Damien Villière: Up, Up and Away
Just as his flying machine marries antique and ultramodern design elements, Villière’s tools of choice range from the tactile, such as wire armature, to the virtual, such as 3D renderings. “I started to think the form using wire,” he recalls. “I made a small proof-of-concept model. I took photos of it, then moved to the Mac to do a 3D design. I used Photoshop and Illustrator to learn from the model, documenting and refining my original drawings. Then I used the Illustrator data to build a larger model, testing my ideas before I built the full-scale object.”
The Mac is the through-line of Villière’s inventions. He continues, “What’s interesting to me is the reusability of everything I do on the Mac. I can make a 3D model, build a video from it, create HD images for projection, do animation — all from the same data. The Mac is a laboratory where I can experiment, verify, communicate my project ideas and build the real elements for the final piece.”
The technical challenges of Villière’s complex stagecraft were not insignificant. “There were many issues,” he says with a sigh. In planning for two years, the project was executed by a team that totaled more than 800, including 250 assemblers and 25 subcontractors who worked for four weeks to install 88 tons of material and 10 kilometers of electric cable.
Macs At Every Step
The Mac was critical to Villière’s process. He explains, “We used it to come up with the idea, to create an animated presentation that would convince the agency, to explain the concept to the client, to make all the working documents, to design and execute the entire production.”
“Everything was done on the Mac,” emphasizes Villière. “We depended on all the integrated technology in Mac OS X, including QuickTime, the calendar and address book, and iSight to share and collaborate with our partners and clients.”
He used SketchUp to build a full 3D simulation, Artlantis for 3D rendering, and Final Cut Pro to edit video. These visuals helped Villière develop the look of the show and convey it to clients and builders in various levels of detail.
Touche À Tout
Villière keeps coming back to the centralization that makes his work possible. “It’s hard to pinpoint any one problem the Mac solves for me,” he says with a laugh, “because everything I do is on the Mac. I have this micro-company, which is me. I do it all — scheduling, word processing, administration, accounting — on the Mac. From finding an idea, to developing it, sharing it with clients, producing it, it’s all on the Mac. That’s what I like: having it on the same platform, using the same tools.”
Muses Villière, “The Mac is in all dimensions of my work and my life. Is that unusual? I live in a house I remodeled on a Mac and I do my work there, using a Mac.”
He relishes the sheer variety of projects his ultra-flexible platform enables. “Yesterday I did that enormous introduction for Airbus,” he reflects. “And today I designed and adapted a logo to be painted on the side of a racing sailboat.”
Villière epitomizes the French expression “touche à tout” — a person who has abilities in multiple areas. He’s even an amateur musician. So when he’s seeking focus or inspiration he picks up the trumpet on his desk and, camped in front of his Mac, plays a few bars. Then he’ll pause, type a note on the Mac, and play another phrase or two. It’s a lovely illustration of the easy synergy between Villière’s creative expressions.
“Airbus has nothing to do with painting a sailboat,” says Villière. “That’s the beauty of it. With the same tools, I can do anything. And I can do it all from the same location, my own house, which I designed on the Mac, facing my own garden. That’s why I see my Mac as the center of everything.”
