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The recent hurricanes have left devastation in their wake with what is being reported as apocalyptic conditions on the island of Puerto Rico, where Amarilis lives. Food and water are hard to come by, there is no power and people are struggling to stay alive.
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Amarilis is a talented and creative artist who we are fortunate to have been able to collaborate with on many of our HiveWire projects. She created texture maps and product renders for Dawn SE, Dusk, Dusk SE, Baby Luna, the Gorilla and Sora and has provided material optimizations for both Daz Studio and Poser render engines with each product._______________________________________________________________
Her own product catalog shows the diversity of her ability to create with beautiful and compelling characters such as Nikki, Janet, Faces of Africa and Asia for Dawn, Brothers for Dusk, Jojo for Baby Luna and much more.
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HW3D- How did you get started in 3D and how long have you been doing it?
Virtual World- I started in 2004. One day, while looking for royalty free images for use in a screen saver, I found a site with beautiful images created with TERRAGEN. I was amazed to see that images so real had been created with a computer program. So I downloaded the program, learned it and soon after, I started to create my own images.
Enthused by the outcome, I decided to buy VUE 4 and also started to learn and use it.
Later, on a page containing tutorials for VUE, I found links to DAZ Studio and Poser. I started by downloading a free copy of DAZ Studio and tried to learn it; but because the program had no manuals at that time and crashed very often, I felt a little frustrated and stopped using it. However, I was determined to learn how to create scenes containing human figures, so I bought Poser 5 some time later. The rest is history...
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HW3D- What have been your greatest inspirations when it comes to making 3D art? What keeps you going?_______________________________________________________________
Virtual World- I have always admired the works of painters like John William Godward, John William Waterhouse, Frederic Leighton, Eugene de Blaas, William Bouguereau, Karl Bang and others. I would love to create 3D images inspired by the works of these artists of the past. Probably I'll never get to the level of those artists; but worth a try and I am sure that during the process always valuable lessons are going to be learned.
HW3D- What are some of your greatest 3D challenges and how did you overcome them?
Virtual World- The biggest challenge is when I have to teach myself a new program. The tutorials are good for learning; but most are explained in a language other than my mother tongue and not always clarify all the doubts that I have. Patience and persistence is what helps me overcome the challenge.
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HW3D- What other interests do you have outside of the 3D world? How do you spend your weekend time?_______________________________________________________________
Virtual World- I really like reading. I also spend time knitting, crochet and doing other hand crafts. I love playing with my pets and sharing time with my family, friends and people in the community.
HW3D- What things are you passionate about? What things "light your inner fire"?
Virtual World- I am passionate about learning new things and enjoy teaching others what I have learned.
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HW3D- What are some of your dreams and aspirations? Where do you see yourself in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years?_______________________________________________________________
Virtual World- My aspiration in terms of my 3D career is to learn to use professional programs such as Autodesk Maya or 3ds MAX and create my own human figures as well as their wardrobe and hair. My long-term dream would be that my work could be used not only for entertainment; but in a useful way to benefit the community, such as in teaching children, young people, and others.
HW3D- What is one interesting, fun or funny thing that people do not know about you that they may be surprised to learn?
Virtual World- My family says that I'm a little crazy. They say that I am like Dory the female fish with short term memory loss from the movie Finding Nemo that is always singing "Just keep swimming..."
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You can show your appreciation and support for Amarilis and her Virtual World product line by purchasing her products here and in other community stores. We have created a 40% off sale (save 49% with Reward Points) on Virtual World products here at the Hive.
Please do drop in to let us know how you're doing when you're able to.
Take care of you and yours, and hopefully your Internet services will improve so you communicate with us more often. 
