When did you see LightWave for the first time?

At an animation college in Dublin called BallyFermott in 1993.

When did you first start using it?

While I was working at the Disney Institute in Florida as an animation instructor.

Tell me more about your job at Disney

I mainly taught the basics of classical animation through the medium of pencil, clay and CGI. I also helped design some of the curriculum for the content of those classes. I was allowed a good amount of time for developing my own basic skills such as life drawing and painting. I was able to spend some time with very skilled artists who were gracious enough to show me good insights into animation.

How did you get the job there?

I was recommended by the then Disney Institutes Animation Director, Larry Lauria. This chap is the best teacher in animation I have witnessed and his technical knowledge in both character design and action is inspiring. I had the honour of previously working with him in Ireland on a Cross Border animation project working with schools and colleges from Belfast and Dublin. The project lasted a year and was my first introduction into "classical animation". He thought I had shown good potential as an artist and an instructor during the project. I was still working in Ireland at the time and was asked if I would be interested in teaching animation in Florida at the Disney Institute. I would have to go to Florida for my interview. I accepted and as I had already decided to go to Florida for my honeymoon I figured I would slot in the interview at the same time. Taking your honeymoon at the same time as preparing for a job interview is not a good idea!

What do you like about the package?

It was just after the release of LightWave 5.0 . A chap called Ralph Messana demonstrated MetaNurbs (Subpatch) modelling by building a gun in about three minutes. The speed of its construction sold me on the package immediately.

What could be improved for you?

I think that LightWave's character rigging could be improved along with its non-linear character editing tools.

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

A Laptop Dell Precision, with 1 gig of ram and a 2 GHz processor. It means that if I am freelancing and have to work away from home, the laptop is basically a portable workstation.

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

I don't really use any external plug-ins, but when setting up the eye rotation in Motion Properties, there is a built-in plug-in called "Simple Orient Constraints" for the bones. It makes it very easy to manipulate both eyes.

In your opinion: Integrated or Separated?

I have got so used to LightWave being in "that" place, having that way of working. I would probably get annoyed if someone moved tools or changed their names or something and phone you to ask where the bugger moved things.