Website full of smooth wood textures

SuperDuty455

Hi,

I've just found this website full of clean, uniform mid-res and hi-res images of various types of wood laminate, could be useful to create textures for anything wooden : http://www.admira.sg/catalogue

Click on a thumbnail, then click "Download" and click the name of the type of wood that shows up, it will show a high resolution photo of the chosen material.

Hope it helps !

FelixL

Nice, thanks for sharing!

tynew

Thank you! Great collection, these are massive and should surely come in handy.

Eric Chadwick

Beware though, if you're trying to use these for professional work, you can be sued for copyright infringement. Check the Terms of Use carefully!

(better to go with a site like CGTextures)

SuperDuty455

You're right, but that can be used for personal/portfolio work.

Eric Chadwick

Well, actually not, if we're being honest. If you ever plan to post images of your work online, it looks like you need to credit them, and who would actually do that?
http://www.admira.sg/term-use

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, it's just that this is something overlooked by many new artists. Be careful with what you borrow from the web.

SuperDuty455

I hadn't even checked that Too bad.

EarthQuake

Using content like this in your art is sort of a gray area. If you're downloading the content and hosting it on a site or worse yet reselling it as is, that is a clear case of copyright infringement. However, if you use one of these textures in your work and the end result is significantly different than the initial content, say you mix in this texture with a variety of other textures, layers, and effects, and in general significantly modify it, the end result may fall under derivative work.

A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.

What exactly all that means I am not entirely certain, however, I would say it is extremely unlikely that this company would try to bring a lawsuit against an artist who has used their content in some way while significantly altering it.

I'm not a lawyer though, so don't take my word for it, if in doubt, talk to your studio's legal representation. Legality aside, the ethics of doing this are somewhat questionable as well.

Eric Chadwick

I've been told that the standard of judgement is... can an average person recognize the original work inside the derivative work? If so, then it's probably infringement.

But yeah, still very gray. You're unlikely to be pursued if you're a single artist, especially doing work for no pay.

In my opinion, it's just better to be safe. Especially since you probably want to be forming work habits you can use in a career.

illo

Im pretty sure, as long as you are modifying the image, you can claim 'Fair use'. However I sent an email to my lawyer and asked for his legal input, ill post something once I get his response.

Eric Chadwick

Reminds me of Shepard Fairey and his attempts at Fair Use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey#Legal_issues_with_appropriation_and_fair_use

Another example... Naughty Dog used a designer's subway map in The Last of Us and got caught
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-06-24-cartographer-f-furious-at-naughty-dog-for-using-his-map

Pancakes

smooth. full. wood.