# Licenses & legal findings

Every third-party model/dataset/tool that touches the pipeline gets a row here with its
license, commercial status, link, and the date checked. See PLAN.md §Ground rules.

> **2026-07-17 correction (session 2):** B1's original row billed MoCapAnything as the human
> engine — it is an **animal** model (see `DECISIONS.md`). The SMPL/SKEL gate is **LIVE**, not
> avoided. Rows below corrected and license-verified.

## Components

| Component | License (code / body model) | Commercial OK? | Notes | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **HSMR** (human — candidate engine) | code **MIT** / body **SKEL** | code yes / **model NO** | `IsshikiHugh/HSMR`, CVPR25 oral. Predicts **SKEL** params (biomechanical skeleton, great for retarget). Needs SKEL files (NC) at inference. MPS-runnability unverified. | 2026-07-17 |
| SKEL-CF (human — candidate) | code (verify) / body **SKEL** | **model NO** | Coarse-to-fine skeleton+mesh, Nov 2025. Same SKEL gate. | 2026-07-17 |
| **SKEL body model** | MPG research | **NO** (default) | "any use for commercial… purposes is prohibited"; commercial via **ps-license@tue.mpg.de**. Same family as SMPL. | 2026-07-17 |
| **SMPL / SMPL-X body model** | MPG research (Meshcapade sublicenses) | **NO** (default) | Commercial via **sales@meshcapade.com** (quote-based; incl. SMPL+H/-X/STAR). Gate for all SMPL-based human models. | 2026-07-17 |
| GVHMR / WHAM / TRAM / OnlineHMR (human, SMPL) | research/NC (GVHMR NC confirmed) / SMPL | **NO** | Accuracy leaders but **double gate**: NC *code* AND SMPL. GVHMR commercial via xwzhou@zju.edu.cn. Reference/yardstick unless licensed. | 2026-07-17 |
| GEM-X (human, shelved) | Apache / SOMA (not SMPL) | yes, but **off-fleet** | NVIDIA commercial-ready; **CUDA-only** → won't run on Apple Silicon. Revisit only if the fleet gains NVIDIA. | 2026-07-17 |
| MoCapAnything V2 (**animal** — creature NPCs only) | MIT / none | **YES** (creatures) | `kehong/MoCapAnythingV2-weights` MIT, no SMPL. **71 animal targets, no human/biped/fingers** → NOT the human engine. Keep for creature/centaur (Lane E4) work. | 2026-07-17 |
| AMASS dataset | academic | **verify** before shipped training | Lane E only | — |
| **BioAMASS v1.0** (downloaded, `~/Documents/skel/bioamass_v1.0`: CMU, DFAUST, MPI_Limits subsets, 376MB) | MPG research (same SKEL account/licence) | **NO** (default) — same NC family; Lane E training that ships needs the same Path-A licence email | SKEL-fitted mocap — ideal Lane E2 autoposer training data *format-wise*; legal gate identical to SKEL itself | 2026-07-17 |
| Mixamo clips | Adobe ToS | ship-in-game OK; **not** ML training data | — | — |

## The SMPL/SKEL gate (hard stop — LIVE, John decision)

Every accurate world-grounded **human** model depends on a Max-Planck body model — **SMPL**
(GVHMR/WHAM/TRAM/OnlineHMR) or **SKEL** (HSMR/SKEL-CF) — both research-licensed. Two paths:
- **Path A — license it.** Email MPI (SKEL, `ps-license@tue.mpg.de`) or Meshcapade (SMPL,
  `sales@meshcapade.com`) for an indie commercial license. Clean; quote-based.
- **Path B — SMPL-free outputs.** Run an MIT-code model (HSMR) locally, keep only joint
  rotations, retarget onto our own mixamorig, distribute no Max-Planck file. Grey area: the NC
  license bars "production of artefacts for commercial purposes." John-accepts-risk.

Decision lives in `docs/DECISIONS.md`. The human path does not proceed until John picks.

## Sources (session 2, 2026-07-17)
- SKEL license (commercial prohibited): https://skel.is.tue.mpg.de/license.html
- HSMR (MIT code, SKEL-based): https://github.com/IsshikiHugh/HSMR ·
  https://isshikihugh.github.io/HSMR/ · paper https://arxiv.org/html/2503.21751v1
- SKEL-CF: https://arxiv.org/html/2511.20157
- SMPL commercial licensing (Meshcapade): https://meshcapade.com/infopages/licensing.html
- GVHMR (NC): https://github.com/zju3dv/GVHMR · OnlineHMR: https://github.com/Tsukasane/Video-OnlineHMR