How did the two of you first meet?

Robin: I taught Matt Illustration at college, and then introduced him to my agent.

How old is Asylum?

Robin: I am at this time not at liberty to say as it may endanger the lives of millions of innocent people and a small blue fish named Gerald who is not quite as innocent.

Matt: Three years.

Who started the company, or was it always a partnership?

Matt: We knew each other as illustrators before Asylum was formed and Rob rang me one day not long after we had bought our Macs to see if I wanted to collaborate on something.

Robin: It was Me! Me! Me! "I am the ONE". Actually, it's like Matt said.

When did you see LightWave for the first time?

Robin: I think the first time I saw it was probably in Mac User or Mac World or Mac something. There was an article on 3D and it mentioned good ole LW there, both Matt and I thought this looked like the baby for us (although we really didn't have a clue and it was pure luck that we hit on the best one straight away).

Matt: I saw it advertised in an ad at the back of MacUser and had read that it was used on the Star Trek shows. When I realised that it was an affordable package that created those shots I was sold.

When did you first start using LW?

Robin: The day I got it about three to four years ago. It was version 5.6 (ah, such heady days). I can remember opening the box and thinking "Wow! That isn't much for all that money" - I didn't know much about computers and software, still... nothing changes.

Matt: April 1999.

What do you like about the package?

Robin: I like its workflow; I like its icon-free interface; I love the surfacing, lighting and rendering parts in particular; I like its no-nonsense attitude to getting a job done - it knows there are fancier packages, it knows there are high-flying in-your-face film star packages, but it gets on with the job in a quiet, dignified and highly proficient manner. It's honest and it always gets the job done - if it were a woman I may well ask it to be my wife.

Matt: When compared to other packages it is easy to learn and use. It is affordable and has one of the best renderers there is.

What could be improved for you?

Robin: Animation and rigging... and ombining Modeller and Layout (heresy, blasphemy).

Matt: Without a doubt the character animation capabilities.

What spec machine(s) are you using it on at the moment?

Robin: A dual Athlon thing with a load of Ram, and a one way ticket to Oblivion. It has a sidekick in the form of a mild-mannered Dell Latitude laptop and also two Macs that I no longer do 3D on.

Matt: Two 733mhz Macs each with a gig of RAM.

Robin, do you miss using the Macs for 3D?

No, since I have turned to the dark side, I can't say that I miss the Macs, they are too slow and just not as good (at the moment). I still like them though, honest.

What are you working on now?

Robin: Shh... they might be listening, they are everywhere... Did you hear that? A short Movie named MOKA, more Mousematt and Ram bits, some advert-type doodahs and oh yes, were in talks with people... well, I think they're people? What was that noise?

Matt: I am just about to begin six week stint freelancing at Passion Pictures on a Tesco TV commercial involving talking shopping trolleys!