A bit of my history

I have been interested in 3D and Computer Animation since I was 18 years old when a friend introduced me to the old 3D application “Alias Sketch!”. Back then I was running a Apple Macintosh Performa 400, I think it was, and things wasn’t exactly flying but it was enough to get me hooked. After that I explored numerous other 3D applications like, Bryce, Pixar Typestry, Electric Image and Strata Studio Pro. I stayed with Strata Studio Pro for quite a while since it had the most features. At the time I didn’t know much of what I was doing, and I was merely playing around making logos and simple landscapes. I remember my first attempt at making an animation using Strata Studio Pro, It was an animated camera flying down a castle corridor where moonlight were shining through the windows. Since Strata had a volumetric light feature I just had to include that in the scene and of course I had to use raytracing, it made such nice pictures. After about two weeks of non-stop rendering… and crashing J, I finally gave up on it, leaving me with about 2 seconds of animation (at 15 frames per second).

A few years later I went to the first 3D Festival in Malmö Sweden (don’t remember what year it was), that’s where I had my first encounter with industry professionals which was very exciting to a amateur like myself. But seeing the level of knowledge they were at I felt a bit small and I didn’t think I had any chance of making it into the industry. So I continued to playing around with it on my own at my spare time. Then I got a job working as a CAD/CAM operator where I used the French software Type3 to design both 2D and 3D tracks for CNC machining, I was very happy. But sadly the company I worked for went bust in the summer of 2000 and everyone had to go. I took a job selling wine which was more of a regular job, good work mates but lousy pay and long hours.

Three years later, in 2003, I got onto the Computer Animation course at Bournemouth University in England. I was very, VERY exited to get in. Rumour had it that there were more than 600 applicants for the 54 spaces, and I was one of the ones who got accepted! So for three years to follow I lived and breathed computer animation together with people who all shared the same interest, I couldn’t have been happier.