We're proud to present an interview William Uberig (a.k.a. Wild Bill)...animator, tattooist, airbrush artist, and tombstone engraver.

Do we need to mention that he likes variety?

Hi Bill,
It's great to have you here. Can you Describe yourself to us in 5 words?

Artist, Musician, Dad, Easy-Going, Imaginative... almost sounds like a date thing!

Which part of the world do you call home?

Home is in North Western Quebec in Canada, in a small city called Rouyn (pronounced "Roo-Ahne"). I Moved here from Hamilton Ontario about 15 years ago. I may move out of my town one day, but I don't really see moving out of Quebec. The people are easy going, fun loving and in conjunction with a small northern town, life is very live-able here. Great place to bring up my kids.

Talking of kids, what about family and pets?

Starting with pets, we have a bird...it's a finch... a small dog called Tequila who is a Pug/Chihuahua mix. We have a lizard too. It's a Chinese Water Dragon...and up to a few days ago, a goldfish. For family, I have 2 wonderful girls, 9 and almost 12. They are with me 2 weeks out of the month, so I have my small family which is more than precious to me. They are great kids. We try and spend as much time together outside of the 4 walls as much as possible...Dad is a bit of a workaholic, so the time we spend together is always in the name of fun and quality time.

Have you always been artistic?

I have to say yes. I have been on the artistic path since an early age. I remember drawing at 4 or 5 years old, and with years of doodling under my belt, I now make a living from my art. To this day I have 2 art-orientated businesses, and a third one up and coming. Art has always been more than just an influence, it is been the need to re-create small pieces of my world around me, or something out of my head, onto paper, or a bike tank, a t-shirt, canvas, in granite or on skin for that matter!

What do you do in your downtime? Do you have any hobbies?

For the little time that I have on my hands, off-computer hobbies would be playing in a band. I am a singer and guitarist. This is my 3 or 4 hours a week to forget about bills, business, customers, pets, and other stress inducing thoughts and just kick back and play some tunes!!! I am also a bike enthusiast. I am presently building a 60's era panhead-style chopper from the ground up. This is a long term project, but when it's done, it'll be worth the wait.

How did you get into 3D modeling Bill?

I have always been fascinated with 3D animation. I bought my first computer about 3 years ago. Yep green as grass! LOL. As soon as I got the hang of this new "internet thing" I downloaded demos of software and went "Wow"! The first one I remember was U-Lead Cool 3D. I was making planets blow up and simple animations. Then I downloaded Studio Max 6 (Discreet back then...) and I discovered 'sleepless nights'. I went wild on the software, soaking up as much as I could before the demo ran out. And it did.
Then I had the fine chance of a customer lending his computer with 3ds max on it!!! For 3 months I dived into 3ds Max and animated spaceships, underwater scenes, and anything else time permitted. I Played with Greeble plug-ins and star maps. I was having a great time, and then I had to give the computer back. LOL!!!!
From here, I was doing this on the family computer with an average video card on it, so I went ahead and bought my own computer and installed my first software that was not a demo, Poser 6. I won this Poser software from right here at Planit3d!!! At this point I was already hanging around PlanIt 3D since the 3DS Max demo days, so I played around with Poser for some time. Eager to expand horizons, I bought Vue. Now I was happy! I started flying over wastelands without wasting any time, and making some crazy 9-day renders of animations in Vue! LOL.

And talking of PlanIt 3D, what drew you to the place, and how did you end up as a moderator there?

I believe that I was having my first experiences with 3DS Studio Max and I was looking for meshes. I "googled up" free meshes or something like that, and I found Planit3D. As I was more and more on the site to pick up as much tips and info as possible, I got to know a really fun, helping and out-going bunch. When I came to the site I was thinking..."These softwares are so hard to learn, and these moderators know them like the back of their hand....WOW!" I was more than impressed. From there I have learned so much and have seen some of the most inspiring work that it's pushed me to learn even more. So I would like to say a HUGE thank-you to the whole gang here at P3D. I feel that it is realistic to say that if I was never here at the site, I don't think that I would be doing what I am doing today. With a good/decent background in PhotoShop and a solid background in general art, I was honoured to be made a moderator myself, in the Art Class forum and PS forum as well. This was maybe a little more than a year ago. Since then I have branched out to the Vue, Shade, and Animation Station forums trying to help as much as possible.

What drew you to animation?

In a nutshell, I didn't really get into the modelling aspect of 3d cgi, but I was more of the animation aspect of it all right from the start. Modeling was time consuming...animation was FUN! I liked making my objects move, or to be able to "see the other side". This was something that I have always been fascinated with. The need to make my art move sums it up I suppose.

You can see somne of Bill's animation work here...
http://www.dropshots.com/wild65
Just double-click the icon doodad.

Can you give us a rundown on the software do you use?

I use primarily Shade 8 pro. I use it extensively in conjunction with Poser 6. They work great together. I use Vue 5 infinite, but not that often. All my modelling renders and animations are done in Shade. I do use Cinema 4D V6 for some modelling, especially gears. They are so easy in C4D and I just import them into Shade as a mesh. That's just one example... So I am always changing from one piece of software to another, depending on what my needs are. I have done a couple contracts with Shade and I can now go ahead with many styles of animations with one main program in conjunction with others. I have Bob Hash's Animation Master also. I bought it a while ago and I just haven't had time to learn it! So that is my next adventure, learning Animation Master. This should be fun because Shade exports out meshes in A.M. format! Pretty rare! So I am looking ahead to broadening my horizons and fine tuning my animations. Animating is something that I love to do, and it presents challenges almost every day. It's like playing chess a bit…you always have to think 3 or 4 steps ahead and be patient!

I noticed earlier you hinted at using both stone and skin as "canvasses." Care to elaborate?

Skin and stone as canvasses means I do tattoos and I do engravings in granite also, as a side-line. From the start of it all I was an airbrush artist. Searching out a place to do my art, I ended up in a tattoo shop. From there, I ended up learning the trade and to this day I have a sucessful tattoo studio. I think I've been doing tatoos for 13 years now. It's a special job, unlike any other. I often think of the intimacy of the act of tattooing. I am drawing an image on the skin of another human, that will have this IN their skin for the rest of their days. Pretty special. Before all this I was engraving monuments...tombstones if you will...Aside from the gloom and doom of engraving on a monument, it is actually a very fun disipline of art. I joke a lot about it saying "Yep, one job is for life...the other is for after"!!!!

And now with Poser, Vue and PhotoShop in my toolbox, I have many tattoos and engravings done based upon CGI work! The softwares can cut my model-making in half, if not more, which makes for a great workflow.

What's your next commercial project?

The next project is still in the air but it may be an animaton for a company that makes a certain product that helps out with muscle atrophy from paralyses and pain, by the use of a type of garment that emits small amounts of electrical pulses. It will involve an animation of how the muscle fibers contract inside of the muscle along with nerve pain relief and more...So it should be an interesting contract.
If not, I have my elusive demo reel to continue. Every time I get some loose time, another project seems to sneak in! So I guess as long as the work in coming in, the demo will come second. "Some day!"

Do you have any words of wisdom for people trying to break into the 3D business professionally?

Words of Wisdom? LOL. I guess the obvious is to learn a software, or softwares, that will meet your needs is a first step. Learn it inside and out, or as much as possible. Be patient. Some get the knack faster than others but as a rule, animating and modelling take HUGE amount of time to learn. Time will be your biggest investment in the beginning, and your biggest asset in the end. Be ready to do some hardware investments too. Some softwares are more taxing than others but a decent machine is a must. Check out the competition...Check out places like CG Talk to see what the "pros" are doing. You could set the bar at this level for the long-run but getting there bit by bit is the best way to go I think. Most important...Have fun at what you do! It's Art. It supposed to be fun!

Thanks to all at P3D once again, and render away!

Interviewed by Paul Salmons aka slinger,
©2007, for PlanIT3D.com