********** 12/13/97 8:50 PM Forum CO
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| OK.
| Welcome to our monthly VOUG meeting.
| Brief on rules
| Please type "?" to get in the question queue
| and get a turn
| Wait until you see your name followed
| by "GA" (Go ahead)
| to make a comment or ask a question.
| If somebody shows up late and jumps in
| please tap their shoulder on a private chat
| window
| I see the room is filling up.
| I will ask Neil to introduce himself briefly
| and will open the
| question queue for turns.
| Neil, GA, and introduce yourself.
Neil Blevins
| Geez, doesn't everyone know me already :)
| Ok, here goes
| My name is Neil, I'm a computer artist...
| I use MAX a loooooot
| I'm still in school, so I'm yet unemployed
| but I hope that will change once I graduate
| hobbies include making big scary monsters and
| playing guitar. GA
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Type "?" to get a turn to... question queue
| is now open
| Neil, please type "NEXT" when you are done
| responding to a
| question.
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Neil, where were you born?
Neil Blevins
| Montreal, Canada, up in the frozen north
| (well, not really frozen)
| In fact, I''m still here, ga
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Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| What are your greatest strenths, and greatest
| weaknesses?
Neil Blevins
| In rendering or in life? :)
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| ha! in MAX and such
Neil Blevins
| I think my greatest strength would have to be
| lighting, texturing, and coming up
| with original concepts
| or at least slightly original concepts
| My biggest weakness is definately animating,
| because I don't have the time or
| resources to do the really complex animations
| I'd like to do yet.
| Emphasis on yet.
| Next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Stefan Didak [Anima
| Neil, we know that you are still pretty young
| and are already doing pretty cool stuff in
| terms of CGI,
| but at what age did you actually start to
| discover CGI/3D and felt it was something
| you'd like to
| continue into?
Neil Blevins
| I started with computer graphics when I was
| 12 or so
| I was doing art pixel by pixel in paintshop
| Boy was that painful
| Then I started using POV-Ray back in 94
Stefan Didak [Anima
| LOL Pixel pushing.
Neil Blevins
| That's what got me into rendered art
| I really started enjoying it when I realized
| I could
| get all these images that were in my head to
| look realistic on the computer,
| something that eluded me using traditional
| methods.
| And so here I am.
| next
Stefan Didak [Anima
| Sounds like you got a 'traditional'
| background there... pixels, POV/ASCII, etc.
| Cool. Keep up the good
| stuff.
Neil Blevins
| thanks, hope to
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| What is your current major?
Neil Blevins
| Design Art, but I was in computer science two
| years ago, and was in pure and
| applied science before that
| next
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John Stetzer
| Who are some of the traditional artists who
| have influenced
| your style?; can see a little bit of Giger in
| some of them :^),
| anyone else?...
Neil Blevins
| Giger definately
| Also a local artist called Heidi Taillefer
| she went to the same art class I did (5 years
| older though)
| she did these really cool paintings of
| mechanical beasts, and although my
| work really doesn't look anything like her
| style, she did have a major influence
| on me
| Also, I'm heavily into comic art, like Dale
| Keown, Marc Silvestri, Michael Turner,
| etc
| next
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Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| Do you plan to stay in Canada? Or head to
| US, or
| overseas? Work for a shop, or go solo?
| Teach?
Neil Blevins
| I plan to stay in canada until I finish my
| major in a year and a half
| Then I'll probably got to California for a
| few years to work for some studios
| doing films and video games.
| Later on in life I'd like to try and live off
| my art by doing books, posters,
| collections, etc
| But I'm not sure about that. I guess I'll see
| what life brings me.
| Teach? Maybe one day.
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
John Stetzer
| Do you find yourself doing more work on the
| computer as
| opposed to more traditional media? And what
| traditional
| media do you prefer working in?
Neil Blevins
| I tend to do more work on the computer, but I
| do a lot of traditional art
| In fact, most of my computer images start off
| as drawings, then get converted to
| max.
| as for traditional mediums, I do watercolor,
| ink, pencil, and acrylics (really biiig
| acrylics)
| I'm not sure if I prefer any medium over
| another, it depends on what the image
| needs IMO.
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Neil, have you used sound in your work?
Neil Blevins
| Actually, that's a funny story
| My first animation had sound
| I recorded it in a friend's basement along
| with some other musicians on this
| really old tape deck
| (reel to reel)
| It sounded pretty bad, but it worked with the
| animation, and the song was pretty
| good
| even if it was destroyed by our bad playing.
| Then my reel to reel broke the day after we
| recorded it. Ahhh!
| I also got into a car accident that night,
| <editors note - a very small accident>
| when we tried to drive our drummer
| home
| It all worked out in the end though. But I've
| never used sound since.
| next
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Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| Have you used any MIDI controllers with MAX 2?
Neil Blevins
| nope.
| There's a zillion and one things I'd like to
| try in max, just never seem to have the
| time.
| I'd definately try it out though if it were
| the only way to achieve an effect.
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Stefan Didak [Anima
| Given the style and content of your images I
| wonder what you'd prefer in terms of work,
| the games
| and entertainment field, the broadcast field,
| or if you lean more towards movie production
| work?
Neil Blevins
| Ohhhh, that's a tough one
Stefan Didak [Anima
| :-) All of the above...
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| or design Viz
Neil Blevins
| Well, I've seen several inspirational films
| recently like Starship troopers and
| Alien 4, which would mean I'm leaning towards
| films, but I do like the other
| kinds of media out there
| I used to play a lot of videogames, so I
| would also like to work there for awhile,
| as long as the games are dark, scary, and
| involve big nasty monsters
| But really, one thing I'd love to do is work
| on fully computer generated movies.
| Sort of like Anime, but computer generated,
| with monsters, blood, the whole
| deal. I really haven't seen anything in this
| genre yet, and I think this is an area
| that needs some attention.
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| What do you think about "Toy Story?"
Neil Blevins
| I loved toy story
| (yes, even though it was jolly)
| It was a breakthrough film, and I own a copy
| that is 4 feet from the place I'm
| currently sitting.
| I'm just sorry that disney seemed to get so
| much of the attention, when it was
| really pixar who did all the work.
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
John Stetzer
| Since you mentioned anime...what style
| (genre) of anime do
| you like best?; favorite anime?
Neil Blevins
| Well, I'm currently completely addicted to
| Ninja Scroll
| Just bought a copy.
| I used to watch Goldorak and all those old
| animes where you basically had a
| big robot fighting a new monster every week.
| Those were my first cartoons.
| and they definately had an effect on my work.
| Ghost in the shell was also good.
John Stetzer
| Prefered 'SpectraMan' myself :^)
Neil Blevins
| I'm just starting to get back into the genre,
| I'll have to check that one out. A local
| comic shop (which also rents anime) just
| moved and their film section is huge now.
| I just need time now to watch all these films
| and render at the same time. :)
| next
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Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Do you work mostly at school or home?
Neil Blevins
| I have never done any rendering at school
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| I mean "play" ;-)
Neil Blevins
| play what?
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| What is your MAX setup like?... play with MAX.
Neil Blevins
| all my max work is done at home
| my school only has a macintosh lab, and I
| have no desire to use "Strata Pro" :)
| There is an alias lab that just opened up,
| but they're only letting graduate
| students use it
| I hate school politics
| my max setup is a P100 with 64 megs of ram,
| and a 1 meg video card. Pretty
| pathetic by the standards of most people, but
| there's that darn money issue
| next
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John Stetzer
| Which plugins do you prefer to use (3rd
| party); see a lot of
| RLF effects, as an example...
Neil Blevins
| Yup, I do use rlf a lot, it's a much better
| plugin than lenzfx IMO
| I also use character studio, and metareyes
| I own radioray, but I don't have a fast
| enough computer to do anything useful
| with it.
| I also own just about every free plugin in
| existence
| Peter's stuff is usually really useful
| and I've been using push a lot
| I've been fiddling a lot with metareyes
| recently because I'm trying to do some
| organic stuff.
| You'll see some of that in the near future.
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| If you dont use MAX at school for anything,
| how do you
| justify paying "educational" pricing? I
| taught myself 3DS
| at home as you did..., but at full price.
| And I too have a
| P100 with 64 MB of RAM. Are you also paying
| Eductional
| pricing for all your plug-ins? I know our
| first forum
| exchanges were over ed. pricing, just
| wondering what you
| think nowadays.
Neil Blevins
| Geez, you remember that far back
| :)
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| hee-hee
Neil Blevins
| I started out using eductational software,
| but I own a full commercial version of
| max
John Stetzer
| Some do :^)
Neil Blevins
| I bought a used copy from someone on the
| forum, then upgraded it, so I've
| never been in the educational max market
| hence, all my max plugins are full commercial
| versions
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| Suerly R3/4 was educational?
Neil Blevins
| yes
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| Care to speak to ed. pricing in general?
Neil Blevins
| I think that student pricing is important
| first, if your course requires you own a
| copy, educational pricing is a must
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| I agree
Neil Blevins
| if you don't have a specific course using it,
| then the educational price is mainly
| just a helper, since most people 14-16 don't
| have the money for a full version
| Anyway, when you try and upgrade to a full
| commercial
| version after you finish school, you still
| have to pay about $2000
| , so educational pricing, if you want to stay
| in the field
| is really nothing more than a loan.
| That's the way I see it anyway
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| Well, I've certainly been offered a ton of
| ed. stuff myself...
| for Professional use
Neil Blevins
| I really don't approve of that
Neil Blevins
| if you're making money (like I am now) off
| the software, you should have a full
| commercial copy
| , but people will do what people will do, and
| there's very little we can do to stop it
| next
Paul Sanford [LVL5]
| thanks for elaborating... glad you're
| breaking into the field,
| you do great work!
Neil Blevins
| thanks paul
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
John Stetzer
| How long in general does it take for you to
| bring a picture to
| completion?; know there have to be some
| filesize limitations
| due to youe system...
Neil Blevins
| depends on the image
| usually about 2 weeks
| some of my more complex stuff like factory
| which has millions of polygons can
| take months
| (mainly due to screen redraw times, which can
| top 4 to 5 minutes)
| School has kept me really busy recently, so
| several images I've been working
| on since september
| but I hope to have them finished during my
| christmas break (which I've just
| started, BTW).
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| What do you miss most from R3/4?
Neil Blevins
| Nothing, actually
| I really love max, the way it's designed, the
| way it functions.
| I can't really think of a single plugin that
| I don't have now in max that I had in the
| original 3dstudio
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Stefan Didak [Anima
| Building on Emmanuel's question, what is it
| that you might feel is missing from MAX?
Neil Blevins
| I have a pretty vicious wishlist for R3
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Can you whet our appetite, Neil?
Stefan Didak [Anima
| LOL! Who doesn't? ;-)
Neil Blevins
| Some pretty crazy stuff
| It needs some more powerful particle systems
Neil Blevins
| Hair (which is being worked on by some 3rd
| party people, I know)
| some stuff for controlling large numbers of
| objects simultaneously,
| biped for 4 or more legged characters
| displacement modifier with adaptive
| tesselation.
| I have tons and tons of wishes. But max is
| doing pretty good already. The next
| big thing I'm waiting for is the advanced
| nurbs package
| That's still sorely missed.
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
John Stetzer
| What one thing do you feel is currently
| lacking in Max,
| compared to other products out there?
Neil Blevins
| advanced nurbs :)
| I know you've been doing a lot of work with
| Rhino
| I'd really like to see a lot of that
| functionality directly in max.
| Metareyes and other metaball modellers are
| good but for really smooth characters nurbs is a
| must
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
John Wainwright
| Have you tried Organica?
Neil Blevins
| which plugin was that again?
| Was organica that thing that GreG uploaded?
John Wainwright
| It's a new interactive metaball modeller from
| the people who
| did Imagine.
| It's about $149 I think and there's a free
| demo on their web
| site.
| Looks pretty cool
Neil Blevins
| Oh ya, I did try it out
| It has some nice options, but Im a little
| spoiled and wish it were a max plugin
John Wainwright
| Quite so.
Neil Blevins
| Also, I find the metamuscle (or metaspline as
| it's called in clay studio)
| is a major time saver.
| I'm interested in seeing what new stuff
| comes in metareyes 4.0
| which is really the last plugin I need before
| I drop R1 of max
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Neil, any tips on learning MAX from scratch?
Neil Blevins
| The manuals are really important :)
| I feel sorry for pirates who have no manuals
| and are trying to learn the 10000
| features or so that max has
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| What order would you recommend?
Neil Blevins
| actually, I guess it serves them right
| When I learned max, I played around with it
| for a week
| then I did the tutorials for a week
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Any books you like?
Neil Blevins
| then I played around for another 3 month
| period
| I finally got to read the manuals during my
| summer vacation on the beach
| the beach is a great place to learn about all
| the max stuff you didn't know
| As for books...
| I own the character animation in max book,
| and that Tutorials from the masters
| book
| . Both have useful information, but I think
| the real important thing
| is to just make images, lots and lots of
| images. Practice makes perfect
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
John Stetzer
| Music preferences :^)?
Neil Blevins
| Oh John, you know the answer to that already
| :)
John Stetzer
| Some might not :^)
Neil Blevins
| Lets see, early Metallica, Pantera, Fear
| Factory, Strapping Young Lad,
| Meshuggah, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation,
| anything really heavy and evil
| I also listen to some softer music like Steve
| Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson
| Most of the music in my collection most
| people will never have heard of
| but that's ok, I never followed trends in the
| music industry
| just music that spoke to me
| please don't exclude me because I'm different
| :)
| next
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Hey Neil, you don't dress like the music you
| like ;-) Stefan, GA
Stefan Didak [Anima
| Any chance you'll be digging deep into
| MAXScript? (Monster tools, of course). Nice
| choice of music
| by the way, I'm not surprised. <g>
Neil Blevins
| Emmanuel, actually, I had all the appropriate
| t-shirts. But no, I don't have long
| hair and tattoos
| Stefan,
| I'm starting to get into max script now
| Looks like John W has left, he's truly the
| man as far as I'm concerned
| Maxscript is really powerful, but my
| programming skills leave something to be
| desired
| maybe this summer I'll get into it a bit more
| (and yes, most people sorta figure my music
| tastes from the art. It all goes
| hand in hand)
| next
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Do you mean T-shirts at SIGGRAPH?
Neil Blevins
| yup.
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Gotcha.
Neil Blevins
| they were all black, and evil shade of black,
| black as my soul, ahhaahaha!
| Sorry...
| just kidding
| sorta
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| What is your favority R2 feature or tool?
Neil Blevins
| My favorite feature...
| hmmm
| I liked shapemerge a lot
| since a good boolean is tough
| I like the raytraced material, but it is slow
| on a P100
| I think my favorite feature really is all the
| little improvements that make working
| in max a lot easier and quicker
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
John Stetzer
| Speaking of lurkers.... any preferences in TV
| programs?
Neil Blevins
| ummmm
| hmmmmm
| welll
Neil Blevins
| babylon 5 would have to be up there pretty
| high
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| For the CGI?
Neil Blevins
| I also am completelyt addicted to the simpsons
| I can receit the scripts of just about every
| episode
| And I'm really into southpark recebtly
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Ay caramba!
Neil Blevins
| emmanuel
| I got into B5 because of the graphics
| but by the 2nd season, I realized "my god,
| there's an actual story in there!"
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| <LOL>
Neil Blevins
| And it's a pretty darn good one. Most people
| were put off by the bad acting in the
| first season
| and that's a shame, because the stuff they're
| doing now is spectacular
| both in CG as well as story and acting
| Everyone should watch this show
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Stefan Didak [Anima
| Not really a question, just a note... it
| wasn't until the 2nd season that it had a
| story. :-)
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| B5 is only shown on cable TV in LA area now.
Neil Blevins
| Stefan,
| Actually, a lot of the first season stuff is
| completely necissary to understand the
| later seasons, so I have to disagree
| it's just it wasn't presented in a way
Stefan Didak [Anima
| That's OK. :-) It was just a bit hard to
| follow.
Neil Blevins
| that most of us were used to
| The reason its hard to follow is really
| because of the complexity
| I don't know how anyone can be sure of
| everything going on
| unless they've seen every episode
Stefan Didak [Anima
| True. Miss one... and it gets weird.
Neil Blevins
| Even I can't get everything, and I own every
| episode
| next
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
David Cheetham
| Hope this hasn't been asked already, but
| where to from here?
Neil Blevins
| Actually, it has, but to recap
| I'll probably be in CA sometime mid 99,
| then I'll see where life takes me
David Cheetham
| Are you using 2.0?
Neil Blevins
| Yup, have been for awhile. You?
David Cheetham
| Na it hasn't arrived in NZ yet!!!
Neil Blevins
| Really. That sucks
David Cheetham
| sure does.
Neil Blevins
| Maybe you could have ordered it directly from
| the states
| would have probably shown up faster
David Cheetham
| No you can't do that
Neil Blevins
| Really, why not?
David Cheetham
| You can but adesk doesn't like it
Neil Blevins
| Well, I get all my stuff from the states, the
| only authorized dealer around here
| doesn't know his hand from his arse
David Cheetham
| An o/seas copy is not upgradeable
Neil Blevins
| overseas stuff isn't upgradable. Hmmm
David Cheetham
| I might get a copy this week
Neil Blevins
| I think there's some improvement to be made
| in the way max is distributed
| but alas, I have no control over that
David Cheetham
| Need something to do this Xmas
Neil Blevins
| well, all the new max2 features will
| definately get you lots to do.
David Cheetham
| I think Adesk Australia are the problem here
Neil Blevins
| I knew those australians were up to no good :)
David Cheetham
| How's the guitar?
Neil Blevins
| Doing fine.
| Really loud
| Just got new strings
| (this is an event for me, I only change them
| everyy 4 months or so)
| are we out of questions emmenuel, we could
| just turn this into a free for all
David Cheetham
| oops, thought it was. Sorry
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Free for all sounds fine.
| I can smell dinner... so the timing is
| perfect!
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
********** The rest is just idle chatter, with the following interesting bits...
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| I remember you promised to share the secret
| family recipe ;-)
Neil Blevins
| As for my recipe
| that's still a family secret
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Is ambient light = 0, in your work?
Neil Blevins
| yes
| I like real black
| as for sharpness, a lot of it has to do with
| my textures, and that's just the way I
| see things. I fiddle with textures until they
| look that way
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Do you scan custom photographs or create with
| a paint program?
Neil Blevins
| I usually use paint programs
| and a lot of procedurals mixed together
| I rarely use scanned stuff
| unless it's something specific.
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Which procedurals?
Neil Blevins
| I use noise a lot
| Also, dynoskin by blur
| And when I use noise, it's usually layers of
| 5 or 6 different types of noise, each
| with mattes
David Cheetham
| Noise is great.
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Hmmmmm... Would you be interested in
| teaching at Autodesk
| University next September in Philly?
Neil Blevins
| I would be interested, but I'm back in school
| then
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Bummer. Sounds like you would do a great job
| with special effects...
Neil Blevins
| If there are summer courses, I might be
| pursuaded, otherwise, you'll just have
| to see me at Siggraph.
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Neil Blevins
| Is everyone here going to Siggraph next summer?
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| I am.
| I hope the parties are as good.
David Cheetham
| I'd like to but it's probably gonna be too
| difficult.
John Stetzer
| Going to make a better try at it next year,
| since the other feel through this year
Neil Blevins
| Last years was really great
Emmanuel [AUGI]
| Yes, it was.
David Cheetham
| I might try to get the user group interested.
Neil Blevins
| You'd better be there John, or I'll send a
| bomb your way :)
| David, it would be nice if you could come
| trust me, I know it's expensive
| but it's so worth it
David Cheetham
| Problem is I have to explain what it is to
| them first
Neil Blevins
| not just to see all the new software
| and stuff
John Stetzer
| Ooooooh, I'm Scaaaared ;^).
| Yeah, going to definately make it this year
Neil Blevins
| but because you get to meet all these cool
| people
| I really like the max community we've got
| going
| hope it stays
----------------------------|--------------------------------------------