Des' employer eventually allowed him to work part-time, so he was able to spend the rest of his time at home looking for clients and freelance jobs. Six year later, Clarke explains he is met with challenges on nearly every projects he takes on, working within what he refers to as "ridiculous deadlines" while satisfying client expectations. But he also admits it is the nature of the game and he seems to thrive on it and churn out outstanding work that keeps clients coming back for more.

Des sounds a little sentimental when he talks about some tattoo spots on his fingers from using ink pens to set up perspectives on tracing paper that were “beautiful in their own right. But when changes to the design had to be done, you had to start again...This in my opinion is the greatest advantage in having a 3D model of a design. By having the ability to change anything, whether they are material changes or just view changes. That time saved is used to the benefit of the design or the quality of the presentation. At that time I didn’t think of these techniques as being obstacles, just a necessity. But, how we have moved on...”

Samples of Des’ work can be found on his Web site, www.objectpreviews.com and he routinely contributes to the forum on the form•Z Web site (he calls the form•Z forum a crowning glory of AutoDesSys).

by Jason Lichtenberger