I must say I find the changes to be very user unfriendly. It seems Renderosity would want visitors to have a pleasant experience when they come here, rather than spending their time trying to redesign the site. How do I get the drop down nav boxes back? Why do we have to go back to the Forums page to go to a different forum? :(

Use the dropdown on the right to go to My Homepage. Scroll down to Favorite Merchants and click Manage Favorite Merchants. Scroll down to Add a Favorite Merchant, enter the name and comment if you like, then click Add Merchant. Unfortunately, it is much less straight forward than it use to be.

Sorry to hear this, Blackhearted. I know it is very disconcerting to see one's own creations being sold by someone else. :(

Battlestar is the only TV series I have purchased the DVDs for. I love it. However, I would probably buy Smallville too. ;)

Phantast, using your example, I would have to say that the Zero pose IS inherent to the program, as there is a button in the Joint Editor that specifically zero's the pose. There are no single buttons in Poser for creating a pose. I do not feel that a single rotation can be copyright, but a collection that produces certain results, I am still not sure about, and would require a judge to tell me that they cannot be. Regardless, I feel John's advice is best. Just don't steal another's stuff to create your products. Whether it is legal or not, it isn't nice, and could be more trouble than it is worth. :)

Oh, massive confusion. ;) A morph is simply data that tells Poser where to move the mesh points. At least that is my understanding. As such, without the obj and Poser, it is sort of useless data. According to some here, data cannot be copyright. To add to this, I create morphs with magnets, but again some responses indicate one cannot copyright magnet settings, as they are simply data and program specific. I guess if we keep thinking about it, we will figure out that an obj file is useless data until it is put in a program capable of reading it. And, the program is useless data until it is put on a computer capable of running it. OK, I must stop. I am starting to confuse myself. ;) I guess this would be a moot point if vendors did not create all this useless, expressionless data. ;) To the original post, if your are going to sell or distribute your poses, just spend a little more time and create them from scratch, then there is no question (at least in your mind). ;) I hope I have not aggrevated anyone too much with my point of view. :)

I think I've already pointed out that we are not talking about human poses by default. I have not implied that one cannot produce a close approximation of a Poser pose by looking at it. I have said that it is highly unlikely the data inside a Poser pose file be replicated via viewing an image. I believe it would be very unlikely that this be accomplished in any manner except use of the original pose file. I've been sitting cross legged for many years too, but I haven't done so in a Poser scene. ;) I don't care if people create poses that look similar to mine. I fully expect that people will create poses that are similar to mine or those of others. If you went into Poser and twisted several dials, I would probably not even be able to tell it was originally my pose and would likely not care. I certainly have no intention of purchasing all the poses out there to see if they are based on mine. I don't even look for these things. But, when I accidentally run across someone selling poses that are so little changed that I can overlay my own render on their promo ads, that is just lazy and blatant thievery. Essentially, only a judge can tell me that person has not violated my rights. I'm not going to say, take my poses, move an element or two and resell them. This is not fair to customers who already purchased my poses and may end up with poses that are virtually the same without realizing it until later, or feel cheated if the person selling the modified poses does so cheaper (since they didn't really have to do any work). It seems a vendor would not want to alienate customers by selling them something they already have, or face a mud slinging should it become public knowlege they are selling another's poses. I don't see any good reason we should not walk down this path. If Curious Labs can declare that poses cannot be copyright, then a lot of Poser products are not protected, as the majority of Poser files are based on the same type of settings. So, in your opinion, can morphs be copyright?

OK, I'm still not convinced. The dials are inherent to the software. The collection of settings to attain a particular pose are not. Using Word as an example, it is a collection of data that makes it function as a program. A pose file is a collection of data that makes a character take on a particular pose. Of course, I understand that a human pose can't be copyright, but we aren't talking about a human pose. We are talking about a representaion of a human pose based on numerical values. Shadow Dancer, I do not think you can replicate a pose from an image, and the values contained in the Poser file be the same. Poser uses decimal values in its poses. If you can replicate those by view, I would be amazed, but I'm willing to see the results. ;)

I imagine such a system could work Byrdie, though it might become complicated if someone used poses from multiple sets and merchants.

Geogress, I know that e-frontier owns the software, but they do not own the content me and other's create for use with the software, so I do not see how they can dictate whether something I own can be copyright. If it can be shown in a court of law that there are aspects of a pose that can be copyright, then I seriously doubt e-frontier would be the deciding factor. However, I don't want to argure law. I simply wanted to express my opinion. I don't think it appropriate to create poses using those of others, and I don't think anyone should suggest it is legally correct to do so. :) I'm not going to dispute you unzipped, as I am not adept at law, but does your comments about data mean that software programs cannot be copyright? What constitutes data? Don't take me wrong. I actually don't know the answer, and am hoping you or someone can provide it. ;)

It is my understanding that courts make laws, not Curious Labs. Poses are made up of numerical values for the x, y, z rotations of each element. Looking at each pose as a collection of numerical data, I do not see any reason why they cannot be copyright. Therefore, a pose that is similar may not violate a copyright if the majority of its numerical values are different, but if enough of the numerical values are identical to cause reasonable doubt, then you might be in trouble if someone really wants to protect their poses. I think it would be naive and uncouth to suggest it acceptable to base products, or free items, on other's work. And, suggesting that poses cannot be copyright would suggest that other products, like settings to acquire characters, could not be either, as these are the same type of files. I don't think there is any doubt that people can and will create similar poses, but you should never start from another's work. :)

Very cool looking character. :)

The answers to this thread aren't what I expected. I assumed there would be replies in support of David and Stephanie Petite. Interesting to see the results though. :) My answer would be Girl. She had considerable support when first released, but it seems to have fallen off greatly. After her, would be Krystal. I know Littlefox supprts her, but it would be nice if others did too. :)

Attached Link: http://www.capsces.com/capframe.htm

Hope it's been a good one, Trekkiegrrrl!