General

What is the Mudbox Community?

The Autodesk Mudbox Community is an on-line resource, integrated within the Autodesk® Mudbox™ 2011 software, and which is also accessible via the AREA website, where members can share tools (e.g. stamps, stencils and base meshes), tutorials, and rendered images of their work.

Users can either upload work in progress – for instance to get feedback or to obtain advice on how to progress with a model - or final renderings of completed models. Items uploaded or downloaded from the community are broadly referred to as “content” throughout this FAQ.

Integrating the Mudbox Community within Mudbox makes it easier for you to upload and download content directly to and from your copy of Mudbox and quickly apply downloaded content to your model. The Mudbox Community will help you get inspired, allow you to share work you are proud of, and receive feedback and recognition on your work from other Mudbox Community members – all without leaving the Mudbox work environment.

Do I have to become a member to download content from the Mudbox Community?

No. Anyone can download content from the Library or Gallery sections of the Mudbox Community provided its use is in compliance with the Mudbox Community Terms of Use guidelines. For more information, see http://area.autodesk.com/mudcom/legal.

Do I have to become a member to upload content to the Mudbox Community?

Yes. You must register and become a member of the Mudbox Community if you wish to upload content, or rate and comment on other uploaded content. Once registered you can access all your content and see others comments on your content in your user profile. In addition, Autodesk requires that users agree to specific terms of use presented during registration before uploading

I’m experiencing technical problems with the Mudbox Community. Whom should I contact?

Click the Feedback button located in the FAQ section of the Mudbox Community to report any issues.

Can I disable the Mudbox Community feature?

Yes. A Mudbox Community section within the Mudbox Preferences provides an option letting you disable Mudbox Community features as well as customize internet settings for your particular environment. For more information, see http://www.autodesk.com/mudbox-docs-v2011.

Can I navigate to the Mudbox Community from a regular web browser?

Yes. http://area.autodesk.com/mudcom.

The Mudbox Community is optimized for display by the Webkit based browser embedded in Mudbox 2011. Safari is also a Webkit based browser and is recommended if accessing the Mudbox Community outside of Mudbox. The use of other web browsers is unsupported and may result in display problems

How is the content that appears on the Mudbox Community homepage selected?

Recently uploaded content that has received a 4/5 (or greater) rating by other Mudbox Community members is displayed on the home page.

The detail view for each item lists “related items”. How are these items chosen?

The “related items” list displays the 6 most recently uploaded items in the same category (for example, stencils in the animal category).

How can I purchase a license of Mudbox?

The information on how to purchase a license of Mudbox can be found at http://autodesk.com/mudbox-howtobuy.

Uploads and Downloads

What image file formats are supported by the Mudbox Community?

Currently 8, 16, and 32-bit TIFF files (including 32-bit float/channel) png, jpg and gif are supported. OpenEXR is not currently supported.

What am I allowed to upload to the Mudbox Community?

You may upload content that you own or have the right to upload to the Mudbox Community; you cannot upload any other content to the Mudbox Community.

If you discover content posted to the Mudbox Community that you know another community member did not have the right to upload, please let us know by clicking the “Report Abuse” button in the detail view for the content. This will notify a moderator that the content should be reviewed. If it is determined the member did not have the right to post it, it may be removed.

Can I upload something that I found on the Internet?

No. If you did not create, or you don’t have the right to upload the content to the Mudbox Community you must not upload it.

Do I still own content I created if I upload it to the Mudbox Community?

Yes. The full legal terms can be found in the Mudbox Community Terms of Use guidelines. For more information, see http://area.autodesk.com/mudcom/legal.

You retain ownership but, among other things, grant Autodesk the right to display it in the Mudbox Community. See the following two questions for a description of the rights you grant to other Mudbox Community members when you upload content to the Library Section or Gallery Section.

What am I allowed to do with Library Content (stamps, stencils, and base meshes) that I download from the Mudbox Community?

You are allowed to download such content, install it in your copy of Mudbox and use it to create content. You are also allowed to modify such content and use and redistribute the modified content without paying a fee to the author. When you upload stamps, stencils or base meshes, you grant these same rights to other Mudbox Community members.

Allowing everybody to share this type of content is the main purpose of the Mudbox Community. By granting others the right to use and modify stamps, stencils and base meshes you get access to a large repository of the same type of content posted by others. When everybody shares, everybody benefits.

The full legal terms can be found in the Mudbox Community Terms of Use. For more information, see http://area.autodesk.com/mudcom/legal.

What am I allowed to do with Gallery Content (final rendered images, turntable animations and tutorials) that I download from the Mudbox Community?

You are allowed to look at such content, comment on it and be inspired by it. You do not have the right to redistribute or modify it. If you want to share Mudbox Community content with friends or colleagues, even if they don’t use Mudbox, you can send them a link to the content using the Share feature.

The full legal terms can be found in the Mudbox Community Terms of Use. For more information, see http://area.autodesk.com/mudcom/legal.

Where does the content that I download from the Mudbox Community get stored on my computer?

Downloading content from the Mudbox Community tab within Mudbox 2011 stores the items within a MudboxCommunity directory within your Mudbox user files directory.

Content such as stamps and stencils automatically appear in their respective tool trays within Mudbox. Base meshes that are downloaded automatically appear listed within the Create > Mesh menu.

Downloading content from the Mudbox Community using a regular web browser will not automatically copy the content to the MudboxCommunity directory unless specified. You can move the content to the MudboxCommunity directory as required.

Why does the name of downloaded content differ from what is listed on the Mudbox Community page?

The Mudbox Community requires that each uploaded item have a unique file name in order to prevent overwriting existing items on the community web server. As a result, items are assigned a unique alpha-numeric name at upload time to prevent such an occurrence.

Any items you download can be renamed in your local user MudboxCommunity directory to a name more meaningful to you.

Can I use content downloaded from the Mudbox Community with previous versions of Mudbox?

Some content on the Mudbox Community may be compatible with earlier versions of Mudbox (2010, 2009, 1.0.7). Otherwise, the content in the Mudbox Community is not supported by Autodesk on versions prior to Mudbox 2011.

For example, some stencils, stamps, and base meshes (.obj format) may load and work successfully in earlier versions of Mudbox, but vector displacement maps will not.

How do I report inappropriate content that has been posted to the Mudbox Community?

All items posted to the Mudbox Community have a “Report Abuse” button located in the detail view. Click that button and describe the problem in the report. The report will be sent to Autodesk and reviewed.

Points and Levels

What is the points and levels system, and how does it work?

Points are awarded to recognize Mudbox Community members that contribute valuable content and participate in the community.

Points are awarded when your content is downloaded by other members (2 points), or when your uploaded content receives a 5/5 rating from another member (1 point). The points are an incentive for members to upload content that is valuable to other community members.

Accumulating points lets you ascend through a series of prestige levels created within the community. Members whose uploaded content has the highest number of downloads and positive ratings at any given time are listed on the Leaderboard in recognition of their contributions.

Your current points and level status can be reviewed in your user profile.

What is the Leaderboard?

The Leaderboard is an area within the Mudbox Community that ranks the highest contributing members. Users with the highest number of awarded points (based on the number of times their content is downloaded and or received positive ratings by peer members) are ranked on the Leaderboard from highest number of points downwards. In addition their current prestige level and any trophies are indicated beside their user name.

Rating other member’s work

What is the rating system?

To help other Mudbox Community members identify the highest quality content within the community, a rating system has been implemented to allow community members to rate the content submitted by their peer members. Rating an item helps other members identify the best content in a particular area of the community as content can be sorted by “highest rated” in the listing. Rating content also helps other members obtain points towards their becoming listed on the Leaderboard as a means of recognizing those members that upload content of high value to others.

How is the rating system calculated?

In order to create a rating system that is fair to all members, and to prevents any content from being unfairly selected based on just a few 5/5 ratings, the Mudbox Community uses a Bayesian rating system to calculate an aggregate rating. This same system is used when sorting by highest rated. An item with fewer ratings overall, will have less “weight” compared to an item with many ratings. The more ratings an item has, the higher the “weight” or believability of these ratings. In summary:

The more ratings an item has, the closer the corrected rating is to its uncorrected rating value.
The fewer ratings an item has, the closer its rating will be to the average rating value of all items in that category (for example, the average rating of all stencils, stencils, or final render images, and so on.)

Each time a rating is given it “pulls” the corrected rating value away from the average rating, towards the uncorrected rating value

How many times can I rate a particular item?

A member can rate a particular content item only once.

Why do I have to login before I can rate an item?

To ensure fairness in the rating process any member can rate an item only once.

Can I rate content I uploaded to the Mudbox Community?

No. That would not be fair.

Trophies

What are trophies and how are they awarded?

Trophies are virtual awards of distinction granted to Mudbox Community members to recognize content with high merit in terms of artistic vision or technical achievement. The awarding of a community trophy is determined by the community or by a respected judge from the media and entertainment industry as invited by Autodesk.

For example, you may only have a small number of points and not be ranked on the Leaderboard, but uploading a useful base mesh, vector displacement map, or beautifully rendered image may result in you being awarded a community trophy that will be appear in the trophies tab of your user profile page

How is the Splash Screen image selected?

The Splash Screen is an image that momentarily appears near the center of the Mudbox application window whenever Mudbox is launched. It’s an indicator that the software is being launched and also identifies the software and version. By default, the Splash Screen image contains the Mudbox logo. Every Mudbox user sees this image each time Mudbox is launched.

Each month a final rendered image from the Gallery will be chosen by a respected member of the 3D industry to be used as the Splash Screen image for Mudbox. The selected image will automatically be downloaded and become the Splash Screen of other Mudbox Community member’s versions of Mudbox.

How is the Image of the Month selected?

The Image of the Month is the highest rated final rendered image or turntable animation posted to the Gallery during the previous month based on the ratings of Mudbox Community members.

How is the Download of the Month selected?

The download of the month is the stamp, stencil or base mesh posted to the Library during the previous month that has been downloaded the most by Mudbox Community members.

How is Tutorial of the Month selected?

The tutorial of the month is the highest rated tutorial posted during the previous month based on the ratings of Mudbox Community members.

What if two items have exactly the same winning score? Which one gets the trophy?

In the unlikely event of an exact tie, Autodesk will award the trophy to the item that was uploaded to the Mudbox Community first.

Autodesk Mudbox Community FAQ