Firstly, we would like to congratulate you for the excellent work you’ve done.

E: We would like to know some personal data of yours that you would like our users to know (about your age, your birthplace, where did you study,...)

S: I just turned 30. I was born in Washington D.C., also lived in Atlanta, Georgia and Raleigh, North Carolina while I was growing up before moving to Hawaii and California. I became more serious about art in high school, and later attended the School of Communication Arts in Raleigh.

E: Could you emphasize some aspect on you or your personality whom would you like us to know.

S: I have a tendency to focus strongly on one project at a time, obsession to the point of ignoring all other responsibilities. I love to work at night, my schedule gravitates to a nocturnal lifestyle; It's been the most difficult thing for me to overcome as a commercial artist. My job is very personal to me, I take a lot of pride in maintaining a certain level of quality.

E: Which are your hobbies?

S: GranMost of my free time is spent writing music or continuing personal 3D projects.

E: Why did you choose 3d?

S: I began working right after high school, discovering exactly what I didn't want to do with the rest of my life. I spent every free moment on music, drawing/painting, and writing. I would race home everyday from IBM in order to have the maximum amount of time to devote to my creative projects. I didn't sleep sometimes, it was that important to me, very consuming. Most of what I was working on or envisioning had to do with conceptual soundtracks, epic stories, basically a movie I was putting together that was spilling out through the tools I had to work with. My best friend and I were creating the music for it, and I could see the scenes clearly in mind but had no way of producing them, beyond storyboards and concept paintings. Most of the images were very surreal. At the time, I was very interested in the achievements made on Jurassic Park in regards to 3D. A friend of mine from IBM, John Greco (who I still can't find), told me about this animation school he was going to attend. When I called the school later on looking for him, they talked me into checking out the school. That's when the decision came, for two reasons: I wanted a career that I would enjoy and, in turn, be more successful at, and I wanted a means of producing the theatrical images I was developing in my head.

E: Do you like traditional/2d animation?

S: Growing up, of course, I was constantly watching cartoons. Even when I was younger I liked things with a bit more edge. I was drawn to detail from a very young age, I liked images with finer lines. The one movie that still stands out for me is The Secret of Nimh. I love Don Bluth's designs. My own path has taken me in a more photorealistic direction, but I'm still blown away by things like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace.

E: Which is your favourite comic character?

S: Right now I'm really into Frank Miller's Sin City, so I would have to say Marv. I'm proof that sex and violence sells, and I love stories of revenge

E: Where or in what are you working at now?

S: I'm currently with Sony Imageworks. I've recently finished working on the Tim Burton film Big Fish which will be widely released in Jan'04, and also contributed to Peter Pan and Fifty First Dates. I can't say a lot about Big Fish at the moment, but it's a great story with really creative characters; It was a lot of fun to work on.

E: Which is your professional objective?

S: I don't really distinguish much between my personal and professional goals. The one ongoing fantasy I have is to create a film/music album similar to Pink Floyd's The Wall. While we're on the subject of fantasies, I might as well add that it would truly be a dream come true to work with Roger Waters someday; Or even just meet the guy, maybe marry his daughter...Yeah, I would love to call him dad.

E: Where, of what or from who have you learned more?

S: Regarding 3D, most of what I've learned, honestly, has been through experimenting on my own. Beyond that, the most significant improvements I've made artistically came after joining Square USA on the Final Fantasy film. I learned a lot about art direction (and patience) from Andy Jones, who was animation director at the time. I developed more of my understanding of the technical side of things through watching Taji Okusawa - Character Supervisor, Kevin Ochs - Technical Director, John Monos -Lead Lighting Artist, and Francisco Cortina who was my character partner out there for years. I also initially learned some 2d skills from working with Rene Morel, of Amazon Soul.

E: Tell us about your future projects?

S: Most of what I'm involved in or considering are all top secret now, sorry. I would like to do some work on music videos, possibly with a band like Tool, or musician/producer Ken Andrews.

E: Which is the work you are much more satisfied of? And what about the less one?

S: It's a difficult question to answer. I have mixed feelings about everything I've worked on. It can be quite frustrating putting so much of your personal time and energy into creating these characters, only to have a production element that is out of your control adversely effect the end result. On a movie, for example, it really is a team effort, a sum of parts; Every character will only be as good as the setup allows for animation, or the lighting, or even the unfortunate situation of poor direction. There's a lot of people involved, under stressful time constraints, and there remains the fact that some people are more skilled or passionate about creating quality work than others. I think of production work in two parts, making the character, and then babysitting their transition through other parts of the pipeline. It's kind of like making a baby and then raising them, if that doesn't sound too disturbing for some. Considering this, there are shots in all of the productions I've been a part of that I like much more than others. Generally speaking, I really like Sid in Final Fantasy and I like Thadeus in Final Flight. Dawn, the fairy I made for NVidia, is special in that I had the opportunity to create her myself from beginning to end, including some setup, all blendshapes, and even some animation. The downside was, of course, that she was intended for real time and had to be handed off and translated into a scene with limited lighting and no shadows. Granted, it's impressive for current tech standards, but that's not really my motivation. It's what I've gotten used to, you leave every production with a few moments or images you really like and a handful of results you'd probably rather forget. Sometimes, they're even the same thing: The image we put together of Aki for the cover of Maxim was looking ok until we gave it to them. That's when somebody over there had the clever idea to airbrush her as they would a living girl and it turned into more of a cartoon.

E: We suppose that you agree with us in emphasizing your work in FF, Which were your tasks in the film? Tell us a bit of the process.

S: As the Lead Character Artist, most of my time was spent on the faces. Initially, the challenge was to take Aki to as realistic a level as possible, within the director's taste and through all photoshop work on the textures (no scans or photos). I spent years designing, modelling, texturing, balancing shaders, for most of the other characters, trying to maintain a consistency with Aki. There were many artists involved with character elements at different stages of production; In some cases all that was required was a few days of remodelling and retexturing, basically balancing the elements to add that final touch of realism. I lived and breathed FF for almost four years so there's really too much to list, but I was also involved in directing shaders, lighting style shots, and contributed to nearly all of the promotional images.

E: . What is most difficult thing to create a new good character?

S: Just shear amount of work, and time spent. It helps to have a really strong concept going in with which to reference, otherwise you could just overwork it forever. Letting it go and calling it finished is the most difficult thing for me as I'm rarely satisfied with the results. Creating people you know is also very challenging, capturing something of their essence in a still frame with a default expression. I guess I still draw a lot from the time I spent doing portraiture in high school. I created some of my coworkers and put them in as extras in Final Fantasy and Final Flight, including myself in FF.

E: In which way do you think we could improve these characters for people not used to the 3D could think they’re completely real?

S: It will come with time. Movies are generally the driving force in this area so what we've seen is mostly limited by time and money. All-CG features will take more time to achieve this as there's simply too much work that goes into them, and they have to stick with a level of quality generally achieved at the beginning of a 2-4 year production, for the sake of consistency. There's been shots in live action films that have fooled almost everyone, in situations where there's more resources to throw at it, or with compositing tricks using live plates. This area will continue to improve as computer hardware gets faster and cheaper, and as the demand for it continues. Specifically, with faces, the biggest improvements will come through the setup and animation. The look of the eyes is a big thing, Golem had some fantastic shots. All the rest is just lighting, shading and hair, which is really limited by computer power.

E: When do you think we will be able to watch a “non-cartoon” film in 3D but a real film in 3D?

S: Again, it has a lot to do with tools and resources, as far as being able to do it. The question is, is there enough demand for it? The work we did at Square was laying a foundation for this, but the results of FF have undoubtedly scared off potential projects and investments. Reactions to Final Flight (Animatrix) have been far more positive, which is reassuring, but to me the look is very much the same. I suppose the answer lies in the strength of story, or even the shorter length. It takes a special story to justify an all-CG translation, I think most audiences are very critical of this. I have always been drawn to photorealistic art, but there's really no excuse for it to be dull or uninteresting; The purpose of an all CG feature, outside of a stylized or cartoon look, should really be to explore the flexibility you have with design, lighting, motion, cameras, bringing a new world to life. I'm dying for the day when all-CG features are widely accepted for adults, I want to be a part of it, but it's going to be many years down the road I'm afraid. It's going to take the biggest kind of balls, a sick amount of resources, a top-notch director, and a perfectly justified story, not to mention the best and most experienced artists in the industry. Setting up a studio in Hawaii might not hurt either :)

E: Will 3D animation end with the traditional animation? And it will do it with flesh and bone actors?

S: Obviously, 3D films have become more popular than traditional animation recently, and there will always be the element of supply and demand. I would like to think it's just a fad because it's something new and interesting. There are some things about 3d that make it more efficient to create the traditional look, but it can't be replaced, it's a completely different medium. Actors will never be replaced, what a silly thing to even consider. 3D technology is just another tool. The medium used to achieve a particular effect or style should be dictated by story and practicality. Some people like to have their picture taken, some like to have their portrait painted. I would hope that directors are sensible about their approach to utilizing 3D characters, I don't particularly find it interesting to see a 3D character where it's not justified. Stunt doubles, Spiderman swinging from buildings - this makes sense. Normal CG human beings making out, this doesn't work for me, but maybe if they were aliens, or comic style...

E: Choose between: ¿Toy Story or Shrek? ¿Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings? ¿Hulk or Spiderman (the film)? ¿The Matrix or X-Men? ¿Disney or Warner?

S: Well, I have many friends that have worked on all of these films, and in many ways I like them all. Honestly, Shrek would be my least favorite of the bunch. I'm a huge fan of Pixar's work, especially Toy Story 2. I grew up completely obsessed with Star Wars, but share with most people's feelings that the recent episodes are lacking in some areas. Still, I watch them often and try to suffer through the weaker dialogue. I love the Lord of the Rings movies, especially Golem. Spiderman has some of the best shots I've ever seen in 3D, and X2 was great. The Matrix is one of those films that I can put on once or twice a week and never get sick of, I've been pretty obsessed with it. I have to say that although I liked Reloaded, I wish they edited it a bit more. The character setup on the Hulk was most impressive.

E: Would you like to tell us something else you think could be important for us to know?

S: When the day finally comes, the moons align, and a group of bad asses take the risk and lengthy pangs of making an all-CG feature with a fresh look, for adults, for all the right reasons...take your whole family to see it, twice.


Thank you very much for your kindness and remember when you come to Spain, you will have to visit us, you will be welcomed.

Esmaya.org

Link: www.stevengiesler.com