I was recently discussing this subject with some classmates who were upset that our school printed out a poster size picture of one of the students who was graduatiing at our career portfolio day. The beef most students had was that he created the piece using a tutorial from a book and it looked just like the piece nothing different. My question is it ethical or even practical to use pieces from tutorials in your portfolio. Personally I didn't care that he used it, I only cared that the school made it seem like he was so much better than everyone else when the truth was he created something good from a step by step tutorial that wasn't even his own idea. I might of said it was good if he only used the model but created the environment himself, but he used the exact same scene. What are some of your thoughts. I know a lot of you were in school and work in the industry now, how is this looked upon. Will some employer recognize this piece and overlook him for a job for plagarizm or are they just look to see if you understand the techniques of modeling.

it wont cut any sway in industry. If you only have stuff that's made from tutes you wont get far dont worry about the school. They're only out to make themselves look good. Just worry about your stuff and how you present yourself. If that person used a tute and can't do it by themselves they will soon get found out.

Alan

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Alan is 1000% correct on that.

Also I don't think your school has much of a teaching program if they are unaware of his plagiarism. He has used a character in his portfolio without the permission of the owner, and then took the environment from the same book and passed this off as his own. Also there is no original content there what so ever. As for the school trying to look good, I think they may find themselves in a bit of a sticky situation when it comes to copyright and reproduction of the tutorial work, again without permission.

Hey, don't sweat it, the people "in the know", will know where that image came from. The CG Industry is quite small and tight nit so word passes quickly from company to company.

Why don't you grab your tutor and tell him of this? He could be doing a more talented artist out of recognition. No one will blow your trumpet for you, so get your lips round your mouthpiece and blow.

His Demo Reel will mean nothing as soon as tute work is seen in it.

What school was this? :p

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Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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I don't want to get anyone in trouble. I just thought the school were playing favoritism.

Isnt it okay to use a model from a tut/book for a strictly non commercial purpose; may it be use in a personal portfolio or modifying for personal use?

No, you still need the copyright owners permission, regardless of its use. It is not your property.

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Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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Originally posted by R@nSiD
No, you still need the copyright owners permission, regardless of its use. It is not your property.

Originally Posted by

If someone buys a dvd and/ or book and "improves"the model to his or her liking and doesn't use the model to make money out of it i personally don't see any problems with it.
if someone uses the model in his or her portfolio without mentioning the one that created the actual model, then i would agree with you.
And if you really want to go "out there";
Is there really something like a true original concept/idea that isn't thought of before.
Take the harry potter book series(which i like a lot by the way) for instance;
it has something from the knights of the round table(merlin-dumbledore), starwars(dark wizard/voldemort-darkside/emperor),(dobby-yoda).
and these were just to name a few.
What i mean to say is that everyone that makes something looks at the people around them and things that they see in their lives(like movies,music, architecture etc.)and based on that make something so subconsiously/indirectly everybody's stealing

I think using tutorial stuff as personal learning is great. It's in the same vein as copying the great art masters work and learning something from it. Adding your take onto the end result should be encouraged.
I dont agree with using that work as any form of commerical object though (unless the original tutorial writer is happy with it). Whether it be for advertising a course or for commercially paid work if it isn't immediately obvious that it is from a tutorial or has been copied then it should be referenced. Like the other guys say, it'll probaby be pretty obvious to potential employers that they copied from a tutorial and their standing will be significantly diminished.

Si

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mastone,

Your talking about amendments and changes to a theme, Harry is a Hero, as is Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Indiana Jones etc...

TBH the subject of copyright law is so vast it would be months to go over everything. I was a police office for 11 years and had to cover the basics of copyright law and it took 3 weeks (8 hours a day, 5 days a week).

The concept of a Hero cannot be protected or copyrighted its the same as trying to copyright your engagement or falling down the stairs. Its not tangable, therefore would not really fall under the bounds of copyright law. Ideas would only get a look in if it has been written down or in the case of inventions, have been patened.

But the idea to taking someones idea or image and amending it to suit your needs, can be considered plagarism and could be subject to copyright laws.

If you buy a DVD Movie and then show this at a public event. You have broken the law, copyright on that case is breaking the agreement you made when your purchased it and read the statement on not editing it, show publicly etc... Found at the beginning of every DVD purchase.

Whether you have purchased the DVD or not, does not give you the legal right to use its content, as you see fit, without the permission of the copyright owner. Even if it is not within the public domain. If you wanted to use someones work, write to the publisher/distributer or owner and ask. If its for personal use, they will probably not charge you, or will ask to be able to use your work in return. Its all swings and round abouts. But in reality 20thCentury Fox are not going to hunt you down cause you made chewies fur blue.

Plagarism, is simply taking someones work or idea and passing it off as our own.

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Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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yeah im on alans side here ...