Help please -uploading 3D models

[Trude Janic]

Hi, 

i am after some help please?

is it legal to buy and upload 3D models from online sites, such as CG Trader please?

i found this on the SL community page:

 

• Have at least one compatible COLLADA (.dae) file on your computer. You can create your own by using most popular 3D software packages, or, if you have the appropriate rights, you can download models created by other 3D artists from online repositories. Try our sample contentpage for a free model if you're just getting started.

this suggests it is ok but what are the “appropriate rights” please?

 

thanks

[Rolig Loon]

2 minutes ago, Trude Janic said:

what are the “appropriate rights” please?

If you hold the copyright or have been granted a license by the copyright holder for use of the intellectual property, you have the "appropriate rights".  See https://www.lindenlab.com/legal/intellectual-property-infringement-notification-policy and the TOS, Sect. 2.7.

[Trude Janic]

Hey, thank you so much for the rapid reply. The link does worry me because if I buy from an online repository, how can I tell if I have copyright......,

 

 

much more complicated that I thought !

[arton Rotaru]

27 minutes ago, Trude Janic said:

much more complicated that I thought !

Yeah, especially section 2.3 of the Second Life TOS rules out pretty much any content which isn't created by yourself.

[Rolig Loon]

34 minutes ago, Trude Janic said:

if I buy from an online repository, how can I tell if I have copyright

If you have copyright, you know it.  After all, by law, the creator is the copyright holder.  If you didn't create the material, you don't hold the copyright.  If the copyright holder has granted you a license to use the material, however, you may still have appropriate rights for uploading it to SL.  Responsible web sites will spell out what rights you are granted, if any.  If none are specified, the default is that you do not have permission.  The best way to avoid the whole mess is to make your own textures and 3D objects.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Rolig Loon

[Pierre Ceriano]

Hello there !

As some of you know I have a (until not so many time) legal background. When this topic is discussed, three things need to be taken into consideration, at least :

1 / What the Linden terms say about it. As said before the section 2.3 of the TOS : "In connection with Content you upload, publish, or submit to any part of the Service, you affirm, represent, and warrant that you own or have all necessary Intellectual Property Rights, licenses, consents, and permissions to use and authorize Linden Lab and users of the Service to use the Content in the manner contemplated by the Service and these Terms." It means that you can upload only assets you own the IP rights... The best solution is to be the Content Creator, from the first vertice to the last one.

2 / What the 3D library and the initial creators say about it*. For CG Trader, you might read this : "Products [ sold with Royalty Free Licenses] published on CGTrader may not be sold, given, or assigned to another person or entity in the form it is downloaded from the site." and "Products with Editorial License [...] can only be used for non-commercial purposes." In other terms, you might upload to Second Life for your personal use only (not selling back). If you need to go beyond these rules you will need to see :

3 / What the initial creator will allow you to do when you will contact her/him : indeed the best is to get, at least, a mail allowing you to resell in Second Live his/her assets with the conditions clearly stated : small transformations needed ? Credits ? Which end user rights ? Then your problem will be to deal with... point 1/...

* Some external libraries won't allow you to use their assets (models, textures) especially in Second Life, and this even for personal use : Renderosity, CG Textures,...

[Trude Janic]

Really really useful. Thank you all 

 

[Charlotte Bartlett]

CG Trader actually excludes Second Life under 21.2:  not for users to re-package as goods distributed or sold inside a virtual world.

The question is what distributed means.  Even if you upload for personal use, you are still granting LL certain rights on upload and providing them a license to display the item on your screen (kind of/for example).  

The fact they call out virtual worlds gives you a hint their sellers are NOT comfortable with usage in Second Life and you likely should contact the seller to outline the specific usage you want ahead of purchase to get an approval (again I suspect that will be rare to get).  

A wider question for the OP - what are you looking for and why from a third party site to get it - is something similar not already available for purchase on the marketplace or inworld here in Second Life you can buy?  It will be far less effort for you and you get ongoing SL support for the item (if using a reputable merchant).

 

[Trude Janic]

Hi, I was researching how to create and design things for SL.......and failing completely to understand any of it. As part of that process, I chanced across 3D model sites and I just wondered whether or not it might be simpler to buy models already created and for sale online.

It was because I couldn’t find those items on MP or in world, that led me to explore other options, detailed above.

Now I know it’s complicated!

 

[Pamela Galli]

 You can legally buy full perm models in second life.  Except of course there’s no guarantee they were legally uploaded, but you would not get in trouble for buying one 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Pamela Galli

[Rolig Loon]

11 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said:

You can legally buy full perm models in second life.

And you can pay reputable creators to make them for you at a custom price until you get good at making them yourself.

[Chic Aeon]

Along with my mantra of "if you didn't make it, don't upload it" ---  --

it is good to note that simply BUYING A DAE FILE does not guarantee IN ANY WAY  that it will be usable inside of Second Life (even if completely legal and I really can't see how any of the download sites could give someone a primary copyright which is what they need -- in my mind anyway). 

Not only does the DAE file (or something you could turn into one if you knew how) need to be LOW POLY for GAME ASSET USE, the person uploading ALSO needs to know how to upload, how to at least use the LOD options to get a decent LOD at various distances without having 200 land impact models (oh my).  They also need to know how to define materials and make textures withing a modeling program OR change textures provided so that they would be of use. 

The list goes on and on with a limit on materials per mesh, tri limit etc etc,  but we often see folks trying to upload those models with no luck at all. So in many cases, buying would be a waste of time and money -- not even looking at the legalities. 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Chic Aeon

[Charlotte Bartlett]

I think now we understand what your aim is there may be a better approach.  I recommend Going to Strawberry Singh's blog and reading her how to become a content creator piece and use her links.  Perhaps start with something with hard lines and not organic e.g. a basic pot or coffee table.   That will allow you to start to get the basics in blender  e.g. Low poly model, physics model, LODs, materials and baking textures, uploading then it will help you decide where to focus e.g. If you want to do clothing look for Avastar and their tutorials.   You may also want to get the basics with gimp and photoshop for any textures and also things like signs for your item.

There isn't a short cut e.g. Third party models, as  if you want to really do this if you got a third party low poly model you would still need to do multiple steps after to make it SL viable and unless you already have blender skills that would be painful and probably take you longer.

the best short cut if you don't want to learn to make your own meshes would be full perm kits from SL marketplace but you would still need to learn how to texture them etc.

What sort of item did you want to make? As there may be more specific tutorials we can point you towards.

 

 

[Anna Nova]

15 hours ago, Charlotte Bartlett said:

  Perhaps start with something with hard lines and not organic e.g. a basic pot or coffee table.

Chic Aeon's series on wooded packing crates is excellent too.  Once you get the building-bug, there is no escape, you gotta make more....

https://www.slartist.com/browse-the-tutorial-chic-videos-1-date.html

[Charlotte Bartlett]

I think her amazing tutorials are linked from Strawberry's blog ?

[Stephanie Misfit]

I'm aware of some creators hiring 3D modelers at very cheap rates through sites like Upwork. So if you don't want to make your own models, using those sort of sites is a way to get original models for which you can hold full rights.