Hi
I have a few questions about copyright on photo’s on the internet.
Say I download some pictures with lightbox or smugsmug, googlepictures or other internet places and I use them for character texturing and 2.5/3d enviorment mattepainting. A lot of pictures are copyrighted because it’s stated like that and i know I can’t use those without permission of the artist but there are also a lot of pictures that are not stated as copyrighted.
Now I find a some pictures of a moviestar(shot by a professional photographer but free for download on the net) I use them as imageplanes, model the character and extract a color texture and bump from it. Can I use the textures for commercial use or to show my 3d character on Zbrush central without violating the copyright laws?
or say someone posts a hollyday picture on googlepictures of a nice rocky landscape, a sunset or whatever. I download it and use parts of the picture in my mattepainting. Is that legal or can’t I use it.
the same questions I have for the pictures you can find with lightbox(zb4.0) Are those pictures free to use as textures or mattepainting?
Not long ago there was a Dutch woman on television who used a picture from the internet in a school project she maked(photomanipulation), the(part of the) picture was only on her portfolio website and not used for commercial use but she was fined for 2500 euro’s by the photographer.
What are the international laws on this? What can I use to show my models on the internet and what not?
Personaly I use character textures from 3d.sk because i know I can use them without getting trouble but there are a lot of nice Highres pictures on the internet that i would like to use.
Is there in these cases a difference between professional use or use as a hobbyist that shows his 3d model on the internet( I’m not a professional 3d modeler but a wannabe)
I hope someone can explain this or give a link to the laws
Thanks