Use of purchased / commercial mesh's / 3d models

[[APS]Gnat]

Obviously you can buy all sorts of meshs/3d models (with or without textures) from various web sites like TurboQuid and The3DStudio (which I've yet to ever do), but do the conditions of their purchase prohibit;
- an addon being made using that model as the basis?
- the same addon being distributed to the community in binarized form, for no commercial gain?

I'm not familiar with the exact terms and conditions of these types of purchases.
- Do T&C's vary within a web site, but dependant on author?
- Are there specific sites that allow purchase and "game" type use?
- Are they all, or just some based on a "Royalty per use" type scheme?

I ask because theres various good quality models out there (with lower poly count to suit the game) that I'd be quite willing to purchase and turn into community addons.

PS: I dont wish to debate whether "binarized" meets the specific T&Cs of the commercial purchase, I'd just like to know what the actual T&C's say.
In RL I administer a couple dozen contracts in the 100's of $millions ..... I can do the interpreting myself ..... not to say I'm not interested in what you think it means.
.... and any real life test cases of such use.
Cheers.

[[FRL]Myke]

IMHO you should be on the safe side if you contact the respective site admin/webteam and ask directly if it's allowed or not. Make sure you clearly state it is non-profit, non-commercial.


:EDITH:
Take a look at this site:http://www-roc.inria.fr/gamma/gamma/...d/download.php
There are a few pretty good models in 3ds format and as far as i understand it, free for non-commercial, non-profit use.

[Max Power]

I was reading some licensing information on TS a while ago, and it seems like the licenses are customizable by the artist or seller to a certain extent. Some may allow derivative works, some may not, is what I got out of it.

[[APS]Gnat]

OK, thanks guys. Given it seems possible, I would have thought maybe a few more people would have used such methods in this community by now .....

[Max Power]

It's probably the cash involved. People have been taking models from free 3d sites, or borrowing them from other games for a while. Robert Hammer is a good example of a legit user of 3rd party 3d files. Stalker game files are also up for grabs and have been used. In the case of the latter, it seems like they need some TLC before they can be used in ArmA and that also seems to be the deterrent for non-artists. For artists, I think the exercise is mainly the art side and not so much the making a billion addons side.

[EricM]

Quality models are usually very expensive on Turbosquid, probably way too much for a non-profit use. On a commercial project I can swallow the pill and recoup it on whatever I bill the client, but for a free mod, it's not usually worth it.

Then most of it is very highpoly with subpar topology and/or textures (there's almost always a catch), so you really have to work a lot to make this usable in a real-time engine.

The best you could do with this is maybe use it as a 3D blueprint, to rebuild your mesh around that, in which case I don't think you would infringe any copyright if there are actually no original polygons or textures used and it's based on a real-life design (if you copy an original design, it's another story).

Stalker, Counterstrike and FS planes have the advantage of being already meant for RT engines.

From my little experience, if you know how to model in a 3D package, it's not really worth the cash investment and converstion work for a free mod.

[PuFu]

Quality models are usually very expensive on Turbosquid, probably way too much for a non-profit use. On a commercial project I can swallow the pill and recoup it on whatever I bill the client, but for a free mod, it's not usually worth it.

Then most of it is very highpoly with subpar topology and/or textures (there's almost always a catch), so you really have to work a lot to make this usable in a real-time engine.

The best you could do with this is maybe use it as a 3D blueprint, to rebuild your mesh around that, in which case I don't think you would infringe any copyright if there are actually no original polygons or textures used and it's based on a real-life design (if you copy an original design, it's another story).

Stalker, Counterstrike and FS planes have the advantage of being already meant for RT engines.

From my little experience, if you know how to model in a 3D package, it's not really worth the cash investment and converstion work for a free mod.

I agree with that completely. Additionally, you could use one of the HD models on commercial 3d websites to bake the normals, but taking it down to LP (at least on a mesh you haven't built yourself) is not an easy task

[[APS]Gnat]

Nice feedback, thanks.
I guess in general, I'm low on free time and skills (read: patience! ), so I'm more willing to part with cash (i have some the wife tells me! ) to get a few IDEAL and very usable/suitable addons into the game.

I seem to find time to do major mesh overhauls on most of the stuff I release (because much of its not mine), but I doubt I have time to rebuild a whole mesh from scratch and am very unskilled in textures and UV mapping.

I guess if I find good lower poly models with good textures, I'll ping the author to see whats my options.

[F2F_BHO]

yeah, ran into this problem as well, and when i contacted the author/company,(mind you after i had already purchased the Model). and was promptly clipped in these very forums by some senior members, anyway i found out that i had a conditional lic, on the product i purchased. I then asked the Author/Company what where the terms of using the Mesh in a RT 3d environment where, and they stated a price in the 2-3k range that quickly dashed that project from my list of to do items.

[[APS]Gnat]

Ouch! So with some suppliers, the price changes for a variation on usage .......
Hobby pricing that isn't, I won't have that much cash.