What sort of computer are you using at the moment?

My workstation is a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz with 1GB RAM and a GeForce FX5700. I really want to animate a few of my characters for a good demo reel, so I'm going to need more rendering power. :)

Are there any plug-ins you wouldn't be without?

Yes, there are loads - any by FI, Pictrix and DStorm are the principal ones.
I recently purchased FPrime and I certainly couldn't do without it already! I'm really looking forward to the continuing development of this plug-in. Worley and his team are truly very strong.

In your opinion, should LightWave stay separated or become integrated?

I'm quite used to the fact that the environments of LightWave are separate. For a start, I find that this speeds loading time and use of each part. Secondly, this separation allows you to keep a simplified interface - I hate interfaces with menus that never end. To sum up, I'm for a separated modelling environment - it just seems logical to me.

Tell me a bit about your work on the Spa advert?

Grid sent me scenes containing the animations, the basic models and 3D scans of the actual bottles. First of all I cleaned up the scans and made additional elements. The I did all the texturing, shading and lighting for the different sequences. Lastly the render and final compositing were completed at Grid.

The challenge was to combine the 3D bottles and water with the filmed "real life" elements (the glass and the water coming out of the bottle) so that the join was invisible.

Did you work on Syberia 2?

No, I would have loved to, but it just didn't happen. However, I have worked on his latest project "Lost Paradise".
I really like Benoît Sokal's style and I hope we can work together again sometime soon

Is your book about realism in 3D rendering?

Yes, it's a sort of little course explaining the manner in which we work and how we achieve the images presented. The book's only available in a French version at the moment, but if you'd like to give it a glance you can find it here.
At the bottom of the page you'll find several PDFs that give a taste of the work of each of the authors.
The experience really pleased me and I hope to have the occasion to work on a book again in the future.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a freelancer for you?

One of the advantages is being able to work from home. It allows me to limit the time I spend travelling and gives me much more flexible working hours. I also really like being able to work on a lot of varied projects and meeting people in different fields like advertising, video games, etc.
The are also a few disadvantages such as clients that pay late or want ILM or Squaresoft quality for a tenth of the price and five times quicker. However, on balance there seem to be more advantages than disadvantages.
That being said, I've only been a freelancer since the beginning of this year... ask me again in a year's time and I'm sure that my response will be completely different.

Are your characters intended for use in a production, or are they personal projects?

They are personal projects to improve my modelling and texturing skills. Once I'm happy with my work I'd like to make a short film in which the best models will be used. I've got some ideas... now all I need is the time to put them in practice.