Is there any information about how the Quixel Megascans price changes apply to educators, students, and schools?
I teach some Unreal Engine courses, and the free Megascans library has allowed me to teach the class without requiring the school or student to purchase assets (we don’t have the set-up or time to teach modeling and texture workflows). I teach at a private arts high school, so resources are not as abundant.
My questions and concerns…
Will there be a different pricing structure for educators and students to allow them to access the Quixel Megascans library?
If an institution, like my school, is required to purchase asset packs, will we be allowed to distribute those assets to students to use in a classroom environment for educational purposes?
How does this change align with Epic’s goal to make Unreal Engine an accessible tool for use in the classroom?
I am looking to develop a green screen virtual production environment and course at my school, which is why we have invested in implementing Unreal Engine. The Quixel Megascans library has allowed us to create photorealistic environments for free, and the abundance of assets has allowed for creative expression.
I had the privilege of participating in the Unreal Engine Educator Accelerator Course, and they pitched Unreal Engine as an excellent teaching and learning platform. I believe it still can be, but the Quixel pricing changes worry me. If there is no route to access assets for education, I fear it will impact the learning environment.
Hi @Matthew_Seifert . Thanks for your message and apologies for my slow response. The Quixel library of Megascans is free to download for the rest of the year via either Quixel Bridge - Manage 3D content and export with one click (pre-Fab launch) or Fab (post-Fab launch). When you download these assets, they can be used in Unreal Engine.
After Megascans become available for purchase in 2025, we will continue to offer some Megascans content for free (stay tuned for more on this). Fab will also provide access to a variety of free assets (including 3D scans) from individual creators, studios, and brands.
At this time, Fab does not have separate pricing structures for educators and students, but that could change.
Hello @skfabby! I appreciate all the information you provided. I have just a few more follow-up questions.
I plan to use Fab to claim the Quixel Megascans assets while they remain free in 2024. I will do this for personal, professional, and educational applications.
For classes that run during the second semester of school, in February, students cannot access the Quixel Megascans library for free.
Can I create project templates with Quixel Megascans assets and distribute them to my students for educational purposes? Can I do this with the paid assets I claimed during the free period, even if they are not free when the students take the class in February? I often make these templates to help students learn the platform and speed up the downloading and importing phases.
Is it better to create a school account to claim assets and use that to distribute assets to students? Does becoming an Academic Partner help with this topic/process?
I’m trying to understand the boundary for using Quixel Megascans assets for educational purposes to provide the most accessibility for my students. Ideally, I would like to find a solution where assets can be claimed or purchased, but the cost doesn’t have to fall on each student.
I am in the same boat. I have been using Quixel with my Year 10 students for the last few years and Quixel Bridge has always made a difficult process easier and more fun. I have designed my projects around the use of Quixel Bridge and this is going to make the VR games they create so much more difficult and the end product will not be anything like what they are currently.
It would be awesome if Epic Games reversed the decision to charge educational institutions. We don’t have the budget to pay for individual assets and it is purely for educational purposes. I don’t have any students that are creating a marketable game.
Even if it was a matter of creating templates, I don’t have the time to do that between now and the end of 2024. I would be happy for there to be a range of free templates available that feature something other than the default VR scene but that then means that someone has to create them and Epic Games need to make them available. Is this something that Epic Games could offer in the future @skfabby ? Teachers need to plan for these things, sometimes years in advance as if it is not available, I need to come up with something else to avoid being a deer in the headlights in front of my students.