   Global Illumination Club
  I have been posting quite a few threads about GI recently, but I find the  forums are a bit of a slow medium of communication for my taste (too many questions to ask, which each bring new questions.So I'm wondering if there are people here who would like to chat about global illumination (GI) and the algorithms involved (photon mapping, path tracing, monte carlo light transport, etc.).I encourage those that are interested to reply to the thread and perhaps post their IM information. I personally have ICQ (59216599), MSN (roue(at)sympatico.ca), and I can be contacted on AIM using my ICQ number.   
  I am in.MSN: merlintiger@hotmail.com   ;  I'd be interested in participating in such discussions, but unfortunately real-time communication simply isn't practical for me... so I'll stick to lurking around on the forums for now [smile]   ;  I think IM's are not very good to discuss GI (not everyone can read those discussion afterwards) but I would be interested in a forum.   ;Quote:Original post by LotuspecI think IM's are not very good to discuss GI (not everyone can read those discussion afterwards) but I would be interested in a forum.No serious discussion is possible with IMs, if you ask me, especially not technical. But a dedicated discussion and information resource about photorealistic rendering could in fact be interesting.;  I absolutely agree with Yann: aside from anything else, having everyone in different time zones makes useful discussion impossible when there's no record of your conversation!There's been many interesting posts on photorealistic rendering here recently (I don't really click on anything else). I think it'd be a great idea for it to have its own forum.   ;  I agree with Yann that it's rather hard to have serious technical discussion over IM.  Why not setup a mailing list and a corresponding site with useful resources, links, particularly interesting messages from the list (along with a full archive) etc?If you really want instant communication I think an IRC channel would be a better idea as it's a lot easier to just join in a discussion involving lots of people there (with IM programs you have to be invited into a group discussion and sometimes there are limits on how many people you can have in such a group discussion).   ;Quote:If you really want instant communication I think an IRC channel would be a better idea as it's a lot easier to just join in a discussion involving lots of people there (with IM programs you have to be invited into a group discussion and sometimes there are limits on how many people you can have in such a group discussion).seconded...an irc channel would be the easiest way to discuss sth...Probably we could create a Graphics channel..regards,m4gnus   ;  Well of course there's #Graphicsdev already, though that's just general graphics stuff rather than specific GI discussion.   ;  IRC isn't good either. The main problem with all realtime communication media is the time factor. If you don't want to miss good discussion or informations, you either need to be online 24/7, or wade through miles or IRC logs. You might have some regulars that compile condensed FAQs, but these end up not being interactive anymore and might miss important information. The most annoying thing about IRC & co is that at one point or another, people will start chatting about this and that, and the entire discussion shifts completely offtopic. In the end, someone willing to discuss GI joins the channel, and finds people chatting about that new movie or their girlfriends.Forums or Wikis are much better in that respect. The information is highly condensed, and can be easily accessed by professionals with limited time and tight schedules - the kind of people that you would probably want to get onboard. They can also be efficiently categorized and archived, which is highly difficult or even impossible with IM or IRC.The best solution is a forum for discussion, and a connected Wiki for archival.   