Reading Firefly Blueprints

POSTED BY: Lance
UPDATED: Thursday, April 12, 2007 05:16
VIEWED: 14034
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FLYVOTE

Tuesday, April 10, 2007 2:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Lance:
I had thought about making it the real blueprint color with blue background and white lines, that might look best.

Personally I'd stick with blueline. (Even if people generally still call it "blueprint") I think that your example above with very light blue background looks very nice. My guess is that most people would like to see it this way.

Quote:

I was also going to try the a drafting font for
labeling and move the labels down onto the drawing rather as callouts. I'll also add a data block with ship builder, etc... I have a few old aircraft blueprints from a Constellation, I'll have to dig those out and use them as a guide to style.

That would certainly differentiate it from the QM offering.

I don't know the legalities, or how QM would feel. It isn't a color copy of the QM drawings, so it isn't just a copy. It is a derived work, and at least somewhat different from their work. If you were to offer it for sale, or free as it is right now, I'd say that QM would feel copied. But substantially modified to look more like building/aircraft drawing might be OK. I wouldn't offer it for sale or free at least until QM has sold their 750 copies of their work.

Having said that, I would love to print what you come up with at least A-size on my color printer. And perhaps your finished work would be worth sending to a print shop to print full size.

Cool prints! Keep up the good work.

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LANCE

Tuesday, April 10, 2007 5:19 AM

I was kind of worried about the derived work thing too. That's why I didn't put any
of the actual artwork on it. As I said above, I think as it is right now it just makes
it possible to read the callouts from the low res PDF file. I never intended to
sell anything, especially under the circumstances and I did intend to wait until
they were sold out at least. It's looking like that could take a lot longer than
I figured originally. I thought they would be gone by now. Also I may not do
more than this cross-section, and certainly not the exterior, so it's not like a
complete copy. Someone could come along and say to knock it off and that would
be the end of it right there. It's really just an experiment to see how it looks.

CAPTAINCOUPI

Tuesday, April 10, 2007 10:50 PM

Just to butt in. Rear Cross Section. ??? Altenator. In 'Trash' Wash says he's getting no pull from the Aft Altenator.

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BROWNBUG

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 12:39 AM

joss mentions in a commentary about the "mystery" room with the stairs leading down from the cockpit. he said it was cool to have a room that no one knows what it does, but perhaps reveal what it was for in a future episode.

do these plans finally tell us what the rooms function was ?

CABRIDGES

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 2:59 AM

I would guess that QMx, fellow fans though they are, may not appreciate the derivative copy. Not so much because they'd want to jump on fans but because a) they put a LOT of work into producing these and might not want to see free versions popping up, and b) they paid for the licensing from Universal and have to protect that license.

I'm not a lawyer, though. Just my gut feeling.

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LEXIGEEK

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 3:05 AM

I agree ... with all the work that went into them, reproducing them online for free is kind of uncool. True, you're not using the artwork, but a big part of the appeal of the blueprints is to figure out what goes where, and discover where all the little nooks and crannies are. If people can find that online, it makes the blueprints much less valuable.

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CEDRIC

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 4:38 AM

Yeah, Universal has proven to be kind of aggressive about protecting its licensees. I'd think twice about posting blueprints.

Plus, the guys at QMx are fans who went through a lot of effort and paid a lot of fees to get this info out to the Browncoats. Do we really want to screw fellow flans?

I have to admit, I don't know whether I can afford the blueprints, but it's really darn tempting . . .

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THOLO

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 6:32 AM

Does the blueprint, that you are using as a referance, have the picture of just the hull, or is it like cross sectioned out. showing hallways and etc???

thanks

Keep Flying!!

QMXBRIAN

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 7:37 PM

Hi Lance,

This is Brian with QMx. Thanks for your offer to remove your recreations of the QMx Official Serenity Blueprints. Please do so.

As an official Universal licensee, part of our job here at QMx is to ensure Universal's intellectual property is only used in a manner approved by the studio. Making the blueprint images blue and obscuring the interior is not an approved use of Universal's property, nor is in respectful of the considerable time and labor QMx and the artists who created them invested in this work.

While your appreciation for our efforts and the fandom is great, it could negatively effect Blueprint sales which could translate into lower license fees. Part of our job as Browncoats is to demonstrate to Universal that Serenity isn't just a great franchise for them, but a profitable one as well. That's what's going to help everyone get more Firefly and Serenity.

Thanks,

Brian

Quote:
Originally posted by Lance:
I was kind of worried about the derived work thing too. That's why I didn't put any
of the actual artwork on it. As I said above, I think as it is right now it just makes
it possible to read the callouts from the low res PDF file. I never intended to
sell anything, especially under the circumstances and I did intend to wait until
they were sold out at least. It's looking like that could take a lot longer than
I figured originally. I thought they would be gone by now. Also I may not do
more than this cross-section, and certainly not the exterior, so it's not like a
complete copy. Someone could come along and say to knock it off and that would
be the end of it right there. It's really just an experiment to see how it looks.

FLYVOTE

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by QMxBrian:

While your appreciation for our efforts and the fandom is great, it could negatively effect Blueprint sales which could translate into lower license fees. Part of our job as Browncoats is to demonstrate to Universal that Serenity isn't just a great franchise for them, but a profitable one as well. That's what's going to help everyone get more Firefly and Serenity.

I just checked the QMX web site and there are probably 200+ blueprints left. Had the prints sold out quickly I would have made a suggestion for reprinting. I would have suggested (to QMX) to alter the drawings in the style described in this thread and offer these "bluer" blueprints on lighter stock and for less $.

So the thick, full color prints for $99, limited to 750. A second run of actual diazo blueline prints (mono color) made with a real diazo printer on normal C-size paper. Wouldn't cost QMX much at all, and open up the prints to fans at much less $. That would be cool to own, too.

But the first run didn't sell out, so my suggestion is probably moot.

Thanks for posting, Brian. And thanks for your efforts in making the color prints available.

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