Where do I get 3d model cars for games?

Hi.

Where can I get free/paid 3d car models for games? I read everywhere "Editorial use only". So that means, that I cannot use this in the game?

 

http://unity3d.com/asset-store

Editorial use is for news, articles etc. not for games or apps

 

Where did you read that?

I'm pretty sure the asset store doesn't have such rules for the models/art sold there.

 

E.g. here: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/obj-city-vehicles-1/738699

 

Or here: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-2008-chevrolet-silverado-model/414093

I also read that on cgtrader.com

 

On the right side.

 

Those have real brands and models which makes them unusable in games without separate license from the brand owners.

 

But I see on the google play store a lot of games with famous cars. Is it ok when I buy this cars and remove the brands? Is this then allowed? I mean, Grand theft auto does the same. They change the car a little bit.

 

Play Store has a lot of illegal and copyright violating stuff there all the time but that does not mean it's ok. You can make your own cars and also not that GTA team has a huge lawyer team backing hem up and telling where the line goes Those you linked already state their license which does not really change even if you modify them.

 

If branded cars are present in GTA (idk if they are) that probably means they purchased the rights to do so.
That's one of the most successful games ever, so it only makes sense that they could afford that.

If you do decide to use those models without permission you will risk getting into legal trouble.
But if you do manage to remove the branding and change the vehicle models enough so that they are significantly different from the branded ones (and no one can prove that they have anything to do with the original) then it will be ok. But why would you go through all this trouble when you can just buy unbranded models?

 

And where can I buy this unbranded models? Can't find websites for that.

 

That also means, that I don't need to buy 3d car models on the unity assetstore, because the are also protected.

 

Very interesting. Does that really mean, that we don't need to buy 3d vehicle models from the assetstore, because the vehicles are protected?

E.g. this: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/14280

Can't use it, because it's a ford mustang? Only the car body. Not the interior.

 

You're probably looking at commercial trademarked vehicles.
The idea is that you can't use those without permission of whoever owns the vehicle design. That's why they're "for educational purposes".

It is not exactly clear whether you're REQUIRED by law to ask for permission, but , for example, when EA decided to use some helicopter design in their games without requesting a permission first, they ended up in a lawsuit, and the lawsuit has been settled out of court.

So the best idea would be to avoid commercial vehicles.

 

All vehicles are commercial vehicles. Right?

Wow. It's unbelievable.

I just started a car game and stopped, because of the 3d models. One month programming for nothing.

 

Ugh. You can make parodys of real-life car models, like GTA does and millions of other games..

Look. These are all good and legal to use..

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/43883
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/43820
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/520
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/27294
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/43714

And there are many many more.

 

You're too quick to give up.

Take a look at GTA, Saints Row and Flatout series. They invented fake car brands.
http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Vehicle_Brands

Basically, you can get away with using look-alikes, unless you REALLY want to have official car company logos in your game. That's the way to go and everybody does it.

 

That's one month of experience!

 

You should probably give up now. You are going to loose more then a month on other bad desicions as you move forward.

 

A picture is not the same thing as a car. You cannot drive a picture. You can take a picture of a car and sell that picture for a profit, as long as that picture does not depict the registered trademarks of the company that made the car. So logos no, car yes.

Same thing with a 3D model of the car. Your depiction of the car is your artistic expression. But trademarked stuff is off limits so that the company can use the logo to sell their cars. A trademark means nothing if everybody is using it, that's why it's protected.

Make all the cars you want man.

 

Cgtraders is the best option for your question , just try out. Thanks hope would be helpful

 

Agree with Lman. The logo and name of the car is protected - so dont use a car with a symbol/logo.
The body style/shape design is not potected - to recreate and use in a game.
Only if you were creating a REAL car would the body/style design become an issue if you were copying another car companies design.

 

Car shapes can be protected. Trade Marks, Patents and Copyright are not the only forms of IP protection. Registered Designs protect appearance.

 

Could you link a source saying that visual/artistic reproductions of car shapes are protected? I am under the impression that registered designs refer to physical design elements of actual real cars. Otherwise rando car company can manufacture something that has similar features to the 1970 mustang and claim that since the insides differ that's all that matters.

Artistic renderings for the purpose of an interactive medium should be free speech on the part of the artist.

 

I'm basing it on legal advice passed on to me when working on racing games for large companies, plus the wording in branding documents from manufacturers (yes, many of them have thick manuals on what you can and cannot do when you have a licence to use their cars).

 

The relevant part of 43a of the PTO:

So in regards to the OP, he would definitely be safe because his game isn't commercial. However, supposing it was...

This is the closest thing I could find dealing with the subject. It's quite thorough and from a source that deals with this kind of thing all the time.

So it's true that the car appearance is owned by the car company as trade dress, but in omission of where the design comes from, is that "likely to cause confusion?" and does part of a game count as "Commercial advertising or promotion?" It's not as if you're saying this car comes from Honda when it comes from Ford. And the average person won't be confused about where that car design is from even if it doesn't possess the logos. Doesn't the fact that you had to build the design yourself in a 3D program make it an artistic rendering or "parody" of the real life vehicle- in which case it has to look similar/recognizable in order to be a parody.

Here's one law professional who apparently thinks there isn't enough legal grounds for infringement.

 

I'm going to disagree with you here. The prosecuter could make the following argument

• People want to play this game because it has cool car xxx in it
• Therefore the trademark of my company has been used to market this game
• This use has provided a direct benefit to the developer
• This use can confuse consumers as to the product origin as there is a game sponsored by cool brand xxx

Not saying this is clear cut. But there is enough to make a lawyer fight a possible outcome of using existing designs.

 

GTA, in fact, specifically redesigned their cars slightly along with renaming them to avoid such lawsuits. Like the original, top down GTA even.

 

And we all know the GTA developers were totally afraid of a little controversy and the occasional court case.

My point is a lawsuit could happen. You might win the lawsuit and be allowed to resume development of the game. But that's still a lot of time and money spent on not game things.

 

Here you go:
https://graphicartistsguild.org/tools_resources/trademark-copyright-and-related-legalities

Speaking of Free Speech, right of Free Speech only protects you against government. It does not protect you from someone getting upset and suing you. Also making car images is not speech.

There's also Fair Use, but it has specific applications: parody, criticism, commenting on.

None of this applies if you're selling a game.

IMO, the cheapest option here would be to just invent fake car brands, because Copyright/trademark laws are a minefield.

 

Well GTA is a perfect application of the parody defense- the whole GTA world is filled with commentary on the real world- so having slightly distorted versions of real cars actually fits.

However all in all, I have to agree with your conclusion- it's just not worth it when you can create or modify existing designs substantially and have an original car all your own. The risk to the reward just doesn't wash.

 

@carking1996 : Why are the linked cars legal to use?

 

They don't have an identifiable brand logo on them such as Ford or Ferrari. If I a regular person look at them, without the logo I have no idea whether those are clones of existing car companies or completely made up for the most part.