Member-submitted posters for our Online Store? Discuss here!

[General Phoenix]

A very cool feature of our Cafepress online store is our ability to produce high-quality full-color posters in various sizes. It has been my intention since the store first came online to invite all of our members to use our site to create posters of their own images in order to promote 3DG and our artists at the same time.

As with the other items in our store, Cafepress has a base price which we then raise to make a profit on our items. For each item in our store, that profit is no more than $1.00. In the case of posters, however, we will be dealing with work created by YOU, or members, and as such, I feel I should share some information with you.

Here are the base prices for posters:

Non-framed 11 x 17 = 3.99
Non-framed 16 x 20 = 11.99
Non-framed 23 x 35 = 15.99
FRAMED 6 X 14 = 29.99
FRAMED 9 X 12 = 34.99
FRAMED 10 X 14 = 34.99

My suggestion is that I simply don't mark up these items, thus removing the need for us to track profits. After all, I have no desire to make money off of someone else's work - the store is mainly a way to make 3DG more visible to the off-line world. Any profits made from it will come from the apparrel and other 3DG-branded items.

Another option would be for me to set the prices on each item according to the artist's wishes, and then pass the profits on to the artist. I would be happy to do this, and it would be relatively easy to do, since Cafepress allows me to track the sales of each specific item. I would leave the choice to the individual artist on how they want to handle this.

NOTE - Artists who want to purchase posters of their own work would still have to pay the base price - this is the amount charged by Cafepress to produce each item, and cannot be discounted.
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There would have to be a few requirements for those of you who want to have posters created from your images:

1 - Poster images cannot contain ANY canon designs or trademarked logos, be they Trek, Star Wars, Galactica, or otherwise. Only original designs can be used in the posters, for obvious copyright reasons. In addition, written permission would have to be obtained from any third-parties whose images or meshes are used in the image. This information should be provided along with the image at the time of submission.

2 - Poster images must be saved at 150 dpi minimum for proper printing. Here are the minimum image sizes to completely fill the posters: (Note - images that are not quite large enough, or do not have the proper aspect ratio can be "matted" to an appropriate background to fill the printing area.)

11 x 17 = 1650 x 2550
16 x 20 = 2400 x 3000
23 x 35 = 3450 x 5250
6 x 14 = 900 x 2100
9 x 12 = 1350 x 1800
10 x 14 = 1500 x 2100

Keep this in mind when you save your scene files, so you can re-render in a larger size if needed.

3 - It is the submitting artist's responsibility to provide proper credit for any meshes or objects used in the scene. These credits MUST be placed ON THE IMAGE. We will take no responsibility for any disputes over the source of an image's meshes or background - we will simply remove the item from the store and refer the offended party to the submitting artist.

4 - Finally, all members should be aware that the 3DG logo will appear somewhere on each item, outside of the space occupied by the submitted image (e.g. in the black "matte" area underneath or above the image itself.) If you want us to include a link to your website, we will be happy to - just send me an e-mail or PM along with your submission.

Okay, that's all I can think of for now. I know I just dropped a lot of information on you, so please reply with any questions or suggestions.

Thanks!

Sweet idear man

[General Phoenix]

Well, thanks...

But I'm sure that some of you have something to add on the subject, and I encourage you to voice your opinions, concerns, etc. before I begin accepting submissions and setting up this section of the store.

Outstanding Idea...I can't wait to use this feature!

[General Phoenix]

Alright - since it seems that there are no concerns about this feature, I'm ready to begin accepting submissions for posters. If you want to submit an image, make sure it meets the minimum size requirements, then either e-mail it to me as an attachment, or send me a link via e-mail or PM.

explain 150 dpi?

So my camaro would be soemthing that couldnt be printed on a poster right?

[General Phoenix]

Ebolii, I've done a few experiments and found that a lower per-inch resolution will be usable, but the image quality might suffer. The 150 dpi is the minumum resolution that Cafepress prints their images in. The main thing to keep in mind is the overall image sizes - anything that doesn't meet those minimum sizes won't even show up when I try to put it on a poster. As long as your final image meets the minimum size requirements, I can make it fit on the poster and look good.

TGG7979 - No, the Camaro would, unfortunately, not be allowed on a poster. I could use it as an image on the Artist of the Month prize, since that store is hidden from the public, but it couldn't be used for actual sale.

Originally posted by General Phoenix
I could use it as an image on the Artist of the Month prize, since that store is hidden from the public, but it couldn't be used for actual sale.

Heres to hopin that come next month that image wins the AOM

yeah but who will be buying those posters?

I mean if you want something hanging on your wall isn't it much easyer to just press print and select the good printer, or ask ppl you know who have a good printer?

I'm not opposing that idea, I just want an answer to my question, cuz I'm curious!

[General Phoenix]

Well, not a lot of people have the resources to print a 24 x 36 inch poster, and having it done at Kinko's or someplace like that can be pretty pricy. Hell, if they were for sale, I can think of at least a dozen images I'd like to have as posters from this place. Several of our artists could easily fill a very large gallery with prints of the work they've done. With the online store, you can get those prints at a low cost, and the quality is excellent.

The advantage of having them all as part of the 3DG store is that we could have multiple posters for each artist, without the artist having to pay anything for the store. You see, as it is, the 3DG store costs about $7 per month. This allows me to have as many products for sale as I want. The standard stores, which are free to set up, allow only ONE of each product. That's ONE poster, ONE mug, etc. To showcase one of our artists' entire portfolio would require up to thirty different stores. But I could consolidate them into one store, and handle all the store maintenance, setting prices and arranging merchandise as the artists dictate.

In addition, I wouldn't even want a percentage of the artwork sales - the way I see it, with all the people who purchase posters and other merchandise from our artists (and I expect we will have plenty of them once this gets going) a few of them are bound to buy a 3DG shirt, or mousepad, or something. Even if I only sell seven products from the 3DG part of the store, that covers the maintenance costs.

The most important point to me, though, is that as long as our artists' work is confined to the patrons of this forum, then a very large audience is missing out on it, and the artists aren't getting the exposure they rightly deserve. The artwork on this site deserves to be seen by more than just a hundred or so people - it should be hanging on walls all over the world. It should be seen at sci-fi and fantasy conventions. It should generate at least a few dollars for the artists who worked so painstakingly to create it.

yeah that's true

well I hope it'll pay off!

[021310061976]

Originally posted by General Phoenix
TGG7979 - No, the Camaro would, unfortunately, not be allowed on a poster. I could use it as an image on the Artist of the Month prize, since that store is hidden from the public, but it couldn't be used for actual sale.

actually, i found that specific item through the main cafepress website by simply doing a search for "3d".

go to the cafepress.com site, enter 3d in the search field on the upper left, and tgg7979's camaro will appear with your results, along the right side of the screen, third item down, under "sweet stuff you'll love".

i don't know if an intentional decision to do this was made, but i thought i'd let you know that the AOM section is not hidden from the public.

[General Phoenix]

Well, it damn well should be...

I'll check on this.

Good news, though - it seems that the Camaro would not be a problem. As it turns out, these guys check every single image that's uploaded, and so far only one image has been deemed questionable - Arcangel Gabriel's Superman tribute pic. I just removed the image after sending him his prize.

So as far as I'm concerned, any image that they don't ask me to remove is eligible to be made a poster - I would still stay away from any canon Trek ships, or other obvious violations, but aside from that, feel free to submit anything to me as long as it is the proper size.