Interview with Eyal Shmuel

Interview with Eyal Shmuel

Born in Israel in 1971 Eyal is an Architect from the Architecture School of Tel-Aviv (Israel). He moved to the Netherlands in 1997 where he worked in an architectural office in Amsterdam, and for the past 5 years has been working for an Architectural presentation office in Amsterdam (CIIID). Eyal is also one of the final 30 competitors in the 2005 Architectural Visualization Competition.


CGA: Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background and how you got into the industry.

ES: My name is Eyal Shmuel, I was born in Israel in 1971. I studied Architecture at the Tel Aviv academy and in 1997 moved to the Netherlands. In Amsterdam I worked as an Architect for a few years before I started working as a visualization artist five years ago. My history with 3d work started early in my Architecture studies. I found it more interesting to build virtual models for my presentation instead of real ones.

CGA: Your work has a very unique flare, where do you get your inspiration and what influences for your treatments?

ES: Before I start working on my images/project I look at reference images which relate to the subject or project, I study them (camera position, light, materials etc.). This helps me build a complete scene, which I first draw on paper and then translate to a 3d model.

CGA: Which work do you find more rewarding your commercial work or your own personal work? Why?

ES: I find both can be equally rewarding, in general I find it rewarding when i get the opportunity to give the image a touch of my own design and ideas.
 

CGA: What software do you use on your projects?

ES: For my projects I use 3dsmax, vray and photoshop. For the animations I mostly use Adobe Premiere.

CGA: How much of your final image is straight from the renderer and how much is edited is post production?

ES: When I'm working on a project I try to get the most out of my model and scene, which means that the final image will be almost a direct result of the rendering (lighting, objects etc.). The only thing I usually don't put in my scenes are people and trees. When everything is composited in place I often apply some filters for sharpening, adjusting levels or color balance.

CGA: If you could only choose one of your images, which one are you most proud of and why.

ES: This one is difficult....well probably the image I made for the ING HOUSE because this one we started rendering with the default scanline renderer of max, then to viz and at the end V-Ray. The process to the final image and the result makes me choose this one.
 

ING House

CGA: What type of project have you not yet had the opportunity to work on, but would like to at some point?

ES: That project would be taking part in a movie production.

CGA: What do you find to be the most challenging part of working in the Architectural Visualization industry?

ES: An Architect has a vision, an idea, that I have to translate into an image. The challenge will be to get as close as possible to the Architect's ideas and as close as possible to realistic image.

CGA: What do you like the most about working in this industry?

ES: This industry is consistently changing. Every day you meet new challenges which is good for your development.

CGA: For new artists coming into this industry what advice would you give them?

ES: Don't rush to render, try to be unique before you start taking a look at other people's work. Study not only computer graphics but books, paintings and photos.

CGA: You were a highly ranked competitor in the AVC 2005 competition. Did this help you at all in securing new work, or in your own skill level?

ES: Taking part in this challenge was a great opportunity to discover other methods of work. I think it was a positive turning point in my working methods. In this competition I competed against the some of best people in this industry, and trying to beat them can only make you better. The way the competition was built helped me to think in a new way about planning and how to start my work. So yes, I think that this competition has improved my skills,which I'm sure I has brought me/us(ciiid) more work.

CGA: What advice would you give to experienced visualization artists? Something that you have learned that has changed the way you work.

ES: Never stop looking for new challenges it will keep you on the top.


CGA: What are your favorite industry and non- industry related web sites?

ES: Industry Related: www.cgtalk.com www.aracadata.com www.cgarchitect.com www.vrayrender.com Non-industry Related: www.tweakers.net (dutch tech related site) www.nu.nl (dutch news site)