Hello graphics forumn. This is my first post here and am a little skeptical of the answers i may get. Let me say that i am creating a tilebased game demo which is basically gonna be a senior project for graduation. The view is going to be "isometric". I put it in quotes since its striving for that look without using the standard isometic tiles and graphics of that type of game. Anyways i kind of have a couple of questions so here i go: 1) Lets take an example of a dirt graphic used from something like ultima online. Its probably not too hard to create on my own but i do have some sames i am presently using in my demo. I got the graphics not from the game itself but from jpegs of screenshots(not that that matters much). Of course this isnt very nice of me to use it in my demo. So what if i changed the texture a little and maybe changed the hue(??) to make it a more lite brown color. --->So, at what point, if there is one in your mind, would this new "tile graphic" not be considered the rights of the owners/creaters? 2) Lets say i am playing a 3d game and take a bunch of screen shots of a player walking in some direction to use for bitmap animation of a character, instead of trying to draw the different sequences of walking on my own. Of course i assume this is not allowed. But what if i cant draw 16 different frames of animation on my own and i use this as a MODEL for my character. For example i take the 16 screenshots of some 3d model player. If i change the way that model bitmap looks..say change it from a player model from the game wearing pants and shirt to an ELF wearing armor. ---> Do you think that this model, if converted to a bimap, then converted to a different looking species, is still considered the rights of the owner? Both questions are very similar. I understand that using others artwork without permission is bad, but if you change it and create something new from it..is it still theirs...its almost like i use them as models i guess. Anyways, what you think?

aka John M. Never give up. Never surrender!

You can NOT modifiy a pieceof art and calling it your own.

That is stealing.

You can get your inspiration from other''s works though (ideas are never copyrigthed)

What you could do, though, since I guess youre making this game for "educational purpose" (your own education, that is), is use other people work, NOT change them, but give them ALL the credits concerning art.

But never, never call it yur own, no matter how much you modify it...

My opinion anyway, for what its worth...

** Persnnaly, I''d be glad if someone would take my art (yea right) but he/she would have to ASK ME PERMISSION first. Email. It takes 2 minutes. I wouldnt like to see my art on other peoples game or website orwhatever without seeing my name anywhere... Well you get the point anyway...

You guys have posted fairly..and thats cool.
I do have a couple of added comments to make to my post:

I dont disagree that its a "cheap" thing to convert just the color of a graphic, and I would like to add that i wouldnt consider this as my artwork(meaning i wouldnt say oh i made this dirt or grass tile all by myself..im not that cheap).

As for mentioning the art, and using it directly, thats one thing ive considered. I would totally give full recognition to the artist and his work if it was an independant artist i could talk to directly!!!

But since im afraid that its not such a good idea since this is a big gamming company. What would i say, "umm, im doing a demo and would like to use your graphics in mine." They''ll laugh at me and say if we see your stuff out there we''ll sue you....unless you wanna spend thousands to release the artists permissions for you.

As for the 3d game models: i originaly had stick-figure drawings on paper. My plan was to transfer each of these drawings into the 16 frames of animation PER 8 DIRECTIONS. Then once each stick-figure is drawn to a frame, convert it to a more 3d solid looking figure. I estimated this tedious process to take about 3 weeks with my schedule. The process of extracting the frames from a 3d model in a game will cut my time down to a week. Ive saved and deleted over 400 screenshots these past 4 days alone getting the 16 frames per direction..i just resize them, take out the background, and place them into frames...still tedious but ive jumped a bunch of steps in this process and i now have a correctly moving sprite. If you want to do this for fun, you can convert some of your favorite 3d games into 2d games like a tilebased version of sorts.

aka John M.
Never give up. Never surrender!

Using someone else''s work without permission is copyright infringement, but one of the provisions of copyright is fair use, which includes educational use. So you could copy the graphics in order to learn about drawing or animation and it would probably be ok.

Using them in your game is a bit grey, esp if you intend to put it up for download. At the very least you need to give full credit.

I would discuss it with my academic advisor / teacher and get their opinion. You should also write the game company - the worst that could happen is they say no.

You might wanna try to get poser... it might come very helpful (and there are LOTS of royalty-free props all over the internet)

I''ve seen poser 3 FULL free in some 3d magazines.... just try to get one...

this would save you maybe 2 weeks, maybe more

What I do is download zsnes and look for a rom that has the same view or animations that I may need. I then take screen shots wf what I need like say I need frames of a person running I then run right in the game and keep pressing the screen shot button. I then take what I need from the pics and stick them all on one bitmaps and print them out I study the way that they animate it and then I take my sprite and draw and color him/her as if it would look in the game. I then use photoshop and cut, past, and rotate, the body parts that move and make frames that look like the ones I printed but with my character. The stances are not copyrighted just the art.

quote:
. Email. It takes 2 minutes.

HAHA!!!
"Dear ''Enter favorite game''s company here'',
I really like you game ''enter favorite game'', especially the artwork, in fact, I''m making a similar game. And I was just kinda, sorta, thinkin'' of maybe, if you didn''t mind too much, using your artwork in my game, I''ll give you full credit of course, but I suck at graphics and it''s much easier for me to just take yours, I would really appreciate it, and maybe even send you a check if I make some money.
Sincerely,
''Your name here''"

Ok, you never know, they may let you use it. I''m not making fun of your response Biere et punk, just having some fun with it.


"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams."
- Willy Wonka

Oh and by the way GalaxyQuest, you do not necessarly need to draw the 16 frames for all 8 directions. 2 directions should be enough, especially for a demo game (or maybe 4). Use photoshop or any other paint program to rotate the sprite in the other 6 (or maybe 4) direction (it depends of the point of vied of your camera, of course)

And again, if this is a "demo" game, 10 frames for a walk cycle should be enough to make smooth animation.... just play the same frame twice or whatever technique you prefer according to your code...

Biere et punk

Oh, and Bitblt, i agree that this sounds kind of stupid to email a BIG game company but hey, you never know! But what I was talking about was more single small artist... If the game is for a school project I dont think you need to get the graphics from the same artists as the big game company, there are lots of talented artists on the web that would probably be glad to help you out with sprites & arts if you give them credits. Those people wont laugh at your email. (Of course, this probably won''t be the same quality...) Just wanted to clarify my point...