hey guys, i just started browsing the collaborative projects section the other day and came across this project. if you guys need/want any help, iāll give what time i have. pretty busy with work but i could probably get a decent model out each week. iām probably best at modeling (since thats what i do at work all day) but could try my hand at animation as well. i use maya 5 and max 5/6. i have maya 4.5 but have long since uninstalled it. iām up for just about anything actually. i can do dynamics, texturing, modeling, animation and i could try my hand at rigging. but modeling is probably my strongest point followed by animation. even if ya just need me to help with rendering, lemme know 
most of my stuff tends to be on the realistic side so this could be good practice for me as well.
General Discussion - comments not relating to individual tasks
Hello there, thank you for your precious offer to help this, we all are waiting for more āwhat to doā stuff from boss āKirt Stankeā haha
He is always busy doing āNon Alienz related stuffā 
Are all the characters rigged for animation already? Someone could be doing that while youāre waiting on me. Looks like I wonāt be picking up a copy of Maya anytime soon. Just spent my savings building a new computer (old one was 600Mhz :argh: ). So, I wonāt be able to help with the 3D stuff for awhile.
Iāll be concentrating on just the 2D work and direction of course. Just need to organize my time better so I can get back to this project. IT IS NOT DEAD ā¦ just on a little hiatus.
I told Ila another month or two ā¦ hopefully it wonāt be much longer.
Are all the characters rigged for animation already?
Iām afraid some meshes are not even finished yet! 
Anyway, Iām going to pick everything available and transform them to OBJ format. after the trip (that Iām in!)
Hiya all Great project youāre doingā¦ iād love to help but I canāt do anything 3d at a professional level, yetā¦
Think i might tag along anyway, maybe use some of this stuff to try and teach myself modeling. Gogo moral support! If you ever need 2d still stuff like image processing for a website or whateverā¦ i can help w/ that.
props to everyone, iām cheerin for ya :bounce: 
Iāve had a look through most of the threads, and Iām wondering how youāre all set for webspace? I run a webhost thatās online 24/7. I can provide webspace on a pretty-much-no-bandwidth-limit.
Lemme know.
No posts on here for quite awhile. Iād like to know whats going on, sounds like a cool project but all the links to concept art and screenies are now broken. Iād like to get involved if this thing ever gets kickstarted again. Iām an intermediate/newb Max user but there are many elements of this project that Iām sure I could be of some use.
Officially, I asked Leo to archive this forum. Itās taking up space on CGTalk and I just donāt have the time to give to this project at the moment (if ever). Having an open and specific forum for my project was nice but I feel that itās greatly unfair for the other people who are also trying to do collaboration projects here.
So, Iām officially killing the project ā¦ until further notice. Sorry. 
I would like to say however, that everyone who worked with me on this is owed my greatest level of respect and appreciation. I feel horrible that the project is come to this and really wish things could be different.
Hopefully, noone will harbor any ill will against me for this ā¦ I really want to see a Collab project start, go strong and be completed. I just donāt see that itās going to be this particular one.
Maybe, it was too great of a project for a first time effort. Maybe itāll be back in the collab forum later (after a lot of things are done on my end - storyboards, concepts, layouts, color studies, etc.). Or maybe Iāll have something new and āsimplifiedā to offer later. I donāt know.
Best I can offer at this point is my thanks to all who supported the project when it was active, my apologies for ending it all and my sincerest hope that something may yet come from this at a future date.
Expect this sub-forum to dissappear anytime now ā¦
Bah!
[darth vader voice on]
āIāve been expecting you Obi Kirt!ā
[/darth vader voice off]
Anyway, I knew this would happen sooner or later. [sigh] It was so much fun, so much learn, so many friends. this project made my short started and etc. thank you Kirt, for all things.
(and I have a little bastard alien in my pocket too!)
ah, btw, when is the funeral?!
Its a shame we never got around to finishing it, I had a great time making my alien and wouldāve loved to see a finished short, but i personally know how difficult it is to keep running on something when there are so many other things going on in life.
Its been a pleasure and best of luck.
Cheers, Phil.
Maybe itās an idea to give larger projects a bit more space like this project? And maybe even some (limited) moderator functions for the project leaders?
So that there can be multiple threads, without it getting confusing. Iām pretty sure that the Minas Tirith project, or the Shirow project could use it.
It will also give a positive effect to the amount of succesful collaborative projects on this forum, because project wonāt have to move to a private forum once they grow.
Iām not going to deny that this is a good idea in regards to managing your projects. It worked very well with the AlienZ project. However, CGTalk is not in the business of hosting forums for everyoneās collab projects.
The sub-forum here was created a long time ago (and Iāll add here that it wasnāt by me or even suggested by me ā¦ it was a gift from an Admin, at the time), when membership on CGTalk was considerably lower and at the time there wasnāt much going on in the collab section other than AlienZ and a few offers for game mods. There is much more going on here now than what was happening when I first volunteered to Mod this section of CGTalk.
Which is one reason why I asked Leo to remove the AlienZ sub-forum (any day now). The formula just doesnāt work anymore. [ul][li]A forum mod would have to be appointed for each sub-forum which isnāt the way Leo or Leigh would want to grant Mod status to anyone. A Mod is not a Mod just because they start a project on CGTalkās Collab section. Theyāre much more selective about who they want representing CGTalk, CGNetworks, and Ballistic Publishing.[]Numerous sub-forums contribute to the messy and unorganized structure of the entire CGTalk site. They have made an effort to reduce the number of redundant sub-forums within the past year. Last thing theyād want now is more clutter.[]How and who would you choose to decide which projects deserve a sub-forum of their own? I certainly donāt like getting the PM requests for new sub-forums here. Iām sure Leo or Leigh donāt have the time to make that decision either. Yeah, thatās hypocritical because I have a sub-forum for my project, but again ā¦ I didnāt ask for it and now I wish I had declined the offer. Itās not worth the hassle.[/ul]
[/li]I could sit here and try to argue these points all day ā¦ I hope that anyone reading this doesnāt try to push the issue. Because I can tell you now ā¦ itās just not going to happen.
What you can do though ā¦ is manage your project more effectively with in the main Collab forum. You can have multiple threads for your project posted there and you can manage the project in much the same way that I did here without a sub-forum. How?
Use CGTalk to your advantage. There are several features of this forum that can help you manage your project. Thread titles, searching, and subscribed threads.[ul][li]Thread titles for your project are controlled by the people working with you. Have a main thread and layout your guidelines immediately. A new thread can be started, but have all threads relating to your project start with the same format (for example āAlienZ: Main Discussionā, āAlienZ: Concept Artā, āAlienZ: Modellingā, āAlienZ: Riggingā, etc.). Notice that each thread title starts with the same 7 character string āAlienZ:ā which will make each of your threads easily identified within the main Collab forum section and ā¦[]Searching the forum for your thread titles is a rather easy and painless process. It doesnāt take much more time than your standard point click navigation process used to get to CGTalk and your projectās main thread. You can even save your search results in your browser settingās Favorites list so that you can quickly and easily find all threads related to your project. This isolates your project into a search result that looks much like a sub-forum listing.[]Subscibed threads can also be used for each of your threads in the Collab section to notify you immediately by e-mail if there are any updates to your project. Or you can set the notify option to give you a once a week summary of all activity.[/ul]
[/li]Again, Iām sorry but sub-forums for new projects on CGTalk is not going to happen. Thereās just too much at stake in regards to CGTalkās reputation and business. The best way to manage your projects here are to take advantage of what is available right now.
Sadly, this whole AlienZ project is not a great example of success in collaboration. We had some good progress, excellent team work among those involved, inspirational work created by the artists but fell short on the whole ācompletionā thing. Itās the curse of Collab projects ā¦ itās discouraging and heartbreaking. I know from experience ā¦ Iāve seen it happen to others and now, itās happened to me.
The suckiest of all sucky feelings youāll ever experience. Hopefully you wonāt ever have to experience this.
im sorry this failed kirtā¦ its been a great idea and great concepts ā¦ im sorry cause i disapeared for a long time ā¦ i think somehow its my fault tooā¦
you did a good job afaik kirt!
Anyway,
AlienZ was and is one of the best project I ever seen/take part.
:applause: :buttrock: 
I wonāt argue with this all, but I want to say that Iām quite disappointed with CGTalkās attitude towards collaborative projects. I mean, CGTalk is the leading forum on pretty much every facet of 2d/3d art, so why wonāt collaborative projects fit in this?
I find the argument that āthereās too much at stake for CGTalkās reputationā a bit weak to be honest. It basically says āwe donāt want to put any energy in it to make it all work and produce cool thingsā. And yes, when you donāt spend any time or energy to this section of the forum, there wonāt happen any ābadā things, but on the other side, cool things wonāt happen too.
But letās not argue about this anymore, we know now what CGTalk can offer for collaborative projects and what kind of cooperation we can expect: not a lot.
Sadly, this whole AlienZ project is not a great example of success in collaboration. We had some good progress, excellent team work among those involved, inspirational work created by the artists but fell short on the whole ācompletionā thing. Itās the curse of Collab projects ā¦ itās discouraging and heartbreaking. I know from experience ā¦ Iāve seen it happen to others and now, itās happened to me.
The suckiest of all sucky feelings youāll ever experience. Hopefully you wonāt ever have to experience this.
I know man, I experienced it on the Minas Tirith project a lot too. People who just stop, without letting you know anything, or start of on their own, all that kind of things. It even happens with CGTalk Award winners and professionals, people from who you wouldnāt directly expect such behaviorā¦
For instance, on our project more than 75% of those who joined never produced anything at allā¦
But on the other hand itās quite a logical thing to happen. You donāt have any real contact with people over the internet, you canāt call or meet them to ask them what they are doing.
So the fact that projects are managed over the internet totally makes it much easier for someone to drop out without feeling āguiltyā or something.
[Ranting to come ā¦ donāt read if youāre just going to entice me more. This may very well be my last post here in the AlienZ sub-forum]
Please donāt take one sentence out of context of my statements to generalize into a distorted viewpoint of CGTalk. Youāre statement here is in another realm from what I was saying.
CGTalk will not provide individual sub-forums and appoint Moderation status to members strictly on the basis of the creation of a thread in the Collab section. The Mods or āForum Leadersā are not arbitrarily appointed in such a manner and never will be.
CGTalk does not put the energy into making any particular artistās image or project a success. The work that you see featured on CGTalk is provided by the members and not the administrative staff here. To āproduce cool thingsā is not a goal of CGTalk, weāre here to promote cool things.
Rubbish ā¦ (the polite way of saying that) ā¦ you know if anyone were to actually sit back and come up with a good suggestion to help promote the Collab section instead of bitching about what is not happening with their own particular project here I would be extremely impressed and shocked. In the past Iāve attempted several times to get artists to work together on projects and (with the exception of āAlienZā) itās always failed to attract any attention. I put a lot of time and effort into the last collab contest here (Evolution) and there were very few participants.
I worked my ass off getting the AlienZ project going when there was nothing here. My motivation wasnāt to make something ācoolā, get front page status on CGTalk (which it never did) or to recieve a special sub-forum to keep it organized (again ā¦ not my idea). My motivation was to try and show, by example, how a short film project could be organized and managed via a forum with talented artists from all over the globe participating.
Even though the project did not get completed, I think it was a success by that definition. In itās height of activity, things were being accomplished and the talent of many different artists showed in a cohesive quality and style. Ila, Kai, Steve, Kenn, Jason, John and other modellers took the concepts to a level of quality that I doubted was possible via the internet.
After all of this, after the frequency of viewers has improved on the Collab section, after the number of Collab projects has improved ā¦ I get a little dissappointed everytime someone says to me that CGTalk doesnāt do anything for the Collab section. Never ā¦ not once ā¦ (let me emphasize this) f*cking never did I hear a complaint from someone on the AlienZ team that CGTalk wasnāt promoting the project. Honestly, I donāt think anyone really cared. We were doing it because it was fun and we were learning something.
I guess this isnāt enough for everyone. Some donāt enjoy the spirit of working together with other artists and are more interested in the fame and notoriety ā¦ I suppose. :shrug:
Well, if thatās what you want ā¦ really. Iām open to your best suggestions (that are not self-serving āplug my threadā requests). Post your suggestions here. What do you think CGTalk should be doing for Collab projects. What do you think would really do it for the community and Collaborators who want to be a part of the next great project?
[Sorry for the rant ā¦ Iām already in a bad mood for having to kill this project. I shouldnāt be posting in this state of mind.]
Well, I wonāt argue with you about this, but I just want to say that what I wrote above is my opinion and the way the āpolicyā of CGTalk feels to me. Sorry that it may have sounded a bit harsh, but the sentence I quoted about āthe reputation of CGTalkā just made me a little angry.
I will write down some suggestions in the sticky thread youāve started. I hope that we can make the collaborative section work better together.
Hello guys. i saw these talks on a short film story on aliens. If you all like, i would supply with a lot of stories which i had created on my own on various topics like aliens, teleports, mysteries, adventures etcā¦ My best stories are āBack to the pastā, āAfter 2012ā and āThe Dragon Slayerā. If you like to make these stories into an animation film by you all, i would type down my stories section by section. Would you all agree with me? And please donāt use some complex words and difficult computer terms as i am a very young 13 year old school boy. I was always dreaming to do some animations but i am not having proper training and i cant do those complex animations on my own. Would some one give me training in those, especially in Terrain Editor and Dark basic.