1) What first got you into CG?

I would say the internet. Back in 1994 when I bought my first "real" computer, it came with a trial of AOL (of course). That opened up a whole new world to me. There were people talking about doing 3D art without a $50k SGI, that is what sparked something for me. I started doodling around with some shareware 3d programs around 1996 and eventually 3D studio DOS on a windows 95 machine, that was the first real CG experience I had.

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

I worked for a local reseller of various CG software/hardware. We did lots of sales and training type events and all kinds of systems integration for the post production side of things. After a few years there I realized that all though I loved what I was doing, I really wanted to get into more actual production and play less of the sales/support role. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when a new game developer started forming here in Minneapolis (now know as Destineer Studios, and Destineer Publishing). I have been with Destineer Studios since it's inception as a "technical" 3d artist. I helped design and implement the art/engine integration and serve as the main conduit between the art and engineering departments. I also handle all of the motion capture, hand keyframing, and facial animation for our current project.

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

3dsmax is really the foundation for everything I do. I couldn't function with out it, it's like an extension of myself. Every piece of art that ends up in our game is touched at some point by 3dsmax.

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

Most of our customization has been in the form of our own materials, object data tagging and of course our exporter. We wrote most of our plug-ins and exporter using maxscript, so it's pretty well integrated into the max workflow.

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

I did go to art school, and spent the majority of the time using max and Maya, but most of what I really feel I learned was from the "Inside 3d max" series of books. I would really encourage aspiring 3d artists to do the same. You can learn a lot from working at your own pace. If you have the motivation to get into the books, it gets very exciting when you are learning these "new" things on your own. It seems that a lot of people want to be spoon fed this stuff, and it just doesn't work like that. You have to decide that you are going to do it for yourself.

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

I like doing it all, but I would have to say the rigging is the most fun. It's always a good time to cook up some crazy rig that you think is the coolest thing ever. It's the kind of thing that is really easy for people to pick apart and say it doesn't do this right or it doesn't do that right. Then you get to go back and find a way to make it do all those things, there is a lot of satisfaction in that for me.

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

I can tell you that it is an "authentic" military themed first person shooter, and it will be announced very soon!

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND LOOK FORWARD TO THE RELEASE OF YOUR GAME!

THE MN MAX USER GROUP!