I'm not sure group categories would work. I feel like one would have the majority of people and the other barely any.
What if we split the 25 people we have into groups of 5. Then rotate the people in the groups every week. That way it wouldn't be overwhelming to provide feedback for everyone and you'd get fresh ideas each week.
The skype meetings could be open to everyone to just discuss anything related. I can only reply to 5 people at a time so if I missed you by mistake just add me.
My Skype name is : LeeroyRa
Also I've made a facebook group (I'm assuming everyone has an account?) so we can have a main site to keep everything organized. I was thinking we could use it to post the groups for the week. Being able to mass message people will help get us started I think. So here's the group just request to join and once your accepted post your polycount name so we know who everyone is.
The main thing I'm still trying to work out is where to post the actual work and critiques. I was thinking we could make 5 threads at the beginning of each week for the new groups to keep them uncluttered, but we might have to run it by the mods first. Looks like some of you guys might have a better solution for this though.
That way it wouldn't be overwhelming to provide feedback for everyone and you'd get fresh ideas each week.
Agreed. That, and it would be a better way to meet our fellow polycounters. Like speed dating for artsy folk!
A facebook page is nice, but I'd still like actual conversation to take place via IRC/Skype/ventrilo/practically anything else besides facebook. A blog may difficult to do this sort of thing in as well...
I like the idea of several smaller, more focused groups, simply because I feel that you can get more honest and in-depth feedback than if you felt the need to dedicate the same amount of attention across 30 ppl.
Maybe I am misunderstanding what people are proposing, but a seperate site away from Polycount where all of us would post our work just seems redundant since we all already do that here. We could all just make a gentlemen's agreement to comment on a member of this larger group's work if we see it in the P&P thread, rather than branching off from the site.
What I would like to see, and what would personally work best for me, is if we did the whole seperate by specialization thing, and then had a dedicated place (wherever that might be) to post our work and occasionally meet up for a skype meeting if schedules mesh. I invision this smaller group idea as being very freeform and casual, but with a high emphasis on getting legitimate feedback. This way it would be accommodating of people's different schedules, as well as a place to really get to know some people, more so than maybe if it were a larger group. I mean, just look at the Facebook Group. Already there are members from all over the globe. Someone's 9 o'clock at night could be smack-dab in the middle of someone else's workday.
Don't get me wrong, I am all about this idea of a study group. I've already applied for the FB group. I just see the most successful format being that of a smaller size.
And really there's no reason that people couldn't independantly organize their own smaller group in addition to the larger one. So I guess I could always pursue something like that on my own if we decide to go with the larger format.
ANYWAY, nice to see something like this popping up
It's a nice idea, don't get me wrong. But the whole thing seems reduntant. Why not create your own thread, like usual, and have people give you critique in the thread? That would eliminate having to cut it down into smaller groups, and the crits would be there for everyone to see, therefore, helping out more than just 5 people. It just seems like having exlusive mini-meetings on skype is just counter-productive, since you can do the exact same thing by creating a thread in pimping and previews, and it will reach a much larger audience.
You also don't have to worry about scheduling meetings then.
I'm just trying to understand why you're doing the equivalent of creating a private thread on polycount that could only be viewed by 5 people. That's all. Not trying to sound dickish, just providing another perspective.
Or I can ignore this all and not provide input that has a chance of creating a more productive outcome.
There's nothing wrong with having mini meet ups as well, I just don't see the point in creating whole new sites for polycounters.
Rawr, all these random sites and groups going up without us actually deciding what's best first :P I predict this will change several more times before it's finalized and by that time half of us will have lost interest and this idea will have lost steam and credibility.
This is so much simpler than you're all making it out to be.
Count up how many members we have, divide by the ideal group size, and then count off people from the list and assign them to their first group. Those people exchange contact info in whichever medium they prefer. Group A all has skype and wants to use it? Fine. Group B is all using dropbox and just wants to chat using MSN or E-mail? Fine. Everyone has a Pimping and Preview thread? Awesome, just give a link and people will know where to go.
In this day in age, it's not hard to exchange art and ideas. Why not just leave it up to whatever people prefer? Let the group talk it out.
All the admin has to do then is randomize the groups every week and add/subtract people from the total. It's low maintenance for you. Seriously, with an idea like this, it's best get yourself out of the way and let the community do its thing. None of this micromanaging business...
Just my two cents.
Personally, I think the idea of using Polycount as the medium is best and probably the most rewarding. This is a community. We are a game art site. Let's combine the two... Just use the pimping and preview board and keep a thread going of the group rotation.
Personally, I think the idea of using Polycount as the medium is best and probably the most rewarding. This is a community. We are a game art site. Let's combine the two... Just use the pimping and preview board and keep a thread going of the group rotation.
This is what I had in mind. The facebook page is just to have a main page with the info posted up that was easily accessible. The only thing I would use it for is to post the groups for that week.
We could use another thread for the rotations but we will probably have 5 going already and I don't want to clutter things too much.
It's a nice idea, don't get me wrong. But the whole thing seems reduntant. Why not create your own thread, like usual, and have people give you critique in the thread? That would eliminate having to cut it down into smaller groups, and the crits would be there for everyone to see, therefore, helping out more than just 5 people. It just seems like having exclusive mini-meetings on skype is just counter-productive, since you can do the exact same thing by creating a thread in pimping and previews, and it will reach a much larger audience.
You also don't have to worry about scheduling meetings then.
I definitely don't want it to be an exclusive thing. The idea is to bring people together not keep them out.
The mini groups purpose is to basically ensure everyone gets equal feedback from at least four people. Of course everyone is welcome to comment, but it is just a guarantee it won't be buried into page 5 without a reply.
The skype meetings are just for fun to touch on anything that wasn't said in the forum.
I definitely don't want it to be an exclusive thing. The idea is to bring people together not keep them out.
The mini groups purpose is to basically ensure everyone gets equal feedback from at least four people. Of course everyone is welcome to comment, but it is just a guarantee it won't be buried into page 5 without a reply.
The skype meetings are just for fun to touch on anything that wasn't said in the forum.
That sounds great. I know there are a lot of threads that get buried, which leads to discouragement more often than not. And like I said, I don't see anything wrong with skype meetings, I'm sure most people here have smaller scale conversations on their work outside of polycount, I know I do.
My whole concern was that this would keep information that could help everyone away from polycount, but it seems like that's not what you want. So as long as things such as the skype meetings are just supplementary to the threads and main discussions, I have no problem with it
Ok. I´m not fan to be in those kind of discussion - mainly because Im not a native english speaker - but this one it´s an interesting topic. Please excuse the typing mistakes....
Originally I had planned to do something like this but I wasn't sure how the mods would be with us flooding the forum with our threads.
We have 25 people. We will split those 25 into groups of 5 for the week. Each week the people in each group will be rotated so you have new groups every week.
Main Info Page - Facebook Group.
This will only be used to post the groups for the week.
Polycount Thread - Not yet made
This will be a main discussion thread
Skype - Main Chat
This is where the main action will take place. Once you join the room stays open and Skype saves everything that is said even in your absence.
Skype - Group Chats
Each group of 5 will have their own chat channel for the week. This is where the crits and feedback will take place.
The only problem with this is it kind of removes it away from polycount and kind of limits the exposure your work gets. Though if its ok for us to have a few threads here we can use that instead of the group chats on skype.
I was thinking it would be an open study so whatever you feel like doing you can receive feedback on.
I would have no problem having it on Polycount but I need to know first if we would be allowed to have 5 threads in the P&P section. Plus the skype chats would be more interactive.
I was thinking it would be an open study so whatever you feel like doing you can receive feedback on.
I would have no problem having it on Polycount but I need to know first if we would be allowed to have 5 threads in the P&P section. Plus the skype chats would be more interactive.
the direct feedback is a nice idea, it adds something PC cant give.
Heh, this thread is like "open enrollment in polycount U class 3 or 4".
What you need:
A place to congregate, like a chat channel... (#model_design)
Some place to casually post what your working on... (WAYWO)
A place to post work for detailed critique... (P&P)
Some place to warehouse the collective knowledge shared (wiki)
A way to chat individually... (IM, Skype, Facebook ect.)
Yes..I think all the tools/forums/things/stuff/ is already available for this. The P&P section is enough + irc...
but I think forming small groups and working in a single thread will be great to encourage feedback. I generally brouse P&P and Waywo and drop occational feedback now and again. But If I was part of a "CritSquad™" I'd give more feedback and with the added bonus that going to be returned.
btw...I've started my project. I couldnt wait any longer. So hurry up with the groups and the threads. I'll be character modelling.
never!!!, we need to keep comming up with ideas until everyone gets bored and forgets about the whole thing!
hahaha. this is definitely what i dont want to happen. im just waiting on everyone to contact me so i have a count on how many people are in. If its not that many we can just use one thread. If it's over 20 it might be better to split it into two.
I agree with Mark. It's always better to not reinvent the wheel and keep the organization as simple as possible.
Also Idk about the rotating people out every week thing, imo it's good in theory but who knows how many are going to stay active. Then again you can always change later I suppose.
I might join eventually, kind of want to watch from the sidelines for a while at least until I'm off for summer break. Grimm Wrecking and I are going to do a little civil war in a few weeks to keep ourselves motivated too.
hahaha. this is definitely what i dont want to happen. im just waiting on everyone to contact me so i have a count on how many people are in. If its not that many we can just use one thread. If it's over 20 it might be better to split it into two.
I will give it until Saturday.
So skype details and a polycount PM to say your in?
Best to get this ball rolling, and see how it works.
It's always better to not reinvent the wheel and keep the organization as simple as possible.
Yeah, but you can improve the wheel.
Ideas like this pop up now and again. Sometimes these ideas eventually fizzle out and fail, but sometimes they work. This one seems to be one of the better ones and imo has a good chance of survival.
I don't know why people are so "oooh, i dont want to get involved with that! its never going to work".
If it doesn't work, so what...At least we gave it a try. Even if it does fail you can still carry on working on whatever it is your working on. Its a chance to get a bit more focused feedback on your work.
Everyone on this list should add on me skype (LeeroyRa) and you will be invited to our general class chat. (It saves the chat from when you are offline and updates you so you dont miss anything).
Join the facebook also as this is where the groups are posted for the week. I put the names into a random list generator to keep it fair.
Ideas like this pop up now and again. Sometimes these ideas eventually fizzle out and fail, but sometimes they work. This one seems to be one of the better ones and imo has a good chance of survival.
I don't know why people are so "oooh, i dont want to get involved with that! its never going to work".
If it doesn't work, so what...At least we gave it a try. Even if it does fail you can still carry on working on whatever it is your working on. Its a chance to get a bit more focused feedback on your work.
That's not exactly what I meant. I wasn't saying this is a bad idea, or that it's not going to work, I think it's a good idea. I wrote that after reading where people were talking about setting up a blog outside of polycount and whether or not they should make a thread for the entire study group like a mini waywo, or whatever. It was sounding like the organization was getting over complicated, but it looks better now. Skype is a good idea imo, and breaking down into smaller groups is too, I suppose. Of course you can improve the wheel, I wasn't trying to say this was a bad idea, I was just trying to go off of Mark's suggestion of sticking to what we already have on polycount and Skype.
Also, by saying that I'm going to sit back and wait a couple weeks to see what happens before I join, I didn't mean that other people should wait too, and I didn't mean that I think it's going to fall on its face. I just was sharing what I was going to do, I guess I shouldn't have said anything though.
Actually. I dont blame you from avoiding "the facebook". Clicking on status updates and messages is like Virus Roulette these days. Tbh. I dont even know why im on "the facebook" I dont do status updates and I rarely read what any of my long forgotten friend have to say....Unless it involves Cat pics.
uh, what about those of us who don't have facebook accounts, and have no intention of ever getting facebook accounts?
Honestly you're lucky it's hard to stay away when you have one. I finally decided to delete my account but I still have 2 weeks for it to be permanent.
I guess posting 2 times saying I'm interested (Along with being the 5th person to post in the thread) wasn't enough to be put on the list. Oh well, I've sort of lost interest now after seeing how it's all being run. I don't have a Facebook account so I won't be able to see any of the group updates and such and I was hoping for it to be a bit more real time than threads on the forum but maybe that's where Skype comes in.
Replies
lemme know if you need help.
What if we split the 25 people we have into groups of 5. Then rotate the people in the groups every week. That way it wouldn't be overwhelming to provide feedback for everyone and you'd get fresh ideas each week.
The skype meetings could be open to everyone to just discuss anything related. I can only reply to 5 people at a time so if I missed you by mistake just add me.
My Skype name is : LeeroyRa
Also I've made a facebook group (I'm assuming everyone has an account?) so we can have a main site to keep everything organized. I was thinking we could use it to post the groups for the week. Being able to mass message people will help get us started I think. So here's the group just request to join and once your accepted post your polycount name so we know who everyone is.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_151347051602104
The main thing I'm still trying to work out is where to post the actual work and critiques. I was thinking we could make 5 threads at the beginning of each week for the new groups to keep them uncluttered, but we might have to run it by the mods first. Looks like some of you guys might have a better solution for this though.
Agreed. That, and it would be a better way to meet our fellow polycounters. Like speed dating for artsy folk!
A facebook page is nice, but I'd still like actual conversation to take place via IRC/Skype/ventrilo/practically anything else besides facebook. A blog may difficult to do this sort of thing in as well...
I dont use facebook, bad for your health(/joke).
A thread on here would surely surfice for info?
I had a seizure on that poor baboon and bent a tooth back into my mouth
Maybe I am misunderstanding what people are proposing, but a seperate site away from Polycount where all of us would post our work just seems redundant since we all already do that here. We could all just make a gentlemen's agreement to comment on a member of this larger group's work if we see it in the P&P thread, rather than branching off from the site.
What I would like to see, and what would personally work best for me, is if we did the whole seperate by specialization thing, and then had a dedicated place (wherever that might be) to post our work and occasionally meet up for a skype meeting if schedules mesh. I invision this smaller group idea as being very freeform and casual, but with a high emphasis on getting legitimate feedback. This way it would be accommodating of people's different schedules, as well as a place to really get to know some people, more so than maybe if it were a larger group. I mean, just look at the Facebook Group. Already there are members from all over the globe. Someone's 9 o'clock at night could be smack-dab in the middle of someone else's workday.
Don't get me wrong, I am all about this idea of a study group. I've already applied for the FB group. I just see the most successful format being that of a smaller size.
And really there's no reason that people couldn't independantly organize their own smaller group in addition to the larger one. So I guess I could always pursue something like that on my own if we decide to go with the larger format.
ANYWAY, nice to see something like this popping up
Isn't that what Polycount is for?
It's like walking around the office and looking over people's shoulders.
It's a nice idea, don't get me wrong. But the whole thing seems reduntant. Why not create your own thread, like usual, and have people give you critique in the thread? That would eliminate having to cut it down into smaller groups, and the crits would be there for everyone to see, therefore, helping out more than just 5 people. It just seems like having exlusive mini-meetings on skype is just counter-productive, since you can do the exact same thing by creating a thread in pimping and previews, and it will reach a much larger audience.
You also don't have to worry about scheduling meetings then.
Or I can ignore this all and not provide input that has a chance of creating a more productive outcome.
There's nothing wrong with having mini meet ups as well, I just don't see the point in creating whole new sites for polycounters.
This is so much simpler than you're all making it out to be.
Count up how many members we have, divide by the ideal group size, and then count off people from the list and assign them to their first group. Those people exchange contact info in whichever medium they prefer. Group A all has skype and wants to use it? Fine. Group B is all using dropbox and just wants to chat using MSN or E-mail? Fine. Everyone has a Pimping and Preview thread? Awesome, just give a link and people will know where to go.
In this day in age, it's not hard to exchange art and ideas. Why not just leave it up to whatever people prefer? Let the group talk it out.
All the admin has to do then is randomize the groups every week and add/subtract people from the total. It's low maintenance for you. Seriously, with an idea like this, it's best get yourself out of the way and let the community do its thing. None of this micromanaging business...
Just my two cents.
Personally, I think the idea of using Polycount as the medium is best and probably the most rewarding. This is a community. We are a game art site. Let's combine the two... Just use the pimping and preview board and keep a thread going of the group rotation.
This is what I had in mind. The facebook page is just to have a main page with the info posted up that was easily accessible. The only thing I would use it for is to post the groups for that week.
We could use another thread for the rotations but we will probably have 5 going already and I don't want to clutter things too much.
I definitely don't want it to be an exclusive thing. The idea is to bring people together not keep them out.
The mini groups purpose is to basically ensure everyone gets equal feedback from at least four people. Of course everyone is welcome to comment, but it is just a guarantee it won't be buried into page 5 without a reply.
The skype meetings are just for fun to touch on anything that wasn't said in the forum.
That sounds great. I know there are a lot of threads that get buried, which leads to discouragement more often than not. And like I said, I don't see anything wrong with skype meetings, I'm sure most people here have smaller scale conversations on their work outside of polycount, I know I do.
My whole concern was that this would keep information that could help everyone away from polycount, but it seems like that's not what you want. So as long as things such as the skype meetings are just supplementary to the threads and main discussions, I have no problem with it
Ok, well no reason that has to be set in stone. and doesn't mean that new possibilities couldn't still be considered.
Still waiting to see how many people we have before thinking everything out.
Originally I had planned to do something like this but I wasn't sure how the mods would be with us flooding the forum with our threads.
We have 25 people. We will split those 25 into groups of 5 for the week. Each week the people in each group will be rotated so you have new groups every week.
Main Info Page - Facebook Group.
This will only be used to post the groups for the week.
Polycount Thread - Not yet made
This will be a main discussion thread
Skype - Main Chat
This is where the main action will take place. Once you join the room stays open and Skype saves everything that is said even in your absence.
Skype - Group Chats
Each group of 5 will have their own chat channel for the week. This is where the crits and feedback will take place.
The only problem with this is it kind of removes it away from polycount and kind of limits the exposure your work gets. Though if its ok for us to have a few threads here we can use that instead of the group chats on skype.
I would have no problem having it on Polycount but I need to know first if we would be allowed to have 5 threads in the P&P section. Plus the skype chats would be more interactive.
the direct feedback is a nice idea, it adds something PC cant give.
We are all here anyways.
Start a thread and lets get the ball rolling.
What you need:
A place to congregate, like a chat channel... (#model_design)
Some place to casually post what your working on... (WAYWO)
A place to post work for detailed critique... (P&P)
Some place to warehouse the collective knowledge shared (wiki)
A way to chat individually... (IM, Skype, Facebook ect.)
Well that's how past classes communicated. heh.
but I think forming small groups and working in a single thread will be great to encourage feedback. I generally brouse P&P and Waywo and drop occational feedback now and again. But If I was part of a "CritSquad™" I'd give more feedback and with the added bonus that going to be returned.
btw...I've started my project. I couldnt wait any longer. So hurry up with the groups and the threads. I'll be character modelling.
never!!!, we need to keep comming up with ideas until everyone gets bored and forgets about the whole thing!
hahaha. this is definitely what i dont want to happen. im just waiting on everyone to contact me so i have a count on how many people are in. If its not that many we can just use one thread. If it's over 20 it might be better to split it into two.
I will give it until Saturday.
Also Idk about the rotating people out every week thing, imo it's good in theory but who knows how many are going to stay active. Then again you can always change later I suppose.
I might join eventually, kind of want to watch from the sidelines for a while at least until I'm off for summer break. Grimm Wrecking and I are going to do a little civil war in a few weeks to keep ourselves motivated too.
So skype details and a polycount PM to say your in?
Best to get this ball rolling, and see how it works.
Yeah, but you can improve the wheel.
Ideas like this pop up now and again. Sometimes these ideas eventually fizzle out and fail, but sometimes they work. This one seems to be one of the better ones and imo has a good chance of survival.
I don't know why people are so "oooh, i dont want to get involved with that! its never going to work".
If it doesn't work, so what...At least we gave it a try. Even if it does fail you can still carry on working on whatever it is your working on. Its a chance to get a bit more focused feedback on your work.
This is the list of the people interested.
aajohnny
almighty_gir
BadgerBaiter
Bonebrew22
Calabi
ceebee
confracto
danshewan
daphz
Hboybowen
makecg
Mask_Salesman
MrOneTwo
Nizza_waaarg
seth.
Snoopy
SnakeDoctor
Sythen
sneakymcfox
Stinger88
Tokoya
TortillaChips
ZacD
disanski
Everyone on this list should add on me skype (LeeroyRa) and you will be invited to our general class chat. (It saves the chat from when you are offline and updates you so you dont miss anything).
Join the facebook also as this is where the groups are posted for the week. I put the names into a random list generator to keep it fair.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_151347051602104
The main action is going to take place here on polycount in the pimping and preview section. There will be four groups of 6.
The threads will be called "Polycount Study Group A/B/C/D".
Everyone is invited to brainstorm ideas and give advice, but it would be best if only those assigned to the group for that week post their work.
That's not exactly what I meant. I wasn't saying this is a bad idea, or that it's not going to work, I think it's a good idea. I wrote that after reading where people were talking about setting up a blog outside of polycount and whether or not they should make a thread for the entire study group like a mini waywo, or whatever. It was sounding like the organization was getting over complicated, but it looks better now. Skype is a good idea imo, and breaking down into smaller groups is too, I suppose. Of course you can improve the wheel, I wasn't trying to say this was a bad idea, I was just trying to go off of Mark's suggestion of sticking to what we already have on polycount and Skype.
Also, by saying that I'm going to sit back and wait a couple weeks to see what happens before I join, I didn't mean that other people should wait too, and I didn't mean that I think it's going to fall on its face. I just was sharing what I was going to do, I guess I shouldn't have said anything though.
Anyway, good luck guys, I hope all goes well!
You're in Group D...with me.
Honestly you're lucky it's hard to stay away when you have one. I finally decided to delete my account but I still have 2 weeks for it to be permanent.
Oh yes and consider me interested!