Author Topic: PixelSquid Stock Imagery - Feedback / Thoughts? (Read 4548 times)

Jonpolygon · « **on:** May 15, 2015, 11:45 »

Hello everyone,

I would like to share, and hopefully get your feedback or thoughts, on our recently launched stock image site, PixelSquid.com

Bit of back story - PixelSquid was created by the team at TurboSquid.com. Our background and experience is primarily in 3D. Our core business provides 3D models for use in games, simulations, advertising, film production, television, architecture, and news.

We realize that not all 2D users are users of 3D software and that the steps involved in creating and rendering 3D content are time consuming. PixelSquid is our step towards bridging that gap and making 3D more accessible.

With PixelSquid we provide 2D pre-rendered images at high resolution with all advanced layers that we get from the 3D file preserved. We provide this as a Photoshop file that contains the lighting, shadow, depth, object masking and area selection layers.

Because we are using the power of 3D to create the content, we are also able to provide customers with the ability to select from multiple angles of the object and in many of the products we include the ability for users to rotate the object to find the perfect angle.

Initial response from customers has been good and we are noticing that they are excited about using PixelSquid isolated content in conjunction with existing stock photography workflow. One of our users was excited enough to create a video showing how he uses the content in his workflow: newbielink:https://www.msjphotography.com/index.php/2015/05/photoshop-workbench-474-compositing-with-pixelsquid-360-degree-stock-images/ [nonactive]

Right now we are giving away $20 of credit free to everyone to try out PixelSquid content. We also have free content on the site to play with.

We'd love to get your feedback or comments on any aspect of the site or product.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #1 on:** May 15, 2015, 12:09 »

You probably won't want to hear that image creators aren't that excited about 3d objects being used to create an infinite amount of customized images that could supplant their sales.

Looks neat though. Good idea for buyers.

"The images you publish are exclusive to PixelSquid for 4 years." That's kind of rough for contributors on an unknown platform.

Jonpolygon · « **Reply #2 on:** May 15, 2015, 16:13 »

Thanks for the feedback!

We understand that image creators may not be enthusiastic about a new source of imagery that could supplant sales. With that said, we do not see this in direct competition with existing stock imagery. Our vision is really to offer a new way to create unique and compelling images that were perhaps not possible using traditional methods.

You will notice that all of our content is isolated and is intended to be combined with existing backplates. Think photograph of a desert plain with a composite of a 3D dinosaur or a shot of space with a futuristic sci-fi spacecraft. This is already happening today, but there is still significant barriers to making a shot like that a reality.

Thanks for the feedback on the exclusive license. I agree that this might be quite a leap.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #3 on:** May 15, 2015, 19:27 »

I was going to look at the video you pointed us to, but you can't watch it without signing up for a newsletter - I don't need more junk in my inbox, so I've skipped it.

I do think that sites offering various formats of content other than JPEG files (for images) are an interesting branch - Creative Market lets me sell PSD files, for example. Canva takes PNG.

I don't see photos and 3D objects as being in competition, because generally speaking if you want one, the other won't do. These 3D renders don't look anything like a photograph (and vice versa).

I did look at some of the selections in your advanced folder, and although the idea is great, the edges are very rough - jagged edges and a series of straight lines around a curve (at least in the diving bell example). Probably fine for some uses, but if you're going to the trouble to deliver PSDs (i.e. not the casual user) I wonder if they'll be OK with the selections.

If a user buys one of the 360 objects with via choosing a view with the spinner but later decides the angle isn't right or they need a different one, do they need to make a second purchase?

You include objects for sale in the basic license, something that almost all sites require an extended license for. I certainly wouldn't be OK with a basic license covering print on demand uses.

Jonpolygon · « **Reply #4 on:** May 15, 2015, 20:17 »

It isn't clear, but you can click continue on Mark S. Johnsons website without signing up for the newsletter.

Thank you for checking out the site and viewing the PSD features. I'll have our production team take a look at the object. With 3D models smoothing is applied which reduces the faceting effect on curved surfaces, in this case it was either rendered without smoothing or the setting was not turned up. This is a specific challenge with 3D.

Currently the pricing is by image, although we have had a lot of feedback from customers wanting to have the choice of multiple shots or even the entire product. This would certainly be a lot simpler for our customers. Our question would be what to charge for the purchase of an entire product?

The feedback and licensing makes a lot of sense. It seems like we could simplify things a lot by offering a single royalty free extended use license.

Thank you again for your feedback. This is incredibly helpful!

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Author Topic: PixelSquid Stock Imagery - Feedback / Thoughts? (Read 4548 times)

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Sean Locke Photography

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