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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from dtheatre.com, located at http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=703. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Interview with Steven Stahlberg By JackDavidsonOLD, (DT) February 22, 2000 2:24 PM PT |
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Note: a few of the questions were taken directly from the faq on stevens page, this is a good source for more info. Digital Theatre What hardware and software do you use? Steven Stahlberg For all my older stuff I used Alias Power Animator running on a Silicon Graphics work station called Indigo r4000. The PA is version 7.01 and so is about 3 years old, the Indigo is about 5 years old. I now work with Alias Maya 2.5 Unlimited, running on a Dell NT, a dual PIII 733 mHz with 384 Mb of RAM, and that's a huge step up. I have never used 3d Studio Max or Lightwave or any other important 3d software, there just has never been neither reason nor occasion to. Maya is the best for what I do. DT Tell us more about Alias. Do you use polygons? How much is it? Is there a demo version? SS Alias PA is a spline based modeller (later versions have been getting better and better polygon tools, but it's spline tools have always been famous), using NURBS - Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines. Alias PA has always been very slow and very expensive compared to for example 3d Studio Max, but the next generation Alias software Maya is MUCH faster and more powerful in character animation, the best in the world IMHO. Prices vary, but it's usually in the range of 6000 to 15000 US$. For more check out their web site. There is no demo version as far as I know. DT How did you do your virtual actress? SS It has taken me a long time, many years, and of course she's still not finished by a long shot. But she was finally around 2 years ago at the point where I could start to animate her, in closeup or in a full body shot. You're welcome to mail me questions, but first try downloading this free demo version of my face modelling tutorial, the only one I've got so far (body modelling tutorial is in the works). It is written mainly for Alias (Rhino version coming soon) but much of the content is applicable to any 3d software. Check it out! DT Do you use photographs/models for your virtual actress models? SS Not for the actual scenes, but when I was creating the original virtual actress I used dozens of references. DT Have you ever studied anatomy/ Figure drawing? SS Yes, mainly in art school. DT Do you create most of your own textures for modeling? SS Yes, although the original source may be different things, a photo, or one of my own paintings, etc. DT How long do many of the images you have done take to create, not including the modeling of the virtual actress? SS About a week fulltime I'd say. DT Do you see a future where digital actors will replace, or at least compliment / work with real actors? SS This may become very controversial in the future - I think certainly digital actors will start replacing more and more actors, starting with extras and stuntmen and bit-parts and expanding maybe into soaps and other mass-produced drama and comedy, primarily at first of course sci-fi and horror... this could possibly start to really take off as soon as in 2 - 3 years. At first voice actors will be needed to supply the voices for the cg actors, but down the line 10 - 20 years the voices will also be done digitally I think. Take the movie 'Pitch Black' for instance - here we have a cast of humans marooned on a planet with 3 suns, 2 of which have very different colors. The post-processing techniques used to color the film red and blue respectively did not work, especially when both suns were shining at once from opposite sides - these lighting situations in real life would have looked very different. That kind of script might in the future be more suitable for an all-cg treatment, at least for the sunlit shots. DT Do you use and hardware for motion capture, or are all the poses, "done by hand"? SS By hand. DT What do you see as the biggest challenge ithe 3d industry right now? SS Well, for me personally it's creating realistic humans, with realistic skin, realistic motion and realistic cloth and hair etc, and being able to create all-cg tv shows, even serials, that look and feel almost as good as live ones. The means exist now to do some of the above, but it's way too expensive. And some things, like real skin, is still beyond us. But I think things will soon start to change, even quicker than before. DT What is the best way to get into a career in CG? SS In the US, Ringling, and CalArts are very good I've heard, and in Canada Sheridan. There's more help for beginners at 3D Ark. There are other ways to go, though. Here's some reasons why I think art schools generally speaking might be better than cg schools (note this is for artists, when it comes to programmers I don't know much except that if you can combine art skills with programming skills you've really got it made!) - 1 - Graphics are graphics, whether done on computer or not, and graphical knowledge is more important and harder and slower to come by than computer knowledge. And you learn more about graphics in art school than in cg school, I think. 2 - the most important thing, even more important than graphical ability, is motivation and long term commitment, and taking part time art classes for a while might be a better way to find out if you have enough of that. If you find that you're good at it, but hate it and can't be bothered with it - or if you find that you're not good at it and still can't be bothered - you probably don't have a future in any graphics related business. (It IS possible to raise your level of competency, to increase your apparent 'talent', quite a lot if you're motivated enough to practice a lot!) 3 - a cg school diploma is not as important as they'd like you to believe (I've heard from recruiters the showreel is sometimes the only criteria used when hiring.) I've never attended a cg school in America so you could say I'm not qualified to offer opinions on them. Still, I have attended 2 art schools for a total of 3 years, and I've discussed US cg schools with students, and I've taught cg at a Malaysian university. I think learning to use a software to the point where one doesn't consult the manual too often is comparatively easy, something a motivated person can do at home in their spare time in a few weeks or months. After that, to really learn how to use it fluently in a production environment, is just a matter of a few thousand hours of practise... for that a school or even a tutor is not strictly necessary, the only thing truly necessary is motivation. Before you spend 80,000 US$ or more (not counting lost salary) on a BFA, go for a long walk somewhere and meditate on these very important questions: ask yourself 'Do I really want to do this? Am I motivated enough to give it a 100%?' For some reason or other, many students in expensive cg programs seem to not have asked this of themselves, or if they did, to not have answered truthfully. True, if you're Canadian and go to Sheridan for example you pay much less, but you still have to be just as motivated. If you are motivated enough, one way to do it could be to have a part time job, or an easy full time job like postman or something, and take a few art classes every week (like Life Drawing, Typography, Painting, Design, Photography, Sculpture, Acting etc), and practise the rest of the time at home on your own chosen software/hardware. This way there are no loans to pay back at graduation, and you can spend as much time as you like on perfecting the showreel. You can even start freelancing if you want, whenever you want. There's much less risk if you for any reason decide to not follow through with a cg career. Now if you're not motivated enough to do the above, you might not get a whole lot out of cg school either. With a lack of motivation, quite possibly surrounded by other students lacking in motivation, you'll soon start thinking you're supposed to 'have a life' outside the school - well, it's better you find out now rather than later - it doesn't work that way. :-) Only if you work serious overtime during those 4 years will you have a chance to become good. Whether you choose art school or cg school, come early, be the last to leave. Work during the holidays. (All those who say 'No way man!!' to that, I recommend to drop out now - you'll save time, money and face, and free your seat up to someone truly deserving.) The advantages of cg schools I think are 1) that you can learn the basics on several softwares (but maybe better to concentrate and excel on a single software though?), and 2) the friendly competing - extremely motivating - that may happen between you and a couple classmates, and 3) the contact network you usually get - which can be quite valuable to have after graduation. The disadvantages: 1) you may be blocked from access to the hardware by the crowd. 2) It's usually VERY expensive. 3) you only have a limited number of years. 4) you may be stuck with subjects you think are a waste of time. I hope this helps. Best of luck to you, whatever you choose to do! And if you have a different opinion or experience than the above, please email me about it. Steven |
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