3D Printing Update

01i

Up until a couple of weeks ago, the main menu bar for this site included a link to a page about 3d printing, but for some reason this link was removed during a site upgrade in the last couple of weeks (although the page still exists).

http://www.daz3d.com/3d-print/

This page was created earlier in the year (along with the changes to the UA) and promises a custom print service, 3d printed figures and figure collections.

4 x models were initially made available, but since then there doesn't seem to have been any new information on these 'coming soon' services, nor the release of any new models. At least not that I've seen

More importantly (at least as far as some of us are concerned), the page also tells us that during 2015, information would be released regarding the commercial use of 3d printed Daz assets.

As you will see in the End User License Agreement, assets purchased from Daz 3D may be used to 3D print for personal use but not for resale or other business uses. More information on that will come throughout 2015.

We're now in October, as as far as I know, no further information has been made available.

I was wondering if anyone had an update?

 

Mistara

i'd be interested in what could be used for commercial printing.  mermaids, fairies, dragons, dinos 

Tobor

I imagine that page is gone because Daz has, for now anyway, put the 3D printing project on the back burner. There's probably a business model there, somewhere. In the meantime, they appear to have kept the restrictive licensing against commercial use of Daz-owned/distributed content.

There are plenty of print-ready mermaids, fairies, and other characters, distributed free, on sites like Thingiverse, if you don't mind something already posed. If for commercial use, you need to check the exact license -- some are non-commercialy only. And of course you need to be diligent regarding the source of the original mesh, though a surprising amount of it is fully original, done in ZBrush or similar.

01i

Tobor said:

I imagine that page is gone because Daz has, for now anyway, put the 3D printing project on the back burner. There's probably a business model there, somewhere. In the meantime, they appear to have kept the restrictive licensing against commercial use of Daz-owned/distributed content.

There are plenty of print-ready mermaids, fairies, and other characters, distributed free, on sites like Thingiverse, if you don't mind something already posed. If for commercial use, you need to check the exact license -- some are non-commercialy only. And of course you need to be diligent regarding the source of the original mesh, though a surprising amount of it is fully original, done in ZBrush or similar.

 

I don't think any of us expect them to change the default restrictive licensing in the UA. I was more expecting news regarding the price for a 3d print specific indie or full commercial license. Basically, like the game developer licenses, but for using 3d printed assets.

Was there an official statement regarding back-burnering the project? If so, can you link me to it? Or is that just an assumption based on the lack of follow-up?

Tobor

There was no statement that I saw.

*I* expected -- and encouraged -- them to change their licensing. Unless they do, they have no business model worth developing. And if they do eventually* plan for commercial licensing, charging (significantly) extra for printing just won't work in the current market. There are too many free and low-cost alternatives. Daz came to the game way too late to make any of the rules.

3D vendors have been able to charge more for in-game use because it's far more time consuming to develop well designed rigged characters for animated motion. Game developers are willing to pay rather than create their own. 3D printed objects, even from rigged meshes, are static, and easier to create. 3D assets like vehicles are basically useless for 3D printing, unless a vendor creates a version where the doors open and the wheels spin and steer. In which case, we can  expect them to charge more, and that would include a license to print commercially.

*In any case, their EULA makes absolutely no mention of being able to pay more for a commercial license, so it can be assumed that option doesn't officially exist.

 

01i

If they changed thier licensing to not require a paid license, then that would be cool, however it's not what I'd personnally expect. However, I'd quite happily pay for a license to commercially produce products that have been at least partially derived from 3d printed Daz models, if not fully. There are certain markets that could make good use of an easily posable and morphable figure.

I wouldn't expect the EULA to mention anything about paying more for a commercial license at this point in time, because one doesn't currently exist. Beleive me I've checked on and off for a while now. My hopes were that the "More Information in 2015" related to business use, would turn out to be a paid commercial license, and expected that the EULA would be ammended once one goes on sale.

The problem that I can see is that while the 3d printing pages has "coming soon" services, they can't release any kind of commercial license. Simply because if they did prior to getting thier service up and running, someone else would start doing it first, and beat them to it.