yardobe: 3pts skiwillgee: 2pts aliensprog: 1pt

And gaussian blur on a duplicated layer coupled with a 'screen' layer blend gives you the glowy effect with the added bonus that you can vary the opacity to determine how much detail shows through.

lol @ Rids & thanks for that Oshyan (I just liked the phrase so I hope you don't mind me borrowing it). :)

"If the admin have no intention of doing anything about this then please tell us, we will at least know where we stand and can move on to pastures new and stop wasting our time!" Hear, hear! The moderators of all the forums do a pretty good job of keeping these Hot20 threads from getting overheated, though they must be sick & tired of it by now, and I've read all sorts of assurances that things are being looked at and that the staff at this site do care. So we get a response from a senior staff writer here and what is it? 'Stop whining about it and get out and vote; feel free to make as big a farce out of it as you like; are you serious artists or just making a fuss?' Nice one deemarie, that has to be about the most offensive reply I've ever read in any Hot20 thread.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12416&Form.ShowMessage=2141125

I like that idea Dave, it would take quite a clique to outdo 180 votes :D I agree that voting should be weighted by experience in that particular software and suggested a weighting system in the linked suggestions thread in the fractal forum, but I disagree about the favourites list though. I do browse the 'All' gallery occasionally and I have stumbled across artists from other galleries that I don't want to miss. I can't recall now who said it or in which thread but I rember readin something to the effect that: The problem with the Hot20 will never be solved as long as it depends entirely on one thing (i.e. pressing the vote button) and also that it is transparent (i.e. everyone knows how it works).

I think you're right elizabyte. This has been going on for so long (over a year to my knowledge) and so many people have made suggestions as to how it might be corrected (I've posted in 2 such threads along with many others), the only conclusion one can draw must be that the site admin simply couldn't care less what their members think.

Well said Rykk, 41 and 46; and it's probably easier to add new categories for best/most etc.

Now that idea I like tresamie! I think that would be a useful addition regardless of what happens with the Hot20.

I suggested something along the lines of Rykk's post above in the community forum some time ago when this subject last blew up. The response was, quite rightly, that it doesn't take an expert in a given software program to spot good lighting or compostion or any other aesthetic (sp?) aspect of an image and want to vote. Taking the idea a bit further though, I'd like to suggest this solution instead. If a member - a: is posting regularly in a gallery b: is active in that gallery's respective forum - this surely points to someone active in that community. How hard would it be, to weight someones vote depending on how active they are in the relevant community? To give an example of how this might work: I know nothing about Bryce so lets say I see a thumbnail in 'All-All' that catches my attention. I click the link, I like the picture, I look at this Bryce artist's gallery and I add him to my favourites list. Next time he posts an image I get an email informing me and I vote for this image. Now: -1 point because the artist is in my favourites list. -1 point because I haven't visited the Bryce gallery recently -1 point each because I don't contribute to gallery or forum. Now suppose a Bryce regular has the same artist in his favourites list: -1 point because the artist is in his favourites list. and that's it; his vote is worth 3 times more than mine because he is a contributing member of the Bryce community. If a regular in a given community feels that an image needs work on certain areas they are unlikely to vote for it; the above method should ensure that it would then have to be an outstanding image in other more abstract/aesthetic areas to reach the Hot20. These stats must already be available to the admin here and I doubt this would take that much scripting. What do you think? Mike

Hi, I just popped back in this forum as I got emails informing me of replies to that other thread. I sincerely hope you didn't consider any of my comments as attacks as I was merely trying to highlight peoples arguments and respond to those. In anycase I apologise if anyone was offended by anything I wrote in anger.

@Avalonfaayre, Diane and others. I think we in the Terragen community and you in here are actually looking at the problem from completely different angles. You see only the comments, which in some cases certainly were harsher than was called for, but you're not seeing why people posted such harsh comments. The reality is they were posted simply because it would be against the Renderosity TOS to go around trolling people for vote farming. All those people who visit the Terragen gallery purely to vote for a particular persons work and never even view anyone elses, much less vote or comment. They are the ones causing all the anger and frustration. And, Avalonfaayre, when someone 'weak in the program' is voted into the Hot20 (which is meant to be a showcase after all) by people who have no genuine interest in EITHER the work they are voting for OR the rest of the artists in ANY gallery, there will naturally be a lot of bad feeling. @newpy. You're wrong you know. The terragen gallery is a very encouraging environment. I have left comments on new users work and recieved IM's with thanks and/or requests for further advice which I have then answered in more detail. I, in turn, have sent people IM's about their work and have recieved very friendly and helpfull replies. There is a very free flow of tips and help and advice in our community. I have been here since I first started using Terragen just over a year ago and I have NEVER recieved any hurtfull or harshly worded criticism. @shemia. You and Snow Angel seem to share the same attitude (if I've read between the lines of your post right); namely that you're both happy to drift along as you are and never improve your art. OK, that's fine if that's what you want but you baffle me (and I think it's safe to say many others too). I am having fun with Terragen and I'm certainly not using it as some kind of tool to try to boost my popularity. I'm also happy with the level of ability I've achieved so far (as Snow Angel stated she was). None of this means that I have no desire to improve further though, or that I don't want honest critique of my efforts. I intend to get Poser and I assume I will get a similar response to my efforts as you did. If that happens it will simply encourage me to try harder - not because I want to be popular, but because I will know I'm falling short of the general standard and I will want to learn and improve. IMO that's the main purpose of a community like Renderosity, so that we can all learn and improve our skills.

How hard would it be for Ren to add an 'active member' flag to their database. What I mean is, you don't get to be an 'active member' until you submit something; then restrict voting to active members. At least this would eliminate the people setting up empty accounts just to vote from. You could even extend that to limit voting to only galleries that you have submitted work to yourself. That way you're only being judged by your peers.