Scale Aviator International Magazine Issue 3 | Page 81

easier ‘Phase-Three’ will be, and better the final
results. Just like building a good scale-model, the
more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.
OK, now pick yourself up, dust yourself off, take all
your goodies and go home.
It is just about time to grab a quick nap before
we start playing with all these photos on our
computers. Everything up to this point has been
preparation work, laying down the foundations for
the next big steps to come in the comfort of our
home/offices.
You now have your photographic assignments
until we meet again in the next fabulous issue
of SCALE AVIATOR International. I would highly
suggest that once you have accumulated all the
‘Phase-One’ and ‘Phase-Two’ photographs you
will need, that you spend some time acquainting
yourself with the basic operation and tools of the
photo-manipulation program you decide to get
your hands on.
There are plenty of good tutorials online, if like me,
you hate reading boring manuals. Time spent doing
this will just make it easier once we re-convene to
jump headlong into “Phase-Three’ next time.
Thanks for reading all of this, and good luck
getting great photos!

This is the real Sopwith Camel Model,
Honest! I built this up from a Hangar 9
ARF and it is electric powered. That’s
me in the top photo painting the the
front half of the fuselage.

Bills Background
I was living in England in 1983 when the home
computer became a reality, and soon after getting
one I got a job doing graphics and animation for a
game company. I have made my living doing animation and digital visual-effects on the computer
ever since.
A college degree was important back then, so I
went off to get a degree that stated I learned all
about the photography I knew from when I was
quite young. As there were no actual photography
degrees being offered in the early 1960’s, I had
to transfer from one college to another sneaking
up on it thru art and journalism to obtain a photojournalism degree. I ended up with three degrees;
one each in Art, Journalism, and Photography. It
took 7-1/2 years and four different schools.
I moved to Hollyweird in 1998 to work on Babylon-5, the break-thru sci-fi television series. Since
then I have been fortunate to work on many
television series, commercials, movies and documentaries. I lay claim to being the Oldest living 3D
animator making a living in this industry. The closest animator to me is still 14 years younger!
I taught the basics of digital 3D animation for a
couple of years, and then got to work at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory for a year on various space
projects.
My crowning achievement has been to be one of
the two animators who created the official Mars
Rover Curiosity animation for JPL/NASA.
That turnd into a real Rover and is putting around
the planet Mars.

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