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Spotlight on Gorean WebsitesSome months ago we decided to discontinue the “Rotten Tospit Award’ as we considered it to be the only negative aspect of this magazine. We don’t really need to call attention to these sites, they abound all over the net unfortunately. There are many imitators, and not very many innovators; it is said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this is not so when it comes to websites, it is pure theft. Instead of stealing what someone else has worked so hard to produce, most web creators will allow you to link to their sites, a much more honorable way to go about it. Taking somone else’s words and subtracting or adding to them is outright plagerism. To do this and claim credit for it makes you worse than a thief. Take time, read the books, develop your own opinion and decide what your site is to be about whether it be a paga tavern, camp, or a particular region of Gor. Then create something unique that will also be a great learning experience for visitors to your page. There are already far too many sites quoting and misquoting Marcus, and stealing work from the S&S site. Pages of dance, serves, foods, positions etc are more numerous than urts in the canals of Port Kar, the ubiquitous flickering torches, Boris’s artwork, fantasy bios and slaves poetry are enough to make one jump into the nearest da-kosis pit. It is time that some of these websites went by the wayside and others were created that are not a mixture of a BDSM version of Grimms Fairy Tales. Gorean websites should concentrate on lifestyle and the philosophy and not make out to be Gorean is some sort of sexual fetish. Fandom sites are great too, so long as the art is original and stories are well written and again original works. I am no expert and I can’t draw a straight line, most of the *art* I create is done out of necessity..... Pantheus says "do it" and I just have to "do it"! Today the graphic programs and web editors have got so easy to use there is no necessity to rip off copyrighted images or copy and paste other’s words. Most graphic programs now give you a 30 day trial period to use their product and there are many free web editors there for the taking. In this article I hope to show you just how easy it is to create your own original webpage by providing you with links to programs to enable you to do this. Try some - you definitely will surprise yourself! Whichever program you decide to use, do a web search on it, more than likely you will find many forums, egroups and tutorial sites that will have you up and running in no time. Clipart collections are myriad, but be sure you are able to use them freely. I have "PrintMaster Gold" and found that some of the images are copyrighted, but others are free to use and modify. If you are not sure, email the makers of the collection and ask. You can create your own clipart by following lessons in "How to Draw" books, and you don’t have to look too far to find great tutorials on html, my recommendation is PageTutor.com Joe Barta is one of the best, and his tutorials are very easy to follow. Pictorial (dingbat) Fonts are another great way to go, but make sure they are not copyrighted, Arjan Mel’s Font Viewer is free and you can see at a glance whether or not a particular font can be used on your site.
Another way to make your website original is to use photos that you own, such as the one donated below by seline{MD} - Modred’s property. To this end The Gorean Voice is proposing to open a gallery whereby the community can donate photographs (scenery, slaves etc) and original artwork for free use by anyone wishing to create their own website.
Details for this project are as follows: COPYRIGHT AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION The photographs & graphics on the site will have been contributed by various users so that others may use them in the creation of other graphics for use on web pages, cards, etc. The copyrights for the individual graphic in its original state is retained by the contributor. If you are unsure about the use of an individual image, please contact the contributor of the image for additional information. Some things you may NOT do: Include these images in any other collection including a CD. Some things you may do: Make backgrounds (including collections) from the images. MAKING A CONTRIBUTION If you wish to contribute a graphic to this collection, please follow the guidelines below: The photograph or graphic must be one you have taken or one in which you are the owner or creator. By contributing a graphic to this collection, you are agreeing to allow your photograph or graphic to be used freely as described above. The URL for this new Gallery will be published in this magazine and on the The Gorean Public Board as soon as it is set up. Graphic ProgramsI am a huge fan of PhotoImpact6 and this is what I use to create the graphics for this magazine. It is as good as PhotoShop and not nearly as expensive (around $100 compared to approximately $700 for PhotoShop). PaintShop Pro7 is also one of my favorites, both of these programs have full trial versions and come with built-in animation programs.
Another program I intend to buy "when my ship comes in" is Poser4 which is great for 3D effects and models. This is an example of Poser which was sent into the Voice by Qabalkar who states "Poser is a minor miracle for the Gorean on-line community. The tired old body of photos, paintings and cover art that everyone use can now be reinforced a hundred times over, and the variety will only be limited by the many different imaginations at work. Surprisingly, I haven’t noticed any Poser art on Gor sites. Poser allows you to manipulate 3D objects in a 3D environment. You may change the size of the objects, and often are able to change important features. Once you have positioned everything as you want, you "render," which command causes the image to be produced. You can select any size of image. "Morphs" allow you to size and design a figure into any shape of person you might imagine; any ethnicity as well. In fact, one of the more popular type of morphs allows you to create characters, as well as creatures, etcetera. Poser has a very intuitive interface. You can do the same thing several ways: there are dials you can "thumb" one direction or the other to increase size, move objects, or position limbs; you can also do this "manually" by highlighted what you want to change and dragging it with the mouse (this is the least effective); and you can change anything by numerical entry (obviously, the most precise, and in "tight fit" situations the one you’ll fall back on). I would estimate the average basic learning period at around eight to ten hours; beyond that, it’s a matter of experience and instinct. The range of emotions possible on Poser faces is remarkable, and being very precise (but subtle) with those expressions is one of the keys to a good render. I’ve been working on a basic slave tunic which is not quite "canonical" but functional. I’m developing a "texture map" and "transparency map" that applies to a standard office dress that comes with Poser and produces the appearance of a tunic. I’ve attached a test render I did recently (the slave girl is also in a Turian collar I made from a malleable "basic prop" that came with Poser). Obviously, it’s not art -- I’m just sending it so you get some idea what can be done with Poser once you master the details of transparencies, etcetera. Caution: developing original materials requires a good (i.e., expensive) 2D graphic program. The bad news is that Poser plus that 2d program can run from four hundred to six hundred bucks. Poser itself (which almost vanished when the original creator Metacreations encountered financial problems) sells for a bit over 300. (Having discovered it online, and seen how handy it could be, I lusted after Poser for months before I finally could get it.) The good news is that there is the equivalent of thousands of dollars of outstanding props, clothes, scenery, etcetera available for free as long as you don’t turn around a sell it to somebody else. The only rule -- which is hard and fast and a point of honor -- is that if you post a render you should note the authors of the props, etcetera, in any credits. And the better news is you can finally produce images to match what Norman stirred up in our imagination."
Caprus, whose art you have seen in the "Picture This" segment of this magazine, uses a program called Bryce BryceŽ 4 is dedicated to designing, rendering and animating breathtaking natural 3D worlds and abstract 3D sculptures. Bryce is an ideal application for both beginners and advanced users because it is extremely easy to use and it comes loaded with libraries of presets to use in your own work. As you become more proficient, Bryce allows you to easily create your own surface materials, skies and more, while making the creative process every bit as entertaining as the final output. Start by building your scene using basic objects such as mountains, seas, rocks, balls and blocks, then assign different textures to the objects, adjust the sky and place lights within the scene, then simply render, and even use the animation controls to create breathtaking movies. Simply edit these shapes to create exactly what you want. Bryce costs $199. If this is not in your budget, simply download Terragen it’s free and gets better all the time. 
A FREE 3D Program to download is Strata3D While the free version doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, it sure has enough to get you started, plus there are links to free plugins, objects, textures etc. I would really recommend you take a look at this program before outlaying your hard earned cash on anything else. It looks to me to be a great way to start 3D modelling and if you decide this is the way to go, they have a quite inexpensive version around the $40 mark if you cannot afford the Pro version.
If, unlike me, you have money to burn, or know someone who has (hey, Christmas is a-comin yanno) then Light Wave is the ultimate. NewTek’s LightWave 3D introduced the first real time subdivision surface modeler and now the industry has embraced subdivision surfaces as the way of the future. With LightWave[6] you own a robust tool set for manipulating these revolutionary surfaces, including interactive modifiers that allow you to model in multiple "soft" modes. LightWave[6] allows you to sculpt "digital clay" by direct manipulation at the vertex level by controlling groups of points or polygons with an extreme list of operators. This program is expensive - over $2000!! So even if you can’t afford it, do what I do - visit their website and lust over it!
Another site to check out for freeware and software is Soft Seek there are graphic programs, fonts etc that you can use freely - Now you have no excuse to not have an original webpage, the holidays are upon us, so now’s the time to create or revamp your site. Links to get you startedAnfy Add great effects to your webpages with these free applets Arjan Mel’s Font Viewer For those who use a lot of dingbat type fonts, this program is invaluable! It’s similar to the Character Map program supplied with Windows. You can see the entire character set or each character individually, the keyboard stroke, and the hexidecimal code. Another great free program. David Crowell Software When using files copied from a CD, things like images, do you get that annoying pop-up message saying the file is "read-only"? If so, then you need CROA! This is a totally free program that will remove the the attribute bytes in a folder, and all subfolders. Is fast and easy and another of those "must have" utilities. EvrSoft Evrsoft 1st Page 2000 helps you write, edit and improve your HTML, its powerful tools let you author websites faster, easier and better! Whether you’re a beginner or an HTML guru you’ll find 1st Page 2000 great to use! The best part is, it’s absolutely free! HarmWare Harm’sTile 99, is a freeware graphics application. It creates seamless tiles, for use as web page backgrounds or windows wallpaper. It can also be used to create buttons and banners, or even photo re-touching. It has a rich set of filters and effects, and currently supports .bmp, .jpg, and .gif file formats. You’ll even find tutorials on how to use the program. Another Freebie! Inetia.com Eyedropper is an extremely useful freeware program lets you pick the color value from any pixel on your screen. It sits quietly in your taskbar when not in use. A must for graphic designers. Lone Wolf Software Having trouble creating javascript rollovers? If so, you need Lone Wolf’s free program javascript rollover button creator. You create the buttons, tell the program which one is the normal, which is the high and what it links to and the progam generates all the necessary code for you. It couldn’t be easier! Mayura Draw You don’t need expensive programs to create those .ai shape files for PhotoImpact. Mauyra Draw is an easy-to-use vector graphics program that can be used to export your creations in .ai format, then import into the PhotoImpact Shapes library. Download the 30 day trial version ($15 to register) or the freeware version (formerly PageDraw). Import: AI and WMF formats. Export: EPS, PS, AI, PDF, WMF, GIF, BMP and TIFF formats. Micro Fox Software If you design web pages or do graphics, you will love this screen ruler. It overlays whatever is on your screen showing you exactly how wide it is. The freeware version measures only in pixels but the registered version gives you a choice of inches, pixels, centimeters, etc. This tool is a great graphics companion. PhotoImpact6 Get Serious about the Web. PhotoImpact 6 is the first image editor to address both image editing and Web page creation. Edit your images and layout professional Web graphics in real-time. Then optimize and output as complete Web pages. Features: Full array of imaging & painting tools. Vector 2D and 3D graphics. Over 60 exclusive special effects & filters. Visual Web page layout & one-click HTML output PaintShop Pro7 Retouch, repair, and edit photos with easy-to-use, high-quality,automatic photo enhancement features. Create and optimize Web graphics with built-in Web tools and artistic drawing and text tools. Design cool animations with Animation Shop 3 included free. Easily add custom images to your home and business graphics projects. Save time with productivity tools: grids, guides, alignment, and grouping. Expand your creativity with over 75 special effects Screen Shot Tips and Tricks Sue Chastaine at about.com gives you some excellent advice and tips on how to capture those screen shots so they give the best quality while using the smallest possible size. She backs up her words with pictures to show the differences. Simple Filters This site offers a group of 10 very simple filters that can be used for making tiled backgrounds and other tiling effects. An example of each filter is displayed so you know what you’re getting before you download it. If you like patterened backgrounds, be sure and check these out. Terragen Terragen is a work-in-progress scenery generator for Windows 95/98/NT/2000. At this stage of its development, Terragen is free for personal non-commercial use. Terragen is already capable of photorealistic results for professional landscape visualisation, special effects, art and recreation. The Font Thing The Font Thing is an excellent freeware program for managing TrueType fonts in Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0. You can browse installed and uninstalled fonts, print font samples, install or uninstall any number of fonts at once, load fonts for temporary use, and much more. A must for font lovers. TreePad If you’re one of those people who take notes then forget where you put them or have little post-its pasted all over your monitor, you need Henk Hagedoorn’s TreePad! This is an excellent program and it’s free! It’s one of those "can’t live without" utilities. Triple Orbit Graphics Table templates for those who are "table challenged". There are 9 different table styles or both PC and Mac available for downloading. The zip files contain all the necessary html code to use the tables. Well worth checking out. Ulead Scanning Tips If you’re new to scanning, this site offers a lot of helpful tips. It shows the problemas well as the solution. Learn how to enhance your images when scanning with PhotoImpact. Ulead Web Utilities This site has a mixture of things including free downloads, tutorials, fonts, and a host of other useful things for the PhotoImpact user. Visicom Media If you’re looking for a nice FREE HTML editor, you might want to look at AceHTML 4. It handles forms, frames, Cascading Style Sheeds, Java, Java Script, DHTML, etc. It includes 20 templates to get you started. The download is 3.7 meg. The downside is you have to fill out a form with your name, e-mail, etc before you can download it. Once you have the program installed, you then have to fill out another form with basically the same info to get the free registration code which is sent to you via e-mail. Wayne Fulton’s Scan Tips Got a new scanner but aren’t sure what all those fancy terms mean? Don’t know what resolution is best for the job? Wayne Fulton’s Scan Tips covers it all! You can view the tips on-line or purchase his book. Either way, you’ll learn how to get the very best out of your scanner. WinTurboRamFree If your computer doesn’t have a lot of memory or you have so many windows open that you keep running out of memory, you might want to try this really nice free memory optimizer program. This small program sits quietly on your task bar and when your memory gets low, it jumps into action and optimizes the memory without any intervention from you. Not only is it easy to install, it auto configures itself so you don’t have to do a thing. These are just some ideas that I hope will see new styles of Gorean websites being developed and hopefully some old sites being revamped. And hopefully no more outright theft of other’s work. I wish you well Opal |
