Uploading to Sketchfab and the EULA
keithg
Posts: 62
Question for DAZ. I'm working on a printed board game using DAZ Studio to render all my artwork.
On my website, to help promote the board game, I wanted to show some of the creatures in 3D by uploading them to Sketchfab. All the creatures are made using Genesis 2 base with morphs etc.
Is it within the EULA to upload a model as an .obj to Sketchfab as long as the model cannot be downloaded by other people?
Post edited by keithg on
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Just to add:
I did post a few models to Sketchfab before someone said it might be against the EULA so I removed them.
When I posted them, I made it very clear that they were DAZ models and did not allow downloads. In just a few days I'd had hundreds of views which must surely help promote DAZ.
Sketchfab even have a how to export from DAZ on their website.
Perhaps DAZ should consider an amendment to the EULA concerning Sketchfab. Something along the lines of "Full credit must be given to DAZ and models may not be made downloadable"
Thoughts.
The Daz EUL:A makes the part about not re-distributing daz models quite clear already. OBJ's should not be uploaded anywhere, and only used in a new game if you have the relevant Game Dev licenses. THe Game dev licenses themselves the EULA does state that you have to make certain Daz Assets cannot be stripped out of the game.
Thanks for that Chohole.
Sketchfab is purely a site for displaying 3D models and defaults to not allowing downloads. Surely that means that they are not being re-distributed, just displayed.
As I said, I think Sketchfab is a fantastic tool for showing how good DAZ models are and would encourage more people to use DAZ.
If DAZ do not want people to upload DAZ models to Sketchfab then they maybe should talk to them as they post a clear guide on how to export figures from DAZ.
Uploading DAZ Models to Sketchfab looks to be clearly against TOS.
Having re-read the EULA, I think you're right. It's a real shame as it's such a powerful tool for displaying 3D.
Perhaps DAZ may consider working with them to allow uploads but ensuring downloads are prohibited.
Meant to say. FirstBastion - you are an awesome modeller
He's working on a printed board game (at least that's what I think he said). I don't believe the TOS forbids the use of printed renders anywhere, otherwise Studio would be relatively useless.
He asked about uploading an OBJ, which is what we were discussing.
could you please tell me/us more about the game (pm me or send a link etc...)
thx in advance
If it's 3D printing, as seems to be the case, then it is allowed only for personal, non-commercial use. 2D printing is of course permitted and may be used commercially.
As an alternative and to avoid any EULA issues, you could use GardenGnomes Object2VR software:
http://ggnome.com/object2vr
This allows you to use a series of renders to produce VR style visuals that you can use on your website. No 3D data obj or otherwise are used and thus you are fully within the EULA. You are essentially creating an interactive movie. All you need is a series of renders out of DAZ Studio showing the Character from different directions. The more view points you ahve the better the result. It works very nicely and they have a free demo.
Ciao
TD
You could always do a turntable animation of the character, and then present that as a movie clip or GIF. That would be allowed, because essentially each frame is a 2D render, and the base geometry is not included.
TDs suggestion of Object2VR is a good one, but I'm not sure people need an interactive view just to check out the characters in a 2D board game. If you were providing OBJs (of your own work, of course), then an interactive VR tour would make sense.
All this said, if it were me, I think I'd present stylized static renders of the characters, each with with backstory and bio. It seems the thing being sold is the finished board game. Being able to twist and turn some character object doesn't seem all that compelling to me. As a player I don't care. OTOH, I'm fully aware I may be missing your end goal, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
Firstly, thanks for all the replies. To answer some of the points posted:
Why did I want to do this?
The crowd-funded board game market is saturated and competitive. I want to set up a website to promote the game that will have a real wow factor. I thought including interactive characters (some animated) would really set my game apart from the herd. I've been in marketing for years and we often use the phrase "Sell the sizzle, not the sausage". Meaning it's not just about the product but how you sell it. As an example, my day job is in engineering components. I fully intend to add 3D interactive models of all our products to our website. Funtionally they will be of little use but they will help to set us apart. (Sketchfab example).
Why Sketchfab?
I appreciate the link to Object2VR but Sketchfab is free and so much slicker. It takes 2 minutes to upload a model and set the lighting. It works in all modern browsers. In addition it supports animation from both DAZ and Carrara (Carrara Animation Example).
3D Printing
I have no intention of 3D printing anything from DAZ. It's too fiddly and the results are not great for small figures. I have a friend who is a prop maker who will be producing the casts for any models in the board game.
Link to game
It's not ready yet. I intend to have the website up by the end of the year and hope to launch a crowd funding campaign early next year. As it's all been artworked lovingly in DAZ I'll be shouting about it here first.
Firstly, thanks for all the replies. To answer some of the points posted:
Why did I want to do this?
The crowd-funded board game market is saturated and competitive. I want to set up a website to promote the game that will have a real wow factor. I thought including interactive characters (some animated) would really set my game apart from the herd. I've been in marketing for years and we often use the phrase "Sell the sizzle, not the sausage". Meaning it's not just about the product but how you sell it. As an example, my day job is in engineering components. I fully intend to add 3D interactive models of all our products to our website. Funtionally they will be of little use but they will help to set us apart. (Sketchfab example).
Why Sketchfab?
I appreciate the link to Object2VR but Sketchfab is free and so much slicker. It takes 2 minutes to upload a model and set the lighting. It works in all modern browsers. In addition it supports animation from both DAZ and Carrara (Carrara Animation Example).
3D Printing
I have no intention of 3D printing anything from DAZ. It's too fiddly and the results are not great for small figures. I have a friend who is a prop maker who will be producing the casts for any models in the board game.
Link to game
It's not ready yet. I intend to have the website up by the end of the year and hope to launch a crowd funding campaign early next year. As it's all been artworked lovingly in DAZ I'll be shouting about it here first.
Yes! Please keep us posted! :D I would definitley be interested in checking it out and I'm sure I'm not the only one. :)
Ignore this, I misread something.
Okay. A compromise. Rather than upload any models (which I believe is against the EULA), I'm going to start uploading some of the 2D artwork from the game which is definitely within the EULA.
Why? To start to give people a feel for the game and also to allow me to put the interactive cards on the game's website. Just a gimmick I know but it'll hopefully set me apart.
Link: offsite commercial link removed
Good idea, and gives people a feel for the game.
(p.s. - missing word on your example card: "It throws something up in the air")
I've seen many marketing tools for games where doing things like rolling over a character image animates that image in some way. This is easy to do in a Web page, and doesn't require JavaScript or anything else -- just a bit of CSS. With a tad of JavaScript, your characters can speak, or do whatever you want. They can "peel" off the background and walk across the page, or do any of a number of interactive, animated things. It's all 2D animation, and you're biggest issue is page load size, but all these are doable.
I agree about the sizzle and providing something extra; I'm just now sure how adding the feature of manually rotating a character would improve the sales of your game. IMO, the interactivity you provide should somehow relate to the gameplay itself.
I agree. This is about crowdfunding too -- you want to make sure you represent what the product will be well. Showing 3D models when the game will use 2D printouts could be considered a warning sign to pass on your crowdfunding effort. I liked the card you posted above, but I'm not going to want to see something like that for tons of cards. And that could suggest there will be a digital version. You want to make sure your marketing sizzles in a way that also makes the project look viable and you credible.
Again, thanks for all the input.
I don't intend to put all the cards on the site just a handful in a gallery. Rather than have a static gallery I want to use sketchfab as it's just a bit more fun. I had intended to use the models but as that is against the EULA I'm making do with the cards. I can do image flipping in JavaScript (in fact I'll be using that elsewhere on the site which will link to the gameplay very closely) but I still think there's a nice tactile feel to spinning the card yourself. Look at video games where you can spin inventory items - superfluous but fun.
Silent Winter - Thanks for spotting the typo. So far I've done 150 cards and I've got to go through them all with a fine toothed comb before committing to print.
Anyone thinking of doing a board game feel free to PM me. I've now been at this over 18 months (in my spare time) and am happy to pass on any advice I can.
I know the feeling - I'm writing stories, and although I check and recheck, there are still things that slip through - It's a good idea to get a 'beta-reader' to check over them for you as a fresh pair of eyes can see things you don't (mostly because your brain already knows what it's supposed to say and glosses over errors).