if its stolen work you can’t use no matter what… BUT, IT MUST be proven, meaning, if the work is copy rights on it… and most of the times its the name that is not the model,… Unity users clearly don’t understand, the law… Speak to a lawyer, as a professional for nearly 30 years, I have to have contracts for all of my work, 3d included … code etc…
So I cant give you legal advice , other than to speak to a lawyer… but the statement I said above, is common practice… Don’t NOT trust people here, to say something is STOLEN, they don’t have proof that it is…I see people all the time, THINK things are STOLEN because they look like something else, IT DOES NOT matter, you can do this all you want…
You can make crap that is from World of Warcraft and SELL it, you just can’t use anything that is COPY RIGHT protected by Said company… Now do I personally do that ? no… but , its NOT ILLEGALLY… kids just don’t understand how laws work, if you spoke to lawyers, in this industry you would understand… and now what you can and cant do…
Also don’t trust people, UNLESS you see the actually COPY RIGHT and the actually OWNER showing PROOF of wireframes of the Authors work… This is why Unity won’t bother either, because so many people don’t understand, what is legal and what is NOT…
Now there is some bad practices, sure, and I believe some of this is…but it does NOT mean its ILLEGAL…
Now Unity should and will do something, if the Author, company, comes forward to show proof… Which sounds like they did… Otherwise, I see some users in this thread, saying you can’t make a BMW, or some other car, which is not true at all… as long as the user make the car, it does not matter… the car companys own the “NAMES” (Also, some modelers, like myself, I can sell Ford, GM Etc, in my games and use there names, since I have permission…
So, people jump the gun to fast… But Unity should be aware, and the Author incase, someone was stealing… So sounds like the company and Unity where involved, so that is why Unity I bet took it completely down… Which was the right thing to do. But they cant, just because someone said, it looks like this or that…
So this matters more so than anything, art is another story, as long as someone did not ACTUALLY steal, the model from a game, and RESELL it… Like it sounds like happen here.
I hate to say it but Unity asset store is a haven for the inexperience and bad behavior… This is why I always would tell folks, to ONLY buy art assets from KNOWN artist… I had consulted to many times for developers, companys, investors, only for Unity asset store , art assets to be UNUSABLE, looks can deceive you guys, that may not know better on how to optimize 3d art assets, which is VERY common on the store… Also, you will get people who may steal a 3d model from another artist, or game, make changes, and re-texture, or w/e and sell it…
So again, only buy from KNOWN artist, I personally as an artist don’t buy any art assets, but when I would consult, I would tell people to HIRE only artist who been around, with a good rep…
This industry is smaller than you THINK it is…Good artist names go around fast… ask your artist friends, to look at the work, that you buy… I have people to this day always bugging me to check them out, ones they buy, or ones they hire from artist…
this way you won’t waste a ton of money… … believe me investors, developers I watch them waste THOUSANDS on JUNK and Yes possible stolen art, or copies of art from other games, which is not illegal but bad practices.
Unity SHOULD be making it…PRACTICE, to that ARTIST show WIREFRAMES…
We do this in the industry, as a Senior for years in my position, I REFUSED and many other bosses, REFUSED to look at there employees , contractors work, …Unless they have WIREFRAME shots… Turn Tables, and more… No idea why Unity does not MAKE this happen…there is NO way in HELL you can tell a 3d model is any good , just by looking at the damn thing…
You NEED WIREFRAMES… Period
another reason stolen, and junk is sold on the ASSET STORE for art…Sorry but its the TRUTH… I hate seeing people losing money because of this, but this is why I always have spoke up , ask anyone who I did work for, consulted for, and they wonder why there games run like crap… I see a models, that had so called modular buildings, there DOOR frame had 15 unique materials… Yes 15…for a DAMN door frame… Unity didn’t seem to care.or, they aren’t paying enough attention…
Just policy to not get involved as much as possible, gives them more time to do other jobs and remain profitable in this part of the company. I don’t think it’s malice FWIW, just a problem no-one wants. Most digital stores do have similar problems.
Oh my god! !!!
I haven’t played wow, I just saw that the model animations are very good and the price is not expensive, so I bought it. I bought 29 models for about 250 dollars. What should I do now? I didn’t received any email from Unity support,will I get any refund from the Unity?
I’m glad to hear this.
Because I buy several hundred dollars of assets in the mall every month, so far I have bought about five thousand dollars of resources. This incident made me very afraid that the resources I bought were stolen from other games. then a lot of money was wasted in vain. If these resources can be refunded, I can continue to buy them with confidence.
So far I bought about 30 assets from the unity asset store are unavailable. one from the publisher Aniworld Design, 29 models from the publisher 3D VOXEL, and 2 from the publisher ARTCODING. And all purchase date are after May 1.So I guess I could get the refund of these assets.
Thanks very much!
[quote=“”]
Before you say someone STEALS, show us, WIREFRAMES of BOTH MODELS, otherwise as a professional I would dismiss you as Unity has…
[/quote]Wireframes don’t matter. If it looks basically identical you can be sure it’s infringing on actual copyright. It doesn’t matter if it’s a totally new model. Do you think that mario would last 30 seconds on asset store, even with completely brand new geo? I don’t think so either. So a copy of blizzard’s DESIGNS is just as bad.
Anyone know if these models are actually copyrighted many of these models look more than 20 percent different than the original. People take inspiration from each other all the time and change it that’s how shit gets done.
What if 100 percent of your model assets for your game after 2 years of production are taken down. What then do you not launch? Who is responsible for the damages for production cost lost ? No one? Unity isn’t at fault for selling them?
We just are fucked and stuck with the bill? Oh here’s $15 bucks back but not the $1000s of time and production around that $15 asset we bought a license for?
What is the solution here, anyone know a reliable site other than UNity asset store to get models because I’ve lost all faith in unity.
I wish I could sue unity for production costs lost because they let illegal shit through their door. Do I have a case? Do we have a case here? I’m absolutely livid that there is no actual proof here on if these assets can be used or not, no written notice from the owners giving us the green light to use them if we have them already to be game dev bros. They just gonna wait till we publish and sue us then? What if someone didn’t get the email they gonna get sued and their whole game busted over this shit.
What is hell is this shit, we need answers. Anyone know a good lawyer?
Thank you for your feedback, it is this kind of customer honesty that will help Unity decide how to better police or guard against potential issues. There’s no real such thing as bad feedback, and you have never got anything to fear.
At this time, No one.
I bought a lot of model from “Art Coding”.
I spent months to edit animation, texture, reduce poly, put in my Game, coding, and they are part of my game.
Then I got a refund last week.
What should I do now?
Remove them from my game for sure. Lost everything.
Now I will find another models from Asset Store, and pray for them not be taken down again
Respectfully yes it does matter… as an artist, we can TELL 100% if someone made a new model from it or it matches the artist who actually made it…Sure they can change that, but some NOT people who aren’t very bright won’t .
. So we catch people all the time in the INDUSTRY, from people stealing or uses others people art to sell…
Mario is another story, its a name which is what is copy righted… as a contractor for nearly 30 years working with various studios, we have to have legal, lawyers involved, due to this very reason… ( I have had contracts, lawyers dealing with all sorts of stuff for years…
Now you can use back ground art like Mario, pipes and other types of art from Mario, and Zelda, but characters, NO you can’t… Characters, are protected… popular ones are even more protected… Now game play, from Mario is NOT protected, they can’t protect any of the game play from Mario or any game… So this is where folks get that twisted… ( ask a lawyer in the gaming industry, they will tell you the same thing… and be sure to speak to ones that know the laws between countries too, This matters, I know I had to deal with this trash years back, when a contractor didn’t pay… Laws are different.
Just like a Wild West game, you can’t make games depicting Native Americans with out permission… and properly depicting them, as they can sue… ( I have had to deal with this over the years of working in the industry, i’m sure there still isn’t some stuff I have not seen, there is a lot, that folks, ignore… and some companies will ignore if say its some tiny little solo dev, not making much…
Characters, names are totally different story… Just like Story to a movie, game, normally which is what is protected.
for example with out giving to much info for scammers to use… if say you found a model on the asset store or any store, and say it looks like something in a game, if it matches, Textures, wireframes, vertex matches, you can tell 100% even with minor changes, we can tell, I won’t share publicly common tricks of the TRADE… which most smart 3d artist do… but we can TELL and prove 100% … by some of this…
Sure they can STILL try and bake a model down using a low poly, but we can still tell and that I won’t share, we have seen almost it all, when you work at various studios over the decades… Which includes, 2d art as well, all artist have a style, also NO matter who it is… so WE CAN tell whos art and prove very easy if someone stole say my art… Code is the same way in some sense, I won’t share this either, but if you worked in studios and companies, this is something we have to LOOK for… Most developers who have worked for studios, larger ones mainly, and had to deal with legal and lawyers, will tell you the same thing.
Easy to prove and tell what art, and code I had made over the years… but having certain things say like wireframes is standard practice… I can tell artist who done a lot of work, I can tell there art from a mile away.
FOR EXAMPLE, Nature M, I can tell his work a mile away, a lot of known artist, like say Daniel Tiger, I can tell… Josh Lynch to name a few, and many others who I worked with and have not worked with… even if someone tries to copy it, its easy to tell, that its a copy, not the developer them selves…ARTIST all have a style, and way of doing things… even if someone of us change over the years, due to experience… Coding we all do as well, like I was saying…
I have caught scammers, and people copying and pasting code, I can tell they are doing it with out checking… due to the different styles, that they are doing this to, due to different jobs they may have…very common, i’m afraid and had to fire plenty of people back when I worked as a Senior, Contractor at the studio.
PS try getting a job, with out sending Wireframes as well, I bet they never call you and toss your work in the trash with out wireframes, this is another story but still very important… to the industry as long as I CAN remember for just about anyone I ever had worked for…
Edit I forgot to add, another reason you need wireframes, have you ever animated before??? good luck trying to with BAD topology… This is common on the asset store, terrible, topology …
You can’t see anything with out WIREFRAMES either… proper edge flow, you can see as well with WIREFRAMES… again COMMON practice, not trying to be rude here… Just stating the facts.
take it down if its illegal… you can’t use if it is…This is why if you are selling a game, SPEAK to a lawyer… have contracts in place, be sure to BUY art, that isn’t from the asset store, UNLESS its from a proven artist… and even ask them for proof of work, if need be, so that you won’t be sued or get caught in a mess… This is standard practice when making and selling a game, or for any contractor… Speak to a lawyer, I deal with one for decades for this reason before I retired.
Now that i’m making a new game I have one for that as well… even though most work is mine, you still need one, due to people finding reasons to try and sue, hollywood likes to try and say X character looks like them so they try and sue…
So its always BEST to protect your self… that is what we do in the professional world… Now if this is for education, HOBBY, it don’t matter what you do… you can use as much as you like…
I’m NOT a lawyer, but I can only share my experience, and its always wise to speak to one… period… Not someone on this forum, when it comes to legal matters… Which is related to that topic. ALso ask Unity support for more info related to that… but if your refunded anything, legally you should not be used… ethically you shouldn’t be either…
Yes use a contractor… I for one, would add that to my contract, stating all of my work was work I did, and if for some reason say it wasn’t, that any damages, that say I did, I would be reliable for it… This way your protected any professional will do the same…
I did this for my clients for years… which is why I was trusted by many companies… investors etc…
Sure you will pay more for these contractors, but if its a serious game, you will GET better quality, anyways and your protected… The other way as I said before, use KNOWN artist from any store that been around with a GREAT reputation… people look for 10$ assets , which is a red flag , as NO artist can make a living from that, SORRY it don’t way… I see people wasting thousands also as I said about wireframes, the models look good, but are NOT optimized, and most people that use Unity may not know better and have to hire someone to help optimize, I use to do this for years to help games and seen this a TON from the Asset store… and other market places… its terrible …
So work with a good artist, from arts station, or other asset stores, that have a great reputation any artist will give you a letter, about saying there work is there work and not a rip off of someone else and give you that protection, if an artist refuses, DON’T do work with them no matter how cheap.
PS, some good contractors will work cheaper… but cheaper is NOT always better… remember that.
There is a few trust worthy artist, on the asset store as far as 3D, texturing… I seen a lot of junk and terrible work… which I see why its so cheap, so it may be legit but alot of the times its not usable for alot of games… SO, ask around to other developers on who to trust and deal with…
This goes for ART STATION or any artist as well, I got a name for myself, over the years and I didn’t even need a portfolio for over 10 years.,.; I’m retired now, but that is how many people will get work …
@ There seems to be some odd thing happening on the Unity Asset Store. Only the Asset Store Team can tell for sure since I didn’t buy those, but from the looks of it someone yet again took the cars of GR3D right from the Unity Asset Store and sells them modified and as a package on the Unity Asset Store:
