That's block 5. The colored ambient parts are material zones called "Features". I boosted the ambient on them to make them out like super neon lights. They would be better as actual billboards with glowing text/images -- you're right. The way I set up the windows was to UV map them for larger tiling textures, and then used either actual photos of night windows on high rises or filter forged glowing skyscraper windows. Plus a reflective surface on many of them. So the windows in my scheme look like... well... windows. At least, that was the intent. :D

I intended to kit bash a whole bunch of signage from other sets to put on the buildings. And I was working on streams of lo poly traffic with head, rear, and side lights. But I never got around to it. LOL.

Oh, I just love the Dystopia city blocks. (I love Greebles in general). They stand up very well to being resized, and I have used them as backgrounds for character renders -- though to do that, some higher res textures are needed.

I wanted to do a night scene, and I wasn't happy with how they looked. I had to change the UV mapping on the windows because the way it's set up by default creates extremely tiny tiles, and I needed much bigger ones. But once I'd done that, added some new tiling textures, and set up my ambient lighting, they look pretty good at night, I think.

With Ian Palmer's Instant City -- which I also retextured -- and Dystopian blocks 1-20, it makes for a decently wide and big night skyline.

And here's a street view. I just need some lo poly traffic -- with headlights. :)

OMG, I used the first person pronoun! How tribal of me!

I am a Poser user. What pronoun should I use when I refer to Poser users, then?

"Poser user" isn't a tribe. It's a simple description of a group of people who choose to use a particular program.

Or you can completely ignore everything I've said -- and/or will say in future. It matters not to me.

Those Poser compatible products are pretty old, aren't they? Planning on making anything brand new?

Razor42 posted at 1:00AM Fri, 11 March 2016 - #4260379

So are we discussing the points I have made here in my initial post? Or am I defending myself, my credibility, my genuinity, my apparent "bias", the context of unrelated statements made nearly a year ago in an entirely different thread. And being told when I can and I can't say under your moderation, rather than that of the TOS and the actual forum moderators?

Really, I'm not sure what you're driving at with this...

As far as I'm concerned, you can say anything you want. Feel completely free. It's no skin off my nose. Your posting history shows that you're not shy about giving your opinions. So go ahead. Why you think I'd try to "moderate" you, I don't know. I AM disagreeing with you. As far as I know, the TOS permits that.

However, I am offering you this very simple advice: if you want to be respected by Poser users, don't use inflammatory language when you talk about Poser users. I don't think there's anything controversial or difficult to understand about this. I'm not telling you not to speak that way about us. Go right ahead. The TOS apparently permits it as long as you talk about us as a group. But I am suggesting that you should probably not expect to get a positive response from us if you do.

The relevance to this thread: Your description of Poser "tribes" is disparaging and potentially inflammatory. And blaming the problems in the community upon these "tribes" --if they even exist as you describe them -- is only half the story, at most.

By the way, demonstrating that someone is not unbiased is NOT ad hominem.

Please quote the personal attacks on you.

Razor42 posted at 12:42AM Fri, 11 March 2016 - #4260374

It seems more like you're resorting to personal attacks in attempt to invalidate an opinion you don't agree with to me...

Which personal attack?

Razor42 posted at 12:31AM Fri, 11 March 2016 - #4260368

So I said you were "engaging in an "US vs THEM" (Poser vs Daz) argument" which means I am saying you are "Anti Daz" which translates to me saying you're a "Daz Hater"...

So what you're really saying here, is that I never actually did label you as a "Daz Hater"?

You then go on to further quote me out of context for dramatic effect, even modifying the quotes to that effect...

I give up. Good luck with whatever it is you're trying to achieve here, I wish you all the best.

Dude, I'm just trying to point out that you have a habit of using very inflammatory language, particularly about Poser users. As a result, when you post about the "community", it's hard to see the caring attitude you've recently adopted as all that genuine. You've contributed to the division as well. And blaming things on some sort of tribal attitude among Poser users seems, to me, to be just more of the same divisiveness.

Edit: And you've modified posts by removing parts when quoted yourself. At least I made it clear that I added the emphasis myself.

As for the context, there is no context that justifies using such language in a forum post when you are demanding respect. Quit using such language about Poser users, and those users might be more friendly.

LPR001 posted at 12:23AM Fri, 11 March 2016 - #4258416

Okay so he used the term tribe in his reference it would be up to you to place yourself into that tribe.

So as long as we talk about "people" in third person or in plural, without ever actually referring to them directly, we can say whatever we want? LOLOL.

Listen, I'm not making some sort of formal complaint about Razor, months after the fact. Sheesh, he'd have to say something a whole lot worse for me to actually expect a moderator response. If I'd been so thin skinned that I couldn't take it, I'd have pushed the "report" button. A forum spat of this nature is hardly worth worrying about.

However, all I was saying was that I do not believe that labelling people -- either specifically or using the "safe way" : in general, without naming them -- is a good idea, especially when one's labels are likely to be completely inaccurate.

LPR001 posted at 11:41PM Thu, 10 March 2016 - #4258416

@moriador Can you point out where Razor42 has labelled you a Daz hater please as I see no reference to it but I certainly see the claims being made that he has done so. If you have spent $2500 at Daz3D then I would think that would put you into the category of a very welcome Daz customer and I am sure Razor42 would agree.

Okay so he used the term tribe in his reference it would be up to you to place yourself into that tribe.

LOLOL. I've spent a lot more than $2500 at Daz. That amount was just in a single month.

Well, I had to use Google to search the forums because I knew that Razor42 did not use the exact term "Daz Hater" about me. He stated that I was engaging in an "US vs THEM" (Poser vs Daz) argument because I asked why someone who did not like using Poser was bothering to post in the Poser forum some very negative statements about Smith Micro along with questionable speculation as to the viability of Smith Micro's business. His statement, combined with his description of the various "tribes" posted above, would make me "Anti-Daz", which is essentially synonymous with "Daz Hater" in my mind.

Frankly, it's the labelling I object to.

Thing is, Razor felt it perfectly acceptable to accuse me personally of harassment and trolling for asking what his purpose was in posting such negative and purely speculative statements in a Poser forum thread.

But his own language is hardly gentle. Just in the process of searching for that one specific thread, I stumbled across some posts (there are many, many more than these to choose from). To wit:

"It's funny how Poser users have had an App snobbery outlook for years and years, but now they are quick to draw the same conclusion of DS users. DS for a very long time had been seen as Poser's inferior little brother. Now that DS has grown up. I see of lot of Poser users with a sneer on their face that are happy to deride anything DAZ simply because of the state of Poser. "

"don't expect to be allowed to have a reasonable discussion here about Poser's compatibility inefficiencies. all you will get is bullying and trolling no matter how diplomatically you raise an issue. That's how it rolls in here. Anyone who dares to go on and make a counter point the Poserphiles will yell "Troll,troll,troll!!!" over and over again until everyone wanders of."

"The reality is Poserphiles and SM have a personal grudge and they don't want to support these things for their customers."

"A wounded animal trusts no one and is likely to attack anyone, often for no valid reason. Seems a little like the behaviour of some of the peeps in this forum. There precious little Poser is hurt. So don't come close or ... ATTACK!!!" [emphasis added]

"If this Poser community wants to see some respect it needs to give a little too. A cornered wounded animal will bite anything, even a hand that is reaching out to help and heal it. Eventually that trait will be ultimately what leads to its demise. With some wounded animals the kindest thing that can be done is to euthanize it rather than risk oneself trying to help it." [emphasis added]

One can't call a community "a wounded animal", that ought be "euthanized" and then demand respect. It goes in both directions. One also has to give it. But given the history of Razor's posts and the threads in which he has participated, it's hard to see any evidence of that respect -- in EITHER direction.

As a result, I think he probably ought to refrain from grouping people into tribes because he can hardly be considered unbiased.

I totally agree, Hornet.

And I would much rather shop at a store which is simply not responsive to customers' demands than shop at one that says it is when it isn't. If a shop can't take customer suggestions because the decisions have already been made, it really ought to be very cautious about asking for such suggestions in the first place. Otherwise, it creates an expectation of responsivity that the shop can't deliver. Unless you're looking for a quick, one time sale, being straightforward is much better.

Cybermonk posted at 9:51AM Thu, 03 March 2016 - #4258964

Being apart of this site is like a marriage if it's not working out then leave. Don't stay and hate the other person. Leave and be glad you don't have to deal with situation anymore. Or stay and work it out but what ever you don't make yourself miserable about shit you have no control over.

Maybe it's a marriage for some people. But seriously, for most people here?

For me, it's strictly a commercial relationship. And the forums are a diversion, an entertainment, and a source of information.

I don't see why I should "leave" unless the quality of the products from the specific vendors I support suddenly goes down, since that's my primary interest. As for "leaving" the forums, as long as I'm a customer and they are the primary way information about products is disseminated, I don't see how "leaving" serves me.

Finally, who on earth is "miserable" about Renderosity? Deeply dissatisfied, yes. But miserable? I think that's a huge exaggeration for most people. And it seems to suggest that the dissatisfied customers have some sort of unreasonable emotional response, putting the onus on them to change their expectations.

Simple fact is that Renderosity is a business, and its most vocal customers aren't happy. It's not a marriage, where both sides need to work at compromise. It's a commercial relationship, where the ALL of the burden to satisfy the customer is on the people GETTING THE MONEY, not the people GIVING it.

Edit: And if Rendo is getting plenty of sales from people who couldn't care less about the forums and galleries and so on, then they are fully within their right to basically ignore the "problems" there and work instead for the people who are actually paying their wages. If that's what's happening, it's okay with me. But as a customer, I'd appreciate just a tad more transparency. If the social parts of the site aren't a priority, say so. (Or at least, don't say that they are a priority because the cognitive dissonance breeds confusion and creates unmet expectations. In marketing parlance, in other words, "Don't promise what you can't -- or don't really want to -- deliver.")

In any case, I made some suggestions:

1. If there is a TOS violation in a thread, delete the violating post and inform the user EXACTLY what they did that was a violation. 2, If there are some posts that you feel are on the verge of a TOS violation, post a warning in that thread that SPECIFICALLY mentions the posts in question, and explains what you object to.
2. Do not lock threads in which there have not been repeated TOS violations.
3. Never lock a thread in which there have been no TOS violations simply because it makes you uncomfortable.

But it seems that my suggestions were taken as some sort of attack and the response -- which is understandable -- was defensiveness.

But maybe it would help to imagine that we are talking about other mods and admins and users at other forums and trying to figure out what might be going wrong with THEM. If we all looked at Renderosity as though we are seeing it from outside, we might be able to discuss it with a little more objectivity, rather than feeling the very natural and normal compulsion to defend our actions (something we users, I readily point out, do just as often as the mods). We're all human, after all.

Just a thought.

hopeandlove posted at 6:51PM Wed, 09 March 2016 - #4258608

Okay - as I said, ask anyway. What do you want to know about me so you guys can trust and respect me?

Thanks, @Johnny.

Trust and respect doesn't come from your "resume", whether that's personal or professional. How great you are or have been to your friends and family or coworkers or bosses isn't relevant.

Trust and respect come from how you BEHAVE with the specific people whose trust and respect you are hoping to gain. One gains respect and trust by behaving in a trustworthy and reliable and respectful manner.

In other words, I don't care if you have won a Nobel Peace Prize; if you treat me badly, I won't trust you.

That's why we don't care about your personal life because it doesn't matter. Knowing things about you doesn't matter. What matters is what you DO -- HERE AT RENDEROSITY. Period.