As a graphic designer, I’m used to buying or licensing art for my designs. I’m not an artist. I’ve always been confused as the direction the Forza games have taken on creative rights. As someone who depends on artists making vinyls, I am MUCH more likely to take the time to “like” and “favorite” a design than random player A that just wants to slap a sticker on his car. I’ve never understood why adding a vinyl group locks you out of sharing your overall design. Right now there are artists and end users. Designers have no place. Sure there is some crossover but why not mimic the creative industry rather than force creative constraints?
There were lots of issues back in previous games when vinyls weren’t locked with users ‘stealing’ the work of others, sharing it as their own and profiting (in game) from it.
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Artists that don’t want their vinyl’s used, don’t share them. They can use them for their full livery designs they share (which are locked). Artists that just want to make vinyls and not full liveries can do so. As I mentioned previously, who’s more likely to favorite or like a vinyl, a designer who is dependent on them or some random user? Currently, since the designs are locked you are only getting the latter group downloading them. When a car is listed on auction, it lists the tuner, and artist (if tune and livery are present). Wouldn’t be hard to add a “credits” section to liveries. So there’s the designer, then a list of artists who’s art was used in the design.
This isn’t a new issue, the creative community IRL has been doing this for decades.
I get what you’re saying. Was just giving an explanation of a bit of the history of why vinyls are locked now.
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I remember back in the day when you could gift cars and sell unlocked designs and tunes, the creative community flourished. We all passed around cars covered in logos to make painting easier. We all improved our tuning abilities in search of leaderboard bragging rights. Hotlappers could collaborate with tuners, who could collaborate with painters to release turnkey products. It was all-in-all a much more active community. I miss those days.
Just because you depend on vinyls doesn’t give you the right to insist that they be allowed to be used on cars you create, some of us work really hard on our vinyls and we share them for personal not public use, half of what gets shared now probably wouldn’t be shared if you had your way, I am sorry if you can’t accept that but no one even a graphic designer should be entitled to freeload off others. Even if it is just random people who download and use my stuff I am not fazed, I get enough downloads, uses and likes for my vinyls and designs to satisfy me. I even pick up quite a few followers along the way. If gifting was introduced then fine as I would only gift to those that I wanted to. If you spent less time crying on this forum you might actually have time to try creating some vinyls of your own. I am fed up of people whinging because they can’t unlock other peoples work, you want shareable liveries then work for it don’t expect it to be handed to you on a sliver platter.
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I don’t think NEOLINK was after unlocked vinyls GC, more the ability to share designs that have other people’s vinyls on them.
From a purely Designer point of view I’d have to agree the current system does require you to paint if you want to share. I can understand how that can be frustrating if that’s not your thing but I do believe what we have is the best compromise to accommodate the range of creatives we have in the game.
I’ve changed over the years & now fall firmly on the side of not sharing any vinyls. However, there are many painters who share their vinyls and openly state they are happy for people to download & trace them too. Honestly, there are plenty of people who produce very accurate logos and tracing them isn’t too difficult & shouldn’t take too much time - even if it’s not your thing it is probably the best way to get to share your designs.
By the way, don’t think your troubles are over once you’ve shared your designs… the current Horizon 4 system will have more frustrations waiting for you! 
I’d open source all of my Vinyl Groups if I could.
Players should spend more time painting cars and less time tediously recreating logos.
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Me included!
I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that, I’d imagine it’s pretty much how all of us dedicated Forza painters feel 
Personally I wouldn’t… but I think you should be able to if you want to. At least it would give players like NEOLINK (who are predominantly Designers & not Painters) more scope to be creative within the game.
Whilst some people are happy to have their work used publicly by others some of us aren’t and like I said gifting is fine with me but in my opinion I share vinyls for private use nothing more. I won’t ever see that any different as using someone else’s vinyl on a design and then sharing it is the same as having it unlocked as they would be free to use it for public use regardless of it just being on a car. Like I said gifting would be the only thing fine with me, everyone entitled to their own opinion but I won’t change mine. I will spend as much time as I like recreating logos as it is what I do, enjoy and it’s up to me how I long I spend doing that. I paint a lot of cars just check my forum thread or my storefront to see that. As a painter I do what I want, not what others tell me to do, I only picked up my first forza game last year and I’m not the best painter out there but I am proud of the work I have done. By the way I am not a petty person as I have police badge vinyls and pokemon face vinyls that have been traced which don’t bother me as they were easy and quick to create, all I am asking is for people to appreciate my feelings and the stuff that has taken me ages to create to be for use of how I want.
For me, personally, Design is visualizing something and then making it “real”. In Forza, that means: Create what is in your imagination from the first shape to the last. That often seems to be a lot of work, but it is worth it. The “gap” you are talking about, is a very small one. I have cars with pieces of vinyl from other people and that is great, but they are for me only. Wouldn’t even think of sharing it, even if it would be possible. Because it consists of the creativity and, depending on the vinyl, a few dozen hours of work of another person. Making vinyl groups open source could be an optional thing, wouldn’t touch me. I would not take other peoples work to share it as mine. But it would probably lessen the mesmerizing effect of spotting a photorealistic or great livery when you are not sure how much work the author put into, and how much other people did. You can use vinyl you do not own but not reshare them afterwards and that is ok for me. But that is just my opinion.
I wouldn’t have a problem with my vinyl groups being used on others cars and then shared, if the game were to track the downloads of liveries that they are included on, and credit me accordingly.
Without that feature though, no, I don’t think things should change.
Amen! I have nearly 1,000 downloads across my catalog of logos. If I could make money based on the sharing of designs that featured them I would be very, Very happy.