Daz How does licensing Daz assets for a game work?

[IamUnderman]

Hey there. I am currently working on a visual novel game and i intend to use Daz 3D as my means of creating graphics for the game. I am messaging because I am unsure exactly how licensing these assets to be legal for use works. My specific questions are:

- Does every single asset used in a game need to be individually licensed? Everything from a chair prop to an environment? Or is there an overarching license which covers everything?
- How does Daz enforce this license? If you make a game using Daz assets, how can they tell if it was made with or without a license? Basically, is getting caught an actual realistic issue?
- How can I tell if a free asset I aquired was pirated or legal?

Thank you for your time, this is a complicated and fiddly issue and I am just starting out so it is all a bit new to me. Thank you for your time.

 

[MissFortune]

- Does every single asset used in a game need to be individually licensed? Everything from a chair prop to an environment? Or is there an overarching license which covers everything?

No. If you buy a dining room environment, and it comes with that chair prop, you've purchased the license to use that chair or any other asset in that environment you bought. This applies to any asset that comes with multiple assets bundled inside of it.

The caveat here being Interactive Licenses. If you're making a game about a haunted, flying chair that's controlled by a player in Unreal Engine, you'd need to buy an interactive license.

- How does Daz enforce this license? If you make a game using Daz assets, how can they tell if it was made with or without a license? Basically, is getting caught an actual realistic issue?

There is precedent for them going after Interactive License assets given how pricey they are. But for the standard license you get when purchasing an asset, there's no realistic way for Daz themselves to enforce it. They don't have the money, tech (yet), or manpower to do so - unlike someone like Autodesk, who actively sues game studios for pirated software.

The only way you get caught, realistically, is if you have hyperactive vendor who happens to see their asset in your game and attempts to see if it's pirated or not (and usually the worst case with those is a C&D, which might mean a lot of remaking stuff in your game, but it's unlikely you'll get sued.) - or if you go around bragging about how your entire library is pirated. I've seen way too many devs spouting "People actually pay for this stuff?" in very public spaces.

Piracy is kind of messed up when it comes to smaller artists like the people working for Daz, who already lose a chunk of profits to them. Their line of profits are slim given that a lot of assets are bought a few times and then immediately leaked to pirate sites. Buy if you can. Buy later if you can't afford them now.

But no, to answer your question. Chances are you won't be caught.

- How can I tell if a free asset I aquired was pirated or legal?

Where you acquired them. If you bought a Daz asset, it's usually going to be from the official store/shop, Renderosity, Renderotica, CGBytes, etc. Some of those sites offer free stuff, but none of it is pirated and most of it varies in quality from usable to outright terrible. SickleYield's 200 Free Morphs being a very notable exception.

If you download them from sites like ZoneGFX, Render State, here, etc., then they're pirated.

 

[peterppp]

1) the license to make renders for commercial use is included in every asset when you buy the asset from the daz store unless specified otherwise
2) no one can tell from a glance. they need to ask you to show your license. it's up to you to have access to the receipts. unless you're on steam, it's nothing to worry about.
3) by checking if it's free on daz store or wherever it's provided. if you can't find it anywhere, assume it isn't.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Where you acquired them. If you bought a Daz asset, it's usually going to be from the official store/shop, Renderosity, Renderotica, CGBytes, etc.

[Emphasis is mine]

Everything is there. If it's a store/shop, it will looks like it. You'll generally have a link to a list of the assets from that vendor, there will be a place for the price, that will be filled with either "Free" or 0, and you'll have to be logged in because, even if it's free, you're buying the asset.

Now, there's also some people who make basic assets for their pleasure, but then they'll be available on their blog or whatever personal site. It will not looks like a store/shop, but the number of assets will be really limited.
And there's some sites who group copyright free assets. Generally those sites state explicitly what they are, and they focus on the assets more than on a software. This mean that you'll no see "for Daz Studio" or "for Blender", but what format is available.