Have been looking at sites like http://drawingdatabase.com/ and http://www.the-blueprints.com/ but with the exception of the latter (which doesn't have a lot of non-vehicle blueprints but it has some) all of the blueprints I have found have just been for vehicles and weapons.

Has anyone found a site that has blueprints for every day stuff like post boxes, telephone boxes, office equipment etc..?

Nope I haven't seen any other blueprint sites, but I would like to thank you for these sites, they look very interesting.

Why wouldn't you just use a photograph?

If you have a good camera and take enough shots at various angles, you can use the photo's as the texture as well! Two birds with one stone.

Cheers

Jay.

Hers an idea that might help you.
go to google and in search box put Blueprint of
Ex : Blueprint of ship click on search and then on images.

Photographs are all well and good if you want to model anything locally, and if you're tall enough to get a picture of the top view of anything...but unless I hop on a plane or train or bus I can't get a picture of anything out of my area.

Sorta related to this topic: What is the legality of photographing certain things and using them as textures, in particular I'm talking about commercial buildings. I know laws are going to vary somewhat from country to country, and here, perhaps state to state, but I think generally there is somewhat of a consensus on such things. I have seen many models in many formats for many programs/games of buildings (for sale, and I have even purchased them) like 7-elevens, Denny's, MacDonalds, you get the point. I just wonder if I photographed, for instance, a MacDonalds, in all its glory, would I need permission from MacDonalds to use the model I created? To sell? Or, what if I were not necessarily going to sell the model, but create something for my own use, yet make a video that I post on YouTube? I've noticed a lot of store front textures on sites like cgtextures, etc. are from (I assume) Asian countries. I have seen none that are obviously in western countries. If anybody is an expert in international copyright law, some feedback would be appreciated! First year student would probably suffice!

Well (not a law student) TGC at the very least would not let us use the Mac Donald's sign in the model. I no because I had a tiny name on my speed camera (barely visible), but TGC would not accept the model until I took it off.

Myself I like to make my own shape of building and then add textures that may have been photographed. The model may have been based on a particular building but it would not be the same.

I should imagine that this would be OK or surely TGC would have something to say about it, after all they don't want to get into trouble either.

If you think about it though, you would think that say Mac Donald's and other business's would want people modeling there shops and putting them in games, imagine coming across said Mac Donald's after a grueling couple of hours in the game, it might make you think, wow I could really go for a Big Mack right now. It could be a great boost in business.

Not a law student myself but the general gist is that you can use photos of these buildings just not their logos or signs or any other trademark content. Invent your own logo (parodies are cool!) and mix up their house colorpalette a little and you're golden.



-Wolf

@Jerry Tremble

Yes, make up your own logos and brands. You are going to have a bad time if you use trademarked logos.

To expand on what Wolf said, avoid parody logos that are too blatantly obvious as to the brands they are emulating. Especially if you want to sell on the store... I had several assets which were rejected because they were too close in resembling well known brands.


@snowdog

You can find reference photos good enough to model from for pretty much anything if you know what you are looking for and how to search for it. Sometimes it requires a bit of research though. Places like Ebay can be surprisingly good for photo reference... especially for less common angles as people will often take photos of the backsides of things or other detail shots to show an items condition. However those kinds of photos usually won't show up in a basic image search. It's not easy-mode like using a blueprint but if you have a good sense of proportion and spatial relationships then most man-made objects are achievable to a good degree of accuracy.

Thanks for all the info, guys! I suspected the logos and such were off limits, but was kinda confused as I have seen them and in fact bought some models that have trademarked logos. I will refrain from using them in anything I might make public.




I agree. You'd think the benefits (more business/money) would outweigh the expense of litigation, not to mention the negative publicity they would receive for suing a game maker, be it an independent or even a large studio. I guess suing is just fun. I've never done it myself so I wouldn't know. Perhaps I'm missing out!