DAZ 3d’s Chad Smith talks about entering the world of 3D modeling
"...we get to empower hundreds of thousands of artists and storytellers who create things that we never could have imagined"
There are places where dreams can come to life, but it usually takes a refined artistic hand. But what if there was a way to create those dreams with incredible ease? Actually, there is, and the good news is the base program is free.
DAZ Studio is a three-dimensional modeling program that allows users to take characters, tinker with them, pose them, drop them into backgrounds and create images upon the blank canvas. There are any number of ways to create the images, whether by using the strong in-program tools, or by purchasing presets.
The variety of ways to use the program but rather than go into those details, it might be easier to let Chad Smith, DAZ Studio's Chief Strategy Officer, talk about the program and its many applications.
Question: We've all seen the marvelous images being generated with today's games. People Buy Star Wars Galaxies Credits from the farming services so they can afford the things they want for their character. The gaming industry has seemingly spawned a new interest in 3D modeling because of graphical advances. Those who take the time to explore will likely find DAZ Studio to be a free-to-use as well as easy-to-use application to take their imagination into the world of three-dimensional modeling. What was the impetus behind creating DAZ Studio?
CS: It really is amazing how the gaming industry has driven the evolution of 3D computer graphics and made 3D art and animation accessible to everyday consumers. Of course you're well aware of the impressive statistics on the gaming industry's market size, revenue, growth-rate and so on. Cheap 2Moons Items Store Welcome you! And thanks to this market, demand for computer systems that can handle intensive graphics has made them mainstream. Then when you see how sweeping and immersive game play and cinematics have become, it's no wonder that they inspire gamers to want to create their own stories, characters and worlds. And that's where we at DAZ 3D enter the scene.
Though our background was in custom CG effects for games, cinema and TV, we've always had a passion for taking the creation of 3D art and animation to the masses. Welcome to your online one stop source for Atlantica Gold. We created DAZ Studio specifically for this purpose, and like you say, cost and ease-of-use are the two big barriers we've tried to remove from anyone out there who has a story to tell.
3D modeling can be a very challenging and deep experience. The more you begin to know, the more there is to learn. Yet, with DAZ Studio you have created an interface that pulls people in and within a first beginning session, they can walk away with a piece of three-dimensional art that is of high quality. How did you go about creating a program that can be so simple to use at the outset and then pull people deeper into the concepts of 3D modeling?
CS: I'm glad that you noticed this. Designing an application powerful enough for professionals and yet easy enough for novices has been our biggest challenge with DAZ Studio. As you mentioned, we've tried to layer the interface in such a way that new users can get started creating right away and yet grow with DAZ Studio as they become more adept in 3D.
The key to our continual goal for increasing both power and ease has to be the DAZ 3D community. We rely on users, both new and old, to tell us what features they want in DAZ Studio, and to give us feedback on what we've done. And we also rely on the community to help each other out - they're even better than DAZ 3D's tech support, available 24/7. It's great to see users that began creating with DAZ Studio only a few months or weeks ago getting online and helping out today's batch of newbies! No matter what level you're at, you can always improve and help others to improve, and I think that's what keeps our users excited and active.
What do you think is the most daunting aspect of 3D modeling, the single element that might cause people hesitation in exploring that creative outlet? How has DAZ 3D eased that learning curve?
CS: I think the biggest challenge in most traditional modeling programs is that you start with a blank screen and have to create everything from scratch, and creating a 3D model requires significant time and expertise. For example, you have to sculpt the model with polygonal and sub-division tools, arrange UVs coordinates, paint color, bump and other maps, rig a skeleton, create expressions, and so on.
Although DAZ 3D sells tools to complete these steps for those interested, we especially pride ourselves on our solutions that bypass this time-consuming content ramp-up. One way we get around this problem is with our huge online library of content, which is easy to bring into programs like DAZ Studio and ready to animate. This allows creators to skip right to the story telling that attracted them to 3D in the first place: positioning objects, posing characters, lighting the scene - diving right in and creating art. Additionally, DAZ Studio now offers, what we call, the Quick Start feature. It is essentially a step-by-step user interface equipped with pre-loaded DAZ 3D models, scenes and morphs that helps first time artists to gain the fastest and easiest introduction to the world of 3D.