Well, I am going to put my two cents in here as well. Nerd has said that the time and the work mostly came from getting the mapping, lights, and textures just the right way. Not in the actual backdrop. So the way I see it is this. If you in any way saw or used a friends version or what not to know exactly how he did this and recreated that, then If it was me I wouldn't feel that it was ethically correct to post it. If, on the other hand, you simply took a curved plane and mapped it, and in no way copied all of the time and work he put into the rest of his, than it wouldn't be much more than maping a plane to use as a backdrop and there should be no reason not to release it. It would be more than sufficiently different than his (in my eyes)and anyone wanting the extra level of detail would still buy his. Just my two cents. Angela