Everyone is enjoying the great work Dudley has been doing with those Automobiles. But they are models that have been created by Viewpoint Labs a long time ago. And he doesn't have permission to alter them. We don't allow people to post things here unless they have permission to alter the items. Even if they are freebies. So I tried contacting Viewpoint. But they don't answer me. Now I'm stuck having to make a tough decision: 1.) Remove the 57 Chevy and don't allow more converted cars 2.) Allow it to stay but no more 3.) Allow Dudley to continue converting them. Yet still tell other people they can't do the same thing to other peoples models. I'd love to go with #3. But that's being very fair to the rest of the members. I really don't want to remove that great 57 Chevy from our site. A lot of people will find it useful. But I'm stuck here. We can't allow this kind of thing to get out of hand. ScottA I'll bet some of you think being in charge is a big party. ;-)

I bet you love the feeling of power really ;) I'd suggest you leave the model and dudley until Viewpoint get in touch, but then that would mean open season on everything else too, best thing to do is pull the car until Viewpoint get in touch

Sad to say, I agree with c1rcle. Rules are rules and it's the fairest thing to do, it seems. A lot went into that car and it's a wonderful model, but until permission is had it should go. Makng exceptions to the rules only causes resentment. Can you wait 'til after 5pm PST, though? ;)

yeah give me a chance to dl it first ;)

I've been around this kind of stuff a bit. I'd say to stop asking us and ask the best dang lawyer you can afford. It really isn't a matter of anyone's opinion. You are establishing precedent and corporate policy. Both are heavy items. And modern law is a technology that is at least as sophisticated as programming the guts of 3D software. Give the lawyer all the data and tell him/her what you would like to accomplish, and they will usually come up with a way to do what you want. Good lawyers can work pure magic.

As there have been some other popular converted models in the past (no longer here but wish they would come back), if it was indeed a promo freebee, perhaps they might be interested in allowing the post of their "enhanced" model with a link back to the Viewpoint/Datalabs site. R'osity's bound to get more traffic from potential 3D buyers than most other sites. Yeah, that's the ticket... it's a marketing thing... [clutching at straws...]

If Viewpoint isn't responding, then either (1) they don't care or (2) they're not around, in which case these are "abanadonware" and free game, as far as I'm concerned. I don't know the company so I don't know their situation, but the fact that they're not responding has to be taken into account, Scott.

pull it, and send a registered letter to viewpoint.
Give viewpoint a reasonable period of time to respond, like 2 weeks.
If they have not responded, allow Dudly to post it back, with the notice that it's a modified viewpoint model, and is for non-commercial use only.

I remember the Chevy being a part of the early 3DStudio DOS version as a demo. I love the figure too, very much, but trying to be unbiased I must say that I think that enough has been said in the past 2 months about copyright infringements. Despite the beauty of an object one simply cannot step over the rules (written or not) we all so proudly defend. A model can only be distributed with permission of the Author/Owner. Sucks, though... Maxx :-|

I just got off the phone with Viewpoint Labs. They gave us permission to leave the 57 Chevy here. However, They do not want any more of their models altered and posted anywhere on the web. I think that's pretty nice of them to allow us to do that. So I guess at least we can enjoy this one. And Dudley didn't do all that work for nothing. Thanks for all of your input and suggestions. I see that protecting eachothers items is still very important to all of you. ScottA

Thanks for putting in the extra effort rather than just doing the simple thing. Much appreciated Scott!

Great news! Thanks Scott (and Viewpoint Labs, of course!!) Maxx :-)

Yay, now I can breathe. Bravo Scott! :)

whew... That means I can keep hosting it, right? /P (Dammit Scott, don't SCARE me like that!)

now might be a good time to 'officially' establish a Renderosity policy (for both freestuff & the store) to the effect of... "if a model has not been expressly released into the public domain, it cannot be redistributed without prior permisson of the original author" or words to that effect.

Scott, Send a letter to Viewpoint, the person you talked to, outlining the agreement with a line that if it's not right, they need to write you back. That way you'll have something in ink should that person leave the company. As an old boss used to say, "Ink is good." P.S. I guess this means I won't be seeing the '57 vette and t-bird anytime soon. :-(

Ink? Isn't virtual ink virtually as good?

Only if it's in writing :-)

Scott, you did your job. You are the moderator and you watch out for things like that, I don't know about anyone else by I appreciate you doing this and am truly thankful for your devoted time and true heart. Mike and Sharen

They were nice enough to let us have it. I don't want to push my luck with them. :-) I'm sure we will be safe enough. Thanks for the nice words folks. It's always tough to tell everyone I'm taking something cool away from you to protect our butts. ScottA

Virtual ink does not exist... In a thousand years or so, historians are going to have a real problem in piecing together how we lived our lives today due to the lack of inky information! In fact the first web page... a historically massive event... does not exist in any form whatsoever.