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Santa&Dog
Christmas animation created for MTV3 Channel. Original story created by Mare Ollinkari and Veli-Antti Rautiola. Sound effects created by Tomi Nikulainen. Some particle effects created by Juha Raulo. Animation, modelling, texturing and lights, created by Veli-Antti Rautiola. (c) 2002 All right reserved. NITRO FX, Ltd. Produced for MTV3 Channel.

When did you see LightWave for the first time?
It was probably back in mid 90's. Version number was 3 and platform was Amiga.

When did you first start using it?
I started testing it out in 1997.

What do you like about the package?
I really like the speed that LightWave offers in different stages of development, especially in Modeler. It is outstanding.

What could be improved for you?
Modeler: some sort of history or layers in polygonal level. So that you could subdivide some parts of model and tweak the underlying geometry as it was.

Layout: Different rendering engines, scanline perhaps. Different antialias methods. Perhaps these could be plug-ins. The Keytrak plug-in should be integrated in layout to make keyframing easier.

Do you have any plug-ins you wouldn't be without?
Yes! To name a few: Motion Designer, Motion mixer, Bandsaw, HDR-exposure and Keytrak are all essential plug-ins for me.

What spec machine(s) are you using it on at the moment?
I am using dual 1600 Athlon with GeForce 4600ti, 2Gigs of ram and 80G hard disk.

Tell us about living in Finland.
It is rather dark most of the day at this time of year. Sun rises about 8 am and fades into horizon about 4pm. It does not get much above the horizon though... On the other hand, in summer the sun does not go much under the horizon.

Sometimes you can see Aurora Borealis even here in Helsinki, although in northern parts of Finland you could see them almost every night. Temperatures are mostly under -5 degrees Centigrade in winter. It was something like -25 degrees in some parts of our country recently.

It doesn't usually get very cold here in Helsinki. I am originally from central part of Finland (Oulu) and I remember that, when I was a kid, it was often -35 degrees. That was rather cold. :)

There is not much snow here in Helsinki now, maybe like 10-30 centimetres. In Lapland, there is always a few metres of snow.

Does living in Finland affect the way you work? (With long days in the summer and no/short days in the winter)
It does affect the way I work. In the summertime I try to spend as much time as possible outdoors, away from the computer, and that's why I find autumn the most creative time of the year. Summer is a sort of recharge for brains. Winter is good steady work period. Spring is the season of good ideas. They all balance each other. :)

Have you used Real3D, by your compatriots in Finland?
It was the second 3D program I used, the first one was Sculpt3D. I tested out Real3D version 1 on Amiga. I think it still has its advantages in hybrid solid/polygonal models.

I saw your animations and I loved the soft-edged look you achieve.
About that soft-edged look... a big thank-you goes to LightWave's amazing 128-bit renderer. Generally, render times can be enormous but I optimise/fake so much in the scene that the computer doesn't have much to calculate when it's finally time to render.

Where are you working at the moment?
I am currently employed at Nitro FX (www.nitrofx.com), a company we founded in summer 2000. We have three different departments: internet, product design and film & video. We started with 16 people and now we have 27 full-time employees, most of them in the internet department.

I am working in film & video, where I am a full-time animator specialising in characters, but I also do a lot of script-writing and directing. Mostly I am involved with TV-commercials, but I have participated in many internet projects as well.  We are kind of cross-media production company, so that we can mix the know-how in every level of production.

It's also here and very funny indeed!