If you buy the royalty free rights to use/edit a 3d model and textures in "any commercial software or application you develop", so long as the buyer doesn't have access to the model(must release as exe, apk, etc), and you can't resell the models on a competing website.

There is no mention of 2d derived art in the terms of use, what happens if you make an application that people will screenshot arrangements of your 3d model? Say for a background, or you let them position things to make their own themed image and print it?

Now say that application is a sprite sheet generator that has 3d animated models that snaps a sequence of screenshots at different poses, lines them up, resizes and packs into a png file....hence a generator.

Technically it's a standalone application and the users don't have access to the models without breaking the law. It's not in direct competition because the modeler doesn't sell 2d art in any way.

So I'm wondering both since I've already bought tons of models, but also when I buy in the future what must I verify in the terms before buying to include them in an application like this? What should I verify with the models I've already bought? I think if you ask an artist "can I do this", they'll obviously want more money, but they write the terms of use and it didn't specify anything about 2d art, only the 3d models.

How would you approach artists for models you've already bought? Would you restate to them that their terms didn't mention 2d art, then tell them about your app, or what? They don't even list the terms anymore on their site, I have a 3+ year old version but there's currently no terms listed when you buy models.

If you buy the royalty free rights to use/edit a 3d model and textures in "any commercial software or application you develop", so long as the buyer doesn't have access to the model(must release as exe, apk, etc), and you can't resell the models on a competing website.

There is no mention of 2d derived art in the terms of use, what happens if you make an application that people will screenshot arrangements of your 3d model? Say for a background, or you let them position things to make their own themed image and print it?

Now say that application is a sprite sheet generator that has 3d animated models that snaps a sequence of screenshots at different poses, lines them up, resizes and packs into a png file....hence a generator.

Technically it's a standalone application and the users don't have access to the models without breaking the law. It's not in direct competition because the modeler doesn't sell 2d art in any way.

So I'm wondering both since I've already bought tons of models, but also when I buy in the future what must I verify in the terms before buying to include them in an application like this? What should I verify with the models I've already bought? I think if you ask an artist "can I do this", they'll obviously want more money, but they write the terms of use and it didn't specify anything about 2d art, only the 3d models.

How would you approach artists for models you've already bought? Would you restate to them that their terms didn't mention 2d art, then tell them about your app, or what? They don't even list the terms anymore on their site, I have a 3+ year old version but there's currently no terms listed when you buy models.

Do you remember what their terms were from these old vendors? If the terms are " If you buy the royalty free rights to use/edit a 3d model and textures in "any commercial software or application you develop", so long as the buyer doesn't have access to the model(must release as exe, apk, etc), and you can't resell the models on a competing website." .... "Technically it's a standalone application and the users don't have access to the models without breaking the law. It's not in direct competition because the modeler doesn't sell 2d art in any way." Sounds like you answered the question already. They don't have access to the model or the texture right?. Unless you can extract a texture from a 2d snapshot. (I am not an artist so I have no idea ). The super safe way would be to ask specifically the vendors and explain the circumstances and not use the artwork from the vendors you can't get in touch with.

Note that usually a (non-free) licence wouldn't give rights to other people (either for the 3D model, or derivative works). So even if such a "sprite generator" is fine for you to release, I don't see how it's of much use, if they can't distribute the generated 2D images?

What are you planning to do? If you're writing a sprite generator, I'd make it load any file supplied by the user, and if you want to bundle it with some examples, I'd find some models that have licences are a lot clearer in allowing what you want to do.

I recall that Daz sells two licenses for some models: one allows only renders (ie spritesheets, screenshots) to be used/sold/distributed. The other (more expensive) one is required to have the model actually in your game -- which would apply in the scenario OP describes. That the OP's software would produce spritesheets with the model (ostensibly the intent of a purchaser of the first, cheaper license) is an interesting wrinkle that calls for a scan of the fine print.