In this episode of the 360 interviews, we have decided to focus to chat with  Will Powell – CG Expert.

Tell us how your CG skills started and a bit about your background? What was your route into the industry?

My background is in Photography and in the mid-90s I had a chance to work as a trainee in a high-end retouching studio in Covent Garden, London, specialising in Advertising & Automotive imagery. I loved working with and manipulating images and I worked there for many years. 3d was a natural progression for me as it allowed me to create more elements for our images, varying from studio B/Gs, pack shots/products or full immersive
environments.

How have you seen tech/software change over the years and how important is it now to be multi-disciplined as a production house?

Tech has really changed in my time and its been a natural constant progression. Things have changed much from the £110,000 PC running Dicomed retouching software which I started on, (and I got the cheap system, being the youngest member of the team!) We now run systems that cost a fraction of that and are considerably more powerful. One computer would fill up a room because it was so huge, but we now have one room filled with many
computers. In terms of where things are now, the mantra is the same. We try to stay flexible and as dynamic as possible keeping things lean. In the 90s we already used multiple platforms and software apps, whilst trying to stay creative and pushing boundaries. This is now, even more, the case, it takes many apps to be able to surf the different technologies and utilise the best elements.

You’re creating full CGI scenes( as well as using backplates and domes ), and producing some great content, what advantages and what limitations do these scenes present?

CGI offers the client superb flexibility, in a way that was never possible before. Having the ability to create more content and in a more controlled way has been an absolute game-changer. We output to such a huge range of formats and sizes, covering all channels, you’re only limited by your imagination.

Where do you see the future of rendering and HDR development?

I think in the future we will see more immersive environments and we’ll probably end up using a mixture of technologies as photographic tools are changing fast too.

Favourite software flavour, and workflow?

We still base our core pipeline on Maya & Nuke, this has continued to be so powerful over the years and excels in almost all areas.

Real-time configurators and real-time productions are emerging and developing quicker than any of us can keep track of, where do you see this in the marketplace over the next few years, and how does it slot into your production process?VR / AR – thoughts on where it’s at and future commercial integration – is this an area you’re exploring? 

Real time has always been an interesting area and it’s now so much more accessible, pushing development fast. Projects are likely to use Real time more and more as we are driven by user/customer demand.

Let’s talk about traditional image quality and HDRI’s- how important is quality content and deep dynamic HDRI’s as a foundation to your CGI image pipeline? ( feel free to big up the Domeble Massive)

We use HDRI technology on a daily bases and have done since its inception. It is now more important than ever to have the quality and the range. The modern renderers are superb, they can really take advantage of the extra depth. Domeble’s footage is especially good, it has fantastic range which really helps the materials come to life and the B/G plates are of a very high standard with great compositions and good flexibility.

How has the Pandemic changed the industry in the short term, and do you think it will change our working processes in the future?

The pandemic has changed things exponentially for most of us in our industry. It has launched us all into having to work remotely as a dynamic team. Although we have always been able to do this, people are now more confident to tackle new projects in this way. That said, some projects have been delayed due to market uncertainty and lockdown which has caused some peaks and troughs.

Its an ever-changing world, and an ever-changing industry we work in too, what do you think the industry will be like in 5 years time?

I think there will still be a thirst for content and ever more changing technologies and as we are an industry driven by consumer demand, I hope technology will continue to play its role in creating a more sustainable future – we can now show consumers what’s out there and only produce goods according to demand. We should be able to be super efficient and only ever produce what is needed, without ending up with a surplus of goods that can’t be sold. If I could some up my last 10 years it would be automation, I started on my own and soon had a small team. Automating certain procedures allowed us to manage large volumes of work. I think this is going to be very typical of this industry as it grows and struggles with the volume of new demands, especially with the advent of AI.

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