Author Topic: 3D Art and Joint-Copyright PlaneShift License  (Read 5458 times)

Vengeance

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« Reply #30 on: July 12, 2003, 12:25:36 am »
Ok I\'ve just read this thread (with much amusement) and I have a few points to make:

1. The GPL itself uses the power of copyright to enforce its recursive nature on derivative works.  Far from the GPL repudiating them, copyright laws are what give the GPL its power.

2. There are really two things under development at once by our team. a) The Planeshift game, which is free from a money perspective but not free to do whatever you want with.  b) The Planeshift MMORPG Engine, which is GPL\'d, which means you can do whatever you want with it as long as what you do is also GPL\'d.  The purpose of the dual license is to accommodate the dual nature of the development effort and to make sure that what is part of Planeshift the game is truly Planeshift.

3. I don\'t see what is stopping Kluger and sekhmet and other open art advocates from making their own MMORPG using our engine and their own artwork.  They can certainly make their own game and GPL all their artwork if that is what they believe in.  Go for it guys.

4. Contrary to popular belief, the world does not exist to hand everything over to people on a silver platter and that is not the purpose of the GPL either.  In fact it is rare that GPL software splits ever become meaningful.  Mostly what happens with GPL\'d code is that it turns into something else or the core product is continuously improved with new changes rolled into it.  This would not happen with the artwork, and even the advocates are not saying it would.

5. Even GNU.org doesn\'t recommend GPLing artwork.  See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#OtherWorks for the reference.

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Kluger

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« Reply #31 on: July 12, 2003, 01:05:32 am »
Ok I\'ve just read this thread (with much amusement) and I have a few points to make:

1. The GPL itself uses the power of copyright to enforce its recursive nature on derivative works. Far from the GPL repudiating them, copyright laws are what give the GPL its power.

I said that.  :-)

2. There are really two things under development at once by our team. a) The Planeshift game, which is free from a money perspective but not free to do whatever you want with. b) The Planeshift MMORPG Engine, which is GPL\'d, which means you can do whatever you want with it as long as what you do is also GPL\'d. The purpose of the dual license is to accommodate the dual nature of the development effort and to make sure that what is part of Planeshift the game is truly Planeshift.

3. I don\'t see what is stopping Kluger and sekhmet and other open art advocates from making their own MMORPG using our engine and their own artwork. They can certainly make their own game and GPL all their artwork if that is what they believe in. Go for it guys.

well, nothing\'s stopping me, but I would really rather see Planeshift benefit from it.  I\'ve been testing and immensely enjoying the alpha-test.  the reason I don\'t want to make my own game is that I don\'t want to work against Planeshift...

4. Contrary to popular belief, the world does not exist to hand everything over to people on a silver platter and that is not the purpose of the GPL either. In fact it is rare that GPL software splits ever become meaningful. Mostly what happens with GPL\'d code is that it turns into something else or the core product is continuously improved with new changes rolled into it. This would not happen with the artwork, and even the advocates are not saying it would.

5. Even GNU.org doesn\'t recommend GPLing artwork. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#OtherWorks for the reference.

I couldn\'t find what you were referring to.  I didn\'t find the words \"art\" or \"artwork\" at that link.  I did, however, find this: \"We believe that published software and documentation should be  free software and free documentation.\"

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Kluger, you are still underestimating the computer work needed for this kind of work, believe me.


No, I don\'t underestimate.  In fact, if you read back, I talked about how much work is put into it.  But that only reinforces my point that it doesn\'t make sense for everyone to keep reinventing the wheel.

(Just to make sure things don\'t get out of hand, I think I ought to let everyone know that I don\'t hold any guile against anyone here.  In fact, I consider you all to be friends, in that you consider my arguments to be strong enough to warrant counter-arguments.)

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No it\'s not an Adobe premiere plugin, if you speak about After-effect it\'s for post-production and has nothing to do with 3D.


no, I\'ve got After Effects.  I really wish I could remember the program.  I can ask the customer, as I will be meeting with him this Monday...

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No Pixar characters are not the same. If you\'re so good, please make a model, animate it, put it into Planeshift. It tooks hours and hours for them to create a character.


Like I told you, I\'m *not* so good.  The model I made was very high poly with very few actual objects (i.e., high res spheres)...  and besides, you know I wouldn\'t put it into Planeshift.  I\'ve declared all my creative works to be public domain.  ;-)

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No, a character in a movie is not made in two clicks. It takes a lot of time...


I know, I already said that...


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Concerning my graphics, what? it\'s a test? You want to be sure I\'m not a newbie in gfx world?


no, actually I was trying to be friendly...

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Sorry I don\'t answer to that, just know it\'s some skinning work and now models I can\'t speak about.


ah.  that\'s fine if you can\'t speak about it...

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Don\'t be so affirmative when you don\'t know something, please.


I would never do that.  ?_?
Read my Say\'s Law paper on my homepage!
I\'m here to test Linux PS and maybe find a friend or even a girlfriend, and jump from rooftop to rooftop.  ;-)
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Vengeance

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« Reply #32 on: July 12, 2003, 09:26:09 am »
It was nice of you to paste in this quote:
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We believe that published software and documentation should be free software and free documentation.


Our code and documentation is out there for everyone in cvs and on the wiki web for anyone who wants it, free of charge and free of encumberment except for GPL.

Somewhat unhelpfully, you failed to paste in this quote just below it:
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For other kinds of works, we recommend you consider the licenses proposed by Creative Commons.


The artistic content mentioned here is neither software nor documentation.  Therefore I can only assume you simply didn\'t read down this far.  The GPL is not an appropriate license for non-code works and even the GPL group itself acknowledges this.  To the extent this debate continues, you yourself are disagreeing with the entity you hold in highest reverence.

- Venge

Djaggernaut

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« Reply #33 on: July 12, 2003, 11:06:12 am »
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you don\'t understand me. once they make a sketch, decide the personality, come up with a story and dialog, and determine all the characteristic, the amount of work on the computer is minimal . most of the work during design consists of getting it verified with the lead designer. as soon as they make the character, it takes about as much work to make a one minute ad as it does to make a 6 hour trilogy. look at Beast Wars, for example, and that\'s ooold..


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Don\'t be so affirmative when you don\'t know something, please.
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I would never do that. ?_?



You just done :) because actually what you said is totally false. It\'s not just designing a character, after you must model it, animate it, you must play on light, special effect, and much more...
No computer work is not minimal, and yes you\'re too affirmative.
I don\'t understand how you can say something without even checking if you right, and you\'re not.

It\'s the same in a video-game, you can\'t make a character simply on pushing 2 keys.
So your software can make any character?? Ok, if I told you I want a big Dragon with four wings, a green head and a red body, is this possible?

You could admit you\'re wrong on that hmmm?
Djaggernaut  - http://www.tridinaut.com

Niber

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« Reply #34 on: July 12, 2003, 01:16:36 pm »
Noononononono I didn\'t agree to Kluger that making characters for movies is easy.
It\'s nightmare hard!!!
It probebly takes weeks (including overtime and weekends) and requiers extreme experience.

But.. I have small experience in XSI and to \"make\" a character you click \"create\" and instead of primitiv you choose \"character\" and can choose from Male to Female.
But those 3 clicks are just the base and doesn\'t make it easiyer it only makes it faster the first step.

XSI is used in almost all movies including: Final Fantasy, Jurrasic Park, Dinusaur, Starwars...... the list goes on.
But only for charaters,, then when the character is done it is exported into Maya and rendered out in Renderman.

Thrust me, I have a online friend\\mentor who is almost Pixar material.. He may know jack about games but movies he knows.

Edit: And btw. Kluger, have you even tryed computer graphics?
« Last Edit: July 12, 2003, 01:25:28 pm by Niber »
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boonet

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« Reply #35 on: July 12, 2003, 01:51:07 pm »
Niber, again... believe me: it\'s my job :-)
When coming to movies, XSI is just one of the tools of choice. Usually you end up using different packages to solve different problems during the production. Also, to give you more info about the movies you citated: the first Jurassic Park was realized in Softimage3D, since XSI and Maya didn\'t exist at that time. Final Fantasy is mainly Maya plus a proprietary renderer called Kilauea. Dinosaurs had Maya used through the whole production. Same story for Starwars (I remember very well some dynamic rigging for the pods, IE). Other examples? LOTR: Maya has been used everywhere, except for the rendering. Need more? The Perfect Storm, Spiderman, Ice Age, and the list goes on...

Lightwave is dominating the broadcast effects/animation market, and has been used in several theater movie productions.

And what about MAX (Reign of Fire, Driven, Equilibrium, etc...), Cinema4D (Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets), Houdini (used in many many movies), etc...?

And this list could go on, even without entering in the merit of the many rendering engines that exist out there. This market is not as easy as it may look from the outside

About the \'click create character\' question, you must realize that that is only a quick solutions for beginners trying to learn how to use the software, just to give them something to play with before getting frustrated. A similar solution would never, never be used in a production set just above the amateur level.

Niber

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« Reply #36 on: July 12, 2003, 02:03:06 pm »
Alright I\'m not going to argue about it sence you know more 3d than I do.

But about the many apps to make Cg movies in I\'m meen just strictly characters. And I have heard that XSI is great for insanly high-poly characters.

And I\'m just saying that it\'s possible to \"create\" a character from clicks,, wheter they use the function or not I wouldn\'t know..
Put the pot down, no dont take another puff!, put it down. Thank you.

bbum

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« Reply #37 on: July 12, 2003, 07:16:27 pm »
Im proud to say that i have a 2 gig folder of textures i liked from other games and stole, just to keep around if there ever needed.

Sounds like maya\'s used in all the good movies =)

someone told me maya was more for movie cg when i got started. but i figured games will use movie quality cg soon so what the hell. (and they will to, have you seen doom3 screenshots?)

\"But.. I have small experience in XSI and to \"make\" a character you click \"create\" and instead of primitiv you choose \"character\" and can choose from Male to Female.
But those 3 clicks are just the base and doesn\'t make it easiyer it only makes it faster the first step. \"

thats a pretty big step, i know i have a generic male character i use without feet head or hands, and it saves alot of time.

\'you don\'t understand me. once they make a sketch, decide the personality, come up with a story and dialog, and determine all the characteristic, the amount of work on the computer is minimal\'

yeah kind of true, if someone drew 2 pictures (front and side) with alot of detail it could make the job alot easier as you could trace the curves and model it that way, as apoused to starting with a cylinder or somthing.

The story and dialog dont really help, there still gonna have to animate the whole thing anyway
« Last Edit: July 12, 2003, 07:25:11 pm by bbum »

bbum

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« Reply #38 on: July 12, 2003, 07:23:16 pm »
djagger you should show me some work im interested.

sekhmet

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« Reply #39 on: July 12, 2003, 10:44:33 pm »
So if you Vengeance and Boonet and so are ok with it I\'ll start an open project.
But I was wondering which programs we can use, personally I\'ve been expermentig with blender is this ok?
Wat\'s the best program to use? Linux and Windows plz.
And if you know some good tutoriols.

Thx a lot

boonet

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« Reply #40 on: July 13, 2003, 01:48:16 am »
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yeah kind of true, if someone drew 2 pictures (front and side) with alot of detail it could make the job alot easier as you could trace the curves and model it that way, as apoused to starting with a cylinder or somthing.


Yes, and no baby, that is just the modeling class part of the game: the best still has to come. Believe me, that is just the beginning: the rest is still laying somewhere in the space comprised between those 2 sheets of paper and an oscar-prize winning actor. Modeling something that reminds you vaguely of a human being is different from portraying a smiling Audrey Hepburn or the subtly menacing devilish grin of an inspired Jack Nicholson.
Once you start doing some serious stuff, the 2 orthogonal pictures are just a simple beginning base. Quite often you don\'t even get them... ask someone what Paraform is used for ;-)

9rin

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hey!
« Reply #41 on: July 13, 2003, 06:37:37 pm »
sekhmet, you wish to know about good software! now I can contribute to this thread. I am some kind of evangelist on this forum for a software called Wings3d. so, check out this post http://www.planeshift3d.com/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=4225&boardid=11&styleid=3
it explains a bit about the software.

 i want to note that maya does have some newer scripts to help with modeling that i was unaware of. also, most of these programs have a very flexible scriping language which could create just about anything you wanted, if you had the time and knowledge to make it.
 anyway, if you are considering modeling, and you need a free and still top notch solution to creating models, try out wings3d.

for the record, i read, understand, and respect the art license for planeshift.  we release the code to help other people. releasing the art would not help anyone.  there are plenty of free resources on the internet which you could learn from or expand on. the art is what makes the world OUR world.

hope this will help you a bit.

Vengeance

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« Reply #42 on: July 13, 2003, 08:38:40 pm »
Sekhmet you can start any type of project you want and put your artwork under any type of license you want.  Good luck with it.

Kluger

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« Reply #43 on: July 14, 2003, 10:03:59 am »
Sorry, I\'ve been away for the weekend.

I don\'t think I should post to this thread anymore.  I still might, though.  My arguments are being grossly misrepresented, and it\'s starting to feel like I\'m being twisted apart between two cars.  I\'m tired of talking in circles.

Besides that, it seems as though this thread is tapering to a close anyway.

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Somewhat unhelpfully, you failed to paste in this quote just below it:
\"For other kinds of works, we recommend you consider the licenses proposed by Creative Commons.\"  The artistic content mentioned here is neither software nor documentation. Therefore I can only assume you simply didn\'t read down this far. The GPL is not an appropriate license for non-code works and even the GPL group itself acknowledges this. To the extent this debate continues, you yourself are disagreeing with the entity you hold in highest reverence.


Actually, I don\'t hold them in the highest reverence, as I differ from them on the topic of GPL versus public domain.  However, here\'s a more concise quote from earlier:

\"So the ethical issues of free software, the issues of a user\'s right to copy and modify software, are the same as such questions for other kinds of published information.\"

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You just done because actually what you said is totally false. It\'s not just designing a character, after you must model it, animate it, you must play on light, special effect, and much more...
No computer work is not minimal, and yes you\'re too affirmative.
I don\'t understand how you can say something without even checking if you right, and you\'re not.

...

You could admit you\'re wrong on that hmmm?


I admit one thing: I could be misunderstood if you don\'t read everything I say.  I said that the computer work is minimal, and that\'s exactly what I meant.  I am surprised by how streamlined and efficient the work is.  It costs about $600 per hour per person to make this stuff (well, for movies), so by planning everything that\'s done beforehand, buying the most efficient software, and not having to worry about CPU usage, the work is brought down to it\'s minimum possible...hence \"minimal\".

Here\'s something I said that may have confused you:

\"I don\'t think that\'s the program, but the point is still the same. :-? what really surprised me is how little work is really involved in creating the characters in those new Pixar-ish movies. I mean, just make a model, let it know what are eyes, corners of the mouth, etc., and it can automate speaking, facial expressions, and even movements recorded from a human model...\"

I don\'t mean that it\'s little work.  I mean that it\'s much less than it seems.  I would have otherwise thought the rendering of trillions of polygons to be difficult work.  I thought it was pretty clear that this statement was unrelated to the whole thread, since it\'s just related to my personal amazement at the software that\'s available.  Taken out of context, it can look like a contradiction.

In fact, I have stressed before the enormous work involved.  I don\'t dispute that:

\"RE:\"Where did you get the idea that ... just a \'few\' clicks are necessary even using that software?\"
RE:\"and they are all but click-and-play tools that automagically produce models derived from a base set.\"
you see the confusion? I\'m saying the same thing.\"

\"now I\'m not saying that the movie makers are being overpaid. the whole movie production is immense.\"

\"No, I don\'t underestimate. In fact, if you read back, I talked about how much work is put into it. But that only reinforces my point that it doesn\'t make sense for everyone to keep reinventing the wheel.\"

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Noononononono I didn\'t agree to Kluger that making characters for movies is easy.
It\'s nightmare hard!!!


Well, it\'s a good thing you didn\'t agree with me on that, because I never said that.

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Edit: And btw. Kluger, have you even tryed computer graphics?


Ah good, an original question.  I have sold various CG software, set it up, and oriented users with it.  Back in the early \'90s, I wrote some DOS-based 3D rendering software, and I made things like floating AMD logos and simple objects (all by manually entering each coordinate and texture by hand in a text file!), but no, I practically have no right brain.  :-?  I can make technical drawings, and Xfig has become a good friend, since I\'m renovating my home, and I can go so far as to make beautiful screen savers and fractals, but that\'s all left-brain stuff.  I tried drawing a monitor lizard for my newsletter (called, \"The Computer Monitor\"), and after fumbling with the mouse as if I was drawing with a pencil attached to the back of my head, I ended up with a monitor lizard that looked almost recognizable...except that it was clearly missing a leg!  I made some Quake levels (oh man that software\'s confusing!), and I wanted to make a Barneystein Quake, but I quickly gave up.  (You know how all the models in the original Quake look like someone had severely beaten them with a hammer?  Mine looked like the scribble that little kids draw before they spontaneously learn to draw recognizable pictures.)

Well, if everyone\'s stuck in an infinite loop, I\'ll just tip myself out the door.  My point, which was forgotten and misunderstood, is that imposing restrictions with copyrights is wrong and that I recommend gradually shifting the Planeshift license for graphics over to GPL or even public domain, all the while making sure not to disenfranchise the artists or make anyone unhappy.  The way I see it, you\'re losing one enthusiastic and probably capable artist in Sekhmet by requiring the rights to everything submitted.  I doubt that you\'re gaining any significant amount of art by requiring rights as opposed to what you would have gotten with artists interested in releasing their art to the public domain.  Of course, making everything in-house is a separate concept, and if you feel that that would be best for your game, then so be it.  Whether it\'s right for the art to be held proprietary we are in disagreement.  I\'m very interested in the area of what\'s erroneously labelled \"intellectual property\", but we\'re not getting anywhere and that\'s not what Sekhmet was interested in finding out.  It seems that Sekhmet has found out what he needs to know (though I hope that in the future Planeshift changes its policy.)

(If you\'re wondering what the edit was, I saw that I was missing a comma. :P)
« Last Edit: July 14, 2003, 10:05:26 am by Kluger »
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I\'m here to test Linux PS and maybe find a friend or even a girlfriend, and jump from rooftop to rooftop.  ;-)
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boonet

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« Reply #44 on: July 14, 2003, 11:28:04 am »
Just my last reply.
Kluger: do you realize that our artists accept and like our license? We\'re not forcing them to accept it pointing a gun to their head. They work for PS because they think that that is the right way to handle the artwork question.
You say we probably just lost one potential artist? Could be, and so? Should we change our policy to follow the desires of each single person passing by? Maybe tomorrow a guy with some great ideas will come and tell us to become a pay2play game. Should we satisfy his desire because it\'s more moral in the respact of the big gaming companies to avoid developing a free MMORPG? This is just a sort of provocation, but I used it to make you understand that we set our rules for PS once and forever, to be clear and coherent.
We believe in our policy and won\'t change it.

About the movie/animation/computergraphics discussion, let\'s just cut it: you are talking about something you don\'t understand, and you\'re just talking nonsense when trying to twist your every sentence in order to appear subtle and condescendant.