SGI Office Blitz: Stoycho Iliev

What is the most enjoyable process of your job? S: The most enjoyable process is starting any project when it's still fresh. Basically, that's when the ideas come pouring in from everywhere. And there really is a creative process going on between us.

What's the most interesting project for you? S: The visuals unit itself, which I run, is the most interesting project I do and have been trying to develop for the last 3-4 years now. I can't single out any particular project, they are all interesting in their own right. So that's what's really interesting, the development of the department itself, of what we do. And that's my biggest pride in SGI.

What's the biggest challenge in your job? S: The challenge was probably Garitage Park, because it's a very big project. We had to do a large number of shots. We were doing animation that was quite complex - 3D, 2D. We had to combine everything. And the deadlines were again very tight. It was literally all down to the last minute. And that was probably the most challenging project we've done so far.

The most valuable lesson at SGI? S: The most valuable lesson for sure is that nothing final is final and always the last is the penultimate. That's something we've learned in our work. And the other thing, also important, is that maybe one has to put one's team first in order to build that kind of relationship between people. You know you can rely on your people and maybe that's something I've learned in the last few years, how to do that and how to maintain the level of work because of that thing.

What remains unseen in the visuals? S: In visualizations, the work behind them remains invisible. That the client, generally, doesn't see. But sometimes there is really round-the-clock work behind the visualization. And actually the visualizations themselves are the product that is presented to the client.

How do you build the bridge between the architect's idea and the visualization? S: That's the most important thing - getting a sense from the architect of his idea and how to realize it. A little bit of imagination, a little bit of planning and things happen. But really, that's probably the hardest part - getting a feel for the architect himself, how he wants to show his building.

How do you feel when you see your project realised? S: First of all, I look at finished projects quite critically. I'm always looking for any mistakes and what more we could have done and why we didn't do it. Which happens because we didn't have enough time. Because there's a different type of visuals. Sometimes they're conceptual, where you don't insist so much on the realism of the visuals themselves. In other cases, especially when the visualization is used in front of a municipality and an institution, then you're already chasing a lot of realism - in terms of environment, landscaping, materials. Everything we do has to correspond to reality. And that's what we're required, accordingly, by the clients. But when it comes to concept, there's more freedom - the picture just has to be beautiful. It has to be something that will impress a client, an investor, or whomever it is intended for.