3D Galant / Legnum interface

[foxdie]

Now, before I suggest this, I know this isn't a small undertaking, but I think the benefits of it would be immense.

A flash-based rotatable 3D model of a Legnum and Galoon that will let you click on a particular part of the car to get more information.

In the mockup above, I've (supposedly) clicked on "Brakes" and got 2 options, "Service Information" and "Upgrade Options". The idea is this, you click on a particular option and it automatically digs up existing forum posts and articles tagged with that section of the car.

For example, I could click "Service Information" and be presented with a list of stock brake pads / discs, recommended places to purchase these parts from, relevant parts to the service manual / articles based on servicing brakes etc. I could then click on "Upgrade Options" and be shown what other people have been doing, like Carbotech / Ferodo pad upgrades, Brembo conversions etc.

I believe the benefits of this would be as follows:

• A faster way to get information
• Less people creating new posts asking the most repeatedly asked questions (to appease NJ)
• A generally more user-friendly resource of information

A rough example of what I'm suggesting is here (click / drag the jet to rotate it)

The technical side of it would be the flash movie would have access to the sites database and essentially mimic using the "search" feature, and priority can be added to specific posts (a flag that can be set on each thread is "weighting", ie. how high up the list it is) to get the most useful / frequently asked information towards the top.

The flash movie would have to be administered via a back-end by the site moderators, who will be able to add / remove / tweak any elements needed.

Thoughts?

[miller]

If it worked with links to threads on CVR4 then its a brilliant concept!

[Ryan]

A brilliant concept regardless Jas and a massive undertaking! I think it would be very unique and useful, definitely something I would encourage you developing.

[Wodjno]

Sounds like an Awesome idea

[Dom B]

It could also link to articles on the forum for each part. I.e. how to fit this and that etc. between all of us it wouldn't take long to link all the relevant articles to the right part if there was a way to let everyone edit it.

[foxdie]

I'm apologising to Kieran in advance here, I've got a gut feeling that it'll be him doing all the admin work for the interface as the site Librarian.

I was thinking that people could "nominate" individual posts (very similar to how we report a post for abuse / give rep to a user) that contain the most useful information to include in the flash interface, then Kieran (or another mod) could say "yay or nay" to this being included in the 3D interface.

Kieran, I think I'm gonna owe you a few drinks if this goes ahead.

PS. I need it known now that I don't have flash development skills, someone else will have to build it, but I can provide backup when it comes to doing PHP / MySQL integration..

[foxdie]

Any talented flash developers out there fancy a crack at this?