Interview Jason Busby

AN INTERVIEW WITH Jason Busby

Hi, my name is Leonard Halmrast. I have the privilege of doing this interview with Jason Busby, for CGArena. Jason is known to most as Buzz from 3D Buzz.

Q. First can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Well, I’m the President/CEO of 3D Buzz, Inc., where I work hard to provide the world with professional quality training in 3D, programming, and a lot more. I live in Dickson, Tennessee, which is where 3D Buzz is based, along with my lovely wife Angela and my daughters, Heather and Meagan.

Aside from my work - which pretty much consumes every aspect of my life – I enjoy flying (I’m a private pilot), scuba diving, and going to the movies with my family. I don’t get a lot of time to do these kinds of things, though; 3D Buzz keeps me very busy.

Q. How did you get the idea to start something like 3D Buzz?

Several years ago I took on a job as the Director of Animation at The Renaissance Center, a local learning facility that had started its own animation studio and training center. The classes we held were great, but I quickly became discouraged at how many students I had to turn away simply because they couldn’t afford to participate.

I thought it would be great to start a website in which the training would be free to the public, but paid for by the software companies who were making the applications. The idea was fairly simple; we’d create training videos and host them on our site, and the companies who developed the software would be so excited about their software being covered that they would sponsor us.

Things have changed a lot since then. The original idea for 3D Buzz didn’t really work out the way I wanted it to. We had to start charging for our training, although we work hard to make sure that it’s the very highest quality and the most competitively priced training on the market.

AN INTERVIEW WITH Jason Busby

Q. How could you best describe the 3D Buzz community?

3D Buzz’s community is one of the most helpful and learning-driven groups you’re going to find on the Internet. We welcome newcomers openly and have a lot to offer those who are trying to get into 3D, programming, game design, etc. 3D Buzz has been operating since 2002, but it has only been a full self-sustaining business for about 2 years.

AN INTERVIEW WITH Jason Busby

Q. What do you enjoy most with what you do at 3D Buzz?

Seeing my students start to “get it.” That’s always been my favorite thing. I like knowing that we’ve got people who come to us to learn their desired skills, and that they become members of the community as they become better artists, developers, technical thinkers, or whatever they came to 3D Buzz to learn.

Q. Where did you get your background in teaching from?

Most of my teaching experience comes from my time at The Renaissance Center. I tried to keep all of my classes engaging and entertaining. I wanted students to feel challenged by what they were learning, but make sure they realized that with enough perseverance, they could master the topic and it would become easy for them.

Q. Have any of the members of your site been able to learn enough skills to make it into the CG Industry?

We’ve had many students go to work for major studios. The names are far too many to list here. I often get emails and

AN INTERVIEW WITH Jason Busby

PMs from members thanking me for the training videos we put together, because it was those skills that landed them their new job.

Q. How do you and your team come up with the ideas of what kind of courses to teach in VTM form?

It usually starts with coming up with some skill or topic we want to cover, and just sort of grows from there. There’s usually a lot of discussion and planning. Some ideas are so vastly different by the time they get recorded that they’re something new altogether. It’s a bit of an organic process, I guess you could say.

Q. Are all of your videos for purchase, or do you still offer free videos for users who’d like to get a taste of 3D?

We still have hundreds of hours of free training on the site. Much of it is with older versions of the software, though the basic concepts are still valid today. We also release free videos whenever we can. In fact, we’ve got some free videos over Houdini lined up for release very shortly.

Q. What projects do you have cooking over at 3D Buzz?

We’ve just launched the registration of our MasteringMaya: Advanced Digital Production online class. I’m really excited about it; it’s a six-month intensive online class which will teach people the entire production process of a digital short. We’re also still working on the XNA Xtreme 101 class, and we’ll be releasing the second volume within the next couple of weeks. We’ve got several Houdini projects in the pipeline as well, including the first volume of the Houdini Technical Director series, which I’d like to see going out the door in three weeks or less. Needless to say, we’re very busy right now!

AN INTERVIEW WITH Jason Busby

Q. Can you tell us what is in your Mastering Maya – Advanced Digital Production online and how is this is different from others?

The Mastering Maya: Advanced Digital Production class is the only online course or training DVD set that walks you through the entire production of a digital short from concept to final result. It currently includes 19 different lessons ranging from concept art and storyboarding through dialog recording and capture, modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, lighting, rendering, compositing, and final video compilation. We’re teaching it as part of a six-month online class, provided we don’t need to extend the class session a tad; it will depend on how long the curriculum turns out to be as it is recorded.

Q. Today many different companies jump into the field of making training DVD’s, or tutorials and no need to say, some are very good and some very bad, so how is an artist to decide which one too choose?

In short, do your homework. Contact the people who make the videos and find out what’s in them. Watch some of their other work (most everyone has free videos to offer these days) and find a teaching method that suits you. Some people like to have every possible thing explained to them, other’s like a quick overview. Find the style that helps you learn the fastest and make the most of it!

Q. What advice would you give to future wanna be CG artists and freelancers out there?

Know going in that this is hard work and don’t let yourself get discouraged. The tools get better and faster every year, but there’s no such thing as instant gratification. The skills that will impress an employer come with time and dedication. It’s too easy to glance around at various works on the web and start to think that you don’t have the chops to compete. Every single breathtaking image you’ve ever seen produced in 3D was created by people just like you, and if you take the time to really learn this stuff and are patient with yourself, you have every opportunity to join the ranks of the CG industry.

Thank You for your time in answering these questions for us, and we shall catch up with you again at 3dbuzz.com

CGArena is proud to present “Animals out of the Zoo” (Masking Challenge), 12 Oct 2007 - 20 Nov 2007, sponsored by Vertus - Fluid Mask. Express your creative ideas in a new and interesting way.

Your Mission

Image By: Massimo Righi

Create an image which justify the theme of Animals out of the Zoo using any masking techniques. You are allowed to search for any images, painting, matte paintings to use in the images, use can also create any part of the scene in 3d or 2d but in final image ratio of masking must be higher. and blended properly with other things in the scene. This Challenge is a Work-In-Progress Challenge -- all contestants are required to post their work-in-progress images for community to critique/comment in order to qualify.

How the Challenge will be Run

This challenge will be a WIP (Work in Progress) Challenge. Each challenger is required to submit Work In Progress (WIP) images, from the initial concept sketch to the final render. to the post production on regular intervals. The purpose is that everyone can learn from each other, offer feedback and critiques.

1. Enter the Challenge by registering yourself on CGArena forum. 2. Submit your work in progress images in forum on a regular basis. otherwise will be disqualified. 3. Participate in the community by critiquing other challengers works in the respective threads.

4. Submit your final entry till 20th Nov 2007, midnight 00:00 GMT. 5. There will be 3 winners. CGArena, Vertus decision will be final and no participant allowed to contact sponsors regarding the challenge or asking reasons for disqualifications.

Terms and Conditions

1.) Entrants agree to give permission to the sponsor to use all or any part of the artwork entered in this contest, (hereinafter, the ‘Work’) in the Company’s demonstration tapes (reels), promotional materials (ads, PR, etc.), booth graphics and presentations for the promotional purposes.

2.) Entrants will retain all rights to the Work. In addition, the Company will not sell for profit any materials or demo reels containing images or animations submitted by the Entrant.

3.) The Company, in exchange for this release, will provide a credit for the Work within the material in which the Work is used.

4.) Submissions must be the sole Work of the entrant and not require approval of any other entity.

5.) Entrants will not receive financial remuneration for their Work.

Final Image Size

- Your final image dimensions should be print resolution. Do not send in a low-resolution. - Send your final image in zip or rar format with your name, complete shipping address, email, telephone number in a text file on email address animals@cgarena.com with subject “Animals out of the Zoo”. You will get a auto-reply email after submission which confirm the acceptance of image on cgarena server.

All Three Winners will get a copy of Fluid Mask 3 worth $239 USD

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