Clarifying 3D Stock, 'Tubes' and 'Renders'

With the growing abundance of affordable 3D modeling and rendering programs it was only a matter of time until generous artists began offering finished 3D renders as stock artwork for others to use in their works.

While the generosity of these 3D stock artists is to be applauded there are others who taint the 3D stock movement by offering chopped up works which rightfully belong to others. I’ll attempt to draw a distinctive line between the two types of 3D stock which you will find available.

Be aware that your choice to use or offer the wrong type of 3D stock can result in your submissions being removed and even action being taken against your account.

The acceptable form of 3D stock is one in which you, the submitting artist, has personally posed, textured and rendered the model or scene in question. This involves the purchase of a program capable of handling and rendering figures, models and textures or the use of an open source program capable of the same feats. Regardless of the program used the image was actually rendered in real time using your computer at your command.
Your choice of models can range from the program defaults to model data purchased from various companies. Most model vendors do not allow you to distribute the model data but place no restrictions on what you do with the images made using their models. Please try to make note of which vendor the model was purchased from in your deviation description, although this is not a requirement it will help avoid confusion and misunderstandings.

The unacceptable form of 3D “stock” is the situation where you simply take a wallpaper, artwork, screenshot or other work and simply cut it up, erase the background and generally chop it into component pieces. What makes this unacceptable is the fact that you are doing this with somebody else’s property. Whether it’s a video game company, motion picture film, deviantART artist or just something that you found in some corner of the internet the fact of the matter is that you need to obtain permission and/or licensing before you can begin offering your “stock” because it isn’t your property to offer in the first place.
To compound the confusion many copyright infringers refer to their illegal “stock” as “renders” or “tubes”, both being terms which are sometimes applied to real 3D stock art, and entire websites and communities have sprung up to cater to the myth that you may simply hack up someone else’s property and call it your own ‘stock art”.

Please make certain that your offering, and use of, 3D stock falls within the acceptable range. We have many very generous and very versatile 3D stock artists on deviantART who have purchased programs and models and who generously donate their renders for use by the public so please rely on them and let them know what a valuable asset to the community they are.