he is certainly with in his rights to do so, but then one could argue the issues we have today with patents. joe's patent is actually causing other small developers grief. yeti by peregrine labs has chosen not to sell its product in the US. there are other plugins, ornatrix and hairfarm which are 3dsmax plugins at this time. joe has already licensed shave and haircut to autodesk to be used in 3dsmax so i think he doesn't go after these guys. but i bet if they ever attempt to sell a maya version you will see action from joe. if you look at the wording of his patent nearly anyone in the united states creating a custom hair solution would be in violation of the patent. in my opinion that is joe stifling progress of others wanting to push this area of discipline forward. and as a 'son of a patent attorney' i am sure he knows pretty what he is doing. joe certainly deserves compensation for his contribution but even he stands on the shoulders of giants. he cites pixar in his patent.
http://www.everythingisaremix.info/everything-is-a-remix-part-4/ joe's patent was filed in 2000, i believe this patent will last for 20 years. so he has had over a decade to license and sell his software. in my opinion 20 years is too long for a software patent. s ps. have you seen 'lipservice' the site says its comparable to zbrush and mudbox. hmmpf On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 8:44 AM, Eric Lampi <ericla...@gmail.com> wrote: > Sounds like he's within his rights to protect his property, and you're not > going to beat a corporation like Disney by being Mr. Nice-guy. I think it's > important to protect the small developer who's taken it to the point where > they have a tool that people will pay for. Thiago, Helge, Holger, Eric > Mootz, just to name a few, do us a great service and it's not cool for a > company to step on them because they don't have a legal department. Would > Disney try that with some software tool that Apple invented? No, because > they'd get sued into the next century and they know it. > > Good for him, I hope it works out. > > Eric > On Apr 29, 2012 10:16 AM, "Dan Yargici" <danyarg...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Wow, he comes across as such an arsehole! I didn't realize he >> sued Disney for technology relating to Tangled also! >> >> >> http://patentexaminer.org/2011/10/disney-sued-for-infringing-virtual-hair-raising-patent/ >> >> "The Westlake Village resident claims Disney “reverse engineered” his >> technology, tweaking it along the way to help bring to life animated >> characters in Toy Story 3, Up, Finding Nemo and some of its other >> blockbuster films of late. He declined to speculate on whether the company >> copied his technology. Given Disney’s size and scope, Alter says, the >> infringement “will create a multi million dollar hole in [his] income and >> will dilute his brand.” >> >> “It’s a giant corporation that’s made a lot of money with my ideas and is >> now going to put me out of business, essentially,” Alter told The Patent >> Examiner during a phone call." >> >> DAN >> >> On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Thomas Helzle <thomashel...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> > >> > Poor guy that Joe Alter person. >> > I still have the dongle for the initial "Shave and a Haircut" for >> Lightwave on the shelf. >> > It never really worked properly and when Softimage bought into it, he >> showed all the Lightwave users who did the endless beta-testing of his >> broken code the highly raised middle finger, bragged about his >> 6-digit-sale, slapped some people verbally in the face as a good bye and >> was never seen again... >> > Since then I keep hearing weird stories about his patent and how he >> deals with it. >> > >> > Tragic in a way if you are pinned down by a patent like that instead of >> being able to go on with your life and come up with new cool ideas... >> > >> > Cheers, >> > >> > Tom >> > >> > >> > On 28 April 2012 19:15, Eric Turman <i.anima...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> >> One could only hope that it will steer potential yeti customers to ICE >> hair solutions ;) >> >> >> >> >> >> On Sat, Apr 28, 2012 at 12:00 PM, Todd Akita <tak...@earthlink.net> >> wrote: >> >>> >> >>> Wow I'm sure that's gonna steer all those potential Yeti customers >> right to Joe Alter. >> >>> >> >>> -T >> >>> >> >>> On Apr 28, 2012, at 12:45 PM, Luc-Eric Rousseau <luceri...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> >> >>> > Industry gossip: Joe Alter has been on a patent warpath lately, and >> >>> > Yeti announced they can't be sold in the US >> >>> > http://peregrinelabs.com/2012/04/to-our-us-customers/ >> >>> > >> >>> > On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 7:17 AM, Raffaele Fragapane >> >>> > <raffsxsil...@googlemail.com> wrote: >> >>> >> It's not really, but it isn't a standard grooming toolset either. >> It's a >> >>> >> hybrid approach of scope targeted graph managers that many >> companies in the >> >>> >> high end of the business have had excellent luck with, and it does >> hair and >> >>> >> grooming specific things (shaders, rendering partitioning and >> injection etc) >> >>> >> that something as general purposed as ice can't do. >> >>> >> >> >>> >> Again, it doesn't go against ICE nor shave. >> >>> >> It's a promising product to keep an eye on for the mid and small >> sized >> >>> >> studios >> >>> >> >> >>> >> On Apr 12, 2012 6:50 PM, "Andi Farhall" < >> andi.farh...@primefocusworld.com> >> >>> >> wrote: >> >>> >>> >> >>> >>> looks clunky to me, but then everything looks clunky compared to >> soft >> >>> >>> imho. >> >>> >>> >> >>> >>> Andi >> >>> >>> >> >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >> >>> >>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com >> >>> >>> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of >> Stefan >> >>> >>> Kubicek >> >>> >>> Sent: 11 April 2012 22:29 >> >>> >>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com >> >>> >>> Subject: Nodes galore II (not ICE) >> >>> >>> >> >>> >>> Just stumbled over this one, it looks like mbFeathers and >> Kristinka >> >>> >>> combined: http://peregrinelabs.com/yeti/ >> >>> >>> >> >>> >>> Not much to see in terms of videos or screenshots, but the price >> hints >> >>> >>> at quite a bit of self confidence there. >> >>> >>> >> >>> >>> Stefan >> >>> >>> >> >>> >> >> >>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -=T=- >> > >> > >> >
