What is a "merchant resource?
dennisgray41
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in The Commons
What is a "merchant resource?
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Something that can used in products that you sell.
So if it is not a merchant resource I can't use it in something I sell? Or I need to buy a license?
You can't redistribute other people's work in any form unless they give you explicit permission. That's what a merchant resource is: a product specifically licensed for redistribution, under whatever conditions the seller has set. Typically, this is just that the product can't be used for freebies.
..even though I'm not a PA or a freebie maker (my modelling skills are pretty primitive)I find many merchant resources extremely valuable for custom character design as well as a money saver. For example I use Zev0's Skin Builder3 to create skins for characters which save me from having to purchase a lot of pre made character content just to get different skins to use. The same applies with various shader utilities I use for clothing, props, hair, and sets.(eliminates having to purchase additional texture content).
If you buy an interactive license, you can use regular items to make a video game or something where the user is not expected to take the mesh and textures to do their own thing with it. The textures and mesh stay in the video game and don't get redistributed.
But if you want to use the textures, morphs, eyelashes, or whatever to make characters/clothes to sell, you need to use items from a MR, and you need to follow the terms of use. Like Gordig said, this usually involves not giving away the stuff for free. But often it will also limit how much of something you can use, or if you need to make changes to it first. An example would be a makeup MR I saw a while back. You were only allowed to include a certain number of the looks for a character you wanted to sell.
Pretty much. the whole point of selling something is that it is something "you" created and not someone elses work. Merchant resources just give users a headstart on the creative process. the interacive licenses are just for creating original games and not meant for products in the DAZ store.
You can sell your 2D renders, still images and animations, with the standard license
You can sell games etc. that embed content as 3D assets and textures using an Interactive license, though there are limits on what you can do
You can sell (or, rarely, give away) content made from other content - morphs and textuers usually - if it is a Merchant Resource, though there are usually conditions attached to the way in which it can be used. Note that you can sell presets that apply morphs (or maps) without their having to be merchnat resoruces, as long as it is only the preset you are distributing.
And to add to what Richard said, if you used maps that are not merchant resources for something that you'll sell, you cannot include any textures. As Richard said, you can only distribute the presets that will require the person to owe the product with the textures. So you would also need to stress in the description of your product that it requires "base product x" for it to work. In the case of selling through here, you would include the product in the "required product" field.
Keep in mind that some merchant resources exclude use in freebies... thus meaning you can use them in something you charge people $$ for, but not something you give away.
So, basically you can sell anything that cannot be modified again and again. If you take a picture or make a tutorial from the items you get, you can sell that picture/video tutorial without buying a MR items, correct?
thank you