Decision made, eh?

Whups, that longer post was meant to be a reply to you. :)

Pretty much, yup. The answer to any statement that banning Poser works that use stock/downloadable models was inevitably "You're just too lazy to learn how to make your own!" or some rough equivalent.

I thought about taking everything down, but I decided against it. I've had a real spike in traffic ever since the thread started, including a burst of +favs and +watches.

I was tremendously amused at the allegation that there is no such thing as innate talent, that all you have to do is "want to do it" enough to be a great artist and that technical knowledge is all you need!

My suggestion that the proponent of that viewpoint pick up an instrument that they'd never played before and successfully play a set at a nightclub within six weeks with musicians they'd never met before and the inability to so do meant they didn't "want to" enough (after all, I did it, therefore "anyone can do it if they really want to!") was met with no answer.

Unsurprisingly.

It's probably better for me in the long run, because I'm going to focus on my other artistic priorities, my writing, music, photography and fabric craft. Check my Flickr, I've been putting up my recent B&W work there--I think you still have me friended there.

'Course, by the definition set in the AUP, those photographs aren't my original work because I didn't make the subjects that I imaged. I just aimed a viewport and pushed a button...

<b>there is no such thing as innate talent, that all you have to do is "want to do it" </b>

Wait a minute..I've heard something similar to that before....oh yes..that was it. Anarcho-Capitalists insisting that people "are responsible for their own lives", and if they cannot find employment despite searching hard it is "clear their own fault." After all you're in charge of your own destiny. No decision made by others can affect you. There is no such thing as being in the wrong place at the wrong, is there? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/.....re/7851087.stm

You see? It makes perfect sense after all.

There can be.

But, even with talent, it takes practice, learning, time, practice. (Yes, practice is in there twice)

It takes a lot of failing, a lot of struggling.

I'm not a natural with math. I hate math. Math hates me. I get numbers mixed up in my head, but, if I practice, struggle, fight, and try, I can learn my maths.

I do, however, nave a natural affinity for languages. Does this mean I can read any manga I pick up? No. It means I need to practice, work, and fight for it.

So, to sum up, even if you don't possess or believe in innate talent, there's nothing to stop you from learning it, you'll just have a slightly more difficult time than someone who has an affinity for it.

But, you do "have to want to do it" the rest can be taught. Otherwise, I'd of NEVER gotten that A+ in my math class if I just sat down and said "This is hard!" I'd never have grown past a website2nite design and struck out to build one on my own. Or, hell, I'd of quit drawing years ago, because it's not as good as it could be. I don't have a natural affinity for art, I've worked the whole way. I don't have a natural affinity for the written word, but damnit, I've WORKED for it.

My only natural affinity is with languages, maybe a good eye for photography. Everything else I've wanted it bad enough to fight for it.

I may not be GOOD at anything, but I refuse to believe that because I wasn't 'born' with some 'gift' that I can't become good at it.

If you want to learn 3D modeling, then learn it. If you wanna keep using poser, well, there's always http://yaoi.y-gallery.net/club/153/

My objection is not that it's impossible to learn the technical specifics (and the question of how people learn is a tangent we don't need to get into), but that they are blaming the tool and mandating how to use it, rather than dealing with the problem users. And they are using the "you're just lazy!" accusation to brush off any objection to the new AUP and avoid actually addressing the question, with two people actively denying natural talent even exists.

Their 'argument' is the proposition that that if I build a model that validates unimaginative renders, and that stock and downloadable models automatically make an image debased and worthless.

That the idea behind an image is completely meaningless.

I can't and won't accept that proposition.

I'll put my counterargument this way:

I can make MS Word do anything, including programming VBScript for it. I have a complete technical understanding of the tool.

But that doesn't make me a better writer, or even a writer.

There's something beyond how the tool is used that gives the work its importance.