legality of making a 3d product based on a real building?
Sfariah D
Posts: 26,558
i was thinking of making a 3d mall based on the one i work at. if it was any good i would like to sell it here. i know i have to rename stores. i also do not have access everywhere specially the mens rooms and back rooms of places i do not work. i am not planning on modeling the interiors of each and every store.
this is a project for my book i am writing so unless i get popular demand to do a particular store i will only make the places the characters visit.
also is there any interest in a realistic mall for daz studio? i am still doing my research and see if it is legal or not.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
There can be many variables regarding buildings. Just because it's a mall doesn't mean the design is not trademarked or patented or copyrighted to the architectural firm who designed it or the individual/company who owns it. Just researching such things can end up being more time and trouble than they are worth.
Architects do own the copyright on their blueprints and designs from which the building is built. Will they come after you if you copy their work? that's a much more complicated question. But they don't own the "idea" of a shopping mall, only the concrete representation of one.
I went with a very generic mall design when I built this, basically a mash of every mall I had ever seen in North America - they all have similarities.
http://www.daz3d.com/suburban-shopping-mall
The chances of you duplicating it exactly is highly unlikely. So be inspired by its design and elements from it that you like. Chances are that when you are modeling this you will find certain aspects harder to replicate then others so you will end up changing more it anyways.
I lived in Reston, VA for several years. That was back when I was doing spherical photography. Reston is one of the early planned communities where streets and houses have a strict building code and the 12 blocks of the city center buildings are done in matching and symmetrical architecture. A "Disneyfied" city! Reston town center has some interesting architecture so I set up my tripod to take some complete spherical photos. Unfortunately just as I got started snapping the 32 photos needed the town rent-a-cop came over and said I was not allowed to take photos without a permit. Hmmm... I don't argue with cops so I packed up and left. I wonder if they were afraid I'd steal its soul? Apparently someone applied for a permit. See images of Reston Town Center below.
On a beautiful spring day I tried to take photos from the west patio of the US Capitol Building and the Capitol Security Police came over and advised that I needed a permit to use a tripod on Capitol grounds. So I asked where I could get the permit and I was escorted to the basement dungeons of the Capitol Building to a tiny office in a broom closet where after filling out forms declaring that I was not a terrorist or assassin I was given a permit for an hour. The process of finding the right dungeon cell and getting the permit took well over an hour so by time I got back out to the West patio the weather had changed and it was now raining cats & dogs. So much for my spherical photo of the Capitol and The Mall :-(
I've often wondered about making 3D architecture models of real buildings like the White House, the Capitol, and other famous government or commercial buildings and if I'd run into trouble with some restriction or another.
Given people are apparently selling Star Wars obj files for various characters and such without permission, I have to suspect that you're pretty safe.
Technically...no, for the gov't buildings, at least. But in this day and age, who knows?
Those buildings should be PD...but whether or not that actually means anything is in question.
And before you think, great, I'll just model my house...weeeeeelllll...unless you designed it yourself and built it yourself, it probably belongs to some architect, somewhere.
All depends on the country.
I was in Israel about 9 years ago and the tour guide pointed out their primary power station. Told us "go ahead, take pictures of anything you like here. Our enemies do."
I was at the Sheetz flagship store in Altoona, PA.
Sheetz is a gas station with cool computer consoles to order food. Their central location has gelato and amazing food options, it's like Heaven's gas station.
I started taking pictures so I could relay how cool it is to friends, and was told I'd have to refrain.
Technically...no, for the gov't buildings, at least. But in this day and age, who knows?
Those buildings should be PD...but whether or not that actually means anything is in question.
And before you think, great, I'll just model my house...weeeeeelllll...unless you designed it yourself and built it yourself, it probably belongs to some architect, somewhere.
As the house we are currently living in is shown as existing on the 1850 tithe map of the area I guess it may be safe to try making a model of it, if I wanted to. :coolsmirk:
As the house we are currently living in is shown as existing on the 1850 tithe map of the area I guess it may be safe to try making a model of it, if I wanted to. :coolsmirk:
Well...unless you're house was built by Nicolas Flamel, then it should be 'safe'...
As the house we are currently living in is shown as existing on the 1850 tithe map of the area I guess it may be safe to try making a model of it, if I wanted to. :coolsmirk:
Well...unless you're house was built by Nicolas Flamel, then it should be 'safe'...
They were originally built as Barracks for the sodyers who were stationed there after the "Merthyr Riots" in 1831, in order to protect the Iron Works (which no longer exist). Our road is actually still called Barracks Row.
They felt they needed protection as the Merthyr riots were partially fueled by the fact that the Iron Master of the time had cut wages, while still continuing to himself live in a virtual castle, now a museum. http://www.visitmerthyr.co.uk/attractions/cyfarthfa-park-museum/cyfarthfa-castle-museum.aspx
I suspect this kind of thing is tolerated as long as it's a cottage industry and no one makes any real money. If they did then they would end up buried under Disney lawyers.
Cheers,
Alex.
Was it after 9/11? Post 9/11, many cities and towns require a permit to take photographs of public buildings, power substations, and anything else that was considered a "high risk' target (which in the State of New York pretty much means anything and everything). A friend of mine had his sketch pads confiscated by the Border Patrol because he was sketching the Whirlpool Bridge which spans the Niagara Gorge. Apparently he needed a permit to do the sketches(which involved a background check) and then hand his sketches over to Customs and Border Patrol for evaluation by Risk Management Officer to determine if the sketches were for a purpose other than art. Granted this happened only a few months after 9/11 and everyone was still bordering on hysteria but it was a bit extreme. I suppose things have settled down a bit since then.
Most of the time it just depends on the attitudes of the Intellectual Property's owner. For example, some IP owners pretty much encourage fan fiction, while others will smack down anyone even remotely infringing on their rights.
No, it must have been before, I left Washington shortly after 9/11 and haven't been back.
Hi Folks,
I've often wondered whether it's not permitted to use exact models of vehicles/transport items such as jet-skis or those swamp boats which have a high seat and a huge propeller behind the seat.
When I say exact, I don't mean details right down to company logos. It just that researching for such models only brings up real life designs - also for dune buggies, golf buggies, microlight aircraft, etc..
I'd like to get the general 'anatomy' right but, for specialised vehicles, where does the design cease being theirs?
I suspect this kind of thing is tolerated as long as it's a cottage industry and no one makes any real money. If they did then they would end up buried under Disney lawyers.
Cheers,
Alex.
I wouldn't call $65 for a single c3po figure at cgriver cheap... that money seems real enough to me.
I wouldn't call $65 for a single c3po figure at cgriver cheap... that money seems real enough to me.Not really, it's not. For us peons is might be, but not to big companies like Disney and Hasbro. "Big" money is in the tens and hundreds of thousands or more.
That depends...there are some that yeah, using the blueprints would work and be allowed...you just have to research it well.
Some companies allow it as it is free advertising, others take a different view.
Honda has 3D models for download on their site.
And they are pretty nice ones...too.
re: Disney/Star Wars. If they officially notice it, they'll squash it. That's how it goes.
Big money, small money, doesn't matter. They will protect their IP rights because if they don't, they can risk losing them, or being sued by people who have paid a lot of money to use them.
A number of companies take a blind eye approach, not acting unless too much noise is made (Hasbro is this way with Transformers and Pony stuff), Lucasfilm used to have an official "fan use" policy that if you operated under, you were good (I don't know if Disney has kept that).
Selling stuff, though that's just asking for trouble, because all it takes is one of their IP lawyers who's looking to bill some hours to enter the right search terms into google to find you.
--------
re buildings: a quick google gave me:
https://asmp.org/tutorials/photos-public-buildings.html
for TLDR types, Pre: Dec 1, 1990, Copyright on buildings images don't exist. Post that, "As long as the building is in a public place, or visible — and photographable — from a public place, there is no infringement of the building’s copyright owner’s rights. This rule includes private as well as public buildings."
This is for photography, but I assume that would follow for 3d modeling, which is even further abstracted from the real world.
(And that's US...here's a link for some UK laws: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/02/12/is-it-legal-to-take-pictures-of-buildings-photography-law-questions-answered-by-experts/)
Thanks, mjc1016, for your reply.
I've bought a couple of vehicles from DAZ, as much to see the standard of work as to possess the models. The ones I bought do go into a good level of detail and I just wondered whether it's necessary to look into blueprints, videos, etc. and then put deliberate variations into the mix. As I said, I'm looking at small-market, specialised vehicles or crafts.
This isn't re-asking the question because I guess I know the answer. It would be altogether wrong (and legally risky!) to make a precise copy of some things if they ever ended up for sale.
Although I've seen models on the Internet and even in 3D magazines of race-cars complete with advertising brand-names covering them and wondered whether special permission was required.
I understand the hesitation of making 3D models of real things. Over a decade ago, I thought of making a complete copy of the ship I was on "USS Camden (AOE-2)", for quake. needles to say, not just the concerns of legalities. That is allot of stuff in every room to try to model up in Worldcraft (now "Valve Hammer Editor"), and then making it all fit into the limitations of the computers at the time, lol.
A shopping mall, is about on the same scale. large, lots of rooms, and a bunch of textures to put everywhere. Not including props like tables, trashcans, etc. Like karnak, my ship, etc, It would probably make the Daz Studio view-field interface useless, after dressing it up with clutter and figures.
I thought of a stupid idea for this but it would not work.
I was thinking of asking for amazon gift cards to get a good camera for this project. I was thinking of working on the project for $7.50 an hour. And give people who help something. But that is probably a stupid idea.
Realistically, unless you are running around with a tape measure and calipers, you are only going to be approximating the look and perhaps feel of the subject.
I don't really think that anyone will go after you if it is "close"... Although if you name it something like "Eastfield Mall in North Groverton" and that is the same name as the place you are modeling, then some wiseass lawyer may smell an easy meal...
The odds are low, but still...
Same goes with the stores... Payless? Maybe rename it Paymore or Paylittle... Macys? Marcys... 21Forever? 22Forever or 21-4Eternity... Using an actual store name and logo would probably invite trouble.
Making a slight change to the logo and giving it a similar enough name is easy enough and could actually be fun... More work, but fun.
And also as people before have noted, taking reference pictures in public places can be an annoying difficult experience... Being an industrial model maker I've had to take reference photos many times and even with the owner or property manager's blessing, I've still been hassled by security... Then again I'm a very suspicious looking chap anyway.
Good luck.
Thanks for the thoughts. Sorry for the stupid thought.
Thanks for the thoughts. Sorry for the stupid thought.lol. Yea, the paranoia of some people can go over the edge. I've been hassled over taking pictures of my deck, by some one that was behind me and the camera, lol.
Spending a few days ripping out the old deck, and using power tools making a new deck is perfectly fine. Tho the instant the camera comes out, they go nuts, even when it is not even close to pointing there direction, lol.
Not a stupid thought... My idea of marketing bee pants (pants made of live, angry, stinging bees hot glued to each other) was a stupid thought... Idea... And prototype too.
By the way, unless you are going to use the pictures to actually texture the model, you don't really need a very expensive camera.
In many cases I've used my iPhone camera for reference photos... The trick is lining up the shots or breaking up large images to include all the areas you need.
Most smartphones have pretty decent cameras, take some photos of maybe you house or something big but simple, look at those images and see if they show what you need to know... Could you model from them?
Practice a little and you may get by with a cheap camera.
Granted, everything is easier with an SLR... But also more obvious... And more chance of you getting hassled for taking pics.
If you are going to texture using the photos... That's harder... But realistically if you go over to one of the most popular CGI texture sites "CG Textures" you'll see that even those textures which are used by many professionals,are not so great... More than half of them look like they were shot using a Fisher Price Elmo camera... Despite the fact that most were shot using good quality equipment...
Learning to take texture photos is harder and is easier to do with better equipment, but with practice it can also be done using cheaper cameras.
Once again good luck.
@ zarcondeegrissom
I guess you are a contractor or have done contracting work... Yeah, when I used to make fountains some people would seem disturbed that I wanted to take a picture of the installation... But some were happy.
Back when I first worked as an industrial model maker we used to do "Court Models" because back then a physical model was still cheaper and more common that CGI and easily understood by a jury.
Me and the guy I worked for used to have to go to an accident site or crime scene and take reference photos... Since they were all on public or industrial sites, we got really good at being really sneaky or faking the real reason we were there taking pictures.
These days we probably would have been tossed in jail or detained by homeland security...
Megh, it was fun playing detective/spy though.