How long have you been in down town San Francisco and how has it been treating you?
Well I am actually down in San Jose, about a hour south of San Francisco. And our offices are in Mountain View, the heart of “Silicon Valley” as they say. Both great locations, awesome weather and we are surrounded by all the best tech companies.
Could you describe your roll as a resident artist at Luxology?
It is actually always changing which I love. I started out creating a good deal of the material presets, then worked out the structure of the preset library as a whole for the 401 release. Also I do onsite training for some of out larger clients like Apple and ILM. As well as the demo monkey for trade shows. More recently I created Luxology’s first go at smart content with Splash Kit. Splash Kit was a very rewarding project for me. I modeled and rigged the whole kit in modo and hearing “Hey did you use Real Flow for that?” is actually a huge compliment. Over the last few months I have been working on our new Kit, HDRE – High Dynamic Range Environments. Basically rigged HDR environments with matching back plates, cameras and physical suns in modo. For that one I have been shooting all the HDR spherical panoramas as well as the backplate images. It has been nice getting away from the computer and behind the lens… of an actual camera. The kit should be out pretty soon, so keep an eye out for it.
When you are not cranking away on computers and Modo, what do you to relax or unplug?
My first love will always be skateboarding. San Jose has one of the best scenes for skating in the world, good spots, great people and a true love from everyone involved. We are also lucky in the Bay Area for great natural landscapes. I try to get out for a hike at lease once a week. Which is also awesome for photography, another passion of mine. But too often I find myself back behind my machine creating some personal work, which you can see at digitalvice.net.
What do you feel are the strong points of Modo versus other applications?
The ease of use for sure, oh and the speed. modo just makes 3D fun again. The UI is laid out nicely and can be customized so easily. For me I can’t model in another app again, the tools are great and having an integrated sculpting toolset is the best. Maybe my favorite aspect of modo is the interactive preview viewport. No need for test renders, change an attribute and it is updated on the fly in preview. Drag on a material preset and change the environment with a double click, again it’s fun. The fur toolset and integration also plays a part in why I love modo. And of course our replicator technology, painting leaves on trees or plants on the ground it too fun.
When you are creating, do you listen to music? If so what is on your playlist?
Oh yea! Music is a huge driving force in my live. Ok, lets have a look on the playlist. Interpol, Modest Mouse, Spoon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Radiohead are a must. I also really dig Santogold, MGMT, Lykke Li, Dirty Projectors, Rouge Wave, Yeasayer, The Duke Spirt and some Man Man. And I can’t forget my imaginary girlfriend Zooey Deschanel from She & Him. Honestly I could go on for a while.
Would you consider yourself more of a Materials and Lighting artist? (Some great renderings showing off glass, liquids and light situations)
Well not really. I would say I am just a 3D artist. I love it all and never stop to focus on one thing. Maybe that holds me back at ever mastering anything but I just like to explore all aspects of CG creation. At my first studio I was known as the modeler and never did any material work. Now I hardly model. I just like to create the colors and shapes in my head and I do whatever it takes to get it out. So I guess I would say I am a generalist who is not great at animation.
Do you feel there is anything the Modo Community is missing, or what it’s strong points are?
Not really, the community is strong. It is actually one thing that really attracted me to modo in the first place. You can ask a question and sure enough someone will answer it, either a Luxology employee or a user. The gallery is amazing and it is the first thing I check every morning. The addition of the asset sharing section really has solidified the existence of a community. So many people share amazing models and materials it is fantastic. When I pick up a quick turnaround freelance project it is the first place I go. You need a plant, there it is. Looking for a iPhone, hey there’s one.
Way cool, Ryan. Love your work, and good read, eh.
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I’m actually a blender user from blendercookie, just wanted to check out the other cgcookie departments. nice read! and it sounds like you have an awesome job.
I am heading over to your portfolio site now … / M_