I have to say, Blender Artists is exceptional. I always feel like being in a family of sorts. Most people are friendly, the rules are not strict, and generally it’s working very well. I can’t say that I had the same experience with other websites… CG Society, for example. People get very easily angry, instead of replying to something they’ll start searching for a bit similar thread and show off, and in most cases, they just won’t reply… I had a really bad experience in the Lightworks forums because I DARED “propose” that they should make a 32 bit edition for Linux for, I don’t know, people with low-end PCs, and I got attacked by some random guy who said that he didn’t know anyone with 32 bit and that I should use simpler software (yeah, like it could get more complicated that Blender…) and he was so rude that some other people apologized for his behaviour! (yeah, I know, Lightworks is a video editor, but no matter)
SO, I’m wondering, are there any other NICE websites concerning 3D like Blender Artists out there?
I hung out at CGSociety for a long time until I figured out that a guy whose avatar is a one-legged horse basically owned the place, and that he wasn’t afraid to let you know that. :rolleyes: I just don’t like to encounter “dominant personalities.”
Actually, BlenderArtists is one of the “nicest” 
web-sites I’ve encountered in many years on the Internet … period. It welcomes people who are “interested in Blender,” whatever their interest or experience happens to be, and generally it gives very useful help to them without a clash of egos. I’ve also been impressed with the moderation team, which is effective without being overt. (It’s a thankless task to do at all, let alone to do well, yet it is crucial for maintaining the quality of the site.)
The problem with CGTalk is that its apparently a “professionals only” site. It used to be a friendly community for those with a passion for the digital arts, regardless of your background. Now everything is looked at through professional eyes only and if you have a different view then its not welcome. For example, what takes the buscuit for me is that they argue “the software is NOT expensive” but the real answer is actually “put your money away and just use a crack instead”. Oh, but now Adobe is forcing subscriptions which require internet access, they are suddenly the bad guys? No, more like “shit, I now have to start paying for my software…”. After becoming aware of that, I moved on from CGT and the “holier than thou” types.
Sadly, most sites fall down by not having a beginners section. One of my favourite sites is GameDev.org where they have such a thing. Where CGT is like “for godsake don’t waste our time and do a search already!”, Gamedev is a bit more forgiving for each beginners individual needs. Its also a very friendly way to introduce new members to the forums, as we know that that person is a beginner and needs to be treated as such(not in a negative way, but a helpful one). It also helps to prevent the beginner from getting too cocky with more experienced and skilled members of the community, just because they frequent the same site.
As for other friendly sites…I find the modo and Lightwave forums to be quite pleasant. I only read those forums but if I were using those packages I would be happy to be join in…
I generally stick with the blenderartists.org website only. No avatars with one leg running no shows here. Kind of like a one man band in a one horse town.
http://forums.3dtotal.com/ is probably the most friendly community for 3D artists that I have ever come across. It is a pretty small community so practically everyone knows everyone.
In my experience they are much more friendly than on this site even.
Actually, I tried to post a thread in the 3dtotal forums about the Gooseberry project, it said that the moderators would see it and put it… That was 5 days ago, nothing happened…
They probably mistook it for spam then. They have a spam-filter which prevents new users from making unmoderated threads right away so if you just post in a few threads first there should be no problem.
Blender artists is the best bunch of people I have ever ran into, some people can be very rigid, but one thing you need to understand, most good artists tend to be eccentric,
I myself am not super really offended by questions, no matter how silly…
My take-away about such things is … “we are all professionals, or we very soon will be, whether we specialize full-time in computer graphics or not.” A website such as this one, I think, is here so that we can share information, thoughts, lessons-learned, attaboys, and(!) to build and maintain our own reputations as being people who are, well, “professional.”
Also, and mark my words on this, “the ‘CG Professional’ of today is a dying breed, and secretly they know it.” Sending thousands of jobs to the countries with the cheapest possible labor-rates is only a stop-gap. The bankruptcy of special-effects shops is an indication of the simple fact that the industry as it stands right now is far too labor-intensive to be self sustaining. It is a “craft industry” at heart, and, like craft gunsmithing and the village blacksmith, it will fall (and, is falling now) to automation. I perceive a growing sense of fear at those sites.
But anyway, BlendarArtists is “friendly,” and let us keep it that way.
Send a message to a moderator.
Are you looking for tuts or forums to ask questions? If the latter you’ve found it… For tuts I head over to Youtube there is a couple of really good instructors sharing different techniques. Once you get what you were after there and then IF you get stuck applying to your project. 99% of the folks on here are very helpful and DO stay on point. If you need those YT instructors pages to subb to let me know. I will post my favorites.
Well, not really, but sure, could you post some? I think that I and many more will find something useful