Getting permission to use warehouse objects in external programs?

3D Warehouse
1

Hi. We are building a customized website that will use 3d objects in .gltf or .glb format, and sketchup can export that format. We are hoping to use some objects from the warehouse - basically download them, export to .glb, and then import to our custom webapp. As I understand it now, that probably isn’t allowed under the terms of service, but it may be allowed if we can locate the original person who created the object and get their permission. Is there any way to locate who is uploading files?

Or, is there another way? Maybe if we start with a basic model, modify it to where it is effectively our own, and then use it in our webapp?

We want to be on the up and up, and do things within the terms of service, which we hope could include locating original developers if there is any possible way to do that.

2

You should let a lawyer read the terms of service for you to make sure. When you look at sites selling 3D models, you’ll find things that have originally been posted to the 3D Warehouse so generally people seem to be treating as a free-for-all. And the Warehouse itself contains tons of copies, with or without small variations, of models that have originally been posted there by a different person…

3

So this is a thinhg where you’ll make the app and the content available for free?

4

It will have a “freemium” operation, where most of the app is free, but they must pay for access to premium features. So we may need to just create our own models unless we can get permission of warehouse developers to use them (or pay them for their models).

5

Thanks for the advice. I can tell it’s a free-for-all, and we’re so small that odds are we wouldn’t land on anyone’s radar, but we still want to do it the right way.

6

That is why you must contact your lawyer. You are not getting a definitive answer from a public user forum, and the only thing the SketchUp employees are allowed to tell you is “It is all in the TOS”.

7

I am NOT a Lawyer, so don’t listen to me.

From the terms of service:

  1. Use Restrictions

You may not:

  1. Modify 3D Warehouse Materials (other than your User Communications or Models or content you posted) or use them for any public display, performance, sale, rental or for any commercial purpose except as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or the General Model License;
  2. Decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble 3D Warehouse Materials that is software (except and only to the extent permitted by applicable law, and then only with advance notice to Trimble);
  3. Remove or modify any copyright or other proprietary or legal notices from 3D Warehouse Materials; or
  4. Redistribute or transfer 3D Warehouse Materials to another person except as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or the General Model License.