Introduction to Maya - Rendering in Arnold
This course will look at the fundamentals of rendering in Arnold. We'll go through the different light types available, cameras, shaders, Arnold's render settings and finally how to split an image into render passes (AOV's), before we then reassemble it i
# 1 26-01-2006 , 10:45 PM
mtmckinley's Avatar
The Maya Mountain
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 8,245

Website redesign


# 2 26-01-2006 , 11:21 PM
darijo203's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Croatia
Posts: 257
much more better then before!


ICQ:215-024-460
# 3 27-01-2006 , 09:50 AM
j5ive's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Sunny Ol' Wigan, UK
Posts: 752
Yeah I definately agree, it looks a whole lot better, good job. Though I would still keep your characature somewhere on your site!


If you believe in telekinesis, raise my right hand.
# 4 27-01-2006 , 10:21 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 187
Looking nice mate, one thing is that yer site doesnt resize well. If you think bout people on 800x600 etc they want to be able to nav yer site aswell (they may customers or employers =) Do you mind me askin what yer making this in? The nav bar is the most important thing on yer site if i were you I would make sure that if nothing else does that will strech or shrink to fill the page, so that no matter weither on 800x600 or 1280x1024 they can see yer nav bar at the top.
What i would love to see on that site aswell is a funky collage of all yer characters like in a big group all looking cool, a group photo.
Something like this would really spice it up and also asoon as someone comes on yer site they dont have to scroll and find all yer characters there all there at the bottom of the page having a party. Then maby when they click on it it leads it to the actual page with full size pics on.
Anyway good luck, im looking forward ot having a collection of characters cos i love site making, n i wont my own :attn:
Have fun
Josh

# 5 27-01-2006 , 01:46 PM
t1ck135's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 1,991
Good start mike user added image

I'd say the header needs some work as the font on the buttons looks a little basic. Maybe a little color might bring it out a bit too.

I'm not a fan of frames but your site works decently with them.
Unless you're going to be styling the table headers and cells in the gallery.html page etc then I'd make them a slightly lighter grey (maybe #BBBBB or #CCCCCC for the header one and #DDDDDD or #EEEEEE) for the one below - it'll make the little thumbnail images stand out more.

If you want the images to have a little space around the edges without much messing then a simple unordered list with a little css might help.
- On your gallery page (or create a link to a standalone css file containing all your style information - better in the long run) add this to the style declaration near the top:

/* removes borders on all images */
img {
border: 0;
}

/* styles an unordered list of items in a div named thumbs */
div#thumbs ul, div#thumbs ul li {
list-style: none;
display: inline;
text-decoration: none;
}

and then add this where the images would be (inside the table td):

<div id="thumbs">
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn1.jpg"><img src="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn1.jpg" alt="image description" /></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn1.jpg"><img src="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn2.jpg" alt="image description" /></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn1.jpg"><img src="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn3.jpg" alt="image description" /></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn1.jpg"><img src="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn4.jpg" alt="image description" /></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn1.jpg"><img src="https://www.mtmckinley.net/cq2_tn5.jpg" alt="image description" /></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />

tada, a simple styled image list with the minimum of fuss. Just add another div with the same id somewhere else and it'll apply there too.

Keep going though, it'll be good to see your site visually revamped (with a preview page for your new book?) user added image


Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net
# 6 27-01-2006 , 02:00 PM
t1ck135's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 1,991
Yowsers, whilst looking at your site I just read about the layoff - not good mike user added image

fingers x'ed for you and I hope you get things sorted and back on track!

Si


Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net
# 7 27-01-2006 , 02:40 PM
mtmckinley's Avatar
The Maya Mountain
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 8,245
thanks for the comments and suggestions, guys. user added image I'm not actually using anything to make the site... just html typed in notepad by hand. No css or whathaveyou. Just needed something quick up. lol

I'll see about changing the colors as you suggested, t1ck. Thanks!

# 8 27-01-2006 , 03:50 PM
blomkaal's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Denmark
Posts: 816
Notepad is the only real program for making HP's! user added image


Liter is French for 'Gimme some ****ing cola before I break vous ****ing lips!"
# 9 29-01-2006 , 10:09 PM
notepad sucks... makes coding so slow... there are free ok html editors like htmlkit...

but anyways back on topic :p

Don't use frames there bad for SEO.. if you want a scrollbar in the middle of the page.. which i might add would not recommend it as it is annoying for the user user added image
Use a div with overflow set to auto..

As for the html try to stay away from image ready slices.. and table hell.. and use divs.. or for a menu rather an unordend list.. most importantly try to make semantic html..

Also please.. don't use font tags or color tags inside html.. use html only as a way to describe your content and use css to design it... also put up a doctype with your page...

Those are all tips i can give so far

user added image

Edit* Forgot.. use 1 fontstyle througout the site.. not Times new roman here.. and Verdana there etc.. ohw and forget about using times new roman user added image


Last edited by pixelsoul; 29-01-2006 at 10:15 PM.
# 10 29-01-2006 , 10:32 PM
mtmckinley's Avatar
The Maya Mountain
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 8,245
luckily I'm not looking for a job as a web designer. user added image Thanks, though. I have no idea how to do that stuff! lol

# 11 29-01-2006 , 11:03 PM
Shadeblade's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 779
Hey Mike, I like. user added image

Your re-done website, I like its look.
And also well done on your second book!
Your webpage skills are clearly seen
To be much better than they've ever been!
With that new look and all those pages
It seems as if it must have taken ages!
So keep it up, if you will
Because from here it's all down hill!

Hehe, working on my poetry. :p

Great site Mike!


Nobody felt like avenging your death. Sorry.

Last edited by Shadeblade; 30-01-2006 at 01:55 AM.
# 12 30-01-2006 , 08:07 AM
well html and css are easy you can learn them in about one or 2 days user added image serverside languages are a bit more difficult to learn..

Originally posted by mtmckinley
luckily I'm not looking for a job as a web designer. user added image Thanks, though. I have no idea how to do that stuff! lol


# 13 30-01-2006 , 06:24 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 187
i hate serverside code, i made a ecommerce with oscommerce all server side code although oscommerce is really usful i still hated server side its so hard to test aything properly.

# 14 30-01-2006 , 06:38 PM
No man serverside code is great... we could not have this forum without it... it's is just a logic thing to truly seperate content from design, and make it possible to update your site dynamicly or like here let visitors take advantage of it :bow:

It is true that php is not the language with the most ease of use debugging capabillities... although an IDE like Zend Studio will give you some proper tools.

OS Commerce is a great opensource product only it is showing it's age.. and the interface is sometimes unclear. The way you talk about it though i suspect you mean the templating system.. the core templates suck.. but with the sts plugin you can use a normal html file :bow:

Anyways.. I will stop now telling you how great php and opensource is as i am going offtopic too much :p

# 15 30-01-2006 , 07:15 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 187
o no im not saying its not good at all, its beautiful code i just hate working with it compared to normal css html, i started with the templates but pretty jkuch stripped it down to just the code and redesigned everything, oscommerce is showing its age but they are bringing out a updated version soon so im gona wait to really get stuck into that.
Dont get me wrong php is sweet its just i dont like using it because i like to see things instantly (impatient) I did some forums using Yabb forum, ad thats pretty useful but i would love to be able to afford a liecence for vbullitin but untill start making some prper $ i cant afford luxurys.
Later
JOsh

Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads