How it all began...

In Poland 1988 my dad brought me to the cinema to see Young Sherlock Holmes. I will never forget that experience, I was so bewildered that I was jumping in my seat with my eyes wide open! What I didn't know at this time was that the stained glass figure coming to life in that movie was to be remembered as one of the first CGI character generated in movie industry.

The Influence

In the 90's I've been greatly influenced and fascinated by the "Demoscene". This computer art subculture produced non interactive demos that run in real time on ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga and Apple IIGS. The main target was to show off programming, artistic and musical skills. I could not get enough of the Intros so I started to study which tools were needed to create this kind of art and concentrated mainly on the artistic part. From this point on I moved onto Dpaint, Brilliance, GrafX2. In those days I found also another hobby: wandering around in an old market in Germany I found an old soviet era camera; the Zenit 12. Photography was making its way to my heart and soul becoming an important tool in my life to express my feelings and visions. Time passed quickly by and the tools changed and evolved.

Hollywood

The 3D industry was since years involved in the movie production process, constantly evolving and gaining impressive results. Movies like Jurassic Park and Independence Day turned out to be huge blockbusters. I was fascinated by the movie industry and I was eager to be involved in it. Against all odds and people's opinions, I had a vision, I wanted to work in Hollywood. I was greatly motivated and started with years of freelancing. Later I decided to open a small vfx company. In 2005 and 2006 I was invited by Autodesk to participate with my company's work to the Autodesk company showreels and client profiles dvd.

Suprise

2005 I contacted Volker Engel to introduce my company and he commissioned me some work on "The Triangle". With a small external team of just 3 artist this was a great chance to show what I could really do and make one more step closer to fulfilling my vision. It was my first job for the American movie industry and it turned out quite well. In 2006 I received an Honor certificate for my contribution to the "Emmy Award winning achievement for outstanding special visual effects for a miniseries from the Academy of the Television Art and Sciences".

2012

"2012 is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures."

I worked as Texture Lead, Photographer and additional VFX Art Director for Uncharted Territory (in-house unit) at the Sony Pictures Studio.

Taking care of: Look development, texturing, additional art direction for visual effect shots, textures/ surface/ panoramic/ HDRI photography, HDRI processing and manipulation, photo references for matte painting department and vendors, setting up texture and research library.

Information about my work on 2012

Anonymous

W hen Roland Emmerich's next movie, "Anonymous", started the pre-production, I was offered to join the VFX in-house unit. As VFX art director I worked since the early pre production very close with the director, the vfx supervisors and art department. An extensive research was required in order to rebuild 15th century London. We tested how far we could push ARRI Alexa and Red Camera to achieve the best results with them. This was a very interesting experience. I travelled to Sweden, England, Italy and Germany to shoot textures, projections and matte painting material. Researching and choosing the live action footage to be used for the shots and operating the camera during shootings in the studio of additional live action material was an immense experience. Taking care of the look development and art direction on VFX shots was great challenge. More information and material will be available after the movie will be released in 2011.

My motto

"Memento audere semper. Life is about always moving forward and daring to face new challenges and I am now ready to head to new horizons: to always strive for a better quality, to reach higher achievements."

Greg Adam StraszVFX Art Director