Oblivion snapshot contest discussion and signup thread.

[Sever]

Okay fellas and fellerettes, just need a little of your input on a few details before we can start the happysnaps.

As you well know, pretty much all of Cyrodiil is snapshot material, but for the sake of the contest, i think pics should be divided into four very general categories: Landmarks, Nature, Action and Vanity. Landmarks being any building(s) or structure(s), in or out of town. Nature being any natural setting and Action being a pic of any magical or mundane combat scenario. Vanity, of course, is the category for your bestest 3rd person mugshots. Each person taking part in the contest will be allowed to post one pic in each category. Each category will be voted on and awarded seperately. I'm also thinking that there should be a few random awards across all categories such as "most humourous pic" etc. (ideas welcomed here..)

I was originally opting for a "judging" system as a measure for the snapshot contest. After some thought, i think that a voting sytem might be the better option. (This had nothing to do with the fact that no Joe Bloggs wants to be a smeggin' judge. ) All IWers (irrespective of whether or not they've played Oblivion) will be eligible to vote.

Picture format will be bitmap files. No external software editting. 1024x768 game resolution. I'm still typing up some general guides (ranging from pic taking to pic posting) to ensure that even the n00bi35t of n00b5 has a fair shot.

I am keen to hear your opinions and suggestions on everything i've stated so far, but two issues in particular need some input. Firstly, mod content. I'm of the opinion that any mod that changes visual aspects of the game should be disabled for this contest. But since there's such a vast range of mods available for Oblivion, i'm aware that there will be legitimate exceptions to this. If you are running a visual-type mod that you feel should be exempt from this restriction, please detail it in this thread. Contestants posting mod changed images without detailing it in this thread first will be shaved, sterilised and destroyed.

Secondly, image hosting. Obviously, to take part in this contest, web hosting of some description is essential. The site i have used for donkey's years no longer provides free web hosting and i'm somewhat out of the loop in this area. Subsequently, i can't recommend an easy to use site for contestants who have no uploading experience. IF ANYONE KNOWS OF A SITE THAT IS FREE AND EASY, PLEASE POST A LINK. (lest i be forced to trudge through the septic wasteland that is "trial and error" and find one. [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

In order to get a few more numbers for the contest, i'll post a link to this thread in GD. Once the ground rules have been decided upon, i'll start a new thread for the contest proper. Thanks peoples! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Ivelliis]

imageshack.us?

photobucket.com? <-- have to sign up to this one, but it's free.

[Sever]

Thanks Ivellis. [img]smile.gif[/img] It's beddy byes for moi, but i'll check them out tomorrow.

[Iron Greasel]

Actually, I think you might have some problems with imageshack. They only take images smaller than 1.5 megabytes. As far as I know, 1024x768 bitmap images are larger than that.

This, of course, would not be a problem should you allow some other image format. PNG is very good in my experience.

[Ilander]

Yep, I'm in on this one, too.

PNG is probably the best format for this competition...it's a lossless compression algorithm, and decreases the file size, so that people trapped on dial up (me til the end of the month ) can view and vote on the pictures.

How to keep track of votes? Perhaps we should have one official in charge of that, and vote via PM?

[Hivetyrant]

Imageshack will take most pictures, I have taken screenshots at 1920x1200 and uploaded them to imageshack before

I'm definately in on this comp [img]smile.gif[/img] But I think you should have a fifth category: Humorous [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Sever]

Originally posted by Hivetyrant: Imageshack will take most pictures, I have taken screenshots at 1920x1200 and uploaded them to imageshack before I'm definately in on this comp [img]smile.gif[/img] But I think you should have a fifth category: Humorous [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Sever: I'm also thinking that there should be a few random awards across all categories such as "most humourous pic" etc.

You can't have a photo contest without a funny photos category, but instead of a stand-alone humour category, peeps can just vote for whatever photo they thought was the funniest across all four categories. This saves on the amount of pics that'll be posted.

[johnny]

Personally i think this one was nice enough to capture.



Taken from the terrace of my heroes hideout, a plugin that makes you the owner of a castle high up in the mountains north of the imperial city.

[Hivetyrant]

Needs to be bigger

[Sever]

Originally posted by Ilander: Yep, I'm in on this one, too. PNG is probably the best format for this competition...it's a lossless compression algorithm, and decreases the file size, so that people trapped on dial up (me til the end of the month ) can view and vote on the pictures. How to keep track of votes? Perhaps we should have one official in charge of that, and vote via PM?

PNG it is. For the sake of the n00b tutorial, is there a better way of converting to PNG than opening with MS Paint and saving as PNG?

As for the votes, i was thinking much the same thing. Is there a moderator willing to volunteer?..