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Theorist
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th May 2018 at 6:14 PM Last edited by ScaryRob : 22nd May 2018 at 1:25 AM.
Default Picture Moderation Could Be Better
I've recently noticed an increase in the number of top-down floor plan pics of Lot uploads that seem to be taken from too high up, making it hard to recognize details of a layout.
Would it be possible for the upload mods to be a little more discerning in what they approve regarding these pictures in particular, perhaps by reminding Lot creators to maybe zoom in as close as possible?
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Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#2 Old 20th May 2018 at 8:48 PM
Zooming in as close as possible, is not always the answer. The guidelines require at minimum 800x600, and the floorplans to be clear enough for us to see to moderate. From what I've seen, many of the images are far larger than that, and when opened in a new tab you can see them much clearer.

If you feel a particular upload does not meet the guidelines, please report it, mistakes do happen. I wouldn't mind an example of where you think the floorplans are too far zoomed out, it might be something the moderation team should address.
Theorist
Original Poster
#3 Old 21st May 2018 at 8:14 PM
In my OP, I mistakenly identify this as a recent problem with moderation, when instead I think it is something that been consistently happening.

Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
If you feel a particular upload does not meet the guidelines, please report it, mistakes do happen. I wouldn't mind an example of where you think the floorplans are too far zoomed out, it might be something the moderation team should address.

OK, just understand that I'm posting this as an example, and not to criticize the creator(s).

Take a look at the floorplan pics of this latest Sims 4 Lot upload: http://www.modthesims.info/download...#carouselthumbs
This is a good example of what I'm talking about.
IMO, these pics were taken from too high above the house. Notice the relatively large yard areas at the front and the back of the house, which means the creator could have substantially zoomed down to better illustrate the layout and furniture.

A related problem is where creators leave the walls up when taking floorplan pics, generally thought not to be good practice because it obscures things.

Still another thing I see frequently and which I think is a problem, is when floorplan pics of multi-story houses are taken from a different orientation for the various floors, which makes it very hard to understand the layout.

I know many people initially think MTS' upload procedure is complicated and difficult (it really isn't), so I wouldn't suggest any new guidelines. There's only so much you can put in writing to get a point across, after which, if they don't get it, they never will.
Instead I would just suggest maybe a heads-up to your mods, and for them to perhaps pay a little more attention to these things.
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#4 Old 21st May 2018 at 8:28 PM
Looks ok to me, ScaryRob. And I have baaaad eyesight, as in pretty bad lol.

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#5 Old 21st May 2018 at 9:23 PM
The images in that upload are 1920x1080, and when opened in a new tab, are huge! The floorplan is more than easily seen. Are you only looking at them in the thumbnail gallery? If I take that image in Photoshop and crop just the house, it's roughly 1080x1080.

Walls up/down both have there merits. Walls up allows us to see doors & windows, wall coverings, wall deco, etc. I don't see them up as obscuring anything, imo. Walls down, I have no idea, I see no reason for it. There are no guidelines for walls up/down, and there are no plans to implement it, because I think this doesn't add or detract from viewing the layout of the house.

How an uploader takes their pictures is completely up to them, as long as we can see everything needed to apply the guidelines. I think the different orientation of different stories is your personal preference to have uniformity. While I can't disagree with this, as long as we can see each level in the building, the orientation really is only for aesthetics.
Tartan McBadgerface
#6 Old 21st May 2018 at 10:04 PM
I approved that upload because when opened the images in another tab, the floor plans were clear. It didn't score the highest possible on the rubric (which it would have done, had the creator zoomed in as close to the build without cutting off the walls as originally requested when asking for the floor plans), but due to the size of the image, what we need to see as moderators and downloaders is perfectly clear
Theorist
Original Poster
#7 Old 22nd May 2018 at 1:18 AM Last edited by ScaryRob : 22nd May 2018 at 1:37 AM.
Let me just use an example of one my own Lots, which I should've done to begin with instead of pointing out someone else's.
Take a look at this pic:


Now compare it to this one:


Notice how the second picture is zoomed in closer to the house, making the floorplan layout, as well as the furniture items, much easier to discern. There is no need to include half the yard, as in the first pic.
Like I said in my previous post, I don't think you need to, or ought to, make additional guidelines, but just have your mods pay a little more attention to this.

Here is another example of a type of floorplan pic I often see that could be better. Ask yourself what's wrong with this picture. The street is located below the bottom of the pic. While the camera is zoomed in as close as it can be and still show every part of the house, there's something else wrong with this pic:


Now compare it to this one of the same house:

Obviously, the orientation of the pic has changed, with the street now being to the right. Since this is a somewhat long and narrow house, and since most pictures people make are wider than they are higher, it is better to orient the pic this way because, again, it allows a closer zoom-in and depiction of the layout.

These examples are not as extreme as some uploaded floorplan pics I've seen, but I think they illustrate my point. You may think I'm nitpicking, but I've seen some floorplan pics that practically include the entire Lot, with the floorplan being fairly tiny to make out.

Note that I did not crop any of these pics. After properly orientating the picture within the game (pressing the Tab key and making minor adjustments), I simply used the built-in Windows screenshot function to cut-and-save the pic to my paint program, which is set up to automatically save the pic to a resolution of 1440x900.

Also, in my previous post I got the walls-up versus walls-down issue backwards. I think floorplan pics always need to be taken with walls completely up, so as to clearly depict the room layout.

Please consider this friendly, constructive criticism. Note that I've changed the wording of the header for this thread.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#8 Old 22nd May 2018 at 1:55 AM
We have a scale, so if we deem something to be a 3 it's acceptable. Now an upload scoring a 3 on the floor plan won't be as good as an upload scoring a 4 or even better a 5 so yes you will see uploads that differ. It's only if it scores under a 3 that we ask for closer shots.

As to walls up or cut away, there are pros and cons to both. As moderators we don't pick and choose, we have to follow a set of rules and both ways are now acceptable under the guidelines. You prefer walls up but somebody else will prefer walls to be cut away.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#9 Old 23rd May 2018 at 12:32 AM
As a creator who's made plenty of lots where the "yard" (for lack of a better term) is one of the defining features of the lot, I consciously will usually have the ground floor floorplan image include as much of the lot as possible, and I appreciate it when other creators take that approach too. I also agree with the mods above, most of the time, a floorplan image opened in another tab is more than large enough to see the layout of a lot.

Welcome to the Dark Side...
We lied about having cookies.
Top Secret Researcher
#10 Old 3rd Jun 2018 at 5:43 PM
I would usually include both whole lot plan if i'm focusing on the yard (which is almost always the case) and I'll make separate floor plans for each floor. Easy as that, really.

Also, I think you should always go with walls up view when taking top down view pictures, unless walls are so complicated that there is an item obstructed by the wall.
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#11 Old 3rd Jun 2018 at 6:22 PM
Hi there!

Thanks for your concern! In most cases (and I'm taking your third picture as an example) it's indeed a 3 star worth, whereas the closer looking one is definitely a 5, like Jo mentioned! However take in account that, say, a castle or a huge lot and showing off bits instead of an entire floorplan can lead to confusion and making a downloader think "Wait, which part of this building is this?! Where am I?!?!!" I totally get your point here and hopefully with the new rubrics system coming up with all sorts of examples on what is good and bad (Including images) The floorplans that are taken a tad too far might actually not be as bad as they might be now So the criticism and your concern is always appreciated.

Personally I think the yard + zoomed in is the best, so downloaders don't have to guess what or where the garden is and if it looks fancy enough for their liking. So if that is your style of uploading (Which is something that also counts here) I would say it's highly appreciated by your downloaders!
Forum Resident
#12 Old 2nd Aug 2019 at 11:32 PM
Changed thread category to Solved/Answered
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