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Acclaimed artist, photographer, and vendor, Gabriel, like most creative artists, is a paradox—a man of self-contradictory qualities—an artist without an ego. Although he cringes at the mention of his Renderosity MarketPlace celebrity, he is sincerely grateful to his many followers—who over the years have supported his creative ventures—which in turn have resulted in his winning the Renderosity MarketPlace Vendor of the Month award... not once, but, three times. Since stumbling upon Renderosity in 2001, and quietly slipping into his roll as top vendor in 2002, Gabriel has remained a public persona. At the same time, he has coveted his privacy, which with his MarketPlace notoriety would seem an impossible task. Yet, "the impossible" is what Gabriel does best! Please join me in getting to know the many facets of the man known simply as Blackhearted…
Dee-Marie: Gabriel, with over eight years working with computer graphics, what do you feel are the biggest improvements (with GC software and/or computer advancements), that have made your creative life less frustrating? Blackhearted: The only significant change is that affordable, powerful software is becoming more accessible to the freelancers and hobbyists, which is great. You no longer have to spend ten-grand to buy an application to model characters or clothing. Aside from that, not much changes....every now and then some new technology crops up that people think is going to turn the 3D world upside down, but ehh…nothing is a substitute for hand-tuned meshes, morphs and textures. There is no magic machine, program or utility that will output a mesh, or texture, as efficient and stylish as something made-by-hand—nor match the creative mind that drives it. Higher resolution cameras, faster computers, etc., do help a bit, but the end users are also upgrading their machines, and their expectations for higher res textures and meshes are also rising, so nothing really becomes "easier." DM: On the same track, you started out as a traditional artist (oils, alkyds, pencils and charcoal)...has "painting" on a computer with a mouse, keyboard, and/or stylus, ever left you yearning to once more put brush (or pencil) to paper? Blackhearted: Nothing can truly replace the traditional mediums. Wacom tablets are great, but nevertheless, still a limitation. They still force you to operate within boundaries. "Undo," is also a lifesaver, but as much as I often find myself wishing for an "undo" with traditional mediums…mistakes can be incorporated into the art, and are often what gives the finished work its character. DM: So, with the ability to utilize a drawing tablet and with the advent of multiple "undos," do you feel that digital art can match traditional artist techniques? Blackhearted: Both of these characteristics of digital art ensure that it always remains a little clinical, mechanical. It can never match the life, spontaneity and grace of an oil painting, or charcoal sketch. The best way to put it, is that no matter how advanced a program, or how well it emulates the physical look of traditional mediums, they still cannot capture their organic nature. It's sad that as each year passes fewer people consider such things as oils, or Conté, a viable medium. They just pick up a program like Corel Painter and think of it as an advancement. DM: In regards to Renderosity—it is an understatement to say that the MarketPlace has grown over the past seven years—as has your reputation as one of the top Renderosity vendors. With such an abundance of new products (and new vendors), what do you contribute to your success of consistently being one of Renderosity's top vendors? Blackhearted: Nothing exciting—I just put the time in until they are to the best of my ability. If I see room for improvement, I don't release the product. That is why it shocks me that some merchants can crank out a product in a few hours—I can spend a day just writing a new Readme file for my latest product. There's no magic formula to becoming a successful merchant—you just need to put the time in and constantly refine your skills. DM: To maintain a steady "following," what would you consider the most important quality for a vendor...reputation or innovation? Blackhearted: Neither! Reputation is not a quality, but an indirect result of other qualities. Innovation is important but far from the most important trait. DM: In that case, what would you consider the most important quality for a vendor to possess? Blackhearted: The most important merchant trait is perseverance. DM: Without going into monetary details, do you feel top vendors can make a decent living creating products for the Renderosity Marketplace? Blackhearted: When I started out there were 250
to 300, or so, vendors at 'Rosity. Now, there are over ten times
that number. Unless you are willing to put the effort and time into
becoming one of the top 1 to 2 percent of those merchants, do not
expect to make a living off it. With a little luck, perseverance
and hard work a top vendor can make a modest living, but if you are
looking for a quick buck for as little effort as possible, this
isn't the right avenue.
DM: As always, your honesty is refreshing. In your opinion, how difficult is it for a new vendor to break into the top vendor level? Besides perseverance, and a quality product, what other advice would you give someone who has aspiration in becoming a Renderosity vendor? Blackhearted: It is less difficult now that the threshold has been doubled to 50 Top Vendors. There is nothing else besides a good product. You could be the most charismatic and charming person on earth, create gorgeous promos and write Pulitzer-prize-winning product blurbs, but if the product itself just doesn't cut it, you will not succeed. With amazing promos for a shoddy product, you might pull off one successful product, but torch your reputation in the process—I've seen this happen several times. DM: Over the years, anyone who has purchased one of your products (or, in the early days was lucky enough to download your free stuff), knows that quality is of upmost importance to you, and that you often add many "hidden" extras, such as lighting tips. Other than word-of-mouth, what is your philosophy in promoting your products to new users? Blackhearted: I've gradually moved to a pretty minimalistic form of product promo. Basically, one notch above the plain poser render on a gray background. What I'm trying to say is an honest, "Here is my product, if you like it, buy it, if not, I won't twist your arm." I don't like snake-oil salesman style marketing and huge flashy promos. DM: Getting down to the basics, what are the specs of your computer(s)? Blackhearted: I use two computers. Primarily because it lets me use two resource-hogging applications at once—for example Poser and Photoshop do not play well together, and pretty much just play tug-of-war with your memory and pagefile. Neither ends up using it efficiently and your system slows to a crawl. Two computers lets me tie one up with a render, while I work on the other, or even watch a movie while I'm working. I originally had one machine with a dual monitor setup, but one separate machine for each monitor works better. Both machines are hooked-up to both monitors, however, so if I need two monitors with one machine I just hit the input select on my monitor. Sounds nerdy as hell, but a dual monitor setup helps you work so much more efficiently…and these days with 19" LCDs below $150, and even entry level cards having dual DVI outputs, there really is no reason not to take advantage of them. The exact specs are modest, one is an Athlon XP 4000, the other an X2 3800, both overclocked. Radeon X1950 Pro and Geforce 7800, 4 gigs of RAM. I'll be putting together a new machine soon, because I noticed they were starting to struggle with really high resolution textures when I was putting GND4 together. DM: Utilizing duel monitors is outstanding advice. For someone wishing to get started modeling figures for the Renderosity Marketplace, what else would you advise for minimum computer specs? Blackhearted: If I had to give some advice on what to buy? DM: I know it is subjective, and dependent on specifically what the vendor is working on, but, in general, can you give it a shot? Blackhearted: Really, you can work on anything. Your main limitation with a slower machine will be time lost due to an inability to multitask, longer loading times and having to work on your project in smaller chunks. It can still be done though, so if you are on a budget, a faster computer is not a necessity—simply a convenience. If you want to put something together, then I can give a bit of advice: Start with a quality power supply. This is the ONE part of your machine you simply do not skimp on—it's the heart of your system, and a poor PSU will cause stability issues and will not protect your other more valuable system components and data. I generally only buy PC Power & Cooling, or Enermax PSUs, but you can research other brands online. There are entire sites devoted to PSU benchmarking and rating. The 600-watt PSU included with most prebuilt systems, barebones systems or cases are garbage. I literally throw them out because they are not worth the trouble. A quality 450-watt PSU is far superior to a no-name brand 600-watt one. The Intel Core Quads definitely seem the way to go now in terms of bang-for-your-buck, and DDR2 is dirt cheap, so you can put together a large amount of RAM quite inexpensively. Get a board with at least 4 memory slots, and a 64 bit operating system, that can handle more than the Windows XP 2 gig limit, is definitely a benefit when working with very large files. My next computer will definitely have a RAID 1 setup, and store all of our works in progress and other important stuff. Rio, just lost one of her drives, and I nearly lost one of mine earlier, and it's not something I want to go through again. I back up religiously but there is still an ungodly amount of crap on my drives that would be a huge inconvenience to lose. If you are serious about this, then a UPS is also a good investment. Let me reiterate, however, that you do not need any of this. You could model or texture with a 500mhz CPU and half a gig of RAM, if that's what you have. Hell, I did it for years. DM: Thanks for covering the hardware side, now, if you were reduced to only four software programs, which four could you not live without? Blackhearted: The ones I couldn't live without: Silo, Photoshop, Poser7, UVMapper. I use some small utilities now and then like Cr2Editor and Morph Manager, but nothing I couldn't do with notepad, if I absolutely had to. DM: Silo, from Nevercenter, appears to be an amazing 3D modeling software at a very reasonable price. How did you first discover this program and how steep is the learning curve for a new user? Blackhearted: Silo just happened to come along when I was switching from NURBS modeling to Sub-D. Rhino was a great place to start modeling because the NURBS method of modeling, with Bézier curves, is actually very much like Adobe Illustrator and easy to grasp—in fact the program imports Illustrator curves—I actually used these to make some fairy wings a while back. I'm a neat-freak however when it comes to meshes, and the "dirtiness" of surface blends and final meshes converted from NURBS was driving me up the wall. I decided to drop NURBS entirely and re-learn how to model from scratch using traditional box-modeling/subdivision surfaces, so I found myself in the market for a new modeling application. With Maya and Softimage prices plummeting, I was considering buying one of them, and was browsing 3D forums for comparisons of the higher-end suites. Silo was mentioned in several of these, as a tool people who worked in high-end apps were using to supplement their Sub-D modeling. So, I checked it out, and ended up realizing it was exactly what I needed, and that was that. The fact that it is very affordable is just gravy. I can't say much about the learning curve, since this is different for everyone. I think Silo is easier to grasp than most other modelers because it is merely a stripped-down modeler with only the essential tools—unlike a suite like Max where you may end up only using 10 percent of its massively bloated toolset and features. With Silo, you'll actually use every single function. The only thing I really miss is the ease of creating curved tubular surfaces in an app like Rhino. DM: When creating a new model, what is your primary directive? Is it more important that your creation have marketable appeal, or creative functionality, or both? Blackhearted: I pretty much just make what I like. If I were focusing on marketable appeal, all of my characters would be "blondes" with EEE breasts. I am lucky that enough of my customers share my tastes to keep me creating more. DM: When starting a new project, what is your creative process? Do you start with a specific idea and pre-sketch, or just plunge in and see what happens? Blackhearted: Outfits always start with concept art of some form, characters usually start based on an actual person. Where they end up? Well…that depends on Poser's limitations, as well as the tendency of some products to stray from their concepts. The mere mention of "Poser limitations" just darkened my mood... many people have no idea what you have to struggle with to get something to look good in Poser. I have dozens of products rotting away on backup DVDs, because at some point in their development, they hit a wall in "Poser limitations," and I decided that making further compromises was unacceptable. I don't consider clothing that floats two inches away from the skin acceptable. The professional 3D community has a lot of contempt for Poser, but it's actually two or three times more difficult to create something for Poser. DM: Rumor has it that you are working on a new and exciting creation, can you give the Renderosity community a preview of what they can expect from you (and Rio) in 2008? Blackhearted: The first of the GND4 [Girl Next Door version 4] line is in the queue right now, and may be out before this interview. After that—more products.
Expect at least one or two products from me each month this year (and yes, this time I mean it). I've been extremely busy, as well as ill, in 2007, so much of what I had planned and partially-finished just never got finished. I suppose I'll be releasing some of these in the freestuff section. DM: I am sorry to hear about your illness, but excited to see what you will be producing this year. On the topic of creativity, I know that you are an avid photographer. Do you work exclusively with a digital camera, or do you ever shoot old-school? Blackhearted: I have an old Nikon F2 and used to develop my own black-and-white film, but I've retired it. Unlike traditional art mediums, I really see no reason to cling on to old 35mm cameras, especially for those who don't develop their own film. Digital cameras offer not only the same features, but also a lack of consumables cost and a spontaneity that can't be found in traditional film cameras. Each time you click the shutter on a film camera, there's a split second hesitation while you subconsciously ponder, "Is this worth a shot?" Even if the price of film and development is not a consideration, certainly having to purchase film, lug it around, switch it out and care for it is. With a digital camera, you are free to shoot indiscriminately. Many times I've taken a picture I wouldn't have taken with a film camera because I thought it would fail—or thought it had failed—and it turned out to be the best photo of the shoot. That said, my digital camera is sadly outdated. I still have a Nikon CP5000, which is still going strong after turning over the 20,000 photo mark just last week…but I really need to buy a newer camera. I picked up a 12 megapixel Kodak around Christmas, but it lasted less than a week and I returned it. Unfortunately, the mainstream consumer cameras aren't exactly high-quality these days. I'm going to have to shell out for an enthusiast/pro-level digital SLR. DM: Next to your infamous figures, you are best known for your professional lighting techniques in Poser. Did your knowledge of photographic lighting contribute to your expertise in Poser lighting? Blackhearted: "Infamous?" [laughter] A bit, perhaps, but lighting in 3D is not the same. For the longest time it wasn't about..."How would I light this scene?" but, "How can I get this figure to look halfway human in Poser?"...which were two very different things. Poser lighting is still pretty lacking compared to professional 3D, but with raytracing and HDR image based lighting, it's finally getting up to an acceptable level. Unfortunately, there's no pre-made lighting that works well with every scene or pose. With my latest product I took the tutorial a little further and explained how to use ambient occlusion as well as image-based lighting, which will hopefully help people become more comfortable with lighting. I intend to add a little more to it with each product I release. I'll probably cover postwork basics next, or texture customizations. DM: Everyone knows, that for a public personality, you tend to be a very private person...now that we have the technical questions answered, just for fun, how about letting our readers get to know the man behind the artist/vendor? Blackhearted: [Long pause, slight moan, nervous laughter and a shrug of reluctant and dubious agreement] DM: Outside of the world of computers and the world of the art, what do you do for fun? What are your hobbies? What are your non-art passions? Blackhearted: Despite the fact that I haven't been able to get out much this winter, I really enjoy the outdoors. Bushcraft has always interested me—being able to go into the woods with nothing but simple tools, and not just being able to survive—but to live comfortably. So, any related skill commands my attention. Right now, I'm learning to make my own snowshoes, although it'll be next winter until I can get out on them. Other than that, I don't have any "official" hobbies. I have a little workshop where I dabble in everything from leatherworking to woodworking, but everything I make is centered around pure utility rather than being fancy or artistic. DM: Keeping to the subject of passions [smiling]—I remember when you first connected with your soul mate, the lovely Rio, on Renderosity. How has being in a relationship with someone, who is also an established and very talented artist, contributed to your creativity? Blackhearted: It's great. I appreciate her critiques and help on products. She helps with texturing, testing, painting hair on my promos, etc. It's nice to have someone to help, or even understand what you are doing—it all gets very tiring doing everything on your own. There are also the little things that she probably doesn't think I appreciate—but I do! Like when I'm up working late on something…she'll put a cup of coffee and a sandwich in front of me, despite my protests that I'm too busy to eat. But, most of all it's just nice to have someone that understands you and that you can talk about and share everything with. DM: How about domestic animals, do you own (or are you owned by) any pets? Blackhearted: Yes. The Fat™. DM: A pet with a trademark behind her name...now that is a story I know our readers would love you to elaborate on… Blackhearted: The Fat is a long-haired tortoiseshell [cat] we rescued from a shelter. She almost froze to death in winter and lost much of her ears to frostbite, so now she looks like an obese teddy bear, and is just about as animated. She doesn't do much, other than sleep, eat and poo, but nevertheless she brightens up every day. She loves jalapeno Doritos, I break a corner off for her and it's like a cat-sized chip. The little crunching noises a cat makes as it eats a Dorito are priceless. Don't get the idea that she's fat because she gets a Dorito now and then…she just is.
She's on diet of holistic cat food, and we try to exercise her with "kitty fishing" (a leather lure and leader tied to a fishing rod, cast or spun around like a propeller while she runs after it), but nothing seems to work. She's not very coordinated or athletic either. Sometimes her attempts at jumping up on the sofa or ottoman fail, and she clings onto the edge like some little action hero, while her rear feet scrabble for purchase, then just flops off. She has this weird habit of standing/laying on paper. If you put a book down, she will get up, cross the room, and stand on it (even if you happen to be reading it). If you're unpacking groceries and a receipt falls to the floor, she will get up from her nest—even if she hasn't moved all day—and cross the room just to stand on it. She also loves nesting on cardboard. So, she gets to nest on any cardboard boxes we get for awhile before I take them down to the recycling. She nearly fainted when I picked up an LCD TV for Christmas and she saw the huge box. DM: [brief pause of laughter before composing the next question] Ok, what would be your ideal vacation? Blackhearted: A safari in Africa. I've seen pretty much all of Europe, the Canadian wilderness is right here under my feet, the Middle East interests me but I'd rather wait until the turmoil subsides. I'm not really into the whole Cuba/Cancun, or Club Med type thing, so its really the only thing that would interest me above all else. It will happen one of these years but its not exactly a cheap endeavor so not anytime soon. DM: If you had access to a time machine, where would you like to go, or whom would you like to meet? Blackhearted: Ah geez, I don't know. So many interesting people and places, but in the end I'd probably just go back 30 or 40 years and spend more time with the friends and relatives that I only had a short time to spend with. DM: In a previous Renderosity interview you mentioned that you don't watch TV, but that you occasionally enjoy a good movie...so, what was the last movie you watched? What did you like or dislike about it? Blackhearted: There Will Be Blood. "I drink…your…milkshake!" [sucking sound] "I drink it up!" [quote from Daniel Day-Lewis' character]" I almost pissed myself when he said that. Best movie I've seen in a long time—not a single word was spoken for the first fifteen-minutes, yet my eyes were totally riveted to the screen. I also like movies that don't take your hand and spell everything out for you, and don't make a bee-line from "Once upon a time there was...." to "...and they lived happily ever after." DM: What album is in your CD player at this moment? Blackhearted: Arch Enemy's Wages of Sin (a Swedish "melodeath" band). What I listen to really varies however—I was listening to Gov't Mule before that, which is southern rock and mostly live jam sessions. DM: If you were isolated on a mountain top for one year, without Internet connection, and you were allowed 10 luxury items (excluding clothes, food and shelter), what would you bring with you? Blackhearted: I'm pretty much doing that already, although not on a mountain, and not for a full year (yet). [hardy laughter, before expounding on his answer]. I bought a rustic cottage and a huge swatch of land way up on the James Bay Frontier, which is sucking up a lot of my time as I renovate it. I'm pretty much setting it up to be completely self-sufficient and "off the grid." So, there are no TVs or microwaves, just wood-stoves, hand pump wells and kerosene lanterns. I've got the septic system working so the big project for this year will be...[thumbs a rapid drumroll] actual flushing toilets based on a cistern system! I'm most definitely not looking forward to digging a root cellar by hand. DM: Wow, and I thought I was coming up with a fantasy question. OK, how about this, just to appease our readers, can you pretend that you are currently living a yuppie existence, and not the fore mentioned bucolic lifestyle? Blackhearted: Ten items excluding clothing, food and shelter takes all the fun out of it though... honestly I'm having a hard time coming up with ten, because most of the time I'm planning what to take for the other three needs [more laughter]. DM: Just give it a try...please. Blackhearted: I'm assuming you've accounted for all my basic survival gear [pausing for a reassuring nod to his query], so... 1. A laptop with the biggest hard-drive I could buy; chocked
full of movies, games, ebooks, and MP3s. DM: [suppressing laughter in an attempt to regain composure] In all sincerity, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to allow the Renderosity community to get to know you better. Also, thank you for your continued quest to provide quality products to the Renderosity MarketPlace. Now it is your turn, please feel free to add additional thoughts, musings, or self-promotions... Blackhearted: All I can add, for anyone that has made it this far, is a very sincere thank you for supporting my work and allowing me to keep doing this. cheers, We invite you to visit: Blackhearted's Renderosity MarketPlace Blackhearted's Renderosity Art Gallery Blackhearted's Renderosity Past Interviews All supporting images are copyright.  Get
to know industry leaders and professionalsas they sit down and talk candidly with Contributing Columnist, Dee-Marie. |
 March 17, 2008
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