news:41eb07ef@news.povray.org...
> Do you consider it "cheating" to use 3D models from the web that are other
> peoples work as part of your composition?

Jeremy already gave you a comprehensive answer but here's my take on it.

- professional 3D artists building a portfolio in order to find employment
will rather do everything themselves, as a demonstration of the full range
of their talent since using 3D party resources wouldn't add value to the
demonstration.

- professional 3D artists working for a client will buy models in order to
save time (there's a thriving industry of 3D models after all)

- hobbyists usually prefer doing things themselves but can quickly find
technical limits with the free or cheap software they use. So the choices
are as follows:
 (a) going beyond the limits by using 3rd party resources (i.e. using a 3rd
party car model)
 (b) going beyond the limits while still refusing to use 3rd party resources
(i.e. modelling a car with CSG, knowing that the car will be little blocky
or toy-like)
 (c) staying within the limits and refusing to use 3rd party resouces (no
having realistic cars in one's images)

None of this is fully satisfying for everyone. (a) can lead to very good
images but can be seen as "cheating" by purists (and the models may not even
be that good). (b) easily leads to bad stuff and (c) seriously limits what
one can do.

This is slightly less a problem today, now that there are good free/cheap
modellers around, though modelling/posing a full human face and body is
still a beyond most people's abilities and tools. If I were to redo the "Wet
bird" today, I would probably model the cars in Wings (which would give me
better control on the car makes and models) but I would still use Poser for
the character.

G.

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