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New Website - In need of C&C and portfolio plugin

NomadSoul2501
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NomadSoul2501 polycounter lvl 10
Hi Everyone :)

It's been a while since I've been here, so many great new threads.

So, I decided to redo my website, as I am all thumbs when it comes to anything coding I've been dreading this moment for years:poly122:

I basically just started and the main attraction, the portfolio is not even up yet. I've been using wordpress to build the site and I'm looking for a good portfolio/gallery plugin to use.
Any recommendations?
Are there any that are considered industry standard?

As I said, there's not much there yet but have a go at anything that's there.
I'd love to hear any and all feedback on it and make it better :)

Cheers
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  • NomadSoul2501
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    NomadSoul2501 polycounter lvl 10
    Hahaa :)

    It's been such a long day, that I forgot to post the link to the site.

    Here it is:
    www.g-cg.com
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  • Vii
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    Vii polycounter lvl 6
    Just make sure the first thing they see is some of your work, which I assume will be in that massive banner at the top :P If you have a reel it should be on the first page. I'm not sure if you know this but just thought I'd mention it to save you time if you don't know it.

    Not sure about plugins.
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  • NomadSoul2501
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    NomadSoul2501 polycounter lvl 10
    Thank you for the feedback.
    The work that you saw in the banner updates on mouse-click and changes every time you load or refresh a page.
    Would you suggest I turn that into a carousel?

    Currently I had my reel on the video gallery page.
    Would you also link to it on the home page and leave the greeting or should I have nothing but the reel on the home page and make a new 'about me' page and move the current content there?
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  • NomadSoul2501
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    NomadSoul2501 polycounter lvl 10
    Update:

    Added a direct link to my reel on the front page
    Tried various methods of converting the header to a slider with no success :(
    That will have to come in v2.
    Found an amazing gallery plug-in and added the first two galleries back in.

    Still need to retake a lot of screens in higher resolutions than what I had them on the old site.
    Need to find a better way to format the what/where/when lines in the resume.


    As always, c&c greatly appreciated :)
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  • Skillmister
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    Skillmister polycounter lvl 11
    NomadSoul2501 wrote: »
    Update:

    Added a direct link to my reel on the front page

    This should be your home page http://www.g-cg.com/portfolio/

    Get rid of the huge banner, full screened on my 1920x1080 monitor i don't actually see any of your work without scrolling down an entire page.
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  • DWalker
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    DWalker
    Rather than getting rid of the banner, I'd recommend reducing its height and combining it with your personal information (name/title). The banner at the top of this very page is a good example of a reasonable size at 990x140 (although I prefer the buttons on the bottom of the banner).

    I'd cull some of the pictures to reduce those that are virtually duplicates. Pick the best 4 (or 8 for very complex or large scenes). Remember that you're going for quality, not quantity.

    In your harbor scene, the tires really could use some love, especially considering how common they are. The sidewalls should bulge out, and they should appear worn - reduce the tread depth until they are almost bald, add cracks and sun/water damage.
    188586_tire_worn_flat-spot.jpg
    The water material could also use some work. It currently looks more like plastic wrap than water. Add a bit of green to the color, and increase the reflectivity. Also, try adding a secondary set of waves with a higher frequency but lower magnitude moving in a different direction.
    314106667_968fa3b4ff_o.jpg
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  • NomadSoul2501
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    NomadSoul2501 polycounter lvl 10
    Hey :)

    Thank you for the feedback.
    Would the banner automatically resize if i reduced the width of the live area?
    Right now I set it to be 1000px, originally it was something smaller.
    I'll try to mess around with that.

    Sure thing, I can remove some of the pics in the gallery. Some are quite similar.

    I would love to apply your feedback regarding tires and water.
    Unfortunately I don't have the original renders anymore:(
    I did this back in college and I used their render farm. Even so it was 32mins a frame so I wont be re-rendering that at home any time soon.

    I was thinking in starting a study in optimization and turn that scene into a realtime scene :)
    I'll definitely apply your advice then.

    Cheers
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  • NomadSoul2501
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    NomadSoul2501 polycounter lvl 10
    Wow, i just, wow
    I had set it to 1280 (facepalms)

    Set the width back to 990 and everything looks so much cleaner :)
    I'll try to get rid of that top banner that holds the site name and add that info into the header images. That should save some space too :)
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