FormFonts is pleased to announce the opening of a
new section on its site...the FF Exchange. The Exchange is a peer to peer model
exchange for FormFonts subscribers and is entirely separate from the commercial
section and its download allowances ...which will continue exactly as
before.
In effect, the Exchange is the old Objective
Networks (the free forerunner of FormFonts), but within the present site.
However the quality, look and functionality is much higher than the previous
version and we are hoping that it will become a truly professional model
resource that will sit right alongside the existing provision of
content.
There are a few changes that have been introduced
and a short Guidelines document is available to help contributors provide the
best possible components to be shared among their fellow
professionals.
One of the most novel introductions is that one
will have to "buy" download credit by uploading content of your own.When you run
out of credit, you'll just have to contribute something yourself. In this way,
we hope to encourage a broad spectrum of contributors and not have to rely on a
small band of "givers" while everyone else just takes.
There will be a download counter and also a
Comments facility, so that people will not be uploading into a black hole, but
will get a degree of feedback. We may introduce a forum at some later
date.
We've tried to make the uploading as simple and
painless as possible...you just need a skp and a roughly square thumbnail image.
(auto-generated thumbs are frequently unsuitable...it's often very difficult to
actually make out the details of the model). Subscribers will be able to swap
2D, 3D and Styles.
The models will be vetted prior to upload in
exactly the same way that the regular FormFonts models are...in order to catch
any obvious faults and weed out anything unsuitable. In most cases, any models
submitted should appear within 24 hours...often much sooner.
We have been beta-ing this for some time, helped by
a few SketchUp forum regulars who are also FF subscribers. As you can see from
the attached image, the Exchange has already been seeded with a few choice
offerings from both subs and FF artists themselves.
All subscribers need do to take advantage of this
new facility is complete the short online registration process, read the
Guidelines on model preparation and then upload a model or two in order
to buy some download credit. 