Digital Art Zone

Hi everyone,

Trying to think of ways to get my published work out there, and one option that came to mind recently was 3D printing for my characters and/or vehicles and/or scenery. Given that I use 3D models already for the artwork, most of the work is (hopefully/maybe) already done!

Does anyone have any experience or advice when getting a Poser/DAZ prop/person/scene 3D-printed?

Can anyone advise whether this toes the line of the DAZ EULA? As I will have to upload a 3D file to a server in order to be printed, is this counted as redistribution? I don’t intend to make the actual 3D file publicly available, but might like to explore options of making the 3D printed figures available. Does this violate the EULA?

Thanks!

Looks like a definite maybe.  Reading the EULA itself, I only see permission for 2D renders.  However, on this FAQ page, we find this:
You may:Create still images, animations, or any other rendered output in any format for any purpose. Once you’ve created an image or animation, you may use it however you like. This means you can sell, give away, use in projects at work, use in greeting cards, use in personal or client websites, use in illustrations, advertisements, use to create tangible replicas, etc..

Probably a good idea to ask DAZ directly before doing anything.

Basically, unless you created it completely from scratch (base mesh) then nope, no go.  Morphs to the base mesh may be yours, but the base still belongs to DAZ and that’s where the license comes in to halt the process.

Pretty much most of the human/toon models, especially any that use any of the generations of DAZ figures as a base, would fall under this.  Same with the Poser base.  Maybe you could with Antonia or the Project Human base models…

Vehicles/props…same thing.  But there are more ‘unrestricted’ items in those categories.  My stuff, I’d probably say yes, but want a copy of the finished item (but I don’t have all that much that I think anyone would want to use….)

Murgatroyd - 23 October 2012 07:46 PM

Looks like a definite maybe.  Reading the EULA itself, I only see permission for 2D renders.  However, on this FAQ page, we find this:
You may:Create still images, animations, or any other rendered output in any format for any purpose. Once you’ve created an image or animation, you may use it however you like. This means you can sell, give away, use in projects at work, use in greeting cards, use in personal or client websites, use in illustrations, advertisements, use to create tangible replicas, etc..

Probably a good idea to ask DAZ directly before doing anything.

That may be, but unless the OP has his own 3D printer, he’s going to run afoul of the ‘distribution’ clauses…

Thanks. I have already reached out to DAZ for confirmation one way or another, but thought I would get some preliminary responses from the community. Sadly, if you’re right, this is starting to look like a no-go…

I am sure there has been some debate on this in the past, but off hand I can’t find the thread.  I will check on this for you and come back to tell you what I can find out, if someone else doesn’t give you a more definitive answer.

Response to my support ticket:

Hello Shane,

That should be fine, anything you render is basically yours too use, and yes as long as someone cant get a hold of the digital mesh we are fine.

For example:

Using renders of our characters in a movie or a book is ok

Putting our figures in a video game or selling the figure itself, not ok.

Hope this helps!

Thanks

The main thing seems to be “as long as someone cant get a hold of the digital mesh we are fine.”

As someone who works for a company that provides rapid prototyping services, I am VERY familiar with .STL files (the format used by most 3D printers).

It is virtually impossible to extract usable data from the .STL that could be used to reverse engineer the model.  It would take far more time to even attempt this than it would to produce a new model from scratch.  A developer’s intellectual property is well protected.

Unless the license agreement explicitly prohibits 3D printing, I would say that making solid models of your projects will be free and clear of legal issues, provided that all other constraints are followed, ie trademarks, etc.