In the "Amiga Scene" :)

At the school where I studied Electronics in 1989, the computer class students spent all day talking about the problems they were solving in their computers. So the concept I had of computers then was that of devices conceived to give headaches and problems that other people had to solve. Basically, I wasn't seeing any useful sense to them, so I didn't have any special interest in them.

When did you start to use it?

The first version I used was Lightwave 3.0 - I got really excited by it. After that, and learning Real3D 1.3, I was trying to study Imagine 2 with really frustrating results, learning from the experience that Imagine was not for me (or I was not for it) and so I started paying more attention to LightWave as it did look somewhat easier to use. In a short time I was creating my first images, of chrome things atop chequered planes - it was a matter of starting somewhere!

What do you like about the package?

From the very first time I saw the package I was attracted by its ease of use, when really it was covering a very powerful toolset. Since that moment I liked it: the approach Lightwave has with lights, giving them a warmth and dynamism second to none that give immediate life to your scene.

Then, from version 6.0, the implementation of Global Illumination, 128-bit renders with HDR exposure control, the new surface controls like Gradients, it all allows me to be really competitive in quality and production timing, and I like that.

For you, what could be improved?

Basically, LightWave should overcome the philosophy of using tools as plug-ins. Tools such as Motion Designer and several others should be fully integrated. Because of this, LightWave has had communication problems between tools for years, something that has led to complex workarounds in production. To make a long story short, LightWave should integrate everything into a single core, where the program and all the tools can communicate without problems. This leads to the idea of a fusion of Modeler and Layout into a single application, something I think is compulsory and would avoid all the "X-Gons".

In regards to my daily work, pre-visualization is very important, and VIPER could improve a lot if it had the capabilities of showing the following scene and surface parameters:

Transparency
Global Illumination
Light Intensity Falloff
Motion Blur
Depth of Field
Shadows and Shadow Maps
Lens Flares
Post-process effects such as Glow

I think VIPER should be able to draw the scene without previously rendering, or every time we modify the geometry. I would really like also if VIPER could show object animation, I hope it all finally shows up...