Submitting kitbash galleries for the site.

The site is undergoing a revamp, though most of it is behind the scenes. One thing that will make a visible difference will be the increasing ease of adding content to the creative/fandom section of the site.

The first thing on the list is to build a kitbash library. We've got the page format worked out and it looks like this. Pretty nifty, no?

I'm going to start including kitbash galleries with my toy review updates, so if you want your stuff to have a permanent home and a larger audience, it'll actually happen now.

Things I need are:

1) Possibly some sort of written description (it can be one sentence or ten paragraphs). Information is awesome. At the minimum, just say what it is, but more detail is cooler: if you want to explain what you used to make your kitbash, the thought process behind it, how long it took, etc. in great detail, spiffy. But I'm not going to require that.

2) Clear pictures of all modes. Your customs are unique, so people can't go to a store and look at them like they can stock figures. Get the best pictures you can!

3) ... that's pretty much it.

As for getting the pictures to me, I can get them from your photobucket account, forum attachments, or you can email them to me.

That's the basic plan so far. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask

On the subject of image quality and number of images:

Originally sent by [nameless]
And for the record, you have made no official guidelines of what is acceptible in a gallery. You have no posted guidelines saying how many or few pictures are acceptible, nor what type of images. And then, when someone complains that you basically cut their submission to shreds and wants the rest put back in, instead of following their wishes, you come up with these "reasons" why you can't. You can, you just don't want to because you personally don't like those kinds of pictures. The purpose of these galleries, is to inform and display the creative and technical skill of the creators of these pieces for everyone to see. Therefore, your individual personal biases should not come into play in determining what goes up. The only thing that should determine what goes up is how informative that image or collection of images is, and its quality. Is it big enough to show the detail? is it sharp and clear enough. Are there enough images from every angle to show everything? Those are the criteria need to be followed. That is all that matters. Not how dynamic a picture is, because that is purely subjective.

There are no specific rules: Clay has discretion with toy reviews and toy custom galleries, just as Torsten has a free hand with news. I imagine he puts together galleries on the basis of what he'd like to see himself, which is how most fan sites work. Being a kitbasher and active in wider kitbashing communities, his judgement seems sound.

Some places (eg, Seibertron) make a virtue of having large numbers of images taken at slightly different angles and make it work with well-lit, crisp and close-cropped photography.

I'm told by friends who do photography professionally that setups similar to this help with image quality, and can be put together without studio equipment:

http://www.photosig.com/go/journals/...journalentries

(Does require a camera with manual white balance and a macro mode.)

By only showing what he himself likes though, that denies what others may like and what the artists themselves want to show. It is placing personal biases ahead of other people. It is unfair to the artist in question and to the public. Personal tastes must not be a factor. The only factors should be quality of the images and if they show all the details from multiple angles, preferrably all angles. That means technical shots as well as dynamic shots, not just dynamic action poses.

Transtopia is the only strictly kitbashing site I know of. I have checked out a few other sites, as well, including TFans, and none of them determine what goes up based upon the individual admin's personal tastes. Transtopia simply asks for images to be of a good quality, and large enough—and with enough space—for their watermark, and consisting of 10-40 images. They never excluded an image because of personal bias against that type of image. TFans, is set up to allow the individual to post whatever they like up without any admin involvement whatsoever. Seibertron is planning on implimenting the same system, once it and Transtopia are fully merged, so that members can post up their own galleries.

Originally posted by Tramp
By only showing what he himself likes though, that denies what others may like and what the artists themselves want to show.

Well, it's Clay's job as editor to decide what the public want to see. If he's wrong and we get huge feedback from people (not any hyperthetical photographers who may be biased though) then the situation changes, but in several years of peoples kitbashes being hosted here there doesn't seem to be any desire for hugely extensive and repetetive galleries.

Having more photo's than needed to use as a base to work from is extrmemly helpful, but Clay's decision on what ultimately goes in in his and his alone- And including more than necessary wouldn't be fair on the payer of the bandwidth.

Originally posted by inflatable dalek
Clay's decision on what ultimately goes in in his and his alone

To an extent, but for the most part it's a group effort.

He's got final call. Well, not quite -- we're all guests on B's server, Clay's sort of my "hire" and Matt's more senior than either of us, but the general gist is that whilst there's a level above for members and staff to talk to in most cases, there wouldn't be any point in having people do stuff if we didn't trust their judgement.

He's got final-ish call and the support of the other people who run the site, if that's clearer.

Originally posted by inflatable dalek
Well, it's Clay's job as editor to decide what the public want to see. If he's wrong and we get huge feedback from people (not any hyperthetical photographers who may be biased though) then the situation changes, but in several years of peoples kitbashes being hosted here there doesn't seem to be any desire for hugely extensive and repetetive galleries.

Having more photo's than needed to use as a base to work from is extrmemly helpful, but Clay's decision on what ultimately goes in in his and his alone- And including more than necessary wouldn't be fair on the payer of the bandwidth.

The problem is that he has cut images from galleries well within his "range", not just the big submissions. I submitted a 13 picture submission, and a 16 picture submission. In both cases, all of the technical pictures were cut, making a seven picture gallery and a nine picture gallery respectively, simply because the images in question were not "Dynamic action poses". They were technical pictures; Orthographics, which are the heart of all my galleries. None of my gallery submissions, not even the big ones, had repetitive pictures. They had a balanced mix of technical and dynamic pictures from all angles. Front, back, left side, right side, top, bottom and 3/4 views. I can understand making a zip file for a 60+ picture gallery, and trimming it down. I can't see cutting down a 13-25 picture gallery. If a gallery has to be trimmed because it is large, cut out some of the flash. Don't cut the meat. Don't cut the heart out of it.

There is nothing in the guidelines which says the images "have to be" all dynamic action poses. Dynamic action poses are flavor. They're icing; the spice. The technical pictures are the meat and potatoes. The technical pictures are the heart and soul. They're the cake. The important pictures, the ones which should dominate, are the technical and detail pictures. One to three action poses is plenty. The rest should be technical, particularly 360° orthographics.

Basically, set a reasonable range for a submission size and post it in the guidelines for everyone to read so that they stay within that range. A range of 10-20 or 10-30 pictures is not unresonable. And if a submission falls within that range, there should be no need to cut out any pictures unless the actual quality of a particular image is poor. If someone submits a 50 picture gallery, then yes, trim it, but ask the artist which pictures they would rather have posted if such a trim is necessary.

However, if a standard range were posted in the guidelines, then more than likely, you wouldn't get large submissions which need trimming. Most of my galleries, range within a 10-30 picture range; predominantly, from 10-20. Only a few are really large. Of all of the customs I have made and taken gallery pics of, only four exceed 30 pictures, and those did have to.

If a decent range were posted publically in the guidelines, then more than likely, people would stick within that range.

Originally posted by Tramp


If a decent range were posted publically in the guidelines, then more than likely, people would stick within that range.

So far, you're the only one we've had any problem with. You've been offered compromises [such as the zip file option, the Photobucket option] and you haven't so much as considered them, you still keep insisting that we change our guidelines or post your submissions in their entirety. I'd prefer to get this matter settled before we mess with the guidelines, personally, but we'll see what other people have to say.

Remember that the guidelines are exactly that- guidelines. Not rules. We reserve the right to decide what goes up and what doesn't, and also how it goes up. Also, it's highly likely that you're not going to like any decision we make regarding the guidelines because they're going to sound a lot like the things we've been trying to tell you.

For matter of public record (so people don't think I just randomly nix pictures from their submissions on whim), here's the unedited submission for Wheeljack: linky
And here's the uploaded gallery: linky

As you can tell, the unedited submission has many more superfluous pictures. For the site gallery, the front, back, and side of the car is perfectly-well represented, as is the robot. I picked the best pictures that show details from those angles, and omitted the rest. All of Tramp's galleries submitted thus far have had these kinds of 'duplicate information' pictures. I also omitted the 'transformation pictures since it's a small mod of a stock figure: anyone can buy Energon Downshift and know how the figure works. For scratch-built stuff, I'm happy to link to a zip file on the gallery page for the curious, but not for small modifications like this.

Basically, if you send me six pictures at slightly different angles of the front of a car, I'm very likely to only include the one or two that are best of the lot. Why that's worth pitching a fit over, I don't know.

Capture details with action shots. That way you can ensure that the pictures are representative while being interesting to look at and distinct from one another. It'll make for better galleries.

The uploaded gallery does not show the orthographics, and those are the important ones. Those are the ones that absolutely have to be there.

Every gallery I submit contains 9 to 10 orthographoic shots (4 in robot mode, 5 to 6 vehicle mode) then some action shots, and some close-up detail shots of things like the cockpit interior or license plates that can't really be seen from a full-body shot. Finally a bio card. That is a balanced gallery.

Originally posted by Tramp
The uploaded gallery does not show the orthographics, and those are the important ones. Those are the ones that absolutely have to be there.

As I've said to you before, we've given you options that would include the orthographic shots. We will not host the entirety of your submissions on the website however. In my view if it was truly important to you to have those shots up, you would have considered the options we've given you. If that's not to your liking feel free to take your submissions elsewhere.

That is a balanced gallery.

In your view. We obviously think differently and our adjustments to your submission have reflected that.

If you are willing to pick which shots you would have included in the gallery within a limit, then maybe we can continue to talk. However you need to cooperate with us reasonably. Please note that making demands of us is not considered cooperating and will be ignored.

I have considered options. The problem is that even with the small galleries I have submitted within that range of pictures, all of the orthograpghics got cut.

If pictures have to be cut to keep a gallery within a certain number range, then cut some of the action poses. The orthographics have to be there. I can do without some of the transformation pics. The orthographics and close-ups are absolutely necessary. Those are the ones, specifically, I want included.

Originally posted by Tramp
I have considered options. The problem is that even with the small galleries I have submitted within that range of pictures, all of the orthograpghics got cut.

It's been explained to you why they got cut. Everything has been explained to you more than throughly over the past couple of days. We have no set number of pictures you can submit, most people know what a reasonable limit is and if the photographs submitted are deemed too alike, we reserve the right to cut down submissions to avoid having too many similar shots on the website.

I for one am getting very tired of having to argue with you over this. As I've said, you have options. And exceedingly fair ones, at that. That's all you're going to get from us. Consider what we've offered and then either get back to us or take your submissions elsewhere before we decide that you're more hassle than should be neccesary.

I can do without some of the transformation pics. The orthographics and close-ups are absolutely necessary. Those are the ones, specifically, I want included.

I would contact Clay in this matter. I do want to mention however that they might be deemed too alike to be submitted on the site- without Clay's input at this point, I have no idea of knowing what he will decide.

I would suggest that you pick about 10 photographs you want considered and submit those. Since Clay has final word, he might want more or he might want less, and he might want to include a few of the "action shots". Whatever he decides is what goes.

if i want my kitbashes in a kitbash library do i send them directly to clay or are they taken from the forums?

Originally Posted by electro girl

if i want my kitbashes in a kitbash library do i send them directly to clay or are they taken from the forums?

I can get them from wherever you have them. If you've just posted them as attachments in here, I can use those. If you've got a photobucket account or somesuch, direct to me it.

ty i just wanted to be clear as im gonna post some more lego kitbashes as i just finished a big one today its kinda like cybertron jetfire and animated lugnut

So how do i get my bashes in a library?