Help

Practice, practice, practice! And remember: a great idea is as important as great graphics!  If you think you have a great idea for a template but cannot create it the way you would like, team up with another designer who has these skills.
You will both learn something. Also, on our forum there will be lots of designing tips and tricks. Read them! Furthermore, a simple template can be a bestseller too. Just look around the available templates and think about what is missing. A template doesn't have to be 3D, 2D is fun and useful in many cases too. If you need ideas: take a look at what is done in other professional environments as television, cinema or screens at your local shopping mall..

Yes, you can. If someone created part of the template you uploaded (image, model, effect, etc.) you can give him/her a percentage of your income for that template only. You can set this in the 'Details' screen of your template. Of course you can not donate more than 100% in total to other designers and they need to have an account with Headsub.

Make sure you talk about the price you set for the template, because if you change it, it will also change the income of your 'partners'. They might not want this.

Also make sure that if you re-use things people created for you, the sharing percentages are settled.

Finding people to collaborate with on templates is quite fun and rewarding, so go ahead, advertise on our forum!

Our main page only shows two types of templates:

- Templates that are new and have a rating of 4 or higher
- The most popular templates (highest rating)

When you upload a template it receives a default rating of 3 and only shows on top of the 'Search Templates' page.
But do not worry, when people find your template attractive they will vote on it.
More important is that you have the appropriate 'tags' and description, so if people search on certain tags that match with yours, it will show up.

If your image has a very specific transparant area (e.g. the front plate of a Pinball machine where scores should show through) and you want customers to be able to change this image, you make it dynamic. Most users will notice the transparent area in their imaging software after they've downloaded it. If your image has an area that is not visible in the template you can add instructions in the image itself.

The good thing about Headsub is that customers can always test their images in a preview. They will see the results and if something is wrong they can adjust the image and try again. If they keep failing,they have the opportunity to contact you or read our FAQ's to solve the problem.

Of course you can also add instructions in the description of your template.

Sometimes you create a template for just one customer. No one else should not be able to see it.
To accomplish this you can use the 'Private' option in your template details screen to give permission to other users to see and render your template.

Sometimes you hit the limitations of our Designer Software. Or so you think. Remember: there are a lot of fellow designers on this site willing to help you find a way to create what you have in mind. Post your questions in the designer part of our forum and you will probably get some hints on how to do things the right way. And if you created an effect yourself, you can share it with others in the forum, maybe even trade it for a percentage of the templates that are going to use it.

And if you really have a great idea for an effect or tool that should be in our Designer Software, you know where to find us! If it looks like there is a large demand for templates that can benefit from it, then maybe our developers will look into it.

Provide a dynamic background with a standard colour that is not used in your animation. The user will be able to 'chroma key out' this colour and show the underlying video.

The default in video business is the colour green (RGB #00FF00).

You could also upload your template twice if you don't want the background to be dynamic (it's easier for customers).
Once with a 'keyable' background (e.g. green) and once with the colour you've chosen as a good looking background.

We could write a lot of text about this subject. But we won't. We will keep the answer simple and safe:

* NO *

If you downloaded something, it probably wasn't made by you. Someone else did. Most of the time you can use it under certain rules. We can't and won't read all these rules. We offer enough tools to create unique templates. If occasionally you need images or objects , good chance we can offer them to you ourselves. We strive to have a very useful library of images, objects and fonts for you to use.

The habit of downloading pre-made things from the internet is where you - as a designer - will profit from. People can't create the things you do with Headsub, so they will download it. Make use of your CREATIVITY!

A preview image is the image that shows on the template screen. Users pick templates by viewing these images. This means that the image you select is very important. If it is the starting black image of your animation you can be assured it isn't very attractive. The preview image is an advertisement! Make sure you pick one that shows what will be going on in your animation. Most of the time this will be the middle frame, but it all depends on how your animation is build up.

The name of your template is quite important. It is one of the first things a customer will see. Don't make it to short, or to long. A name like 'intro' is not very good. Neither is 'An Animation Showing Your Image Flying Through Space With Stars In the Background'...

Try finding the main subject of your animation and fit it in two or three words. Like 'Flying Letters (Golden)','Bouncing Ball' or 'Exploding blocks'.  If you upload similar templates, add a number to the name, e.g. 'Funny Lamp 2'

DO NOT USE company names or registered trademarks when creating so called 'spoofs' (look-a-likes). Names like 'Star Wars', 'Universal Intro' or 'Pixar Animation' are strickly forbidden by our Terms Of Use. These companies have invested a lot in their brand name and don't like it very much if someone tries to sell something using their names.

So, be creative in your template as well as in naming them!

Yes, but be sure your customers know it is going to be and why (better version coming, technical issue, etc.). They might need it and be suprised by this. If possible add a comment to your description like: "Template will be available until (date)".  Also, any orders taken for this template (and in our render queue) will be processed first (and any credits involved added to your account) before the template becomes deleted.

It might also be a smarter move to set the template to 'Private Use Only' instead of completely removing it, this might save you a lot of hassle later on. When you have an updated version, upload that to the existing template and just uncheck the 'Private' field. This will keep your ratings and all comments on this template.

Follow this link to withdraw your earnings (you need to have at least 10.000 credits in your account).
Also make sure we have all your billing information. You can check and edit them here.
You can cash your credits (at least 10.000) once a month.

There are two factors in the price that you control:

- Duration (time)

The longer duration (time) a template takes to play, the more expensive it will be. Most templates aren't longer than 15 seconds, but a slideshow might be (well over) 60 seconds. Try splitting your template up in start/middle/ending versions, so people can use the middle as often as they like (by using the 'Add loop' function). Consider the fact that if you show 10 images, the customer has no choice to use less or more. With looping they can add as many as they like. If this is too complicated for you, try uploading a version of your template that is shorter.

- Your fee

This is the amount of credits we will pay to you when a template is sold. You can adjust this price whenever you like. Maybe you will ask a bit more at first and lower the price after you sold it a couple of hundred times. It is up to you. If you want to ask a fair price, try looking around at the available templates and see what designers ask for them and compare it with yours. Or use the forum to discuss it.

No.

Becoming a designer on Headsub or uploading templates is absolutely free. You only have to register and even that is free. The only thing you have to invest in is the designer software. More information can be found here.

When adjusting a template on your pc, you have to upload it again and remove the older version. Make sure you copy the descriptions and tags if you want to re-use them.

Your income is calculated from two factors:

1) 80% of your designer fee

This is the starting price of the template you set in template details. We deduct a small percentage for our services.
This fee is only used once per rendering, so if a user creates a couple of loops with the same template in the same video, he only pays the fee once.

2) 20% of the rendering costs

The costs for rendering can differ for each template. Lower resolutions cost less than Full HD ones.
Of course it is no more than fair to have you share in these larger renderings.
In general for smaller templates you earn at least your own fee, but in most cases it will be (a lot) more.

Important: make sure your templates are useful on higher resolutions too! Use high resolution textures and models whenever possible.

We only show new templates that have an average rating of 4 H's or more by our customers or fellow designers.
As a default a new template will be rated 3 H's. So it wont be visible immediately. This is necessary to keep the quality of templates on our home page high. Of course all new templates can be seen on the 'Template Search' tab when sorted on date.

Yes.

And they are allowed to do so (as long as they don't violate any copyright or trade marks) by our terms on which you've agreed when signing up as a designer. Though you might think this is bad news, it is actually great! If people can make money out of your work they will probably be back for more... In which case you share in their success.

You decide.

Take a look around at what other designers think their templates are worth. Although their fee is not published visibly in the details you can calculate it by pressing the 'Customize' button and looking at the price difference between a single loop and multiple ones. E.g.: 500(100) means that the Designer Fee is 400 credits.

Now you have to decide if your template is worth the same, less or more. Headsub is a market where you can compete on quality and pricing if you wish. But keep in mind that lowering a price makes new customers happy, but customers that already bought the template for the previous (higher) price might be offended. Making templates more expensive after a while is less offensive, but still might make existing users of that template a bit angry. However, if you want to ask a lower price at first try adding 'Sale: Now 200 credits less!' (example) in your description. This makes sure that customers know the price will go up in the future.

A good way to lower the price over time is to set a certain level of income you wish for this template. If you've reached that level you can lower the price accordingly.

Sometimes the designer software fails to map the font name to the font filename. If this happens it can't automatically add the font to the template ZIP file. We will solve this problem in a future version. As a workaround we have added a form on the Headsub upload template page that you can use to upload additional fonts. You can find your fonts in the c:\windows\fonts folder. In the FONTS tab of the HELP > TECHNICAL INFO dialog (of the template deigner) you can see which fonts the software has managed to find.

Please don't!

However beautiful they might be, we urge you to use ours. There are several reasons for this:

- We want to have a uniform look on our site
Customers will soon instantly recognize our default photos as the ones that can be replaced. If you use your own, they might think that these cannot be changed or belong into the template.

- Copyright
Customers, other designers or Headsub might think that the pictures are not made by you. We'd like to avoid these questions and having to suspend your template in case of doubt. You can probably prove these images are yours, but we don't have the time to discuss these matters with hundreds of designers.

If you have made photos that might be useful as a background or otherwise and like to share them with our customers you can send us these with a written permission stating you own the rights to them and are willing to share them license free (no limitations possible). We will review them and maybe add them to our background packs for customers to download and use in your templates. These packs will be available in our forum.

Don't upload your template right away. Although YOU bought the font, Headsub might not have the rights to use it in our videos. When uploading a template you agree to our terms and specifically agree with the fact that we can use any content you upload. In the case of a new font, this is not true. Try finding a font that IS allowed by Headsub or consult our support for further information.

This is also stated in our Terms Of Use:

Quote: "Templates, comments and profile content may not contain text, images, audio or other information that incorporate fonts with third party copyrights, unless the fonts are licensed under a royalty-free license that permits commercial reuse of the type exercised by Headsub and its users;"

Yes.

But all in good taste. If you add some judgement about this symbol (and its believers) it might become offensive to our visitors, so be careful what you post. There might even be some beliefs that restrict the use of their holy symbols. If we think (or are informed that) visitors are offended by a template wewill take it offline and judge it by our rules. You will be informed of the outcome.

No.

We only sell videos created by rendering your shows. The specific knowledge and tricks you use will not be visible. Only images you select as 'dynamic' will be downloadable for the customer. If you have some clever reflection maps or textures you don't want others to have, don't make them dynamic.

Making money with your own material on Headsub is quite easy. Just show what you have got to our designers and if they like it, they will ask you permission to create an animation with it.

You can put previews of your objects/images/fonts on our forum for our designers to use in their templates. This is all totally free.

What you need to do:

- Take a good look at our website and see what it is all about.
- Read our Terms of Use.
- Create an account on Headsub.
- Make sure you can send us an invoice (if you want to get paid).
- Post a preview/description of your objects/images/fonts to our forum.
- Wait for a designer to ask you if he/she may use it.
- Negotiate a percentage of the template income.
- Wait for the template to appear on Headsub.
- Sit back and watch the money flow into your account.

Headsub is not in any way responsible for what happens to your uploads or how much money you make from each template, so make sure you have things settled with the designers.

If you however want to sell your creations to our designers, make sure your Terms of Use allow rendering your material as content of a video (and being resold in this format).

When designing a template you are not allowed to use names and other trademarks from existing brands and products.
Here is an example of how to make a 'legal' template for use on Headsub.

Above is an example of a template we do not allow. It uses a company name and the colours of that same company's logo.

Just changing the company name to '-M- Mobile' isn't enough. Everybody can see what you mean with this name and colour combination.

This is allowed. No names and matching colours. If a customer wants to make a video with T-Mobile graphics and names, he is allowed to do so, but it is HIS responsibily. Not ours. Not yours.

Our Terms Of Use states the following: Do not incorporate fonts with third party copyrights, unless the fonts are licensed under a royalty-free license that permits commercial reuse of the type exercised by Headsub and its users.

If none of these fonts seem useful, why not design your own? There are a lot of Font Designing tools available, here is one you can test for free 30 days: FontCreator

Until you are very sure your template is okay, don't upload it.

Did you download a 3d object, texture or image from the internet? Then they probably are copyrighted.

You can double check this by asking written permission of the author if you can find him/her. If the 3d object you use is bought by you, you can re-use it in your template most of the time, as rendered versions of this object (image or video) do not count as reselling. But check this with the company or artist you bought it from.

Any company logo you use is copyrighted, no doubt about that and it cannot be used in your template.

There is really no reason to use copyrighted images if they are dynamic (e.g. changeable by the customer) as they serve no other purpose than being a placeholder in the template preview. They will be replaced by the customer anyhow.

Instead of grabbing a picture from internet to use in your slideshow, take one of your self made pictures and use that.

When in doubt: mail support@headsub.com! We gladly assist you in solving any problems! 

Only if you warrant that you are authorized by that company or organization to do so.

We prefer to keep Headsub clean of company names and URLs, except Headsub itself to prevent confusion. So if possible, only use www.headsub.com.

If you are doing a project for a specific company please make your template private for that company.

Yes. But only if you have permission from that designer and share a percentage of your template with him/her.
If you think someone copied your template or is using graphics you created without sharing/asking you can report this as a violation with the button underneath the template.
We actively protect the works of our designers where possible. We also promote creativity, so instead of copying, prove you are capable of making something original!