If you’re new here, let me welcome you to Polycount!
One of the best things about this forum is how you can use it as a work-in-progress record of your project, posting visual updates as you work, and getting feedback along the way. It’s a very powerful way to work.
Make a new Topic, and post your initial plan, concept & references, & general ideas.
Then reply with updates as you go, and keep refining it until you finally finish. This is a great way to push yourself and finish a project.
Plus it’s a great way to engage with the community. Browse other topics, add encouragement and feedback. We’re all in this together!
I have a few favorite examples of this, people who have used this method to great results, will add later. Also I would love to see your favorite WIP threads, and suggestions people would like to share that they wish they had known when they were first-timers themselves.
Most of all though, enjoy the journey!
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To people who want to get their hands dirty or look to engage with others, I recommend checking out the Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenges run by Pinkfox (thanks!). What I like about the format is that it encourages exchange, always cool to see some constructive feedback given and then implemented, and the set timeframe hopefully helps people to not draw out projects for too long and burn out.
Another good way to track thoughts, experiments and other small stuff would be to keep a Digital Sketchbook.
Since a lot of posts are on re-occuring themes, I'd also like to highlight the Search function!
On the topic of Search generally: I think there is a wealth of content here, but sometimes hard to come by, if there is not someone remembering an old thread and pointing towards it. What could we do to improve the experience, making it easier to find threads related to ones question? Are there already mechanisms in place of which I'm unaware? Adding tags? Is there any way to control the weight of threads so they appear on top even though they're old (perhaps filter by amount of plusses or stickied)? Would be crazy if even entries of the Polycount wiki would show up. Is there a particular reason why the timeframe of the search is limited?