| CGX
: |
Hi
Desmond. How long have you been working in Sundance Video Post?
|
| Desmond: |
I’ve
been working here for about seven years now. We first started
off as Synergie, an advertising agency. I was a visualiser in
Synergie for about three years. After that my boss invested
in video post production so he started another company called
Sundance Video Post Sdn Bhd and I have been there as an animator
for four years. |
| |
| CGX : |
How did you get
started in 3D then? Was it at Sundance that you were exposed
to it? |
| Desmond: |
Yeah. That’s
how I started, learning all the 3D software from scratch, through
trial and error, through manuals. I started on the Mac using
a couple of leading Mac applications for animation and modeling.
|
 |
| CGX : |
How did you discover
LightWave then? |
| Desmond: |
Well, Click Grafix
was our neighbour at the time, and there was this guy named
Randy who used to ask me to have a look at the LightWave Interface.
Being a Mac user, initially I did not believe in LightWave cos
it was on the PC platform. I found Mac more user friendly and
didn’t trust PCs. Randy’s boss, Ahmed, however was
very persistent and continued to introduce LightWave to me and
my boss, Sunny. The 3D software I was using at that time was
quite restricted and I found that I couldn’t do certain
images like realistic water and metal, which I couldn’t
achieve using that software. After my boss bought LightWave,
… |
| |
| CGX : |
Hmm, Ahmed succeeded in convincing
your boss to get the software. |
| Desmond: |
Yeah, after almost
½ year. My boss decided to bundle the software with the
latest machine called Alpha. After a few months of familiarising
myself with the software, I produced my first LightWave job
with it. That was the Gardenia TV commercial. |
| |
| CGX : |
Tell us more about the commercial.
Was it more on character generation or modeling? |
| Desmond: |
It was a lot on character animation
using Bones. This portrayed the flexibility of LightWave which
was not found in the previous software I used. |
 |
| CGX : |
Earlier, you mentioned learning
LightWave through trial and error so when you began your first
project, how long did it take you to complete it? |
| Desmond: |
Almost a month to complete.
I was very impressed with the end result though. The bread looked
very realistic, the plastic too, you know, the transparency
and reflection. All these were very realistic. Our client was
very satisfied with the overall results. |
| CGX : |
Compared to other leading
3D software, how is LightWave better? |
| Desmond: |
Uhm … for the latest version
right now, the 6.5. I would say it’s much better than the
earlier version. I dare say the character animation and rendering
quality now is equivalent or better to the higher end applications
so the results are believable. People are impressed with the
output. Then again, it’s not only about the software; animation
must also come from the animator or artist himself, the art
sense. |
| CGX : |
Having mentioned that animation
comes from the animator himself, where do you derive inspiration
and your imagination from? |
| Desmond: |
Inspiration, ahh … by watching
lots of movies, reading books and magazines, especially those
futuristic ones. |
| CGX : |
What is your favourite feature
in LightWave? |
| Desmond: |
The rendering of course. And
also the flexibility of Bones right now. The IK and the texturing,
uhm … and not to forget the modeling as well. |
 |
| CGX : |
OK. What other work have
you produced with LightWave besides the Gardenia commercial?
|
| Desmond: |
Uhm … Canon US88, Waja,
the Follow Me toothbrush, Visitors Guide to Malaysia and the
Apollo TV commercials. |
| CGX : |
Has any of those works won
any prominent awards? |
| Desmond: |
We have participated in international
events like the 1999 Digital Video Awards organised
by DV Magazine. We submitted one of our work, the Gain
Plus TV commercial and succeeded in becoming one of the
finalists. The commercial involved a lot of character animation
and our Gain Plus client was so impressed with it they made
the character into a toy, a marketing merchandise. |
| CGX : |
Any other awards besides
that one? |
| Desmond: |
Recently our Apollo TV commercial
won an Award of Distinction in the ‘Creativity 30’,
year 2000 publication. |
| CGX : |
In all the work you’ve
produced so far, which is your proudest achievement? |
| Desmond: |
Proudest achievement …
err, well at this moment its the Waja TV commercial.
I’m satisfied with the results but I still feel it can
be further improved. Unfortunately, we had a rather limited
time to complete that project. I find that in Hollywood, more
time is given to a TV commercial, usually about three to four
months whereas over here we're usually given only one month,
sometimes less than that. |
| CGX : |
You finished Waja in …
|
| Desmond: |
One month. At the beginning
our client was quite concerned about the rendering and look
of the car. They wanted it to be as realistic as possible. Waja
was purely done in LightWave, the modeling, the rendering. With
LightWave we managed to achieve the reflection, the shading,
the overall realistic look. The LightWave 6 radiosity is truly
impressive, really fantastic. The images were so photo realistic
that our client couldn’t tell the difference between a
photo image and a rendered car. |
 |
| CGX : |
Are there any new features
you would like to see in the future upgrade? |
| Desmond: |
In future upgrades, err …
I would like to see more on fur technology. Also more particles
special effects built-in. At the moment, LightWave still depends
on other parties and plug-ins. |
| CGX : |
Tell us Desmond, where do
you see yourself heading five years down the road? |
| Desmond: |
Five years down the road, uhm…
actually my mission is to produce a fully animated movie like
Bugs’ Life or Toy Story, but I would say in our local scene,
we’re still short of animators in the digital industry.
Movie production would require lot of manpower, a good script,
financial investment, so you would need, say about 50 animators,
good animators. Maybe in five years time, there will be more
animators coming out, and we can fulfil that dream. But maybe
now we could start the content development with a series first.
(I also hope in five years’ time, I won’t be single
anymore.) |
| CGX : |
As a professional animator
and one who has been in the industry for a significant period,
what advise would you give someone who’s interested in
becoming an animator or who wants to pick up LightWave? |
| Desmond: |
Advise ah, watch more animated
films. As an animator, you must be interested in animation.
Then, you must have a strong art sense and a sense of motion.
What I mean is when you animate a man walking, it must look
like a man walking. LightWave is actually very easy to master.
I trained our new staff and several of them managed to adapt
in 2-3 weeks. The software is very straightforward and user
friendly. All you need is a 3D mind and a bit of art sense.
Also, read more software reference books, and LightWave reference
books. |
| CGX : |
What LightWave books do you
recommend? |
| Desmond: |
The Inside LightWave [6]
book by Dan
Ablan is a good book. As an animator, you must always
observe the things around you. Try to observe movements, details,
behaviour, that’s what an animator needs to be. |
| CGX : |
Hmm … so animators are
very observant people then? |
| Desmond: |
Yeah. (laughs) Animators should
have sharp eyes for details to produce impressive works. |
| CGX : |
OK, one more question. Out
of curiosity, what would you be if you hadn’t ventured
into this line? |
| Desmond: |
I’d probably end up in
art directing. |
|
Click Grafix Sdn Bhd thanks Desmond Yuet for his time
and effort in this interview. For more information please
email synseah@pc.jaring.my
|
