Why bother to create a website if no one is going to visit?  (Suddenly thought of that tree falling in the forest saying).

If the only thing that someone wants after devoting hours/days in creating something is for me to press my finger down and to go to their website then I can pay that price.  It's a nicety.

The big concern early on about this site was that paysite owners might stop creating once their meshes were liberated.  It hasn't happened.  Yet.  But I think the relationship with free site creators is a much more fragile thing when the only thing they get out for their time creating is a message in a guestbook.

So, we're destroying free sites now too?  

I thought the entire purpose of this site was to make available items that were otherwise unavailable without a credit card.  

People here are griping about creators wanting a download link back to their free sites where they host their free meshes.  Please.  I signed on for destroying paysites not to discourage people who make free meshes from putting up websites and offering me free stuff.

For those interested in Poser there is a free program at DAZ3D which is similar: http://www.daz3d.com/program/studio/

Poser artist are pretty cool about sharing stuff.  Like Sims there are paysites like Renderosity (which also has a free section) and completely free sites.  

Kozaburo ( http://digitalbabes2.com/ )has all sorts of free things and his stuff is the most frequently lifted without credit by Paysites.   His definition of "free" means you can use the hairs and clothes in your images but cannot distribute them.   Paysite owners seem to skip the read me.  Then again maybe they have asked permission -- I've used stuff by Kozaburo as a base and had no problems getting a permission.

For links to free Poser content check out: http://www.handspanstudios.com/links.html [/url]

idtaminger - sorry about the dense licensing quote.  It's the last sentence of the paragraph that sort of tells it all: "The distribution of models created using any of the above examples is strictly prohibited, and none of these methods will result in a mesh that is not still subject to DAZ's copyright".  

My understanding is that if you turn a Poser hair into a Sims hair the copyright still belongs to the original creator.

Thanks for the kind words about my textures being swiped.  I'm bitter enough to be hanging out with you guys but otherwise I'm not that traumatized.  All my stuff was removed from MTS2 that time around.  Other textures have shown up but whatever -- I can always make more as opposed to the people who just steal things.

Poser models have limited usage in Poser for anything other than a pretty picture.  You can move the models in and out of other 3D programs and they show up in a lot of computer game designs.

I'll offer up my understanding of what you can do to a Poser mesh for those that asked.  DAZ3D which makes the most well known of all the Poser models allows you to make derivative models but for it to be a legal thing you have to still need the original DAZ model as your base.  Here's what they say at http://www.daz3d.com

"One of the simplest ways to create a derivative model is to convert a DAZ model (typically OBJ format) to another non-Poser format, and distribute that. Beyond this, a DAZ model may be altered by adding and/or removing geometry in order to create a derivative work. Even more difficult for most users to recognize, but still detectable to trained modelers, are methods involving tools that can create a derivative mesh without transferring the polygonal layout of the original. (Many of these methods can result in a mesh which seems legitimate, often with no vertices coincidental with the original. These types of tools/methods may include: NURBS/poly conversions, subdivision/smoothing or triangulation operations, de-resing, shrink-wrapping/fitting and randomization operations.) The distribution of models created using any of the above examples is strictly prohibited, and none of these methods will result in a mesh that is not still subject to DAZ's copyright."

Most individual Poser artist have pretty much the same rules and regulations as DAZ3D.

And if you're really curious you might want to check out the rule book at:
http://poserpros.daz3d.com/wiki/PublicWiki/CopyrightsAndEthics

Doursim - I can't tell if he's lifted the complete texture from Poser.  There's a huge resolution difference for things like hair and if you resize for Sims it looks like mush.  I just thought it was funny that he was using the exact same color selection which kinda put a flashing "I stole this" sign on top of everything.

And everyone keep their eyes open for the appearance of Future Hair (

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=49615 which is the hot new hair in Poserland.  It's everywhere and I can only imagine how long it will take to migrate to Sims.

I only found the Sims community because someone robbed my store at Renderosity.  I used to have about five items up -- all eyes and eyebrows and makeup -- and made about $12.00 a month so it wasn't like I was a major player.  A friend had Sims and I saw the eyes I had made in a set on MTS2.  I knew it was mine not only because of the pattern and coloring but because  the highlights in the eyes were my initials.  I complained to the site and the "creator" and absolutely nothing happened. Someone else with Sims content also complained about being robbed.  Then the content was yanked.  It only seemed that Sims content was off limits and not Poser content.

If you're going after mesh thieves you might want to skip Renderosity and go straight to Daz3d.  They actually have an end license agreement and a legal firm and are pretty picky about people ripping them off.

Something that made me laugh the other day was this from ChazDesigns

http://isc.thesimsresource.com/images/404/404493.jpg who not only swipes meshes but also complete color palettes http://www-cache.daz3d.com/store/item_file/1821/image_large.jpg.

The only hard data I have seen is this financial statement from 2001 http://reports.huginonline.com/881971/110551.pdf and if I'm reading it correctly it shows that TSR made about $58,000.00 in the first three weeks of 2001.

I don't really know all of the financial background of TSR which used to be part of MGON International before they folded.  The only available stats I can find was when MGON was being financed by a venture capital company called Ledstiernan.  Ledstiernan is a public company and listed subscription rates and what not for 2001 - 2003 but I have no idea if that information is still accurate.

And it's all mostly in Swedish.  I speak money much more fluently than Swedish.