Softwares Licenses for Youtube Content Creations?

MagicTurtle

I'm about to open a YouTube channel to upload videotutorials in my native language and i was wondering how to deal with software licenses.
I'm currently planning to release content about Substance Designer/Painter of which i have the Indie License, but I'd also like to cover Maya and Ue4 aswell, of which i have the educational one. Considering that I will like to use Patreon and not Youtube to monetize the content, how can i deal with the last two?

Also, let's say that i upload some .sbs/.sbsar files i created in the tutorial on Patreon for my Patreons to download and use, and only make possibile for people to donate for the rest of my content (Maya, UE4), would that be ok to use the free license?


Anyone experienced in similiar things or Youtube contents creation willing to share some advices?
Thank you very much, and apologies if I posted this in the wrong section.

zachagreg

Unreal you should be fine with the base license. You won't fall into the money world until you start to clear a certain money threshold, even then you may never actually need to pay due to the EULA. My place of business falls under a certain category in the license that basically says since we don't ship a product we do not have to pay Epic for anything other than license seats we aren't under the obligation of the royalty. Youtube may fall in the same place so check the EULAs.

Maya is a different story I believe if you make any money at all with Maya you need a license. I may be wrong about that but I assume it would fall under the same vein as producing models with Maya and exporting the FBX and selling the model. You're producing content with the software so it will probably need to be paid for.

As far as patreon goes there is no difference between a "donation" and income since you are not a registered charity or non-profit organization. It would be categorized as freelance income or any equivalent and therefor the exchange of money for any content on your patreon, legally speaking, would be selling it.

As far as .sbs and .sbsar you can sell those freely if you have a Substance license, either active or perpetual. I have a perpetual so it may be worthwhile to look at the EULA for subscription. I do not know if it allows retroactive use or not.

Here is the EULA for Unreal Creators: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/eula/creators

EULAs for Substance Suite: https://www.substance3d.com/legal/general-terms-conditions/

https://www.substance3d.com/legal/terms-of-use/

Autodesk: https://www.autodesk.com/company/terms-of-use/en/general-terms

When it comes to licenses and staying legitimate it helps to be safe rather than sorry. Under most cases Autodesk will not hunt you down and sue you for making youtube tutorials. But, is it right to do it anyway? No. Can you afford a legal battle with Autodesk? Also probably no.

Look up the EULAs grab a nice snack and some tea or coffee and go through them. Research will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

MagicTurtle

Wow thank you very much @zachagreg for taking the time and the effort to put all of this together, I seriously appreciate that, lots of valuable informations here.

After some digging trough the web I came to the same conclusion regarding Unreal, Epic even seems to encourage schools and individuals to install their engine and teach it for free and charges only for shipping "interactive products", but it's worth reading the full EULA as you suggested just to be 100% sure.

As for the Substance Suite, I went trough the EULA and the only restriction for the Indie License seems to remain under 100k $ revenue / year. Those two statements also seems to confirm the absence of any particular limitations for selling substances under the Indie License:

“Indie License” means a License to Use the Software granted to either (i) an individual, being or not a professional user, or a Legal entity, whether commercial or non-profit, with Revenue not exceeding US$100,000 during the prior fiscal year. Government entities may not subscribe to Indie Licenses.

“Commercial Use” means the Use of the Software or the Copyrighted Assets for direct or indirect income-generating purposes.

For everything else things seems to be more complex than i initially tought and I'm actually looking for a consultant to be extra safe and avoid not sleeping at night, and i'd also like to remain friend with Autodesk

Again, much appreciated, thank you for your response.