Attached Link: http://www.sams3d.com

I guess I am the reason for this reminder :( As one who goes OUT OF HIS WAY to credit people who's stuff I have used, either free OR purchased (please feel free to browse my paltry gallery for proof), I guess I feel a bit chided. My scene "Tween Tricks" gives out 11 credits and "Sleep of Innocence" gives 10. As to the posting of a SAMS3D free item in this forum and NOT giving credit, I would have to say: (1) It's been my experience that posts in the forum for help with accompanying pics don't very often mention the authors of the items used. In fact, the more items in the scene, the less chance of them being identified. (2) I didn't post the author of the lamp because: (a) I have always thought of the forum as a "clinical" area. Not actually on the "stage" (gallery), as it were. (b) As I stated, I didn't bother to load the texture that came with it. I was also having trouble (due to knowledge) making it do what I wanted it to do. Therefore, since the street lamp wasn't presented in it's "best light" (pardon pun), I decided not to mention the author. (c) I had not decided to use this lamp in the final scene. I have other street lamps in my folder. This one is just the first one I unzipped. I thought it would be a negative comment to say it was from SAMS3D and yet, when the scene was finished, another street lamp was used instead. People who "followed" the creation might have said, "I wonder what was wrong the the SAMS3D light?" (d) A quote from the page you pointed to: "it is yours to USE commercially or personally in any animation or image gallery". This forum fits neither of those two areas you specified since in was not an annimation or in a gallery. Added note. I appreciate the free items I use in scenes. I don't make a cent from my stuff and never will. So it's a hobby. And when I can find an item free, it saves me money. Money that sometimes is used to surprise the creator with a surprise gift if they have a public wish list (ask Trekkiegrrl/ernyoka). In fact, I remember sending you a message once, Sharen, saying you have so many free items that I needed to purchase something from your store to cure my guilt. In closing, instead of making it embarrassingly and publicly obvious I somehow did you and your company some sort of dis-service, you could have sent me an IM. Beleive me, when I posted the lamp, I deliberated on mentioning SAMS3D and decided not to for reasons listed above.

Chuck oh my, this has nothing to do with what you said above....I just didn't want to post this notice to people who did not use them....below is the notice, really you did good by us and by no means are we looking for recognition for what you use our models for....please understand this has nothing to do with that...here is the new message: UPDATE PLEASE READ: Due to bandwidth theft we have been forced to alter our freebies area site. We have tried to adapt to the problems but without resolve. We are so sorry. But all is not lost, we will still have a free section but can only host 10 free models at a time, they will be changed weekly, when we put up the new model for the week, we will take down one model and place it in our archive section. Our Archive section can be purchased on a CD, always being updated with the new free model every week. We are right now up to 109 free models that are available for you. Now if you see one, and can't afford to pay for the archive or just don't want the whole archive, please email me with your request and I will email it to you. That way you will still get your free model. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you but this is the best we can do until this can be resolved another way. This is the notice we wanted people to see. Sharen

I guess the egg is on my face. But perhaps you can see why I drew the conclusion I did. This thread is directly above a thread where credit wasn't given for one of your items. Considering the quarterly heated discussion in the Poser forum about free items, I guess I had pre-conceptions on what your post was inferriing. And I jumped the gun, so to speak. I apologize, Sharen. As I IM'd you once (though you might not remember), I had never seen you "lose your cool" in heated threads. Now, I feel like hiding. Boy! Last night, I was "high as a kite" about winning the POTW in the Photography section. Now I feel crap...(sigh) So, I'll apologize once again and leave it alone.

LOL, jump back on your kite and go for a ride, don't let this little misunderstanding ruin anything....not a problem. And Congratulations on your win at POTW...Sharen :-) :-)

;=) > ChuckEvans : Now , I try to use a method to remember all the free stuff I use (objects, atmosphere, textures...). I just save the free stuff with the name of the creator at the end. This help a lot to give credits, even for free stuff (I think it's very important for the creators, and for the user it's a way to thank creator). But I have problems for the old stuff ;=) > Sharen, I'm sorry , I understood it has nothing to do with your post ;=) Yves

No problem, I had to place the notice in some other forums, I must remember to be clear on such matters. Sharen

I presume you are talking about folks that use "vampire" downloading techniques when you mention "bandwidth theft". What a shame. I only download things I think I will need and bookmark pages where things exist that I think I may need in the future. Oh well, good luck to you. You guys have have always bent over backwards to be helpful and it really bites when stuff like this happens to people as nice as you. :-( Hey Chuck, when did you start using Vue? Nice to see you over here. :-) jon

Most would say I DON'T use Vue...hehe. As I had said...I worked on an entry to Harvest contest but it didn't turn out too well (plus, the idea of some being harvesting alien heads growing in rows PROBABLY would have been a bit gruesome...grin). "French Doors" (in my gallery) was rendered in Vue, but since most was done in Poser, I posted in Poser gallery. But, I AM working on a complicated (well, to ME) street scene and I think it will be a Vue post...the lighting is much better, I think, in Vue. (now, if I can JUST find a cobblestone street texture somewhere)

Just a note but there are ways to prevent this bandwidth theft. It would require a rewrite of the code on the page and use of some scripting that would make them blind links. You could also change the name of the download directory on random time frames. I used to have to do this when people leeched from me, and suprisingly most leechers are to lazy to update it on a daily basis. But if you want to keep it open it could be done with a minimum of work I do believe.

As soon as a friend of mine helps me it should be going back but until then, we aren't closing it all together, we will keep 10 items always available and if that doesn't help, if someone wants something that has been put in the archive, they can just email me for it. But thanks all for your help. I listen to all. Sharen

Attached Link: http://www.pscode.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=7312&lngWId=4

Oh thank you, and where do I paste this, on the freebies page? Sharen

why use free items when you can make em? why put up with this stuff to make ur project better when u can make em? I always have been against this sort of thing people who create objects just so they can sell em to people who do not want to take the time to learn or when they supposedly release a item and it is free they make such a big deal about giving them their just dues. please if you do it for the love of the community then why care? people are not selling these scenes and animations they put together so why worry bout it? are you goin to whine if i use a product of yours free or i buy? (which i never will use a 3rd party product always make my own besides mechs :P )

This is the very reason I try and make all my own models. I have to agree with Wladamire. Sam's is a great site and all the proper apologies have been made. But I ask you all this. When if ever has an Artist that makes free art to be down loaded for free and in my case has even been swiped by God only knows who to make a profit on. I was very surprised one day when I got an email about buying something or the other and sure enough they use one of my pictures to sell the product. I just let it go as why push on a rope or pee in the wind. Copy right theft is IMHO a very, very grey area. When you have people like Yahoo that host tons of illegal pictures every day with no recourse and then you have one poor little artist that makes a picture using some thing or some picture and people make a stink about it. It is absolutely ridiculous. I ask again does anyone know of ONE artist that has been sued over this. My two cents. shoop

One more thing. Sharen have you tried the .htaccess files for the theft?

To be honest with everyone, I probably should not have said anything. I was just trying to let some people who come to our site regularly and some that come from time to time that our free models will be reduced. That is all. I am not looking for recongnition regarding any of our models. If you use them in a picture I do not care. You do not need to alert anyone that the model came from us. I don't think it is unfair though to ask that if people do use our work that we get the credit for the creation of the model, not the credit for the picture. This notice is not in regards to Terms of Service, it is in regards to that our website will not host as many free models as it does now. That is all. I hope I have cleared up any misunderstandings. Sharen

please if you do it for the love of the community then why care? people are not selling these scenes and animations they put together so why worry bout it? I would say the reason to worry about it is that most people have usage limits imposed by their hosting service that, once exceeded, starts rolling up substantial charges. If folks just download what they need, then lots of folks can download without causing extra charges for the person who is generously providing the free items. If, on the other hand, just a few people suck up everything they can, the usage limits can be hit quite quickly which results in additional fees. At least that's how it works with my provider. jon

jstro, you are right and that is what is happening to us, also they shut us down for a few days, we were shut down 2 weeks ago, for 2 days in a row....someone notified me and that is how this started. Sharen

That's what I figured. Hope you get a solution worked out soon. Best of luck to you. jon

Well I suppose I should just pass on by and not make any comments, but it's not my nature. I hope you can get the problems fixed Sharen. As you know I love your work and will continue to download freebies that I need and purchase from you when I see something I can't live without :) Chuck: bless you heart....you have a good soul :) It is clear that you are an honest man :) Now....the real reason for my comment is in response to Wladamire...who I'm sure is a nice person and probably didn't mean anything so severe as his comments suggest (or maybe he did, who knows). He seems to imply that there would not be a problem if we all simply made our own models! He goes on to say that he thinks it is wrong for people to create objects so they can sell them to those who don't want to take the time to learn??? Well....I'm one of those "shiftless, no count" purchasers of other peoples models!! Yes...I fess up!! Is it because I'm too lazy to plunck my butt in front of a computer for an additional four hours a day and learn how to make models??? No....actually...it's because I have a job that eats up an average of 12 hours a day.....at the end of which I have some time to do what I really enjoy....create images with Vue and Bryce! I barely have time to figure out how to use those programs for the purpose they were designed (which was not to make models). I certainly don't have time to learn a modeling software. Consequently, I don't own Poser or any other serious modeling software. Frankly I would rather compensate those wonderful artists here at Renderosity, 3d Commune or Sams 3d for their great work, and end up with a nice looking model to insert in my pathetic scenes :) If it's any consolation Wladamire, I get as equally excercised by the Linux geeks who think a computer is about "tweaking their Kernnel" and not about getting one's work done :) That's my rant for the day....I now feel better and will put my old grey behind to bed....!