Paradigm Productions has been making a name for itself in the 3D Architectural Visualization field since 1992. With a projected turnover of more than 124 projects this year alone (as of early September), their work has garnered them more than a dozen industry awards. NewTek recently sat down with Charles T. Gaushell and R. Scott Carter, Co-Founders of Paradigm Productions, to find out more about this small studio with a big workload.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your history with 3D?
Charles T. Gaushell, AIA – Managing Partner - In 1998, I graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a Bachelor of Architecture degree and a Minor in Business and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to turning my efforts full-time to Paradigm Productions, I was working full-time as a project architect for an award winning design firm while also running and producing projects for Paradigm. My architectural credits include serving as project architect for Memphis Botanic Gardens Renovations/Addition (State & Local AIA design awards), Lichterman Nature Center Visitor’s Center (State AIA design award), Ronald McDonald House, Burch Porter & Johnson Law Offices (State Brick Masonry Institute Design Award), and Comprehensive Plan for Somerville, TN (TN State Planning Assoc. Award).

R. Scott Carter – Production Manager - In 1989, I graduated from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. After relocating to Memphis, I quickly landed a job at a local architecture firm where I concentrated on building design and watercolor presentation renderings. After a brief career change where I served as the Art Director for a local television station, I went back to work as a project manager for a local architectural firm. My architectural project credits include serving as part of the design team and as project manager for the multiple AIA award winning X-Site Family Entertainment Centers, the Union Street offices for Sossoman Bateman Advertising, the restaurant The Grove Grill, and the sports memorabilia restaurant Satellite Feed.
We had both taught ourselves the basics of 3D modeling using Datacad in the late '80s, and were using it as a design tool in our architectural jobs. We conceived the primary idea for Paradigm Productions over lunch in early 1992. We were discussing how we were each using 3D graphics independently as part of our architectural design process, and both thought that there was great potential for other architects and clients to utilize such services as an alternative to traditional hand drawn renderings and physical models, due to the flexibility of the technology.

We both had a strong desire to provide 3D computer graphics and animation services. So, in 1992 we founded Paradigm Productions in Memphis, Tennessee. Between 1992-1998, we expanded our client base to the point that Scott went to work full-time on behalf of Paradigm Productions in 1998, and Charles did the same in 2000. We hired our first full-time employee in 2001. Since that time, Paradigm Productions has steadily progressed as a specialist in marketing services throughout the country for real estate, design, aviation, manufacturing, and institutional clients with an emphasis on 3d illustrations, virtual tours, video production, and interactive multimedia. Typically these fall into three major categories – Marketing, Fund Raising and Educational.

Our primary clients include developers, ad agencies, architects, churches, schools, hospitals, and various corporations whom need to market, raise funds, or educate their target audience through the use of dynamic visual media. An example project might include architectural illustrations of the interior and exterior, a video production that includes a virtual tour of a space well before it is built, branding, brochures, websites and interactive CDs or DVDs. Another project might showcase a product or procedure such as a hip replacement procedure, a car wreck, or how an airplane reacts in certain situations.

Currently Paradigm Productions employs 11 full-time employees and 2-3 additional contract employees at any given time.

For the last few years we have experienced exceptional growth in employees, revenues, project types, and locales. Thus we are moving from a “start up� phase to the maturing of the business in a “growth� phase. We do not see any slow down in this growth as we continue to mature the business, further our network and expand our services. We are not just a marketing company, nor just illustration, animation and interactive multimedia; we are not an ad agency or a video production company, although we have common services; we are not an architectural firm, though many of us are trained as such - quite often we have to “wing� a design because information has not been developed, yet we have to create a compelling illustration or environment.

We operate in a studio format similar to an architectural firm where each project has a principal-in-charge, a project manager (many times the principal) and various artists/designers. Our environment is friendly and casual with a strong focus on team work and an emphasis of providing high quality professional services. Our goal is to find top quality people and allow them to morph their jobs as well. We are more interested in finding the right people, rather than a sole focus on a single skill set. However, this poses our biggest challenge – finding talented and motivated individuals that are self-starters and willing to move to Memphis.

We market in a number of ways including networking through existing clients, tracking new architectural projects, and effective internet link advertising. Given that our services are digital in nature, we heavily utilize the internet for communications. By loving what we do, enjoying working in a collaborative format and developing relationships with our clients, we have been able to provide more than just a product, but a service and a business relationship where we are a collaborator with the client. Although we originally started the business as an illustration and animation company, we have morphed our services to meet and exceed the needs of our clients. For instance, we provide all graphic, video, print, and multimedia services, thus providing turn-key services to our clients. There are only a handful of services that we do not provide in-house, most of which are related to public relations. By morphing our services and focusing on relationships and not just services with our clients, we have been able to develop a solid reputation that helps us continually expand across the country and now even internationally. More than 80% of our work is for clients outside of the Memphis area and the vast majority of these clients never meet us face to face. We utilize the internet and phone effectively in our communications with clients by providing online and/or email progress reviews throughout the life of the project.

We continue to carve out a market niche where we have very few comparable firms on a national basis especially when you compare the range of services that we provide. We will need to continue to experiment and morph the company and are committed to that process. However, our biggest accomplishments are shown through our growth and market expansion. Projects Currently Underway In California, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, New York, London, England. 80% of our work is outside of our immediate market location.

How were you first introduced to LightWave 3D?
Scott had an Amiga and was using a program called Imagine. In either late 1991 or early 1992 we saw a video tape showcasing the Video Toaster and LightWave. We decided that I should learn LightWave to see how it compared to Imagine. We purchased another Amiga and I was off and running. As Commodore went through bankruptcy we were glad to see that NewTek ported over to Windows. We followed suit and started using LightWave more and more. For several years, Scott continued with Imagine as I developed my LightWave skills. All of the 3d artists in our office exclusively use LightWave.

What feature of LightWave do you like the most?
We love the pixel depth. The images just look better than so many other packages. Coming from Datacad, it was easy to like the simple text only menus and the shortcut keys - we were used to it and don’t like icon driven menus (which actually slow you down). Being able to setup a render farm without having to purchase a separate license for each ScreamerNet node is a big plus. We currently have 80 computers on the system, 50 of which are dual core processors.

Are there any plug-ins you use on a regular basis?
Eki’s lighting rigs are fantastic for soft shadows. The SG_AmbOcc – ambient occlusion plug-in is great. These two plug-ins allow us to fake GI without taking the render hit. FPrime is our best friend. We save a lot of time in production using this tool and have also used it for several animation projects so we can sneak in a bit of background radiosity without suffering. It has in fact saved us when there was a ton of reflection taking place. We have been beta testers of Piranesi for several years and in fact begged them to write a plug-in for LightWave. There isn’t a better program for posting in trees and people, plus the ability to do some artistic stylized rendering techniques.

Can you tell us a little about Paradigm Productions and its place in the 3D industry?
The bulk of our work is architectural related, though we have also worked on a fair amount of medical and museum exhibit based projects. Recently we have worked on some educational tools related to the military.

We thoroughly enjoy creating architectural presentations. One of the great things about many of our projects is that we have to “wing it� when it comes to design, colors, etc. We are typically hired so early in the marketing process that most of the details are not worked out. We love the challenge.

Many of our competitors provide little or no animations. I would say that probably 60-70 percent of our projects contain animation and a growing percentage include other interactive and graphic media. In fact, we now have two full time multimedia/graphic artists on staff.

Our goal is to be a great company that provides high quality services. I think our tag line actually gives a good overview of our firm: Dynamic Realities, Integrated Marketing Strategies.

What is your primary role at Paradigm Productions, and what does it entail?
Charles - My time is split between production and running the firm. I tend to enjoy multi-tasking so it works well with my personality. I handle most client communications related to my projects and then work with an artist and/or project manager (or larger team given the project scope) to develop the concepts. We are very team-oriented so it is often difficult to say who created what on a project. We all like it that way, though we everyone to have a select project or portion to shine on when appropriate.

Scott - In addition to helping land new projects, I also help coordinate project schedules, quality review and oversee the technological side of the office such as hardware and software. Occasionally I get to actually do an illustration or animation.

Are there any projects that particularly stand out as favorites? How did LightWave 3D help you realize that project?
We had over 80 projects last year that involved LightWave and will surpass 100 this year. Since LightWave is so integral to what we do it is difficult to select one. Three come to mind:
El Paso Del Norte - a large redevelopment project for downtown El Paso (my partner was the director for this one). We created some really nice shots that utilize the wonderful colors in the sky at dusk.
Signature Tower in Nashville is proposed to be the tallest residential building outside of New York or Chicago. We have developed a series of animations, illustrations, ad layouts and interactive website. The architecture is spectacular and we have had a lot of fun setting the mood and showcasing both the elegance and dynamic nature of the project.
Terceira – This is a project in Florida that is currently underway. We are providing full marketing services including ad layouts, website, physical sales center layout and of course illustrations and a virtual tour and an online virtual sales center. As with most of our projects, we are telling a story through 3d graphics.
A cool project that we wrapping up is for SmartParts a leader in the paintball industry. We have developed a “Configurator� that allows you to customize guns in real-time. This will go live soon.
We are getting started on a fund raising video for the Colburn School, a music conservatory and performing arts school, in downtown Los Angeles. The architecture is dynamic as is the mission of the school.

On all of these, LightWave allowed us to push the envelope. The pixel depth is fantastic and FPrime is a great asset. Being able to run a render farm is invaluable.

Are there any projects that particularly stand out as challenging? How did LightWave 3D help you accomplish that project?
That is hard to quantify as each project has a unique set of dynamics to deal with. The vast majority of our projects are developed during the very early phases of the architectural design. Thus we are "winging it" most of the time. We might have only a floor plan but have to create an entire interior environment. Given our architecture experience, we both really enjoy doing this and help them provide detailed visuals much earlier.

LightWave allows us to be flexible and make preliminary designs look finished.

Paradigm Productions has earned a number of advertising industry awards this year. Can you tell us a bit about them?
Paradigm Productions' work has been honored with a number of awards, including 9 CSI Awards (Gulf States Region), 3 Tellys, 2 Addys and a Parthenon Award. Quite honestly, we have entered very few projects and plan to start now doing so.

What's next for Paradigm Productions?
We have shifted our focus from just being a 3d illustration/animation company to include marketing services. Our tag line sums it up pretty well - Dynamic Realities. Integrated Marketing Services.

In July we moved into a new space that better accommodates our growth and team environment. We work all over the US and have just completed our first project oversees - in the UK. We plan to keep expanding into new markets as we hone our skills and provide a unique blend of services. We also just updated our render farm with another 30 dual cores, for a total of 50 dedicated dual cores and another 20 dedicated systems, along with an additional 20 workstations that can be integrated into the render farm at night.

Do you have any advice for someone new to the 3D industry?
As with any industry they first need to have a passion for what they are doing. I tell our team, just as I do when coaching baseball, that you don't get better by just showing up for the game (work). You have to practice on your own as well. Everyone that is great in any profession does so. I would recommend that they spend time really evaluating themselves and their skills. If you want to work for us for instance, it is important to understand architectural drawings, lighting composition, materials, and design. Quite often we have to "wing it" but even then, there are real world perimeters so we can't do something outlandish that doesn't fit the character of the project.

Spending time studying architecture - in person and via architectural photography is helpful. It is also helpful to study traditional architectural illustrations. The thing that is usually different between architectural 3d used for marketing and architectural 3d used for movies is that our clients don't want it to look used and "dirty". It should be pristine and compelling.

We typically hire people with architectural or similar backgrounds. Though every now and then you find someone that loves architecture and design and just gets it. I wouldn't trade my architectural degree or experience in that profession for anything because it has shaped our business and gives us a lot of credibility when dealing with real estate projects.

For us the keys are - love of what your doing; willing to work hard on your own to improve; team players; solid design skills; focus; and a strong work ethic. The difference between being known as having had great potential and being great is focus and determination.

The user forums at Newtek are useful in finding out how others are doing things.

We are very team focused and have found that it makes everyone better - and it is a lot more fun.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Charles and Scott!

Paradigm Productions
www.2Dimes.com

• Solutions
  • Television
  • Feature Films
  • Print Graphics
  • Games & Software
  • Independent & Short Film
  • Architectural Visualization & Design
• Product Information
  • Overview
  • v9.6 Benefits
  • Product Highlights
  • LightWave F.A.Q.
  • System Requirements
  • More Information
• LightWave CORE
• LightWave Accessories
• v9 Gallery
• Profiles
• Projects List
• Developer Downloads
• LightWave Training Videos
• Resources
  • Links
  • Media Related Assets
  • Site Credits
• LightWave Newsletter
• Buy Now
  • U.S.
  • International
  • Reseller Locator