Well, about the comment thing - i have to agree with svdl - when i see something wrong - like, as you say, clipping or missing shadows - i point it out, always in a polite way (really no need to be rude to give away a suggestion) and i never got a flame IM, i've received instead many "thank you" messages for this. The same obviously i believe in the other way - even when i'm not following a suggestion, i'm always fond to receive them, since they help me improve my future work!

Also, you say that the Hot20 is important for many newcomers and become progressively less important, if i got you right. It was not like that for me - i've never wanted to be in them, since i'm not here for competition, but rather to meet other people who share my interest in DG, which i believe to be the original intent of the site. And i can hardly believe that i'm the only one to think that way...

And the fact that caused agitation in the first place i think was not the accusation against the Hot20, but rather the fact that this accusation was made against a specific person, and this was not fair - if the system doesn't work, fine, tell it, but there's no reason to pick on people who got on the Hot20 - they had done nothing to blame! Or at least so i think...

Bye,
Grim

Message edited on: 09/03/2005 21:07

Wow! It look very cool! Thank you for the tip! :) Grim

Well, more generical sites (you'll have to look yourself for toys however since they aren't my genre and so i don't know if they have them) could be: 3dcommune RDNA Rendervisions Keep in mind that there is often (and sometimes considerable) overlapping between the provided freestuff - good hunting! Grim

I've always loved the idea of creating something, but i am genetically impaired (!) with regard to standard art forms - Poser simply gave me the possibility to express myself, however simple my images may be. Grim

Well, explaining thing is not my strongpoint (as someone out there know already... :D), but my fav image is for sure "Pure Poison"... in fact it's the only image that i felt completely satisfied with - best thing i can think of as an explanation is because i love nagas and i got a good "dangerous" and "disturbing" mood (not sure about that last word - darn vocabulary is always useless! LOL!)

Grim

Also, sometimes (more likely on character than on clothes, but still possible) you'll see something like nameBum or nameBump, which are other grayscale images used as bump maps.

Hehe! Lots of 'em - chains are definitely a must have! Here on 'rosity you can also find some poseable chains by ToxicAngel and there was also a chest pack which contained a poseable chain (i don't remember much more about the latter i'm sorry) - both are non Easy-posed. Also, it is worth a look at RDNA, which in their free area have an easy-posed "Industrial chain" as well as a full set of prisoner chains with manacles, shackles and collars (altough the shackles chain is short and the manacles even shorter). Hope this helped! Bye, Grim

Maybe take a look at RDNA free stuff - they used to have some bone weapon, which with a little tweak on textures could look like stone. Bye, Grim

Can't say i remember the speed since i had no internet connection at the time, but i remember my first painting program - i think it was called Koala Painter or something: 320x200 (actually 160x200) and 16 colors - Wheee! High-re graphics!! LOL! And i managed to s**k at that just as i do now in Photoshop! LOL! Bye, Grim

LOL! My symphaties to ya, SpiceHD! I'm pretty the same type: got all of my stuff all zipped and ready to get burned out, but everytime i want to actually do it i start thinking: "wait, today i want to work a bit on that, so if i do the backup tomorrow i'll get the updated version..." So i never do and everytime PC decides to get a vacancy i start cursing at the gremlins (inside the PC)! LOL! PS @ pakled: i think i beat ya - i started losing things with ruined tapes on the commodore 64! :D Bye, Grim

I think that the closest similitude can be seen in photography: even though it is considered an accepted form of art, the photographer isn't actually creating nothing - it's just taking a snip of things that are already there - all that he do is deciding on the angle, exposure and similar things - but this makes him/her no less of an artist. When working in a studio, the similitude is even greater, since he decide on his own "actors" poses and such, but still it isn't physically creating anything - it's just artistically creating something :) Hope this is understandable! Sometimes i wish i actually studied english! LOL! Bye, Grim

Also, it is very useful to set from the start such things as background color, camera focal lenght and maybe even a default lighting. They are all small things, but boring to be modified (most often always to the same setting) every time you open up a new scene. Bye, Grim

I've found a pair of nice shoes from UweG (i found them on his website, but i think they are on the freestuff section as well).
Also, check 3dCommune - if i remember well, there is a nice set of boots on the free section here.

I've had the same problem, but only with one forearm. Unfortunately, i can't tell how to solve it (but as a workaround, you can of course set the corresponding morph on the specific bodypart)

Just in case you want to try it, you can save the render as a .psd file and then load it in photoshop. There, you can duplicate the background layer, delete the original background, load as selection the channel "alpha 1" (at least i think it's called so), invert the selection, select you new layer and delete. At this point you'll have a layer with only the main figure of your render: just open your background photo, copy and paste it in your render and place the new layer below the main one. This should work. Uh... i hope this is not too confused :)