DAZ for games

creat326creat326 Posts: 0
edited December 1969 in New Users

Hi

I haven't been around for years so I'm not sure how the license has changed. It is a simple question, i'm planning to make an android game and I would love to use some of the assets/models from my Daz3D. Is this possible? Can I freely use all my stuff for the game or I need a special license? how does it work now that all daz software seems free?

Comments

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    If you want to use the 3D mesh itself in games, you need a Game Developer Licence, and that only convers items owned by DAZ 3D (DAZ Originals), and not resale vendor items. Some vendors have there own licences, but you would need to ask them separately.

    You would need to contact DAZ 3D themselves using the Help > Contact Us button at the top of the forum for a definitive answer.

  • creat326creat326 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    yeah that was the old system but i believe that changed last year when Daz went free. I can't even find the game dev license on the site anymore.

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    creat326 said:
    yeah that was the old system but i believe that changed last year when Daz went free. I can't even find the game dev license on the site anymore.

    The software being free has nothing at all to do with the figures, and how they can be used.

    DAZ Studio has always had a free version.

  • creat326creat326 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I paid for the PRO license a while ago, and then it went free.
    For what I see, DAZ continues to be useless for gamedev with that ridiculous licensing :/
    i thought they've fixed that already

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,948
    edited December 1969

    Is your proposed game going to embed 3d models? If not, if it uses sprites and pre-rendered animations, then you wouldn't need the Game Develper License.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    You paid for PRO DAZ Studio, that has nothing to do with a Gamer Design license.

  • creat326creat326 Posts: 0
    edited August 2013

    of course it would use 3d models, that's the whole purpose of using daz 3D in a game. The situation is that I want to get a 3d object, place it in game so you can move around it. Also get some of the 3d humans and move them around in the game.

    For what you tell me, you can't do that (god knows why, because i don't) unless you get a special game license on top of my current daz pro license which was not cheap. Even then, after i purchase the license, i wouldn't be able to use all the models because i have to go one by one and see whether it allows for game license or not. In short, wtf?

    Post edited by creat326 on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,220
    edited August 2013

    you can model your own figures in Blender for free, or Sculptis (or a bought modeler) then use the content creation or figure set up tools to rig it in studio.
    You would need to do your own animations and poses too but can use puppeteer or animate2 to refine them.
    You bought the program
    not the use of the Daz figures.
    you only buy a license to use the figures in renders not the mesh.
    try makehuman.org for useable mesh you can put in games, it still needs to be rigged for studio.

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • creat326creat326 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I know what I bought, but what I'm saying is that the license didn't make sense years ago and it was talked about changing it.

    As you said, I can do my own models (or purchase different ones, outside of daz3d.com) and then use blender or whatever system. Meaning, I would not use daz at all.

    Now, if I use Daz, it is because it has tons of 3d models on the store and all nicely packaged. But all I could do is create a snapshot of the model (a render) and add it as an image. Want a different image? Sure, render again. A bit rotated? sure, render again. So you could create a 500 megas sprite sheet to do the animation of a guy jumping and running around.

    BUT

    You would NOT be able to get that same model, put it on your program and rotate it to achieve the same animation and only 1 or 2 megas on size.

    Don't you think this is ridiculous?

    It would make sense to lock it if what we were to resell the 3d models in some way, but it does not make sense to prohibit usage of the model for the same 3d animation we would do with megas of spritesheets.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited August 2013

    creat326 said:
    I know what I bought, but what I'm saying is that the license didn't make sense years ago and it was talked about changing it.

    You would NOT be able to get that same model, put it on your program and rotate it to achieve the same animation and only 1 or 2 megas on size.

    Don't you think this is ridiculous?

    It would make sense to lock it if what we were to resell the 3d models in some way, but it does not make sense to prohibit usage of the model for the same 3d animation we would do with megas of spritesheets.

    By using the DAZ 3D model mesh in a game you would effectively be selling or distributing that mesh, when you sell or distribute the game. This is the reason that you need the Games license.

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,220
    edited December 1969

    one cannot tell a company how you want to use their assets
    you agreed to an end user license agreement and that is all there is to it
    end of story
    users on this forum can suggest alternatives if you are interested that is all.
    Unity has assets for sale you can use
    iClone pipeline allows you to use included iClone 5 content in games
    if you do not want to look at alternative ways to do 3D games using premade meshes or make your own, you need to buy the game developer's license for Daz only mesh and maybe RawArt's license to use his mesh, other Premier Artists you would need to negotiate induvidually.
    that is all there is to it, wanting something different is not your choice to make.

  • creat326creat326 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    By using the DAZ 3D model mesh in a game you would effectively be selling or distributing that mesh, when you sell or distribute the game. This is the reason that you need the Games license.

    not really. You are not selling the mesh since it is unusable outside of the 3d game. It's like saying that when you buy call of duty you bought all 3d work included on it for your personal use in whatever you want. It is not true because you bought the compiled game, not the specific assets and its licenses.

    one cannot tell a company how you want to use their assets


    of course you can, but the point here is that the 3d models done by others that you can use in DAZ, is not DAZ's work. You see, that would be great, if it was all DAZ because you buy the DAZ game license and you are set, but in this case you can't because it is not their content although you are fine using it on rendering.

    You gave the example of Unity3d. Ok, so let's say I get a unity3d asset and unity3d tells me I can only use it for posting papers on my wall, not for making any game. It's not even them who created the asset!

    So points:
    1) Yes, you have to follow the license, yes i know what you can and cannot do. Nobody is argueing that. You can use another program, not DAZ 3d and topic settle.
    2) STILL, that does not solve the issue here: this license is a joke. It should be solved years ago and it is still a big problem. If DAZ opened all content for use on games, the community and the sales would skyrocket. To make matter worse, making what I suggest, that is, allow to make a game with daz3d content, would not harm the community in any way. Instead, they decide to keep this ridiculous license system that comes from when games were only done by big studios with tons of money.

    One day it will open up and people would be like: omg! now i can make games with the help of daz3d! isn't it cool?
    until then, i'll be the outsider i guess, for thinking that something so obvious should be already possible.

  • RenpatsuRenpatsu Posts: 828
    edited August 2013

    creat326 said:
    not really. You are not selling the mesh since it is unusable outside of the 3d game. It's like saying that when you buy call of duty you bought all 3d work included on it for your personal use in whatever you want. It is not true because you bought the compiled game, not the specific assets and its licenses.

    The 3D objects in a game are not really protected, there are various examples of public available software to extract 3D models from various games and get them back into 3D modelling software again. When you distribute a game based on 3D models you are still redistributing the object data even if you obscure it in some form. You are not actually "selling" the 3D models, but still redistributing them for the intended use and potential abuse.

    Yes, the user does not buy the license and the specific assets by buying a game, but nevertheless the game developer has to take care of the license when she/he creates the game - at least if the game developer wants to use 3D models from a specific market place as 3D models directly and does not want to create own ones. Again, part of this form here at DAZ being that every time a DAZ 3D model is allowed to be used in a game as 3D asset directly, it will get distributed to users of the game (in some form). The protection a developer wants to build around these 3D models does not matter, as DAZ has to calculate the risk and of course attaches a price tag to it.

    In general, DAZ models are actually fairly cheap compared to "high profile" market places and one part of this being that their use is restricted. Don't expect to get an unrestricted 3D game use for these price tags - not to mention that DAZ cannot speak for all content creators, which is why the game license only applies to a portion of the 3D models (like DAZ Originals and I think RAWart sells a separate license).

    Post edited by Renpatsu on
  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449
    edited December 1969

    DAZ holds the copyRIGHTS on models listed as DAZ originals, therefore they have the RIGHT to say what can and cannot be done with them based on the license agreement. If you want additional rights you purchase an extended license agreement like the gaming license. DAZ cannot give extended rights to models they don't hold the copyright to which is why not all store products are covered under the gaming license.

  • Herald of FireHerald of Fire Posts: 3,504
    edited December 1969

    creat326 said:
    not really. You are not selling the mesh since it is unusable outside of the 3d game. It's like saying that when you buy call of duty you bought all 3d work included on it for your personal use in whatever you want. It is not true because you bought the compiled game, not the specific assets and its licenses.As a programmer and developer myself, I can assure you that it's reasonably painless to extract 3D models from most programs. Especially anything which uses Unity, which seems to be the most popular at the moment.

    creat326 said:
    the point here is that the 3d models done by others that you can use in DAZ, is not DAZ's work. You see, that would be great, if it was all DAZ because you buy the DAZ game license and you are set, but in this case you can't because it is not their content although you are fine using it on rendering.That's why the Games License only covers works which are bought and owned by Daz 3D. If you wanted to use RawArt's work for example, you would need a different licence. Some artists may have similar rules about what you can and cannot do with their work.

    this license is a joke. It should be solved years ago and it is still a big problem. If DAZ opened all content for use on games, the community and the sales would skyrocket. To make matter worse, making what I suggest, that is, allow to make a game with daz3d content, would not harm the community in any way. Instead, they decide to keep this ridiculous license system that comes from when games were only done by big studios with tons of money.

    Wrong, what you are suggesting is that Daz offer their content for free. Essentially anyone could reverse engineer the game and get at the assets freely. With that in mind, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that by having this clause, they have the legal means to pursue those who have illegally obtained their meshes. Without it, they lose money.

    One day it will open up and people would be like: omg! now i can make games with the help of daz3d! isn't it cool?
    until then, i'll be the outsider i guess, for thinking that something so obvious should be already possible.When you reach the big boy world of real games development you'll discover it's more cutthroat and ruthless than you might want to believe. There are literally thousands of legal pitfalls you can fall into, and Daz's very generous licensing rules are molehills by comparison.

  • creat326creat326 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Ok, the examples you give me about extracting the 3d models are just illegal. It does not make sense at all on this argument. If you don't want to do it the legal way, of course you can extract the 3d models from any game, you don't even need to do that. Just get it cheap on daz, and use them ilegally. Or google on torrents for a few minutes. When you do it ilegally, this whole post about licenses and agreements is worthless because you are just ignoring them all.

    So going back to the real subject: doing it legally.

    You can't resell and you don't give the rights to anyone by including the meshes into your game. Period. Try to use a call of duty or halo 3d mesh for commercial purpose and enjoy a lawsuit. Can you get them out of the game? Sure you can. But I doubt anyone stopped making the game thinking: omg, they may get our models!

    Now from an economic point of view, the models at Daz are not cheap because they have restricted license. They are cheap because of volume. This means that the more they sell, the lower in price they can go. And also because of competition, meaning, the more providers there are, the cheaper they get. Again, we can all get all free illegally, but we choose not to for reasons not even related to this post and we pay for them.

    But, having a license that limits is uses, actually doesn't make the assets cheaper, in fact, as I just said it would make them more expensive since it limits volume (less customers) and providers (less people want to sell in Daz under those terms).

    On the contrary, if the license was opened up to allow for game usage (not resell, not making money out of the mesh per se, but just to include them in the game as part of scenery, etc). Tons of new customers would come here in mass and buy those assets. Prices could go lower and authors make more money.

    You see, the customers I'm talking about are no customers right now. Opening up the license does not damage the current situation for authors since people that want to use as of now, gain nothing new. And people that want to use it for games, are simply no customers at the moment. So nothing is lost and more and new customers come.


    I just don't get the point of why blocking usage for games is such a great thing. It doesn't make sense logically, neither economically.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    What part of to follow the LAW on the Copyrights on the MESH objects by buying the Gamers License is not clicking? It is the only LEGAL way to do it in the United States. And DAZ 3D follows the laws of the United States of America. Just because you think it is not needed does not make the LAW's go away. No matter how you try you can not change the United States Copyrights Laws in this forum.

  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited August 2013

    Jaderail said:
    What part of to follow the LAW on the Copyrights on the MESH objects by buying the Gamers License is not clicking? It is the only LEGAL way to do it in the United States. And DAZ 3D follows the laws of the United States of America. Just because you think it is not needed does not make the LAW's go away. No matter how you try you can not change the United States Copyrights Laws in this forum.

    I think I might've read this utterly wrong, but did I just read that you think Daz charges a gaming license because the law requires them to? o_O

    Daz could charge for the mesh and tell you that you could do whatever you wanted with it. The gaming license is there because they don't want you doing whatever you want with it.

    Post edited by Lissa_xyz on
  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited August 2013

    Vaskania said:
    Jaderail said:
    What part of to follow the LAW on the Copyrights on the MESH objects by buying the Gamers License is not clicking? It is the only LEGAL way to do it in the United States. And DAZ 3D follows the laws of the United States of America. Just because you think it is not needed does not make the LAW's go away. No matter how you try you can not change the United States Copyrights Laws in this forum.

    I think I might've read this utterly wrong, but did I just read that you think Daz charges a gaming license because the law requires them to? o_O

    Daz could charge for the mesh and tell you that you could do whatever you wanted with it. The gaming license is there because they don't want you doing whatever you want with it.I said legal way. And not all mesh's sold here are owned by DAZ. If you have a gamers license as set up now all is fine for DO items, asking DAZ to change what has worked for as long as I have been a member is all I see no need for. Many things could be changed but like most things if its not broke why fix it?

    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    This argument is all rather academic. Daz 3D owns the meshes. They require that you buy a Games developer license to use the meshes in games.

    The license that you agree to before you purchase any product from Daz 3D, whether it is a Daz Original or a PA item, (the EULA) says that your licensed to use the product according to the precepts laid down in that license, which excludes the distribution of the mesh in any form or any derivative of that mesh.

    The further purchase of the Game Developer License, either the Indie or Commercial form of it, amends that as far as Daz Original Items are concerned.

    That is the system, and that it is how it works. Most PAs do not want their models used in games, so they do not have separate licenses. the few that do have their own license to buy, as in this one http://www.daz3d.com/rawart-indie-game-developer-license.

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