Quote from: leaf on December 08, 2010, 14:41
I'd enter my my design skills are no better than yours

I'm quite pleased with my new blog design: http://blog.picniche.com/
but my design skills really do suck for banners/badges and that kind of thing. Usually end up looking far too busy

My logo/ad/banner design skills really suck so I'm looking for anyone interested in knocking together some simple banners/boxes for the picWorkflow affiliate programme.
More info here:
http://www.microstockposts.com/referral-badges-wanted-for-picworkflow/

Cheers
Bob

Just in case anyone missed it... picWorkflow.com is now live

Quote from: Smithore on November 30, 2010, 14:31
Nice work, Bob, I'm starting to test your site tomorrow!
Hope you can add automatic picture resize for each microstock site, like in isyndica.

It's on the list Only a few items down so shouldn't be long

Quote from: MicrostockExp on November 30, 2010, 11:25
Loosk good, I ll test it with footage first:)

Thanks
Although it works with footage uploads, metadata is not (yet) transferred for video files. Mainly because most agencies do not read from .mov metadata (and it's a PITA to write too), however I added a metadata export tool to the process page so you can easily create a text-file (tsv/csv) of your metadata for those agencies who accept uploaded metadata in a separate file at submission time It's a little extra step for now, but as soon as I can figure out a reliable way to send video-metadata to agencies I will

I toyed with this idea initially for picWorkflow.com (and was similar to how the picNiche Image Deck works), but after some trial scripts I figured it's not feasible due to the frequency of updates required... supporting all site configurations across various languages, and auto-updating all agency specifications whilst maintaining security requires some pretty serious infrastructure.
Hence my decision to build a centralised website to do it rather than a bunch of scripts putting extra requirement on the user's php and server knowledge.

Yes, iStock will be on pretty soon. Their lack of FTP support and refusal to issue an API key to any service who also supports other agencies (actually was told by two of their staff that they havn't issued a single new api key in almost 2 years) means they'll need a bunch of custom handlers so they're sat at the bottom of the list for now, but they'll be on as soon as the ftp-based agencies are running smoothly

Thanks Komar
Analytics is the most important tool to be added. It's a lot of work to be don, but I'll be building on the base of the picNiche toolbar, and have it import the data into the picWorkflow account so everything can be connected right

Yep, vectors and footage are supported, although both require a jpeg preview file to accompany it for it to import to the workspace.

The site tries to determine whether the preview file should also be uploaded to the agency when distributed, but I probably haven't caught all the different requirements, if you get a preview file popping up on an agency where it shouldn't be, please let me know so I can update the specs

It'll quite happily store Raw files alongside jpegs too, but no mechanism for distributing those to the few agencies which accept them 'yet' (and again they might be distributed when they shouldn't be, I'm not sure I have every single file-type setup there).

I have picWorkflow to replace iSyndica going public launch in a couple of days.

I'm in last phase of beta and just put out a special invite to open beta for microstock group members

http://www.microstockgroup.com/picniche-toolbar/picworkflow-beta-open-invite-and-free-credits-just-for-microstock-group-members/msg170036/

Hey All

I'm getting ready to launch picWorkflow for public use in a couple of days and would like to get a broader view of what else might need improving/fixing/changing before I take it live.

I'm inviting anyone from Microstock Group to register at picWorkflow.com using the invite-code "microstockgroup" for a free bonus 100 credits ($1), good for distribution of your files (at 1c per file) to any of the supported agencies, or your own custom FTP destinations.

I'm really after your feedback on what's missing and what could be improved, would be delighted to find out what you think
Cheers
Bob

Quote from: rubyroo on November 02, 2010, 14:14
Are there any other business that do this?

Microstocking is the only area of my working life where I've been a supplier of goods.  I'm finding it hard to imagine that a supplier of, say, DIY items to a DIY shop would accept receiving lower remuneration whenever the DIY shop decides to discount their items in the shop window.

This does happen 'quite' often, different industries more so than others, but it's a valid approach to 'moving more product', the supplier and retailer agree on a discount value, they usually split the difference (or even the loss) between them, then benefit later on when new buyers come accustomed to that particular brand.
In this case though, you could argue that iStock didn't ask you if you wanted to share the burden of their marketing efforts, however I'm sure they'd say that by agreeing to their contributor terms, and choosing to 'move your product' there, you've already agreed with it in principle.

I don't agree with the practice, but if what's good for the goose is good for the gander, then I can see why they do it.

Hey all

I just wanted to give you all a bit of follow-up info on my previous thread about the new picWorkflow service replacing iSyndica.

I've finally pinned down the core of the site, and have a massive todo-list going ahead. I will be releasing the site soon, and was just hoping to get some feedback on the setup before I do the final launch.

The rough cost guides in my initial thread were a bit off what I was manage to arrange in the final site so managed to get much much better pricing than I originally thought.
The site works like this:

• There are currently about 20 sites supported for export (ie. syndication), and you can add your own too (you can also earn free credits by submitting new ones and allowing them to be used by others)


• All distribution and storage tasks are priced per file at 1c ($0.01) (per 22mb block), so cost is based on usage.


• The base storage unit is 3 months (ie. 1c for a file smaller than 22mb). And can be extended upto 2 years max.


• Illustrations and footage files are supported (they must be accompanied by a jpeg preview for now until I can figure out what is involved in generating those from the source files).


• Files larger than 22mb the cost increases per additional 22mb, so a 40mb file (or jpeg preview and accompanying movie/illustration combined) would be 2c base.


• If you let storage expire, only the source file is deleted (the thumbnail, stats, destination and task history remain for your reference)


• The system supports IPTC editing, and keywording will be up before it goes live too. I'm also working out a way you can purchase keywording/etc as a normal 'task' so you don't have to do it yourself if you choose.


• Detailed statistics will run via the picNiche toolbar, and will be free. They will come shortly after launch along with portfolio promotion tools.

I'd like to keep responding to your needs down the line, and would very much like to hear what you think about this and what questions you may have before I get it out the door for v1

Finally got the new version up If you want it before the mozilla guys get round to reviewing for autoupdate, you can find it here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11474/eula/102358

Quote from: Stu49 on October 27, 2010, 09:23
IS poller not working again !!  no update of earnings ! 

Aye sorry about that, it turned out the last change I made in the previous version means the poller auto-updates don't get delivered to some people (I found it just the other day). It's already fixed, though I need to move the options panel outside of the main firefox prefwindow (by request from moz devs) before I can put the fix live. Will try and get it done by friday

Aye, that's driving me crazy, but there's nothing I can do There's some more info on page 1 of this thread.

A lot of the custom pollers I wouldn't notice the break as I don't submit to them all, but Veer has been doing pretty well lately so I noticed that one pretty fast

Quote from: tamasvargyasi on October 25, 2010, 17:12
The Veer doesn`t work for me, any of you have the same problem? Or who knows the remedy?

Fixed and updated for the 'Get More' list about 10 minutes ago
Just hit Get More then the Update button for Veer in the list.

Ta Bob

Quote from: 9lives on October 20, 2010, 04:23
Thanks Bob!

I will try that out, the rest of the sites work perfectly and I really love the toolbar.  As a newly non-exclusive contributor your tools are super helpful and I've recommended them to a few other who are just coming out of contract lockdown.

Thanks for spreading the word

Quote from: 9lives on October 20, 2010, 00:30
Hmm I can't even click it to get to my earnings page the problem for is that it won't pick up my username and password no matter what I do, so I always get the "No user name match" notification popping up.  

I'm not sure if you mean the 123rf poller (their site has some major caching and database issues but there's nothing I can do about it on the toolbar). The best suggestion I can make is to try following the steps here:
http://picniche.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/picniche-toolbar-tips-faqs/#prob1
I've contacted Alex and offered to help improve their site, but he's not interested, so for now at least we're stuck with it as-is. Maybe next time they get round to working on the site it will work better

To be fair, I couldn't have done much better when I was a student (I was too busy watching Star Trek mainly). Though a few years 'in industry' teaches quite easily what slacking around a college campus never could about doing thorough research before approaching your audience

Becky, I'd suggest first trolling the boards here for a while and you'll find the REAL picture on what it is to be an iStock (or general Microstock) contributor. Granted it's not all nice datapoints at first, but there are several simple text analysis techniques which would get you what you're after without having to resort to a highly unbalanced survey.
For a start, check out Tylers annual microstock charts, then dive around the forums and see how many times various 'leaning keywords' crop up. I'd start by measuring instances of the word 'shafted'

That's rather a poorly crafted survey. I find it hard to believe there is any way of extracting useful and quantifiable data from those questions. Unless of course you just want a count of people stating: 'I am proud to be part of the iStockphoto community.', in which case, you should have taken the survey last month then followed up with a re-run this month

Some of you guys and gals may be interested in this thread:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/picniche-toolbar/isyndica-ends-service-on-10th-does-anyone-need-to-export-their-images-by-then/

As I mentioned in my thread the other day, I'm working up a replacement service to iSyndica.

I now have the infrastructure setup, and although I'm still working on many of the front-end functions of the site, I have the nuts and bolts running and capable of securely storing files.
I know that the iSyndica service officially ends on the 10th (this Sunday) at which point any files still there will be deleted. Soooo I'm offering for anyone who still has not exported their portfolio at iSyndica some free storage on my service whilst I finish building the site.

This is of course not exactly altruistic of me, because it would be in the hope that you'd continue to use it later when it's up and running. Though in exchange for being an early adopter and providing feedback about the site as I finish building it (over the next week or so), you would have a voice in how it develops and I'll drop some free credit on your account when it does switch to a 'live' paid service.

The site is at picWorkflow.com

I'm not sure how many are interested, but if you are... PM me here, DM on twitter, or email me at [email protected] with your email address and a rough estimate of how many files you want to store for an invite code so you can register.

Quote from: eggshell on October 08, 2010, 14:25
Middle click on the P button works for the top bar . However I usually hide the status bar ( more vertical space ) . Is there a way to make that button a freely positionable one ( anywhere in the navigation bar via View/Toolbars/Customize ) ? Thanks

I tried to make it movable a while back, but the documentation on how to do that in firefox is really unclear so I couldn't figure it out (not even sure if it's possible for a status-bar button). The sidebar can be opened/closed from the Tools/picNicheTools/Sidebar menu option, but there's no way to quick-show/hide the toolbars without a status-bar (just the right-click on location/menu bar and use the default firefox functionality). I'd like to avoid adding global keyhandlers as it pollutes the browser and has a high-risk of conflicting with other addons, though I'll see if I can add an option in a future update.