Creative Commons license

  / by Ton


The movie “Elephants Dream” and all data on the DVDs and almost all of the contents on this website is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license. In short, this means you can freely reuse and distribute this content, also commercially, for as long you provide a proper attribution.

The attribution is either one of the following cases

1) For the orange.blender.org website and files on the DVD ROMs:
Blender Foundation | www.blender.org

2) If you screen or broadcast the entire movie and/or documentary:
Include the entire credits roll in ending.

3) If you re-use (or screen, broadcast) parts of the movie or documentary itself, or duplicate the DVDs:
(c) copyright 2006, Blender Foundation / Netherlands Media Art Institute / www.elephantsdream.org

4) Some of the texture files on the DVDs have an own Creative Commons attribution, these are indicated clearly.

5) The additional soundtrack audio files on this website are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 license. See the original announcement for details.

This is the first time such a large collection of files get launched under ‘the commons’, and therefore still a bit complex to grasp what to credit when exactly. The guidelines above are just meant to ensure that attribution happens in a reasonable way. If in doubt, use the third choice above.

Excluded from the Creative Commons is:

– all logos on this website (including Blender logo, Orange logo, Creative Commons logo) and associated trademarks
– the DVD cover (inlay) and DVD disc print

Examples

You are free to duplicate the DVDs and distribute or sell them, but in that case you have to make your own cover art and DVD prints for it, with of course the proper attribution as mentioned above in 3).

You are free to broadcast the movie and documentary on your local TV station, just include the entire credits roll too.

You can re-edit parts of the movie into a video clip for your band, just include the attribution as mentioned above in 3).

You can use textures and .blend files (or models, rigs, etc) from the data collection on the DVDs, also in commercial projects. Just make sure we get our short credit as mentioned above in 1).

You can organize a screening in a cinema, and charge an entrance fee for it. Just include the movie credits in the screening.

You can submit the movie to festivals even! Festivals can also screen the movie without our permission. It would be nice though to get a notification for it, especially when we win prizes! :)

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70 Responses to “Creative Commons license”

  1. punkfrog said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    legal stuff out of the way…..getting excited!


  2. buergi said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    cool that makes the dvd even more useful.
    thx to the team
    and just again i can’t await to see this movie and to hold this dvd in my hands.


  3. Ninjabuddy said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    Cool movie! When is the movie going to be sent out?


  4. Silverframe said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    yee 4th. respond:) I think its great. Cool movie. legal stuff. Free to use. I love it. uuhu :D


  5. Mal said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    > You are free to duplicate the DVDs and distribute or sell them, but in that case you have to make your own cover art and DVD prints for it, with of course the proper attribution as mentioned above in 3).

    It seems odd that all of the main assets are released under the Creative Commons license, and the DVD cover graphics arent t released under the same licese ( it sort of takes away from the whole open / community thing slightly ).

    Who made the DVD cover art etc, and was there a reason for it to be kept that way? I’m sure plenty of great Blender artists wouldn’t have had a problem creating the DVD art themselves, and releasing it under the same license as the rest of the content for the project.

    Regards…
    Mal


  6. Ortiz said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    O my! Can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen with your creation guys… Did you think about how people are going to change this material? It will be a interesting experience btw… :)


  7. Sepa said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    Can’t wait to see the movie! ;)


  8. methinks said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    Cool
    I’ve been reading up on this stuff lately, but it’s nice to actually see an example of it in use.


  9. Bmud said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    Elephant’s Dream should be sent to The Animation Show, compiled by Don Hertzfeldt and Mike Judge. It’s perfectly eligable. http://animationshow.com/contact.html


  10. Joeri said on 18 Apr, 2006:

    mal:
    I think this is better. This way people will know they have a genui blender foundation product. Ie: money goes to funding blender.


  11. madman said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    And the oscar it’s for… ‘Elephants Dream’ :-P
    Wiiii…


  12. Morris said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Mal: think of it like this: The files are all there, free for everyone, but the Orange team is the first to Produce it for profit, but you can be the next. That’s how a lot of open source works. People take the programs and data and “package” it nicely and sell it. All those extra things they do are their own.


  13. Joeri said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    – Dvd Blog frozen –

    I thought the CC was a nice index.html for the dvd so I regrabbed the blog. But this is where it’s frozen, all comments after this are not on the dvd. :)


  14. Joeri said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Dvd rom content listing;
    http://www.excellentwhale.com/blender/dvdrom.png


  15. DwarvenFury said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    [quote: Joeri]”Big NTSC bug out of the way, compiling 2 ISO’s to be send to Amsterdam tomorrow. “[quote]

    Does that mean your work on the DVD is done? ( Sorry…I’m kind of slow…My mommy says that I’m special, though. ;-) )

    p.s. Thanks for your hard work thus far on the DVD! :-)


  16. LetterRip said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Mal,

    presumably it is a branding issue to differentiate ‘official Orange DVDs’ from versions by others. Just added incentive to purchase the official branded version (perhaps they will license others to print them using the official images in exchange for a share of the profits or such also).

    LetterRip


  17. Jarod said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Excluded from the Creative Commons is:

    – all logos on this website (including Blender logo, Orange logo, Creative Commons logo) and associated trademarks
    ….

    …waaaahhh I’m criminal?!?!

    http://www.eofw.org/eofw/galerie/magicpotion.jpg

    sorry ton, I didn’t know!

    Jarod

    PS:should I remove the picture?


  18. goblin said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Subtitles? Voiceover?

    How about subtitles and/or voiceover in different languages, are they included? Are there any projects working on this? Is anybody else interested in these?

    If I “get” the Creative Commons license correctly, any such voiceover/subtitling would be covered under the Creative Commons license, right?

    (I haven’t seen the movie, so I’ve just assumed that there actually _are_ spoken words in the movie…)


  19. joeri said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    goblin:
    http://orange.excellentwhale.com/
    These are included on the dvd.


  20. Ton said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Jarod: of course that image is great, no reason to remove it. :)

    Mal:
    What the exceptions on the CC is about is to prevent spoofers and leechers to create their own fake (but presented as official) Elephants Dream DVD sets and sell it on ebay etc. They are free to do this, but should do that using their own branding, and clearly attribute the source.

    We sell these DVD for a relative high price, which was support money for Orange, and which will generate funds for next projects.

    > ( it sort of takes away from the whole open / community thing slightly ).

    Well… wait for the DVD set to arrive (or it being published on the web). The cover is an incredible minor thing compared to what’s released! And with this material it’s very easy to create new and attractive artwork for DVD covers and disk prints.

    Further we have to be realistic, there are plenty of people not respecting this “open/community thing” at all. Better to set clear rules for them in advance.


  21. Big Fan said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    >people not respecting this whole open/community thing at all.

    Ton, if you have a few minutes to spare can you briefly set out what it is you believe is the relationship between open/community and Blender.org’s formal existance.
    Some of us would like to see part time or perhaps fulltime personnel to assist with Blender’s core activites as it comes of age but this does not seem to sit well with the realities of ‘open’ philosophy.
    Everyone is very happy to have you as head of Blender -indeed Blender and Ton are synonymous for most of us.Which direction would you like Blender to go or to take it in the future?


  22. joeri said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Big Fan:
    Excellent Question. Just not sure this blog is the best spot to pose it. http://www.blender.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2 can reach a wider range. :)


  23. Jesse said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    What was the font used for the cover art? Can we use that?


  24. Steve said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Jesse: see post #115 of Whoa!


  25. Big Fan said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    well ok Joeri, but Ton doesn’t seem to post/read a lot outside of cvs archives or occassionally Orange so I thought perhaps I would ask specifically to expand on his viewpoint here seeing as how he sort of mentioned it… also the blog is closed now for the dvd so maybe conversation can stray a little sideways for a couple of posts under the creative commons banner ;o)
    If he has time or inclination for a reply we can copy the posts to a new thread on the forum for seriously interested persons to throw around if you like :o)


  26. Joe said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    I have a question about attribution requirement (1):

    1) For the orange.blender.org website and files on the DVD ROMs:
    Blender Foundation | http://www.blender.org

    What if I am doing Project A and using textures and such from the disc. My deliverable include 20 still images. Do, I have to place

    Blender Foundation | http://www.blender.org

    On every image I deliver? Or can I give this attribution in some other manner? Obviously I’d love to enhance my images with the content extracted from your DVD. But I would not want to detract from my images with attributions. I would like to give credit though. So, I was wondering if I could attribute it in an e-mail about the images or on my website when describing the projects I do or something like that.

    On a similar note, what happens if I create a video with content from this DVD? Can I simply place this attribution once during the video for a hort amount of time.

    Can you give more tangible examples of how/where these attributions would actually be displayed?


  27. Aaron said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    Joe: I shouldn’t think you need to, only put a readme file wherever you send the pictures. Or just add a black line at the bottom of the pics with grey text, just giving them credit. That way it wouldn’t destroy your render. And on the DVD in the credits just say what models came from the Orange people.


  28. Joe said on 19 Apr, 2006:

    A readme file with the images sounds great to me. Regarding the video, I’ll have to think on that one… the video would actually be a credit or trailer of sorts. So, having a section of credits after my credit video would come off odd. Perhaps there would be some way to work it in subtly during the animation or include it in some accompanying documentation?


  29. Roger Wickes said on 20 Apr, 2006:

    Hi everyone, to shove the conversation even further sideways, I am sure you have seen my ideas in previous posts…and I’ve been thinking….Red Hat (the company) is to Linux what (TBD??) is to Blender…I think there is enough going on (actually, HAS BEEN enough) for quite some time for someone (like me?) to organize, collect, support, distribute a whole nice little package of blender stuff. This can be done for profit (or non) without interfereing with the whole open source ideology. I mean, you could probably do your doctoral thesis on the Orange DVD contents!!!! How many man-months of effort went into it? We morons in the blendering world could spend years digesting it.


  30. Paul Combée said on 20 Apr, 2006:

    Roger, as we morons go, we’re working on it, and I have a feeling I’m not the only one thinking about this. :)

    http://www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7887

    Of course a little help would be nice too if you’re willing to invest time or money.
    (yes I have named myself Hoxolotl)


  31. DwarvenFury said on 21 Apr, 2006:

    What? Silence for almost a day, even from us rabid fans waiting for the DVD? :-O I guess we’ve finally learned to be patient…………..maybe. ;-) :-)


  32. AS said on 21 Apr, 2006:

    I just want to say…incredible. Im so excited to hear that someone has gotten over the fact that if they copyright their work they could make millions more, and is instead allowing anyone to profit from their labor. Orange, this shows everyone you are doing this pretty much as volunteer work and not for the profits involved. I have yet to order the DVD though! ;-) But I will because what you have done with the legal matters is astounding and inspirational. Cheers, Orange, here, here!


  33. FranzRogar said on 21 Apr, 2006:

    I’ve an idea:

    Why don’t make a gallery of user-cover-art?
    It would be fantastic (also they’d need the models and could buy the DVD & support the project…)


  34. NnEo0 said on 21 Apr, 2006:

    To me is great what yours choose the creative commons license, but we will be able to adapt the voices of the movie to our native languages? nonsingle to have the translation but to be able to listen to it in our languages in my Castilian case or the Spanish? we have this freedly too?


  35. Morris said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    NnEoo:
    It depends on whether Jan made separate tracks for sound effects and for voice. You are definately welcome to redo the movie in Spanish, but if All we get is a single mixdown of the audio, you wouln’t be able to dub in the voice because you’d cover the sound effects and music. However, I am pretty sure Jan has taken care of this and kept the sound, music, and voiceovers separate. Asi que no debe ser ningun problema. Juntate con tus amigos y haslo!


  36. Morris said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    OK guys, Joke’s over. There is no Project orange, and there’s no Elephants Dream. Ton and Joeri have run off with all the money, and good luck tracking them down. Did you ever wonder why people were being so secretive? Why we got almost no screen shots? Why we heard no sound previews? Why one month after the supposed “premiere” they still have not been able to copy the files to a couple DVDs. Come on, guys. Only a little kid would fall for this. I wish you all could get your money back, but it’s probably in Switzerland by now, and Ton and his friends are in Guam living it up. This has got to go down in history as one of the best internet hoaxes ever. Elephants Dream?? Enter the world’s first OPEN-your-wallet-and-give-me-your-money MOVIE. It’s just pitiful to sit here and watch you guys clamor for your nonexistant DVDs. Go home, and try investing your money more wisely in the future, OK?


  37. Chris Gilbert said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    LOL….that was a good one


  38. DwarvenFury said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    What? A scam? :-o I say we rise up and take action against those responsible for this. We should organize a massive manhunt to track down Ton and Joeri! Leave no stone unturned!!!! Now, after them! :-P JK LOL


  39. Jan said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    @Morris: That’s it, now you went too far. There’s a fine line between mockery and insult, and you have not only crossed it, no, you spat on it. Having months of hard work discredited by someone who seems to think it’s “funny” to intentionally spread such ill-natured misinformation makes me angry and sad.
    I feel that it’s up to me now to at least attempt to fix up some of the foundation of trust you have so thoughtlessly destroyed:

    – Ton and Joeri didn’t “run off with the money”. Our employer, a huge developer of successful commercial 3D suites, wouldn’t be too amused about that. The idea of the whole PR campaign behind “Project Orange” was, of course, to teach people the hard way that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. As you can imagine, all those fake screenshots, the blog entries, the actors on the photos of the “premiere” (ever wondered why there are no photos from the showing itself?) – that cost us a lot of money. Money that had to be recouped somehow.

    – Speaking of which, it’s not in Switzerland. We figured it’d be too risky to keep it in Europe, so we opted for the Cayman Islands.

    – You think there “won’t be a DVD”? Think again! As a gesture of goodwill, we’ll send everyone who pre-ordered after February 1st a free copy of “Big Momma’s House 2” when it’s released. (Our lawyers advised us to do this).

    You see, we have nothing against self-proclaimed whistleblowers, but at least try to keep your facts straight.

    Kind regards,
    Project Orange Propaganda Ministry


  40. thoro said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    …haha :-)


  41. Joel said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    craaaaazy


  42. Jason B. said on 22 Apr, 2006:

    ‘we’ll send everyone who pre-ordered after February 1st a free copy of “Big Momma’s House 2″’
    Will it be in NTSC or PAL format? I am wondering this because I can not play NTSC DVD’s in my country.


  43. NnEo0 said on 23 Apr, 2006:

    i can change my free copy of big Momma’s House 2 with ¿scary movie? the version in Spanish please… too shipid a t-shirt please :)


  44. NnEo0 said on 23 Apr, 2006:

    mmmm
    whats the meaning of shipid?? i try say send me??…
    :)
    jajaja


  45. Roger Wickes said on 23 Apr, 2006:

    Darn! And here I thought I was using a *real* graphics package that generated real pictures and saved them to my hard disk. Upon reading the above, I ripped open my case and pryed off the top of my hard disk, and, I am so embarrased to say, there were no pictures. Nothing but a small brown disk that did not have any pictures on it whatsoever. I even got a magnifying glass cause I heard that bits are real small, but to no avail. I am a victim, yet again. Oh, and by the way…I was told by the label that a can of Coke has 100 calories, and a friend was “counting her calories”. What do you use to count calories? A tweezer? I mean, what do they actually look like? All I see are bubbles. Tiny Bubbles. And the bubbles move so fast…are the calories in the bubbles? Maybe calories evaporate. Maybe the bits evaporated out of the hard disk case when I openened it? I say this because my computer doesnt work any more. Can I borrow someone’s bits so I can reboot? Or will I have to go to the Cayman Islands?


  46. kakapo said on 23 Apr, 2006:

    the sunday meeting logs say the dvd is mastered and already at the printer. :)


  47. Roger Wickes said on 23 Apr, 2006:

    Ha Ha Kakapo, the jokes on you! The meeting minutes did NOT include the “wink wink” that Ton gave when he said that. It’s really code talk for “the thank you notes for making our beach house possible are being printed and mailed.” or maybe “I printed out our boarding passes for our midnight flights to Cayman” or “The DiVersionary Delights (DVD) (aka amsterdam strippers) have been procured and I MASTERmindED this whole scheme to Post Replies on the Internet that are Not True (PRINT)” – hahahahahahahaha


  48. Chris Gilbert said on 24 Apr, 2006:

    You guys need to just stop…


  49. Big Fan said on 24 Apr, 2006:

    So I guess we can anticipate the dvd’s being sent out starting at the end of the month and I presume most people will have it by the end of May…


  50. Morris said on 24 Apr, 2006:

    Big Fan: I would think that everyone would have it by the end of second week of May, if indeed it is currently completed and being printed.


  51. Sean said on 24 Apr, 2006:

    Since the DVD Cover and Disc Art is not going to be part of the Commons, can we have a contest run, where users can submit their own DVD Cover and Disc Art and we are allowed to use that instead? In case we want to make copies and supply them as gifts to friends per se.


  52. Big Fan said on 24 Apr, 2006:

    Morris you forget there are more than a thousand dvds to get into the post….lot of work for Anja (I presume)… In my case I am on the other side of the world so considering delivery time etc.I would expect the end of May to be more realistic.
    Hey and no one is allowed to talk about the story line until I get my copy :o)


  53. Aldo said on 24 Apr, 2006:

    Well Done,

    we want to broadcast it do you have a text to introduce you grat work and explain you ophilosophy ?

    bst regards.
    Aldo


  54. Joeri said on 24 Apr, 2006:

    Hahaha…
    O brother. Hilarious… Now what if…
    What if Orange made a little spoof on morris, and put that on the dvd as easteregg…. Wouldn’t that be ubercool? I guess they did not have time for that, or did they?


  55. Shawn Fumo said on 25 Apr, 2006:

    Just to break up the parodies for a minute.. ;) I think the CC license will be very interesting in the end. For instance, look at all the various free video hosting sites out there now? What happens when Elephant’s Dream is on Google Video and people pass around the link to each other in the same way as recent videos like Incredible Machines and Art of Motion?

    I say that what will happen is quite a lot of free exposure for Blender! People making VCDs perhaps and copying it for friends. What about projects like TheOpenCD? They include documentation and examples for the various programs they showcase. They could include a low-res version of the entire EDream as an example of what it can do. A book on Blender could include the program and the movie. It’ll be on bittorrent like BBS Documentary was, etc. The possibilities are really endless..

    I do have one question. What about logos within the DVDs themselves? Like I’d guess that the menus include the Project Orange and Blender logos somewhere. It might also be in other places like snapshot of the blog. Would those have to be stripped out somehow by anyone who copies the DVDs?

    Cheers!


  56. DwarvenFury said on 26 Apr, 2006:

    [quote Shawn Fumo]”Would those have to be stripped out somehow by anyone who copies the DVDs?”[quote]

    Based on the first example, I don’t think that those would have to be removed. I think what Ton was saying about the logos and such is that someone cannot take them and use them for their own company or the like.

    “You are free to duplicate the DVDs and distribute or sell them, but in that case you have to make your own cover art and DVD prints for it, with of course the proper attribution as mentioned above in 3).” (Example #1 from above post.)


  57. Joeri said on 26 Apr, 2006:

    By accident or on purpose (I don’t know) there are no logo’s on the video-dvd. No station-call or production leader. So that’s not an issue. Anyway, the point is that you can tell people that it’s made by the blender foundation, but you cannot claim to be the blender foundation. So yes you can use the blender logo as: Look made with this 3d app. And the BF logo as in: made by these chaps. Not: I’m these chaps.
    This is not so much an issue when you make a 1 on 1 copy, but very much one when you start changing things.


  58. cicaro said on 30 Apr, 2006:

    how much this movie will cost?


  59. DwarvenFury said on 1 May, 2006:

    cicaro: The DVD will cost $ 41.65 USD or € 35.00.

    DVD Link:
    http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=84


  60. Marcus3d said on 26 May, 2006:

    I love the fact that you guys used free software and are using the Creative Commons License. And that you’re shipping the DVD with source art and models! I think this will really open people’s minds in our industry. You’re blowing my mind right now. Thank you for being so forward thinking and making it legal for others to learn.


  61. poupon said on 30 May, 2006:

    Bonjour,
    Super le site mais à mon grand regret je ne lis pas l’anglais !
    Il y a t-il une version Francaise ? ca serai super !!!
    Bonne journée !
    (no english ! yes french ?)


  62. MazeSloup said on 3 Jun, 2006:

    If you need another mirror in France, there is this link http://doc.pronux.org/lib/exe/fetch.php?id=mirroirs&cache=cache&media=mirroir:ed_1024.avi

    Great movie…


  63. Misc said on 5 Jun, 2006:

    Would have been great if the was a 713MB Version of the HD edition to burn it on a normal CDR, not on a DVDR. Bitrate is high enough anyway.


  64. TheSnoop said on 5 Jun, 2006:

    Hey guyy,

    That’s one of the greatest Project’s I’ve
    ever seen. You show the whole world that not
    only thousands of Dollar companies with
    thousand Dollar software can make very goot
    3D films.
    An the best of this project is that you have made
    alle the things with open source software.

    with kind regards
    TheSnoop


  65. Jay said on 20 Jun, 2006:

    Hey guys, I must say that I’m very appreciative of what you guys are doing here, what with releasing the movie for free download/distribution.

    I do have two questions though (forgive me if you’ve already answered these questions in a previous post, but I didn’t see it asked before, and I was curious)

    1.) If I want to distribute the DVD, even just selling burned DVD-Rs, or giving it the works (Inlay, cuustom DVD art, etc.) can I distribute it under my trademarked company’s name (selling via; eBay, Amazon, Local store, etc.)?

    I would still give the proper credit to you guys (you definitley deserve it), but I wasn’t sure if it would vioate Copyright to actually distribute under a different company.

    I won’t actually say my company name, because I havent got my name Copyrighted/Trademarked yet, but I will distribute CDs/Movies with it.

    2.) From what I understood of the CC License, I could throw in a free, custom made CD-R/LightScribe CD-R of the Original Film Score in with the DVD as a free bonus gift, as long as I don’t actually sell the CD, right?

    Oh, and one more quick question: I can just sell burned DVD-Rs and/or LightScribe DVD-Rs right? Because I don’t currently have the equipment to actually manufacture DVDs yet.

    Thank You, and I’ll look forward to whatever you can come up with next!

    Best Regards,
    — Jay


  66. Patricia Uma Rawal said on 23 Jun, 2006:

    Sir
    I want to use some of the models in my projects. Suppose if I make 10 minuts short movie which will be available for commercial puprose. ( if they like ) On the last page when the movie finishes on the running up frames what should i write?

    Crdits: Blender3D
    or
    Credit: Orange Blender

    yours
    KK Rawal


  67. Patricia Uma Rawal said on 23 Jun, 2006:

    P.S
    I have alredy purchased DVD


  68. Dirk Höpfner said on 9 Jul, 2006:

    Hi there,
    you should apply to the Fantasy Film Fest for category:
    Get Shorty (Kurzfilm).

    http://www.fantasyfilmfest.com/
    http://www.fantasyfilmfest.com/fantasy/pages/filmeinreichung.html
    (I think you can apply for next year, but try for this year)

    Cheers Dirk


  69. Arnold said on 29 Jul, 2006:

    Hey…great movie!

    I’ve just made a swedish sub for the downloadable version, but I just cant figure out what you mean with the word “head-snarlers”.
    I’ve poked around a bit and found that “snarler” either means “one who growls”, “one who entangles something”, “one who confuses or complicates” or is the name of a certain tool. However, in the swedish script you’ve put out the translation is “huvudkapare”, which basically means “decapitators”…so could you help me out here? Could you define the word snarlers in the context that you are using it in?


ok