well this sucks, i mean most of the hard surface modelling is something that’s trademarked(cars, gadgets… even buildings) and most of them that’s quality work is definitely a trademarked thing(examples from the BA top row). which leaves us with organic modelling (humans, animals) which will definitely qualify( and get sold), while the hardsurface models would need to be named differently(with less chances of getting sold)?
I have a 3d model of the Dark Tower of Barad-Dur from LOTR. It has sold 6 times so far, but will I be able to sell in your site? Or will I have “legal” problems?
It would suck even more if CG Cookie ended up with their hands tied in court trying to wade through a mountain of copyright violations levied against them by corporations, if there was a big lawsuit than you might very well say goodbye to this venture.
Just to note, there’s plenty of ways to get a car or a building onto the market if you made a fictional design, then it would be something that you truly made yourself instead of trying to profit from someone else’s design (one that might’ve cost millions of dollars to make along with a good dose of blood, sweat, and tears).
TurboSquid has the editorial license which means that it is up to you, buyer of the mesh, to check with the trademark owner about licensing conditions.
Just to note, there’s plenty of ways to get a car or a building onto the market if you made a fictional design, then it would be something that you truly made yourself instead of trying to profit from someone else’s design (one that might’ve cost millions of dollars to make along with a good dose of blood, sweat, and tears).
Visionary words of wisdom.
Very soon, all these talented Blender heads will need to transfer all their skills from creating quality fan-art, to giving birth to some of their first original creations. THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT!
This is something we are exploring as well, but a decision has not yet been made.
This is something we are exploring as well, but a decision has not yet been made.
One will aspire creativity and originality, the other will bring profit(and eventual headaches?). Correct me…
The truth is in the middle?
Man you have no clue. Go to cgtalk or visualization sites or other pro forums and ask them what kind of models they typically buy from cg stores. It’s realistic models. These are not pieces of art these are props. 9 times out of 10 people are not doing things that are based on fantasy or sci-fi it’s usually a realistic scene and they need accurate and high quality models.
Nobody is interested in the next Picasso they are looking for that guy that can model a 787, an M6, a sub machine gun, a toaster and make it look as realistic as possible, do it with clean topology, UV it properly and present a clean and functional blend file that they can use in their projects with zero fuss. Let’s not get romantic about a bunch of props.
tis not a one man job… companies have teams to make a design, while one man can only do so much. the fan art design is so much more refined and good in every manner that the average modeler will chose to refine his skills by doing that, other than make a potato design he’s not proud of.
anyhow, just the fact that we can sell “sports car” rather than “lamborghini aventador j” is satisfying enough. i understand the problems you’ll face and no one wants a headache. eager to see what you come up with.
just a random question out of nowhere…
for eg i made batmobile (batmans vehicle) then i won’t get a copyright strike would i? would companies who own that design (in this case DC) report it?
Does it mean that we won’t be allowed to sell trademark product model even if we have legal agreement from trademark owner ?
I agree with you, and probably you misunderstood me. I don’t need to visit those sites to logically come to the conclusion that most people want to save time when it comes to assets and buy those tables/chairs/guns/ that don’t take that much time to model in the first place. Why not save time, if you can have them for a reasonable prize.
The point here was to actually create things that wont violate any copyrighted products. There is nothing romantic in a law suit.
Edit:
To elaborate a bit further.
About what Ace said and about what I added. Anything that has ever been posted on any kind of forum, is open to interpretation by each individual.
To go deeper and to actually leave something that was on my mind.
Every time I see an ‘Iron Man’ model, ‘Spider Man’ model, ‘Bat Man’ model, any kind of ‘man’, I shiver in horror. I don’t question the skills of the artist, but I question their morale. I think that as soon as you create something that is part of an existing franchise, you instantly reduce the value of your work, no matter of the quality.
About the direction JonathanW and co. will take, I cant allow myself to give them pointers. They are professional enough to take the right decisions. I am sure that Blender and the community will profit in the end.
My personal view, however, is that they have the chance to make something a bit different. Sure, they can follow an existing model that is already field-tested and proven, or they can come up with a ‘mutated’ concept that could change how we generally perceive websites such as ‘Turbo squid’.
Jonathan already mentioned that the ‘quality control’ will be tight. Somehow I imagine a slogan like:
‘Blender Market - 100% original, high-quality models’.
To mimic ‘Turbo Squid’ or any other similar website, will also devalue the Blender Marketplace. I am not 100% on that since there isn’t that much information about the subject at this point. ‘By the Blender community, for the community’, perhaps JonathanW will care to shed some more light on the matter.
@Tyrant Monkey. Stating that I have no clue, is a couple of things. A bit offensive, inaccurate, and above all quite arrogant, implying that your ‘elevated’ persona knows all, sees all.
What you added, you basically said what most people expect from ANY model/asset posted on ANY similar website, EVER. To upload a functional .blend file is a requirement, not a choice. Or people perhaps prefer to spit on their work. I would love to hear some of your personal thoughts and suggestions.
Also, I big fan of your work on the ‘Traditional’ section. Learning a lot from it.
I thought that the reason Jonathan posted this in the first place so he could, perhaps, get some feedback. If I am mistaken, then ignore anything that have said on the subject.
Looking forward to this.
… So all fanart is immoral to you?
… You do realise that about… 80% of all classical art is mythology fanart, right? I mean, the tons of greek mythology related art alone. And not everything an artist creates is for profit… Sometimes it’s for fun.
(And that said, companies actually enjoy people creating fanart, as it’s free advertising. Companies like Disney are the exception, and this has to do with Disney being highly guarded against the… uhm… transformative nature of fanart. See “bronies” for an example where it goes completely wrong.)
But yes, selling fanart is dangerous bussiness, it’s wise for cgcookie to avoid it.
Fan-art that is part of a franchise, yes. Don’t try and twist my words with the mythology non-sense. In fact I start to feel slightly nauseous when I see the next orc/elf/troll/dragon movie/game.
And like I said, this is a personal opinion. You, of course, are free to think otherwise.
There was an ancient saying: Everything new, is old but forgotten.
Also, someone posted a very interesting article about the art of stealing ideas. In the times we live in, the borders are getting blurred more often than we want.
Will Blender Market ever be integrated in Blender? I mean something like Unity Store .
I think you or your lawyers cannot figure out a way to “allow” these models and brandnames on your marketplace it will severely suffer and people like archviz who need real products in their scene will not return to your shop but instead just go to Envato or Tubosquid.
It will cause even more difficulty for this site to reach critical mass.
Since trademarks are, differently from copyright, renewable forever, one has to assume that most of the man-made things you see around yourself are TM-protected (and therefore potentially un-sellable). E.g., modelling a WWII vintage JerryCan could put you into hot water with German Government, since that thing was developed by nazi army and the Federal Republic of Germany is the legal heir to nazi government :evilgrin:.
I think that TurboSquid editorial license is the best idea since it clearly states that the object TM-ed and you, user, have the duty to square things with the TM-owner.
B.t.w. there are activities, like news reporting, where people are by law not restrained by TM licensing so a news TV chain can show e.g. the newest iPhone without begging (and paying) Apple for the permission to do so.
About fan art: not every firm likes it and, even if they allow it, earning money out of it is ALWAYS frowned upon so fan art can have a place on BlendSwap but certainly not in a shop.
Emulating TurboSquid (the largest and most important 3D market site in the whole internet) is “devaluing”? <sarcastic smile>.
This new marketplace sounds like a pretty useful and smart concept.
It could rise up the interest into Blender from professional firms drastically.
Whish you good luck ! 
Kind regards
Alain
I don’t mean to resurrect a dead thread, but just in case anyone missed it, it’s live! http://www.blendermarket.com/
Hello Jonathan,
this ‘different pricing’ notification is not clear to me, so please help me!
I think the publisher should decide the price of his/her product and the very same model (I don’t count the different shader setups for Blender/3ds Max as an example) could be sold on very different prices without any notification (to BlenderMarket staff) or problem (from customer side).
It is quite analogue to the physical goods: the same drink will cost less in a supermarket compared to a 5 star restaurant and so on.
As a possible BM publisher I have to say that the same model on Turbosquid will cost far more (at least double) than on BlenderMarket and I have 2 very strong reasons for that:
- Turbosquid shares are about 40% as the part of the artist (let’s call it a simple robbery, cause it is a shame). I don’t want to get less from TS sales.
- I will sell in different formats. BlenderMarket sells .blend files (a format of a FREE app), TurboSquid sells in multiple 3d formats, mostly .max files with different shader setups (it means more work and more investment) like VRay, Mental Ray, etc. As a Max owner I have to earn money for the license.
So I think selling on BlenderMarket should require a different point of view: it could offer cheaper 3d models than TS - if only Blender format needed. But it is very important to understand that prices could not be ‘equalized’ in the head of the customers.
As in real life it is obvious that the price of the same product could be different in different shops, customers have to understand that they have to put effort into finding the ‘cheapest’ place for themselves.
Some other thoughts:
-
Selling nude models is not coming for devil;)
In a time 3D anatomy models were very popular on TS; tons of medical renders/apps could use them. I’m not talking about porn, I’m talking about nudity. It should not be a problem in a healthy world at all; maybe marking these assets as ‘18+ only’ could help, but personally I find it very ridiculous the fear of the human body. -
Trademarked/unlicensed content
This is the twilight zone of stock modeling; technically I don’t think you should sell any - I mean any - unlicensed asset. An iPhone 5 without the Apple logo is still an iPhone and the publisher doesn’t have the right to sell it. Same for cars, planes and so on.
Anyone who models an existing car FOR SALE - I mean a car designed by someone else like the designers employed by Ferrari - is breaking the rights, there is no question about that - except if he/she has the license from Ferrari designers to do that.
For this there is a license type you should include as an option: the ‘Editorial license’. It defends you (BM) and the publisher, too.
Not perfect, but it is a better solution.
And it is important to understand that to model a car, a plane (as examples) by a photo/blueprint is far faster/easier than to ‘design’ one.
And it is also not so fair to sell them on the same price (customers will want the same price, while there is far more work with own designs if they are properly done).
So Royalty-free license should go for ‘own designs’ only IMHO.
Thanks for your time.
‘Will Blender Market ever be integrated in Blender? I mean something like Unity Store .’
It is not a bad idea, but the Unity Store is a piece of crap, so it should be done in a more clever way.