3DVIA®

With 218 models (at last count) here on 3DVIA.com, alfredix has become a valued part of our modeling community! His models are always impeccably detailed and usually just the right size to use in 3DVIA Shape, so we can all make our own scenes too. He is always ready with a compliment or a good question about other people’s models and is fantastic about sharing his creative process – as you shall see.

Alfred has been featured in 3DVIA Top 10 posts – 014, – 015, – 017, – 019,  – 020, – 023 and – 026 and as an Honorable Mention in posts – 018 and – 021.

PLEASE NOTE: All model images are linked to Alfred’s models and the web album images are also linked to the appropriate url, so click and enjoy!

Now it’s his turn to tell us about himself:

My name is Alfred Schallert, I am 40 years old and I come from Amberg, a little city in Germany, about 200km north of Munich (which is most probably much better known).

I first came in contact with computers in 1988 with a Commodore C64. Despite the wide range of games for that machine, I did not have one single game for it. I started programming in BASIC and made a bearing calculation software, which was useful for my engineering schooling.

After finishing college for Mechanical Engineering I started to work for SIEMENS and bought my first PC (286 processor, 1MB RAM and 40MB hard disk). Quite funny, my mobile phone today has better performance specifications. Since then I worked for several companies, mainly in the CAD environment.

Since 2005 I have worked for TraceParts GmbH, which is the German subsidiary of TraceParts S.A. in France. We have one of the biggest CAD libraries on the Internet, with more than 750.000 registered users and over 150 international companies publishing their products as CAD data on our website. If you would like to learn more about TraceParts see us on www.traceparts.com or www.tracepartsonline.net.

Q1: How did you first become interested in 3D modeling?
My first contact with 3D modeling was during my time at SIEMENS, where I was responsible for the selection and setup of a new CAD system. In 1996 I bought a 1:35 scale model of a US Army HMMWV and started to remodel this plastic kit in AutoCAD 13, using the basic 3D commands at that time.

This is a more recent Hummer modeled using Pro/E. Check out the incredible drive line detail!

This was when the whole modeling hobby hit me. I bought more and more plastic kits and remodeled them in AutoCAD. In 1999 I switched to Inventor. Inventor was brand new at that time and it was fun to model now in completely shaded environment. (In AutoCAD, I was able to do shading, but it took a lot of resources, so the pure modeling was done in wire frame mode.)

A few years later I started with SolidWorks, which, at that time, was a lot more advanced than Inventor. Since 2006 my main CAD system is Pro/ENGINEER.

Q2: What types of 3D modeling do you do?
I do mainly 1:35 military models, which I buy as plastic kits. Up to now I have done tanks, helicopters, airplanes and most of all trucks and jeeps. At the moment I am adding a lot of accessories to my models, to build scenes that can tell a little story.

Q3: What role do your models play in the work you do?
Even though there is no relationship to my work, my private modeling helps me a lot in my profession, because I learn a lot about the use and the functions of many different CAD systems.

TraceParts is a CAD library that provides the users (designers) with ready to use CAD models of supplier parts from many different companies. As part of my work I have a lot to do with CAD data coming from our customers. Those data are published on our web site so that a wide range of users can benefit from.

Q4: How much time do you spend, on average, on one particular model?
The time needed for one model, heavily depends on model itself. In general it goes from 1 week (like for the A-10 ) to several months.

The B-1 Bomber, for example, kept me busy for 2 months. I must admit that I started to learn surface modeling on that one :).

Q5: What additional software do you use to create your models and images?
The main software I use is Pro/E. In general, I use all CAD systems that are available. Inventor and Solidworks play a big role, of course, since there is a lot of legacy data available from my earlier years.

Recently I bought PaintShop Pro from Corel to start working on textures and decals. For publishing my pictures I use Picasa, which is a free tool from Google. There you can also upload your albums to make pictures available to everybody. You can see all of my albums here: http://picasaweb.google.com/alfredeix.

Q6: What is your work/modeling day like?
My usual day starts with going to the office (well who doesn’t…). Because I am traveling a lot; mostly by car inside Germany, it is quite often the case that modeling has to be postponed to the weekends. But at least I check everyday on the web to see what is new on 3DVIA. When I do not travel, I try to work a bit every day on my current project.

Q7: What are your tips for staying focused on a large project?
I think the first thing you need is a good plan for what to do. Earlier, I just started with something and then I got lost in details and finally was overwhelmed by the whole thing. I try to work on my current project every day a little bit.

Usually I do only one big project at the time. Smaller things will be squeezed in at any time, like accessories etc., but there is only one main project (like a plane or helicopter) at the same time. Those big projects are split into smaller groups (like the main body, the landing gear etc).

Q8: Where do you go (web sites, museums, race tracks, anywhere) for help, tips and inspiration?
My main source for modeling is the plastic kit. In 1:35 scale there is enough accuracy to recognize not only visual details, but also to figure out how a specific mechanism works in reality (like for the landing gears of an airplane). My first models were “only” a copy of the plastic parts. The parts were measured with calipers and then modeled.

After gaining more experience, I started to “modify” the model parts, so that mechanical functions could be included. If there is information missing in the plastic kit, I search the web or I buy books that describe this particular mode in real.

Q9: What part of 3D modeling do you find most rewarding?
There are several rewards for me. The first is for myself, when I can say “I did this”. For me it is a great satisfaction to see my model and it really looks like the real one. Especially my first helicopters and airplanes were a great reward for myself, because I learned to do surface modeling by myself.

Since I started to publish my models on 3DVIA, an even bigger reward is positive feedback on a model from anybody on 3DVIA. Of course, when people like Smike, who is in my eyes, one of the greatest artists on 3DVIA, makes a positive comment or gives me 5 star rating, this is just great!

Q10: Do you have any thoughts on how 3D modeling can help children as they learn about the world?
Actually I did not think about that a lot up to now. But I think the kids of today grow up with 3D animations like you can see in movies, on TV, in advertising etc. What makes my jaw simply drop to the floor, is normal for them. From that point of view, 3D modeling is THE way of the 21st century to support any learning process, especially for kids, because they have the best feeling for that.

Q11: Just for fun, what is your favorite game?  Movie?  Comic Book?
My favorite game(s) are the LEGO games that you can buy for some consoles like X-Box etc. I have an X-Box360 and I enjoy LEGO StarWars and LEGO Indiana Jones a lot. Most of all,  I enjoy those games because you need to play with a partner, which makes a nice “Game evening” with friends (even at my age [:)]).

I must say I am a huge movie fan. And if I could tell which one is my favorite, there is a long list crossing lots of genres. But there is one that really hit me: The Lord of the Rings (all 3 parts). There are many reasons for that. One is definitely the computer animations in the movie. I think I saw the “making of” on the DVDs as often as the movie itself.

In terms of comics, I was a big fan of Asterix, when I was a child. At least the Europeans among you should know him and his friend Obelix very well. For all the rest, check here: http://www.asterix.com/.

BTW: Asterix was the inspiration for my username (alfredix). I was sick of being Alfred0815 or something like that. Then I tried to add the Asterix specific “ix” and became Alfredix. I was surprised that not a lot of alfreds in this world had the same idea. Since then alfredix is used for any private login, and it works fine!

Q12: What is your favorite subject other than 3D modeling?
When there is time after work and modeling (I must admit, those two occupations really dominate my life) I like to ride my motorcycle and enjoy Formula 1 racing. Both start in Spring and end in Fall. So the whole winter is “free” for modeling, well and a bit of work :).

Thank you Alfred for your thoughts, methods and for being an inspiration for the rest of us!

Alfred also has a good sense of humor, as the model called “Wild Horses” below illustrates.