The nice thing I found about using existing sculpted figures as reference is that you can see them in all three dimensions as opposed to photos which only give one view. When I first started sculpting I took a figure I liked and tried to copy it exactly. This eliminated a lot of guess work and it was easy to see where mistakes were made.

It also showed me how crappy I was when I first started.

I would also put in tags for the position of the Person. For that picture you should put tags like spread_legs standing front
like you said, its hard finding pictures from the rear, but its also hard finding specific poses.

Gordy, I don't think there's any excuse for calling someone a snivelling shithead under any circumstances, regardless of the provocation, and I wanted to say so. If it's the superior, arrogant or elitist part then mea culpa.

Einion

No foul – when two are having a disagreement and progressing to a point of possible conclusion, it's unsettling for a third party to stir it back up stating the obvious.

Back to the topic,

Bob, nothing beats 3D that's for sure, i've got choice reference pieces, for not only quality of sculpting but for scale!

Steve(smeagolthevile) those are tags that one could add to the gallery of photo's the software i've chosen will allow the addition of tags after a photo has been upload, so tagging can be done at anytime.

I like this idea and could prove very useful.

I remember needing detailed images of a Baker rifle and one of the members here owned one and took large format pictures of every inch of it for me to use. There must be an abundance of reference material floating around the site ranging from pictures to the real items of equipment, to bring it into one place would be a great resource for all, I am more than willing to share any reference material I have at hand.

It would also be nice if some of our living history members donned their uniforms/costumes and took all round pictures and maybe some different poses to show the reaction of the different cloth and equipment to movement.

Tagging sounds an excellent idea and will make indexing certain items far easier and faster.

I will still continue to also use books for reference just because I actually like to read books and you can find some hidden gems within them.

Steve

What I meant Gordy, is we should try and make an index of as many tags as we can, so we can get a kind of guide line of how to tag.

Like, when you post a pic have a box under it, much like the 'smilie icons' under the text box, with check boxes, with different tags in it. So you can click off all of the most used tags, and a few spots for other to tag as you like.

I say this because I have seen sites with tags where you would have like... lets me think of an example...

Ok, the word Jäger for example, Iv seen it spelled
Jäger, Jager, Jaeger, Yager, Yaeger
some people dont speak german, or know how to make umlauts or the pheonetic umlaut replacement (the ae instead of the ä)

so there could be seperate tag sections for pose, direction, clothing type, era, nation, etc etc.
there are to many to name but it would not be bad to set up a bunch to start, like we all throw in a bunch of reference shots and tag them with everything we can, make it uniform between them all, and put it up.

It doesn't work that way, it is impossible to think of all possible tags up front. The best and really only way is to add the tags overtime and let it evolve with time.

The way you are describing is the old fashion category way vastly different..

Posted by Tapatalk for mobiles

All the sites these days use what Gordy is talking about. If you see a picture you add the tag. If it is a girl with a bikini on it will say; "other members have used these tags; Boobs, clevage, bikini, chick, female to find this picture."

I know. Well anyhow, Gordy, when you start needing photos tell me, Ill start getting everything I ahve ready to imput

I think the simpler the better if you're going to do this. Wow Bob, a kindred soul. As an old school graphic designer/illustrator, I remember the days of morgue files or swipe files as we used to call them. I had boxes of magazines, books, photos etc. all for using as reference, inspiration and back when copy right issues were far simpler than they are today, as source material for illustration.

Gordy, once it gets going, it will take on a life of its own. My recommendation would be not to get bogged down in the details but go with general headings. Besides, half the fun is in the search. Large resource houses like i-stock, etc have huge data bases that allow you to narrow search criteria, but they also have a huge pocket book to pay for web rats and MIS gurus to build their databases.

Yeah, I don't think many people know the arcane methods of illustrators. Working with insane deadlines and having to be able draw just about anything an editor wanted on short notice demanded having a huge resource at your disposal. If you couldn't do it you were never called again. And there were no computers and no internet. Just books, magazines, the library and perhaps some pictures you had taken yourself. I can remember some really hair raising moments. At least I had hair back then to raise

I wish I had saved my collection but it all got lost somewhere along the line in one of my many moves. I have rebuilt some of it. When I work on a specific project nowadays I usually spend a couple of months assembling as many pics as I can find before starting.

I'm right with you Mike and Bob. I recall having morgues of just parts. One eye file probably had about 300 different iris pairs in a manila folder. It does make you appreciate the intricacies and detail when forced to look at something completely isolated.

That said, loading 20 pics onto the iPod touch and right on the bench next to the piece I'm working is also a great tool. Saves space and time.

It saves alot of space, it also keeps your books well from harms way when it comes to things like droped paintbrushes.

So Gordy, how goes the database? Im anxious to start importing and tagging photos.

I've got things rolling at full glacier speed

I've narrowed it down to three different solutions, all of which have thier quirks and foibles.

Most of all I want it easy to use for non-techy types since this kind of tech investment is something I want for the long haul

Oh yea, well we could always just write a guide for using it for new comers.
I can tell you right now, when im doing projects at this point im keeping all of the reference pics I get for it in seperate folders for that specific subject. Cant wait for this thing to start up Gordy.