also, how are you supposed to be liable, make sure your freelance workers sign a contract giving them the sole responsibility in making sure that the software is legal and making them take the consequence if they lie.

This ia a very important issue for all " poor artist " Indie game programmers

Take for example XSI MOD Tool and XSI 7.5 by Softimage

How can the american " pirate watchdog agencies " distinguish files exported from these applications ?
Do they contain a " flag " or a "structure " as a trace ?
If so, is it sufficient to resave the file with legal software ?

I purchased several models from eastern european and far east arttis where the use of illegal software, no offence , is the normality

Even microsoft(or people at microsoft) are using illegal software o.o.

Long time ago, someone opened a wave file of Win98 with an editor, scrolled down and found the sentence:

Created with <softwarename i cant remember>
registered to <username i cant remember>

Well...the username was a very popular cracker .


Ok but back to topic: If you use Legal software, do as sugested and let him/her sign a contract. If you use GIMP+blender+ purchased version of GS, you have all you need for creating content that is as good as content created with Photshop and Maya.

I use gimp and its an excellent freeware tool for 2d Art.


Greets
Rackscha

doesnt mean that its good to do.

i still say it's better to be safe. i copyright everything. u.s.copyright laws are confusing at times, but with music publishers like ascap to help obtain royalties for works, i guess there is protection.