1) What first got you into CG?

Probably my Commodore VIC-20. I was part of the geek crowd, and got my 1st computer at age 11. I started
seeing all the cool games and graphics programs emerging, so I started trying to make my own paint
package and space invaders rip off. I spent zillions of quarters at the arcade mezmorized by wat could be
done with computer technology. Then when everyone else had the Commodore-64 I had to get the 128. Ohhh.
128K of RAM. Then my friends and I promptly began swapping floppies full of video games. Kazaa circa
1985.

Then, like most people, the classic films such as Tron and all the early Pixar shorts made a huge impact. I
was into cartoons and movies from an early age, and I would recognize the good from the bad, and began to
discover techniques in filmmaking just from watching.

Around that time the music video for "Money for Nothing'" came out and, man, that was cool. The 1st
all 3D animated video. I was definately inspired.

2) What sort of job did you do in last few years and what's your current job?

I was a demo artist for Discreet for 3 years. A fine company to work for, I might ad. I always wanted to
work for the creators of a software I grew up with, and have some influence on it's design. I got a
chance, and took it, leaving a farily scurce job as an effects animator at the now defunct Big Idea Studios,
from Chicago. (my first real job in 3D).I learned more than just the technology, but a lot of people,
business, and professional skills that one can't learn just from working in front of a monitor all day.

Big Idea was a great experience, and I 'cut my teeth', as they say. We had very talented people there, who
now work at such places as Blue Sky, Rhythm and Hues, and Sony Pictures Imageworks.

I left Discreet to persure film effects in Los Angeles, figuring it was time to test out what I had
learned working so heavily in developement and sales, and to spend time being creative again. I worked on
films such as "Elf", "Freddy vs. Jason", "Paycheck", "Taxi", and some game cinematics. In LA you typically
bounce around from project to project, but now I'm the 3D supervisor for Frantic Film's LA office. They're
based in Winnipeg, Canada and are one of the top effects shops who use 3ds Max as their core software,
employing about 75 folks.

3) How do you rely on 3ds max in your work?

It depends on the job, of course, but for pre-vis (we do a lot of that), it's the quick procedural modeling
tools, Character Studio, and the standard lighting and rendering tools. For post work (stuff that's going
onto film) we mostly use Brazil for rendering, but the're also tapping into Gelato from Nvidia. For
effects, it's Afterburn and Particle Flow. We also have our own fluid dynamics technology that was used
to create the "Tar Monster" for Scooby Doo II (I came on board just as that project was finishing up), and
it plugs into Max. We create our own tools for each project and continue to innovate on our ideas, which
sets us apart from the rest and brings clients back for more.

Max got a bad rap in the past for being so plug-in reliant. The truth is, that most of the real
innovative technology comes out of small teams or people in their basement writing code and solving
problems in ways a big software company can't. So, Discreet did the smart thing and made the software so
open to that, it's spawned a new industry and one we all can't live without. We'd all like the best and
coolest tools to come right out of the box, but unless we're willing to go back to $20,000 or $40,000
packages, you're not going to see that happen. I'm happy with a company focusing on the core technology
and giving that away. Technology will move forward at a much faster rate, which hopefully means I can work
less hours in the day. The price wars are frightening. How long can good technology be constantly created and
updated when there's no cash flow supporting it?

4) How have you customized 3ds max to work in your studio?

Mostly through simple UI tweaks to make workflow faster. I'll write a few maxscripts here and there to
speed up repetitive operations, or work with our talented programmers to do that for me (we hired Bobo
(Borislav Petrov) on staff...he's well known for his contributions of awesome maxscripts)

We also have our own render manager called "Deadline", which is now for sale to the public.
(software.franticfilms.com) We recognized the need to have many different application's renderers controlled
through a centeralized program. It's worked out very well. We also have an internal project tracking
system, that most studios our size and bigger need to employ to keep projects from getting out of control.

5) How did you come to learn this software? Was it trial and error, or did you attend professional classes?

I started learning 3D Studio Dos 1.0 in community college, as part of my general graphics classes. The
problem was my teacher was learning it along with us. I found it was really cool, and I could get a copy for
home using the educational purchasing programs. From there, I hacked away on my 33mhz PC, learning on my
own, but reading and viewing as much tutorial material as I could.

6) What's your favorite part of the process? Modeling, texturing, rigging?

Really it's directing the action, coming up with the ideas, and collaborating on solving problems. I love
and peruse cinematography, which was my major at Columbia College in Chicago, so I tend to use
traditional film techniques to my work. That's lead me to enjoy camera work, lighting and rendering. Though,
I'm not a render-master, writing shaders and all that, I just use the tools to get a result that I (or the
client) wants, trying not to get bogged down in the technical aspects. I rely on render-guru's like Chris
Pember at Frantic..

7) W hat are you working now? Sneak preview perhaps? :)

We're working on some horror film effects, things that were tough to do with props and makeup, and effects
you won't even notice unless you've seen the original film footage. I recently helped design and animate a
3D fiber-optic ball (like those toys at the Sharper Image) for a Verizon commercial. We've been working on
a photoreal city, for use as our own digital backlot. I also supervised pre-vis on the film "Taxi" that's
coming out soon. We helped the director (Tim Story, who's doing the Fantastic 4 next), design the stunt
sequences involving some intricate car chases. Most of the car action shots you see in the trailers is what
we pre-vised, come to life. Otherwise, yeah, a lot of cool stuff I can't talk about. Let's talk again after
the 2006 summer blockbusters. :)

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE NEXT BLOCKBUSTERS!!

THE MN MAX USER GROUP!