This is the 4th in a tutorial series intended to cover using Daz Studio in conjunction with the Unity Game Engine. Most of this will be usable to some degree in other Game Engines and programs as well as the exported files from Daz will be FBX formatted.

The first four tutorials including this one are covering some basic information that it is important to know about Daz before diving into using it and purchasing things for it.

Understanding DAZ Licensing

If you purchase or own free products for Daz Studio you are free to make static (not moving) images of what you have purchased. You are also free to make videos using the things you own.

If you want to use the 3D models in a Video Game though you have to purchase what is known as an Interactive License.

This is something that was implemented earlier in 2018. Prior to that they had a different licensing method which could cost you more, or less depending upon how many products you want to use. It used to be you would purchase a license for a specific artist and have an interactive license for all the products by that artist. I did that for Daz Original before they changed the licensing, so I purchase almost exclusively Daz Original products since I have a global license for them.

That is a pretty cool product that is listed as both Daz Originals and by Josh Crocket. Without any reduction in cost due to a sale, PC+ membership, etc this giant figure is $24.95. If you purchased that you could make still images and videos with it and not need to own any license. If you want to use it in a video game you would need to check that box lower down in the Optional License Add-Ons section and spend another $50. At that point you could use this model in video games, or interactive items.

Gray Area

I have encountered some gray areas that I am personally still trying to get answers on. What if you have a product that doesn't offer an interactive license? Can you still use it? I don't know the answer to that, but I am looking into it.

Here is an example product I own that I'd like to be able to use in games, but it is unclear. I've even contacted the creator of the product and he has stated it is whatever Daz allows. I have a ticket asking this question opened with them but I have not received an answer yet. Here is a like to their End User License Agreement at this time.

Here is an example of some similar products that do have interactive licenses. I actually own all of these and the interactive licenses. I purchased them during a sale when there were discounts on interactive licenses. (that sale still seems to be going on by the way)

The question is "What about the items with no interactive license option?" I would like to know myself as I prefer some of those HFS morphs to the EJ ones for example the Dwarves. I prefer the HFS Dwarven head shape to the EJ one. There are also some other interesting products I have acquired which have no license. I don't know how I am legally permitted to use them, so currently I don't use them in game works.

Sprites

Now I've read that since Sprites are technically static images that you move around a game that you can make sprites without needing the interactive license. I am no attorney, so this is worth considering but I cannot state one way or the other whether you can do this. I'd think if they are no animated sprites such as Rogue Like figures that you likely could use them just fine. The question becomes if you've animated them and they are 2D do you still have the right to use them?

In looking over the current EULA the Terms of Use would seem to indicate sprites (since they are 2D) can be made and used without an interactive license. Here is the relevant portion of the EULA.

Sprites and models will be discussed in up coming tutorials in this series.

Previous Tutorials

Future Tutorials

NOTE: This may not be the precise order in which I do them. This series will not teach you everything you need to know about Unity. That is impossible. It is a very powerful engine. If you need more details on Unity there is a vast community and a tutorial on almost every topic imaginable. There are even tutorials on many of the things I am going to write about in these tutorials. I will be however, doing all of these tutorials from my own experience and based upon a lot of trial, error, and learning.

Explaining basic Daz Studio Panes
Genesis 3 and 8 to Unity
Bare minimum Daz products I recommend
Some Unity products I recommend
Dealing with Seams in Textures in Unity
Genesis 2 to Unity
Genesis to Unity
Victoria 4 and Michael 4 to Unity
Exporting Morphs from Daz to Unity
Baking in some morphs - those damn high heels
A study on eyes
Using Blender to Fully enable PBR for DAZ Characters in Unity
Making High Heels work Without Baking inside Unity
Daz Poses and Animations to Unity
Using Decimator in DAZ 3D to create Blend/Morph happy LODs, and to optimize
3D Baking Studio for Sprites in Unity
Hair Designer for GPU Hair in Unity
Simple LOD for Unity
The Search for a Good Skin Shader
Inherit Clothes, Hair, etc Scripts for Unity
Sample Character Setup UI for Unity
More on Mechanim
Unity IK
Final IK
Emerald AI
Instancing
A Study on Controllers
Various thoughts on possibilities

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DAZ Studio For Unity 3D - 4: Explaining Daz Studio Licensing