Studio: U.S. Air Force
Website: http://www.tonyrizo.com/
A veteran of a number of a number of high-profile projects, many CG artists can sympathize with the kind of stress Tony Rizo faced on these projects. But Tony is also a different kind of veteran, having to produce work in the combat zones of Iraq.
A veteran of a number of high-profile projects including the pioneering CG animated series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers and Max Steele as well as the long running game franchises Might & Magic and Heroes of Might & Magic, many CG artists can sympathize with the kind of stress Tony Rizo faced on these projects. But Tony is also a different kind of veteran, facing a kind of stress that many CG artists can't relate to, having to produce work in the combat zones of Iraq. Although he hasn't left the visual effects field completely, Tony's specialty has turned to the rapidly growing field of virtual set creation for the U.S. Air Force and the educational market. Recently returned from one such deployment, Tony took some time to tell us about his experiences in the industry.
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Can you tell us a little about yourself and your history with 3D and LightWave?
Yes, I started out working for a company called Gun for Hire, they had hired a guy by the name of Dave Hopkins, and he introduced me to LightWave 3D. That's how it all started. But I had always been interested in computer graphics first starting out with an Atari 800XL, then moving up to a Commodore 128, then to an Amiga 500 (while I was still active duty in the Air Force) and finally an Amiga 3000 tower while working for Gun for Hire.
What feature of LightWave do you like most?
Wow what a loaded question, there are so many features, where do you start? The modeling is of course the best out there. You can get into a great work flow. I’ve used 3DS Max and Maya, and have even played with XSI, but LightWave Modeler is simplistic in that I don't have to remember what an icon means I can just read the word of the tool I want to use.
Are there any plug-ins you use on a regular basis?
IFW is my favorite plug-in for surfacing, and of course Relativity. I use to rely a lot on plug-ins, but now a lot of those tools have been incorporated into LightWave, so there are fewer plug-ins that I use these days.
What are your duties at Riverside Community College?
I currently work for a community college as their multi-media GFX artist; I do a lot of motion graphics for their educational station, KRCC, as well as their telecommunications studio. I also do a lot of print media and web design for them. The telecommunications studio is now getting heavy into virtual sets, and that's been a lot of fun for me.
What are some projects you've worked on?
I did some freelance work for Café FX last year on a game cinematic called The Heist, and just recently I worked for Air Force Television at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. I did a lot of editing there but I also helped to do a lot of green screen shooting and inserting virtual sets for them while I was there. Yes, even the Air Force uses LightWave. While I was deployed to Iraq in 2005, I also used it to come up with an opening logo for MNCI (Multi-National Corp. Iraq) the combat camera team I worked for while deployed to Iraq, as well as some other missions.
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Can you tell us some more about what you did on The Heist?
What can I say about The Heist other than "shades of Max Steele", once again I was teamed up with a lot of my colleagues from my previous jobs and of course one of the god fathers of VFX, Ron Thornton himself. We relied on motion capture files for character animation. I was just hired on for a stint of 3 days as a LightWave generalist, but that didn't stop the shots from piling up on everyone the last several days of production. It was fun to be working with a lot of my old friends; I did a bit of everything. When I first sat down at 8am on a Saturday morning, it went something like this: 8am get a cup of coffee, Ron Thornton stops by my desk and says "oh yes, I remember you Tony, here's the thing, the client is coming in an hour and we need to show him two versions," load up shot (I don't remember the specific number anymore), Ron then explains what he would like to show the client. (I must preface this that the shot had already been blocked somewhat and at this point). It was then my job to create a believable camera motion that we would be able to sell to the client. What other program can help you do that in an hour?
Can you tell us some more about what you did for the Air Force?
Well for MNCI (Multi National Corp Iraq) I had to create a few logo animations, one was for a TOA (Transfer of Authority, this is when one field commander comes in to replace another field commander that has already fulfilled his or her deployment time.) and another was for Joint Combat Camera signature. Then there were the virtual sets that I created for use at the Pentagon, this work was not released to the general public but was mostly used for Air Force television. I have always used LightWave with the Air Force as much as possible.
Are there any projects that have been particular favorites?
The Kids WB, Starship Troopers, The Groovenians and the list goes on. Mostly it’s the people I have worked with that have always made the projects worthwhile.
Are there any projects that have been particularly challenging?
I would say Kids WB and Starship Troopers were really good ground-breaking projects that helped to put LightWave further on the map.
Can you give us some background on the images at left? (top to bottom)
Sure, the top two were from Kids WB bumpers, the top image was a collaborative piece done by myself and Jake Carvey's team at what was then Spin Cycle Animation, the one below that was all me; basically I had to track the 2D camera in LightWave while having to model, texture and light an exact replica of the kitchen scene from the movie Men in Black. The two below that were from the game Heroes of Might & Magic III the spell book was also animated in the game. Below that is a still from an animated short Sitting Duck that we at Flat Earth did as a test to try to get the series. Below that is a drawing from a good friend of mine Dale Hendrickson, he did this "Simpson-ized" drawing of me while I was deployed to Iraq. The two below that with the flies are from an animated short called Moscas done by myself and Tim Dobbert, this was originally done in LightWave 5.0 and can be seen on my website TonyRizo.com. Below that is an evil space station I designed for a TV show called Star Command while working at Encore Video in Hollywood. Everywhere Studios' logo was created for a friend of mine starting up her own design studio and needed an animated logo for her website. Just below that is a video wall created for Inland Valley Magazine news show that was created for the television department here at Riverside Community College. Below that are two virtual sets that I created, one for the college and the other for Air Force Television.
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Can you tell us more about your work on Heroes III and Might and Magic VI?
On Heroes of Might & Magic III, I was a background artist creating a lot of elements that were used in the game, mainly environments and so forth. On Might and Magic 6, which is a first-person type of game, I was a level designer, the guys would come up to me and say we need this type of environment and it was my job to model it and then texture it with the help of our texture department and implement it into the game. I tell you that it was a little daunting when the VP comes up to you and says, "hey we've got three weeks until E3 we need something really cool." That's when I started to incorporate fake lighting in my texture maps to make things look as realistic as possible I was also doing spiral stairs which hadn't been done in any games at that time. Needless to say the guys came back from E3 and were extremely happy about the demo they showed.
Have the recent changes in LightWave impacted the way you work?
Yes, the work flow just keeps getting better and better. I am now doing some experiments with the HDRI capabilities of LightWave for an independent feature film called Blind.
Can you tell us some more about Blind?
Blind is an independent feature-length film done by a colleague of mine Emile Bradshaw; at the moment we are still in the production phase, however, my primary task on this will be set extensions and compositing of 3D props into a live-action environment.
Are there any new features of LightWave v9 you've found particularly useful?
The node editor for surfacing has to be my favorite at this point.
Do you have a "LightWave tip or trick" others might find helpful?
The best tip I can offer is that you can do math within all the requestors in the whole LightWave application, I think this little thing is often over looked.
What's next for Tony Rizo?
Well, to keep on doing cool stuff for the Air Force with LightWave, and do just keep doing cool stuff with LightWave in general.
Do you have any advice for someone new to the 3D industry?
Yes, please do the tutorials, it will save you so much time on the front end of your project. It is worth the 2–4 hours that it may take for you to complete the tutorial. I would also recommend that you create a short 10-second project like that of the former 10-Second Club. This will certainly helped to practice animation, as a lot of the assets were already created for you.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Tony!
U.S. Air Force
