heyas; metastream is a really cool idea, especial for sites that offer meshes for sale or download. no longer do people have to settle for a few renders of a few angles, they can have an interactive, fully 3d model to rotate and zoom and look at. i cant wait til zygote gets a metastream file for all of its products! but now the question arises (and has not yet been thoroughly addressed, to my knowledge): is the 3d information in a mts file something that can be 'stolen' (for lack of a better word)? if people can save an mts file, then open it (in poser, or carrera, or whatever products are going to support mts importation and editing), and export an obj.... well, it's usefullness as a pre-sale tool are nullified. at the very least, opening a mts file should require parsing an outside obj (much like poser cr2's read outside obj/rsr geometries). i dont know if it is possible to do that and still have the mts as a standalone web file. even if metacreations doesn't plan to implement mts importation, what about the security of 3d information in the mts file? someone could make an 'mts hack' to convert them to obj format. if vendors are reluctant to embrace metastream, this is the major reason.

To make the Metastreamed thumbnail look reasonable, the Metastream mesh file likely would have to be so big that it would take an age and a snail to download an HTML page with several thumbnails on at dialup line speed. It might be OK for the developers with their permanent fast LAN lines; most internet users only have a dialup line, and all this extra download time also adds to their phone bill and annoys anyone who wants to use their phone line for its proper purpose of telephoning urgently in or out by voice.

Who cares if some models are stolen from hobbyists? The big thrust on this metastream thing is for on-line shopping and e-commerce, the "cyberwishbook" of the future! People viewing these things could'nt care less about the "model" but only the cost of the product.

Well, personally speaking, I don't like Metastream. In fact, I dislike it so much that I actually removed it from my system. Even with a cable modem hookup it slows things down so much that I just don't want to be bothered with waiting for everything to load up...soooo...for all of those sites that have everything in metastream windows, you're not reaching me. I can't see you. And with the news that came down today, I doubt I will ever use it now, not even if they improve the download time for the images. Kate (who doesn't buy electronic equipment or furniture online anyway and who couldn't care less about what a book she wants to read looks like in 3D)

And I don't see all that in buying things over the email. The email merely serves as a teleprinter system. After that, it is just the same as ordering goods unseen cash-up-front trusting a catalog in the old way.