Taboo

Yup that is an interesting question for sure.  But I don’t see where using a “technique” would be a problem. As Eddie said, we are here to share ideas and learn to help us be better modeler… at least that’s why I’m here.  If the other modeler came up with some complicated chemical formula to make real smoke, let’s say for argument sake, and you used it… hmmm… maybe.  But if it is a technique he described … why not?  If I tell you that I post shade with pastels and use dark invisible thread for antennas… well let’s just say if I ever catch you using them you better keep an eye out over your shoulder!!

Most modellers like to share their techniques and expect nothing else then other people to use those techniques.

Using a techinique that someone else invented is therefore very common. And it's also a common courtesy to credit the inventor of the technique or , at the least, to not take credit for a technique you didn't invent.

As for "what's taboo in the modeling world": models/figures/diorama's of subjects that a generally considerd "bad taste" are not well recepted and can be removed from shows. For instance, nudity, large amounts of blood/gore and scenes from the holocaust are very diffcult subjects that evoke a lot of controversy.

Anything epheemeral, such as smoke, blowing dust, fog, rain, etc. are not so much tabo as very difficult if not impossible to do effectively, especially in an open, rather than boxed, diorama.

As to citing a source, technically and legally, unless the method is somehow copyrighted, you can use it without attribution. A note saying where you learned it is nice but not required., If I cited every place I learned the various techniques I use, I'd have a book for everything I propduce. Do this long enough and you can't even remember how and where you learned some things.

As to officially taboo, here, in its entirety,  is Rule 5 from the IPMS/USA competition handbook. This rule officially applies to the national contest, but it is expected to be respected at the regional and local levels as well, however, as each local event, and to some degree, each regional, is autonomously run, YMMV.

"The Chief Judge will exclude or remove from competition any entry considered by Contest officials to be inappropriate or offensive to generally acknowledged standards of taste and acceptability.

1. The following are prohibited in competition and may not be placed on display at any IPMS event:
   
   
   • There shall be no depiction of excretory functions depicting any human being or animal.
     
     
   • There shall be no depiction of sado-masochistic activity, equipment, settings, or situations, to any degree, regardless of whether there are figures in the model and regardless of whether any figures present in the model are clothed.
     
     
   • There shall be no depictions of explicit sexual conduct, bilateral or autoerotic, regardless of degree and regardless of the clothing status of the participants, that involves the touching of the breasts or genitals or other erogenous zones of any depicted figure.
     
     
   • There shall be no depiction of any nude human male or female figures where the genitalia of the figure are exposed, where the clear intent of the same is to portray a sexual scene.
   
   
2. The following may be entered in the competition or put on display but can be presented only behind opaque screens or similar visual barriers and only where visitors are provided with a fair description, in written format, of the contents of the models behind the screen. This screened presentation covers competitors and the general public, but no person younger than 18 will be admitted except in the presence of an adult responsible for the young person, subject to the provisions of governing local law:
   
   
   • Depictions of any nude human male or female figure, subject to the “screening system” described above.
     
     
   • Models or dioramas of historic events (e.g., general dioramas or specific depictions of the result of the activities of the communist Cambodian Pol Pot regime, a Soviet Gulag, or a Nazi death camp) where the suffering of human beings, or the result of a pogrom, is depicted. Where the theme, content, or subject matter of presentations is graphic or would violate any provision of part A of this policy, the presentation is prohibited in any setting. "

without talking of rules and such if you use a technique i would say courtesy dictates that you at least aknowledge the person you got the technique from.

joe