Shapeways member interview: Rob & Incara Mack

January 28, 2009

Today we are interviewing Rob & Incara Mack. This father and daughter duo have uploaded quite a few models to our site. Rob has been a great community member, developing his handy test piece models so that everyone can order easy cheap 3D printed parts to see the differences in the materials for example. Incara in her own right is notable for being our youngest Shapeways member at 10 years old. Her model, Incaras first character is adorable and she modeled it herself! You can check out Rob and Incara’s great models here.

So tell us a bit more about yourselves?

We are Rob and Incara from Sydney Australia. We’ve got a very creative little family here with all of us having our own styles and forms of expression. I’m 37, Incara is 10 and has a sister named Aurielle who is 12. We’re very interested in toy design and production at the moment and are planning to get serious about it in the next year or so.

So how long have the two of you been 3D modeling?

Rob: about 10 yrs, I started in FormZ, moved to Alias Auto Studio for industrial design and jumped from there into Maya, 3ds Max and Zbrush and have been character pipeline focused since.
Incara: I started when I was about 7, I was animating stuff in Maya but I only really started to get serious about making cool characters when I saw that I could have my model made into a toy 😊

Where did Incara learn modeling/3d design from?

Incara and Aurielle both share the office I work in and have seen me working in 3d (I freelance from home) most of their lives. They are both interested in digital art and I try my best to help them move in whichever creative directions they want to go. Incara is pretty good with 3ds Max as well as being a bit of a zbrush ninja.

Incara drew these characters a few weeks ago with the intention of modeling them and they’d been sitting on my desk since… She’s currently developing a portfolio because she plans to apply for a specialized art and design high school. I asked her if she’d like to have her characters made into a toy, showed her the shapeways website and her eyes lit up. ‘Dad, can I work on my characters now’ … 'Dad, can I work on my characters now' … 'Dad, can I work on my characters now' followed constantly until the model was finished.

Do you two design together?

We paint, draw, sculpt and generally make loads of mess together here… Myself, Incara and Aurielle have designed and created characters and produced short animations together since they were 5 and 7 years old.

Why do you use 3Ds Max?

We use 3ds max because it’s pretty easy to work with, I spent 8 years with Maya and while it’s a stunningly elegant piece of digital engineering it’s not really kid friendly. My girls like the simplicity of Maxs modeling toolset but really the future is Zbrush. We’ve been working in Zbrush here since about 2004. Both my girls enjoy the interface and opportunities it offers them. Incara says Zbrush is like working with clay but you can use cool special effects.

What was the most difficult thing about making the character?

Lots! Inc says the most hardest thing was almost everything!.. Incara made the hands 3 times before she was happy with them. She also says the teeth were pretty tricky to get right inside the mouth. Oh and the birds feet so that they were attached to the hand and bird properly.

Did she do it all by herself?

100% yep and she’s quietly very proud of it.

So, tell us about him.

Incara: He’s a fatty😊 He’s like a friendly innocent monster who always hangs out with his friend birdy.

What will your next character be like?

Incara: I’ve already started sketching a set of character toys made from peanuts like Super Peanut, Sleepy Peanut and Party Peanut. They are really cute and each one has their own unique personality.