I  worked professionally as a drummer from my late teens till I was about 30. In this time I also purchased audio recording gear and began making my own song demos and learned the skill of audio engineering. In that time I worked with many talented singers, most notably Maxine Nightingale in 1988 and 1989 who was gracious enough to sing on 6 of my song demos before moving on to pursue a new career as a jazz singer.

In 1988 however, I made the decision to start acting and writing. I embarked on this this the same dedication as I did music and spent a good 3 years going to acting classes and so on up well through 1991. After acting a lead role in a film production I got the filmmaking bug and began to study that on my own along with more in depth study about screenwriting. I wrote a lot but wanted to remain independent and do my own production. And having been mostly a hands-on artist all of my life, this would be no exception.

I was first introduced to 3D animation in 199I and began working with  it in 1993. I have continued off and on since then with my own productions.

But from my  very first introduction to 3D, I saw it as a way to tell stories in a new innovative way. It has been a journey for me as a filmmaker, working on my own independent film projects since 1991 to hone my skills to the point that I was ready and able to tell the stories in the way I want to tell them. This is still a work in progress. Up to about 2003, I had been working primarily in traditional film production. That is to say, working with cameras and lights in the real world. Working with actors and a crew on a live set.

While 3D animation had become a large part of the completion of my first short film (1991-1994), and was in fact my initiation into this realm, it had remained mostly a dream that one day this would be my main medium to tell stories. I did however attempt to realize this dream back in 1995. After completing my first short, I really saw the potential of what 3D could bring and I decided at that point that I would work exclusively in this new realm of expression. However, being of independent mind and spirit, I had no interest in approaching Hollywood production studios with my ideas and stories. Instead I embarked on a goal to produce 3D feature films independently.

This was an interesting time. Toy Story was not out yet. You could say that the technology of computers was not up to the task at that time for a small independent production. And perhaps you'd be right. But I was not of that mind. I thought that you could find a way to tell stories independently if you choose the right genre, art direction, approach and so on. It was also in this year, 1995, that the first Inel Pentium processor was released. This, in effect, for a small investment, boosted my computing power by 10X. That was significant. And it further supported my theory. That independent 3D animation, as a way to tell innovative stories, was not only dream but very tangible and practical reality. From there it was only a matter of having the correct approach.

However, as an artist, I think I was not ready. Perhaps even as a story-teller, screenwriter. I was still young and I wanted to act. And having an honest look at my track record, I had produced but only one short film. Also frustrated perhaps by the level of technology of 3D at the time and my burning desire to tell stories immediately, I left all the screenplays I had been writing for 3D at this time on the shelf and embarked anew into the realm of real-world conventional filmmaking.

Though I had studied hard about filmmaking from 1990-1991 prior to making my first short which was shot on video, I felt the need to dig in more in depth into a more hands-on approach with 16 mm film and I enrolled in a small 16mm film class at a media arts center in Saint Paul Minnesota.   After graduating from that class, I went onto produce a feature film in 16mm in 1996. I learned quite a bit from that experience, working with a crew and actors and playing the lead role. It was at this time that I reached back into my experience and training in 3D to create a nice opening title sequence for the film in post production. In 1997 I had finished this film in a rough cut version on a 16mm Moviola flatbed editor that I purchased from a guy in Saint Paul and dragged back home with me to California. Unfortunately I was unable to raise completion funding and the project stalled.

In 1998, Digital Video became the "Next big thing". A friend showed me some footage and I was hooked. I immediately saw this as a way to tell stories very cheaply. Since my first short which was filmed on video back in 1991/1992, I saw this as a great medium and envisioned the future of filmmaking as purely digital. I would never aspire to make a film in a traditional medium again. And by the year 2000, I had digital video equipment and editing software, converted my 16 mm footage to DV and finished the project as a digital film. I was able to integrate some 3D CG shots used to tell the story, as well as the intro title sequence.

My next effort was to make a feature film in DV and that film was completed in 2003. It became a collaborative effort in the end with Darla Rothman. We found distribution while in Hollywood with a small company. And so there I was, I had at least achieved that.

But something was missing. I felt a bit despondent and disillusioned with the film industry. While at the AFM conference in Santa Monica, I had a discussion with the owner of the company who was distributing our film. He said something very profound. He was telling me his reasons why he stopped making movies and became a distributor. I was sharing some of my feelings of frustration. Because now there I was at the threshold of "What do I do next?". I had the feeling that I was loosing my sense of who I was, what I had set out to do. To accomplish something artistic and innovative. And all I saw around me was the opposite. You could say it was a fork in the road. He said, at some point you have to make a decision between art and money. Implying you can never have both. I see what he clearly chose. And I suppose you could say, I made my choice internally right there.

In 2004 I took myself as far from Hollywood in every way as I could. I left even my computer. I took up drawing and oil painting. But as a writer I was back to envisioning working exclusively in 3D. This has really been, in effect a 7 year journey since that time. In 2005 I got another faster computer and began learning 3D again anew. My intent was to eventually make an entire film in 3D. This going back to my 10 year old dream to do so. But now I could put all of my experience into it. Not to mention the computing power we have today.

I conceived of a project that I have been working on ever since. It has gone through several rewrites and developments and I have been balancing my life as well as I could to keep going, learning and discovering as much as I can about 3D film production. It is probably the most challenging thing I have ever done.

And along the way during this journey I make discoveries and I write about them in the way of tutorials and other writings to pass along to others, who, in their own way, are on a journey as well.

And this is where I am today, 20011.

I see things a certain way. I see 3D as a way to achieve that. I think that is its potential for any artist. To conceive of and realize his or her dream in a unique way. And today there are many great films being made using this medium. I have my stories and my unique approach. I hope to be able to tell some of these stories in my own way.

Helping support that effort I often do freelance work in 3D to keep going independently.

That is my story.

Richard Culver

Here is a zip file of my Subdivision Surface tutorial that was on the LightWiki which is currently down: