Stop Using Copyrighted Anims!

Im working enough on in real life on 3D and animation to know when im watching a motion capture animation and when i'm not

it seems some people uploaded animations who come from professional animation collection, unless you really can afford the license fee its FORBITTEN (quite logic)

animation arent like textures or sound, you can very easily reconise one, trust me

and unless you can afford a motion capture studio , or rent one, there is no way you can have this kind of anims

I dont want that the animation and 3D producers see the second life community as a bunch of 3D work rippers

this could lead to very bad things, like the end of the animation feature, and im sure you dont want it


im not aiming someone in particular, i just report what i see

I agree, protected animations should not be used. I think it would be hard to prove if an animation was stolen, the uploaders conscience needs to be their guide.

But, dont be too hasty. Catherine Linden posted a link to a website that offers animations for download. I took a look and most that I saw were for free to download for both, "commercial and non-commercial use."

I have seen a lot of great animations so far, I think that anyone with some decent experience with Poser (or similar) can make quality animations on their own. With the incredible amount of creativity the SL community displays, quality animations should not be a surprise.

In addition to what Loki said, given the tech level of some of the playerbase I wouldn't be suprised if someone has access to mocap facilities, and could generate professional-quality anims that way. Remember, we've very bright and resourceful people in here

trust me its really easy.

by the way having an eccess to a mocap studio? hmm i dont think so, these things are rent for hours, and even the cheapest one are still really expensive

http://www.metamotion.com/gypsy/gypsy-motion-capture-system.htm

for sure it would be less painfull than using poser, it export directly to bvh/bvs

Of course, you dont need anything near that level of complexity.

Home-built mocap systems are not a revolutionary concept. They are just only now starting to go commercial.

All you really need is a camera, some basic animation software, and a good visual tracking system.

I've seen rudimentory systems like this for sale as childrens toys... The PS2 camera, for example, is at its heart a very, very, very primative implimentation of this.

With the full power of a computer behind you, not just the crippled PS2?

I'm talking visual mocap, primarily - multiple cameras, a ping-pong ball covered suit, and a little calibration.

Oh, and a fair few MHz of machine vision behind it. I'm convinced it's doable...

i never tried to do this kind of hand made mocap, i dunno if it would be usefull in fact, to do very beautifull movement isnt given to anybody eh, see like kata, dance or things like this

If it's free it's me, if I gotta pay, no way.

I do.

heyyy some people have a technical advantage !

Whether or not a few lucky people have access to mocap facilities, the fact remains there are copyrighted anims in-game and some of them are even being sold. What really ticks me off is people selling the copyrighted and free stuff available out there. For personal use, or even giving it out for free is perhaps acceptable... but selling them is a huge no-no. You are directly profiting off of someone else's hard work... how is that remotedly acceptable? I feel the same way about people who upload copyrighted art from the web and sell it in-world, which is also a huge problem in SL.

SL is getting more popular and its only a matter of time before companies and artists start taking notice of what's going on here.

Copyright infringement law uses distribution and selling right next to each other in the legal wording. The only difference distributing a making a (virtual?) profit off of copyrighted work makes is whether the copyright holder chooses to take civil action against you. Don't water down your argument! Anything distributed in world that is not your original work is in violation of U.S. copyright law. Unless you live on some remote island not in agreement with U.S. treaties then you do whatever you want.

You mean they bite you before you even do it? Wow... cool!

But being serious, you're absolutely right. Unless you have a home motion capture studio, STOP DOING THAT

There are lots of free sample mocap files floating around the web. Most of them are free to use for non-commercial purposes. I think using them in SL would qualify as long as they aren't being sold in SL. Just make sure you read the license agreements for any mocap samples you find online.

So what do we want to do in-World to spread the word to honor Copyright of animation and those who sell copyright items will be --------- <action word goes here> ?

Unless the artist says "This is free for commercial/noncommercial use"....

sexed by Devlin-cherub?

hmm, now is that really a punishment?

***

Seriously, I had the misfortune of purchasing a set of animations for a steep price only to find they contained several FREE animations I already had in my inventory. And what irked me more was that the very reason the other person gave them free was because they were already pre-made animations. I'm still smarting from that.

But my suggestion would be to have a huge sign posted in every store that reminds everyone of copyright laws, etc. And each vendor/creator clearly states in the description the details of their animations. How they were made, or where they were found, etc. I don't think that will guarantee people from selling stuff they shouldn't, but it's a start.

I think an issue with selling professional anims from a practical perspective (legalities and moral issues aside) is that if people are selling pro anims that anyone can find with a little searching, then what's the incentive for people to open Poser and create a custom anim to sell? What's the incentive when someone will make the same, if not more money off reselling something they found?

Giving them away is different. Then if people want something more unique, they'll go to the custom sellers. If they're freely distributed and marked as not being made by the distributor, then everyone will have them. Thus an incentive for original creators to whip out their animation tools and create something unique.

I might be wrong here. This might not hurt the custom anim creators, but I think we should always encourage creativity within our community, and not who is the best googler.

You are correct Eddy, and I'm aware that technically any form of distribution, even free, is copyright infringement. I'm just picking my battles here... the selling / profiting off of others work is far more offensive.

People do need to become more informed.. I think a lot of violation really is the result of ignorance. Some people seem to think "Oh.. its on the web it must be public domain!" Of course there are people who also know better that do it anyway because all they care about is making a quick buck.

Unfortunately we don't have much power in SL to clamp down on copyright violations. Abuse reports don't work.. because LL will only pursue a claim if it is filed by the copyright owner themselves. In most cases these artists probably have no clue SL even exists.

Lash - I like your ideas. Unfortunately they rely on people being honest and cooperative to work - which is never guaranteed. Perhaps a few honorable vendors will be willing to go that route though...

Yuki - very good point! I wholeheartedly agree.

Well, if you ask for their help and you are using copyrighted materials (Visa sign, NHL team logo), they will force you to remove the signs before they help you. Maybe that was just me

But for the most part it's pretty hard to tell if something is copyrighted or not.

For logos like Visa and NHL, I believe those fall under trademark infringement which perhaps has a different set of rules. And with those, they are so well-known there is no question about ownership.

For anims and less well-known artwork it is very tricky indeed to know who the copyright owner is. I'm sure this is why LL has the policy they do.. because it is not an easy process to prove ownership.

I have an adequate software mocap system that simply uses two webcams. Hardly expensive.

But I digress, that wasnt really the point of the thread. Sorry. Carry on.

Forget animations, stop using copyrighted anything. Why all the uproar about animations when countless copyrighted images and sounds can be found just about anywhere in Second Life?

There's a mess of infringement in SL (both copyright and trademark), the only reason the stuff doesn't get ripped down is that most of the people and corporations whose property is being jacked don't use Second Life, and are ignorant of the misuse. Just because they don't know their property is being used doesn't make it OK for you to use it.

A good (albeit very general) rule of thumb is: if you didn't create it, don't distribute it.

And for cryin' out loud, don't sell it.

I'm with Yuki. There's a big gray area concerning some of the stuff that gets uploaded to SL and in my opinion it's not of an especially grievous nature. I hightly doubt anyone's lawyers are going to get involved because someone uploaded a mocap sample into SL and people are using it. They're online as samples of the quality of the mocap setup and are not money makers for the mocap people, for the same reason that you can see one in SL and know where it came from. No one would use sample files in professional work because they're too well known. SL is not professional work. But anything like that that gets uploaded to SL should be freely distributed. It's unethical to sell anything you didn't actually create.