SCIFI 3D --- site and forum FAQ

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/a