Jinwoo Lee

Jinwoo, many people have seen your work at CGSociety on line at the CGSociety web site:
http://jjcoolio.cgsociety.org/gallery/355473/ . I am astounded by every one of your models, by the
amount of accuracy, detail and beauty each one holds. You asked me to choose my favorite. That was
impossible because to me they are all superb. So, I decided to show readers here the model that is
probably most recognizable, the model of Gene Hackman. I notice that your program of choice is
Maya. When building "Mr. Gene" with the Maya program, could you briefly explain how you started,
for instance, did you begin with a sphere?

Yes, in fact, I started with a nurbs sphere. First I rotated the nurbs sphere 90 degrees to the front and
made a simple pole for the mouth and detached the eye areas for eye sockets. After tweaking the nurbs
sphere and came up to a human like head form, I started to gather references for the next step.

How did you plan the model? For instance, did you look directly at Gene Hackman's photographs, or
did you draw out a model on paper to work from?

'Behind enemy lines' is my all time favorite movie. I wanted to capture the angry, tensed feeling of
Gene Hackman. In the movie his act had a lot of charisma and it was exactly what I wanted to show in
the model. After I captured some photos from the movie I started to line them up in Maya. It was
pretty hard to get high quality images from the net. however I managed to get a decent side view from
the movie. I didn't get a decent front view, however I down-loaded an angry Gene Hackman front view
image. I tried to match the face to the side view for checking proportions. After that, it was all
matching to the generic photos of Gene Hackman. It was really tough to get him to look like Gene. I
think I almost gave up a couple of times during the process, however, I am happy it's finished.

How much time did it take to create the model, "Mr. Gene"?

It was done in one of my modeling classes at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I think it
took a month and a half to finish it. I wasn't into texturing at the time it was executed, so I went up
another subdivision level to put in more details. The geometry was hard to handle for my computer at
home at that time so it was relatively slow.

Where did you learn this skill of model building?

For the technique of nurbs modeling I learned it at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I
think now you can learn to do it from Alias DVDs. To me, the modeling method is not too important. If
someone is good at polys then there is a big possibility that the artist could be good at nurbs modeling
and vice versa. It's practically the same. Just like pencils to an artist, the artist could be good at
drawing with any drawing tool.

I understand that modeling with nurbs, at least to some people, is more difficult than working with
polys, or than working with a more intuitive modeling program such as ZBrush or Mudbox. Do you
prefer working with nurbs?

Lately I've been picking up Mudbox and ZBrush. Hope I could utilize them for my next projects. :) The
reason why I like nurbs is because the data-size is really low and no need for displacements since
you're looking at the final product, and it's possible for me to slide cv's around a surface using artisan
brush tools. I do use polygons at work and for some freelance projects.

Do you work in the industry as a model builder?

Yes, I've been a modeler at PDI/Dreamworks for some movie projects - Shrek3, Madagascar2 etc.
Now I am currently a facial modeler at Weta Digital working on James Cameron's Avatar(2009).
Modeling the faces is very challenging and I am currently learning a lot from the artists in the facial
modeling team.

Have you ever created models by hand, for instance, with modeling clay?

Yes, in fact I took some sculpting classes too. I always loved sculpting classes. I am looking forward to
take more classes or practice in the near future. :)

Thank you for the honor of being able to interview such a fine craftsman as yourself, Jinwoo. Good
luck with your modeling career and we fans will be eagerly awaiting your future work. - Host of Lift
Up Your Art dot com

Thanks for the kind words. It was my pleasure to do this interview. - Jinwoo Lee