All that aside, this is a great site for anyone wanting to explore the more adult side of their own characters, or artistic characters.

 

THE STORE.

The Renderotica store itself is aimed more at the Poser side of the market, with next to no content for any other software. There are a few gems of creations in the store, but unfortunately for the most part it seems to be just people trying to make a quick buck in the adult marketplace.

The most frustrating part of the store would have to be the checkout system followed closely by the search engine.

There is no instant delivery of your purchase via download, instead you have to wait until your order has been placed, what seems to be manually, and then released for download by one of their team.

On the second short coming, the search engine delivers text based results whic to me are a pain in the ass for what is so richly a graphically oriented site. Did we forget that piece of code folks?

 

THE GALLERIES.

Not that well organised into categories, and tiring to navigate at times. It can leave you feeling like it's just a cheap and nasty adult site, but then again, for the most part it is free.

Don't go looking for the best of the best here, you'll be hard pressed to find it. You have to remember most of the artists here are ordinary people who don't do this for a living and quite often it shows through in the work.

This is mainly a place to kick back and just enjoy a little adult fun from the ordinary JΠdown the street.

 

PREMIER GALLERY

There is another review on this section, so I won't go into detail, only to say that it really isn't worth it.

 

Overall Renderotica just an interesting little place to visit, have a bit of a laugh and every so often get a bit of an eye opener. It's everyday people dotted with the odd semi-professional.

If you're after top shelf porn, look somewhere else.

These days Renderosity have evolved from it's very humble beginnings to be almost the hub of the 3D hobbyist community, however this is not a community for the weak of heart.

There are times when you almost get the feel that the greater community are pretty cold and uncaring in the development and nurturing of new artists, and that the galleries can also seem a place of hard truths and politics. But I guess when you're as old as Renderosity is, and as large, you can tend loose a bit of the human touch.

With so many veterans, Renderosity has also been a place of great discoveries, and every so often you may even be graced by the presence of an industry giant, and not even know it.

 

THE STORE.

This is probably the best store on the net that caters to mainly the hobbyist, but can also have some goodies for the professional too, and at the right price.

The layout is good, and the search engines and categorisation works well to help you find what you're looking for.

The store also have a good checkout system and accounts page that lets you backtrack faithfully through your purchases. I can even see the first item I ever purchased there.

 

THE GALLERIES.

Like many of the galleries on the net, the guage of your level of skill is the amount of feedback you get on an image, but unlike some of the other galleries out there, don't be expecting helpful comments on your path to glory.

Sometimes Renderosity can be a cruel place, but you just have to learn to take it on the chin if you want to make it in the real world anyway.

The Renderosity galleries are not a good place for the beginnier to post their first work as the lack of feedback has been known to make people flee the hobby all together.

My main advice here would be to stick with it and just enjoy yourself. Soak up the glory of any great images you do and roll with the silence of anything else you create.

 

THE FORUMS.

Depending on which forum you intend on visiting, a thick skin may be in order because the shots that some of the members can take at eachother can be pretty brutal.

Stick mainly on to the forums for your chosen software, be polite and try to keep on topic. This will keep you safe and if it is a simple questions that some moron decides to pay you out over don't worry, just ignore them and rest assured that someone else will tear shreds off them on your behalf.

Until you have the experience and the stamina STICK TO THE TOPIC!

 

Overall, like many communities, Renderosity is still a great place to learn and a brilliant place to thicken your skin.

Scout through there for a while, build you skill and courage, then take the plunge. You may surprise yourself.

The 3D Commune is probably the most hobbyist friendly community on the internet that caters to the needs of budding artists.

As a whole the community and moderation team at large are a friendly and helpful bunch of people and if you are interested in letting your creations be viewed by the rest of the worldwide audience the feedback you will get is mostly that of encouragement.

 

THE GALLERIES.

Definately the place for beginners wishing for feedback on their creations. Don't look too hard for constructive criticism though, as most of what you will get here are gentle pats on the back. As a rule with most online galleries, the way to guage your growth in talent is the number of comments you get on an image.

 

THE FORUMS.

You're always sure to find someone willing to help you out with any technical questions you might have, plus they're also a good place to just sit back and have a laugh at some of the antics of various members. The golden rule here is the more active and helpful you are, the more help you'll get in return. It really is the rule of Karma in these forums.

 

THE STORE.

This is the section of the site that tends to fall over a little. The store can be a little clunky at times. The navigation dropdown menu seems to be written in some kind of java that has never really liked any of the PC's I have tried to view the site from. The products you will find there are mostly of the fill in variety. Don't go looking for top shelf stuff at the 3D Commune, there just isn't a lot of it. In saying that however, there are still some vendors well worth a regular visit to. FK Design being the most notable of these.

The checkout system isn't too hard to navigate your way through once you get the hang of it and I never have ad any reason to doubt the security of their setup.

Their store moderators are always very helpful, a fairly reasonable on hand to answer any queries.

 

OVERALL.

This is a site will worth a visit. Once you get past the drab interface and some of the clunky navigation that really needs an update, you'll find a group of fairly helpful people, and to top it off the owner of the site is very active, even if he dŒsn't know when to stop talking sometimes, and has his heart in the right place when it comes to the needs of a community he has taken the time to help along their chosen path of fun and hillarity.

 

Take the time to visit the 3D Commune, it's good clean fun.

I accept and expect that there will be, in some cases, reviews written that will not please the owners/creators of the products in question, however in each case I have only voiced my opinion as a customer.

I have made each so that each review can be responded to by anyone who is a signed member of the forum here, including the creators of the products, and will gladly re-analyse a product if it has been updated.

The reviews found within this site are not paid reviews. I will not be bribed in any way! For now all reviews are done on products that I have purchased.

If any vendor wishes to send me a copy of an item to be reviewed, it will be treated the same as any other product found within this review section. I will submit a copy of the requested review to the vendor before publication so that any down sides to the product I might find can be rectified. If no rectification is going to be made then the review will stand and be posted as is.

This nifty little package from WebWizGuide will do everything I want it to do for now as I just don't have the time to be writing the code for a whole new at the moment.

 

Slowly I will be adding sections and content to the site and everything will be back up to speed again as I finish turning on all the features.

 

Once again I ask you for your patience at the moment as I find the time to get what content I have uploaded and everything up and running.

I have been working on a few new items and renders, but simply won't be releasing them until I think they are ready for general viewing/use.

 

Thanks for your patience,

MichÆl Whelan (aka. Angel MichÆl)