I too would like to thank Guitta for taking such prompt action over the person who hyped his own images under different assumed names, and then had the temerity to make an immediate return from his ban by making a tiny and obvious change to his username. (BTW, why are we so shy of actually naming names here? - I'll go along with what appears to be the convention, but I see no reason to shield the identity of a cheat - and in fact the previous sentence makes it pretty clear to all who saw the posts who we are talking about.) Thankfully, I have not personally noticed the other reported outbreak of trolling to gratuitously down-rate other people's images. If the perpetrator can be discovered, he/she should be given similarly summary justice and banned forthwith. To Djeser and others who may share his unease, please remember it's only one (or now maybe two) rotten apples in the barrel. The rest seem pretty sound individuals to me, and the Forum remains a pleasant and helpful place to visit each day. Don't let the misguided and dishonest activities of the occasional rogue spoil your enjoyment or participation in the Forum. It is after all a microcosm of society as a whole, so inevitably the occasional bad guy will turn up. It is sad that a few people seem to have such fragile egos and craving for public acclamation that they are prepared to stoop to such levels. They are not only rather pathetic figures, but also very naive. It is seldom that their activities will go unnoticed for long, and once reported a ban and/or public shaming are the very likely, and wholly appropriate, results; I am all in favourof a zero-tolerance policy. It is even sadder when the individual concerned actually has talent and produces good work anyway, so has little to benefit and everything to lose by cheating. I wouldn't personally like to see major changes to the voting system along the lines suggest by Sacada just to combat such nefarious activities, which I like to feel are very much a minority thing. I think if we are vigilant and do not hesitate to report evidence of such rigging or false claims, that should suffice, given, as is clear by the present case, that the admininstration is swift to act when notified. However, I have not been here long enough to remember a time when the ranking was not anonymous. Re-introduction of identifiable rankging (and votes) does not seem to me an unreasonable premise. I have personally never used any ranking lower than Good, because like Djeser I believe in saying nothing if I have nothing positive to say. And I see no reason why if we are prepraed to make a ranking or give a vote, we should not be equally prepared to sign our name to it. So I would support that proposal.

One related tip I forgot to mention previously which might be helpful to newcomers. When I first started using Vue, I downloaded a lot of files in other formats, notably OBJ and 3DS files. What then seemed a good idea at the time was to load them into Vue, retexturing them if necessary, then saving them in VOB format for convenience, deleting the originals. I do NOT recommend this. What had not occurred to me at the time was that since Vue has no export facility for objects, I would no longer be able to use these meshes in any other 3D application in which I might take a later interest. Nowadays therefore I retain them in the original format and import them into Vue as needed.

Let's face it, all of these techniques work, but are a chore to keep up... and even worse to create if (like many of us) the idea doesn't occur to you when you first start off in this game, and consequently already have a large collection before recognising the issue. Just a couple of observations on suggestions above. I agree with Gebe that using the description field for things like Vue objects and atmospheres is an ideal method of identification. But then again, if the creators welcome credits, perhaps it is in their interests to add this themselves (asm any do) prior to publication. Models in other formats like OBJ, 3DS etc are more of a problem, as also are textures, not least because the latter often come in large collections. Using subfolders to store them can often cause problems in cataloguing them for access from Vue, or in the case of textures from other programs and/or generalised image catalogues like Media Centre, Portfolio, etc. I gues the ideal way here is via notes in a word-processor doc, spreadsheet or field in an image cataloguer - but it is a real chore to keep up. Renaming the files is sometimes a viable possibility, but again can cause some location and recognition problems (as with sufolders) where a texture is pre-linked with a downloaded object. I agree with Yves' comment about the "pain" of renaming a lot of these EXCEPT if you have Paint Shop Pro 8 which has a very flexible batch renaming facility that I have found very useful. Doubtless there are other stand-alone freeware apps that would do a similar job. So personally I rely either on memory or the use the original creators have made of the filename or the description field (where appropriate). Otherwise I tend only to acknowledge that things were downloaded from the web and not created by me. Without wishing to re-open the recent debate on another thread here, that is the important thing in my view: credit is a matter of courtesy tempered by convenience; claiming authorship of something you did not creat is immoral and dishonest. It is also pointless - not least because there are a lot of viewers here, many of whom will visit the same sources and will readily recognise the activities of a cheat who deliberately stoops to such levels.

Thanks for that AgentSmith. I have created a number of my own materials, but certainly don't claim to be an expert with Vue's material editor. I did have a quick try in Vue this afternoon, but got nowhere. I'm sure I'm not alone insaying that I would be very interested to see the results of any success you may have, yet better how it was achieved if you would be prepared to share that. Bill

Hi AgentSmith Those Bryce textures are great! I managed to find the download page for the textures themselves, but nothing on how to create them in Bryce, which I gathered from your last post is available somewhere. Do you have a link to the "how to" page please? Bill

Thanks for the article - I haven't yet had time to do more than skim-read it as it downloaded, but there looks to be a lot of useful information there.

Don't know about creating one in Vue, but an easy way with third party software would be to use Blade Pro with Paint Shop Pro to create a suitable texture, then load it as a picture in the Vue material editor. You could also use a grey-scale version as a bump map.

Thanks for your generosity Joerg - on my way to grab then now.

Hi Sackrat

I'm not shunning you - the only reason I haven't responded to the IM you mention above sending to me is that I haven't received it! I checked my mailbox less than an hour ago, and as announced by the message counter, there was only a single "thank you" in there relating to my comments regarding a completely different image. There are no current messages.

But regardless: no, I wouldn't want to see you leave the Forum over such a minor breach of etiquette. From what you infer about the original deleted post on the other hand, though not wishing to pre-judge, I might well feel rather differently about the continued presence of the author of that comment whoever he/she may be.

Bill

My centre-wheel mouse died some time ago and I've been using an old two-button one ever since. Good timely tip, though, as I take delivery of my new PC in two weeks time - I shall bear this in mind.

Haven't seen any sign of this myself, Joe, but from your description, it sounds a very familiar pattern - I bet I'm not alone in thinking I can guess who the individual is! If I'm right, it's been a while since I heard of him - I thought he must have reformed.

Hi Kutter - No, it's not just you! I can understand what it says in the manual and in Charles' detailed tutorial, but unfortunately that understanding still doesn't translate into any intuitive feel as to what effect any particular filter/function is going to have. The manual tells me quite a bit of what I would need to know in order to write a programming routine to process a filter, but precious little to help in visualising their effect. I have resigned myself to the trial-and-error approach with the uncertain hope that some underlying principles will eventually be absorbed by osmosis.

Gosh you are prolific - do you occasionally pause to eat, sleep, ... Thanks again.

Downloading fine now as I type... Thanks Eric for both the plants and correcting the link. ;-) Bill

Tried the above link, but it came up file not found. Going to the root of your site came up with a place holder page only; trying to access the downloads folder from there said I didn't have permission to access.