My insomnia is your gain

[tugrik]

I can't sleep, so I might as well post something being worked on.

I've figured out how to utterly abuse a bif of image processing software to fill an idea I had a few years ago. The original is about 3.57GB in size; I'd have to use one of those giga-pixel viewers to get it to all fit on-screen. It'll print out at full resolution on a 4'x6' poster...

...and that's just what I plan to do. They'll be for sale at FC this year in both 2008 and 2009 editions.



(Click for mid-sized version, 1500pix wide)

This one is just a test. The final version will be tweaked to make sure everybody's in it. There were some 500 individual suits photographed and it takes about 1,000 to make this collage, so there'll be two shots of each buried in there somewhere. This test, though, is just a random pull so there's dozens of some and none of others.

Opinions? Would any of you 'suiter types buy something like this? And would it be better with the convention logo in the top third/center of the poster, or just left 100% fursuiters like this? :)

Comments

[dollraves.livejournal.com]

Will it be Suits only? Are you going to give folks the ability to opt out?

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

The final version will be suits only, heads-on only. And yes, we have a list of the 'no post' folks from each year who told us to not let the con use their photos.

[dollraves.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a *brilliant* idea. I hope it's a big hit at the con. :D

[whiteyfawks.livejournal.com]

Dude, I totally see the hidden picture! It's a boat!

[crocodile.livejournal.com]

Not to discriminate/nitpick but I see a decent number of non-suits in the test collage, are they going to be in the final version or suits only? Otherwise it isn't really "100% fursuiters". ;)

As for my gut reaction on the demand for such an item, it IS a cool item, but for reasons I'm not really sure of, other than the actual suits themselves, fursuit related items have NEVER sold well. The figurines didn't, the fursuit calendar didn't, so on and so on. People will of course pay more for anything that prominently features them, but otherwise the interest level is disappointingly low.

Now what I think would be awesome, is offering a custom photo mosiac poster to people, where they would submit a large number of photos to you of their character (or whatever they wanted) and then select the main photo and have you print out a photo mosiac of their character. Or, you could be really clever about it and say use a ton of fursuit pics of their character and have it make up a photo of them OUT of suit, as a sort of clever little commentary. Of course most people aren't going to have nearly enough diverse types of photos to do a good mosiac, so only a small number of folks probably would be able to do it, but man, I would buy something like that in a heartbeat. If you ever decide to do it let me know. ;)

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

Yes, the final version will be suits-only, heads-on-only, no worries. This test image is just that; a test that randomly pulled from a raw directory of photos.

The nice part about being my own printer is that if it doesn't sell I only really need to make the handful of them to show about. They can be given away if nobody buys 'em. :) I also won't have to expend too much effort to make them, so the risk factor is low.

Doing individual collages or photo-mashups like that is a possibility, sure, but it takes more effort. Therefore it's probably best done on a commission like basis than anything. I can currently do shapes out of the collage but not tint-levels that form a master image.

[reveille-d.livejournal.com]

I think your two examples are kinda flawed, as both the figurines and the calendars are a very, very limited subset of content. I can see them selling well to fans of said featured content, but from what I've heard and seen, they're not that attractive to the average Joe-Costumer. A big poster like this, on the other hand, includes EVERYONE (who didn't opt-out), and has this sort of "Wow, I'm really a part of THAT!" vibe to it, without the inherent drama generated by cherry-picking.

[crocodile.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, but you're kind of suggesting the same thing I was, which is that people are way more willing to shell out for something they're included in. I know a lot of people who tried to make the argument that the figurines and the calendar were for "anyone who appreciates suits", hell if that wasn't the logic why would the creators have thought spending the time money and effort to put them together was a good idea? If the only audience was going to be those portrayed, surely none would have ever been greenlit.

Do I think some folks would buy a huge "everyone" poster? Sure. But now that we've established that it's cool, what would they do with it? I don't see a lot of people putting it on their wall, it's not enough of a vanity item and the bigger it is, the less chance they're going to want to devote a wall to it. And for that matter, the smaller it is the less you can even see any detail of the suits, so where is the ideal size that isn't too big but isn't too small? I think the people that do buy it will mostly get it for the uniqueness factor, but how many people IS that really? For every 10 people that would comment "wow that's really cool!" maybe 1 or 2 would actually shell out for it. Maybe. I wouldn't mind being wrong, trust me, but I just don't think people buy stuff that doesn't showcase them (except furry artwork).

[abirritate.livejournal.com]

If one or two fans per 10 'wow cools' actually shelled out for something, that would be a fantastic turnout.

Seriously. If people want to buy those things, Tug shouldn't have to worry about what they do with 'em. That's their choice and if there's low overhead for the printing and you can pod'em, there's no loss. I say why not do it?

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

*prints it the size of your wall and sticks it on, so when you come home and open the door it's all AAAH FURSUITS in your vision*

*whistles innocently*

[crocodile.livejournal.com]

Well if it's he's only printing on demand for the most part, that's obviously fine. I just wouldn't want him to print a bunch out ahead of time and then be stuck with them at a loss.

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

I'd certainly be interested in buying something like this, yes! Actual buy/no-buy decision would depend on cash in-hand at the time, of course.

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

Format preferences: as-shown, pretty much. A grid would bug me, whereas a collage doesn't make me scan it for imperfections };>. A con banner wouldn't be a draw for me (though a small line of text at the bottom with the con/year information would help for record-keeping).

If this is going to be printed on demand, rather than done in small batches ahead of time, why not have this a configurable option? There would only be a small number of possible versions, as long as there weren't many formatting choices.

See you in January!

-Deuce

[panzier.livejournal.com]

Making any in wallet size? :) Sounds like a great idea not sure who might buy one though.

[reveille-d.livejournal.com]

I can't help but think there's going to be hurt feelings when someone gets their photo half-obscured by a suit which they have drama with, haha.

[tsuyoto.livejournal.com]

Don't block my suit. ;P

* looks at icon *

[http://users.livejournal.com/krin_o_o_/]

Ain't getting down range of that... no way... no how!

[jell-0.livejournal.com]

I think making it a labeled item with the con title and year featured somewhere would make this more of a collector piece, like a concert poster. It might be nice to include some action shots in the under layers that show the event.

[ixwkir.livejournal.com]

From an artistic standpoint, it seems like there's too much gray space using the whole photos like that. From a distance it just looks... gray. I know some of the suits do take up the whole frame, but maybe it would be better to crop the ones with excess gray space, as close to the actual suit as possible?

Also I don't really care for the overlapping; it almost seems like it would be better to not show as many suits, and arrange them in a straight grid of rectangles, than show some suits where the head or main features are cut off or otherwise obscured. Sorta smacks of "first class" and "second class" suits, even if it's totally randomized, and you can bet the people who end up in the "obscured" pictures are going to be butthurt.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt, because I'm not actually interested in buying it myself! But I imagine you'll sell it to more of those pictured, and have less grumbling, if every picture is full and clear...

[zefel.livejournal.com]

Y'know, there's a lot of us who've never had the resources to be able to fursuit.