Interview with Marvel / FC

For those who don't know who Marvel is I can tell you this much. He is
one of the members of the probably most known demogroups ever,
Future Crew. And he is currently working on one of the most
anticipated games of the year with the rest of Remedy Entertainment
in Finland. Check out www.futurecrew.com and www.maxpayne.com
to see what I'm talking about.

Aki Määttä aka. Marvel / FC

[biXen] :
Hi Marvel, I think we will start with your name,nationality, age,
and which groups you have been in.

[Marvel] :
Hi, my name is Aki Määttä, but I guess you know me better as
Marvel. I am from Finland and I am 23 years old. I have been in
such Amiga groups as Dark Angels and Sonic and in PC groups
like Sonic PC and mostly in Future Crew.

[biXen] :
Tell us a bit about your time with the Amiga groups. When was it,
and what did you do ?

[Marvel] :
I joined Dark Angels in 1990 via my friends cousin who was
their BBS's sysop. I only did a couple of pictures for them
since DA broke half a year afterwards. I joined Sonic in '93
and did quite a lot of pictures during that time. I have like
10 unreleased fullscreen (320x256 or so) images which
were supposed to end up as a GFX-disk. I guess I'm still
a member of Sonic (nowadays Sonik Clique), atleast
nobody has kicked me out :)

[biXen] :
Could you tell us a bit about how and when you started to
pixeldraw and raytrace ?

[Marvel] :
I used my friends Amiga in '88-'90 and tried out basic stuff in
Deluxe Paint 2. I got my first PC in '89 and started using PC's
DP2 also. For the first two years it was  just to pass time and so,
but eventually I realized I might have it to get into a demo group.

The first time I encountered rendering was at Pixel's place in'92.
He had gotten 3D Studio v. 2 and showed me some simple stuff he
had done. At that time he had a 486/33 and I only had a 386/40 ,so
I couldn't render without a math coprocessor. But sometime in
'92 or '93 I bought a new machine (486/66) and finally got into
trying some 3D myself. We had a small game-project going on
back then, but never got too far and it basically withered after
the Assembly '93 competition.

[biXen] :
When did you find out that you were getting very good at
raytraced images also ?

[Marvel] :
That must be a trick question or something , since if you ask
me I haven't yet found out. I guess I could someday, but doubt
it very much since I have so much to learn and hardly can even
cope with everything new.

[biXen] :
A modest master you definately are Marvel. Your pictures
like Elegance and Duality are stunningly made. Do you have
anything to look after when you draw and raytrace ?
For example the beautiful woman in Elegance, that I was
ready to marry when I saw, how did you come up with
her stunningly great looks ?

Elegance by Marvel/FC

[Marvel] :
I might say those pics are okay, but they never got into
what I was aiming towards. I basically did the woman figure
in Elegance just by looking at different images from books
and onscreen. The woman in Dualism started from the same
model, but I actually ended up doing it again in a lot more
detail than the Elegance-version. The lizard in Dualism got
it's textures from various pet-lizard images I found on
the net, but since they weren't too hires, the texture
never got as good as I would've wanted. The looks of the
woman in Elegance is just a combination of basic shape
in the head model and a texture map.

Dualism by Marvel/FC

[biXen] :
How and when did you join up with FC then ?

[Marvel] :
I knew the guys before I joined - basically Gore and Pixel
a bit better. I never had any idea they actually liked my
graphics, so I never asked if I could join. Then one day Gore
commented to me on something I had done and that he
liked it. When I asked he thought I was joking and
answered that I don't really want to join. I told him I did,
so that's pretty much how. This was in the summer of
1992 after Fishtro.

[biXen] :
What do you think is the biggest differences between the
scene when you joined it and how it is today ?

[Marvel] :
I somehow think the scene has gotten younger and less
organized. Not too many groups understand the meaning
of design and integrity in demos these days. Not too much
progress has happened in the last 5 years. What we need
is someone who does everything 5x better than anybody
previously. Back in '92 - '93 there was only 3-5 real,
stable groups and we pretty much knew eachother and
through that had a better spirit in things.

[biXen] :
Did you have any idols when you started out, and if so
do you still have any ?

[Marvel] :
Of course I had a bunch of them - didn't we all ? At first
('88-'90) I didn't too much know anybodys name, but
later on I came to respect names like RWO, Cougar,
Facet, RA etc. I also liked very much Phenomena's GFX
dude, but can't come up with his name. That old melting
TRSI-logo was at that time the best logo I had seen. I
guess it was made by Joe/TRSI. Now I have pretty
much lost respect towards 2D artists since everybody
tend only to retouch photos and not actually create
something new. But names like Lazur, Made and
Visualize are in the top 2D cast nowadays. If I had to pick
one I'd pick Lazur since he has done so much stuff in
the recent years and most of it is his own stuff, not
copied. In the 3D-field we have a fellow called 3Daddict
who has done some very nice pics and whom I'll try to
beat someday - too bad he does rendered 3D as a job
and I do realtime.

Bubble2 by Marvel/FC

[biXen] :
What is it that takes your time nowadays then ?

[Marvel] :
What takes my time ? That's something I'd like to
know also :)) Well weekdays are pretty much spent
working at Remedy Entertainment, making levels
and textures for Max Payne. I usually are a bit tired
when I get to my computer after beeing in the gym or
so that I only play Quake 2  or listen to some music
and watch TV. I've also done a lot for the Finnish Quake
Scene and my clan Secretum (like webpages for both
of them and  organizing some leagues for our scene).
I have a lot of ideas I 'd love to implement if I only had
time. I'm somewhat sad I haven't done so much stuff
during the past couple of years but that just seems
to be how things are. Hopefully I get more time off
after Max Payne is finished so I can do more of my
own stuff.

[biXen] :
I heard in the end of 1998 that FC was making a demo
for 1999. Is that a fact ?

[Marvel] :
We actually started making a demo even before last
years assembly - We got the idea when we were out
camping and consuming some drinks and talking about
the current state of the scene, or rather the lack of
it. After ASM we held a couple of FC meetings, the
coders did some amazing effects and we got a script
together for our next demo. I guess the whole thing
flopped because us graphicians never got anything
special done and then we just left the whole project.
It might be we'll continue that sometime in the near
future, if we only have time. As some of you might
know, we all are working full-time or studying so
there isn't too much spare time to make demos.

We also hoped to make a demo just to get a buzz to
the scene and to wake everybody up.

[biXen] :
Do you ever regret your time spent in the scene ?

[Marvel] :
No I don't.  I'm kinda sad I never got the chance to
show the best of my (questionable :) talent. There
was so much I would've loved to do back in '93-'94
but I never got the chance nor time.

[biXen] :
Do you still watch what happens in the scene ?

[Marvel] :
Not too much. I only take a look at the graphics
and raytraces every now and then, but I haven't
seen more than two demos after ASM 98. I hear
stuff of course, but don't pay _THAT_ much attention
in general.

Unfinished Tales by Marvel/FC

[biXen] :
Your raytraced images, like for example Elegance,
what do you use to  make them, and how long does it
usually take ?

[Marvel] :
I basically first try to come up with an idea and then
start implementing it. I start with one element in the
picture (in Elegance from the chair) and then move to
another. I remember I spent something like 40-60h into
modelling Elegance and then an additional 10h to render
it on my old machine. Dualism however was a bit
different thing. The woman herself took like 60 hours
to model because I had to retouch the mesh _SO_ much
- way too much if you ask me and that meant the whole
image took about 100-120 hours to make. I'll try to make
due with 80-100 hours for ASM '99 raytrace compo pic.

[biXen] :
In your opinion, should demomakers use all the latest
"tools" like 3DFX and mp3's or stick to only regular
DirectX and .xm (mods) ?

[Marvel] :
When did 3DFX become a tool ? *LOL*  I'm not quite sure
what your after with this question but I'd say people
should use, if not the latest, the next latest technology
in demos. So D3D and mp3s are very welcome. But if one
can do great demos using mod-music and dos-box, go
right ahead. The fact is however that it will die out soon.

[biXen] :
Which other FC members do you work with in Remedy ?

[Marvel] :
Besides myself, Skaven, Gore and Henchman are in
Remedy Entertainment. Jake also worked half a year
ago, but went into something quite different.

[biXen] :
Do you have any hobbies ?

[Marvel] :
It depends what one wants to call hobbies. I could say
doing graphics is a hobby, playing Quake 2 deathmatch
is another. I also listen to a lot of classical music, read
sci-fi and magazines and go to the gym. Spending time
with my brother/sister and my friends also qualify
as a hobby I guess.

[biXen] :
Name the things you would do to have the best day
of your life :

[Marvel] :
Wow...a _HARD_ one. I don't think a best day would
depend so much on what I do rather than who I spend
it with. I don't have to accomplish anything really to
make a day the best in my life. Just to spend 12-16 hours
with a wife-to-be in someplace warm,quiet and
relaxing is enough I'd say. :))

[biXen] :
Do you have any advice for sceners that wants to be
just as good as you ?

[Marvel] :
Do a lot of stuff, it's that simple. Begin with small things
and try to finish them before starting new stuff. Also try
to do as much as possible by hand and not use like built-in
filters in Photoshop, everybody can tell from the looks of
things. Patience is also a keyword and _DO_ take the time.
Nothing can be done in mere hours, you need dozens and
dozens of em :))) Also having a clear idea and scething it
on paper helps a lot...Well this is only about making
graphics but most of the stuff apply also for making
other things (like music or code)  basically.

[biXen] :
Okay, finally, do you have any last words or greets
you want to say ?

[Marvel] :
Nothing special. Of course greetings to everybody I
know personally (in real life or on the net) and hello
to all you guys in Remedy. :) And scene dudes, please
try to enhance the quality of things and stop running
in the same spot from one year to another.
Marvel signing off...........

[biXen] :
Well, thanks a lot to you Marvel, and I think we all
think you deserve a first place at ASM '99 raytrace
compo. And good luck also with Max Payne.