Let me introduce myself a little to kick things off.

I caught the visualization bug while having a "California Moment". This means that 20 years ago, while sipping wine in a Jacuzzi (properly clothed, mind you) I saw a time when computer-generated graphics would be able to display images directly in front of someone's eyes and update these images based on where someone was looking. Note: this was BEFORE anyone had heard of "virtual reality". My main challenge was to figure out how to strap a 17" CRT to someone's head and for them to live to tell about it. After getting out of the hospital, I joined the founders of Sense8 in 1991 to create commercial VR software. Fortuitously, the advent of small LCD displays allowed people to remove their neck braces while using such a system - and the industry took off!

Since all good things must come to an end, Sense8 was sold to Engineering Animation Inc which was sold to Unigraphics which was sold to EDS which later sold Unigraphics back to Unigraphics (or they simply lost it in the shuffle). Somewhere in this confusing series of events, I abandoned ship and joined Autodesk where I've resided for the last 6 years working with traditional computer animation and plotting my revenge. For now, I'm responsible for Product Management around 3ds Max, VIZ and FBX, but I've got much bigger plans - oh yes, MUCH bigger plans...

Since I'm supposed to share a little of the personal stuff, I'll bore you with the fact that I love sailing, have the most girly-girl 2 year old on the planet and live with my lovely wife Beth in Milford, CT.

About this Blog
If you really want to learn anything useful about 3ds Max, you should check out Kelcey's blog - she actually knows what every feature and button does. I simply know how to count them (and let me tell you, there are a LOT of them).

I'm going to discuss what I find interesting in visualization and if at all possible, the combination of sailing and visualization. Right now, I'm really trying to visualize myself sailing as soon as possible.