Do you have any plans for non-written training materials?

Yes. As a student, written materials were something that made me fall asleep. I wanted to watch how stuff was done. My approach will be training DVDs or downloadable videos from the NewTek website.

What is your opinion of forums as a learning tool?

They’re good, because they involve an international community. People from different countries have a different world view of how things should be done in a particular way. Also, you get to interact with that community, or you can choose whether to respond to posts or ignore them.

Its key is that you can post your work for someone’s opinion anytime of the day, and usually get quick feedback.

Are there any artists whose work you feel particularly valuable to a student?

Muybridge is great reference, and he's also such an important historical character in the history of photography as well as for anthropologists who wanted to study the motion of animals and people. Generally though, from a personal point of view, we have a few thousand years of art history to inspire our works of the future, there are pictures of those achievements in places called libraries, art galleries and on the internet. It’s kinda strange to me now, when I hear someone say "er... I can't think of anything to make".

Are there any tricks that help a 2D artist adjust to the 3D mindset?

Not really tricks, but changing one's philosophy. Philosophy, that for instance, a computer is a very expensive "pencil". It's another tool. It's not a black art for the realm of the computer geek, but a tool. If Leonardo or Michelangelo were alive today, they wouldn't be turning their noses up at technology they'd be saying, "Wow... this is where science meets art." We are in exciting times where the technology is becoming more and more accessible for traditional artists. Computers ain't going away.

How can someone get in touch with you for more information?

When I return to the states, we'll begin setting up channels for both students and educators to contact me for more information.

Have the recent changes in LightWave impacted the way you work?

Yes, I can create much more geometry without it slowing down the computer, it seems much lighter.

Are there any new features of LightWave v9 you've found particularly useful?

Adaptive Pixel Subdivision is going to be of great use. Some of my scenes get loaded with geometry. APS solves that and cuts rendering time way down.