Due to clients’ needs, graphic design services were also added as the studio grew in size. Its output shows up in 3D renders, videos and printed media.
Do the artists at Neoscape lean more towards specialization or general arts skills?
We have both in our studio. We have people that are very good at certain things (as is the nature of things), but we encourage all of our artists to learn and become proficient in all the arts or skills. We all like to be involved in the process from the creative conception to the final color grading, and we have a very flexible team to get all of this done.
Most of our artists are “generalists”, as they’re called today, but when things need to get done quickly, we know who to go to, who will get it done most efficiently, and also who will teach new generations of artists that specific craft. Another key component is the fact that we ask our artists what they like to do and what they would like to learn, and that helps shape our artists.
What are your thoughts on Backburner?
Backburner served us well for the past 10 years—not without its problems or limitations—but 10 years and hundreds of thousands of frames is not a bad record! That being said, the program was no longer supported by Autodesk; their support was “don’t use it.” But it worked well enough for a while.
Interestingly enough, Autodesk recently tweaked the program, and when we switched to Max 2012 with the new Backburner we encountered lots of errors. Basically, we couldn’t render anything big or have a long list of jobs in line without Backburner crashing. So we’re testing other options right now, like Deadline, and so far so good. As with plug-ins, we are being very careful not to expect that another program will be the solution to the problem just by installing it. We are thoroughly testing it to make sure we don’t open a new can of worms.
Do you see the industry changing in ways that are promising? Which are the most interesting technological developments that you see coming up for the future?
A video created for Autodesk that illustrates how the company’s software can improve manufacturing processes and workflows
There are many ways in which we see the industry evolving. The expectations of our clients will continue to rise, which requires us to continue to innovate and evolve our process and products. Things like HD/2K, stereo, immersive presentations, crafted experiences all will become mainstream. In our experience, often the evolution can be unpredictable and happen in fits and starts. We have been expecting real-time tools to become common, but it has not materialized yet in our experience. This seems to be more a matter of the ability to craft a narrative and control the story than quality or ease of use. There are innovations on the technical and artistic side that will allow for more visually rich productions, such as more 3d tools in compositing and paint applications. Better animation integration, from passing animation between applications to better mocap. These advancements will also allow for richer media, better visualizations, and more innovative solutions for clients. And it’s important to remember that even with innovation and evolution there will also always be the need for traditional renderings.
As mentioned before, we also see the industry changing back to make architectural illustration an art form again. The time of the gimmick is over; the time of the “I use this program vs. I use this other program” will be over. Exploring will always be there, and new technologies will arrive, but how much better can a pencil get? There are plenty of them in different sizes, shapes, brands, etc., but they all will work to make a good drawing if you get it in the right hands. Software will soon be invisible and will become the “pencil”, and so you will concentrate on getting it into the right hands to create the best art to help your clients meet their needs.
