11-15-02DC - Hey KillMeNow, how are ya doin?KMN - Hi, thanks - not to bad - you?
DC - Pretty good. I'd like to ask a few questions. What got you into the FreeSpace realm in the first place?KMN - Well obviously buying the game started the whole thing, but I have always been interested in space and sci-fi. FreeSpace after many years is still the best space sim on the market. I bought the original FreeSpace and played and completed that long before I ever got involved with the modding community. It was only after completing FreeSpace 2 that I became involved with the community.
DC - Are you looking forward to any other space games that are going to be released soon?KMN - Well I haven't kept up on all the rumours of new games but from what I have seen FreeLancer looks like it will be a stunning game. On the stategy side of space sims, I really enjoyed Imperium Galactica 2 so I am hopeful that the next installment(Imperium Galactica 3: Genesis) will be another great game.
DC - Ah yes, good games. Back to the FreeSpace side of things, which place did you discover first, Volition Watch or Hard Light Productions?KMN - I discovered Volition Watch first it wasn't until quite a bit later that I started posting at Hard Light Productions as well. I learned a lot from both communities.
DC - I've seen a lot of your work. All your modelling and art pieces are simply stunning. What got you started on this road?KMN - Well it started when after completing FreeSpace 2 I wanted to put a few designs of my own into the game. Not knowing where to start, I searched online and found my way to Volition Watch. I spent a long time searching for all the tools needed and got my first copy of Blender 3D and a free copy of TrueSpace - obviously the tools limited me quite abit and I spent along time just producing simple graphics for weapons and ingame effects. It was shortly after I joined The Babylon Project that things started to pick up. I got TrueSpace 4 and began to try and make my designs realities. After awhile I felt I had outgrown TrueSpace and began to move over to using Lightwave 3D, which I still use today.
DC - Which campaign was your first one to help with?KMN - Well the first campaign I helped with, as a weapon editor and story designer, was Hidden Terror(
my campaign 
) where the player got to be the bad guys(the Shivans), mostly I made new weapons as the default shivan weapons weren't up to much and there was only 3 of them .
Unfortunately due to a technical issue(
my harddrive format), something you know all about, the vast majority of the material for the campaign was lost.
DC - Yeah, a sad event. Are you still working for any campaigns, or are you finished with the FreeSpace community?KMN - I don't currently work for any campaign on a full time basis - but I occasionally will make some models for people; Sadly I don't have time to help much more than that now.
DC - Are you looking for a job in the 3d industry? If so, have you gotten any progress?KMN - I am currently looking for work in the industry but really only until I have the time and money to do a dedicated 3D course to bring my skills up to the standard for film and broadcast work.
And at the moment I'm doing freelance 3d architectual visualisation for Architechs and other housing development companys. It's not the most interesting aspect of 3D but it helps pay the bills.
DC - Ah the bills, what everyone hates. Back to HLP, did you ever get involved in one of those on-site projects, like NodeWar?KMN - I never got around to getting involved with NodeWar becuase I am scared of topic threads that big - with my internet connection it made active participation difficult at best - I was going to help with the NodeWar film project, but those organizing it were using 3DS Max and that made any models I made hard to import.
DC - What do you think about the 3DS Max / Lightwave battle - which do you think is better, putting costs aside?KMN - Well ignoring the price difference between the two packages makes choosing your package that much more difficult - both are excellent 3d modeling and animation packages.
Most agree that even with Max 5's upgraded rendering engine that Lightwave's is still superior - that said Max has far better uv texturing tools and has better integration with games, etc. The workflow between the two packages is vastly different and it comes down to which you personally prefer.
I wouldn't swap Lightwave for 3DS Max willingly but there are 3DS Max users that don't like the Lightwave workflow; So as I said it's personal preference. I would advise anyone, before buying a cerain package, to get the demos of all them: Lightwave, Maya, 3DS Max, and - if your either very rich or a student - SoftImage XSI
DC - Yeah, there's lots of competition in the 3D Market. Again, back to FreeSpace. Personally, how long do you think the community here will last?KMN - How long FreeSpace will last depends on the campaigns being produced - if they are fun to play and are released within the forseeable future, I think the community will last quite a while longer.
I also think that while FreeSpace might not last forever, the community at Hard Light Productions will remain long after with the release of new games - once you start modding games its very difficult to stop unless real life gets in the way as it so often does.
DC - Well I guess this concludes our interview, have a nice day.KMN - Thanks, it's been a pleasure, I hope I didn't bore everyone too much.
