I don't know of anything in Poser that can't be imported into Bryce, and isn't improved by the process. Of course, getting the textures, bumpmaps and transmaps to work in Bryce is not for the faint of heart. For that matter, it's not exactly easy in Vue, either. But anyone who uses these programs regularly owes it to themselves to know how to apply all these maps to objects. -- TL

Davo, this is remarkable work! What, aside from ooh's and aaahh's can I say? Perhaps only, keep up your creative activities! -- ThralLord

Sorry about that, Ghost! : ( -- TL

Yike, JAFO! I didn't know the Bryce demo was so restricted.

Attached Link: mailto:ThalLord@thralldom.org

Yes, please, Ironbear! And thanks for having the metal to bear with me during the turbulent times my contests happen to fall into. (Puns intended.) Email: ThralLord@thralldom.org

Thanks, Clint!

Should Edgenet in any way prevent Renderosity from continuing hosting the non-erotic contest that has begun, the contest will continue anyway. I will host it myself if need be! PLEASE BOOKMARK THIS URL: http://www.erosync.com/3dcontestsrules.html I will keep you updated on that page. Bookmark this NOW in case I am prevented from communicating with you here. Both contests are on, and will continue! -- ThralLord

Caseamerica, there's certainly nothing unreasonable about wanting to sell in more than one venue. I choose to sell exclusively here, but that is my choice, motivated by my own personal sense of loyalty. I don't expect that others have to feel the same way. Actually, those "non-vendors" I wrote of are not my customers. I don't know whose customers they are, in fact. Since they did not respond to Diane's offer of accepting their checks, I can only wonder if they had any real interest in buying here at all, or whether their agenda was something else. One doesn't have to look back very far to realise that the Admins of this site and Renderotica have people who are their self-appointed enemies, and who have actively behaved as such, over and over, in both subtle and direct ways. (These "enemies" are not the good folks at BBay.) Though I may certainly be mistaken about an individual case like this, it doesn't require paranoia to wonder about ulterior motives. My point about them being "non-vendors" was not that those who don't sell things are somehow less important than vendors. My point was that other vendors I have been in contact with have shown no sign of abandoning the Store. Yes, of course there is an "Us-vs-Them" feeling underlying this thread. It started explictly with calls for vendors to abandon the Store and move their merchandise to BBay. It continued implicitly with calls not to abandon the Store. Competitiveness is natural to a marketplace. The great thing, however, is that this competitive attitude has not become so adversarial that it has made the Store and BBay into enemies, so far as I can see. Instead, it has been a force to get both the Store and BBay to do the best they can in improving their operations, to the benefit of both customers and vendors.

Diane's note above is correct. In fact, it was she who informed me, without my asking, that there is no exclusivity when selling through the Store. I did not mean people should not sell elsewhere also. I sell exclusively through the Renderosity Onlien Store, as my personal choice. What I objected to was the call by non-vendors for us vendors to take our products to BBay, with no mention of keeping our stuff in the Store as well. The implication I got was that we vendors should remove our stuff from here, and take it there. That's nothing less than an attack on Renderosity and Renderotica, because the Store is their main support. Despite what was said a few message above, BBay indeed does have some problems itself, such as the membership fees they've imposed. That greatly limits the number of people who would want to do business with them, both buyers and sellers. I know I bought several items from them before they imposed the membership fee, but certainly will not shop there as long as that fee is required. Once the kinks are out of the operation at the Store, I think it will quickly become the world's foremost online shopping emporium for 3D computer graphics. That's because the Store can leverage the unequalled strength of the huge memberships of these sites into a huge customer base. No other sites have this gigantic advantage of such large memberships.

One thing to keep in mind when using Bryce materials, is that they are essentially 2D in nature. So when seen edge-on, all the bumpmapping in the word still looks like a thin line. Careful choices in use -- and especially some postproduction -- are nearly always required.

Thanks, Ken! Coming from you, the undisputed "Master of Mats," that's a very high compliment, indeed! I have been using your Chemical Studios materials (and especially those from your "Fastination vol 1 CD") almost from when I first got Bryce. From the beginning, they added a wonderful air of reality to my renders. Having your fine Bryce materials is like possessing a secret weapon! Yes, Ken, these new mats are very much like the Majick Mails. (Except perhaps in armor value. I don't expect that the TurqHex would hold up well to being whacked with a broadsword!) These more decorative materials indeed do have the same care and detail that I put into the mails.

Thanks, Diane!

And Diane: There is still no link to the Store on Renderotica!

After further thought, I want to strongly state that I feel it's a disservice to this community to urge the creators of the Store's contents to take their merchandise elsewhere. It's downright unseemly to reap the benefits of these free sites, while at the same time undermining them in such a manner. We vendors can look out for our own interests. We don't all look only at how things are now, but at the future as well. Leveraging its huge membership, Renderosity is likely to become the dominant force in online sales as it already is otherwise in graphics community. I believe I'm not the only vendor who feels honored to be in at the start of all this, and is willing to abide some growing pains along the way.