Wallpaper Question

[Aaryanna]

I've wondered about this too. If you submitted it to the wrong category and it's your own wallpaper you can just edit it and request that they move it. But If it's someone else's you can only report it. I just looked and there isn't a choice for that. Or should you pick irrelevant since one being in the wrong place is irrelevant to that category as it is not part of it.

Should we not worry about it? Or should we report one when we see it? I too think it would make the wallpaper section better if us members can help fix mistakes. It would be a great way for us to help out. ^_^ I actually saw a wallpaper the other day that was in the wrong category.

Anway, I'd like to know too. If I can contribute, even if only in a small way, I'd love to be able to help as this place is so amazing. ^_^

[Horendithas]

[COLOR=Indigo]I have yet another question regarding wallpapers. This question is in regards to what is considered official art and what is considered plagiarism. Recently one of my friends here had a wallpaper removed. She was told that it was for plagiarism. She explained to me that the wallpaper in question was made from a picture from a calendar and was not someone else?s wallpaper. I am not here to say I believe her or anything like that since it is pointless to make such a statement as I have never met her in real life and such things are impossible to prove online.

What I want to do is use what happened to her as an example to better explain my question. Basically just what does one do if they are accused of plagiarism when in fact they did not use someone else?s wallpaper? I see this on a regular basis; members quite often use the same screenshots, and official art. Usually there is some difference in the graphic effects that are used. Sometimes it?s very obvious and other times the differences are very subtle as the original artwork is so beautiful that often the creator will only make a few changes.

Now I am assuming that unless it?s identical it is considered okay to use the same official artwork, otherwise we would need to delete nearly half of what is in the database as many pictures have been used over and over. Here is an example of what I am referring too.

Here?s the original calendar picture: [URL=http://indifference.zoto.com/img/original/a2f091ba1f383a1c99d11c421e293d4c-.jpg][B][COLOR=Indigo]Calendar[/COLOR][/B][/URL]

Here?s the wallpaper that was removed: [URL=http://indifference.zoto.com/img/original/4f116b06078a72ce84a9958c7be1b680-.jpg][B][COLOR=Indigo]Wallpaper[/COLOR][/B][/URL]

And here are several different wallpaper versions made from the calendar picture:
[URL=http://wallpapers.theotaku.com/view.php?action=retrieve&id=9200][B][COLOR=Indigo]Example1[/COLOR][/B][/URL]
[URL=http://wallpapers.theotaku.com/view.php?action=retrieve&id=14140][B][COLOR=Indigo]Example2[/COLOR][/B][/URL]
[URL=http://wallpapers.theotaku.com/view.php?action=retrieve&id=14288][B][COLOR=Indigo]Example3[/COLOR][/B][/URL]
[URL=http://wallpapers.theotaku.com/view.php?action=retrieve&id=54475][B][COLOR=Indigo]Example4[/COLOR][/B][/URL]

So here is where I am confused, unless I am mistaken I thought using pictures from calendars was considered official art and therefore acceptable to use in a wallpaper. And I also thought it was okay for other members to use the same official art so long as there were different graphic effects. It?s clear to me that all of the pictures here are different from the original calendar picture. So I do not understand why only one member was accused of plagiarism. Keep in mind that this scenario is based on the assumption that the person accused is in fact innocent and my question is what would you do in this situation.

I also want to know if things like calendars and pencil boards are considered official artwork. After all companies will quite often take an official wallpaper images and use that same image in the intro of a series and also as artwork on all sorts of memorabilia so I?m sure that this picture can probably be found in other anime stuff besides a calendar. I find this confusing as others have mistakenly thought I used their pictures when in fact it was official artwork. I have seen others use pictures that I have used to make wallpapers, but when I looked at their wallpaper the graphic effects were different and all they had done was use the same official picture that I had used.

So if someone knows they are innocent can they use the picture of the orginal artwork to prove it? It's a bit hard to find but if you look around you can find pictures of the calendar posted on the Internet. If you look at shops that sell anime stuff you can even find the pencil board that I scanned to make a Naruto wallpaper.

Any help clearing up my confusion would be greatly appreciated.. Thank you. Till later.

indifference[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Indigo]EDIT: October 31, 2005 Just a quick note to thank Panda who answered my question in a pm message. Thank you.[/COLOR]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]Well, I don?t know what to tell you, I bet if you asked Panda she would know. As for what to do if you are accused of plagiarizing and you know you didn?t, I too would like to know how you prove that you didn?t.

I?ve never been accused of plagiarizing, but like you said, how do you prove it came from an art book so to speak. I haven?t seen anything stating what to do if you feel you were wrongly accused of plagiarizing, so maybe it would be good to have it in the guidelines somewhere?

Or maybe it is explained somewhere and I just missed it. I also wouldn?t mind knowing a bit more on what is considered official artwork too. ^_^
[/COLOR]

[Mariskah]

A while ago one of my wallpapers was removed because a moderator thought I had modified a pre-made wallpaper from another site. I wish to address this issue, as I did not make it from another pre-made wallpaper but from a scan from a calendar. The original picture, which I will post, came from a 2003 calendar from the Inuyasha series. Here?s the picture:

[URL=http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/2113/inuyashacalendar20037rg.jpg][B]Inuyasha Calendar Picture [/B] [/URL]

And here is the wallpaper I made from the picture of the calendar:

[URL=http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/8726/inyashasnowcopycopy6pm.jpg][B]Inuyasha wallpaper [/B] [/URL]

I would like to have the wallpaper re-posted or the mark saying I plagiarized removed from myOtaku account, as I did not steal from another site. If it helps I can explain how I made the wallpaper in question.

The graphic program I use to make wallpapers is Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0. First I cropped the picture to remove the bottom part of the picture where the days of the month are listed. I then used an effect that is called ?reduce noise? to clean up some of the jpeg artifacting that resulted from scanning and re-sizing the picture to fit the wallpaper size guidelines.

Then I used several effects on the picture. I used one called ?Oil Pastel? to soften the colors. I then used a layer called ?Cold lava? and another one called ?Inner glow? to give it a border.

If you are familiar with the effects in adobe then you know that the different effects can be adjusted by a percent scale until you find the level you like. Between the scanning, cropping and other effects I did, I probably spent close to 45 minutes working on it as I usually try different effects until I find a combination that I like.

I understood that using official art like Calendars was considered acceptable to use for making wallpapers, if that is not the case then please let me know and I won?t use Calendar scans in the future. If it is okay, please re-post my picture or at least remove the mark saying I plagiarized. If I was not suppose to use Calendar scans I was not aware of it and if it is okay, I certainly did not use one that someone else had made.

Sincerely,

Mariskah

[Panda]

Sorry so long to respond to this thread. I have been very ill (still am) but I will do my best to answer your question. Hopefully it makes sense...I have a tough time writing when I don't feel good.

Officially licenced art is ok to use. Manga scans, screen caps, art books, stationary, note pads, [b]calendars[/b], magazine ads, pencil boards, postcards, etc...images are fine. If you can scan them clearly AND they are licenced works of art it would be fine.

Remember, there are several moderators helping out and I do not know who deleted your submission. Once a piece is deleted it is wiped off of the server. The only way to have it back on your account is to re-submit. Since I am not the one who did the deleting I can only give you my opinions on what happened. Hopefully the mod who did will see this post and respond, until then, I can only give you my opinions on what they could have been thinking.

- Submission was reported as plagerised with proof URL. If the proof URL was posted before your submission was submitted then the later submission would be deleted. (Sorry for using submission so many times in that last sentence!)

- The wallpaper looks like a slight variation of one already existing on the site. Perhaps cropping off of a signature or using a thicker boarder to cover a signature. If the image is one that has been used several times previously it becomes a bit more dubious when it appears again.

- Accident. Server issues, glitches in the system or human error. As we all know sometimes our technology lets us down. We are also human and make mistakes.

- Blurry image. Perhaps the texture was mistaken for a poor scan.

- Spanish Inquisition. That's because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition! (Ok, bad Monty Python joke.)

Heck, a few of my wallpapers were deleted for plagiarism by an *over-zealous mod! I did what you did and made my case to another administrator (Yeah, even the admins get their work deleted) and then re-submitted the pieces. Accidents happen and having a wallpaper deleted is not the end of the world. Irritating yes, end of world no. (*Side note: The mod who had done the uncalled deleting had done that on several occassions and was "let go". Perhaps this is the same mod? Perhaps this is why they haven't responded?)

I hope this helped. My suggestion would be to resubmit the wallpaper if you haven't done so already. I am sorry I didn't respond sooner but my health has been keeping me off the computer. If you need more clarification feel free to post it here, PM me or email me directly. I will do my best to respond quickly but I am still sick.

[Mariskah]

I am posting again regarding another wallpaper issue that has occurred. Several of my wallpapers were removed. One saying the image quality was poor, I modified it, but if it was felt that I did not improve it enough I do not mind redoing the wallpaper in question.

What really concerns me is two that were deleted for plagiarism since they were made from scans of my Ceres Art Book. Here are scans to the front and back of this art book and if you need me to prove I do own it I can scan any page you request and post it here. Just tell me which number you want and I will post it.

Here are scans of the front and back of the art book in question. I did not bother to make them smaller so the pictures are quite large since I usually scan at 300 resolution to ensure a quality scan for making a wallpaper.

[URL=http://sunfalle.zoto.com/img/original/9e7cd963cf327be1213d9873c3d31c4d-.jpg]Art Book Front[/URL]
[URL=http://sunfalle.zoto.com/img/original/7dbe79e5ddfae3a28a483a19024df5e9-.jpg]Art Book Back[/URL]

Here are the wallpapers that were removed for plagiarizing:

[URL=http://sunfalle.zoto.com/img/original/ccb1fe726a8a040ade10dede4bfc0c67-.jpg]Wallpaper removed 1[/URL]
[URL=http://sunfalle.zoto.com/img/original/81c0765a40b664c734fefb70104420af-.jpg]Wallpaper removed 2[/URL]

And here are the art book scans that I made them from:

[URL=http://sunfalle.zoto.com/img/original/c0aa8303ea3098dae718f8267f3a1627-.jpg]Art Book Scan 1[/URL]
[URL=http://sunfalle.zoto.com/img/original/d51b22d0b728b2865eedabd7f9a004d3-.jpg]Art Book Scan 2[/URL]

As you can see they are quite different than the scans from the art book. I did not take it from another site. If someone else has a similar wallpaper up it does not surprise me since quite a few copies of the art book were sold so I know I am not the only one to have a copy.

The graphic program I use to make wallpapers is Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0. First I cropped the picture to fit the wallpaper size guidelines. Usually art book scans are also so large that I have to resize it to make it smaller.

If you are familiar with the effects you can use in adobe then you know that the different effects can be adjusted by a percent scale until you find the level you like. Between the scanning, cropping and other effects I did, I probably spent close to 30-45 minutes working on each wallpaper as I usually try different effects until I find a combination that I like.

I really would like some help with this as I do not want to lose my Senior Artist status for something I did not do. I would greatly appreciate help on this as I work hard to make my wallpapers. I even went and got the book to my program so I could better understand how to make wallpapers. So thanks in advance. Especially Panda as she has already helped me a lot in getting issues resolved and in explaining how things work.

Sincerely,

Mariskah

EDIT 1 28 06 thanks OzymandiusJones for your quick assistance. It was greatly appreciated. ^_^