What was your earliest experience with computers? My dad was a systems analyst at the BBC way back when the term had just been coined. He took me to a computer exhibition where Commodore had just released its PET computer, which I fell in love with. My school had one in what was laughingly called "the computer room"! None of the teachers knew how to work it so I ended up with the room virtually to myself.
How did you become involved with computer animation? I'd always been interested in visual trickery - 3D holographic and Viewmaster stuff. I came across a program called Povray, written as shareware. It was very basic, there was no user interface and you had to write a text file describing in mathematical terms where things were in the scene, but it blew me away! All you could really do was put a couple of spheres above a mirrored surface -no one had the patience to write anything else!
What kind of technology are you employing at Nanomation? We have Intergraph TDZ-2000 machines for the high-end animation as we use Soft- Image XSI and the programs are fussy about what hardware they run on. The days when you needed amazing Silicon Graphics machines to run animation software are gone now. Whether you love or loath Windows NT, or the Intel system architecture, it has brought that kind of thing into the mainstream. I also use a Dell Inspiron laptop round the world for email etc as it is the only one I can run SoftImage on.
Does the net's infrastructure need an overhaul? The new technology could be in place tomorrow if we were starting from scratch but there's so much money invested in old-style IP and TCP networks. The exciting new thing, call it Internet.2, would be where links were updated and moved depending on where people click. That would give you the kind of content screening that you don't get at the moment.
How do you feel about file-sharing software such as Napster? I'm blisteringly in favour. I challenge record companies to show me evidence of a single penny they've lost due to Napster. However, I think Napster are cowards now for selling out to the major labels. You can't stop people exchanging any digitisable media over the internet because whatever scheme you use to prevent it, people will circumvent it!
Any favourite websites? I have been known to use Tesco.com but my favourite site is Zombo, which is a clunky animation with a voice-over telling you how great it is. I think that paraphrases the net. Promises you the earth but delivers a bit of animation with a scratchy soundtrack!
Visit: www.nanomation.co.uk
