Moho Forum

I was looking around the shops today and i couldn't find ANY magazines on animation!

I was thinking that would anyone like a MOHO magazine setup?
I wouldn't mind doing one (maybe with a few others)

So what would you think?

CrAzY Dan

It think that would be too specific. Even animation is often just a small part in computer art magazines, there are a couple of those in some bookstores. But magazines cost a lot of money to make and distribute, add to that the fact that internet has become a virtually infinite source of information and much more direct and up-to-date AND interactive which means magazines are getting less and less popular. In fact, you'd be surprised just how few magazines actually make a profit!

If you have the time and want to do a project like that I suggest you start with a digital version, create it in MS Office or Open Office (free!) and export to a PDF, the standard format for "virtual" magazines with complete control over formatting and font use (Open Office has PDF export build-in). Make something that looks like a magazine and distribute that as PDF downloads and if people like it enough they'll print it out and read it in the bathroom! Or just take a laptop with you...

In any case, try to broaden the scope to not only Moho but animation in general. Maybe low cost graphics solutions, there's quite a few sites and zines about big and expensive professional programs but not so much for the little ones. Anyway good luck! If you need someone to rant like a madman in a column I'm your man...MADman!

Reindert.
www.nobudgetvideo.com

I had thought of this as well but for a free mag there would be a lot of time involved -and I'm still learning. If you have the time then you might try it though I agree with nobudget that you broaden the scope. I was considering creating an online ezine style template for a page and then users could add articles and download it as a pdf as well -sort of a user publisher mag- but truthfully the forum community is very good you'd need a really big user base for there to be enough need for additional info to maintain interest in a mag. For example this Carrara site has made a go of the magazines since Carrara contnues to grow and there is a gap in the available info between what is provided on the official forums and what people want.

Here is a page with some samples so you can see the pdf mag they make

http://www.3dxtract.com/freepreview.cfm


Similarly 3D Game Studio http://www.conitec.net has a very responsive forum but the user base is so huge and there are so many levels of users -i.e beginners, advanced, some more interested in programming, some in art etc- that several user magazines have evolved. For example here is an online monthly mag in english and german

http://aum.conitec.net/

and then another user has created 2 more popular professional done low cost ones using some ebook program

http://3am.web2d3.com/

and there is another called 3PM aimed at the programmers. There are also several other less professional ones out from time to time.

Other options might be an online newsletter, where you publish the link here. A newsletter could be as simple as posting a monthly synopsis like

Crazy Dan's Moho Spy

Table of Contents

1. Moho News
2. Samples Posted this month
3. Tutorials posted this month
4. Hot Forum Posts
5. Featured Forum Artist
6. Reviews (of useful tools from the net)
7. Cool Links


You can collect all of this info from forum threads except for the interview for a featured artist but this might be had from a simple PM with 4-5 prepared questions.

Anyway, think about it all. Nothing ventured , nothing gained as they say ....

I may have a go at making a PDF one. (A sort of sample)
And i will see if anyone likes it.

I have made 1 page in microsoft word and i dunno how to convert it to .pdf

Google is your friend:

http://www.cib.de/english/products/pdf/download.htm

HTH

J

Thank you!

Here it is: http://www.savefile.com/files/2298603

Tell me if you like...

Other then needed a few corrections as far as grammar is concerned its not to shabby. I think you might be better off having a website and creating tutorials as you have the time. I actually contribute to 3dxtract and have found that just writing a nice detailed tutorial can take quite a bit of time. Maybe give one full issue a go and lets see the quality.

Brian

Thanks for the reply, Nichod.

I am going to try and finish it and i may just use Lost Marble's recent tutorial for now and will start my own later.

Anyone else?

Also consider your target demographic. Heavy Moho users, casual users or potential users. For one audience you can throw advanced terms around, for others you have to explain what it means. You could try a compromise by adding "what's that?" info boxes on the pages explaining some terminology. That way you don't have to dumb down articles whilst inviting new users in the process. Also, for tutorials you can have Moho specific entries and more general info. For instance bone strength would be specific, creating a good walk cycle is general.

Good luck with the first issue!

Reindert.
www.nobudgetvideo.com

Don't underestimate the amount of work involved. Readers are interested in CONTENT. and content takes a lot of time to research, assemble and present. Even if you have a lot of contributors supplying most of the content, just editing it will be a major commitment.

Good luck -- I think it's great what you are doing, but if you want to do it well, it's a non-trivial thing...

J