The Doctor Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Hello there, folks of LucasForums. I'm coming to you people with a purpose I hoped I'd never have to pursue. I'm investigating suspicions of plagiarism on another board I frequent, and I need some assistance. Below are some signatures that I do not believe were created by the member who claims to have done so. For months, the member in question posted signatures that were nothing more than Mortal Kombat images, cropped with text thrown into a corner. Then, a few weeks ago, he released this image: This is a start contrast in quality from the last images he had posted: My fellow Contest Judges, as well as the staff, have reason to believe that the image posted above is stolen, and would like to know if anyone has seen it before. We thank you for your cooperation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrayusCore Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Has he added the text in the bottom left corner (the word 'Xones')? Anyway, unless he read up on several tutorials and/or he learnt how to use/bought photoshop I'd say it's been copied. You could ask him if he has any earlier versions of it (eg. saves made before he'd finished it etc). You could also try asking him what brushes he used. Or you could just find an active Mortal Kombat forum and go through people's sigs but the chances are you wouldn't find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Why don't you ask the sig-owner about it? It's possible he's not fully aware of what constitutes plagiarism. It could be someone gave him permission to use it and he altered it slightly so it's now "his" in his mind, even if that might not be quite accurate. Maybe he learned how to use the program better. Maybe an older sibling helped him. There are many, many reasons for what's going on besides plagiarism, and the best person to ask about it is the sig owner himself.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallucination Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Did you check where it's hosted? He might have not uploaded it to a host and is stealing from the original artist, assuming it isn't his. It's unlikely but possible. And it'd pretty damn funny. Also, look on the Mortal Kombat official site for pre-made sigs and trailers from which he could have taken screenshots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lion54 Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 The middle part of the second sig can be found here. heh, Its their header. Not sure if that constitutes plagiarism unless he tried to take credit for the logo. Anyway, I agree with the others. The only way to know for sure is if you find someone who's seen the sig elsewhere. You could try being sly about it and say "I like that. What brush did you use?" or "Thats cool. Where did you get the brush for that?" or something like that. It wouldn't really prove anything, but you might be able to tell from his response if he knows anything about brushes or where to get them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChAiNz.2da Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 well, to play Devil's Advocate... what is in the first sig is not really that hard to do, especially since his "Neo" sig uses the same Photoshop techniques and principles Granted the "style & design" looks different, and if that's what's in question, please ignore the rest of this post... hehehe -------------- however the skill required to do it isn't any harder than what his/her other 3 sigs required. The bottom one actually was probably the hardest of the bunch to do The top sig has very clean lines... it could be a simple 'cut-out' or mask on the 1st & 3rd layers... with the green swirlies on the 2nd layer. Lower opacity of 3rd layer to about 45%-65% and you've got the top sig technique... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 4chan it, they know everything. But seriously, it looks stolen. Ask him about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrayusCore Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 If I had to guess, I'd probably say the second and third are his and he added the text on the fourth (seeing as the text is positioned pretty poorly and the font and colour doesn't really suit the rest). The second he just copied and pasted 3 images and put them side by side and the third looks like he's cut it out of a wallpaper/taken a screenshot from a video or trailer and added text. The first and fourth seem a bit advanced compared to the other two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lion54 Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 The bottom one actually was probably the hardest of the bunch to do At first I thought that as well, but the fire looked to be part of the original artwork to me. I'm not sure if thats all you're referring to though, but I found the original here. It was made by a Midway Artist. I'd wager that the sig is just a cut and paste job from three, maybe four, Midway wallpapers. I got lucky and found that wallpaper on the first page of a yahoo search. I didn't see any of the other elements, though. EDIT: I found the Scorpion on the left. No fire, as you can see here, but I still think its just a cut and paste job. Of course, that doesn't tell us who did the cutting and the pasting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChAiNz.2da Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 At first I thought that as well, but the fire looked to be part of the original artwork to me. I'm not sure if thats all you're referring to though, but I found the original here. It was made by a Midway Artist. I'd wager that the sig is just a cut and paste job from three, maybe four, Midway wallpapers. Yeah, I was talking about the 4th being the "hard one".. Still is (imo).... though I agree with you about it being a 3-4 cut-n-paste job The top one, technically, is just a 3 layer cut-n-paste job too with an opacity drop on the 3rd layer. The lines (outlines) are very clean so I'd bet it's masking or matting rather than the sloppy eraser tool... The green swirly is either cut pic/pattern from somewhere, probably zoomed in as well or a custom brush/pattern splashed with some smudging (and zoomed in to extreme portions).. HOWEVER, since I don't want to stray from the topic... The Doctor, do you think said artist is capable of described techniques, or is he more of a cut-n-paste, and leave it that type artiste' ?.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 It is possible that he just took some artistic lessons or figured out some photoshop stuff. It's kind of rude to automatically assume the guy is a thief and a liar. Have you asked him about this yet, or are you just trying to defame him first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerbieZ Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Preparation for this kind of eventuality should have been done before the competition was started. No one on here truly knows the answer, all that is being looked for is a mssive sway in opinion from more people. The only way you can know is if you ask the guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SithRevan Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 This may be a stupid question to ask but have you asked around on the boards that have been going to or have you posted a similar thread? Or even talked to the moderators of the Forums about this? Anyway if it hasn't already been asked or suggested I would highly recommend taking those actions. I know if somebody stole my work I would want to have somebody like you trying to look in on it if I were not able to or was unaware of it myself. Good luck finding the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 Heh. Doesn't matter anymore. The real criminals were the Admins of KraytCantina. Avoid the place, if you can. Would an Admin please lock this thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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