What about a texture exchange server?

[Nadnerb]

I don't know about "most of us", but I'm very familiar with the computational/logical definition of AND and OR, but I always find it very annoying when I'm suddenly forced to use them in a search, such as in the search function provided by this forum. Why? Because of what I'm used to seeing in a search.

How many of you have used Google? The method I described above is the (massively simplified) equivalent of how Google interprets search strings. If you want to get all complicated and say "but I might want to exclude multiple matches", ie XOR. Well, you can just flip to the last page of the search results, where only the single matches would be listed if they were ranked. There's also a simple syntax for excluding words from results. "-word"

I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly find that way comes more naturally, whether or not it's actually easier.

[Chacal]

- Stay with the standard search engine definition of OR and AND. Don't break the de-facto standard. Also, people who can't manage this probably can't manage the concept of an advanced search anyway.

- Instead of having people type search phrases, use a friendly interface. 3 text input fields, words inside each field are ANDed, fields are ORed.
Ex:
black cat
brown dog

Results in (black and cat) or (brown and dog).

[tachzusamm]

Okay, an update again.

First let me say thank you for your opinions. It helped a lot, because, when you stare onto your computer screen for a long while, the thoughts tend to lose independency. Hehe.

Nadnerb, I liked your idea, although I did not find time to implement such a rating - and I guess it takes some while spend with experiments to find good working balanced weights. Maybe later, if the current solution does not satisfy the needs.
I followed BenB's advice to make it not to overcomplicated - and it worked, I got it running.
Finally I did it compareable to what Chacal recommended; but with only one text field. You would just separate two (or more) 'or'-terms with a comma. As for design and required space, I did not like the idea of two (or three, four, ...) text fields - separated with commas it's more flexible without the need of more and more textboxes.

Now the updates:

• Search functionality implemented (but to get good results, it is required that the keywords for each item are well assigned - job of the author or editors)
• Category names and "selectable" tags (Alphamap, Front, Stereo, ..) are added to the keywords lists automatically when a new item is uploaded
• Categories now have a number beneath which indicates the total amounts of items inside (including sub-categories)
• Sound support massively expanded; sound file parameters (bitrate, stereo, samplingrate, ...) are now detected automatically
• Each sound file can be played "online" in your browser (flash required), in category view and single item display (this requires that the thumbnail has been clicked once; then a playable version will be generated because not every sound file will be able to stream/play without conversion)
• For each sound file, a thumbnail will be automatically generated after the upload has finished - it's some sort of waveform diagram
• some internal or subliminal improvements; I forgot which they were

So, friends, please test the server, for instance upload some small or large sound files if you have some to see the effect - unfortunatelly I currently don't have good examples which I could upload without breaking laws.
I'm a bit surprised that the server does not seem to be really used since it was put online. I still see only my own photos, plus those 6 graphics from Whilyam. May I ask for the reason? Are you all waiting for the "final" version (you know, a project is never finished because always new ideas arise) - or is it too "inofficial"? I don't assume you have lost interest, because the thread is still active. So, what? Help in testing, upload a bunch of files to see if this thingy still works stable when under load.
Maybe I should mention that this *is* the production machine, although not complete, but I don't assume we have to remove uploaded files because of changes to be made - missing abilities can be added, no need for a complete restart. Except I can't pay the rent any longer

Oh, I forgot to mention: Surely I'm going to release the source codes, or at least deliver insight to those interested in helping. Just in case you were a bit sceptical because I just started and noone knows what's inside. But it was a bit too early for that, because I changed too much during development which would have ended in confusion.

Thanks for your attention.

[Chacal]

I think everyone was under the impression that this was just a test server.
Expect a flood in 3, 2, 1...

[tachzusamm]

Again an update.

To give you a better "feeling" while working with the server, I added some goodies.

• It's now possible to add comments to an item, like in a forum. This should serve as a tool to express your likes or dislikes regarding an item, or just to say thanks to the author.
• Additionally you can "rate" items - maybe this will incite authors to supply useful material.
• And finally, you get a "PIM" - a Personal Information Management center to manage private information about the files you downloaded. So, you can mark items as downloaded by yourself to help you remember whom to credit when your age has been completed, or you can just set bookmarks to items (well, I don't have to tell you what bookmarks are for), and add private remarks if you want to keep something in mind about an item.

I should mention that most of the server functions can only be seen or used if you are logged in.

Cheers, tach

[teedyo]

Not simply a bump...

Waayyy back in May, Nynaveve over at the maintainers offered to host a texture gallery. I'm checking to see if it is still an open offer. If so; that would solve the issue of finding a more permanent location for tach's site. It seems like a win-win situation if both parties are amenable to the idea.

Now some comments.

The license page currently reads:

There are two license models available to be chosen by the author when uploading his artwork.

I would amend that to read something like: "There are two license models available to be chosen by the author when uploading his artwork. If any persons or entities wish to use these works in a way not allowed by these licenses; they are encouraged to contact the author directly through PM on this site in order to obtain a specific grant of license."

I would also suggest a location/page for links pointing to other free/public domain texture sites. This would be in lieu of people submitting works from other sites.

Just some thoughts anyway.

[BAD]

I think I can say this safely without hurting anyones feelings or what not. We have a plan to create a larger server for all of the GOW's needs. The idea was put on the backburner as we were waiting for things like this to playout (not seeming like we were biting on this project) and we were restructuring the GOW administration.

Then everyone got real busy with RL and other things. Hopefully once we completely settle the restructure (we still need more representatives and one more councilor), we'll focus on building the websites againa and get the server idea on it's way again.

The server would be for images of any kind and also for text and other files. All of the details haven't been worked out but we hope to get this going when we can.

[teedyo]

mmmkay. Guess I'll get back to lurking in the shadows.....

[Carterhawk]

With the latest news from Cyan, the license they use for the game source should be an option as well, at least assuming they choose to use a real FOSS license and not make up a highly restrictive one. Assuming they go the route of GPL or some such, it might be nice to include that license as an option. I'd like to see also the ability to use CC licenses as all my photos are CC BY-NC-SA licensed, and I'd rather not make them any freeer than that in the event some entity decides they want to buy them.

Also, took a look at the texture server, I like how far it has come, great work ^_^

[Chacal]

Yes, it's great and sufficient for our needs.
I was supposed to add a lot of textures but it is time consuming.