AuthorTopic: Palette  (Read 17372 times)

Offline xhunterko

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Re: Palette

Reply #10 on: March 30, 2010, 10:49:11 pm
"Here, do this. Spend countless hours creating a perfect palette. Consider how to optimize it with a limiting 16 color constraint. Make sure you consider technical color theory and how you might use each shade. I'm not happy until you can justify why you chose every color. When you've got it done, lemme know, I'm going to steal it and use it for all my work thereafter, and not even mention you, so others assume I made it, which is the implication if I don't assign credit to someone else for the palette."

By all means, go right ahead. I would love to see what awesome results you come up with!

"Nobody owns any singular feature."

Exactly!

"Its the combination of many features that make an original composition which should be accredited."

Isn't that the work of the artist that is the result of the original composition? Let's take a look at Jad's avatar for a sec. People loved it so much that they made their own jadatar. Everyone knows that they used his same methods to an extent. So he's thusly accredited. Now, let's do this. Someone downloads his avatar, swaps the colors around, comes up and starts talking about that the avatar he has is his own piece of work. Which it isn't. Would he be punished for such insulence? Yes. Blatant composition ripping is not allowed. The sprite, or work itself, is the end result.

Hyposthesis A: A carpenter makes a table. He sells table, and it sets in someone's house. The house is sold, owners move, table remains. New carpenter comes up, sees table in disrepair, thinks, I can make a bookcast out of that. He does so, cuts it up, makes bookcase sells it. And it sits in someones house. Etc...

Who made the original work here? The first carpenter of course. Should the second carpenter who came along and made something else with it give the original carpenter something in return? If no, why? Becuase the first carpenter already got his due off of it. If the answer is yes, then why? Should every carpenter that ever reworks with those set of boards be obliged to the original artist who created the original end result, a table?

"Indigo already said it - time and effort is spent on fine-tuning a palette. Therefore it is somewhat intellectual property of the creator. Giving credit is obviously a common courtesy."

Again, um what? You here are saying, that even if someone from the other side of the world, creates something that, conicidently, randomly uses the palette of another artist. He has never met artist, never seen his work, never had any contact etc. Makes something with those sets of colors. Posts it, then someone goes, nice palette taken from so and so. The new artist goes, um, what? I've never even heard of that guy. And before you say, it doesn't happen, let me say, yes it does. I've seen it a number of times on this board. No, I might not be able to post exact links, but I have seen cases in the earlier posts in which a new artist is chased off for independently discovering, and using a set of colors that people have atributed to one artist.

Hypothesis B: The united nations holds a contest to see what elementary school student can publish the best short story about space esploration. A deadline is given and students race around the clock come up with something. A student in chile' makes his paper, takes it to school. Unbeknowest to him, while it is sitting on his desk, someone takes a picture of it and sets it up on the web. The student fortunatly turns in his paper without being discriminated against. Next day, student B, in south africa, finishes paper. He has been working on it the whole time. Without any connection to the web, or other services at all. He turns it in, the teacher looks at it a good while. Hands it back to him and says, nice try, that's already been turned in. You do know what the punishment is for plagarism yes? The student goes, um, what? He then makes his case about independant discovery, with the different setting, characters, locations, vehicles, uniqueness, yadda yadda. And with the witness of his parents and freinds, etc, his paper is accepted.

The problem? Student B made the same point as Student A, yet, even though the stories and everything else was different, yet in some degree, similiar, Students B paper was called into question. In both cases, time, effort, energy, fine-tuning were used to create the same point. Yet the results of the entire composition was different. But since Student A was first, every student thereafter must give credit or else be called into question.

That is the reasoning that I have, I think. Whether or not is a resource belongs to someone forever, or are other people allowed to create something freely with the same resources without fear of retribution. If the original composition of the resources, (the table or the paper, the sprite, etc) is taken and claimed upon by someone else without giving credit, is wrong. If someone else however, uses the same set of resources and independently creates a different composition, then should credit be given to someone else who used the same set of resources, on an intirely different composition, be given credit? No.

Hypothesis C: An art school holds a contest to see which of it's students can produce the best work with limited colors. Everyone goes about their process of creation. Student A, a genuine smart mouth, creates a black and white painting. Although, he only does so by splattering white paint on a canvas, and drawing a thin, straight black line across the middle. He turns it in early, ignoring the groans and irritating looks of his peers. Student B, having read the rules already, goes away for a week to finish his peice. He comes back with a black and white painting of a marvelous scene. Student A however, is upset that he too, used black and white, but because he already used black and white, it is his method, and no one else can turn in the same thing. Student A eventually gets Student B banned because of the rules of the competition. He later fails the term, and ends up going to politics.

Was anybody right here? The only person I see being right here, is Student B.

@jad: perhaps those where a poor choice of last words. Though I have seen that before. Apologies if this is thread derailing. (need I post my age everytime I make a post?)

@arne: so you still own those set of colors? Even if someone else independently discovered them on there own and posted a work without ever even been/seen/heard of it before? So in every piece of pixel art ever made, you own those colors? And the artist has to give you credit for it?

Offline Helm

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Re: Palette

Reply #11 on: March 30, 2010, 10:56:10 pm
Quote
I've seen it a number of times on this board. No, I might not be able to post exact links, but I have seen cases in the earlier posts in which a new artist is chased off for independently discovering, and using a set of colors that people have atributed to one artist.

Links or it didn't happen.

Also keep in mind my position is closer to yours than the oppositions, namely I don't care if someone uses a palette of mine. But that doesn't change that I need to see links.

Offline Indigo

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Re: Palette

Reply #12 on: March 30, 2010, 11:03:48 pm
just FYI - the likelihood of someone picking the exact same palette with N indexes is 1 in N*(256^3) i believe. (for rgb256)

so for a 16 color palette like arne's:
1 / 268,435,456

Odds are a lot greater than accidentally recreating the mona lisa, but its still not gunna happen.  It may get accidentally close for a small color-count - or maybe close due to socially contrived ideas of colors, but not replicated.

I haven't read through your post because it seems unreadably wrong for such a simple point you're trying to make, but I will come back to it in a bit when I'm not at work.

I don't think many of us have an opinion too different from you're own xhunterko.  Like i said earlier, Its not such a big deal.  its just common courtesy.  If it just so happens that someone picks similar colors - oh well.  not a big deal.  I just recognize there is a good deal of work in palette creation when it comes to pixel-art - probably moreso than other mediums.

This reminds me a bit of people copying really distinctive drum-beats in songs throughout modern music history.  Sometimes people have been credited, sometimes not - but the history is still there.  The song as a whole isn't copied by just taking the drum-beat - but its one piece in a creative whole which had a good amount of work put into it.

« Last Edit: March 30, 2010, 11:12:05 pm by Indigo »

Offline Arne

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Re: Palette

Reply #13 on: March 31, 2010, 12:09:10 am
Yeah, that figure looks about right. Even with certain tolerances we're still dealing with one chance in many millions. Of course, there have been many millions of pieces of art made over the years, but most are not in in 16 colors.

At any rate, it's not a Boolean case. Trying to make it so is fallacious and invites us to either setting some kind of arbitrary threshold or jumping onto the slippery slope where ultimately no credits should not be given for anything. I believe that I have appropriately scaled my expectations to the rather low complexity of the subject we're dealing with here - That is: A, Not demanding credit but enjoy courtesy. B, Frown at Microsoft if they said that they had a bunch of researchers of their own come up with the palette. I don't think that this 'license' is outrageous.

No, I wouldn't try to claim ownership over 1 color. I would claim more ownership more aggressively if we were talking about a little animated 8*8 2bit character, or a logotype using simple geometrical forms, but even those can be kind of gray area, imo.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2010, 12:30:03 am by Arne »

Offline Helm

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Re: Palette

Reply #14 on: March 31, 2010, 12:31:19 am
Also let's keep in mind that it's one thing for some kid on the internet to steal something you made and edit it slightly and pass it off as his to pretend his awesome and another to have your shit stolen by a company that makes money off of it. The former while annoying really doesn't mean anything, there's so many people in this world, if you've done any art that's at all prominent on the internet it's bound to be stolen like this and used for social purposes by others. But intellectual property concepts are much more pertinent in the latter cases.

Offline Gil

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Re: Palette

Reply #15 on: March 31, 2010, 12:40:33 am
I don't know if this coincides with puberty and REBEL AGAINST ALL AUTHORITY or what, but it's something to keep in mind.

The funny thing is that xhunterko is two years older than you Helm, so I don't get the sudden outburst.

Offline Helm

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Re: Palette

Reply #16 on: March 31, 2010, 01:54:17 am
Perhaps it doesn't only have to do with age but also how people integrate into forums/preestablished authority structures.

Offline NaCl

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Re: Palette

Reply #17 on: March 31, 2010, 02:36:24 am
To be fair, I thought he was a kid until I saw him in the video. So did you, I think ("when I was your age"). I've seen multiple people make the same mistake, and not without reason.

xhunteroko: Those were not hypotheses, they were analogies. Weak ones at that. You are making one point (a person can't own a palette), and then arguing for something different (it's possible for another person to accidentally make the same or similar palette). The way your argument broke down, is that colors are resources, and thus can't be claimed. But the same argument could be taken a little further, positions of pixels on a grid are resources, and thus can't be claimed. Now the problem is apparent. One pixel means nothing, of course it can't be claimed, but a specific arrangement of them can, because they are not random, they were deliberate.

Quote
a randomly pulled up set of colors

This was very distasteful to read. Why would anyone use a randomly pulled up set of colors? They wouldn't, outside of the random color challenge. This statement says to me that you have no idea the difficulty it takes to make a good looking palette, or how much skill is involved, in pixel art or in any media. Your argument that no one can claim a palette agrees.

Offline Mathias

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Re: Palette

Reply #18 on: March 31, 2010, 04:45:05 pm
Ok, so who's palettes have you been ganking? j/k

Toss me in the pile, I thought xhunter was 13, too. I based that assumption on something usually reliable, though.

K, I read your largish post. Thanks for making a thorough response.

"Here, do this. Spend countless hours creating a perfect palette. Consider how to optimize it with a limiting 16 color constraint. Make sure you consider technical color theory and how you might use each shade. I'm not happy until you can justify why you chose every color. When you've got it done, lemme know, I'm going to steal it and use it for all my work thereafter, and not even mention you, so others assume I made it, which is the implication if I don't assign credit to someone else for the palette."

By all means, go right ahead. I would love to see what awesome results you come up with!

Ok, so that's your opinion. Great. You may keep it. I have a different opinion though, I also will keep it. This might as well be a religious debate; futile.
But, for the record, if you used one of my palettes, I'd also love to see what you came up with, just credit me - you benefited from my hard work - that palette you used was created by me and you used it. Simply because you used it should get it through your head that it has value. A palette can make or break pixel art, and is one of the most important basic building blocks a good pixel art piece is built on.



"Indigo already said it - time and effort is spent on fine-tuning a palette. Therefore it is somewhat intellectual property of the creator. Giving credit is obviously a common courtesy."

Again, um what? You here are saying, that even if someone from the other side of the world, creates something that, conicidently, randomly uses the palette of another artist. He has never met artist, never seen his work, never had any contact etc. Makes something with those sets of colors. Posts it, then someone goes, nice palette taken from so and so. The new artist goes, um, what? I've never even heard of that guy. And before you say, it doesn't happen, let me say, yes it does. I've seen it a number of times on this board. No, I might not be able to post exact links, but I have seen cases in the earlier posts in which a new artist is chased off for independently discovering, and using a set of colors that people have atributed to one artist.

Hypothesis D.8: Coincidence is an entirely different matter! We're not talking about that. So many times I thought I'd come up with something unique, but then a quick web search reveals it's already been done, to my disappointment. Though, if I press on with the idea I don't consider it plagiarism and I don't think I need to give credit, because the idea is mine, even if just an instance of a similar or identical idea by someone else who I wasn't aware of. I'm Student B now. Though, if the original work is well known and my work will be published as well, I should be prepared for the inquiries or accusations - this is when it's may be better judgment to modify the idea sufficiently or do something else.
-BUT-
If that same idea was derived from, or used elements of someone else's work do I not then owe the originator something? Afterall, without the borrowed "assets" my work may not be nearly as good as it is. Like Arne said, it's not a boolean issue, though. In other words, it's not black and white. There are grey areas here. Hence, proper conduct is based on principle.
The principle of citing your sources, inspiration, etc says make your own judgment when you've created something using a preexisting work. Those that don't do this are too concerned with their image. A real artist is humble enough to acknowledge his sources. Is not all art a re-combining of already existing elements anyway?



Just cite your sources. Nobody owns any portion of the color wheel, I agree with you there. But when someone sits down and makes an extraordinary palette they deserve some credit for their work.

FINAL POINT: Historically, scientists down through time have picked up the research of previous scientists in order to further their own work, effectively taking the scientific findings of the previous era and running with it, like runners in a relay race handing off the baton to each other.
Should contemporary scientists ignore or cover up the fact that they're using the proverbial research baton of a bygone era? No, that would be very dishonest and misleading. There's nothing wrong with the fact they're doing it. That's how technology advances. It's a beautiful thing. They should cite their sources, though. Don't be a selfish pig, practice courtesy and honesty in what you do - respect the work of others when you benefit from it.


« Last Edit: March 31, 2010, 06:43:15 pm by Mathias »

Offline Jad

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Re: Palette

Reply #19 on: March 31, 2010, 06:03:28 pm
everyone worships particular artists to the tee, and any hint of territory infringement is pounced upon and silenced. or there made fun of and picked on in some way

No.
' _ '