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Author	Topic: SCIFI 3D --- site and forum FAQ
scifi_3d_zoo Title: Scifi 3D Forum Registered: Sep '99	Date Posted: 2/19/04 4:10pm Subject: SCIFI 3D --- site and forum FAQ - Date Edited: 7/6/07 11:09am (3 edits total) Edited By: scifi_3d_zoo
	1). WAREZ - No warez discussions of course. You have to do that sorta thing somewhere else. We don't condone nor want to get into heavy debates about it. If nobody brings it up then neither should you. I don't care if somebody seems really lame and you know they have an unregistered product. Just don't reply OR tell them to search Google.com or something. This is not a debate forum and it's a huge waste of time to get into such discussions. 2). TUTORIALS - Please visit the SCIFI 3D LINKS page for links to tutorials. If you have a new one let me know the URL. Otherwise we don't need to keep running threads asking this question over and over. Again... try searching Google.com. 3). APPLICATION SUPPORT QUESTIONS - This is not a tutorial forum. Please try to look thru your own help files, tutorials, search Google.com, look thru the LINKS page, etc. etc. before you ask stuff like "how do I save an animation". I generally ignore such threads. We want to help but it should be a good question... not a "take me by the hand" walk thru basic use. Also visit SCIFI-MESHES.com They are setup as the official peer review and support site for the community. Sometimes there are problems, as with all things, but they are pretty good over there. 4). APPLICATION POLLING - Another thing we get TIRED of seeing is "which app is best" threads. This is like asking is Coke or Pepsi better? It's all a matter of preference. If you want to talk about the features of an app fine. But please avoid direct negative comparisons from one app to another. I KNOW there are some rules in this universe like... SI and MAYA's character toolsets are more robust than TRUESPACE's. But lets leave alot of this to the pros to compare apps. professionally. You can buy any CGI or video magazine and search their review articles on their websites to find product reviews. Very few of us here can offer a better opinion. KOOL article about all the apps available 3/5/04: http://www.insidecg.com/feature.php?id=136 5). BOOKS - There are alot of books out there but lets not discuss which are best here. It's not a book review forum. You can visit any book vendor website like Amazon.com and get reviews. Also visit the FAQ page on SCIFI 3D for a list of books and a general description. 6). HOW CAN I SUBMIT SOMETHING? - Just send a pic or something to scifi3d at theforce.net. 7). SWMA whereabouts? - That site has been down for years. Even if they did come back, which they often talk about doing, they would essentially have to come out with all new content b/c the old stuff is so outdated. So don't ask about SWMA around here b/c if a new SWMA comes out we will announce it. Otherwise the old content is pretty much useless nowadays. All the good things from there are on SCIFI 3D now. The old content is mirrored at IMPERIAL ARCHIVES in case you insist on seeking it out: http://imperial.star-fleet.org/index.php New SWMA mirror: http://www.xpi.org.uk/~swma/ 8). REQUESTS for CGI work - There is a separate requests sticky thread. PLease post your requests in there and if you are interested in filling this request please do so via PM(Private Messaging) so the thread does not turn into a monster thread. It's just a means to hook-up and find people. Do not run any long threads discussing your project in the forum either. PLease hook-up via PM and take the discussions to a private forum or email, etc. 9). There is a "NEWS, SELF-PROMO, etc." thread now for these kinds of threads. PLease post all of these things in there. New website, new project, new plugin or software. 10). Are there any free CONVERTERS out there? There are some that may work in demo mode for awhile like: DEEP EXPLORATION, NUGRAF/POLYTRANS, etc. Look these up in Google.com for more info. To IMPORT/EXPORT MAX files from one version to the next there is a script to go from MAX5 back to MAX3(and of course this would open in MAX4). It's called "BACK FROM 5". You can get this and other import/export utilities at two places: http://www.scriptspot.com/ www.maxplugins.de (11). POSTING images/animations in the forum? Please only leave direct links to each file. Not frontend links forcing people to sift thru an entire site. If they want to look around they can on their own without being forced too. Most will. PREFERABLY post images in JPG format 50-75% compression, no bigger than 800x600 so we won't have huge images to download with scrollbars all over the place (if you want a detail pic render one of a small area showing your detail). Post aniamtions in QT or AVI format. Try to avoid WMV files if you can since they can not be viewed by MAC users. To post images and files in the forum read the "MARKUP CODES" link in a "reply" window. Here are links to file HOSTS: ___________________________ Some free hosts for images ------------------------ www.tripod.com note: you'll need to change the .jpg to .txt for direct linking http://home.redrival.com http://www.250free.com http://coolfreepages.com http://www.thefreesite.com/Free_Web_Space ______________________________ Some really cheap hosts -------------------------- http://www.tophosts.com http://www.findyourhosting.com http://www.hostindex.com http://www.webhostingratings.com http://e-rice.net (12). MODEL HOSTING/AUTHOR RIGHTS: Ultimately the author owns the rights to their files. Legally the main difference between you and the studio is you can't do anything commercially with your model. Somebody else could buy it from you if they have a license to do so. So what I'm saying is you can do whatever you want with a model. BUT don't let others use this to drive a wedge between us and the community. What some people like to do is come in and try to mirror our content, or outright steal the entire site. The content on the site IS what makes SCIFI 3D. So whether you knew it or not we have an agreement with every author to host their files exclusively. It's an unwritten nonverbal agreement. It's really just based on common-sense and morals. Otherwise somebody can ask us about a special arrangement. This of course doesn't include when a model is already on another site, on an authors personal site, etc. etc. We made special arrangements when we hosted models from SCIFI-MESHES and LWG3D. I asked the authors AND the site admins from each site so they knew what we wanted to do and that we weren't trying to steal content from them. I would not have proceeded without BOTH their approvals. It's the moral and ethical thing to do. A couple of years ago we had one guy, John Warner, try to rip our entire site (even the thumbnails). We don't need mirrors, certainly not unauthorized ones. I had his site and his internet access revoked but he's still around. I'm waiting for him to try this again at: http://www.geocities.com/krill_1947/ SO in the future hopefully we won't let this sorta thing cause a huge rift in the community. We ALL ended up fighting over it. Hopefully we can stick together in the future. (13). What happened to Topa?: He disappeared for about 6 months over 2 years ago. He resurfaced after being hit by a car. Then he was gone for about 3 months. All the while having problems at home about spending so much time on the pc. Then he moved out, went to school, got caught up into parties, women, booze. Never heard from him again (14). LINKS page: Right now we only have the one from the old site. It can still be updated if you have something tho. http://www.theforce.net/scifi3d/links.html Posted forward from 8/18/03: http://boards.theforce.net/Scifi_3D_Forum/b10013/12853633/?3 (15). I DOWNLOADED a model now what? Where are the textures? Mesh is messed-up!: First thing you guys have to realize is the model is only guaranteed to work with that specific software the model was made "ORIGINALLY" in, and with that VERSION. The thumbnails represent the "ORIGINAL" model from the author only. Sometimes thumbnails are updated with updates. Sometimes people convert models and add them to the site so the thumbnail does not reflect these versions. And even then with the same app and version as the author there is no guarantee. Every application treats models and textures differently. Even the SAME app. alters these things from one version to another. 90% of the time people have to clean up a model and re-texture it to bring it into another app OR the same app but a different version. Ultimately this is a game for the experienced. You may get lucky and pull some things together to make an image or animation. But for the most part this is a difficult line of work to be in and not something somebody just passing-by can jump right into. -----signature----- SCIFI 3D staff member http://www.scifi3d.com
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