So Much Monsters! site update! Exclamation!

stoofoo · Oct 2010

So I finally got around to updating my page to combine my portfolio and my blog site. Visually I really really really prefer this to a blog or portfolio and its super easy for me to maintain. This means--hey! i may maintain it! But let's talk about it. I've made a lot of specific decisions about the design but I'm all for a hardy breakdown.

http://somuchmonsters.com

The content from my blog has not been fully moved over--I need to get thumbnails of a lot of the videos.

XenoKratios · Oct 2010

Hey man amazing work as always, I wish it was a bit more clean though. Just a personal thing really, but it just seems that the videos are everywhere.

Well, it's actually an organized mess

.

stoofoo · Oct 2010

Xeno: Let's talk about this! What do you mean by they are everywhere? One important thing I should point out is that this is going to be primarily videos--less a portfolio page. While I do plan to dump some images in once in a while, 95% of it will be video content.

Do the links at the top not solve the disorganized mess? What could make it better?

XenoKratios · Oct 2010

The home page is the one I'm talking about. It just seems to have an illusion ( might just be me) of being very distractive, when i'm watching the video I's hard to concentrate on the video itself.

That might (again) just me be, so don't take it too seriously. Although it does allow easy access to the other videos and you can stream much faster.

The website itself is very straight forwards and works well.

Oh and I said an organized mess, it's not disorganized!

Edit: Crowded is the word I was looking for.

Zipfinator · Oct 2010

I agree about the layout of the videos at the moment. When I got to the site I wasn't quite sure where to click or what to do. Every video is in your face right off the bat. I'm not exactly sure what to suggest to fix that at the moment but if I think of something I'll post it. As Xeno said though, it could just be personal preference.

Also as a side note, there's nothing on the Resume or Articles page.

XenoKratios · Oct 2010

Zipfinator wrote: »

I agree about the layout of the videos at the moment. When I got to the site I wasn't quite sure where to click or what to do. Every video is in your face right off the bat. I'm not exactly sure what to suggest to fix that at the moment but if I think of something I'll post it. As Xeno said though, it could just be personal preference.

Also as a side note, there's nothing on the Resume or Articles page.

I just noticed the thing about the Resume and Articles as well.

I was going to suggest something, but I think I will wait (it seems that you're still working on the website).

Maybe add a home page hyperlink on the "M" Monster to bring you back?

Frump · Oct 2010

At first I was confused about what was portfolio and what was videos, but clicking the top links solved that problem. The split up pages are simple and organized. Having everything evenly spaced on the home page is cluttered.

I think a simple solution is just to put a line break between the goblin speed sculpt and the Charr art test. Define (using titles or spacing) the top chunk as videos and the bottom chunk as portfolio. Alternatively, just pick one for the homepage.

dtschultz · Oct 2010

First off, what a cool collection of videos. Can't wait to watch some of them when I am not at work.

I would get rid of the video links on the main page and just put them on the video page. That way you just have a simple entry page, and your video page looks so much less cluttered.

UNCCheezy · Oct 2010

fix the inital lineup of the big box. It like offsets the 3rd row...Looks kinda wierd

rasmus · Oct 2010

I like yur logo... and the monsters are pretty ok, too

Seriously, I always liked the way everything was video content from your blog - shows it off well AND people can learn. Running video in the same place would be my only suggestion.

Purplepaint · Oct 2010

First off: I love your videos and your blog, even thou i was only aware of your blog/folio more recently. (your old blog/folio) Also when i have more time I will more then likely watch everyone of your videos.

Your new folio is very unique, however, the first problem i run into browsing your is that it is very hard to tell which is a image vs a video, so maybe have a separate section(divided by a header or something of the like?) on your page.

Edit: I just noticed that you do have separate pages for images and videos now. But the main homepage still loads both. As i said above maybe just separate the images from videos on your main page (assuming your going to use both to show off your work in your folio) as it would be one less button for someone to click.

Other then that, your works great, so keep it up:)/.

bounchfx · Oct 2010

I loved your blog. This site is neat, but personally the way your videos are presented feels haphazard even though it's 'organized' ? also, when you click to watch or view one the window that jumps around is kind of annoying and inconsistent. Ideally there'd be one frame that would be updated by whatever I clicked on, I think. I dig the videos being embedded in the page though.

Personally I'd want to see it feel cleaner with the thumbnails not having a big white border around each one.

HntrLuc · Oct 2010

Hey cool stuff man! Lots of nice work

Like a few have said, maybe organizing it into two columns for images and videos would make it a bit easier to navigate.

something like this maybe?

╔════════╗
║ ║
║ main ║
║ image ║
╚════════╝
images video
╔═╗╔═╗ ╔═╗╔═╗
╚═╝╚═╝ ╚═╝╚═╝
╔═╗╔═╗ ╔═╗╔═╗
╚═╝╚═╝ ╚═╝╚═╝
╔═╗╔═╗ ╔═╗╔═╗
╚═╝╚═╝ ╚═╝╚═╝

anyway, sweet monsters :P

edit: ok my ascii doesn't work when posted, but hopefully you get my meaning :P

breakneck · Oct 2010

i really like how this is laid out. and of course your work and videos are ace.

Slum · Oct 2010

HntrLuc wrote: »

  &#9556;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9559;
  &#9553;        &#9553;
  &#9553; main   &#9553;
  &#9553; image  &#9553;
  &#9562;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9552;&#9565;
images   video
&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;  &#9556;&#9552;&#9559;&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;
&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;  &#9562;&#9552;&#9565;&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;
&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;  &#9556;&#9552;&#9559;&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;
&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;  &#9562;&#9552;&#9565;&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;
&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;  &#9556;&#9552;&#9559;&#9556;&#9552;&#9559;
&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;  &#9562;&#9552;&#9565;&#9562;&#9552;&#9565;

anyway, sweet monsters :P

edit: ok my ascii doesn't work when posted, but hopefully you get my meaning :P

use code blocks

BradMyers82 · Oct 2010

Nice site man! I agree with some of the organization comments, but honestly with all the work you put into these videos you have already done such a great service to the 3d art community, who could possibly complain.
I really enjoyed that charr art test video. Made a mental note to use biped to help building base mesh.

stoofoo · Oct 2010

OK! So taking what you folks are saying into consideration i talked about it a bit last night over beers. I'm sticking with this layout form factor, but I'm going to investigate getting a play button to show up over the video thumbnails to distinguish them from the portfolio pieces. If that doesnt help make this make sense, I'll default to having just the videos loaded. I'm also going to try and make the selected section bolder in that case. Maybe a red tab shows up behind the link thats active for usabilities sake.

The logo WILL be a return to main page, I just hadnt hooked it up yet. Took a break from layout stuff to populate it a bit and get feedback,

So Much Monsters! site update! Exclamation!

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