Konnichiwa! Minna-sama!

In the past (post-Animexplosion and pre-H3), submitting a picture reference is a norm on every cosplay event 'coz this is one way the judges would give points to one of the most critical judging criteria, accuracy.

But the system started to show its age on the 1st H3. Cosplayers submitted black/white picts, overly pixelated picts and even stamp sized picts which gave not only the cosplay staff a hard time compiling the pictures but it also gave the judges a very hard time inputing scores, looking at the reference picts at the same time keeping up with the catwalk.

This system became more and more of a hassle and an inconvenience as the number of cosplayers increases and some event organizers decided to temporarily cease to use it in future events and decided to invite/get credible and more knowledgeable judges. There were some events who still continues the system but they've still encountered the same problems.

Now, me and my team are developing/re-innovating the picture reference system and it's still in its "Lab testing" stages and it's not ready for field testing...yet :3

We're now gathering a few final data before moving to the field testing stage and we would like to know if ever we'll implement this system, will you submit a soft copy of the character that you would be cosplaying for character reference through USB drive, CD, diskette, card storage, etc?

If No, would you care if you tell us why?

Thank you for your time *bows down*

Yes, I would, because we can save trees (no pun intended) by not wasting paper just for our reference pictures.

In a CD? Why not. A CD costs 5 pesos or so (depending on where you will be buying it) and for those who don't have PCs/CD burners at home can just ask their friends to burn the CD for them containing the pictures instead of paying 30+ pesos to have it printed, only to be given away to the judges.

^^ But then again, nakakapanghinayang na bumili ng CD, then have it given away as well. Sayang din ang disk space sa CD. XD

I really like the idea of submitting a soft copy (through CD, flash drive or whatever); it's also a convenience for the cosplayers because they don't have to worry about lugging/accidentally crumpling or tearing three or so pieces of paper (one for each judge). But then, they have to worry about losing their flash drive or portable hard drive. XP

I also think that there must be a certain standard for picture quality (i.e. at least 3/4 body, not pixellated, etc.) and that it could be one of the grounds for disqualifying a cosplayer from the competition (strict, but it could be effective)... suggestion lang po. ^_^;;

@Ino: there's that mini-CD that works on practically every computer... I think it's only 32MB as compared to the usual 700MB CD. Mas hindi nakakahinayang.

It's convenient for me, submitting a softcopy of the character I'll be cosplaying. Maski diskette okay na...as demfae said, most flash disks get easily lost in the confusion of registration, and I think most cosplayers (who might have inevitably bought their USB's with their own money, like me) will not use theirs.

Saka minsan po mas mura pa ang bumili ng diskette kaysa magprint-out...especially kung malaki yung reference pic.

Tama rin po si ate Ino...dapat may standards rin yung submission ng pics..kasi no use rin kung softcopy nga, pero pixellated naman or headshot lang.

@ numina-namine

Si demfae nagsabi about the standard sizing of the pics. XD; Ehe~

As for the pictures din pala...

Dapat, as much as possible, hindi pixelated. Dapat din malaki para kahit the smallest details, nakikita ng judges. :3 Its for the accuracy bit. XD

@Ino & demfae - Ah, gomennasai! Stupid, stupid!

Uhm...so this also applies to doujin cosplay? So there's scanning and the like...

This is really good for a group cosplay...saves paper po talaga...

hmmmn..nice, i must say! ^-^

and its beneficial to all cosplayers especially those who cosplays the not-so-popular characters....hehe..

and of course, ill submit soft copy pix of my cosplay character, but on a flash-disk...well..i would say NO..why..because i really dont trust other computers except mine..hehe..and the judges/organizers would also agree that they will not trust flash-disks..kasi pugad yun ng mga darn TROJAN viruses and other spywares...and eventhough meron ngang anti-virus..inconvenient parin yun sa mga organizers/flash-disk owners kasi baka mahawaan ung pc ng organizers/flashdisk ng cosplayers ng mga darn TROJAN and spywares..

UNLESS...wula and 100x100% kang sure na wala tlgang virus un..then i wud submit..

and other medias...no problem! and also...nowadays...DIskettes are unreliable...trust me! ^_^

Hmm..if the problem is trusting the people with your flash disks or any other material...why not have a number of computers in the registration area, transfer the pic reference then return the flash disk directly to the cosplayer?

Personally, I think this system could possibly work. The printed reference is just too much hassle to the organizers and judges especially now that many people are interested in cosplaying. Plus, the fact that it could save money, as what the other members above said.

If the problem is not being able to judge properly during the catwalk itself, then that should be the cosplayer's responsibility. It's not possible to be judged if you only spend a few seconds onstage.

I wholeheartedly agree with that. I think that cosplayers should spend 10 seconds on stage at the very least, EXCLUDING the time for entrance and exit. Besides, I also think that it's their fault for spending too little time on stage, then blaming the judges for their low score (if by some miracle they get a hold of the scores).

having computer kiosks (more than 1) can be viable in the future i suppose, as long as the event organizers willingly provide the extra computers.

Make sure also these kiosks have the lastest virus protections for the safety of the cosplayer as well as the cosplay organizers.

i would also suggest integrating the soft copy pictures into existing cosplay pre-registration procedures. this will ensure cosplayers wont forget anything but bringing themselves (and their costumes) to the con. basing from experience, cosplayers will most likely be working on the finishing touches of their costumes the day before the event -- and probably no time to turn on PCs and save a file on a portable storage.

it would be helpful also to set some guidelines for the soft copy photo to be submitted, some points to consider:
> file size
> pixel size or image dimension
> in color
> image itself (full body, not just the face,etc)
> file format

as for the judging its actually challenging enough to stare at the cosplayer, think about their score for 3/4 criteria, decide on it, and then write it down, all in the space of less than one minute! (and then add to it them comparing the cosplayer to the photo submitted)... i think it would be helpful if these photos can be made available to the judges in advance, so they know what they will be seeing on stage.

I'm seeing possible logistical problems here, for on-site registration. For one thing, the registration booth needs a computer. Then, it needs a printer if the judges would be provided with a hard copy of the reference material. So ang labas niyan: registration booth has to have an outlet nearby or at least have to keep extension cords trip-safe, organizers would have to provide a computer and printer to use instead of just setting up a table, chairs, papers, pens, etc. The only con I've seen na may comp for registration is G2Con and Mangaholix.
Also, baka magkaroon ng bottleneck for cosplayers lining up to register and submit their soft copies via flash drives/diskette/etc. Labas niyan: plug, fiddles with mouse, waits for file to save, plug out, next! All fine right? But try imagining yourself actually doing the job. Plug diskette, save, pull out, next. Plug flash drive, save, pull out (oops! didn't click the 'safely remove' link!). Then there's also the waiting time for the pc to read the drive and such and to search out which file is to be saved.
Lastly, pano kung bigla di mabasa yung file.
Submitting a soft copy along with the pre-reg sounds good, though. Para at least may lead time to ready the judges' copy kumpara sa mga on-site.

@ jennysy: Since last year, a few cons have had computerized registration booths, if not a computer to keep track of online registrants. This is because online registration before each con has been enabled. I'm sure it won't be long before registration is fully computerized. (AMP, mas maaga pa yata magkaka-computerization sa cosplay kaysa sa Commission on Elections. :D000)

@ acewildgal: There's only one problem I have with your suggested guidelines for photo submission. Sometimes, there really are no decent photographs (meaning, minimum proportions 240X480 / 480x240, at least 20 KB in size) of a certain character, especially if the character is from a vintage (meaning, older than me ) or not-very-popular anime, manga, game, TV show, movie, comic or doujin. What would you do then?

My input on this topic is this: If a group wants to cosplay, its members can share a single CD where they can put all the individual character shots plus any and all group photos they want to submit. And because in some cases the music is all fed to the sound system from a computer as well, they may add their music there. So once the registration personnel are done with it, they may send the CD to the sound crew.

Also, FYI, the 32 MB mini-CD actually costs MORE than the standard 720 MB CD.

I think there are sometimes cheap CDs that are cheaper than diskettes. P10 from CDR king was the usual price, if I remember correctly. Sounds like a reasonable expense to me. And CDs are less likely to be infected by viruses from the organizer's computers, unless the virus was already there when it was burned, so you only have to install very good antivirus software on the organizers' computers. I think kailangan irequire na standard or limited din ang media format (CD and/or flash disk only, diskette only) and file format (.jpg or .gif) that's very clear in the guidelines for registration.

Incorporating the submission in pre-reg seems like a very good idea.

Just a question on logistics though: When judges score cosplayers, where would they be expected to see the softcopy pictures? Meron ba silang laptop with them during the judging? Or would it be printouts from the organizers? Kasi kung printouts, baka it would defeat the purpose din... and end up with added costs on both the cosplayers and organizers side.

(Note, I haven't cosplayed yet, but I've been involved in contest judging for other events, so I was relating this to those events.)

@ligayaharuka173: MarkPoa sort of explained better what I was thinking about with this post ^

i agree with those who've said that you'll be encountering a lot of problems with this idea, logistics-wise. if you can somehow get rid of those problems, then it's quite feasible.

btw, i hope you were also able to post this up on cosplaykada. at least that way you'd get more feedback.