I've noticed a number of celebrity characters for sale lately. Can't help but wonder how long it will be before they get wind of the fact that their likenesses are being sold for profit. Wouldn't they deserve a royalty for using their"biological" property? Maybe their plastic surgeons should get a cut too, lol.

I could see someone using Poser or some other software to create a fairly realistic advertisement, for instance, that would appear to be getting an endorsement from Bruce Willis or Salma Hayek. Or worse, putting these characters in compromising positions, muddying the renders and selling the photo to a tabloid as a hidden camera shot. This is definately an issue for the 21st century as 3D becomes more and more realistic.

Maybe in the future an "actor" will just sell his face and not be needed to act at all. Or maybe some unscrupulous lawyer will talk some poor slob into selling his likeness where the individual wouldn't have the right to use it anymore.</paranoid sci fi inspired speculation>

Just a thought.

The rule is simple:  If you're rich enough to hire predatory lawyers, you own anything and everything that you choose to own.  If not, you own nothing.

I think it would fall under parady laws. 10 or so years ago a cartoonist was sued by one of the big houses like Warner brothers and he had enough funds to counter sue them and it went to the state supreme court I think in Pennsilvania. and he won. as long as it not a photograph and it's not 100 percent like the orginal item it's consider a parady and the person doesn't have any right to the item. ever sense that ruling Disney WB and the others have back off on all the harrassment they used to do 15 years ago with anyone messing withtheir likeness. The fanart people used to get harrassed all the time rarely see it any more. I've wondered about that myself I've been tryiing to work on some of the old actors like Boris Karloff and others to bring them back to life and have a debate with a real bat, one of the newer batman, Manbat, and the original Dracula as to how people relate to bats from thier movies.  I figure a good way to educate the public on the truth about bats.

I just checked in the mirror and yes, I still do own my face, but if anyone wants to buy it, I'm open to suggestions :biggrin:

I know that DAZ pays people to stand model for their figures/characters, remember how they teamed up with a porn model 2 years back or so? They make sure no one will ever sue them, but as long as you don't go 100% it's not an issue and as long as you don't call your character Bruce Willis or whoever it's modeled after.

Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

;)

Laurie

I have no face

Hmnn, divergent opinions. I guess I'm leaning more towards Ockham's point of view. Most celebs probably wouldn't worry about fan art unless it were really offensive and widespread. But if a celeb became aware of a popular image or vid they didn't like, they could threaten the author. Seeing as how fan art is usually created by regular folks without the time or money to defend themselves they'd probably just pull the artwork from circulation. If the image was used for commercial purposes such as an advertisement or film, an individual could claim the infringer was taking money off his table though, and I would tend to agree with them.

Whoever agreed to model for Daz signed a waiver. I doubt Will Smith and Bruce Willis posed for their models or they would be promoted as such. These new technologies provides a realism where the average citizen could be confused as to whether it was "live or Memorex". It's not like a cartoon. Point is as technologies advance, rightsholders get nervous and lawyers see opportunities. Sharing cassettes, OK; sharing MP3, no way.

I'm predicting lawsuits over rights to digital likenesses, mo cap performances, etc in the near future. Maybe not in the Poser world but in some part of the 3D community.

porn sites steal every thing movies,people,carrtoons.I always woundered how they keep from getting sued dayly.they even copy past peoples faces photos.

but they say bad publicity is still good.

don't think renderosity venders make much anyways.
public wouldn't like a billion air movie star suing a poor Artist.

hollywood reeped off movie 300 .

but they say DC owns capes have copyrights on all capes.
so guess we can steal anything but can't draw a cape.

I expect new laws to be written with the realism in CGI models now and mocap making seamless animation you won't be able to tell the difference in the future I'd expect to see some kind of challenge in the near future maybe a mickael Jackson movie or music video or something then we'll see who pays for what.  Advertisers will most likely be the first to test the waters.

"remember how they teamed up with a porn model 2 years back or so?"

I think it was Reby Sky or some such who was scanned by Daz, who isn't a porn star per se but a wrestler and fitness model (but pro wrestling and "fitness" model could be considered pornography if dissected critically). Celebrities are routinely scanned for licensed digital content, movie tie-in video games for instance. That's with consent though...

Non-consensual digital scanning would be distinctly more ominous.

Attached Link: http://www.daz3d.com/anna-marie-goddard-digital-clone

Quote - They are probably talking about Ann Marie Goddard with regards to the adult model.

She's lucky she didn't get sued for looking like Vicky 3, LOL.

Quote - Non-consensual digital scanning would be distinctly more ominous.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a consensual scan being reused or released without permission. But catch one of these folks on a drunken bender, scan em up and drop em back off before they wake up might work. Anyone interested in a Lindsay Lohan or David Hasselhof model?

. . . Didn't think so.

Wouldn't the advertisong be a gray area? After all don't they sometimes use celeb. look-a-likes? How can they prove that it was maodeled after Bruce Willis and not someone who looks like him? All they would probably have to do is put in the fine print a disclaimer about it not being the celeb and that would most likely give them an out.

Parady falls under the fair use part of copyright and as such is a defense not an absolute.  For something to be considered parady it must make a statement; political, social, comedic or a little of all; it cannot be slanderous.  Vendors selling likenesses are not protected under the parady exception, neither are people that give them away.

Advertising is not a grey area.  Without the celebs concent it is not allowed to use their likeness or voice in an ad and may lead to a simple cease and desist order or a civil lawsuit.

"They are probably talking about Ann Marie Goddard with regards to the adult model."

I was thinking a little more recently with current Gen...

http://www.daz3d.com/v4-elite-reby-sky

Quote - Advertising is not a grey area.  Without the celebs concent it is not allowed to use their likeness or voice in an ad and may lead to a simple cease and desist order or a civil lawsuit.

Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper are suing a television manufacturer for using an A-Team clip to show the crispness of the picture.

Bought the "Red" character for M4 awhile back. Got an email recently that said the product had been pulled and that the character could no longer be used commercially, but was still ok for non commercial renders, and you could get a refund if you wanted but would have to remove the character from your hard drive.

Not too sure about the legality of changing a licensing agreement after you've purchased a product...

Quote - Bought the "Red" character for M4 awhile back. Got an email recently that said the product had been pulled and that the character could no longer be used commercially, but was still ok for non commercial renders, and you could get a refund if you wanted but would have to remove the character from your hard drive.

Not too sure about the legality of changing a licensing agreement after you've purchased a product...

And there you have it. Interestingly, a number of the other celebrity look alikes at the vendors store have been modified to not look so much like the original model. I'm assuming they are just morphs of the original. They look like charicatures now which is almost better.

I guess you could go after the vendor for changing the terms but even if you won you'd have to contend with ReD's lawyers if you tried to use it commercially.

I bought a character called red from here who looked like a movie star.  recently I got an email saying I can get my money back but I can't use him for commercial. I had already used him in  my comic so I had to go back and render and postwork those images all over again! not sure what the copyright violation was though - just guessing.

"I expect new laws to be written with the realism …"

I agree. The laws will eventually be forced to deal with it. As the technology evolves, we all know that somone will use it for whatever can be dreamed up. Maybe there'll be a mandate that all 3D content have a digital watermark to identify it as synthetic imagery. I can imagine what will happen when/if it becomes possible to create a credible 3D character from any cellphone snapshot. Cyberbullying is going to reach a whole new level. Usually takes a few hundred suicides/murders or ordinary people or one or two rich folks getting their feelings hurt before anything happens though.  

Quote - Maybe in the future an "actor" will just sell his face and not be needed to act at all.

isn't lindsay lohan already doing that?

Okam's razor

"I can imagine what will happen when/if it becomes possible to create a credible 3D character from any cellphone snapshot."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nice6NYb_WA

The good stuff starts at 2.10.

That demo video is actually quite old, and the technology is now available here:  vizago.ch

 "Cyberbullying is going to reach a whole new level."

Indeed. The possbilities are quite, let's say, manifold ?

Add Google-glasses and cheap spycam equipped quadcopters for anyone to the equasion, and say hello to the world of total social control.

that pretty cool it doesn't say if these are pictures or 3d objects I'm guessing there just pictures it's morphing. interesting though. 

"I'm guessing there just pictures it's morphing."

Nope.

The algorithm creates actual 3D mesh heads which are then rendered using lights to match the original photograph. It's a bit like Poser's Faceroom, only much, much better.

Add a matching body to that 3D head and you can do literally anything.

That's too bad!

Quote - I bought a character called red from here who looked like a movie star.  recently I got an email saying I can get my money back but I can't use him for commercial. I had already used him in  my comic so I had to go back and render and postwork those images all over again! not sure what the copyright violation was though - just guessing.

If I recall correctly, there was a Paris Hilton character done once. It got pulled amidst some amount of excitement. Since then, I've seen several, though.

that morphing face thing reminds me of an old  program I have on my Mac called Canoma. Canoma converted photos into 3D architecture. I think Adobe bought them out soon after the program was released.

Yikes! Glad I purchased when I did. Dangerous Lady no longer looks like C.Theron- and Boxer no longer looks like Stallone- frankly-I thought they were ALREADY characatures-and should have been fine as they were.

And there you have it. Interestingly, a number of the other celebrity look alikes at the vendors store have been modified to not look so much like the original model. I'm assuming they are just morphs of the original. They look like charicatures now which is almost better.

I guess you could go after the vendor for changing the terms but even if you won you'd have to contend with ReD's lawyers if you tried to use it commercially.

I thought about doing a comic with store boult content ,but I can't .
I know I can't buy batman and use him in my comics.
I've seen 300 armor & game of throwns black crow armor.
I know i can't use them in my comics.
but if i never seen 300 or black crows how would i have of known ?
since I don't know for sure about all the content.
I can't use none of it.
I would think this is why a lot of Pro's don't use the stores.

Mihrelle's stuff looks untouched so far. Get while the gettin's good.

As for using a 3D version of a person in advertising, have you seen this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuW7-Hu3qYA

and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxYa4yjp3eU

Somebody owns the rights to the likeness' of these people, but not necessarily the people involved.

You can still "See the join" but I'm sad to say that I don't think that Marilyn Monroe porn film is far off :(

Quote - Yikes! Glad I purchased when I did. Dangerous Lady no longer looks like C.Theron- and Boxer no longer looks like Stallone- frankly-I thought they were ALREADY characatures-and should have been fine as they were.

I'm guessing the vendor just used morph dials to move the features away from optimal and posted new images. I bet you could dial them back if you purchased the package.

“that morphing face thing reminds me of an old program I have on my Mac called Canoma.”

Yep. Canoma was part of the old Metacreations product line that included Poser. I don’t remember who bought it, Adobe or Corel, but the never brought it out again. I may still have a couple of building props that were created with Canoma.

The Lohan phenomenon may be the saving grace for real performers in a 3D cloned world. The masses will always want real people with real messed up lives that they can gawk at. OTOH, if the popularity of ‘reality’ entertainment is any indication, made up lives for made up characters may suffice just as well eventually. Apparently various 3D anime characters have achieved quite a bit of (almost like real people) popularity in Japan – more so than here.

Actually they are excellent likenesses-or were. Dangerous Lady-is not as close-but I'm glad I bought her when I did-evidently just before she was changed. The textures, displacemen,specular are very good! I added SSS via EZ Skin to Dangerous Lady-the other two have no SSS-yet. Not planning any commercial efforts

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I'm guessing the vendor just used morph dials to move the features away from optimal and posted new images. I bet you could dial them back if you purchased the package.

Attached Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLiX5d3rC6o