Photographing variations

[Windrazor7]

I know at the moment we only take photos of the front and rear of packaged figures. But what are the chances that might change in the near future for variants or figures that have a known variation? The reason i ask/suggest this is because many variations cannot be seen or told apart from a simple front or back shot. I think adding a variant photo slot in the modify product record pages would be great. That way we will no longer have to work under the honor system, the mods can actually see that the figure being photographed belongs to the correct variant record, and it will also allow other users to see what makes each variant different rather than deciphering what someone is attempting to explain in a comments section. I think it would all be very helpful 

[Windrazor7]

Side note-----I just realized I probably should have posted this in feature requests.

[Antron007]

Very unrelated, I notice on your sig pic, the first post one starts and lists your collection while in the second post it starts on the fun fact's page.

Did you do something to create that difference? I know there are (or at least were ) variables in the url string that calls the flash file, I just don't remember any of the details right now. "It's Friday. You ain't got no job. I'm gonna get you high today." or something like that.

I really love the way Shmax can be very detailed as well as quite simplistic at the same time. The diligence of he lead programmer and mods is nothing short of incredible.  I don't know what the average age of TF collectors is but being 37 I can tell you that life has no shortage of hurdles to throw at you. The fact that they maintain lives as well as maintain this site is truly commendable.

I don't think people realize and appreciate what goes into  a project like Shmax.com I'll be so glad when he powers that be give me permission to plug Shmax.com everywhere I can. They don't want to media blitz until they're "there". Sort of paraphrased but the jist of what i got about the sites intentions from the Admin. We have quite a few changes coming up in what I imagine to be the next 3-6 months in Shmaxville. I know they want some key things in place before they expand too quickly. (Slow and steady wins the race. If 2 weeks makes a 10x better product then that's 2 weeks well spent.)

Shmax.com is run by adults, with adult lives and adult issues. I just want to remind people of that. You see posts on lots of sites about "why don't you do this or that?" On alot of sites. People need to realize that you don't just flip some switches and make things happen. The effort put forth by the Shmax crew is given to us out of their "spare" time. I put spare in "" because I think they put in more time and effort of their own accord into Shmax.com for free than some employees do for their jobs that actually pay them. 

I personally have looked at a couple other sites that proposed to manage  your collections. Maybe they're great for toys in general but, as far as TFs go they are poor IMO. Although Shmax may not be perfect it is by far one of if not the most thorough collection of transformers data I've come across. 

Ok I'm rambling now so I'll just say, once again, I love and appreciate what Shmax.com and all Tf sites do for us. And you should too. Because shoulding is 2/3 the battle. (Insert Hasbro  product line here)!

[Tripredacus]

But what are the chances that might change in the near future for variants or figures that have a known variation? The reason i ask/suggest this is because many variations cannot be seen or told apart from a simple front or back shot.

This has been brought up in the past. I recall having some discussion with Shmax about it. He told me that it would probably have to wait until the new profile thing was done (still waiting lol).

But it would be great to have that feature so that we can only need to use 1 website to look at variations, rather than a bunch of different ones. Fredsworkshop used to be good, but the pictures are old or missing, and its mostly text based now.

[Windrazor7]

My thoughts exactly, and I understand everyone is very busy dealing with the site's needs as a whole. But this feature is something I would be able to help with personally as far as contributing to the site goes. Just a thought, glad to hear other people's insight on the matter 

[shmax]

My thoughts exactly, and I understand everyone is very busy dealing with the site's needs as a whole. But this feature is something I would be able to help with personally as far as contributing to the site goes. Just a thought, glad to hear other people's insight on the matter 

A few thoughts:

• First, even though we only have two photo pickers (front and back), we certainly encourage more photos for the gallery.


• Gallery photos don't follow the same guidelines as the "reference photos". You can, say, zoom in on a feature.


• Don't forget the "caption" field in the photo widget. You can call attention to details on the packaging.

All that said, we'll be expanding our support for variations down the road. There are also plans for a new mold database, and I think that will tie into some of this as well.

[shmax]

Very unrelated, I notice on your sig pic, the first post one starts and lists your collection while in the second post it starts on the fun fact's page.

They're animated .gifs. They're both the exact same file, but they can get out of sync due to differences in load/display time.

The fact that they maintain lives as well as maintain this site is truly commendable.

You were spot-on until you got to here! Thanks for the kind words, buddy.