bmckain
16th August 2009, 11:46 AM
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232147_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232147.jpg)
Hi Marty, thanks for taking time to do this interview. I’m pretty sure most members will know who you are but for the record and sticking with my format; would you mind introducing yourself and tell us something about you, your hobbies, favorite movie, where you work, that sort of thing.
Howdy all,
One thing I’m known for is for telling stories.........and I sure have one for you now. My name is Marty Miller and I grew up on the northern beaches in Sydney Australia. Although I had been creative in so many ways during my youth, it was sport that took my full attention. I had high hopes and aspirations for representing my country in track in field, but an injury forced me to retire before my dreams had been fully fulfilled. This event left me pretty lost for some time. After a lot of soul searching I found myself following some other dreams from when I was younger.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232614_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232614.jpg)
I'll wrap the next two questions together. When did you decide you wanted to be an artist and what inspired you to that end and at what point did you get involved with the 3D medium and what motivated you?
Having had the Star Destroyer zoom over our heads at the premiere of Star Wars, a part of me dreamt of doing all that stuff. I had made several super 8 films as a kid and did my best to create amazing effects. Scratching the emulsion for phasers, photographing models with black velvet................ and even taking the bold move of back winding the film to create double exposures. I look back and remember how excited we all were to see what we could do. So after my sporting career, high school etc, I got a job as a production assistant with a family friend who was a film maker. Although I didn't get paid much, it was an exciting time for me, and a chance to learn from a man who had worked on such hits as The Sand Pebbles, and did an apprenticeship with Robert Wise and Paramount. I completed a fine arts course and also a Film and TV production course along the way, but my patience for the industry withered as did my dreams. So many '' almost '' moments and broken promises helped me search for other things. I had always been creative and over the next few years I experimented with many mediums. Sculpture, painting, airbrushing kept the bucks coming, and I even was accepted into a Special effects make up school. Something I had dabbled in for a long time. But as the industry in Australia was up and down, I decided to go back to school. I made it into a Sports Science degree at Uni and pursued a career in the sports and fitness industry for the next 16 years or so working around the world. I still kept my hands into creative passions, but never found the one thing that rubbed my rubbarb the right way. The life style was very cool and I earned good money training a wide variety of people and athletes, and working in some pretty amazing places. I did have the good fortune to get to know George Lazenby, aka James Bond. He was a good friend of one of my clients, and when in Sydney, I would put the two of them through their paces. He was a pretty cool guy and damn fit. Now he had some great stories to tell.
My life took a decided turn in the summer of 96. I started training a young English film producer, who was working on a 2 year contract in Sydney. Michael was a great guy who I trained 3 times a week. He was an after effects guru, loved sci fi, especially Trek.......................so it was a match made in heaven for us both. During this time, an ex girlfriend of mine asked if I could look after some of her stuff while she went overseas. Being the good friend I am, I said sure. One of the items was a Pentium 33 desktop. So...............without a single ounce of knowledge of computers, I booted it up one night to have a look. Found Paint and I was hooked. Michael gave me a copy of Photoshop, a few lessons and as the generous guy he was, gave me a cd drive and an extra 8 meg of memory. Yeah baby, now I was cooking. 24 meg of ram. Like a man possessed, I became more and more into it. I bought books on Photoshop and spent the greater half of my spare time head down on a mission. I have Michael to thank for all his motivation, guidance and late night phone calls asking why my screen had gone all blue, what was explorer etc. God I can laugh now.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232741_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232741.jpg)
Normally, I ask a series of questions but your story is so unique and your answers are so interwoven through the story that I will just forgo the questions and let the story roll.
Anyway, I kept my daytime job as a sports physiologist and decided when the time was right I was going to try and get a job using my new skills. As fortune favored me, I was told by a friend of a job going at a TV production company called Southern Star, who was looking for a Photoshop artist. One of the shows they produced was a TV game show called Catch Phrase. I had an interview with the producer and creative director and it could not have been a better interview. I was very confidant of my skills and I was as hungry as one could be to get started. Later that night I got the phone call. Upon being told I had the job, I asked if they could hold the line, to which I walked out onto my balcony with the Sydney Harbor vista at my foreshores and let out one hell of huge, '' Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaah ! My life had changed in one amazing moment. The shows animations were crude, but extremely effective. 60 odd 10 second loopable animations were produced by our small team on a daily basis. Two illustrators would do the drawings, which then came to me for coloring and fix ups. From there they would go to the animators, who used Macromedia Director. We didn’t have the luxury of 25 frames and full color swatches. 10 frames a second was it. I used a Pal Indexed swatch that greatly limited my creative urges. I was quick though, and over the next few months I managed to give the animations a new more impressive look. I was told no Gradients or shading etc, as there was no time for that, but I managed to pull it off with time to spare. Just after a year I was given a promotion and training, and ended up Multi Media Director. Having used Bryce for some time, the transition to animation was just perfect. Like with Photoshop, I managed to push the boundaries with the animations also. Viewers of the show commented on how much better they were, and I was pretty damn happy about it all. I loved my job, but not the industry and all its bullshit, lies etc. Rumors were circling that the show was going to be cancelled, but of course no one knew a thing................or so I thought. We were all on contracts, which meant if the show was cancelled today, that was it. No severance pay, nothing. As chance had it, I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder and was not able to work. If you have ever had one.....................you will know it is not pleasant. For this reason alone, I was suddenly not very popular and was paid out of my contract. Sadly for those who were still there, the show was cancelled a week later and they got zip. That experience was enough and I decided to go freelance. It was during that last year that I had started to use 3Ds studio max, and like Photoshop, I was a man on a mission. With the net supplying me with tutorials and using sites like yours and a few others, I worked my ass off trying to learn as much as I could. I kept training a few people and worked at Max every day.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232266_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232266.jpg)
My first freelance job was a ripper. A dental company had a new high tech mouth guard they wanted to sell to the US and Canada. I was approached to come up with a presentation that, as they said, '' Would knock the socks of the buyers. Being the Science fiction addict I am, I thought............hey hang on a sec, why not make a mouth guard into a spaceship. YEAH !. I had some 3d scans done of the product and I was on my way. They loved the concept. A wormhole opens to reveal a huge aircraft carrier style ship arriving in earth’s orbit, complete with a deck full of mouth guard ships ready for delivery to Canada. The buyers were blown away and it marked a successful start to a freelance career. Another notable contract was working for a defense contractor who specialized in underwater surveillance. I can’t tell you much as I signed a non disclosure agreement, but it was sure an incredible time.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232435_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232435.jpg)
During these times I met two people who ran a post production facility in Sydney. Greg and Bella had been in the industry for over 20 years. They had been a great source of help to me and were instrumental in taking me under their wing. Greg became my mentor and has taught so much over the years. He was instrumental in getting me so interested in compositing. Over the next few years we worked in collaboration on a number of pretty cool jobs. Doing INXS's world tour stage show graphics was one. We had also worked hard and long on a 3d animated library called Graphix Bank. This was about the same time Digital Juice had come out and we had got it almost to production, but as things panned out, it didn’t see the light of day. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what could have been.
As chance would have it, during 2006 I caught up via the net with my old client Michael , who was now running a production comapny in London. Upon visiting him in the UK, one thing lead to another and I was invited to join his team as the 3d artist. So hooked up with all the latest gizmos, I set up a virtual office at home and began my new job. It was a great relationship and a lot of fun. Michael was one incredibly talented guy and motivated beyond believe. My time with him was a steep learning curve, and I have him to thank for so much. Most of the work involved working on promos for TV. It was never a dull moment and he really pushed me in a very postive way.They were great days.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328722_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328722.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328721_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328721.jpg)
The last few years I have been working in collaboration with The Edge Media Group in Sydney running there 3D department. Most of our work lately has been taken up with Urban Visualization. I was approached a few years ago with the task of recreating an entire town in Australia in 3D to show the road changes being planned. I initially knocked it back as I felt it was beyond me, but over the ensuing months, Greg and Bella convinced me I could do it. So when the next job came up , we took it and ran with it. I have to say looking back now........................man it was a mammoth task. We bought two new dual 8 core macs with as much ram as we could get into them. We primarily use Max Design 2009, but also use a program that works within, Max called Dynamite VSP. This enables us to take engineering data and create stunning 3D visualizations such as roads, bridges, line markings, cars, signs etc. With a small team of model makers and myself doing all the 3D setups etc, and compositing, we pulled it off. An entire town accurately represented right down to the smallest details. I was extremely proud of the work my team did and I have them to thanks for all their hard work. I do love what I do.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329882_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329882.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329881_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329881.jpg)
One thing I have come to appreciate in life is balance. It has taken a road of highs and lows, but right now my life is simply perfect. A wonderful balance between my physical and creative passions. Almost 6 years ago I move to Sweden to live here with my fiancé , daughter and 4 year old Husky, Nanook. Its been a wonderful experience and has given us the opportunity to travel to some favored extreme places. We are both outdoors people and love nothing more than take off with our backpacks and search out something new. Give me a body of water to paddle and a rock to climb and I’m happy. Anything with a rush of adrenalin, and we're there. We live in a small town called Malmo on the south coast. Its a wonderfully laid back place compared to Sydney, and as with the rest of Scandinavia, it’s a bike culture, and that suits us perfectly as we are both keen cyclists. A bike for off road and shopping and road bike to churn out those miles. With the recession hitting hard back home, work on the 3D front is pretty slow right now, so it has given me an opportunity to pursue one of my other dreams. I’m in the middle of putting together a series of short travel documentaries throughout Scandinavia. I’m very excited about this.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330522_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330522.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330531_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330531.jpg)
So there ya have it. That's me in a large nutshell. I’m very happy to of made the progress I have over the years, and to be doing something I really love makes it even better. Each job is a challenge and that's the best part. It is those jobs which push your abilities further. I’ve got to say, being a part of Foundation 3D has opened up a lot of things. I had been so sick and tired of other sites and their childish banter. I’m touched I was asked for this interview and hope my story can motivate some of you to pursue your dreams. Thanks to you all.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331122_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331122.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331121_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331121.jpg)
Thanks for the interview Marty, this has been a crazy and fun interview. Best of luck on your journey and we'll look forward to seeing more from you in the future.
Hi Marty, thanks for taking time to do this interview. I’m pretty sure most members will know who you are but for the record and sticking with my format; would you mind introducing yourself and tell us something about you, your hobbies, favorite movie, where you work, that sort of thing.
Howdy all,
One thing I’m known for is for telling stories.........and I sure have one for you now. My name is Marty Miller and I grew up on the northern beaches in Sydney Australia. Although I had been creative in so many ways during my youth, it was sport that took my full attention. I had high hopes and aspirations for representing my country in track in field, but an injury forced me to retire before my dreams had been fully fulfilled. This event left me pretty lost for some time. After a lot of soul searching I found myself following some other dreams from when I was younger.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232614_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232614.jpg)
I'll wrap the next two questions together. When did you decide you wanted to be an artist and what inspired you to that end and at what point did you get involved with the 3D medium and what motivated you?
Having had the Star Destroyer zoom over our heads at the premiere of Star Wars, a part of me dreamt of doing all that stuff. I had made several super 8 films as a kid and did my best to create amazing effects. Scratching the emulsion for phasers, photographing models with black velvet................ and even taking the bold move of back winding the film to create double exposures. I look back and remember how excited we all were to see what we could do. So after my sporting career, high school etc, I got a job as a production assistant with a family friend who was a film maker. Although I didn't get paid much, it was an exciting time for me, and a chance to learn from a man who had worked on such hits as The Sand Pebbles, and did an apprenticeship with Robert Wise and Paramount. I completed a fine arts course and also a Film and TV production course along the way, but my patience for the industry withered as did my dreams. So many '' almost '' moments and broken promises helped me search for other things. I had always been creative and over the next few years I experimented with many mediums. Sculpture, painting, airbrushing kept the bucks coming, and I even was accepted into a Special effects make up school. Something I had dabbled in for a long time. But as the industry in Australia was up and down, I decided to go back to school. I made it into a Sports Science degree at Uni and pursued a career in the sports and fitness industry for the next 16 years or so working around the world. I still kept my hands into creative passions, but never found the one thing that rubbed my rubbarb the right way. The life style was very cool and I earned good money training a wide variety of people and athletes, and working in some pretty amazing places. I did have the good fortune to get to know George Lazenby, aka James Bond. He was a good friend of one of my clients, and when in Sydney, I would put the two of them through their paces. He was a pretty cool guy and damn fit. Now he had some great stories to tell.
My life took a decided turn in the summer of 96. I started training a young English film producer, who was working on a 2 year contract in Sydney. Michael was a great guy who I trained 3 times a week. He was an after effects guru, loved sci fi, especially Trek.......................so it was a match made in heaven for us both. During this time, an ex girlfriend of mine asked if I could look after some of her stuff while she went overseas. Being the good friend I am, I said sure. One of the items was a Pentium 33 desktop. So...............without a single ounce of knowledge of computers, I booted it up one night to have a look. Found Paint and I was hooked. Michael gave me a copy of Photoshop, a few lessons and as the generous guy he was, gave me a cd drive and an extra 8 meg of memory. Yeah baby, now I was cooking. 24 meg of ram. Like a man possessed, I became more and more into it. I bought books on Photoshop and spent the greater half of my spare time head down on a mission. I have Michael to thank for all his motivation, guidance and late night phone calls asking why my screen had gone all blue, what was explorer etc. God I can laugh now.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232741_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232741.jpg)
Normally, I ask a series of questions but your story is so unique and your answers are so interwoven through the story that I will just forgo the questions and let the story roll.
Anyway, I kept my daytime job as a sports physiologist and decided when the time was right I was going to try and get a job using my new skills. As fortune favored me, I was told by a friend of a job going at a TV production company called Southern Star, who was looking for a Photoshop artist. One of the shows they produced was a TV game show called Catch Phrase. I had an interview with the producer and creative director and it could not have been a better interview. I was very confidant of my skills and I was as hungry as one could be to get started. Later that night I got the phone call. Upon being told I had the job, I asked if they could hold the line, to which I walked out onto my balcony with the Sydney Harbor vista at my foreshores and let out one hell of huge, '' Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaah ! My life had changed in one amazing moment. The shows animations were crude, but extremely effective. 60 odd 10 second loopable animations were produced by our small team on a daily basis. Two illustrators would do the drawings, which then came to me for coloring and fix ups. From there they would go to the animators, who used Macromedia Director. We didn’t have the luxury of 25 frames and full color swatches. 10 frames a second was it. I used a Pal Indexed swatch that greatly limited my creative urges. I was quick though, and over the next few months I managed to give the animations a new more impressive look. I was told no Gradients or shading etc, as there was no time for that, but I managed to pull it off with time to spare. Just after a year I was given a promotion and training, and ended up Multi Media Director. Having used Bryce for some time, the transition to animation was just perfect. Like with Photoshop, I managed to push the boundaries with the animations also. Viewers of the show commented on how much better they were, and I was pretty damn happy about it all. I loved my job, but not the industry and all its bullshit, lies etc. Rumors were circling that the show was going to be cancelled, but of course no one knew a thing................or so I thought. We were all on contracts, which meant if the show was cancelled today, that was it. No severance pay, nothing. As chance had it, I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder and was not able to work. If you have ever had one.....................you will know it is not pleasant. For this reason alone, I was suddenly not very popular and was paid out of my contract. Sadly for those who were still there, the show was cancelled a week later and they got zip. That experience was enough and I decided to go freelance. It was during that last year that I had started to use 3Ds studio max, and like Photoshop, I was a man on a mission. With the net supplying me with tutorials and using sites like yours and a few others, I worked my ass off trying to learn as much as I could. I kept training a few people and worked at Max every day.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232266_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232266.jpg)
My first freelance job was a ripper. A dental company had a new high tech mouth guard they wanted to sell to the US and Canada. I was approached to come up with a presentation that, as they said, '' Would knock the socks of the buyers. Being the Science fiction addict I am, I thought............hey hang on a sec, why not make a mouth guard into a spaceship. YEAH !. I had some 3d scans done of the product and I was on my way. They loved the concept. A wormhole opens to reveal a huge aircraft carrier style ship arriving in earth’s orbit, complete with a deck full of mouth guard ships ready for delivery to Canada. The buyers were blown away and it marked a successful start to a freelance career. Another notable contract was working for a defense contractor who specialized in underwater surveillance. I can’t tell you much as I signed a non disclosure agreement, but it was sure an incredible time.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232435_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-232435.jpg)
During these times I met two people who ran a post production facility in Sydney. Greg and Bella had been in the industry for over 20 years. They had been a great source of help to me and were instrumental in taking me under their wing. Greg became my mentor and has taught so much over the years. He was instrumental in getting me so interested in compositing. Over the next few years we worked in collaboration on a number of pretty cool jobs. Doing INXS's world tour stage show graphics was one. We had also worked hard and long on a 3d animated library called Graphix Bank. This was about the same time Digital Juice had come out and we had got it almost to production, but as things panned out, it didn’t see the light of day. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what could have been.
As chance would have it, during 2006 I caught up via the net with my old client Michael , who was now running a production comapny in London. Upon visiting him in the UK, one thing lead to another and I was invited to join his team as the 3d artist. So hooked up with all the latest gizmos, I set up a virtual office at home and began my new job. It was a great relationship and a lot of fun. Michael was one incredibly talented guy and motivated beyond believe. My time with him was a steep learning curve, and I have him to thank for so much. Most of the work involved working on promos for TV. It was never a dull moment and he really pushed me in a very postive way.They were great days.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328722_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328722.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328721_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2328721.jpg)
The last few years I have been working in collaboration with The Edge Media Group in Sydney running there 3D department. Most of our work lately has been taken up with Urban Visualization. I was approached a few years ago with the task of recreating an entire town in Australia in 3D to show the road changes being planned. I initially knocked it back as I felt it was beyond me, but over the ensuing months, Greg and Bella convinced me I could do it. So when the next job came up , we took it and ran with it. I have to say looking back now........................man it was a mammoth task. We bought two new dual 8 core macs with as much ram as we could get into them. We primarily use Max Design 2009, but also use a program that works within, Max called Dynamite VSP. This enables us to take engineering data and create stunning 3D visualizations such as roads, bridges, line markings, cars, signs etc. With a small team of model makers and myself doing all the 3D setups etc, and compositing, we pulled it off. An entire town accurately represented right down to the smallest details. I was extremely proud of the work my team did and I have them to thanks for all their hard work. I do love what I do.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329882_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329882.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329881_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2329881.jpg)
One thing I have come to appreciate in life is balance. It has taken a road of highs and lows, but right now my life is simply perfect. A wonderful balance between my physical and creative passions. Almost 6 years ago I move to Sweden to live here with my fiancé , daughter and 4 year old Husky, Nanook. Its been a wonderful experience and has given us the opportunity to travel to some favored extreme places. We are both outdoors people and love nothing more than take off with our backpacks and search out something new. Give me a body of water to paddle and a rock to climb and I’m happy. Anything with a rush of adrenalin, and we're there. We live in a small town called Malmo on the south coast. Its a wonderfully laid back place compared to Sydney, and as with the rest of Scandinavia, it’s a bike culture, and that suits us perfectly as we are both keen cyclists. A bike for off road and shopping and road bike to churn out those miles. With the recession hitting hard back home, work on the 3D front is pretty slow right now, so it has given me an opportunity to pursue one of my other dreams. I’m in the middle of putting together a series of short travel documentaries throughout Scandinavia. I’m very excited about this.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330522_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330522.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330531_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2330531.jpg)
So there ya have it. That's me in a large nutshell. I’m very happy to of made the progress I have over the years, and to be doing something I really love makes it even better. Each job is a challenge and that's the best part. It is those jobs which push your abilities further. I’ve got to say, being a part of Foundation 3D has opened up a lot of things. I had been so sick and tired of other sites and their childish banter. I’m touched I was asked for this interview and hope my story can motivate some of you to pursue your dreams. Thanks to you all.
http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331122_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331122.jpg) http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331121_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/private/2009/08/2-14-2331121.jpg)
Thanks for the interview Marty, this has been a crazy and fun interview. Best of luck on your journey and we'll look forward to seeing more from you in the future.