Hello mod creators,

We have discussed the situation of 'retopology' where mod makers attempt to reproduce models from another game. They create a new mesh by a process of 3D tracing using the original model as a guide. This is then claimed as 'original work' because the mod maker built every triangle.

For a while this was considered to be a grey area and some mods were allowed after being built this way. But it involves the use of a model extracted from another game and therefore we have decided that we cannot allow such models to be stored on our servers.

Please read the special thread with a full explanation of the clarified rule.
The Live for Speed mods system, what is allowed...

We are sorry for mistakenly allowing some mods to be published that were built using the retopology process. We realise the creation of these mods involved a lot of work but the models we distribute from our servers must be fully legal and not borrow the work of other games or simulators.

Quote from Scawen :

Hello mod creators,

We have discussed the situation of 'retopology' where mod makers attempt to reproduce models from another game. They create a new mesh by a process of 3D tracing using the original model as a guide. This is then claimed as 'original work' because the mod maker built every triangle.

For a while this was considered to be a grey area and some mods were allowed after being built this way. But it involves the use of a model extracted from another game and therefore we have decided that we cannot allow such models to be stored on our servers.

Please read the special thread with a full explanation of the clarified rule.
The Live for Speed mods system, what is allowed...

We are sorry for mistakenly allowing some mods to be published that were built using the retopology process. We realise the creation of these mods involved a lot of work but the models we distribute from our servers must be fully legal and not borrow the work of other games or simulators.

I have a question about what your stance is on image references.
Is it allowed to use someone elses image to trace for example a gauge cluster? I would imagine that's considered fair use.

To take that a step further. Is it allowed to use a short video snippet from youtube (not from a game, but real video from a private uploader) and use a series of screenshots from this video to produce a photogrammetry point cloud? In this day and age such things are possible, and quite handy for modellers. I would also like to point out that the geometry information is quite crude and unrefined from this method. This could potentially also fall under fair use since you use only a few seconds of said video, but I'm not sure.

And finally. What about deriving suspension geometry information using the previously mentioned method.
I did this on my S15 from a couple of seconds off a youtube video as can be seen here:


Of course in this case I'm only looking for a couple of point coordinates. But in all fairness, it's very hard to obtain this information if you're not allowed to use creative methods or own the vehicle you're making.

You yourself wrote that retopology is essentially a re-creation of the model, respectively, it cannot relate in any way to the original model of the car, well, according to this logic, drawings can also not be used, because they were used to create models for games, I read and did not understand a word, then what can you do retopology for? and is the photoscan legal?

Quote from Doctor_Blender :

You yourself wrote that retopology is essentially a re-creation of the model, respectively, it cannot relate in any way to the original model of the car

It is unclear what you mean by "relate in any way to the original model of the car".
Do you mean:
A) a real-world car, the one made made of metal and plastic?
Of course you can make 3D-models or paintings or whatever that look like real life cars/objects, except for logos.
B) a 3D-file extracted from a video game?

Quote :

drawings can also not be used, because they were used to create models for games

Again, that is too vague. What "drawings" exactly do you mean?
For example in this thread https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/95848-T16-RX someone made a free hands pencil-drawing on paper. Then he made a 3d-model based on that. In this example, he made a phantasy car of his own design. But if you make similar drawings of real-world cars then that would also be ok.
On the other hand, sometimes concept-art of commercial video games is released as promotion. For example: https://tcrf.net/Category:Need_for_Speed:_Most_Wanted_(2005)_concept_art
I feel using such drawings would likely not be ok.

Quote from pärtan :

Is it allowed to use a short video snippet from youtube (not from a game, but real video from a private uploader) and use a series of screenshots from this video to produce a photogrammetry point cloud? In this day and age such things are possible, and quite handy for modellers. I would also like to point out that the geometry information is quite crude and unrefined from this method. This could potentially also fall under fair use since you use only a few seconds of said video, but I'm not sure.

What youtube writes on fair use:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6396261?hl=en#zippy=%2Cwhat-constitutes-fair-use
To me, it reads as if it leans towards 3D models from videos are okay.
For example there is this key word "transformative”.
The original 2D video gets transformed into a 3D model, already this change of medium is very transformative.
Similiar, taking measurements seems also okay.
(A retopo of a ripped 3D-file is still a 3D-file, it is only barely transformative. Also the "heart" of a 3D-file is its shape, which gets copied and weighs against fair use.)
Then there is this part:
"Using material from primarily factual works is more likely to be fair than using purely fictional works."
I understand it like this:
A car filmed in a museum or parking lot would be okay as source material.
A scene from the "Mad Max" movie would be less okay.

It is a topic where it is difficult to make concrete rules.
For example taking a screenshot of a video game and using it as reference could be okay. But if the video game has a free camera (like LFS or LFS viewer mode) and you use that to film a car from all angles and then use that video for automatic photogrammetry, then that would just be illegal ripping with extra steps.