FF Exchange Models goes public

Alan Fraser

Justin, I don't think your models would have any trouble at all in meeting our standards. I believe the system is as it always was...that once you have download credit, you can download what you like. But I think there are only 2 of Ross's styles in the Exchange so far. The Free Exchange doesn't give you access to the commercial stuff...just the other Exchange content...but there are several hundred decent models in there now; and now that it's open to all, that number is likely to grow quite quickly.
http://www.formfonts.com/search.php?query=top%20ffexchange%20models&action=&orderBy=downloads&area=1&startingRow=0&active=&affiliate=

kwistenbiebel

Alan,
Nice initiative...

But just to be clear about it...:
The uploaded models still remain property of the modeler, right?

At the bottom of every Formfonts web page is stated:
Form Fonts 2007. All artwork and content is property of Form Fonts and is subject to all copyright laws.

I would still like to be able to put my own models on 3D warehouse as well, or do whatever I want with them ...
It would be strange to upload my model to FF and later on not being able to post it elsewhere because it became property of FF....

Could you fill us in on this Alan?

Thanks.

Alan Fraser

Yes. If you look at Section 3: subsection 3 here https://www.formfonts.com/information/exchange_artist_license.php (sorry, it was drafted by real lawyers, so isn't the easiest thing to read). You'll see that FF assumes all rights to the uploaded content (for legal reasons that will become apparent) but immediately grants those rights back to the artist to do pretty much anything you like with them...including posting to other sites. They are your models, after all.

What FF doesn't do is grant all those rights to anyone else who downloads them. They can use your models in their renderings for clients, illustrations etc, but can't take your models and post them anywhere else as their own (because FF has already assumed copyright of them). It means we'll chase them up; individual artists don't have to. So no one else can take your stuff off the Exchange and post it to the 3DW or another modelling forum without our say so...and we aren't about to give that.

This isn't just academic. I personally had a case of someone downloading a model of a church I posted to Objective Networks (the forerunner of FF) and posting it to the 3DW as his own work.

The legalese always tends to look pretty scary, but that's not peculiar to FF. It's pretty much the same as any other Terms of Use.Yes. If you look at Section 3: subsection 3 here https://www.formfonts.com/information/exchange_artist_license.php (sorry, it was drafted by real lawyers, so isn't the easiest thing to read). You'll see that FF assumes all rights to the uploaded content (for legal reasons that will become apparent) but immediately grants those rights back to the artist to do pretty much anything you like with them...including posting to other sites. They are your models, after all.

What FF doesn't do is grant all those rights to anyone else who downloads them. They can use your models in their renderings for clients, illustrations etc, but can't take your models and post them anywhere else as their own (because FF has already assumed copyright of them). It means we'll chase them up; individual artists don't have to. So no one else can take your stuff off the Exchange and post it to the 3DW or another modelling forum without our say so...and we aren't about to give that.

This isn't just academic. I personally had a case of someone downloading a model of a church I posted to Objective Networks (the forerunner of FF) and posting it to the 3DW as his own work.

The legalese always tends to look pretty scary, but that's not peculiar to FF. It's pretty much the same as any other Terms of Use.

Gaieus

Well, the 3DWH is full of this all the time.
I have even removed all my stuff from there except for those files I had uploaded to help forum posters out with their problems (also to cause the least possible broken links).

kwistenbiebel

thanks for explaining

Alan Fraser

I'd just like to clarify a few points which have arisen since I posted this notice.

Existing FormFonts subscribers don't need to sign up for the Exchange...they already have access to it as part of their subscription.
We take the quality of submissions very seriously:
Any work uploaded must be your own. We have had submissions of models acknowledged to be by other people; we are not going down that route.
The model must be of good quality and fully purged...and of reasonable size. No 7MB cars please.
The thumbnail must be at least visually square and around 400 pixels on a white background.
(In Photoshop you can force a square crop by holding down Shift; in Corel Photopaint use Ctrl.)

Failure to do this may, at least, result in a delay in the model being approved onto the site. If the submission is too far wide of the guidelines it may not make it at all.

Thanks

Paul Russam

Thanks Alan this is a great idea and a fantastic gesture.

Are you going to rate the models when they are uploaded and then decide whether they 'deserve' the 3 downloads or will the user automatically get their 3 downloads as soon as they've uploaded their 1?

For example Joe Spo could upload a cube, call it "Child's wooden building block" and get their 3 free models.

Also I could upload Pews, Chandeliers, Columns, Doors, Confessionals, At least 5 floor finishes, 15 Stained glass windows, Baptismal, Lecturn, Radiator etc etc. just from one model.
How are you going to stop people abusing the system?

PS Please find attached 1 Pew, 1 Chandelier, 3 columns, 4 doors, 1 confessional........

Gaieus

Are you giving away your chuch now, Paul?

Paul Russam

Its not my church its HIS church and HE hates me so yea, I'm goin'a strip it and get what I can for the bits

Anybody want some virtual lead?

Alan Fraser

Paul,
As with the FF artists, all models are rated the same. Fred Abler and I agonised about this some years ago, but decided that there is simply no way of formulating a system to grade models.

Everyone knows an "easy" model when they see one, but actually categorising it is a whole different thing. You can't grade according to the type of model (saying chairs are easy compared to cars) because what about some of the very fluid modern designs or a Louis XV, covered in mouldings and gold ormalu? Nor can you go on the number of polys (Just leave the arcs and circles at their default values and you can end up with tens of thousands of polys in seconds). And it would simply get too argumentative classifying each model individually...and somewhat subjectively.

The site actually says 4 downloads for 1 upload, but I've never had cause to test it. Jo Spo won't be able to upload a cube...because I won't approve it. Remember, it's not an automatic upload as on certain other sites, everything goes through QC. I can (and do) edit models that haven't followed the guidelines correctly, just as I have refused a few models that were too far wide of the mark (usually lousy quality or obvious copyright infringement). It'd be just as easy for me to simply delete extra configs that I thought were milking the system.

I'm hoping to put up a clearer list of guidelines shortly, to minimise such problems.

tomsdesk

Alan,
Are FF subscribers free to download Exchange models or are they also required to upload first?
Best, Tom.

Alan Fraser

No, they have to contribute stuff on the same basis as everyone else, Tom. It's just that they are already registered. All very "co-operative"
We are thinking of using this flyer.