Actually, some of the dates are messed up in regard to the progress of the site frontpage and the banners (by Oct 22 Renderosity had it's first banner), but yep, remember those times more than I'd care too. Jack

Trust me, Stone... you really wouldn't want to know. :o)

My GOD!!! Is it September ALREADY???!!!??? /smirk Jack

Or... ...you can always load up Poser with a standard or your choice of light set... Now save that blank scene with the light set of your choice as a .PZ3 or whatever version of Poser you are running... Now open your old saved data for your project in a word program (like Microsoft Word) and open the new .PZ3 (or format that you saved in) and cut the lines of code about the light set from the newly saved .PZ3 and paste it into your project that got FUBARed in the area where the code should be. Now save your updated project .PZ3 (or whatever format) with the new lines of code you just pasted into it and load the scene back up in Poser... TADA!! The Project .PZ3 (or whatever format) is usable again!! Save multiple copies of the repaired .PZ3 and your are good to go. It's a pain in the butt, but sometimes worth it if your scene has taken forever to create and don't want to have to redo everything! Hope that helps! Jack

bookmark ;o)

What I really find insulting out of all of this is that Curious Labs thinks that any of us could truly be suckered into pre-ordering Poser 6, after how many got screwed the last time around and it took so long to even get the application to perform (somewhat). Do I want Poser 6 to succeed? YES! But do I want to pay big bucks and stand the chance of getting shafted? NOPE! Thank you, but I will hold on to my money a bit longer, see from the artists in this Community what can be done in the application and find out what is practical and what isn't (instead of advertising hype)and then pay my money... I just don't want another Poser 5 or a Halo 2... Jack

PS: Or we could even choose to believe the Judo-Christianity belief that it is really no one's fault at all, but... well... Lucifer's Fault... which would be... Hmmm... YOU! LOL

Oh come now, Lucifer, if we truly wish to find others to blame for an incident that really isn't all that bad, it certainly can be traced much further down the line than the Government... I mean why not say, it isn't Renderosity's, PayPal or the Government's fault for what happened... that the true faul lies on the people who elected those officials? Hmmm? Or better yet... Why not blame the Puritan Forefathers that formed this County called the US of A, from wanting to get away from all of the Freaky Sex that goes on in Europe? Hmmm? OR EVEN BETTER... blame the HUMAN RACE for their need to put people in charge overselves because they are irresponsible and unable to govern themselves without putting a King, Queen or some form of President and government in charge of themselves? Hmmm? When the fact is and always has been, that the choice to obey a particular law or decision lies solely on an individual to either follow the suggested rule or suffer the consequences for not following the suggested rule. In this case, Tim made (in his opinion and in mine) the right call for his own business despite what anyone else wants to believe and the blame of that decision (as foolish as that blame is) stops with Tim, since it was his choice to follow the suggested rule or not. End of story. Jack

sigh Why is it still always my fault, I am no longer involved in Poser? Why me, Lord? Why Me?? Jack

"And to Jack: it's typicall type of reaction for people who run out of arguments." Actually, I am not out of "arguements" but, rather, don't see the value of continually trying to debate with you the importance of Tim's decision to keep a merchant account in order to continue to have a business for ALL vendors, as well as, the value of new Renderosity membership which would purchase product from those vendors through sponsor and partnership participation from such companies as Curious Labs and Vue, thereby increasing store sales and website membership. But, plainly, there is no need for further debate with you since you only have tunnel vision when it comes to this sort of business and no practical experience in this field... and why waste my time. So, as Bill Engvall always says, Ales, "Here's your sign." Jack

Nah, no mention of a horse, stable or home remodeling improvements from me this time. Guess Diane's influence has been rubbing off on me! :o) LOL!! Personally, I don't know what's more confusing to me... Ales' last comment or how NASCAR's Nextell Cup Point system actually works the way it does... ;o) Jack

"Heh. Having Jack defending him is probably making Tim paranoid as hell. ;]" ROFL @ Ironbear Yeah, I am sure it just might be... and believe me, it even surprises me. Ales, I seriously don't expect you'll be in business very long with your skewed perspectives on business and management... or likely to find many with whom would share your views. Jack

No offense, Ales, but you really are taking things to the extreme here about this situation, almost to the point where it would almost seem as though you have some sort of axe to grind in regard to this website and towards Tim Choate... and again, no offense meant here, and in all honesty, I know a thing or two about having a valid chip on one's shoulder about this website and it's owners and I just can't see the validity of you having one stemming from your arguements in this thread. Heh... me defending this website and Tim Choate... who'd have thunk it? :o) I think you are failing to understand, Ales, that the steps that Renderosity is taking are steps that meet and adhere to their own Terms of Service of this website. I will agree with you that this situation NEVER should've occured... not because what they are doing is wrong, because it isn't. But because Renderosity became side tracked from its original intent and purpose, making it NECESSARY for them to enforce these restrictions. Unfortunate, yes, but certainly not really worthy of lighting torches, grabbing pitchforks and storming the castle as it seems you would have people do. What the owners of this website are really doing here is RECONFIRMING and ENFORCING the terms and conditions what had always been the BUSINESS PLAN of this website, which was to run a 3D and Poser Friendly 'Family Style' website. As in any business, one can sometimes become side tracked from their orginal business plan. Sometimes making a poor business decision or try something that might inadvertently conflict with the orginal intent and service that business was supposed to be providing to its customers... and sometimes, it takes a third party to point out that pitfall so that it may be corrected before it becomes too late. In this case it was PayPal... and as such Renderosity is getting back on track with its original business plan. Let's put it this way. Renderosity was clearly selling adult related products... there is no other explaination for such things as bondage items, sexual intercourse poses and fetish outfits... and as such, those products being sold could and most certainly would hurt this website. As the orginal owner of Renderotica the hardest thing I ever faced in running an adult website catering to Poser and other 3D Programs was finding sponsors and forging partnerships with the very companies who's products our members used. Zygote, DAZ, Curious Labs, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave and all the others don't want to have their companies associated with an adult company because, like it or not, it would effect their own business and partnerships. Crappy as it may be, it doesn't change the fact that it is true... it would. Renderosity continuing to travel down the path that they have been in the selling of 'adult' 3D Products places them in a position where they could loss their partnerships with the companies whose products make this website the valuable asset that it is, which would mean no more Curious Labs involvement, Vue involvement, DAZ involvement and anyone else that Renderosity has forged a partnership or sponsorship with... Keeping that in mind, think about the money this site would truly stand to lose, as well as, the value that this website is able to provide its membership from it's corporate partner and sponsorships that they would most certainly lose by continuing to sell adult related products and TELL me that Tim Choate is INCOMPETENT, UNSYMPATHETIC to the needs of this membership, or a POOR BUSINESS MAN. The fact of the matter is this, Tim's recent decision probably just insured that this Community would be the first to get an inside peek at Poser 6, or any new version 3D software coming out, as well as, contest prizes, give aways and secured the future of this website for you all to continue enjoying it for another 6 years. Yes, the decision may hurt the site finacially for a couple of months. It might be inconvient for members wanting that sort of product to now have to go to Renderotica and, yes, it means that vendors are going to either have to sell their 'adult' products elsewhere... but LONG TERM, this business decision, only insures this website's survival and that is something that should be considered before you go and get a chip on your shoulder... ...otherwise, the alternative is to be ostrosized by the very industry, and companies that make up that industry, who's products you advertise, support and bring value too... ...just like Renderotica. Jack

Softriver, I couldn't agree with you more and I rather enjoyed your 'diplomatic turn of phrase'. :o) However, my reply really wasn't as much for Ales, but rather more for those who might be reading this and are not clear on the way that things really are and the jam that Renderosity and Tim Choate find themselves in. I'd rather inform those people as to the true situation, rather than leaving them to believe the way that Ales does. Ignorance only breeds more ignorance and as someone that isn't ignorant of the situation, I consider it my responsiblity to help try to educate those who have a desire to understand the truth of the matter. :o) Jack

Ales, I am the person who created Renderotica and, no offense, it was a serious pain in the backside trying to find an Internet Merchant Provider... in fact, when I owned that site there were at least 2 individual occassions where I was dropped by my current Merchant Account Provider because they could no longer support the heavy fines and penalities that they were suffering from Visa and MasterCard because they catered to 'Adult' companies. I was dropped without any warning and unable to continue operating a business without a Merchant Account until such time that I could find a Merchant Account Provider that would handle our 'Adult' account. Yes, the Porn industry is an 11 billion dollar a year business in the United States alone. Accounting for Adult Movie sales, Adult Products (toys and such) and Internet Websites. However, there are those in position of power that would like to see that abolished here in the States (Tom Ridge comes to mind right off the bat here) and, as such, they continue to search for ways in which to reduce that business, if not through legal means, then they do so by making it harder for the individuals to profit through banking means (frozen assets and accounts) and difficulty in finding banks willing to accept the risk of providing a Merchant Account to 'Adult' content providers. Renderosity, Renderotica and sites like them, as well as, the millions of Adult content websites out there do not deal directly with Visa nor MasterCard... we deal with banks. Banks that must maintain a certain 'air' of creditability and banks willing to act as mediators between Website owners and Credit Card companies. As in all business, he with the most money is able to make the rules... in this case it would be Visa and MasterCard and the banks that provide us the Merchant Accounts to cater to our customers. As owners and desiring to stay IN BUSINESS we must conform to their rules and abide by them. I don't think for a moment that Tim Choate got a wild hair up his ass and woke up one morning and said: "GEE, I've got an idea! Let's piss off our vendors and customers, reduce our monthly income by at least 40% and pay homage to PayPal's puritanistic views on life and business!!" No... Tim Choate right now is probably going: "Crap, I hate this just as much as they all do. This is going to cut into our profits and reduce the service that we can provide to our membership... this really sucks the BIG ONE." The thing is, I am sure that Tim Choate is probably happy that Renderotica is around right now, as I am sure that many of the vendors and customers who purchase the items in question are. Tim being happy because of the potential sh*t storm that could've really have happened if there wasn't a place where his vendors could continue to sell their 'adult' products and customers can purchase them, while still continuing to sell their non-adult items here on Renderosity. And again, as such, maybe we will see a mending of sorts between the two sites and their owners from this... also, this means that vendors who didn't want to produce 'adult' style products are now able to stand a chance and make it in the top twenty without having to sacrifice their personal morals. But, again, in short, Ales, yes... sites like Renderotica and Pornographic websites are able to accept Visa and MasterCard from their membership... but it is costly to do so and there are risks of their bank deciding to drop them without notice. That is the risk that we as 'Adult' Internet providers face every day... and Renderosity shouldn't have too, nor should they, being a 'family' site that they are and not a 'porn' site. Jack