[Updated] Black Pearl Clarification

The Black Pearl

You need at least 60 days of seniority and 5 karma points to use the Black Pearl.

We'd like to clarify a few things concerning the proposals for the Creative Space. We've had the time to see how things went and made some changes along with some additional advice.

For the Horses, Pegasus, Unicorns, Donkeys, and Ponies.


Using shadows in your creations:


We are probably going to add them ourselves in the future to have something that has the right perspective on the backgrounds, and that has a uniform texture across the coats.

You can use shadowing, but we ask that you keep them very light so that the images will fit with most Helios Ray backgrounds.

Cut out your edges more.


When we place the coats on a dark background in a lot of cases, there are stray light colored pixels all around the drawing. This makes it impossible to use on a dark background.
Tip Please take the time to take a look at your coat on a white and on a black background, in order to get rid of any leftover smudges or pixels. Also, look a little further away on just the outline. Often the coats have a smudge around the corners or along the border of the image.

Use the smudge or blur tool sparingly.


It's a pity to see a coat that has been worked on then filtered with a blur filter, and it comes out all smudgy. It's also a pity to see a coat with smudge marks on one side and not the other.

Be careful when playing around with reformatting an image.


Sometimes we get perfectly nice drawings of Sausage horses because the file has been altered, and the horse has been squashed or pulled in another direction.
This might be a great way of transforming an Irish setter into a Teckel, but it isn't very pretty on horses. Also, avoid making your resolution too low and giving the picture a pixel art look

Backgrounds


Using brushes is allowed.


They can be used as well, but we'd like to also remind you of the Black Pearl page information as seen in the quote below.

“Excess airbrushing is not allowed”. It is allowed but not too much!"

We have received tons of entries like this and have been very cool about it up until now. However, seeing the same tree used 4 times in different backgrounds is starting to get a little old.

From here on out, we'll start to be a bit more strict about this type of thing. This is due to the fact that it's unfair and the aim of the Creative Space is to work things with your own hands, not make photo manipulations. The same thing goes for photos or bits of photos.

Painting, blurring or smudging landscape pictures.


Moving forward, we'll simply remove the right to propose any creations to the Creation space forever for those who do try to do this.

Check the perspectives.


When you make a background, please consider that there has to be something for the horse to put his feet on. It's quite strange the have a picture with a nice pond in the background and the horse is floating in the middle of it in thin air.

The same goes for outer space and clouds etc. Just try and make the backgrounds usable for everyone, not just the Pegasus. Also, make sure that the horses won't look like giants in the middle of a forest when you decide to draw trees or other items.

Rules


Plagiarism is forbidden!
Respect the author's rights: we do not steal images off of the Internet; we do not trace photos; we do not use the basis of someone else if they have not given their authorization, preferably publicly.

What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is taking someone else's work and passing them off as your own.

We can take inspiration from a style, a movement, a mane or a coat without copy-pasting it. It’s the same idea for literature, graphic arts, video games or cinema - there is often inspiration taken from another creation. Inspiration is imbued with another creation in order to interpret it and create something new! Copying is recreating identically. Copying is not having a style or a vision of your own. Try to have the imagination and bring your unique personality to your creations.

Please also note that any cheating can get you excluded from proposing any artwork to the Creative Space forever and/or be followed by sanctions.
Players who submit an artwork not created by themselves, AI-generated or plagiarized will be permanently banned from using the Black Pearl.

Otherwise, all the usual rules still apply.

Before posting:


It is forbidden to mock or ridicule creations/creators
Don't post too many steps regarding your work to avoid flooding of the topic.
IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ASK FOR VOTES!

You are welcome to promote your creations or creations you voted for using #HowrseBP on social media or promote your creations on your profile page.

This topic can be used to help each other understand the Black Pearl rules with respect to your creative content.

Players who do not follow the rules are exposed to sanctions.

Regards
The Howrse team

Ow
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I do have screenshot proof from a time when voting and two similar ones were in the same round!
Hayila
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Hayila wrote:

I saw at least 5 of the same or very similar horse while voting! Is that legal?


It depends on a couple of things. If they were identical other than something small like one had wings one didn't, or one had X color scheme and the other had Y color scheme than that is allowed (assuming they are the same creator) Coats like this are called twin coats.
For example these coats are very similar but have been in the CS for a long time.

Click to display
Same coat different colors:

Click to display
Same coat one is a uni one isn't:


There are also cases of the same lineart being used by several different players. This is also allowed as long as they are only using the same lineart and not copying another coat that already exists. For example same lineart different ideas and artists:
Click to display


If the coat really is intentional with no differences to another coat in voting than that is NOT allowed and you can report it while it's still in the creation space. We had a group of coats pulled a while back because they were all identical, they were under different species but that didn't matter since there was nothing to differentiate them.
Royale
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Hayila, I think you're correct about at least two coats - when I look at all the new creations from this month, and narrow it down to just "Riding Horse," the creations "Souky" and "Spix" look the same to me. They are showing on different pages, so there may be subtle differences, but they look the same in both line art and color.

From the all new creations page, I can't select any individual coat - would the correct way to bring official attention to it be to just vote until one of those coats pops up as an option, and report from there? What's the correct way to handle something like this?
lassling
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The artist can make different species coats. I regret selling arabian magic a limited use riding unicorn coat but going wild by brimmerd? Is a unlimited riding horse coat. They are exactly the same except for the horn.
Ravenknight
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lassling wrote:

Hayila, I think you're correct about at least two coats - when I look at all the new creations from this month, and narrow it down to just "Riding Horse," the creations "Souky" and "Spix" look the same to me. They are showing on different pages, so there may be subtle differences, but they look the same in both line art and color.

From the all new creations page, I can't select any individual coat - would the correct way to bring official attention to it be to just vote until one of those coats pops up as an option, and report from there? What's the correct way to handle something like this?


I found the coat you are talking about and brought their photos up next to each other, they are identical. If you're on classic view when you go to view all the creations there is a link at the top right of each illustration that says 'report abuse'. I'm not sure where it is on mobile, but you may have to wait until it comes up in voting again. I went ahead and reported it as well but it might be good if multiple players report it.
Royale
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Other things to add--the guidelines for submission say that backgrounds need somewhere for the horse to place their feet on, and landscapes that don't have this, and just have a horse floating in the middle of the image still end up making it to voting.

Also being able to view all of the submissions *is* nice but it would be even better if you could view all of them on one page, or have like five times the amount of shown per page. Rather than have 53 pages of submissions to click through.
nowherekid85
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nowherekid85 wrote:

Other things to add--the guidelines for submission say that backgrounds need somewhere for the horse to place their feet on, and landscapes that don't have this, and just have a horse floating in the middle of the image still end up making it to voting.

Anything in the right format can make it to voting. They're checked after the voting phase. Maybe it's less effort and they focus on the reported drawings. (Years ago, they checked submissions first and after that the voting phase started.)
Also, this guideline was introduced when the Helios Ray just made it into the game. If I remember correctly, there was not even a button to lower the boxes on the horses page, and there was no option to move the horse.
Now you can move the horse and there are several winged horses out there which don't actually need the floor just below their feet. Even some normal horses might just be floating between galaxies. I guess that's why they're not that hard about backgrounds with your horse floating.
Of course it's still up to you whether you want to not vote them or maybe even report them because technically they don't follow the Black Pearls rules.
c(=Mieez
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"Years ago, they checked submissions first and after that the voting phase started.)" - this makes so much sense around why (over the last few years) I feel that the submissions on the voting page have decreased in quality - there's floating horses, some of the horses look more like a blob than a horse.

I wish Howrse would switch back to checking submissions first pre-voting, otherwise it's a waste of our time and votes if a submission isn't even guaranteed to make it to the end.

I personally save the names of creations I really like, and once voting is over/when I want to put a Golden Apple/Helios Ray on my horse I try to search up the creation I liked. Of course it may have not made it through voting, but if it wasn't an approved creation to begin with I would be a bit more disappointed that I went to the effort of trying to track it down.

I suppose you're right though c(=Mieez - that it would take a lot less effort to check if it's being manually done by someone.
pony:)
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Does anyone know when you're refunded passes from the Black Pearl if your submission didn't make it past voting?

Thanks in advance! default smiley (l)
Goat_Girl
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Goat_Girl wrote:

Does anyone know when you're refunded passes from the Black Pearl if your submission didn't make it past voting?

Thanks in advance! default smiley (l)

Some time on the 25th of the month. So, about 1 day before they are available for everyone. (This month it's been 21h before the others were available, when I got my passes back.)

pony wrote:

this makes so much sense around why (over the last few years) I feel that the submissions on the voting page have decreased in quality - there's floating horses, some of the horses look more like a blob than a horse.

And we see horses with a white background because someone didn't manage to make it a png maybe, some months ago I've seen backgrounds with the horse graphic still in the middle, and so on.
pony wrote:

that it would take a lot less effort to check if it's being manually done by someone.

While now they can re-act if someone reports some coats. Actually I've seen them remove several coats during the voting phase so I had a different number of votes on different servers (1 left on the last day on one, 4 on the other ...)
c(=Mieez
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Does anyone have some info on how I can merge my image with the GA template?
I'm using Krita - but every time I have the template, and I try and upload the image of my Horse drawing, it just comes up as white. Can't figure it out!

TIA
Zephyrus23
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no matter what i do, it says my golden apple coat does not meet the "compulsory" format, even though i am matching the format. can someone help?
starlecki
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I’ve tried everything to get my Helios Ray submission to work, but it keeps telling me it doesn’t meet the compulsory format, despite using their template. I’ve checked forums and sized my landscape to exactly 2006 x 840 pixels. When I add it to a layer on top of the format, it’s perfectly centered over the transparent area. I’ve tried deleting the format layer, other times simply turning it off. I’ve tried turning off the background layer as well. I’ve JPEGs and PNGs. Nothing works.

What am I missing?
Sapphire Ice
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Sapphire Ice wrote:

I’ve checked forums and sized my landscape to exactly 2006 x 840 pixels.

2106x940 is mine (including the canvas) - typos?
Sapphire Ice wrote:

I’ve tried deleting the format layer, other times simply turning it off. I’ve tried turning off the background layer as well.

The canvas is part of your submission. Delete the white area but keep the outer frame including the black bars there (and anything outside them). If you use some automatic deleting of the white area, be sure the frame isn't damaged. If it's too transparent you could just duplicate the layer with the frame.
Sapphire Ice wrote:

I’ve JPEGs and PNGs.

the helios ray format is jpg
c(=Mieez
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Click to display
https://s3.amazonaws.com/creation.howrse.com/100473582-normal.jpg

Idk who submitted this illustration but, as a huge BMW lover, this HAS TO get through. default smiley (lol)
Good luck to everybody! default smiley ;)
pallaadium
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Mieez: Thanks! I'll try again in a month, and see if any of that works.

Meant to say that 2006 x 840 was for my landscape itself. The frame (the original file size) is 2106 x 940, taken directly from Howrse. I've tried submitting it with the frame still there, but that didn't work either. Is there a difference between JPEG and JPG? I'm using Procreate on my iPad, cause that's where I painted the landscape, but it doesn't have the option to save as a JPG. Closest is JPEG. Should I try transferring the file to a regular computer and reformatting it to JPG?
Sapphire Ice
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Sapphire Ice wrote:

Meant to say that 2006 x 840 was for my landscape itself. The frame (the original file size) is 2106 x 940, taken directly from Howrse.

aah, okay, I didn't measure my creation. I only checked the file size of my submission ^^
Sapphire Ice wrote:

Is there a difference between JPEG and JPG?

I'd have to see and try that when the black pearl is available. Usually I wouldn't expect it to be a problem.
Sapphire Ice wrote:

I've tried submitting it with the frame still there, but that didn't work either.

I'm sure that you have to submit the creation with the frame still there though.

Maybe it just is the damaged frame. So I'd check that first before trying a different format (which should be pretty much the same)
(spoiler: story time about why I think so ^^ )
Click to display
I had 2 creations I wanted to submit with the same frame. I copied them into the same document and tried to submit them.
1st creation was uploaded, no problem. (with frame, 2106x940, pretty dark one)
2nd creation: "wrong format". It had the frame, it was the right size. The only difference was: it was a brighter one.
Turned out: by deleting the white part with a magical eraser the program also deleted half the transparency of the inner pixel of the black part of howrses frame. The darf background corrected the mistake. The bright one made it visible, so it wouldn't work.
Thankfully it was the first one that worked, so I knew that the size and "with frame" were correct.
That's why I'd suggest duplicating the frame layer from howrse though - that's what worked for me. After doing so, the pixels were dark enough for the system to accept my creation.

Sapphire Ice wrote:

Mieez: Thanks! I'll try again in a month, and see if any of that works.

You're welcome, I hope it does!
c(=Mieez
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I've seen a ton of coats in this round of voting that are just already-existing coats with wings or horns pasted on them, or the colour scheme changed. Is that allowed, or should I be reporting those?
Avre
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Avre wrote:

I've seen a ton of coats in this round of voting that are just already-existing coats with wings or horns pasted on them, or the colour scheme changed. Is that allowed, or should I be reporting those?

I copied the following from the FAQ on discord.
Answer by the "Howrse" account to the question "I want to send the same design several times but in different colours, is that okay? "
Click to display
"If you're undecided about two different colours on the same coat and prefer to let the community decide for you, you can send the same base in two times. However, sending the same base 12 times in 12 different colours, honestly: it will annoy everyone. � When voters see the same coat over and over again, they are more likely to not vote for them. Because there is a phenomenon of lassitude to see the same creation again and again.

It's the same for the team that validates the coats and chooses the favourites: we want to be pleasantly surprised, not to be forced.

The same goes for :
� Submitting month after month (or even year after year) the same creations.
� Systematically and repeatedly submitting variations of the same dresses in different species.

Generally, a principle of moderation applied to these practices will be more favourable to you than drowning the community of voters under a flood of dresses that look the same."

(About the "submitting year after year" thing: I've seen creations pass after years of submissions though.)

So, short form: not strictly forbidden but not recommended either.

Sometimes I've seen apparently several people using the same lineart (I saw a horse in the same pose coloured with different styles). That would cause problems if the same pose was already forbidden. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the "submitting this coat with a horn again because it already passed without one" either. =/
c(=Mieez
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