Textures for (non)commercial usage

[Creavion]

I am looking around for textures which are allowed to use for both non-commercial and commercial projects. My self-imposed goal is a very small UDK scenario (at some point in the future). Since I don`t know what might happen with my created assets I have to make sure not to be screwed if they would used for a commercial project. This would be at least my ideal conception. I know such texture resources are VERY RARE to find.

Also: Are some people around here skilled with understanding of the terms of usage? Are there any key positions I can check for riskless usage?

For a start:
http://textures.forrest.cz/index.php?
I can not even find any limitations (which is not a good thing through). It I would just look out for UT textures, I would just credit the site. However since I am not doing through I have to dig a little bit deeper.

Are they any people around here who also look for non-ut-content for whatever kind of project? Maybe some other people can be helped with this thread as well, so I hope for some replies.

edit 1:
Resources which look safe to use:
http://www.texturemate.com/content/about

Do you require any credit given if I use a texture in my commercial product?

No, not at all! Although appreciated, it is not required. Enjoying the site and spreading the word among your colleagues about where to get free textures is enough! I always love to see my textures or brushes used in your finished product!

http://www.3dmd.net/license.htm

This license confers the right to use textures owned by 3dmd.net in free and commercial productions.

The user may make unlimited use of the textures in animations, games and other projects that don't brake the following rule:

1. If the user market or redistribute the texture with their project as in a real time game or simulation, the 3dmd.net project should be included in the credits. If technicaly possible a link to 3dmd.net should be also included.

It is not allowed to sell or redistribute the textures as a competing product - by itself, as texture packs or as scrapbooking packs, not even when the textures are modified.

Any violations of these terms will be punishable by law and will constitute grounds for the immediate cancellation of the license for use of 3dmd.net textures.

edit 2:
http://www.darknews.com/high-res-textures/

These (non-tiling) textures are free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. However, these images are NOT for resale (i.e. CD Bundles, etc.).

edit 3:
http://www.mayang.com/textures/

Use:
They are free to use for all uses, whether commercial or non-commercial (you may incorporate them into your derived work with no requirement to pay us any licensing fee etc). Your derived work must involve significant modification to the textures. It would be nice if you could credit us.

edit 4:
http://lostandtaken.com/tou/

The textures I provide here on Lost & Taken are royalty free, and can be used in any of your projects both personal and commercial with no attribution required.

Please do not host textures elsewhere or redistribute them in their original format, if you would like to share with others direct them back to Lost & Taken.

http://www.brusheezy.com/members/goodtextures

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. You may redistribute, remix, tweak, and build upon this work even for commercial reasons, as long as you credit this artist by linking back and license your new creations under the same terms.

http://www.goodtextures.com/faq.html
http://www.goodtextures.com/free-30.html

May I use these textures for free?
Yes, the textures may be used for free in 2D or 3D computer graphics, movies, printed media, computer games and 3D models. When bundled with a 3D model or scene you are allowed to sell it as a package.
[...]

May I use your textures to make a (commercial) computer game?
Yes. You may use the textures from Goodtextures to make computer games.

[Feralidragon]

Well, as for that site, I don't see any limitation and he states "Removed all ads - now is library realy free, without any ads!", which means that people were absolutely free to use the textures in whichever way they liked, but back then he had ads in his site which was his way to win money out of them.
I think it's safe to use them in UDK projects.

As for other resources, I don't know any site in specific. I already made a small search once for basic textures for photoshop stuff, and I did find some sites with either free for non-commercial, or simply free. Generally they have a license bundled with a link to the actual terms that define that kind of license (like GPL and CC ones), so if they say free for free and paid projects, you have absolute freedom on them, if they say non-commercial only, then you can only use them for free stuff.
Generally both of them require an "attribution", which is short for "crediting the original author for it".

Also, you should create at least some textures yourself. The advantage of creating your own textures is that you can make them vectorial instead of relying in a high-res photo, which means that you can export them to any resolution at all without any quality loss, with the bonus of defining your own license to them and not having to worry if you should use them or not.
Of course, it takes some practice to do so, but just like anything else in life, after a while it becomes rather easy to do and gives you absolute freedom.

[Creavion]

@that site: At least something to begin with... yay.

To create my own textures I think I have to buy a camera for around 800-900 Euro camera first. A LITTLE BIT expensive.


This is shitload of input you have to do before you can record some possible success, both with technical preparation and money. I can only bow down to all these who are really able to pull off amazing content (like this guy: http://nobiax.deviantart.com/gallery/24853853?offset=0).

[Feralidragon]

To create my own textures I think I have to buy a camera for around 800-900 Euro camera first. A LITTLE BIT expensive.

I think you missed my point of "making your own textures". I didn't mean to take photos and edit them to make them seamless textures or something (although that's also a good approach), what I meant was to actually create *some* of the textures by actually drawing them off from scratch. Plenty of artists do so these days instead of relying in photos.
I know this may sound hard, but some of the potential textures you may need are not that hard to do this way. Of course, again, it needs some practice first, but the gain far outmatches the time investment, so I think it's worth a shot (at least that's what I am going to do in my own projects).

[Creavion]

I have absolutely no skills in drawing. Without texture/photo resources I am a little bit screwed.

[papercoffee]

This is shitload of input you have to do before you can record some possible success, both with technical preparation and money. I can only bow down to all these who are really able to pull off amazing content (like this guy: http://nobiax.deviantart.com/gallery/24853853?offset=0).

Ah, I remember your "free money" joke ...yeah this guy is amazing.

[Dr.Flay]

I do look out for resources that can be useful to all modders.
Keep forgetting to look though Deviant Art (and I forgot to add Nobiax to my collection).

Try http://odedge.com/resources/ as a start point.
I found http://cgtextures.com from there.
The Obsidian Dawn "terms of use", also allow commercial usage.
http://www.obsidiandawn.com/terms-of-use
The textures are easily extracted from the packs (so far) with GIMP

I add (when I remember) anything I think useful here http://my.opera.com/Unreal-Tournament/b ... -resources
or when someone sends me on a random texture hunt

[Creavion]

cgtextures is not a really safe site for using any longer as it seems. I found a lot of dissenting votes.

Thx for the links.

[Dr.Flay]

Oh. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be careful and have a close look at what is going on there.
Actually after a quick re-visit, I think most of what is on cgtextures.com is very lazy, with little effort to create tile-able textures.

Oh and the best bit of kit I can recommend for photographing textures, is a pocket-sized and a full-sized camera tripod

[Creavion]

http://www.texturemate.com/content/about

Do you require any credit given if I use a texture in my commercial product?

No, not at all! Although appreciated, it is not required. Enjoying the site and spreading the word among your colleagues about where to get free textures is enough! I always love to see my textures or brushes used in your finished product!

[Dr.Flay]

Nice find.
I think I'll link to the "Seamless" section, as a start point.
http://www.texturemate.com/category/ima ... s/seamless

Did you spot his utility ? abrMate, Photoshop brush converter.
http://www.texturemate.com/abrMate
That will save a lot of time.

[Creavion]

abrMate? I don`t need own brushes and if I want to convert a brush to a 'fixed' texture, I just open the abr file with Xnview. Profit!

edit:
http://www.3dmd.net/license.htm

This license confers the right to use textures owned by 3dmd.net in free and commercial productions.

The user may make unlimited use of the textures in animations, games and other projects that don't brake the following rule:

1. If the user market or redistribute the texture with their project as in a real time game or simulation, the 3dmd.net project should be included in the credits. If technicaly possible a link to 3dmd.net should be also included.

It is not allowed to sell or redistribute the textures as a competing product - by itself, as texture packs or as scrapbooking packs, not even when the textures are modified.

Any violations of these terms will be punishable by law and will constitute grounds for the immediate cancellation of the license for use of 3dmd.net textures.

[Feralidragon]

Perhaps you should also edit and update your first post after each new site update. It may prove useful for many people to have all the links in one post (including yourself).
Great links so far btw

[Creavion]

So basically only 3dmd.net and texturemate are recommendable so far? You have your opinion about cgtextures, don`t you?

[Feralidragon]

So basically only 3dmd.net and texturemate are recommendable so far? You have your opinion about cgtextures, don`t you?

Yes, those seem to be fine to use in projects. About cgtextures, is a dangerous territory to go into, as they're not 100% clear on their licenses, so better not use them at all.