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Exporting to RL, question about textures

Saregin Martynov
Registered User
Join date: 27 Jan 2009
Posts: 13
08-24-2009 23:16
Can AV skins be exported from in-world to hard disk? I've got a full perm skin I'd like to edit; in-world editing won't let me change the neck-down complexion.

Can a sculpted prim be exported from in-world to hard disk, in a format that can be edited by Blender?

Can a texture from a prim be copied from that object, whether to be saved as a texture or to be directly applied to another prim? I've bought full perm items with textures I'd like to be able to copy and use in other applications.
Chosen Few
Alpha Channel Slave
Join date: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 7,496
08-25-2009 00:36
Good questions. I'll take them one at a time:


From: Saregin Martynov
Can AV skins be exported from in-world to hard disk?


Yes and no.

Technically, anything that can be displayed on a screen can be captured if you know your way around a graphics pipeline. However, SL itself does not provide a direct means to export textures from a skin. You must have the textures themselves, not just the skin as a whole, in your inventory, and you must have full perms on them in order to export them.

From: Saregin Martynov
I've got a full perm skin I'd like to edit; in-world editing won't let me change the neck-down complexion.


Having full permissions on the skin simply means you have license to copy, modify, and redistribute the skin AS A WHOLE within the confines of the SL system. It does not mean you have license to pull out any of its component parts for further modification outside of SL.

Remember, when you "buy" or otherwise "take possession" of an item in SL, you're not actually acquiring the item itself. What you're getting is a limited license to use certain data in certain ways, for certain purposes. The creator of the item owns the intellectual property, and Linden Lab owns the specific data that describes it within SL. All you have is the right to access it, and to do a few very limited things with it. That's all.

From: Saregin Martynov
Can a sculpted prim be exported from in-world to hard disk, in a format that can be edited by Blender?


Again, if you know how, it's possible to capture anything. But SL does not provide this functionality directly. So again, the answer is yes and no.

If you have a full perms copy of the sculpt map, then you can download it, and do as you please with it. But if all you have is the sculpted prim, then you have no right to extract the map from it, unless the creator has given you explicit permission to do so.

From: Saregin Martynov
Can a texture from a prim be copied from that object, whether to be saved as a texture or to be directly applied to another prim?


Same answer again. Yes, if you know how, you can rip anything from anywhere. But no, you don't have the right to do it unless the owner of the IP has told you it's OK.

From: Saregin Martynov
I've bought full perm items with textures I'd like to be able to copy and use in other applications.


Again, all you bought was the limited right to use the items in whole, in certain ways, within the normal operation of the SL system. You did not buy the right to extract any sub-components for use in other applications. If you want that right, contact the creator(s) of the objects, and as if it's OK. If they say yes, great. But if they say no, then that's where it ends. (And if they say nothing at all, that's the same as a no.)

Remember, creators have a legal right to control how and whether their intellectual property is copied and distributed. That right supersedes whatever wants you may have. It's their property, not yours.



Now that you have your answers, let's take a minute to try to reseal the can of worms you just inadvertently opened. These kinds of questions come up all the time, actually. Often people end up jumping in to confuse the issue with non-analogous examples, such as "If I buy a magazine, I can cut out the pictures. How come if I buy an SL skin I can't rip out the textures?"

The answer is simple. Cutting the pictures out of a magazine does not involve creating any new copies, whereas ripping the texture out of an SL skin (or garment, or any other item) absolutely does. It's the copyright that's relevant, nothing more, nothing less. No one has the right to make new copies of anyone else's IP without the owner's permission. It's that simple.

If it were somehow possible to extract a texture from an item without making a new anauthorized copy of the image, then there'd be no problem. But, quite obviously, that's just not how the digital world works. If you pull a texture out of a skin, the skin itself doesn't get left textureless. It remains exactly as it was, with the texture still a part of it, and you end up with a brand new, unattached, copy of the texture. That's where the problem lies. That new copy was not authorized by the creator of the original. It's not supposed to exist. To create it would be to violate US and international copyright laws.

Further, just to get at the texture in the first place, before even making the copy, would mean circumventing SL's DRM, which is a direct violation of the DMCA.

No doubt the usual anti-copyright voices will latch onto this thread, as they so often do, to try to dispute what I've said here. Once again, I'll invite them to read the law. These matters are quite clear.

Many of us have long been asking LL to implement a more robust tool set, which would allow consumers in SL far more creative freedom to use existing assets in less restricted ways. For example, there's simply no reason a person should have to break the law just to apply a tattoo to a skin. All that's needed is the addition of another layer to the avatar outfit composting, and the problem would be solved. But unfortunately these requests have fallen on mostly deaf ears. But frustrating as that may be, LL's lack of action is not an excuse for anyone to break the law. The system is what is. Its limitations are what they are. All we can do is live with it.


Dont take any of that the wrong way, Saregin. I certainly wasn't trying to imply that you in particular were looking to infringe on anyone's copyright. I've just seen threads like this one pop up a hundred times before, so I know where the discussion tends to go, once enough people have joined in.
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Casper Priestman
slightly demented
Join date: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 144
08-25-2009 06:47
Chosen, I've repeatedly seen your description of what constitutes IP rights and the "right of use" for end users in this and different threads. I'd like to see you do a sticky at the top of each Content Creation subforum. Casual users just wanting to mod an item or believing they "own" content need to be aware of this, as most likely they're not going to go and read the TOS. I think you clearly spell out the points of what you can and can't do in a concise way without offending the reader but at the same time educating them in a helpful way.

cheers!