Renderosity Free Stuff Artist - mapps!

Each month we will showcase a Renderosity Free Stuff Artist, in appreciation for their thoughtfulness, and countless hours spent creating free items for the Renderosity community. This month we are proud to showcase the works of Michael W. Mapplebeck, better know to his Renderosity fellow artists as mapps.

Who is Mapps? My name is Michael W. Mapplebeck, and I was born in Berwick, Nova Scotia, on June 5th 1965. I trained in Offset Printing, Technical Illustration and Graphic Communications. I currently am a resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia, working fulltime as an artist for a local printing company. Mapps was actually my Great Aunt Beths nickname, she passed away several years ago at the age of 99, so I use it in her memory. How long have you been a member of the Poser community and what do you like about it? I joined Renderosity in June, 2001, because I was thinking about upgrading to the latest version of Poser (Poser 4 at that time) and wanted a better look at what it could do. I was amazed by the number of free items, and started downloading. Even though I didnt have the software yet, I figured they may not be available by the time I purchased newest version of Poser. I had originally bought Poser 1.0 and hadnt used it in quite some time. I would say what I like the best about the Poser Community, are the friends that I have made here. Plus, I get to talk to people all over the world who have the same interests I have. How did you get started in Poser? I was already working with 3D, using Dream 3D when Poser first came out, I purchased it to add people to my work, but Poser 1.0 was a little rough to say the least. So I wound up not using it much. I had pretty much forgotten about it all together when I saw an ad for Poser 4. I was very impressed with the changes and it grabbed my interest again. I wasnt able to purchase it though until Poser 5 came out. I was hooked right after getting it out of the box. I now use Poser three to four hours every day for relaxation and enjoyment, other people watch TV I play with Poser. What version of Poser do you use now, and why do you like it best? I am currently using Poser 6, Im quite impressed with all the new features. The new lighting and environmental effects are fantastic. I like the changes they have made to the material room too. The new simple mode should be a huge help for those that were having trouble with it in poser 5. Having made and donated about 360 Poser 5 materials to the Poser Community here at Renderosity, I think I had that one figured out quite well. The new Poser 6 Materials, though, has added a whole new realm of possibilities. I am looking forward to releasing my first set of Poser 6 Materials to the community, how soon as yet is unknown, but I am working on them. Did you begin with Poser and find modeling or did you begin modeling and find Poser? No, as stated above, I started with 3D modeling and got into poser to add figures to my work. I began with RayDream 3 and Adobe Dimensions. RayDream 3 remained my primary 3D software until just recently when I upgraded to Carrara 3. RayDream was a fifteen-year-old software at that point and didnt even understand Object format. I had to transfer everything to poser using DXF. This had a list of problems, so I finally broke down and updated. I honestly wish I had done it sooner. 99% of the problems I was having with my creations in poser went away and I could concentrate on building things for poser and not spend half of my time trouble-shooting. Where do you get your ideas from? Most of them just hit me out of the blue, but many are requests. My normal method of working is to sketch a rough draft of the main idea, then, I begin building. When I start building I have only a rough Idea of what I will do, I let the idea develop as I work on it. Most of my projects undergo several changes during the construction. Sometimes the changes are so drastic they hardly look like the original sketch. I find most of the time my projects keep getting bigger while I am working on them. Something I just finished building, will give me a Idea for something else that would go well with it. If I am on a roll it is very hard to stop adding to it. As a result I will often do a part two or three even. My HoSM set (Hamlet of Sir Michael) set is up to about part 11 and still going. I have at least eight to ten more sets I want to add to it. I had planned to build the town in about 6 months, well I have added so much to it that I am still building and planning, and it looks like this one will be over a year in the construction. So I guess most of my new ideas come from things Ive just finished. What was the first model you ever made? Did it work out the way you planned? My first attempted model was a jet fighter... it stunk. It looked more like a messed up glider than a fighter plane. When you're making your models and everything seems to be going wrong, what keeps you going? I think the simple fact that I am just quite laid back. If everything is going wrong, I generally just switch to a different project. On average I have as many as eight projects going on at the same time. If one is not working, I switch to another. It gives me some time to think it over without it getting under my skin. I find if I leave it alone for a day or two an idea will usually come to me to fix what every it is that isnt working right. What's your favorite free model contribution? My very first one Cargo Droid. I had been modeling for fifteen years and using Poser for about eight months, when I posted my first free item. So I dug through my archives for a model that I was quite proud of to post as my first. I settled on the Cargo Droid. He underwent several changes in order to get him to work in Poser properly. It is still available for download. If you go to my free section and click last he is the last one on the list. Do you have a favorite image created with your free stuff?

Go Ahead Laugh by mapps [Michael Mapplebeck] I would say it is Go Ahead Laugh, its one of my older pictures using my PT Victoria Room free download. It also contains two of my free droids. It was fun to do and the room has likely been in more gallery pictures by other artists than any other set I have made. It is not surprising that it is also one of my most downloaded items.

mapps Free Stuff used in the "Go Ahead Laugh" image Do you have any advice for people who are just starting out sharing their models? Start simple, it is very discouraging to have things not go your way. Starting simple helps you develop the skills and knowledge to build the more complicated things. I jumped in, head first, and got very depressed when I couldnt make the stuff I wanted to. After trying and failing several times I decided to do the tutorial that came with the software. I recommend not following in my footsteps. Start with the tutorial if you havent done it yet. It is like having someone turn on the lights. When taking a model to Poser that will become a posable character, try to use something with only three to five bones starting off. It gives you the chance to figure out the bone method without having to spend three hours setting up the bones to find out you may not be doing it right (again you can learn from my mistake). If you can work with three bones and get them to work properly you are ready to work with many bones, the idea doesnt change, just how long it takes to set them up. Remember friends can help no one is good at everything. Look around Renderosity and you will see that many of the people who contribute to the community, contribute in pairs or groups. I rely on the help of my friend yesitis3, he shoots the material for me to use to make my textures. Together we create free items for Renderosity. Id be completely lost with out his help. Also remember, bigger is not always better, and more is often less. Dont make textures larger than they need to be, a baseball doesnt need a 4000 x 4000 pixel texture since the final render is apt to be about the size of a dime, or smaller, on the screen. A large texture does not give more detail to a small item, it just uses more render time. Higher polygon count doesnt make an item higher quality. Plan ahead! The minimum required polygon count is what you should aim for. A box is really only 6 sides, which is only 12 polygons (triangular) or 6 polygons (square), 12,000 polygons wont make it squarer. It will just be a much larger file. In the case of a sphere a small sphere (golf ball size) doesnt need as many polygons to look round as a sphere does that is 6 feet tall. If you will be adding deforming morphs or displacement to a object (such as bulging the sides out or dents) a higher polygon count will make the morphs smoother, only increase the polygon count in areas that will need it.

We invite you to visit ...

All supporting images within this article are copyright and cannot be reproduced, copied, or printed without written permission from the artist.

A special "thank you" to contributing columnist, artist, Angel1, for taking time out of her busy schedule to conduct this month's Free Stuff Artist Interview.

If you know of a Renderosity Free Stuff Artist that you would like to have us showcase, please drop Dee-Marie a note with the artist's Renderosity username, and keep checking the Front Page News, you never know who we will be showcasing next! May 9, 2005

Explore More