DAZ Studio is a free 3D design application--but it probably doesn't do what you think it does. Most 3D design software focuses on modeling objects. DAZ Studio's sister program, commercial Carrara, is a more traditional modeler. SketchUp is great for modeling buildings, Sculptris is for sculpting organic shapes, Silo is for general modeling... and DAZ Studio isn't really for modeling at all. With its heavy emphasis on posing and morphing, using DAZ Studio is almost like playing with dolls or action figures--you take ready-made, beautiful models, and just assemble and pose them to the scene of your dreams, a bit like what you can do with the $250 Poser 3D character design application.

What DAZ Studio lacks in modeling tools it makes up for in detailed models and morph controls. The most impressive model included is called Genesis. This is a human model with impressively detailed built-in morphs. When you just put it into the scene, it looks a bit like a featureless, androgynous mannequin. Want it to be a man? Just move a slider, and the anatomy morphs to a more masculine build. Should it be thin? Move another slider, and the whole body subtly loses fat. If you want it to be a body-builder, you can move yet another slider and watch as muscles appear and make for an impressively defined physique.

The only problem I've had with posing in DAZ Studio is that it is all too easy to push a character's arm into the floor, or into itself. In other words, when you push a surface against another surface, they intersect rather than collide. This makes it difficult to make your Genesis figure sit astride a lion in a believable way.

For DAZ Studio to work well, it needs detailed models. You can get these from the DAZ online store, which features anything from people and animals, to vehicles, clothes, and environments. Right now, you can access the store using a Web browser, but DAZ Studio 4.5 Beta shows that the groundwork is being laid for accessing your DAZ account from within the application itself. This part isn't ready yet, so I couldn't test it.

DAZ Studio combines complex existing models with an accessible interface, resulting in a fun, simple 3D experience. If you've always wanted to dabble with 3D but creating detailed models and textures from scratch seemed like a daunting task, DAZ Studio can save much of the work and leave you just with the creative parts.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software appropriate to your system.

—Erez Zukerman