September 10, 2008

DAZ 3d’s Chad Smith talks about entering the world of 3D modeling
By Michael Lafferty

“…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. 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. 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. 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.

This was done in less than 20 minutes using DAZ Studio
and a digital image shot on vacation for the background

Once a person gets into the program, we start to get assailed with terms that relate to morphing like injectibles, parents and such. How does all this relate to wire meshing and how can DAZ Studio be used as the starting point for moving into some of the more intense programs?

CS: DAZ Studio allows users to enter the world of 3D creation with a limited set of goals, such as character customization rather than creation from scratch. The obvious goal for this is to get people creating art and animation right away and not getting overwhelmed by difficulty and tedium. The side benefit to this approach, however, is that new users can begin learning 3D tools and principles without biting off more than they can chew. And like you say, there are still a variety of new terms and concepts that someone needs to get familiar with in order to really understand 3D. But as users get more comfortable with a limited palette of tools, they can choose to expose more and dive deeper into DAZ Studio. Eventually they can even use this foundation to get into more robust and difficult 3D apps. In fact, we do find that many of our DAZ Studio users will eventually expand their 3D toolset, which is why we also provide a variety of complimentary 3D programs, including Carrara, our all-in-one 3D suite.

What do you consider to be the primary benefits of exploring the world of 3D modeling using DAZ Studio?

CS: Saving time is a huge benefit. For professional users, time is money. DAZ Studio is simply a quicker means to an end, even next to more expensive, more difficult applications. However, accessibility is probably the biggest benefit. With a price tag of FREE, and an approach designed to invite new users, DAZ Studio is accessible even to those new to 3D.

It was inevitable that this needed to be asked – how does this roll over or pertain to the gaming market? Is DAZ Studio a program that can be used to create elements, either alone or in conjunction with other programs that can be used for gaming mods?

CS: Yes. Though many people use DAZ Studio just to create art entirely within the program, you also can export models, texture maps and motion files for use in a mod. As I mentioned earlier, one key difference between DAZ Studio and other 3D programs is that with DAZ Studio you don’t typically create all these elements from scratch. So, you could combine, morph and customize pre-existing elements into something that works well for your mod. For more advanced 3D creators, DAZ Studio may be used in combination with other programs, either by exporting to an appropriate industry-standard exchange format or through the powerful bridges between DAZ Studio and Hexagon (modeling) or Photoshop (painting).  

Despite its high resolution and quality, content from DAZ 3D is becoming increasingly popular for the creation of real-time graphics in games and virtual worlds, so we’re in the process of making our exporters even more powerful. We’re working on some very cool functionality just for this market that will automatically optimize models from DAZ Studio for use in the specific target platform. (Things like mesh and map resolution, UV layout, skeleton setup, etc.) And for more technical modders, DAZ Studio already has a robust SDK as well as a free scripting development kit available. At DAZ 3D we’re very excited to see our software and content become more mainstream with both game developers and those creating gaming mods, so look for exciting new developments ahead!

Say I am a big MMO RPGer (which is not a far leap of faith) that likes to create a rich fabric of back story about my game character. Can I use game assets and DAZ products to illustrate that?

CS: Absolutely. In fact, this is one of the best ways to get started using products from DAZ 3D. Whenever someone is passionate about something like a character and has a story to tell about it, our tools can help. People tend to think visually, and a picture really is worth a thousand words. That’s what our products are all about at DAZ 3D: enabling the creation of digital art and animation by professionals and novices alike. You can use DAZ Studio or Carrara to create and customize characters, to assemble a scene from that story in your head. You can use Bryce or Carrara to create the environment you’ve envisioned — terrains, oceans, skies and more. You can even use Hexagon or Carrara to build objects for your world, creating things never before imagined. But most of all, you’ll be surprised by how much you don’t need to create things from scratch.

The huge DAZ 3D content library is just waiting for you to choose your characters, clothing, hair, buildings and all kinds of objects and then easily customize them to fit your vision. Ultimately you can create and populate entire worlds just with your own imagination … and a little help from DAZ 3D. 

That’s one thing I love about working here … we don’t need to have all the ideas, we don’t work on just a single project and we get to empower hundreds of thousands of artists and storytellers who create things that we never could have imagined. When you look at trends like machinima, it’s clear that gamers are no longer content just leaving the creation of stories and art up to others. I think that’s a very good thing.

The DAZ 3D community is rather large and seems to show no signs of slowing down in terms of growth. Between plug-ins and user-created content, DAZ Studio seems to cater to just about every creative modeling whim. There are plug-ins for the program that allow people to import photos of faces and create characters based off that, but how interactive is DAZ Studio with other modeling programs? What would you consider to be the perfect suite of products for a person just starting out?

CS: I don’t know if there is a single suite of products that’s perfect for everyone starting out. If you aren’t yet sure what you’re most interested in, maybe get your feet wet with DAZ Studio and some free content. Beyond that, it really depends on what you most want to do. Although at DAZ 3D we offer DAZ Studio as our entry-level software and Carrara as our all-in-one high-end application, we also try to offer a “cafeteria plan” of 3D programs. So it’s vital that DAZ Studio interact well with other programs, through import and export options, shared formats and even software bridges in some cases.

If you’re interested in organic modeling, Hexagon might be what you want. If you’re interested in creating environments like water, sky and landscapes, then Bryce might have just what you need. If you want automated lip synching and facial animation for your characters, Mimic will do the trick. Then you can build on these apps with a variety of plug-ins and content that add even more options. Like you mention, the DAZ 3D user community is great, and it’s thriving – currently, we welcomed over 850,000 registered users. It’s wonderful that so much of the content and software sold at DAZ 3D is now published for people from this community. Our philosophy is that the only way to provide what our users really want is to make it easy to let them create and distribute what they choose. It’s especially fun to see more and more of our “hobbyist” users every year quit their day jobs and turn their 3D skills into a career by selling through DAZ 3D’s Published Artist program.

What do you enjoy most about using DAZ Studio?

CS: As an artist by background, I love the immediacy and the freedom that comes from creating in DAZ Studio. If I’m drawing or painting, I have to do a lot of sketches and decide exactly how I want things to look right up front. In DAZ Studio, I can brainstorm and explore artistic options on the fly. I’m usually inspired with ideas that I wouldn’t otherwise have had when I move my view, tweak the lights, alter a pose and make other easy changes while seeing the results in real-time. In fact, I’ve grown to rely on this style of artistic experimentation. Also, I love that I can change my mind about an image or movie at any point in the artistic process. I’m not just talking about the undo function (which also I love about Photoshop and other 2D applications); I’m talking about changing whatever I want, and only what I want, whenever I want.

For example, three years ago I worked on some illustrations for a Christmas picture book, “Mr. Finnegan’s Giving Chest” – authored by Dan Farr, DAZ 3D’s president and co-founder, using DAZ Studio. The story was still being revised, and so we wanted the artwork to be flexible, too. When the publishing rep mentioned that one image might now be a bit too “ominous-looking” for the new text, he figured we were stuck with the existing artwork due to the short deadline. He was thrilled when I demonstrated in just a few minutes that we could easily change the camera angle, warm up the lights, remove some shadows and change the character’s expression. Ultimately we got just what we were looking for and everyone was happy.

However, DAZ Studio’s not just for those with a background in art either. We’ve seen that for traditional artists, DAZ 3D is all about making their art more flexible and fast. For people who don’t yet consider themselves artists, DAZ 3D is about unleashing the artistic creativity they never knew they had.

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