mm asking for permission is the only way to know from case to case. A point to keep in mind is that you can never apply one case to another when it comes to copyright. A couple of examples: people cant take a screenshot from a website or a photo and change it around and claim its their design, that is a serious copyright infringmenet, unless for some reason that website would allow it. People cant redistribute purchased items, unless that item comes with a license that allows that. People can in most cases take a photo of pretty much everything and use that photo for textures or the photo itself because its theirs, but one cant for one example take a photo of a location with other humans in the photograph and then publish the photo unless you have a written agreement from everyone in the photo. and as far as the vue scenes goes: no one could redistribute the files from the vue cds, including the scenes. But you do seem to miss an obvious point here, e.on themselfs, which owns vue, has claimed that anyone purchasing vue can use the objects and scenes in vue and render a render as their own. HOWEVER e.on has also said that anyone doing so should credit the artist that actually made the original scene. E.on might have changed their mind on this subject now that they released vue5, this was something e.on publicly posted during vue4, so the license for vue5 might be different. Then again, people should always ask the artist/owner in question and never asume something. My point in this case tho is that its ultimately e.ons decisions since its their application, its just like a commercial web/media project, the final results belongs to the company making it, not the people working on it, and once its fully paid it belongs to the client unless the deal between the client and the design firm claims otherwise. So in case of the vue scenes, ask the artists but even if they say its ok its ultimately up to e.on because its their material and application, unless there is a license between e.on and the artist that claims otherwise, but if it is that needs to be mentioned to the people buying vue in the manual, just how it is, and unless there is such a note you actually need to ask e.on not the artist. And no one cant apply what goes for vue to a photo/statue/another application or a website, its all completely different things and its all regulated by that particular situations license, however if there is no license in the case of a website that doesnt mean you can take a screenshot and alter it, because it is copyrighted and if you do so youre commiting a copyright infringmenet and that might cost you dearly in court(its very expensive), but in the case of an application it is regulated in the license/user agreement and it is ultimately up to e.on. So check the manual first, and if theres no mention of the use of the scenes for your own renders in vue5, you need to ask e.on, not the original artist, if e.on say that its up to the original artist then go ahead and ask them, but unless e.on has changed their preferences they will say that the scenes are there to be used, but you should credit the originial artist, and if youre in back luck e.on has changed their mind and could claim that you cant use the scenes in your own renders regardless of what the original artist say, in which case you would end up in serious trouble even if you would have the go ahead from the original artist, then again i know this woudnt happen in the case of vue/e.on, but it could in other cases. This is not my personal opinion so dont flame me, this is based on what the law states and in the case of vue/e.on what e.on has publicly stated earlier on. My personal opinion on copyright infringements is that its serious and i know that we would persecute anyone commiting one, im also a fair believer in asking whenever in doubt, and alot of times you do get lucky just because you did ask and get permission, but people shoudnt in the case of vue/e.on confuse personal feelings whith what the law stipulates. So check with e.on/vue5 user agreement/license and if needed then ask the artist for permission. Sorry for the long post :)