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 Peter Zoppi grew up in Connecticut and attended Trinity College where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art and later made his way to the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Los Angeles. In his short time working in the entertainment industry he has managed to utilize his skills to work on many great tiles in film and video games industry. His titles include Kung Fu Panda (video game), Underworld Evolution, Night at the Museum, Golden Compass, Evan Almighty and a few smaller projects.
Peter, First I just want to thank you for taking the time to talk to myself and our readers.
- It’s my pleasure
Let’s start off with a little background on yourself, If I remember right you grew up in Connecticut, which to be honest is a far cry from the sandy beaches of L.A. How did you make the jump from finishing your Fine Art degree in Connecticut and deciding to go the Gnomon School of Visual Effects? Why did you choose Gnomon?
- I attended Trinity College, a small liberal arts school in Hartford, Connecticut. I started college with the intention of studying computer science, but I got one semester into it and realized I didn't like programming. I changed my major to studio art where I focused on drawing and photography. I always had a creative side, but didn't fully explore it as a child. I know a lot of people in this field grew up drawing and creating as a child, but I wasn't like that. I spent more time playing sports so when I got into my new major I had a lot of catching up to do. I was always interested in computers so it was a natural progression for me to start playing with Photoshop. I also had a love for movies and it was during my time in college that I knew that I wanted to work in the computer graphics industry. I focused on getting my art background in college while I played a bit with Photoshop and Maya in my free time. I picked up Photoshop pretty quick, but had a really tough time teaching myself Maya. I started to research schools where I could learn 3D. I found Gnomon to be the perfect fit because it was in the heart of the industry and the teachers were all working professionals.
Ah very cool, so similarly to me, you began working before you had graduated from Gnomon. Your first job was at Luma Pictures right? What project or projects were you working on there and how did that job come about?
- Correct, Luma was my first job and I started there before finishing the certificate program at Gnomon. Gnomon was great because I met some great friends and made very important connections. My friend, Miguel Ortega, was a term ahead of me at Gnomon. He got hired at Luma in December of 2004. About 2 months later he told me they were looking for more modelers so I got my reel over to him, but my reel wasn't quite finished at the time so I didn't get hired. I focused for the next 2 months on strengthening my reel and luckily Luma was looking again for artists so I got an updated reel over there. This time they called me for an interview and I was hired. I was hired to work on Underworld: Evolution which was a really great project. I got to work with a fantastic team and was able to work on hero models. I couldn't ask for more straight out of school.
More specifically, what shots did you work on while at Luma and what was your primary role there?
- I was hired as a modeler / texture artist. I was fortunate to work on both characters and environments. I worked on 2 shots of human to werewolf transformations as well as working on the CG fortress.
I think our readers would be interested to know if you felt the transition from the classroom to the "real world" was hard? Were there any specific challenges that you faced? If so how did you overcome them?
- The transition was tough and I expected it to be. Working in production had its demands and expectations. Quality work is expected in a certain amount of time. On top of that there is a pipeline to deal with and think about. Being a student or working on your own personal work doesn't necessarily require proper naming conventions and scene setup. It is good practice, but I know in my personal work I can get pretty sloppy with naming things and being organized. A production pipeline requires that you're organized so people further down the line can pick up where you left off. So the hardest part was probably learning a pipeline for the first time, how it worked and what was expected of me.
I think any challenges that I did have I was always able to overcome by simply keeping an open mind and being open to criticism. It is also great to be working with a team of good people who know what they're doing and are willing to teach others.
So after you left Luma, I believe you went to the modeling team at Rhythm and Hues, correct? (Golden Compass, Evan Almighty etc…) What was your first project while at Rhythm? What was your role?
- Correct, I went over to Rhythm & Hues in March of 2006 to work on Night at the Museum. Rhythm is a large studio so the jobs are far more focused than a smaller place like Luma. At Rhythm I was a modeler.
What other projects were you able to work on while employed there? What roles did you have?
- I was a modeler for everything I worked on there. I worked on Golden Compass, Evan Almighty, The Kingdom, Nasonex Commercial along with some internal tests that included The Hulk and Ironman.
Looking at your body of work its apparent that you tend to lean toward character work. Do you have a preference for character work? What is it about characters that drives you to work on them?
 - I do lean towards character work. It is interesting because while I was in high school I took several architectural drafting and design classes. There was a time when I really wanted to be an architect. I think I'm drawn to characters because the workflow feels more organic to me. To a certain extent hard surface and environment modeling is pretty technical. With character work I can start with a sphere and just sculpt and explore ideas quickly. It is a lot more push and pull and exploratory which is what I enjoy.
I’m not sure if most people understand how the visual effects industry works and how it's almost entirely on a contract to contact basis. I have heard they're not particularly long contracts, what was your experience with contract work for films? How do you deal with the stresses of jumping from project to project?
- Jumping from project to project can be stressful. I was at Rhythm for about 10 months but was originally hired with a 6 month contract. There were times when I thought the work was drying up, but then the studio would get awarded with more work. For several months it was up and down and I didn't know for how much longer I'd be working there. It certainly was a stressful time. When I did decide to leave there wasn't much going for film so I decided to see what the game industry was like.
Was this part of the reason you have since made the jump to video games?
- The instability of the film industry was a big factor in my decision to go into the game industry.
Speaking of the game industry, you are currently working on Kung Fu Panda at Luxoflux are you not?. What is your role there?
- I was at Luxoflux on Kung Fu Panda. I was there from December of 2006 through October of 2007. The project was winding down and Treyarch, the other Activision studio in Santa Monica, was looking for character artists so I was able to switch over. I've now been at Treyarch since October of 2007 where I'm working on the upcoming James Bond game.
 I would imagine most of the people reading this interview would be interested in the difference between working on film vs. working on a video game. What has been the difference for you if any?
- Obviously, the final output is different which most people know about. Film doesn't have the limitations that games have, however, the process for doing the work isn't terribly different. Modeling for games now requires hi res modeling and texturing to pull normal maps from so it just as enjoyable doing the work. I don't think I would be working in games if the process was very different like it was 5 or 6 years ago.
So give us your break down, games vs film the pro’s & con’s? Do you have a preference?
- Both have their pro's and con's. Having job stability is certainly a nice thing and I really enjoy the wide range of work I get to do in games. I'm able to do more tasks and feel like I get to create more work than I did in film. There is something to be said for seeing your work in a movie on the big screen though. It is a pretty big rush and is something I've missed.
Personally speaking, one thing I have always found interesting is that developers don’t always play a lot of video games once they leave the office, are you once of those guys who leaves it all at the office, or are you a gamer yourself?
- I do game quite a bit. I've been hooked on Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty 4 and Fifa 08.
Ok, I’m going to put you on the spot, Playstation 3 or Xbox 360? and What is in your console at the moment?
- Having both I can say that I like the 360 better currently, but think the PS3 has a ton of potential. It has made some great strides since it was released, and what's in my console, EA Sports UEFA EURO 2008
What’s your favorite game on the current systems?
- Hmm, on the PC it would be a tie between Call of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2. On the consoles I'm hooked on FIFA.
Looking at your personal portfolio, it appears that you really keep up on it. If I remember right didn’t one of your pieces actually make it onto the back cover of the annual Ballistic Character Modeling book? I believe I have that right so, Congratulations! The piece was an ogre that you were making for a Blizzard competition was it not? How did that come about? Tell us about the competition?
- Thanks! I'd been a fan of Blizzard's cinematics work from when I first saw it in the warcraft games. They've always pushed the technology and art and it is a joy to always see their new work. I read about the competition when they announced it so it seemed like a fun opportunity to create some new work. I'm generally pretty slow with my personal work so having a contest with a deadline was a good motivator to finish something.
Coincidentally, I heard you may have actually started that piece before the competition was ever announced. You then decided to enter it into the competition. Is there any truth to this?
- I can't remember exactly when the contest was announced, but I had begun working on an Orc model just prior to the announcement. It wasn't until the announcement that I actually decided to do a full piece with a posed character and a background. As I said previously, I'm pretty slow with my personal work so the work I had actually done was pretty minimal. I recall there being a debate on one of the forums as to what constitutes making an original piece. Obviously, we're in a digital realm now and assets can be used, reused, repurposed etc. It is done in production constantly and with powerful tools like Mudbox and Zbrush, we can now take a pretty generic base mesh and make it into just about anything. I think at the time of the announcement I had a pretty generic base mesh going so it really wasn't much.
I believe you won this competition right? What was the first place prize?
- Yes, It was grand prize in the cinematics category. I had a choice of either a $10,000.00 cash prize or a new computer, cintiq tablet, a trip to Blizzard to meet the art team and several other things. Having some hefty student loans I opted for the cash ;)
So tell me if this is true because its something I've heard and found to be kind of funny, After winning the competition you applied to work at Blizzard and they still asked you do an art test?!
- They had called me after winning the contest and I went down for an interview. The position wasn't for a high res modeler on the cinematics team, but for an in game cinematics modeler. So they had asked me to do a test with doing high res modeling and creating a low res game mesh and pulling normal maps from the high res. Having only had film experience at that time it was certainly a fair test to be assigned. Unfortunately, I already had several good offers on the table from other game companies and I couldn't put them on hold for 2 weeks to complete a test. So it didn't work out this time around, but I have a long career ahead of me. Maybe one day I'll end up over there.
Are you interested in getting back into film in the near future?
- I'd like to get back into it at some point. If the right opportunity comes up I could see myself doing it, but for now I'm enjoying my time in the game industry. I'm working with a great team and am having fun.
Ok, Peter give us your Favorite Movie/s?
- I've got a lot that I like, but my top ones are, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Matrix, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Prestige, Requiem for a Dream
Speaking of movies how did you like Iron Man? I fell out of my chair.
- I thought it was awesome. I didn't fall out of my chair, but came close. The visual effects were top notch, a real treat to watch.
Alright man, I think that’s it, I'd like to thank you again for taking the time to talk with us. Keep doing what you’re doing and hopefully we'll talk to you in the future.
- No problem
If you would like to see more of Peter's work
be sure to check out his website http://www.zopfx.com/
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