One notable absentee from the line-up was Carrara, DAZ’s 3D modelling, rendering and animation software. The developer feels that the promotion has ?revived interest in its older products? – Hexagon has not received a significant update since 2008 – and since the downloaded versions are also eligible for future upgrade and crossgrade deals, the tradeoff between current and future revenue may indeed work out in its favour. The move has certainly been numerically successful: while Thornton declined to give exact figures, he revealed that downloads were running into ?the hundreds of thousands? within the first week of the promotion.Īlthough DAZ Studio 4 Pro – the company’s flagship product – had seen the most downloads, Thornton said that the numbers were ?evenly balanced?, and that the majority of downloaders had registered the software. ?Our focus is great content,? he said.īetween 20-30% of DAZ’s user community are graphics professionals – a figure it aims to grow. By making its software accessible to the Pixologic and Autodesk user communities, DAZ aims to foster the creation of high-quality assets for its online marketplace: the company’s primary source of revenue. Professional 3D artists are another target market, according to company CEO Jim Thornton, who took over in the role from Farr last November. ?We think that what we have to offer is of interest to the Photoshop and Corel community.? ?We could have played things safer and continued selling into the same market, but we chose not to do that,? Farr told CG Channel. Although DAZ’s software is often labelled ‘for hobbyists only’, in fact, over 20% of its users are graphics professionals: a figure the developer aims to grow. So what prompted the company to gamble with such a significant proportion of its income? According to co-founder Dan Farr (left), now DAZ’s Chief Strategy Officer, a key factor was the desire to expand its user base.
Nevertheless, software sales still make up around 20% of its revenue. The developer announced that it was making three of its 3D applications – figure-posing tool DAZ Studio 4 Pro, landscape generator Bryce 7 Pro and modelling application Hexagon 2.5 – available as free downloads during the month of February: software with a combined value of over $800.ĭAZ is unusual in that the majority of its income comes not from its software but stock content for that software, including add-ons for the hugely popular Victoria and Michael lines of digital characters.
Last week, DAZ 3D began to give away tens of millions of dollars of software for free. We asked CEO Jim Thornton and CSO Dan Farr how it feels to give away tens of millions of dollars of software. DAZ 3D has made DAZ Studio 4 Pro, Bryce 7 Pro and Hexagon 2.5 available for free until the end of February.
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