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To ensure the KatsBits YouTube channels (KatsBits and the archived KatsBits Tutorials) are kept free and you are not constantly asked for money or are constantly hawked products to buy like other sites, both rely on Ad Revenue generated from video uploads.

Due to a policy update at YouTube, in less than 30 days, on February 20th, this all changes. To what is not exactly clear at present.

Do note that were both KatsBits channels to reach the minimums (4,000 view hrs [check] (update: that's HOURS thus YouTube Creators need at least 240,000 MINUTES view time) and 1000 subscribers [blank]), Partners are to be approved by YouTube rather than auto-granted Partner status.

On one hand you could be asked to subscribe and get the numbers up, but on the other doing so is no guaranty at all that Partner status would be reinstated and/or then perhaps removed with the next round of quota fulfillment.

Again, the implications of this uncertainty are not particularly encouraging for the channels.

In the meantime subscribe to both KatsBits and KatsBits Tutorials if you haven't already.

kat.



The YouTube Partner message/text in full...

KatsBits,

Today we are announcing changes to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). While our goal remains to keep the YPP open to as many channels as possible, we recognise that we need more safeguards in place to protect creator revenue across the YouTube ecosystem. 

LEARN MORE

What's Changing
 
Under the new eligibility requirements announced today, your YouTube channel, KatsBits, is no longer eligible for monetisation because it does not meet the new threshold of 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. As a result, your channel will lose access to all monetisation tools and features associated with the YouTube Partner Program on 20 February 2018 unless you surpass this threshold in the next 30 days. Accordingly, this email serves as 30 days notice that your YouTube Partner Program terms are terminated.

One of YouTube’s core values is to provide anyone the opportunity to earn money from a thriving channel. Creators who haven’t yet reached this new threshold can continue to benefit from our Creator Academy, our Help Centre and all the resources on the Creator Site to grow their channels. Once your channel reaches the new threshold, it will be reviewed to make sure it adheres to our policies and guidelines, and if so, monetisation will be re-enabled. 

LEARN MORE
 
The YouTube Team [emphasis added]

Over the past couple of months yours meowly has been helping the folks at #IMVU add support for FBX. Initially this has focused on Blender (due to ease of availability) but other app support is to follow. As an 'exchange' format, fbx makes it so much easier to make content for, and import it into, IMVU. More details to come, in the meantime bookmark the IMVU and video forum sections here at KatsBits for new IMVU content as its added. Below is IMVU's initial press-release.

Lapsed Creators are especially encouraged to take another look at #IMVU!

Hello Creators!

At IMVU we are eager to expand our Creator tools to provide more features and to make it accessible to more people. To that end, we are about to release the new FBX Import tool. By providing support for FBX files, you now have a way to import multiple materials, meshes and animations in one shot, rather than fighting with each and every component of your product one at a time. (.xmf, .xsf, .xpf, etc).

We have decided to roll out this functionality in phases, to get pieces of it to you sooner. This is provided IN ADDITION to the existing functionality and does not impact your old way of doing things. (Long live 3D Studio Max.)

The first phase is focused on FBX files that were created in Blender, a community-driven open source 3D creation suite that is driven largely by its users who are free to make small and large changes to the code base, leading to new features, responsive bug fixes, and better usability. Even better, Blender has no price tag. Our goal at IMVU is to ensure that Blender can be used to import clothes, accessories, furniture and rooms with a single import. For example, if you have a room built with 40 mesh pieces you can import all those meshes into IMVU in a single FBX instead of exporting and importing them one by one. This will save you lots of time as you test and revise your large IMVU product.

We plan to support more than Blender. As we get your feedback on the features and functionality we will be working to support FBX files that were created in 3D Studio Max, Maya, Sketchup and other tools. (In theory those should all work now, but we have found that most tools use this “standard” format a little differently. Feel free to try non-blender FBX files at your own risk.)

Even with Blender there is more functionality we think we should add to make the experience better. However, we want to get you engaged sooner, rather than waiting for everything to be done. Your feedback and input is desired. We have already worked with some of our Creators in our Alpha phase, with great success. (Special thanks to JazzKat for all his expertise and help!)

If you aren’t a user of the free 3D modeling program Blender, now is a good time to try it!

Here are some great Blender tutorials from IMVU Creator JazzKat to help get you started. You can also find them on the new IMVU Creator playlist on YouTube.

• Installing Blender on Windows 10
• Blender User Interface overview for Beginners
• Blender keyboard & mouse control overview for Beginners
• Medieval Chair in 10 minutes in Blender!?
• IMVU Furniture nodes (Blender)
• Easy IMVU furniture node pose spots (Blender)

We plan to release the FBX Import tool in a week. That gives you time to learn Blender and gear up for our new feature. At that time we’ll have more tutorials to show how the Import tool works within our platform. We hope you are as excited as we are.

How to randomly scatter debris using Particles

Manually adding debris to environments is tedious and time-consuming (although offering better control). Instead debris can be randomly scattered across a given surface automatically or dynamically using Blenders Particle System. Read the in-depth "How to scatter debris using Particles" tutorial to find out.