Digital Art Zone

I believe one or two posters on these very forums have done this. What should I know? I’m participating in NaNoWriMo and am seriously considering trying to finish the book I’ve started and make it into an e-book. I did a render of the main character and think I could tweak it and turn it into a nice e-book cover but what are the potential issues I should be aware of? Is most purchased content (Daz, Rendorisity, Runtime-DNA) legal to use in this way?

Yes perfectly legal to use based on what you said.

Only thing to avoid is freebies that say NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE.

From what I understand, renders created with D/S become property of the creator.  I also believe that purchased items are allowed to be used in commercial products, though you’d have to check each product’s readme file to be sure.  The thorny issue is with free items and textures, which usually have the condition of not being sold.

All purchased content from DAZ, RDNA, Renderosity and Content Paradise is OK for commercial renders. Redistributing the mesh or textures is never OK (unless you have something like a game developer license for that content). Freebies depend on the creator, if you can’t find a readme file giving permission for commercial use it’s best to assume it’s not OK.

Jerriecan, as Lars says, some freebies can be used for commercial renders, but there are a lot that can’t.

THe readme is where to look on freebies, to check. Even a place like ShareCG, some of the older freebies the usage rights as shown on site, can be misleading as Share have changed the options available a couple of times.  I know that the very early ones I put up there, there was no way I could say OK for commercial renders but not for redistirbution, but now I can specify just that with the new options for usage rights they have added. However most of my readme’s contain a phrase which says they can be used for anything but not re-distributed in any form.

http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Over-Cyprus-Armageddon-ebook/dp/B008858YNY

I did the cover for this ebook

I think the key is too one, look for the key scene or key theme of the book, and go from there.  A commercially available character that matches or approximates your own is probably the best bet if you’re going that route… but you could also do something a little more abstract that’s attention grabbing.  That would be my approach.

That’s pretty cool wancow! Thank you for the advice everyone. I believe everything for the render in question is commercial though I’ll doublecheck. I actually used the render to help me decide on a look for the character for the novel.