Interview with Andre Holzmeister

Q. Hello Andre, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in CG and from where you have taken some training?

Hi, I am a self thought Brazilian CG artist, unfortunately, because by the time I started studying 3D, 1994, there were no schools here in Brazil, some schools were appearing in the USA and Europe, but I did not have resources to go study abroad. I used to draw a lot, and I really thought I would be a comic book artist, but I started to play around with 3D Studio r4 DOS version, and decided this was my future job. There was no internet available for mere mortals in Brazil until about later 1995, so the only way was to buy books, like the 3D Studio R4 Bible, and a few other rare stuff, also the first forums and specialized sites came long after this date, but when they came there was a boom of information exchange, people was so thirst for info and willing to share and help each other that I think it was the golden time for the forums. I learned a lot at the time.


Q. Currently where you are working and what's your nature of job?

Right now I am Head of CG at Iceland 2nd Nation / CUBOCC. A production house that produce live action, effects, 3D Animation, 3D illustration, 3D games/advergames, interactive new technologies, etc.

Q. You have been at CUBOCC for quite a long time, longer than most CG guys stay in one spot unless they own the company. What makes you stay?

CUBOCC and now Iceland 2nd Nation are enterprises under Flag holding, our production efforts are, from now on, under Iceland 2nd Nation brand, and the nature of our business is what makes me stay, we are in the right spot when we talk about publicity and integrated business and new medias, we are working and developing new ways of interact to the audience, exploring new ways to make communication. From the 3D end of the job, where would I have the chance to work on film, illustration, games and new technologies altogether with a great part on the creative end of the process? I owe this to the people that believed in me and gave me this chance, and I hope to keep up the good work delivering better results at each new project.

Q. What spec machines are you using it on at the moment?

We use windows based computers, Octa-processors, 8 GB ram, Geforce GTX 470 with Autodesk Creative Suite (Max and Softimage), 2 to 3 years old machines that will be replaced soon.

Q. What education and experience required becoming a 3D Supervisor?

I was lucky enough to start a long time ago, which gave me a good leverage because I had time to study deeply every part of the 3D pipeline, because I had to do all by myself back in the old days, from concept to compositing/color grading, so this gave me a good eye for all parts of the project. I believe that generalists do have some leverage over specialists becoming 3D supervisors, but I doubt I could handle an animation supervisor title as well as a specialist can. So I think you have to understand very well all parts of the pipeline to be a 3D supervisor, sure, advised by lead artists on each field so you have a good control of every part of the job. Art knowledge and education is a very welcome skill too.