Who is Mike Allen?

Highlights: 

• Cover article for InterCom magazine discussing  VRML
• Telecommunications certificate
• Bachelor of Science -Technical Communications
• Associate of Applied Science - Audiovisual Production

I was first introduced to computer graphics in 1996 through my interest in combining Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) objects embedded in online product documentation. I was working as a technical writer for Network Equipment Technologies at the time. I became attracted to two software applications:  V-Realm Builder and VR Creator. Those applications led to my experiments with online documentation and VRML objects. What I didn't realize at the time was that my interest in "creative and visual expression" was resurfacing. I eventually wrote an article about the possible use of VRML and online customer documentation.

So far I have been learning and using the following applications:

• Alias|Wavefront Maya Unlimited 4 on Windows 2000.
• Pinnacle Systems' Commotion 4 for rotoscoping, generating mattes, blue/green screen compositing, etc.
• Adobe Photoshop 6.
• Adobe After Effects 5 (Production Bundle)
• Illusion 2.0 for particle effects
• Exluna Entropy 3
• MayaMan 1
• mental ray for Maya 4 (still experimenting with this product)