He’s one of the more ambitious members of the FR community and has come a long way since his first skin. Outspoken, diligent, and hard-working, Syn has managed to give the community enough toys to fill an asylum, which coincidentally was a site he once ran. Today, we shine the spotlight on Syn to see how unfluffy he really is.

FREEDOM FORCE

You’ve been around the community, and its many incarnations + spinoffs, for quite awhile. What drew you to Freedom Force and how did you choose your monikers?

Comic book games and the ability to mod them. I’ve always liked making my own stuff, despite how atrocious my stuff was when I first started. The ability to control every part of the game was a definite magnet to me.

I started off as the “unfluffy bunny” because it was a nickname I picked up working for the RSPCA. I worked with the rodents a lot, and people thought unfluffy rat wouldn’t have been very ironic ;) . My other name, “Syn,” is just an abbreviation of my real name, a nickname my brothers called me for years. It just happened to fit my rp villain persona.

You’ve had several avatars over the years. Which would you say is your favorite and why?

RP wise, my latest incarnation was pretty cool, tho I didnt do any rp with him >_>. I really tried to amp up the megalomania vibe, which is just damn fun. Skin/mesh wise, I have a favoured spot for skins that were made for me over the ones I made myself. Billdamn was the first person to skin my avatar, which came out with a massively cool demon form. Tomato did a great representation of my latest incarnation. I’m pretty proud to have received both of those particularly.

You originally were a skinner before you took on meshing. What made you want to become a skinner?

I’ve always been fascinated by texture work, even when I sucked at it. 6-8 hours a day practice is a great remedy for learning photoshop from scratch. I do tend to get a little carried away with that tho.

Skinning characters was great because it was my first experience seeing something i’d put together moving in a game.

If a person were to really pay attention to your skin collection, one thing would immediately jump out–details. You spend a lot of time putting in as many details as you can. Why do you do this?

It may be ocd…or I may just be picky beyond all known reason.

Out of all your skins, what would you classify as the hardest or most time consuming to produce?

The mark 2 monster standard skin was killer. Every curve and detail was made by hand and every plane was done as a single flat grey, and then burn and dodge to gather details. Some planes required as many as 10 layers, and that’s a lot of parts on that mesh. It took me about half a week, which is a long time for me to have been on 1 project.

Before becoming a mesher, you were one of the better hexers left in the community. What would you classify as your best hex?

Oh damn, this is a while back to remember! On some of my hexes I would take hours adjusting single pieces to match exact angles and dimensions, but back then I was competing with hexers like kommando, and that guy was insane with the stuff he’d pull out of a bag @_@.

The hex I can remember taking the most time was one I never even had a skin for. It was a modification of Grenadier’s male basic staff, which was turned into some crazy speared / bladed / tipped at the base naginata. I remember having an argument in the chat shack about it with Schizo because I had the heavy end on his back facing down when climbing, which would be the natural position the way it was slung, and he wanted me to switch it around @_@.

Eventually, you set out and became a mesher. What made you want to do this?

Because I could? :P . I wanted to learn another technique really. I wanted to learn to animate as well. I cant really think of a better way to explain it.

You have several meshes under your name now, though a few were shown off but unfortunately never came to pass. What do you think your best mesh is and why?

I was particularly proud of my morph mesh. It used a lot of techniques I hadn’t used before and it was for a character I’ve always liked. That, and my Nova mesh.

Out of the unreleased meshes >_>, I had some nice geometry on a holocaust mesh, which was a lot of work from scratch. I didn’t get very far beyond that, but the geometry was satisfying. Same for the unreleased Darkclaw mesh.

Before you retired from FF meshing, you were also set on making animations. What did you think of the animation process and do you feel like custom animations made your meshes more unique?

None of the animations I ever released were much good, heh. The 2 meshes that would have shone in this light were Blackheart and the Scorpion. I had almost completed full custom rigging and keyframes for both those charcaters. It’s a little depressing that i’ll never get to finish them.

Although you are mostly known for your mainstream skins, you also have quite a collection of Originals. Which did you find more entertaining to make?

originals are always fun, but sometimes it’s easier to make a mainstream characters because it doesn’t require the same thinking process of designing a look and the character yourself. Yes, I’m lazy, heh. Also mainstream appeals to the rampant fanboy in me >_>.

You are also one of the few skinners to attempt to fx. Did you find fxing to be simpler than your other FF modifications?

fx’ing hurt my head. I released like 1 fx ever…that was enough for me.

Considering your status as of now, what is one thing you regret not making before calling it quits?

I wanted to finish holocaust. Thats the biggest regret out of all my lost projects.

Motivation and inspiration are two important tools to have constant sources of as a content provider. What are some things or people that inspired or motivated you to complete your projects?

Well, there was that annoying Premonitioner guy who poked me for stuff a lot… just kidding =P.

A lot of the stuff I did was wanting to just contribute to the community. I gave up playing the game long before I gave up making stuff. They were more like action figures to me than game assets, I guess.

And finally, you have redesigned several avatars over the years. How did you choose the avatars you redesigned and what was your process for putting your spin on them?

if an avatar did/said something that I thought I could play on to show them in a different light, I tended to grab it and exaggerate it. Otherwise if I thought it would be fun :P

MISC.

Your talents extend way outside of FF and you have shown off your art skills. How would you classify your style of art?

Inconsistent, lol. I can sit in photoshop and paint 1 metal door with a thousand scratches, dents, bolts, and hinges, or I can sit while eating pizza and doodle stick-men in chef hats trying to impale each other on giant slices >_>.

You have redesigned Freedom-Asylum several times and each time you showed off a new set of html skills that the previous version lacked. What got you interested in learning HTML?

Another IT skill, thats about it, lol. I like learning things, especially when I can use them to create.

You also fancy yourself a gamer. What are some games you are playing at the moment and which do you consider your favorite?

Left 4 Dead, Dawn of War 2, Fallout 3.

All good for their own reasons. If I had to choose 1 currently, i’d probably go with DoW.

Whether it be a game or not is not the question. There’s no argument that “Second Life” has taken up much of your time. What is it and what do you enjoy about it?

It’s a virtual community simulator where whatever you do is up to you. If you want to be a superhero, put on a cape and go for a fly. If you want to be a storm trooper, pick up an e-11 and get the next shuttle to triple zero. If you want to be Godzilla….go for it, I guess >_>, tho from personal experience (and disappointment), going to a Tokyo style city in a life size Godzilla suit doesn’t result in mass hysteria :( .

Personally, I like the content creation. Previous projects of mine have been Star Wars and Fallout items (costumes/vehicles/weapons etc). I’m currently running my Dawn of War buzz by running around as a full sized space marine \o/.

Spawn, Batman, Daredevil, Angel…who is your favorite comic character?

Marvel: Nova
DC was Ted Kord before thew hole you know what >_>.
Other: The Bunny from “Chronicles of Wormwood” \o/.

Even a bunny needs something to do on rainy days. What are some TV shows you occupy your rainy days with?

“CSI” and “Supernatural“.

Of course one can’t spend all day watching the tele. What are some books you would recommend to others to check out?

“The Orc Trilogy” by Stan Nichols, “The Quicksilver Trilogy” also by Stan Nichols, “The Scavenger Trilogy” by K. J. Parker, or “The Night Angel Trilogy” by Brent Weeks.

Music is a big part of the bunny’s life. What are some bands or groups you enjoy listening to?

A Perfect Circle: Counting Bodies like Sheep
Rammstein: Moskau
Apocalyptica: I’m not Jesus
Flobots: Handlebars

You recently announced that you got into a prestigious gaming program. What do you plan to do in the gaming field?

Anything, everything, lol.
Seriously, i’d like to get in as an environmental artist, but the ultimate goal obviously would be lead designer on a title. I don’t think i’d even care what title; it’s a dream, man. :P

And finally, if you had more time in the day, what is one hobby you’d pick up or spend more time on?

If there was more time in the day, I’d spend more time running. To put flat the reason, I spend so much time with my pc. I suffer from a condition called “spastic diplegia”, which is like a very mild form of cerebral palsy. Regular exercise helps me feel more able and will be a big aim of mine for the future raising my about to become very, very real family.

And that’s Syn for you. Aspiring game enviromental artist, “likes to learn”, and about to start raising his very, very real family. Although the Asylum is no longer up, you can find several of Syn’s meshes on this site. Hopefully more of his work will find its way to the public once again. Oh, and if you happen to visit the main hub of the community–FR–why don’t you go send off some well wishes to the person that provided us with several fun toys.