I started doing some freelance for the company and they need to render their products in office environment and such so I told them I could quickly model the environments and put their stuff in there.
I had a huge archive of different models from evermotion and dosch and others for a long time, which I got from perisa and torrents and I regularly used those models for freelance purposes.
My question is - how possible is for evermotion for example to see their models at some random company's website and to ask them if these models in the image were actually bought from them? Considering that I'm independent contractor but I never did it before, I wonder if they are even able to tell if their models were used anywhere by looking at the images?
>>535302
You don't lightly alter the shit you download?
That's asset stealing 101, Anon.
>>535303
I do change materials, sometimes models themselves and I mostly use stuff like computers, TVs and chairs. The rest I model myself.
>>535304
Well if you alter the model and make it look indistinguishable to theirs then you should be fine
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>>535305
I see, I should probably go with it + mix it with some free stuff from the internet. Thanks anon.
>>535306
>mix it with some free stuff from the internet.
That just makes you seem cheap and poor.
>>535307
They give me a photograph as a reference, 2 days per rendering to imitate that photograph and recreate everything in it + add their product and pay me 150-175 bucks, from which I also have to pay taxes. Should I give them the highest quality stuff?
>>535309
Give them what they want. I'm sure they'll change their design after you already rendered it.
Just go ask /gd/ what working with a client is like.
>>535310
They actually don't change anything. Only ask to fix things over and over once it's done. For free of course, I can' ask them for 200 or 300 for a render, they will just tell me to fuck off.
>>535312
>Only ask to fix things over and over once it's done
Little things, right? That's how it is. The client always think they are the best designer even when they can't design things for shit.
>>535302
Unless you're freelancing for a huge studio, no one is going to care, and then they'd use your employer not you and even then the employer would just state "All our contractors agree to only use licensed assets they purchased themselves" and then when the company asks for who worked on the project, they'll say a number of freelancers worked on it and that differentiating the thief's work from the valid freelancers is impossible
That said, you should still alter your shit mostly so it doesn't look like it came out of a stock catalogue of shit and doesn't have that generic "this was made using industry standard tools and settings" look that a lot of shit has
>>535312
>I can' ask them for 200 or 300 for a render, they will just tell me to fuck off.
Uh yes you can. "Every time I render this scene, I have to buy render time from a farm. I don't mind eating the cost of one or two re-renders, but if the changes start to fall outside the agreed upon parameters of the initial [contract / project / work], I'm going to have to insist you cover the additional costs. I think you'll agree that's fair, and find that any other contractor would tell you the same."
It's called Negotiating.
Anons replying about intellectual property infringement here never been through it.
3D has yet to catch up as an industry for catching IP infringement because the technology is more complicated. Bots are always scanning YouTube automatically finding IP infringement. Then the pirates add new tech and the industry adapts. Its a cat and mouse game to identify IP infringement cheaply. Botnets detect pirated software and lists of infringers are sold to law firms as targets.
Once you get caught though, you aren't going to court. Courts love proof, but you're going to settle out of court because court is beaucoups bucks.
Your client isn't going to cover your ass, either. They aren't going to hide you in a pile of other freelancers and go "hurr durr which one is it!"
They're going to turn your name over because that covers their liability. Someone pays. But the dumb part is, the client is usually always so cheap and shortsighted that they think they can get away with paying nothing and doing no work to limit their exposure by making sure their shit is legit.
The guy telling you to negotiate is your true friend OP. Google around and find some scary literature on the risks of intellectual property infringement to businesses. The BSA, RIAA, and MPAA love to publish scareshit like that.
That's the only way greedy cheapskate businesses pay up: when they are convinced they risk to lose a lot more than if they just pay up front.
Where I'm working now, a law firm is asking for 3x retail price plus legal fees ($60,000 total) and tell us in court we'll face up to $1,300,000.
The owner of the company not only didn't hesitate to throw one of our contractors under the bus, but spent about $1,000 in company resources plus whatever he's paying the lawyer to place the full blame on this guy.
Go spend $300. Talk to a lawyer. Ask how to structure your freelancing business to limit your liability. If you don't have some kind of corporation to assume, you own assets can be taken.
>>535336
>>535328
>>535325
They actually have a contract with me that says that I'm not their employee and they don't own me any benefits, taxes or anything like that. It also specifically states that I'm legally responsible for any breaches of copyright like if I use someone's materials for the renderings and that the company doesn't have any responsibility for that. Moreover, I'm even responsible after a contract is terminated. That's what got me worried so much, because I worked as freelancer for them all that time, just getting checks, but now I had to sign that contract to keep working for them and these paragraphs made me rethink the way I use stuff I got from Persia or torrents.
As you all mentioned, I would rather spend extra hours modelling/changing assets myself, rather then suffer consequences.
Even though the company is small and a chance that someone recognizes their models on their product renderings is quite small in my opinion, I wouldn't want to risk.
I was just curious and started this thread as I literally had no idea how things are in CG industry, I just started working in this field.
>>535340
.
Instead of offering the company to render stolen assets you could have offered them your service for rendering legit bought assets.
Fucking idiot.
>>535302
I work in a small studio and this shit goes on all the time. Nobody gives a fuck and the management pretty much encourage it provided you cover it up well enough.
Since y'all are talking bout copyright ill ask here: if i torrent some non-free textures and use them on my work is there a way that they somehow get automatically recognized? Im not tallking about just taking a texture and for example using it as deffuse as-is, im talking about using a part of the texture and using different blend modes to make like glossiness maps and such.
>>535302
if you're freelancing, dont worry. If you own a company or studio, buy your shit