recolor/modifications to user contributed assets

[lloyd_llama]

i have made, and am in the process of making, several recoloured/slightly modified versions of user contributed assets. if the original author is credited, it is permissible to upload them in the optional materials section, or should i ask permission from the original author(s) before doing so?

[Aranuvir]

Contacting the author is always best practise. It just depends on the license. Currently there are two versions. When the asset is CC0, theoretically you even do not need to credit. Perhaps there is a way to avoid multiple versions of the same asset.

[blindsaypatten]

Perhaps there is a way to avoid multiple versions of the same asset.

I have mentioned this in respect to tshirts, but there are several assets that have quite generic geometries and could be made into a wide variety of items just by changing the textures. Providing a supporting framework for this would, I think, result in a significant expansion of the available assets, making it easier for people with image manipulation skills but limited Blender skills to contribute, while avoiding endless duplication of the same geometric components.

[lloyd_llama]

i did not plan to submit any modifications as separate assets, just the provide optional diffuse textures and, possibly, alternate mhmat files for users to download and use in conjunction with the original assets. sorry if my use of the terminology was confusing.

[wolgade]

I don't think that providing an additional material even requires any permission as long as it is not derived work from the existing textures.

[joepal]

If you improve on an existing material by, for example, repainting a texture, the license/attribution question is pretty straight-forward.

If the original author shared the asset as CC0 you don't need to do anything.

If the original author shared the asset as CC-BY, it's enough to say "this was based on the X asset by Y" in the description when you upload your modified version.

[RobBaer]

licensing issues aside...

I read lloyd's and Lindsay's (and Aranuvir's) point to be that it would be nice to work toward housing "additional materials" with the original asset they were designed for.

The logistics of this, as always, are not as simple as the idea, but I think the idea has merit. For example, Punkduck's nice recent alterations to Hairsytle Curly 2 sit under materials tab completely disconnected from the hairstyle itself. Thinking about how we might take a "flat database" and make it a little "relational" deserves some thought.

[wolgade]

Thinking about how we might take a "flat database" and make it a little "relational" deserves some thought.

I guess this becomes a necessity if the user repo keeps growing. I just tried to clean up and reorganize my clothes folder by setting tags manually and gave up.