Feasability Study: Master Skin List

[daglob]

Yes, I know there are thousands of skins. That's why the title of this thread.

I can post a list of my own skins and where they are, and for my own use I have compiled a list of the skins done by Copper Age. Do other skinners have lists of their work? Do other lists of some skinners exist beyond those I've listed? Is there a fan of Mandate (or someone) who knows where all his skins are?

Just how hard would it be to compile a list of skins and their locations as of some date or another?


...and if Stumpy thinks this belongs in another fourm, I won't argue-I trust his judgement.

[Panther_Gunn]

You, sir, are certifiable.  But we knew that already.  ;)

I suppose a list of available skins that are still hosted somewhere might not be *quite* as an insane task, and once compiled, could be branched into skins that are no longer hosted, with possible contacts as to who we know has any of them.  Even so, such a task is most likely no less herculean than imagined.  I suppose an easier way to do it would be to have a Yahoo group dedicated to such a list, with excel spreadsheets loaded up that anyone could update, thus making light(er) of the task with many hands, and could be done gradually.  The question would be organization, since just one xl file would be way too huge to expect anyone to ever download & update; one such file for each letter of the alphabet might be feasible, perhaps even broken down into Marvel, DC, & Misc, or somesuch, with the possibility of seperate files to cover very popular characters (Wolverine comes to mind  ;)).  I'd recommend sorting the list by character name, and get more specific within the actual entry.  Most people look for skins/meshes in that fashion, rather than by creator.

Organizationally, if you already have a format for such a spreadsheet, I'd be happy to look at how it's laid out, & suggest/recommend any changes for having it expanded almost exponentially.  You can find my email addy in my profile.

[doctorchallenger]

What about a wiki list?

[GogglesPizanno]

With a list of that magnitude and complexity, it ideally should be stored in a database that is sortable, searchable etc... I think a wiki is too free form and non structured to be useful, and a spreadsheet/xml I think is little too limiting given the sheer numbers you are talking about. I think a spreadsheet is a good way for individual contributors or skinners to enter in a list of skins that adhered to a certain format that could then be imported into a single master database.

The database and pages to drive this kind of thing are pretty simple -- I toyed with one for the master mesh list a while ago -- the hard part is compiling the list itself.

[Panther_Gunn]

I think a spreadsheet is a good way for individual contributors or skinners to enter in a list of skins that adhered to a certain format that could then be imported into a single master database.

That was pretty much my thoughts, but I hadn't gone as far as a database.  A database is only as good as the information that it holds, and with the proliferation of skins, it wouldn't take long before the data was of ever-increasingly limited use.  Since not as many people are savvy enough to administer/update a database (depending on it's front end, of course) as they are to add data to a simple spreadsheet, I thought that might be our best bet for quicker initial compiliation of info, as well as more likely to be updated.

[bearded]

and each listing should have a thumb pic so ppl can know if they want it.  hah.
ultimately, what we need is freedom force center.  a searchable database, and you can download right there.  we need a humongous website that ppl can freely upload to.

[GogglesPizanno]

I think a spreadsheet is a good way for individual contributors or skinners to enter in a list of skins that adhered to a certain format that could then be imported into a single master database.

That was pretty much my thoughts, but I hadn't gone as far as a database.  A database is only as good as the information that it holds, and with the proliferation of skins, it wouldn't take long before the data was of ever-increasingly limited use.  Since not as many people are savvy enough to administer/update a database (depending on it's front end, of course) as they are to add data to a simple spreadsheet, I thought that might be our best bet for quicker initial compiliation of info, as well as more likely to be updated.

I think in terms of updating whether its a web front end to a DB or an excel spreadsheet, the bulk of the effort is just getting people to do it. While a spreadsheet might be easy to use, you still have to deal with keeping it up to date, uploading it and maintaining it online somewhere especially if there are several of them floating around... there is a fair amount of maintenance inherent in this idea regardless of the details.

[daglob]

I hadn't really thought about going into who has a particular skin, but where it is posted, instead. USAgent seems to have pretty much EVERYTHING, but it would be unfair of anyone to list him as the source for hard to find stuff (I mean, he has to sleep, eat, and use the bathroom, right?). I also know that the list would have to be maintained to be of use, but the Master Mesh is woefully out of date and is still useful.

Some skins are available only in mods, whereas they might have once been in The Skindex or Gammapatrol or something. I don't see the point in listing those, necessarily. Freedom Flat is gone, too, but the Yahoo groups are still there, so those skins are still avaialble.

I also hadn't really decided what the best way to do the list would be. My own lists are in Excel, but I have been buidling spreadsheets for over 25 years. Yeah, I remember a Wyswyg Lotus spreadsheet that was basically an interface to make it easy to enter data into the spreadsheet, then use it to sort and search the data. Surely something similar could be done in Excel?

[Podmark]

Every skin I've made are listed on the first page of my skin thread. This doesn't include links but that would be pretty easy for me to put together. So if you ever get this going I'll lend that to your cause.

[The Hitman]

I can always whip up a list of my skins. No prob.

[daglob]

I was also not thinking of making this an inteactive list; in other words, list the address but no links (unless it's real easy; I have only done one bit of html in my life). I would think that typing or cut-and-past would be fine. It should also make the list smaller as far as file size goes.

One problem is duplicate names. I mean, let's face it, just about everybody has done Superman (including me). And while I wouldn't necessarily think it should list meshes, there are some skins that are the standard skins for a mesh, such as Prime, that are available nowhere else. What do we do about those? I'm definitely NOT talking about including meshes like Superman_Ren, Captain America, or TM_Batman; these belong in the mesh list. It's all those other skins that would go on those meshes.

If it were a database, what fields would we need? "Character Name" and "Location" for sure. "Skinner" I would guess...

Pod: What a great idea. I probably should do that to my skin thread. Thanks for the support, too.

Hitman: Thank you, too. Maybe building A list isn't out of the realm of possibility.

[GogglesPizanno]

At the bare minimum, I think you would need:

- Character name
- Creator
- URL for download location

Optional
- Mesh its designed for
- Comic Company*
- Hero or Villain*

*Not everyone knows every character

[Podmark]

It's obviously impossible to get every skin every on the list. But if we could get an incomplete list together that would at least be helpful for people.

[stumpy]

Why not use Google Docs for this? It allows online sharing and collaboration/editing of spreadsheets and other common document formats.

BTW, fields should probably minimally include

• Creator Name
• Character Name
• Skin Name
• Mesh Name(s)
• Thumbnail URL
• Skin URL #1
• Skin URL #2
• Skin URL #etc.

(Note that Character Name and Skin Name often won't be the same. E.g "Superman" and "Superman_REN".)

Google allows spreadsheets up to 1 MB in size, which would probably work well with this sort of project, since the data is all text. Set it so that anyone can view the spreadsheet online. People can download it locally to add their own data, sort, etc.

[daglob]

Well, Stumpy just solved the duplicate name problem.

My listing for one of my Superman skins would look something like this:

Creator  Character     Skin Name             Mesh Name              URL

Daglob   Superman     G_Reeves_Supes     male_cape_nobelt    (url too long to fit)


Maybe have a "Notes" section at the end, for any special info, like in this case it would say "George Reeves as Superman" or "Superman from TV" or something (Off topic question: are there any Dean Cain Superman skins?). On the Prime skin, the note would be "Standard for Male_Heavy_Cape by Grenedier". That would let people know that, in order to get Prime, they have to get Grenedier's Male Heavy Cape, which, of course, they need anyway. I know it sounds obvious, but in this stressed out world, sometimes the obvious gets overlooked while trying to deal with all that other crap. In most other cases, such as G_Reeves, the mesh should be easy to look up in the Master Mesh List.

What if the mesh isn't readily available?


Although... to make it easier for most people to search, the character might should go first, then the creator, and have the "default" search/sort set up on the first column. Savvy spreadsheet users could set up any additional parameters they wanted to, or change the search critieria as they liked. C6 is going to tax the sort function, though.

It might not be completely out of line if we ended up with more than one spreadsheet: A-M an N-Z, for instance. More than about three and I think it wouldn't get used.

[Podmark]

For skins that currently aren't online we could say they are unavailable or something. Then at least the user would know said character exists, maybe include a link at the top of the page to the requests forum where they could ask for it.

[daglob]

For skins that currently aren't online we could say they are unavailable or something. Then at least the user would know said character exists, maybe include a link at the top of the page to the requests forum where they could ask for it.

Good idea. Make "Unavailable" the URL