I love these things. The more the merrier!

I've got an earlier version of Bryce and I have never been able to figure it out. I guess either it's way beyond my learning plateau (there ain't no curve here folks...more like a dip in the road), or I'm just not supposed to figger it out. I've got the free versions of the MicroCosm stuff and just love it. I've also got the DAZ Environments, the Cyclorama, and I love it too. I managed to pick up the DAZ goodies when they had their big free month 'o platinum club membership, otherwise on my graduate teaching pay I'd never have even been able to sniff the packaging. I want to purchase the entier Micro/MacroCosm base package but it will probably have to wait for fall financial aid when I start my PhD program. I can't say enough good stuff about these two packages.

Yes, the four basic elements as well as some explosions and possibly a tutorial on how to make original mats for these would be great. I can see a superhero scene in which the sparkels become, oh, say, throwing stars or knives...any number of things...think about it "raining cats and dogs..." not that I would condone harming a poser animal. (Whups...think I just stepped in a poodle...)

I don't know but I'll be following this thread to see what the experts have to say on this. I have this problem all the time and, in my opinion, this is one of the reasons we see so many "naked barbie" pictures.

The Mr. Nile Experiment is a brilliant piece of work, in my opinion. I'll be passing this link on to the other grad students in my group who are more into the philosophy of literature. I know they will appreciate it deeply. Maus is good, Peanuts is good, Pogo was brilliant, Doonesbury has (IMHO) sold out and is currently trying to find itself again. And then there is Frank Miller and his series Sin City. Very stark B&W with huge swaths of darkness and thick lines. The imagery is startling and draws the observer deep into the concept and story. The art is almost simplistic until you step back from it and actually look at what you are seeing. Then the complexity and nuance will catch you unawares and make you really think about the whole in relationship to its parts. Miller is the artist/writer who recreated the entire Batman concept in the Dark Knight series by showing the reader the sociopath beneath the mask. May I have permission to quote pieces of these posting for a paper I am working on? This discourse and discussion is relevant to the paper and, really, isn't this what forums are for?

Er..about that Wally Wood link....someone seems to have used the electronic version of the gum eraser on it...care to redraw the link, please? As a "comics scholar" I'd love to have that one.

Thank you, sir! I appreciate the help and, as with most tings, now that I've done it a couple of times in a row (make that about twenty) I think I'll remember how it's done.

Thanks, Dr. G! That's a really good explanation of the theory and one I badly needed. Now if I could only find the button to click like in P4... Heard you weren't feeling well. I had a TIA at work three years ago, they peeled me off my desk and sent me to the emergency room 130 miles away. Hope you get to feeling better quickly.

Joezabel, I agree. One of the main arguments our graduate study group had on author intent was that, more often than the critic would like to acknowledge, the author's entire purpose was just to tell a ripping good yarn. I think many artists are the same way. I know that most of the time when I begin a Poser piece I start out by cruising through my folders and looking for bits and pieces I haven't played with recently, or ever, and fitting them together to see how it works. Usually it is only after I've mostly finished the piece that I have any sense of story for it. I've been thinking my way through a piece I want to create based on the concept of Plato's Cave and the reflections on the wall, the whole concept that we can never know the true form of something, only the inferior shadow of it, and how to make that into the visual I see in my minds eye. It'll probably be done very tongue-in-cheek, but I have to figure out the lighting and everything...and I don't have a good cave yet. Author intent? Critical Analysis? Is a cigar only a cigar?

Yay for you both! Have a great time and relax...the wedding is stress enough to kill lesser beings.

I just finished and had approved my Masters Thesis. The subject was the interreflectivity of comics and society. Aside from McCloud's fine work, I also drew heavily on Semiotics, the "science" of symbolism and language. Here's a URL for anyone interested in the basics: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B Having taught the concepts of subliminals when I was teaching advertising and journalism, I think that this whole field is something that needs some serious academic exploration. The artists involved in creating the art should be a part of this discourse. One of the literarary theories teaches that the author artist) has no idea what they are saying when they write (create) their work and it is up to the professionally trained critic to tell the world what the point is. I don't buy that idea but I think that the artist (writer) should be an active participant in the dialogue with the observer. What are your thoughts?

I'd love this figure. I don't have a budget for any new goodies at the moment, but I think she's a beauty and would be fun to work with.

I'd like a copy if I can figure out how to tone things down a bit. I think it's a good bit of work.

I think that with a reduction in the top section this could make a pretty good elf or fairy.

A dirty shovel? Perhaps one that had been used previously by a grave digger? This just keeps getting more interesting every post. I really, REALLY need to find the resources to purchase RDNA's Whitechappel set and figure out how to merge it with either a rubble-strewn area where there had been several row houses torn down and/or an old chapel and graveyard. I can hear them...can you hear them? Children of the night...SHUT UP AND LET ME THINK FOR A BLOODY MOMENT!! ahem We who are about to render, salute you!