CGF - What do you feel is the most important segment of 3D that is not understood?
Probably the fact that a lot of people that want this stuff think it's only a matter of pushing a few buttons. A lot of producers, executives, etc., don't realize that building something in a computer takes about as much work as building it physically. Someone has to design the model, build it, texture/paint it, light it, and film it. While building a model in the computer can be cheaper than building a physical model, physical models still tend to light better. They have radiosity - light that bounces from one surface to another - added naturally. This doesn't add hours per frame, and it's truly interactive. A physical model can be lit and the results seen instantly. In 3D, you can spend a long time getting the perfect lighting and even when you do, it still adds a lot of time each frame. For some things, it's better to build a physical model. Others, a 3D model works best. Either way, it takes time to get the quality, and it's a lot more work than a few button pushes.

CGF – We all run across young talented artists from time to time who just ‘get it’. What would you say to them?
They’re the ones that will probably stick with 3D and have their names on the big screen, or be successful in other aspects of 3D. Some people are just wired oddly enough to pick this stuff up immediately. Others are destined for other things, like writing the code that does this stuff, or designing the next super computer, or becoming the next industry-trampling corporate bigwig. I’d suck at any of those, but give me a few points and polygons to push around, and I’ll be in my element.

These are also the people I try to convince to write tutorials so they can spread their own techniques around. Of course, not everyone is able to break their ideas into step-by-step procedures that other people can follow. To these people, the stuff they do is simple, and it’s usually the simple stuff that’s the hardest to explain.

Usually I run into people that are really talented, but still don’t quite ‘get it.’ The can do amazing work, but they’re more attuned to the ‘computerless’ version of what they’re doing – sculpting, painting, animating, etc. – so they know what they’re doing, but they’re not sure how the computer is letting them it. Quite often it sounds like they’re on the edge of losing control of whatever they’re doing. I can’t really blame the artist since I know how computers like to throw in a bit of their own ‘creativity’ at times.

CGF – The other side of that coin are the artists who struggle to get this 3D stuff. What would be your advice to them?
If you like it, then do it! When it gets hard, slow down and scale things back a bit. Remember that ball and checkerboard. A lot of problems can be solved faster if you apply them to a simpler task. This lets you see where the problem starts to show up so you can isolate it. For texturing, don’t be intimidated if you have a dozen or more texture layers. Tackle everything a bit at a time. LightWave has a lot of buttons these days, but about 80% of them are rarely used, especially in Layout. Learn the basics first and get comfortable with those. Ignore lens flares and volumetrics and bones until you have a good feel for how the simpler stuff works. If you want to learn more about camera work and lighting, pick up a real camera and get a feel for how that works (A digital one is great because you won’t waste film, and later, you can use it to build a great texture library as well). I think what really helped me ‘get it’ was the fact that I have some photography and drafting experience, and I could already draw. 3D is really a combination of these three skills.

The best advice I can give really is to just play around with the tools. If something blows up on you, you can usually undo it and try again. No harm done. If you start asking things like “what would happen if I did this” or “can this be done”, just try it! I see so many people actually spend time asking stuff like this on the Internet, and I always wonder why don’t they just try it? It would be so much faster than spending the time writing the question in the first place, let alone waiting for an answer. The good questions to ask are “How does this work?” or “Why does this work”. Not all tools are completely self-explanatory, so the only way to understand them is to ask someone that does. Once you know how & why the tools work, you will find a lot more possibilities for them. Understanding how Motion Blur worked is what led me to develop the spinning light trick. Well, that and that wooden gate.

Oh yeah… Don’t be afraid to try values outside the ‘normal’ range. Quite often, crazy values will be just what you need for a particular effect.