Freelancing with pirated software
polycounter lvl 5
Has anyone ever run into issues with this? I intend to get all the software I use eventually, but I cant use student versions anymore since they've either expired at this point, and don't allow for commercial use anyway, and I need to earn some money first before I can afford any software I need.
Any chance this could come back and bite me in the ass?
Any chance this could come back and bite me in the ass?
Replies
another option would be to use free software like blender for most of your 3d work, substance is like 20 bucks a month and that covers your material/texture creation needs.
this is usually why I tell juniors to get some studio experience first, as often times the only freelance gigs they can score are super lowball with highly picky clients that want the world delivered to them for pennys on the dollar. Artists with a few shipped titles under their belt can easily justify charging a way higher rate and more often than not will be dealing with higher end clients who are willing to pay more and be far less nit picky overall.
another way to go about it is to have a day job that actually provides a livable income and can give you enough to cover your software costs, and then freelance on the side to get some experience, even though its probably not going to bring in a ton of income if you are first starting out.
you have to think of it as investing in yourself and running an actual business, instead of just a way to bring in some cash. I can pretty much guarantee you that most artists who use pirated software in the beginning rarely ever end up paying for actual licences later on, because they are stuck in a scarce mindset around money and just looking to short term make some cash, and feel like they can get away with it.
your rates should ideally include:
- costs to run the business like software, hardware upgrades over time, accountant fees, electricity bill etc
- your cost of living salary to cover your daily expenses (food, rent etc)
- health insurance payments (depending on where you live)
- dont forget about taxes that you will need to set aside from client work
Calculate how much all that stuff costs per month and divide that into an hourly rate, and that's roughly the MINIMUM you should be charging. If you cant find clients who will pay your minimum fee, chances are you don't want to work for anyone lowballing below that, it will only be a ton of headaches for very little gain. at that point I would rather spend my time working on my own portfolio for free, creating stuff i can actually show to get a higher paying studio job, rather than try and freelance below minimum wage.
The main reason why im asking is because I've had a few offers come in for freelance gigs. Doing one of them alone would cover zbrush for me. So Im wondering if I should decline and save for the odd month or just bite the bullet, do the job on pirated software, and then I can actually get zbrush.
Strictly from a practical sense, theres no way anyone could find out from an fbx file anything about the software right?
To your question perhaps there may be a way for them to trace the origin of a file to its source and to the pirated software that was used, though usually its not the file that lets them know you used pirated software.
Like yes there is embedded meta data, but you'd first have to understand the economics at work to call out a piracy attempt.
As a small time independent contractor there is very little incentive to a company to confront you directly, though they might approach the company that contracts you and usually the way they work around it is by 3rd partying the software to a no name contractor then running it clean through a licensed version, with the end user being the company with the license (even if its just one individual that has it)
Often the end product is an image, or a sequence of images (video) so the actual file source doesn't actually exist.
Mind you they see this as just a practical cost effective way of doing business, when I was in India every company that was used as third party to many major developers in the western world used pirated software for their employees, in film and in games.
One of the additional reasons third party is willing to do this is because there is little incentive to using legitimate software in terms of tax credits and having to absorb a high operating cost (in USD, since software prices aren't usually subsidised by country/region)
So they gravitate to using pirated software.
I'm pretty sure nothing has changed in that regard. If and when it gets out, it is easy to liquidate them and start fresh.
But this is the way they go around it and honestly it doesn't make any sense to a software company to prosecute the license owner as they look at it as having sold the main office say 20 network multiplatform licenses vs 200 or so pirated licenses in some third world country or faceless contractor trapped under an NDA for life.
Its why I usually see it as suspect when I hear of a project being made 3rd party completely in blender.
Like sure it was used somewhere in the pipeline alongside all the pirated software.
Really depends on the scale of the project. As in making something for portfolio to get work in the industry, its not like you're they're going to check if you pirated software for an art test.
Again not condoning piracy, just giving an idea of how much of the industry operates.
For larger brand name companies in the west, they have to use legitimate software on the studio floor and usually get it at a fraction of the cost. In the end it is a tax deductible expense for the employer.
For smaller independent contractors who care, the subscription licenses are a good way to factor in software costs for the duration of a project. Usually I bundle up projects over a month and run a subscription for any software that requires it for the duration.
Then I write the amount off on taxes for the year.
Sometimes the studio may extend their license to me as an additional user, and then they factor in the cost on their side.
More often then not they don't really want to know what I did to get them the end result, they trust that I know how to do business.
Personally I feel that the older versions of softwares ought to be free, then again this will likely cripple the company since there is not that much innovation/features that warrant an upgrade.
For example 3DS max 2011, 2014, 2016. 2018 and 2020 all have enough usability to do what you need to get a model into engine using that software.
Same for Maya, the pipeline really hasn't changed that much on this side.
Substance painter/designer has certainly revolutionised texturing or there is quixel as an alternative.
Dynamesh and Zremesher really upped the ante for zbrush, there are more useful features for specific tasks in the later versions, but these 2 really made a world of a difference to improving my process.
We forbid the promotion of software piracy here on Polycount. See the Introduction sticky in General Discussion for details.
Clearly you are continuing to use pirated software, as your rigging topic indicates.
Others should feel free to discuss piracy. However, using and/or promoting pirated software cannot be allowed.
If anyone wishes to discuss/dispute the ban, please feel free to contact us via email helpdesk@polycount.com
Promoting the use of pirated software is clearly not appropriate but I feel like the question as it is posed is not unreasonable. I imagine it goes through most fresh graduate's minds when they head out into the real world.
In answer to the question...
Can you get away with it? Maybe (ask crytek
Should you do it?
Fuck no, it's theft and no different from pirating a game (which I'm sure is something we would all agree is wrong)
Factor the cost in when you set your rates or learn to use blender..
This was when I was in QA back then, and did some more freelance work on the side. As much as I didn't like being in QA, it gave me some room to get this all sorted out. After that, I bought a license for ZBrush, and I think that was enough to start off with. Maya LT starting kicking in around 2010 or 2011 I think. I stopped doing freelance work around that time. I did it again back in 2016 through 2019. By then, I already had what I needed, and only signed up for monthly subscriptions.
But for your case, try getting a license. Look into the costs, monthly or yearly.
It'll be less of a worry the moment you have it. I think you can also add them down when you file your taxes, because freelance is technically self-employment.
I know they don't sell them, and its difficult to buy a legit licensed copy.
Also if you have an old copy, I'd read that they stopped supporting them exclusively. The force you to get the subscription also
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/05/court-smacks-autodesk-affirms-right-to-sell-used-software/
A month or two away i assume.