@Alley
First I was informed by the "powers that be" at RL, that all the thumbs had to be changed to 512x650 or the content would be removed; when I balked & sent them a rather blatant reply, as I had over 6,000 contents uploaded under the old image requirements & thought their new reqs should be a "from this point forward", I was then informed that the content with the older thumbnail size would not be removed, but it would also never be featured. Then they came up with the "drag & drop" in the store backend to change the thumbnails that was supposed to make the changes easier (because they are not the developers, they don't realize how long it takes sometimes to just get a decent thumbnail created), so I once again informed them I was not going to change all those thumbnails, to which the response was that product without a 512x650 would not only not be featured, but would not show up in searches when they were finished with their website updates. To which I responded that if they want 512x650 thumbnails, then they should send out a program patch for their software that created thumbnails that were the appropriate size they desired, which RL has not done.  At that point in the back & forth dialogue, I just gave up......

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iClone Certified Content Developer and Author of the Pinky Frink® Adventure Series & the Pinky Frink® Learning Books
site: Granny J's 3D Attic SKYPE = grannyjsplace email: grannyj@grannyjs3dattic.com
MY RIG: GPU: Dual GeForce GTX 970M | CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-5930K @3.50GHz| 32.00 GB RAM | OS: Win 7 Pro SP1 | DX11

well if they are going to make me replace all that stuff (i started to panic when i read the first part and logged into comment and then finished reading so phew) but if they are making me replace all my thumbnails etc and since i am wierd and like to make mine fancy i guess I will upgrade all the content to pbr while i am at it.  /shrug I was thinking of repainting a few items anyhow.   I can understand that not featuring thing because its a standardized setup the screenshots and thumbnails would look strange and messy for their commercial purposes.   Soo this is a situation of marketting and aesthetics .. but the flat our removal was a bit panicy so glad they changed their mind.   

Anyhow looking at it from their point of view the reality is that they are trying to present their products and marketplace (which is theirs also hehe) and keep some quality control in for aesthetics the reality is that logically their argument makes sense.      I dont care if my stuff is featured but yes i can see how this is going to be a major chore for anyone with a lot of content who is building their brand and has a large presence already and is trying to maintain it.  This is when being a one man band is difficult.    

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"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dr. Seuss

Well, it was great to hear that the folks @RL are working to improve this trial process..... 
Perhaps they can tackle the content uploader issues at the same time.  Kind of redundant to require preview images that will never been seen to be added in the uploader when the developer will be creating the images required for use when creating the pack once the items have been uploaded.  It would certainly save a lot of space on the RL servers to handle it this way.  Even for developers who are selling "single items" - just have them place the single items in a pack, using the online create pack feature. Eliminate all image uploading from the content uploader (which will decrease upload time when all those LARGE images are not being uploaded).

As for trial stuff,  item count in packs vary from developer to developer, however, mine usually far exceed 10 & often exceed 100....  perhaps RL should consider allowing the developer to SELECT which items in the pack will be included in the trial download - for example, Master Builder has 425 items, but the user doesn't need all 425 to evaluate the pack - I could easily set 30-35 of those items to trial in the pack & that would provide the user with enough of a "peek" to make a purchase decision.  Perhaps the answer to the trial process dilemma is to place the "power" to decide what is triable in the hands of the developers?  Just an idea....

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iClone Certified Content Developer and Author of the Pinky Frink® Adventure Series & the Pinky Frink® Learning Books
site: Granny J's 3D Attic SKYPE = grannyjsplace email: grannyj@grannyjs3dattic.com
MY RIG: GPU: Dual GeForce GTX 970M | CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-5930K @3.50GHz| 32.00 GB RAM | OS: Win 7 Pro SP1 | DX11

Thank you for all the feedback in this thread.

Here is a little information from the Content team regarding the points raised:

1. If developers only sell the pack, no single items, then our Uploader will create the thumbnail for each item.  In this case, it is ok if developers don't want to update the thumbnail. But if they also sell the single item, they will need to update it.

2. Developers can decide to either put a ""Preview image"" or ""YouTube link"".

3. iClone will have an update to let the saved thumbnail size become 512*512. This should also help save time.


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Hey Pete's, what the heck is up with the marketplace? it appears to be broken. can't navigate past the first page on both pack and item.

vidius

The Marketplace is working fine for me with Microsoft Edge. Which browser are you using?


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Hello Peter,
everything is working fine now. I have them all. IE, Crome, firefox, and edge. all of them showed the same result. but it seems to be working fine now.


vidius

As far as I know, you require either at least one preview pic or a YouTube link.



"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast

My issue with the new requirements is that the 512x650 thumbnail is hardly (never?) used, so why make it so large?
When I am browsing the Marketplace then the icons all appear fairly small (definitely not 512x650). Similarly when you click on some content, the header is large (although not 1920x1080) but the thumbnail is still small...not 512x650. Maybe I am missing something but it seems that the full size of the thumbnail is not used (or if it is used somewhere it seems to be fairly remote use), so why insist on such a large thumbnail?
Initially one might say "who cares"? But actually it makes a big difference if you are a content developer (like me) who likes to make animated thumbnails to showcase the content better. Unlike still thumbnails, which increase slightly in file size for an increased canvas size, animated thumbnails can increase dramatically in file size for an increase in canvas size. This means longer load times for a page which may contain multiple animated thumbnails.
I believe that the 512x650 requirement comes from the Content Store which seems to use bigger thumbnails...but in that case why not upload two icon sizes (like on Renderosity and other sites) so that the smaller animated thumbnail can be used in the Marketplace and the larger icon (possibly not animated) can be used in the Content Store?

"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast

I've replied to Lord Ashes' question via email, and would like to repost here for other developers.
The front end of New Marketplace will be similar as Content Store's, so the preparation of large-size thumbnails will definitely help when New Marketplace launches.