Sasha Ciolac
Former TRUEMAX student. Interview 20 March 2009
Nationality: Gagauzian (From Moldova)
Age: 30s
Education: 3D Digital Artist (2007)
Interview by Charlotte Fjordvald Bertelsen:
1. How long have you worked at Ghost?
I’ve worked at Ghost since August 2008. For the first six monnths I was there on a project contract, and then they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, so from February 2009 on I’ve been permanently employed there. And I really love it.
2. What is your job title and area of expertise?
My job title is 3D Artist – and that’s a job title shared by everyone who works in 3D at Ghost! My primary area of focus is rigging.
3. What does your typical work day look like?
Right now I’m working mostly with character rigging, but sometimes I also work on props rigging. If I had to describe a typical – and ideal – working day, then I would use today as an example. First of all I’ve worked within my own area, which is rigging. Then I helped other people, and after that I did some scripting. Doing a variety of things makes it a perfect day for me, and if I also learn something new, then that’s the icing on the cake!
4. Describe your career in the 3D industry since you completed your education at TRUEMAX academy.
I’ve worked at a number of places. First I was employed as a Trainee at TRUEMAX academy as an assistant instructor, and then I worked at Krogh Mortensen Animation where I was trained in rigging techniques. Their rigging specialist, Sune Kempf, took me on as a sort of apprentice. From there I was loaned out to Radar Film, where I worked for about 6 months. At Radar Film I was part of the team that worked on the 3D computer animated feature film “Discoormene” (Sunshine Barry & the Disco Worms). My job there was mostly as a troubleshooter, which means that I cleared up problems in the 3D process. It was really interesting even though at one point I had over 30 jobs on my list and people were sitting and waiting for me! From Radar Film I was again loaned out to Copenhagen Bombay for 6-8 weeks, where I worked on a pilot for their upcoming 3D computer animated feature film “Den kæmpestore bjørn” (The Great Bear). My main job there was rigging characters, but I also established their pipeline, by which data flows from one department to another. For example, a lot of people work on creating a character, and the pipeline functions as a procedure for exchanging data between teams in the fastest and most flexible way – and with the optimal results. It was really exciting, and one of the reasons was the level of communication with the film’s director, Esben Toft Jacobsen. They really wanted me to work on the film itself, but things dragged on a bit and when Ghost offered me the full-time position, I took it.
5. Which projects have you worked on? And can you tell us something about the project you recently won an award for?
I’ve worked on several feature films including “Discoormene” by Radar Film and the pilot for “Den kæmpestore bjørn” (The Great Bear) by Copenhagen Bombay. And I’ve been involved with a lot of commercials. For example, the “transformer” in a TDC commercial and the bear in a Tulip commercial were my rigs!
The award-winning project you mentioned was a film that three of us teamed up to create for CGS Challenges, and which had a deadline of 3 February 2009. The three of us were Esben Toft Jacobsen, Andreas Normand Grøntved and myself. The theme was ‘Steampunk. Myths & Legends’. We had to rethink a classic story and do it in ‘steam-punk’ style using lots of pipes, brass and steam-driven machines. We produced a film based on the Hemingway novella, “The Old Man and the Sea”, with a playing time of 3 minutes. You can see it on the CG Society website under > Events > CGS Challenges > Steam punk – Winners. We won the Modeling Award. In addition, we also won a number of different awards including the Pixologic ZBrush and Luxology Modo 302 software.
Link to the film: http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/steampunk/player.php?entry_id=100685
Link to Alexandra’s entry page: http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/steampunk/entry.php?challenger=16859
6. Describe your career in the 3D industry in terms of working hours and salary.
At Ghost they are committed to keeping normal, humane working hours. Once in a while there can be some overtime, but in general we get time off to make up for it. And that’s how it is most places I’ve worked. In some workplaces you have to stand up for yourself if the working hours get to be too much, because a tired employee is not as productive as a rested one! In general I’m quite happy with my salary in this industry. As a permanent employee, you typically get paid a little less than freelancers.
7. What did you find useful about your education at TRUEMAX academy? And what would you have liked to learn more about?
It was great that the education was so broad, because you can’t be a good specialist without knowledge of the entire production process and all its components. You have to know what everyone else is doing and what they expect in terms of delivering their components into the pipeline. So it was good to get some project-oriented instruction to give us an overall sense of a project from start to finish. I also really enjoyed all the guest instructors, most of whom were from internationally recognized 3D studios. Sunit Parekh’s rigging course and Habib Zargarpour’s MEL scripting course in particular were very inspiring to me. I would have liked a little more in-depth experience with ZBrush and character design, but that’s all!
8. What are your career goals in the 3D industry?
At some point I’d like to get away from the technical aspects somewhat and move more into the creative side of things. Create beautiful images. Be part of a large-scale project. But right now I’m really enjoying working in Denmark, because the studios here are a good fit for me in terms of size and I can work on many different aspects of the job.
9. Who are your greatest sources of inspiration in the 3D industry?
CG Society’s website! It’s great to look at all the different images showing such a variety of artistic expressions. And the quality is so high. I also watch all the new films using computer animation and lots of graphics. I listen to good stories – fantasy, science fiction, that sort of thing. If I had to name just one person then it would be Sune Kempf, who is incredibly talented in rigging from a technical standpoint.
10. What advice would you give people considering a career in the 3D industry?
Be open-minded – because things change so quickly that you have to be receptive in order to keep up with developments. You have to be ready to do things in new and different ways than you might be used to. And you have to be able to work together with other people, and take criticism, otherwise you might as well forget about it.
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