Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=107&Form.ShowMessage=546645

Apparently two out of three lawyers you spoke to bought into the myth as well. I'll believe American Express' legal department if you don't mind. ;-) They have a whole staff of lawyers and it seems they all agree on this matter at least. The fact that you can't find a consensus of opinions among the lawyers you spoke to should be a hint that it is shakey legal ground at best. I don't know what to say about a lawyer who wouldn't recommend it, yet he would do it himself. I guess it's kind of like a doctor telling you not to smoke, and yet he smokes himself. I'm glad though that you take as many precautions as possible, that was the real point of this thread anyway. Now get some sleep. ;-)

Attached Link: http://www.3dplants.com

Great stuff guys, keep 'em coming!

You can make a nice pint glass by placing a negative cone inside a positive cone, then using a positive cylinder for the bottom and a negative cylinder to "lop off" the pointy part of the cone. Group them all and turn upside down. Now you have a tapered pint glass. Repeat this without the negative cone or positive cylinder, group separately, place inside the glass and scale to fit. Texture this the color of your beverage and voila! Pint of Guinness (which I had a few of last night, yum).

Attached Link: http://www.corel.com/support/downloads/index.htm

Try www.renderotica.com. I know she is a member there and has an online store. She may have her freestuff there as well.

Post your images for the february challenge right here in this thread. They will be moved to a new thread at the end of the month for voting.

Thank you so much to everyone who voted, and to the whole community for having cool software challenges like this. It gives us all a chance to spread our artistic wings and show what we can do. Give me a day or two to think up the next challenge. I'll try to make it a good one.

Look closer, depth of field, hard highlights and shadow, superrealistic texture and transparency. I'm a professional photographer, give me a LITTLE credit for knowing a photo when I see one.

That's a photograph, not a 3D image. I'd bet it's out or Surf Magazine.

You don't need a dual processor G4 for Bryce, in fact it's not optimized for them. You're better off getting a single processor 867Mhz G4. Right now they are $2494 with 640MB RAM, 60Gig HD, DVD-R/CD-RW drive and a NVIDIA GeForce2 MX video card from Mac Mall. The 733Mhz model is $1694 and the 17" flat screen is $994. Bottom line is you get what you pay for. Anything you "throw together yourself" is not going to come with tech support or a warranty (except for the individual parts). Apple has great financing options like Apple Loan and Apple Lease, which is great for small businesses. G4's are absolute top of the line as far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't use anything else.

I think if you generated a nice moundlike terrain in Bryce and exported it as a DXF. You could then import it into InfiniD4.5 or some other app with a modeler with magnetic pull, and "pull and twist" it into a more wavelike shape. Then you'd have to import it back into Bryce, texture and render it. Come to think of it, you could probably export to Poser as an OBJ file, use a magnet to shape it and export it back to Bryce as an OBJ. Either way, you need to pull and twist a terrain file to get that surf effect. I have seen it done in Bryce so I know it is possible. Try experimenting until you get something that looks right. There is also a freeware program called Wavesworld, do a web search and you'll find it. It creates wave trough bump maps that you can then import into the terrain editor in Bryce. They are very symetrical though.

I have to say that my experience has been different. When I was new here I used to receive lots of comments and ratings for my work. However, once I disabled the ratings portion the comments dropped off significantly. These day, although my work is much better than it used to be, I barely get 2 or 3 comments even though I ask for them. No sour grapes there, I don't post for the comments. I do find that people will heap compliments on other artists who use their freestuff and store products and list them all in movie style credits that stretch on for paragraphs. They will also pile it on deep with anyone who says "this is my first image". Sometimes it seems as though the worst work gets the most compliments, highest ratings and the least amount of constructive criticism. Comments like "Oh this is sooooo wonderful, keep up the good work!" really do little towards helping someone to improve their work. Soon all you get is a popularity contest with "clics" of people praising each other's work every time they post. I also find that if you express an opinion that is not popular or "PC" in the forums, you will get fewer comments on your work as people hold a grudge against you for expressing how you feel. All this matters not to me, I stay out of those circle jerks. I just can't help commenting when someone complains that someone else should be punished or banned for NOT complimenting them and offering an honest opinion. Which is how this thread started. A little more honest critique and a lot less patronizing praise would serve us all well in the long run. In all honesty I'd rather hear someone ask "How did you do that?" than say "Oh, that's sooooo wonderful!", at least I have an answer for the former. All this is just my humble opine, you're all welcome to disagree with me.

Interesting "Goldilocks" analogy there Kate. ie: This one's too hot, this one's too cold, but this one is JUST RIGHT. I wasn't aware there were "factions" of artists, you make it sound so sinister and political. Maybe "Schools of thought" was the term you were looking for. It's less divisive than 'Factions'. I've never believed in heaping false praise on adults who should be able to deal with honest constructive criticism. I believe in encouragement and honest analysis. To simply "pat newbies on the head" and say "Oh what a good little artist are you!" without offering any advice on how to improve is just so patronizing it makes me gag when I read it. Do I like compliments myself? Sure, who wouldn't? But I don't live for them, and I don't complain in the forums if I don't get them. As for critical analysis of my own work I tend to take critique from artists, who are at or above my skill level, more seriously than I would from a novice. This is not to say that I don't value the opinions of a layman, but I wouldn't be looking to them for an art lesson and I certainly wouldn't value their opinion over that of an experienced 3D artist. I'm completely self taught on computers and with 3D art and applications, but I did spend 4 years in art school. So I credit that with giving me the knowledge and discipline to teach myself 3D art. Art school is hard in that you are thrown together with other artists who are years beyond your ability level and the best rise to the top quickly. It can be a harsh lesson in survival of the fittest and it only gets harder in the professional world. Teachers do not mollycoddle the weak, if they don't improve they usually are not there the next semester. This is not to be cruel, it is simply to maintain a level of excellence for all to strive for. I'm sorry if this is a bit "hardcore" for most people here, but that's just the way it is in the real world, which is where I try to spend most of my time. ;-) Having seen your beautiful gallery, I'm surprised you say you were born to be the audience. You certainly have done more than your share of participating at a very high skill level.