Fretslayer

I started off as what I would call a 'Pen and Paper' artist.
I have been drawing since I was something like 4-5 years old.
Having done everything from tattoos to album art I started feeling bored with the whole thing and at the same time I had been playing professionaly in my own band for something like 15 years (give or take) and I was needing a change.

Change is a funny thing.

My change happened when a large truck slammed into the car I was riding in and I ended up with several fractured bones in my spine, a whiplashed neck, closed head injury and permanent nerve damage. The nerve damage was so bad that my hands shake now (like a junkie needing a fix!) and that obviously stopped me from drawing and painting. I was in a strange place in my life - I had been an artist and musican for so long that my identity was tied directly to both of these activites.

Feeling a bit lost and unsure I found myself at a local bar... That's where I met a fellow by the name of Lars (no, not that one!). Lars was pretty cool and in need of some help with his home studio. I hooked him up with a copy of 'Cakewalk Home Studio' and in return he gave me a few CG art magazines that came with CDs.

On one of them was BRYCE 3D.

I loaded it up and after a matter of seconds my inner artist was reborn.

I used Bryce for a long time and then tried MAX 4.
MAX lost me - I was so far beyond confused that I didn't know what to do and so I returned to the safe zone that was Bryce. I used Bryce for several more years until one weird day - I swear this is 100% true, I know how untrue it sounds - believe me, I do -

I was asleep one night and when I woke up I heard my 'inner head voice' say 'You can use 3DsMax now...GO GET IT!'

So I ran off and got myself a copy, installed it, loaded it and crapped my pants when I was able to use it and use it pretty well. I don't know what happened or how it happened but it happened.

I began building my own meshes in MAX and got somewhat good at it.
The whole UV mapping thing still eludes me to this day and while working in MAX I discovered some websites that had awesome meshes.

I figured that since my modeling skills left something to be desired I'd snag a few free meshes and see if I could animate as easily in MAX as I did in Bryce.

Not only did I do it as well, but it was easier and I was much better.
So I began my little adventures in MAX.

Then I saw it... Dennis Bailey's NCC-1701-A mesh in LWO format and I just about fainted.
I downloaded it and ran out and bought myself LWO.

I started using LWO and working on a series of different little short bits-n-pieces of things so I could learn the ins and outs of the software.

Again, I got pretty good but again I hit a wall.

I have stories I want to tell and movies I want to make.
I don't have the billions of dollars to make a movie so I figured I could animate one.
There was just one problem - I could never quite get the character rigging in MAX to work all that well and lip synching....forget it!
Even in LWO I was unable to get my character rigs to work proper and the lip synch issue still beat me up.

It was in a moment of confusion when I discovered I had DAZ Studio installed (it came free with my Bryce 5) and I played with it for a few moments and that was it - I was working with my new tool.

After using DAZ Stuido for a few months I discovered Carrara Pro 6 and MIMIC.

At this point I am knee deep in three animated short films and in each of them I'm using other people's meshes as well as a few of my own.

I know this is a long way to a short point but what I'm trying to say is that when you're working on a project (like a movie or your comic) you have a story to tell and you should use every available tool at your disposal to get your story out there.

But then I think of myself as a writer - then an animator - then a modeler.
For me, it's all about getting my story out there to the public and perhaps that's why I see nothing wrong with using a mesh made by somebody else.

Plus, I've sort of gotten to know a few of the people around this site and I take great pleasure in using their meshes in my animations because I feel like I'm giving something back to them in exchange for them allowing me to use their mesh.

I still owe Taranis a Buck Rogers!
I'm working on it man, I swear I am!
LOL!