About Mike James Creative™

Mike James Creative™ focuses on my interest in graphic design, including web site design, advertising, and CAD/3D modeling.

I've released two multimedia CD's. related to my the use of CAD/3D modeling, as well as a "how to" CD related to my experience with designing composite, radio-controlled model aircraft.
See the Products page on my NextCraft™ site for complete info.

My history with computers

I started playing around with primitive kit and consumer computers in about 1980, mainly to break the boredom of living in hotel rooms while on the road as a musician. The computer kept me out of bars, taught me the math that I didn't understand in high school, and got me seriously interested in the future possiblities. Graphics were almost non-existent in those days, so most of my early programming experiments were with text-based applications. For example, I wrote software for the bands I was in, to organize play lists, handle mailing lists, print "table tents", write down instructions for the setup crew, etc.. We often left the computer on stage, going through some totally random graphics routine, which seemed very "futuristic" in the early 80s. (Moire patterns, "Amiga-style" bouncing balls, etc.)

When the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and Apple Macintosh computers appeared, suddenly we not only had a computer that would do some graphics, but for the first time, we had a mouse. Finally, an interface that left the blank screen/cursor prompt behind. Still, all of these computers had a built-in programming language, and some of them had good compilers, so I kept on studying graphics, especially 3D routines. In those days, raytracing was still too time-intensive, so we mostly wrote software that produced a mesh-like "terrain" surface, like you see in older science fiction movies. I'd call them "glorified function plotters". This was a good logic-learning experience, but very tedious at times, tracking a huge number of variables looping through a huge number of transformation algorithms. I can't say I really miss it.

My final round of programming ended with the Sinclair QL, which was very cool for it's time. I wrote a program called "Terrain 3D", and sold it to Digital Precision Ltd., in the U.K., as well as a model aircraft design program. With the natural evolution of computers, advanced 3D programming is no longer a solo sport. So now, I'm strictly a "user", and enjoy NOT having to get so directly involved in the math. In 1995, I began working exclusively on Apple computers, which I use to this day. My computer (3D) models are sold by Digimation. Click the logo to visit their site and check out the catalog.

Thank you for visiting!
- Mike James -