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Porsche in NASA animation
Hello everyone. I’m animating a video for NASA that involves a car being driven on a road from one planet to the next at 100mph to show how far the distance really is in terms most of us can better understand. Yes, the road and car being driven in space are not based on reality. I have a custom 3D model of a Porsche 911 Turbo that was built for me by my brother in law, that I would like to use as the car in reference. It’s a car most people readily recognize and I have a soft spot for Porsches. The question I have is a legal one. Can I use this representation of the Porsche as the first car being driven in space or do I need to bring lawyers into the mix? This is going to be a public video podcast from NASA and probably shown on NASA TV, PR campaigns, tradeshows, etc. So, before I go and make the animation final, I wanted to check with you all. Please feel free to email me at tr**@*******os.com.
Thanks,
Troy
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4 Replies
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I go by the first rule of Catholic Gradeschool: Anything that’s not mandatory is forbidden.
More seriously, I’d say use a more generic car design. Yes, for legal/copyright reasons. You may have the right, but can you afford the time and money to defend that right, is the question. And do your clients need the potential hassles? Are you solving their problems or creating a new one?
Also, the point of your animation is to illustrate the trip and time. Anything distracting from that concept is bad. Putting in something too recognizeable for the car adds a distraction you don’t need as the storyteller. That’s the issue that’s even bigger than the possible legal hurdles, to me.
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Troy,
Here at JSC, did a short video a couple of years ago where we animated a car driving to Mars. We rendered it in Digital Fusion. If you want a copy of the animation, or the source files I might be able to get it for you. Are you on the NASA global email list?Timothy J. Allen
NASA Johnson Space Center -
Love to see what was done in the animation that was done at JSC. If you have the movie file, that would be great to see.
Thanks,
Troy
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Perhaps you should see if Porsche has ever used images of the Space Shuttle in their advertising 🙂
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