In December 2000, the team that makes up DAZ Productions, Inc.
emerged from Zygote Media Group as the preeminent source of 3D
content for Curious Labs' Poser. Working hard to expand that
market, DAZ strived to contribute in every way plausible to
further the establishment of Poser and increase the awareness
thereof. Since its formation, DAZ has persistently striven to push
the envelope in the 3D modeling arena. Due to constant support from
our customers, we have been able to become a central pillar in the
community and help all members excel in their use of Poser. As a
return on this community support, DAZ has undertaken the next step
forward in evolving its offerings with the creation of DAZ Studio.
The following is a description of our commitment to help expand the
community in which we all exist through the release of DAZ Studio.
The Base (free indefinitely) It is crucial that DAZ Studio
be built upon a completely solid foundation before focusing on
additional functionality and features. DAZ Studio is modular in
nature, therefore advanced functionality will be offered as modules
that allow the end-user to customize the software according to his
or her own need and budget. Prior to the release of version 1.0,
the base version of DAZ Studio will be publicly available as a free
beta for an undetermined period of time until it is solid. People
familiar with Rhinoceros (Rhino 3D) may recognize this strategy.
This plan will allow customers to test the software on their
systems, report bugs, suggest necessary features, and watch the
software as it develops. The first iteration of the DAZ Studio base
will be designed to render scenes from Poser 4 .PZ3 files. It will
also have the ability to modify those scenes to some extent once
the files are imported into Studio. Posing, animation, model import
and other features will follow soon after the first beta release.
Anticipated Stages of program completion: Limited alpha Public
beta, Mimic 2.0 available for sale 2nd beta release, Lightwave
3D and 3ds max Plug-ins available DAZ Studio Basic 1.0
Gradual addition of Studio plug-ins with advanced features
[Schedule subject to change] Advanced-feature modules will be sold
separately. These will consist of advanced animation tools, Mimic
2.0, translation tools for porting to and from other software
applications, and dynamic-cloth authoring. DAZ Studio is designed
to be a platform that will encourage the development of additional
content and plug-ins by outside developers.
Portability The amount of content available for Poser and
DAZ Studio is very large and relatively unavailable to other 3D
software currently. DAZ Studio will be a portal for making this
content useful within other leading 3D applications. With an open
portal between DAZ Studio and other applications, the number of
customers interested in DAZ Studio-ready content will increase
significantly. And through the modular structure of DAZ Studio's
coding, third party content developers will also be able to easily
tap into the existing user-base of other 3D applications by
developing for DAZ Studio.
The Market As It Stands Growth
within the community has always been a point of interest for every
content developer. Currently, the need for expansion and new
members to this market is greater than ever. The main barrier
against new customers entering this market is the cost of the
necessary 3D character creation software. The main reason for
offering the DAZ Studio base for free is to effectively remove the
entry-barrier from this market.
Tell Ware The End User License Agreement (EULA), that
customers must agree to before they install and use DAZ Studio,
will contain a section outlining a simple "word of mouth" program,
called Tell Ware. The EULA requires that the user tell at least two
other people about the software and where DAZ Studio can be
downloaded for free. Customers must realize that the more
successful they are at helping to grow the community, the more
resources DAZ and other developers will have to put towards
continuing development of DAZ Studio and other third party
products.
The Market As It Can Be Initially, the growth of
DAZ Studio will be based on strong relationships and goodwill. Due
to this, we will rely heavily on word-of-mouth advertising from
satisfied customers. Such enthusiasm will push the software forward
and grow the community. Without the support of the user base,
growth will be limited. As members of the community do their part
to spread the good word, we will do our part to continue providing
the base version for free and also offer DAZ Studio add-ons at
lower prices than we could if required to support a large
advertising campaign.
Collaboration between online
communities We have already seen significant benefits in
collaborating with other online communities. The more that each
individual community continues to increase the overall market size,
the more sales and traffic each community will receive. With DAZ
Studio, we are seeking the same relationship for the entire
community. If each community is willing to encourage new people to
try out the new DAZ software they will effectively grow the number
of customers who can purchase from the existing marketplaces.
Goal DAZ has set a goal of having over one million people
download the free version of DAZ Studio before the end of 2003.
Reaching this goal will produce a tremendous influx of new
customers to the entire community. Every member of the community,
developers and customers alike, will benefit from the resulting
market growth. The support from the community is what has been
funding the free version of DAZ Studio up to now, and we hope that
an increase in this community support for DAZ will keep the new
software moving forward even faster after release. We feel that
this plan can help to grow the community well beyond the current
size. Through the collaboration of many, this community will become
much more stable and rewarding, providing even more opportunities
for entertainment, learning, and everything else that each of us
individually may wish to gain from it.
DAZ is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by DAZ
Productions, Inc. Rhinoceros is registered in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office by Robert McNeel & Assoc. Mimic is registered in
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by DAZ Productions, Inc.
Lightwave 3D is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
by NewTek, Inc. 3ds max is registered in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office by Autodesk, Inc. Poser is registered in the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Curious Labs, Inc. and EGISYS
AG
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