Interview with Sungsu Kim

Hello, my name is Sung-soo Kim, and I created a project called ‘The Matrix Virus.’

After completing the Softimage course, I returned to university, which made it take quite a long time to finish my project. I wanted to work on my portfolio while continuing my studies, but as a Visual Design major, I had a large amount of work to prepare for my graduation exhibition. I was also responsible for producing a promotional video as the leader of our video team, so it was difficult to find enough time to focus on my portfolio.

After graduating, I was finally able to continue working on my portfolio, but there were many challenges along the way. Since the project was created entirely in 3D, I had to work on two digital characters, a large amount of simulation, and the Arnold renderer for Softimage, which had very little available information at the time. There were many things I had to handle, so I started by revising the modeling and animation from my previous portfolio before moving on to the main simulation work.

Since I had chosen Softimage as my main pipeline, I used Maya for the cloth simulation. I worked with Qualoth in Maya, and although I initially planned to simulate only the outer clothing, I gradually became more ambitious and decided to simulate every piece of clothing. The increased workload made things more challenging, but it also became a valuable opportunity for me to learn a great deal.

While I was attending the school, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar about the movie ‘2012,’ and I was particularly impressed by Thinking Particles 4.0 in 3ds Max. I spent a lot of time studying TP4 so that I could use it in my own project. One of the results was the scene where Smith meets his final fate. For the scene where the wall breaks apart, I used ICE in Softimage.

I then used FumeFX in 3ds Max to create the smoke and fire based on the Rigid Body simulation results. Through the process of studying and applying these tools to my project, I was able to experience firsthand the power of 3ds Max’s various plugins.

After finally completing the FX work, I moved on to Shading and Lighting. I rendered the project in Softimage because I wanted to use the Arnold renderer. At the time, there were many other renderers available, such as Mental Ray, RenderMan, and 3Delight. However, Arnold for Softimage was still relatively new and not widely used when I was working on the project, which made me particularly curious about it.

One of the biggest advantages I found while using Arnold was its fast Depth of Field and Motion Blur effects. However, because it was still a relatively new renderer at the time, there were also some limitations. For example, SSS did not support Back Scatter, and Arnold’s built-in shaders were less powerful compared to dedicated shaders available in V-Ray and other programs. There was also very little information available compared to today, so finding unofficial help files and other resources was sometimes quite difficult. Despite these challenges, I found Arnold to be a very appealing renderer because of its many strengths.

For the FumeFX elements, I used FinalRender in 3ds Max. Although the standard Scanline renderer was generally faster, I chose FinalRender because I wanted to achieve a more complete Depth of Field effect with FumeFX. The compositing process did not present any major difficulties. I mainly used Nuke for compositing and also made use of Nuke 3D where necessary to complete the project.

While completing my portfolio, I had the opportunity to work with many different programs and experience their individual strengths and weaknesses. One of the biggest advantages of learning multiple programs was realizing that although each program has different features and workflows, many of them share similar concepts. This allowed me to discover new approaches that I might not have considered while using only one program, and it greatly contributed to my growth as an artist.

Of course, studying many programs required a considerable amount of time and effort, and there were times when it felt overwhelming to take on so many different tools at once. However, I genuinely enjoyed the process of completing my portfolio. Since I have always enjoyed learning new software, being able to apply what I learned to actual production was a very valuable experience and gave me the opportunity to learn a great deal.

To those who are preparing their portfolios in the future, I would encourage you to help and support one another when you face difficulties, and most importantly, not to give up halfway through. It may be difficult at times, but the experience you gain during this process can be extremely valuable, and there are things you may only have the opportunity to experience at this stage of your life.

Finally, I would like to sincerely thank all of the instructors at SF Film School who guided and supported me throughout this journey.