Feature Interview: Architosh talks to DAZ 3D

Continued from page 1

DF: The comic con shows are where we are having new success. Wizard World, the New York Comic Con…these industry trade shows. Over the past year we have been trying to go directly to the end-user venues.

AFR: So what is so new about what DAZ is doing exactly?

DF: A lot of people talk about trying to go down to the mass market. I’ve spoken to other companies, including Autodesk, but the same problems always appear. Our bet is that in our free software give-away we get 100,000 new users of the software who will then come back around and buy content.

[Editor’s note: The 30-day DAZ 3D software free promotion ends on 29 Feb 2012, so grab your free software today]

AFR: I understand that. How much content do you have exactly on your website?

DF: We have over 12,000 different content items on our website for sale.

AFR: But why give away the Pro versions, why not Advanced?

DF: We debated that too. The reason to give away Pro is because it allows users to branch out into other applications. It opens up the possibility of being truly creative and we are here to power the imaginations of people who want to be creative 3D artists.

04 - Hexagon is also being given away for free. This general purpose modeler has excellent capabilities. (image courtesy of DAZ 3D)

AFR: And Hexagon?

DF: Hexagon is an updated code base of the Amapi application. It sits on the Amapi platform, which is very capable modeler that we are giving away free today and for anyone wanting to just have a great modeling application this is a great opportunity.

AFR: And people use it to create all manner of 3D form content for their projects?

DF: Exactly.

AFR: Why is Carrara left out of this special offer?

DF: Carrara is targeted towards the more professional and semi-professional market. People who user Carrara are more like the people who use Lightwave or Cinema 4D. It is not as robust as those professional applications but it is very close. Carrara has always had a very fast rendering engine and has great character support. Especially for DAZ characters.

next page: The Truth About Carrara – interview continues