About the Author

People often ask me how I juggle the many different things I do. I’ve never been one for a typical 9 to 5 job. Even in grade school, I loved those days when class was interrupted because of a snowstorm, or a guest speaker, or perhaps a school assembly. I like to break the routine from time to time, but every once in a while it’s good to come back to something you’re not just familiar with, but comfortable with as well. For me, it’s writing these Inside LightWave books. This is my sixth Inside book for New Riders Publishing (my 14th overall), and it feels like I’m visiting an old friend. Our first Inside LightWave book for version 5.5 was in 1997!

My daily routine is composed of 3D animation, training, and photography. After graduating from Valparaiso University in 1989 with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Photojournalism, I boldly started my career at a tiny little CBS affiliate in the middle of Indiana. Without boring you with each step of the ladder I’ve climbed over the past 20 years, I’ll keep it brief. It was about a year after college that I discovered 3D animation, and I was hooked. My photography, which I began at the ripe old age of 13 and studied in college, was my side thing. Video production was my main thing, and 3D was quickly finding its way into the mix. By 1992, I was animating regularly as part of my job as a corporate video producer. By 1994, I had started my own fledgling animation business and was working for myself—mostly because I got fired from the Video Toaster/LightWave dealership I was working for. But I was on my way into the small, yet quickly growing world of 3D. My 3D business is AGA Digital Studios, Inc., and you can see more at www.agadigital.com. I’ve created 3D animations for hundreds of clients over the years, most recently for United Airlines, NASA, the American Dental Association, and Johnson & Johnson.

In 1995, I started writing articles for LightWave Pro magazine, as well as Video Toaster User. I began teaching 3D at various trade shows and local user groups. By 1996, writing expanded to my first book, LightWave Power Guide, which was for version 5.0. My 3D animation business was building, with corporate work being the main focus, from animated logos, to odd robots, and the occasional medical animation and television commercial. My photography at this time was used for texturing work in 3D, and as a personal hobby.

Flash forward to today, and while the world is continually changing and 3D is everywhere, I still do all the same things I’ve been doing for the past 20 years. I create 3D animations for product shots, architecture, and medical uses. I continue to create training material for 3D software through a site I founded in 1993 called 3D Garage. 3D Garage offers downloadable and DVD-based high-quality 3D and photography software training. You can visit www.3dgarage.com to see all of our training offerings. However, sometimes it’s good to spread things around, so you’ll also find training from me on LightWave v10 over at www.lynda.com.

But sometimes people want to ask questions, so I’m on the road regularly, teaching people 3D or photography at trade shows, or often at companies such as Hallmark Cards, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, APCO Worldwide, and many others over the past 12 years. I also give one-on-one photography workshops. We shoot one day, and then process the photos with Adobe Lightroom and then Photoshop the next. It’s a busy and fun two days! And when I’m not doing those things, my wife and I run a portrait photography studio in the Chicago area. In 2008, after 25 years of having a camera hanging around my neck, I felt it was time to add it to the professional mix. Much of my photography work over the years has been more photojournalistic in nature and for 3D work, but our new studio focuses on children, pets, high-school seniors, and families. You can visit www.ablangallery.com to see what it’s all about.

So there you have it! I write books and articles, and I have a 3D-animation business, a training business, and a full-time photography studio. What’s funny is that I’m always looking for more to do. And if managing three Web sites isn’t enough, how about a fourth? Visit www.danablan.com for specific book-related posts and further information on the new CORE technology from NewTek.