I know I haven't been around much in the last few months and there are some good reasons. I haven't been slacking off but let me explain as to why I haven't been reporting on my works first off.
First off, At the end of September, I had to put my desktop computer into storage and it has been there ever since. I have been using my two notebook computers for any and all computer work and internet. Needless to say these notebooks while fairly up to date simply don't have the proper power, memory or screen real estate needed to do any serious texture work. I toyed with trying do some work on various texture projects but it simply was not going anywhere. So when the time came to put my system into storage I never bothered to copy the projects I had going onto the notebooks. Things will hopefully be changing in the next month as I am going to pull my computer out of storage after Christmas and hopefully get some things finished.
The other issue is that IT has come to my attention that certain entities have been using my textures without request in corporate and commercial applications. The textures in question are leaking from "The Celestia Motherload". It seems these entities think the site is a "Free for all grab bag" and that there is no license on the material what so ever. This is of course wrong. The GNU General Public License is supposed to have some sort of coverage on this. But it is my own fault for letting these textures to continue to be available without having any kind of GNU General Public License agreement inside the file downloads. A lesson learned unfortunately. What brings this all up front at this time is that I stumbled across a gross use of my work and I was never contacted for permission by these said entities.
Let me explain how I found out about this. I was watching the new 2008 remake of “The Andromeda Strain”. I enjoyed the movie for what it was. But as the movie ended and they pulled out of the space station and started to pan over the Earth what did I see. The clouds, the cloud texture they used was familiar, and should be. It was mine. There is no way I am wrong on this account. At first I thought it was kind of cool. But after a few minutes it struck me that I didn’t remember getting any request to use said texture in any kind of film. So I went through nearly 2 years of emails from various people and organizations that used textures of mine in commercial applications. I found nothing anywhere close to coming from anyone affiliated with this movie. So needless to say now I am flat out pissed off. If anything I deserve a credit somewhere in the credits for the texture. Of course it’s not there and its not going to be. So I am going to get in touch with the special effects team and give them a few curt words about abuse of the GNU General Public License and copyright infringements. That’s all I can do at this point. I can’t verify if the Earth texture in the scene was one of mine so I can’t say anything about that. But I have my suspicions about it as well.
Here is a screen cap of the closing credits of the movie with my cloud texture
Here is an old Celestia render of the same cloud texture made by me.
I don’t want anyone to think that I am just tooting my own horn here. This was a theft of my work used without permission and I get not even a mention. This is where things can go very wrong. I have been stewing over this now for over a month. I have finally decided to take some measures to try and prevent this from happening again in the future. So the first step is to plug the leak at the Celestia Motherload. I have sent a letter to the Administrator asking that all the links to my Earth textures be changed to hyperlinks that point to Earth Central. I am going to do an update to the site and make it very clear that all textures on the site are covered under a copyright and that use as free works is ONLY for “NON-COMERCIAL” use. Any request for COMERCIAL use with be granted on a case by case basis and possible licensing fee if I so deem it. I am not going out on a limb here. I have had my textures used in many commercial projects. I just feel it’s time to build up some battlements in the cases of improper use of my works.
The issues with the Motherload have been an on and off again thing for me over the last few years. Most of my work there is years old and hopelessly out of date. As is the cloud texture used in the movie. If they, the special effects team, would have contacted me they could have used a much better one then the one they did use. Trying to keep the Celestia Motherload updated with my newer works was never a big concern for me until now. I am not at this point asking the Motherload to remove all traces of me from there site as this would be artistic suicide. Allot of people go there for planetary textures. Which is fine for most users, but I feel I need the added protection that if someone goes to the Celestia Motherload that they are for one, getting my newest works and second, are being sent to a download site that has all the copyright information in plain English right in front of them. I think this is the best way to do things.
Here is the letter I sent to the Celestia Motherload Administrators.
[Hello Site Administrator,
It has come to my attention that certain textures of mine are being used in commercial productions without getting my permission for their use and not receiving copyright and licensing permission for these works either. The only way that these particular textures can be gotten is through the Celestia Motherload website as these particular textures have long since been removed and or replaced on the Earth Central website. The main issue is that if someone wants to use my work in a commercial application or production I expect to in some way get a licensing fee. This is not against the GNU General Public License as far as I understand it. As long as the textures are not used for commercial use they are free. But there are entities out there that are using my works and not following the GNU General Public License. The most noted one to date was the special effects team on the 2008 remake of “The Andromeda Strain”. They used my old “Northern Summer Cloud texture” on a render of the Earth at the end sequence of the movie. They may have also used one of my Earth textures but I have no way to verify that the Earth texture in use is mine, but the cloud texture is mine and there can be no doubt as to who made it. I am the only person involved in the planetary texture scene that used genuine satellite imagery of real tropical storms and added said data to the old NASA cloud texture and then published the results. Anyone who knows my work with one look can see that was used in the movie was mine.
So I think at this point it be prudent to ask that all of my textures be temporarily disabled on the Motherload site. In place of a hyperlink to the downloadable file I request that those hyperlink be made to point to Earth Central in its place. I am in the midst of updating the site and will have a much stronger message as to the use of my work. I am not taking the site commercial as of yet. I can’t do that while it is still being hosted on the shatters.net servers as I am sure Chris would have something to say about that. But I am planning on moving the site off Shatters.net and making it more non Celestia centered. I have had many requests to use my textures in other applications and I think pulling my works away from being so Celestia oriented is the most prudent move at this point. Many people don’t realize that these textures can be used in other applications.
This is in no way a pulling out of the Celestia community on my part. If it had not been for Celestia and its community I would not be the texture artist that I am today. I just feel I need more control over my works at this point in time and I would like to see some of these older works that have been floating around for years get replaced with newer content. So at this point I am officially requesting that all texture download links at “The Celestia Motherload” that belong to Don. Edwards or Donald Edwards be redirected to “Earth Central” at http://www.celestiaproject.net/~impulse/Earth_ ... ntral.html . While the content and pictures on the Motherload site will not quite mesh with what’s available on Earth Central at this time they will be pointed to newer content than what is available on the Celestia Motherload.
My thanks with your help in this matter.
Donald. Edwards]
I think that any other texture creator would at least feel a bit more at ease if they had a bit more protection from the site. But if the Celestia Motherload can’t accommodate me in this I will have to request that they completely remove any and all links to all of my works posted on the site. I don’t think this is necessary as a simple edit of a hyperlink can fix all of this.
So in ending I just want everyone to know what’s been going on, what I have been up too and what to expect from me. I will probably be splitting Earth Central into two separate sites. One with the free content and it can remain on shatters.net server and a Pro Grade site that will be somewhere else as it will cause a conflict with Celestia and its own GNU General Public License and copyright system.
As Always if anyone wants to comment I am open to it.
Don. Edwards
Earth Central
that is clearly copyright infringement. I depend also on your great texture for my free movies for 3ds max. but alas, I saw whats going on. I know this is going to go off topic but I dont think the these companies dont give a damn about a small texture belonging to someone. all they want is to steal stuff to make money. I suggest you sue A&E and SciFI. they are the ones that distribute the show. Good luck