Gallery Numbers are Confusing.
nelsonsmith
Posts: 1,337
Not that it matters, but it's really hard to tell what gets people's attention when it comes to the galleries and what people like. Is it subject matter, quality of the render, skillful post work, composition, or just the skill of the artist overall; because it is amazing the number of seriously professional level renders that fly by with hardly any attention devoted to them at all.
Post edited by nelsonsmith on
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There are lots of factors involved I have observed.
Images depicting women are popular and if they are sexy images even more do. men are less popular hands down and get fewer likes
Realistic close ups of faces are popular which I do find perplexing..
images that get around 25 likes go into the banner if they are condidered new. The downside is that some images can remain there a long time and acquire a ton of likes so other images don't have a chance to get up there. I'm not sure if images are selected to go there or it is automatic. I have an image with 23 likes which is new but hasn't rotated up there.
subject matter is important as even if an image is technically great certain subjects atre popular and favored by the
viewers. Realism is favored I have noted.
1. Pouty closeups of women's faces is hands down the winner but it's mysterous to me why some are much more liked than others because it's not always down to technical correctness and beauty and realism.
2. Some sort of violent or horror theme with scantily clad women are big winners in the like category.
Based on those two things I think when you see an image with more than 10 likes it is because it's linked to in some sort of 3D Art pinup girl website or horror 3D art website elsewhere so nothing to wring your hands about too much if your art gets not many likes.
And the sheer numbers of technically good renders with good models, even if you don't like the subject matter in the renders, is disincentive to like any renders at all in the galleries. I sometimes I feel I am being unfair if I don't like a render that I know is technically competant enough but doesn't make me thing, oh, that is nice render. I don't visit the galleries so much. I would visit more if DAZ created subgalleries from the galleries that you could tab through by DAZ character used, clothing used, environment used, or other DAZ product/product used - so the galleries would be serving as advertising for the DAZ Store more or less.
I think part of getting on the banner is how many pictures are up there and how many likes the last few needed to get up there. Looking at the gallery now, it looks like it takes 25 likes to get on the banner as they have about 4 images sitting at 25. (This number changes and sometimes an image can get into the gallery when as low as 23.) Which should mean as soon as Serene's image gets one more like it should get up there automatically. I believe anything less than 30 days is considered new. I know that the two times I managed to get images up on the banner they were both about two weeks old and both dropped off the banner when they were 30 days old and hadn't gotten any new likes in about a week. I believe one was at 23 and one was at 24 and it was dependent on the number the bottom images' likes were sitting at. One image I had done had gotten 24 likes before it was considered old, but never made it to the banner because the bottom spots were all sitting at 25 at the time and I never got another like on that one so I know that figures into it in some way, but I don't know for sure how the algorithm is set up. I don't know if getting new likes right before they are slated to drop off affects an image staying in the banner or not.
As for likes in the gallery, that's a really tough one to figure out. For both of my images, I never expected them to get up there. The gallery surprises me at times as there are lots of good images that seem to get no notice at all and others I look at and just don't get. I've given up trying to figure it out. I just like the ones I like and do the art for myself. If an image gets on the banner, that's a nice bonus, but not one to push for because you'll probably only be disappointed in the end.
I don't even consider myself at the stage to even be thinking of being in the gallery, but just this weekend I saw some really incredible images show up that didn't break 25 likes, and there are several PA's whose work is consistently 10x's better than anything I ever put up, and yet their stuff goes basically unnoticed.
Then I was also under the illusion that people seemed to look down on extensive post work (which didn't really make any sense to me), but lots of the most favored images use extensive post work.
A lot has to do with timing of when it is put in the gallery as well as certain subjects are just more popular with viewer demographic .My action images are most popular with viewers whereas my images depicting gay male couples are the least popular-mostly.
My only suggestion on this... Don't go down the poison path of trying to make images that appeal to the gallery. For the vast majority of people all that lies down that path is frustration and bitterness.
Better to work on images that *you* are proud of. If, by some chance of luck or timing, they prove to be popular... Then that is a side benefit.
Going down the first path usually results in time spent working on images that neither you, nor the gallery audience, like.
In any art form, you don't have to look very hard to find the shameless self-promoters that lobby their mediocre work until the public takes hold of it. They usually come across like advertising jingles... Sanitized content, intended to appeal to a broad base, endlessly played until they worm their way into your mind. Not by particular merit, just by the endless repetition of it.
I agree. Illustrate what pleases you. If I wanted to illustrate what was popular I would illustrate scantily clad women with pouty lips. Nothing wrong with that but it would not make me happy. Plus daz really makes illustrating those style of images very easy with all the props sets and content.
If and when you post something in the gallery here, or at another site, be sure it's something you like well enough to let others see it. Don't get caught up on how many likes/favorites it gets, as that often isn't a good indicator of whether someone likes it or not; I like a lot of images I see on other sites, but if I marked every one of them, I wouldn't get any images of my own done.
I always just do something I want to do for myself ,a subject have been inspired by,sometimes I love the image and noone else likes it and sometimes I am surpised when other people like it and I did not think they would.So who knows what other people want it is a hobby as long as you loved making it and feel happy.
Yeah, I've pruned by my gallery a few times. At 1st I posted blurbs about what I was trying to do technically and how I managed to do it technically if I got close as I was trying to learn DAZ. I also mentioned goals I wanted to learn in DAZ. Now that I mostly can use the presets to create decent images I like; I delete most of the old images eventually but should have been more careful
because some of the deleted images had info that I taught myself in the blurbs and now I've forgotten that info.
I will never do for postwork when I render though because my ultimate goal is to create interesting scenes that I might want to use in games later. I can see why artists creating renders for 2D art would postwork their images though.
There are 40 images in the rotating banner on the first page of the Galleries. It displays the 40 top "liked" images that are less than 1 month old. There is no set number of likes needed to get included. And as noted above, once an image makes the banner, it gets more exposure and more likes.
I use my galleries as a place to store the images I post in the various threads, not to gather likes. However, it still feels good when someone comments, and I do like seeing the "likes" each image receives. Also, not all comments are created equal. The comment I got from Midnight Stories on the image Street Urchins meant much more to me than any "great image" comments from people I don't know, even though I do like getting those, as well.
If you do want to see more likes on your images, it helps to include a link to the gallery page when you post an image. I can't begin to count the number of times I've seen an image in a forum thread I would have "liked" in the gallery, but either there wasn't a link to the page, or the artist attached it to the comment, and didn't bother to put it up in the galleries.
As others have already stated, create your art to please yourself. (That way, you'll never feel like you wasted your time.) Use the galleries as a place to store images, then use those images in your posts. Then DAZ won't have to store the same image over and over again. (And as an added bonus, the image on the gallery page is the perfect size for a forum post!) In my opinion, of course.
I think there are some things which could be done to improve the galleries. i look in the galleries at new content most days but I'd like to be able to see some of my favorite artists by flagging them in some way so I can check them out. Better categories would allow people to find content they want to see and avoid content they don't want to see.
I mean I render my fair share of pouty portraits, (though in my defense, I think my male portraits are poutier than my female ones)
But, (beyond renders of ladies doing better) there isn't, as far as I can tell, any correlation between which ones are more liked or not. Oddly, my 3 "most liked" renders the figures are all pretty thoroughly clothed, and its not like I don't have some renders with ladies in underwear either.
What really bugs my though, is that my most liked render there's a strand of hair going right through the mesh of the ear AGGGRRHH, and the shadows are super noisy. It was just a test render? I have so many renders that I like better? Why does everyone like this one?
But yeah, I try to stay philosophical about it, If other folks like a render, great! If not, Well its a render very svelte man in tights and poulaines, I don't think I'm rendering that for anybodies enjoyment but my own :)
I will admit, what people tend to like is one of those moderately baffling things. As far as the gallery here is concerned, my most popular images are all sweetness and light and innocent (no pouty lipped or scantily clad anyone in sight). Both with children in them, which isn't my strong point, but my most popular one -- to the extent that's a real term for my Daz gallery -- is of a woman, about to be married, with her friends before the wedding. Which is also not exactly my strong point. (My most popular image in my dA gallery, despite all the other images, is of a very large man with very small cats.)
I completely misread that the first time through, and spent a few minutes wondering why on earth you would be rendering svelte men in tights and poutines. I mean, I'm sure that's a thing for some people but it didn't quite seem to be the type of image you would post ... and then I reread and realised that no, that wasn't at all what you said!
Mmmm Men covered in cheese curds and gravy, now thats a visual, but no just men in shoes that toatally symbolize their penises
you mean J cade doesn't like very svelte men in tights and poulaines (?) LOL. I read it that way too.
Well, being a hillbilly I know what tights are, it's what little girls wear to dance class, but poulaines I had to search for the definition; we just call the roach stompers. Anyway, the standard joker clothing ensemble should be pretty population I would think. Medieval themes are still a very popular.
For me, mens fashion really hit its high point in the 15-16th century ;)
I mean his sleeves are longer than his skirt. Thatd just fun.
I am one of those that doesn't care for postwork. For me it should have it's own catagory as it is an artform in itself to do it well. I spend a lot of time making sure the materials and surfaces are right so the unbiased lighting algorythm can do all the work. I hate "faking" it. If I create shadows and light reflections on postwork hair, it is "MY" interpretation of how it should look, unlike how it actually looks based on mathematics, that way I don't second guess myself.
I am also preplexed as to what does well in the galleries. I have had one image go into the banner and stay there for awhile, but I feel I have better images in my gallery that hardly got noticed at all. There is also a social media vibe to it, with people commenting/liking because they know or want to know certain artists. I have artists I like, but I only comment if I like the image.
I actually prefer images with postwork. to me 3D renders are just the first step to creating great art but postwork helps individualize and personalize the image and make it one's own.
Sadly the gallery is kind of a "club" or a popularity contest from what I can see. A lot of the same people patting each other on the back and upvoting each other. Outsiders or people who don't post very often seem to mostly get ignored or overlooked unless their work is AMAZING. I wouldn't take it personally if your image doesn't get many votes. :)
It's as if some on the Renderosity gallery behavior moved over here. Though generally if you look at the the ALL time rankings, the best of the best still rises.
One thing I've noticed is that people have to be careful what thumbnails they use to represent their pics. Some images look better than others compressed into that size so cropping it appropriately is key. Images of faces seem to do better sometimes than a complex scene.
I'm not sure about that. I upvote images I like no matter who produces them.
I tend to agree. It is the thumbnail that people see first and if it doesn't attract the viewer's attention then the whole image doesn't get viewed. I've seen a few really stellar images get practically no likes and when you look at the thumbnail, you have to wonder what they were thinking at times. Thumbnails are something I struggle with because sometimes the thing I think should be the focus of the image and use the thumbnail to emphasize isn't always what people comment on in the comments.
There also seems to be the luck of the draw element at times, too, because sometimes you get squished in between images of someone uploading a bunch of their own and it gets lost is a sea of picture dumps from someone else. Or, you happen to upload your image at time when others have uploaded images with similar lighting or characters or whatever it might be and your image can just get lost unless it happens to really stand out. A good thumbnail can help grab the viewer's attention and make them click on your image to see it full size.
It's definitley easy to feel "lost in the noise" in the galleries. Especially when someone comes along shortly after you and posts a dozen or so WIPs, pushing your new image to page two and off to obscurity. I've had one image bounce on and off the back end of the banner, not quite enough likes to keep it from getting bumped. But I was just thrilled to even see it momentarily up there. And then I've had other images I was really proud of get all of two likes. And some images didn't do well here but are still regularly getting likes on DA.
I think illustrators of large scenes aren't always at the advantage with thumbnails. I know when I do an action scene I'm at a loss of which part of the picture to select. If I use the whole image Shrunk down it frequently is difficult to discern what is going on.
Portraits for example or headshots which show some nice facial details often are featured images. That style lends itself to thumbnails and I think get a lot of visibility because it is easy to see in a thumbnail the details of a render which has a lot of facial detail.
That also works in reverse as well, there are a lot of thumbnails that get my interest, but then when I look at the picture in it's entirerty the composition is terrible, and the thumbnail was actually the most interesting part of the image.
Ive been using my thumbnails to hide as much of the render as possible lately. I only display a very specific detail in the thumbnail. The idea being that the viewer only gets the full suprise after being drawn into the curiosity of the thumbnail. Mostly been using this tactic with humorous renders. I dont get alot of likes, 17 is the max, but I do get some return viewers who are extremely talented artists. One or two vendors as well. My renders arent technically that good, but my composition is improving quite a bit. Thats what I think anyways.