Tell us a little bit about yourself

In school, I gravitated toward the arts and sciences and in high school won several awards for my art projects. At college level my official training is in film production at the University of Southern California film school. What I learned there has helped me to develop a specific method for setting up a production pipeline which has become one of my specialities at the studios I’ve worked with.

How did you discover LightWave 3D?

When I was busy making student films at USC, I saw a magazine ad for the first Video Toaster and was immediately infatuated. I saved my money and bought one as soon as I could. I was initially interested mostly in the video production tools included in the Video Toaster, but quickly became focused on LightWave 3D because it allowed me to make my own films without the need for anyone else.

What elements did you work on for Aliens of the Deep?

I was responsible for all of the alien design, modelling, texturing, rigging, animation, and final renders for the "Europan alien encounter" sequence, and the design and creature animation in the main title sequence for the film. The film was done in stereoscopic 3D and output to IMAX so we had to render twice as many frames as the typical project.

Would you recommend LightWave for this kind of work?

Definitely. The speed at which I was able to deliver the dynamics and character animations was a big reason why I was awarded this job. During the initial meetings for Aliens of the Deep, I could have a test animation ready within hours. I also added Worley’s FPrime for quick preview of the transparency, refractions, and reflections of the objects. The combination of LightWave [8] and FPrime created a very noticeable productivity increase. At one point the art director asked me, "Why did I have wait for two days when I made changes before and now I’m sitting with you and adjusting the textures and lighting in real time?" I just smiled.

How did you become involved in the project to produce an animation for the WinHEC keynote?

I had recently come off the Aliens of the Deep project and NewTek contacted me with the concept of creating a visual animation comparison of 32-bit vs. 64-bit pipelines as it relates to film and television production. We had a limited time frame of about three and a half weeks, but even given the compressed schedule it sounded so awesome that I knew I wanted to be involved.