New Features for GFX
Kurlowski | 02/05/2005 @783 | edit post

Theres alot of talk about things that GFX has and things that GFX should have. Post things you think might be cool additions to GFX here. You know how at the top right it displays the latest elite artwork and one that displays highest rated? I think there should be another one that would be completly random. It picks any artwork and changes out every 10 minutes. That would be cool IMO.

Re: New Features for GFX
Phryneas | 02/05/2005 @799 | edit post

things I already sent in: - more info in the blog's RSS - also a RSS for an artist's pictures things that could come handy, too: - possibility to change a vote (maybe with adding a note no the statistics what was the original vote and when it was cast) - I sometimes just give more than I want to because I click at the wrong number ^^ -correct the bug that it forwards you to the "doesn't exist, you will be forwarded"-page after publishing not my idea but could be good, too - elites for each category, not overall elites - elite pics => member galleries that's all I remember for now, maybe add more lateron PS: deny people to post pictures with more that 500KB (especially BMPs *looks at Mike*) - it's not really surfer-friendly [Message edited on 02/05 @800]

Re: New Features for GFX
arenhaus | 02/05/2005 @818 | edit post

Get rid of the vote. Instead of popular vote for elite status, introduce awarding merits to individual pictures, on at least three categories: expressive merit, technical merit, originality merit. Instead of the vote, introduce the option to give the artist a "cookie". The list of people who awarded a cookie for a particular picture to be displayed above comments, to compress the endless "luv it" comments without taking away that warm fuzzy feeling. Enough cookies would be worth another award - the popular sympathy award. As a really radical idea - an applet allowing to redline the picture, to be used together with comment to refer to particular points in it, or show corrections. Can be tricky, though.

Re: New Features for GFX
Wysiwyg | 02/05/2005 @832 | edit post

Phryneas already repeated my idea for elite titles for each catagory. I must have posted my idea about this 20 times in 3 different forums, so I'll just let this one go. I second  arenhaus's motion about the awards for technique, expressiveness, originality. This could actually push artists to who normally post just an uninspired pin up to try and create whole scenes. Or even have a Painter 9 junkie try out some stippling. I would love to see a notification for how many people are in the chat room at the homepage or SayWhat page. In addition, notifications for new works posted by favorite artists or those on the buddy lists would be great. I like how DigitalArt.org has a feature to randomly select a piece for you to critique, perhaps this is something else to look into as it might give some deserving (unappreciated) artists some exposure, or give a photomanip fanatic to comment on some 3d or Design works. I'm going to put  CityRose on the spot as she emailed me yesterday a great idea to bring art competitions on particular themes back to the site. So how about it Belinda? I leave it to you to post the details. *goes to email Belinda*

Re: New Features for GFX
wittykitty | 02/05/2005 @904 | edit post

I'd love art competitions. They tend to bring out some of the best work. I'm definitely for that idea. Also changing the vote would be extremely handy (I don't know how many times I've accidentally put in the wrong number and haven't been able to change it.) The ideas of cookies sounds spiffy too.

arenhaus says!!!
kittyKat | 02/05/2005 @914 | edit post

I third arenhaus's motion about the awards for technique, expressiveness, originality. *even tho arenhaus smells like CHEESE!* wittykitty I'd love art competitions. They tend to bring out some of the best work. I'm definitely for that idea. I would like to see H2Hs added to the profiles [Message edited on 07/06 @047]

Re: New Features for GFX
Fooxoo | 02/05/2005 @921 | edit post

Maybe instead of an apple etc., there could be a vote in the three categories (like you vote 3 times for one artwork).. I don't know how complicated that could be on the tech side... But could be nice, a person could see, where he did good, at thechnique, originality or expressivness. Then draw conclusions from that, but what good is a dang cookie, bugs me. And competitions could be real fun too.

Re: New Features for GFX
Raphael | 02/05/2005 @925 | edit post

Of course those of us who know you  kittyKat realise that was all in jest and not overtly nasty at all. [Message edited on 02/06 @486]

Re: New Features for GFX
Andy--Jones | 02/05/2005 @946 | edit post

As Almost-Human suggested a while back, having a blind voting system would be a fairer option. Then reveal the artist after a week or so. It has some flaws, such as signatures on the pictures or that some artists work are so recognisable instantly, but even so it would be interesting to see how the results would turn out. Actually there are loads of problems with that idea as I think about it, but I still reckon if it were plausible, it would be a good idea.

Re: New Features for GFX
CityRose | 02/05/2005 @949 | edit post

Haha, I can just picture Martin, Arno and Martijn down on their knees begging "No more! No more!" We're giving them some work to do, aren't we? As Brett ever so kindly *ehem* volunteered me to post here, here's that idea I told him about: "One thing I’ve noticed, being a regular member, is that although this community on the whole is pretty light and gets along (with a couple jokers amongst us that stand out), I think we’re starting to forget one thing…. It’s about the art. I want to urge people to break from their comfort zones and be creative. Come up with original concepts and don’t be afraid to try something new. Art isn’t always about what sells, or who’s space babes have the biggest boobs- it is also about expressing yourself, and being original. Stand out. I have been thinking of ways to get people to create more art, while also bringing the community together as a whole. I think there should be a new forum section for Community Projects. Concept: There could be a monthly theme to which people would submit their art. These submissions are judged by a small selection of judges. While the community will have the chance to voice their votes and critiques, the judges will have last word. There are no real prizes- this is purely a way for everyone to get together, have fun, and learn. Winners of each judging will have their submission posted in the Community Project’s Hall of Fame. Judging: In the thread where people submit their work for the month, normal members of the community can comment and vote for who’s work they like best. Members’ comments will be taken into account for the final judging. At the end of the month, the submission thread is closed and the official judging takes place. The judges are comprised of a small panel of unbiased individuals- people who can give good critiques and who will critique the artwork, not the person. Judges can enter in to the competition, but they don’t go into running for grand prize. Judges can be ‘voted’ by members. Judges critique everyone’s work (even other judges). You cannot vote for yourself. If a judge’s work is particularly popular and is deemed good by the other judges, then that work will be displayed in the Hall of Fame (under the Winner’s Three) as Best Panel Artwork. Judging takes place in the Judging Sub-forum. Critiques are given to each piece. Then, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners are announced, accompanied with comments by each judge as to why they won. If a judge’s work has also been deemed to be good, there can also be a Best Panel Artwork awarded. Winning works are submitted into the Hall of Fame. Works are judged on creativity and execution. Doodles can be posted, but chances are it won’t be voted highly. Speed Paints are allowed, as long as they are of finished quality- same deal as the doodles. Creativity is the big factor in these projects. We are encouraging people to be creative in their concepts. Big boobs and guns won’t score highly. Flops: If there aren’t enough artworks (or enough good artworks) submitted during the month to warrant a judging, one of two things can be done. The project could be kept open for another month, or the project could be closed (with or without winners, depending on the quality of the few that were submitted). It will be the judges choice if that theme is to be played on at a later stage (to give a chance for a new audience to use the theme), or the theme could be dumped entirely. Entrants are allowed to post their works in their gallery if they wish. Layout of the forums: COMMUNITY PROJECTS FORUM: Rules and Info Suggest a Theme Hall Of Fame Winners of CP Round #1 Winners of CP Round #2 Etc….. Submissions CP Round #1 CP Round #2 Etc……. Judging Judging: CP Round #1 Judging: CP Round #2 Etc….." That's it! ^_^ There's no big task for the admin to get this up and running- just an addition of a new forum, and I'm guessing our forum mods can take care of the rest. As for the things that have been mentioned already: I think there should be three things to vote for- expressive, technical (execution?) and originality (creativity?). People vote for each little category. The scores between the three are averaged out. So, if someone is posting well-executed but completely unoriginal booby/elf/whatever pictures, they will find that relying on the bias from a target audience isn't going to get them far. I don't know if the ChatRoom counter is going to work (or be possible). The Chat is now inside a Flash Player file thingy, so I don't think there's any info going out..........okay, I didn't explain that well, but anyhoo..........

Re: New Features for GFX
keiiii | 02/05/2005 @953 | edit post

quote:  arenhaus wrote on 02/06 @109 As a really radical idea - an applet allowing to redline the picture, to be used together with comment to refer to particular points in it, or show corrections. Can be tricky, though. That would be wonderful!!

Re: New Features for GFX
Furitsu | 02/05/2005 @970 | edit post

quote:  Andy--Jones wrote on 02/06 @238 As Almost-Human suggested a while back, having a blind voting system would be a fairer option. Then reveal the artist after a week or so. Or as soon as you have voted the artist's name (and the comments and score so far) will be revealed. I like this blind-voting idea.

Re: New Features for GFX
emarts | 02/06/2005 @008 | edit post

Blind votes won't work wiht artwork linking. You can right-click to see where the art is hosted and it might give you a clue as to who's art it is. I think though it's more important for the comments to be blind. There should be an option to leave an anonymous comment for those of us who are afraid to make a critical comment fearing it might hurt someone's feelings. I vote for no votes and no elite artists. Let's find a way to put the best art into an elite category. Maybe a juried panel. Perhap the admins can nominate jurors and we can vote for them. And only jurors can nominate other jurors but everybody can vote for jurors. There should be a rule that campagning to be a juror is not allowed. And there should be a limit to how long you can be a juror. And after some amount of time you can qualify again to be a juror but only if you're nominated and voted in again. Also, when a juror votes for a particular artwork they have to write why they voted for it. This will make it way tougher to get your artwork into the elite gallery and would put some credibility into the Elites.

Re: New Features for GFX
arenhaus | 02/06/2005 @487 | edit post

CityRose, this contest idea of yours could well be implemented without any change to the engine. Just organize it using the existing forums, and voila!

Re: New Features for GFX
Raphael | 02/06/2005 @584 | edit post

Something that I've come to realise the site needs is a 'New posts since last visit' search feature on the fora. A specific site search would be good too, Google search is very good but not very specific.

Re: New Features for GFX
Kurlowski | 02/06/2005 @779 | edit post

I hope i didnt create a thunderstrom by making this thread... I really like ithe idea of being able to see who is in the chat room before you go in though

Re: New Features for GFX
Kurlowski | 02/06/2005 @968 | edit post

I think ita actually might be kind of cool to have your countrys flag displayed by your name. It would allow people to see where yor from without having to look.

Re: New Features for GFX
BaronImpossible | 02/07/2005 @007 | edit post

Contests and challenges would suit me ATM. Recently I haven't have any ideas of my own, as what passes for work has shrivelled my brain into something resembling dried bird shit. Yes, we could have such things in forums, but challenge threads tend to wibble on for weeks then fizzle out without anything really happening (like on Epilogue, ConceptArt etc.) I would welcome something organised on the site.

Re: New Features for GFX
Martin | 02/07/2005 @569 | edit post

Good stuff. Although I'm going to indicate which ideas appeal to me, I can of course in no way guarantee that any of them will be implemented in a timely fashion. Arenhaus has some good points (which he already made quite a while back). The merits system is definately something I support. It makes much more sense then 'judging' a work by passing it one number. I'm not sure if the cookie metafor will ring enough bells, but I believe the concept will be able to do its job. Phryneas has a good point when it comes to the RSS feeds. We still need to refine them and implement them for the artworks (so people can subscribe to artists and never miss a new piece). The forward page should also never be linked from the system, so when that happens it's a bug (please report those so we can find the old links and fix them). I like Wysiwyg's idea for a random artwork and a people in chat counter (which shouldn't be too hard to do). In another thread Artoonator mentioned the idea to have a random work chosen by the system to display as Pic of the Day (works would be selected according to their points/merits), also not a bad idea. Wittykitty, Fooxoo, Cityrose, and co, the contests are definately something that has been sitting on our list for too long. We have had plans to develop a proper contest section for a loong time. Hopefully this is something we can realist quite soon. This place would definately profit from some community activities. With a little luck we can have a contest once in a while that matches the The Mountain T-Shirt contest and has some kick ass prizes. I agree with BaronImpossible that a solid section would be smarter than trying to organise it and keep it neat in the forums. Should it take far to long to get a contest section going, we will of course be glad to give you guys the means to organise something in the forums for the time being. emarts has a point when it comes to elites. We definately need to rethink this concept. While I do believe it's good to award members, the current system only implies that it awards skilled members. We'll keep the elites, but turn it into an award instead of a different class (and maybe rename the whole thing). They and their work will remain in the member galleries and will no longer be set apart from the crowd. Based on artwork scores or merits we will find ways to populate an archive of top notch art, but that will be a whole seperate thing. Another thing on our list is a section where one can manage his active posts and threads. Commenting on an item, posting a critique or replying to a threads should subscribe you to it. Through the sortable/filterable section you'd be able to track all the discussions you're involved in. For this function there is also no eta whatsoever... Gosh I wish I had programming skills suitable to work on this site. I'll get in touch with the people that do have 'em and see if we can get development started a bit.

Re: New Features for GFX
augustopatino | 02/07/2005 @773 | edit post

Well, my suggestions are a tad less radical... But they could be really handy. - Make it possible to bookmark works that you have critiqued, to revisit them later and see if the artist has made any changes or comments. that way you don´t have to hunt for them all over again in the gallery. - Just as when you get a new message in the Inbox, it would be good to have a notice when one of your pieces has been commented on.

Re: New Features for GFX
emarts | 02/07/2005 @777 | edit post

Is this a bug? I can't seem to get to my outbox without first reading a message in my inbox.

Re: New Features for GFX
Kurlowski | 02/07/2005 @785 | edit post

quote:  augustopatino wrote on 02/08 @064 - Just as when you get a new message in the Inbox, it would be good to have a notice when one of your pieces has been commented on. By far my favorite idea!

Re: New Features for GFX
BaronImpossible | 02/07/2005 @793 | edit post

A "reply" option for comments would be good, so the artist can reply to specific comments (and notification could then be sent to the original commenter)

Re: New Features for GFX
Raphael | 02/08/2005 @606 | edit post

'Goto last post' option on threads in the fora and on the active threads list would be good.

Re: New Features for GFX
Wysiwyg | 02/08/2005 @660 | edit post

AMEN TO THAT Raphael....amen.

Re: New Features for GFX
BaronImpossible | 02/09/2005 @623 | edit post

I notice that artworks are being uploaded in large blocks again (e.g. 6 from the same person have just gone into Painting). Has the limit of 2 per day disappeared? If so, this is a very bad thing. Anybody know? [Message edited on 02/09 @627]