"Darren MJ" <POV### [at] NOtacitSPAMfsnetPLEASEcouk> wrote in message
news:404f78a7$1@news.povray.org...
> Appologies if this has been asked before, but I can't find an answer;
> Is it ok to use elements from the example files (with attributing them
> to the original author/file) in my own images without tracking down
> and asking the authors individually?

I believe the long-standing answer to that, is, "derivitive" works should
not be done by using the original sample scene files. Pretty sure it says so
in the POV docs someplace. Not sure at all about these newsgroups and
content thereof. My concept of this would be including a file and using it
for a rendering of a poster sold at www.zazzle.com. Most examples are for
learning from though, so you almost need to use them in a way to propogate
into your own scenes.

There's always some question as to what extent this goes. I, for one, am not
too strict on myself about it at all. I can be downright sloppy about it,
simply because I don't really do anything with my renderings besides show
them. However, a good (or bad) case in point is one hallmark of POV scenes
since at least version 1.0, chess.pov, which I changed a little and even
placed the word "copyright" on some images of it later on (can't recall if
any on WWW though). Idea of that wasn't to claim as wholly my own work but
to prevent misuse of the image itself by others on down the line. I'm
terrible at trying to credit others out of laziness, but that's only part of
it. Sometimes it's very difficult to keep track (or track down) owners of
previous works so I don't always let that stop me from getting it out to be
seen.

Putting every name ever having anything to do with a scene file on images
isn't exactly conducive to the end-result image, if you get my meaning. Even
though JPEG's will hold info internally I've never really put that to use
either. Paragraphs written on gallery web pages to credit people isn't what
I care to do much of, so I avoid it and so also avoid using what others try
to guard. Note that I tried e-mailing the creator of chess.pov about the
change I made at some point in the mid-90's but never heard from him. Makes
it all the worse when something like that is so great to use, as has the
benchmarking been doing all this time.

As to my own stuff, if you find it it's yours, unless it also says do not
use until I say so. Which isn't likely, at least until I get a potentially
profitable thing made.  ;-)

Bob H.

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