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BLENDER LIGHTING SECRETS
CREATE THIS EPIC IMAGE PAGE 42
Gleb Alexandrov teaches you to embrace hyperrealism
REALISTIC REDSHIFT SHADERS Quickly get to grips with the disruptive rendering tech
OCEAN ANIMATION IN HOUDINI
35 ESSENTIAL
INSIDE THE SEQUENCE GROUP
TECHNIQUES IN
SUBSTANCE PAINTER Master the texturing tool that’s changing the industry
MARVELOUS DESIGNER TIPS Integrate professional standard fabrics into your sci-fi renders
ISSUE 097
BUILD MECHS IN 3DS MAX Achieve new levels of intricacy in your robotic creations
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
The great advantage of Substance Painter 2 is the ability to paint and export all separate channels Pablo Muñoz Gómez uses Substance Painter alongside ZBrush Page 48
Create this stunning character
Page 42
Pablo Muñoz Gómez zbrushguides.com/work
Software ZBrush, Substance Painter, KeyShot, Photoshop
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his is such an exciting industry for many reasons, but one that has been abundantly clear to me recently is the speed at which things can change. This goes for everything – techniques, tools, trends… it’s tough to keep up sometimes. One area that is constantly shapeshifting is software, and this in turn can inform the direction your work goes in. Most artists have this great urge to be constantly trying new things and learning new things, and it’s that passion/curiosity hybrid that ensures the state of the art can only keep improving as time wears on.
Disclaimer
A younger tool that we’re extremely excited about is Substance Painter. It’s only been around for a couple of years, but in that time we’ve seen it adopted by some of the biggest game devs in the world (think Naughty Dog and Treyarch) and recent updates have brought Linux support, 8K textures and more, making the texturing tool even more viable in a VFX setting with every day that passes. What’s even more exciting than the tool itself is the way in which the 3D community has embraced it, and we’re seeing some amazing work out there at the moment. All of this naturally begs the question: are we looking at the future of texturing? Let me know.
The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit material to Imagine Publishing via post, email, social network or any other means, you automatically grant Imagine Publishing an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free license to use the material across its entire portfolio, in print, online and digital, and to deliver the material to existing and future clients, including but not limited to international licensees for reproduction in international, licensed editions of Imagine products. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Imagine Publishing nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for the loss or damage.
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This issue’s team of pro artists…
PABLO MUÑOZ GÓMEZ
MATTHIAS DEVELTERE
GLEB ALEXANDROV
GUSTAVO ÅHLÉN
RAINER DUDA
PAUL PEPERA
JAKE DENHAM
PAUL CHAMPION
ORESTIS BASTOUNIS
zbrushguides.com/work This is Pablo’s second cover in the last year, and it’s super easy to see why his stunning character design was chosen. Find out on p42 how to create amazing characters of your own. 3DArtist username pablander
facebook.com/gustavoahlenstudio It goes without saying that a huge amount of movies and games rely on realistic ocean simulations. On p68, Gustavo simulates a turbulent body of water in Houdini FX. 3DArtist username gustavoahlen
luxuryvisuals.com Jake spends his days making beautiful arch-vis scenes for high-end clients and needs a renderer he can trust. On p84, he takes Corona Renderer 1.4 for a spin around 3ds Max. 3DArtist username Jaked3d
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develterematthias.wordpress.com Our second blockbuster tutorial this month comes from MachineGames’s Matthias, who has joined the party to show off his approach to the pro mech design pipeline over on p50. 3DArtist username DevMatt
rd-innovations.de Redshift is one of the newer tools that we’re really hyped about at the moment, so we got Rainer to build some shaders in Redshift for 3ds Max. You’ll find his tutorial on p72. 3DArtist username Rainerd
linkedin.com/in/pchampion Paul’s taken a look at popVideo 3 from Reallusion this month, and has plumbed the VFX world for some news, too. On p90, you can find out all about the winners of The Rookies 2016. 3DArtist username Rocker
creativeshrimp.com Lighting is a crucial part of any workflow and can make or break your 3D project. In his tutorial on p58, Gleb highlights hyperreal techniques and teaches you to embrace exaggerated lighting. 3DArtist username Gleb Alexandrov
peperaart.com We’ve been fans of Paul’s work for a little while now, so it’s a pleasure to welcome him to the magazine this month. On p76 he shows you how to use Marvelous Designer in your hard-surface workflow. 3DArtist username Paul Pepera
twitter.com/mrbastounis Very occasionally, we decide to treat Orestis to a workstation so powerful that he doesn’t know what to do with it. This month, that workstation is the monstrous 28-core Boston Venom 2501-OP. 3DArtist username n/a
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What’s in the magazine and where
News, reviews & features 12 The Gallery
A hand-picked collection of incredible artwork to inspire you
22 35 Essential Substance Painter Techniques
Pro texture artists from around the world reveal everything you need to know about the exciting app
30 Inside The Sequence Group
Meet the artists driving the studio and discover what they look for in candidates
36 Two Worlds Collide: Behind the Scenes at Laika
Go behind the scenes on the studio's latest effort, Kubo And The Two Strings
66 Subscribe Today!
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With a Fill layer I can change any parameter on the fly and see it update immediately
80 Technique Focus: Portrait of Graham and Amanda Portrait master Ian Spriggs reveals his expert approach to composition
82 Review: Boston Venom 2501-OP
Find out what we thought of this 28-core rendering monster 22
84 Review: Corona Renderer 1.4
Peter Zoppi highlights how he gets amazing results with Substance Painter Page 26
Jake Denham takes the renderer for a spin and asks if it's worth switching apps
86 Review: CrazyTalk 8
We take a look at Reallusion's latest facial animation package
87 Review: popVideo 3
Paul Champion dives into the compositor
98 Technique Focus: Brooklyn NYC Loft Yarko Kushta talks realistic lighting
Experiment with lighting in Blender Boston Venom 2501-OP 8
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Create an ocean simulation in Houdini FX
Turn to page 66 for details
Inside The Sequence Group
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Two Worlds Collide: Behind the Scenes at Laika
The Pipeline 42 Step by step: Create a stunning fantasy character Re-create our phenomenal cover image and master characters with ZBrush and Substance Painter 2
50 Step by step: Master the art of mech design
It’s important that you feel comfortable while you design your model
Upgrade your robotic creations, plus develop exciting materials in KeyShot and texture in Substance
58 Step by step: Experiment with lighting in Blender Blender master Gleb Alexandrov embraces hyperrealism and has a play with photogrammetry
Matthias Develtere reveals his mech design philosophy Page 52
68 Pipeline techniques: Create an ocean simulation in Houdini FX Animate a turbulent ocean scene with the Ocean Waves shelf
72 Pipeline techniques: Master metallic shaders with Redshift 50
Create believable rusty shaders in the disruptive new renderer
76 Pipeline techniques: Integrate Marvelous Designer & 3ds Max Add fabric sections to your hard-surface modelling work
The Hub 90 Community news
The winners of The Rookies 2016 have been announced and the BFX Competition launches
92 Industry news
Katana 2.5 comes to Windows, V-Ray for MODO appears and Redshift levels up
Integrate Marvelous Designer & 3ds Max 76
Create a stunning fantasy character Visit the 3D Artist online shop at for back issues, books and merchandise
94 Project Focus: Tergo 42
Director and VFX artist Charles Willcocks reveals how he made his ambitious short film
96 Readers’ gallery
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After some Dutch landscapes, I tried something new and created a German 19th Century landscape. I was inspired by the artist Cornelis Springer, who was a traditional oil painter. With Germania I tried to make a transition of his work to a 3D environment Rob Tuytel, Germania, 2016
Rob Tuytel
thegoldenage3d.com The founder of Blenderpedia, Rob also provides an online 3D environment course on Udemy Software Blender
Work in progress…
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Jake Denham luxuryvisuals.com
I created this image of the BMW i7 as I was lucky enough to be given an early copy of the Corona A7 render engine. I wanted to try it out on something equally innovative at the time Jake Denham, BMW i7, 2014
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Jake teaches people to create emotion-evoking images through his website Software 3ds Max, Corona A7, Photoshop
Work in progress…
For a few months, I’ve been trying to spend more and more time on my personal works and I started to give shape to a first series of images called Flower Figures. For this first series, I used a combination of 3D scanning, 3D hand modelling and some procedural modelling in order to achieve theses complex-looking pieces
Jean-Michel Bihorel
behance.net/jmbihorel Jean-Michel has been working in CG for eight years across movies, commercials and more Software Maya, Houdini, Redshift
Work in progress…
Jean-Michel Bihorel, Flower Figures N°02, 2016
15
Mengxi Tang
artstation.com/artist/cicitang Mengxi describes himself as a guy who has always explored ways of becoming the best Software Maya, ZBrush , MARI, Arnold
Work in progress…
Barbering is one of the oldest Chinese professions, and in order to become a barber, one needs to practise as an apprentice for a period of time. So I thought that mingling a foreign apprentice with this authentic old Chinese skill would make an interesting piece of mix and match Mengxi Tang, Exotic Experience, 2016 16
Anton Osipkov bit.ly/29Q1Wc5
Anton is a freelance CG artist who began studying CG about a year ago Software 3ds Max, V-Ray, ZBrush, Photoshop
Work in progress…
This project was aimed at obtaining a new experience in the creation of fur in 3ds Max without the use of third-party plugins. Through trial and error, I have come to a result that you can see on my work Little Devil Anton Osipkov, Little Devil, 2016 17
In depth
18
Marco Beretta
facebook.com/BerettaM Marco is a hobbyist and started his passion for 3D only four years ago Software Blender, Cycles, GIMP
Work in progress…
This image was created for the Blender Italia Tree House contest. To create a winning image, I decided to give the project a fantasy atmosphere that would immediately capture the viewer with a sensation of dreaming in a peaceful world Marco Beretta, Tree House, 2016
19
In my opinion, Blender is a fantastic piece of open source software. For this project I have used Blender for all of the models as well as for the generation of the grass and leaves. For the final render I have utilised Cycles at 2,000 samples, and for some of the final effects I have also made use of GIMP Marco Beretta, Tree House, 2016
CLOUD CREATION
ABOVE With an internal Blender addon it’s possible to generate clouds. As this piece of work will not have any animations and because we also want to speed up the final render, I decided to create clouds with the use of alpha textures (PNG images) applied at different planes distributed inside the scene.
MODELLING
ABOVE For this project I used only Blender as I think that it is a very interesting piece of open source software. The first things that I started to model for the scene were the floating islands so as to set the camera view better as well as the intensity of the depth of field. For the tree, no addons or automatic tree generators were used in its creation, all it was was a simple cube that I had extruded in order to create the ideal spaces for modelling the house that has been built inside the tree. After that, I moved on to modelling the house and the other objects with simple planes that were extruded from inside the tree.
MATERIALS AND TEXTURES All materials have been created using the Cycles node editor. In particular, for clouds, grass and leaves, the materials used are a mix of transparent and translucent shaders to enable a better interaction with the ambient lights used for this scene. All of the textures that have been utilised for this render are of a seamless type and were applied in Blender after the unwrapping of the modelled mesh.
20
THE GA LLERY
GRASS AND LEAVES
LEFT For the grass and leaves I used the internal Blender Particle System. Separately I then also created a simple group of objects (grass, flowers and so on) and using the Particle System it’s possible to apply and repeat this set of objects on the desired surface.
21
35 ESSENTIAL SUBSTANCETECHNIQUES PAINTER TIPSIN SUBSTANCE PAINTER
CO NT RIB UT OR S HUGO CASTAÑO hugocastano.com Senior environment artist at Ubisoft Montreal
STEPHEN HAUER haueryou.com Art director at Camouflaj Game Studio VICTOR KAM morepolys.artstation.com Senior artist at Black Bird Interactive BEN KEELING artstation.com/artist/benkeeling Environment artist at Creative Assembly ERIC KIM artstation.com/artist/queensnote Freelance 3D artist
22
DEVGRU by Peter Zoppi
JASON MARK jempix.artstation.com Assistant art director (characters) at Ubisoft Montreal ADAM NORDGREN artstation.com/artist/ adamnordgren Freelance 3D artist LEO RIBEYROLLES artstation.com/artist/tontonkoutal CG cinematic artist at Blur Studio PATRICK WALSH pamelagame.com Lead 3D artist at NVYVE Studios PETER ZOPPI peterzoppi.com Senior character artist at Treyarch
ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES IN
SUBSTANCE PAINTER Upgrade your texturing using this game-changing tool with helpful hands-on tips from industry professionals
A
llegorithmic’s Substance Painter continues its rise and rise in the world of 3D painting with more studios and artists seeming to take on the tool for texturing. Substance Painter is already one of the mainstays in gaming texturing pipelines, particularly because of its approach to PBR painting, but it’s now also seeing a new rise in feature films, shorts, commercials and animation. With the community ever-growing, we gathered a group of Substance pros to give their latest tips and tricks on how to make the most out of Painter. Here you’ll find out more about shortcuts for masking, using smart materials, taking advantage of UDIMs and UVs as well as ways to improve your workflow. These top tricks and tips are from artists using Substance Painter in their daily roles at some of the biggest studios around the world including Ubisoft, Treyarch and Blur.
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35 ESSENTIAL SUBSTANCETECHNIQUES PAINTER TIPSIN SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Tractor by Adam Nordgren
01
A QUICK WAY TO MESH
Don’t have time to do a high-resolution mesh? You can always just stamp and hand draw the details into the height. As long as you export and reimport the new normal map and rebake, all of the other mesh information will be updated and this should enable the smart materials to work correctly. Victor Kam
02
OFF-BODY TEXTURES
Straps and tiling textures on characters should be created off the body. Inverted and overlapping UVs can create strange artifacts but this can be corrected by baking ambient occlusion outside of Painter. Jason Mark
03
MASK EDITOR IS YOUR FRIEND
A lot of smart masks are made using the mask editor and they enable you to define your own masks, input maps and blend together noises just like you would in Substance Designer. Use this to make your own details when you blend together more than one material. Ben Keeling
04
CONSISTENT STAMP SIZE
If you utilise a lot of stamps like I do and you also make use of a tablet, then you should
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08
SAVE YOUR OWN PRESETS
ensure that you turn off the pen pressure under Brush Size to get a consistent stamp size. Victor Kam
05
CORRECT WEIRD REFLECTIONS FROM EXPORTED MAPS
A few people have had trouble with reflections. Substance uses the GGX reflection shader – your renderer needs to use it too or your render will look different from what you see in the viewport. Adam Nordgren
06
CREATE EXTRA BUMP
If you are looking for an extra bump along the edges of your mesh for organic or sculptural assets, isolate the peaks from your curvature map with levels and place it into a fill layer in the height channel. Add an extra blur filter to smooth it out. Victor Kam
07
MAKE USE OF DESIGNER
When detailing big flat surfaces, making your own materials can give you a much higher level of quality than relying on materials that are included in the program. You can also make your own generator driven by maps like ambient occlusion to blend between materials dynamically. Ben Keeling
Saving smart materials, masks and generators enables reuse across multiple assets and can enable a new model to be textured in minutes. You can quickly build a library of materials to utilise across multiple projects. Ben Keeling
09
UTILISE CUSTOM SHADERS
Utilise custom shaders where possible to bridge the gap from the texturing package to the game engine. If you want the best results you need to have a custom shading solution for Designer and Painter that provides a close approximation of the final results. At Camouflaj we utilise Alloy for most of our shader needs. Stephen Hauer
10
MASK GENERATORS
Using mask generators is fun but sometimes it’s difficult to see what they are doing. Holding Alt while clicking on the mask will isolate it for you. Still having problems? You can always change the Fill layer to a bright red or pink while you fine-tune, then go back to the desired colour. Victor Kam
11
MASK WITH FILLS
This has to be the technique I use on every single texture I’ve created. Instead of creating a mask right away with a generator, I start with a Fill
The Jarl of Winter by Pablo Muñoz Gómez, textured in Substance Painter
SPEEDY SUBSTANCE PAINTER HAIR Need a quick way to create hair or stubble for a character? Patrick Walsh shows us how with the Stencil functionality
01
CREATE THIS EPIC IMAGE
Make the texture Create a tileable alpha texture based on the kind of hair you need. Then create a fill level for the hair, that way you can always change the values to suit whatever look you are going for. To start painting the hair onto the body add a black mask to this hair layer. Notice I have this hair fill layer inside another folder with a white mask. While I will paint the hair on with the fill layer, it is useful and less destructive to mask the hair out again by placing it in a masked folder.
PAGE 42
layer; plug a tileable texture with scratches, rust details and whatever else I want; add Levels on top so I can control the contrast of the layer; and on top of that I will add a generator. This way, instead of only having a ‘generator look’, my results will be more organic and feel less computer generated. Also, I use the new MG Mask Editor generator a lot; once you understand what each slide does and plug two different tiling textures, the results are incredible! Hugo Castaño
12
CREATE A LIBRARY SET
Out of the box, Painter provides a lot of great built-in materials. However, at Camouflaj we find this to be limiting and have taken steps to build all of our library materials in Designer then export them to Painter. This gives us 100 per cent control over our asset creations and ensures content will be authored consistently in-house.
02
Plug the hair in Ready to paint?
03
Observe references It’s useful to
Just plug your hair alpha into the Stencil slot in the Properties – Paint tab. Then it’s just a matter of rotating and scaling the stencil in the viewport while painting in order to accurately re-create the way hair grows.
Previously this was an issue because many artists would be generating content in isolation, resulting in bugs later on. Stephen Hauer
13
SCANNED TEXTURES
Let your materials do their job, ie PBR material shouldn’t be overtweaked. It can quickly derail and no longer be PBR. Dirt, grease and roughness can be added with layers with generators and filters to give it depth and variety. Jason Mark
use real-world reference for this process. While not all hair grows in exactly the same way, there is a general pattern of growth as well as environmental factors that change how hair sits and is positioned that will lend more realism to how your hair looks.
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35 ESSENTIAL SUBSTANCETECHNIQUES PAINTER TIPSIN SUBSTANCE PAINTER
14
TWEAK MAP CHANNELS
Make sure to cycle though your different map channels to ensure the results are as expected. Substance makes it very easy with designated hotkeys. A nice level of contrast can be achieved between different objects and materials with more than just colour contrast. Spec, metallicity and roughness also play a huge role in achieving the desired effect. Jason Mark
The Soldier by Leo Ribeyrolles M41A Pulse Rifle by Victor Kam
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15
ORGANISE MULTIPLE IDS
Set up proper naming conventions when using multiple IDs. This allows for easier reuse of the stacks/layers on other characters with similar assets (ie factions, teams and CTU operators that have the same/similar equipment). Jason Mark
16
DETAILING IN PAINTER
Work out what details you can add in the normal map in Painter, sometimes it's quicker to add small details such as screws and bolts in the Painter file than to model them in a 3D package. Ben Keeling
17
CREATE DECALS/LOGOS IN PHOTOSHOP USING UVS
Instead of projecting and trying to get the best position for decals, logos and any other text, I would create a texture using the UVs and Photoshop so I can place the images where I really want them, import the image back into Substance Painter and voilà, with this same texture you can play with the height and make it look like a sticker or a panel. Hugo Castaño
18
FILL LAYERS
It is a slight change in mindset and workflow, but I rely almost exclusively on Fill layers with masking for my texture workflow. It enables flexibility and quick iteration. With a Fill layer I can change any parameter on the fly and see it update immediately. Peter Zoppi
Close up of Mech Diorama by Ben Keeling
19
SMART GRUNGE MATERIALS AND SHELF CREATION
Create a few different grunge materials with smart masks on them and you will be able to stash them in your shelf for super quick weathering in future projects. Don't forget to upload them to Substance Share so that the rest of us can enjoy using them too! Adam Nordgren
20
ORGANISE A UV LAYOUT BY MATERIAL TYPE
When creating my UV layout I try to break up the various parts of the character based on material type so when I get into Painter I can quickly and easily texture large parts of the character at once. As an example, all leathers would have their own texture set, so understandably all plastics would have their own texture set too. Peter Zoppi
21
STACKING PRESETS
To really add detail to your materials and models, layer up effects and mask generators with different blending effects to add unique details and avoid it looking too procedural. Remember
that a lot of materials are substances too, which helps to add variety by tweaking preset values within the material. Ben Keeling
22
DON'T NEGLECT THE GLOSS CHANNEL!
With PBR workflows, one of the most important attributes for creating a believable surface is the gloss channel. To do this, get the gloss slider to a correct value for the surface type you're trying to create. For example, a rubber tyre would be fairly dull, whereas a new plastic bottle would have a tight highlight. Once you get that base value correct, create another Fill layer directly above it using only the gloss channel and fill that with an appropriate procedural to start to add some variation to the surface. Now play with the blend mode of this layer to mix it with the underlying base value. I most often use Multiply, Overlay or Screen depending on the effect I want to achieve. Your gloss map is all about the correct base value with appropriate variation and breakup. Peter Zoppi
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WORKING WITH A UDIM WORKFLOW AND UVS
If you have ever worked with a complex asset then you are probably used to moving your UVs outside the 0 to 1 range for clarity and to help define individual texture sets. This fundamentally is already you establishing a UDIM workflow. Up until recently this was not a supported workflow for Painter and required the artist to normalise the unique texture set before baking. You'll be able to increase your productivity by using this new Painter technique. Stephen Hauer
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ACCURATE LIGHTING WITH PBR VALIDATION LAYERS
Heat maps are the easiest way to ensure your PBR
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USE PAINTER FOR ARCHITECTURE
I do lots of architectural visualisation and often become limited if I create my materials in a specific render engine. Therefore I use Substance Painter to get a single PBR texture map exported for the entire project. It's a perfect solution if you want to use, for example, Marmoset Viewer to show off a rotatable 3D model or send just a 3D file and a few textures to the client. Also, Substance Painter does a fantastic job at creating all of the different materials a building can have. You will get some low-resolution maps if everything is packed into just one texture map, but for a simple presentation it works. Adam Nordgren
The Journey by Eric Kim
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35 SUBSTANCE PAINTER TIPS
Character concept by Eve Ventrue. 3D modelling and texturing by Eric Kim
Lox, a personal project by Jason Mark
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MAKE YOUR OWN ‘SMART MATERIAL LIBRARY’
content is within the 'correct' range to be considered physically accurate. This workflow looks at your albedo lightness intensity in relation to its metallic properties. This is an important method to keep in mind because once you establish lighting, if your albedos are too bright given the asset's metallic or non-metallic nature it can cause your content to look wrong and to light inconsistently. Stephen Hauer
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SAVE TIME AND GET EFFICIENT WITH SMART MATERIALS
A huge time saver on my workflow is the ability to create my own smart materials. If I have a character that has a lot of similar materials and surface types, then I'll spend some time experimenting and creating a material that I can use over and over. I create the smart material with the mindset that it won't be 100 per cent complete, but rather 70 to 80 per cent complete. This then enables me to very quickly get a nice material on the surface and from there I can add
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additional custom detail and polish work. Peter Zoppi
27
To make your texturing workflow faster, you should set up the smart material library by yourself. If previous projects have clean layers and folder, you can easily make the library. I recommend that you rename the folder’s name before you create the smart material. Now right-click the layers folder in which you want to create smart material. Now you can see that the smart materials you have just made will now have appeared in the smart material shelf. Eric Kim
SEAMLESS TEXTURES
Something I find myself doing quite a lot is making tileable seamless textures directly in Substance Painter, I don’t think anyone realises how easy it is to create within the software as it can be done in minutes. All you have to do is create a plane in your 3D modelling software of choice and use an array modifier to make it tile 3 x 3 or 6 x 6, unwrap and send off to Painter. You can then use the usual tools to simply either paint the tileable texture or make some neat patterns with some of the procedural tools. Since the mesh is already tiled you get a perfect preview of the end result. The exported maps work like a charm for architectural or other large scene renders. Adam Nordgren
29
START SIMPLE
Try to make your shader very simple and test it in V-Ray to see how it reacts to light, and then when you’re happy with your simple shader you can go for the complex details to add more life to your materials (scratches, rust, dust, oxidation and damage). For example, think about a big V-Ray Blend editor, you can have one shader and a couple of maps at the end – it’s way lighter and faster to render than a heavy V-Ray blend with plenty of maps. Leo Ribeyrolles
33
BRUSH CAMERA ALIGNMENT
The obvious method to paint something like blood or dirt spatter is to use some kind of spatter brush to paint a spatter shape onto the surface. There is another quick method, however, and that is to change your brush alignment to Camera under the Properties – Paint tab and then paint on the surface while looking at the object in the direction the spatter would be coming from. Patrick Walsh
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MAKING THE MOST OF MASKS
30
WATCH OUT FOR BUMP
Watch the bump in Substance Painter. Height/normals are pretty strong so try to find a good value between V-Ray and Substance that will come with a simple shader to understand what the modifications you add bring to a raytracer/path tracer render system faster. Leo Ribeyrolles
31
NESTED GROUPS
The nested groups trick will give me much more variation when it comes to my end result. I
like having a more natural feel on my masks, so instead of controlling and playing with only one mask with a Generator and with Fill layers, I will create a group. I will then insert my layer where I was working on it before, create a new mask with the same techniques and, finally, I will create a new group of my last group. With this method I will be able to play around with all of the different tiling textures and generators that are on each level. Hugo Castaño
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MAKE USE OF A SMART MATERIAL AS A BASE
I utilise smart materials to create a good starting base. From this, I am then able to edit the parameters of the smart material, which creates a good base for a material; sometimes a brass material can end up becoming a dirty rubber material in the end by just tweaking some of the values and parameters. Ben Keeling
When using Painter to author textures for rendered work, I right-click on any mask and export it to disk. For example, I can use a mask from Painter on a V-Ray Blend material to blend a paint shader and an aluminium shader to create an effect where the paint has been worn away to reveal a bare metal underneath. Peter Zoppi
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USING SUBSTANCE MATERIAL IN MARMOSET TOOLBAG
When you first open up the Marmoset Toolbag, you can only see Quixel’s material presets in the materials presets tab. I hear a lot of people who complain about it say, “Why doesn’t Marmoset Toolbag have Substance Painter’s materials, as opposed to having Quixel’s materials?” Don’t be disappointed by this initial thought though. You can actually import Substance materials into Marmoset Toolbag and, surprisingly, many people do not know this function. It’s pretty easy to export Substance materials – just follow these steps. First, right-click on the material that you want to export. Click ‘Export resource…’ and choose the export directory. Now you're done. You'll now find **.sbsar with a subfolder so just import it into Marmoset Toolbag. Eric Kim
29
INSIDE THE SEQUENCE GROUP
INSIDE THE
30
SEQU GROUP
ENCE
A work-life balance is key to Sequence’s mantra – “People are drawn to that,” says Sioui
The Sequence Group is blooming. The secret? A strong artistic core and the ability to straddle film, games and real estate
T
he Sequence Group was founded ten years ago in Vancouver by creative director Ian Kirby. Like so many artistic endeavours, it started life in a basement. Kirby explains that they were working on “one of the first motion comics, called Broken Saints, in my parents’ basement 15 years ago, living off of dollar noodles and raising money with concerts to pay for internet bandwidth.” But quickly this “opened some doors to LA and various clients that were looking to
create backstory for films like I Am Legend, Inception and Prince Of Persia in a cool style.” Immediately, the trajectory of the company had opened up, with Sequence working on high-level IP, expanding stories beyond the bracket of the feature film or the game, and becoming known for a “focus on broadcast design and motion comics.” The Sequence Group now has a team of 15 people, but it can grow to up to 40 for the bigger projects. “It’s amazing the range of work such a
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INSIDE THE SEQUENCE GROUP
Concept art and pre-production is a fundamental part of The Sequence Group’s skill set
SEQUENCE ASSEMBLED How The Sequence Group mastered all of the CG for a game trailer in just six weeks LA trailer house Ant Farm asked The Sequence Group to produce all the CG for the 30-second spot advertising Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 Civil War. “We worked with Ant Farm previously on our Star Wars: Commander project,” says executive producer Dan Sioui, “and we were very comfortable collaborating with the creative and production teams. In the end, Sequence ended up storyboarding the piece, which is always beneficial… Pre-production is such a key part of the process and something Sequence excels at given our extensive history in concept art, editorial and motion comics.” Challenges included “up-resing six character assets from game models,” and producing “a complete New York city environment in a very tight timeline: six weeks from concept to final delivery.” The trailer needed to be seen during the showing of the film it springs from (Captain America: Civil War), “so we needed to ensure our characters looked top notch!” Sioui believes that the trailer is “one of the best things Sequence has produced visually. The assets, lighting, comp and FX came together to create something exciting and memorable – and all in 30 seconds or less!”
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A vast amount of Sequence’s 3D work “has nods to our painterly background,” says Kirby
Sequence is made up of 15 key creatives, with Kirby and Sioui overseeing some projects
Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 Civil War was the second time that Sequence had teamed up with Ant Farm
Pre-rendered 3D was used with captured footage to convey Bound’s delicate ballerina movements
small number of people can create,” says Kirby. For executive producer Dan Sioui, the appeal of the company is simple: “It’s a hard working small studio working on world class IP. A 15-person shop that has produced a Halo movie, NHL hockey ice projections, Marvel, DC and Star Wars gigs? Yes please!” Originally Sioui was only brought in on contract to help produce a Jonah Hex long-form motion comic, but he never left. “It was much different than my experience producing Ed, Edd n Eddy for the Cartoon Network, in that the crew was smaller and all animation was done in-house.” Sequence’s “beautiful open concept studio in the Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver” was a big part of the appeal too. The company certainly needs more space and talent though, as demand for its services is growing. “The company has evolved immensely over the years,” says Kirby. “It still feels like a tight-knit family but the calibre of our work and clients have grown. We still do motion comics but we’ve stepped up with higher end 3D, visual effects and broadcast design. As our work has developed, so has our process and pipeline. Projects that would have seemed unattainable a few years ago, we’re now completely confident in. Coming from a Halo feature with over 1,000 shots in six months makes a 30-second CG Star Wars mobile game trailer in four weeks completely achievable.” Sequence’s background in motion comics has stood it in good stead. Kirby explains that Sequence “specialises in narrative expansions of existing or new IP, animation or live action. This can lead us to backstories for videogames [like]
With our roots in design and animation we have a strong foundation in visual aesthetics Ian Kirby, founder
the origin story of Master Chief for Halo or marketing trailers for games such as Star Wars: Commander or Marvel Avengers Alliance 2 Civil War.” Sequence has also worked on “large-scale live-action shoots, always with a fun twist, like motion-control cranes with green screen or the first union digital shoot with Warner Bros in British Columbia. We love a challenge – we want each project to feel new and like something we need to reach a little for.” Although Sequence works in a variety of industries (videogames, film and property development) and does a variety of different types of work (animation, VFX and design) there is an approach and a type of look that unites it all. “With our roots in design and animation we have a strong foundation in visual aesthetics and you can see that our animation is quite ‘designed’,” says Kirby, “It’s something we’re really proud of. Even if it’s a simplistic approach we’re taking, we make sure that it still looks beautiful. “With all the photoreal animation out there I think it’s important that we find something unique
in each style we produce for each client. This keeps things interesting as well.” This still holds when the company is working on property projects, as it has recently for Concord Pacific and its Vancouver development, The Arc. Sioui explains that Sequence “approaches real estate work the same as any other narrative project: with great storytelling and a high-end visual aesthetic. We are fortunate in that Sequence has a small but nimble generalist team that is able to perform a huge variety of projects and tasks in-house. The real estate industry has presented new challenges that give us the chance to think differently and work with clients living outside a design, animation or VFX background. Sequence is always looking for new approaches to content creation and reaching people, and this is just another unique avenue for us to explore.” As the company has grown, it has developed a pipeline that can match the needs of its varied work. Essentially, it’s Maya and V-Ray for 3D, After Effects and C4D for motion design, and NUKE and After Effects for compositing. Sioui adds: “As an executive producer I don’t get to use all of the fun creative programs the artists do, but Office remains key and Shotgun has become an integral part of Sequence production for tracking projects, individual tasks and internal resourcing.” Both Sioui and Kirby are pleased with the vibe of the studio too. Sioui describes it as being “a very casual, family-type atmosphere.” He says that everyone at Sequence takes the work “very seriously but not at the expense of peoples’ well-being. Friday afternoons involve nachos and
33
The open-concept Vancouver office is something that Sequence Melbourne will seek to reproduce
Netflix “felt great – especially considering that we beer. There is also a strong bicycle culture which I were working within a limitation of five months to like. We play music throughout the studio which I pull it all off!” says Kirby. For Sioui, the joy was love! So many shops these days have people having the “opportunity to tell a longer story and sitting in the dark at cubicles with their directly participate in the Halo canon. The Bound headphones on. This is an artistic industry. Why not interact and surround ourselves with a creative teaser trailer for Santa Monica Studio was also something I personally responded to artistically: I space filled with art and music that inspires us? love the fluid movement and vibrant colours.” The office itself has a few comfortable sitting Some of the other Sequence highlights for Kirby areas to meet and brainstorm creative [ideas], include: “Getting the opportunity to supervise which is nice, and a garage door that opens to a VFX in Chile for the Warner Bros [digital] series private courtyard with ocean and mountain views. H+ and Stonehenge Uncovered in England and We skateboard inside as well!” Austria was an absolute blast. This last week we But skateboarding doesn’t get in the way of creating great work, or developing the company, as were up in a helicopter doing a Cineflex shoot over Vancouver, flying low all over the city. A job Sioui notes: “Sequence now has a 4K theatre, a that can get you access to new experiences every mocap stage and an Australian office. Did I mention the kegerator? Not bad for an indie studio day is the best job that I can imagine.” And with Melbourne of misfits!” It was April just getting up and 2016 that Sequence set running, there are up shop in Melbourne, clearly even bigger too. This was for things in Sequence’s various reasons, future. Kirby’s plan is to including being able to grow the Australian access the Australian office to 15 people and and Asian markets, to “extend the fun but, explains Kirby, the Dan Sioui, atmosphere we have “idea came from the executive producer here in Vancouver to fact our creative Melbourne, while director, Luke Bicevskis, pushing each studio to was moving back home produce better work. Ideally we could share talent to Melbourne and he was too good to lose! There are some great advantages to having a studio with back and forth with an ‘exchange programme’. That way, employees could get the opportunity to multiple time zones – we’re 24 hours – and we enjoy the culture and style of each city.” have access to an entirely new region of work and “I feel like each year we’re challenging ourselves talent. It sounded like a good challenge and worth to sharpen our craft,” Kirby adds. “It’s great to look a shot – you’ll never know if you don’t try!” back and see your work grow as sometimes you The plan is to grow Melbourne “slow and can be too close to it. Currently we’re working on a steady, just as we did it in Vancouver,” says Kirby. CG claymation spot which we’re excited to share “We’ve been reaching out to Melbourne to help as it will open doors to some additional advertising support Vancouver, but that’s starting to change work. We’ve done a large amount of videogame with Vancouver assisting Melbourne on some work, so we’re hoping to switch it up a little with jobs.” Because wherever the big projects are more short form projects.” Whatever comes based, there’s no denying that The Sequence along, Sequence has a simple ethos for tackling it. Group is beginning to take on bigger jobs. Both Kirby and Sioui mention the recent Halo: The Fall Of As Sioui puts it, the studio is committed to “doing great work and challenging ourselves daily.” Reach as a major highlight and putting it out on
This is an artistic industry. Why not interact and surround ourselves with a creative space filled with art and music that inspires us?
34
5 1 2 3 4 5
WAYS TO LAND A JOB AT SEQUENCE
“Be a self-producer/problemsolver. Everything that we do at Sequence is related to solving problems. Creative studios are no different.”
“A focus on craft (animation/ design/3D), but still someone generalist enough to help approach problems from different angles.”
“A willingness to self-teach – a degree of being self-taught shows that candidates are quick learners and can apply that to new software and projects.”
“The people that we work with have tonnes and tonnes of talent, but at the same time they aren’t burdened with having bags of ego. Egos are stupid.”
“Communication skills. Whether this is communicating with clients or communicating amongst ourselves within the team – it’s all crucial.”
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TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
Monkey and Kubo were beneficiaries of a brand-new colour 3D printing process at animation studio Laika
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Two worlds
collide behind the scenes at Laika
Advancements in rapid prototyping, 3D colour printing, puppet design and visual effects were crucial in making Laika’s newest film, Kubo And The Two Strings
L
aika, the studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls, is already a household name in stop-motion animation. But with each new release, Laika, which is based in Portland, Oregon, has continued to innovate in 3D printing, rapid prototyping and the use of seamless 3D and visual effects in bringing its animated feature films to life. Laika’s latest animated feature is Kubo And The Two Strings, directed by the studio’s president and CEO, Travis Knight, who led a team of artists to up the ante. This time around, the studio made further leaps in advancing the art of 3D colour printing, employing larger and more complex stop-motion puppets and using 3D and visual effects for ever more complicated worlds and characters in its storytelling.
– that’s really unlike anywhere or anything else in the industry,” the director says. “But our goal today really is the same as when we started out ten years ago, which is to make movies that matter; to craft meaningful films that are bold, distinctive and enduring, and to do so in a way that revolutionises animated film-making.” However, it wasn’t always easy to create revolutions in stop-motion. In fact, Knight himself admits that before Coraline was released, stop-motion was a “dying art form”. It took time (read: money) to make characters and sets and then to animate them. Plus, stop-motion had limitations both in the scope and in getting the most out of character performances. But with Coraline and the films that followed it, Laika found ways to make the process both more efficient and more spectacular.
One way was through rapid prototyping. Laika would actually build 3D models of its characters and use those models to carry out facial animation. Each of the expressions made in the computer are then replicated in 3D-printed face parts. The studio uses a replacement animation technique where the pre-fabricated face and other pieces are replaced frame by frame, with high precision and repeatability. It’s important, though, to note the approach still employs the unique skills of Laika artists in sanding, spray coating, magnetising and hand-painting characters before they can be animated on a soundstage. The inventive use of rapid prototyping was so innovative that it earned Laika’s Brian McLean and Martin Meunier a Scientific And Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in February 2016.
On a journey to find a magical suit of armour, Kubo and Monkey encounter Beetle, a master archer
Kubo and the story of Laika Kubo And The Two Strings is set in ancient Japan and tells the story of a young boy called Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson) who must find a magical suit of armour that belonged to his father. Telling a samurai tale was well-suited to Laika’s production methodology, according to Knight: “The fact that we blend the physical and the digital, that we fuse craft and art and technology
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TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
taking rapid prototyping further On Coraline, Laika relied on a 3D printer from Stratasys to make 3D puppet pieces. The printer produced neutral plastic pieces, which meant everything still had to be hand-painted. For its next films, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls, Laika sought out a colour printing solution. Instead of plastic, the resulting prints were made from resin powder. This provided less accuracy and repeatability, although the studio was able – through continued hand craftsmanship – to produce a myriad of character faces. By the time Kubo came around, Laika’s confidence in rapid prototyping and 3D printing had increased so much that there was no holding back with character designs. In particular, when McLean saw the designs of some of the key characters such as Monkey (voiced by Charlize Theron) who has fine hair; Beetle (Matthew McConaughey), who has a sharp edged-face; and the Moon Beast, a complicated sea creature-like monster, the head of rapid prototype looked for yet another 3D printing approach. Stratasys developed a new three-colour printer that printed in plastic and Laika took delivery of what was a machine still in beta. “Immediately,” recalls McLean, “I started getting very excited because all those benefits of printing in plastic were rushing back through my mind thinking we could have colour consistency, we could have fine feature detail, we could have repeatability.” Realising the new printer’s capabilities could be taken even further, Laika partnered with Stratasys on the 3D software side. This gave the studio the ability to add gradients to the colour printing and other effects for those three characters – Monkey, Beetle and the Moon Beast. Even with only three colours at their disposal, “we could take Monkey and get a wonderful sculptural detail but have it still look the way the director wanted,” notes McLean. “And that’s the amazing thing about looking at Monkey, you’d never guess that she consists of only cyan, magenta and white.” The Moon Beast was also a great beneficiary of Laika’s new 3D printing approach. It was the studio’s first fully 3D printed character ever, made up of over 881 individual parts, 130 of which are colour 3D printed and 751 being a combination of metal body and leg armatures components as well as internal dressing pieces. One of Laika’s artists even hacked the printer’s capabilities to add some translucency into the final Moon Beast design. “Even though these machines weren’t able to do clear at the time, we tricked them into thinking they could do clear printing,”
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Looking at Monkey, you’d never guess that she consists of only three raw colours
Model maker Molly Light working inside the ‘Garden of Eyes’ set
A forest set is attended to by production designer Nelson Lowry
KUBO BY THE NUMBERS
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23,187
48 KUBO FACES PRINTED
MILLION
POSSIBLE KUBO FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
4,429
WEEKS PRODUCTION TIME
133,096
FRAMES OF ANIMATION IN THE FINISHED FILM
11,007 UNIQUE KUBO MOUTH EXPRESSIONS
1,149,015 ESTIMATED HOURS OF WORK BY LAIKA
3.31 1,359 UNIQUE KUBO BROW EXPRESSIONS
FINAL SHOTS IN THE FILM
SECONDS OF FOOTAGE AVERAGE LAIKA ANIMATOR COMPLETES PER WEEK (THAT’S 15.9 FRAMES PER DAY)
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TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
MAKING MONKEY To create Monkey’s facial expressions a replacement animation technique was used
1 Monkey’s facial expressions are modelled. Each facial expression will be a 3D-printed face.
2 The 3D colour printer prints around 20 face sections at a time in plastic.
3 The faces are bisected, for example as an eyebrow and a lower face or mouth. By placing them on the puppet in different configurations, a host of expressions are possible.
4 A cleanup, sanding and painting effort by a trained Laika artist is still a critical step in making Monkey faces.
states McLean. “We put a clear resin into a coloured slot in the machine, and told the machine to print red, but really it printed clear. It gave the creature some wonderful qualities, including clear little windows that would allow for shimmer and glimmer as it swam through the moonlight.” combining traditional stop-motion with vfx Animation traditionalists might consider any digital augmentation to be against the spirit of stop-motion, but to Laika the use of computer graphics and visual effects now forms a key role in telling its stories. The use of visual effects in Kubo varied, from fully digital characters and environments, to compositing in layered stop-motion animation, to minor fix-its. All the while, notes Laika visual effects supervisor Steve Emerson, “we always make sure that we’re doing that work in a way that is honouring the craft of stop-motion animation.” An example of how Laika combines practical and digital can be seen in Kubo with the Hall of Bones sequence. Here, the characters encounter an enormous skeleton. At 400lbs and 16 feet from head to toe with a 23-foot wingspan, it was one of the largest stop-motion puppets ever created. But even then visual effects still had a place in extending the Hall of Bones puppet, which had been filmed against a green screen. Visual effects and 3D played a key role, too, in adding in environments and effects that could never be achieved with stop-motion. This included an ocean simulation, inspired by famous Japanese wood block print artist Hokusai’s The Great Wave. Although Laika could have engaged in an absolutely photorealistic depiction of water, Emerson notes that that approach would not have belonged in Kubo’s world. So, again looking to draw from the physical world, Laika shot some practical water tests on its stop-motion stages. “One test we did in particular,” outlines Emerson, “was to take an iron mesh grid, and then drape different types of materials over it, different Kubo and Beetle were 3D printed with multiple face pieces to enable replacement animation
5 The separate face pieces and eyeballs are interchangeable in the Monkey face. A final digital intervention step removes the seam line between the various parts and fuses the face back together.
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Laika CEO Travis Knight went back to his animation roots for a few Kubo shots
types of fabrics, reflective and non-reflective. Even [with] an almost garbage bag-type of material where it would cling to that grid we would get this really interesting kind of scoop patterning that everybody was really liking. So we had physical reference, we had some amazing artwork and then we got to work in visual effects. Ultimately we ended up with a system that combined fractal displacement with ocean simulations.” Another of the visual effects team’s roles on any Laika film is to do a range of ‘cosmetic’ work on the puppets and the final frames to deal with artifacts that come out of the 3D printing and stop-motion process. An entirely new development on Kubo, however, was some VFX augmentation directly related to character empathy. Laika’s character puppets have eyeballs with eyelids that are animatable. Due to the facial replacement process in animation, a small gap near the eyelid would be visible in the final frame. “Early on we just blended out that line to make it feel more human-like,” explains Emerson. “We bought ourselves about 1,500 more shots, but, it’s funny, most people to whom I mention the fact that we’d done this additional eyelid blending don’t even realise that we’ve done it. And so for me that means we were successful.”
CREATE A STUNNING FANTASY CHARACTER
Expert advice from industry professionals, taking you from concept to completion
All tutorial files can be downloaded from: filesilo.co.uk/3dartist
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PABLO MUÑOZ GÓMEZ The Jarl of Winter, 2016 Software ZBrush, Substance Painter, KeyShot, Photoshop
Learn how to
• Set up concept meshes • Deal with multiple SubTools • Detail human skin with alphas and custom brushes • Create stylised hair and fur using ZBrush • Optimise hair for KeyShot rendering • Create custom hair brushes • Sculpt fine details like eyelashes and eyebrows • Texture, render and produce the final illustration
Concept
The original sketches explored an image where the scenario had a bigger role to play, but the idea was refined to focus on a more direct interaction with the viewer and to emphasise the essence of the character through her eyes.
Create a stunning fantasy character
Learn to illustrate a 3D character model, stylise hair and fur, use Smart Materials in Substance and create custom brushes for detailing skin
T
hroughout the course of the next few pages, we are going to dissect the process of creating and setting up the 3D sculpture of our Jarl character in order to create a detailed illustration. We’ll begin with the creation of a 3D sketch that has been based on 2D concepts, as well as doing some paintovers to further explore the design options. The character is not going to have an extreme or dynamic pose and the overall facial expression will be rather neutral. But we still need to make the illustration interesting, so we’ll pay close attention to the eyes as our means to create a captivating image for the final render. Although we are going to work with ZBrush for large parts of the tutorial, textures are going to be created with Substance Painter 2. We’ll also use KeyShot for rendering and Photoshop for compositing and refinements. Additionally, we’ll also take a look at some tips which will help us to suggest context or a story behind the character, particularly when working with a closed composition where the main focus is the face of the subject.
01
Set up and 3D sketching Let’s assume that you have collected all of your references and have a clear idea of how your image should look. For this character, we already had concept art to help ignite the creative process. Starting from a generic female base mesh we can start appending various DynaMeshed spheres. To flesh out the volumes for the jacket and fur coat, we’ll use the Move tool while keeping the DynaMesh resolution very low. You can handle a great amount of details by having a SubTool for each key element. At this stage, the Dam_Standard brush is a great tool for defining cuts and intersections.
02
Sculpt the face and explore in 2D With the basic shapes in place, we can do a BPR render and open it in Photoshop. Using a hard brush with pressure, sketch out some shapes over the render. This process will help us determine (very quickly) whether or not an idea is worth pursuing and will save us some time when it comes to the sculpting stage. Once the design has been refined, we can begin to sculpt the face using the Standard Brush with a low Z intensity, the Move brush and the hPolish brush.
03
Increase resolution, details and alphas To
sculpt skin details, let’s increase the resolution in the DynaMesh SubTools and the subdivision level in the base mesh. Ensure the details are added gradually – only increase resolution or subdivide when more geometry is needed to describe smaller details. Using a plane in a separate tool, carve a few pores and generate an alpha (GrabDoc) to project high-frequency details into our model. we can create multiple alphas for areas of the skin with deeper pores or subtle bumps. Some areas need more attention and are important for adding asymmetry. The Dam_Standard brush is ideal for carving in wrinkles around the eye and use the Inflate brush for the lips. 02
01
03
YOUR
FREE
DOWNLOADS
from filesilo.co.uk/3dartist • ZBrush scene files • FiberMesh settings • Tutorial screenshots • Textures
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CREATE A STUNNING FANTASY CHARACTER
04
Create a brush for eyelashes We want to
05
Gravity and useful hotkeys
exaggerate the eyelashes for this character to accentuate the eyes a bit more. We need two things to build the eyelashes: the structural planes and the eyelashes brush. The structural planes are single-sided pieces of geometry (an extruded edge or a tweaked plane) that follows the contour of the eye and serves as a guide to lay down and edit the individual eyelashes. The eyelashes brush is a modified version of the Insert CurveTubes brush. From the Stroke palette under the Curve subpalette, turn on Snap as well as Lock Start. Also switch on Size under Curve modifiers.
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A simple trick to sculpt wrinkles and crevices is to add a bit of gravity to the stroke of the Dam_ Standard brush. You can also use the Inflate brush with low intensity to tighten up the wrinkles area. The Replay Last Stroke hotkey is also a great help when detailing. If you make a brush stroke that you like, but perhaps you think that it lacks a bit of depth, then you can just press the number 1 key on your keyboard to repeat the same stroke over the same place.
Work on eyebrows We can use the eyelashes
brush for the eyebrows as well, following the same idea of creating a structural plane (a simple extract from the forehead). Since we enabled Snap and Lock Start, when we draw a tube with a small size brush, ZBrush will prevent us from moving the origin point and the tubes will snap to the plane we created. This is a really fast way to create this sort of detail. Since the shape and flow of the hairs is determined primarily by the structural planes, we don’t have to spend time grooming and moving things around after.
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Replace placeholders and clean up Take each DynaMesh placeholder and refine the shapes. Make use of the ZRemesher feature to retopologise the shapes and optimise the polygon count. You can also utilise the ZRemesher guides to help you control the flow of the topology. In this case, and for most SubTools, we only need to keep the part of the mesh that will be visible in our illustration. So after getting a new topology, you can use the ZModeler to select and delete any polygons that you won’t be needing. With elements like the jacket, create a single polygroup for the resulting open mesh and use the ZModeler to extrude the polygroup outwards to create some thickness.
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Unwrap UV Now that we have new and clean topology, we are going to create UVs before subdividing and adding details. We’ll make use of the polygroups in our meshes to unwrap the polygons in separate islands. Open the UV Master and turn on the Polygroups switch – you can use ZModeler to assign new polygroups to segment the mesh in more parts. For the head, we already have details and subdivision levels. So we can use the Work on Clone option to unwrap the model and then copy and paste the new UVs into our detailed head mesh. 04
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Use the Flatten option in the UV Master and the transpose line to rearrange the parts and give more space to the front part of the eye
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Detail parts and clean up Use the Texture Palette to select an image and check the UV mapping for all your SubTools. If you are happy with the result you can start subdividing and detailing each part. Keep in mind that some areas will be covered by fur or hair so not all the details will be visible. For things like the jacket, we can sculpt the most prominent details like cuts or scratches, and add smaller details to the mesh using surface noise. We can also use Insert brushes to add parts like the buckles. At this point it is also a good idea to save as a separate file, clean up the tool and remove any remaining placeholders.
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Optimise UV space
To create a more optimised UV map for the head, you can control the unwrapping process with Polypaint by switching to Enable Control Painting. This will help ZBrush to determine where it should create the cuts. In this case, the hair will cover the head of the character, so we want to have more UV space (more texture space) for the face. You can paint with a green colour using the Density option in the UV Master plugin to better redistribute the polygons.
Create the eyes The eyes are a central part of this illustration so we are going to work on creating a separate ‘eye tool’ and then we will import it for our character. Create a 3D sphere now and click on Make PolyMesh 3D from the Tool palette. Assign two polygroups for the front and back, and then generate some UVs. Use the Flatten option in the UV Master plugin, and the transpose line to rearrange parts and give more space to the front part of the eye. Then subdivide the eye a few times, enable radial symmetry to sculpt the iris and keep changing the RadialCount value to add some randomness in the details.
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Work with the hair brush To optimise our model
for KeyShot rendering, we’ll take a different approach to build the hair and fur. Create a new tool using a polymesh plane with UVs and create an Insert brush. With the new brush selected, you should now enable Curve Mode under the Stroke palette, as well as for Size under curve modifiers. Select the head of our model, duplicate it, go to the lowest subdivision level and delete the higher one. Now we have another placeholder and we can start drawing curves with the Plane Brush we created. Also, use Lock Start from the curve palette to avoid moving the origin point.
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CREATE A STUNNING FANTASY CHARACTER
The Move and Move Topology brushes are incredibly handy for readjusting sections of the model after it has been posed
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Texture hair We already have UVs for the head. We also created the hair brush after creating the UVs for the plane, so simply add a tileable hair texture with alpha to our hair straps and they’ll start to look more like real hair. The benefits are that we have more control over shape and considerably fewer polygons to render. The downside is that it won’t look messy and random, which is something that makes it look more natural. To fix this, we’ll add more hair straps with a smaller brush to cover up areas were the polygons are evident. This will also create the effect of a greater volume of hair.
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Groom and style hair When creating the hair straps, you can select the tip of the curve and move it in a circular motion to twist the curve and add a bit more life to the hair. Use the Move tool to ‘groom’ the pieces of hair and you’ll be able create the hairstyle that you want. For additional hair details like the braids, create another Insert Curve brush to build the base. A very cool and easy way to test this type of brush with repetitive patterns is by utilising ArrayMesh to see the effect of the pattern.
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Pose the model By now we should have all of our SubTools with subdivision levels and details. Before adding additional FiberMesh we need to create the final pose for the model using Transpose Master from the Zplugin palette. Since we have a good range of polygroups in all parts of our model, we can quickly create selections and mask the model. Generally speaking, it is easier to use the transpose line to move or rotate parts of the model. You might find that the Move and Move Topology brushes are incredibly handy for readjusting sections of the model after it has been posed.
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Retouch the hair Once the model has been posed, it is a good idea to preview the composition and test all of the various camera angles in KeyShot. Now add in FiberMesh to some key areas of the hair to create better transitions for a more realistic-looking hair effect. Take the duplicate of the head that we used earlier to insert the hair straps, and segment it in various polygroups. Now click Preview in the FiberMesh subpalette and tweak the settings to your liking, but make sure that you leave Gravity set to 0 and at a relatively low number of fibres. Create the fibres and use the Groom brushes, with Masking By Polygroups set to 100, to shape and comb the fibres into place.
Frame polygroups border
Another great benefit of having the different parts of your model segmented in various polygroups is that you can quickly isolate them and use the Frame Border feature from the Curve Function subpalette. This will assign a curve following the contour of the specified polygroup, which you can then use to apply any curve brush you want. For example, you can do this with the thick-rounded edges of the jacket.
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Working with Smart Materials in Substance Painter
If you have a model with multiple meshes that share the same material, you can create Smart Materials within Substance Painter. You can work on the head, for instance, creating a base skin material. Once you are happy with the textures, group all your layers and create a Smart Material to reuse on the arms, body and so on.
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Create the fur Let’s move on to the fur coat. Select the relevant SubTool and mask the area where you want to grow fibres from. We are going to keep the polygon count very low and mimic the process we used for the hair, so aim for a single-side thick piece of hair. We’ll use a hair texture with an alpha again to create the appearance of a very dense fur coat. Make sure that you assign the texture to the fibres before making them into new SubTools so that they are created with UVs. Send the resulting fibres to KeyShot and test a few textures to see what looks best.
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Fine-tune the fur We can also assign a unique
polygroup to each fibre to use the Move tools with the Mask By Polygroup option. To do that, open the polygroup subpalette and click on Group By Normals. Since our fur fibres have very few polygons, once in KeyShot they might not look as smooth as they may look in a ZBrush BPR. We need to click on Convert BPR to GEO for a better result in KeyShot. If you want an additional level of detail, you can also create a FiberMesh pass by making use of the same texture or colour that was used in the fibres.
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Texture in Substance Painter To texture this character we’ll use Substance Painter 2. We need to export all SubTools (except the hair and fur) in their lowest subdivision level as well as the highest subdivision level. In Substance Painter, we just need to import the low-poly models and use the high-poly model to bake some maps to help us with the texturing process. The workflow is the same for all meshes. Start with a coloured layer as the base and then create new layers to progressively add more colour variations and details to the texture map.
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CREATE A STUNNING FANTASY CHARACTER
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Set up KeyShot Materials The great advantage of
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texturing in Substance Painter 2 is the ability of painting and exporting all separate channels/maps. Using KeyShot 6 Pro and the Material Graph we can set up our materials using the maps we created in Substance Painter. In ZBrush select the SubTool you want to set up a material for, and enable Solo mode. With only one SubTool visible, use the ZBrush-toKeyShot bridge to send only that SubTool to KeyShot. Assign a material and open the Material Graph. Import the various maps corresponding to the selected SubTool and connect them. You can concentrate on one material at a time and once you are happy with it save it to your library (including the maps you used), so when you send the whole model to KeyShot you can easily assign materials to the various parts.
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Render in KeyShot Send the full high subdivision level model to KeyShot, choose your camera angle and tweak the lighting of the scene. Under the Scene tab in KeyShot, you can see all of the models that are (SubTools) available. Select any model and in the properties tab, you can assign it to a separate layer. When you get to compositing you can have that object on its own layer so you can tweak it individually. In the render window, change the format to PSD 32 BIT and tick the Include Alpha box. Also tick the boxes to render the depth and clown passes, which are very useful when compositing. Now hit render!
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Composite and final tweaks After the render is completed we can move on to the final stage of the process, so open Photoshop and bring in the PSD file. Because we rendered it at 32-bit, we have a tone of colour depth information to play with. Open the Camera Raw Filter and adjust exposure, contrast and colours. We can then create the background for the illustration. Also, add new layers and we can use a variety of brushes to do some paintovers and refine some details in the image. To finalise our illustration, let’s add the snow particles and a few gradients with the blending mode set to Soft Light and Screen to create the atmospheric haze.
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48 All tutorial files can be downloaded from: filesilo.co.uk/3dartist
A devilishly good 3D procedural platform.
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Creature artwork: Tanvir Islam
MASTER THE ART OF MECH DESIGN
Master the art of mech design Develop an art style, set up materials for KeyShot and kitbash pieces
T
he main focus of this tutorial will be how to keep a consistent look and feel for your design without making it look too strange. You will learn the complete pipeline of how to design and model a robot from scratch. We will also cover how to make your own kitbash pieces so you can use them throughout your model, and how to prototype different body parts of the robot until you get something you feel comfortable with. The tutorial will also include some modelling tips and tricks and we will end it with setting up the scene in KeyShot and teaching you to make a dramatic marketing shot with custom lighting. We will also make some materials in 3ds Max and KeyShot. Once the scene and render is done, we will take it into Photoshop and apply some post-production effects.
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Saab 37 Viggen
A Viggen plane in a studio environment with fabulous lighting, useful for showing of a concept
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n this tutorial we are going to create a jet fighter. We will keep the detail level quite low to keep the total project time down, If you would rather have a higher poly model for another purpose go ahead. This might be good enough for a simple flyover animation or a flight-sim model. It will be focused mostly on modelling since that’s the biggest part about it. We will also be doing materials and lightening in Cycles render engine (Blender) to get a cool result. If you already are an experienced modeller I can hopefully give some new tips but you probably already heard them all.
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MASTER THE ART OF MECH DESIGN
01 MATTHIAS DEVELTERE Phare Mech, 2016 Software 3ds Max, MODO, KeyShot, Photoshop, Substance Painter
Learn how to
• Make prototypes for different body parts • Design your own model • Find your own artstyle • Come up with kitbash pieces • Set up lighting for your scenes • Apply post-production techniques
Concept
This is my first piece that I have revealed for my new portfolio called Phare (which is French for lighthouse).
Come up with a function When you start a new
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project, try to create a backstory around it: why, when and where will this robot exist? It’s all about giving the design a function. Once you get this figured out, it will be easier to come up with good designs. This backstory doesn’t have to be a full page of information, for example our idea is based on a gigantic security robot that could fit into a retro industrial universe. It will look like a beacon of light from a distance, like a lighthouse. As you can see, it’s still a really brief description, where anyone could still could come up with their own design.
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Search for your style It’s important that you feel
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Design a visual language To keep a consistent
comfortable while you design your model. A way of doing that is by searching for a style you like. Let’s say you wanna make something for a retro sci-fi universe. We’ve got two good universes to compare here. Wolfenstein likes to base itself on Maschinen Kriegers. It’s realistic, grungy with a lot of bolts and so on. Fallout goes for a Jetson look: cartoony, with not too much detail in the main shapes. Another good example is Call Of Duty versus Halo: realistic/sharp sharpes against sci-fi round shapes with a lot a of bevel. So observe/compare game universes before making something for them.
style, it could be useful to make some small assets or detailed pieces that we can keep coming back to in our model. For example the small bolt, fuse box, attachment points, springs and so on. This is something that is really easy to spot in just normal industrial designs. For example, an object will never have over two to three unique bolts. Same for materials – keep things simple, don’t overdo the unique parts, otherwise it will be hard to keep your focus on the big picture.
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Set up your material list Work on your material
list before applying colours to your model, as this makes it easier to see how your model will look in the viewer. Try to set up three metals from the start: shiny, bare and rough metal. Setting up materials is really easy; if you don’t know how it works, here’s a quick explanation. Diffuse is the base colour and spec is the reflectivity and index; gloss is the shininess. Next to this, just set up some plastic, painted metal, rubber, cloth, copper and so on. Again just don’t overdo the amount of materials, keep it simple and clean. 01
YOUR
FREE
DOWNLOADS
from filesilo.co.uk/3dartist • KeyShot materials • Textures • LXO files • 3ds Max files • Tutorial videos • Work in progress shots • Tutorial screenshots
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It’s really important that the kitbash pieces have the same consistent style so make sure that every piece has a clear purpose Marking colours and colour circle
When it comes to materials it could be interesting to use one base paint material for the complete model and one detail/attention colour, that way the overall look doesn’t get too noisy. You can then use the secondary colour to draw attention to important pieces of your design. To come up with this colour combination use the colour circle. Take a colour in the circle and take the opposite in the circle. For example blue with orange, purple with yellow, and red with green.
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Use human body references Most of the robots
that you see in movies have probably some resemblance to the human body, with two legs, two arms and a head. And if they don’t resemble human, there’s a big chance that they look like animals. The reason why we are doing this is so that we don’t distance ourselves too far from the audience. It also makes it easier to read how the robot works, where the joints are located and how they are moving or rotating. In the image for this step is an early prototype, where we put a lot of emphasis on the foot silhouette.
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Make some kitbash pieces We like to call kitbash pieces back-up pieces. These are just models you fill up holes/gaps with or use when you are out of inspiration. It’s really important that the kitbash pieces have the same consistent style so make sure that every piece has a clear purpose. What could be really interesting is making sure that your pieces have different entry and exit points, that way they will be easier to stitch together, so make it look believable. If you make some good kitbash pieces, it’s really easy to prototype some different designs in no time. But that’s something for the next step. This tutorial comes with a 3ds Max file that contains some kitbash pieces.
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Experiment and prototype Never expect to come
up with an amazing design from the first trial – it takes trial and error. One way of doing this is by making a rough blockout. When doing this it’s important to ensure that all the silhouettes are different. The bigger the difference, the easier it is to show to others and ask for their opinion. The moment they have to search for the difference you know that you failed. Another way of prototyping is by using kitbash pieces and making different silhouettes. Notice that every kitbash piece has the same function but has a different position.
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Use decals and floaters With decals and floaters, you can quickly see if you need to add a detail pass to your model without having to model them into your mesh. Just put a nice extra polygon loop around the model, so when you add subdivisions on your model it nicely blends into the main shape. Of course it will be noticeable for some angles, so just change the camera angle or fix it in Photoshop. This is the same for decals, just stick them against the model. 53
MASTER THE ART OF MECH DESIGN
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Make unique parts We need to come up with
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some unique pieces for the robot like an eye, a hand, engines and so on. But again don’t search too far, try to start from a realistic design, for example a camera lens for the eye. Another example is the engines that are based on heat engines from a motorcycle. This doesn’t mean that you have to copy it completely, but it could be a good starting base for your design. The handgun is based on a machine gun on an M4 Sherman tank. Another extreme example is the protection plate around the neck: the main idea for this one was an bomb disposal suit. The front shape is the same but the detailing is different.
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Add layers of depth It’s always nice when
characters have different cloth layers on top of each other. Some good examples are Assassin’s Creed character designs. You can do the same with hard surface pieces, for example add cables around poles. Copy the outer shell of a model, apply a shell modifier and give it transparent plastic on top (this also works on cables). Wrap up big interactive machinery pieces in cloth to protect them from weather conditions. Another good example can be found in Killzone designs, where straps of lint connect machinery pieces (this is something they use in their characters). Our cables sticking out is all about making it look like it’s more then an empty shell.
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Rotate the model and work on instances Working
on a tilted model can be complicated. Your first approach should be working with edges constrained. What this means is that edges and polygons will move on the existing edge or you could work on a local axis – a screen axis. There is an easier solution: make an instance of your model and rotate it so that you can work on both models while they update themselves. You can also detach pieces, make an instance, rotate it so it’s straight, work on it and then stitch it back to the model.
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Edit cloth stacks It’s always nice to add organic
elements to your hard-surface model, such as fabric around the main shape. We know that this shape can still change, so keep the cloth non-destructive. First, make a box, add a lot of segments and an editable poly modifier, and use the existing edges to make the cloth follow the shape. Apply TurboSmooth now and add an editable poly modifier. Select some edges and rotate them locally. Do the same with random vertices and pinch them in.
Add organic elements to your hard-surface model, such as fabric around the main shape… keep the cloth non-destructive Be unique
If you design something yourself don’t try to look too much at other people’s work, because even without wanting it you will lock your mind onto the styles or ideas of those people. You won’t learn anything new if you copy existing design. Try to blend your ideas with real-life reference. That you way you will always have something to fall back on when you are out of inspiration. Designing something on your own is as important as being able to make a kick-ass model.
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Paint over renders Something we try to do twice a week is to test renders and paint over them just with arrows and words, or even blend in photos or sketches. Try to do that just before you stop working on it for the day so that the next day you can start with adjusting these, and when you are done, you will be pumped to make new stuff for it. You could also give these temp renders/shots to some friends so they can give their opinion on them, and then just try to blend them into your design. The main idea is to lose your tunnel vision.
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Make it believable Your main motto for your design
should be: the design doesn’t have to work – it only has to look like it could work. A good way of doing that is adding a lot of machinery pieces in empty spaces and breaking up the silhouette with cables. What works really well for robots are pistons and springs. The fact that these could extend or shrink makes it easy to get away with using a lot of them. A good example of this is a silo hatch – there are so many pistons in there that it’s hard to understand the order that they get used in. This tutorial comes with 3ds Max files that contain the two basic springs from the robot.
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Get flat models Some shapes may look complicated, but for most of them you can cheat. For this arm piece we can make it flat and add a slope to it to give it an interesting look. Afterwards, add an editable poly modifier, select all of the polygons and follow it up with a bend modifier. Set the angle at 360 degrees and a direction of 90 or -90 (based on if you want a flipped circle or not). You always have to select the polygons or vertices that you want to bend. A really important note is that bending modifiers will stretch out circular shapes. To cancel this out, you just stretch them in yourself but in the opposite direction, so that the stretching cancels each other out. In the top corner of the image, you can see how the circle is stretched before bending.
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Sculpt copies The MODO sculpting tool adds the
sculpt layer on top of the model in a separate layer, and that way you can bake the base layer – you’ll be able to change the silhouette completely but still keep the same sculpt details in it. In the image below you’ll be able to see an example. The rectangle and the cylinder both share the same sculpt layer, if you look close enough you will be able to see the details coming back. This is great for prototyping, so give sculpting in MODO a chance. This method is also really useful for cloth. This tutorial comes with an LXO file, so you test it out for yourself. 06 16
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MASTER THE ART OF MECH DESIGN
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Import into KeyShot When we are done with our robot, we should export it to KeyShot. If you use 3ds Max you should use the BIP exporter, it can be found on the 3ds Max website bit.ly/29JAnPq. Apply your TurboSmooth in 3ds Max and export. You can make use of our script to double-check for double TurboSmooth stacks, which comes with this tutorial. Once we have our model in KeyShot you can apply standard materials to it. Next try out some HDR maps, and keep rotating until you catch them in the correct lighting angle. You can also watch the video tutorial to make your own HDR map 17
Matthias Develtere
Matthias is a 3D artist working at MachineGames in Sweden. His passion is to be a good designer, with excellent hard surface/industrial skills. In his free time he tries to come up with concepts to add to his own sci-fi 3D universe, which has previously seen the inclusion of vehicles.
Allied SCI-FI WW2 car, 2015 3ds Max, Photoshop, KeyShot
This car was made for 3D Artist, and is one of three models that Matthias made for this series.
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Sci-Fi Tank, 2015 3ds Max, Photoshop
A sci-fi tank that was also made for 3D Artist – this one was based on the Maschinen Kriegers universe.
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Work in post-production The post-production process is really important. In the
image for this step you can see how the render looks before and after post-production. The maps we render out for projects are always the same: a diffuse render, with normal shadow casting; an ID mask (just so we can mask out pieces); an ambient occlusion map (we always set the gamma value to 1.3 and just go with some more contrast); and a render where the complete model is covered in anodised metal (we use this to overlay the render to mask out some extra reflections). We also use the AO as a mask to add some colour to the shadows. Try to tweak your red, blue and green channels separately from each other, that way you get way more control with the final look.
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KubelWagen, 2014 MODO, 3ds Max
This was the first car Matthias made for MachineGames, and was also his first vehicle in the videogames industry.
All tutorial files can be downloaded from: filesilo.co.uk/3dartist
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EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHTING IN BLENDER
GLEB ALEXANDROV The Shoes, 2016 Software Blender, Cycles
Learn how to
• Photoscan the real objects • Optimise the photoscanned models for production • Set up image-based lighting • Embrace physically incorrect lighting • Create advanced materials
Concept
The Shoes render is heavily influenced by hyperrealistic painters including Cheryl Kelley, Alan Gorman, Denis Peterson and Richard Estes. Do yourself a favour, check out the works of these renowned modern artists.
Experiment with lighting in Blender
Create a hyperreal render using a photoscanned model and physically incorrect lighting that keeps the viewer guessing
D
o you ever find yourself trying to squeeze out a realistic render… and failing? Cheryl Kelly’s classic muscle cars, painted Camaros and Corvettes in oils, looked juicier and more real than our 3D renders. Challenge accepted. We decided to create a hyperreal image, like Cheryl’s cars, and eventually it happened. There were no cars, just a few pairs of old weary boots. Today we will cover how to create a hyperreal render like this, and why sometimes more is… more. This 17-step process will allow you to crush any hyperreal project. We’ll use Blender as our tool of choice, and Cycles as our render engine. In part one of this tutorial we will obtain the photorealistic models. How? By using a camera. Next we’ll talk about retopology and optimisation. After that we will set up the basic materials and the lighting. Finally we’ll explore the advanced lighting tips and tricks that will sell your hyperreal render to anybody.
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Take 50 to 120 photos of each object Say that we want to photoscan the shoes now. We can simply put them on the table, and just start running around and shooting them. So now you’ve taken at least 50 photos? Covered every single angle as well? Awesome. Let’s jump into ReMake and import all the images.
03 FREE
DOWNLOADS
from filesilo.co.uk/3dartist • Tutorial screenshots
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Download photo scanning software (and charge the camera) Photogrammetry looks like
magic. You take a few photos while walking around a tree trunk (or whatever you want), then import these photos to photoscanning software and you get a 3D model. You can digitise almost any object. Where should you start though? Let’s download ReMake (previously Autodesk Memento) first. But before launching it, we want to take a moment to briefly go over photogrammetry’s basic rules. Make 50 to 120 photos per object, cover all angles, use a tripod, set the manual exposure mode, get enough light, use a long-duration shutter speed (if there is not enough light) – ambient lighting is the best for this, no harsh shadows, and no highly glossy or transparent objects. With these rules in mind you are now ready to rock. Oh, and don’t forget to charge up your camera!
YOUR
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Process the photos to generate the amazing 3D model No matter what photo scanning software
you use, the process is going to be the same. First off, delete any blurry photos and import the photos into the software. Then, you can begin the process of matching points and generating geometry. Next, clean mesh by deleting any unnecessary parts, export the resulting model as an OBJ file with textures and import it into Blender. The processing will take a few hours, so make sure you have a decent coffee shop nearby for waiting in.
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EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHTING IN BLENDER
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Decimate the polycount The raw photoscanned
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Retopologise the model Sometimes decimation
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Bake the textures Now that you’ve made a clean
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models tend to be very dense in terms of polygons. Does it look real? Hell yes. But a million polys for a shoe is a joke. So what can we do to optimise it? Reduce the polycount using the Decimate Modifier. Just set the decimation ratio and you’re good to go. Of course, the model will be getting progressively worse during such optimisation, so try to find the sweet spot between polycount and quality.
isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to do retopology. Why? Because it allows you to get a clean model, and retain the full quality. In return, you invest your time. It pays off when people ask: ‘Good grief, how the heck did you do that?‘ So let’s retopologise the shoe that stands in the front. Turn on snapping and toggle the Face mode. Now the vertices you create by holding Cmd/Ctrl and clicking will snap to the underlying geometry. Start drawing geometry vertex by vertex. Turn on the X-ray mode in the Object Properties and the vertices will stay visible even when occluded by other objects.
model with a great topology… how can you transfer the textures from your old one? You can just bake it. But first let’s unwrap the new model. Just use the Smart UV Project because it’s a quick tool. After that, set the Bake Type to diffuse. Then you can simply activate the Selected to Active checkbox. Select the raw model now, and then the retopologised one (we assume that these models overlap) and press Bake. Voila! We have made a photoreal model with a clean topology and the baked textures.
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Create a composition in Blender Enough
decimation, retopology and baking. Now the real fun begins. Take the ready-to-use photoreal assets and start building the composition up in Blender. Just imagine playing with a construction kit. After some experimentation, we ended up placing the shoes in a row to create a sense of rhythm. This composition strangely resonates with us, maybe because it reminds us of Van Gogh’s famous shoe painting. But always remember that our aim is hyperrealism! Our hero is Cheryl Kelley, not Van Gogh.
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Set up a key light and a grey material When you set up basic lighting in your scene, it’s advisable to remove all distractions, and that includes any cats and cacodemons. The trick here is to use the grey material for all objects and Blender has an amazing function for this. It’s called the Material Override and it can be found in the Render Layers tab. After that we usually add an area lamp to define a key light. But in the case of this render, the main lighting component was not the key light, it was the HDRI environment, so let’s explore how we set that up.
09
Set up the image-based lighting We aim for hyperrealism, right? Nothing can be more real than the light captured in a real location. We take this bathroom environment by Greg Zaal and we can use it as an image-based light source in Blender. And because it is a high dynamic range image, it captures the full luminosity range of the original location. Here’s a quick tip: use the Mapping node to control the rotation. For example, you may want to rotate the environment upside down, because it looks awesome.
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Photogrammetry software choices
One of the popular photogrammetry tools that we use is Agisoft Photoscan. From our experience, it provides the best results. Alternatively, 123D Catch is a free web application by Autodesk, but has the limitation on the number of photos, the maximum number being 70. ReMake (previously known as Memento) is free at the time of writing. 08
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EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHTING IN BLENDER
10
13
Film emulation
The film emulation is a must-have, if you want to trick viewers into thinking that they see a photo. It dilutes the digital look. Some people might saying ‘Meh, it destroys the range’, but the value of this is that the washed-out shadows and clipped highlights look gorgeous. Even during the early stages of production you can activate the film emulation and enjoy the retro look it gives. 11
12
Cheat like an artist
Some lighting phenomena are tantalising to simulate in 3D. Like traffic trails, which are so easy to capture on camera. Often, the way around this kind of problems is to apply creative thinking, and creative thinking can feel almost like cheating. Imagine telling your friend something like this: ‘You know, buddy, it’s not the light trails left by the headlights of the cars. It’s just a bunch of splines’. Get over it. Simulating reality in a computer involves a lot of cheating, whether you work in the visual effects industry, do architectural visualisation or create photoreal product shots for a magazine.
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Assign the materials and textures Iterate through
all of the objects and assign a simple diffuse shader to each one of them. Then go ahead and import the textures. The good news is that you don’t need to UV unwrap the shoes, because ReMake did it for you. See how awesome it is to use the photoscanned models? All the work is done for you. But obviously, you will have to UV unwrap the additional objects, like the floor and the walls.
11
Add the glossy shaders After you created the diffuse
shaders, it’s time to add the glossy components to each of them. In the image for this step you can see how the nodes are connected. The diffuse shader is mixed with the glossy shader, using the Fresnel node as a mix factor. The Fresnel node allows you to mix shaders in a physically correct way. For example, water gets more reflective at a sharp angle and you can simulate this behaviour using the Fresnel. Now let’s explore the advanced lighting tricks.
12 14
Get glossy There’s always the first rule of lighting, which we will preach to anyone who will listen – don’t be afraid to go over the top. Come on, when Ridley Scott was lubricating the xenomorphs in Alien, nobody thought that was weird. When you watch a movie with a night scene in film noir, the asphalt is always drenched with water. Why? It’s because wet asphalt reflects the street lamps better and somehow it works on a more visceral level too. Try this to re-create that effect then: crank up the Fresnel value to 2.5 and set the roughness to a lower value or, even better, you can use a texture as a roughness map (to achieve a tasty variation of matte and glossy parts).
13
Fake the reflections You may be thinking now ‘but the shoes can’t be that glossy!’. In a hyperreal image any object can be larger than life. “The reflections on the surfaces of the automobiles allow the viewer to go deeper, to see something more than the form,” says Cheryl Kelley. What we need to do is to add another layer of sexy glossiness. This time we’ll use an HDRI environment as a fake reflection map. Look for an HDRI that contains random bright spots. After you find one, plug it into Add shader. (Check out the awesome free and paid-for HDRIs by Greg Zaal. You can find them on Greg’s website: hdrihaven.com).
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Work with normal-based lighting Another lighting
hack for you: use the normals direction to boost the lighting details. To understand what a normal is, imagine a cube. It has six normals that point to six different directions (and each of them is perpendicular to the surface). In Blender you can make the texture brighter, according to the surface normals. Add the Geometry node in the node editor and plug it into the Normal node. It’s make-up for lighting!
15
Mix shader and the Add shader In real world physics, the surface can’t reflect more light than it receives. This is called the law of conservation of energy. Why bother? For us it means that reflection replaces diffuse colour, when we mix diffuse and glossy shaders. But what if you wanted to retain the underlying texture, and just… boost it? Well you can use the Add shader instead of the Mix shader. This will break the law of conservation of energy, but who cares when you can have all kinds of artistic effects to play around with, like multiple reflections. 63
EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHTING IN BLENDER
16 Gleb Alexandrov
Gleb is an artist and is also the founder of the CreativeShrimp blog. CreativeShrimp is the place where artists learn tips and tricks about computer graphics and art. Check out ‘Realistic Lighting in Blender’, a video course for artists and nerds who want to discover the creative side of lighting.
Add the details We’re almost there. One more thing is left, and this is the details.
When it comes to details Neil Blevins said it best: “If your image has a nice distribution of big (primary), medium (secondary) and small (tertiary) shapes, the resulting image will tend to be more pleasing to the eye.” So let’s go ahead and spend some time working on the tertiary shapes, especially those that help to sell our over-the-top lighting, including water droplets, vibrant colour accents, lens glare and chromatic aberration (lens distortion). 16
Lighting Hack #1. Fake Reflection, 2016 Blender, Cycles
Sometimes simulating the physically correct reflection is not enough. Fortunately, in Blender you can hack the reflection by using the environment map. This is the first hack from the Realistic Lighting video course.
17
Lighting Hack #2. Caustics and Light Textures, 2016 Blender, Cycles
Simulating caustics can be so time-consuming. As long as you are trying to brute force this effect. But think different. You can project the light texture to create a believable imitation.
Lighting Hack #3. Paint the Lightmap by Hand, 2016 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, KeyShot
Another lighting hack that you can abuse is painting the light straight into texture. But how do you do it? Render out the camera view, paint the lightmap in GIMP or Krita and project it back onto 3D geometry.
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Physically incorrect is fun Let’s sum it up. We have many physically incorrect things
here: an HDRI environment, weirdly rotated upside down. Lacquered shoes, too glossy even for Andy Warhol (Fresnel Index of Reflection is 2.5). Fake reflections, normal-based enhancements and post-processing (glare). Get used to weird things when you do digital lighting. We CG artists are hyperrealists (in case you’re asked at SIGGRAPH, Blender Conference or some other event) and we can be proud of it.
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Techniques Our experts
HOUDINI FX
The best artists from around the world reveal specific CG techniques
Houdini FX Gustavo Åhlén
facebook.com/gustavoahlenstudio The founder of Svelthe, Gustavo Åhlén is also a 3D/ VFX designer and matte painter
3ds Max, Redshift Rainer Duda
rd-innovations.de Rainer has over ten years’ CG experience and owns a Side Effects certified training centre for Houdini FX
Marvelous Designer Paul Pepera peperaart.com
Paul is a 3D artist. His focus is on sci-fi concepts and design, hard-surface modelling and real-time game art
Create an ocean simulation in Houdini FX T
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68
his lesson will be a good introduction to learning more about the world of Houdini FX and the use of the Ocean Waves shelf. During the next steps you will learn how to set up your projects in Houdini FX, how to use each node of Ocean Waves and how to render the final project. This tutorial will be useful for creating backplates for films, commercials or personal projects. Starting with a brief description of Ocean Waves, this tool will create and wire the Ocean Spectrum and Ocean Evaluate nodes, enabling us to get control over the shape and movement of the ocean. The simulation will be determined by the Time parameter on the Ocean Evaluate node. If you take a look at the time on this node you will see Time= 0 ($T) and if you want to duplicate this default time you can use this expression $T *2, or divide it with $T/2. The Ocean Spectrum node provides us with the necessary settings to modify all the parameters of the ocean waves in terms of the wind, speed, directional bias, chop, wave amplitude, scale and so on. The Ocean Render node renders using displacement maps, and before rendering the scene you must make sure
that you have saved the displacement maps by going to the ‘Export to texture’ tab. In the viewport in the top right you can see an icon of a small box where you can change the display geometry and here you should change it to Smooth Shaded, so that you can appreciate the accuracy of the foam. Using the Foam attribute, toggle on the Geometry tab for the Ocean Evaluate node to let us visualise the foam layer of the ocean surface. To control the foam layer, go to the tab Volumes>Foam Solver and there you can control each parameter. In the rendering step, when you take a look at the output level (network view: Out), you will be able to visualise the Fetch node. In this instance, if you want to generate displacement maps at render time, you should connect this node to the input of a Mantra node. Remember to use Reset Simulation on the Ocean_Render to synchronise the Ocean_Preview and Ocean_Render nodes. If your scene has some information below the ocean surface, like an object under the water level, don’t forget to adjust the Volume Shadow Quality and Volume Quality settings on the Sampling tab of the Mantra node.
The Grid Size option enables you to modify the world space size of the generated ocean spectrum
01
How to save the final render sequence
As we mention later on in Step 12, once the complete scene has been rendered, click on File and choose Save Sequence as… and a window will open called Save As. In this window, select the small icon at the right side of File Name and choose a folder to go into Houdini Projects for the Render folder. In this folder you can save the entire render frame range in different formats as JPEG, TIFF or any other format. This complete sequence with the entire frame range can be imported into After Effects to create a video simulation of the ocean waves.
01
Set up your project Before we start up any piece of work, we should first set up the project. Go to File> New Project and then name it ‘Ocean’. This process will create a folder structure that just helps to keep everything organised in separated folders. If you have created a project structure folder previously, just start this work as you would normally do and then go to File>Set Project and select the root folder ‘previously done’ to keep all the files organised.
02
Work with the Ocean FX shelf In this step we
should use the Ocean Waves tool. For this, go to the Ocean FX Shelf tab and while you are holding Cmd/Ctrl, click on the icon Ocean Waves. Now if the ocean looks too close, just hold Opt/Alt. While holding right-click, drag and drop until you move away from the ocean in the viewport so that you can get a better view of the ocean in full detail. This process will create an ocean-like surface that is complete with material and depth information.
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Set ocean size with grid Now, look at the bottom-right panel. Here you will see four nodes. Using the Grid node with Ocean Surface, you can change the size of the ocean as well as generate a higher resolution for the final piece of work, providing a faster way to evaluate the ocean surface. If you increase the original size from 50 to 100, you will notice that you will get a bigger ocean surface, but the shape of the waves will stay without changes. Adjust these values according to your personal project. For this tutorial we simply used the default values.
04
Preview the ocean The Ocean_Preview node
allows us to get a preview of the foam in the viewport while it generates a matching effect at render time. Now to activate the Foam, go to the Geometry tab, check Foam Attribute and in the Visualize Attribute option, select the Foam option. You will notice how the ocean geometry in the viewport turned into a white and blue colour. This will reveal the foam (white colour) as well as the sea water (blue colour).
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04
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Tweak the Foam Solver parameters The Foam Solver parameters will generate the Foam Layer through Volumes. We have set the values to be certain amounts, but you can choose your own. The Decay parameter can be changed because this parameter changes the amount of foam decaying per frame. With the Ocean_Preview node you can see how it works in real-time with the Play button.
06
Set the world space size In the Ocean Spectrum
node, the Grid Size option enables you to modify the world space size of the generated ocean spectrum. Depth, as the name suggests, allows you to change the ocean depth. In the Wind tab, the Direction of the wind works in degrees along the x axis. Speed will accelerate the speed in the wind. Directional Bias is the amount that the waves will align with the wind direction. Directional Movement is the amount that the waves will move in the same direction as the wind and Chop is the amount of sharp cups on the waves.
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TECHNIQUES
07
Add environment light It is time to add the
06
environment light before we go on to working with renders. For this, over in the bottom-right panel, use the Tab key, write ‘Environment Light’ and select it. This process will illuminate the scene from a virtual hemisphere or sphere. Now, click on the small icon in the right side of Environment Map, uncheck ‘Show sequences as one entry’ and search for a map named Dosch_SkiesV2_01SN_Lowres. It is the most useful image map for Houdini to use as a lighting map. You can also use a personal HDR map.
08
Add cameras The cameras in the scene enable us to configure a resolution for the final render. Then, it is really important to add a camera before it in order to continue with the next steps. Then go to the Shelf Lights and Cameras and while you are holding Cmd/Ctrl, click on the camera icon. Now, click on the small padlock icon in the right side of the viewport. This will lock the camera/light to view. Now you can move the viewport view of the ocean surface away. Once you get a good view, just hit Enter to confirm this view.
09
Render with Mantra node The Mantra output
07
will render your final scene. Go to the path at the top of a network editor panel and choose Other Networks>Out. There you will find a node named Fetch_Export_Ocean. Over an empty space within this panel, click the Tab key, find a node named Mantra and add it. Connect the output of Fetch_ Export_Ocean to the input of Mantra node. Now, go to the Rendering tab, and in Rendering Engine change it to Physically Based Rendering and check Allow Motion Blur.
Making footage from rendered image files in After Effects
Open After Effects, create a new project and create a new composition according to the file’s resolution exported from Houdini. Then, over in the left panel, do a right-click, select Multiple Files and select all of the files – importing them by using Import as: Footage. In Sequence Options don’t forget to check Open Format Sequence. Now drag and drop the new file that is created in the Project Panel to the Comp 1 Panel. Now go to the Composition option at the top of After Effects and select ‘Add to render queue’. In the render queue configure all the parameters as format, resolution and so on, and then click on render. 05
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Create the surface The OceanSurface Shader creates the appearance of an ocean surface. In this case we should modify values in the Streaks tab. Change Foam Sharpness to 0.75 as well as Frequency to 1. To change multiple values at the same time, click on the middle button of your mouse while you hover over the Frequency.
11
Render a frame test Before you render all of the frames, it is important to render the current frame to get a preview of the final render. Go to the Ocean_Render node, and in the Foam Solver tab, click on Reset Simulation to keep the nodes updated. Now, click on the small icon in the bottom-left panel and select Mantra. This will render the current frame, providing you with a preview of the foam.
12 11
Render the final project In the final step, once you consider that it is time to render the entire frame range, go to the Out Network and select the Mantra node. In the Valid Frame Range option, choose Render Frame Range and you can choose between Render to disk or Render to MPlay. In this particular case we used Render to MPlay and once we rendered the entire frame range, we chose Save sequence as… to select the format. This can be saved as JPEG, TIFF or another format. Our sequence can then be imported into After Effects and saved as a video.
Export to texture displacement maps
If you want to export the displacement maps of the entire frame range, go to the node Ocean_Render and in the Export to texture tab, click on control. There you can change the final resolution of the exported displacement maps, changing the parameters of Resolution: Specify Resolution. Try to test one frame before you render the entire frame range using Save Current Frame. Through this option you will begin to realise the complete sequence of maps. This process will also render all of the textures that can be imported into other software to create customised water materials.
All tutorial files can be downloaded from: filesilo.co.uk/3dartist
71
TECHNIQUES
3DS MAX
Master metallic shaders with Redshift
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72
e will be creating a rusty metal material by using Redshift’s powerful uber shader and the material blend functionality. It is fairly simple to create a basic material shader but truth be told, many everyday objects consists of material attributes that can’t be modelled with a single uber shader. One example would be solid plastic, as it consists of a basic colour and a so-called clear coat layer. Both layers will be mixed to achieve the final material look and feel. The same is true for car paint, for example, with an additional flakes layer. But in this tutorial we will follow a more sophisticated method where we create a metal material base for old painted metal. An architectural shader gives us all the necessary bits to add bump information, colour and reflection adjustments to an old metal which already has an uneven surface. Afterwards we add two individual dirt layers to add weathering effects to the surface for an aged metal look as metal is normally used outside. During this procedure we will get used to the nature of the Redshift architectural shader and then learn how to connect it with the material blender. Instead of blending the layers via a simple parameter, we will make use of masks, Redshift ambient occlusion nodes and
procedural noises. Afterwards we will add a corrosion layer sporting a deeper, rusty impact on the surface but just at specific spots. As the nature of the architectural shader is easy to understand we can then move to the anatomy of the material blender node. One really important point to be careful of when working with physically plausible material information is energy conservation. Redshift’s powerful material blender lets us merge up to six layers of different materials and it takes care of energy conservation without taking care of the received or reflected energy information.
01
Create a base for weathered metal First let’s
bring in two nodes: one Redshift architectural and one Redshift material blender. Let’s assign the material blender to the respective scene object, in this case the grid with bolts, and afterwards connect the architectural shader with the base slot of the material builder. For the colour of the architectural shader we use a 3ds Max noise node. In the noise parameters just set the fractal mode as active, increase the size to 1 and set the RGB value 117, 131 and 130 for colour one and 61, 71 and 82 for colour two. The coordinate source must be object xyz.
01
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Blending bump and displacement
The material blender is actually a material creator. It creates one material out of a maximum of six layers. In this tutorial we have mainly made use of blending different materials into one. But there is a flip side. If you want to mix, for example, a multitude of bump or displacement maps in one material, then you can use the corresponding nodes, located under the ‘maps’ dropdown. Over there you will find a bump blender as well as a displacement blender node where you can stack three layers on a base layer.
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Work on a proper reflection Let’s jump to the
reflection section of the architectural material. Set up a warm reflection colour like the RGB value of 255/167/119 to support the corrosion effect, which comes in later on. Afterwards decrease the glossiness to 0, 2 for dulling the surface and remove the flag under the fresnel section at ‘use IOR’. A proper IOR isn’t mandatory for this example as we imply that there is still a worn-out clear coat on top produced by fog. What we have to do is set the flag at ‘Metal Material’. This function basically reduces the diffuse contribution, which gives us a more realistic look.
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Add details through bumps Time to add some
bumps into the architectural material. Let’s add a Redshift bump map node and add it to the bump slot in the architectural material. Afterwards create a new noise node and set the coordinate source to object xyz. We need a noise type fractal with a size of 1. At this stage we need to add the correct colour information, so that the bumps are not too intense. Therefore we set the RGB values as 0, 0 and 0 for colour one and 70, 70 and 70 for the second colour. That will give us a realistic-looking base metal surface.
04
Finalise the base metal We just need to add
some more bits to the material and we are ready to move on. At first, under the architectural shader jump to the ambient occlusion dropdown and activate the AO with 128 samples. After that we create a Redshift ambient occlusion
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TECHNIQUES
node and connect it to the reflection glossiness slot. Just make use of 64 samples in the beginning, and then change colour one to 0, 2 for RGB and colour two to 0, 04 for xyz. So we reduce the glossiness to a reasonable value and decrease the highlights if we hit spots on the object, like holes between screws, bolts and so on.
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Set up light rust films Let’s create two more Redshift architectural materials and plug one to ‘layer one color’ slot at the material blender node and the second one to the ‘layer two color’ input. For both materials we uncheck the flag under fresnel for using the IOR. For the reflection glossiness we set the value as 0, 2 for both. In the next step we connect the Redshift bump node from the base material to the bump input of both materials. On both materials we check the flag under ‘Metal Material’. The colour for material one is 92, 32 and 2 for RGB and material two is 47, 28 and 18 RGB. Reflection colour for both is 32 for xyz.
06
Blend the rust films Time to blend the rust films
correctly with the metal material. Load in the bitmap called Metal_Rusted_Overlay.tga. That’s a texture which contains three dirt masks, one in each channel. Duplicate the bitmaps so that you have two of them and append to each copy a colour correction node. Go to the first correction node and set the RGB channels to red and lower the brightness by -40. On the second correction node set the RGB channels to green and lower the brightness by -50. Connect the first correction to the layer one blend colour input at the material blender node and the second one to the layer two blend colour input.
07
Add weathering effects around gaps To add
08
Create heavy rusted flakes To give the material a
08
detailed weathering effects to worn-out bolts and gabs we simply create a new Redshift architectural material and set the colour to 26, 13 and 6 for RGB. For the reflection colour set the values as 42, 30 and 24, remove the hook at the ‘use IOR’ function and activate the ambient occlusion mode in the material. Connect the material to the layer three material colour. Now to blend the dirt to the respective areas we take a Redshift ambient occlusion node and connect it to the layer three blend colour. Increase the samples to a start value of 64.
weathered look add heavy rusted flakes. Let’s create a new architectural material and set the reflection colour to 26 for RGB with a glossiness of 0, 25. We remove the hook for using the IOR and activate the ‘Metal Material’ flag. Now we create two noise nodes: an ordinary noise and a cellular noise. Connect the noise with the colour input and the cellular noise with the colour one input of the noise. Set the values as 135, 47 and 0 for colour two’s noise, increase the size to 25, set the type to fractal and set as threshold from 0, 25 to 0, 5.
09
Finalise the heavy flakes Let’s blend the flakes to the surface with a noise node which will be connected to the layer four blend colour. Set the noise type to fractal with a size of 25, seven levels and a threshold from 0, 35 to 0, 42. For the bumps create another noise node. Set the size to 25, the type to fractal, add seven levels and set a threshold of 0, 3 up to 0, 5. Now connect the noise node with a Redshift bump map node. The bump map node must be connected with the bump input of the architectural material to work properly. Increase the bump height scale to 2, 5.
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Hyperrealism and artistic touches
The material blender takes care of the energy conservation by mixing the individual layers by their respective blend colour. This is ideal for physically accurate materials. Now there is a possibility to make use of the ‘additive’ functionality by activating the corresponding flag. Like in any other painting program the layer will be simply added to the composition. That means it is possible to create artistic materials and hyperrealistic materials but the energy conservation can be lost. Materials can in this case reflect more light than they actually receive.
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TECHNIQUES
MARVELOUS DESIGNER
Integrate Marvelous Designer with 3ds Max YOUR
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W
e will briefly go over the workflow to generate cloth elements for a cockpit render using Marvelous Designer, an extremely powerful tool that allows you to quickly generate very realistic-looking cloth and soft-bodied models. Marvelous Designer is so versatile you can use it for almost any subject matter – in this case we used it for the padding work in a sci-fi cockpit piece. We will get results that are far more realistic looking and much quicker than if we were choosing to sculpt in ZBrush.
01
Think about the design This project begins the same way other projects start – deciding what to design. I made a series of industrial spacecraft several months ago that I always wanted to come back to and model the interiors. The aesthetic of the spacecraft designs is dominated by cloth coverings that serve as thermal insulation. I wanted to apply this same treatment to the interior cockpit design and figured this would be good, additional practice in utilising Marvelous Designer in interesting ways.
This primitive shell of the space will serve as the foundation avatar for laying down the cloth in Marvelous Designer
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Block out the shapes To start the actual modelling of the interior the first step is to block out the shape of the space in 3ds Max and place the main elements into the scene that will represent the locations for the final instrument panels, seats, switches and other cockpit parts. The blockout shape is derived from the exterior model of the spacecraft – it serves as a guide for where the window placements should be. This primitive shell of the space will serve as the foundation avatar for laying down the cloth in Marvelous Designer. Keep things simple and basic for now – more detail will be added later in the process once the cloth elements are laid down.
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Go to Marvelous Designer Now take the shell
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mesh of the cockpit from the blockout phase and import it as an avatar inside Marvelous Designer. You can sketch out cloth shapes that will serve as the templates that we’ll lay down over the avatar – alternatively you can create the cloth templates in Max and import them into MD as well. Lay the cloth shape over the avatar in the desired position and let it fall onto the avatar by clicking the simulate button (Spacebar on the keyboard). Apply negative pressure to the cloth to help it ‘squeeze’ the avatar mesh – this will help the pinning process in the next step. Also you can turn the avatar upside down before importing to make the pinning process a bit more simple by allowing gravity to hold the cloth template onto the avatar.
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Pin the cloth Once the mesh is draped on the avatar select the Add Pin tool. Use the marquee tools to select areas of the cloth that will hold the mesh down once positive pressure is introduced. The location of these pins can help inform how the creases and shears of the simulated cloth will look. In the Fabric options you can change the properties of how the cloth behaves once simulated or you can select a preset cloth that comes with Marvelous Designer. Cotton_CLO and Windbreaker presets yield good results for this piece.
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Add pressure Now apply positive Pressure to the
cloth. The pins will hold down the mesh at strategic points creating a nice, cushion effect to the cloth. Play around with the Shrinkage Weft and Warp values to achieve different results in the shearing of the cloth. Also lower the Particle Distance to get a more detailed simulation at the expense of performance. Once you are happy with the results export the mesh as an OBJ. Next run it through a decimation program to reduce the polycount and make it more manageable inside Max – we used Decimation Master in ZBrush for this work.
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Reuse your cloth meshes
Over the course of multiple projects you may find yourself redoing similar shapes multiple times. We have a 3ds Max file where we store Marvelous Designer cloth outputs from previous projects to be reused in different scenes. A straight-lined pipe cover can easily be bent and free-form deformed into unique shapes.
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TECHNIQUES
Stitch together different templates to account for any curves in the avatar that may create pinching or unwanted stretching
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Go back to 3ds Max Once back inside Max import the mesh generated from Marvelous Designer. Use FFD modifiers and Soft Selection to fit the cloth around the elements in Max, such as the window frames. Delete any unnecessary geometry that resulted from the pinning. You can also fit in cloth meshes that were not generated on an avatar base mesh in Marvelous Designer using the FFD modifiers in Max – enabling you to reuse generated cloth meshes between different projects to speed up the process.
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Add cloth to cables We can use a similar process to generate the cloth effects on the cables and piping in the cockpit. Use a spline to draw out the shapes of the cables in Max and export them as avatars into Marvelous Designer. As before, draw out the cloth templates that will cover the avatar; stitch together different templates to account for any curves in the avatar that may create pinching or unwanted stretching. Pressure, Shrinkage Weft/Wrap and Fabric Properties are some of the settings you can play with to achieve different-looking results.
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Model the instrument panels We wanted to keep the design grounded in realism but still evoke a feeling of sci-fi – we like the idea of retro-futurism; incorporating old technology into sci-fi contexts. One of these areas are the hard-surface instrument panels. We referenced a lot of Russian aircraft cockpits (such as the MiG-21) and pulled interesting elements directly from them. The modelling was done all in 3ds Max, with a liberal use of subdivisions to ensure clean edges and bevels. To speed things up we only modelled a few unique panels and indicators and instanced them around the cockpit.
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Prep for render V-Ray was picked as the rendering solution for this scene. Since this was primarily an exercise in cloth simulation in Marvelous Designer we weren’t concerned with applying materials to the objects – we wanted to do a sort of clay render of just the modelling work – though we did want to achieve a rather realistic lighting setup. A dome light was positioned around the scene and the intensity of it was increased to simulate sunlight. We ensured the physical camera settings yielded a realistic look to the lighting – making the area outside the windows overexposed and letting the illumination of the interior be done with GI. We put a VRayLight material on the instrument panel gauges to add a bit more interest and secondary lighting to the scene.
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Reduce cloth geometry
A scene with heavy use of Marvelous Designer meshes can quickly become very expensive to render and store on a hard drive, especially if you are saving incrementally. A good idea is to decimate the Marvelous Designer output to bring the polycounts to reasonable levels – as previously mentioned. We used Decimation Master but any geometry-reducing technique is applicable.
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behind their artwork
COMPOSITION I focused on the dynamics between the two characters. I wanted Amanda rigid and stiff compared to Graham. Amanda was posed in straight lines and Graham in diagonal curves. I didn’t want the viewer to get confused with the directions of the lines so a simple light background enables the silhouettes to pop out, making it as a whole easier to read.
Incredible 3D artists take us
Portrait of Graham and Amanda, 2016
Software Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, V-Ray
ianspriggs.com Ian is a character artist working at OatsStudio. He has been working in VFX for over 10 years
Ian Spriggs
COMPOSITION
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BOSTON VENOM 2501-0P
Boston Venom 2501-0P
Dual Xeons and 28 CPU cores mean ultra performance and number-crunching capability
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hen we last tested a Boston Venom workstation, it performed so well, it beat just about every other system we had covered at that point, so hopes are high for the new Boston Venom 2501-0P to do the same once again. And it just might, thanks to the inclusion of the very latest Intel Xeon E5-2690W v4 processors, each running at a 3.5GHz boost speed and packing 14 physical cores, bringing the total to a quite ludicrous 28, or indeed, 56 virtual cores with hyperthreading. They’re part of the Broadwell-E family of Xeon chips, which launched this year and is manufactured on a 14nm process with support for all the goodies of a modern workstation, in particular DDR4 memory. One advantage of DDR4 is the potential for larger DIMMs, and each of the eight slots in the Boston Venom 2501-0P is filled with 16GB sticks, bringing the total to 128GB. Lastly, there’s an Nvidia Quadro M4000 graphics card, a comparatively less extravagant option compared with the rest of the specification, joined by a 400GB Intel 750 series SSD and a 4TB hard disk array. It’s housed in a fairly generic-looking Super Micro case, with a removable front fan filter and an embedded Boston logo. As usual, the upgrade options offer Xeon chips with even more cores, more storage, faster graphics and, notably, an option of 1TB of system memory. Yes, you read that right. It’s hard to imagine the kind of workload that would need that amount of memory, but it’s on offer here. This specification is the highest number of CPU cores and memory amount we’ve seen in a workstation to date. Intel’s Broadwell-E processors are a great example of technology’s never-ending progress, and a big leap forward in performance. With each successive range of Intel Xeon chips, we’re seeing more cores and faster performance, and from our test results, approximately twice the performance of workstations from two years ago. Our previous record for the Cinebench 15 CPU test was 2633. The Boston Venom 2501-0P and dual Intel Xeon E5-2690W v4 processors achieve a score of 4375. Then in 3ds Max, we saw more records broken. The HDTV render of the underwater
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scene was completed in 3 minutes 14 seconds. That’s significantly faster than the previous record of 5 minutes 15 seconds. We upped the resolution to 4K (3,840 x 2,160) and ran it again. The sheer pixel density here would put every one of the CPU cores under severe load during the render, and could take hours on a standard desktop system. The Venom completed this task in just over ten minutes. Amazing. Multithreaded rendering isn’t everything, of course. For software that relies upon the graphics card, the chip’s clock speed comes into play more than the core count, bringing speeds slightly more down to earth. But with a 3.5GHz CPU driving Boston’s monster, the SPECviewperf results were hardly poor, offering slightly faster speeds than when we tested the same Quadro M4000 graphics card in a different system. The Cinebench GPU test came out slightly behind a system with an overclocked 4.5GHz CPU. That’s inevitable though, and you’d only be considering something with as much CPU performance as the Boston Venom 2501-0P if your workload justified it. Given the huge outlay for such a well-specified machine, an upgrade to a Quadro M6000 from the M4000 makes sense. That inflates the price to £10,794, but means you get unrivalled graphics and processor performance. These dual-CPU, ultra-expensive systems are a specialised tool rather than a generalpurpose 3D machine. If you have a very heavy workload that relies on CPU-based rendering, your project’s budget can probably stretch to something like this. On a big animation project, the financial benefit from shaving more than 50 per cent off rendering times could offset the cost of such a powerful workstation. It means real-time effects are easier to visualise and you can quickly make changes to a project and see the results. Although it’s the type of system most of us only dream about, while the workstations we can actually afford only have a puny four, six or eight cores struggling to push out pixels and polygons, systems like this beast of a workstation are an important part of the 3D rendering scene. It’s clear that with modern technology, they’ve taken a big leap forward. Orestis Bastounis
Essential info Price Website CPU RAM GPU SSD
£7,194 boston.co.uk Two Intel Xeon 2690W v4 14 cores, 28 threads 128GB Nvidia Quadro M4000 Intel 400GB 750 Series
Summary Features Performance Design Value for money
Verdict
Both Boston and Intel flex their collective muscle with the Venom 2501-0P, which offers nextgeneration CPU rendering performance
MAIN A lot of renders can be created with the Venom’s impressive 28 CPU cores, which is housed within a Super Micro chassis TOP It’s likely that most people buying the Venom 2501-0P will cough up the extra cash needed for a Quadro M6000 TOP MIDDLE The Venom’s two 14-core Intel Xeon 2690W v4 CPUs more than impress in our tests ABOVE You can even have 1TB of system memory, which is bigger than the SSD capacity RIGHT Four USB slots adorn the back of the Venom, alongside two more on the front
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CORONA 1.4
V-Ray users will find A/B image comparison familiar and a useful addition to the render engine’s frame buffer
Corona Renderer 1.4
Render Legion’s relentless march continues with the release of version 1.4 for 3ds Max
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ince 2014, Render Legion’s CPU-based render engine has been making waves, particularly in the architectural-visualisation industry, giving even the big guys such as V-Ray a run for their money. Corona has all the features artists have come to expect for a render engine, and starting at €24.99 a month it is steadily becoming the go-to render engine for many, and with good reason. Corona has always been tightly integrated into Autodesk 3ds Max, with speed, ease of use and render quality topping its features list. Corona Alpha was free for a long time and developed quite a following with an active forum which included many great artists from the world of 3D. Since its full release Corona has gained some serious momentum and a passionate following. The latest update boasts reduced render times, faster denoising and quicker workflows. This is due
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to an increase in the Corona object speeds in the viewports and better stability amongst many other handy features. First-time users will immediately notice how Corona has been developed with artists in mind. Render settings are extremely straightforward and this can be best seen in the note in Global Illumination settings that states, “Settings below are optimal by default. There is no need to change them unless there is a problem or you know exactly what you are doing.” The frame buffer also allows for interactive exposure, highlight compression, white balance and contrast. These settings, alongside Corona’s simple user interface, makes it feels as though somebody was listening when you said “wouldn’t it be handy if…”. Denoising is one of the most noteworthy additions. Rather than having to continually predetermine this in the render
settings, the feature now allows adjustment within the frame buffer. Corona does this by analysing the noise in 3D space, and so offers reductions in render times between 50 and 70 per cent. In addition to the denoising feature, Render Legion has incorporated adaptive image sampling which automatically samples lights and materials. These features mean that you won’t find yourself waiting for noise to clear up in problem areas such as shadows. This then vastly accelerates workflow and reduces optimising time. The virtual frame buffer now offers multiple render regions at once, including the small but handy feature of being able to resize the regions in the image. At last you will be able to select as many areas as you like either in interactive or in typical renders. V-Ray users will find A/B image comparison familiar and a useful addition to the render engine’s frame buffer.
MAIN Corona stands up well against other render engines and this is proven in the commercial environment LEFT A/B image comparison is a familiar feature to V-Ray users and anybody moving over will be happy to have it BOTTOM Looking to the future, Render Legion has made it easy to make images ready for VR apps BELOW BOTTOM The ability to select multiple render regions in Corona, and make changes to preview renders, is a breeze
Essential info Price Website OS 3ds Max version CPU
Application support
A stand-out performer in the latest release is the significantly improved render times when dealing with a great deal of lights compared to previous releases. Render-to-texture support and the Spherical VR mod in the Corona camera modifier demonstrates Render Legion’s forward thinking for Corona’s uses, far beyond arch vis – moving into real-time and videogames. With two clicks you’ll be rendering stereoscopic panoramas in equirectangular format. For post-production the Velocity render element will enable more control when adding motion blur.
Other improvements include support for native normal maps, bug fixes, UI improvements and Corona scatter is now around five times faster due to multithreading. All in all, the latest update demonstrates a major step for Corona Renderer which is starting to be used in more commercial projects. With support for 3ds Max 2017, a scene converter and a generous 45-day demo it is only a matter of time before you start using Corona, so what are you waiting for? Jake Denham
€24.99 per month corona-renderer.com Windows Vista and up x64 2011-2017 Intel i3 and up / AMD Bulldozer architecture and up 3ds Max, (Maya, Cinema 4D and Blender in development)
Summary Features Performance Design Value for money
Verdict
Corona’s 1.4 release for 3ds Max continues to prove that it’s an extremely capable and user-friendly render engine with plenty of improvements to shout about
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CRAZYTALK 8 & POPVIDEO 3
CrazyTalk 8
Reallusion’s upgraded talking heads app makes the move into 3D
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espite the obvious need for us to review industry-standard tools that can run into thousands of pounds or dollars, it’s easy to forget that there’s a huge market out there for simple, affordable programs that offer a really low barrier of entry to budding artists. Reallusion’s flagship package, iClone 6, stands in the middle ground, in that it offers pretty robust features that an experienced animator could enjoy but is still accessible enough for anyone to pick up and engage with. CrazyTalk 8 sits further towards the casual sector, but should provide enough entertainment and fairly good results for any beginner to the field. The key thing to bear in mind about CrazyTalk is that it really is dedicated to talking heads rather than any kind of full-body or individual limb manipulation, which instantly limits its audience somewhat. This is the sort of technology that will benefit people who perhaps work in broadcast journalism or TV and require animated talking heads quickly and without fuss. Crucial to this is that CrazyTalk 8 allows you to quickly sync up audio tracks to animated characters with its Auto Motion technology, meaning that you can record bespoke audio messages or feed CrazyTalk some text and quickly create a lip-synced animation for a TV spot or something similar with the app’s auto lip-sync function. After lip-syncing, CrazyTalk 8 allows you to tweak and fine-tune animations, set key frames
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and add static motion to characters to proffer them a little more believability. Another interesting feature allows you to create custom avatars based on photographs. Once you’ve selected the new 3D actor option, you can set about importing both front and side views of a real person and transform them into a talking head quickly. We did experience a couple of issues while testing this where, after meticulously placing feature points (corners of eyes, tip of nose and so on) our generated avatar came out very skewed. However, the tidy-up operation wasn’t too taxing. After your character has been generated, you can then fiddle with a few texture options to further tidy it up. It’s all pretty simple and intuitive, and we like the option of being able to export to iClone and back again for more precise animation, which will no doubt appeal to you. However, there’s no getting away from the fact that this is a tool that’s aimed at a very specific market. And, lest we forget, Blender is totally free and features a full, established animation suite, meaning beginners who may be interested in dipping their toes in animation could forego low-cost software like CrazyTalk and get started with a fully-fledged 3D tool instead, but completely for free. Regardless, CrazyTalk 8 offers exactly what it intends to, and could be especially useful for anyone working in a broadcast environment. Steve Holmes
TOP Specific animation points allow you to tweak and customise your avatar to your heart’s content ABOVE When importing your own photos into CrazyTalk, the program prompts you to highlight feature areas before it automatically generates a 3D model
Essential info $199 (Pipeline version) Price Website OS RAM CPU HDD GPU
reallusion.com/crazytalk Windows 7 and up, OS X 10.9 and up 4GB Dual core and up 2GB free space 512MB VRAM
Summary
Features Performance Design Value for money
Verdict
It does everything it sets out to do but anyone with experience will find it fairly limited
popVideo 3
Reallusion introduces popVideo 3 with an updated toolset aimed at streamlining background removal
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ou could use popVideo 3 to help produce the next smash hit music video but that’s not its specific market. More accurately it’s an alpha creation toolkit for still imagery and video footage. Overhauled from the last update in early 2011, main upgrades include support for 4K, a broader range of import/export formats, advancements to the chroma keyer and masking tools plus options for compositing backgrounds. The Qt UI lets you customise work panel layouts but we found no reason to stray from the default. Importing is simple via drag and drop or using the File menu. However the 4K resolution limit is restrictive for still images, and several video formats depend on having the correct codec installed, so getting the K-Lite Pack is advised. Previously only green and blue screen removal was possible but now any colour can be chosen and removed using either the chroma keyer eye dropper or colour swatch. Good source footage such as talent against a contrasting uniform background makes generating alphas easier, and the chroma keyer settings have a range of sliders for fine-tuning and despill. For more complex shots where markers or lighting rigs need removing, or for sky removal operations, there’s a brush-driven masking toolset to complement the chroma keyer. It’s worth noting that because it’s a chroma keyer and not a luma keyer, you can’t key pure black as it has no chroma. This means that if your talent or element (dust or smoke and so on) is shot
this way you can’t generate an alpha. Also, despite exceeding the system requirements for 4K video editing, the Chroma Key sliders are consistently laggy to use with 4K footage making precision difficult and refinements time-consuming. Masking suffers from lag at 4K too, with a delayed response time between painting and the stroke appearing, which causes inaccuracy. A welcome accompaniment to masking would be a splinebased roto tool. If you already have an alpha, it can be imported, tweaked if required and exported as a merged file. The Timeline adds extra freedom by allowing animation for both keyer and masks. The Export settings are disappointingly basic with no image sequence output, only industry standard AVI, MOV and proprietary format POP for iClone 6.42 compatibility. POP to CrazyTalk 8 and CrazyTalk Animator 3 formats are currently in development. Low-res output to iClone for previewing is available. Paul Champion
BOTTOM PopVideo 3 provides the bare necessities you need for keying and compositing, but Apple users will need to wait for the Mac release MIDDLE After chroma keying you can – if needed – generate a garbage matte using the masking tools or use Crop Video Area within the Export settings
Essential info Price Website OS
CPU RAM Disk space GPU
$99 (member price $79) reallusion.com/popvideo/default.html Support for 64-bit operating system only, Windows 7 (SP1) and up Dual core and up 2GB 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series and up / AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and up
Summary
Features Performance Design Value for money
Verdict
PopVideo3 is certainly suitable for hobbyists but there’s also a missed opportunity for a fully-fledged matte extraction toolkit
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The inside guide to industry news, VFX studios, expert opinions and the 3D community
The BFX Competition is a chance for budding effects artists and students to… produce something that will be of real benefit to one of our two charities
090 Community News
The Rookies reveals winners
Find out which entries were victorious and the BFX Competition gets underway for 2016
092 Industry News
KATANA 2.5
Sofronis Efstathiou, BFX Festival director
Version 2.5 of the tool is now available for Windows, and V-Ray for MODO arrives
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Tergo
Director Charles Willcocks explains how he made the jump from VFX to directing his own CG short
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COMMUNITY NEWS
Martin Lapp won the VFX and Animation Rookie of the Year award
Martin Nabelek was given the Highly Commended award for VFX and Animation Rookie of the Year
Young ‘Oscars’ reveals winners The Rookies, the ‘Oscars for young creative minds’, announces the winning entries for 2016
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his year’s The Rookies Awards for young designers, Dreamworks, Framestore, Gameloft, Method Studios, creators, innovators and artists received a high Monolith Productions, Ninja Theory, Rising Sun Pictures, turnout of over 1,800 entries from higher education River Studios and The Mill are supporting The Rookies by school students enrolled at close to 500 academic facilities providing world-class judges, prizes and 19 professional located in 77 countries worldwide. In October 2015 the internships throughout Canada, Europe, Oceania and USA. long-running CG Student Awards was relaunched as The The winners were selected by an official judging panel Rookies to expand the range of categories, which for 2016 which included Academy Award winner Joe Letteri from are VFX & Animation, Architecture, Film Making, Graphic Weta Digital and 50 other equally influential and respected Design, Illustration, Industrial Design, Motion Graphics, industry veterans. The judges were asked to score entries Gaming, Photography, Robotics, based on criteria including creative Virtual Reality and Web & Mobile. skills, technical skills, presentation, “Once again we have proven there is variety of skills, raw talent and a wealth of undiscovered talent employment potential. emerging from educational facilities As always, the results have been around the world, and we couldn’t be extremely close with only a few points’ more excited to help get their careers difference between the winners. on the fast track,” said Andrew “People are genuinely shocked when McDonald, co-founder of The they discover how amazing the Martin Lapp, Rookies. Leading production studios student work is these days – even after VFX & Animation Winner Weta Digital, Crytek, Animal Logic, six years we are still constantly blown
Thanks for making this possible and also helping young students like me to launch their careers! Keep it up!
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away with the quality and diversity of young talent,” said Alwyn Hunt, co-founder of The Rookies. The winner of the VFX & Animation category, Martin Lapp, initially studied Film at Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany and then switched to Filmakademie Ludwigsburg after a year to study animation with a focus on visual effects. “I really couldn’t believe it when I saw that I won,” said Martin. “Thanks for making this possible and also helping young students like me to launch their careers! Keep it up! The Rookies rock!” Runner-up Rodrigo Janz drew some of his inspiration from the forests and mountains in Brazil where he grew up and from a love of exploring. “I was aware I had to work hard to join the animation industry, but I could never imagine my passion and effort would bring my work this far! It’s one of the most important moments in my career! Thanks so much The Rookies!” John-Peter Li, CG supervisor at Framestore and one of the judges on the expert panel, added: “The standard is incredibly high and the decisions were very hard. I liked the variety of animation and VFX across all the entrants showing a wide range of talent across all disciplines. As for the winners all I can say is the the level of detail in both creative and technical terms is amazing. Time has being spent to make sure the visual outcome is fantastic and the technical skill set is of a very high standard.” The Rookies receives support and sponsorship of some of the world’s smartest companies including Lenovo, NVIDIA, Vimeo, Wacom, AMD, Creative Market, Envato, G-Technology, Sketchfab, Chaos Group, Luxion, Escape Motions, Media Temple and Side Effects. “Lenovo strives to support and nurture tomorrow’s storytellers and celebrate their accomplishments. The Rookies provides an unparalleled opportunity for artists to highlight their work, network with their peers and receive feedback from mentors. By supporting organisations, Lenovo continues to invest in tomorrow’s film, television and game-development artists,” said Rob Hoffmann, Lenovo Workstation media and entertainment marketing manager. A full list of winners in every category can be found here: therookies.co/results.
Teams from the BFX Competition presenting and working on their animations
BFX Competition returns Eight teams of students and recent graduates from across the UK are taking part in the BFX Competition
In partnership with sponsors Kingston Smith, the BFX Competition has chosen two charities, Create and Refuge, to be the beneficiaries of this year’s winning films. Sofronis Efstathiou, director of the BFX Competition, explains: “The BFX competition is a chance for budding visual effects artists and university students to take their chance, showcase their talent and produce something that will be of real benefit to one of our two charities. The charity will receive a great quality film while the competition teams will gain invaluable experience in creating visual effects to a brief and, ultimately, could see their work viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.”
The competition forms part of the BFX Festival, an annual event held in Bournemouth, UK, that celebrates the visual effects and animation industries, attracts industry attention from across the world and combines professional development alongside exhibitions with family events and film screenings over a week of workshops and activities. Efstathiou continued, “BFX is now in its fourth year and it’s really matured and grown as a festival, with fantastic speakers and presentations lined up from across the animation, film, TV and games industry already confirmed. We’re hoping it will once again be an educational and entertaining experience.”
Runner-up in VFX & Animation Rookie of the Year went to Rodrigo Janz
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INDUSTRY NEWS
V-Ray arrives for MODO MODOnauts now have access to V-Ray’s robust rendering features
KATANA 2.5 finally comes to Windows The lighting tool gets broader plugin support Easier to install, use and integrate – the update brings a new Windows port, making the awardwinning lighting and look-development application’s full toolset available to Windows-based artists and studios. Wider plugin support has also been added, bringing online V-Ray, RenderMan, Arnold and 3Delight, making the tool even more accessible and pipeline friendly.
Bedrock of the pipeline
“Big scenes [and] experimental lighting setups: we can throw anything at it and it’ll give us production-ready results that we can share up and down the chain. “With timelines getting shorter and shorter, you need tools like KATANA around; there’s no other way to get the work done,” said Kevin Baillie, co-founder of Atomic Fiction.
Andy Whitmore, chief product officer at The Foundry, said, “The Foundry is constantly striving to help artists be more creative by providing them with the best software solutions in the industry. Launching on Windows and adding support for more industry-standard renderers is a fantastic example of us giving artists more flexibility to work the way they want. “KATANA is a powerful look-development and lighting tool that can offer huge benefits to studios of all sizes, so we’re thrilled to be announcing its Windows launch. Now even more artists can benefit from the tools that KATANA offers to make their workflows quicker and more efficient.” A tool that’s already in use at some of the biggest studios around the world, including Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar and Atomic Fiction, KATANA enables artists to turn creative lighting setups into ‘lighting recipes’ that can then be shared amongst their team, cutting down the time that it takes to turn out complicated shots.
MODO has finally joined the family of V-Ray active 3D applications. Features for the new release include V-Ray Denoiser, Virtual Reality Cameras, Ray Traced Rounded Corners, load-ondemand proxy objects and Volume Rendering with support for OpenVDB files. “The integration of V-Ray into MODO makes it feel like a native renderer,” said Volker Troy, CEO and digital artist at PixelWerk. “No workarounds, no compromises. We can stick to our established workflow, and bring in V-Ray’s advanced toolset when we need to dig deeper. Adding it was a no-brainer.” Chaos Group is offering online licencing as an optional alternative to shipping a physical dongle, but currently it’s only with V-Ray 3.0 for MODO. “If my experience with the MODO community has taught me anything, it’s that MODO modellers are among the best around,” said David Tracy, communications director at Chaos Group. “I can’t wait to see what MODOnauts create now that they have access to V-Ray.”
A full workstation licence for Mac OS X or Windows costs £430 ($700)
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Redshift 2.0 revealed
Houdini and Cinema 4D integration with Redshift is in development and expected to launch in 2016
GPU render engine gains 3ds Max integration and a wealth of new features across all platforms
Redshift version 2.0 has been released. Some of the new features include production-quality volumetrics (OpenVBD), nested dielectrics to simulate transparent material intersection, enhanced subsurface scattering models and single scattering, baking for lighting and AOVs in addition to a new PBR-based Redshift main material, which features effects including dispersion/ chromatic aberration. “The CPU-GPU feature gap continues to close with the host of new functionality added in 2.0. We want to give as many artists as possible the opportunity to access the time and cost savings of GPU rendering, which is why we’re also thrilled to launch our new Autodesk 3ds Max integration with 2.0,” explains Panos Zompolas, co-founder and CTO at Redshift.
Cinema 4D R18 due September
MAXON announces new version of its flagship package at SIGGRAPH in Anaheim
In one of the few SIGGRAPH announcements we managed to catch before going to print, MAXON has revealed Cinema 4D R18. The new release is scheduled to launch in September 2016 and boasts a wealth of new features, including Voronoi fracturing, Interactive Knife Tools, object motion tracking and Substance Engine integration. According to Harald Egel, CEO and managing partner at MAXON, R18 features “powerful new tools and refinements so that creative professionals can successfully handle the demands required in today’s motion graphics, VFX and visualisation environments.”
Software shorts ftrack for Cinema 4D
ftrack has been integrated with Maxon’s Cinema 4D, allowing artists to gain instant access to project management using the ftrack panel inside C4D. Tracked files can be imported and note sharing is supported. Work can be published online by sending files to ftrack’s cloud platform. Additional features are planned for 2016.
3D-Coat 4.7 launched by Pilgway The latest iteration includes a new physically based rendering (PBR) shader system
Version 4.7 of 3D-Coat brings a new PBR system, which supports GGX natively, meaning compatibility with most current game and render engines. Nearly all of the voxel shaders are compatible too, providing artists with a good range of parameters and different textures. All of the effects (except for pseudo SSS) are exactly baked into paint room. Other highlights include the introduction of smart materials for sculpting shaders; multiple map baking including AO and SSS; presets for game/render engines; new low-poly modelling retopo tools; more primitives including screws, spirals and more; anti-aliased painting including vertex painting; PPP, MV and Ptex; and with 3D-Coat PRO models can also now be exported ready for 3D printing.
3D-Coat V4 Professional costs $379 before tax and a floating licence is $568
Bringing you the lowdown on product updates and launches Ornatrix for Maya
Procedural hair, fur and feather plugin Ornatrix has released for Maya. The modelling, animation and rendering plugin features artist-friendly grooming tools, nucleus physics integration and proprietary GPU dynamics for realistic animation. Supported renderers include V-Ray, Redshift and RenderMan. Ornatrix is $399 a licence until 15 August 2016.
SynchronTexturing
ZBrush extension SynchronTexturing provides time-saving approaches for texturing in ZBrush by allowing artists to apply alpha and RGB/Polypaint together simultaneously using texture sets that supply diffuse and according height or bump maps. It’s available for OS X and Windows with ZBrush 4R5 and up, and costs $29.
DID YOU KNOW? The price of Houdini Education has dropped to $75 annually for universities, colleges and training centres 93
PROJECT FOCUS
Tergo
Director Charles Willcocks explains how his passion project became a stunning reality
Website pallaspictures.com Location UK Project Tergo Project description ‘Tergo’ is a short film featuring a full CG, fully-animated robot making his way through London Studio Pallas Pictures Company bio Pallas Pictures is a collective of artists, writers and musicians based in London. ‘Tergo’ is the group’s fifth short film and the first to feature a fully-CG character Contributors Charles Willcocks, director
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e’ve seen so many VFX artists step out of the shadows and into the director’s chair in recent years that it’s beginning to feel like there’s something in the air. It’s never been easier to make your own films, with an abundance of cheap or even free software solutions available to artists and directors alike, but what is it that gets VFX artists specifically to make that jump? “I spend a lot of time doing the ‘London commute’ window dreaming and watching the grey pass by,” says ‘Tergo’ director Charles Willcocks, when we ask him where his desire to make his own film came from. “It was on a rainy winter’s commute out of London after a long day that I began to think about my own relationship with the city. It was on one such contemplative commute that I watched Pixar’s Wall-E and I got thinking about a robot who was lost in London – unloved, unnoticed and forgotten. ‘Tergo’ was born from that.” An idea is one thing, but getting it made is something else entirely – something that requires a lot of discipline. Willcocks agrees: “‘Tergo’ is a labour of love. There is no other way to describe it. I have worked on it over weekends, during my commutes to work, literally at family gatherings. It has all been achieved while working at Candyspace, a digital advertising agency, as the sole 3D artist. “There are hundreds of 3D artists working, like me, on their own passion projects. For me CG isn’t work, I never have to drag myself out of bed to go to studio. It’s my passion. It’s my obsession. There is no better feeling than creating something from an idea and watching it slowly evolve into being. I’m inspired every day by this industry and by film. I want to tell stories and this is a brilliant way to tell them.” The story in ‘Tergo’ is minimalist, but there’s more than a hint of the melancholy Pixar achieved with Wall-E in 2008. With a non-human character in the lead role, it can be hard to eke out any semblance of personality without nailing your animation, but fortunately for Pallas Pictures it had talented alumni from Bournemouth University’s NCCA to rely upon. “I needed the audience to empathise with [Tergo] instantly,” explains Willcocks. “The design was important but… this had to be equalled by the animation. I was lucky enough to get the three best character animators from my MA course to work on ‘Tergo’ and I think their talent is clear in the end result. The subtlety of expression without any facial rig, the humanity, the pain and the anguish they brought to ‘Tergo’ is, for me, what truly brings the short to life. Animators are held in high regard in this industry and with good reason.” After years of trying to get the film made, ‘Tergo’ has been released through Vimeo. But what has Willcocks learned from making that leap from VFX to directing? “Being a director is both exhilarating and challenging in equal measure,” he tells us. “You can’t do everything yourself… and you can’t hide behind your monitor when things don’t work. You have to make decisions. I guess that ultimately that’s what it is about. Most of all I tried to be the director I would like to work with – I value everyone’s opinion and I was lucky enough to work with extremely talented individuals.”
Animators are held in high regard in this industry and I believe with good reason Charles Willcocks, director
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WEAPONS OF CHOICE
Willcocks highlights the tools that put the CG elements together in ‘Tergo’ “All the 3D was done in Maya, rendered in V-Ray and composited in NUKE. Due to its prevalence in the industry I wanted to use Maya. It’s also because working remotely, [it’s] what the animators and riggers had access to. “V-Ray was slightly different. Initially I began by rendering in mental ray, which was okay but I switched over to V-Ray midway through production after discovering its potential. I also used ‘Tergo’ as an opportunity to learn MARI and I haven’t looked back. “You can texture perfectly well in Photoshop but being able to paint in 3D whilst maintaining a linear back and forth with MARI was brilliant. MARI and V-Ray sped up my workflow no end.”
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01 The titular robot was built in Maya and then rendered in V-Ray 02 It’s a beautiful short film and really shows off the VFX talent behind it 03 Plates for ‘Tergo’ were shot in central London. The robot was then integrated with NUKE 04 Willcocks worked with fellow Bournemouth University NCCA alumni on the project 05 Making ‘Tergo’ gave Charles Willcocks the opportunity to experiment with MARI for textures 05
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Image of the month
Images of the month These are the 3D projects that have been awarded ‘Image of the week’ on 3DArtistOnline.com in the last month 01 Monster In The Closet
by Zacharias Reinhardt 3DA username zreinhardt Zacharias Reinhardt says: “With this project I participated in my own Facebook group Weekly CG Challenge (bit.ly/1Io6Eqw). The topic was Cute Monsters. This scene was created using Blender, rendered in Cycles and colour corrected in Photoshop.” We say: We fell in love with this little guy straight away. Zacharias has done an awesome job with the wooden floor texture here.
02 Tentacle Dude
by Francis-Xavier Martins 3DA username Polyjunky Francis-Xavier Martins says: “I made this model to try out PBR shading in Substance Painter and Toolbag. This is the hi-res version. The concept is by CreatureBox.” We say: There is loads of character to this image from Francis-Xavier and we’re big fans of the clean, cartoon aesthetic. Great work in Substance Painter, too.
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03 Interceptor
by Mikalai Dzemiantsevich 3DA username BF.109 Mikalai Dzemiantsevich says: “P-913 is the first droid that was developed through Synthetic War conception. It is designed for effective targeted attacks, using its plasma knife for melee combat and jet engines for quick approach to the battleground.” We say: Mikalai’s knack for intricate hard-surface modelling has made this one a winner – it’s a really interesting mech concept and it’s well posed, too.
04 Angels and Demons
by Amir Cherni 3DA username Amir Cherni Amir Cherni says: “This is my first classic interior. I tried to make a scene that respected the classic rules of design. All the details were made using geometry rendered in V-Ray and 3ds Max. The hardest task for this render were the ornamental arrangements and the scene optimisation.” We say: We can imagine that optimising this scene was a bit of a pain – just look at all of that separate geometry. What a beautiful interior.
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Bedroom by Ali Taghizadeh 3DA username ayaan Ali Taghizadeh says: “The idea of this work came from seeing Scandinavian bedrooms, and I tried to show a quiet place for studying. The resolution of some of the textures is 4,000 x 9,000, some of which have been scanned.” We say: This does feel really Scandinavian in style, and the colours in the tree and balloons really balance out the muted tones elsewhere.
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VW Beetle 1303s 1975 by Vahid Montazeri 3DA username bbbb5331 Vahid Montazeri says: “This work was done with love – I love Beetles. I did the modelling in 3ds Max and rendered and composited it in V-Ray. I hope that you like it!” We say: Strong reflections give this vehicle render a stylised, hyperrealistic look, which we’re big fans of.
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Fender Telecaster by David Norton 3DA username Multimochen David Norton says: “I modelled this guitar as I wanted to make something old and damaged to practise my texturing and material creation skills. I made this with the help of 3ds Max, V-Ray and Photoshop.” We say: Materials galore here – David has done really well to mix glossy surfaces carefully with roughness to get that painted wood effect. Awesome work. 97
98 behind their artwork
LIGHTING This was created for an Evermotion challenge and it was a chance to create something different and imaginative. Shaders and lights were important for the setup. Before and after post-production, I added glare and volume effects. Using a 32-bit channel for output and saving the file in EXR gave me the possibility to work with a bigger light range.
Incredible 3D artists take us
Brooklyn NYC Loft, 2016
Software 3ds Max, Corona, Marvelous Designer, ArionFX
3dartistonline.com/user/Yarko A Ukraine-based CG artist, Yarko is the founder of OUUM and is an arch-vis interior designer
Yarko Kushta
LIGHTING
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