Star Wars copyright

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Please don't guess at advice on legal matters. A copyright notice simply helps protect your original content, it doesn't cause the copyrightholder to grant you permission to use their intellectual property. jeff F

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I can help with the light sabres though. I found a tutorial somewhere telling how to do it in MSP, but no longer have the page bookmarked. I can tell you basically how to do it though. Use the thin air brush. Make a thin white line for the core of the light sabre. It should be pretty much opaque with slight feathering on the edges. Then make the air brush wider and about 20% transparent and paint the color of the blade over the white core. Then make it a little wider and more transparent for a better glowing effect. Make sure these two colored layers are very feathered on the edge(I keep saying feathered, but I think it's called something different in MSP, I don't have access to it now, sorry) That's pretty much all there is to it. Just make sure you have a lot of patience also.

You can call a website "Why I think Star Wars is the best movie ever" without infringing on someone's copyright, but to make a film called "Star Wars 5" or to use Lucas' characters and concepts is infringement and illegal without written permission of the copyright holder(s).

Plenty of people make fan films and blatantly violate the copyright laws. This doesn't make it right, or keep you from getting caught, or justify your doing so. Most of the people who speed, run red lights, and blow through stop signs don't get caught but those who do pay the price. Since you aren't making money (and you certainly can't sell something that violates copyright law - most contests automatically reject fan films as well) on it, it is unlikely that the copyright holder will prosecute you. They can sue for basic copyright violation as well as to collect damages.

While we can't and don't try to control what people do off the boards, the Posting guidelines specifically prohibit discussion of illegal activities. We encourage you to be original, put your time and effort into something that has a chance of going somewhere, not something that has a legal anchor chained to it from day one, and has a chance of bringing you respect and future funding. From small children through adults, very few people are terribly impressed by a copycat.

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Jeff F - Moderator
Magic and FX
Amazing the Masses