Repainting and stealing textures/ giving credit/ eula's

[TexasWestern70Mac]

ATTENTION ALL PLEASE READ

Recently over the past few months, i have noticed some disturbing trends in relation to the above topics... People stealing textures blatently without asking any sort of permission to use them, not giving credit for any work "used" and violating eula's reguarding uploads of repaints and work, namely most recently with Streamlines' Union Pacific Engine addon.

People, first of all, if you cant repaint your own engines as good as you want to, using others textures to do a repaint IS SIMPLY NOT THE WAY TO DO IT!!!!!!! It takes hours somtimes even days to paint a locomotive or piece of rolling stock and the original author took great care to recreate whatever livery he chose. in MANY of these cases, custom logos, fonts and texturing methods are used. when someone else uses those textures and does something like a locomtoive renumber or rollingstock renumber, or "patch" or locotmotive to match the current interim modern livery (which i hate patches BTW, but that is for another thread lol) IT IS NOT A NEW REPAINT... anybody with a cheap program can change the numbers on an engine, but it takes ALOT longer to create those textures originally.

PLEASE when you do something like a renumber/patch PLEASE GIVE CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR IN YOUR PREVIEW POST..... this may seem mundane, but very recently people have been given praise for so called "repaints" in which the did little more than "cut and paste" logos and paint from one engine to another. this is okay BUT NOT IF YOU TRY TO TAKE CREDIT FOR THE REPAINT AS IF YOU WERE THE ORIGINAL PAINTER. giving credit to the original author shows you respect his work enough to let everyone know it is not your own creation, but a modification of someone else's work. from now on, IF THE REPAINT IS NOT YOUR OWN ORIGINAL WORK, PLEASE MAKE A SMALL STATEMENT OF WHO THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR IS IN YOUR POST. this will eleviate any disgrutledness the the author feels for not being mentioned.

recently MANY repainters/painters have been getting angry over this because no credit was given about the original work... being a repainter myself i take this VERY personally, as i feel a the other's do, jacking textures and change the railroad name/ roadnumber/ or slighty modifiying a logo IS NOT A NEW REPAINT!!!!!!! just a modification of the original. PLEASE give credit for the original work. I have had some great northern streamliner textures ripped off before and my name was not even mentioned in the readme. things like this aggrivate the hell out me because hours of work on a livery and not giving credit for it is the same as for instance stealing a car. it isn't yours, you didn't do anything to get it, and you sure wont let the original author/owner know you stole it cause you know you would get a new face arrangement if you did...

so PLEASE let others know the work you may have done if someone else did it so they original author gets proper credit... THIS INCLUDES ANYTHING FROM THE ORIGINAL REPAINT, COLORS, FONTS, LOGOS, ANYTHING...... now matter how small. if say for instance you like a BNSF SF cross logo and you want to use it on your boxcar and you used the logo from "john smith's 50ft waffle side boxcar" please give him credit for his work.....this will let him know you used his work...

a little about RELEASING REPAINTS though, PLEASE READ ALL End User Liscense Agreements (from now on EULA) on any stuff you download. WHETHER FREE OR PAYWARE. many people who repaint like quality control of repaints of thier work, and thus require permission to upload modifications. not doing this obviously is a violation of thier EULA and they can escpially payware people if you upload shape files, can prosocute legally through sueing if they desired.

however even freeware people who create paints HAVE EVERY RIGHT to e-mail the moderaters and have nels pull the file if the do not want it there. however to avoid this alltogther, PLEASE READ THE EULA/ README that comes with the addon. this will tell you if they want repaints of theier work uploaded or not, and any specific rules reguarding repaints, SUCH AS OBTAINING PERMISSION TO UPLOAD. of you are denied permission and upload anyways, your repaint WILL be removed from the file library. some people dont want ANY repaints of thier locomtives or rollingstock at all. PLEASE HONOR THIS. it is thier work and they have EVERY right to restrict it's uses. this doesn't mean you cant post pictures of your repaint, but if it you upload and it isn't allowed the repaint will be pulled and possiblity of banning from the forums and file library is also very real if the problem occurs more than once from the same person.

to aviod anything i have just mentioned in the post though, it is best to, if you are using someone else's work , NO MATTER HOW SMALL A MODIFICATION, please:

READ THE EULA/README TO SEE WHAT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN PLACE FOR REPAINTING

ASK PERMISSION IF YOU CAN EVEN USE THIER TEXTURES IN THE FIRST PLACE BEFORE YOU POST PICTURES OF IT HERE

PLEASE GIVE CREDIT WHERE DUE IF YOU ARE ALLOWED TO USE THIER TEXTURES/LOGOS/COLORS,ETC;

also if you dont have the "skill" to repaint, asking for a repaint request is a MUCH better way to get what you want done with the quality you desire.

REQUESTS MAY BE HONORED, BUT THEY ARE A REQUEST, NOT A DEMAND, IF SOMEONE DOES NOT WANT TO DO WHAT YOU REQUEST, DONT PESTER AS IT WILL NOT MAKE IT GET DONE ANY FASTER, PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF THIS.

chances are what you are looking for already may exist, so search in the file library first, then in the forums to see if one does not exist if one is in progress, then make a request, but again, it is just a request and no one HAS to make the repaint for you...

Sorry for this being so long and wordy but this issue needed to be addressed

also any painters who do thier own origianl work, if for any reason you see repaints of your work you felt were stolen, or not in accordance to your EULA/README'S please contact me via private message here at the forums, the name the of file, and it will be removed from our file library. I will aggressively enforce this, since we have been having such a problem with it in recent past



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Hauling America one pixel at a time
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Bill Hemb; train sim repainter

[andykeffer_2]

I agree with you first paragragh. It can take many days, even MOUNTHS to do my repaints. I did a Norfolk Southern ( All Primer ) repaint of Danny Becks SD70M from the UP pack. ( Really nice pack ) This is one part of the deal that kinda makes me feel greedy though, not being able to share my work with others. But its the rules. As to stealing textures, Where is the fun in that? Just take you time with them and always ask for permision befor uploading. I have done that many times and it is not a nice thing when the forum jumps on your back and starts beating you.

I thought I might say something but now i`m done so you can wake up now. ;)

PS: Credit for the SD70M go to Cheese4mousy@cs.com for helping me with the trucks in the picture I included. Thanks.

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Feel Free To Instant Messange Me
:-) :-) Ankeffer12@aol.com :-) :-)

[burgerbern]

Totally agree with everything said in Bills post, I am presently working on a modest relivery of a steam engine (My first attempt at anything like this) by changing the company lettering on the tender, the running numbers on the tender and engine and repainting the wheels with a white rim as per the livery of the train in question, i would love to upload the finished article so everybody can use it, especially as this engine is for a route that at present has had not one item of rolling stock produced for it, but am frustrsted by the fact that the engine i have started with was originally made by one modeller and subsequently retextured by another. I have sent an email to the retexturer asking permission to use the textures but so far have not had a reply, with the original modeller i cannot find any way of making contact to do the same, after about 2 days of searching including web searches i came up with 2 email addresses and sent of a request for permission but both were returned as undeliverable, so how do i respect these authors wishes when it is impossible to contact them, surely if this is all going to work then all authors need to provide contact details in their readmes so we can comply with their wishes, from my point of view I WILL respect their wishes and if i cannot make contact i will NOT upload my modest contribution, and will keep it for my own personal use. This however deprives all of us of an engine that is not available at present and for as brilliant route that has no rolling stock liveried for it. I have respected all of the points made in Bills post, have included all previous readme's, have credited both parties for their work etc, but it all falls down if you cannot make contact to gain permission.

Thought i would just give this side of the problem an airing

[andykeffer_2]

[TrainzFreak202]

but the question is what if the uploader doest regrister at the forum

[TrainzFreak202]

also what if you repaint and not distribute it on ANY webstie

[wecline]

If the upload is here in Nels' library, then there usually is either an email address or website attached. I think you should be diligent in your search before attempting to make changes for your own upload.

Bill Cline

[wecline]

>>also what if you repaint and not distribute it on ANY webstie<<

That's an easy one. Who's to know? And even if the author does know you have modified it, as long as *you* don't publish (eg: upload) the revised car, you have committed no "crime".

I do that often when I find a great model, say, of a steam loco which dosn't have the roadname I want on it. I simply TGA2 the ace file with the identification, repaint it, and I'm on my way. Of course, I would never upload the modification without the original author's permission.

Bill Cline

[dadbill]

Thanks for your post Bill. It got to be too much for me to work on repaints while trying to "police" not only this site but the web in general, along with trying to launch my own 3D models and textures -and you wonder why I got out of the business.
I have never asked for requests, just that a repainter give me credit especially when slapping a new number over work that might've taken weeks for me to complete!

[shell1reed]

I'm a "modifier" and "repainter" who is also frustrated by being unable to contact the original modelers and painters. I've found three invalid emails for one modeler, and three more for another. I've sent two or more emails to each of three others, all seeking permission to reuse for freeware upload. None has yet responded.

I've looked for these folks in multiple forums--here, 3DTrains, Elvas, etc. to no avail.

Does the system manager keep a reliable permanent contact list on its contributors? Are there any other ways to contact these contributors without being really intrusive?

So I've got about two or three dozen "pretty interesting" locos and freight cars that are--because I can't reach the shape modeler-- restricted to my personal use.

And I've hit another issue: one firm includes an EULA that says that repaints are OK, but to get the free textures from their website--only I can't find them there, and they don't respond to email. Is their website a dead end now (or have I looked in the wrong place)? (The firm is Columbus Loco Works--I name them not to complain but because someone might be able to point me to the proper place on their website).

To be fair, I've received permission from a few folks, and have found that there are a few READMEs that contain repaint conditions outright.

I'm trying to upright about use of copyright--in my other life I work with public domain music, music publishing, and music copyright--i certainly respect the modelers' rights here. But they really need to keep themselves available, or grant blanket permission (in writing, to whomever they uploaded) when they leave the train simulation community.

Sorry if I've occupied the soapbox too long.

Wayne