image??

I was really shocked when I first viewed my new gallery as I mostly post at 1600x1200, and the "preview" images look horrible and unprofessional, to say the least. So, if trying to hack PHP to get our color preferences back isn't bad enough, now you have us writing in C++ to fix our browsers? LOL  :blink: Wow!

I also think the "Delete Gallery" link should not be so readily accessible in the gallery page, and should also be an...[Oh, oh, here we go again with the "O" word] OPTION. It's all about options, customization, and ergonomics. Now I am seeing this flaoting popup window upon hovering over any thumbnail, and the background color almost matches the text color exactly. I have no idea in the code what that item is or how to fix it.

I understand there will be growing pains in this huge process of conversion, but denial isn't really helping anyone here, especially with the dramatic scope of change that has thrown most of us in shock already.

If anyone cares, my gallery is a pretty good example of what the word butchery defines. Many people won't bother to "Zoom" to see the real deal, and I think it's sad. This is the only site I know of that requires a BA in Computer Science just to operate and navigate comfortably.

Between hacking PHP script and coding in C++, I might as well give Nuclear Physics a shot next.   Let's please put the broom away and solve some problems as there seem to be no shortage of those around here.

As a previous Hexagon v1.21 user,  I have been waiting for the release of v2.0 and checking every day for it to come out. I don't usually pre-order software, and I'm very glad I didn't in this case! I absolutely love the program and find that the interface and functionality is fantastic for a standalone modeling program. Needless to say, I woke up this morning to see Hexagon 2 on sale for $1.99 and about fell on the floor. That's like buying a new car for $100!

Hexagon isn't for everybody as it's a fairly complex suite of tools for modeling, and now offers some fantastic features that can be found in programs like Z-Brush and Deep Paint 3D (both expensive programs). I think it's fair to say that the userbase for Hexagon 2 will be quite large given this promotion and I hope that Daz continues development on the program in the direction it was meant to go.

I found Hexagon v1.21 fairly intuitive at first, although there is a learning curve of about 8 hours to fully understand how the procedures and methods are applied during modeling, but that's not bad at all versus 3DS Max, Maya, or any other complex program. I find it to be very rewarding and have created some very detailed models that I am pleased with given some 'crash and burn' time invested. Not even being a particular fan of Eovia, I came to discover that the development team involved really cared about what they were creating and offered a great and speedy toolset for modeling complex geometry in a short amount of time. For $1.99, the program is literally a steal and it could open new doors to many users who have been wanting to create content in a professional environment.

Given this outbreak of new 'Hexagoners', I'd really like to see a support group here in the forums to share information and ideas regarding this great program. It's a force to be reckoned with and I'm very pleasantly surprised that Daz gave so many the opportunity to use it.  I was preparing to pay much more for it than I did and now I can put all the money I saved into my gas tank instead!

Get your Hex on!

-Shardz-

You have got to be kidding me with the lack of options taken from the user regarding color preferences. When you look at a black contact sheet versus white, you can actually see thumbs quite a bit better without the blasting white (or whatever cream color you call it). We have heard nothing but how the site is going forward and changing for the better, yet you are lapsing into an area where the user has no control and is forced to use a new web browser?? Am I reading this correctly?? You force a new window to open when viewing an image in the gallery with no option to turn that off. That is bad enough and eats up ram with some browsers like crazy and is terribly cluttered. Now you are forcing an unwanted default color scheme globally for all users?? You call this advancement for the better? Are you paying $6 per hour for web developers or just really have no idea what is out there for site design? PHP doesn't offer any options to the user whatsoever? I think not. Have your default GUI all you want, but this obviously enforcfes the notion that you don't consider the end-user at all. When you change the community side over to this blinding white, I'm not changing my web browser due to lazy and faulty coding and site design. My lighting scheme in my computer area has been well more thought out than this changeover here, and I will not be forced to change my system due to problematic design on this site or any other. Either reconsider this foolish development approach or watch users drop off this site to the point where your merchants are screaming at you to fix it. Even Daz has some GUI 'skins' for their site, and I'd rather look at a Dragonworld interface than your stark white and basic look as the MP has shown. It's just plain fugly still with no options to the user to change it whatsoever. I still see no dates a product is released! Your idea of change is not mine, and so many here, so why force this mentality on us all?? Change is good? Well, then show me the money, cuz it's not happenin' from where I stand. If this was Communist Russia back in 1965, I might be able to understand, but it's 2006 people!! Technology marches forward, not backward, and if this is your idea of improvement, I'll be elsewhere. Sorry to sound rash or bitter, but you just went from a customizable site to something sterile, ridiculous, user unfriendly, and downright dumb. When the galleries shift to blinding and irridescent white, I'm outta here. Period. Change this, -Shardz-

I saw the image posted right before I went to work this morning (a rarity I had 2 minutes of time), and as crass and redundant as this 'character assasin_1" post was, it appears to me the only character he is assasinating is him/herself. Simply ripping off an image and crossing out Prog's signature shows me this person is just trying to vent their own personal frustrations publically. All the history of events would suggest the fact this person is indeed disgruntled and completely void of any positive output, and makes him/herself pleased with the notion of trying to ruffle feathers in a zoo with no birds (ok, the metaphor was bad, but give some points for originality. LOL!). This would leave me to believe that this person is a partial stalker with an obsessive/compulsive disorder compelled to try to disillusion and bewilder those in an attempt to create a massive wave of instant recognition. As Ann says, these actions are to be ignored as they aren't even decent copyright infringements but simply stupid actions from someone who is suffering from some sort of unknown condition. I really feel for those who stoop to such all time lows, and perhaps the only way to really combat this problem is to look out for our friends and to spot this kind of activity and just call it plain dumb. The force of negativity is always easier to gravitate to than the positive pole, and that's what makes happy, beautiful people stronger in this world. Dudley is indeed the epitome of positivity on this site, and his encouragement, high spirit, guidance, selflessness, generority, humor, and incredible artistic quality leads quite a few of us to better ourselves and to have fun on this site meeeting people and sharing with each other. I believe this to be his mission statement, and those who disagree simply don't know what he's about. And regarding the insinuation that Dudley is not an artist....Laffs. That's like saying the Pope has no faith and that G.W.B. doesn't have any oil. Pa-Lease! LOL! Like anything else worthwhile in this world; he learned, was self motivated, had creativity and talent from the start, and displays his passion graphically and worked very hard to get where he is today. Yet, he still has time for others and helps them grow and find their own creative paths. I know because I was one of these people from the start and had no real working knowledge of creating digital still images even though I was working in 3D for games since 1994. His inspiration and thought of detail became mine, and even though his style and mine are worlds apart, I care about what I do and for those who view it. I can't even post an image without wondering if Dudley would like it or not; and that, folks, is a lasting impression from a mentor who truly cares about the craft and his audience. Please just ignore the jokers and carry on like normal, for jealousy and frustration runs rampant on this site and it's more comical than damaging most of the time. To fly into an outrage over this spectacle would be giving it more attention and recognition than it's worth. The images will be deleted as they are posted from this person (or people), and it's nice to know that so many have the respect to report the adamant theft and disrespect we are seeing today. God bless you, Dudley, and please carry on. As a very famous and influential man once said, "Please, forgive them Father, for they know not how to render". (Ok, I embelished a bit on that one LOL!). Keep it real, have understanding, and try to put the silliness behind you. One sick fish doesn't mess up my tuna sandwich, and nor should it affect you, either. -Shardz-

My breakdown and assessment of the situation, and as crazy as it may seem, we haven't been on much of a higher level than that for awhile now. If you read through all this, you will receive a free bundle of banannas just for viewing! 1.) We shouldn't have to reprogram our pointing devices and browsers to simply view images properly on a web page. I can see back in 1883 when we are trying to send a Western Union document via Morse Code, but I wish there was a way in IE to override these settings, then I would eat my words. Lately my browser has been pointed at other sites and really enjoying the asthetics of their designs; speedy, ergonomic, sensible, and streamlined. 2.) The MySQL errors started only about a month or so ago, and the site speed was acceptable even a couple months ago. So what changed over this time? More users? Bandwidth problems? Corrupted code or database? Personally, I think one of the techies brought his pet chimp to work one day and it started rewiring the servers on lunch break! Eating our system resources isn't really an option for me as the MySQL errors at least saved me memory! It's just a matter of organization for me to operate in one window, and to clutter my desktop and cover other apps in the background that I'm viewing is ridiculous. I feel like it's 1994 again (without the age differential). 3.) The 'Silence Of The Mods' (sounds like a scary movie) and no explanation of recourse is what's keeping me in suspense here. Can you please explain what the plan is and if this is temporary until Bondagewear 3.0 is implemented within the entire site? There is a plan, right?? Do I need to buy 3 monitors and another gig of RAM just to surf the site? Help us out please. My intuition is uncanny, but I'm not this good thanks, Yoda, but no cigar. 4.) Clicking on the image to close the popup window is very sauve and prevents some scrolling and fumbling around. But I have already lost a very lengthy comment or two because I spend many hours per day on the computer and my fingers sometimes accidentally twitch and click on spots I'm not supposed to. So now we all have to be nimble like Russian gymnasts? Losing 3 paragraphs on a comment, then having to spare another 24 megs of ram to load IE again and time to open a new window seems rather archaic in design. I think this site now needs to come with a User Manual and a one year membership at World Gym. A massage therapist wouldn't hurt, either! 5.) Is there anyone out there?? Houston, come in, Houston?!? 6.) Instead of thumbnails in the gallery, let's just have all the images load in separate windows per page! This way we won't miss a thing and won't have to worry about real world issues like paying bills, emails, art programs, and posting in forums! And everyone who posts will get hits, and we won't have any naked Poser image debates anymore! It will cut down on quite a bit of clicking and bandwidth as our computers will crash before we can close all the windows, and nobody will have to comment. Perfect! Another huge leap backwards for mankind and technology! Now we're talkin', Scotty! 7.) I'm going to bed now, please wake me when the site is fixed and Bubbles has left the building after connecting the servers to the coffee machine. Laffs

Thanks so much for the amusing contest, and I think it came at a time when people really needed the laugh. There were some great entries that generated some chuckles over here for sure! And the great news is, the baby picture is finally gone! Yay! LOL! Thanks again, this was a nice surprise!

And here I thought I was just being sarcastic! LOL! Thanks so much for letting us vent during the first few rough days, and I must say I got quite a few laughs from the contest! I'm just glad the baby picture is gone! Phew LOL!

My computers have been constantly rendering in Vue since September for a retail background pack I was planning on putting in the MP (when the MP is fixed and I am done sometime in March). As hawkfyr mentioned I probably have my gold card now (LOL!), and I've been in the forums lately as they are quite a bit faster to communicate on this site, especially after this new change. I've been rather vocal here lately as I am seeing a lapse of direction and quite a bit of fumbling around; some changes good, but most really have me baffled. I'm looking at Task Manager right now. I have two instances of IE loaded and they are TWENTY FOUR MEGS per instance. And that's the the basic .exe, not including content! Every time I wish to view on image it costs be 24 megs in ram to do so now! Hello!??! This really poses a problem to those who are marathon rendering. Vue is really nice as it renders in the background quietly and allows me to work with no problems. But my scenes are intensive and I need all the memory I can salvage, and this has been going on for almost 5 months now. I feel now as though I must post an image (with comments turned off more than likely) and explain this silly problem to all my friends here as it prohibits me from checking out everyone's work. An option to not have the popup feature is the way to go as I don't like features hardwired at all. I also have a popup blocker, but somehow it allows it (albeit slowly) to come up, but with my 30 ebots a day pouring in there is just no way for me to support my friends here with this feature. I might be done rendering on two machines sometime in March, and it really puts me in a position to rethink what I'm doing and where I'll be doing it. I'm not completely against change, as long as it makes sense, but this completely stifles me from commenting on my friends' images who like to have me interact in their galleries. I haven't posted an image in almost 6 weeks now because of this project I am undertaking, now commenting isn't really an option as pulling up a new IE window for each image just isn't feasible with Vue needing all the RAM I have. Before IE would simply load a new image, text, and comments upon clicking the thumb. Now it loads a completely new instance PLUS all that, and let me say that IE gobbles ram like crazy...it's ain't notepad, folks. I'm hoping this is some sort of diagnostic or test measure, but even just tonight it's been more than irritating to have a new window for each image and it's already gotten quite old here. Perhaps when BondageWare 3.0 takes over the Galleries there will be a plethora of options in the User Preferences to allow choices per system and not global sweeping options that don't work at all for some. I was just starting to see a glimmer of hope in the new format of the MP (although it is still very ugly in appearance), now I come home and can't even comment as I'm working after work. Sigh Sorry to come across as crass or bitter about this (even though I am :P), but it's getting rather old to pull up the site these days after all the SQL problems, the bumpy MP conversion, and now options that simply won't adapt to my viewing experience here. Popups are evil in my opinion and I would only expect this from 3DC or a seedy pr0n site. My Back button in IE worked just fine; one click after a view, or double click after a vote or comment took me right back to the gallery in prior viewing position. I'll be over here rendering my heart out as I just don't have time for anymore silliness. If people really want me to comment on their images, please email it to me instead! LOL! At least it will download in 15 seconds via Eudora and my response will be sent out the first try in its' entirety.

I'm trying to open images in this new popup format and I have to say it just plain sucks, sorry for my abrubt attitude. It now takes me 150% longer to view anything, and as stated above, I just don't have time and system resources for this new format. One question posed; what is wrong with just hitting the Back button on the browser?!? That is so difficult? I've been doing that since day one here and has worked fine (minus the site speed issues). I don't even want to know what other new 'convenient' features that are coming our way because this just this simple change really blew it for me. I'm now turning off ebots as there's no way I can field 300 images per week in this format as my machine is tied up rendering, and I had absolutely no problem the way it was before. How about considering those who are constantly grinding their systems and like to browse the site in the meanwhile? This forbids me from doing so in a timely manner as it's just got to be changed or put as an option as I just can't have it.

Oh man, I was afraid things would come to this. I can't have the new window opening every time I view an image as my machines are in 24/7 heavey rendering mode and this eats system resources. There has GOT to be an option to turn this off in preferences because I HATE it! I'm not viewing any more images until this is fixed, I don't have the time or resources anymore.

Lou, very well said, and leads to so many hundreds, if not thousands, of lawsuits that have been shifted, materialized, and vannished due to lack of credibility, belief, and concrete evidence that the entertainment industry is creating the harsh world we live in instead of simply reflecting the madness. I created 3D levels for games and some of the traps I created were very violent, such as; spiked doors closing swiftly upon stepping on a trigger, stepping stones that would disappear in lava, electrocution upon stepping out of sequence. Should I be shot or rewarded with merit? It's funny how these games are always in the hot market and sell 500k+ copies. Perhaps they prepare you for the real world. Every game had a Tipper Gore seal of non-approval with a parental sticker, yet I saw forums with kids under 12 playing them and trying to figure out hot to get to the next level. AD&D took quite a bit of crossfire when a student was killed in a college game of peers who were actually playing this game out in reality. I played this game with my friends in high school at lunch in a classroom indoors, and we were considered to be conscious, abiding, and very nice students compared to the 'jocks' who were trash-canning freshmans, raping the cheerleaders, and creating havok on campus with a much more acceptable past time. You certainly don't see football and baseball in the hot topics, yet in my real life experiences, these types thrived on high competition that was probably stemmed down to bad parenting, once again. The answer here isn't in the media, it's the message we send to children and the allowances we give them. Responsibility is just that; teach desirable ideals to kids, be a good person and have respect, sit down with kids and tell them right from wrong even though they don't see it daily. Ok, so the Hero of the latest new hot movie just removed 16 heads from people in 10 minutes, and you just took your 18 year old son to see it. Do I; 1.) Call Tipper Gore and admit my guilt?, 2.) Educate my son in that this is just plain wrong and is a fantasy movie of vengeance?, or 3.) Not take my son to the movie so he can go with his friends secretly?, or 4.) Maybe put him on restriction before the movie is released so I can control him? Laffs The answer is simple; communication. Be up front with kids, don't screw around with fairy this and fluffy kittie that; we are talking hard core reality here. Some will argue that religion must step into the matter and play the greater role. I believe common sense and inteligence comes even before that, and to simply ban everything that isn't wholesome will leave us in a world like the humans in "The Time Machine", only to be eaten by Moorlocks. "The Passion of Christ"; how did we feel about that one? A bit bloody and sadistic, eh? Well, welcome to Earth and the real world, and perhaps kids should see it as the new XBox360 is really irrelevant in comparison. All these kids getting the hot new toy for Xmas and not even knowing the true meaning of the holiday...all stems down to parenting. I hate to shatter any eggs and mess up anyone's new lawn seedlings, but this world is rather harsh and commercialism is king in America. We can't do much for adults that are twisted, but it's up to us to form the new generation, and video games aren't the problem here, folks. I suppose it's all about time, and most parents these days both work and leave the children to fend for their own. So when they come home from work and see the new Jenna Jameson mpg on the computer with Grand Theft Auto III running on the PlayStation, they directly call the companies and complain the p0rn movie was a bit too dirty and there are police being shot in virtual reality on TV. Note to parents: THE COMPUTER IS NOT A BABYSITTER LIKE YOUR TV WAS. A little common sense goes a long way, and unfortunately we don't have time for any of that these days.

Yep! I'm running a brand new flat screen CRT monitor at 1600x1200 powered by NVidia and the image looks just fine to me. My monitor is calibrated and tuned, as well! Funny image, and it's just a tragedy! ;)

Well, I had no idea prior to this thread that Eidos was creating a direct competition with the Grand Theft Auto series from Rockstar Games. As a former retail game developer, I worked with 3D engines that featured violence with archaic weapons and the like and it was quite fun working on such projects as it was a form of fantasy in my opinion. Back in the heyday of Tipper Gore's PMRC in the 80's, she went after Ice-T and his metal band Body Count as there was a particular song orginally included on the debut album entitled "Cop Killer". With the PMRC adamantly fighting for censorship, they actually promted popularity with the banned song and filled Ice-T's coffers to the brim and boosted record sales beyond belief. Ice-T still personally thanks Tipper her futile efforts as it was the best promotion that didn't cost him or the record company a dime. I see she is still on the rampage against video games now and blames the entertainment industry for the lack of parental standards in America. While it's often convenient to form an opinion and adopt a scapegoat for its' cause, the true source of the problems at hand often go overlooked. I am pro-choice about nearly everything as that is what I feel democracy and freedom is, or should be, in America. There will be plenty of parental ratings on this game to prohibit little kids from buying it directly, and if it ends up in the homes of kids then the parents are to blame. If a minor goes on a crime spree and incorporates violence within their lifestyle, then there is something wrong with the lapse of morals and parenting that should inherently guide this person to do the right thing. I don't believe a game could brainwash a healthy mind and promote this activity. Another issue is marketing; cutesy games don't sell. And the movies are swamped with sex and violence; horror movies gross the most steadily in America out of all genres as sex & violence combined is even more fascinating for consumers. I for one don't wish for a communistic or socialist society that dictates what I can purchase or view, and Europe is quite open about all these issues and their crime rates are staggering low compared to the US. They have nude beaches, R rated movies on on free TV stations, access to the same games we do, and after a month stay in Romania I realized the US is incredibly screwed up with hypocrital morals and ideals that baffle all logic. When the game is released I will probably check it out, but I seriously doubt I will start a crime wave in real life because of it. It's just another one of those choices that I can see; if you don't like it, don't buy it. Making a spectacle of this game will only make it that much more popular in sales and be on every wishlist of kids who love 3D shooters. Just my opinion, of course. =)