Article published in July 2009 on the Novedge blog.
Lorenzo Puleo is one of the many creative people who fell in love with Mac. However, Lorenzo didn’t stop at the user level as most Mac fans do; he went on to conceive a new product and created a company around it. That company shares the name of its primary product, Kinemac. Kinemac is an easy-to-use real-time animation software for Mac. It combines the ease of use typical of so many Mac applications with the power of a professional tool. Novedge has been a proud reseller of Kinemac since 2008. I asked Lorenzo to share his story and vision with us. Here is the interview.
The Interview
Franco Folini: Ciao, Lorenzo! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your company, KInemac?
Lorenzo Puleo: I am an architect who migrated to informatics in 1996. Kinemac is a company I have founded to realize my greatest dream: creating a 3D animation software for the Mac user community. And looking at the results, we succeeded.
My greatest dream: creating a 3D animation for the Mac users.
Lorenzo Puleo
Franco Folini: The Mac platform is the favorite of creative people. Can you help us understand why?
Lorenzo Puleo: Mac is not just a computer; it’s a lifestyle, a philosophy that perfectly joins math and art. The left brain and the right brain think differently. Mac, introducing an intuitive approach to the (schematic but powerful) world of math, merges them. That, I suppose, is the secret of the success of the Mac platform in the creative area.
Mac is not just a computer, it’s a lifestyle.
Lorenzo Puleo
Franco Folini: Video and animation are now mainstream on the Internet, an area inundated with amateurs. How much room is there for serious professionals?
Lorenzo Puleo: I wouldn’t mix holy and profane. There is an amateur world that could easily find a land on the internet. There is a professional world that daily needs professional tools and skilled artists. I think they speak different languages. I recall these lyrics from the US3 group: “Different rhythm, different people”. I think that professional works like this one from the Tronic Studio can never be put together with amateurs’ works. To be professional, you need to study more than just being creative. Furthermore, you need powerful tools too. Amateurs could be successful, make a lot of money and get famous too, but this doesn’t mean they are pro. Surely there are exceptions.
To be a pro you need to study more than just being creative.
Lorenzo Puleo
Franco Folini: Who is your typical user of Kinemac? How does he or she use the program?
Lorenzo Puleo: We gather users from the prosumer world. This means that Kinemac is between the consumer and the professional world. While offering professional results, it can be easily learned and used by professional and non-professional users. We have different profiles of users, we have beginners, single video-artists, small post-production companies, schools and universities, research labs, and big companies, such as international TVs and post-production companies. We have conquered many big names in these last areas, but as you know well, we can’t mention any of them.
Kinemac is in between the consumer and the professional world.
Lorenzo Puleo
Franco Folini: What is your strategy for raising awareness of your product and the benefits that come from using it?
Lorenzo Puleo: We have spread the word of Kinemac in many ways, from exhibiting at MacWorld SF to releasing articles, interviews, and tutorials. Lately, we have granted our product in special bundles, which have had a great impact on the Mac community. Today we can surely say that Kinemac is one of the most popular 3D Real Time Animation software for Mac OS X. And everybody loves it. As far as the educational world is concerned, we have successfully reached a great goal. We apply special discounts to schools and universities, and in change, spontaneously, we get a lot of precious feedback which helps us to improve our product in an impressive way.
Kinemac is one of the most popular 3D Real Time Animation software for MacOS X.
Lorenzo Puleo
Franco Folini: The new generation browsers will implement video as a native data type, in the same way as images and text. What could be the impact of such an important change for video and animation producers and consumers?
Lorenzo Puleo: Surely the demand of tools to produce video will grow largely. We expect to grow as well. And we are ready for the event. But the day the browsers will implement a standard 3D engine is still far. Let’s see what the future will bring.
Franco Folini: What is the geographical distribution of your business, and how different are the European and American markets?
Lorenzo Puleo: We mostly sell online, so we have clients all over the world. This is the way we look at the market: as one nation.
It could be surprising, but the clients have all the same requirements, no matter the country they live in. And this sounds promising.
At Kinemac, we have clients all over the world.
Lorenzo Puleo
I would like to thank Lorenzo for taking the time to answer my questions.
