What about a texture exchange server?

[Chacal]

Will the system impose limits on the size of textures?
I'm asking this because I have a lot of 3072 x 2304 close-up pictures that could be cut down (as opposed to scaled down) to any number of smaller (such as 512 x 512) textures. But I would like to let people do their own cutting down according to their own needs. So the system would have to accept larger pictures for this to work.

[di gama]

Looking at the work di gama already did, gives me hope that we will be able to implement the whole thing. Good job, man.
I understand there must be much logic and programming behind, especially for the full functionality. Looking at the currently used output "style", gave me the impression we should split design and programming, so I did some research and think we should use template techniques to accomplish this.
So, I already did some web design to get a nice user frontend, and currently I'm working out a first compilation of such a PHP/design combination, using the smarty engine. I will show some examples of the web design soon (next few hours or days, I hope).

Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly known for my art skills. I have been giving the functionality higher priority than the beautification of the site. I do take direction well, though--if anyone has any ideas, they can give me the gist and I can make it work.

Also, I'm scrapping the texture categories from CGTextures. I don't think that they fit our purposes well enough, so I think we should start from scratch, adding categories to describe the files as they come in. (On that note, can someone actually give me a file to work on? It's diffcult to work without a test base--it's like painting with a blindfold on. You can't be sure if it's working unless you take the blindfold off.

I am not aware about security holes regarding this solution, but I would really prefer to use the TextURU-server use it's own database. I understand that managing user accounts would be a big challenge (although PHP already offers some techniques like the PHPSESSID thingy), but I trust in your "eating php for breakfast" skills here.

If that's the way you think we should go, then I have no problem with it. I don't believe there are any technical hurdles for this alternative; the linked-database idea was just a design concept (which I didn't think was going to happen anyway). I'm sure I can whip something up.

Most of them (especially just "photographers" without any other intentions regarding age writing) are from Germany, Austria or Switzerland and don't understand english very well so for some it's a bit hard to participate in the whole GoW part here. My first intention was to provide a multi-language interface on the server, in some parts, like user-login and categories naming.

Although I haven't actually done anything toward this end, I have been planning some multi-lingual support for the site, although I have to admit that I have essentially no knowledge in the other languages into which it may be translated, so I'll need some help from translators over here or over at H'uru.

Most of the people I know have dynamic IPs, maybe this is different in the USA?
I'm not sure if an approval process is favored or necessary, but I still believe users should have to login before they can do any upload - and besides of that, we do need a mechanism to identify admins. Simply using FTP would work for files, but not for contents in the database; imagine how confusing it would be to *move* misplaced files together with descriptive content if your only interface is phpMyAdmin?

Obviously, the final version of the site would require no direct database access, except in rare cases. There will be PHP forms which should deal with these issues well enough. As for dynamic IP's, yes, they use them here a lot in the States, but from my experience, they only change 2 or 3 times a year (I like to run servers at home and use the IP directly, so it's very obvious when they change). This, I think, should be a ban of sufficient length (I assumed these weren't permanent bans anyway).

When the project starts first, I could play the role of an admin, but I would appreciate if other can do this job as well - and maybe we will need moderators.

Again, I assume these positions will be filled once the site is up and running, although I keep getting the feeling that I am making decisions on the part of the GoW without much input from the masses. I hope all this activity is more than just the two of us.

Will the system impose limits on the size of textures?
I'm asking this because I have a lot of 3072 x 2304 close-up pictures that could be cut down (as opposed to scaled down) to any number of smaller (such as 512 x 512) textures. But I would like to let people do their own cutting down according to their own needs. So the system would have to accept larger pictures for this to work.

I haven't been planning to impose limits on image dimensions and file size, although I would ask that people keep our 40GB limit in mind. Keep watching the site I posted: There are changes both to the PHP and the SQL coming, and that is the only source which is always up-to-date.

[tachzusamm]

I'm asking this because I have a lot of 3072 x 2304 close-up pictures that could be cut down (as opposed to scaled down) to any number of smaller (such as 512 x 512) textures.

I would say, no limits - but pictures of high resolution will only make sense if each pixel is indeed a sharp and crisp pixel. That mostly depends on the lens of the camera. So, if you can zoom in to 100% without loss in sharpness, high-res will be great. If, for example, the image looks sharper when viewed at 70% or 50%, a downscaled image would be the best solution.
Cutting down would make sense if the borders are obviously useless for a texture.

BUT everybody doing such image operations should understand how jpeg compression ratio used when re-saving the image could affect the quality.
(now we have a first theme to be dealed with in the tutorials section, hehe)

Oh, and I hope nobody is going to upload megapixel images in BMP or TIFF format.



EDIT:

Although I haven't actually done anything toward this end, I have been planning some multi-lingual support for the site, although I have to admit that I have essentially no knowledge in the other languages into which it may be translated, so I'll need some help from translators over here or over at H'uru.

Hm, no, this could be in the database, so german or french users could help in appending additional names in their native languages for categories.
Example: We have a category "Animals", or a category "Windows". So, if a german guy is logged in (maybe limited to moderators), he could just add a category name in his preferred language, that is "Tiere" or "Fenster". This would require a slightly different database structure, of course.

By the way, I have some ideas about adaptions to the database, but not complete ready to publish. Maybe in some days. So I hope you're not running too fast with your PHP development, additionally because if we want to use the templates mechanism, the PHP code will be completely different. No direct writes of HTML output any longer, for example.

I've already worked in integrating the templates with PHP, and it looks good. The following two examples (screenshots of a browser) were done from this work, to give you a first impression:

TextURU_Server_Webdesign_Preview Show Spoiler




but I'm asking myself if we would really need this javascript folder-browse frame on the left additionaly; it seems a bit duplicate functionality.
Opinions?

[Ruby O'Degee]

okie dokie dokie

Disclaimer: I always feel so out of my storyteller/carney barker/circus performer element when I am posting here. I think I've posted twice or something like that. Anyway, I was recently presented with a high resolution camera. I live in an East Coast area where there are some fairly old structures and lots of nature. If this texture repository/exchange does come about, I would love to contribute when I can. In the posts prior, some posters were getting to the subject of what resolution/compression and size is required for these shots. I would like to hear more about the exact "what you need" so that I can set my camera and photo shop fixes up.

I am not not sure whether I would normally add any customized textures to the exchange. Don't you think most age writers will want to do their own customization for windows and doors? I came here because I saw Jkla's post on the MOUL forum about your effort, and I am happy to see he is thinking along the lines of a "common look," but I don't know if I'd want to see hundreds of the same cg texture door show up without some personal imprint of the age writer/artist.

Through my dreamer's lens I'd like to see persons like yourselves from all time zones show up with textures. I've been looking for certain plaid textures, and cannon blasted castle walls for awhile. I finally went to my fabric store and took some photos of nearly what I had in mind, but it will be great if an explorer from the Cape Breton area adds a photo. I also live near a fort (closest thing to a castle - it does have a moat) and took my own photos. It is crumbling, but there are no cannon holes in it. You Europeans are sure to have many more resources than I can get to.

Even if the compression causes the loss of a few pixels, the texture might be cleaned up in Photoshop. The real advantage for me is that I would know I could freely use the resource without fear of treading in stock photo licensing waters. Unless of course, there are going to be all sorts of licensing requirements imposed herein.

I will watch this thread to see how things are going. But this looks like a "in the right direction sort of thing to me."

Ruby

PS, Oh and to Chacal: I appreciate a big raw high resolution picture that can be scaled or cut up into pieces in case there is any distortion in one part of the photo or the other. I rarely bother trying to fix up a 512 X 512. It would have to be a pretty special wall (with pedigree and circa notes) for me to mess with anything smaller. Then again, it does require some storage space to house all those big photos - and some patience to up and download as well

PSS, If you need plain ole storage/public ftp space I happen to know a place where you can get some. No administration efforts; however. Everyone is entirely too busy for that.

[Paradox]

Regarding the "H'uru" guys, there are actually two groups known as H'uru. One is the group of hackers that wrote most of the original tools and that has since dwindled down to a few individuals, mostly maintaining existing tools such as PyPRP. That group has moved almost entirely to GoW, since that's where all of the hacking activity is found.

The second H'uru group is the German Age building group, many of whom have accounts here on GoW. I know that some parts of the wiki have been translated into French by a few members, but I think that using the forum database for a texture server shouldn't provide any issues. Ideally there should be a single user database for all GoW-related sites such as the forum, the wiki, and any other resources.

[Lontahv]

For this texture-server GUI, is there a way perhaps that it can kind of match the GoW?

Just a little request before it reaches the point where it can't be changed.

[Nanouk-GoW]

Shorah,

I have read about your project and many gamers are interrested by your idea.

Do not forget to tell us, at the Guild of Messengers, when the textures will be available for download. It will be our pleasure to pass this great news around to the maximum of gamers available through our news network.

Cheers, Nanouk.

[BenB]

Do not forget to tell us, at the Guild of Messengers, when the textures will be available for download. It will be our pleasure to pass this great news around to the maximum of gamers available through our news network.

I'm not sure whether it will be true for the servers eventually set up for this purpose, but for many servers (especially those hosting big chunks of data) traffic levels are a real issue.
If the resources created by this group are publicized to the world at large, increased usage could increase bandwidth requirements and be detrimental to our cause.
Could those more knowledgeable about server maintenance please advise whether traffic and bandwidth are real concerns?

Another question would be whether those creating and supplying texture and other resources would prefer to keep these resources within the URU community as much as is practicable?
In other words, would you mind seeing your textures, models, etc. freely used in any given application?
Because if they're known to and available to the world at large, they'll pop up in places you never expected....
So we may want to discuss whether it would be advantageous to keep access limited to registered forum users???

[diafero]

As for dynamic IP's, yes, they use them here a lot in the States, but from my experience, they only change 2 or 3 times a year (I like to run servers at home and use the IP directly, so it's very obvious when they change). This, I think, should be a ban of sufficient length (I assumed these weren't permanent bans anyway).

At least in Germany (and AFAIK in other European countries as well) you get a new IP each time your internet connection is re-established, and even if you try to keep the connection 24h a day to keep your IP it'll change as there's a forced log-out somewhen in the morning (2 to 4 o'clock). Banning via IP is mostly useless here for this reason.

Regarding traffic, perhaps one could implement something like a traffic-counter and restrict access to large images or anonymous access when there's too much traffic? Most servers have at least 1TByte/month, but for large images this could be too less.

[Tsar Hoikas]

I like to call my ISP a fairly typical American ISP. You could probably even call it a good ISP (compared to the rest in the US).

The IP changes every time I connect (My IP can be in about 3 different A Blocks, actually), and there's a forced disconnect after so much inactivity... Auto Disconnect is against the "new contract," but they never call me out for auto-reconnecting. Most ISPs are something like this though some don't have the disconnect. I do know someone who kept his IP constant for a year despite having dynamic IP server.

YMMV