Sorry Xena...missed yer post ;) keihan-Smacks himself Good to see someone else posted the link though. ;) As far as face morphs go, I don't think I'm going to go looking for the easy way because they are, usually, very limited in their results. I, also, don't see much art in using something that takes much of the creativity out of the process. I'd prefer to stick to creating my morphs in Rhino and knowing that I created them completely from scratch... and I can remain comfortable knowing that the makers of Rhino aren't going to attempt to sue me for distributing my own work. :) ---Will

Here is something that might give you a good start. I'm not sure about the Export options, if I were you and you are interested in this program, I'd ask around in some forums to see if it exports OBJ or if there is a plugin that allows for OBJ export. The program is Strata 3Dplus and is a the little brother of Strata 3D. Very little functionality (as far as modeling) is stripped out of this lesser version so it is certainly an awesome value for someone starting on the 3D modeling path. It's priced at $49.95! Their website is http://www.strata.com

Aye, the only reason I don't animate with Poser is because the lack of collision detection. Would be great to have that ability thats for sure. ;)

Rhino is my tool of choice, but last I looked it was about $899 for version 3. I've been using Rhino 2 for quite some time. I also have TrueSpace which I won in a contest but have never used it. I fired it up once hehehe, but I'm so familiar with Rhino, I get lazy and frustrated when confronted with an alien environment ;) Blender is free and very very nice, producing high end results but it has a higher learning curve than Rhino. ------------------------------- Calligari still sells Truespace 4 & 5 (even though the newest is version 6). Any of these will work for what you need and 4 is selling for only $199 U.S. Even 6 is very well priced at $595, but if you want to go middle of the road, 5 is value priced at $395! Here is the link to their store: http://www.caligari.com/Store/trueSpace/default.asp?Cate=STtrueSpace

I will say this much, if I paid $500 buckaroos for something I better darn be able to use the resulting morphs for sellable characters. If I design the morphs from photos (front/side) then the morph is my creation, the tool to it's creation would be FaceGen. Crayola can't sue me for my creations because I used their crayons in the process... that's obsurd and good ole capitalistic monopolising. Sorry FaceGen, but you won't be seeing my dollars and I'm sure you won't be winning any court suits over exported morphs that someone else created using your software. Besides, why would I want to make replicas of celebrities? Now, that is certainly an area that might get me sued if I haven't been granted permission to use their likeness. On the other hand you could always use their likeness, but not their name ;) ----Will

Aye, I would use AutoGroup as well as Odeath mentioned. Especially when doing a humanoid. I would also use uvmapper to get a more precise grip on the grouping. Grouping can also be done in Rhino...it's a bit tricky but yields more accurate and symmetrical results since you would be splitting the surfaces.

Aye, I see where you are coming from. Copyright is very grey though and for good reason. As it stands many people belive that their actual ideas and the way they are formatted are the copyrightable material but it is actually the artist's way of "expression" that it copyrighted. Fair use doe protect us and give us an avenue, but you are right that it is no guarantee. I think if fair use is followed within a varied boundry one is in the clear. There is almost no court in the country that will not decide in favor of Fair Use so long as it is not a blatant rip-off. Parodies and Satires vs. the original material they are drawn upon are almost as far as the moon is from the sun. One must remember I could sue just about anyone for copyright infringement for some of the most mundane things, but my chances of losing are greater than my adversary since the burden of proof is upon me and I must prove beyond distribution and copying that they have infringed upon my rights. Copying and distribution does not necessarily mean willful intent. Parodies and Satires, however, are not copies of the original but may contain similar or some content of the original. In their own right, most, are a separate expression of someone else's idea which, in fact, makes them less a derivative and more of an original since it's not the idea that is copyrightable.

Ynsaen, You should read "Fair Use" more closely as it is there in Black and white: QUOTED FROM copyright.gov website: The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the authors observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported. Generally if the courts have regarded this as FAIR USE, then YES one is protected by law from being sued. So, you are protected under statute. As long as it falls within the guidlines it's all good.

Aye, thanks Tiger. The data is stored at the server level, the cookie just tells the server what data to retrieve. The cookie, merely identifies you and thus the server can retrieve your personal settings. Ad-Aware does nothing that you can't do yourself without it. BY USING COOKIES, RENDEROSITY CANNOT ACCESS SENSITIVE DATA ON YOUR MACHINE, JUST THE COOKIE THAT WAS PLACED IN YOUR BROWSERS COOKIE FOLDER. If you don't like cookies, I'm afraid you may as well get off the internet bcause they are used everywhere and almost every shopping site with any sense uses them.

LOL Bonnie! Aye, I never even did see this one, so guess I'll add my two sense. Better late than never. I agree with Gabe (shhhh and we don't always agree). I never saw anything distasteful in his ads or advertising. My daughter's teen mags have friggn Calvin Klein ads that are more revealing and as a father I have to wonder "why the hell!" do they promote crap like that in teen mags? Unfortunately, I understand, sex sells. However, it doesn't always make it artistic and it also has it's place. I believe Gabe was right when he said it should be at R'otica. Now, before those of you who support pornographic images go off on a tangent, let me explain a few things. First, "porn" can be defined as an image (or imagery) that incites sexual arousal. It's full intent is to do just that. I don't see the prupose of creating morphing genitalia unless it's intent is the same. Also, R'osity, is touted as a place that should be able to be visited by everyone unlike R'otica. So such products are more suitable at R'otica in my opinion. For example, although I don't like some of the Calvin Klein ads in my daughter's mags, I can tolerate them. However, if I saw full spreads from Hustler in my daughter's mags, I would friggn blow a gasket! Do I have a problem with Erotica or the sort? Certainly not, but it has no place in front of children who are just discovering and learning about their own bodies and don't need outside influences confusing certain behavioral aspects of their life. As an adult (if we are stable of mind) we are able to discern between things which are right and wrong, fantasy and reality and therefore do not let imagery guide us in our lives. Imagery and music can be powerful influences on the developing minds of the young. So do I shun my children from nudity? Absolutely not. But I teach them to be respectful and responsible. I create products and art which contain nude images, at times, and my children are popping in and out while I'm working quite a lot, but they understand the art behind it and discern between what is tasteful and what can be considered obscene. You wouldn't find me creating a genital prop in front of my kids and saying "hey dear, watch how her %^$* opens wide!" So, how i see it.... if I wouldn't put it in front of my kids, I wouldn't expect it to be viewable on a site my kids could access from my computer. I would expect it at R'otica. Just my opinion. ---Will

Yep, Satires and Parodies are protected. You can produce anything as such and be free from copyright infringement. The violence in the image had preceded what the image represents. One can easily conclude that the male character slaughtered his victim and then ate them, this would be a violent act. The image causes one to step back and envision the violence that occured prior. The censorship did fall within the guidelines of the rules which stated up front, NO NUDITY, VIOLENCE etc etc. I have an entry that involves a Pirate landlord that is upset over back rent of the island and had to be very careful as to how I portrayed the event. I accomplished this without using violence, but made it seem like the Pirate Mike had legally taken the island under a police type action. Sure, the threat of viloence seems that it could occur if the competitors on Mike's island chose to fight him, but I was careful to not make it appear that they were. As it stands, they peacefully surendered into indentured servitude rather than fight the pirate. Tricky, but no violence involved. ----Will

That is because R'osity uses cookies to send and retrieve information. If you logged in and chose the check box to remain logged in (save your user name password), it stores this info on your computer in what's called a "cookie". Everytime you access an area of R'osity that requires you to be logged in, the server checks your machine for the login info (via the stored "cookie"). Firewalls will detect this as an intrusion and sometimes call it an attack like a TCP PORT ATTACK, even though it isn't an actual attack. You are safe ;) Ciao, ----Will

One more thing, if people couldn't use my 3D models as composite art in contests or otherwise, I would probably lose a lot of customers.

If a photographer wins a photo contest, does he have to divide his winnings with his models? I'm a 3D modeler and I prefer to create my own models, but on occasion will opt for a few that I haven't created myself. I think the criteria for contests should be left up to those who flip the bill for the prizes. As Carolly said, if I wanted to challenge myself in an area, such as 3D modeling, rather than composite artwork, I'd join a modeling contest. One must also remember that knowing how to composite well, place lights and adjust them properly and render a very very good image is, in itself, an artform. Doing well adjusted postwork is also a challenge whether or not prefab models were used.

Those are pretty cool, Saskia. :) Once I get all my other stuff done, I'll work on some ideas ;) Thanks, ---Will