 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Web Services
Consulting Services
Originally published in Mac Art & Design magazine, volume 6, edition no 24 in Autumn, 1998.
Tell us a little bit about your 3D experience.
J.B.Crane: "I started four years ago after a solid career with traditional media, illustration and desktop publishing graphics. I was bored and knew I could do more, especially with the computer, so I purchased a copy of Ray Dream 3. That was my first 3D application. From there I've grown into just about everything available in Mac 3D and have learned a lot. Mostly I find 3D an appropriate venue to present what I have going on in my brain, and it's just plain fun. I've always been good spatially and used to build models when I was a kid. Modeling comes naturally to me, as do color choices and lighting decisions. The rest is just determined learning, trying to learn out how to communicate with the tools you're working with."
Do you use 3D mainly for illustrative work or do you also create animations?
J.B.Crane: "I do both, but probably 70-30 slanted toward illustration presently. I'm hoping to balance that out a little more, but I'm an illustrator at heart. Animation is a wonderful medium but can be a bit frustrating and limiting. I long for the day you can animate anything you can imagine. Sometimes I feel that's not far off."
Are you using 3D for multimedia, or 3D on the web?
J.B.Crane: "I use 3D for still images on the web and will soon be launching a QuickTime VR portion of my site. I use 3D for multimedia in the form of QuickTime moview, illustration and interface development and print support."
Tell us if you are into experimental 3D design, or if you mainly use 3D as part of your professional toolbox for job assignments?
J.B.Crane: "Both. I find that experimenting, when you're not "working" on a specific assignment, prepares your creative juices for when that assignment hits. I spend 85% of my time in 3D. The other 15% on administrative and the occasional non-3D related project. Experimentation is mandatory in 3D. There is almost always something you can better yourself at by sitting down and discovering how a tool works or doesn't work. You can't read it all out of the manual a week before it's due. After a certain amount of experimentation you begin to learn how to learn, then explore and extrapolate. That's where the real fun begins. LEarn the rules of the tools, then start breaking them. You'll crash a good buit, but you'll discover many things that just following the tutorials step by step will never tell you."
What programs o you prefer?
J.B.Crane: "Each program seems to have its own strengths. I enjoy almost all of them for different reasons and for different projects. I've taken to letting the project determine the tool, not the other way around. I've found that if I call myself a die-in-wool user of one specific application, it limits me. I've invested a considerable amount of time learning Electric Image, LightWave, Strata Studio Pro, Ray Dream, Infini-D and a few others. Letting the project drive the tool can hinder you as well, if you don't spend enough time discovering how something works in a certain application. Each program is different, and each brain using it is different as well. Amapi is a good example. Some people love Amapi, and some simply don't get it. A lot of it has to do with your background, experience level, etc. Most applications boast "easy to learn" somewhere in the advertising rhetoric, but it has to be right for you. Most applications have demos available for download. I've never done this, but a lot of my buddies have and swear it's a great way to see if the app works for your brain before you buy it. With a lot of this software costing a good sum of money, it's wise to have an idea whether it's right for you or not before spending. Sometimes you just have to struggle through with a package until "the big aha" comes. Then things tend to move a little faster."
| Home | Clients | Services | Works | News | Resources | About | Contact |
All material © Copyright 1995-2008 by CraneDigital, LLC. All rights reserved.
CraneDigital, LLC P.O. Box 270166, Fort Collins, CO 80527-0166 tel: +1 970-229-1462. e-mail: please see information atop each page.
TERMS OF USE/PRIVACY: the content displayed on this web site is owned, controlled or licensed by or to CraneDigital, LLC, its licensors and/or its clients, and is protected by copyright (© ), trademark (™) and other rights and laws. Duplication or redistribution of any such content is strictly prohibited.
Another fine website from CraneDigital, LLC.