|  Where
are you from and where are you living today?
I'm from Portugal and it is also where I presently live, in a city called
Setubal, not far (around 40 km) from the capital, Lisbon.
How old are you?
I'm 33 years old.
Do you use Cinema as a hobby, for
learning, or for pro work?
All of them actually. As a hobby, in my (little) spare time. For learning,
as I usually do some experiments and I also give classes. And, of course,
for pro work, at the agency I work for.
What can you see from where you
sit now?
I can see the wall in front of my bed because I'm at home with my laptop,
on a birth license, because my first son was born just a couple of weeks
ago :-)
If I move my head a bit I can also see some buildings and a little mountain
range through the window and a tv set tuned to Discovery Channel.
Coffee, Tea or something stronger?
I like them both but I don't have the daily ritual of drinking any of
them. I do prefer water, milk, juice and sodas.
Which Cinema 4D version do you
use currently?
Release 9. But I still do most of my work on 8.503.
Which platform do you use/prefer
- Mac or PC?
A Mac!!! Always!! The more I (try to) use PCs, the more I love Macs ;-)
Any particular reason for your
platform choice?
I started out with PCs. A few years later I discovered Macs. I fell inlove.
They are so much more intuitive, nicer to work with and fit much better
with artistic minds. And they are waaaaaay more good looking.
CRT or LCD and why?
Well, I use mainly my laptop. So, that reduces the choice to LCD ;-)
I do love the more accurate colors that I can achieve with a properly
calibrated CRT. But my eyes are not what they used to be and now I prefer
a flicker free, good-contrast, and exquisite color (almost as good as
a CRT) of a Mac Cinema Display. So, LCD is my choice now.
Default scheme and layout or custom?
I love the Maja scheme. And a custom
layout, of course. Not much different from the original one but it
suits my needs much better.
What was your first ever interest/experience
in 3D/CG?
Oh, that goes way back. First, I must say that I started drawing when
I was only 2 years old, so I have been a "graphic" person from
a very early age :-)
Then, at the age of 14, I got my first computer (a Sinclar ZX Spectrum
48K) and I never liked playing games with it very much. I preferred to
create stuff, programming. So, some of my first programs had to do with
graphics, of course. It was not much later that I started doing 3D stuff
too. I bought a few books on three-dimensional programming and did some
3D wireframe experiments.
When and why did you decide to
make Cinema your weapon of creative choice?
I used many applications before. 3D Studio (still in DOS), Swivel 3D,
ModelShop, Strata Studio Pro, Ray Dream Designer, Lightwave, Amapi, etc.
One day, I tried a demo version of Cinema 4D 5.3 that came with a CD on
Computer Arts
magazine. It was amazing!! So much easier than all others and the end
results were incredible. So, my choice was made.
What other 3D software have you
used/still use?
As I said before I used many other 3D software. Now I only use Cinema
4D. I have a demo of Lightwave 7 here but I can't do much with it. It
is very powerful but so much more complicated than good'old Cinema 4D.
I also got a demo of ZBrush and it looks promising. I want to learn Maya
too. Its a shame that it is so complex.
What's your favourite model/image
you have ever created and why?
I don't have ONE favorite model. I do like some for some special reasons,
but all different. But if I had to choose one, I would say my old "caterpillar"
image. It was a very "successful" image and I had lots of fun
doing it. Then, probably, my "fish
tank" image or my "Tag
Auer" image.
You have released some very useful
plugins, like SpeeDisplay, Aligner, CMYK, CalcSize to name a few. Do you
have any plans for future R9
specific plugins?
Well, not exactly specific because, for that, COFFEE would have to evolve.
Since I'm not a true programmer, I don't program in C++ (so, I will not
invest in a compiler) and I'm waiting for a COFFEE update since version
6.3.
But all my plug-ins work fine in R9 :-) I have plans for a few more plug-ins
in the future but they are not R9 specific.
While browsing through your plugins
I get a feeling that they are aimed very much for designers and illustrators.
Is that correct?
Yes, because... guess what... I'm a designer and illustrator ;-) My plug-ins
were all, at first, tools that I needed. After creating the basic tool
to help me out, I added a few more touches and then made them public.
You are writing a book for Cinema
4D. Tell us about it - how did you get the idea for it? What versions
will you cover? Is it basic, intermediate or advanced? When will it be
published?
It is a tremendous shame that I haven't finished it yet :-( The
problem is that I have almost no time to write it fluently. Ever since
I realized it would be a long run project I adjusted the focus of the
book, and this is how it will be: it is aimed at intermediate/advanced
users. It covers no specific version because it shows how to do stuff
in a very generic way. If something requires a specific version or module,
it is stated at the beginning. It is mainly a book about tricks, tips,
methods, and explanations on why/how things happen and how to take advantage
of that.
You are one of the most helpful
persons on the whole Cinema 4D scene (you even have a form for submitting
questions on your site) but you can be pretty hard on those who haven't
bothered to check the manual, so tell us once and for all: Why should
we read the manual?
Well... I'm a firm believer of the idea that if we don't help ourselves
we are not worthy of being helped by others. I'm the first helping out
people who are stuck between a rock and a hard place, when doing 3D stuff.
But when people ask stuff whose answer is at their reach, that only shows
laziness. I know that manuals (specially bulky ones) are not as pleasant
to read as a novel. But people must realize that 3D software is a pretty
complex piece of software and that REQUIRES reading the
manual. At least, browsing it. This way, even if they didn't fully read
it, when they get stuck they will remember: Mmmmm, I believe I saw something
like that in the manual... lets check it out. People usually state that
they ask questions on the forums because they are in a hurry. Well, searching
the manual takes 5-10 minutes at most. A question on a forum can take
as much as a day to get answered, if ever.
Now, I like reading manuals because I like to be creative. I hate to have
my creative process interrupted by a simple doubt. So, I read the whole
manual and do lots of experiments and, when I need to do something more
complex, at least I know how it is supposed to be done.
Besides yourself, do you have
a favourite Cinema 4D (or other if you would prefer) artist that you admire
or are inspired by?
I admire very much the modeling and texturing of all Pupi's
images. And Carles
Piles also. They are very talented artists.
List your 10 favourite C4D tools
you couldn't do without (can include modules and 3rd party plugins) and
give a brief explanation why on each please.
- Magnet!! - wonderful way to model and
adjust splines. Fast and intuitive.
- HyperNURBS - I love to model with HyperNURBS.
I believe that 80% of all my modeling includes HN.
- DiTools
- one of the best set of tools I ever worked with.
- MeshSurgery
- amazing set of modeling tools. Even has stuff that R9 still lacks.
- DPack
- lots of little gems in there. A very balanced set of tools.
- MSA
[Multiple Spline Attach] - couldn't really live without it. It can do
lots more than what is apparent at first sight.
- SniperPro
- Once you try it out, your hooked. Should be part of Cinema4D core.
- Find&Replace
- It is really a tremendous tool, if I may say so myself ;-) I use it
a lot!!
- Aligner
- I also use this a lot. That is why I made it ;-)
- CalcSize
- I use this tool more times that anyone could ever imagine. Well, it
was my first plug-in and it has served its purpose until now :-)
What features would you like to
see added to future versions of Cinema 4D?
First, and I hope people from Maxon will read this, an really major COFFEE
upgrade!!
A better motion blur. Something like a fast raytraced motion blur, not
the half baked vector motion blur or the slow Scene Motion Blur we have
now.
A new Dynamics module. Something not as accurate but way faster and simpler.
We don't need "scientific accurate" dynamics, we need FAST,
GOOD-LOOKING dynamics.
Simpler and more powerful character animation tools. We should get some
"inspiration" from Maya or Softimage. That would include some
improvements on the timeline too.
Oh, speaking of timeline, a faster timeline and, specially, a faster F-Curve
editor.
HDRI output and a HDRI image editor that would allow us to tweak exposure
after render.
And, finally, a good implementation of hardware render. Recent graphic
cards allow almost photorealistic render at several frames per second.
I would love to be able to have that in Cinema4D.
Given the time, what aspect of
Cinema (and related modules) do you feel you'd like to learn/perfect next?
I would like to explore Mocca and Thinking Particles a bit more. But I'm
waiting for Mocca to evolve a bit more ;-)
What Cinema 4D related forums/communities
do you frequent/recommend?
Postforum.com -
it was the first one I attended to. I can't even recall how many years
have passed, now. It is nice forum. Some occasional "wars" because
it is not moderated. But we can find lots of information there and it
is attended by lots of power-users.
3D
Attack - a great forum. Lots of great users in there and everyone
is treated equally and fairly: beginners and veterans. It is very well
moderated and it has a tremendous e-zine.
For portuguese audiences (I'm portuguese
and there may be some portuguese reading this ;-) there is http://www.3donline.com.pt
. It is a very nice forum with lots of great users. A very nice gathering
place for graphic artists, not only 3D artists.
What advice would you give to someone
thinking of learning/buying high end 3D software and the choices they
could make?
No matter what application you buy, READ THE MANUAL!! (everyone was expecting
this and I couldn't fail on those people ;-)
But, really, do read the manual. It is the best way to gather "concentrated"
information in the shortest amount of time.
About what application to choose, everything depends on personal preference,
type of work that will be done and money availability. After testing out
the major contenders, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave and Cinema4D (I leave out
Maya and Softimage because I consider those in the big-league) I found
out that Cinema 4D is the easiest of them all and just as powerful. I
know that what matters is not the tool, but the artist itself but, if
you are an artist, you can create more, in less time, with less effort
with Cinema 4D.
Tell us something cool/interesting
that you have done with Cinema!?
A great campaign where I used Cinema4D was the Peugeot campaign about
Mars. The image I came up with was this.
Before settling on Mars, we started out with the moon
but it was dropped because another brand had already used that idea.
I also love each and every photorealistic render I did so far. They were
great exercises and I learned a lot with each and every one of them. A
particular case was the image of the fish
tank because it opened many doors for me and allowed me to meet many
people. Also, it was a joy and a challenge to create.
Tell us something funny!?
There is a sentence I find funny because it is true and it is also a paradigm
(and I find all paradigms funny :-)
Our brain is so complex that, if it were simple enough for us to understand
how it works, we would be so basic that we wouldn't understand it anyway.
Any closing thoughts, comments
or tips!?
We, the ones that work with 3D, are a special kind of artist. We don't
paint or draw with our hands. We paint with our brains. What we do reflects
the way we interpret and understand the world around us. We are mini-Gods
that reconstruct the world at a smaller scale. For that we need to know
concepts like the way light behaves and interacts, how physical characteristics
of surfaces influence the way that surfaces look, how the structures of
surfaces are created and how they interact with adjacent structures, how
motion happens and what forces are at play to create motion. To do that
well, we must observe, observe and observe. Then interpret and cross-reference
what we observed. We are like 21st century neo-rennaissance men (and women
;-), so we should be proud of that and take advantage of that too. We
(should) see the world in a completely different way. After all, we are
like all artist before us but we have the gift of being able to recreate
things in a much more "realistic" way.
Reading manuals will not give us anything of what I said just now, but
will allow us to understand the tools at our disposal to be able to use
all that we gathered by observing the world around us.
So, my final tips are: observe, gather knowledge, experiment, read a lot
(not only the manual). And, above all, have fun creating!! :-)
On behalf of the Renderosity Cinema 4D community, we'd like to thank you
for answering these questions, and sharing your thoughts with us!
Thank you!
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