What's even worse than Webshots takining Andy's image is that the image in question was cropped to remove the signature and other identifying marks. Even so, I immediately recognized it as his work. I agree that the artist may have just been naive, but this is still a good lesson for others; make absolutely sure that the images you are using are royalty-free, and available for your use without restriction. Yes, it would be flattering for someone to use your work as a background . . but I would be more than a little upset if someone were using my work without acknowledging my contribution. It DOES set a bad precedent. Oh, and if you've never seen Andy's work before . . GO NOW. He's one of my favorite Bryce artists, and his syle is completely distinct. -Otis

I don't think he did. I contacted Andy, and he's going to look into it. To everyone readinf this; DO NOT use other people's work and pass it off as your own. -Otis

No, it belongs to Andy Simmons. Here: http://www.ans-graphics.co.uk/

NEXT fall??? I thought it was coming out THIS summer/fall. -Otis

Welcome, Kix . . . . and thanks for all of the hard work, Litst. The end of an era. And the beginning of a new one! :) -Otis

Then don't use the "4winds atmosphere" as a lightsource, if you're not going to see any sky in the scene. Use a spotlight set to soft shadows with a gel to simulate the sky colors you want. -Otis

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've been wishing (for a while now) that there were more resources for Anything Grooves. More please. :) -Otis

Since I'm one of the judges, it would be inappropriate for me to offer any critiques. But I do want to address this: "Ambient light = 0" This is something everyone should do when creating a scene in Carrara, IMHO. Get rid of the ambient light. Kill it, it's worthless. Take COMPLETE control of your lighting and your scenes will start looking better instantly. Just my 2c. -Otis

Oops. Sorry guys. You don't need that link unless you use Poser. :) -Otis

What is "MacQuarium", and did they say what the prices (full or upgrade) would be? -Otis

I agree. Carrara 2 will probably be out soon. If you can wait . . I'd download the demo of CS 1.1 and play around until the new version comes out, then buy that. -Otis

Well, I bit the bullet and purchased Tree Druid. It's pretty cool. I'll need to play around with it a bit to really get a handle on it . . but it does open up possibilities in Carrara that aern't there naturally (no pun intended). I also picked up the ZenStar extension. Cool little freebie, I must say! I recommend evryone picking it up (hey, it's FREE): http://www.zenstar.com/cstar.html -Otis

Wow. Great, great job. I'd love to learn more about the process you went through creating this image. -Otis

You listed two of my biggies: -Assign objects to particles -Bones with mesh deformation From what I understand, Bones is a' comin'. Particles, I'm not so sure about. I'd say object selection is another gripe of mine. It's a bit strange. Of course it may just be a one of those things I need to get used to. -Otis

Sorry if I was unclear. Hopefully my image will help rectify that. In choosing the theme, I was trying to get away from the usual nude Poser/spaceship images that seem to clutter the web. Carrara is capable of so much more. If anyone here has visited 3dluvr.com and seen the contests there, they know what I'm talking about. The themes are usually very simple . . but the resulting entries are anything but! Here is an example of some "simple but great" Carrara images for inspiration, courtesy of TOXE: http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=TOXE -Otis