Henri
gives us some backround on his VFX company:
Henri Pulla
kindly allowed us to "interview"
him on the 18th March 2003. This is the
full transcript from the conversation:
B: Henri, tell us a little
about yourself:
H: I was born in Helsinki, Finland 1971.
1978 I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey.
B: How long have you been
using Real ?
H: I bought my Real
V3 1996 if I remember correctly. This happened
the same time than I bought my first PC,
90 Mhz Pentium with 32Mb RAM. Earlier I
had an Amiga
500 and tested sculpt 3D or something but
could not get anything visible done, maybe
because I did not know how to put a light
on the scene.
B: What does St. Que mean
in your signature block ?
H: It is my company name. I could not
think of anything decent so this came up
as an expression of what I was not clever
enough to express. ;)
B: How long have you been
working with film ?
H: Some 2 years ago I tested first film
resolution scans from our own material shot
on super 16mm, earlier I did some work and
experiments with video resolution material
and some experiments with film files from
demo file disks. I have had a good Nikon
35mm slide negative/dia scanner for 4-5
years. Now that I think of it scanning and
manipulating still images with it was good
exercise.
B: Do you prefer 3D or
live action ?
H: If the aim is to do a scene that looks
natural I prefer live as far as it is possible.
And then add the impossible with effects
and CG. The 3D and other CG must look as
if it was originally there during the filming,
if not it is not good CG. Some work I have
done was merely to change the looks of an
ordinary object on the set to something
a bit different. The reason for that might
have been as simple as "it looks better
and was fun to experiment".
About what would I prefer I'll have to
add that sometimes the aim is to do "3D
look" and then I would prefer 3D of
course, because it looks more 3D so.
B: Is this your main job
or something you do in your spare time ?
H: It is a main job at the moment with
some graphics and still image work. I also
make occasionally decorative paintings and
restorations which I did earlier a lot (yes,
manually, by hand :)
B: Do you manage to make
a living from it ? (Making films)
H: Making films in my company does not
bring any money to me. These films I have
produced have been experimental and supported
by public money from a place that supports
audiovisual culture. The money to my company
comes from doing graphics and animation
& effects work to productions for some
other companies. These shorts have been
very good for experiments on techniques
that I could not have experimented on commercial
work. And if the experiment is a success
I can always show it and convince someone
to buy similar effect from me to some other
film. At least I hope so.
B: You have made mention
of the Icarus plug in your work flow, care
to tell us how you used that and for what
? (And what it is)
H: Icarus
was camera tracking and geometry reconstruction
software from AIG.
Unfortunately the technology is now sold
(just found out) and I do not know how the
product is going to be. You may read about
it at:
http://aig.cs.man.ac.uk/icarus/index.php
and
http://www.thepixelfarm.co.uk/news1.html
Anyway the ones that did download Icarus
when it was available will have a possibility
to import its 3D tracked camera data to
Realsoft
and make interesting composites.
Below are some samples that I used to
test the Icarus
import for Realsoft:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/stque/avi/vfx_samples/vfx_sample_a.avi
http://koti.mbnet.fi/stque/avi/vfx_samples/vfx_sample_b.avi
B: Why did you use Realsoft
for your animation work ?
H: When I first found out about Real
I read an article of it being program for
professionals. I desperately wanted and
still want to be professional that is why
I use it.
B: What are Realsoft's
advantages vs other 3D applications ?
H: For example SDS modeling, VSL materials
and the render engine are very good. Also
the way it works and the interface are the
things that I like and I am used to them.
I do not know any other program which would
have so easy and complete help system: by
pressing F1 on any button or feature you
get the description of the tool/function,
and this works on icons too. Also the user
group is very responsive.
B: Was Realsoft's support
important to your production ?
H: Yes, it is always very good to know
the guy who is responsible of programming
the tool you use:) Couple of times if I
had difficulties Realsoft
helped me and also few bugs got fixed over
night (!) if I had trouble completing the
work because of them. That I call really
good support, thanks Realsoft!
B: Do you have any other
projects under development ?
H: Yes, there are always projects under
development and I hope some of them will
come true. Some sooner, some later.
B: And finally, is there
anything you wish to say to the RS community
?
H: This is the only community which I
have participated quite actively over past
7 years and felt always comfortable with
its members. Thank you for sharing things
with me and others.
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