DAZ3D content in a company - floating license system?

linvanchene

This thread was inspired by another discussion but created in order to focus on the specific issue of working with DAZ3D content in a company environment.

Updated /Edited: rephrased some sentences to be more precise.

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​With the current End User Agreement EULA the licenses are personal, non-exclusive and non-transferable:

 

DAZ grants to User and User hereby accepts, subject to the limitations and obligations of this Agreement, a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Content, duly obtained by payment of all applicable license fees, as provided in this Agreement.

Source: https://www.daz3d.com/eula

When you are using licensed content in your hobby or as a freelancer this license covers the important points.

 

However when you work in a small or even large company this "personal" license system may offer challenges.

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Example A: Freelancer hires additional staff on a project basis

After some years working alone a freelancer may have gathered enough contacts to be offered more work than he can handle alone.

He would like to hire and train an assistant  that prepares 3d scenes with licensed content.

Because the licensed content is personal the assistant is assigned a budget to purchase the needed licensed content.

The freelancer himself will still adjust the final material and render settings and therefore also needs to purchase a second personal license for the content.

After some months of training the new assistant decides that he is not anymore interested in this kind of work.

All the money spent on product licences is lost. The personal license is tied to the now leaving assistant. 

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Example B: Small Studio with specialised staff

​In a small studio environment the idea is that each staff member focuses on a specifc work step or task

​- Setting up a scene

- Running simulations or animating

- Fixing or adjusting models in a 3rd party software

​- Adjusting materials for a specific render engine

With the current license it is not allowed to share geometry or textures with other people not even those within the same company.

What can be shared are .duf files that just include references to the licensed content.

Therefore each staff member needs a separate license to work with the scene.

The same issue described in example A is now enlarged. The cost for licenses keeps getting bigger the more specialised people work on the same project.

However the pay for the final work from the client remains the same.

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A floating license system as alternative?

​For freelancers and hobbyists it is not that much of an issue that a license is personal and non-transferable.

However in a small studio or company environment such a personal license system has limitations.

Staff is coming and going but the investment in licensed 3d assets should remain within the company.

Some software companies offer a floating license system:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_licensing

- The coast for a floating license is usually higher depending on the numbers of total seats that can be registered with the license server.

- There may be additional limitations on how many people can log in at the same time.

- A floating license could be aquired as an "upgrade" to an allready purchased standard license.

- In the company main account the administrator could set up access for staff members to specific licensed content with a floating license.

In theory it should be possible that DAZ3D could also offer floating licenses for their content.

Other solutions could also be considered.

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​Is there any interest in this community to make licensed content a more viable option for companies?

Or would the needed changes and updates to the login system be too much at this point?

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