Reply To: COLLAB2021 – HQ – Stylized Fantasy Environment

📢 Announcement #2: Updates & Loose Ends 

Discord

Our resourceful Team Leads have setup a discord server for us! The server features channels for each team including audio + video capability.

This changes our communication structure a bit from what I discussed during the stream yesterday. Now I recommend LOW LEVEL communication happens on discord since it’s the easiest / quickest form of communication we have. By “low level” I mean casual, small-consequence discussion. The main negative of persistent chat is their brief nature; they appear and then immediately get buried. This is fine for the majority of our discussions (let’s say 75%) but we want to avoid important info getting buried.

HIGH LEVEL communication is the important stuff that shouldn’t get lost in a persistent chat. Please keep high level stuff like protocols, announcements, lengthy troubleshooting and idea pitches on the forum threads.

A big shoutout to the leaders for just nike-ing the Discord idea into reality. I was against it for dumb reasons and now I’m already a big fan. Communication should be much improved as a result!

Week 1 Stream recording available

The steam recording is available to watch and features chapters for easier navigation. The stream was 3 hours after all and full of pertinent information. Please watch or at least skim the first 2 hours.

As promised presentation slides also available to view and I’ve added a Week 1 casual stream for Tomorrow (Thursday). Reminder that this will be completely unrehearsed; just a fly-on-the-wall type stream watching me work and being available to answer questions.

Team Threads

It’s important to be plugged into your team’s thread. I recommend checking in at least 2-3 times per week for important info:

• House (Exterior Front) – Team Thread
• House (Interior Back) – Team Thread
• Accessories (House) – Team Thread
• Accessories (Standalone) – Team Thread
• Nature (FG) – Team Thread
• Nature (BG) – Team Thread

Registration is CLOSED

Officially registration for the class is closed. I let a few stragglers join because I have a hard time saying no…but I’m not sure we can handle anymore! If you’re interested in the Collab you’re welcome to lurk but officially no more joining.

Asset Assignments

I’ve been confirming a steady stream of asset requests and the spreadsheet cells are filling up beautifully! As I asked on stream, it seems several “fill-in-where-needed” people have waited to claim an asset out of respect for those who wanted specific assets. Thank you for that!

At this point I think it’s safe for everyone to request and fill in remaining gaps. The goal being that everyone has a confirmed asset by the weekend.

If you do not have comment access to the Asset List spreadsheet, please send me an email ( kent@cgcookie.com) using either a gmail address or google-associated email and I will add you to the share list.

Syncing to Google Drive

I didn’t present this great during the stream. For week 1 I’d like to see everyone synced with the project directory but to NOT add their own .blend files until week 2. There’s some specific protocol I want to explain before contributor files are added.

To sync the project directory I need to add your email to the share list. If you don’t see the “SPICE-VENDORS-HOUSE” folder in your shared with me section of Google Drive, send me an email (kent@cgcookie.com) using either a gmail address or google-associated email and I will add you to the share list.

The next step is “adding” the shared folder to your Google Drive. This is a weirdly hidden feature using the SHIFT + Z hotkey. Team Leader Shawn recorded a great tutorial video about this process.

Once you’ve added the shared folder to your Google drive, you can install the Google Drive applet and begin syncing to your local computer. This syncing capability is very important for the project to function for everyone.

Submitting Homework

Reminder that homework is due every Sunday at midnight (your time). This gives me Monday to look it over, grade, and choose submissions to review during Tuesday’s stream.

To submit homework, post a reply to your WIP thread with this top line in bold: “Homework Submission – Week 1 – Asset Name”. This tells me that you’re finished and ready for a grade / feedback. Below the bolded line please add “@theluthier” to mention me so I will be notified. Below the mention I want to see at least one screenshot of your blocked out model. You’re also welcome to include any relevant info or comments if you wish:

IF you finish your homework before Sunday, it’s OK to submit early!