Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a 26-year old guy from Finland. When we started doing this movie, we were all rookies. No knowledge of the movie industry, only some minor knowledge in 3D graphics. I used 3ds max before this movie (Star Wreck: Lost Contact, 1997).

This movie is actually a sequel to "Lost Contact". And the sixth movie in the whole series. I started my career with some basic Star Trek animations on Deluxe Animation. Those were the days...

Everything you see in the movie was self-taught. I guess it was just one big hobby that turned into a way of life, because making movies and writing stories is fun.

When did you see LightWave 3D for the first time?

1998 or so. The version was 5.6. I saw the great short clips at Spacebattles.com and thought, "Damn, I'm nowhere close to that level with 3dsmax, maybe I'll try LightWave". It was just plain easier to get things rolling with LightWave. I could add so many ships to scene and still got decent render times. And I know our script demanded awful lot of ships in the same scene. Max was veeery slow at that time. Ray traced shadows were a big no-no.

When did you first start using it?

I started learning it right after I saw its potential. The first real job was the special edition of Star Wreck: Lost Contact. I remade some shots in LightWave 3D, mainly for testing purposes.

What do you like about the package?

LightWave 3D is well worth its price. Simple to use, but still very robust software. I think the best part is the interface. Efficient and fast generally.

What could be improved for you?

Because I've used particles so much in the latest movie, I think they could use some improving. And dynamics in general. I think these things are addressed in the latest update - at least to some extent.
The most-wanted feature for me would be: Layers in layout. Doing a 30-ship battle scene would be much easier if you could just change to different layers. Currently hiding stuff doesn't really speed up layout.

What spec machine(s) are you using it on at the moment?

Dual Core X2 4200, 6600GT. 2 gigs of ram.

Are there any plug-ins you wouldn't be without?

Well, FPrime I guess. Very handy in texturing, although the final images were rendered with LightWave.

In your opinion, should LightWave 3D stay separated or become integrated?

A good question indeed. There are pros and cons, but I'd say integrated if executed correctly. Maybe with tabs, so that the updating delay would disappear when switching inside the program.

You've been making fan films for some time now. What got you started?

Star Trek fandom. I wanted to make my own version of Star Trek. Owning Star Trek-related stuff wasn't enough. Although my fandom is almost gone by now...

What's the attraction for you making fan films (rather than your own stories?)?

Well, time for fan films is over. Original stories are much more interesting - but we had to finish the work we started seven years ago... Although we might keep some of the parody elements in the next movie.