Telltale Interview -- Daniel Herrera

Posted by heather

June 3, 2005

Our next interview features Daniel Herrera, our newly arrived Technical Artist.

Hello Daniel.
Hello?

What, exactly, does a technical artist do?
So far it involves examining and adjusting a character model until time and space cease to have any meaning and V-shaped smiles look perfectly natural.

I thought it involved doodling in one's engineering text book.
You would think so but we are too sophisticated to use actual paper.

Explain this "rigging" concept.
This will probably show how out of touch I am but, remember those rubber toys that had a metal wire skeleton inside them? You could bend their limbs and they would retain their pose until the wires got weak and broke off. Then the cool toy would become a limp rubber mess. Rigging would be putting the wire in the rubber toy except that we do it in a high-tech 3D virtual reality and when things break you get a limp polygonal mess instead.

Sounds technical.
Yeah, I know. Let's talk some more about our childhood toys...

Very well, what was your favorite childhood toy?
Why, The Mad Scientist Monster Lab, of course. Kids nowadays don't know what they are missing.

Here's a description

Oh yes, that was an excellent toy. I also had a particular dolly I quite liked. When you squeezed her, she woud say "Yes Master". How long have you been working at Telltale?
10 hours and 17 minutes.

What constitutes an average day on the job?
So far I have been doing whatever Jon has told me to do. It was great when it was related to setting up 3D characters, but I am starting to wonder how sorting his laundry fits in with the rest of the pipeline.

You have a cognitive science degree and a master's degree in 3D Animation. What made you make the leap between the two?
Leap? I thought it was pretty obvious that 3D animation logically follows from the interdisciplinary study of the human mind. When I started going to college I really did not know what I was going to study. I have always loved animation but it took me a while to figure out that it is what I wanted to do. Cognitive science made sense because it draws from many disciplines and it gave me a chance to take all kinds of classes.

How do you apply your cognitive science degree in your every day life?
Through the sheer force of will, I am now changing the course of several meteors that are hurling toward earth and could cost an immeasurable number of lives. But I mostly use it as a conversation launch pad.

Fascinating. So in your job you are working directly with Jon Sgro. Did you know Jon was a culinary snob? What are your own food inclinations?
When I asked Jon what restaurants were nearby, he said there was a Wendy's down the street. Then, with a disgusted look on his face, he said "...if you want to eat fast food."' I guess that gave me a clue.

I'm not too particular about food. I just refuse to eat anything that starts with a Q.

Very wise, my friend. Very wise indeed.

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9 Comments

	But... what about a nice quiche? groan sorry... I think it was obligatory.
	Comment by Alan Dennis June 3, 2005, 1:33 pm

	Brilliant!
	Comment by Udvarnoky June 3, 2005, 1:59 pm

	You know when the wires broke inside those bendy toys, they would poke out and stab your hand when you picked the toy up. Does virtual rigging carry any of the same potential hazars?
	Comment by JP June 3, 2005, 4:39 pm

	Indeed it does. Except that instead of wires you get the nearest poking device and instead of passively experiencing an injury the stabbing is self-inflicted and intentional. I might actually make an exception for Quiche.
	Comment by DanH June 3, 2005, 5:46 pm

	You should add quesadillas to that exception list, too. Unless you're qrazy.
	Comment by artwking4 June 3, 2005, 9:42 pm

	this guy sounds slimy. have you been to his website? Click here. See what I mean?
	Comment by M June 5, 2005, 11:50 am

	I am afraid you made a mistake. Clearly that site is not mine since it has the name Rickard Linder. Everyone knows that the nom de plume I always use for my Spice Girls page is something that sounds a little more ridiculous: Marcel Stockstill
	Comment by DanH June 6, 2005, 9:19 am

	nice try, DanH, if that really is your name. the Spice Girls will be back, and nothing you can do will stop them!!
	Comment by M June 6, 2005, 11:49 am

	very funny!
	Comment by hero1 June 10, 2005, 5:05 pm

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