CGsociety’s Paul Hellard has a great interview with Allan McKay, CatastrophicFX founder and master of explosions and fire effects, where they discuss some of his more well-known projects and how he got started.
“Eventually I got into POVray and Vista Pro and when I stumbled onto 3D Studio R3 for DOS and that was it for me ” confesses McKay. “I think in a way even back then it was pretty obvious where I was going. I could model and animate but I was fascinated how to make fire smoke and clouds. The stuff that 3D software just couldn t achieve. At 14 yes 14 Allan McKay got his first big break working for Team Fortress Software working on Team Fortress 2 which at the time was a part of Half Life . Ten years later this emerged as the standalone game from Valve. “
Amazing Interview!! Very inspiring!!!