pauljs75 opened this issue on Nov 14, 2002 ยท 19 posts
pauljs75 posted Thu, 14 November 2002 at 8:24 PM
I'm uncertain to why this is, or what it is about my image titles/thumbnails that doesn't seem to be inviting to viewers. Maybe people are put off by my own comments at previous postings, as they don't get my kind of humor? And no you don't even have to pull up my whole images, since I'm not out to artificially inflate my viewings (but if you want to, that's fine.) You could look at the thumbs at my gallery and see the counts and let me know what it is about them that isn't all too inviting. I guess the little bits of bigger pictures doesn't work for me, as it does with other artists... Anyhow, it appears that my technically simple images seem to be much more popular than the ones which I consider more involved from the production side. Perhaps it is something to do with their conceptual nature. I could understand higher counts for the ones which I refer to for commentary, etc. as I post here. But some others seem like they should be sufficient for some interest in themselves and get skipped. Now mind you that I'm not the qualitive genius like hobbit, jmslee, pidjy, or some with names sounding like electronic age dutch masters. They all impress the hell out of me. But then again, I usually don't go into a project more than a couple hours (and 90% of the time that's including the rendering.) I'm lacking the kind of patience it would take to work on something for a month like they do. And no, I'll try not to resort to posting naked poser ladies just to boost my image counts. (Not that there's anything wrong with naked poser ladies, mind you.) I would hope that I'm a bit more creative than resorting to that. Just wondering what that special something is...
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EricofSD posted Thu, 14 November 2002 at 10:40 PM
I recently had an odd thing happen. Until I posted my moon judy image, the most views I ever had was 165 in 6 months. The moon judy got over 550 views in the first 48 hours. What was the difference? As I look at the thumbs, moon judy grabbed me more than any of the others. When I glance at your thumbs, the logo catches my eye and I don't seem to be looking much at the image. Maybe get rid of the logo and make the thumb eyecatching. Hope that helps.
Zhann posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 12:41 AM
I visited your gallery, and I have to agree with EricofSD, the logo is distracting, the visitor knows who's work at which they are looking...almost seems more of a commerical thumbnail than one for an art image. Several have no thumbs at all. When I scan someone's gallery thums or browse what's new, I look for something colorful, or unusual, something to catch my eye, alot of times I don't even care much for the subject matter but the thum caught my eye and I opened the full image...this is just an observation. Clear concise thums with vivid color may be your answer, no logo, try it, see what happens =)
Bryce Forum Coordinator....
Vision is the Art of seeing things invisible...
mboncher posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 1:48 AM
Eric, hate to disagree with you on why you got so many more hits with Moon Judy. I can sum it up in one word thought... Boobs. As shallow as that may be, that's the number 1 attractor on Renderosity. Hell, I think my thumbs are pretty good, but I've barely broken 150, if that. (haven't checked lately.)
BlueArdor posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 5:21 AM
Make sure you dont miss the important thing here... if you can look at a particular work and say "i worked hard on it... and it came from the heart... and i'm proud of it" then that's all that matters. Dont matter if a single person views it. Yes it's nice to get compliments and a pat on the back.. but pat yourself on the back first. Just my two cents... Blue
tuttle posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 5:27 AM
The reason why people view thumbs are many and varied. Sure, if you're a superb artist you'll get the viewings. but a great many people will just view pictures because of the titty factor. Render a naked Poser woman on a beach and I guarantee you'll have 100 viewings by the time it gets off page one. One image yesterday just had text on the tumb saying "beware sex and violence". Everyone looked... 100's of viewings... you can guess if it was any good or not! Congrats that you're not going to go down this route! But why bother solely about viewings? It's comments you need to be concerned about. If you have a picture and it takes in 1000 viewings but no comments, that says "nice thumb, shame about the image." A picture with 50 viewings and 5 comments says "when you take the trouble to look, this image is great!" (OK, there are exceptions, but you get the drift). Course, you need viewings to get comments, so I'd say No. (1) - get rid of that logo or template or whatever on your thumbs. 2 - you need a bit more going on and bit more colour to attract the eye. One of your thumbs just looked like a guy staring at a milk bottle. I found the image itself is actually quite nice, but the thumb - forgive me for saying so - was naff. Why didn't you just use the whole image? Your nebula image got more views because there looked to be something going on, and it had colour, and also volumetrics are something a lot of people find difficult in Bryce, so they'll look out of technical interest. Personally, I get more comments in the galleries and via IMs than I do from posting in this forum, but I'm sure there are reasons. They way I look at it, if I get roobol or archetype or sking or rochr giving me good feedback, as they regularly do, each of their comments is worth 10,000 views from people out to see a pair of pixellated titties! ;) Good luck anyway!
tuttle posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 5:33 AM
err... "tumb" = "thumb" !
Zhann posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 8:10 AM
Attached Link: http://www.mikebonnell.com
Hi again, I keep stats on which of my images get the most viewings, and/or comments. Those that don't rank high I'll replace with something new. Now I understand you feel you aren't getting alot of viewings, do you exhibit elsewhere? If not try posting your work at the attached link, go to the community gallery, sign up and post. Mike Bonnell is the one of the largest digital wallpaper sites and, they added a public gallery...people go to look at great wallpapers, and some, I'm sure, visit the galleries . As an example, one image I posted on sept 25, has these rankings, at Renderosity, 110 views, no rank, 2 comments... at Mike Bonnell Public Gallery, 522 views, 5 stars, 3 comments...different people visit different places, try there an see, but ditch your logo, all postings are screened first...just a thought =)Bryce Forum Coordinator....
Vision is the Art of seeing things invisible...
Erlik posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 8:42 AM
Interesting thing that pics with Poser figures apparently are more interesting to viewers. My assassin got more than three hundred viewings in the three days it's been up. And the Desktop June challenge picture, which is a better picture, in my opinion, got five hundred and something in five months. But comments are very sparse: one, one, three, three, one.
-- erlik
mboncher posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 11:11 AM
Man if it's comments that really count... I suck! LOL
Incarnadine posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 11:53 AM
I don't think any of mine have broken 300 - even the ones with nudity! (grin) If I really want numbers though, my accumulauted viewings at 'rotica are a tad higher . The comments here are some of the best I have seen. As for what makes me comment, I need to get something from the image and I will pass along my appreciation or i will see an excellant idea that could go further (IMHO) and I will pass that along too. I think the signature logo is a good idea BUT it does need work! A bit less intrusive and much cleaner would be my $.03 (from Canada) (grin)
Pass no temptation lightly by, for one never knows when it may pass again!
tjohn posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 12:24 PM
tuttle: I figured out what "tumb" was on my own...still working on "naff" though- although it seems to mean "bad". I'm betting you're not from my neck of the woods (Tennessee, USA). :^) Yes, everyone is correct about high numbers...a little nudity will boost hits, especially if you write "nudity" on the thumb. I use nudity sparingly, only when it seems integral to the work, but the thumbs that promise nudity or even just suggest it get the most hits. As far as logos go, I started using a basic thumbnail design featuring an original character of mine (who will remain nameless here because I think I was running him into the ground and don't want to make everybody sick of him), and have not noticed any negative changes in viewing. If anything I have picked up a little, I think. I just wanted a cohesive-ness to exist on my gallery pages, and I think logos can work. Finally, pauljs75, the way I think of the issue is this: The people checking out the galleries consist of: 1. 50-60% : Teenage boys checking out virtual nudity because it doesn't leave a record your parents can find like porn sites do, and you can always claim "it's art, not porn!" if they catch you at it. You're not going to interest these guys with anything else. 2. 30-40% : These are your folks with general interest in digital art. They are probably going to look mainly at the thumbs and only actually load up the pic if the thumb turns them on. You're probably getting some of these. 3. 10-20% : The real deal. These are the people that look at almost everything, no matter what the thumb looks like. These are the digital art lovers, the viewership that you're really after, the ones to whom art is important. I believe you're getting these. Also, there are a lot more members in the Poser community than the Bryce community. Don't compare yourself to the number of hits you see there, if you're posting to the Bryce gallery. As far as being viewed not being important, I think if we believed that, we probably wouldn't bother to post at all. Of course it matters. But not so much that it should discourage you from making art. Concentrate on what really matters: improving your skills and becoming the best artist you can. That's what this forum is all about. Come here when you need advice and encouragement. I can guarantee you'll get it! Keep rendering! Tjohn
This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy
tjohn posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 12:34 PM
Sorry about running off at the keyboard. Just 2 more quick points. If you're a teenage boy, please don't be offended. I was once a teenage boy myself, and I know that many are dedicated, serious artists. So if you are one of these, I didn't mean YOU, OK? :^) A little self-promotion is a positive goal in art. If you look at the lives of all your favorite artists, I don't think you'll find many who weren't into promoting their careers (there were a few starving artists who became famous after their deaths, but who wants to do that?). Dali, for example was a master showman. My art is a hobby but I still want as many people to see it as possible. Tjohn
This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy
tuttle posted Fri, 15 November 2002 at 1:12 PM
tjohn - naff = bad, too true :) I wish there'd been Bryce when I was young - a ZX81 with a monochrome resolution of 64 x 32 and a processor speed of 0.8Mhz was a little limiting for ray-tracing...
BlueArdor posted Sat, 16 November 2002 at 7:20 AM
tjohn.. thumbnail Logos? If they obstruct the view to the work so that I cant tell what the subject of the piece is, I find that annoying. The purpose of the thumbnail is to allow the viewer to choose if he/she wants to load the full pict. I view your work cuz i love it.. I learn from it..and you obviously take your artwork very seriously. I can only admire that. But the headless chicken could just as easily be alot smaller and much more of your work shown in the thumbnail. I bet even some of the "real deal" crowd find time in short supply and have to pick and choose the artwork they view. mboncher... I think alot of times "comments" come from connecting with a viewer. I recently got one comment and an "excellent" rating on an indian scene. It by all means was not even close to being "technically" excellent... but I think the viewer felt I was expressing something he felt stongly about. The spirituality of the picture was the "excellent" part to him/her. Your work is wonderful. Dont base it on comment count. tuttle... the ole radio shack tape driven one I had was awesome.. especially playing the text based "star trek" game. Those were the days eh? blue
tuttle posted Sat, 16 November 2002 at 8:37 AM
"Hunt the Wumpus" You see a wumpus - you can go N, S, E, W: ? You were forced to use your imagination back then! :)
BlueArdor posted Sat, 16 November 2002 at 8:55 AM
lol tuttle http://www.sct.gu.edu.au/~anthony/dungeon/wumpus/
tjohn posted Sat, 16 November 2002 at 3:31 PM
BlueArdor: Good point, but I find if you show the whole pic in a larger size as a thumb, you get fewer hits. Apparently many people think if they can make out the whole pic, they move on thinking they've seen it without loading it. Of course, they miss the wonderful textures in your picture that Bryce can render. There doesn't seem to be a perfect way to do this, I'm just trying to maximize things with what I can do with the thumb. By the way, the chicken has a head, just no neck and a single eye incorporated into the body. So there! ROTFL!
This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy
tjohn posted Sat, 16 November 2002 at 3:32 PM
Oh, and thank you, BlueArdor, for the kind words about my work. (blushes)
This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy