Mixing it up

#1

Hi everyone on the CGTalk collabs!

I have been looking in different bigger collab threads like ICE, the project formerly know as ICE. Shirow and BOY1DA’s project. And i noticed at some points people speaking about sharing resources or merging projects.

So, i thought it might be a nice idea to start a thread about this. What i want to suggest and discuss with you guys is working together on collabs in areas where others need help.

For example. I dropped out of Aegis lately, because next to my own project i just didn’t have much time. But on a certain point i will be in need of a very good animator for my own project. And i have noticed that some of you guys are very good in this area, while i am lacking ( to put it mildy :slight_smile: )

Now, to get to the point. I would for example work for 20 hours on one of anyones collab, doing concepts and modelling, those are things i can do. So someone from another collab can help me with some of my stuff, for example a texture expert or animator. Sort of an exchange of area of expertise. This could help for example when different projects are in different development stages (for example, some projects might need concept artists, while they have animators, modellers or music artist around doing nothing).

This is just an example. But another thing would be sharing of resources. You could think of small things, like props. Or larger things like environment and skylines. These things can be pretty generic and don’t define how the result or collabstyle will look in the end.

So, what i want to know is, are you guys interested in trying something like this? It would allow someone to work with more diversity. But on the other hand, everyone would have to decide for himself if he wants to work with other collabs or not. Because i can understand when someone thinks of another collab as less interesting than another, and would not want to waste his time working on it. Me personally, I like the collabs mentioned above, and some more on this forumside of CGTalk. So for me personally for example, it would not matter that much on what collab i would be working at a certain time. And if the trade is good, why not. :wink:

So if some of you guys agree, we can start something of a bargain thread, where we can offer our services or material in exchange for something else. I think this could really help speed up some of the collab development. If that is what you guys want at least. Now, only do this if you are serious about it and are certain that you can keep your end of the bargain. Because it would be bad if at some point this would lead to fights between collabs about who should have done what for what collab.

I don’t know if you guys are up for it, but i will just wait for the responses. I hope this thread can stay open. I know its not directly a collab, but more of a collab between collabs. :wink:

#2

I think it is a great idea in principal.

But to see it actually work out hmmm…
I think there might be too many grey areas.

Do you think it may just magnify the short comings
of collaboration projects in general ?

One of the problems I see is,at least for me.
The time it takes for me to do work for someone I can spend
the time to do work for myself, but the plus I guess would be
if I’m not that good at something and someone can do it better.

I have an open mind to the idea.
and tend to try to practice this concept on a person to person
basis so weather it catches on with other collaborations
or not it won’t be much of a change for me.

I’m very curious to see what the others think.

Good luck to all of us even if we don’t end up sharing resources,
we all share the same dream. And As I like to quote “the show must go on”.

PEACE!

#3

Yeah, it is really something that should be reviewed on a per collab basis. But for objects for example it could come in handy. For example. You have created these walls for your project.
And i might need a wall later on for some sci-fi thing. You need some guards for your environment in the background, and i just happen to have modelled a guard a few days ago.

So we agree upon exchanging the mesh after giving some screenshots to show the quality of the work. When we both agree, you have a nice guard, with a tight butt to put in your scenes and i have a nice wall to smash someone into. :slight_smile:

It will also always be on a person to person basis. Because the models are simply property of persons and not of collabs most of the time. So the person can’t be forced to give away the model, because the collab demands it.

Now, if we would have a seperate thread for these things, then we can start offering stuff to eachother for exchange. But if you don’t need anything and your skills are all-round perfect, then there is no need for this, obviously. :slight_smile:

But yeah, i am curious too what others will think, i hope we will get some support and then can make an inventory of what type of things are skills our collabs lack at the moment. Then we can start helping eachother out. Maybe even on a later stage by sharing renderfarms or something, just to get a top quality end production for the projects that are low on cpu resources.

#4

Yep that sounds like me:D

I’m joking, I just couldn’t resist :twisted: I need all the help I can get.

I don’t know if you ever seen the thread that someone posted here
a while back, it must be real deep down now. With the idea to post what you
are willing to trade and he posted his model to trade. I tried to find
it in a search but don’t remember the name of it ?
I don’t think it got much posts ?

I know I can always use pre-made models, I find more use
for that because it don’t slow my work flow down to trade something
I’ve already made and it saves me time as well not to have to make
something that someone can trade/lend me so I can work on important things.
I also like to use pre-made models because I can look at a render and tell
if I can use it or not.

Anyway, maybe we can start it off.
send me a PM and let me know about your project and what you are looking for.
And maybe we can help each other out ?

PS.
So are you gonna post what you are willing to trade in this thread ?
is that what you had in mind ?

#5

So are you gonna post what you are willing to trade in this thread ?
is that what you had in mind ?

Haha, no i haven’t got much to trade at the moment, but i can always provide my modelling or concepting services for the highest trader. :wink: j/k. My project is still in a very early stage. I am working on a 3D battlechess type game. And for this game i will be building 12 characters, 6 for white, 6 for black, and they need unique fight and die animations, depending of what character fights what. So you see, this is a lot of work and i want it to look really nice. The modelling, texturing and programming i can handle, but the animation will probably kill me. :wink: The style is pretty different from what we are used to. It will be Non Photorealistic Rendering. But not in your average manga, toonshade kind of way.

In my spare time i am developing a character, that was originally for Aegis, but as i am off the project, it will not be anymore. What i am going to do is combine all the work i did for Aegis into one final render at some point. The armor is my way to breath some life into the final piece. To show you a render of what i am talking about:

This is still an early version, still working on the leg armor, and then the helmet, and then all the detailing into the clothing…and then texturing…and so on and so forth…:slight_smile: Now, i can imagine it could function as a background character for any of the other projects at some point. But thats just an example.

But i was not really planning on using this thread as a bargain post…Just a discussion to see how many people are interested.

#6

I was just about to post my whole model inventory for trade.

Well I guess we are both waiting for everyone else to jump
in and speak a few words on this idea.

your model is looking kool so far.
Keep me updated on it’s progress.
I can see a good spot for something like that in my project.
But I won’t get too far ahead of myself, I still got tons of work
to do before I even get to that part.
I’m always on the look out for ways to network with other artists.

LATER.

#7

Well, posting a list of items you want to trade is actually not a bad idea. Maybe with some images. Then people can see what the advantages could be of pulling this off. They see something they like, and they might be interested in bringing something to the table. :wink:

#8

Nice to see someone else thinking about this type of combine. If a workable solution could be found it would potentially be a huge boost to the groups in here now and those to come!

Here are some observation-
Trading could work (although it would be a slow process form what I have seen in past), if you have an existing catalog to trade, otherwise as already mentioned it just eats into your projects already limited (and likely stretched) time, energy, enthusiasm.
It is sometimes nice to get off your own project and do something else, so there is some potential in it from that perspective.
Another alternative would be to move out of free collabing and offer services at a reasonable fee. Some of Shirowproject hope to see our output spur interest outside of CGTalk and eventually have our team move into profitable projects.

For Pure free collabing, what I wish could happen is that whole teams combine, focusing on one team’s project for a set period (shirowproject first of course :stuck_out_tongue: ). Then moving to another. This is just wishing out loud, and you can probably think of lots of issues this method would raise too…

No matter what happens, we should keep discussing these things…The Collab forum and spirit has been building over the last year+ …There are some teams that are learning the ropes well, improving on what has gone before them and establishing themselves as more than a passing fancy…this has built credibility for us all and is no doubt spurring more people to have enough faith to actually join instead of just watching!..Because of this growth and the creative open mindedness of the collab groups, I think the way we work as teams is/will soon be ready for a metamorphisis! What that is or if it even happens it yet to be seen, but at least if we are talking about it the idea can be kept alive and maybe through collaborative thinking the “perfect” interteam support method will be found.

Other ideas I have had drift though the cobwebs?

-Some method of protection so that potential contributers (and the collab cred) have a bit of security against being taken for a ride to nowhere…Some credibility rating system?
-A HOWTO collab faq?
-A board of team members that helps organize things (like interteam projects) among teams?

#9

In example…

models,music,maps… and whatever can be uploaded and
if you see something you like you click on it and points
go to the owner,the person who made it.And can also be sent a pm so
they know who downloaded their work. you can also contact an artist in person,
for assets then that person can upload what he/she wants to send to an other person
and when the person who wants it, gets it points go to the person who sent it.

Okay that was a bit too much thinking… must save … brain… power.

Here are some models
that I am willing to trade for services or other models…
I can post more as I make them or render better shots of them.
I will trade for nude pictures of your girlfriends, I’m joking
I know, I know, I’m just sick… I need mental help
that’s what happens when you sit behind a computer
screen for too long.

I’ll try to start it off.

Tera’s Head on a plate !

A head model with lots of morph target and facial expressions.
made in Max 7 . with mesh smooth. uv mapping done with face map.


Here is a video test so you can see it in action.

A computer monitor with arm stand.
Made in Max 7, with mesh smooth no maps yet.

Lazer Gun.
Max 7 no maps, unless you have “Dark tree shaders” and “Quickdirt” plug-ins.

Room with door.
Max 7 no maps.

I have tons more crap to trade…That’s all for now too LAZY to do more.

PEACE!

#10

Hmmm. I like the point system.

So we would build a site where every item has a number of points, and every person or collab gets points for the things others have used that they supplied. This way you can also be assured that items with a certain quality get more points and things like that. Then you can download stuff by the interesting stuff you have shared with others. Its almost like a little economy of its own ;).

Hmmm, i wonder how big our traffic would be when building such a site…

I haven’t really got a list of models i can share yet. But i will build one soon. I have a lot of older models around here somewhere, from before Aegis that might be interesting to some people.

#11

Yea,in a perfect world that point system would be great.

But I’m sure as hell that I don’t have time to set it up.
So I won’t even try. I guess as long as this thread is here
maybe someone who is into that sort of thing will set it up.
For now I will keep it simple, in hopes of a better tomorrow.
I got to get back to work on my project but anytime I model
something new I will post it here to try to keep this thread alive.
It would help if we all did the same, just dump anything you think
could be of use to others and you are willing to trade here.
Even if no one wants anything it will help to keep the subject open
for discussion. Or you never know it may be the start of a good
library of good CG assets.

so no need to make a giant list, just post a image of a model
as you create them. when you have time.

like I said before, anybody out there feel free to join in.

Well see you around CGTALK I’m out for now.
I got a million models to texture…

PEACE!

#12

A Forum with points system sounds great, but it would be a lot of work, and frankly any I have seen that tried this type of thing mostly sit with a few items that get DL’d and little or no reciprocal uploads.
Then there is the maintenance of a forum as well…
For ex…we had to continually monitor our team forum…spammers were abusing the registration…after tracing and requesting the individuals stop…well you can guess that failed :)…now we have taken registration completely offline.
…sounds negative, but that’s the reality I see…keep the ideas flowing! :thumbsup:

#13

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