Information
Everything started in February 1997, immediately after I was done with my first animation ever and I thought I knew 3D Studio MAX enough to start a big project.
I tried to come up with an idea for something different, with at least two main characters, a dark mood and not cartoony look at all. The medieval theme seemed appropriate. I started some modeling test for the knight and the castle and the result was as good as I wanted it to be. Probably even better.
So, there I go. Starting something I didn't have a clue when it was going to end. I decided to do everything by myself and with the minimum amount of tools. MAX 1.2 was the choice, with no additional plugins and no plans to upgrade to a later version.
Evolution
With the initial idea of making it just an AVI demo, I planned it as a two minutes story to be completed in about six months. Along the way, the target changed. The result was better than what I expected and I added a couple of extra minutes to the story and created all the castle interiors.
At this stage, it was not a demo anymore. Siggraph 98 became my target and I started arranging for a proper soundtrack. Something written on purpose for the animation.
Of course, this was a "spare time" project. Countless nights and weekends spent at the office with my little parrot, a pizza, a soda and a thousand doubts. But I always thought it was worth it.
The end
And then the day arrived: The Siggraph deadline. I sent my tape with a few missing scenes and no soundtrack, praying that was enough for being selected.
And it was. At the beginning of May I got my notice from Siggraph that I made it into the Electronic Theatre. The last few days were the most stressing part of the project, rerendering things, preparing the soundtrack, looking for mistakes, getting slides done, filtering all the frames... and all this while doing my everyday job, since that animation was not what I was paid for.