Guild Wars 2

timmyf.1490:

Gaile-

That said, awhile back I was trying to get a few custom-printed mugs with our guild logo on them. One for me, one for my girlfriend, and one for a giveaway to guild members. The logo got caught in a copyright filter. I directed the company to your legal page, but they told me I needed authorization.

You have an email address for the purpose and I sent an email there, but I never heard back.

We’re in the process of doing a guild t-shirt contest, but I have the same worries: will our art assets (probably the Quaggan image from the API with a unicorn horn added and our guild motto #getunicorned) get flagged? And if they do, will somebody’s hours of work creating the design go to waste because we can’t get a quick “this is okay” from the email address you guys have left?

Anyway, just a minor concern I thought might be appropriate to mention. I know there’s a real “it’s not ArenaNet’s job to okay fan art” problem here, butcomeonquagganwithaunicornhatsooooocuteanetplz.

You might need someone to hand-draw it for you, with a few minor changes.

Palador.2170:

You might need someone to hand-draw it for you, with a few minor changes.

Right, but if non-commercial re-use is permitted, why would that matter?

timmyf.1490:

Palador.2170:

You might need someone to hand-draw it for you, with a few minor changes.

Right, but if non-commercial re-use is permitted, why would that matter?

Because the company printing the mugs and such for you wants to avoid any and all legal issues that might come from making money by reprinting it for you. All it would take is one little bit of legal action against them to take away the profit from a dozen such jobs.

If you present them with your own version, different just enough that it avoids the legal issues, then they’ll be more willing to do it.

I’d rather get permission than have to play games with Fair Use laws.

CrashTestAuto.9108:

If that was done conveniently, I’d love to know how. I realise you can just manually cut out a character in Photoshop, but depending on lighting and colours that’s a bit of a pain.

3dsmax to rig and assemble the models, and Photoshop to create custom bump maps, to bring out more of the detail on the textures. But of course you also need to acquire the models first, for which multiple solutions were mentioned earlier. I’m not exactly sure what Anet’s policy on that is, so I won’t go into detail on that.

Suffice to say, it is a lot of work, and it helps to have some understanding of 3d modelling as well. Hopefully I’ll soon be able to share a video with you all, that Gaile can send around the office multiple times.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Hmmm. We want to help! What e-mail address are you using?

Thanks Gaile! This was a few months ago, but I used the email address listed on the Content TOU page, community@arena.net. It created a ticket and everything, I just never saw a response.

I would have followed up, but to be honest, I already had felt like I was making extra work for you guys, so I decided to scrap the project.

Gaile Gray.6029:

timmyf.1490:

I’d rather get permission than have to play games with Fair Use laws.

I respect that, particularly since I have worked with attorneys for years and from what I understand, most of us non-legal types don’t really understand “fair use.” For instance, someone told me once “If you change XX%, you can use assets.” Not true, there is no “set percentage” for that sort of thing.

The best thing is to do is analyze the project, as I said above, and if this is for single, non-profit use, to see that the CToU clearly allows that.

timmyf.1490:

Gaile-

That said, awhile back I was trying to get a few custom-printed mugs with our guild logo on them. One for me, one for my girlfriend, and one for a giveaway to guild members. The logo got caught in a copyright filter. I directed the company to your legal page, but they told me I needed authorization.

You have an email address for the purpose and I sent an email there, but I never heard back.

We’re in the process of doing a guild t-shirt contest, but I have the same worries: will our art assets (probably the Quaggan image from the API with a unicorn horn added and our guild motto #getunicorned) get flagged? And if they do, will somebody’s hours of work creating the design go to waste because we can’t get a quick “this is okay” from the email address you guys have left?

Anyway, just a minor concern I thought might be appropriate to mention. I know there’s a real “it’s not ArenaNet’s job to okay fan art” problem here, butcomeonquagganwithaunicornhatsooooocuteanetplz.

Hmmm. We want to help! What e-mail address are you using?

I wanted to do a “I did the orr temple zerg and all i got were these porus bones” tee-shirts, thought they’d be a fun sell and help pay for the NSP website.

Curiously however, what about cosplay and people that earn money from those contests? The border of legality is fuzzy sometimes.

I think it’s a cool idea to sell peoples characters as 3d printed statues, i’m sure you could sanction something like that with some sort of royalty system, if the person doing it was legit and on task.

I can’t tell you how many etsy things i’ve bought that were GW2 oriented. Quaggan stuff mostly, since my wife can’t get enough of em.

Regardless, there has to be some leeway as to what arena would allow on a case by case basis, no?

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

CrashTestAuto.9108:

If that was done conveniently, I’d love to know how. I realise you can just manually cut out a character in Photoshop, but depending on lighting and colours that’s a bit of a pain.

3dsmax to rig and assemble the models, and Photoshop to create custom bump maps, to bring out more of the detail on the textures. But of course you also need to acquire the models first, for which multiple solutions were mentioned earlier. I’m not exactly sure what Anet’s policy on that is, so I won’t go into detail on that.

Suffice to say, it is a lot of work, and it helps to have some understanding of 3d modelling as well. Hopefully I’ll soon be able to share a video with you all, that Gaile can send around the office multiple times.

You could ask that_shaman, he’s been pulling models and outfits out of the dat file for awhile now. Once you ensemble those, the rest is cake. Just have to know how to get to the data.

Gaile, I’m confused as this thread is about 3d printing, rather than just using artwork.

Are you saying that as long as it’s not for commercial use, that it’s OK to reverse engineer character models and textures (either from the dat file or computer memory) in order to 3d print physical models (for non-commercial personal use)?

I don’t see what is confusing. As long as you don’t use the Anet company owned assets for profit or non-personal use, you are within the Terms of Use.

People analyze the GW2.DAT file all the time and Anet doesn’t sue them (at least not to my knowledge). As long as the data and assets are not used for profit, I’m not sure why they would care if you used them to print 3D models…..absolutely no different than printing out a screenshot or posting it on a website.

If what you are looking for is “Sure, go ahead and do whatever you want to obtain the data to do 3D printing”, that is likely NOT going to be stated here or anywhere (they MUST protect their assets from any future claims that they did NOT protect them).

InfernoHero.5687:

Is it possible to rip character models from the game in order to 3D print them as figures?

For profit or for personal enjoyment?

Reaven.3958:

InfernoHero.5687:

Is it possible to rip character models from the game in order to 3D print them as figures?

For profit or for personal enjoyment?

To make a little figure of my Norn to sit beside my Rytlock statue. (Personal use)

What about taking multiple screenshots around the char and using photo-to-3D software?

For sure, the model is still property of Anet, but at least no direct copy from Dat (or memory copy of it) is involved. Photo-to-3D is cheaper than hiring a pro model maker. Sort of a 3D-screenshot.

Grimm, there is a difference between being “allowed” to use ANet assets for personal use, and being “able” to use ANets assets for personal use. Reverse engineering is banned according to the very same document that allows use of the assets. It also required the use of third party programs, which are also against the ToS.

Therefore there is an element of confusion by being seemingly told that we ‘can’ 3d print assets for personal use, in a thread where the method of obtaining those assets is specifically been stated as ripping them from the DAT, and not sculpting them yourself.

The fact that a lot of people analyse the DAT file, and don’t get sued, does not change the fact that the process of analysing the DAT, extracting the model and then piecing the model back together again in order to ‘use the asset’, is not allowed according to the document posted. This process is completely different to hitting ‘PrtScn’ and uploading a file that the game creates for you to the internet.

Even AnniMaira’s suggestion in the post above, could be considered ‘Reverse Engineering’. Unless they officially state that reverse engineering assets for the express purpose of personal use 3d printing is ok, then 3d printing reverse engineered assets is NOT ok.

There is a difference in saying “Yes, you can 3d print models that are based on GW2 IP” and “Yes, you can 3d print models that you’ve extracted from the game”. The first, gives permission for a sculptor or modeller to create their own models ‘based on GW2 IP’ and print them, the second gives permission to reverse engineer assets.

There is also a difference between “Yes, you can pay a commercial 3d printing company to print GW2 assets” and “Yes, you can use your own 3d printer to print GW2 assets”. By paying a company to print the figures, the assets have been used commercially. You might not be making money, but the 3d printing company is.

Without a specific statement to the contrary, this thread has only established that it’s ok to sculpt yourself a digital model based on GW2 IP, and then use your own personal home 3d printer to create a copy for your own personal use.

I drop here a question regarding content usage. In the future, I wish to create a small non-commercial, fan videogame related to Guild Wars 2 universe. In the content usage page, it says something like this:
[\quote]May I use your art or images for items, such as clothing, toys, or other game-related goods?
Our art assets-be they concept art, in-game screenshots, verbal content, or renders-are all copyrighted materials. Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet. Specific questions concerning the appropriate use of our content should be directed to community@arena.net."[\quote]

For example, if I re-model some assets and use them in a fan non-commercial game project, is the permission needed ?

Also, are the content usage rules for videogames the same as for literary and musical pieces? (Non-commercial)

The content terms of use for fan videogames are not very clear. Could someone clarify ? Do Arena.Net tolerates them ?

I’d pay quite a bit to get my main character in 3D! That would be so awsome!!! Would be cool to have her standing next to my Rytlock figurine