Free textures/sounds/models/knowledge

[Hectate]

Titi: I looked at the information on the page at CGTextures and you still retain ownership of your images. You've given the site permission (probaboly non-revokable) to have a copy of it for their purposes and the use of their members according to the site's policies. However unless you have legally signed over ownership, agreed to let them have an exclusive license to use, or performed it as work-for-hire it is still under your full control. They can only limit what can be done with their copy - you are free to do whatever you want with yours.

Should the site attempt to claim you infringed on their terms of use you should merely have to prove yourself as the original owner. Additionally, should anyone else want it, you are free to submit and distribute in any way you see fit.
The only danger I see is that if the site changes their agreements to try to enforce exclusivity or steal ownership of the images. At that point it would be best to have a copy of the original agreement that the images were submitted under. If you don't have that, and the site attempts to claim the agreement was already so at the time, it could result in losing that ownership should it ever extend to court - in The Netherlands lol.

I'd say that you are completely safe in doing anything with your photos - including putting them on burningwell. I don't remember a license page on BW but if you have one you can note that "Some images are known to have been submitted to other websites as well and may be available under alternative agreements. Notwithstanding this, all images on BW have been obtained directly from the owner of the content, and are released by the owner under the licenses as noted above."

PS. If you feel really brave, you could see if your agreement included any mention of revoking the site's use of your image. If you can, send an email and tell them that you no longer agree to their terms and agreements and demand that the content be removed (indicate which files you are claiming are yours and will need removed). Thank them for their understanding and compliance and see what happens. 

[John.d.h]

I don't remember a license page on BW but if you have one you can note that "Some images are known to have been submitted to other websites as well and may be available under alternative agreements. Notwithstanding this, all images on BW have been obtained directly from the owner of the content, and are released by the owner under the licenses as noted above."

By uploading an image to the BurningWell.org repository, you agree that:

   1. The image is already in the public domain.
      -or-
   2. You are the creator or copyright holder of the image and
          * That you hearby release the image into the public domain.
          * If recognizable people exist in the image, you have obtained a Model Release from all recognizable people and hearby transfer all rights you have acquired to use their likeness to the public domain. Click Here for more information about why Model Release forms are needed.

[Hectate]

Thanks John, I was on my phone when I wrote that short book and couldn't look it up.

[titi]

@ElimNator: thats right , if you have closed software in mind you can use it without problems . But maybe you can't mix them with CC-By-SA stuff, because it has to be released with CC-By-SA too.

@Hectate: Whatever they do with my photos, I don't mind, because I uploaded them there and signed there conditions, so its my fault. I learned my lesson and will not get tricked by these kind of sites again. I simply use Burningwell now.

[ElimiNator]

I would use Burningwell but it dosent have meny good textures like CG.

[Hectate]

I would use Burningwell but it dosent have meny good textures like CG.

Well we'll just have to change that, won't we? I've just uploaded a bunch of photos (not for the texture section specifically) and I do intend to upload many more. In fact, I'll probably spend some time editing photos to make them seamless textures just for burningwell.org. I believe it's something I enjoy doing as a hobby in fact. Any requests? I can't guarantee anything, since the image source has to be available first, but it might be possible. Won't know until we try, eh? Plus I've got a semi-decent camera to get some source images with.

[-Archmage-]

I think I'll join BurningWell, and submit a bunch of useful images.

[John.d.h]

I'm glad I revived this thread.  Looks like plenty of people want to contribute.

I've got 166 megs of images uploading to the site right now.  I made sure to take plenty of ground textures and some of them came out wrong because of the flash (who knew dollar weed was so glossy?) but I've got plenty of good grass, pavement, concrete, and sand photos.  I also took some of the many palms around my neighborhood, including some dead palm leaves as per Titi's request.

[-Archmage-]

I just walked around the house taking pictures of things that look like they could be of use.
I'm uploading a bit of stuff now.

[ElimiNator]

Shure I will too and yes, try to get rock, crate, and barrel textures.

[titi]

Thats good news for burningwell and by this for everyone!
Please keep in mind that the photos must be useful and sharp! Don't simply upload masses of photos!

look here too:
http://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70

Some more hints:

Size of the photos:
Better don't upload the huge photos from your camera directly. Calculate them a bit down to something useful. 1280x1024 pixel or 1600x1200 for example, or simply recode them which often recduces their size dramatically without loosing lots of information. It takes some time to upload/download things at burningwell!
But Don't resize texture photos which are meant to be big. ( like sky textures for examples ).
A tool that can resize/rotate lots of photos easily is gthumb for example (available for windows /linux ...).

uploading:
-Login before you upload!!! If you forgot to login, the name for your uploads will be anonymous and noone can give you credits!

-There is an upload applet at burningwell which is comfortable to upload. Java need to be installed on your computer to use it.

-If you have the time give your photos useful names or better add some keywords in burningwells system after uploading, so I don't have to do it

-Its my job to move the things to the right place, so you can't move it to the right categorie. Simply upload them.

[Hectate]

Thanks for the tips, titi. I was actually going to ask a few questions along those lines but now I don't have to! lol

Oh, and if you (or any other moderator) feels an image is without merit or use, don't worry about me - just delete it. I picked the ones I felt were best but already deleted a couple of mine that I changed my mind on (and one that was only 640x480 and hadn't noticed at first). Only the brick wall ones are right for texture use though...

Update:
I noticed several of the pictures were moved/removed. Nifty. Also, titi, I just uploaded 3 new seamless textures (2 of them are alternate versions of the same) for your section - all based on images from burningwell.org. Enjoy!

[Loronal]

Im in northern brasil right now so I could maybe shoot some photos of some palms coconut trees fig trees.

[titi]

That would be really really cool!  
What about palm tree trunks?
something like this but without any shadows!!
http://www.burningwell.org/gallery2/v/Plants/dscf2109.jpg.html

for the palm/ exotic leaves like bananas:
Try to get shots which are perfect to cut out in a painting program like these palm leaves:
http://www.burningwell.org/gallery2/v/textures/plants/leavesAndBranches/TT7020115.JPG.html
http://www.burningwell.org/gallery2/v/textures/plants/leavesAndBranches/TT7040706.JPG.html
or those normal tree branches:
http://www.burningwell.org/gallery2/v/textures/plants/leavesAndBranches/TT7020603.JPG.html
http://www.burningwell.org/gallery2/v/textures/plants/leavesAndBranches/TT7020635.JPG.html

And take several photos if you got a good leave! Not all photos are sharp!

[Hectate]

New tutorial is up showing an interesting method for creating shadow-free images.

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/TakingBetterPhotosForTextures.html

Might be worth posting somewhere on burningwell in the texture section or something.

[John.d.h]

Currently uploading 89 new texture images (Edit: My internet isn't being very kind right now.  I'll try again later. /Edit).  Hopefully these will be more useful than the last batch.  I got several close-up shots of different kinds of palm tree trunks, some more ground textures, etc.  I also got over a hundred photos (most of them close-up) of this pair of sandhill cranes that landed behind my house.  Would these be worth adding to BurningWell's animal section?


(click for full size)

[John.d.h]

I'm uploading 99 more texture pictures, but they won't be done for quite a while (almost 300MB uploading at 40kB/s).

Also, I think this topic would be more useful on the Tools board where people could find it better.

[-Archmage-]

Ok, I'll move it.

[John.d.h]

Okay, done uploading.

Ok, I'll move it.

Cool.

[ElimiNator]

Okay, done uploading.

Did you post them somewhere?

[John.d.h]

No, I just uploaded them for my own enjoyment. [/sarcasm]

Seriously though, they're on burningwell.org, waiting to be sorted into appropriate categories.

[ElimiNator]

Ok 

[titi]

Oh thanks for the upload john. Will look at it when I have time for it ( will maybe take some days! ).

[ultifd]

Thanks. John. Awesome.   

[-Archmage-]

I'm glad people are uploading stuff to burningwell, it gives me more inspiration to face texturing.