Interview with Tim Wilcox, Illustrator/Concept Artist
September 28, 2006
Tim Wilcox has been creating computer graphics since his senior year at the University of Southern California. He has been using LightWave 3D professionally going back to the earliest origins of the product in Babylon 5. Since then, he has continued a successful career specializing in Illustration/Concept Art for such projects as Click, The Longest Yard, The Day After Tomorrow and The Time Machine. NewTek recently sat down with Tim to find out more from this LightWave pioneer.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your history with 3D?
I was fortunate to attend the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California. I had had an interest in film back to a young age and that was compounded with a huge interest in visual FX and sci-fi movies that made an impression on me growing up. I guess you could also mix in a smattering of computer geek given that I was playing around on Commodore PETs, VICs, and then 64s. Back then (late 80s) SC didn’t have many classes on computer animation, this was just a fledgling thing done mostly on machines the size of a car. We watched a lot of reels from NCGA and SIGGRAPH, and puttered about in rudimentary programs on the Macs that were there. For my graduation present in 1988, I got an Amiga 2000 and Sculpt 3D. I proceeded to teach myself 3D and use all of the knowledge that I had learned at SC in regards to film and apply it to the 3D realm.
How were you first introduced to LightWave?
I think I ended up with Toaster #1984... so I started really early in the program. I was doing a lot of flying logos and industrial animations.
What feature of LightWave do you like the most?
The “Model this for me” button? Just kidding... I spend a lot of time in Modeler, and since there is a good chance that we might be building what I model in the real world... it helps having some of the precision tools in there.
Are there any plug-ins you use on a regular basis?
Yeah. I use Aligner and Absolute Size all the time. Art Howe wrote those for me when 6.0 came out and I can’t work without them. I also have been playing around with Jetto’s fantastic tools, the rope editor is amazing, and I am looking forward to getting under the hood of LWCAD. Obviously FPrime is a godsend too
What does being a Illustrator/Concept Artist entail?
My job entails helping the Production Designer by realizing his concepts and visions for the Director. That can take many different forms, from a rough 3D model crash built together as a study in massing, to a fully detailed model that is good enough to be used in front of the camera (as it were). Also, on the 2D side, it can mean (for me at least) digitally manipulating and creating photo-illustrations to better convey the ideas and concepts…many times I end up building 3D elements and rendering them to place in these images. I like to call it "pixel pushing". :)
Are there any projects that stand out as favorites or particularly challenging?
The cool thing about working in this business as I get to is that I get paid to learn and work with fun cool people. To top it off, I get to sit and create things as well. Every project is different and challenging in its own way. I don’t think I could single out anything as a favorite, however some gigs are special – Contact was one because it was my first feature, The Time Machine another because of what we achieved with the prop, My more recent projects like The Longest Yard and Click because we are really pushing the technology to create photoreal looking concept art, utilizing 3D and extensive pixel pushing in Photoshop. It makes for a constantly changing workplace which paces the technology and advances there...
How has the entertainment industry changed since your early days on projects like Viper and Xena?
When I was working on Viper at Foundation Imaging, we were mainly doing playback animation (the images that were used on the computer displays). There were the occasional FX shot, but those were far apart. My work on Xena was a one shot deal for the guys at Flat Earth because I wanted to say that I worked on the show and they needed a hand that day. In the bigger picture, it has changed in the way that it is more a part of the day to day of productions, from commercials to features, these tools are now a thread woven into that quilt. The advances in the tools are phenomenal, for example a scene for Babylon 5 that took 2 hours a frame back on those Amigas, now takes 5 seconds a frame on my laptop. However with an ever savvy audience, the demands become greater for realism, so you will always find artists grumbling about the speed of everything, even though we have come light years in the past decade.
How has the 3D industry as a whole changed over this time?
Oops, I think I got ahead. ☺ I think it has. There are schools with curriculum for every aspect of the digital tools we use. Online has become more of a way of life and lends itself to a giant library of learning, not to mention the assets and treasures that can be found to help and be used in projects. It is exciting.
How has your personal approach to working in 3D changed over this time?
I have always liked to have geometry that looks good in a wireframe. Perhaps that is a holdover from learning way back when without the benefit of shading and such. I think that the biggest thing or adjustment that has had to be made with the advances that we have, is that most clients want to see things quickly, almost like a sketch on a napkin. Thankfully that can happen, and I think that is one of the reasons 3D has become such the useful communication tool that it is.
Does Concept Art have any particular challenges or advantages compared to more traditional 3D work?
Depending on the needs of the particular thing I am working on, it can be very different, mainly because we might be building it for real, not just what part might be seen in a shot.
Do you approach modeling for a real-world object differently from modeling for a strictly CG object? How?
Not necessarily…it depends on what it will end up being used for. Sometimes real world objects can be lower rez because they will be drafted and built. That means I will try to make it cleared (IE less polys and lines) for the set designer to sift through. Conversely…some may end up handed off to VFX and those I tend to make higher rez so that it is clear all of the details, and they might end up in front of “camera” with little change….
How have the changes made in LightWave [8] and LightWave v9 had an impact on the way you work?
Some of the modeling tools help tremendously. I tend to be set in my ways on doing certain tasks and it is nice to see new things down the pipe, especially the LWCAD stuff.
Is there a "LightWave tip or trick" you've discovered that you feel others might find helpful? What?
I am still trying to find the button that models a shape that you type in, like the old Eagle in a Barrel plug-in. Perhaps someone out there can help me find it so I can have shorter work days, but shhhhhh don’t tell my clients.
What's next for Tim Wilcox?
I just finished up on a show and I am doing various freelance gigs to pass the time before I get on my next one. In my spare time I have a fledgling food business that I am starting up... so we shall see.
Do you have any advice for someone new to the 3D industry?
I have always suggested that a grounding in the real world can do nothing but enhance how we represent it in the digital one. I would go and buy a still camera (preferably film not digital) and learn how to shoot pictures. Composition, exposure, color theory and just get a grounding in what the world looks like. Disassemble objects in your mind down to their primitive shapes and see how you could build them in 3D. Learn about the techniques used to make films before the digital tools were even thought of. Most of all, get out of the cubicle and see the world so that you can give your worlds the realism that four walls can’t.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Tim!
To see more of Tim Wilcox's work, visit his website: www.TimWilcox.com |
