US Copyright Office<\/a> when you know more about their copyright legislation than they do?<\/em><\/p>\nCopyright is neither a moral or ethical issue: it’s a legal one.\u00a0 Consult the law, not your personal feelings or that of your online buddies.<\/p>\n
Putting copyright issues aside, for the moment, what is the best way to share fractal parameter files?<\/p>\n
Firstly, do you really want to help others build on your fractal discoveries? or do you just want to fish for applause with your parameter file?\u00a0 Unless you really want to pool your knowledge with other fractalists, you shouldn’t be giving out your parameter files to start with.\u00a0 You’re just setting yourself up for disappointment\u00a0 because you can’t take back what you’ve given out on the internet.\u00a0 It works that way with posting embarrassing party photos, and so it does with anything else uploaded to the… W<\/strong>orld W<\/strong>ide W<\/strong>eb<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe best solution I can think of for most artists that will enable artistic collaboration and minimize feelings of regret, is to:<\/p>\n
\n- share parameters only with other artists who approach you personally.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Posting parameters to the Ultra Fractal Mailing List is effectively giving them out to a huge, anonymous crowd.\u00a0 You have no rapport with an anonymous crowd and they have none with you; any restrictions you place on the use of your parameters are about as meaningless as your name that goes with them.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter what your legal rights are, you won’t even be able<\/em> to enforce copyright restrictions over something which is only the source code of a fractal image unless those “infringers” help you out by posting their<\/em> parameter file for you to compare.\u00a0 (Or unless they only minimally alter your parameters and post an image which is almost identical to yours.)<\/p>\nThink about it:\u00a0 sharing parameters only on a personal level is a good policy because it also allows the recipients to give back to you<\/em> and builds up professional connections that could easily become a source for mentoring or other kinds of professional development.<\/p>\nFurthermore, fractal art is such a small genre that once you exclude everyone except the dedicated enthusiasts, you could share your parameters for the latest hybrid mandelbox with five other artists like yourself and have reached 80% of everyone who’s making regular, meaningful contributions to that area of fractal art.<\/p>\n
Besides, there’s an enormous amount of imitation in fractal art today; widespread parameter file sharing probably makes that worse.\u00a0 When artists should be experimenting with new things and discovering new types of imagery having other artists (good artists) give them a short cut probably doesn’t help them much in the long run.\u00a0 The only good use of parameter file sharing is to spur further innovation, not easy imitation.\u00a0 Share your innovations with other innovators.<\/p>\n
Most people love to share their skills and knowledge with others who share their interests.\u00a0 Not all; some artists are different, competitive and that sort of thing, but I believe most will find these professional exchanges quite inspiring as well as equally satisfying.<\/p>\n
Throwing their pearls before swine, on the other hand, has been a regretful thing for artists, intellectuals and just about everyone else, ever since biblical times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. biblegateway.com The most recent “discussion” about parameter file sharing on the Ultra Fractal Mailing List has reminded me how deep the wheel ruts are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/param1.jpg?fit=500%2C264","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1897,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1897","url_meta":{"origin":2486,"position":0},"title":"Why Image files are very different than Parameter files: Derivative Works!","author":"Tim","date":"16 November, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A UPR is probably something that can be copyrighted because it's really no different than a computer script. And computer software can be copyrighted... so is that the end of it? But what if someone changes something in your parameter file just a little bit? What if I take a\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1897#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/param3-11.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1880,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1880","url_meta":{"origin":2486,"position":1},"title":"Is it too late to patent your fractals?","author":"Tim","date":"12 November, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In a previous post, Can you really copyright an Ultra Fractal parameter file?, I questioned the validity of copyright protection for parameter files.\u00a0 I based this on my observation that what parameter files do is categorically different from what\u00a0 image files do and more in keeping with the types of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 14 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 14 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1880#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/patent2.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1867,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1867","url_meta":{"origin":2486,"position":2},"title":"Can you really copyright an Ultra Fractal parameter file?","author":"Tim","date":"10 November, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not an Ultra Fractal user but I do follow the daily exchange of information on the Ultra Fractal mailing list. Up until recently I never thought anything of those copyright notices, but after giving myself an award winning internet education on copyright, I've begun to feel that those copyright\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 8 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 8 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1867#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/sample-UF-parameter-file.png?fit=558%2C345&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/sample-UF-parameter-file.png?fit=558%2C345&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/sample-UF-parameter-file.png?fit=558%2C345&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2863,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2863","url_meta":{"origin":2486,"position":3},"title":"Rebooting Fractal Art: Part 4","author":"Tim","date":"11 August, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Pixel Art vs. Parameter Art In my preceding three parts I have dealt with what I see are the limitations of fractals for making artwork.\u00a0 To put it simply, the geometric imagery called \"fractals\" has a natural bent towards the decorative and design type of art work.\u00a0 Artists who attempt\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2863#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5789,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5789","url_meta":{"origin":2486,"position":4},"title":"The Nature of Creativity in Fractal Art, Part 2: Mutationism","author":"Tim","date":"3 July, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In the first posting I made the argument that fractal art is a variety of automatism. Automatism being imagery that is created by an automatic, self-operating device. One doesn't draw fractals, the fractal program draws them. The fractal program is the self-operating device or automaton (ie. automatic thing). Being an\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5789#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/mutation.jpg?fit=500%2C332&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1732,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1732","url_meta":{"origin":2486,"position":5},"title":"Copyright and Fractal Art: If a tree falls in the woods…","author":"Tim","date":"19 October, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"If a tree falls in the woods... ...and no one hears it, does it really make a sound? If a tree falls in the woods and it doesn't cost anything, does it really make a sound? If someone violates your copyright and it doesn't cost you anything, should you be\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1732#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/amazon-associates.png?fit=699%2C467&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/amazon-associates.png?fit=699%2C467&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/amazon-associates.png?fit=699%2C467&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2486"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2490,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions\/2490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/param1.jpg?resize=500%2C264\" "\\"param1\\"")
<\/p>\n