CGF - What was your first commercial project?
This is going back a long time now. I did some logo work for corporate videos as far back as 1990, but the first actual commercial I did was a PSA in 1992. Nothing spectacular - it was a simple spinning globe, but it was one of the earliest CG commercials and probably the first one done in town. Later I did a more effects heavy commercial for a cola company in Saudi Arabia, which won an award. I did a lot of work for print as well. Mostly brochures, but a few images were blown up to wall murals, or larger.

Image - Hourglass, click to view larger image

CGF - What tools do you use?
LightWave pretty much does everything I need. I use Photoshop from time to time, but there are times when I need a specific image that I find it easier to just create the image in LightWave rather than try to make it in a paint program. A good example was when I had to tweak a model of a VW bug. I wasn't set up with Photoshop at the studio, and I needed textures for the headlights, tires and the wiper steaks on the windshield. These were all created using LightWave and its arsenal of procedural textures. I modeled the tire treads and grille designs and rendered those out for bump maps, and I used geometry to bend a procedural to make the wiper streaks. I then mapped those images onto the object.

One tool I really miss from the Amiga days is Deluxe Paint. It could do stuff, especially in the palette re mapping area, that I can’t find any way to do on the PC.

Image – MystiKats TalinPosed, click to view larger image

Image – RoughNecks, click to view larger image

Image – Planetrise Day, click to view larger image