I posted this question on the 3DS Max forum, but it's not very busy, by the look of it.

I'm wondering about a site called 3dhousedownload.com. My first thought is that a legit site would have some sort of contact info, and I'm always wary of possibly stolen work. But it's pretty heavily monetized with ads, and the style of the work seems pretty consistent, so I'm thinking it may be one person.

The deal is that I was looking on royalty free sites like istockphoto.com for an office photo of a particular sort (semi-luxury, bookcase to the side, and computer/computer desk in center or on other side) and found nothing I really could use for my purpose. Then I chanced upon this site and found several images that would work for me, but I'm hesitant to use anything that doesn't have clear licensing information.

Anyone have a clue who it is?

I'm not a modeller. I could render existing sets in Poser Pro, but that's the limit of my skills, and I'm looking for something classy for a design site.

A look at the Whois indicates the site owner is in China. Not sure how much that tells me.

"Copyright © 2012-2093"

I'd heard the Chinese had a different view of copyright but that's one I haven't seen before. Wonder if they're still claiming the rights on gunpowder.

According called "domaininvader" the domain expired on 2013-08-10.  

Yeah, I noticed that. Guessing it was a slip of the finger.

I looked at a different Whois/info place. Supposedly the site pulls in c. $25/day. I suppose it's possible the site owner is a full-time modeller and lives on that. But funny he (/she) would make wallpapers available for download without specifying any limitations on their usage.

Very nice stuff and the style does look coherent.

The downloads appear to be images, not models. It looks like this is a designer showcasing his/her work.

The site makes no since at all to me. ah ,maybe ,the site is a WIP.

Rules I follow.

If there's no free to use how you wish licensing.

I leave it alone.

If the Site ,Artist etc etc does not have a good Reputation.

I leave it alone.

Have you looked at Richabri's stuff?  He has several rooms that would seem to fit your verbal description... and it's both legal and well-made.  I use his stuff all the time.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/the-home-office-set/98492

My guess is that the site is intended as a portfolio for an architecture student. The pictures are presented as downloads because (s)he's used Wordpress as a shortcut to getting the site online. Based on a quick peek at the source code I believe the galleries are a WP add-on called Quik Gallery.

I'd have to agree with the others and say that usage was not intended; there's no usage information because of inexperience on the owner's part, cultural differences, or both.

You could try postmaster (at) 3dhousedownload.com, or webmaster (at) 3dhousedownload.com if you want to try contacting him or her.  

Yes, EnglishBob, it's definitely a WordPress site. And over on the 3DS forum they're making the same guess you did about a student.

And the more I think about it, the sparsity of text on the site is almost certainly due to the site owner's lack of facility in English. I'm just going to leave well enough alone.

ockham: I'm quite good with Poser, and in fact already have a bit of office stuff in my runtime (Richabri's isn't quite what I'm looking for in terms of this particular image). But I don't have a lot of 3D play time right now (none, really), and I also don't have anything better than Poser Pro 2012's native renderer. I frankly don't think I'd be satisfied with what I came up with in this case.

Thankfully, LuxXeon has kindly offered to help me out and make some freebies for the community in the process. Having looked at his gallery, I know he's up for the project.

Don't know if it will help you get the look you want but I'm a huge fan of

http://www.topazlabs.com/

You can buy filters separately So ya just get what ya need at a descent price.

Thanks, RorrKonn. The problem really doesn't have much to do with lack of ability to do what I want in Photoshop. It's really about not having exactly the photo I want.

Looking forward to seeing what LuxXeon does. He's got serious skills.

Quote - Looking forward to seeing what LuxXeon does. He's got serious skills.

Same here!