We're interested in real-time animating DAZ3D characters like Victoria 5 or 6 in Ogre or other Windows SDK friendly environments. It's very tempting to grab a few cheap models and get the project started, but I wouldn't take a chance on running afoul of their legal department. Especially if your mesh ends up being substantially like theirs. PROVING that you did that and didn't just modify their model is substantially harder. I'll grant you that using their models to create a still image, then creating your own model from scratch while looking at it, is probably legal. Basically, it's the same reason their textures are in TIF or PNG or whatever they are. Very useful if you've got some off-the-wall rendering software and want to create a scene. They allow you to export to OBJ as it's a very commonly used format and can import into about anything. 'Similar' is intentionally vague on their part, and means not only visually but structurally, etc. It doesn't change the fact that you can't distribute the models, or any model substantially similar, if you buy their models. I didn't forget it, I left it out as it would only be excess text to read and had no impact. You forgot the beginning part of that paragraph: obj with textures and all right out of the box? You literally click 3 or 4 buttons, and you have the model and all its textures. I'm wondering, why does DAZ studio export to. Its understood that using the models in any commercial works are forbidden.

Taking many views to make a model may be on the dangerous side, but if you take one image and used that as a reference or inspiration to make your own, I don't think you would get into trouble.

I'm not a modeller, but don't many artists need images of inspiration or reference when creating a particular model? DAZ grants us ownership of any images and animations produced.

If you look a model and DAZ or Poser does not instantly pop into your head, then it is impossible to tell where the model came from. Similar most likely means easily distinguishable as a DAZ model. DAZ models come with so many morphs that it is possible to make a totally unrelated character model in Maya, for example, and use DAZ studio to imitate that model.

Daz studio model