If you're not familiar with Sixus1 Media's characters, be sure to drop by and check them out at Sixus1 Media

Where in the world are you?

As of March, we will be moving our home and studio facilities to Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

What non-3D hobbies do you have?

I've been a comic book fan most of my life, hence my continued involvement in the medium whenever time permits. Rebekah and I both love animation of many kinds, from Anime to 3D to claymation and anything I can find that is innovative or provocative. We're also both heavily into film.
I love old horror such as Hammer Films, Ed Wood, Ray Harryhausen's work, all kinds of sci fi, modern horror, and to a certain degree, a lot of indy/art films. I'm personally into old pulp heroes like "The Spider", "Doc Savage", and "The Shadow", and also enjoy role-playing and tabletop wargames, (primarily Warhammer 40K!!!!) though I find I have far too little extra time these days to indulge myself in them as much as I would like.
Outside of all the geek stuff I compose and perform music ranging from classical guitar to neo-classical electro-orchestration and sometimes harder-edged industrial music; once again though, endeavors I find I have far too little time for. I'm sure I'll be quite busy when my retirement years finally hit.

So tell us, how did you and Rebekah meet

Hehehehe....well, it was completely a mishap really. We were both meeting up with mutual friends for coffee before heading out to a concert of Frontline Assembly and Switchblade Symphony. At first sight we both looked at each other and thought "a**hole!!!" Then, firmly in tow of the friendswe were with, we ended up at the show whose opening act, some goth band(whose name eludes me), was horrid! Many of the people there were adjourning themselves to the area outside the rear of the club so I did the same.
Rebekah was there and we ended up talking, partially I think because a guy who came to the show with Rebekah (she swears to this day it was NOT a date!.. hehehheeh) was bugging< the crap out of her and I pretty much dwarfed the little guy. I was bored, she was bored and annoyed and he wouldn't come near us, so we just sat there talking about all kinds of stuff. Eventually, our friends came back out of the club to inform us that we'd been yapping all night and had missed the headliners!
On our way back through the club to leave, I asked Rebekah out. She said yes and we have pretty much been together ever since. We were married that following Halloween.

That's awesome, have you had enough free time to procreate?

We have two children: Killian, age 7 and Lilith, age 3.

And how do they feel about your work and the finished products

My son can't wait until our first major game title is out; he's probably more excited about it than I am! Our daughter is still a bit small to really understand the mechanics of what we do, but she seems to get a real kick out of seeing the creatures and characters being animated.
Recently, for kicks, I produced a short lip sync/animation test for our "My Little Centaur" product using Lilith's voice. She was a total ham for the mic and when she saw the final product, was so excited I think she nearly jumped out of her skin. Killian sometimes gets to play around on a laptop we have Poser on and almost always seems to end up playing with either the Greater Troll or the Grey Alien figures. I can't really speak for the kids, but they seem to be really into the stuff and that's a nice bonus for me.

How do you like being able to spend time doing what you love from home AND being able to spend so much time with your family?

What can I say... it's great. We made the decision over a year ago to homeschool our kids; with the business being at home as well as their education (which is progressing quite well, I might add!)
I think we're really living out a dream. Just like anything, it has it's rough spots, but in the end the way we've chosen to approach both our business and parenthood has actually afforded more time to dedicate to both.

So how long have you been a member of the 3D community?

My first interaction with the online 3D groups came around '95 when I first started using Ray Dream and Infini-D while working in the design dept. of a sports memorabilia manufacturer. The job sucked, but after-hours I was able to read a lot of info from the old bbs's and the fledgling websites and play around with the 3D software.
I left that job to go back into of all things, airbrushing. Fortunately, that gave me the time I needed to really work on my computer and animation skills at home. Along the way I moved over to 3D Studio R4, and purchased Poser 1. When Poser 2 came out, I upgraded to (gasp!) a 36.6k modem and thought "now I can really get online and learn some stuff!!!" It was then that I hooked up through emails and newsgroups with Willow Danaan, and the tiny group of folks who grew into the Poser Forum - which in '98 turned into Renderosity.
It's actually really weird to look back and think about how many people I've gotten to know through all that over the years.

How does today's community compare to the one you first joined?

Honestly, I'm really not that happy with a lot of what the online 3D world has become. Renderosity has been a staple of the internet for me since it's earliest inception, but since it's grown to the scale we now see, I feel a lot of personality has gone out of it. It's been a long time too, since I really frequented the "high end" sites; I've seen too many times when newbies and hobbyists were pretty much alienated just for asking novice questions and that always bugged the crap out of me. Throw in the fact the even though I do a LOT of work in "high end" software packages I have been a strong supporter of the hobbyist community in general (and Poser community in particular for a long time now), which apparently there are people out there thinking that those don't mix and that's a damn shame.
I can say that I do like the variety that is present online these days, although I really don't have much time to explore it as fully as I would like. All in all, I think that my likes and dislikes about where I see the online 3D community heading was a large part of what prompted us to setup and run Sixus1.com the way we do. The running joke around the studio and in a couple of threads out there is that our forum's TOS is "BYOB". This stuff shouldn't be so damn stressful.

How long has Sixus1 Media been around and how did you choose that name?

I've used the name Sixus1 since my earliest interaction with the internet in college back in '92/'93. The name was taken from a short story I had written in high school about a series of androids called the "sixus line" which were used for all forms of menial tasks in a corporate-dominated future where people were only worth as much as they could consume.
In the story, the first droid of the line, aka "sixus1" becomes self-aware and goes rogue,< ending up a nomadic hermit running from the corporations. It was a pretty cheesy story at the time, and pretty ambitious for a high school kid who'd read too much Asimov, but yearslater when I started talking to people through the bulletin boards and such it just popped back into my head as nice personal irony. The name really stuck through the years as I moved in and out of the corporate world and started feeling more and more like the character I had created. Eventually, the dot-communist-crash of 2000 left me unemployed, and because of the amount of web-related graphics I'd been stuck in for the couple of years prior, left me virtually unemployable. Through all the web-dev hell I had still maintained and furthered my modeling and animation skills, always trying to convince the companies I worked for that the online goldrush would soon come to an end and that smart money would invest in other media/mediums like games and broadcast again. Companies folded, jobs were lost, my family and I suffered like mad and eventually I sold off what film gear I had in order to gain money for us to live on for a couple of months while I beat the ground for 3D related work.
Fortunately, desperation, providence and determination can work together really well and we time to start really developing our original Poser content. Once our Poser figures began to hit the market things really clicked into place and we haven't looked back since. Now, we're involved with an animated TV pilot, a commercial broadcast editing studio, a colossal game development project and still continue to expand our presence in the Poser market. It's been a helluva ride.

Who comprises the team and does what in the creation process?

We started out just Rebekah and I. As the workload steadily increased, we've brought other artists into things. Right now we have 4 semi/full time artists working with us. At least a couple of them might be familiar to the Poser community at large:

Fatale, who I first encountered because of her "cy-goth" gargoyle at Rendo.

Cimerone, who does some excellent texture work and approached us with the idea of doing the "My Little Centaur" product

GraphicFoxx, whose talent for morph targets is second to none

Khai, who is our master of all things mechanical.

From time to time VictoriaStyle has given us some great texture work, and a couple of others have come and gone in the process of getting together the group of artists we're now quite pleased to be working with. The thing that I really enjoy most about working with this group of artists is that while they all have their specialty skills, they are all also very intereste in broadening their skillset into other areas. I'm watching these great people become more well-rounded as artists all the time, and I'm very proud that our company has brought them together. They're a great bunch of people to work with and I'm very happy with the relationships we're all continuing to develop as friends and artists working together.
Their involvement has really brought a new layer of life and evolution to what Sixus1 Media is, something I personally find to be very exciting.
Another aspect of this whole thing that I'm really proud of is that we're not just working with these fine people on Poser products; I see them as some of the very brightest potential the Poser world has to offer and have been very impressed with the work they have contributed to game and broadcast projects.
I think being able to offer the opportunity to break out of the whole Poser thing and explore other areas, some of which are really tough to get into, has been a great experience for Rebekah and I, and I'm pretty sure our artists are quite hyped about it as well.

As far as who does what, it really varies quite a bit. We all bounce a lot of concepts around with each other about things we're working on, both for clients and Poser products. At the moment,my job is primarily character modeling and animation with project management being a close second. Rebekah spends a lot of time dealing with administrative aspects of the business, as well as managing our website, custom Poser scripting, and the packaging and release of our Poser-related products. Rebekah is pretty much the glue that holds this bunch of artists together

How long have you been modeling and what are your weapons of choice there?

I've been at the modeling thing for around 8 or 9 years now. I was a 3DSMax user for a very long time before switching over to Maya, which is my preferred package these days.

Where do you come up with some of these character ideas? Nightmares? Flashbacks from your younger, wilder

It's actually really hard to say. I guess a lot of my ideas come from a combination of books, comics, and cultural interests.
I enjoy history, literature and mythology a lot so I'm sure that's a part of it. That's always one of the hardest questions for me to answer.

Do you sketch out ideas first or just do the character creation entirely in the modeling program?

I would say that 99% of what I produce is drawn out on paper well in advance. I feel that traditional art skills are a must and that most of what we produce with computers benefits greatly from a lot of forethought and preplanning that is best accomplished through drawing and painting.

How do you achieve such realism in a fantasy character and still produce them at such a quick rate?

I think a lot of the look that I have gotten in our creatures can be attributed to an ongoing interest in human and animal anatomy. Even if you want to do nothing but monsters, those which I feel are most effective are many times an amalgam of human elements reflected in a monstrous way. Understanding human and animal anatomy gives one the basis needed to make even the craziest creature seem plausible. As far as the rate at which my characters are produced? I don't sleep much.

Your textures looks so realistic, where do you find the inspiration for them?

Once again, traditional media, studying photo references and anatomy. A great deal of my approach to texturing actually has more to do with anatomy than the actual texture. Fur, skin, scales, feathers; they're all affected and guided by the underlying physiognomy of the creature. If the musculature "moves" right both in animation and in the contours of how it's painted, then getting believable results out of the overlying details becomes a much easier task.

What are the preferred mapping and painting programs for your texturing?

Primarily I use Photoshop, Deep Paint and Maya Paint Effects.

On the average, how long does it take to release a marketplace-ready character from conception to final rollout?

It really depends on a lot of factors. We're constantly working to advance the standards and capabilities of Poser based character rigging, so a few of our recent figures have taken a bit longer as we've had to work out the development issues of some of our new approaches in the setup/rigging area. In general, though, development times vary greatly. Some of our figures, like the Gryphon, actually came together in just a matter of a couple of days, whereas others like the Minotaur have seen up to a couple of months spent on them.
I try to keep development time on new figures to around a 2 week cycle though.

What has been your most popular product and which are your personal favorite(s)?

I would say that our most popular has been a toss up between the Werewolf and the Grey Alien, although the Minotaur line has done quite well also.
My personal favorite is our Behemoth figure, the free "large" male in our Project Human line, with the Minotaur 2 coming in a close second. They both share things I'm very happy with in regards to better UV's, texturing and certain things we've added into our Poser rigging that I think our users really appreciate like remote control systems for all the fingers and eyes, allowing very subtle control of these elements without the need to actually select them.

What upcoming products would you like to share with us?

We are working on so many things right now that it's staggering. February is our "Grey Alien Month", and we have a lot in store there.
So far, we've released the "Children of the Grey" package which features the Baby Grey and Child Grey figures as well as a bonus Natal Chamber scene kit. Soon to come are the Grey Alien 2, Mantis Grey, Defense Drone, Recon Vessel Scene Kit, Gestation Pods Scene Kit, Surgical Table, Brain Chamber Scene Kit, and Flight Suit for the Grey Alien 1&2. The thing I'm really psyched about with the Grey Alien line is that even though Grey Alien 2 is coming and it's predecessor will be retired, we're going to be making available updates for the clothing that was released for the Grey Alien 1 which will keep those products compatible with the new version.

March is "Project Human" month, and will see a number of releases of clothing, props, character kits, etc. supporting our "Project Human" figures. The month will culminate with the release of at least one new "Project Human" figure, which for those who aren't aware, are always free.

What major milestones would you say Sixus1 Media has achieved?

Expanding to include other artists in the business has been a very important one. Membership to our site continues to grow, something I think is very important to us. Late this year we'll see the first PC/XBox title, "Unknown: Quest for the Golden Dragon" from Ross Systems released to which we have contributed a staggering amount of work.
This spring will see the completion of the first fully animated television pilot in conjunction with RGEntertainment. It's actually getting to a point now where it's hard to pin down the milestones because we seem to be hitting new ones all time. The hard part is just keeping the momentum strong, but that's a good problem to have. 2003 was an incredible year for us and 2004 is already shaping up to build on our success in ways I never even imagined.

What modeling wisdom could you pass on to the fledgling modelers?

Put the mouse down and draw!!!! Study traditional art, keep a sketch diary and never stop paying attention to anatomy, composition, lighting and the fundamentals of structure. If you are an aspiring modeler/animator but have no traditional drawing skills or experience, seek out classes and books on the matter. The ability to draw is the single most important skill I feel one can have in this line of work.

One last question. In a cage match, who would win...Behemoth or The Freak?

I think the match would get interrupted by a dropship full of Grey Aliens ready to give the big lugs both a good probing

Interviewers note:
This has been great fun and I appreciate both Les' and Rebekah's enthusiasm and generosity. They make a great team and it shows in their work. It's truly been a pleasure communicating with them as well as doing business with them. Thanks you guys.

Interviewed by Ben_Dover,
©2004, for PlanIT3D.com