Kenneth Huff has been creating digitally-originated images with his current technique for almost ten years. His work is displayed on his Internet web site, www.itgoesboing.com, and is held in public, private and corporate collections around the world. Often the first and only digital artist accepted to art festivals in which he has participated, Ken has received over seventy awards, including a Best of Show award at Artworks 2001 (Jacksonville, Florida) and Best in Category (Digital) awards at the Austin Fine Arts Festival in 2000 and 2001. He serves as a digital art category advisor for the National Association of Independent Artists.

Recent Solo exhibitions have included the Photonics Center at Boston University (in conjunction with the first Boston Cyberarts Festival) and the Winfisky Gallery at Salem State College. Future exhibitions include a solo show at the Perkinson Gallery at Millikin University (March 2003).

Born in Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1969, Ken lives in Orlando, Florida and is an independent fine artist. He is self-taught and began exhibiting his work in October 1997.

Q. How did you get involved in the 3D computer graphics industry?
A. One of the first examples of 3D computer graphics that I remember was in a 1984 issue of Computer Graphics World. * An article in that magazine showed the use of simple wireframe models to explore four-dimensional space by projecting it into three-dimensional space and, in turn, into two dimensions for the printed page. The idea that we could explore things visually which could not be explored physically (fourth-dimensional space) was incredibly fascinating to me. The work I create today is the culmination of that fascination.

In the early 1990s, when computer graphics technologies were just starting to have a greater impact in motion pictures, I thought that I wanted to work in that industry. I started learning and using Alias software at that point. I soon realized that it was not so much working in the motion picture industry that interested me, but working with the software, creating visual representations of the ideas floating around in my mind.

Throughout that time, I had been working for my family's printing and marketing company as a graphic designer, prepress manager and all-around technical guru. As my satisfaction with that situation began to wane, my interest in my artwork was increasing. In October 1997, I began displaying and selling my artwork and I have been an independent artist ever since.

* Computer Graphics World, August 1984, "Presentation of Hypothesized 4-D Phenomena" by Paul L. Issacson, Robert P. Burton and Douglas M. Campbell.

Q. How do you use Maya software?
A. All of my images to date have been created entirely using Alias software. I started with Alias Sketch!, moved almost immediately to Alias Animator and later PowerAnimator. I have been using Maya exclusively since its release in 1998. All of the modeling, texturing, light and rendering is completed in Maya. While I often break renderings into sections to be efficient, they are all single-pass. The only compositing I do is to merge the sections together. A vast majority of my earlier work and all of my current work is raytraced using the built-in Maya renderer. Most of the color and texture in my work is built up using procedural tools within Maya. All of my current images are rendered at resolutions of at least 6,000 by 6,000 pixels. Most renderings take hundreds of hours, and occasionally thousands of hours, to complete.

Q. What projects have you worked on?
A. The only way in which I have used this software and these techniques is to create my artwork, all of which is documented on my web site, www.itgoesboing.com.

Q. What makes this industry so exciting to you?
A. What I find most exciting about the tools that I use is the rapid rate of change and improvement. On many occasions, I have had ideas that I could not implement with what was then current technology (software and/or hardware), only to have improved capabilities and capacities within months.

Also, the idea that I can create a large-scale image with a physical level of detail and realism but not be constrained in any way by physical materials (or even physics) is incredibly fulfilling. The path from idea to implementation is direct and unencumbered.

Q. Where do you see the industry going in the next five years?
A. The area in which I would like to see more improvements would be in display technologies. I would like to add motion to my work, but I am very attached to the physical scale and detail of the printed images I produce. Incredible advances have been made in this area in recent years and I hope that momentum is maintained.

Q. What words of wisdom do you have for anyone interested in entering the world of 3D computer graphics?
A. More important than all of the technical skills one may develop is the thought that goes into and the ideas behind the final creation, whatever it may be. Even with all of the technical bells and whistles, a poorly-conceived idea will still be a poorly-conceived idea. Spend time planning and thinking through ideas before trying to implement them.