Dan Maas
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¨ What inspired you
to do science?
¨ Who was your favorite teacher?
¨ Who was a major inspiration for you and why?
¨ Do you ever want to
go into video game animation?
¨ What does your
family think of your work?
¨ Did you want to do
anything other than what you are doing now?
¨ Do you use any of
your least favorite subjects in your work?
¨ Did you skip any
other grades?
¨ Why did you start
doing digital animation?
¨ What is your
favorite sport and why?
¨ What hobbies do you
have as an adult?
¨ What do you like
the least about your job?
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QUESTION:
What inspired you to do science?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
I am really inspired by the combination of art and
technology. For instance, think of a Hubble Space
Telescope picture of a distant galaxy - it is beautiful
like a magnificent painting, but at the same time it
represents an important piece of scientific information
about our universe. Or the Mars Rover video - it's
fun to watch, but it's also very scientifically accurate.
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QUESTION:
Who was your favorite teacher?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
I had many great teachers. One of my favorites was
Mr. Severin Drix, who teaches math at Ithaca High School.
He gave very rigorous introductions to trigonometry and
logarithms - subjects which I use daily in my work.
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QUESTION:
Who was a major inspiration for you and why?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
I had a few mentors in college and in the computer
graphics industry who gave me advice and inspiration.
I owe a lot to Ron Thornton, president of Foundation
Imaging (a company I mentioned in my interview). He set me up with a great
internship opportunity there while I was in college.
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QUESTION:
Do you ever want to go into video game animation?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
I haven't thought about video game work, but game
technology is coming very close to movie technology these
days, so it's a possibility for the future.
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QUESTION:
What does your family think of your work?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
My family has been extremely supportive and appreciative
of my work.
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QUESTION:
Did you want to do anything other than what you are doing
now?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
Oh yes - when I was very young I remember wanting to be
an astronaut or airplane pilot. Then later it was a
film director or computer programmer. I guess I
ended up as sort of a mix of all those!
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QUESTION:
Do you use any of your least favorite subjects in your
work?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
Even though my current work is mostly mathematical, I
benefited a lot from learning to read and understand new
material quickly. You can pick up those skills by
studying almost any subject, even non-technical ones like
literature or history (not to imply that literature and
history aren't worth studying on their own!).
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QUESTION:
Did you skip any other grades?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
Aside from the last two years of high school, I didn't
skip any other grades.
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QUESTION:
Why did you want to start doing digital animation?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
I started doing graphics to see if I could make the same
kinds of effects I saw in the movies. Of course my
first attempts weren't very good, but after a few years
of practice I slowly improved.
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QUESTION:
What is your favorite sport and why?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
In college I studied Seido Karate with Senpai Olen Lane
in Ithaca. It was great physical training and also
helped me learn discipline and focus. I'm not
training at the moment but I'm thinking about starting
back up.
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QUESTION:
What hobbies do you have as an adult?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
I don't have very much time for hobbies, but I do enjoy
taking care of my two dogs (an energetic Black Lab and a
sweet Golden Retriever).
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QUESTION:
What do you like the least about your job?
ANSWER
from Dan Maas on 9 November 2002:
My least favorite part of my job is administration and
other things that take time away from creative work.
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