I have an idea. This is my idea: I am currently in the process of creating a site, which will be titled "The Angel Project". The goal of this site will to be to create an art/poetry book of sorts. Ok to begin with, the site will host a gallery, and a listing of poems, the galleries will be seperated to each poem and the images in the gallery will relate to the poem (ie..a poem about a tree by the ocean..the image would be a tree by the ocean..) The set-up I am planning on is to have people be able to post up the pictures they have created corresponding to the poem and then public voting will take place as to which picture is best for the poem.The programs allowed will be Vue, Bryce and Poser...mind you flexibility is allowed...create a model in something else...etc...the reason for this limitation is that I also want the book to feature a CDROM with the files of the featured program used for each image, so people can learn from the image. Mind you this part may not happen, depends upon the cooperation of those involved. An example poem is below...and I will post an update when I have the actual site up..hopefully by tommorrow. Suggestions and ideas are welcome. Waves crash upon a craggy shoreline, The water dances in the nights gentle light, And the moisture of the sea brushes against my skin, Just as your breath, and I shiver, As a cool wind blows. I lie upon the cool damp sandy beach, And the stars are my gaze, Like your eyes, Twinkling, dancing in that black tapestry. Then like a fire, love burns over my body, Your hand touches mine, And your body presses against mine, Despite its warmth I shiver. Pleasure, happiness courses through my body, At the feel of you next to me. Emotions, that flowing silk we wear, Shaping over time, with experiences. I experience you, Your kiss, gentle yet overwhelming, I cease to breath. Sweat falls from our bodies, Yet close we lie, as if still we are cold, Our hearts keeping warm together, Apart the cold emptiness comes, But together when we are one, The warmth, the heat, That is desire, warms our hearts, In that flame of passion, of emotion, of love. And here lying with you, Our bodies cooling from the heat, I feel that passion still in me, It remains and keeps my heart warm, In those painful times we are apart. Forever will it burn, For eternal is our love. And as the sun rises to challenge the moon, My arms tighten, pulling you closer, And as do yours in reply, I smile knowing that of your love there is no denial, For in that simple tightening of arms my heart skipped a beat.

Well, it sounds like something interesting... I'd definitely be happy to look into it...

Well, the project certainly sounds interesting but I am left somewhat confused. It seems as if you want to publish a book that is essentially an anthology or compendium of peoples' work. The selections in such a collection generally run along a common theme but that seems missing here. Nor am I quite sure who is your target audience. There are people interested in poetry, people who love visual art and there are 3D enthusiasts as found at this forum who would be interested in learning program techniques. There is no particular reason why any one individual should be interested in all three subjects. You seem to have lost market focus for the odds are that anyone considering your book would find they are relatively uninterested in 2/3rds of it. Let me continue to play the devil's advocate for a moment. If I am interested in poetry why would I buy a book of poems written by "web geeks" as opposed to poets who have already established literary credentials? If I am going to drop $40 on an art book why would I choose a collection of unproven amateurs over well known artists? Something like the Spectrum Annuals are likely to have much higher quality art work. If I want a book that will teach me graphic technique I won't be interested in wading through a pile of poetry to get to what I will likely consider "the good stuff". Nor do I understand the validity of having people vote to match image to poem. The nature of this project is likely to attract the participation of those in forums such as this one. As such it will be comprised of an artificially selected group with, to some extent, similar interests. There is no good reason to believe that our choices would reflect those of the larger audience for the book. Lastly, if this is a commercial endeavour what remuneration will there be for the participants? Of course, if this is whole thing is just for the fun of it, a community thing, then it may well be a good idea- certainly a fun one. But if it is a commercial effort then I think you have some more questions to ask yourself before you commit too much time and/or money to it. I am not trying to be negative nor am I saying you should drop the project. As I said at the beginning- I am confused. Hope you take this as the constructive criticism I intended.

I welcome the criticism. Many of the answer will come when the site is posted, and the project actually gets rolling..but I will answer a few. The project is basically for fun, I plan on publishing the book myself, all participants who have something in the book will receive a copy, so they will have a book of there published work, along with a CD full of others files for inspection, I will print a few over for selling, for the purpose merely to pay for the cost of the books creation, if the profit goes above the cost, then the remaining money will be split evenly. That said..a few more answers. The works will have a common relation, and that will become apparent, and a note, while the public votes for the best image, the final decision is left to a few people, to decide whether the image has the quality, and visual relation to the poem. I think of this as a very challenging project, it isn't easy to read something and then create an image for it, its good practice for those who want to start in the field. Mnay jobs are available to those who can illustrate books, or read a novel and create a book cover. Well I hope I answered a few questions for you, more will be answered as the project progresses, I hope you will participate and find something awarding in your participation. Thanks Nick

I think it sounds like an interesting project to have a group of poems illustrated by several artists, but why limit the tools that an artist can use? Further, why the inclusion of the program image files? I assume there is a restriction that if one uses Bryce (for instance) for an image, they can only use Bryce, and then also need to submit the Bryce file so that any buyer can render the artist's image? I think it would be more effective, as a teaching tool, if the artists wrote a small how-I-did-it with the illustration, rather than submit their personal files. But keep us posted on how the project comes along. :)

Well I mainly want the main file to be Bryce, Vue, or Poser, you can model, create a part of a scene..etc, but I like your how I did it idea..we shall see.

This is pretty interesting, but I haven't had a chance to fully grok it all yet. I just wanted to sign on to this thread so I can follow it via ebot notices, and will add some actual real comments to it after I get the chance to tale it all in and think about it. On the surface though, for now, I have to say this sounds very interesting. :)

Attached Link: http://www22.Brinkster.com/angelproject/splash.htm

A really nice logo, Nick. You might want to set the background color on the pages to #FFFFFF. Currently, they display as default and white would look better behind the logo. :)