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2022/05/04 15:55:13
Subject: How do we feel about selling literal scans of GW models?
Miguelsan wrote: I'd love to have the skill to rip the models of the old Command and Conquer games, and print them to be used as IG.
M.
There are quite a few of Red Alert and Tiberium Sun print files on Thingiverse. There's a variety of buildings, tanks and at least one NOD infantry model.
Definitely not ripped though. Both of those games use sprites, not 3D models.
Oh I'm not commenting on the viability of ripping game files to turn into models. Just trying to help make someone aware of resources that already exist if they wanted to make it happen.
Thanks for the link.
M.
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
2022/05/04 17:33:29
Subject: How do we feel about selling literal scans of GW models?
Overread wrote: GW didn't gain any additional copyright powers by moving from Old World to Age of Sigmar.
A Daughter of Khaine Melusai is just a medusa. The concept of a lower snake body upper human/elf female body armed with either spear or bow is totally open game. Heck its a highly common fantasy trope (medusa, Yuan ti) that goes back to the ancient greek times.
The only part that's protected is the specific design of the sculpt itself; the name (as that is unique) and some elements of the design itself (eg insignias and the like).
People keep saying Age of Sigmar was a copyright move and I disagree. Age of Sigmar was an attempt to take a failing product line and re-invent it. Sadly it was wrapped up with a load of other issues at the time which made it one of the worst attempts at this move ever done.
We can tell this further by the fact that GW has not destroyed the 40K universe and renamed it. Yes they renamed some armies under new names and that was, honestly, about it. GW could easily have done such things with the Old World setting if they'd wished. Many of the factions even had several different names in the lore and could easily have just used a copyrightable fantasy name from them. The Tomb Kings could have just adopted a formal title of one of the major leaders or their race from the setting - for example.
GW has been successful for years re-designing lines to get people to buy new minis and armies. The lines they totally moved away from in design and name, they absolutely have gained a much tighter IP copyright - whether the decision was for the failing line to re-invent it or to gain a stronger ownership, I cannot be convinced it was not more for the latter than the former. By merely re-inventing the line but NOT gaining tighter IP control, GW would end up in the same situation they have now - other companies making minis to directly compete with theirs. Make them unique enough with a new background and name and anyone caught even near this IP will be severely punished.
40k is a bit different, since there was not already a firmly established design, name and setting - that indeed was mostly due to GW, but I am no 40k expert... So no immediate need to change, since they already pounce upon anyone near their 40k IP.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/05/04 17:38:00
insaniak wrote: If you're taking them from your own games and printing yourself something for your personal edification, it seems unlikely to ever land you in any sort of trouble.
Sharing such models online would be a pretty clear copyright infringement.
I guess it was more a question of how people feel about it. Like, there's tools for pulling STL files out of the Total War games, so you could theoretically make an army of, I dunno, Ogres, by pulling the raw files, then posing them in unique ways and print them off so you could have a full army of Ogres with no duplicate poses.
If someone showed up to the local games club with it, how would it be received?
Let me tell you: anyone who says "you can do this" and has not actually tried doing it themselves is suffering from a serious case of Dunning-Kreuger.
you run Ninjaripper on a scene from Total war Warhammer and you find out, real quick, that theres a REASON your computer is able to handle processing a scene containing hundreds and hundreds of models on it.
you get BASIC shapes of what you want to create. Then you pose, which is a manual process, the models export as T-poses because the game handles the rigging, and then you basically "Draw The Rest of the fething Owl" to get something approaching acceptable quality as a tabletop miniature piece.
what the export rip gets you is the correct proportions, the basic sizes and shapes and limb arrangements that can be really tricky to nail down if youre starting from a little cube or a ball and trying to sculpt. But think "Playstation 1" for the actual quality of the model you get out of the export.
"Got you, Yugi! Your Rubric Marines can't fall back because I have declared the tertiary kaptaris ka'tah stance two, after the secondary dacatarai ka'tah last turn!"
"So you think, Kaiba! I declared my Thousand Sons the cult of Duplicity, which means all my psykers have access to the Sorcerous Facade power! Furthermore I will spend 8 Cabal Points to invoke Cabbalistic Focus, causing the rubrics to appear behind your custodes! The Vengeance for the Wronged and Sorcerous Fullisade stratagems along with the Malefic Maelstrom infernal pact evoked earlier in the command phase allows me to double their firepower, letting me wound on 2s and 3s!"
"you think it is you who has gotten me, yugi, but it is I who have gotten you! I declare the ever-vigilant stratagem to attack your rubrics with my custodes' ranged weapons, which with the new codex are now DAMAGE 2!!"
"...which leads you straight into my trap, Kaiba, you see I now declare the stratagem Implacable Automata, reducing all damage from your attacks by 1 and triggering my All is Dust special rule!"
2022/05/05 05:09:38
Subject: How do we feel about selling literal scans of GW models?
insaniak wrote: If you're taking them from your own games and printing yourself something for your personal edification, it seems unlikely to ever land you in any sort of trouble.
Sharing such models online would be a pretty clear copyright infringement.
I guess it was more a question of how people feel about it. Like, there's tools for pulling STL files out of the Total War games, so you could theoretically make an army of, I dunno, Ogres, by pulling the raw files, then posing them in unique ways and print them off so you could have a full army of Ogres with no duplicate poses.
If someone showed up to the local games club with it, how would it be received?
Let me tell you: anyone who says "you can do this" and has not actually tried doing it themselves is suffering from a serious case of Dunning-Kreuger.
you run Ninjaripper on a scene from Total war Warhammer and you find out, real quick, that theres a REASON your computer is able to handle processing a scene containing hundreds and hundreds of models on it.
you get BASIC shapes of what you want to create. Then you pose, which is a manual process, the models export as T-poses because the game handles the rigging, and then you basically "Draw The Rest of the fething Owl" to get something approaching acceptable quality as a tabletop miniature piece.
what the export rip gets you is the correct proportions, the basic sizes and shapes and limb arrangements that can be really tricky to nail down if youre starting from a little cube or a ball and trying to sculpt. But think "Playstation 1" for the actual quality of the model you get out of the export.
Yeah, I was oversimplifying a bit. There's videos of the sort of work that needs to be done like the one linked below. I've certainly seen some nice looking sculpts pulled from Total War, but I'm sure there was a lot of work to get there.
