1. Pivot is your god, so don't post "omg ues flahs nub".
2. You shall not repost your animation thread, even if it doesn't get enough comments.
3. Remember skill rankings, and keep them off the forums because they are not constructive at all and are completely opinion-subjective.
4. Honor intelligent posting (and keep the swears down. . .).
5. You shall not flame. (ENFORCED.)
6. You shall not post sexually-oriented or purposefully awful animations to get attention from your noob hordes, or for any other reason. You know who you are.
7. You shall not steal animations. This will result in a SMITING.
8. You shall not bear false accusations of your quitting Pivot, because it's really annoying.
9. You shall not argue with thy neighbor (take it to PM's or MSN if you must).
10. You shall not covet thy neighbor's talent (don't act jealous, we don't care).
PM me for additions or to argue a rule.
You're expected to read these, so if you haven't, well, you're still subject to punishment under the rules.
Constructive criticism and you
I have noticed recently that there has been a hellava lot of flaming and crap C&C going on in the pivot forum. So I thought I'd might as well put it here.
I made this thread to try to help with the flaming and what not. This problem probably isn't helped by the fact that Pivot as a program picks up a lot of the real beginners or the people who have NEVER animated before in their lives. As such they think that anything they make is 'Da |3es7!i!' so they get a bit of a shock when they think they can post outside of the beginners thread but everyone says "That sucked' or 'Your terrible'. If they do post out of the beginners thread please refrain from doing the above as they simply don't know better, but politely redirect them to the beginners thread with some ideas on how to make their animations better (or report the post to be merged with the beginners thread). If they do take this the wrong way IGNORE THEM, because if you flame them back you're just creating more problems and making yourself look bad.
GUIDELINES FOR COMMENTING:
1. If you have nothing to say to HELP them, don't post at all. Warns will be given for this.
2. Don't repeat comments already given, i.e. don't say 'That was choppy' just after the person above has said that.
3. If you do really hate their animation and have to say that you do at least GIVE THEM SOME ADVICE.
4. Just be polite and curteous.
5. Don't just rate the animation or rank it as "lulz ur medium high beginner" because that doesn't help new members improve.
HOW TO GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM:
1. Tell them what you liked, if any.
2. Tell them what you didn't like (POLITELY).
3. Tell them what you think could help them improve it.
4. Link or suggest a tutorial to help. (don't just say THAT SUCKED, READ TUTS NOOB)
FOR NEW PIVOTERS:
1. If you have just downloaded Pivot, please post in the Beginners thread to start with.
2. Don't take any flaming seriously, but you can report it using the report post link (
) on their post.3. Along with the above rule, learn to tell when it's criticism and when it's flaming. Criticism tells you what's wrong while flaming just says it sucks. In addition, learn to accept criticism or you'll get more flaming because you look like a jerk.
4. Don't ignore advice just because you don't like it, people are trying to help you improve.
5. Type properly, it will get you some more respect if you do.
-Steiner
BASIC QUESTIONS
Q: Where can I get Pivot?
A: You can get Version 2.2.5 here: http://atlas.walagata.com/w/peterbone/Pivot.zip
Thanks 2-D for the link
Q: What is Pivot 3 Beta?
A: You can download it here, but I recommend you not to use it. It has many bugs and it's pretty unstable. Better stick with 2.2.5. Don't have high hopes that Pivot 3 will ever be finished. Peter Bone heard a lot of bad talk about the Beta, so he propabely won't finish it. Thanks Gray for the link.
Q: How do I add sounds and music to my pivot animation?
A: You can't add them in pivot. Pivot can only export to .gif format, which is a picture format and can't carry sounds. If you want to add sounds, save your animation as a .gif and import it into the "Windows Movie Maker". It comes with Windows XP.
Q: How do I add Weapons or other stuff to my animations?
A: Pivot can import .stk files, which you can make yourself. Just click "File" and then "Create new stick". This is a good tutorial to check out for the beginning. If you don't want to make the .stks yourself, go to www.droidz.org or www.darkdemon.org
Q: I am not really good at animating. What should I do to get better?
A: First, read tutorials here and here. Then, don't make threads for your animations for now. People will get mad at you, because you aren't good enough to deserve your own thread. We have a thread for all beginners to help each other and to show their animations, it's located here.
Q: How do I allow other people to watch my animation?
A: Just follow these instructions. Believe me, it's very easy, you will get the hang of it soon. Tutorial by 2-D.
Q: How do I change the framerate?
A: In pivot, you propabely know the buttons to play and to stop the animation. Right next to it, there's something that looks like a scroll bar. If you pull it down, the time in between the frames will be longer, if you push it upwards, it'll be shorter. This means that, the higher the thing is, the faster your animation goes. Once you've uploaded your animation, however, it can't go any faster than the pivot default setting. Browsers won't let it. So you might as well not mess with this bit.
Q: I've got Pivot 3 Beta, but when I click on a .stk file it opens Pivot 2.2.5 and tells me I need 3!
A: .stk files are always linked to Pivot 2.2.5, regardless of what version they require. This is why you need to open Pivot 3 independantly and then go to "Open .stk file" in there. That's the only way to make it work.
That's it. If any of you knows more stuff to be added, tell me.
If you want to make blood, beams, exc. You shouldn't ask people in this thread. Take your experience from other animations and see that its a bunch of lines and circles. Maybe trying the 'tutorial' section will benefit you. Last I checked there were some good tutorials in there.
Thanks to Smashdood, Steiner and Uber for their parts.