So, since the announcement got locked down for some reason, but some questions came up on twitter, I did make this topic now.
One of the questions:
Since the current megascans wont be “free for Unreal Engine” anymore, what about megascans already in existing projects? (Right now, people think that the license for those will get revoked, it seems.)
The answer to this has been conveniently left out of the announcement, the FAQ on Fab and any other source I could dig up.
Could you please clarify how this will be handled.
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I dont mind buying megascans (I maybe have like 20 meshes or so), but there should be clarity about the stuff we already have in our projects.
Any content previously downloaded through Quixel.com or Bridge would still be governed by the license that was in place when it was acquired. So you’re allowed to use previously downloaded Megascans assets in your past, current and future projects under the license terms that were in place when they were acquired.
Please let me know if you have any other questions. We’ll be publishing buyer guides when Fab launches and they will contain more info around licensing, past purchases, etc.
If future access through Unreal Engine is changing to paid what does that mean for Twinmotion users?
In 2025, Megascans will switch to Fab’s paid content model based on dollar values rather than points (more details on pricing are included below). This change will also apply to Unreal Engine plan users. We will make sure you can still enjoy some free Megascans content, so keep an eye out for it!
Currently, Megascans are a benefit of Twinmotion and Twinmotion for Revit with direct integration and free access. How will this be effected with the change?
Free assets are fun, and Twinmotion ships with over 10,000 high-quality ones that you can just drag and drop into your scene.
Quixel, Sketchfab & Substance
Twinmotion’s library includes built-in access to Quixel Megascans—the world’s largest library of high-quality scans; to Sketchfab’s hundreds of thousands of free assets; and to Adobe Substance, with its wealth of free and subscription-based 3D parametric materials.
The Twinmotion Library provides free for commercial use access to content from the Quixel Megascans library, a huge collection of high-quality 3D and 2D scanned real-life objects and materials. All the assets from the 3D Assets , 3D Plants , Surfaces , and Decals categories are integrated inside the Twinmotion Library.
But, I assume, since the current quixel library is free for all engines, that it will become the “free content” in the future that is mentioned in the announcement.
Any additional (new) content will probably be paid only.
That said, these are only my thoughts, nothing official. (but it would make sense, given that everyone who wants it will have the current stuff “soon”.)
If I am right with my assumption, that would be a very fair (generous) way to transition, I think.
This is encouraging, but there’s nothing in the announcement about how this will be tracked. It says Megascans acquired for free by UE accounts “Can be downloaded anew.” Does this mean there will be no migration of data around who owns which assets, and each user would be responsible for re-checking every single asset they have from the new Fab store?
If that’s the case, this will totally screw existing developments that included a lot of Quixel assets and would generate an enormous make-work project for UE devs. It’s basically a clawing-back of things you already gave away for free, obligating users to then re-acquire each one.
The announcement specifically says that paid users (i.e. non-UE users who bought with credits) will have their owned content migrated but that Free users will not.
(That sounds like an absolute mess if that is the case and definitely not an acceptable way to do this - and also an unnecessary mess since Quixel already has user history for acquisitions and downloads of assets in the user activity page).
I have to imagine this was an enormous oversight (intentional or unintentional?) because leaving out “what happens to things you’ve already used under our past agreement” from the announcement is insane.
Hi Eric. Nothing is changing today for Twinmotion users - you will continue to access Megascans and Sketchfab content the way you normally do. We’ll share more details about how Twinmotion will continue working with Megascans and Sketchfab when Fab launches.
The future of Quixel for Unreal Engine users should really have been tied to what kind of license you have for Unreal Engine. I can’t believe this is the way Epic Games is going about this. Quixel Megascans free usage is a major reason why developers choose the platform over others. This whole thing makes me sad, when I felt for the last year and a half that the Fab announcement was a good thing. Please reconsider.
This week I had an email from Unity saying the runtime fee was being dropped, and an email from Epic saying they would charge engine users for Megascans content. Vendors moving in different directions…
Oh, come on… we got so so many things and stuff for free… including the engine itself (unless we make big cash.)
…and even now, they dont stop you from downloading what you want before the changes are in effect. (Unless there is a license change I am not aware of right now.)
Yes. Not a good look to unilaterally remove already-licensed content from someone’s library after they have acquired it. It’s not about costs, it’s about consumer protections.
And this is not just about Quixel but everything, since things like Artstation assets will also come under the new store. They can’t just nullify an extended commercial license for example for something you bought a year ago over there by moving it to a new storefront.
I kinda come to the conclusion: epic wants to monetize the movie industry, and we are just collateral.
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Can we get some clarification in “understandable for everyone” terms about: what we can do with “standard license” assets in UE regarding games…
I interpret it as: everything stays as it is, unless you make “linear media” (movies etc.), but you need to backup your files on your own (as the license specifically mentions that)
EDIT: where can I find the “tiers” of licenses, and the prices? (why is there no (current) information on this?)
To me, all of this is a huge mess, with important information not being there.
This clearly is not about the 99 cents we might spend on a texture, or the 25 bucks for a set of trees, but something bigger.
So, why cant the “we only make games people” that have an account that is older than the announcement just keep their (future) free access to the current megascans, with new ones being paid? (I mean, they clearly dont care if people now go and rip the whole bridge (not doing that, not encouraging it… but they must have known that many will do this.))
I, for example, never really bothered also downloading the ones “I might need in the future” because I expected them “to be there”… and now epic puts me in a weird spot where I kinda have to either download them now, or pay for something I got for free for years.
Its not like I went and downloaded hundreds of assets a month, its maybe 20 meshes since we got them for free.
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Again, its not about the “paying for stuff”… I have bought stuff in the marketplace, its about the “mess” this creates, and the “weird spot” this puts me in.
If you need to cover the cost of us downloading those things, then make us pay a one time fee or so, idk? (or give us a reasonable monthly fee to pay, like the MMOs do etc… Something like “Fab Indie+” subscription or so.)
I am all for “covering the costs” and stuff, but why has it to be that messy?
Epic wants to get a bigger share of the overall asset market across all engines and comes out with Fab.
Epic wants to charge other engine users for their content (makes sense of course)
To keep all parties happy, why not just keep quixel free for UE users, and paid for other engines? This will still incentivise people to use UE, and Epic still makes money from assets spent on other engines.
The whole idea of free assets now being paid just seems greedy/scammy imo. It was free to begin with afterall so i am grateful for the free content, but one of the biggest reasons for using Unreal instead of using other engines is going away.
Im honestly hoping Epic listens to the community here and just keeps quixel free for Unreal users.
Also, you only have to pay for it starting next year. Fab releases on October this year. You have 3 months to claim the assets for free before it becomes paid.
Tim Sweeney said you’ll get to keep the assets if you claim it on Fab before the end of this year
Vendors moving in different directions…
(not doing that, not encouraging it… but they must have known that many will do this.))