Coming soon to the Vanishing Point Marketplace (and coming here soon): the Defenser! This is another highly-detailed robot mech, on the same scale as the Houndstooth. And, as with that robot, this is a fully-posable model: the arms, legs, and shoulder-mounted cannons can all be posed. The product includes robot model and 3 textures/ MAT poses: Marine Green, Desert Yellow, and Urban Assault Blue. Models by me, textures by mrsparky. This will be available for sale as part of the grand re-opening of Vanishing Point, on Monday, November 1st. --John

Hey John, These models look great! I love sci fi stuff and the models you make are top notch. Maybe this goes in another section but I'm wondering...and this kinda relates to the blackhawk/DAZ blackhawk copyright discussion... Recently Jon Malis poserized someone's mech models for freebies over at RDNA. The models are awesome but I think I read the original models were based off the Mech Warrior games. I'm wondering if these models (Malis Mechs) can be used in renders commercially (or even non-commercial), as there is a copyright on them I assume (I think Microsoft bought the Mech Warrior series and we all know how agressive MS can be about copyright). The readme from the Jon Malis Mechs says they can be used however you want but after the fiasco over the Daz military models, I'm not really comfortable using them, especially as they are free and maybe considered "fan art." Are your mechs based off Mech Warrior or will we be in the clear using them, just like your Blackhawk model? I've seen some star wars models on your site so I was just wondering about that.

Very nice mech, nice look to the new Vanishing Point as well.

I love that smiley face stuck in there amongst the skulls ;)

I'll let John answer about the helicopters, but the latest "official" word about Star Wars models is that George Lucas will allow all types of fan art, including 3D models, real world models, fan films, fan drawings, paintings, animations, etc, on the condition that no profit is made in any stage of the process, and that it fits with the general "ambience" of Star Wars, in other words, if you make a pornographic Star Wars they will come after you, but everything else is cool by Mr Lucas. Apparently he has a large collection of fan art and films people has sent him, and he loves it. This does obviously not extend to everything Star Wars, as some things come from games and books that George Lucas doesn't own the copyright on, but in general you are safe with Star Wars products.

Very cool model! I've got your other Mech on my wishlist, and it looks like I'll be getting this one too! ;-)

All of my mechs are original designs inspired by the Battletech and Mech Warrior mechs. As such, everyone is perfectly free (and encouraged) to use them in any commercial or non-commercial image or animation. In fact, this statemenr is even in the readme file. :) And if you do make an image or animation, please let me know- I'd be happy to feature it on the Vanishing Point image gallery. As for the copyright restrictions on Jon Malis' mechs, you should ask him. But, that is a good point- even if Jon says it's okay to use his models, you would still have to deal with any restrictions by the Mech Warrior copyright-holders. As for the Star Wars copyrights, I'm going to have to disagree with Helgard. Lucas owns Star Wars and ALL games or books have been licensed by him so they fit into the Star Wars universe. So, while the game-maker may have created an original ship, it would still be covered by Lucas' copyrights. --John

John, I agree that Lucas does own all the copyright on all Star Wars items, but he can only waive his copyright for free use on the things that he owns exclusively. So while he may own the copyright on the designs of everything in a computer game, the game company also owns some copyright, whereas with the things in the movies he owns the copyright outright. What this means is that he won't stop anyone using anything, but something that comes from a computer game also has other "interested" parties. But up to now there has not been a single case of Lucas or any other copyright owners restricting the free use of any items. Basically, Star Wars is safe.

Thanks for the info John. I'm going to pick up one of those mechs right now and try them out! For the longest time I had been looking for some sci-fi mechs but the only ones I could find were Bryce models (here at renderosity marketplace). Now we have the John Malis mechs and your excellent models. I'm going to go ahead and get yours because like I said, I don't want copyright coming back to bite me in the behind, which is a true possibility with John's mechs based on Mech Warrior, as I understand copyright law. The readme in John's mechs says they can be used commercially but like I said, I'm not going to risk it, especially after what happened at Daz with those other models. Not that I'm going to make a commercial render but you never know. Thanks for making such cool models! I love your sci-fi stuff!