Index:
The Sections
Home
Animations/Ranks
Activities
Pivot 3 Beta
Other programs
Other boards
What you can do
Threads
Posting/BBcode
Signatures and Avatars
Difference between having fun and spamming
Rules
Private Messages
FAQ (Frequently asked questions)
What are hosting sites?
Where can I find hosting sites?
What are Droidz and Darkdemon?
The Sections
General
This is the place for stuff relating to PA. Rule breaking, important changes, member announcements. You'll find it all in the general. It is the control centre for PA, and if you don't go there often enough, you'll almost
defiantly get lost in what is going on.
Pivot subject
Considering the fact that you joined a site based around Pivot, you'll know what it is. And if you don't, its a stick figure animation program.
You use it to make your own aniamtions.
The
Pivot subject board is where you can practice animating things that you've never done before, or never had the guts to try because your afraid it will effect your rank (which we will come onto later). Every week a new pivot subject is posted, where all ranks, beginner up to advanced, can have a try at. You can even bump old topics, as long as you include an animation with your post.
Off topic
Ok, off topic if more or less for two things: Stuff not relating to PA, and FUN :D. No seriously, as long as its not spam, you can post whatever here. Games, Polls,
Anything. Yeah. Its been done.
Animations/Ranks
What are they?
The ranks are a way of defining how well you animate with pivot, and how fast your improving. It is a way you can get rates, constructive criticism, so on and so fourth.
Beginner
Now, please, let me get this into your head: START HERE, START HERE, START HERE, NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU THINK YOU ARE, ALWAYS START HERE.
This is the starting point, were you shall begin your journey throughout the ranks. Get rates, constructive criticism, etc.
Rookie
The midway point from beginner to inter, those who understand the general concept of pivot, know how to ease, lose stiffness, but haven't quite got the grasp of it all, are moved here.
Intermediate
The third animation rank, people who defiantly know what they are doing belong here. Most of the time, the only reason stopping them from going straight to advance is they're lack of will to make something long, and to put they're full effort into things. I've seen a lot of people who have deserved advanced for a long time get stuck here, just because they CANNOT, BE, ARSED. Of course, that isn't always the case. Sometimes they're animating at a fairly good level, but have numerous tweaks that need to be made before they can progress further. Its more complicated than this, but whatever.
Advanced
Your at the peak of your animating
hobby, but you can always become better. So the path doesn't end here!
Advanced are defined like this: They can
do very fluid movements, perfect easing and cool effects. They can animate with
complex backgrounds, and they know how to make an animation interesting. They
are an inspiration to others, and since they know a lot about animating, they
can always give helpful tips and constructive criticism.
Sticks
Ok, the stick section. This area is to show of the stickfigures that you made in the Pivot Stick figure Builder, and, hopefully, get people to comment on them. However, I would recommend only posting the sticks you made with Pivot Stickfigure Animator 2.2.5, because not all people own the 3 Beta version.
Pivot Activities
What are activities?
Activities are the more interactive part of PA, where your animation skill begins to come into use. You can joint with other members, have a pivot war, enter a competition or even join a collab. You can look up (and make!) tutorials, help with requests, ask questions, ask for a mentor. I'll go into greater detail about these later on, but this is just a general overlook.
Competition: Here you can enter a competition
or make your own. Competition are often about making the best animation of a
specific type, and there are often a prize included, such as STK files, etc.
Joints/Collabs:
A
joint
is an animation made by two or more different animators who take turns making
certain segments.
A
collab is when a bunch of people mix their
animations together, maybe about a specific subject, and put them all together
in a Flash or YouTube video. The animators usually have to post their animation
before a specific deadline, and then a "Flasher" puts it together in Flash or
Windows Movie Maker (or another program), adding music and/or sound effects,
then publishes it on a site like YouTube.
Pivot
Wars: A Pivot War is
when two or more people make their signature STKs fight each other (your own STK
wins, of course), and when both/all animators are done with the animation, they
post a topic with them, so other people can vote on who wins.
Pivot
Art: This is when u make
an impossible to animate frame and save it as a pivture, (gif) and post it here.
Tutorials:
If you find something in your animating (e.g. running,
fighting, etc.) a little difficult, and you need some help, this is where to go.
Here you can also make your own tutorials, but make sure they explains what to
do and why. Posting a PIV file can help people if they study the frames, but
then they don't learn the theoretical part of it.
If you need a specific tutorial, but you can't find it DONT
REQUEST IT HERE - all requests go to the Request section (read below).
Requests:
If you need anything, maybe a special STK or tutorial or
just an advice, request it here.
Pivot
Questions: If you need
help on the program, or if you have a question for Peter Bone, the creator of
Pivot Stickfigure Animator, post it here.
Mentoring:
Well getting good at pivot can be hard, but were here for
you. Here you can get help or mentored for other pivot animators.
Easytoon
Easytoon is a simple black and white animation program, where you draw the picture in frame by frame. You post animations made with this program in this section.
Flash
Flash is another animation program, except much, much more complicated and professional. It is also a lot more expensive (although I'm sure you could find some download torrents). But don't let all that put you off; learn how to animate with this and you could even make a living off of it. Post animations made with flash here.
Other programs
Basically, post anything made with other programs, excluding pivot, flash and easytoon, here. Can be any program, not just animation.
Other boards
Guides
This section mainly consists of basic guides to do with pivot, but just the
main things, like how to save, the stickfigure builder, etc.
Other
This section contains all of the official things that happen on PA, including the Wall of Fame, Wall of shame, Awards, Animation of the Week, Guidelines, etc.
Contact Managers
This is a section where you can talk, in public, to managers. Really, a much better way to get into contact them is PM, but here is a place to post for less urgent matters.
What you can do
Threads
Ok, what is a thread? A thread is a page/set of
multiple pages full of posts. You can post in these threads, (as long as you obey rules,
I.E., no posting in threads just to get PP or your post count up, and NO SPAM unless it appears suitable (I.E., a thread made for spam alone ), and you can also create your own threads. To post in a thread, go into it, and somewhere on the page there is a "Post Reply" button. It should take you to a page where you can enter text into a box - once you are satisfied with what you've typed, click the submit button.
You have just posted in a thread :3.
To CREATE a thread, enter the forum you want to create a thread in, and then it should take you to the same page were you enter posts. Do the same as you did last time.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS make sure that the post/thread you make is suited to the place you put it.
Posting/BBcode
Posting... Well, as I showed you in the previous section, posting is a simple process - what I am going to do here is show you here is all the other little things you can include, such as BBcode, graphical emoticons, etc.
I'm pretty sure you all know what an emoticon is; and for all those who don't, it is defined as a "textual portrayal of a writer's mood or facial expression". And, depending on the emoticon you post, it will come up with a graphical
emoticon (a picture of the facial expression/mood). A couple of examples are; :-D :) :(. Normally I would have these disabled, as I don't really like using them, but I won't for now.
To disable emoticons, if you look below the text box, you will see five tick boxes. Next to each of these are multiple options, that will allow you to disable/enable html, bbcode and
smiles. The other two selections are "attach signature" and the option to be notified when a reply is posted.
Ok, BBcode. BBcode is a very simple coding, that anyone can use, but
unfortunately your going to have to figure it out yourself, due to the fact that if I give you examples it f*cks with my BB ;P. But trust me, you'll pick it up quick.
Signatures and Avatars
OK. A signature is a sort of form that is attached to the bottom of the all your posts (if you have the "attach signature" box ticked when you post). You can change this by going into your profile, where somewhere it should say "Edit Your Signature." I only think you get this feature after a certain amount of posts, though.
You avatar is the picture that it placed in your profile, which you can see on the left hand side of your posts. You can either upload images directly off your machine, by entering the file directory, or you can use a url. Remember, there is an image size limit, so don't try to f**k the forum by uploading large ones ; ) x D. Once again, I am in the understanding that you only get this feature after around 15 or so posts.
What you can do: Having fun and spamming; The difference
Spam = Stupid, Pointless, Annoying Posts.
K, now we got THAT out the way, I'll explain what you can do and what you can't.
You CAN post one word-ers, however, it is frowned upon by the community... yeah. Also, these one word-ers must NEVER be stupid things that don't contribute to the topic at hand. As in, if there was a thread asking you a yes or no question, you COULD just answer no, but it would be preferable for you to explain why you answered "no". But if it was a thread asking you a yes or no question and you replied "poo" to it, then that wouldn't be acceptable. That would be spam. See?
Simple.
And you can't go around posting topics in the wrong area just to piss people off. Like you posted a "Swearing; good or bad" topic in the beginner area. Well, that's spam. However, posting that in off-topic/general would be acceptable.
Have fun, but don't be annoying, k?
Rules
Okay heres some, if you want more go to the rules page. Stick to 'em
- NO strong advertising.
- NO Flooding; Any member found posting more than three times in a row will have their messages removed.
- NO Discrimination.
- NO Racism.
- NO Pornography.
- NO Intense member directed slander.
- NO Phone/Cell numbers/Personal Addresses/Credit Card Details are to be posted.
- NO Extreme sexual references or information.
- NO Taking credit for someone
else's work.
- NO Stealing the intellectual property found on this group.
- NO Advertising external unknown websites.
- Though the group is mature, please remember that younger audiences may visit this site. Though it is not against the rules, try and keep the profanities to a minimum.
- If you would like to speak with management contacts them via private messages, email, or the contact managers
section.
- NO Spam (worthless posts). Refrain from posting one word posts.
- DO NOT
get on the bad side of a Manager or a Mod.
FAQ
What is a hosting site?
A hosting site is a site used to store files that you want to post on a forum. As in you can use http://www.pivotup.com to host pivot files that you want
to show PA. And http://www.mediafire.com, for .ZIPS and stuff.
Where can I find hosting sites?
It really all depends on the file type you want. If you want one for any sort of
.piv file, (incl. .gifs, and .styks), then pivotup.com is probably one of the best. And
Droidz share, too. (Look them up on Google).
Droidz and Darkdemon?
Droidz is a massive stick figure archive that you can go to for downloading stick figures, while Darkdemon is a site with a much more difficult ranking system.
Every one keeps talking about an onion skin, what is it?
- Then onion skin is the grey out line that shows
the frame before the one you have selected. Be careful though, having many
objects on the screen with cover up the onion skin, making it harder to animate.
That's why you might hear A higher animator say "This was hard because I didn't
have an onion skin" meaning he/she used many complex sticks for back grounds.
I never get any replies
to my animation topic. What do I do?
- Remember, if you want your topic to be replied to, make
sure it looks nice and easy readable. Saying: "ZOMG LUK AT DIS, TIS DA 1337 HAHA
LOL I PWN" just makes people click Back and look after another animation. Type
nicely, and use correct grammar as far as you are able to. But just because your
topic looks nice, isn't always making people reply.
You must also remember, that if you want
to have your animation rated or commented, it must be worth it. No one want to
rate an animation made in 5 minutes. Also, rate as many others as you can.
People are more likely to rate you back for rating them.
Everyone keeps
telling me, that my animations are shit and I should gtfo. Why?
- If this happens, you have posted in the wrong
section. Other members tend to be more aggressive when others post in obviously
the wrong section. Post in beginners to avoid this until you get ranked up.
I don't seem to improve on animating. What should I do?
- If you aren't improving, it may be because there
is something in particular you are having trouble with, for example running,
punching, etc. To solve this problem, follow some tutorials on the Tutorial
page. If you can't find what you are looking for, you can request a tutorial in
the Request section.
Where can I download the most recent version of Pivot Stickfigure Animator?
- Go to the guidelines, scroll down to the bottom
of the page, and there will be a link that says "Download Pivot"
How do I write a good
reply to an animation?
- Make sure
to include details about what is good, and what is not. Write what the person
can improve on and come with suggestions of what could make the animation more
interesting. This is called "CC" (Constructive Criticism) and is very much
appreciated.
I cant figure out how to add my animations to my posts.
- You have to have your animation saved as a gif,
and hosted on another site. (recommended hosting sites:
www.pivothost.com
www.photobucket.com)
and copy n paste the IMG code, or the Direct Link to your topic.
People keep telling me
to give credit for my sticks, what does that mean?
- When you make an animation and use sticks that aren't
yours, you need to give credit to the original creator of the stk or the website
at which you found it. Most sticks come from Droidz.
Question still not answered? Private message a Managers or Moderator.
