Aye, you look wonderful together, I wish you many years of happiness...!

I have no respect for religion. To quote Erich Fromm's "The Art of Loving".... "Respect is not fear and awe; it denotes, in accordance with the root of the word (respicere = to look at), the ability to see a person as he is, to be aware of his unique individuality." There is nothing unique or individual about religions. They are tools used to control the masses. If you adhere to one, you are one of the controlled masses. Now, this will most definitely anger religious adherents, but bear with me for one moment. My point is this : respect is not necessary when dealing with this type of situation. TOLERANCE and respect are two different things. I have no problem tolerating anyone's religion, unless it is hateful and hurtful to other people. Then, it is not a spiritual manifestation, but a spiritual INfestation. I was raised Christian, but am lucky enough to have found my own way to the Spirit, without any need for dogma or the guidelines of man. The artist in question is attempting to interpret a piece of scripture, a religious doctrine. His interpretation wouldn't have bothered me one bit if it hadn't done exactly what I just mentioned : been hateful and harmful to others. The artist is then hiding behind "free speech" in his attempt to spread and express hate. Hate is a valid emotion, but best converted to work, love, or motivation. Instead, he spreads hate and harm with his interpretation. How is this Spirtual? Would any Spirit or God approve of such action, unless it were evil? Maybe... But now to responsibility. If there were one artist in the world, we would all be at his or her mercy when it comes to responsibility. There are more artists than that, forming a community. As a community, we owe it to ourselves to continue our ability to make art, to express ourselves. If every artist made "art" like this, art would be banned worldwide. If every artist, in any medium, used their art as a tool to spread hate and pain, we would be sought out in some kind of ridiculous jihad, and exterminated like a plague. So, it is our responsibility to stand up against hateful art, if we are good people, whatever god or goddess or spirits we worship. This is the key to continuing our forms of expression, it's self-preservation at the least, and the right thing to do. I don't have freedom of speech at Renderosity, nobody does because it's a private site. I know I am arrogant and often egotistical, but I hope some of my words have had some meaning.

I politely refuse. I am Everything, I am Nothing.

Yeah, SURE it's not you... I like your eyes, though...! (in the fake pic...)

Actually, I disagree. Drac had very little to say in the beginning, and what i've seen from him were humorous and (in this case) educational attempts to keep Len from demeaning himself. Pointing a finger at Draculaz is ridiculous, it's been other people, myself included, that tore his plan apart because it reeked of arrogance and unprofessionalism. Also, he's falsely advertising. In USA, where I live, that is a crime, and is generally punishable by large fines. Or worse, class-action lawsuits. I'd like to see Len avoid this situation, but he keeps digging himself in deeper. Not my problem, but if I can save people from buying something they don't need and never did, I will gladly do so.

Thank you! It was the beard that gave it away... On that one lady behind you... (smirks, joking... there are many lovely women in your life, for certain)

Pog, there is nothing bullying about it. Pumeco came to us, not as a learner, but as a door-to-door salesman trying to sell us something we already knew how to do. If it were my house, I would invite him in for an orgy, or ask him if he wanted a copy of the book of mormon. Something fabulous, to make him smile or flee in panic! Here, we are just having fun. I'll consider him my contemporary when he shows me a picture. Until then, he's a guest, to me. Len, I think you're pretty cool! Just put something in your gallery, for the love of dragons!

Aye, is that kind of thing really offensive?

I wear steel claws... i wonder if any mountains were harmed in their forging?

(grins)
(always pushing the limits.... of idiocy) Oh yeah, Jasonmit, you are all 34.

Message edited on: 01/24/2005 02:48

(laughs!)

That's SOOO Happy!
That's actually awesome and certainly took more work than many of the Hot 20 images...

Thanks, man, you just made my night!

• Jared

(note : this message was cross-posted, and meant in response to Stephen Ray's image!)

Message edited on: 01/24/2005 02:42

Attached Link: http://www.artofaj.com/head_5.htm

I think it's an interesting topic.

Stephen Ray, you my friend are sadly mistaken. The DTE is something I've never claimed to master, but now will do so. It is not a mystery any more, to me. It makes perfect sense, and is in fact quite simple. The GUI makes it seem very tedious, but it's not. I have demystified it many times in (free) tutorials, and will continue to do so for free if anyone asks me anything I haven't covered. I have even spoke (typed) with the creators of the DTE, and have received all the answers I need about it.

Compared to the shading engines in Maya (Hypershade) and Lightwave, not to mention the ridiculous program Z-brush, Bryce's DTE is a mere toy, at best. MojoWorld's material creation system is also massively advanced compared to Bryce. Even Poser 5 has some serious power compared to Bryce, which doesn't even support displacement.

Don't take me wrong, I love Bryce and it's material creation, but to say it's the "most complicated, versatile, and unique texture generator I've seen in any 3D package" means to me you've either seen only a few 3D packages, or have limited yourself to only a few.

I say this with no insult intended, it's just that you seem to lack perspective in this realm.

What I was getting at, really, was that the DTE has limits that are unrelated to imagination. Modeling itself doesn't have these limits. The DTE has finite possiblities, although in the millions or more. Modeling as an art form does NOT.

But I guess both you, Stephen Ray, and Erlik made a good point... It's knowledge, and it's important. My point is that I will never sell these things, it's not ethical for me to sell something that, to me, is too easy to be anything else than free.

Message edited on: 01/24/2005 02:38

And that "stiffing" would be pretty cool, if you ask me!

On my f'in knees over here! After that last Hot 20 thread, I really, really needed a laugh...! Thank you for this, Drawbridgep! I needed it...

I agree, and disagree. Bryce 5 is so cheap, it might as well be free. Selling tutorials and materials for Bryce is just ridiculous, with the obvious exceptions of "Real World Bryce" and things of that nature. Books take a long time to make. I feel that any procedural materials should be free, period. Nobody except the programmers had anything to do with the DTE, which we're lucky we even have. You can't CREATE new materials from scratch, you can mereley tweak them. Models? Objects? Now there is serious work involved, and creativity in the extreme is possible. So paying for something that is actually CREATED is, to me, ethical. But like Drac's getting at, if you sel someone a product that can be found for free ALL over, and if you want to bottom-feed and milk the stupid or internet-challenged, then you lack ethics. Just how I feel.

Aye, I agree with you for the most part, Twisted. Only, to say that Microsoft has "no industry clout" is a gross underestimation of Emperor Gates.

I ran a small modeling school down in Seattle for a few years, I have at least a thousand stupid, over-photoshopped pictures of myself. Do not bother looking, it's not worth it!