No subject


Thu May 31 19:19:44 EDT 2007


http://www.openclipart.org/

Anything you find online that the original copyright holder has released
as public domain is fair game, as I understand it, and I believe all the
graphics on the open clip art site were public domain.  Likewise, I
believe a lot of what the U.S. government produces is public domain --
check the individual notices, though:

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml

And you may be able to find graphics under a Creative Commons license or
other license (e.g. GDFL) that you can use... I'm no lawyer, though, so
I'm not sure how these licenses interact with, say, the GPL.  A lot of
photos are available under various Creative Commons licenses on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

The Creative Commons site has other pointers (not necessarily under useful
licenses, though):

http://creativecommons.org/image/

Likewise, a lot of the custom-made diagrams on Wikipedia are distributed
under the GDFL, which I imagine is GPL-compatible.  However, a lot of
photos on Wikipedia are copyrighted and used under "fair use", so be sure
to click on the picture to get the license details.  An example GDFL
picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jack_plug.png

You can also try looking at other open-source programs that may contain
the graphics you need, keeping in mind that sometimes programs and their
content have different licenses.  As far as lightbulbs and batteries,
GCompris has a module with such graphics (among other useful graphics):

http://gcompris.net/en-electric

When making games without an artist, it is important not to let yourself
get sidetracked for lack of art.  Use placeholders!  Stick figures get the
job done, as does a simple square with a descriptive word.  It's easier to
attract artists after programming than before, especially since then
you'll know exactly what assets you need.

Once you know what custom graphics you need, you might try asking on
mailing lists and forums for volunteers.  I'm guessing the Blender forums
would be a good source, and maybe the Gimp or Inkscape users' mailing
lists, if such things exist.  You could also try the SourceForge Help
Wanted page for artists:

http://sourceforge.net/people/?category_id=7

Or the GNU Project's page:

http://savannah.gnu.org/people/?category_id=7

Or maybe on a gaming site:

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/forum.asp?forum_id=8

But I think the OLPC should set up a similar site specifically for its
needs...  A wiki page would be good, and just posting needs to this list
is not a bad idea.

Hope this helps some,
-- Joe




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