نسخه فارسی
Interview by: Amid Rajabi
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Hi Dariush,
Hope you’re doing well. Tell us a little about yourself that how you got interested in CG?
I learned in architecture school @ Lehigh University, I discovered a love for showing designs in model form, but I hated making physical models out of wood and paper. I gravitated toward CAD, which was only beginning to be available to us in school there, but got my chance when I started working for an architecture firm in New Jersey. There, I helped created a CAD workflow, and learned how to do it myself. Before long, I downloaded a renderer for AutoCAD and printed out some architectural stills based on the work I was doing at the firm. That started my love for rendering and along with always wanting to go to film school, I applied to and was accepted at graduate school at USC for animation and digital arts. I fell in love there and have never looked back.
Tell us about the universities that you’ve studied in and how they impacted on your improvement?
At Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pa.) I studied a combination of Architecture and Theater. I took courses in design, acting, and direction. My education as an architect was critical, I learned there how to love what you do, and to how gain a very focused devotion to your work.
At USC (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Ca.), I entered the Cinema and Television School and earned an MFA degree in Film, Video, and Computer Animation (now known as the USC Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts). I began working with Softimage, but quickly switched to Alias PowerAnimator to animate some simple digital shorts for my classes. I was so interested and excited by the possibilities that I threw myself into my studies, it was easy to.
Which companies have you co-operated with? Which projects have you worked on? What was your position in those?
I’ve worked for a number of places, starting with a year at South Park as a TD (and then a Supervising TD). After that year, I worked various freelance jobs until I started a 5 year staff job at a boutique commercial post house called Sight Effects. That experience taught me an incredible amount. I left Sight Effects to help my friend expand his effects house into CG and started work on the first Fantastic Four film. A year later, I went to The Syndicate/Café FX for half a year and then to Radium, another commercial house. I was there just short of 5 years, leaving there to go to my current job as a Supervisor at Zoic Studios, where I work on all sorts of things from commercials to television shows.
What are the SW you’re working with? Would you please tell us about your reason of choosing those SW?
I personally work in Maya and VRay. Sometimes in mental ray, but almost always VRay now. I prefer to composite in After Effects, but I dip into Nuke, which I don’t have much experience with. Photoshop all the time, too. But since I supervise a lot, my main software is email with Outlook! ;-)
What is the secret behind this fact that foreign CG artists and companies are much more successful than Iranian companies? What are the most important reasons for the foreigners success?
I don’t know the specifics in this situation, to be honest. Personally I believe there is a great difficulty in facilitating business between Iran and the US. But to be fair, I never really tried myself. I see a tremendous body of work and a wide field of raw to highly skilled talent in Iran for CG, and that’s just from what I can see from here. A lot of work happens in the states because of the demand for entertainment and visual effects. But lots of other markets are emerging around the world, like China and India. A lot of US work is also done in foreign countries, so the labor market is very open to interpretation right now.
We’ve seen so many successful books which you’ve written in this major by using well-known broadcasting companies. What’s your aim behind this matter?
I started the first edition of my book on Maya 5 about 10 years ago. I was frustrated that there were no good introductory level books on Maya, and I had always wanted to publish a book, so I decided to put one together and try to publish it. I joined with Sybex (now owned by Wiley) and have been writing with them ever since.
Tell us about your teaching experiences. Can any artist be a good teacher or not? What’s your opinion about it?
If you love to teach, you’ll be a good teacher. I find a lot of artists are wonderful communicators, and that is a very fundamental skill for a teacher to have. I cherish my time teaching, and I look forward to retiring from production so that I can teach fulltime. But I need production to keep me sharp as a teacher and artist, so I don’t say that lightly. Artists who have a love of sharing what and how they do things and are able to clearly communicate can be good teachers. It takes a certain ability to communicate ideas to people to teach them things, and that a lot of artists don’t have, which is perfectly ok.
Do you have any special or interesting record about working in big projects that you like to share with our readers?
Big projects are just like small projects. How you do them is very important, and fully and honestly realizing the depth and scope of *any* project is critical to a successful outcome and a productive workflow. I can’t understate how important it is really understand that. If you have a clear vision of your destination and goal, you have to map out the best course to get there and the best way to do it before you start production. And the most often forgotten part of that is the story, the reason why it’s being made. Without a foundation, nothing can stand. Big or small. The only difference is how many people are working on it, and how long it all takes. And both of those are easy to negotiate.
There are so many Animation lovers who really like to get into this major. What’s your advice to them? How do they start and move forward?
It’s simple. You start by doing it as much as you can, and you don’t ever stop. Show people your work and LISTEN to what they say. If you don’t agree, that’s ok, but always listen, that is critical to developing a good understanding of your own work. Different people, as absurd as their comments may be, have a perspective to show you that you can’t yourself see, and all of that together makes your work stronger in time.
Find a school or a class that works for you and do it. There is nothing in life that should stop you from engaging your creativity and passion. There are only things that get in your way, and how you work around these things defines you as an artist. Because it is through your work that people can even begin to see your inner self, let alone yourself.
We really appreciate you for your time.
Thank you so much for this interview, it was my pleasure!