First candidate to pass Viz Artist Advanced Designer Exam
Meet Feras Almonajjed, Senior Viz Artist for the Arab Media Group and our first Certified Pro Viz Artist Designer.
Feras Almonajjed is an alumni from the Visual Communication School of Art in Damascus, Syria. He has been working as a designer for 14 years, starting as a graphics designer for advertising agencies and then moving to working with animation. For the last 4 years he has been working with Vizrt software, using Viz Artist as his main tool for creating interactive graphics.
Congratulations to being the first candidate to pass the Viz Artist Advanced Designer Exam. How do you feel?
I am simply overwhelmed! Passing this exam is definitely a motivation to continue to learn more. There is no limit for what we can do in programming and designing using Viz Artist and I love to be the first to try anything new.
Can you tell us a bit about your experience with working with Vizrt software?
When I first started working with Vizrt software, I used Viz Artist 2.7 and faced a number of challenges. The options provided back then were more limited than today and required a very structured work plan … and a lot of patience.
But with each new version of Viz Artist it kept on getting better and better. I am currently using Viz Artist 3.3, and depend entirely upon it in my design and interactivity work, together with the other Vizrt software components we use here at the Arab Media Group. As new options in the software were introduced, like the timeline, scripting, animation, Viz Datapool, and more, the graphical user interface in Viz Artist has remained very user friendly. In my opinion, Vizrt is the right combination between Adobe Flash and Maxon Cinema 4D, and this is what provides the flexibility to switch between design and programming.
How did you learn to design in Viz Artist?
I joined Sharjah TV about 4 years ago, as a web designer. 5 months later, Sharjah TV purchased software from Vizrt and wanted to do a channel ident using it as a trial for the new software. They could not find anyone to work on it, so I volunteered to take the job as a challenge. I started off with taking a course in Viz Artist and kept on developing my skills in the software to the point where I was confident enough to take the Certified Pro Viz Artist Designer course. The project for Sharjah TV was the start of a new phase for me, laying the path for my career as a designer.
You have been working with Viz Artist in many years. What do you see as its strengths and weaknesses?
There are plenty of tools and plug-ins to help the designer build an interactive scene and design, which makes it a great tool. On the other hand, I think the help option should be more helpful and provide more examples.
What was your motivation for becoming a certified Viz Artist designer?
Being a certified Viz Artist designer will open new doors. I will be able to work in different organizations around the world, and my confidence has received a boost. And most importantly, I feel supported by the Vizrt family.
And finally, do you have any tips on how to design in Viz Artist and how to learn using Vizrt products?
In order to learn anything new you need persistence, patience and hard work. I think the key to success here is experimentation. Experiment with all the tools and options and keep on practicing, as, after all, “practice makes perfect”.
