For me the things with the most impact are those which I am studying - which is, of course, mostly knowledge in the visual field.
When I started to study how to light for photography (with the excellent Strobist-blog of David Hobby and some other sources), trained and finally got some jobs as a portrait-freelancer, the way I looked at people and things changed. I started seeing highlights at the edge of people`s faces, analyzed where the light came from that made their hair shimmer - people became only light and shadows for me for a long time. Sometimes I still find myself staring at somebody`s shiny highlight on their nose instead of looking into their eye.
The next thing I studied intensely was Adobe Photoshop (and beforehand some other graphic programs). Especially since working at Japan Digital Image, I (and my coworker Ogawa-san experienced the same thing) concentrated on object`s and people`s shadows. Creating (i.e. drawing) a realistic shadow in Photoshop is not a thing that is easily mastered. That and again highlights: this time I was constantly looking at highlights on things like cars, water puddles, digital cameras etc. I began to think about where the highlight is the strongest, where it is hard and where soft, where it fades out...
And then of course, when you are visually creating advertisement, you begin to look at public ads and wonder how these were done in Photoshop. As my director Kataoka-san, you may ask yourself, what is real in that picture you are looking at and how you would produce it. It is not so much about the product anymore but how it is presented and if it is produced in a talented way.
Now when I started to study a new topic - 3D graphics software - to become a (3D) CGI Creator I realized how much your everyday life can really change "just" by learning a new software to create something that - in the end - you thought you were doing the whole time already. I am creating pictures (being it photos, illustrations, composites or video) since more than 10 years now and as I said, every time I learned something new to realize my creative visions, I also learned the things that came along with it. And that happened again with 3D, but in much broader terms:
Not only did I start looking at things and began thinking about how to reproduce them in 3D with their vertices, edges, faces and polygons; not only did I began thinking about textures and texture-maps; not only did I again begin thinking about lighting.
With the studying of the rendering engine V-Ray I also started learning the laws of physics and optics.
I began being fascinated about what light is, the different theories, how it bounces off of things and bounces again. The features of plastic, metal, glass, water, ice etc. have to be identified and understood before creating a material in the 3D software. And it is a pleasure to read about how the real physical world is built to understand how to recreate it realistically with the computer.
Before starting to learn 3D, I thought it would be a drag to always try to be up to date so not to fall behind in this fast moving business.
But now that I am actively creating 3D CG images and trying to get the best and most realistic outcome out of my workstation, graphic card, 3D software and rendering software, I am excited to see the development and release of new techniques and software.
Isn`t it great to study?
I truly think it is.
Yours, Manuel
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