How to avoid copyright issues when texturing objects?

#1 Are you wanting to be legal for copyright or trademark?

Unless you took it, bought it, or it has been released to the public domain, the gun picture you found is copyrighted, and no amount of editing will change that.

If you're worried about trademarks, then take off the trademarks, and don't refer to the gun by that name.

#2 or you could attempt to get permission.. long shot but sometimes you get an answer.. I have on specific things before.

Aside from that, you could always make your own texture.

#3 How could I create my own gun textures? I use GIMP.

#4 1. Get Gimpshop

2. www.game-artist.net/forums/spotlight-articles/42-tutorial-hard-surface-texture-p...

#5 that tutorial is super good. i hope it will help me to get some of the textures i cant get to work in xsi.

#6 This gun is an edit of the original, there would be no copywriter problems at all with using it in my own commercial works. You can see that it is no longer representative of A} The original gum manufacturer and B}The original picture of the gun. This clears everything needed under Intellectual copyright, and Original Trademarking laws (you can Google and find the legal information). In short you can use any media as an original as long as your final product is not representative( very noticeably different) of the original.

#7 maybe showing the original gun and the non original would help to explain what you did. :P

maybe the top img is the original its kind of hard to tell what you did though so never mind. :P

#8 He made it more "ambiguous", removing all the tiny things which easily identify it as a Beretta 92F and tweaked the general shape (shorter barrel). Personally I'd have also done something about the distinctive foresight.

It still looks like the Beretta, but now also a little like a Makarov or Cz model (or some Eastern European Beretta copy). It's not quite as obviously a Beretta, and thus chances of you getting sued by sharp eyed lawyers (aka the entire population of California! [/joke]) are massively reduced.

#9 As long as you don't put a band aid on the thumb of your model where the slide always bites people, they will never know:)

#10 So If I did this for the gun I wanted to texture, like taking out the most obvious part, then I could use that to actually texture my gun and distribute it?