• Welcome to the Community Forums at HiveWire 3D! Please note that the user name you choose for our forum will be displayed to the public. Our store was closed as January 4, 2021. You can find HiveWire 3D and Lisa's Botanicals products, as well as many of our Contributing Artists, at Renderosity. This thread lists where many are now selling their products. Renderosity is generously putting products which were purchased at HiveWire 3D and are now sold at their store into customer accounts by gifting them. This is not an overnight process so please be patient, if you have already emailed them about this. If you have NOT emailed them, please see the 2nd post in this thread for instructions on what you need to do

Virtual World - "Just keep swimming ..."

LisaB

HW3D Vice President & Queen Bee
Staff member
Co-Founder
Collages48.jpg
_______________________________________________________________
We did an interview with Amarilis Alvarez of Virtual World some time ago now, however, we never published it. There's no better time than right now to share the interview and celebrate the talent of one of our fellow artists.

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.

_______________________________________________________________

Recently Updated14.jpg


_______________________________________________________________
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.

_______________________________________________________________

The 3D Artistry of Virtual World_files-001.jpg

_______________________________________________________________​

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...

_______________________________________________________________

SpaceshipCommander.jpg

_______________________________________________________________
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.

_______________________________________________________________

monica.jpg


_______________________________________________________________
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.

_______________________________________________________________

DawnSEVW.jpg

_______________________________________________________________
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..."

_______________________________________________________________

Collages41-001.jpg

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.
NOTE: Virtual World has limited connectivity to the internet at this time so she won't be able to respond to any message you leave for her, however, we are certain she will appreciate them when she is able to connect.
 

Alisa

RETIRED HW3D QAV Director (QAV Queen Bee)
Staff member
QAV-BEE
Love this interview!

Sending more hugs your way - thanks for keeping in touch when you've been able to.

Our hearts continue to be with you and all of the people in Puerto Rico!
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
I also love this interview, and I'm keeping you and yours in my thoughts. :grouphug: Please do drop in to let us know how you're doing when you're able to.
 

Satira Capriccio

Renowned
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
Quite a few of these characters reside in my runtime.

I absolutely cannot imagine the devastation in Puerto Rico ... as well as on Barbuda, the US and British Virgin Islands, Dominica, and St. Martin. I too hope things (like food, water, housing, electricity, communications, and medical care) improve sooner rather than later.
 

James R.

Busy Bee
Great interview. I love reading about other artists' lives and processes.

I hope you are safe and well and that things improve for you and the people of Puerto Rico very soon!
 

Virtual_World

Enthusiast
Contributing Artist
Hi to all! Thanks so much for your kind words and wishes! I appreciate all of your comments very much! And thanks to Lisa and the rest of Hivewire for publishing this interview that we did some time ago.

My family and I are fine. Our houses have some wind and water damage and we started the process to repair them already. Most of the island is devastated, without electricity, water and limited communications. I live in the metropolitan area and things are improving slowly here. I have now electric power and water in my house; but there are many power outages every day and water is turbid; but it is better to have them this way that don't having them at all. I don't have Internet connection in my house yet and never had it in my mobile phone. My sister has now Internet in her house (I am writing from her PC), it is very slow and intermittent; but I hope that I can borrow her connection from time to time to communicate with you all.

Big hugs to everyone, and thank you very much for your support!!!!!
 

Alisa

RETIRED HW3D QAV Director (QAV Queen Bee)
Staff member
QAV-BEE
Yay - so good to hear from you. Hoping things continue to improve for you and yours and for the whole island!
:grouphug:
 

RAMWolff

Wolff Playing with Beez!
Contributing Artist
My heart goes out to you and your family and your people there in that devastated area. I hope things improve faster than slower. I'm so disappointed, but sadly not surprised, with how our president is handling things for your area. HUGS
 

Lyne

Distinguished
HW Honey Bear
:yeahthat: and lots of BIG: :grouphug: to you and yours...and families all around your area!!!!!!!!!!
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
This is a great interview! I have quite a few of these characters also.

I'm glad you and yours are faring okay. I am so sorry for the poor response to the storm(s), and I hope you continue to see improvements!

Stay safe, VW! :flowers:
 
Top