Quote - See attached link.

Sweet, thanks a bunch!

Some valid points, and you're right, it's their site and can do what they want.

So far though I don't think the powers that be around here have chimed on just what the rationale is for why things are as they are.

If the goal is to encourage use of the animation gallery, in my opinion that can only be hindered by having a double standard with regard to the TOS. As for format issues, as you mentioned money and programming headaches can be a limiting factor.

As for myself, the animations I make are usually small looping 24-48 frame poser animations. Much smaller than 100 mb, but usually too large to fit under the 500kb limit in the normal gallery when in the animated .gif format. For looping, animated gifs and .swf files run the smoothest, as no external video player I've seen loops without a bit of a pause. Swf file are also smaller than .gif files with higher quality/resolutions.

For my purposes, increasing the regular gallery limits to 2 megs or so (to allow larger .gifs) or allowing .swf files would work best. That's not to say that's what the site could or should do, but I would submit that there's a whole genre of animations (the short, looping variety) that is not well served by the site currently.

Quote - Hope this helps-

-Lew

Err... not really. Aside from your point on file sizes, the same arguments could be made for the rest of the site, and yet the galleries are, as they are. I'd say that if eliminating sex and violence are the goal, do it site wide, or not at all. Start with the marketplace, there's plenty of outfits for V4 sold there that would violate the site's own rules on thumbnail displays.

As for file sizes, if that's the concern then cut the allowable file size down, and allow the use of formats that take up less space (such as .divx).

As it stands now, I can make a small 400x400 12 frame animated .gif and put it in the regular galleries with the 512kb limit, but I can't post a .swf, which can allow for larger resolutions and length for the same file size. Most importantly, a .swf loops great, so you can a lot out of 30 to 60 frames instead of making a full length clip.

TOS issues aside, my frustration with the animation gallery as it stands stems from the fact that it does little to cater to short length, looping animated clips. An expansion in allowable file types (i.e. allowing .swf files), would go long way to rectifying the matter.

If I may ask, is there a reason why animation upload requirements are more restrictive, both in terms of content and in terms of format, for the animation gallery than for the other galleries? For those who don't know, some of the conditions on uploading to the animation gallery are as follows:

The Video section is for educational, instructional tutorials, Demo Reels, Animations/VFX and Renderosity advertising related to the 2D/3D industry only. No personal videos are allowed. Videos are subject to the following guidelines: No human nudity is allowed in the video tutorials. Untextured mannequins and wire meshes are allowed for instructional purposes. Violent imagery is not allowed. You should own the copyright, or have the right to use, any materials shown, including audio files. The Renderosity site Terms of Service *also applies to the Video tutorial section.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What video formats are supported? All videos should be in FLV. format
• What is the resolution of the video? 640x480
• What is the maximum file size? Max file size is 100 mb.

Why not allow a .swf file that's 800x600 but only 5 megs (i.e. like a short looping flash animation)? Also, why no violence or nudity? Is there something special about animation that requires a tighter TOS than what's allowed on the rest of the site?

Looks good so far, I'd be interested to see this one develop.

Sixus1 made a Jabba freebie years ago, but it doesn't seem to be on his website anymore. You may want to inquire directly.

The V2 Leia outfit by PhilC comes with hair and the chain collar, but if you want something a little more recent for the hair, the Vayne Braid or some of the hair sets by Ali might be a good choice.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

@Aeilkema -> I'm usually an ATI man myself, I just went to try something different for this last one. For the next one I'll probably go back.

To clarify as well, I'm more concerned with smooth running in the preview window at at high settings as possible, I think I've got rendering figured out.

In other words, if you max out all the preview window settings (texture display, hardware shading, etc), what does it take to make it all run smoothly? I'll max it up and it gets choppy. I've got a decent rig, so I was wondering if I was missing something in terms of drivers, settings or something.

As far as I know, shadows and such don't show up in the preview window.

That said, in the material room you can add textures to your lights. When applied to a spotlight, you can use it to "paint" a texture onto your scene from a spotlight, kind of like how the bat signal works.

In a similar way, I guess if you applied an all black texture to a spotlight, it would make a dark circle on whatever it hits. I'm not sure if this will show up in the preview window though, even with hardware shading enabled.

Still, worth a try I'd say.

Err, I should also mention that I'm primarily concerned here with improving performance in the preview window.

For ears like those I use RebelMommy's Sapphire character, though TrekkieGrrrl's freebie looks great, thanks for sharing it!

Quote - We need more historic armour and weapons. We have a wealth of fantasy based things, but I get tired of seeing all this talent go towards amazons and faires for v4. Our male figures really don't have anything. We have a couple of nice military sets here and there but not as much as I would expect.

There`s some great armour sets by adh3d already in the marketplace. I keep meaning to get his Robin Hood type suit too...

Did you have any specific types of armour in mind?

First off, thanks to those with Poser8 for giving us a sneak peak at what it has to offer and for putting up with everyone's questions and comments regarding same.

With that, another question. I find that in Poser Pro when animating with AO the areas darkened by the AO tend to jump around with every frame. I don't quite know why, I think it has something to do with the fact that AO is calculated anew for each frame on a bucket by bucket basis.

Anyways, is this "jumpy AO" issue something that has been addressed with Poser8, or is it something that is made irrelevant with the use of the new GI lighting system?

Someone had to do it :)

Quote - WHY do some members feel they have to comment on just about every image in the gallery and when they do...use the same canned, copy & paste text for any given day. 

It IRKS me to no end  and shows no REAL appreciation for members artwork at all.  Anyone else feel the same way?

Sorry for my RANT..think its time to go grab ANOTHER cup of coffee! (LOL!)

J:cursing:e

Awesome post, I just LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for considering it. As for guidance on an SF scene, I'd focus on "the less right angles the better", and increased variability by using modular pieces. Rather than TNG, I was thinking more of elliptical curves, bows and arcs. Easy on the greebles, though a few would be a nice touch. There isn't really an official SF source I can point to, it's more the SF look I would like to see, rather than what's already out there.

The recent set "the lookout" is somewhere on the right track;

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=71035

While I like it, something like this could still be given a more subtle, clean look. The basic design, with curved thin columns, is a great one.

As for what's offered now, if you build a quality product at a reasonable price, I think it'll sell, regardless of what else is out there.