(Renderosity: Who is Magnet?) I am hoping that this is the toughest question you are going to be asking me this interview! Magnet is the alias I have been using for about 8 years and it has absolutely nothing to do with rendering or 3d or computers. My alter-ego maybe? In all reality, my name is Brandon Waiss. I have spent my entire life living in the Pacific Northwest and I am happy to call it home. I just turned 30, but I keep forgetting that I am not still 28. It was the best year of my life and I just keep living it over and over. I have been an Independent Consultant Specializing in Internet Technology, Web and Graphic Design for about 8 years. I have a strong background in Software Quality Assurance as well. (Renderosity: How long have you been rendering?) A little here, a little there. The bulk of my rendering has been over this last 5 months or so. I love texture design (as you can tell from my characters), so most of my work is in Photoshop. Poser is the Toy I get to play with after I am done with my textures, and I love the work that I do. (Renderosity: What are you currently working on?) Errr... getting some sleep. As, Poser goes? Well, I have been working on about 3 new characters simultaneously. I am trying to really get as photo-realistic as possible, without using a human subject. It is important for me to do as much by hand as possible. However, I will be using a model soon for an ultra-photorealistic character soon, and she is going to look gorgeous! (Renderosity: What software do I use and why?) Being that I work in the software industry I use a lot of different software. For my 3d Design, primarily Photoshop 6.0 and Poser 4.x. The whole reason I ever purchased a computer, was to play in Photoshop. It was a childhood dream (practically fiction at that time) to do the design work that I do. When I was like 12 or 13, I would play in the Paint program on my Commodore 64 and draw pictures. I used to always wonder if I would ever have a computer that would let me create something realistic... like a little virtual person or something. I remember thinking how cool it would be to be able to manipulate pictures of people. It was virtually impossible at the time short of having a 30,000 dollar computer. Then I turned 20 years old, bought a PC, Photoshop 2.5, and have been loving my work ever since. (Renderosity: Why do you like 3d art?) You know, I never really think about questions like this. I always just follow what I have a passion for. One of the things that I love about Poser, is that I can give my characters personalities and characteristics of their own. For instance, if you all have seen my Emily Character, she is a Sassy little thing! Poser allows me to give my characters expression and individuality. Almost as if the characters will step out from the monitor and show you a little attitude. (Renderosity: What inspires you?) Well, I am driven by what I love to do, and I love graphic design. I always have said that if I can make my living playing in Photoshop all day, then I would be in heaven. But I can honestly say, that what has been inspiring me the most lately, are the comments I get from customers. Generally, I create and design what I like, and if people like it - then great! But I have received some of the happiest comments from customers who have my products, and it elates me. It makes me feel pretty wonderful to not only have acceptance of my work, but to have so many incredibly wonderful comments, and for so many people to involve me in their work and share with me their excitement. (Renderosity: How has Renderosity's online community enhanced your work, relationships, and learning?) When I first found Renderosity, it was to download free stuff, because I was just playing around in Poser (that was about a year ago). Then I moved onto other things and dropped Poser (yes, I am sorry) for 6 months or so. I ended up taking this contract at a software company here locally, and was bored off of my keister (can I say "keister"?). The software economy was rough, and I was forced to take a contract that I loathed (nothing to do with graphic design of course!). Well anyway, in my bordom, I once again found Renderosity, and saw some of the incredible artwork in here. I started to get really excited about Poser again, and started spending all my free time developing my Emily Character. Finally Emily was finished and I got over my anxiety of "selling" my work and put her in the marketplace. Since then my characters' have evolved quite a bit in detail. I have developed some incredible relationships with some of the individuals on Renderosity, and even made a great online friend from another state. I have been telling quite a few people how wonderful this community is and they all seem to share my excitement. And from a technical standpoint, the website was put together very well. It is not easy to design systems as integrated as what Renderosity makes available to us to chat with, or email with, or view artwork with, or upload, or download , or purchase from. I work in this industry, and I know how difficult it can be to design something this robust. I want to thank the designers at Renderosity, and the people who manage it, and all the people that support it. I think the dedication is wonderful, and I am very happy to be a part of something this wonderful. Thank you for the honor of being September's Contributor of the month, and thank you to all the individuals who have made this possible! Sincerely, Brandon or otherwise known as "magnet"