Can I use a Student Edition of Autodesk Maya and Mudbox for content creation?

[chaotickill248]

I bought a student edition of the Autodesk creation suite. Can I use them to create content on SL that I can sell on the marketplace?

[KarenMichelle Lane]

As long as you can save/export your creations then you can use any licensed version of those products.  

[Rolig Loon]

Unless I'm mistaken, that student edition is only licensed for educational purposes, not commercial use.  This is not really a SL question.  It's a question about what's legal in your Autodesk EULA.  Read it very carefully, and talk it over with your instructor too.  If you violate the agreement, your instructor or the school could have legal problems too, so it's good to check.

[KarenMichelle Lane]

You are so stern and probably correct! - Now it the student doesn't tell, who in the world could possibly know what version of Autodesk Maya and Mudbox an exported project's rendered image, textures, mesh and map came from. Just thinking out loud. As I recall the student version is missing some of the higher end tools and is not as fast as the full production version.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

I would say: "no".

From the Autodesk website:

*Free Autodesk software and/or cloud-based services are subject to acceptance of and compliance with the terms and conditions of the software license agreement or terms of service that accompany such software or cloud-based services. Software and cloud-based services provided without charge to Education Community members may be used solely for purposes directly related to learning, teaching, training, research or development and shall not be used for commercial, professional or any other for-profit purposes.

 

Now you said you bought a student edition, something I'm not familiar with. Maybe there are different terms and conditions for you, but I doubt it.

You can't even upload anything you made with the Autodesk software to SL if you're not planning on selling them. From the LL ToS:

In connection with Content you upload, publish, or submit to any part of the Service, you affirm, represent, and warrant that you own or have all necessary Intellectual Property Rights, licenses, consents, and permissions to use and authorize Linden Lab and users of Second Life to use the Content in the manner contemplated by the Service and these Terms of Service.

and:

Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest’s official rules) which will govern the submission of your User Content, you hereby grant to Linden Lab, and you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same. You agree that the license includes the right to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing, or providing support or development services in connection with the Service and future improvements to the Service. The license granted in this Section 2.3 is referred to as the "Service Content License."

To grant these rights to LL, you need to have the rights. If the Autodesk terms apply to you, you simply don't have those.

[Lindal Kidd]

You can do so, but it's a violation of the Autodesk terms of use.  As the others have said, this sort of thing can get you into all sorts of expensive trouble.

If you're on a tight budget, use the free Blender software to create meshes for Second Life, instead of swimming in very murky legal waters.