HEAT Animation Plugin License Clarification
deano_e420da83c2
Posts: 8
in The Commons
The HEAT Animation plugin has an interactive option, but the HEAT website says Pro Tier is required for commercial usage.
So for export to a commercial game do I need an interactive license AND a HEAT Pro Tier plan or just the interactive license?
Thanks
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I am hoping a few more people will weigh in on this "free" plugin before I "buy" it because 2 months free sounds like a lead up to a subscription I may not want
I prefer buying animations as I need them and do so already
I signed up, and I'll probably spend some time with it tomorrow.
I don't understand how a plugin can have an interactive license, especially when that plugin is just a bridge to a different program. Any licensing on Heat's animations would be covered by Heat's license, not some add-on license from the Daz store.
To me, the understanding is:
I have no insights regarding the interactive license/pro tier requirement. Sounds to me like the interactive license was just added automatically to the product listing (or it applies to the plugin itself) and the Pro Tier at HEAT is still required.
I Just applied to become a HEAT vendor as I specialize In Ragdoll collision animations created with the discontinued Endorphin software.
We have asked about the additional licenses.
yeah nah, don't even know what the subscription after 2 months is, the 25 free ones will do me
I have already bought Genesis 9 animations here and can convert others from earlier figures
from what I gather you need to stay subscribed to even use them
That would be a deal breaker... No way would I keep paying them until the end of times, just because I have used them in some scenes.
Has anyone actually managed to get this to work? I have installed it via DIM and all the bits seem to be there, but I just get a HEAT Bridge is not connected message witha suggestion to download it - which I have.
I have a suspicion I know what the issue is, the bridge does not seem to work under Windows 7.
Such a subscription would only make sense, if i can import to daz studio for instance, and keep using those. But then export to blender? A game?
Assumption could be, similar to using in games, that you can keep selling the game, if you had the proper license at the time of export. But is it the case? What with DAZ Studio?
I see questionmarks...
(Looks like one of the bridging plugins, so the license question really is important.)
The Heat Bridge also exports to Blender and Unity.
Ignore anything that was previously here, I confused this with another addon that was recently made available. Ooopsie and sorry.
for those asking about this plugin
The Heat plugin is free, the content for the plugin how ever is not free. You get 25 animations with the Free tier for a month as a trial period once you conntect the plugin to your unreal account.. which is free https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/
But unfortunately we don't get the hundreds of free animations , The pluging or bridge only get you the marketplace window for the available animations inside unreal App that you can FXB the animation into programs like daz studio, blender, unreal, etc.
So after doing a little digging. and R &D Because I am interested in anything animation.
According to the Unreal site (https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/heat-beta-plug-in) you linked the free bridge/plugin to your unreal account & you get 25 free "movements" (I assume that's FXB animations?) for a month.
Then after your 1 month trial period ends I guess you can subscribe for a level tier something like $20 a month hobby or $40 per month for pro to get the full library, or you can purchase the motions individually as needed directly from the unreal market place with in the plugin/bidge. & of course you can shop the FXB animation without the plugin/bridge https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/content-cat/assets/animations?count=20&sortBy=effectiveDate&sortDir=DESC&start=0
My 2 cents I would Fuhgeddaboudit.
you have to have a unreal account that it connects to https://docs.heat.tech/getting-started-the-heat-marketplace/quick-start
First the Omni Hair Shader, and now the HEAT plugin. Two more things my my Daz library that I will never use.
Thanks, Daz
Well, the Free tier is Free. When you use the link to get the free two months, a code appears in the windows which is good for the next tier up - price = $0.00
However, we need to enter payment credentials in order to get it. I have a feeling that that next tire grants more animations.
The bad news is that the animation I imported from there wasn't glued to the floor. The feet slide around as the hip stays in place. I'll talk to them and see what I can find out.
The animations are covered under Unreal Engines ELUA https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/eula/unreal
Daz studio has nothing to do with licensing other than they offer you a market place to buy the animation from unreal
That's interesting that the prices are different from the unreal page to the heat site itself. I checked on their website and it was 25 a month for personal and 75 for commercial use. I picked up the thing today here on the site to try it, but I know I'll never spend 75 a month.
Maybe I need a bigger screen? These ads are wrecking my forum experience here. PM me if you need to get in touch. I wish they didn't block the whole bottom of my screen like they do!
Now to figure out how to get to the "Post Comment" button without inviting spam into my world! Yikes!!!
are you using Chrome? AdBlock Plus works for me
That has always been my experience with game engines animation as well. I never had any luck in using any of Unreal's or cry-engine animated motions in daz studio, either with BHV format or the FXB. I had alot of skeleton joint movement issues. I'm not sure if its the model they use or how daz studio imports the fxb motion to the daz timeline
I got that info from the UE introduction page. I didn't read down as far as the commercial pricing, I won't be buying any of it for my needs either
But I think its a great idea for people game developers mostly who would get a lot of use from the UE store. For my use not so much.
if there is an option to buy their motions singly or in bundles from the Unreal Marketplace I may use it but not as a subscription or with them having my credit card details, ongoing PayPal deductions etc
I already buy many Unreal animation assets anyway and my only subscription to ANYTHING is DAZ+ and that is even not a regular given.
a system like Reallusion's Actorcore would be fine with me
They did ask for a credit card or payment methord and thats when i clicked off the site
That's probably what this is for (conveniently): https://www.daz3d.com/tackyfeet-plugin
Thank you for this deep dive of thise service @Ivy
Still alot of unanswered questions but in the end we are in an era where mocap is ubiquitous.
but not universally compatible with every 3D character rig type
The only way to extract commercial value from it is to provide RETARGETING methods for the specific character rig types for the eco systems to whom you are selling your mocap files/services.
it does not matter how the mocpa is harvested as even the new AI
camera/video based systems need to be RETARGETED to your particular rigs in your software ecosystem at some point.
I can already do this myself with My Blender ARP rigs or Iclone 3DX or Autodesk Maya.
It looks like HEAT is doing this RETARGETING to Daz genesis 8-9
for a monthly rental fee.
However if you pay the $75 per month for a commercial use license that is $900 in a year.
Which is exactly what it would cost you to buy
a perpetual license of Reallusion Iclone & Character creator 8.4
and create bespoke animation for genesis 1,2,3,8,9
and export to Daz studio as well as retarget canned mocap from Mixamo and any other sources such UE market.
or you could pay only $600 USD for the old Iclone 7 & 3Dxchange pipeline (That I use)
as iti is still available from Reallusion, and does the same thing.
But if you really are into the whole pay monthly thing ,you can rent the Mighty Autodesk Maya indie for $300 per year and retarget to Daz figures,as long as your income is below $100,000 annual.
Pick your poison
That only seems to be true IF you're using it with Unreal. I installed the Daz/Blender/Unity bridge, and was never asked for an Unreal account. I haven't yet figured out how to actually import animations to a Genesis figure in DS, but as far as I can tell there's no actual requirement to have an Unreal account.
I also saw this in the FAQ, which is potentially of interest, even if it's a little unclear what it actually means.
Haha. At least in my case, there seems to be a pretty severe delay between telling the Heat bridge to import something and DS receiving the message, because ten or so import windows suddenly popped up all at once.
I might wait another day before trying it (bought free plugin and installed first bit in DIM)
make sure all bugs sorted, I have enough issues with my Win10 D|S installation as is
pity about Win7 if true as that works beautifully with Smart content etc just cannot render anything in iray in my lifetime
I tried to install the plugin and the bridge, but I had the following problems:
1- as for SimonJM when you click the plug in a message appears saying that the bridge is not connected asking you to download it
2- fails to install the bridge, because it is blocked by the antivirus which considers it dangerous
3- with the basic account that you get by logging in to daz there are 10 movements available and not 25.
4- to have access to the two months of free promotion you must provide credit card credentials, even if there is nothing to pay. This is sensitive information. I don't want to give out my credit card credentials online just to try a service that I might not need.
5- after the end of the promotion the price is high and perhaps it is more convenient to buy the individual movements there or elsewhere.
I also share all the concerns of others in the forum about license limitations.
It is not clear whether the movements can also be saved locally and used even after the account expires and to what extent they can be used. From the website FAQ it seems to understand that if you cancel your account you can no longer use it.
For all these reasons I believe this promotion is of dubious use to me.
It is also possible that I misunderstood something and I would like to know the experience and opinion of others on this service. Thanks everyone for the replies.