It has been a known fact that in some of the films that are being shown in this country, chances are there is a lone or a group of Filipinos in the production crew of such films. For our feature on the website, allow me to present someone who had the chance of working on some of the biggest films that have been shown right here in the country. X-men3, Eragon, the last remake of King Kong, just to name a few, are some of the projects, wherein he was able to contribute his immense talent and skills. Allow me to present to you Mr. Cedric Canlas, our featured artist here at www.3dpinoy.com.

3DPinoy: Introduce yourself to our readers?

Cedric Canlas:  I’m Cedric Canlas and I’m currently in Wellington, New Zealand. I work as a 3D modeler at Weta Digital, a company that does special effects for movies. Before that I also worked as a character animator for a 3D children’s TV show and when I was still in Manila, I did 3D for (mostly) TV commercials.

3DPinoy: How long have you been in the industry?

Cedric Canlas:  I started doing 3D since 1992, mostly flying logos using the dos based 3D studio version 1. I was supposed to be trained by Ronnie Miranda (that guy who had his animations all around the computer shops) but he and the manager at that company did not see eye to eye so the only thing he taught me was how to load 3D studio.

3DPinoy: And you learned the rest by self-study, I presume…

Cedric Canlas:  With 3D Studio yes but when I moved to Optima Digital, Dennis Sebastian (the head of 3D then) and Jay Santiago were there to answer most of my questions. We were using Alias PowerAnimator version 6 then. The same thing happened every time I moved to a different company and used different software. Usually there is always someone willing to answer my questions. I mean aside from reading all the manuals.

3DPinoy: What did you took up during college? And what got you interested in this field?

Cedric Canlas:  I took up Fine Arts in UP Diliman and I majored in Editorial Design. There were no Multimedia courses then, the computers were x286′s. What I really wanted was to work in the broadcast industry and see my work on TV. I was more inclined to do animations and basically any special effects like in Star Wars or T2.

3DPinoy: So, you where more into animations than still images.

Cedric Canlas:  During that time, I worked with what was given to me. I did a lot of architectural walkthroughs so mostly my animations were camera ‘fly-bys’ and the logos. Rendering then using a souped up 486 machine, with 8MB ram took 3-4 hrs per frame, even when I tried to bring down the poly count to a minimum. I did not do a lot of still images and when I did, I would usually bring it to Photoshop for touch-ups.

3DPinoy: Sounds like that was a long and difficult process.

Cedric Canlas:  Yes it was and there was no internet to get tutorials or feedback from. Just bringing video and even still images to the computer was a long and complicated process. You had to transfer your animations frame by frame to tape so it could be edited and aired on TV.

3DPinoy: How is the technology today as compared to those days in the computer animation industry?

Cedric Canlas:  I think the 3D artists today are only limited by their desire and imagination. And since technology is now available to everyone, talent and hard work is not enough to assure you a job in 3D. Nowadays, you need to have a good network and show your work to forums like 3DPinoy to further hone your skills and gain recognition. It’s sort of an issue in New Zealand and Australia where a lot of 3D schools churn out graduates by the hundreds yet the 3D industry is not growing as fast.

3DPinoy: How is it like working in a different country? Is the process of coming up with projects the same as here in the Philippines?

Cedric Canlas:  Most 3D artists here are freelance and have per project contracts. It could last for just a few days or up to a year when it’s a big project. When I was in Manila, the trend was “This guy is good, we should hire him before someone else discovers him”. But here it’s like “He’s good, let’s give him a contract for a few months till we can find someone else that’s even better than him”.

3DPinoy: It’s like, you need to present something new in order to be retained…am I right?

Cedric Canlas:  When I was doing TV commercials in Manila, there was a saying that goes “You’re only as good as your next project”. Here, you always have to be on your toes because there will always be someone better than you so you have to keep on improving.

3DPinoy: How do you keep up with the newer guys?

Cedric Canlas:  Try to be on the lookout for new technology. Like if you’re an organic modeler, you should be proficient in Mudbox or Zbrush aside from your standard 3D program.