Naked
As anyone who saw yesterday’s post may have gathered, I’m trying to teach myself to use 3D modeling software. To that end, I attempted to sign up for an internet forum on the subject. The forum has rules, as these things do. One of the rules was no weird names. Okay. Keep your stuff family friendly. Okay, again. No nudity. Okay. Sort of. I mean, I wouldn’t sign up for a forum and post things against the rules because I’m not that kind of antagonistic person, but I do have my own philosophical feelings on the subject and nudity is a-ok by me. In fact, I thought about it a bit and 3D modeling… hmm… that’s, like, artistic stuff, isn’t it? And artists draw naked people. It’s an integral part of your traditional artistic eduction. Conflating nudity with sexuality is something that irks me more than a bit. You can have something sexual where people are fully clothed and you can have nudity that’s not sexual. Or you can have both.
Meanwhile, a few days ago, Daz over at The Dixie Flatline put up a post about how to talk to an atheist which was inspired by the fact that according to his stats (If you don’t have a site on WordPress, they have a page that tells you your “stats.”) and found there that many people arrive at his site after searching for “how to talk to an atheist.” This inspired me to look at my own stats. Um… no, I’m not going to make a porn video. I posed for nude photos when I was young and still passably attractive. For better or worse, I didn’t indulge in the moving images. Since I’m now going on fifty, I think my time to shine as a porn star has passed. Beyond that, I need to put up more pictures of naked people in general and women in particular. Somehow, I’m not surprised.
Back to the 3D modeling forum, and in the explanation of their rules, they mention that they have users from all over the world. So, I started thinking about how there are different standards around the world about how much clothing you need to wear to be “decent.”
Somewhere, I thought of the line that some atheists use to explain to theists that their lack of belief is not really different from a theist’s lack of belief in one of the many competing religions in the world, “I just believe in one less god than you.”
Throw that all into my brain, add Manet’s Olympia for good measure, and this popped into my mind:
If anyone experienced with 3D modeling software can tell me why the cast shadows are clipped off in a funny way, I’d appreciate it.
fojap 
I do 2D modelling only, 3D seems fun.
Why people have problems with naked people is beyond me and I think it gets crazy for an art site to have such a prohibition.
And tell me, what is their criteria for knowing weird names, especially since you say the site has members from around the world?
I replied below. Sometimes I click the wrong button – on my own site!!
Regarding the names, I originally assumed that they were trying to avoid vulgar or offensive names. I found this page on Reddit about screen names: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15ks4t/what_assumptions_or_judgments_do_you_make_on/ and you don’t have to scroll down very far to find someone called “fattyoncrack.” I assumed they were trying to discourage that in order to set a tone. However, I signed up with Fojap and when I tried to log on the other day it didn’t allow me. Their explanation of their rules said that if a user name was deemed inappropriate the account would be deleted without notice. I’m a little bothered by the “without notice” business because now I don’t know if my account has been deleted or if it’s just a glitch in their system. I emailed them, but I haven’t heard back. Fojap is just made up, but it’s not offensive to my knowledge.
Since I may be wrong about the names, I might also be wrong about the assumptions I made regarding nudity. They said no pornography. While I have nothing against pornography myself, I do agree that it’s not appropriate in all times and places. So I made the assumption that they didn’t want to get into discussions about whether a particular image constituted pornography or not. But maybe not. Perhaps the founder of the site is just really uptight about nudity.
When I was a teenager, I was in an art class and we were going to have some life drawing sessions. The only hitch was that all of our parents had to sign a permission slip. Mine did, and so did everybody else’s except one. Consequently, no life drawing in that class. I’ve posed for life drawing classes as well. There’s nothing sexual about it. But some people are really weird about it.
That was a sad day for your art class. What was wrong with that parent?
What I find odd about restrictions on names, even if there are names that are obviously ridiculous, is that there is likely to be a person who will be offended by some name or a given name will have a not so pleasant meaning in their culture. But as you say, they could have their reasons for the restrictions.
I love your modeling and this post. It looks like so much fun.