My First Time With Papervision3D: Carlos Ulloa

Welcome to the very first post of our new segment: “My First Time With Papervision3D“!! And who better to open it than Carlos Ulloa, Papervision’s father.

Daily Papervision3D: Hi Carlos, Can you tell you tell us a little about yourself and your role in the Papervision3D team?

Carlos Ulloa: Hi Pedro, I’m a designer/developer, born in Spain 38 years ago and currently based in London where I run my own studio.

I’ve always been fascinated with digital entertainment, and during the past 20 years I haven’t done much else: from motion graphics and tv production, to game development for PS1 and PC while working at Psygnosis and Sony Computer Entertainment.

I moved into online in 1999 and never looked back. I worked in several interactive agencies in Madrid, Barcelona and London, and last year decided to set up on my own to better concentrate on 3D projects.

As the creator and project lead on PV3D, I’m currently focused on pushing the engine even further. I firmly believe we have just started to unleash its full potential, but the only way to show it is through technologically advanced projects, which require a lot of R+D.

Daily: Can you give us a little history on Papervision3D? Why did you started it all?

Carlos: PV3D started in winter 2005 as a personal project for making simple 3D animations. It became an engine while developing my old portfolio site at noventaynueve.com.

During 2006 I refined the engine and used it for a number of commercial projects and demos that seemed to have great success between users and community.

In December 2006 it was released on private beta for 35 people of our mailing list.

Daily: Did you expect the it to get this big?

Carlos: Initially I didn’t consider releasing it, but as the engine evolved, I realized it needed the input of other developers to become a really useful tool.

I never thought it would get this big, though, and I don’t think it would ever had without the excellent work of John, Ralph, Tim, Andy and the guys from the committer team.

But of course, PV3D wouldn’t be what it is today without our enthusiastic community. That’s the only way Open Source projects can mature.

Daily: You’re now a rockstar within the flash community, how has it changed your daily routine?

Carlos: To be honest, nothing has changed apart from my mailbox, which became impossible to keep up with. I also stopped using IM.

Daily: It seems that Papervision3D is seeing more and more new users, and from different backgrounds, how does this affect the development?

Carlos: As people have discovered new and innovative uses for PV3D the engine has advanced in different directions. But performance can not suffer and new features need to be integrated in a solid API. We generally review the API after the initial implementation taking onboard the community feedback. It’s a lot more work than it seems.

Daily: What will the next big feature be?

Carlos: Work has already started on BSP sorting and Flash 10 support, but there’s a lot that can be done with 2.0 and most developers have just scratched the surface.

Daily: What advice would you give to a first timer?

Carlos: Try out everything you can think of, sometimes the results are better than expected. And enjoy it, it can be a lot of fun.

Daily: If you could make one request to the community what would it be?

Carlos:Two requests actually, first be prepared to do some research, dedicate time to see how things work, try new stuff. A bit of patience is also recommended.

Daily: What’s your secret to always deliver something new?
Carlos: I try to look outside for inspiration. Video games are my primary source of inspiration, but also motion graphics, experimental art and film and tv.

The shark was inspired by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet. In An Absolut World by LittleBigPlanet and Bravia owes a lot to Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 live show.

Daily: Any final words for the community?
Carlos:
THANKS,

Thx!!
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I would personally like to thank Carlos for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this and for his huge support! You’re a star!