Tell me a bit about yourself

I just started my 30th year on the 10^th of April, and I'm a bit of a linguistic mulatto. I am French, but because I spent the last ten years living in Berlin and I now live in Singapore I've got a tendency to mix up written languages… :)

How did you start in 3D?

I was doing an internship in an agency in Berlin back in 1999. At this time I was more a die-hard 3dsmax user, but the lead 3D artist there told me that I should have a look at LightWave if I wanted to have a chance to stay with them because they only used LightWave for their production. So I began to use LightWave 5.6 and I've never regretted it. I will never be grateful enough to him for opening my eyes to the light  :-) I started using it in production as soon as I understood the basic workflow - three or four days later - and I felt completely at home after two weeks or so.

What do you particularly like about LightWave?

Without a doubt Modeler.  It's so easy to pick up and powerful at the same time. Another thing I really like is that LightWave is split into two modules. Having the modelling functions separated from the rendering and animating functions helps me. When I model something I can stay concentrated on the task, and not always doing test renderings when the model is not 100% done.

What are the best tools for you?

1. SubD. I could not live without them. It's the function that made me so hot for LightWave the first time I saw it;
2. The  layer philosophy in the Surface editor, because I still have problems with node-based stuff;
3. And I saved the best for last - the renderer. The best rendering engine you can get for the price... Just think - you pay 1500 Euros for the 3D software with 999 render nodes. Compare this with the price of some standalone render engines out there… :-)

What could be done to improve LightWave for you?

Whaaaattt?! Are you joking?!  Making LightWave better?! Is this even possible?!...okay I'll be serious now :-) hmmm let's see…

I would be more than happy to get some true multi-level subdivision surfaces, a better and more accurate viper preview, rigid body dynamics and better integrated and more user-friendly soft-body dynamics.

Oh yes, and the feature that I miss in all 3D packages:
the "Make a cool  textured object" button together with the "Make me a killer animation"  LScript!