text:
Should information on how to use <kbd> be taught to new users?
I have noticed that many edits by moderators are to change keystrokes like CTRL + A to the proper Ctrl+A format.
Should information on how to properly use key command formatting be included i.e. on the tour page, or even when trying to post your first question?
I know it took me a very long time to figure out how to correctly format key commands, and I think it would take a lot of load off of the moderators if we could educate new users right from the get go.

Using kbd is optional even tho it's nicer to read. Generally speaking, edits should be substantial as opposed to small visual changes. See http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/241/micro-editing-does-everything-need-to-be-perfect. There is a small header above the editing area with helpful tooltips and a help panel. A one minute glance at the help center should get anyone up to scratch with se if they are interested.

From personal experience, I could not find out how to properly format key commands, and every single time I posted a question or answer, it would be edited and the  tags inserted in the correct places, even if no other edits were made. This was both frustrating, and made me less likely to post anything that required you to press a button. I also could not locate the information on the web for several weeks.

The most important thing is we get clear & helpful answers, having to know too many details (and being an expert on SE markup) before you begin can also be off-putting.
SHortcuts formatted as Ctrl+C are clear, so any answers without <kbd> markup are still easily understandable.
So prefer not to be picky about this matter, popular answers from less experienced editors will likely be edited to improve the formatting later on anyway.

Good points. Between this and what @iKlsR said, I think that I understand why we shouldn't do this.

I'm inclined to think no.
Most users probably come here just to ask a quick question, and might not ever really plan on coming back regularly when they first join. There are enough active users here to edit and add <kbd> formatting to  keyboard shortcuts.
For new users who want to learn/regularly be active, they will figure it out. This information is readily available in the help pages, which are linked in the Ask a question page:

Even if such places are left undiscovered, if active users edit keyboard shortcuts to add kbd formating, a curious user only needs to click edit to see the raw markdown and discover how it was accomplished.
And if all else fails, they can always ask ;)
TL;DR: We shouldn't force irrelevant and unneeded knowledge users don't want or necessarily need to know before they can use the site. Users who do want to know will find out easily enough on their own.

More excellent points! However, could the  tag be included on the menu to the right, as how to write key commands? It wouldn't really clutter it, and it would make things a lot easier to figure out. Still, I get all of you guy's points, and maybe it is better just to let them figure it out themselves. It was extremely frustrating on my part, I know that . . .

I couldn't agree more, but that's a feature request for stackexchange. Feel free to ask on the global meta ;). BTW, in case you haven't already found it, iKlsR, CoDEmanX, and I wrote a userscript a while ago which adds a kbd button to the toolbar.

Sweet! That will save a lot of typing!

I put it on the global meta http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/244032/should-how-to-use-kbd-tags-be-included-in-the-how-to-format-list should I delete this question?

@NoviceInDisguiseGraphics No need to, it's relevant here.

Big difference between forcing it on people and offering the information. I agree that nagging is bad. Educating first time posters regarding the essentials in an entertaining way however is good. I personally miss a   and  tag. "If they're interested, they will find it" is definitely not what I perceive as 'offering information' though

@Haunt_House <kbd> is part of html, I doubt SE wants to add custom tags :P No reason we can't put RMB MMB and LMB in <kbd> tags, see for example how the <kbd> button script does it.

@gandalf3 You can persuade almost anyone if you are persistent and elegant and dedicated. I just have more relevant fights to do. I'd still like a cute little mouse with a highlighted button though.

@Haunt_House That's what the kbd script inserts (using an image), see this answer for e.g.


text:
Awesome Weapons - Challenge #2
Contest: Crazy Firepower
The two most modeled things in blender are shiny cars and awesome guns.
Here we are going to expand a little and make any type of weapon. It can be anything, from a rugged battle axe, to a powerful scy-fi cannon. It can be an existing weapon, or something totally new. It only needs to look cool and be semi realistic
Objective: Create an artwork whose main subject is an awesome weapon.
You can use any method you want, as long as you use only Blender, but it must in some way resemble a weapon.
Rules:

Only new and original work
Blender only, non commercial add-ons are allowed
Keep it nice, nothing you wouldn't want to show to a five year old.
If any doubt is raised about the validity of your entree, you will be required to Include .blend file, so we can be sure it is yours (use Blend Exchange)
The competition runs for a week, you can edit/change your submission at anytime
Late entries will be disqualified
Only one entry per person
Downvotes will not be considered when picking the winner

Voting guide:
(Going beyond the simple visual appeal)

Meets objective, not missing anything
No rules were broken
Artistically sound:

Good composition
Good use of color
Solid design

Well Executed

Technically impressive
Quality of execution meets artistic goals.

It is awesome!!!

Winning criteria:
Submission with the most upvotes as of December 4th 2014. The submission must to be posted before the deadline.
Deadline: December 1st 2014 at UTC +0000
And most importantly, have fun!
Results:
Winner:
NoviceInDisguise [6 votes]

X-27 [5 votes]
David [4 votes]

All other entries were to late to qualify

This looks like fun! Good choice!

@X-27 Does it *have* to be some powerful weapon?

No, it just needs to look like something that could be used as a weapon.

Is it one vote per voter, or can you upvote several entrees? Upvoting all would, of course, be pointless, but upvoting, say, two out of four, may make a difference in the end.

Seeing as there is no way to regulate it effectively, I would say vote on as many as you want. Adding restrictive rules that can not be enforced is completely useless.

@SixthOfFour you can definitely upvote as many entrees as you want.

@SixthOfFour the only thing up voting all of them would do is essentially lower your entree by one vote, because you can't vote yourself up.

@NoviceInDisguise Good points.

@David Thanks for the clarification.

How to submit yeah? i've got my model ready.

@Vince Scalia You just add an answer with your artwork embedded as an image, a little description, and maybe even a caption. Hope that helps!

Welcome to the forest! Here is my entry, that I have been working on over the past few days. The characters are fully rigged, everything is UV-unwrapped. I think in this piece I got much of my inspiration from the "crazy" in Crazy Firepower, but I hope you all can understand and appreciate the story behind this piece of art.
Created in Blender 2.72 and Cycles, with advanced compositing in the compositor, and some minor post processing in Paint.NET.
Tree Cannon - The Oak's Last Stand
(click for full size)

Description:

War broke out in the forest, with a new species of tree making it's
  presence known. A hard, cruel species, hardly even a tree at all. The
  other citizens of the forest lack the ability to overcome their slow,
  methodical onslaught. They utilize those they vanquish to create
  machines of destruction, of terror.

This artwork is dedicated to all of those helping prevent invasive species from spreading.

Wow ! that is nice! mine is still rendering...

Thank you! I'll keep my eyes peeled for when yours gets posted, should be good if your past work is any indicator!

Why did you roll back my edit, then go back to it? I would never change the content of your entree. In the Edit Summary I wrote what I changed. I really like the story and message behind your image.

Sorry, I didn't quite understand what you had changed. I was trying to find the original version for a comparison, and accidentally rolledback your edit. I hope it didn't get you any negative points?

no problem. No I would not and did not loose anything. You can always look at the edit history by clicking the link at the bottom of any edited post that says "edited X hours ago"

Thanks for the pointer! And I am glad I didn't mess you up.

Quick critique: The image could have benefited from some more head room the rightmost oak's eye is too close to the top of the image. You could have either moved the camera up a bit or changed the aspect ratio.

Good point!Thank you for the input, I'll keep an eye out for mistakes like that in the future.

@NoviceInDisguise When you're ready to post you're image, go through the voting guidelines. I put them their (I wrote the original template) not only to guide the voting, but as a reminder to artists on how to create better images. PD I really like the tone of your image. Good use of design!

Thanks for the input! I really appreciate it, and it really helps me progress faster!

X-27 Anti Material Pulse Beam Emitter
Made in Blender using cycles render engine.
(click for higher resolution)

due to the .jpg artifacts you can't quite make out the caution label. it reads
CAUTION
X-27 ULTRA CANNON
EXTREMELY POWERFUL
DO NOT LOOK INTO BEAM
UNLESS YOU ARE WEARING
THE X-27 FORCEFIELD

Interesting! A very different approach from mine, I can't see what else will show up over the next few days!

Did it meet your expectations?

Pretty much ;-) Maybe work on the wall a little, the tiling of the texture is pretty obvious. Maybe spend the rest of the next few days trying to make it a little more photorealistic?

I was thinking of adding some barbed wire on top, and maybe some cracks or damage marks on the concrete.

That would really add a lot to it! Any ideas of ways to improve mine?

not really, yours is great! the only thing i can think of is using the sunbeams node to make really cool light effects.

Good idea! I'll see what I can come up with . . .

Looking better! Doesn't quite match with the environment now, though . . .

It is early yet in the competition, got plenty of time to get more votes ;-)

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

My entry for the Awesome Weapons contest.
A military testing zone where work is being done on a rail gun launched intercontinental  missile.
click for full size

Awesome textures. could use more ammo and more detail.

Yeah a little bare. you can edit though.

What would make this scene more interesting is a hole clipped in the fence, and a sign of the weapon having been tampered with. Then it would tell a story. :-)

@Mentalist thank you for the suggestions. If I ever come back to this piece, I will add more of a story. Thanks.

Though this contest is called "crazy firepower" there are clear provisions in the rules for any kind of weapon, including melee. So I present to you
BwadiBwa Kobold Mk. III
For hi-rez: https://i.stack.imgur.com/3OsaM.png

This is a knife. I think you can probably see that.
On the back i put my special 'Vince Scalia' symbol; the Kifwebe mask: https://i.stack.imgur.com/sfJux.png
(that pic was taken before i was finished btw.)
Generally if you couldn't reach your opponent with a weapon like this you'd just throw it at them, and even if it didn't hit blade first, it still weighs five pounds and would clunk them pretty good.

Good concept, according to the rules, this does look cool and could certainly be considered a weapon. however you entered after the deadline so sadly this entree does not qualify to win. :-(

o shucks. i thought it was dec 4

No, December 4th is the point when the voting ends and the winner is declared. the entrees had to be in by December 1st

okay, sorry. that's a bummer though. You like the knife?

Yah, I thought the topic awesome weapons would attract more participants, however this contest had a lower result than the last one....

Something I guess. Maybe a longer entry period?... just kidding.

well, there is always next time.

Heh Heh. yeah. It'll be fun, and I'll make sure I enter early. I did that on my black belt test too.

I really like that one, and you have my vote even though it won't count. :)

Thanks.........

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Duplicate answer vs duplicate question
I have noticed several instances where a question has been closed as a duplicate of another question when the two questions have the same answer, but aren't really the same question.  A recent example is how to fix “object has no uniform scale”?, the question marked as its duplicate is Why is it important to apply transformation.  The new question is asking about what the message means and how to get rid of it, the old one is asking why you should apply transformations, the questions are really different but they have essentially the same answer.  I have seen several other instances of this as well.
Personally I think we should only close duplicates if the question is the same.  The purpose of duplicates is to make sure people search the site before they ask a question.  But, using the example of the question I mentioned above, the asker (especially if they are a new user) definitely could not have even found the question that was marked as a duplicate, let alone tell that its answer was the solution to his own problem since he had no idea wheat applying scale means.

I have noticed the same thing. Good idea!

I quite agree. Here's another example (all could have dyntopo as an answer, but are not the same question per se): http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/5542/599, http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/5136/599, http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/5613/599, http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/7532/599

This happens from time to time,
If the questions are really different but the answers the same, suggest not to close as duplicate because.

This may change over time (as Blender changes, the answer may no longer be a duplicate for both).
You can always give a brief answer to one that links to the answer from another. (to avoid too much copy-pasting text).

However if the questions are almost identical and have duplicate answers, its likely worth closing as a duplicate (some questions are unnecessarily specific).

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Mechanics - Challenge #3
Contest: Mechanics
3D artists always enjoy rendering impressive, shiny machines, from robots to complex vehicles. But often times they wouldn't work in the real world.
Objective: Create a machine that is mechanically functional.
You can use any method you want, as long as you use Blender for all modelling and rendering. Both Blender Internal and Cycles render engines may be used. Minor post processing in 2D photo editing programs is permitted.
Rules:

Only new and original work.
Blender only, non commercial add-ons are allowed.
Keep it nice, nothing you wouldn't want to show to a five year old.
If any doubt is raised about the validity of your entry, you will be required to show a .blend file, so we can be sure it is yours (use pasteall.org). Otherwise your entry will be disqualified.
The competition runs for approximately 3 weeks, you can edit/change your submission at anytime
Late entries will be disqualified
Only one entry per person (Multiple images of the same entry are allowed)
Downvotes will not be considered when picking the winner

Voting guide:
(Going beyond the simple visual appeal)

Mechanically sound: Would be able to work in the real world.

Able to achieve any position that is necessary for it to function
Components look sturdy enough to support the weight/strain their function requires

Meets objective, not missing anything
No rules were broken
Artistically sound:

Good composition
Good use of color
Solid design

Well Executed

Technically impressive
Quality of execution meets artistic goals.

Judge all included images on all of these points.

Winning criteria:
Submission with the most upvotes as of January 9th 2015 (UTC +0000). The submission must to be posted before the deadline.
Competition Ends: January 5th 2015 at UTC +0000
And most importantly, have fun!
Winner: NoivceInDisguise [4 votes](Again!)

Vince Scalia[3 votes]

If you have any questions, ask them in the events chat room.

Golf Ball Machine

Description:
This machine is an artists rendition of how a golf ball is made. Although all the steps are the same, the way it is achieved is completely different. All parts of this machine are theoretically functional.
Artwork:

How it works:
A rubber cube is roughly rounded by a saw, and is then fed into the rotating portion of the machine in the background. The meal cups are electronically heated, and melt the rubber into a spherical shape. A burst of steam is used to loosen the sphere from the mold.
Next the machine on the right is given the sphere, and trims off the edges made during the molding process. The machine then rotates and drops the sphere into the chute, which channels it over to the other side where it is cased and then printed and packaged.

I only had time to finish part of the machine so far, so more may show up before the 5th.

Craig's Hand
Click Here for hirez

I really could not think of a decent name for this, I apologize.
Here is a small domestic robot who's main duty is that of one of your hands. It measures 1' from foot to finger-tip.
Usefull activities include

Greeting guests
Loading printers
Feeding birds
Writing
Typing
Playing piano

Some not so helpful activities (Pre-install, God save us all)

Doodling on walls
Rubbing feet on floor, then commencing to 'static shock' people
Getting fingers stuck in whiffle ball
Flicking shins

Its joints all consist of a ball and socket, all but the hips and ankles rotate about but one axis. They move using magnetic paddles, akin to a water-wheel. I added some clockwork to the 'birdcage' but it doesn't do anything but tick. All electronics would be housed in the palm.
And, of course, the back of the hand has my kifwebe mask. Comes in two versions, left, or right.
Home delivery; unpacks self.
Click here for hirez.

You made me laugh so hard! The "some not so helpful activities" part especially :-)

Laughter is good for the soul :)

They say laughing can make live longer. If that's true, after seeing this I'll have to be beaten to death at 250 or so. :D

Well I achieved my goal then.


text:
How could I set up a question that collects Blender+Python tutorials?
I know how to program somewhat well, but am completely new to Blender. I need to use Blender to generate some geometry, and had a bit of a tough time finding tutorials that give me the quickest (i.e. not the most in-depth) route to get going with some simple modelling using Python.
This is something useful I have found so far (you'll have to scroll down for tutorial 0 -- the first tutorial):

http://science-o-matics.com/tag/how-to+blender+python/?lang=en

However, I am sure there are other such tutorials (each with their pros and cons), and I am wondering if there would be interest in creating an updateable list of them that can be generally referred to? So, this would be a community wiki type of thing.
How can/should I best title/form such a question on the main Blender SE?

Collecting useful links is well outside the scope of stackexchange sites. [http://www.slant.co] started recently and is intended for this purpose.

Such a question will be closed, you'll have more luck on BlenderArtists.org, where the community guidelines are less strict.
Furthermore, I have found that there is a general absence of Blender python tutorials. Here are some good ones though: https://cgcookie.com/blender/category/tutorials/scripting/.

We've had a discussion like this already, and it was decided to make one big post with answers for each category.
I think a list of python tutorials would fit right in as an answer there.
In addition, we also had an older post of a similar type on meta, which may also be of interest.


text:
Asking two closely related questions: to merge or not to merge?
I have a question here, about locking the elbow joint when using forward kinematics.
How to lock elbow rotation (forward kinematics)
So, I also want to ask the same question with inverse kinematics.
With minor edits and a modified screenshot (out of 3) the two questions would look very similar. But expect the answer would be quite different so I feel worried about conflating these two questions.
What should I do?


text:
What are secret hats?
My question is simply that, what are secret hats?  I have seen many users with hats not listed in the winter bash page, the hats' description say “this is a secret hat”.  In fact most of the what's I have seen so far are secret hats, what does this mean?
I even just earned the fascinating secret hat and still have no idea what it means!?!

The secret hats are just hats, like any of the other hats on the winter page, except Stack Exchange did not give the instructions on how to get them.
There is a growing list of spoilers for the secret hats on http://meta.stackexchange.com.
To answer your question about how you got the fascinating you can hover your mouse over here.

for upvoting an accepted answer with 5 votes


text:
Are material requests on-topic?
Are requests on how to simulate certain materials (e.g. asphalt, ice, water, etc.) on topic here?
We've had questions like this before which seemed to have been received well, e.g.

How To Create a Matte Car Paint Material?
How to make a bronze material in Cycles?
Making a multi-colored candy material in Cycles?

But some more recent question have not. e.g.

How to make a cast iron shader in Cycles?
Node "Recipe" For Asphalt?

So are these questions on-topic or not?
Related: Should we expand our scope to allow simple howtos?

I'm not sure, but I think it is a tutorial request; However, I can spot a difference, in those which have been well received - they have at least an initial try.

@someonewithpc Well, not all of them. But I do agree that it's nicer when the OP at least makes an attempt before coming here, as then they can ask about what they specifically had trouble with (e.g. "how to add cracks a material", or maybe something even more technical than that, like "Why isn't my normal map affecting my material").

Well.. I thought all did; But still, that's exactly what I mean - it shows effort, and allows for more technical questions.

I think it would depend on simplicity.

I would go as far to say that if some would be accepted, than why not all. I hadn't seen the other I don't think.

I think that those question regardless of how well they were received are good questions to have answers too. The problem with some of these questions is that they require a lot of work. Frosted glass is an easy one but others, e.g. asphalt or procedural marble would require some R&D.
Most cases OP will not have made an attempt to create the material themselves, which is why it takes a lot of effort to answer these questions. So that there question is indeed a request.
I think we should allow all material questions to stay under the following conditions:

complex shader questions need to show work, this is not a request site
simple shader questions like frosted glass do not need to show work

Where should we draw the line between simple and complex?

Well unfortunately it is not all black and white. But a rough way to do it is that anything that requires you to download textures and create something 'procedural'.

A small part ot me says that someone might be working on said complex shader only to have the question closed, wich would be icreadibly dissapoiting... I think these are answerable, and the kind that will get ALOT of upvotes when  posted.

Don't draw a line. They should all be allowed. Those who know just need to be cautious about their answer. I think they can all be answered without sounding like a tutorial.

@gandalf3 Supposing a new cycles user asks a question about a material, how would he know if it was a simple or complex shader? To a new user every node with more then a few nodes is complex. I have files called something like "large cycles material," but when I go back and look at them now, they do not look all that large or complex.

I think it's not so much simple vs complex but rather question vs request.

That's a good point, there is a distinction between "gemmeh teh nodez" and "my nodes don't do what I want.. Why??".


text:
Can we rename 'builds' to 'versions'?
A while ago I suggested a versions tag. The idea seemed to be agreed with, but it was decided to merge it with the existing builds tag.
I agree that the tags overlap to the point of being the same thing and should be one tag, however I think versions would be a better name, simply because builds seems like less widely used terminology when referring to pre-compiled distributed software, and questions about actually building blender are considered off-topic here.
Should this be changed?
And if so, how can it be changed? Will we need a moderator to do some magic?

You have my vote.

@DantheMan Since it seems no one objects, do you know how to do the actual renaming? Do you have some mod power or do we have to create a new tag and then synonymize it?

I'm definitely in full support of this tag change.
How will we define Versions? What will the tag be used for?

How about "Use this tag for questions involving specific versions of blender"?

Make it sound legal "Past and present".

The tag has been renamed.

I've edited the tag wiki now, hopefully everyone agrees with it.

I support this move. The only issue would be if there are "official" builds (like say, a feature branch) that we allow questions for (do we?) - as these might not be best tagged with version.


text:
Do we need the "directories" tag?
Do we need the directories tag?
It seems very general and not all that applicable to the majority of 3D workflow questions.
Are there any pros to keeping this tag?
Should we wait for a while and see if it gets used in a useful way?

I agree it is rather vague and currently only has 2 borderline questions.

I was going to remove it, but iklsr has told me to talk about any tag changes before I do anything. So I have not removed it yet. If you are in support of removing it also, then I will delete it.

Takes two to tango. As long as no one person is making any changes and the change is made public it's fine. I think it can be removed.

I've left a comment on the post where the tag was created, just in case the creator wants to put in a word or two.

I was inclined to remove them, but hesitated because of administration and discussion and so on. IMHO the tag should be removed.

I think it is useful, if people ask question about linking, saving, importing, exporting etc. Sometimes people doesn't know right syntax for directories in Python etc.

Maybe it should be just renamed...

@AdriansNetlis there are already tags for: linked-data, import, export, and file-format, so I do not see a need to rename it.

I think it may eventualy be useful.  Although most people use the default install location of blender, that has no white spaces, someone will eventualy come along that will install to "Program Files", which has a white space and run into problems with a python script.
I've already seen a post where the person who gave a good answer with some code had no need for enclosing a piece of python code that accessed a file because his file path had no whitespace, the person using his code ended up stating that it didn't work.  He had blender in "Program Files" and that was why.  It may have been just yesterday that I saw it.
This directory tag would fit well in a situation like that and alow anyone else with the same issue the ability to find it quickly in a search as long as a moderator/editor ensures it is tagged.


text:
How to deal with dead links
Looking through old questions I have com across many dead links. There seams to me no real consensus across the SE network as to what should be done with dead links. I have read many questions (1,2,3) about dead links and they say: just leave a comment; or edit the post to update the link. Flagging seams to be discouraged, but there is no definitive answer.
Here on BSE what should we do when we come across a dead link?

When I post links I try to give as much info as possible about the external site such as the article's title, the author's name and whatever else I think may be relevant such as important keywords so that if the link goes down, a mirror of the sites information can still be easily located(if it still exists online at all at that point).  Encouraging people to do the same can help to minimize the impact of this in the future.

@MarcClintDion Indeed, we already encourage this quite a lot (and discourage link-only answers). However there are other kinds of links too (e.g. .blend files), I'd be curious to see if there is an established procedure for such links. Though comment -> no response -> update or remove link seems like a perfectly fine strategy to me.

And what about the files linked to pasteall? We've been encouraging people to use this site but thier liks expire as well. There are a lot of questions (and answers) based on links to files that have vanished from the net.

This is why it is encouraged to quote the relevant parts of your link(s) and write a full answer, links should only be to complement the text or be additional reading. Unless the question is fully answered in your opinion and the link(s) are just extra reading, flag it for deletion so it can be updated to be a proper answer, converted to a comment or removed.

What about the answers (like yours) where the answer is fine, the link is quoted, but the link is dead? Are we to flag, a other wise good answer, to be deleted, just because of a dead link?

@David Good point, if the answer has been proven to be correct or useful, perhaps just strip the link. See http://blender.stackexchange.com/posts/455/revisions.

Maybe comment first? Perhaps the OP might know of an alternate link, or perhaps in the case of uploaded content (e.g. a .blend) could upload it again.

I normally leave a disclaimer in my answers that says something like"if you are trying to click on this link 5 months or more after this post was made, do not bother because pasteall will have removed the file" sometimes I make all of that the link discription.

such as in this question http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/21605/how-can-i-spawn-a-moving-object-in-bge/21649#21649   and  this question    http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/21797/make-modifiers-update-in-the-game-engine

But in those cases, I always have a full question/answer and the link is to a blend file which is merely an example of the things discussed in the question/answer.


text:
Imaginary worlds - Challenge #4
Contest: Imaginary worlds
This is your opportunity to depart from reality a little. The goal of this competition is to spark your imagination and creativity, and to be a fun departure from more 'serious' works.
Objective: Create an imaginary world using non-photorealistic rendering techniques
You can use any method you want (i.e. Freestyle, Low-Poly, Texture Paint, etc.), as long as you use Blender for all modelling and rendering. Both Blender Internal and Cycles render engines may be used. Minor post processing in 2D photo editing programs is permitted.

Rules:

Only new and original work.
Blender only, non commercial add-ons are allowed.
Keep it nice, nothing you wouldn't want to show to a five year old.
If any doubt is raised about the validity of your entry, you will be required to show a .blend file, so we can be sure it is yours (use pasteall.org). Otherwise your entry will be disqualified.
The competition runs for approximately 1 week, you can edit/change your submission at anytime
Late entries will be disqualified
Only one entry per person (Multiple images of the same entry are allowed)
Downvotes will not be considered when picking the winner

Voting guide:
(Going beyond the simple visual appeal)

Creative: Shows thought and artistry

Appealing, good story-telling
Artistically carried out, high quality result

Meets objective, not missing anything
No rules were broken
Artistically sound:

Good composition
Good use of color
Solid design

Well Executed

Technically impressive
Quality of execution meets artistic goals.

Judge all included images on all of these points.

Winning criteria:
Submission with the most upvotes as of January 23rd 2015 (UTC +0000). The submission must to be posted before the deadline.
Deadline for entries: January 19th 2015 at UTC +0000
Voting ends: January 23rd 2015 at UTC +0000
And most importantly, have fun!
If you have any questions, ask them in the events chat room.

PGMath [4 votes] has won the competition, congratulations!
Notice that changes to the competition structure are under discussion, so new ones may not show up in the near future. Check out the Events chat room to keep up with the discussion.
Also see this proposal on Meta.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to render the really odd perspective on my render.

@VinceScalia Odd perspective? The small planets are modeled that way, even in my render(made before the comp) I used a sphere for the surface.

Have you ever seen MC Eschers other world? that's the perspective.

If not see this One of the best sites ever.

@VinceScalia Try messing around with the Camera's focal length.

PGMath has 8 votes now!

PGMath has 9 votes now!

This is pretty slapped together, slipshod scene :D but here is my render.

I think about 60% of the time I spent on this was modeling the Statue of Liberty, I then realized I only had 2 days left and slapped the rest of the scene together!

I think you win, nobody else entered . . .

@NoviceInDisguise I think we definitely need to advertise these challenges more.  And I think a week is kind of short for a lot of people, especially since a lot of people on this site (like myself) are just hobbyists, this isn't our job (I'm still in high school).  My entry, as you can probably see, is super slipshod (looking at it now I think the best part is the Saturn shader :P).  I should just make Saturn the whole scene!  But anyhow I think a couple of weeks should be a minimum.  As long as we advertise it well to begin with (and don't have it over Christmas break) I think people will...

...not forget about it if they start working on it.

Name your image!

@PGmath you should make a repeatable GIF of earth rotating. That way we could see the great wall of china!

@PGmath You won! Yay! XD

authors: ʇolɐǝz ǝɥʇ qoq


text:
How to link to a specific answer?
How can I link to a specific answer on a question, such that when the link is followed it scrolls down to the answer?  I have seen this done and know how to do it for comments (simply click on the date posted) but have not figured out how for an answer.

Look under the answer and press the Share button, it will give you a link with your unique userid attached at the end (for several reasons such as when you share links, the views can be attributed back to you for badges etc).


text:
Can we change the close message of the "bug report" close reason?

This question appears to be off-topic because it is a bug report and not an actual question. These should be reported to Blender's tracker instead.

Emphasis mine
We usually close questions which were asked buggy behavior as bug reports, regardless of whether or not the question was not phrased as a bug report, or even of the OP seemed to realize there was a bug (related: When should a question be closed as a bug report?).
TL;DR: We get "actual questions" which should still be closed as bug reports, as they pertain to a bug (though often the OP isn't aware of this).
To reflect this, can we change the close reason to something like the following?

This question appears to be off-topic because it is a result of a bug in blender. Bugs should be reported to the tracker. Also see this guide on how to write a useful bug report.

Not completely happy with this phrasing, perhaps someone will have a better idea...

The phrasing seems fine to me but with the meta post that came after this. It will have to be put on hold for now.

The new wording as of September 30, 2015 for the bug report close reason reads:

This question appears to be about an issue caused by a bug in Blender. These should be reported to the official bug tracker.

You can read more about the change here: Cleaning up our custom close reasons.


text:
Custom off-topic close reasons: 2014 in review
The last new off-topic reason here was added on January 14, 2014 - one year ago today. So now is a good time to review how these have been used over the past year, and consider if changes are necessary. I pulled together some basic information to further this discussion:
Off-topic reasons
Active OT reason excerpt              Created By Created   Approved  Deactivated
------ ------------------------------ ---------- --------- --------- -----------
*      it requires step-by-step instr iKlsR      12/8/2013 1/14/2014 null
*      is too localized in its curren Gwenn      7/8/2013  7/8/2013  null
*      it is a bug report and not an  iKlsR      6/26/2013 6/26/2013 null
       does not appear to be about Bl Community  6/24/2013 null      null
       belongs on another site in the Community  6/24/2013 null      null
       Other (add a comment explainin Community  6/24/2013 null      null

(6 row(s) affected)

Outcome of questions closed, by close reason
Name                                       Closed     Closed->Edited Closed->Reopened Cl->Ed->Re
------------------------------------------ ---------- -------------- ---------------- ----------
duplicate                                         471         68             29               17
off-topic                                           4          1              3                1
off-topic - Other (add a comment explainin        112         13              8                2
off-topic - it is a bug report and not an         156         11              6                1
off-topic - it requires step-by-step instr         64         14              6                3
off-topic - belongs on another site in the          7          0              0                0
off-topic - is too localized in its curren        109         13             12                3
primarily opinion-based                            26          5              2                1
too broad                                          61         15              9                7
unclear what you're asking                        215         49             28               21

(10 row(s) affected)

Outcome of questions closed, by close reason, percentages
% of Closed Name                                       Closed->Edited Closed->Reopened Cl->Ed->Re
----------- ------------------------------------------ -------------- ---------------- ----------
 38.4%      duplicate                                   14.4%           6.2%            25.0%
  0.3%      off-topic                                   25.0%          75.0%           100.0%
  9.1%      off-topic - Other (add a comment explainin  11.6%           7.1%            15.4%
 12.7%      off-topic - it is a bug report and not an    7.1%           3.8%             9.1%
  5.2%      off-topic - it requires step-by-step instr  21.9%           9.4%            21.4%
  0.6%      off-topic - belongs on another site in the   0.0%           0.0%
  8.9%      off-topic - is too localized in its curren  11.9%          11.0%            23.1%
  2.1%      primarily opinion-based                     19.2%           7.7%            20.0%
  5.0%      too broad                                   24.6%          14.8%            46.7%
 17.6%      unclear what you're asking                  22.8%          13.0%            42.9%

(10 row(s) affected)

(Note that the last column is the % of closed questions edited that were then reopened - if it isn't significantly higher than the second-to-last column, something is badly wrong)
"Other" values used by multiple people when closing questions
Questions Custom OT Reason (other)
--------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10        it is not about blender.
6         it asks about adding features not yet in Blender. These should instead be posted on the [requests section of the blender wiki](http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Requests) or in the [bf-functionality mailing list](http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-funboard).
4         it is about Blender C/C++ source code.
These questions are considered outside the scope of this StackExchange as [defined in the help center](http://blender.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). Development questions should be asked of the developers directly instead, see the [contacting developers page of the blender wiki](http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Contact).
6         it is not about Blender.
2         This question belongs on another site in the Stack Exchange network: Video Production
5         it is a feature request.
1         This was a feature request plain and simple.  I should not have posted it here.
1         it seems to be about hardware manufacturing.
1         it isn't about Blender.
1         it is not about using blender.
1         it is not about blender. Possibly moved to graphic design.
1         it is not about Blender usage itself. You should post to the Blender forum here : http://blenderartists.org/forum/
1         it is about unity, and not blender.
1         it is about Unity and FBX, not blender
1         it is about Ubuntu rather than Blender. It could be any application that you would like to manually install.
1         it is about software other than Blender.
1         it is about python module / package organization and nothing blender-specific.
1         it is about pure Python.
1         it is about operating system configuration and driver setup, which is not fit for this StackExchange. Try asking on [Unix & Linux](http://unix.stackexchange.com/) or [Super User](http://superuser.com/).
1         it is about licensing. See https://blender.meta.stackexchange.com/q/422/599
1         it is about legal/licensing issues.
1         it is about legal advice, which is "banned" because of issues it can cause. see:http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/25363/is-there-a-stack-exchange-site-for-law-questions-if-not-why-not
1         it is about installing missing dependencies.
1         it is about hardware issues/a bug.
1         it is about GPL license conditions. Better ask a lawyer for a profound answer.
1         it is about general file I/O in Python, not Blender.
1         it is about general 3D business, not about creating things inside blender.
1         it is about extracting tar files in linux, not blender.
1         it is about DirectX, not Blender.
1         it is about compiling blender. See https://blender.meta.stackexchange.com/q/399/599
1         it is about compiling Blender
1         it is about building Blender.
1         it is about an OS/environment issue which doesn't relate to blender directly.
1         it is about an issue in Unity.
1         it is about an error with a three.js script.
1         it is about adding normal maps in Unity.
1         it is about a survey
1         it is about a kitchen implement, not the software package.
1         it is about a hardware/driver configuration issue.
1         it is about a feature request
1         it is about a 3rd party addon. Please report to Three.js bug tracker: https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/issues
1         it is about a 3rd party addon. Please refer to Three.js bug tracker: https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/issues
1         it is about .net
1         it is a job offer and to a question.
1         it is  about operating systems and not in scope.
1         it belongs to Blender Meta Stack Exchange
1         isn't about Blender.
1         duplicate of http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/13655/how-to-render-texture-image-with-object-in-opengl-es
1         Described behavior couldn't confirmed, see [T39798](https://developer.blender.org/T39798).
1         Closed because unicorns...

it is not a real question. It was a Apirl first joke, and there is no unicorn primitive operator in blender.
1         it should be on another SE:
Video Production
1         it is too long for this format for a scripting question.
1         it is not about blender.. Anyway, [he's using licecap](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/8888?m=14935365#14935365) :)
1         it is not about blender specifically.
1         it is not about blender
1         it is mostly about linux, not blender
1         it is about unity, and the settings in unity.
1         it is about the Three.js addon, which is not developed by Blender coders.
1         it is about Autocad.
1         it is way too general
1         it is very low quality and a duplicate of http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/23199
1         it is not specifically related to blender, rather a compiler issue.
1         it is not about blender as defined in the [help center](http://blender.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic)
1         it is in French, not English, and seems to be about an installation problem which is off topic.
1         it is does not pertain to blender.
1         it is asking for a model and not about blender
1         it is about non-blender issue.
1         it is about hardware problems and should be asked on the blender artists forum or the ubuntu stack exchange site.
1         it is about DVD mastering try http://video.stackexchange.com/
1         it is about downloading a specific model, not about using blender.
1         it is about compiling blender.
1         it is about building blender.
1         it is about Adobe Premier Pro.
1         it is about a community project.
1         it is about a community addon.
2         it is a localized technical question.
1         it is a known issue and will be fixed in the new manual.
1         This question appears to be off-topic as it does not fit into the site's scope as defined in the [help center](http://blender.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic).
1         Hardware question, this belong at blenderartists.org
1         doesn't appear to be about Blender
1         Welcome to the site :) it is about the operating system, hardware, performance, or compatibility. These questions are considered off-topic because there is often no definitive answer, so they tend to require too much discussion to be suitable for Q&A format.  Try asking on [BlenderArtists](http://blenderartists.org/forum/forum.php) for support instead.
1         This questions appears to be off-topic because it is about the operating system, hardware, performance, or compatibility. These questions are considered off-topic because there is often no definitive answer, so they tend to require too much discussion to be suitable for Q&A format.  Try asking on [BlenderArtists](http://blenderartists.org) for support instead.
1         This question is old and low-quality
1         it resembles a feature request.
1         it is outside the scope of this site as defined in the [help center](http://blender.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic).
1         it is not about it's a limitation of current Operating Systems.
1         it is does not appear to be an issue with Blender.
1         it is asking others to write their code.
1         it is asking multiple separate questions, which should be asked individually.
1         it is asking if a website exists and not about blender.
1         it is an incorrect use of the tool, not an issue with the tool itself.
1         it is about video editing procedures and not Blender.
1         it is about using git, which is not specifically about blender.
1         it is about the mathematics and timing of rendering in general, not specifically Blender.
1         it is about something other than the blender software or python for blender.
1         it is about php, and not about blender.
1         it is about outside of the scope of the site. It should be asked on StackOverflow instead.
1         it is about licensing, see: https://blender.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/422/are-licensing-questions-off-topic/423#423 and http://www.blender.org/about/license/
1         it is about hardware.
1         it is about general game engine terminology and technology. This may be better suited to a Stack Exchange like http://gamedev.stackexchange.com
1         it is about downloading someone else's blend file instead of a question related to the functionality of Blender.
1         it is about developing blender, not about using it.
1         it is about compiling Blender.
1         it is about an issue relate to specific hardware/driver/configuration of the operating system unrelated blender...
1         it is about acquiring resources and not about Blender.
1         it is about a problem in second life.
1         it is a tutorial request.
1         it is a request for help on a project. The 'Volounteer work' forum on blender artists is a better place for this: http://blenderartists.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?53-Volunteer-Work
1         This post appears to be off-topic because it is not a question
1         Source code questions
==
it is about Blender C/C++ source code.
These questions are considered outside the scope of this StackExchange as [defined in the help center](http://blender.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). Development questions should be asked of the developers directly instead, see the [contacting developers page of the blender wiki](http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Contact).
1         It's about the operating system and should be migrated to [http://askubuntu.com/](http://askubuntu.com/).

(111 row(s) affected)

My thoughts

The "too localized" reason suffers from poor guidance. The asker is instructed to "broaden the scope" and given a link to... the default How To Ask page, which has about one sentence relevant to this. The stats reflect this: questions closed as OT->Too Localized are rarely edited and even more rarely reopened.
The tutorial reason suffers from trying to cram too much into one reason. Is the question too specific? Too broad? Both? Unclear which? A duplicate? The actual guidance linked to on meta is pretty good, clarifying that the real meaning of this reason is roughly the same as "Too Broad" - but this calls into question whether this reason is needed at all. Note that the Too Broad reason is used almost as much as this OT reason, while the proportion of questions edited and reopened are noticeably better.
Bug reports and "OT->Other" questions are almost never reopened, which is fine considering most of them are likely questions that cannot exist here in any form.

My recommendations

Better guidance for "too localized". If, as the reason currently suggests, the goal is to motivate askers to break out their problem into something that can potentially be re-used, then offer some instructions for that. Stack Overflow has MCVE, TeX has MWE, you need... Something to succinctly express what your expectations are here.
Get rid of the tutorial/"step-by-step" reason. Too Broad means the same thing, is more effective, and one less click.
Go through the 100 or so "Other" reasons listed above & see if you can identify a common problem that could save a bit of effort for closers if it was written up as a site-specific OT reason.

Thoughts?

Good suggestions, I think we will be able to condense the most used ones into more specific but general close reasons. As it pertains to Blender, I'm not sure how we could go about getting users (seeing as most of our users are new to SE) to ask Qs that can be reused for the most part as yet, it was never a huge issue as most these were either heavily edited to conform or closed as localized. Nevertheless, this also touches on a feature we will probably want in the future in the form of prompts when asking to encourage users to add visual aids and or their working files etc.

I totally agree with all three, especially the first two, recommendations.

The top three reasons I see in the Other list (aside from not about blender), are 1. Feature request 2. legal/licensing 3. Source code. (These results were gotten mostly from just looking, no real scientific analysis..) Perhaps a close reason could be made which covers both 1 and 3?

I also agree that more site/scope documentation is needed. I've been unable to find anything B.SE specific in the help center except for the first sentence on this page. I've certainly noticed a lot of inconsistent use of the Too Localized close reason, to the point where the same question will end up with close votes for both Too Localized and Too Broad. I agree with recommendation number 2, I never really thought of that..

We are revisiting these, expect updates soon!

Under "Outcome of questions closed, by close reason", "curren" is not a word.

@AnsonSavage that is only part of the message, the entire close message is: "This question is too localized in its current form and is unlikely to be applicable outside of a very narrow context. Consider broadening the scope of this question in order to make it more useful for future users of the site."

@David Oops, sorry, I didn't even notice that all the lines are cut off.  I'll be more careful before I make a comment like that next time.

FYI: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257449/new-10k-tool-question-close-statistics

Too Localized
You are quite right, the too localized close reason seems to be used in all sorts of cases.
I've even seen the occasional question with close votes for both too localized and too broad.
In my opinion, this close reason is best suited to very specific questions unlikely to be of much to use to many other users. For example:

How to generate texture image for home interior and how to use it in OpenGL ES?

What's the difference between official builds and GraphicAll builds?

It's a little hard to find examples, as the community bot deletes a lot of these sorts of questions once they are closed.
I'd say some of these questions might be okay if they were answered or upvoted, but given the amount of time they sat without any answers (or even comments in some cases), it suggests that they are about very localized and specific
problems not shared by many others.


text:
A better dialogue for own-question answer?
After waiting couple hours for an answer to a question I posted on the Blender site, I found the answer myself and decided to post it.  During that process, I was asked a pointed question ("do you really want to do this").  I thought answering your own question is not only possible but encouraged.  Is the heavy-handed approach really necessary?
Here's the sequence:

Strikes me as somewhat counterintuitive: Answer Your Question... OK, I will.  Immediately afterwards, "Are you sure you want to answer your question?"

It's important here that you look at the rest of the dialog. It's essentially there to try and prevent users from posting follow-up comments/responses or clarifications of their questions as answers.

Who asked the "pointed question" discouraging you from answering your own question? It seams that user needs to learn something about the SE system.

What you're asked is the following:

If you keep on reading past the large title, it suggests that comments should be posted as a comment, and questions themselves can be edited to update them.
There are plenty of users who aren't used to the Stack Exchange Q&A format. They are used to forums where you respond to others or clarify your own content by creating a new post. We'd like to prevent that from happening. (It's annoying to deal with for us regulars, and won't be a positive experience for the poster either).
So that's all there is to that dialog. If you have a great self-answer, by all means post it. We just want to make sure that you're not making a mistake.

At the time I was answering my question, there were no answers.  So, I could not be responding to an answer.  And as a longtime stackoverflow user, I know how to edit questions, and could not be confusing the issue.

Certainly. You apparently are very aware of how this thing works. Great. :) But unfortunately that's not the case for a lot of users. So better be safe than sorry there. You could put in a new feature request somewhere to make it context sensitive, but I'd give that one a "meh".

By the way, I initially did not read past the large title, because all I was concerned about at that instance was not forgetting what I was going to post! ;-)

Haha, can't say that hasn't happened to me before. Especially in a dialog that "doesn't apply to me". Clickety-click. But yeah, overall I can deal with an extra dialog if that prevents me from having to clean up the mess of others afterwards. :)

I wonder how difficult it would be to do a context-sensitive check.  I am not familiar w/ the Stack Exchange API, and I am sure the current number of answers to a question would be available, but how easily, don't know.  Also, if a user like myself does not initially read past the large title, then that in itself should be a comment on the UI experience, don't you think? Thanks.

Hang out with us on Meta SE and Meta SO for a while. You'll realize soon that people (even those with the best intentions) don't read stuff, no matter how well you prepare it for them or how in-your-face you put it. :D But that said, if you have particular suggestions to improve experiences, by all means see if they have been suggested before, and if not then suggest them.

Great, thank you!

There is nothing wrong with answering your own question. In fact it is encouraged.
This comment discussion shows it well.
Self answer
It’s OK to Ask and Answer Your Own Questions
Should I not answer my own questions?
Etiquette for answering your own question
That warning is similar to the "Are you sure you want to add another answer?" warning. Just a reminder box letting users know that what you are about to do may not be the best format.

And of course there's the introduction of the feature.

Yes, you are allowed to answer your own question if you have found a solution.
That doesn't mean that people won't downvote it if they think that it's not a good answer.  They're going to evaluate its quality just like they will every other answer, and provide the appropriate feedback.

My question here does not concern downvotes.  I really don't understand why you would bring that up.  I am questioning the tone and wording of the dialogue shown to the user during the process of a self-answer.


text:
New contest format proposal
We tried contests (Add contests on blender exchange), however after the first one we didn't get many entries.
It seemed to me that there was interest, but people didn't have enough time to put something together in their spare time in-between answering questions ;). At least that was what happened to me :P
If this is true, what about having something more like photography.se's continuous contest?
This would allow everyone to enter on their own time.
I assume we can't (yet) feature the weekly winner on the main site (in a banner or something), but we could have a "hall of fame" meta post like photography.se where the winners are collected, and perhaps we could feature the winner of the week in the question for extra visibility.
Any thoughts?

I really like the continuous contest idea!

I'm fairly new to SE, and for quite a while I wasn't aware that there was competition section at all, maybe they could be advertised better on the main site?

@ChristyJames Well, this started fairly recently (so there wasn't a contest section at all), and there still kind of isn't. Unfortunately until the site graduates (hopefully soon) we don't have any control over the look/design/non-Q&A content on the main site.

@ChristyJames Can't be on the main site, would be preferred to keep the scope strictly Q&A. Several avid users are interested however so we decided to keep them here until we decide how to best approach this. An external custom site? etc.

I think this is an excellent idea! Have an open-ended competition, that people can submit to at any time. That would solve a lot of the participation issues I think.
One thought, having just an open submit anything you want competition might not be optimal, as it is hard to compare the very different types to each other. Maybe every month, or every quarter, we could add a new one with a different prompt, just to keep it kind of focused and to keep any one thread from getting too bloated. Having just one thread would make the first ones submitted have an almost insurmountable advantage over more recent entries.

I'm not so sure it would be such a huge advantage, as once an entry is chosen it would be moved the the hall of fame, allowing newer entries to come up. And if people understand how the contest works, perhaps they will go and look at some of the pages of newer answers to vote on too. The contest on photography.se seems to work quite well, and they currently have 266 entries.

That would certainly help!

@gandalf3 the photo guys seem to have a lot more active meta guys than we do. Would this affect the contest?
I think NoviceInDisguise is right that we may need to change the subject occasionally (once a quarter or season). Anyone could post, past work or work they're still doing. Statistically it seems like it would draw a lot more users to post as long as everyone found out.

If we do have themes I would suggest that they be very flexible and open, I don't think they are entirely necessary though.  The photography.SE site's one is more of a “showcase your work”, rather than “take this kind of picture”.  Which is an aspect that a lot of cg contests lack and I think would be refreshing if we had.

@PGmath That is a different perspective, and I like it! +1

@PGmath Yes, thats more what I had in mind.

@VinceScalia Well, maybe we would only have an average of 10-20 entries at a time, as opposed to 200.

If the winners were posted on the main site, then that would be a big incentive to enter. If the winners knew that there winning entrees might get voted up, and as a result, might get rep from it, there would probably be a lot more entrees, and probably of higher quality. as of now, aside from the "it's fun" factor, there is no real incentive or reward from winning.
Also, if our "hall of fame" - or whatever it is called gets featured on blender nation, that would bring a lot of views, activity, and possibly new users to the site.

I was thinking along the lines of photography.se or blendernation, where the winner appears in a "image of the week" or something in a banner. But I doubt this is an option before we graduate..

very true, and there really is no indicator on when the site will graduate...

More answers is all we appear to need. Who knows . . .

@NoviceInDisguise Rumor has it that they are extremely backlogged rolling out new designs... despite the fact they just updated the so look by changing some colors and font sizes :/

Format sample basic contest question. 1.0
[Intro to contest]
(introduction text here, explains what the contest is)
This is a contest for those in this blender community. Anyone may enter. Anyone may post an artwork. Keep it clean. Works do not need to be made during the contest times, it may be a past work. Any artwork entered must be an original work by the user who posts. Artworks must be made and rendered 100% in Blender (minor post-processing in a 2D photo application is acceptable)
Date of contest (day x through 3 months from day x (y))
[On day y]
The work with the most votes (down-votes not counted in final tally) will win, will be the accepted answer (if we can get it working the winning image will be put in a banner on the main site with the users name). A brand new contest question, created three days prior to avoid confusion, will be posted. Users may post artworks immediately once question is asked.
In order to create the post on time, likely winner(s) will collaborate to decide subject.
[Rules]
Rules here will be the same as in the past.
some links to past works in blender in order to stir thought may be posted here.

If we don't do themes, then new questions would be asked by date. i.e. Contest: Spring, 2015 that way we could still avoid the enormous answer load on one question.

New Format Proposal:
We hold a competition, into which you can submit anything you created over the last month only. People can vote until a week after there are 5 (or any other pre-defined number) of submissions [the competition will then close], after then, the winner is calculated, and we start the whole thing again!
The advantage of this is that it encourages out performing of peers in all of our projects, which can be a very very good thing.

Suggest we don't do competitions, There are enough places in Blender's community (and more generally - the online CG community) to show off your work.
In fact there are multiple sites that run Blender specific competitions, to name some popular ones...

Blender Cookie
Blender Guru
Blender-Nation
Blender.org Suzzane awards (short films).

... probably other non-English speaking forums too.
This just seems like an unnecessary distraction and we can better focus on Q&A.

I do agree to an extent. You have a good point there!

Those all seem like high-profile "competitive" contests (with prizes and such). I was envisioning something more on the lines of a place to upload cool renders where a few people can see them (and vote on them). When we aren't answering questions, A group of us tend to hang around in chat etc. I think a sort of "relaxed" continuous contest would fit nicely into this.

@gandalf3 That is an even better point!

If you just want a place to upload cool renders then any of the forums? finished work sections? I can see my position isn't popular here, but think theres absolutely no need for this on SE IMHO, but maybe I miss the community aspect. Where I draw the line is when this becomes a maintenance burden. (taking focus away from Q&A)


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Customized help center entries
As pointed out in Custom off-topic close reasons: 2014 in review, we appear to have very little site documentation about things like what you can ask about and how best to ask about it.
As a matter of fact, the only b.se specific thing I've seen in the help center is this:

Blender Stack Exchange site is for people who use Blender to create 3D graphics, animations, or games.

This is nice, but it feels a bit short (compared to GD.SE) and susceptible to different interpretations.
For example, one could argue that this is on-topic following the above criterion.
However the best I managed to come up with right now is this:

Blender Stack Exchange site is for people who use Blender to create 3D graphics, animations, or games.
Questions about Blender using Blender are welcome.

So please edit/say something if you have a better idea ;)

Also, perhaps we could add something like this to the end of the "how to ask" page?

Help us help you
Especially if your question involves troubleshooting odd behavior, the fastest and simplest way of finding the answer is often by providing a blendfile and/or screenshots for others to examine.

I'm sure there are more such snippets which could be added, but I can't think of any atm..

While we are changing the scope defined in the help center, we can include contests so they will be permitted on the main site?

@X-27 I didn't intend for this post to be about changing the scope itself, only fixing up the (lack of) wording and definition.

@X-27 There will be no contests on the main site, not now, not ever. Not in the manner you are thinking of at least. We will work something out eventually.

Will give this a day or two before we revamp this and go about setting some concrete offtopic reasons. Was hoping people would chip in but seeing the little input, I think the handful of us who read meta can come up with something sensible. Good initiative.

I'd also like to suggest that this help center page, be amended to include directions as to how to upload a ~.blend file to the Blend exchange, site (or others).

I also suggest to move http://blender.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask up on second or third place in the list, so that it is visible without clicking on "view more".  I also believe that infos about imgur (for people who post the first time and cannot upload images) and of course blend-exchange could help. The "Be specific" is rather unspecific ;-) and doesn't explain much about what information is helpful (screenshots which actually show the problems by highlighting the areas of interest)


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Overuse of code snippet formatting
I often notice people using the code snippet formatting for many more things than showing code, often just to emphasize things.  And it can be quite annoying reading a post in which every other word is put in a gray, monospace font (see what I mean?).
Is there a way to encourage people to only use this formatting for what it is intended for?  As there are many other, more appropriate ways of emphasizing text.
I have also seen it used for values, such as “I would use a density of 0.5”, or “hit GZ5.  Are either of these appropriate?  At least for the latter example I would think that indicating a key press, regardless of whether it is a number, should always use the  tags.
Maybe I am being too nitpicky, but I do feel that this formatting has a specific purpose and is being quite overused.

I 100% agree. I try to edit these out and link to this meta post whenever I seem them mis-used.

I agree as well. Note that in comments it is used to show a quote quite often. I personally think that is acceptable, but in questions/answers where the actual quote method is available, it is not acceptable.

For values i think its reasonable,
eg: set the volume to 0.25, blender's default texture path is //textures
but it shouldn't be used for emphasizing words alone.

ideasman42's answer is spot on.
I use the backtick formatting for any input value, short text or numeric, and short code snippets.
Example:
"type 180/pi in to the Z axis rotation"  or
"a color vector is in the form of [Red, Green, Blue, Alpha]"
I think using backtick formatting to clearly format the input for a model operator is proper.
Example:
"Press GZ 5 to move the cube up 5 units on the Z axis."
The only place I use backtick formatting, when not directly formatting input is when the font does not clearly differentiate between I and l (which is I and l ). I sometimes use the backticks like this I (`I`) so the I is more clearly distinguishable.
I do agree that some times the backticks are over used, but I do not think that this is the worst problem facing BSE. A simple edit can fix any of these formatting errors. :)
However, all this only goes for questions and answers. Comments and chat posts, out of necessity need to use the backticks, because of the limited formatting options.

I think this can definitively be over used, but, sometimes, there's no better way; How would you describe a onscreen button or list choice - you could use , or italics, but that looks weird to me. So for instance, I would say "Check Transparent under the Film subsection.".

I believe that the general consensus is that italics should be used for menu items and on-screen buttons/categories.

Exactly ^^ Also for cascading buttons you can do i.e. File > Save As


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Using tags to denote 'unsupported' features?
There is a class of questions we get, which are perfectly valid - but the answer but boils down to:
Blender can't do that.

Often answers try to show workaround or some way to export to some external tool to perform the operation, use a hacky script... but they are often unsatisfactory solutions.
The thing about these questions is they can be seen as indirect feature requests, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. But since its a sore-point that the Blender community has an insatiable appetite for posting there wish-lists, I'm hesitant to promote anything which may make SE into a place to feature request.
Having said that, I was wondering if it would be useful to have an unsupported tag. This means...

unsupported: The question is perfectly valid, but the functionality isn't supported.

As a developer this gives us the ability to view highly voted questions with the tag unsupported. Which can be translated into...
Things which would be really nice to support and the community obviously wants.
I'm wary to promote this though, since I think it could end up being mis-used.
On the other hand - questions can be a good way to highlight missing features too.
Some examples of features added as a reaction to questions, (there are more, this is just some I could find from a quick look)

https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/24101/55
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/24102/55
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/15692/55

The main downside of this AFAICS is.

It can be seen as a mis-use of SE to vote up good features, not good questions.
Users may knowing ask about non-existing features "Does BLAH feature exist?", rather than explaining the problem in full, (which would be a better question). Perhaps these can be closed as feature-requests.

On the other hand, if a popular feature doesn't exist, assuming it is also a valid question being asked - newer users would probably ask at some point anyway.

It is best to leave tags to describe what the question is about, and not get into labeling questions with other issues by using tags. Certainly, you include that information as part of your answer, but using tags to describe things like like "not supported" or "too easy" (or other issues with the question) are what we call "meta tags", and they are strongly discouraged. See:
Death of Meta Tags

Good point, for development purposes its nice to see a list of feature's not yet implemented, but I guess this could be maintained elsewhere.


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How do I ask a question that is hard to describe?
I'm new to Blender and I ran into a problem, I'm not sure of how to accurately explain my problem. How can I best explain/show the community the issue I'm having to get some help?

Your new to blender? Wow.

Blender is a visual application, words will go a far way but a picture is worth a thousand words or so the saying goes.
The recommended current workflow is to either use as many images as needed to illustrate the issue or to submit the problematic file for inspection.
Solution 1
A well worded question can trump all, provided you describe the steps that are necessary to reproduce your problem or show what you have achieved and where you want to go. The editing text area uses markdown and supports basic html editing so you can highlight your points etc, list any steps and bring your point across as best as you can. If you aren't sure what feature X is or how to explain what a modifier or operation does, just mention that — the chances of someone knowing are high.

Solution 2
Upload image(s) showing the problem(s). See How can I optimize images and screenshots that I embed in my post? for more information regarding this and how you could fit several images neatly in your question without making your post extra long.
At the end of the day, either of these solutions would be good, the ideal solution being a combination of 1 and 2 (for more complex questions). Definitely better than a string of vague words thrown together.

Solution 3
Record a small video/gif of the problem and upload that. Tools you can use are LICEcap or GifCam (preferred), these run natively on Windows but can also be executed on linux under Wine. If the resulting gif exceeds 2MB in size you can upload it to gfycat and then add the link in your post. Otherwise you can use imgur directly from StackExchange as you would with any other image. See How to post gifs on this site? for more detail.
If you are more advanced or have the software readily on hand, Camtasia, CamStudio (free), Open Broadcaster Software (free), Bandicam (free but with watermark), Fraps (free) and recordmydesktop, simplescreenrecorder on linux etc are good for recording your session.

Solution 4
Share your file - people might be working on projects and not want to share their project files, that's fine, but if that's the case, try to recreate the specific problem in another file or edit that scene to isolate the problem. This is usually the fastest way to get help especially if your problem is a localized one, a seasoned Blender user can usually immediately spot whatever the problem is.

Good reference to point new users to.

I totally agree with the solutions you propose. If people intend to use a 3D creation software, they should be able to make some screen captures and annotate them ;) In the list of utilities, I would add QuickTime Player that comes gratis with every Mac. It has screen recording functionalities that often people ignore.

also a site called ezgif  allows for on-line optimization of GIFs, very handy to get the sizes down sometimes.

I didn't put them in levels but I agree it could be read incrementally.


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Things to address with Stack Exchange upon graduation?
Our site is wonderful, and I love it, but I'm sure we all realize that it could be improved greatly! Now that SE is going to develop a custom design for us (Which will be soon, they have $40 million) they are probably going to be as willing as ever to make the changes that we need.
What are changes or other things you think need to be addressed by Stack Exchange during graduation?
Please separate them into multiple answers, it makes it easier to see what the community agrees with
PS This is not a feature wishlist... please put changes you've felt a strong need for.

Does this mean we are close to graduation?

@PGmath, We are in the queue, according to a comment from Abby Hairboat, a community manager for Stack Exchange. In the post a about the 40 million, they said some was going towards completing the queue, so I bet it will be within the year

.Blend upload and storage
Although many downsides could be seen, the number one most common comment on a question is a variant of "Could you upload your .blend, thanks!" Often it is the easiest way to trouble shoot issues, since images can only tell so much, and it takes a lot of time to reconstruct situations. Blend files are also valuable to answers as they can help demonstrate concepts.
Advantages:

Removes the need to comment about further detail in many cases
Makes it easier for users to comply to queries about more information
Many .blend hosting sites in use delete the files after use, this would make it Future Proof
Other sites pack viruses along with the .blend (Yikes!)

Requirements

.Blend upload should be permanent
There should be a notification asking users, if relevant, to pack the textures.

Disadvantages:
I think it is fit to note some possible issues to dispel any fears.

Poorly written questions, using a .blend as a crutch

Solution: Down votes. If the community has a problem with a question, they down vote it and the user learns.

I agree that this is a most needed feature for this site. There are so many questions with linked files that do not work anymore, so the question becomes less accessible for future users or just useless. There isn't a standard way way to link files now. Most used are Google drive or dropbox and the links vanish once the user is satisfied with his or her answer. The most recommended site,  www.pasteall.org/blend only stores the files for up to 5 months. Having a permanent home for files would make the knowledge base of blender.stackexchange more future proof.

I definitely do not agree with your " A poorly written question with a .blend can be better then a well written question without a .blend in some cases" statement. A well written and clear question is always better then a poor question. Would a blend file really make a question like this better?

One problem with this that you didn't mention is that blend files can get rather large. From a hosting perspective this can become pretty cumbersome. SE is unlikely to allow us this feature unless a third party can be used for the job. I would suggest Sketchfab... though it would still take some negotiation on that end.

@AWildRolandiXor Usually when a .blend is needed, just uploading a model won't do, the actually FILE is needed to understand some issues, as well as to demonstrate cycles materials etc.

@David Yes & No, Some questions are beyond hope :/ Some cases though, a user is more likely to include a highly useful .blend instead of being willing to write paragraphs of details that someone trying to help would have to read and replicate. Both sides win with a .blend. The some cases qualifier was there for a reason as well, your example would fall outside the some cases

@GiantCowFilms I haven't downloaded anything from SF, but wouldn't they offer to download the original file?

permanent (or short/limited time) storage could be an option. I'm not sure about this but i think some people don't want to share their files forever. This could limit hosting problems too.

@Bithur The problem is the fact that StackExchange is a knowledge base, not a support forum. The information should be permanent, that is the hole point. I under stand many here are not familiar with SE culture, but the reason why this is suggested, and I wrote a permanent storage system for the interim is that this information is valuable to future users....

@GiantCowFilms You're absolutely right, making things permanent is the best choice. I just wonder if it's needed all the time.

@Bithur Yes it is.... if people don't want to contribute long term they can go elsewhere, I tend to thing of .blend files in this instance as images...

< KBD > button
There was a discussion on this, which largely panned off into a user-scripts party :D! But in all seriousness, I think we need this. Without user scripts, which I dislike for various reasons. Typing out <kbd></kbd> is a really big pain, and makes me flinch every time I'm in Firefox or another chrome user without the script.
Obviously some of you are worried about possible abuse of the kbd tags, since they are kept away from new users through a veil of ignorance.
But other forms of formatting like ALL CAPS, ALL CAPS AND ALL BOLD and others  could easily be abused, but aren't, so why would the KBD be different? Even if it were, there are plenty of power users to fix the issue. There is also the option to remove it, I just think its worth a shot.

I think the relevant link should be http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/255/styling-for-gui-instructions

This has long been a feature request on the big meta, and they solved it the same way we did. I doubt they'll add it specifically for this site :/

I think it might be useful to implement a Featured Artwork header decided by a weekly or monthly competition. We could have an artwork gallery that the header is randomly chosen from every day. This would accelerate learning, promote participation, and make people more interested in general. There are some downsides to it, but I think in light of the benefits it might pay off.
I know we already tried contests here on Blender.SE, and it fell flat, with the last one only attracting one entry. I think this is largely due to the fact that there is no real incentive to participate, and although fun, people didn't want to pause their projects long enough to make an entry.

...I think this might fall under design suggestions.

This would be cool if it was more than a showcase for artwork, and was notable artwork where the creator has explained how to reproduce some important technique he or she used in its creation. Alternatively, perhaps it could just highlight great answers/questions or maybe it could be art that was finished as a result of someone getting their question answered?

That is an interesting idea! I like it!

Apply design suggestions
There is a thread on our design here on meta It would be great if you could apply some of the popular suggestions, and take a look at what the community wants.

I feel strong need to promote accepting answers more, too many good answers are left without the accepted checkmark.
This could be due to new users not knowing to do this or how to do this (but many don't accept even when reminded in comments).
Or there are not enough rewards for accepting answer.
The actual solution I propose is for high enough* reputation users to be able to accept or change accepted answer (no reward here). This would help in situations when a new Blender release has better solution, there is an answer for it, it has more upvotes, but the OP is now inactive and the old answer is ticked and on top.
*) the amount is in question

I know the feeling +10 if I could. But @Jerryno, this would be a change in Network policy not just our site, so would be more appropriate on http://meta.stackexchange.com

I see @GiantCowFilms, didn't know about network policies. I wonder what is the reason for this to not be implemented long time ago, it looks like a clear thing to me. Other networks have to have same problem.

Sometimes, I find if difficult to choose an answer worth accepting and even insulting to other, equally valid answers that obviously took a lot of time to write... I've never seen a solution so much as proposed to this concern.

When you think of some sort of policy change, chances are someone on the network-wide meta already asked about it ;)

Maybe a solution to this might be a mechanism by which other members of the community besides the poster of the original question could accept the answer. This might be implemented in a means that is similar to flagging a question for closure, that is, people with enough reputation could vote to accept an answer..

It would be nice to have a special code, similar to kbd for buttons.
This would be useful because it would allow us to bring more visual distinction to a button in a set of instructions, without having to resort to a screen shot. (Images increase load time even when they are small).

See http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/255/styling-for-gui-instructions

I'd forgotten about that question. I undeleted my answer on it.

p3d.in embedding
This would make asking questions (and maybe answering) quite a bit easier. Users would be able to share their geometry and textures directly into the web browser without having to upload and download blend file, provide multiple angle screenshots or animated gifs.
I think it would make some questions way simpler. It is not, however, a replacement for blend uploads… that is still necessary.
another options is https://sketchfab.com/

p3d could be useful for modeling questions.... hopefully people don't think it is a replacement for other forms.

Sketchfab is better though.

@AWildRolandiXor define "better".

Well for starters, free users have unlimited storage.

This would be a heavy dependency, unlikely to happen unless the files weren't shown readily but upon request as this would no doubt slow page load times.


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Icons next to tags, like Stack Overflow?
On stack overflow they have icons next to some tags (see for example: google-chrome-extension). Blender has a lot of icons that a very applicable it has an icon for these tags to name a few:
mesh
modifiers
armature
simulation-tags
rendering
texturing

This could be useful for helping users tag questions to an extent but I don't think that's the purpose and seems purely cosmetic on this site at least. Don't see much of a reason for it here really.

@iKlsR True, but still worth a shot right?

Could be used for the major panels (node editor) etc and external applications, can probably mention it when the site design is going up but highly unlikely to happen.

So should I add it to the thread?

Those are sponsored tags and they are only available the owner of the name or trademark associated with the tag name.

So what happens if nobody owns a trademark, and we aren't attaching a logo, just software relevant icon?

Tag sponsorships are very limited, and it's not just to put an icon on the tag, it also implies that the company is supporting the site and maintaining the tag wiki, etc. We're not likely to start adding pictures to the tags outside this limited use case or it's going to start looking cluttered and distracting. Read some of the posts I linked above.


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How do I accept an answer or start a bounty for a question?
I have asked several questions on Blender Stack Exchange and just noticed this comment on a few of them, "Have you considered accepting an answer or starting a bounty for this question?"
My answer is no to both because I don't know how to do that.  I would like to be more familiar with the procedures here.  I am proceeding with brute force through Blender, using BlenderBasics_4thEdition2011.pdf and as I learn as well as teach a class that includes beginning and advanced students I am coming across many things I don't understand.
Blender is an interesting puzzle.  I am enjoying the ride but I think that along with learning it I should also try to understand the etiquette of the Stack Exchange.
Your help would be appreciated.

just take a look at the help in this site and you'll find the answers , and questions of this kind should be asked in the meta

This must be placed in Meta not in the main site.

All being said, awarding bonuses to get answers isn't necessary. Unless your problem is an obscure/localized one that you want people to spend more than a few minutes on just try to word your question as clearly as possible. See http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/608/how-do-i-ask-a-question-that-is-hard-to-describe?cb=1

Accepting answers:
You accept and answer by clicking on the "nike"-icon to the left of the answer. It then turns green. You can only do this with one answer pr. question.
Bounty:
Bounties can be started two days after question was posted. They are a way to offer your own rep to attract more answers, since users will put more effort in for a large reward.

Naioai Studios appears to have already addressed the How, so I'll just add some clarification and some of the common etiquette here on Blender.SE.
First, accepting an answer. It is customary to accept the most helpful answer, as soon as possible (be sure to give a reasonable amount of time for other answers to be posted if it does not solve your question exactly). You can un-accept an answer and accept another at any time, just click the check-mark again, and click another one. Up-voting the accepted answer is also common etiquette, as if it solves your question it deserves the up-votes. Stack-Exchange sites are heavily reliant on active voting by all members to sort good questions/answers from the bad ones.

Now for Bounties. A question becomes eligible for a bounty after two days from initial posting, with no accepted answers. If a question becomes eligible, you can start a bounty by clicking the little text underneath the question that says start a bounty.

You can start a bounty on any question, regardless of if it is your own or not, same for all users. Notice though that the minimum amount is 50 rep, so you need to have enough reputation in order to start one.

Please use screenshots that show the site as is.

Usually I don't accept an answer unless it solves the problem, or shows that what I am looking for is definitely not possible.  So if it is helpful but doesn't actually solve the problem, I usually just upvote it in case someone in the future comes along with a full solution.  And as an aside, where did those screenshots come from?