CC-BY-SA licensed 3d models - What is allowed?

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
#1

Hello dear Blender friends!

I hope this is the correct section to talk about this matter, if not please feel free to move it. Thanks!

So as many of you know many works made with Blender are often distributed under a CC license. At the moment I am desperately looking for a nice modern tank to be used for a commercial music video. Unfortunately for many people starting off in my line of work as a VFX Artist my budget is limited and the really nice ones on Turbosquid and the likes start at a price way over my budget:no:. Now I found a tank which has a CC-BY-SA License.

Link to license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The SA (Sharealike) part of the license says that if i remix, transform, or build upon the material, I must distribute my contributions under the same license as the original. So I think as long as I dont change the model itself (retexturing, adding additional meshes on top of it) and republish the single model or so then I just have to give the author credit but dont have to share it under the sa license, right? Because the artist of that music video cant do that. What happens if I would like to animate it? would this fall under SA rule:confused:? Thank you!

#2

Any derivative works, wich also includes the unmodified model in a video, is covered by the license. So yes if you use the model in the clip you have to license the whole video under this cc license.
What you can do though, is ask the original creator to relicense his model for your purpose. This is a very common practise.

#3

The music video is not an adaptation of the model, and thus does not constitute a derivative work. Provided that proper credit is given, and any alterations made to the model itself are licensed CC-BY-SA, the music video can be whatever license the creator wants. This goes out the window if the song is “Ode to this tank model I got off Turbosquid” or something.

What happens if I would like to animate it? would this fall under SA rule:confused:?
Depends if the model is rigged for animation or not. If it’s already rigged, then I don’t believe you have to do anything other than the aforementioned crediting of the model. If you’ve had to rig the model yourself to animate it, then that constitutes a modification/adaptation of the work, so the rigged version of the model has to be licensed CC-BY-SA.

#4

what tischbein3 said.

licence basically says “if you use copyrighted material in your thing, your thing is an adaption of it.”

at leastl that’s how i understand it:

Adapted Material means material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered, arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the Licensor. For purposes of this Public License, where the Licensed Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording, Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image.

#5

Thank you guys for your friendly and helpful answers :). I sent a message to the author to find out what we can do. Cheers!