Question

[CommodoreFluffy]

Is it possible to post flash documents on the forums, because I am thinking of setting up a flash "show" to put on the forums

[Haruki-kun]

No, but you can post the links to it.

[NerfTW]

FYI, if it involves an animated Order of the Stick, you're going to get shut down pretty quickly.

[CommodoreFluffy]

no, not order of the stick, an original idea, with an original art style

[Serpentine]

Uh... Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't remember there being any rules against posting small animations. We're not allowed animated avatars or signatures anymore, but that was a relatively recent change and I don't remember it being a general ban.
Also, if you animate just a bit of Oots, and post it on the Oots forum, and stress that it's Rich's characters and style, but draw it all yourself, why would it matter if it's an animated Oots? Or, how would it be any different to drawing your own little comic about the childhood of Belkar (to take an example from a while back)?

[Haruki-kun]

Uh... Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't remember there being any rules against posting small animations. We're not allowed animated avatars or signatures anymore, but that was a relatively recent change and I don't remember it being a general ban.
Also, if you animate just a bit of Oots, and post it on the Oots forum, and stress that it's Rich's characters and style, but draw it all yourself, why would it matter if it's an animated Oots? Or, how would it be any different to drawing your own little comic about the childhood of Belkar (to take an example from a while back)?

Yes, but.... is it even possible to embed Flash Animations in the forum?

[NerfTW]

Uh... Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't remember there being any rules against posting small animations. We're not allowed animated avatars or signatures anymore, but that was a relatively recent change and I don't remember it being a general ban.
Also, if you animate just a bit of Oots, and post it on the Oots forum, and stress that it's Rich's characters and style, but draw it all yourself, why would it matter if it's an animated Oots? Or, how would it be any different to drawing your own little comic about the childhood of Belkar (to take an example from a while back)?

It's come up before, I thought. It doesn't matter if you state that it's his creation, you're still offering a competing product for any future animation efforts, which he's looked into in the past. This is all just from what I think I remember him saying in a post on the subject.

Anyways, back on the actual topic, I don't think there's any way to embed it directly due to security concerns, but linking to it shouldn't be any problem at all I'd think.

[Serpentine]

Yes, but.... is it even possible to embed Flash Animations in the forum?A pertinent question indeed.

[Charity]

Animations embedded in the text?

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3217/drwhatpp9.gif

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Key word, Charity: Flash

There's no VBCode tag currently enabled that I know of that would allow you to embed Flash. Allowing Flash would open the door to too many shenanigans anyway.

[Charity]

http://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/images/products/fd001-gordons.jpg?

[SPoD]

Also, if you animate just a bit of Oots, and post it on the Oots forum, and stress that it's Rich's characters and style, but draw it all yourself, why would it matter if it's an animated Oots? Or, how would it be any different to drawing your own little comic about the childhood of Belkar (to take an example from a while back)?

It's a common misconception that as long as you give credit, you're allowed to do whatever you want with characters.

OOTS and its characters have been trademarked by Rich, and as such, he pretty much MUST shut down anyone else using them or risk losing his trademark status. You may be thinking that other companies allow their characters to be used in fan productions, but ask yourself this: Do they allow it, or do they simply not know about it? Is the usage too minor to be noticed by, say, Time-Warner? Rich ain't them; he needs to protect his comic and its characters. It's already bad enough that anyone can use stick figures in his style, but using the actual characters pretty much eliminates any possibility of him holding on to the trademarks (and thus, the ability to monetize them).

If it helps you make sense of it, an ongoing comic strip about Belkar's childhood would probably ALSO be out-of-bounds.

[CommodoreFluffy]

I wasn't thinking of animating OotS, It would be unoriginal, and extremely difficult to appease all of the opinions of the audience. For me, it would be total chaos, for the audience, it would be a total failure, and for Rich, it would be a total disappointment. I was thinking of doing something original and new.

[Serpentine]

If it helps you make sense of it, an ongoing comic strip about Belkar's childhood would probably ALSO be out-of-bounds.But I wasn't talking about an on-going strip, and so far as I could tell the OP wasn't talking about a series of animations (or wouldn't have been, if he'd been talking about animating oots at all). What's the difference between a piece of comic-style fanart, and a piece of animated fanart?

[Renegade Paladin]

IYou may be thinking that other companies allow their characters to be used in fan productions, but ask yourself this: Do they allow it, or do they simply not know about it?
Lucasfilm holds annual fanfilm awards for Star Wars. I would think it rather far-fetched to say they don't know about it. :smallamused:

[Shhalahr Windrider]

The holder of a piece of intellectual property can generally give permission for others to use that piece of property without losing the property themselves. But the permission has to be pretty explicit to avoid trademark dilution, thus losing the trademark as described above.

Holding a fan art contest would constitute explicit permission. Alternatively, such a contest might also be constructed to allow fans to only use items from the series that aren't trademarked.

In any case, I'd say Rich doesn't want to put up with having to approve other uses on a case-by-case basis, and at the same time, he's sufficiently concerned about the way his creations might be used that he doesn't want to give a more general permission.

[Renegade Paladin]

I don't know; Lucasfilm is pretty free with it. Vader makes frequent appearances in fanfilms, which have been well known and tolerated by the company since well before the start of the fanfilm awards in 2002.

Oh, and to the OP: Commodore is O-6, not O-10. O-10 is Fleet Admiral, and hasn't been held by anyone since William Halsey. :smalltongue:

[CommodoreFluffy]

I don't know; Lucasfilm is pretty free with it. Vader makes frequent appearances in fanfilms, which have been well known and tolerated by the company since well before the start of the fanfilm awards in 2002.

Oh, and to the OP: Commodore is O-6, not O-10. O-10 is Fleet Admiral, and hasn't been held by anyone since William Halsey. :smalltongue:

I know that, it is for a online group, I just thought commodore sounded cool when I made it. And there is no Rank "commodore" in the United states. You're British aren't you.

[Zeb The Troll]

Oh, and to the OP: Commodore is O-6, not O-10. O-10 is Fleet Admiral, and hasn't been held by anyone since William Halsey. :smalltongue:Captain is O-6, not Commodore. Commander sounds closer, but it's only O-5. A British Commodore is an O-7. Fleet Admiral is O-11, not O-10.

If you're going to be pedantic, at least be right. :smalltongue:

[Renegade Paladin]

Bah. I counted wrong (skipped LTJG) because I was in a hurry; regardless, they call commodore Rear Admiral (lower half) now, and it's a one star rank, not five. Anyway, I'm off to work, so further pedantry shall have to wait. :smalltongue:

[AmberVael]

To quote Wiki:

Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It is equivalent to a 1 star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-6.

Admiral of the Fleet (also in the Royal Navy) is OF-10.

In the US navy, Fleet Admiral is a Wartime rank only, but...

An officer of 5 star rank is a very senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-10. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members. Typically, 5 star officers would hold the rank of Admiral of the Fleet...
The rest of the titles are cut off just because they do not pertain to this discussion.

To sum this up- if you want to say someone is wrong, go look up the facts and then cite them so if you're wrong, you'll learn it before posting, and if they source you refer to is wrong, people can point you towards a source that works. :smalltongue:
I would have cited the Royal Navy website, but unfortunately they seem to be down.

[Zeb The Troll]

To quote Wiki:


Admiral of the Fleet (also in the Royal Navy) is OF-10.

In the US navy, Fleet Admiral is a Wartime rank only, but...

The rest of the titles are cut off just because they do not pertain to this discussion.This is already getting way off topic, but here's what you asked for...

From the official US Navy (http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=266) website, a Fleet Admiral is O-11 (note the discussion wasn't about NATO ranks, but US Navy ranks*). Yes, it is a wartime only rank, as are all 5-star ranks in the US military, which is the reason that Fleet Admiral Halsey was the last person to hold it, during WWII.

I did not state any incorrect facts. In fact, wikipedia confirms my statement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_United_States_military_ranks_compared) . That chart that lists Admiral of the Fleet and Fleet Admiral as OF-10 lists the US equivalent in column 3. That rank is the one above O-10.

*RP was using US military ranking nomenclature (O-#, as opposed to OF-#). He also later admitted that he'd forgotten to count LtJG, which is not a Royal Navy ranking. Beyond that, the claim that no one in any NATO country has held the rank since William Halsey would be patently untrue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Benjamin_Bathurst).


To sum this up- if you want to say someone is wrong, go look up the facts and then cite them so if you're wrong, you'll learn it before posting, and if they source you refer to is wrong, people can point you towards a source that works. :smalltongue:Your facts were no more cited than mine (no links provided for reference, or even a mention of which wiki article you were using, only unattributable quotes taken out of context that directly support your statement). And I stand by my statement that what I said is correct. :smalltongue: