Is there a BGEE version of this out, or would anyone be willing to make one?

marceror

This picture would be perfect for the NE cleric I'm planning to run.

To make sure I'm giving proper credit, it is from this site: http://portraits.chosenofmystra.net/malehuman/page1.html

LadyRhian

@marceror I think those are from licensed artists. Most of those are from the covers of novels. Just from the pictures on the left side, #4 from the top is Elric, #5 is Lord Soth, #6 is from the cover of one of the Avatar novels by Richard Awlinson. #2 on the left side is from the module I11 Needle, #4 on the right side is either from one of the Avatar covers or from one of the Dragonlance novels- but it's familiar, I know I have seen it before. #7 on the right side (which is across from the same picture as #2 on the leftt side) is Raistlin Majere, another Dragonlance Character. So is #9- but that's from a different novel. #2 on the Right is definitely Conan maybe from one of the John Maddox Roberts book covers? I'm not sure.

What I am really saying is that these pictures are licensed art, and you may not have the right to use them. My best bet would be looking for where the images come from and trying to rescan that image yourself.

Drugar

LadyRhian said:

What I am really saying is that these pictures are licensed art, and you may not have the right to use them. My best bet would be looking for where the images come from and trying to rescan that image yourself.

How is that any more or less legal than picking them off a site? Either way, you're copying and modifying another person's work for your own gain.

scriver

I believe her point is that while we can tell OP how to put new portraits into the game, we can't really discuss individual pictures without the artist's consent. I believe LadyRhian already got in trouble over that in one of her picture threads. I don't think it was more than artists getting angry at her - that's all I understood it as anyway - but I understand her being a bit more careful afterwards.

marceror

Umm, the attachment I had uploaded appears to have been removed (with no indication as to why, annoying). Which sort of completely invalidated my entire post by removing any indication of which specific portrait I was referring to, resulting in people making comments about all the portraits I *didn't want to use* (a nice waste of the community's time, btw). At any rate, there is only one portrait on this site (glad I thought to include the site link, or this post would really have no substance) that I'm interested in using. It's the one called BhaalL and BhaalS, which is clearly a touch up of a portrait that is included with vanilla BG2, not some portrait from a novel.

I'm not sure why I wouldn't be able to use it, unless the implication is that the entire site is somehow doing something naughty. At any rate, it's not like my game with have any "commercial implications". It will just be me in my home office, and periodically my wife and kids might come by. That's about it. Don't see an issue here. And further, I already can use this portrait, it's just not sized properly in BGEE. So again, anyone able to help?

Or alternatively, what free to use applications are out there that I could use to do it myself, if folks are too timid for some reason.

marceror

And another thing, clearly this portrait is intended for use in Baldur's Gate based on the sizes, naming and the site itself. All I want to do is use the portraits in Baldur's Gate, the newest version of it, that is, so I really have a hard time with the idea that I should be sweating this in some way. Just need a minor adjustment to the size so it displays properly (which if I'm the artist, is better than the portrait looking overly small).

Dee

It's to protect the artist; when you post an image without the artist's permission and without giving them credit, you're taking ownership of their creation; the ChosenofMystra site may have cropped those images for use as portraits, but they have not credited the original artists, which is bad.

You can read more about it here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19418/a-quick-note-about-copyright

marceror

Understood, but an email or IM or something to let me know my post was being neutered would have been appreciated. And furthermore, Bioware is the artist in this case and they have already made this portrait available to those who purchase the game. If a fan touches it up, that doesn't make the art HIS, I wouldn't think. He/she has simply modified an asset owned by Bioware.

Lastly, the only reason i'm interested in this portrait is because IT IS from the original artwork. There's a lot of great artwork out there, but 99.9% doesn't match the original art style of BG, so I have no interest in using it.

marceror

Thanks for putting the attached file back Dee, or whomever at Beamdog did so. I guess my comment about this being original BG2 art work must have resonated.

If this is the case, I think this means that the community need not be fearful of helping me to get this file resized for BGEE!

EDIT - Oh, and apologies for not being more tactful with my original reply on this matter. It was early and I was grumpy.

Autequi

I am pretty confused at the response to the OP. I've always understood original game assets to be fair game. (Heck, Beamdog even support fanart contests based on modding game portraits.) Not to mention, people post altered images in the Alternate NPC and PC portraits thread all the time. Maybe it would be less controversial if @marceror removed the direct link to the website?
Anyway, there is a better (IMHO) version of that portrait on this forum here.
@marceror: I use GIMP for resizing portraits. There's a learning curve, but once you understand the tools it makes resizing a snap.

Dee

The primary problem isn't with the portrait attached to the first post, but with every other portrait on that site. In any case, the artist who modified the portrait should definitely be credited.

marceror

This is odd, this morning my attached file had been removed, and was readded later in the morning. Now it's removed again. /shrug

If the problem is with the link, why not remove the link and leave the file? I only added the link since I thought it was the proper thing to do (didn't realize this long standing BG site was controversial).

marceror

Hi Autequi, I agree, those portraits are awesome. I had been going through that thread, but had only made it to page 10 or so. Would have taken me forever to get to the page it's on. Yeah, strange that my file gets removed, added, and removed again, while this thread... you know on second thought, not even going to say it.

Autequi

Are you sure it's not some browser glitch on your end? The attachment has always shown up for me. (It's accessible now, in fact.)

marceror

Maybe, though this morning I could not see the file on my desktop, laptop or phone. I have only been checking on my desktop since then. I'm actually able to see the file again at the moment too.

Autequi said:

I use GIMP for resizing portraits. There's a learning curve, but once you understand the tools it makes resizing a snap.

Thanks for the tip on gimp. I have installed it, and actually found it to be fairly intuitive, for resizing at least. I have resized my preferred dark cleric portrait and it's looking good.

marceror

Hey Dee, at this point this thread could easily be closed, if you would like to do so. I was directed to a suitable tool, and am now empowered to resize my own images. Nothing further is needed from this discussion.

LadyRhian

Incidentally, the picture you want to use is a recolored and mixed image from the original game. It has Edwin's hood, recolored black, and the picture itself is the male fighter image with yellowed out eyes and the armor recolored black as well.

marceror

Yeah, I have been saying that since the beginning. Though a better alternative was pointed out, so I resized that instead -- also a modification on the very same image.

Dee

A quick note: as of the latest update to the beta, you only need one copy of the portrait (the large one); the image is resized and scaled accordingly from the one you choose.

marceror

Oh, that sounds very groovy.