I found it, but thank you both very much for answering. It is donation-ware, and it does work with PS 6 and 7, as well as CS--and I mean, it really works (I have PS 7 and no trouble at all opening PSP .tub files with it) Half way down the page, Paint Shop Pro Format: http://telegraphics.com.au/sw/

JenyK, I must say I am very impressed that you have offered what seems like sincere apologies to the community, and that the images are being restored. I now have mine back. I daresay, you need not worry about the thumbnails; most artists will probably not mind recreating those. It was the loss of comments that stung the worst, and since that is rectified (hopefully, for all), I am sure everyone would be quite willing to let it go at that.

Kaos,

What you are doing right now is quite blatantly hijacking a thread. I am willing to believe you are not really aware of it, given the obvious language constraints and your admission that you are new to the whole on-line thing. If you want to have a discussion about best ways to practice art, by all means, let's do that--in a separate thread. But hijacking other's threads is rude; it is particularly bad taste when the original issue is as important as this one.

Message edited on: 09/17/2004 05:42

KAOS,

Art is a hobby for me, nothing more. I've no need to push myself in learning what I do not desire at the moment since my livelihood does not depend on it--and that is precisely why I enjoy this hobby so very much. Until Tracy's portrait competition, I had no interest in close-ups; I do now, thanks to her. Case in point: contests serve as a catalyst for people to try things they may not have otherwise. That was really the only point I was trying to make.

If you choose to view art as your life, it is your right. Scoffing at others for thinking differently is another matter entirely.

All in all, this argument is rather misplaced, and having said all I wanted on the subject, I am now done with it. Have a nice day.

Message edited on: 09/17/2004 04:54

Um, I do believe the contests actually serve just this purpose--along with that of having fun. I know I'd have never bothered with close-up portraits if it wasn't for Tracy's competition; but having tried, I liked it and I know I've gotten better just from doing the 4 entries for her contest. So I don't get what your point really is.

Tracy, you were joking, right? When you were saying that all of this was your falt you were joking, were you not? I sure hope so.

Like many here, I had an image deleted--one which I was proud of and which garnered a good amount of comments. Like many here, I am livid at what happened, even if I won't bother repeating that which 228 posters have said before me. But, however pissed off we are, I don't believe any of us hold any anger whatsoever toward those who had held the contests in question. Why would we? There is no question that it is R'ocity's management who is to blame for this mess. Whether the Admin responsible acted at their direction, or is simply incompetent and, furthermore, has no respect for anyone within the community she is supposed to uphold, it is still ultimately the fault of this site's management. Not the people genuinly trying to get everyone to have fun.

Message edited on: 09/17/2004 03:42

OMG! My internet connection has been down all day and I am just now finding out that I had the honor of winning this contest... This really means a lot to me--so much so that I am, for the first time in my life, at a loss as to how to express it. I am very greatful to the contest sponsors and to all vendors who offered their wonderful products as prizes; to the judges whose task was made very difficult by the quality of the art entered into this contest; to everyone who took the time to comment on my images and encourage me to go on; and last but not least, to Mr. Kozaburo whose wonderful work is so generosly made available to all of us. It was great fun to participate and--I won't lie--to win. I will quit my rambling now and take the time to assimilate the news instead, I think.:) Once again, my huge thanks to everyone who has made this possible. Happy rendering to all!

Well, this explains it: my Gradien Browser is not working properly. It opens, but all I get is a dead white window. Can't save to it, can't open any files--nothing. I tried asking about it on the mailing list--twice--but got no response at all. Beta 15 didn't fix the problem either. I am wondering if my emails actually reach the lis, as the people there seem very nice it it unlikely that they would ignore someone asking for help.:( Maybe I should try and email Mark?

Hey, I hate to be a pest after getting a freebe:), but how do you import gradients into Apo 2? I see the File-->Import gradients in version 1, but not 2. Thanks in advance for the help.

Thank you both for replying. I did get UF, just for the shear fact that I can export PS files if nothing else (I would still rather do my editing in PS)--although it does seem like a very powerful program. Certainly, the person who wrote it did a very thorough job, so the money is well earned. And what's $60 in comparison to what I spend on Poser stuff?:)

Look, DE, seriously, chill the hell out... As I saw it, someone had honestly assumed you were Bella because of the similar writing styles--and then sincerely apologized for their mistake; someone else (me in this case) made a statement that Bella seemed to have had no other purpose but trolling when starting the thread on the Epilogue forums. How did that provoke you? I hope you do realize that, coming across as bitchy as you are at this point, you are seriously damaging the credibility of your righteous indignation with the ever so evil Epilogue?

On the bright side, I find it greatly amusing that I somehow got bunched up with the anti-Poser crowd when Poser is all I use--and, as is evident from my first post, I've gotten into several fairly mean fights with them myself, defending the very points you're bringing up here.

And April, yes, Poser forum does seem to be quirky; it ate my post from this afternoon. Hindsight, it was a good thing, too.:)

Yes, I did, as I saw that I misspelled the initials of your handle (I had it as DM rather than DE), and I see no way to edit a post here.

DE, were your lame attempts at sarcasm in your last two posts directed at me? If so, I don't quite get what you're bitching about. When have I accused you of being Bella? All I said was that the comment left in my gallery likely belonged to Bella even though she is denying it, and that someone who trolls is hardly a reliable sourse of information in my eyes. At no time did I imply that you, Bella and this anonymous 'guest' in question were the same person; is there a reason you chose to take it that way?

You really need to learn how to chill and not jump down people's throats, particularly if you intend on starting/carrying threads which have a high probability of turning explosive.

Hello all

Ive been a member of ROsity for a while now, although I have never posted in the forums. But I feel the need to do so now.

Like DE, Id been playing with Poser for close to a year at present, with Bryce for 3-4 monthsand that is ALL my artistic background. Never even doodled as a kid. I came to Epilogue several weeks ago, submitting 6 or 7 pictures. 2 of them (done in Bryce) got accepted right away, the rest were rejected for obvious use of digital tools.

Stubborn person that I am, I submitted another image, one I thought to be better than those previous ones. Againobvious use of digital tools. I took it to the WIP forum and received and reasonable and objective explanation of the editors reasoning (from the rejecting editor herself). And then all hell broke loose

well, not really, as the discussion remained more or less civilbut I did receive quite a few derisive comments toward Poser people who use to create the non-art. But here is the thing: AT NO POINT DID SUCH COMMENTS COME FROM ANY OF THE EDITORS/EPILOGUE STAFF. On the contrary, here is a quote from one of the Epilogue editors during that discussion:

The "obviousness" we don't want to see includes things like badly interlocking meshes (I have never used a 3D program and may be using the wrong terminology, but what I'm talking about is when parts of the image seem to go through other parts or overlap them inappropriately), poorly made texture maps with obvious seams all over them, Poser dolls with little or no postwork, stiff or anatomically implausible poses--in general, poor use of the software which results in a shoddy-looking image. There's nothing wrong with well-done 3D art. We did try to make that clearer with the explanation page, but I'll say it again--we have NO PROBLEM with computer art that looks like it was made on a computer. We have a problem with computer art that was done badly.

After that discussion, Id resubmitted the original image (reworked) several times. Still it was rejected, though reasons were now different. Another image submittedand rejected as being not Epilogue quality. Naturally, I began to feel that I am being picked on, in light of my loudly stating I do indeed use Poser to create my art. It did not help that, looking through the Epilogue galleries, I saw several pieces that, to my eye, seemed to be just full of same flaws as my own faulted on (thankfully, I had the good grace to keep that opinion to myself). Another discussion in the WIP forum followed, again with quite a few forum members restating the all-familiar Poser is too easy to be considered art yet Poser art looks like crap unless heavily painted-over opinion. It was annoying, to say the least, and the rejections were certainly painful.

But guess what? Being a fair person (I should like to think), once my initial frustration blew over, I had togrudginglyJ--admit that every comment on the technical aspects of my rejected images which came from the editors had made sense. Some of them could be considered quite nitpicky, but nonetheless, they had all made sense. So in the end, the entire affair served one purpose: I now look at my own work with a much more critical eye, especially when it comes to composition and perspective, the lighting and the overall finish. Is that bad? I think not. And another thing the upshot of that was almost immediate: the latest image Id submitted to the Epilogue gallery got approved on the first tryand no, I did not at all change my style to hide that it was done in Poser. One can still tell, relatively easily, that indeed Poser was my base tool.

Interestingly enough, someone whose writing style very much resembles Bellas (though she is denying it) left the following comment under the said imageand right before the entire discussion broke out in the forum:

ohh noooo no "obviouse use of digital tools here" gawd when is epilogue going to at least attempt to give the appearance of fairness and start being consistant?

Just for the reference purposes, here is the link to the image in question:

http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=516707&Start=1&Artist=yulia&ByArtist=Yes

I dont know about you guys, but I would not tag an entire community as elitist, bigoted and so forth on the word of someone who trolls other peoples galleries.

Yes, Epilogue has frustrated me more than onceand, I suspect, it will happen again.Yes, some people there are very much against 3D tools in general and Poser in particular. But, having had my share of unpleasant experiences, I honestly do not see Epilogue in its entirety as anti-Poser. And it DID do my work a world of good to be judged severely, even if a few people were intentionally cruel in their remarks about it.