User Stories
INDEPENDENT FILM
SOLOMON JAGWE
Is an independent film director, 3D artist and animator originally from Uganda, currently based in the US. He attended Ohio Valley University, Montgomery College and George Mason University, majoring in Art and Visual Technology with an emphasis on 3D Environment Design and Modeling, Character Modeling and Animation and Vehicle Modeling and Simulation. After graduation in 1999, he worked in the Defense Industry but resigned from his position in November of 2009 so he could dedicate more time to wildlife conservation and his animated mountain gorilla film, Galiwango, Obulamu Bw'ekisodde (The Life of a Mountain Gorilla). Currently he works full time as an independent film director and 3D artist/visual effects artist. He is also a 3D consultant in the areas of concept design, architectural visualization, 3D modeling and animation, matte painting, music video and documentary direction and shooting.
TOOLS USED
DAZ Studio, Motionbuilder®, 3DS Max®, Maya®, Vue xStream®, Adobe® After Effects
FAVORITE DAZ 3D PRODUCTS
Millunnium Gorilla, Urban Sprawl 2, Michael 4
Solomon Jagwe in action
DAZ 3D PRODUCTS ENABLE SOLOMON’S PRODUCTIVITY AND CREATIVITY TO SKYROCKET!
"Working as an independent filmmaker and freelance artist, I often find myself in need of models for creating cinematic sequences for games, TV commercials, architectural designs and so forth. My projects tend to have tight deadlines and, as much as I love creating my own 3D content from scratch, I find myself turning to ready-made 3D content I can purchase to quickly flesh-out an animation within tight time constraints. No other 3D content website has been more helpful to me than Daz 3D. The models I purchase require little to no work in terms of preparing them for my projects. This saves me so much time that I can focus on the rigging and animation of the characters and environments. When I need to customize my own models, my effort is substantially decreased because of the availability of texture templates and the quality of the assets available from Daz. Utilizing Daz's huge online catalog of 3D models, scenes, and accessories enables my productivity and creativity to skyrocket because I don't have to spend time creating content from scratch.
My general workflow is to search the Daz website for the right 3D models for my project. I then take the models into Daz Studio to customize them to specific shape and surface texture details, followed up by exporting them via FBX(R). The next step is to use Motionbuilder for rigging and animation and then off to 3DS Max, Maya and Vue xStream for the final composition and rendering. The final touches are made in Adobe After Effects for all the post work.
The above workflow is what I used to transform the Millennium Gorilla character into my main mountain gorilla actor in the Galiwango film (http://www.sowl.com/african-film-festival/). My intent is to show my fellow animators in Africa and Uganda in particular, that we can change the world and affect a change in the conservation of the last remaining mountain gorillas. The great news is that film directors can reach their goals even with small budgets and that is made possible with the awesome catalog from Daz 3D."
