NA: Are you ready? And, by the way, is THAT your voice? :)
I'm ready if you are...
P: No that's not my voice (if you are referring to the one on my sites), and NO, I cannot give you the name of the program or text-to-speach engine neither, cause it's the real voice of a friend of mine: Michel Orthier from Breakout4u.com, he's a professional voice-over guy, so that explains it all. After having replied the 'voice-issue' for the 500th time I hope people will finally get it :)

NA: Do you agree that the, on Flash scene, more and more talented people are chosing between becoming Flash animators and Flash programmers? Have you made that choice?
P: I have made a choice, I will always be a Flash animator, cause my roots are in the graphical, not in the programming world. I'm not saying that I won't program, I'm still trying to catch up with ActionScript, but I think you have to do & specialize yourselve more in what you're good at, and for me, that's design (vector AND bitmap).

NA: How do you feel about the new, very programmer-oriented, release of Flash?
P: It's not only programmer-oriented, I especially like the optimization of the workflow a lot. But you are right that the Macromedia engineers spend maybe to much effort on the programming part (actionscript) rather then on new animation techniques... I mean, take a look at Illustrator/Freehand/CorelDraw and how easy it is to add perpective, twirl etc effects to a vector grahic.
Think about the possibilities when you can add these kinds of effects with enhanced tweening options on the timeline in Flash and create killer motion effects with it.
Macromedia has the Freehand knowledge, so it should not be that hard to implement those features.

NA: Do you think that the web will be a way of expression or it's only a way of communication?
P: Both.... Designers will use it as a way of showing of their knowledge (expression), commercial designers will call it communication.... ;)

NA: Your graphic style has a distinct personality and is very recognizable: did you develop it before discovering Flash or is it a result of the medium you work with? What is your background?
P: I had that style before. I used to make CD-sleeves, posters, flyers & other print-artwork for big record companies, music artists (ie SASH & 2 UNLIMITED), trendy discotheques etc... I sense that most people kinda like this style, so that's why I specialized myself in it. Once you have a style, it makes your production flow easier of course, and you develop a kind of brand ID with it :). What most people don't know though, is that I can handle more styles than you think, but you will see the NRG touch on most of my designs, cause that's what clients are asking for. And I never deny a paying client, I do inform then though about other design possibilities. What I really hate are the newbie designers or people who think they now better by saying that all my work is exaclty the same, because of some style simmilarities. But a simple reply that every Fiat car (or whatever car brand) has the same looks on all their different car types...

NA: A lot of your work is linked to the music industry, and indeed the great integration of sound in your animations is one of your most distinctive traits. How important is the audio part in your projects? How do you come up with the sounds and music you use? What came first: your choice of 'techno' musical background for yur production or working for customers in the 'techno' scene?
P: Like I mentioned before, I worked a lot for clients in the music & entertaiment industry before (print artwork), and I used to be a DJ, so I can feel immediatly when something works or not... That's where my musical knowledge comes from... The audio part therefor is very important to me, and it makes websites a bit more catchy :)

NA: Here at .netArt we are very sensitive to the standards issue. How do you feel about this? Don't you think that the diffusion of the Flash technology, based on a plug-in, will be on the long run harmful to the struggle for standards on the web?
P: I'm very sensitive to the standard issues too, but everything is related to the client and the type of visitors they are after. And it's still my duty to inform new clients and site visitors about the possibilities when they install the latest Flash plugin... People who don't want to upgrade are just harming theirselves ;)

NA: After Boo's extremely discussed failure it seemed that clients would steer away from Shocked sites, at least in the commerce area, not that it was only Flash nor graphics' fault. What do you think about it?
P: Commerce = mass audience. And since the mass adience do not have all the latest gear installed, I think it's a wise decision to keep away from all the newest plugin goodies, or at least make a stripped down HTML alternative. Again, it depends from business to business, and from your target audience.

NA: Copyright infringement is so easy on the web: do you think that the possibility Flash gives to protect one's work will make it more and more attractive for developers?
P: Flash protects someone's work? That's something new ;) Everything that's diplayed on a screen or transmitted via speakers can be captured, so graphics & sound are never protected in a way that people cannot grab them. The programming issue is harder of course (actionscript), but I've seen some tools that can even hack ActionScript out of your so-called protected swf files.

I've been the victim of another kind of crime: nrg.be look-a-like sites (some call it ripoffs). Guys who try to immitade the look and feel of my logo and graphics, and who are trying to make money with it. I even had a guy and his portfolio contained ldg.be, breakout4u.com and other work of mine. That also copyright infrigment to me. A spicy letter from a lawyer most of the time solves this 'problem', but won't prevend them of getting clients by showing of my work and telling that it's theirs.

NA: A bird told us about a new flash resource called UltraShock. Some anticipation? Release date? Contents?
P: Ultrashock.com is a project that I'm doing together with Miko Patrick (eliteIT.com), a good friend of mine. The reason why it's still in development, and while I won't give a release date, is just because we're doing that site in our free-time (which we always have to search for, hehe). Contents: expect a killer board with cool moderators, unseen fla's, tutorials, news and more. Part of the site will be in flash, another part in html.

NA: Tell us a secret about your forthcoming nrg.be ;)
P: More interactivity, tweening FX, killer intro, etc.... But I still didn't got the time to optimize it, so it can take some time before it goes online.

NA: Is there anything you would like to add for the Italian developers' community?
P: Specialize yourself, don't immitate ;)