Company Villain stole my art for their game Archetype

TylerFluharty

I'd like to edit this post, I am in contact with Villains CEO and we are trying to figure this out.

Here is another image of their gun I found that shows it more along the side:



Here's the image:

Orgoth02

Where did they get the texture from?

mdeforge

I see the similarities but aren't there a lot of differences as well? Or am I just looking at this wrong?

Ghostscape

I think it'd be easier to see if you mirrored the screenshot and rotated it 90 degrees - if you do that, you can see that the 3 segments you've marked from the bottom left of your texture are actually just a single strip of your texture applied across - the 03 becomes a E0 on his version.

JacqueChoi

So 'Villain' isn't just a clever name then is it?

TylerFluharty

Hahah, @JacqueChoi yes they are actual Villains.
@Orgoth02 from my old website, I just had a 1024 of it next to my weapon to show off my Diffuse... but I didn't watermark it so.. they just napped it.

TylerFluharty

@Stradigos Yes there are differences, they did some painting or copying and pasting of other images on their own. But it cannot be denied that my hand painted details were taken from my diffuse pasted onto theirs.
@Ghostscape Yes you are very right, I will do that.

Dylan Brady

people tell you not to watermark your images because "no one's gonna rip you off..."

Justin Meisse

How about send them a written letter via certified mail that mentions "DMCA"

Blaisoid

geez, that's pretty pathetic. painting their own versions of those elements probably wouldn't take them much time so why even take the damn risk?

gsokol

Wow thats super lame.

..and I gave them my monies for this game a while ago...:(

thatanimator

can't you just credit yourself instead of getting upset?

shit, if I'd see someone using my animations in their game (that I have in SDK files on my page, just need to retarget the animations onto another character rly..) I'd just write the game in my experience list! ;D
I'd be happy as shit if somebody credited themselfs for something I did.. heh..

GarageBay9

I hate to be the wet blanket, but unless you've got a good lawyer and they're easy to find, you'll be wasting your time.

I had work I wasn't paid for that was included in UbiSoft's Pacific Fighters (got the usual stock excuse "oh, we redid most of it"... bull, I pulled the mesh with DXRipper and it's identical). Then it got shipped over to Ubi Romania and used again in Blazing Angels. UbiSoft made a nice chunk of cash off of art assets I was never paid for, and the second time I didn't even get credit for them.

I consulted briefly with an attorney and he told me that basically, even with an infinite war chest, the chances of me actually getting anything were nil, and if I did get a judgement, it wouldn't begin to cover the legal fees.

Sorry, man. Been in your shoes and it sucks.

RyanB

You should contact them first. They may have used a contractor that stole the image. They may even want to compensate you.

ScottP

Shame on Villian! Its a clear rip off..

TylerFluharty

@GarageBay9 yeah, you're right. I'm really sorry you got screwed over something like this. Sounds like Ubisoft reared you pretty hard.

It's a real shame this is the way things happen sometimes.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to check this out.

PaulP

That sucks that you won't even get credit for it. I remember seeing this shit all the time when I did graphic design and advertising, shame its happening in this industry too. Any way of finding out who the actual *artist is who took credit for it?

EDIT: spelling mistake *arsehole

ZacD

Did you email them or what action did you take?

TylerFluharty

I've contacted Villain and their CEO is talking to me. It seems it was an outside firm that did this graphic so they are looking into it. I appreciate their help.

Xenobond

Man that sucks. Glad to see that you've been able to get word back regarding this. Probably another potential problem that can result from outsourcing. That said, it could just as easily happen to any company that isn't paying attention to what is coming in/out of the pipeline.

claydough

I can't imagine someone presenting another's skills as their own and not eventually taking a gun to their brains? I do not understand why u would want to remain living? What would be the point of yer existance? I had about one hundred drawing stolen from me the night before semester reviews @ M.I.C.A. Considering I aced every year I was there, the thought of someone representing my work for their review just seems like the scummiest type of excuse for a life. Thankfully, my drawing professor was a close mentor and I still aced on his familiarity with my work. That was 25 years ago and I could walk into his office today and get a reference ( Mark Karnes is still @ MICA and exhibiting regularly ) I am pretty sure the guy who decided to live his life as a lie will not have any credibility if you follow up on the theft. Do not give in. Someone needs to take a nice long disgusted look in the mirror.

Isaiah Sherman

I was actually wondering about that. I wouldn't be surprised if some random artist at some random outsourcing studio in some random country took it off your site and used it.

I looked pretty close at some of the texturing details on that gun, and they are questionably similar.

TortillaChips

Hboybowen wrote: »

it seems more or less like your texture map was used as inspiration if anything.

It seems more like pieces were extracted from his texture to me, especially the pipe and the letters. Well yeah all the examples shown are good enough proof for me, inspiration wouldn't be that accurate.

Kwramm

Haiasi wrote: »

I was actually wondering about that. I wouldn't be surprised if some random artist at some random outsourcing studio in some random country took it off your site and used it.

This can happen in any studio where the staff is uneducated about IP issues, where the staff includes people who just don't care, where crunch and deadlines force people to take questionable shortcuts. This doesn't just happen to outsourcers in Elbonia only.

pior

Hboybowen wrote: »

I honestly don't see what your argument is. Those are two different objects with what it seems different topology which results in different Uvs. I mean yea it has a yellow and play tape and and features like yours but until we can see more of the object in question it seems more or less like your texture map was used as inspiration if anything.

Seriously, you cannot see the copy/paste job on the texture ?
(no one is claiming that they stole the mesh)

OP : good luck with the issue. It sounds like the CEO is understanding and actually concerned too, so that's a good thing (It makes sense from his point of view : if a contractor made a habit of stealing textures, there might be stuff lifted from big PC titles in the game too, and that could mean a lot of trouble for him ...)

Stromberg90

pior wrote: »

there might be stuff lifted from big PC titles in the game too, and that could mean a lot of trouble for him ...)

I hope he does, he deserves it as a present for being such a moral artist

Slum

Wow, that is a bummer. At first glance I didn't see the similarity, but yeah, they totally chopped up your texture and grabbed the bits they liked.

I hope you can get something worked out. At least it seems like the studio themselves were unaware. It looks like at least one artist, possibly a whole outsource company might be in some big trouble now.

Goat Justice

Sorry to see that happen to you man. I had a similar incident with something of mine a while back, and I can remember how angry I was about it. Hope your communications with the company involved lead somewhere productive.

Snader

Hboybowen - look at the top /// stripes on the stolen in-game gun, the rightmost one has a pretty recognizable half-circle splotch of grime, the same as on the original texture flat. That H-shaped thing mid-left on the original texture is also quite a distinct set of shapes.

ZacD

Yeah the grime and details are exactly the same, its 100% ripped off and chopped up, there's no argument about it.

TylerFluharty

Yeah I wouldn't accuse someone of something like this unless I was 100% sure. I never said the mesh was stolen, just parts of the texture.

Thanks everyone for the support! I'll update has this plays out.

DeadlyFreeze

I don't know where you live but in the US this is what the small claims court was made for. You don't need to lawyer, you just pay a small filing fee (~$20) and show up in court with your evidence.

Snader

Sure, but if he's still discussing with the CEO (who seems to take it serious enough) then there's no need for court. (yet)