Zodiaq~... I have spent the past 80 minutes of my life dealing with this for you.

I have read emails, downloaded two WB skins, looked at both, including ALL 120 images in the 'suspect' skin with Powerdesk [quickview], opened half a dozen in PSP6 and compared colour picks as well....and commented many times here likewise.

I made and uploaded a screenshot of both images and linked to it for comment.

It appears that all this is for nothing and you will just leave Wincustomize.com

If that's the case, can I have my 80 minutes back?

Zodiaq~...if I manipulated a cat that much I'd end up with a dog.

kith...yes it's a 'rip' but Alexandrie knows...

I think Zodiaq~ knows what he's talking about.



















NOT Sry. Had to do that. You've got a good point, Zodiaq~.

Jafo,

As an Administrator I would have thought you to be much more tactful with such a sensitive issue. I am very Sorry about your time. I spent quite a bit of time on my graphics also.

Now this is going to be a Message Board joke...all the Wah wah wah, and Blah, blah, blah.

Please just close this thread, you and I both know where it's going and it will be full of hostility, accusations and other nonsense. None of us here at WC need it.

Zodiaq,

I'm not sure what more you want. Jafo took some serious time to look into this. Compared the two. And he's a volunteer bear in mind.  To me, as someone who has created many skins, your buttons look a lot like the Aqua buttons (if I'm looking at the right image).

The Admins of this site are skin authors. So we take this sort of thing very seriously. But you cannot claim universal ownership of a general look, particularly when it has been done by others many many times in the past.

Zodiaq~....both tact AND common sense is required.

Trust me when I say I have looked at many issues similar to this for many different people over quite a few years [even before Wincustomize.com] and there has been many quite justified complaints of blatant image use/theft which, quite frankly, this one is not.

Were the other skinner to have stated in his WB description that he was inspired by your skin or he even 'took' your images as a basis to work from/with, the resultant work is sufficiently different to be defensible as coincidentally unique.

It's not so much about how 'dissimilar' they are, but about how unlikely it is for them to be SO similar.  There is a distinct difference in those concepts.

As for closing the thread....if it gets 'nasty' for whatever reason the comments will be removed, but we try NOT to remove threads if it can be helped....

If you ask in public for Jafo's opinion then do not expect that he agrees with you. Those were your own rules. You wanted an opnion of an outsider and you have "chosen" Jafo. Smart move. However it is not a smart move to disagree with his opinion and to threaten by leaving, because Jafo will not fall on his knees and beg you to come back.

Why not simply accept his judgement? Forget about it and start another fab skin...

[Message Edited]

I've spent ages taking these images to bits in PSP and my only comment is it's half past midnight and I'm going to bed...

Night, Fuzzy!

That guy also spend time on that skin. He's not happy either. I believe he has given it a fair chance.

There is a problem with threaten to leave. It is hard to find a way back. The more drama the harder it gets. No need for that.

Zodiaq~ : The only reason this became public was because you did not contact an admin about it in the first place. As soon as it hit the messageboard people became curious about which images were the same and who had ripped you. It's the nature of the world. A nice bit of juicy gossip.

My personal opinion (not that you will care) is that you probably both read the same tutorial on doing glassy buttons. There's only so many techniques to do them. Some more complex than others. There are clear differences in his image and yours. His looks like a circle that has had the middle bit stretched. Yours is more squashed. Stretching yours would not get the shape he has got. http://pjpowell.dyndns.org/oddness/glassybuttons.jpg
Also if I apply a solarize filter (same filter to both images) it shows clear differences in colour and even shadowed/hilighted areas.
http://pjpowell.dyndns.org/oddness/solarizedglassybuttons.jpg

Sorry Zodiaq, but those buttons are so common, (glassy, aqua-ish, blue) I don't see how you can be serious.   Both are quite similar to lots of other buttons.

Madice...I emailed Jafo privately...he chose to go public, if you had read the entire thread you would have realized that.

Not a smart move to disagree with Jafo

That statement says it all. He is one man, with one opinion.

I wasn't threatening to leave, it's not a threat looking for someone to say please don't go. As I said, "It's a matter of principle"....geezuz, pay attention.

Ok...I realize there are a million glass buttons.

Like I said, I know and he Knows.

Please no more comments.

I am paying attention. You have chosen these people. If you want it private then keep it private. You didn't do that. This is the result. Melodrama.

It should say something to you that not one person who has examined this case agrees that you have been ripped Zodiaq. Will you at least accept that there is a possibility you're wrong about this?

So, another skinner you have chosen, pjpowell, is ignored too. He went to great length examining these buttons. Again you do not respect his opnion.

It may not be clear to you yet, but by going public people will invest time in you. Maybe you find these people incompetent, but you have chosen these people to give a judgement. And like grayhaze points out all these people come to the same conclusion.

Do not do this to yourself, man. You can go back before the end of the thread.

The only thing I found amusing in this thread was this...

#23 by Zodiaq~ - 6/3/2003 3:55:32 PM Jafo...I don't think those images are a fair assesment. Take my button, cut the top half, stretch, copy, flip vertical, overlay, or saturation, or softlight and change the opacity. It's not just a likeness.

Zodiaq, swallow your pride and make another skin dammit!
[Message Edited]

all this over a silly glossy Button! Too Funny

Holy cow! what is this all about. Ive been following this thread cause I was curios, and I took a look at Zodiac's button in question. That button can be re-produced with any number of glass or bevel filters that zillions of people may have in thier graphic programs. Because it was made by you Zodiac, does that make it yours? Should other people now be afraid of making something that too closely resembles a piece of someone elses skin? I would say yes if it had a unique quality or a logo on it or somthing but A button is a button is a button... Especially a GLASS button.

this thread cracks me up... thanks for the laugh guys

Can someone delete all the skins on this site because they're rips. They all use colors in the same visual spectrum as my skins.

You have a very good point Janus, but I used them all before you did
[Message Edited]

ah, you know I question if you *can* rip such a common thing as a pill shaped button?

I mean heck there has to be at least 20 jpg/gif button creation applications on the web that use this as the standard GEL or Candy button shape, and that goes for the colors also.

I just emailed Jafo cuz now I'm worried my latest skin might be considered a rip. I don't even know what a rip is exactly so that's why I bothered the poor guy but I have and ALWAYS have made all my own graphics from scratch (wish I could add the sniff)...the only thing in this one instance was a similar shape so I'm waiting on Jafo's 'go-head' on the matter. Better safe than sorry.

I can hear someone laughing now..."If 'round' is a shape...if 'square' is a shape' then we're all rippers."

Okay, call me paranoid. hehe