Out in the real world, we all have hobbies and interests in addition to the work we may be most known for. Here at Renderosity, our vendors have their own stories to tell. Things they do away from their products... special projects, awards, citations, or things of interest that most may not know about.
In an effort to better introduce our vendors to the rest of the community, we've asked them to tell us more about themselves, and share their stories. Rather than a straightforward interview, these are their stories, in their own words.
This week, we find out all about artist and vendor, Roger Walco, better known to the community as Synthetic.
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Hi Renderosity Folks—
My name is Roger Walco, ‘Synthetic’ to those of you who know me from the Renderosity Site.
A little bit about me: Well, first thing I would like to say is that I am here because of the good graces of my good friend, Blackhearted. Gabriel mentored me through every bit of PoserReality until I could hold my own. Thanks to him for his many helping hands. After that, I got hooked and got really good at a few aspects of the rendering process—and got interested in applying the many digital art techniques I use professionally to make rendering life easier and prettier for all of you guys!
In real life, I am a professional game designer and artist and have worked at many of the big shops in the biz: BioWare, EA, Activision and the like. I made my living that way over the past 20 years--before starting Lifeform Entertainment, the Mobile Development Studio I co-founded in 2009. We’re on an island, just off of Seattle.
In fact, our team has a major new announcement. It’s called Iron Atlas—and it’s basically an iPad (and soon Android / Windows tablet) platform which virtualizes all kinds of card, board, rpg games and puzzles…And, lets you play them on your bigscreen TV with friends and family, either in person or remotely. It works for any game and has a store for game publishers that works quite a bit (and is perhaps inspired by Renderosity)!
Take a look, let me know what you think—and please: do share the hell out of it (thanks!)
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You can blame it on my day job at Lifeform that I’ve never quite had the time to turn Proluma 3, the new ultra-real, yet ultra-easy new lighting system I’ve worked out, into a releasable product. I –have– been working on it. Rest assured, if we can get Iron Atlas to take off—I’ll have plenty of time to get back to a new generation of lighting and shader products!
On a personal note, I am a man of varied and old-fashioned interests. Here are some tidbits:
- I’m a professional craftsman by training—and have a full shop at my house where I build furniture, jewelry, and forge handmade blades. I do this in my spare time, but would gladly make a living at it if I could. I don’t really use power tools, and prefer to work by hand with old wood planes, chisels and saws. Feel free to look me up on facebook, as there is a gallery of my stuff. Promise: it's NICE stuff :)
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- I’ve been practicing meditation and Taoist martial arts since I was 18 and train daily. I’ve been lucky to have some very excellent, traditional teachers from India, China, Tibet, and the States—and sometimes get out to teach or give workshops myself.
- Seattle is great place, but still looking for a place where the nature and the people really feel like home. I think the States doesn’t quite fit me, but it’s where I grew up and what I know. I’d love to settle down in the -perfect- place.
Thanks to all of you for your support over the years--
Synthetic!- - - - - -Â
Links
- Synthetic's Renderosity homepage
- Synthetic's Renderosity Art Gallery
- Synthetic's Renderosity Store
- lifeformentertainment.com
- Iron Atlas Kickstarter Campaign
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