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Welcome to Session 44 of 3D Art Direct's podcast, where Paul Bussey interviews Oshyan Greene, the business manager of Planetside Software, which produces Terragen 4 for rendering and animating realistic natural environments. Terragen 4 is used in film, TV, commercials, as well as educational disciplines, to name but a few. We're primarily talking to Oshyan about the recent release of Terragen 4.1, as well as SIGGRAPH held recently in Los Angeles. Digital Art Live's mission is getting behind the scenes with top digital artists and leaders by featuring them in in-depth interviews, through our magazine, podcast, and live event webinars, allowing you to connect with them and other artists and discover what inspired them, the steps they've taken in conceptualizing their work, and the techniques that they've used in building their creations. You can stay informed of our live webinars and podcasts by subscribing to our free monthly magazine at digitalartlive.com. While there, take the time to browse our growing library of new events and live webinars, as well as past recordings and magazine issues. Our site is constantly being updated, featuring topics such as modeling, sculpting, rigging, lighting, and digital composition for software such as DAZ Studio, ZBrush, Poser, Terragen, and Vue, to list but a few. So let's get to the interview.

Kim Schneider, better known as Arki is a 3D modeller and texture creator that has just completed a definitive series of tutorials in association with Digital Art Live called Creating Complex Clothing and available on DAZ3D's website that takes the student from concept to finished, saleable product which covers modelling, UV mapping, rigging and texturing. Find out more about our podcast, webinars and magazine at www.digitalartlive.com Kim has worked as a professional illustrator for RPG games, and her started her 3D digital art journey in 2000 with Poser and then Poser Pro and started selling her content in 2006. Since then, she's been hard at work creating content for DAZ Studio. Her choice of modelling software is Hexagon, UV mapping using UV Layout Pro and UV Mapper Pro, among others such as GIMP, Photoshop, Terragen, Blacksmith3D and more in her workflow. (clicking on image will open an new window and take you to DAZ3D site) During the interview, Kim talks about Her inspiration for her modelling concepts. How to sell your models for profit and her recommended "path to success." She talks a little about her pen and paper (role-playing) game that she's in the process of creating. Practical knowledge of how things work in order to be able to model them, realistically. and her fascination with dragons, for just a few topics. Snippet from the transcript DAL: ... How critical is it to understand how something works in order to be able to model it properly? For example, you and I talked a bit before about modeling a weapon, and you said that you have no interest in it because you have no working knowledge of it. So how critical do you think it is to understand how something works to be able to model it properly? Kim: Well, if I think of a current project I'm working on, it's a dragon skeleton and I had to do huge amount of research about animal and human skeletons before I could do that. So you have to learn how to model a joint, what kind of joint is used in an elbow or a knee or a wrist. So those are three types of joints already. Or the shoulder, that's another joint there. So if you don't understand this and don't know how the shape defines functionality, you are probably not going to have a very good time or a fun time modeling that thing. So at least it's true for me, first I have to know what I'm doing, first I have to understand what I'm doing before I can put it into 3D, or model it in clay for that matter, which is very similar in the process. DAL: Do you model in clay much to get inspiration or to flesh out ideas, I guess? Kim: I used to. It's very messy. Takes up a lot of space and you have to fire the clay. So I don't do it anymore, but I hope when I get into zeeBrush or zedBrush a little bit more, I will be able to do some more sculpting without the mess and the firing. I said "ZedBrush." DAL: You said "ZedBrush," yes, that's good, ZedBrush. In Canada, we don't say "Zee," we say "Zed." So ZedBrush. Kim: The eternal struggle. DAL: And ZedZed Top. Kim: Yeah. That's a bit clunky. DAL: Yeah, doesn't quite roll off the tongue. So, that's an interesting question. You know what? I had never thought of the human skeleton in that way, that there are, you know, a fixed number of joints that move in a fixed direction, and depending on any fantastical creature that you're gonna build, you have to understand how all of the different joints come together. And I'm assuming, just extrapolating on that, then now you have to understand the different kinds of muscles and the connection points to the bones in order to flesh out, if you will, the figure as well, right? Kim: Yes, exactly, because what I'm doing right now with the dragon skeleton is... the starting point was a sketch of one of my dragon species for my game, and I used the silhouette to model the skeleton inside. And what I was doing that I already noticed I think the proportions are off, it's not going to work the way I thought it would. So maybe when I have a lot of time, I'm going to add muscle and maybe internal organs and then model the outside skin and then see how that looks. It's going to be close to my initial design, but then slightly different. So I will sort of reverse engineer my own species, so it's going to be interesting...

You can learn more about Digital Art Live and sign up to our free PDF arts magazine here Patrick Gyger is the curator of the major exhibition Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction coming to the Barbican — Europe's largest multi-cultural arts and conference venue located in London, UK — exploring one of pop culture's most celebrated worlds. Featuring works that have yet to be shown in the UK, this unprecedented show encompasses music, film and art to present a new, global perspective on Science Fiction. The exhibition is on from June 3, 2017 through September 1, 2017. More information and tickets are available on Barbican's site or by clicking here. Digital Art Live will have a Barbican Event Meetup on July 2, 2017 and further information can be found here on our site. During the interview, Patrick covers such topics as Organization of the event into four main themes: Extraordinary Voyages; Space Odysseys; Brave new Worlds, and; Final Frontiers and how each explore classic narratives of the genre in new ways. Relevance and appeal of Science Fiction Owners of the works in the exhibition Within the podcast we asked Patrick these questions: During the 1990s you've had a focus on medieval studies, looking at crime and justice. Are there any parallels in this interest and your more current interests in curating works of science fiction? You've also published a book on the history of the flying car. What inspired you to take a close look at this niche of science fiction? Into the Unknown is an exhibition that is on quite an extraordinary scale for the genre of science fiction.  What enthused you to create something on this scale, or did it just naturally snowball? How important is the goal of having a global view of science fiction in this exhibition? And the exhibition is going on tour isn't it? Included are some pieces from the private sci-fi collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Tell us a little about Paul and his collection and the story of being able to collaborate with him. You are pleased to include some artwork from the notable artist Patrick Tatopoulos. Does Patrick have a particular focus with his work? The exhibition is divided into four chapters. Tell us what these chapters are and what would you wish people to value and come away with from each of these chapters. The press release talks about being able to explore these four chapters of the genre in new ways. I'm curious about what these "new ways" are — or do you want to leave that a surprise?! Does the Extraordinary Voyages chapter look at the roots of science fiction, where it all started? Tell us about a few items of what to look forward to in the largest section of the show Space Odysseys props and models from various TV shows and movies. What pieces from this section were you particularly proud to curate? The Brave New Worlds exhibition section, explores all kinds of different societies imagined by sci-fi writers. Is there a balance of utopian and dystopian societies represented here? What's your favourite society that has been dreamed up? Tell us about a few of the more notable exhibits for the Final Frontiers part of the show — "inner realms from human perception." Are there elements of the exhibition which celebrate artwork created digitally? Stills, animation or special effects? Science fiction is important since it allows us to explore our own humanity. It allows us to do that exploration more thoroughly than other genres and can take us to the normal limits and perhaps beyond of different circumstances. Do you have a few favourite stories that look at this exploration and are they represented in the exhibition? Who would you like to thank, the team in putting together this exhibition? Where's the best place to go on the web to find out more on Into the Unknown? Resources Barbican — Into the Unknown: A Journey through Science Fiction https://digitalartlive.com/digital-art-live-magazine/

Paolo Ciccone is the author of Reality, a plugin for Poser and DAZ Studio that introduced Physically Based Rendering (PBR) around 2010, when PBR was not that familiar for Poser and DAZ Studio artists. PBR provides more photorealistic or natural looking renders than previous render techniques. The Reality plugin continues to takes advantage of the LuxRender rendering engine. In this interview session we learn:- 1. How can the reality plugin help with gaining realism with skin materials in a render? 2. There are a number of SSS parameters, such as surface thickness, abortion scale and scattering scale. What settings tend to work best for which circumstances? 3. There’s a thread on Runtime DNA that talks about how you spent weeks of development testing thousands of combinations, was that with getting the automatic SSS function correct? 4. Is it possible to make the skin “glow” using Reality? I know there is a “light emission” modifier that might be used since this can be tweaked in any material. 5. You could use a procedural texture to get some interesting patterns on the skin using Reality, without having to use Photoshop. Firstly what’s a procedural texture and how might you apply that in Reality? 6. Since we last spoke in January, you’ve released Reality 4.3. What are the main changes to see in 4.3? 7. You had a surprise phone call this year from a manager at Apple computers. Tell us about that story. 8. You’ve introduced a new Reality Facebook Group. Tell us about this and some of the good things that have come out of this for Reality users. 9. What’s next for Reality? See digitalartlive.com for more podcasts, magazines and webinars on digital art

3D Art Direct Podcast Inteview with Chuck Carter Creative Director, Founder of Eagre Games Once upon a time Carter helped create Myst and 26 other video games including the Command and Conquer and Red Alert franchises, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Nox, Pacman World Rally, Kyrandia and many others  – Carter worked on TV shows like Babylon5 (as a digital Matte Painter) as well as having contributed work on Star Trek the Experience and Disney’s Mission to Mars motion rides.  His illustration and animation work has been seen on the BBC, National Geographic, US Dept. of Defense, Homeland Security, Scientific American, NASA, Caltech and JPL as well dozens of additional publications and organizations. The new game of Zed has these elements:- Exploration, depth, no time limits, curiosity, imagination, meditative, The background for the game Players must explore a bizarre world and solve strange puzzles as they help “an aging and dying dreamer leave behind a lasting legacy for his granddaughter.” “The dreamer is confused by your presence. He can help or hinder your progress by putting challenging obstacles in your path—he needs your help but at times doesn’t understand why you are there,” the Kickstarter pitch states. “As you learn his story, the truth about his past and his final masterpiece is revealed in the dreams you explore; a personal creation of one man’s disintegrating mind. Help the dreamer fulfill his final task and unleash Zed to the world.” Mission Statement for Eagre games “developing non-violent, beautifully immersive, story-driven games”.

This is a special session of the podcast where we go in depth in learning about behind the scenes of Renderosity, one of the most well known digital artist communities and digital products stores on the web. I speak with Tommy Lemon, vice president of Renderosity and also Tim Haskasma manager of business development and marketing. In this session we learn - The original vision for Renderosity back when it started in 1999 - The deep history of Renderosity. - The challenge of selling digital content in the stone age of the internet. - All about the mission statement for Renderosity. - Initiatives that highlight community members, artists, vendors.  - Dig into some of the demographics of the Renderosity community - Who are some of the longest serving staff members and what they’ve brought to Renderosity. - The Renderosity community on Facebook?  - How regular feedback from the community helps improve the services and website.  - What tools are offered to vendors at Renderosity  - Video tutorials are an important part of the Renderosity marketplace. Just remember you can sign up for our free digital artists magazine at digitalartlive.com, where you can also discover live webinar events and our store containing recordings of those events. You’ll find tutorials on Poser, DAZ Studio, Vue, Terragen, Hexagon and ZBrush.

in this session, we’re focussing on a subject to do with the exploration and colonisation of Mars, which is part of our overall theme for our forthcoming Digital Art Live magazine, where we will feature artwork on the colonisation of space. We will have at least three artists with some stunning sci-fi artwork and in-depth interviews with the artists on their work and you can get this magazine for free, which will include the PDF at digitalartlive.com and click on the “Get Started Now” button on the home page. You can also check out our live webinar events we host for training on software such as Poser, DAZ Studio, ZBrush, Vue and more. So I was very privileged to talk to Nicol Willett the education director of the mars society and to see her enthusiasm for teaching about the opportunities for us on Mars. In this session we learn:-  - What is the Mars society and why it was formed - How concept illustrations have helped in some of the Mars society projects - What are the two most significant barriers in getting humans to Mars. - Is it easier to colonise the moon rather than Mars? - The new "160 mission" organised by the Mars Society. - Nicole's view on the top two achievements of the society since it's been formed. - How you can help the Mars Society.      

I am very pleased to introduce Oshyan Greene, the business manager of Planetside Software, which produces the well regarded Terragen 3, a great solution for rendering and animating realistic natural environments. In this session we’re going to talk about the anticipated Terragen 4 In this session we discover:-   - Terragen's capabilities. What can you control as you create your realistic environment? Can you create an entire planet? - Importing real world terrain datasets. Some of the more notable projects that Terragen has been using this capability. - A little about Matt Fairclough who is the lead developer for Terragen. - Terragen 4 -  the new Ray Traced preview.  - Hints on some new terrain editing tools.  - Additional photo realism for cloud scenes.  - T4 will include lens flare effects. What type of lens flare effects will we see? - About the simulation of an Ozone layer in T4. - The fractal procedural erosion shader by BlinkFrog for T3 (in beta) and it’s free. - Virtual Reality and Terragen “We're excited about VR and want to see more spherical renders from the community. Send us your renders using the Spherical Camera!” (to Planetside.co.uk)  

Podcast Introduction This is session 36 of the 3D Art Direct podcast speaking to Paolo Ciccone, author of the Reality plugin for DAZ Studio and Poser, one of the most advanced Physics Based Rendering systems in the market, producing photorealistic results. Podcast Prologue Welcome to this session. I’m really pleased to talk to Paolo, who we’ve interviewed several times in the past and he’s always a joy to speak to. He’s done a lot of good work with his Reality plugin to make a real gem of a tool to help you the artist generate realism in your renders. We’ve had Paolo as a keynote speaker at our last Poser Expo live webinar conference and we’ll no doubt see him again in some more of our events this year. Check out digitalartlive.com. It’s now early January 2016 and we’ve got two events coming up this month including a Poser clinic where you can submit a problem or challenge and we’ll try to resolve for you with Charles Taylor, probably the foremost expert on Poser and that’s on Saturday January 23rd at 20:00 GMT. And we have Chris Hecker a respected sci-fi artist taking us through the making of one of his best illustrations created with Vue and Photoshop – that’s on Saturday January 23rd also  at 8:00 pm. Join us if you can and you can get in touch on the contact page at digitalartlive.com.   Introduction Paolo Ciccone is the author of Reality, a plugin for Poser and DAZ Studio that introduced Physically Based Rendering (PBR) around 2010, when PBR was not that familiar for Poser and DAZ Studio artists. PBR provides more photorealistic or natural looking renders than previous render techniques. Reality takes advantage of the LuxRender rendering engine. So Reality gives a rendering solution that extends DAZ Studio and Poser and is described as providing the most advanced Physics-Based Rendering system in the market.

Welcome to Charles Taylor, product manager for Poser from Smith Micro since April of 2015. Charles has been deeply involved with Poser since 1999 and has assisted with the development team since Poser 6.  The new Poser 11 has recently been released and Charles takes us through the additions and improvements in this version. In this session we learn:- - How long Poser 11 has been in development. - Whether backwards compatibility was the most key consideration for Poser 11. - The changes in the user interface. - Adaptions to improve workflow in Poser - The new PBR (Physically Based Rendering) option (SuperFly). - Rendered Caustics - Area lights in SuperFly - The new content shipped with Poser 11. - The new comic book preview - Improvements to animation - About adaptive Rigging

My guest today is Chris Hecker. An excellent sci-fi digital artist using Vue, 3DS Max and Photoshop. There’s a recurring theme through part of his portfolio of depicting futuristic large scale cities. And this is a natural response perhaps from growing up in the environment of the industrial landscape of East Germany as well being awed by the production paintings of the sci-fi movies that we all love. In this session we learn:- Which artists and movies inspired Chris the most as he started as a digital artist. How learning about concept art and matte paintings helped Chris gain some breakthroughs in his artwork. How recording workflow speeds up your improvement rate as an artist Creating cityscape scenes with Cinema 4D, Vue and Photoshop. Use of World Machine and Xenodream About being part of the Luminarium group of artists on Deviant Art The making of "Come a Little Closer", "Sky High" (shown above) and "Leaving the Fields of Steel". Resources Chris Hecker's (Tigaer) Deviant Art The Luminarium Deviant Art group E-on's Vue software World Machine 3DS Max  

Regina LaGrone also known as Lady Littlefox is an experienced 3D content developer for Poser and Daz Studio. Her strengths are in character and costume designs including contemporary, fantasy and  cartoon styles. She is skilled in all stages of content development and has modelled in Modo, Lightwave, XSI and ZBrush. She is at present a freelance developer and beta tester for Smith Micro software and has successfully run her own business of Lady LittleFox Studios for at least 16 years. In this Session - The origins of Littlefox Designs, how it started some of the earliest design highlights. - Beta testing for over 8 years at Smith Micro for Poser and Anime Studio. Have you been able to initiate some good changes or fixes during this time? - One of your earlier experiences in work was being a 3D Avatar specialist – what did this involve? - The foundations of STAR. - Key design objectives for the STAR anime figure. - How flexible and smooth motion is a significant aspect of STAR and how this is accomplished. - The advantages of facial rigging built into STAR. - Future content from Littlefox Studios

This is session 32 of the 3D Art Direct podcast talking with Stefan Kraus on WorldCreator, a professional terrain generator including sophisticated erosion and sediment algorithms. I would like to introduce Stefan Kraus, owner of Bite the Bytes started in 2007, a company based in Fulda, Germany that offers three tools for digital artists – “Terrain SDK”, “Shader Tool” and “World Creator” – formerly known as GeoControl and it is “World Creator” that we are going to focus on with this interview with Stefan. In this session we learn:- - How long has WorldCreator been around – when was it first created and by whom?  What inspired the original author to bring this software to life? - Some terrain generators can have appear to have a steep looking learning curve with a node based user interface to cope with. Is WorldCreator different and easier to use in this respect?  - WorldCreator uses Isolines to build landscapes. What is an Isoline and what advantages do they have in controlling the form of the landscape? -  “controlled rivers” and the tools to create various water bodies.   - WorldCreator has the ability to have landscapes eroded or even have “reverse erosion” - The simulation of sediments in WorldCreator is unique to terrain generators. - New developments for WorldCreator in the pipeline for this year.

This is session 31 of the 3D Art Direct podcast with Paolo Ciccone on the new Reality 4 software giving  photo realistic rendering in Poser or DAZ Studio. In this session we learn from Paolo:- The history of the LuxRender engine, which Reality 4 uses. What‘s all the fuss about physically based rendering (PBR)  and what are the advantages to the artist? Is PBR still advancing and what might we see next with this? What are some of the changes that have made Reality 4 easier to use for the artist?  All about the presets library and some of the goodies inside it. What lies ahead for Pret-a-3D in 2015?

  I am very pleased to introduce Oshyan Greene, the business manager of Planetside Software, which produces the highly regarded Terragen, a powerful solution for rendering and animating realistic natural environments. In this session we’re going to discuss the features of a new update for Terragen 3. In this session we learn:- - Highlights for Planetside and Terragen 3 during 2014  - All about new glass shader.  - Stereo camera handling and support of the Oculus Rift.  (The Rift is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display, being developed by Oculus VR) - A fisheye lens can now be applied in Terragen 3.2, we discuss uses for the fisheye in Terragen. - More control over cloud shapes can be applied in 3.2 with the “Taper top and base” parameter. - Notable media productions created by Terragen 3    - Plans for Terragen and Planetside in 2015 3DArtLive.com - Live 3D Digital Art Tutorials 3DArtDirect.com- Free 3D Digital Arts sci-fi/fantasy magazine

Welcome to session 29 where we talk to Eric VanDycke (also known as Traveler) who is a partner and the Web Site manager at Runtime DNA RuntimeDNA is a large and thriving digital community chiefly for Poser. It provides a wide selection of digital content and provides a great learning environment for its members with a very active forum who are from all over the world. A large user art gallery also reflects the vibrant community.  The store boasts over 5000 products with more than 100 content creators. His 3D roots stretch all the way back to Bryce and the early days of Poser. Eric has been involved with numerous releases of Poser and other software packages used by the community.  So we’ll be interviewing Eric in-depth in this episode and he’s also very much involved with the Poser Expo 3 conference.  Poser Expo 3 is a live on-line conference for users of Poser and Poser Pro. It’s one of 3D Art Live’s biggest events of the year boasting eight 1.5 hour sessions with leading figures and content creators from the Poser industry. This webinar based conference is on the weekend of the 18th and 19th of October.   Poser Expo 3 is about connecting and interacting live with professional artists and content creators. You can use instant chat, ask audio questions and see techniques and problems get solved step by step by presenters who will be sharing their desktops live as they share their experience. You can also interact with the other attendees  in the room as well.

Today we are speaking for the second time with long time associate and supporter of Ralph McQuarrie and his work, John Scoleri. Find out in Session 25 of the podcast how John became involved in meeting and helping to promote Ralph’s work. Ralph McQuarrie was the concept artist for a number of strong iconic movies aside from Star Wars, including - Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, raiders of the lost ark, E.T., Jurassic Park, the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series and Star Trek’s “Planet of the Titans” film which was cancelled at the script stage.  I mention these examples since not everyone is aware of the impact that Ralph had outside of the Star Wars arena and a new book that John Scoleri and Stan Stice hopes to publish called “The Art of Ralph McQuarrie : Archives Art book showcases the best work of Ralph’s career throughout. John has created a Kickstarter campaign for this unique book, so take a look at the video on Kickstarter.com that will give a preview of the artwork that is likely to be included in the book. Searching for Ralph McQuarrie will get you to that particular campaign.  

In this session Christie Knox interviews Dax Pandhi. a 3D environment specialist and co-founder of QuadSpinner. Dax has contributed to a variety of top titles for film and games, and is co-recipient of the 2014 IAWTV award for best visual effects, Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome.  He is also a respected teacher and author. His students number in thousands and include top studio and indie Visual Effects talent. With 18 years in the CGI industry, Dax's innovations stem from his understanding of nature and his ability to translate those nuances to the digital platform.  In this session we discover:- - Dax's background and how he become involved in computer programming as well as 3D Digital Art. - Artists who inspired Dax. - What drew him to natural landscape creation and Eon's Vue software.  - How QuadSpinner started and how it has evolved. - About the Material Development Kit. - Helios and how it take clouds and atmospheres into an entirely new place! - World Machine and and QuadSpinner's Geoglyph toolkit for this software. - Dax is working on Helios 1.5; but what else does he have planned? - Dax's "Realism in Vue" book and his next book project. - Dax's credits to the QuadSpinner team. http://www.quadspinner.com/ If you'd like to subscribe to the free 3D Art Direct magazine and get alerted for new podcast sessions from us, then sign up at www.3DArtDirect.com

We are privileged to interview Paul Hellard, former editor of CG Society and Ballistic Media, who shares with us his stories on his career in working across the media in filming, sound recording, editing, writing and publishing. Toni Bratincevic, senior Environment Modeler at Blizzard Entertainment is quoted as saying:- "I have known Paul for more than 5 years and I must say that he was one of the pivotal persons during my career helping me in so many ways to advance forward and land a job in the CG industry. As an editor of CGSociety, he did an amazing job writing very informative and interesting articles and reports on new software, interesting projects and great reports from Siggraph. The series of Expose books wouldn't be the same without Paul, his ability to keep good connections with artists and inspiring us to send our artwork to be published in these books really helped to push digital arts as a viable and recognized art form." You can find out more about Paul and his work here:- https://paulhellard.contently.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/hellardmedia In this interview with Paul we learn:- - His experiences as a camera assistant for the Kirk Douglas film “'The Man from Snowy River”  - Going freelance as a cameraman and sound recordist  - Working as a script editor and then picture desk co-ordinator .  - Being the assistant editor of “Design Graphics” placing Paul in “tech heaven” where he wrote and edited feature articles, technology updates, hardware and software reviews. - How Ballistic Media was founded and Paul's involvement in launching EXPOSÉ - The design objectives of the EXPOSÉ series of Digital Art Annuals. - The experience at CG Society posting feature articles, the news and managing the social media posts.  - Paul's global view on the "game changers" of digital art over the years.  - Those main individuals who influenced Paul as he worked in the various media industries.

This is session 25 of the 3D Art Direct Podcast talking about the life of Ralph McQuarrie, conceptual artist for Star Wars with John Scoleri. John Scoleri has supported and promoted the artwork of Ralph McQuarrie, the concept artist for Star Wars through many years and more recently with the publication of the book “The Art of Ralph McQuarrie” of which he was co-author and publisher.    He’s also exhibited Ralph’s work at a series of major events around the world called Star Wars Celebrations, clocking up lots of air miles in the process.   You can find out more about John's mission in promoting and publishing Ralph's work at the Ralph McQuarrie facebook page here:- https://www.facebook.com/RalphMcQuarrie In this session we discover:- - The impact of Star Wars on John Scoleri when he first saw it in 1977. - How John first met and assisted Ralph at a convention and helped promote his work ever since. - The story of when George Lucas first hires Ralph McQuarrie and how essential Ralph was to visualising and designing the movie with George.  - Some of Ralph’s early briefs or instructions for his concepts.  - What type of paints Ralph used for his work and the advantage of them. - All about the very first production painting for Star Wars of C-3PO and R2-D2. - The “Laser Duel” painting and this even influenced set design. - One of Ralph's favourite paintings and why. - Details on “The Pirate Ship in Docking Bay 94”  - Why a  Storm Trooper and Han Solo are holding lightsabers in once concept illustration. - Details about the concept illustrations on the battle at the Death Star. - Whether Ralph had a preference for character artwork, landscapes or technology. - John's story of producing "The Art of Ralph McQuarrie" book with Ralph and Lucasfilm. - The next book promotion for Ralph’s work.