What circumstrances made you use LightWave 3D?

Actually, I already knew about Lightwave. I knew it was very intuitive and that getting the gist of it was quite easy when it comes to modeling. I am an advertising photographer and I must say our job has been changing quite a lot recently: clients are more and more demanding with very specific needs. We’re being asked such a rendering that 3D softwares are becoming a precious companion.

I get from what you’re saying that photographers need to be somehow graphic designers too these days?

Indeed it’s about mixing the photography art with a 3D rendering. It’s called CGI, for Computer Generated Imagery. It’s a bit more complicated than traditional matte painting since our main concern is that it doesn’t actually “look like it’s 3D”.[matte painting is a process used in the movie industry which consist in painting a set while leaving void space so that one or more scenes will be incorporated that way]. That’s the reason why clients are hiring a photographer rather than an actual graphic designer.

Yet you had to learn the basics of 3D modeling and rendering…

Yes, I had to learn how to deal with 3D software, the same way photographers had to learn how to use digital photography a couple of years ago. Let’s put it frankly: those who haven’t made it to digital photography have a hard time finding clients now. And I have the feeling that in a couple of years, those who won’t know about the CGI technique will have a hard time too.

If you’re beeing asked to make a picture of a car on a deck that is 100% empty, it is way easier to resort to CGI than being granted the authorization to block the traffic for a day! This only example tells a lot!

What are the main advantages of Lightwave 3D to compared to other softwares?

It’s very easy to use for modeling and 3D animation. I am still learning a lot about the software when it comes to texture and rendering since you need to take into account numerous parameters.

This is not the first time you’re using Lightwave as you mentioned using a previous version a few years ago. What’s your opinion about Lightwave 9.5?

I can’t really tell you, since I still need to increase my knowledge of Lightwave 3D. I’ve just switched from version 5 to version 9.5: I haven’t got enough time to discover everything. I can only tell you that it’s taken me very little time to get familiar with the software. It’s extremely intuitive, which is great!