New Idea for a Tutorial Competition

[Mike Ryan]

I was thinking about a competition that could be fun and accessible to both young and seasoned Paint.NET users informally named as the Weekly Tutorial Competition. The competition works like this: Each week an already created tutorial is chosen by last week's winner and entrants to the competition compete to make the best entry based on the tutorial. The basics to any theme are ready and available to new Paint.NET users where as more experienced users would have a better understanding of where to make changes to the tutorial's formula.

So, what do you guys think?

[pyrochild]

I like it

[Rubrica]

I like this idea too, however I think that there should be a novice and an advanced category, so as not to confuse the newbies while still providing a fun challenge for the more experienced members.

The question that this presents is whether the same person should host both competitions or whether they should both be hosted by different people who correspond when necessary?

Another thing is this; if there were two difficulty categories, would the advanced one be a harder version of the novice tutorial or a completely different tutorial?

Edited August 24, 2010 by Rubrica

[csm725]

I can host

[Mike Ryan]

@Rubrica: I agree, but I am not certain. I think one or two un-tiered trial runs would give us more information.

@csm725: I can host, too

[csm725]

Let me rephrase: Can I host?

[pyrochild]

As before, there shouldn't be any talk of who's hosting it until the idea is reasonably fleshed out and the suggester explicitly states that he does not want to host.

[csm725]

Agreed on all accounts, pyro.

If Mike Ryan chooses not to host, consider me an option

If we do untiered, this comp could last for about a year or so...

Tiered would be half a year...

(not lotsa good tuts)

[pyrochild]

(not lotsa good tuts)

There's lots of good tutorials. You just have to sift through the bloody potato to find them

Anyway, you could also have competitions in which a Photoshop or GIMP tutorial is done with Paint.NET. This would, of course, be for the somewhat more advanced users.

[csm725]

I guess...

Is it possible with ipb forums to rate a thread? Because that could be beneficial for tutorials.

[pyrochild]

It is possible. It crashes IE6, and we don't like it anyway.

[Mike Ryan]

Also, you don't have to use good tutorials for this competition, either. Using a rather terrible tutorial could also be really fun to see what people come up with.

[csm725]

It is possible. It crashes IE6, and we don't like it anyway.

IE6 sucks so bad. SO BAD!

[chrisco97]

I like this idea. I really do. I would host, but I have three competitions on my hands.

[Frontcannon]

Oh

My first thought we'd be creating tutorials for this one...

Every category in the tut forum can be used as a source for tutorials, right? I see much potential in the photo-manipulation section, but text-effects would be kind of unfitting.

The winning image of the contest could then be included in the tutorial it was based of!

As before, there shouldn't be any talk of who's hosting it until the idea is reasonably fleshed out and the suggester explicitly states that he does not want to host.

But doesn't that mean that just Hosts can suggest new competitions as they are the only ones that can post a thread here?

Open the Competition Ideas thread again, mods..

Edited August 25, 2010 by Frontcannon

[Possum Roadkill]

There's lots of good tutorials. You just have to sift through the bloody potato to find them

Anyway, you could also have competitions in which a Photoshop or GIMP tutorial is done with Paint.NET. This would, of course, be for the somewhat more advanced users.

We can say bloody potato? Holy bloody potato ! I didn't know that ! Can I get fries with that? Oh, you're using a bloody potato? Well then, nevermind. (Yeah, I saw the original word. )

I like the idea very much Mike. By the way, welcome back! Cookie?

I don't know about the comp being tiered though. Here's some reasons why. I may be good at one or two things, but as we all know there are many things I'm not good at. I think most people are like that. Can you say pixel art? Not all newbies are created equal. There are some people like me that have a long learning curve while others pick things up really quick. There have been some tuts in the newbie section that I learned quite a bit from and tuts in the more advanced sections that I had already discovered the effect or technique on my own. So not all tuts are created equal.

Just throwing some ideas out there. I think Mike should host it because it was his idea. I think he should choose the tut/theme for ever comp, that way we have someone who is guiding the comp through the different levels of difficulty. I think text tuts should be included. Some of my favorite effects and techniques I learned in the text effects section. Just look through some of Yellowman's tuts there. I love the idea of including Photoshop and Gimp tuts (I have like a bazillion bookmarked), that would really open it up to a whole new level where people could share how they converted a Gimp effect to a PdN effect. Wow, that would be fun !

[himself22]

I like this idea too, however I think that there should be a novice and an advanced category, so as not to confuse the newbies while still providing a fun challenge for the more experienced members.

The question that this presents is whether the same person should host both competitions or whether they should both be hosted by different people who correspond when necessary?

Another thing is this; if there were two difficulty categories, would the advanced one be a harder version of the novice tutorial or a completely different tutorial?

How do you define newbie verses experienced users? Posts? How long you've been here? This is going to be somewhat difficult.

[csm725]

Erm... skill.

[Rubrica]

^ That.

Really, it's up to the person to decide which competition they want to enter; they need to be able to gauge their abilities. However, should people be allowed to participate in BOTH competitions?

[Possum Roadkill]

I think this is being made way too complicated. A single comp open to anyone, with the host carefully choosing the tut each week, will avoid any confusion as to whether or not someone can enter this comp or that comp based on how many posts they have, or how old they are, or what their favorite flavor of ice cream is. I say get on with it and get it started.

[barbieq25]

Sounds like fun...will enter if I find the time. Tutes are always a good jump off point for anyone - even the not so good tutes. Well written tutes take a lot of time & skill in writing - my hat is off to those that write well-planned tutes.

[chrisco97]

(himself22) You will be able to tell by skill, and you would have probably seen their work somewhere.

[Simon Brown]

(himself22) You will be able to tell by skill, and you would have probably seen their work somewhere.

Would people PM the host for permission to enter, or just risk being disqualified for having too much skill?

[himself22]

To all:

Yeah, skill is obvious, but it's rather hard to judge yourself compared to others.

I recommend putting up three comps. New, medium, advanced.

[Mike Ryan]

I highly advise against tiered competitions. There are a plethora of beginner's tutorials, and if any advance tutorial was chosen it wouldn't be hard for me (or any other comp host) to post a link to recommended tutorials for practice. Besides, comp hosts, how many new Paint.NET users join your comps in comparison to seasoned users?