When I began working as an intern at Autodesk on October 26, 1995, I immediately was faced with the task of obtaining the blueprints and/or DWG files for Sears Point International Raceway. First I called Sears Point and got the blueprints as well as the phone number for the architectural design company that was to be remodeling the track. I was told that they might have DWG files I would be able to use. I hoped this was the case, because it would mean being able to work with the track immediately on the computer rather than having to endure the tedium of manually inputting blueprints into AutoCAD. Luckily the company did have the plans on file.

Unfortunately they were not completed and even more unfortunately the plans were, for some reason, drawn with many small individual lines instead of long, continuous P-lines as was needed for proper export into 3D Studio. Until this point, I was strictly a 3D Studio guy. I had never touched AutoCAD and was forced to learn the basics of the program quickly. Although I learned quite a bit relatively quickly about navigating AutoCAD, creating and modifying lines, and so-on, the task at hand required more expertise.

C hristian Behier and Courtney Waters immediately stepped in to help fix the problem. Soon we had an almost perfect track on our hands. I say "almost perfect" because it turned out that the geometry was now flat (Sears Point is far from flat.)

In an attempt to defer the imminent headache, Christian assigned me to build the body of the car in 3D Studio. I started by measuring and making diagrams of the car. I then tried to create shapes in 3D Studio that resembled the car shapes. This was a grueling task, But Aaron Addleman, who had just joined the group, was a big help. Soon the car was looking close to finished and Christian said all it needed was a little "tweaking." We would use 3D Studio Max to do the final touches. The Max interface was very different from 3D Studio Release 4 and in order to get anything done on the car, I was forced to do some tutorials. I sped through the tutorials in about two weeks and soon Aaron, Chris Arbini (who just joined the project), and I had a decent-looking body, complete with the car interior and roll cage. As a result of all this I learned Max very quickly, but I also learned how to work with others and meet deadlines, and other critical life skills.