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Education ■ ■ ■ ■ Th e Star Wars short looks like it came directly from Lucas’s team at ILM. Can you tell us about “Th e Solo Adventures” project and why you used LightWave 3D software to create it? Well, fi rst of all, we can do anything we want to do in LightWave and not have to wrestle with the software. LightWave contin- ues to be one of the easiest 3D software pack- ages on the market to work with, even though 3D is not ‘easy.’ We wanted to fashion ‘Th e Solo Adven- tures’ close to the animated look of ILM and Lucas Arts’ Th e Clone Wars, but also add some of our own touches. We were thrilled that we were able to make this short and give it such a professional look with our small student team, and, hopefully, some of our students can go on to work at ILM or any other studio, and put out good work with the skills they learned. We used LightWave for the same reason that many independent VFX shops and studios that are on tight time and budget schedules use it: It just works. Even today, in many television series (Battlestar Ga- lactica and V, for instance), LightWave is still being used. Th at’s where it excels. Other 3D software packages work well, for sure, but at Th e DAVE School, we keep teaching with LightWave. Since most of us are Star Wars fans, the practical “doing something you love” approach must have been such fun and so educational for your team. What’s next on your roster? For “Th e Solo Adventures,” our goal was to create something fun and something that follows the original Star Wars fan fi lm. Most fan fi lms go dark and look at the inner struggles related to the Jedi. We wanted to get back to the fun and adventure elements, and re-visit the relation- ship with Han Solo and Chewie. We got everyone together to come up with our own take of what our version of Han, Chewie, and the robot character would be doing. We borrowed a lot of the expressions and personalities from the fi rst three fi lms. After we designed and scripted the short, we passed the designs on to the students, who got right to work to realize the vision of the art director. In addition, we used the motion-capture stage at Universal Or- lando’s Stage 25. (Th e 11,000-square-foot soundstage contains a large greenscreen in addition to a motion-capture setup.) We also were ex- tremely lucky to get John Armstrong, who amazingly voices Han Solo in the video games (Star Wars: Empire at War and Star Wars Battlefront: The DAVE School students and faculty enjoy the fruits of their labor after winning the top prize. As an extra bonus, the group used LightWave’s stereo tools to give the fi lm added dimensionality. Renegade Squadron). John is able to emulate Harrison Ford to a tee and match the Han Solo voice perfectly. Of course, we had great fun using some of the clichés of the characters, and John’s voice gave everything a familiar and original twist. After all the animation was done, we had six weeks to cut and edit the fi lm–just in time for the deadline for the Celebration Star Wars submission. We also made a special edition in stereoscopic 3D. LightWave 3D gave us the option to create a stereoscopic 3D version, which came out incredible and gave us a defi nite edge. With the popularity of stereo- scopic 3D today, we were able to give our students valuable exposure to working on a two-view, interocular 3D stereo environment, thanks to the software. Tell us about winning the best short award for “Th e Solo Adven- tures,” and the positive impact it has had on you and the team. It was an all-time high for everyone. I was so proud of the whole team. Th e stereoscopic 3D version gave us the winning edge, no doubt. We’ll defi nitely use LightWave again, especially for 3D stereoscopic projects. We’re excited to be working in stereo 3D, and the new ana- glyph 3D tools and features in LightWave 10 have us excited. We currently have three new projects in stereoscopic 3D, which is no longer considered a gimmick; it’s required. Following our most recent graduation, the production company Stereo hired 12 graduates from Th e DAVE School. And then hired 25. And then 18 more. What did you learn most from this project, and what was the big- gest revelation from using LightWave 3D? I guess the top things we learned most were: deadlines, collaboration, asset management, and creative vision. We learned that by having a group under the direction of an The student modelers and animators used NewTek’s LightWave to create the characters and backgrounds for their movie. instructor who has production experience, the students learned fi rsthand why deadlines must be managed closely, and why it’s im- portant we name things the way we do and manage our assets and fi le structures. We created many 3D assets, and in a massive group project, we had to keep organized. We wanted to set up a ‘real-world’ environment and help the stu- dents get the right attitude of how to work in a group and team. Since we make four movies a year, all these real-world studio production situ- ations are extremely relevant and vital to our students’ success. Our next big project is called ‘Zombie Apocalypse,’ about a theme park run by zombies. Th is will be interesting! ■ May 2011 25