Planetside Software Forums

Perhaps we should have a "Surfacing Library" in the File Sharing section, where good solutions for rock, soil and other suface colouring and micro-displacements could be archived for easy access. What say you, Forum admins and other Terrageneers?

So far so good. 'And I am unanimous in this.'

me agree, i'm all for it. :)

Can't imagine anyone would vote 'no'

No.

Yes, but ...
Maybe I'm missing something here but the file shareing section already has a really rather large selection of surfaces, everything from wood planks and chrome effect metals to granite and sandstones. Several people have posted their own collections (dandelO springs to mind as does Volker).
The issue is who is going to manage it as its not just a matter of uploading a clip file, they jave to be catagorised in a meaningful and regular way.
Try looking at http://www.terragen.org/ (http://www.terragen.org/). It has a large repositary of scenes, models, surfaces and clips and its run by senior community members many of whom you'll know from here :)
Richard

The Cloud Library has a ton of cloud files and no organization. I imagine the Surface Library would work like that too.

I may add that there's the possibility for anyone to add clip files and tgds to store.nwdanet.com, the community store of New World Digital Art.
I think we're having a nice collection of material now, and growing. The store product categorization makes it relatively easy to search and can become more granular in the future easily if needed.

Regards,
Frank

i think this may be the best approach.
indeed i think it would be great to have a categorized store-like system to share files, not only for the surface.

i'm still planing to "release" some files on nwda "when its done"; but atm i don't have the time to make them usable.
the forum is great for help and to share ideas, but its hard to find the file you are searching for.

so my vote would be: categorized store-like file sharing within nwda and/or terragen.org.
i personally would prefer nwda, as i simply like the look-and-feel.

the only thing i would suggest is to separate store and sharing area as well as make downloads without registration possible.

I can kind of see your point Frank - but are you suggesting that someone upload all the current files to the Community Store? Who would do this? Or maybe we should have another vote on the most outstanding clips to upload?? Or would we just start from now?

Also, I can see a slight dilemma arising, since you are running a commercial site, so from one angle it wouldn't be fair to expect you to dilute the content with lots of free stuff. Here's one possible solution - a one-off low payment for access to all the previously free stuff, with its own section and sub-sections - what people would be paying for would be the convenience of it all being nicely categorised and in one place. I'm just thinking aloud here - not trying to generate controversy - so if anyone thinks differently, please say.

I've thought about this a lot, and I what may work best would be some sort of wiki. Updateable by all. One clip/TGD would have at least the following properties: name, version, description, preview images (1 or a collection), category assignment (within a category tree to be established), parent (if the item is built upon another library item), creator, and a collection of tags. It would be glad if users could add comments and perhaps a rating (for sorting purposes).

Some people would rather not bother with documenting their work, but I am sure others would be willing to jump in and help out. I also think separation of free and commercial work is important, though there should be room to promote people's work (for example by offering two versions of a clip and including a link to the one that's not free to download).

Some organization seems more than welcome.

I don't have any strong view on the entire matter. The community store is by its definition a place that just gives people the freedom to either share their work for free or for a fee.
My hope is that it won't be cluttered with half-done stuff, and to this date I can say we really only have the good stuff. Maybe that is so because of the NWDA brand, that people wish to put up the stuff they are really proud of.

I like that to be so, and I think the Community Store is going to be a very useful TG2 resource going forward, but I wish more people would be making use of it.

The forums and the file sharing area (to me) is better for sharing "work in progress" things, as they occur, and the sticky post help sort them a bit. I think that's fine, too.

Regards,
Frank

We do already have a wiki: http://www.planetside.co.uk/wiki/ I'm not certain but it may be usable for this purpose with file attachment capability. The normal TGD, TGC, ZIP, and RAR file types should be currently uploadable. Login and password should be the same as your forum credentials.

Feel free to create a new entry for file libraries on the front page of the Wiki and start putting stuff up! If you want to move other people's existing contributions you should contact them first for permission, of course.

- Oshyan

Anything I have shared can be used in the Wiki sharing area. Assuming that you think it has enough polish. Most of what I have shared so far is experimental stuff, for me anyway. (Pretty basic, but it may help new users)