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SHOWCASE 8
Inspirational pieces of 3D work
Fundamentals
TRIMMING POLYS 24
Removing unnecessary polys is key for workow
MESH SMOOTHING 26
Smoothing is an essential basic for modellers
UV MAPS 28
The basics of using UV maps
4
UNDERSTAND YOUR CAMERA 36 SUB-SURFACE SCATTERING 56
Create realistic viewpoints by looking down a lens Create convincing interactions with this technique
VIRTUAL LENSES 98
Create faultless renders with virtual lenses
Tutorials
HANDS 130
Detailed hands in ZBrush
DOG ARTIST
Caet an o Silva
SOFTWARE USED
ZBrush, Modo,
Cinema 4D, Photoshop
8
I tested the fur and
experimented with various
settings of ex, root bend
and kink to achieve the
best result possible
9
HADES, GOD OF
THE UNDERWORLD
ARTIST
Elena Bespalova
SOFTWARE USED
Maya, ZBrush, Keyshot
11
12
MIYAMOTO CHU
WITH HIS
SUPER CAR
ARTIST
Hsun-Chun Chuang
SOFTWARE Maya, mental ray,
Photoshop, After Effects
13
CYBERNETIC
ORGANISM
ARTEMIS AA 3057
ARTIST Sengjoon Song
SOFTWARE Maya, Mari,
Photoshop, nDo, Headus
UVLayout, V-Ray
14
BINGBING
ARTIST Nianzu Zhang
SOFTWARE 3ds Max 2012,
ZBrush, Photoshop,
mental ray, Hairfarm
15
RED-EYED
TREE FROG
ARTIST
Gordon Goane
SOFTWARE ZBrush, Maya,
TopoGun, KeyShot, Photoshop
16
I like pretty much everything
about the process of creating
a character, from modelling
to lighting and rendering
17
VALHALLA
ARTIST Rudolf Herczog
SOFTWARE
Cinema 4D, Maxwell
Render, Photoshop
18
The texturing was an important
part of the project because my
goal was to combine a cartoon
character with a credible look
THE PIRATE
ARTIST
Pietro Licini
SOFTWARE Maya, ZBrush,
Mudbox, Arnold, Photoshop
19
Fundamentals
20
38
36
28
Fundamentals
FUNDAMENTALS
MODELS FOR GAME ENGINES 22 URBAN ENVIRONMENTS 50
Learn core skills with this easy introduction Design realistic cities in no time
INSTANCING 48
Control objects with intelligent cloning
21
FUNDAMENTALS Models for game engines
Fundamentals
Games engines
FOR
Any 3D software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tBuilding models
tUV mapping
Creating 3D models
tAdding detail
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
screenshots at
ARTIST PROFILE
01 Move colour layer 02 Creating passes 02 Finishing the shot
You can use the image generator in Name the group layer, by the size, name In the folder where the Photoshop le
Mike Griggs
Mike Griggs is a concept 3D, Photoshop to do this. Place the colour and le type you want, using a comma as is stored, a new folder is created that
VFX and motion graphics artist layer of the UV map, which is in a master a separator. At the moment this works contains the .jpgs. Any changes made to
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design. Photoshop le, into a group in Photoshop. with .jpg and .png le formats. the colour folder will now update these.
www.creativebloke.com
22
Models for game engines FUNDAMENTALS
Building assets
Fundamentals
You can use tools, such as the new
image generators in Photoshop,
What is a game engine? to create textures at various
A game engine is essentially resolutions dependant on the
a computer environment that game platform, on the y, as you
standardises certain tasks such work on new model asset.
as object physics; this means that Allegorithmics Substance Designer
programmers do not need to worry offers more advanced control over
about creating a new physics your outputs using its nodal
system every time they write a workow. Learning how to use
game. Some popular game engines, these tools can save you lots of
such as CryEngine and Unity, are time in creating textures for your
free to use. And Blender has its game on different platforms.
own game engine, giving you a
complete asset creation tool.
Real-time applications
You may want to access a game
engine to test your 3D model. If
youre an Autodesk user, use the
Nitrous view in 3ds Max and Maya,
this will give you an excellent
approximation of how your model
would look in-game. For non- Using image maps
Autodesk users, the excellent (and Using image maps to enhance Start simple
affordable) Toolbag by Marmoset details is a great way of making When creating a game asset,
allows you to view your models in your game asset memory-efcient making sure it has an efcient
real time, with complete control when being used in a game. topology is top of the list. Ideally
over your texture assets. Programs like xNormal allow you try to build it with as few polygons
to create a range of image-based as you can to start with, and it is
maps, such as normal, displacement a good idea to create your UV map
and ambient occlusion, the latter at this stage too. This low-polygon
being especially useful for adding model will act as your blueprint
shadows into creases and seams as you add detail through the
in your model when mixed with a modelling process, as both the
diffuse colour texture, this can add model and UV will subdivide with
a level of complexity to an asset. you as you work.
23
FUNDAMENTALS Trim polys
Fundamentals
Retopology
FOR
Trim unnecessary
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tRetopology
tRebuilding models
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
screenshots at
creativebloq.com/ Retopologising a model may seem like a chore, but as
getinto3D
Mike Griggs reveals, its a key aspect of the 3D workow
fciency should be at the heart of maintaining the integrity of the main form. its preparing a sculpt for animation or
E every 3D artists decision-making
process when starting a new
This makes the model easier to manage in
animation, in complex scenes and so on.
rebuilding industrial design or architectural
models from their original CAD model
project. Efciency doesnt just mean using However, in the 3D artists workow, a model formats into a le useful for a CGI process,
your time to the best of your abilities it would potentially be expected to switch whether still or animated.
also means allocating enough time to your to a different level of polygons smoothly, To retain the detail, especially in sculpted
modelling to maximise the efciency of your depending on the range of outputs it could work, a range of specialised image maps
meshes when they are assigned to the task have, from high-end animation to a game can be used to cheat the geometry back
you have for them. asset for a mobile device. Theres also the onto your retopologised model. For most
One of the key skills in making efcient question of polygon ow. This has huge output types this is a completely valid
models is gaining a good understanding of implications for animation. The imported approach, and an essential skill for game
retopology (aka retopo, if youre one of the mesh of a gure may have a dense mesh development designers.
cool kids). One of the best examples of why over the chest and shoulder muscle area, Thankfully, 3D software developers have
you would use retopology is in making a thanks to an amazing job done by the realised that hardly any artists use just one
sculpted gure, which you may have created digital sculptor; but when moved into the 3D application any more, and have started
About the author
in an application such as ZBrush or Mudbox, animation application, such a mesh may adding retopology toolsets into their core
Mike Griggs is capable of supporting an animation rig in bend in an unrealistic fashion due to the workows. These tools can also enhance
a freelance a more traditional 3D application such as density of the polygons and their directions. your day-to-day modelling work. Learning
concept 3D, VFX
and motion Maya, 3ds Max or Cinema 4D. Essentially, the act of retopology is retopology may seem like starting from
graphics artist At its most basic level, retopology is rebuilding the dense model as a much more scratch but its a critical skill, and one that
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design reducing the number of polygons used efcient one for your pipeline, and it should will make the most of your 3D creations in
www.creativebloke.com in the model as much as possible while be accounted for in any project, whether their target environments.
01 Import the mesh 02 Reduce the polygon count 03 Copy and flip the work
I import my sculpted mesh into my main 3D I draw a strip of quad polygons along the major My model started in a neutral pose, so I only need
application. Ive used ZBrushs Decimation Master muscle lines, ensuring my snapping tools tie into to work on one side. Once nished, I can then
plug-in to help lower the poly count. the main forms of the sculpted mesh. mirror the mesh to complete the work.
24
Trim polys FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
When working on a mesh, always Many retopology tools enable you
start with a neutral pose, unless to shrink-wrap ordered meshes of
its for a one-off sculpt that will polygons onto the mesh thats to
never be used in any other way. be retopologised, which is usually
While the model may be for a still on the layer in the background,
only, modelling in a neutral pose if your 3D application supports
allows you to concentrate on the layers. This can be a good way of
models polygon ow, and ensures covering large areas with ordered
the likelihood of interoperability geometry. Be careful, though, to
of your mesh between 3D adjust your new mesh to the lines
applications. It will also help you of the existing model rather than
to cover areas more evenly with being strictly on a rigid XY grid.
textures especially when using
UV maps.
25
FUNDAMENTALS Mesh smoothing
Fundamentals
Mesh smoothing
FOR
All software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tSub-division
modelling
The fundamentals
tNURBS
of mesh smoothing
Smoothing techniques are at the heart of every
3D artists toolset, as Mike Griggs explains
nowing how to create smooth not support NURBS, so these inevitably than a series of patches. While most 3D
K geometry in your 3D meshes is
one of the most important skills
have to be converted into polygon meshes.
This conversion process is usually horribly
applications support both NURBS and
polygon model creation, it can still be hard
to learn as an artist. Traditionally there inefcient, and potentially requires a rebuild to know which method to start with.
have been two types of modelling which for animation purposes, due to the ow Thankfully theres a newer form of
have dominated in 3D. The rst is polygon of the polygons created by the NURBS modelling called sub-division surfaces which
modelling, which involves the creation of not being in the right place for polygonal takes the best of both NURBS and polygon
planes (polygons) of three sides or greater animation. This is because polygons consist modelling, and creates a model which can
joined via their edges to other polygons. only of a at plane; curved edges need to be have easy-to-manipulate smooth surfaces
The other is NURBS (non-uniform rational built of many of these small polygons, and but with full texture control. Sub-division
basis spline), which uses a system of curves this leads to complex meshes. This lacks the surfaces work by creating geometry based
and control points to create what are called elegance of a NURBS surface as it increases on an underlying simpler polygon model,
patches of geometry. by an order of magnitude the number of therefore from the outset they are more
At rst glance, NURBS creates smoother control points to deal with. suited to all types of animation. There are
geometry, which is much more accurate, The key benet to polygon modelling other types of modelling, such as Boolean
hence its wide use in industrial design. As is that it is inherently easier to grasp than and of course sculpting, but regardless of
the geometry has few control points, it is working with NURBS, because you are their method of creation, learning how to
I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H quick and easy to manipulate a surface. interacting with polygonal surfaces which smooth with your 3D app is key to producing
www.mediadesignschool.com However, a lot of 3D and game engines do form a model in a much more logical manner good-looking and efcient models.
ARTIST PROFILE
01 Creating a tight smooth 02 Select the edges 03 Creating a bevel
Mike Griggs
edge on a cube In order to x this, switch back to Make sure a new edge is created in the
Mike Griggs is a concept 3D, When a standard cube is converted from polygon mode and select all the edges. middle of your bevel. Switching back to
VFX and motion graphics artist polygons to a sub-division surface, it ends Using an Edge Bevel tool, expand the sub-divisions should give you a much
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design. up looking like a sphere. edges a small distance. better-looking cube.
www.creativebloke.com
26
Mesh smoothing FUNDAMENTALS
Smoothing tips
SOME IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
Render smoothing
Fundamentals
Renderers can also help with
smoothing, as they can simulate
smoothing on the surface of a
model using a material or shader.
This can also be used in reverse if
you want to quickly create
a faceted object. Some render
engines, such as V-Ray and modo,
can also give simple geometry the
look of more complex bevelled
edges. Check to see if your
Using textures to smooth renderer can smooth, as this can
Certain type of textures can be be a useful trick to reduce your
used to smooth geometry. Normal modelling time and polygon count.
maps, while most commonly used
for adding detail to geometry, have
the somewhat opposite effect of
smoothing the geometry in a
sub-division model. When applied
to a low-res asset, such as a game
model, a normal map can give the
appearance of a much more
complex mesh, as well as being
useful to quickly and easily bevel
corners of geometry.
27
FUNDAMENTALS UV maps
Fundamentals
Textures
FOR
t"MMTPGUXBSF
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
The fundamentals
t6OXSBQQJOH
t.BQQJOH
DOWNLOADS
:PVMMmOEGVMMTJ[F
of using UV maps
TDSFFOTIPUTBU
DSFBUJWFCMPRDPN
HFUJOUP%
28
UV maps FUNDAMENTALS
Mapping tips
SIMPLE HINTS THAT WILL MAKE MAPPING EASIER
Fundamentals
Hiding Seams
When choosing your seams for your UV,
try and make the seams in invisible areas
for example under hairlines or clothes, or
on logical parts of a hard-surface model
such as a door. This minimises chances
of the texture pinching, especially when
animated or when you decide to bake a
texture for the creation of normal maps.
29
FUNDAMENTALS Rigging
Fundamentals
Any software
Animation
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
rules of rigging
inverse kinematics
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
screenshots at
creativebloq.com/
getinto3D Learning how to rig your models properly is the start to
bringing them to life with animation, says Mike Griggs
igging is at the heart of the majority Controllers are the key to creating a good projects are bespoke and while all-in-one
R of computer animations. It sits in
a slightly counter-intuitive point to
rig, especially when dealing with character
animation, where otherwise all youd have is
solutions are useful, they should only be
seen as a starting point. Thankfully, the
modelling in that, while visually a rig can look a never-ending hierarchy of bones or joints fundamentals of rigging are generic across
and act like a skeleton, a well thought out to manage. A well set up controller scheme most applications. Forward and inverse
and constructed rig with a full set of intuitive can enable you to hide the bone and joint kinematics (FK and IK) are standard devices
controllers can manipulate everything from skeleton of the rig and concentrate on for driving rigs with FK usually more
a clenching st down to skin rippling from whats important the animation. applicable to creatures and humanoids
muscle deformation of the eyelids. While its good form to create your rigs and controls for rigging are more or less the
The most common application of rigging yourself, its become more straightforward same across most apps.
is in character animation. However, any to use pre-existing rigs and attach them to An understanding of rigging is also crucial
type of animation in which the actions, your mesh. This can be a huge time-saver in if youre using motion capture data to drive
position in the hierarchy or manipulation a non-feature lm scenario, where rigging your animations. With very few exceptions,
of one object controls another can be is rightly a separate strand of the pipeline mocap data needs to be manipulated or
About the author
called a rig. A good example of this would alongside modelling and animation. sometimes used as a guide for keyframe
Mike Griggs is be the steering wheel assembly for a car, Most of these new auto rigs, as theyre animation, especially when being applied
a freelance where a turn of the steering wheel either called, come with predened animations to creature designs where proportions
concept 3D, VFX
and motion by directly rotating the steering wheel such as walk cycles to help you get your are being changed. A properly engineered
graphics artist object or by using a custom slider created animation blocked out as quickly and rig will accommodate these changes and
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design by the user changes the direction of the efciently as possible. However, the great greatly facilitate your main aim, which is to
www.creativebloke.com vehicles main wheels. thing about computer graphics is that most bring your animations to life.
01 Make the IK chain and controller 02 Set up the IK 03 Attach the null to the controller
First, create a simple IK chain made of three joints, Now you need to set up the IK: choose the end Place the goal null under the spline controller in
and then make a small triangular spline and offset joint as the end of the IK chain, and add a null to the object hierarchy. When the controller is moved,
that from the IK chain. be the goal of the IK chain. the IK chain moves with it.
30
Rigging FUNDAMENTALS
Pre-rigged solutions
Applications such as Cinema 4D and MotionBuilder come with powerful tools to
automatically apply a pre-existing rig to your mesh. Alternatively, applications
such as Poser and Daz Studio provide an environment to create and animate your
character using pre-rigged models, and then offer the ability to get that into your
preferred 3D app. Online services such as Mixamo (www.mixamo.com) enable you
to upload your mesh and apply a free automatic rig, which can then be animated.
Fundamentals
Online training
There is a variety of online courses
available, but start on the principles
of rigging before you get stuck into
software specics. Both fxphd and
Digital-Tutors offer courses using
rigs that are either ready-made or
Creating and using designed for you to make yourself.
controllers and channels For those with smaller budgets,
Making and using custom Blender has excellent rigging tools
controllers may seem like a hassle, as well as free tutorials on rigging
but making logical controllers helps via the Blender Wiki.
to reduce the number of objects you
need to animate. Most applications
create controllers using standard
splines that are then linked to your
joint hierarchy. Controllers can
be just handles that are selected
to drive joints, but they can also
(when selected) show a range of
channel sliders that allow you to
control more complex actions,
with some of these actions
potentially automated.
Mesh topology
When you want to bind your rig to your mesh, make sure the
meshs topology is suitable for animation, especially if your
character has come from a sculpting application such as
ZBrush or Mudbox. This will require a good understanding
of anatomy when you retopologise your model to make it
more suitable for animation, which should also make it more
efcient. There are lots of applications available for mobile
devices that show how the body moves.
31
FUNDAMENTALS Rigid body dynamics
Fundamentals
Any software
Dynamics
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tUsing rigid body
Understand rigid
dynamics systems
tDynamics for stills
and animation
tCreating physics
simulations
body dynamics
Once the holy grail of CGI, physics-based dynamics
solutions are now available to everyone, says Mike Griggs
he VFX supervisor tells you that cradle, but are also the basis of practically play: efcient geometry and texturing of the
T the director wants hundreds of
bullets bouncing off the gunship in
all the destruction you see in the movies
today. With dynamics, you dont need
elements, as well as an understanding of the
best way to break your models, will increase
slow-mo, and the rest of the team has food to laboriously animate every element; the speed of your simulations.
poisoning from last nights pizza. You smile, instead, the computer simulates a scenario You need to be careful that the dynamics
and tell them youll have an animatic of the created by the artist based on the physical system in your 3D application does what
scene ready for the director in 30 minutes. characteristics theyve set out. you want it to, because not all programs
How is this possible? The answer is One of the earliest standout examples implement them in the same way. There
dynamic physics simulation, in this case rigid of such work can be seen in the pod race are various types of rigid body dynamics
body dynamics, which engender real-world sequence of Star Wars Episode I: The systems, too: while the open source Bullet
characteristics such as mass, density Phantom Menace. Every time a pod racer system is common in 3D applications, its
and collision boundaries on your carefully crashes and the engine smashes into myriad not the only one available.
About the author
modelled and textured geometry. parts, thats an early example of dynamics, Bear in mind that rigid body dynamics
Mike Griggs is Rigid body dynamics could be seen as implemented by the talented team at arent just used for animation theyre also
a freelance a basic dynamics system when compared Industrial Light & Magic. exceptionally handy for stills. They can add
concept 3D,
visual effects and with soft body or uid simulations. This As with all simulations, the more complex real-world variety and randomness to your
motion graphics would be a mistake, though, because rigid the information the longer it will take for 3D scenes and animations, and can create
artist working across TV,
exhibition and digital design body dynamics systems not only enable your machine to create the simulation. This elements in minutes that would take hours
creativebloke.com you to make your own version of Newtons is where your skill as a 3D artist comes into to build by hand.
Create a simulation
32 3dworldmag.com
Rigid body dynamics FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
03 Cost-effective
dynamics systems
Nearly all the major 3D applications
come with a rigid body dynamics
system, but there are alternatives
if money is tight. Blender has a full
dynamics system thats becoming
increasingly well-featured. Houdini,
widely recognised as being one
of the most capable applications
in the eld, has a free version that
creates low-res, watermarked
renders. Side Effects Software also
offers Houdini Apprentice HD for
$99, which enables you to create
watermark-free HD animations for
your personal projects and portfolio.
02 Mass effect
Just using the default
settings of your dynamics system
will probably not give you the
right results. Object mass will
have a huge impact (literally) on
the outcome of your dynamics
simulation: a beach ball and a
wrecking ball may be approximately
the same size, but only one will make
its way through a brick wall. This
can be useful to remember when
you need to cheat the audience. 05 Dynamics for stills
Dynamics can also be
used for stills in a variety of ways.
One of the best examples is to use
a dynamics system to show a point
04 Motion graphics
Its not only VFX applications that are getting into dynamics
motion graphics are using them too, predominantly with 3D apps such as
in time for example, in a bowling
lane. The dynamics system will give
the pins a randomness as theyre
Cinema 4D. The Newton plug-in (motionboutique.com) creates a rigid body hit by the bowling ball, creating a
dynamics system directly in After Effects. While its not a direct replacement much more lifelike scene setup in
for a full 3D rigid body dynamics solution, it does offer a lot of creative a fraction of the time it would have
possibilities without having to take a round trip to a dedicated 3D application. taken to do it by hand.
33
FUNDAMENTALS Soft body dynamics
Fundamentals
Any software
Dynamics
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tUsing soft body
dynamics systems
tSimulating clothing
and material
Understand soft
tFine-tuning your
simulations
body dynamics
Soft dynamics solutions can be used for everything
from clothes to car suspension. Mike Griggs explains
how to get the most out of them for your scenes
ack in the day, a tablecloth was There are other methods of simulating the control of their bounciness, stiffness
B one of the hardest things to model.
Why? It had to look natural, and
cloth using deformers and sculpting
tools but soft body dynamics systems
and how much they will shear. The other
element that can have a major impact on
modelling each of those pleats and wrinkles allow for a much quicker implementation, your simulation is the amount of friction
lled the modeller with a sense of despair. which can be used as effectively for stills inherent within your mesh and any surfaces
Now you can lay a convincing tablecloth as for animations. As with the majority of it appears on.
almost as quickly as you can in real life, visual effects simulations, the computer However, dont just think of soft
thanks to soft body dynamics. isnt actually simulating real cloth; instead, body dynamics as your one-stop fabric
Soft body dynamics form the majority of its creating a set of parameters using a solution. Soft bodies can be used to create
clothing and soft body object simulations predened system of constraints to move vegetation, muscle and fat on characters
(meaning anything that doesnt smash, your mesh in order to give the appearance and hair, and can also be used as a basic
chip or splash). While not quite as common of your chosen material. uid system if all you want to do is show
About the author
in applications as rigid dynamics systems, The most common form of soft body surface water. You can use soft body
Mike Griggs is soft body systems are appearing in more simulation uses the mass-spring model, dynamics to inate objects for more
a freelance and more 3D programs as part of their which creates a series of interconnected cartoony animations and motion graphics,
concept 3D, VFX
and motion core feature set. They often come in two springs on your mesh that can, in effect, be and to make objects behave against type.
graphics artist different modes, one for creating soft body tightened or loosened to create the correct From bouncing anvils to exible mirrors, the
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design simulations and the other more tailored to attributes for your mesh. This direct control creative possibilities that these techniques
www.creativebloke.com creating clothing and material. of the springs is usually done through offer are practically limitless.
34 www.3dworldmag.com
Soft body dynamics FUNDAMENTALS
02 Create tears
Fundamentals
Soft body dynamics can also
be used to create tears in objects. This
is different from the shattering of rigid
bodies because your mesh can stretch
to a predened point before it tears.
This is a good way to differentiate
between various types of material
a piece of paper will tear much more
quickly than a plastic bag. Vary the
geometry in your bag to create less
polygonal-looking tears.
03 Physical properties
Soft body simulations can
be used to create what would be
considered solid objects. A cuboid will
react vastly differently if given a soft
body simulation as opposed to a rigid
body one. You can use soft dynamics
to imitate plastic and rubberised
objects such as tyres, and they can
also be employed to inate objects
including plush toys and balloons. They
can be used to simulate the physical
properties of various types of food as
well, from chocolate to spaghetti.
35
FUNDAMENTALS Camera basics
Fundamentals
Mastering
camera effects
FOR
Any 3D software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tCamera simulation
tLens are
Understanding
tCamera simulation
tFocal lengths
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
the camera
screenshots at
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getinto3D
ARTIST PROFILE
01 Get photo information 02 Create a camera in 3D 03 Place 3D objects
Use Lightroom to get the .exif data from Create a camera with the same focal Place an object in the 3D scene that lines
Mike Griggs
Mike is a concept 3D, VFX the photograph, the focal length, the length the sensor size for the camera up to the photograph. Next you can light
and motion graphics artist aperture and the shutter speed, as well can be found from the internet and use the object in a way that makes it t more
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design. as the time of day and the date. the original photograph as a backdrop. naturally into the scene.
www.creativebloke.com
36
Camera basics FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
using DOF is a key creative way to
use a camera. DOF is dened by the
aperture of the lens and its focal
distance in combination with the
size of lm/digital sensor youre
using. Most software renderers
can now account for DOF, but it can
be at the expense of render times.
Thankfully a lot of compositors can
generate DOF from a depth pass.
Bokeh
Bokeh is how out-of-focus elements
look through a particular lens. It is
Using the correct focal length most apparent when highlights or
Using the right length of lens for the light sources are out of focus on a
subject can help make a convincing image. dark background. Bokeh can be
For example, to create a portrait image, used to help isolate objects. You
most photographers would use a lens can use a lens with a low aperture
around the 85-100mm length to make to create bokeh, but telephoto
sure that the features are in proportion. lenses can also be used as long as
If you were to use a wide lens (17-24mm), theres a big distance between your
the features would create a comedic look. focus and background objects.
37
FUNDAMENTALS HDR
Fundamentals
Image-based
lighting
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tCapturing HDRI
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
38
HDR FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
Having a 360 panorama image is
the primary driver for your lighting
and reections, but they can look
a bit rough if used as a backdrop HDRI resources
for your render. If youre making The best place to start your journey into image-based lighting
your own HDR images, take other is the HDRLabs site (www.hdrlabs.com), which has a vast
photos of the area that can be range of resources. These include free HDRs and links to other
used as an undistorted backplate. sites, as well as to Christian Blochs excellent book The HDRI
If youre using a sh-eye lens, use Handbook. There are various sites that supply free HDRIs
a standard lens as well to acquire some with backplates such as www.hdri4u.com. The
the backplate stills. majority of HDRI stock imagery is heavily rights managed, so
check rst if you are going to use anything commercially.
39
FUNDAMENTALS Hair and fur
Fundamentals
Hair and Fur
FOR
Any 3D software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tGenerating
instances
How to create
tExternal instances
tCreating variety
40
Hair and fur FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
ction spaceship.
Hair variation
To create more convincing hair
shapes it is always good to add
as much variety as you can. Even
if combed in the same direction,
each hair will lie differently. Get
to know the specics of setting
hair in your chosen software
as each package handles
hair differently. Make sure
however you have some
ability to change the colour
down the length of hair along
with the ability to add kink,
frizz and other attributes
that will enhance your model.
41
FUNDAMENTALS Creature design
Fundamentals
Creature design
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tReference
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
screenshots at
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getinto3D
creature design
Creature design is both exciting and daunting in equal
measures. Mike Griggs helps you get started
he whole reason that we get into not to a brief, why not write a description of exist, but use plausible anatomy to link them
T 3D is to create stuff, and one of
the purest expressions of this is
what you want your creature to be? This can
include what character traits you want it
it wont look convincing if you dont use
realistic proportions.
designing new creatures. Until we discover have as well as its appearance. Reference is key to creature design, as
alien lifeforms or they discover us CGI Sketching out rough ideas is also is starting simply with a clear idea of what
offers us an amazing way of imagining them important, but dont worry if youre not you want your creature to be like. If you
for ourselves. Designing creatures isnt just condent in your drawing skills use basic look at one of the most iconic creature
about new life: its applicable in interpreting geometric shapes and lines to block out designs the Xenomorph from the Alien lm
written descriptions of prehistoric or your creature, which you can then build trilogy it succeeds in being relentlessly
fantasy worlds, from dragons and yet-to- upon later. You can use these shapes to terrifying as it mixes recognisable bipedal
be-discovered dinosaurs to Gollum. create interesting silhouettes of your form, juxtaposed with an elongated human
About the author
So how do you go about designing a creature design; these will be the key skull with no eyes artist HR Giger felt the
Mike Griggs is creature? Its easy to get stuck staring at elements of any new creature or character creature would be more frightening if you
a freelance a white piece of paper or screen while you design, and should depict the character of couldnt tell whether it was looking at you.
concept 3D, VFX
and motion try to imagine a creature and how it looks. the creature as well. Without Gigers designs we would have
graphics artist Thankfully, there are techniques you can use Another great source of inspiration is never known such a creature could exist,
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design to get your creature-creating juices owing. the world around us. Dont be afraid to mix even in our nightmares, and thats what
www.creativebloke.com If youre designing the creature yourself and in elements from creatures that already makes creature design so compelling.
42
Creature design FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
Get good reference
The key to all good design work is
reference. To give your creature
a grounding in reality, its good to
gather as much image reference
as you can. The human photo
reference site 3D.sk (www.3d.
sk) has a large range of animal
imagery as well, including skeletal
breakdowns. Consider enrolling in
a life drawing class to hone your
skills, or take as many photos as you
can of yourself and other people.
Animals are also a great reference
for creature design.
Finish in Photoshop
If you have your creature design
blocked out but dont have the time,
or experience, to texture it using
techniques such as UV mapping,
dont worry many leading concept
artists render a version of their
design with no colour and then
paint the texture onto the model
in Photoshop (or a similar 2D
package). While not practical for
animation, if youre working on still Create for free
images this technique allows you Sculpting your creature is the most natural
to focus on your image with little way to create on the computer. While most
render overhead. 3D applications now come with some form
of sculpting package (either built in, or as an
associated application), learning curves can be
daunting. Sculptris from Pixologic, the maker
of ZBrush is a free sculpting and texturing
application that is quick to learn and can export
3D meshes ready for other applications.
43
FUNDAMENTALS Metal
Fundamentals
Any software
Materials
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tRendering realistic-
looking metal
tUsing UV maps to
add surface texture
tLighting with
Render realistic
HDR images
metal surfaces
Metal CGI surfaces are no longer about making
everything look like chrome. Mike Griggs explains
here was a time back in the early differently as it moves, as each microscopic the base for your render becomes really
T days of CGI when making an object
look metallic was a simple case
polished groove catches the light.
The current king of metal is Industrial
important. Whether youre making the
imagery yourself or getting it from stock or
of making it reective. If you wanted gold Light & Magic. Its work on the Iron Man and from special HDR-creating software, using
instead of silver, youd change the reection Transformers lms is astonishingly good, HDR images to lay the base for lighting your
colour. It wasnt complicated and, at the and you can see the iteration in the metal scene is the key to bringing out the best
time, it got the job done. The only problem shaders, especially in the changes in the suit in your metal renders. Ideally, you should
was that it didnt look real. between Iron Man and Iron Man 2, where take photos of an object thats made of
As rendering software and texturing softer, more natural-looking highlights as the metal material you want to create, for
techniques have developed, its now well as discernible bufng in the metal reference. An online search will get you in
possible to create realistic-looking metal can be seen. But you dont need to have touch with metal nish suppliers who should
elements, but its not as straightforward a feature-lm budget to create realistic be able to give you small samples for free.
a task as you might think. Metals tend to metal surfaces. With global illumination Getting to know your renderer of
About the author
be nished surfaces, which means theyve and similar rendering solutions becoming choice is paramount. Learning how to dial
Mike Griggs is been polished or brushed in a pattern, commonplace across rendering software, in the correct number of samples and
a freelance whether its the brushed aluminium of its easier to create realistic-looking metal. the correct type of antialiasing for your
concept 3D, VFX
and motion an iPhone or the steel factory oor plate. One of the great leaps forward has scene is critical in getting photoreal metal
graphics artist Most of this nishing is done by automated been the idea of rendering metal using its elements. And, of course, you need to
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design processes, but that still means that the environment. This is where having proper balance all these factors against that old
www.creativebloke.com surface of your metal object will reect image-based lighting (IBL) solutions to lay bugbear the render time.
44
Metal FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
and its controlled as a direct property of the material or metals in many ways, such as
through the manipulation of UV maps. using scratches on a texture
map to indicate wear and tear
to the surface. If you have
painted metal surfaces, again use
scratches to show layers of paint
coming off. Another method, if
your software supports it, is to
use occlusion passes to build
grime and wear directly into the
material, without having to make
bespoke texture maps.
03 HDR lighting to
enhance metal
The key to making metals pop is
to understand how they reect
the scene that theyre in. This
means creating a believable
lighting environment to capture
the incidence of reection (IOR)
and fresnel qualities of your
metal material. You can use the
traditional methods of creating
your own HDR environments,
or use stock ones from your
3D application.
04 Balance quality
and render time
Tuning your render software
can take patience. Key elements
include your antialiasing rate,
and your renement rate and
threshold, as well as increasing
the number of GI samples used.
Have these settings too low and
you can end up with a blotchy
render too high and your render
time becomes untenable. Work
on a region of your render so you
can iterate more quickly.
45
FUNDAMENTALS Tiled textures
Fundamentals
Tiling textures
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tProcedural textures
The fundamentals
tImage-based
textures
tOptimising tiled
textures
tHiding seams
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
screenshots and
video at
creativebloq.com/
of tiled textures
getinto3D
Learning how to create seamless textures can speed
up your workow hugely. Mike Griggs shares some tips
dding textures to your objects is can be a mixture of procedural where the for the wooden oor would be larger in pixel
A one of the rst things you learn
on the road to becoming a 3D
computer is generating the texture from
a series of inputted parameters to an
size than that used for the road. This helps
maximise the scene efciency because its
artist; its also one of the hardest to master. image-based solution, which uses imagery loaded into memory for both modelling and
From UV maps and incidence angles to the from either the artists own photographic rendering, which makes your work faster.
difference between reective and specular reference or stock sources. If you have large expanses of tiled
surfaces in the real world, there isnt one The trick with tiling textures is to hide textures, renders can look very repetitive,
theres a lot to get your head around. One the seams. This can be managed by using no matter how good the textures are. If
of the key early steps to mastering textures Photoshop or a similar 2D package to adapt your software can support it, use other
is getting them to tile properly. Learning this images for tiling, or to literally make seams. layers in your texture to add a bit of variety
skill, and knowing how and when to use tiled For example, beading on cushions or beams nothing in the world is exactly the same,
About the author
seamless textures rather than full-blown on a factory oor can all be used to hide especially over time. You can still use tiling
Mike Griggs is 8Ktexture maps on your models, can be the awkward texture joins. Planning your scene textures to add dirt to a road by using a
a freelance key to meeting your deadline. and texture load is also important. pattern to help wear away some of the
concept 3D, VFX
and motion The obvious uses for tiling textures are Tiled textures come into their own if regularity of the underlying white painted
graphics artist in arch-viz, to help depict everything from they are optimised for the nal output, so if lines. Tricks like this can bring your imagery
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design parquet oors to waves stretching far out youre creating a view looking out of a wood- to life while still using tiling textures to make
www.creativebloke.com into the ocean. Textures for arch-viz work oored building onto a road, the tiled texture your life as an artist simpler.
46
Tiled textures FUNDAMENTALS
Tiling software
Luxology retired its application ImageSynth which could
create tiling textures from nearly any image in 2011, but
modo users may still have access to it. In its place, PixPlant
(www.pixplant.com), Genetica (www.spiralgraphics.biz/
genetica.htm), Dark Tree (www.darksim.com) and Map
Zone (www.mapzoneeditor.com) are all great for tiling your
textures, and in some cases can make procedural textures.
Fundamentals
Efficient textures
Computers like efciency,
especially when being pushed to
the maximum by 3D artists. To
make the most of your resources,
make your textures as efcient
as possible by preparing them
correctly. Try to make your textures
Procedural textures square. Common square texture
Most 3D applications come with the pixel sizes are 256, 512, 1,024,
ability to make procedural textures. 2,048, 4,096, etc. Creating a set of
Procedural textures are innitely different sizes of the same textures
tilable materials that are generated can be useful for swapping out for
by the 3D software using a set of distant objects, or if youre creating
user-dened parameters. One of assets for game engines.
the most common uses for this is to
create noise in textures, which can
be used to break up the regularity
of image-based tiled textures.
Some new procedural textures
create occlusion effects to help
break up the edges of meshes
with tiled materials.
47
FUNDAMENTALS Instancing
Fundamentals
Scene layout
FOR
Any 3D software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tGenerating
instances
The fundamentals
tExternal instances
tCreating variety
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
of instancing
screenshots at
creativebloq.com/
getinto3D
48
Instancing FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
instances can be animated via
deformers within the cloning
tool and this carries across all or
pre-selected instances. You can
also use these same techniques
to offset the time of animations of
your instances to add variety to a
running crowd. Dynamics, when
applied to instances, can create
complex animations, and allow
the computer to concentrate its
resources on the simulation rather External files
than on the geometry. as instances
If youre working in a team,
instances can be a great way
of collaborating efciently. If
one artist is working on a model
of a soldier, another artist can
reference that model as an
external instance for animating
in a crowd scene where multiple
instances of the soldier can be
seen. As the instances are derived
Optimising your scene from a separate model le, when
The great thing about using the soldier model is revised by the
instances is that they allow you to modelling artist, the layout and
manipulate more geometric data animation artist will see this new
than your computer could handle model used without the need to
if each instance were a unique redo any of the animation.
object. However, you may still nd
that your machine can grind when
working with a large amount of
instances. If available, view your
instances as bounding boxes,
which give a representation of the
position and scale of your instance
but will help your computer more
efciently manipulate the scene
before your render.
Instancing software
Most 3D packages use instancing at the core of their pipelines,
and render applications like V-Ray have render proxies which
allow you to only bring in geometry at render time while being
represented by bounding boxes or similar while youre in your edit
view. The new player on the instancing software block is Clarisse
iFX by Isotropix: this 3D layout application takes instancing to a
new paradigm with the ability to allow you to edit your instances
directly within your Preview/Render View.
49
FUNDAMENTALS Environments
Fundamentals
Urban scene
creation
FOR
Any 3D software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tCloner objects
tCreating hero
Creating a realistic
buildings
tAdding details
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
urban environment
screenshots at
creativebloq.com/
ARTIST PROFILE
01 Create a basic cityscape 02 Creating passes 03 Add hero buildings
Were going to create a city layout using Apply the model library to the polygon Repeat the process, but add some taller
Mike Griggs
Mike is a concept 3D, VFX cloner objects. First, create a very large and then simply apply some random buildings by randomising the scale. This
and motion graphics artist polygon, which you will use as a cloner variation to give some variety to the gives you a basic city design, which you
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design. base for your existing building library set. basic city elements. can start to add districts and streets to.
www.creativebloke.com
50
Environments FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
Vital software
Esris CityEngine is a key piece
of kit, which can generate a wealth
of bespoke buildings and layout
quickly and efciently from an
imported map source, CityEngine
import map data, to populate
existing cities. It can also generate
procedural city layouts via a simple
set of parameters, giving you
convincing cities from any period,
past, present or future very quickly.
Building interiors
Its important to build the interiors
of skyscraper rooms for hero
Using compositing apps buildings, to allow convincing
The 3D tools in Nuke can be used with parallax and reections to occur.
its projection mapping tools to create If your deadline/budget doesnt
geometry from city photography, which allow for full interior modelling,
can be moved around in and may prove using tricks like making a couple
a more efcient method than modelling of interiors with a picture of a room
a city. After Effects users can use plug-ins placed on a polygon card with
such as Metropolitan with the Element 3D another polygon with a texture-
plug-in to create convincing cities. mapped curtain, can be a solution.
51
FUNDAMENTALS Particle simulations
Fundamentals
Any software
Particles
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
particle simulations
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
screenshots at
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getinto3D
52
Particle simulations FUNDAMENTALS
Static particles
Particles are often thought of as oating elements with a
nite lifespan. However, the underlying fuzzy logic is used
to create elements such as grass and hair, and in crowd
generation software such as Massive. Thinking of these
as particles can help you to map out your scene more
efciently in terms of time spent on background elements.
Fundamentals
Use meshes
and morphs to
simulate particles
Even though most 3D
packages come with
true particle systems
2D particles (including the open-
The ideal is to render all particle source Blender), you
simulations as true to life as is may nd that constantly
possible in their full volumetric running and caching
glory, but due to limits on either simulations takes too
hardware or render time this long for your project.
isnt possible on the majority of In this case, most
shots. However, most particle applications also
systems allow the use of 2D support the placing of
sprites, which are pre-rendered objects or particles on
stills or animations, as the basis of an existing mesh. This
particles. The computing overhead can be a good way to
for 2D sprites is much lower than get a complex image
with their 3D equivalents, allowing underway quickly. If your
you to iterate more quickly. 3D application supports
vertex manipulations of
meshes, its a good way
of animating them too.
Particle plug-ins
Nuke, Fusion and After Effects have the capability to create 3D
particle simulations, either directly or via plug-ins. Two of the most
popular particle solutions for After Effects are Trapcode Form
and Particular (which is also available for Nuke). These allow the
creation of realistic effects such as rainfall with depth. They also
enable you to import your 3D mesh into a 2D application so it can
be manipulated as the basis of a particle solution.
53
FUNDAMENTALS Fluid dynamics
Fundamentals
Any software
Dynamics
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tFluid dynamics
systems
tSimulating liquids
and gases
tSoftware options
DOWNLOADS
Understand uid
Youll nd full-size
screenshots at
creativebloq.com/
getinto3D dynamics systems
Fluid simulations used to be purely scientic, but 3D
artists can now use them too. Mike Griggs explores how
luid dynamics arent just about both its surface and movement underneath are various methods of solving simulations
F making things wet. Theyre also
about making things dusty, cloudy,
the water is still in true supercomputer
territory. In fact, most of the software
for uids in various pieces of software,
which range in price from free to the cost
smoky, ery and very, very bloody. The major thats now used to create uid sims was of a small car. Dependant on your core 3D
difference between uid simulations and derived from early work in computation uid application, nd out if there are plug-ins
rigid and soft body dynamics is that instead dynamics after the Second World War in that create uids to save you having to
of applying a simulation to a mesh, youre scientic institutions throughout the world. round-trip to another app, because time is
applying it to a range of particles. These Secondly, remember that for the majority something your computer will tend to need
are then meshed in the case of liquid or can of your shots youre going to be asked to to solve more complex simulations.
have 2D or volumetric sprites attached to create simulations that have nothing to Some of these software solutions work
them in the case of gases and clouds to do with the real world. Whether its the well for small-scale simulations such as a
About the author
allow your 3D software to render them. re emanating from a dragons mouth or product shot of some wine being poured,
Mike Griggs is The rst thing to bear in mind when using animated dancers made out of water, youre but this simulation method wouldnt work as
a freelance uid dynamics, especially with liquids, is that going to be creating simulations that have to well for ocean waves crashing against rocks.
concept 3D, VFX
and motion your simulations will probably not be 100 be art directed and therefore the need to Experiment with as many tools as you can;
graphics artist per cent physically accurate. The amount of be truly accurate becomes less important. some of the more advanced software tools
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design processing power required to create a true Both of these factors mean that you have a range of uid solvers to help you nd
www.creativebloke.com simulation of a moving ocean that depicts really need to break down your shots. There the best method for your shot.
54
Fluid dynamics FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
Not all liquids behave like water, Some uid dynamics solutions are
and some solids can become liquids wax, bundled directly within the 3D application,
for example. Be aware of this when art as in Softimage and Maya. Plug-ins that
directing your animation: the viscosity of handle uids are available for 3ds Max and
your liquid material can give it all kinds of Cinema 4D, while Houdini has a range of
characteristics, especially when being uid systems along with its full dynamics
applied when moving or interacting with setup. RealFlow and Naiad are standalone
other meshes. If you need to mix liquids, be uid applications that produce amazing
sure your uid solution can accommodate results. Dont dismiss Blender, though it
mixing different liquid materials. has for the money (free) an excellent uid
system that created the geometry for the
main image in this tutorial.
55
FUNDAMENTALS Sub-surface scattering
Fundamentals
Lighting
FOR
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tReections
tLayering colour
Sub-surface
tRendering
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd full-size
screenshots at
scattering
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getinto3D
56
Sub-surface scattering FUNDAMENTALS
Fundamentals
is everywhere
It would be a mistake to assume
that only organic textures, such
as skin and viscous liquids, have
SSS. Synthetic materials such as
plastics, as well as some types
of wood and paper, display SSS
characteristics. Spend time
examining materials in real life to
get a true sense of how an object
reacts to light.
57
FUNDAMENTALS Medical graphics
Fundamentals
Any software
Medical CGI
5 MINUTES
OF VIDEO
Follow Mike Griggs video
walkthrough to create an image
FOR of blood cells in a vein
Any software
Fundamentals
TOPICS COVERED
tDiagramming
complex systems
tMedical colouring
and X-rays
tChemical models
tFilmic techniques
Discover medical
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd video and
screenshots at
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computer graphics
getinto3D Want to explore strange new worlds? Medical computer
graphics enables you to do just that, says Mike Griggs
edical computer graphics could be impact on the rest of your work. Knowing work can be used. Filmic techniques and
M seen as the invisible side of VFX.
We tend to associate CGI with
how the body functions will inuence your
character designs, and medical graphics
workows can be employed in your medical
animations. In the BBC series Inside
spaceships, fantasy or history, but in many can give you an understanding of how the Human Body, Rushes excellent VFX
ways medical imaging is the forefather of disease propagates through the human depicted stories happening deep inside us.
all computer graphics. When Steve Jobs body, which can be used in the development Through the use of impossible cinematic
bought the team at Pixar from George of ill or aged characters. camera angles and a well-thought-out
Lucas, he wanted them to make computers Medical CGI is also a good way to learn storyboard with a scientically accurate
for high-end visualisation such as medical how to use your imagery to diagram depiction of the characteristics of cells
imaging the animations that Pixar made complicated systems, either through the use lives, an engaging story was told.
were just to showcase the hardware. of cutaways or with medical colouring such The fundamentals for medical CGI remain
Medical CGI is potentially very demanding as X-rays to depict changes. Diagramming the same as they do for other computer
on hardware, as it has to be as accurate can also be used in the depiction of cells, graphics elds. You can never have enough
About the author
as possible. Whether its being used as the showing what are potentially abstract research, and scientic publications
Mike Griggs is basis for a simulation or, more likely, as a shapes performing their tasks or chemical such as Nature, New Scientist and The
a freelance teaching aid, if the imagery being shown compounds connecting to other parts of Lancet enable you to see how the medical
concept 3D,
VFX and motion isnt accurate, then lives could be at risk. the body at a microscopic level. world depicts itself. These will therefore
graphics artist Dont let that put you off exploring this Its not just about learning from help you gain a better understanding of
working across TV, exhibition
and digital design fascinating area of our eld. Understanding medical graphics. Skills you already have this pioneering and fascinating eld of
www.creativebloke.com medical graphics can have a profound as a CG artist from other areas of your computer-generated imagery.
01 Make a red blood cell 02 Create the vein 03 Clone the cells
Start by creating a short, wide cylinder and then Draw a spline to mark the path that you want the Now clone the cells using the spline as a guide and
bevel both ends to create the distinctive shape blood cell to take, and make another circular spline as a basis for a Sweep NURBS to create the vein.
of a red blood cell. for the vein width. A Random modier orients the cells.
58
Medical graphics FUNDAMENTALS
Internal systems
IMPROVE YOUR MEDICAL CG WORK
01 Microscopic cameras
When outlining your job, decide whether it will
be scientically accurate or have a more lmic quality. If
it will be scientically accurate, you may need to have the
point of view of a microscope. This could be a top-down
orthographic view to mimic the view expected, which can
mean certain areas of your model wont be seen this
should be considered in your spec.
02 Model chemicals
and molecules
Fundamentals
At the smallest end of the medical
imaging spectrum is the depiction
of chemicals; these are the basic
building blocks of how were
made. Theyre either depicted
as simple connected geometries
or as more biological shapes,
and accuracy is key in this eld,
along with an understanding of
the way in which the parts of the
compound connect. Probably
the most famous example of this
kind of diagram is the beautiful
double helix of DNA.
03 Use medical
colours or X-rays
Colours in medical computer
graphics are used to depict areas
of disease, or false colouring
is used to help better see
anomalies. When getting briefs,
make sure you understand whats
needed and work with your client
to describe the colour they want
accurately. To depict X-rays, be
mindful of what materials do
and dont become transparent.
Obviously metal stands out, and
as youre seeing through objects,
internal 3D modelling has to be
04 Light for a filmic look
If your brief is to provide a more lmic
approach, think about lighting for dramatic effect
considered as well. but unless youre at the surface of the skin, all
lighting should be diffuse. Enable depth of eld in
your camera settings or generate a depth map in your
3D application to be used when compositing. Also,
some of your shots will be in liquid, so adding small
particulates to the shot can really help bring it to life.
59
EXPERT PANEL ARTIST
Q&A
Aiman Akhtar
Currently working for
Clutch Studios, Aiman
creates visuals for the
Fundamentals
Hugues Giboire
A 3D artist with more
than 20 years experience
in the CG industry,
Hugues is a BAFTA nominee for artistic
achievement in video games.
www.3dpeyote.net
ZBRUSH | MODO
Renato Gonzalez
Renato is an animator How can I integrate renders into my photos?
from Chile specialising in
Doug Anderson, US EXPERT TIP
character development Dont take shortcuts
and currently working as a freelance Define large shapes and
artist in the entertainment industry. anatomical landmarks
www.vimeo.com/renatogonzalez Aiman replies first, then detail scales and
This image was created for my wrinkles. Detail sculpting
Mao-Lin Liao wedding. First Chris Simons, needs to help define the
A character and look- our wedding photographer, form; variation looks
development artist, found the location near our pretty but is useless
Mao-Lin has worked wedding venue at a beach on Turtle if it doesnt help our
in VFX and video games since 2001, Bay resort on the North Shore of Oahu. understanding of the
and now owns Khitan Digital. Chris set up his tripod and shot the clean underlying shapes.
www.khitandigital.nl backplate, with none of us in the shot.
After this, the bridal party was briefed
M Scott Spencer run for your lives!
M Scott has worked Start by gathering a lot of reference.
extensively with For my image I found an excellent T-Rex
ZBrush for studios and skeleton rig posted by Joel Anderson on
companies, as well as working as a www.creativecrash.com. I emailed him to
concept designer at Weta Workshop. ask if he would mind me using the rig for
www.scottspencer.com an integration project, and he consented.
I took Joels skeleton into ZBrush,
60
STEP-BY-STEP INTEGRATE 3D RENDERS INTO A PHOTO
ONE REAL-WORLD AND CG CAMERAS
Successful 3D/photo integration requires EXPERT TIP
aligning your software camera properly Research the topic
with the real-world camera. I had the To understand how
tripod height from the shoot and Chriss to create a physically
RAW images had the frame size, focal accurate eye, read
Fundamentals
length, camera and lens type data. I input papers on the
these parameters in my Modo camera subject such as:
and one of the photos as my environment bit.ly/3d-eyes.
colour set to frontal projection through the
same camera. This enables me to see the
backplate in the render preview window.
OCTANE RENDER
TWO RIGGING AND POSING
The T-Rex skeleton rig works as a base How do I model a
mesh for my ZSketching, and is a perfect
way to pose my sculpted T-Rex. I export physically accurate eye?
my T-posed T-Rex into Maya and add a
smooth bind to the skeleton. After painting
Jenny Stephens, UK
weights, I do a 30-frame animation of a
T-Rex chase and create three key poses.
Thats when I decide to have more than Hugues replies
one T-Rex. I export out the three poses as I love working on characters. I spend a
.objs, assemble them in Modo and observe lot of time creating them and trying to
the impact they have working together. make them look as though they have
a life beyond the screen. The eyes of
THREE DIRECTIONAL LIGHTING my characters are one of my centres of focus, as
Once I have the T-Rexes positioned and they reect the spirit of my work.
scaled, I create a directional light for the My renderer of choice is Octane Render from
sun and set the shader of the ground Otoy. In order to use its full potential, I have
plane to Shadow Catcher. For an ideal to create a physically accurate eye so that the
integration, its best to shoot a spherical physically-based renderer can do the job it is
panorama at your photo location. (I had designed to do: simulating reality.
to make do with HDR sphericals I could The fundamental task is to create a more
find online to approximate the lighting precisely modelled external envelope. Both
and reflections.) The new Modo HDR Light the iris and the vascular system of the sclera
Studio plug-in allowed me to click right are sculpted to a level of detail sufcient
onto my models in 3D space to create a to withstand relative close-ups. I decide to
custom-lit and coloured HDR image. recreate the underlying structures with a simple
approximation of the connective tissues,
FOUR FINISHING TOUCHES primarily the choroid, as this brous connective
After lighting I rendered out several passes layer acts as a dark chamber and gives a
for compositing. In Photoshop, I used characteristic dark crown to the rim of the iris.
Import Files Into Stack Script to bring in all The geometry is a simple double-sided
the renders. (Adjust the layer order, opacity sphere, less than a millimetre thick, with an
and mode to suit.) I also bring in the clean opening that nearly connects below the
backplate photo and use that as my base, outer edge of the iris. Under the right lighting
with the backplate above, then a layer for conditions, the lens magnies to reveal the
sand effects, then the bridal party in the retina, an additional half sphere covering the
foreground. On top are overall effects. I rear side of the choroid. When each component
use several ID passes and paint masks to is modelled with its own index of refraction, the
enhance the shadows and highlights. modelled eye responds more naturally to light.
scales and wrinkles, using the Standard sculpting detail from my DynaMesh onto
brush with the Drag Rectangle stroke the new mesh with UVs and subdivisions.
and several scale alphas. I used different Next I Polypainted and used Cavity
brushstrokes to add variation, including Mask, which enhances the look of the
Raking, Crosshatching, and Spray strokes wrinkles and scales. I generated a
in a circular pattern to add vague detail, displacement map and base texture
and then masked and carved using the map, then attened the model to reect
Dam Standard brush. After sculpting, the UVs and apply the displacement.
I used the ZRemesher to add some I applied various materials onto the
guides and speedily created an excellent model and exported them as layers in
retopologised mesh. I exported this as an Photoshop to create the nal diffuse Understanding how an eye and its elements works will
.obj to make my UVs in Modo, then took texture map. The nal step was to help you create a physically accurate render
it back into ZBrush to project all of my integrate it with the photo!
61
ARTIST Q&A
EXPERT TIP
Find the balance
Our eyes are more sensitive
to contrast than colour
intensity, so to find the right
balance between diffuse and
specularity, convert both your
reference image and your
rendered portrait into black
and white and compare the
results it will be easier to
see whats wrong than
with a colour image.
Fundamentals
62
MayaFluids is used to
create realistic floating
ash and dust in the scene
Fundamentals
A rim light can
really help to give
your figure definition
ZBRUSH MAYA 1
How do I start creating How do I add more
an imagined creature? atmosphere to a scene?
James Oscar, US Jordan McCarthy, Ireland
63
ARTIST Q&A
EXPERT TIP
Review your art
Upon reviewing this
image the next morning,
I decided it looked a
little too clean so I dirtied
it up a bit. I added a
noise layer, overlayed
some thin horizontal
lines and used a
ZBRUSH | MAYA dirt brush.
Duncan replies
64
Fundamentals
ZBRUSH
Do you have any advice
on skin texturing? EXPERT TIP
Add blur effects
Mark Jacobson, US To create a more
convincing bokeh
effect, assign an
M Scott replies emissive material
This character bust has Polypaint to your dust
applied to create a skin texture. To model.
add a simple subsurface scatter
effect, use the Wax Modier on the Dust specks floating
Material setting. I select the Basic Material in the scene create a
then set the Wax Modier Strength to 36. To bokeh effect against
make this effect visible, turn on WaxPreview the background
under Render>Render Properties. This gives
the model a much more realistic skin look. This
image was rendered using BPR.
When painting a creatures skin, be sure to MAYA | OCTANE RENDER
modulate colour temperature across the face.
Since this character has a lighter skin tone, more How do I model a bokeh effect?
of the vascular tissue is visible in the skin. I spray
in warm colours in the cheeks and lips while
David Gooding, US
spraying blues into the beard line and recesses
of the eye sockets. By layering passes of warm
and cool colours, separated by light transparent Hugues replies speck with convoluted shapes offering
passes of the base tone, a very realistic skin In one of my recent personal more surface area for the light to hit. It
texture can be created with just Polypaint. works (above), I wanted to use is modelled to scale, which is less than
the negative space of the blue a millimetre in diameter.
velvet background of the scene The material created for the speck has
to create an effect reminiscent of the soap-bubble characteristics: rstly it is
stars against the night sky. very specular to reect as much light as
In general, I tend not to leave anything possible; and secondly it is nished with
to the post-processing stage. I take a thin lm in order to create mild colour
pride in making sure that everything variations, dependent on the viewing
I want the viewer to see is physically angle of the surface.
present in the scene. This is one luxury In Maya, I used a simple emitter and
that using an unbiased renderer offers: If lled the scene with particles that were
When painting the I dont want to fake it, then I dont have then used as input co-ordinates to
skin, warm colours will to. I can simply model it. In this specic generate the thousands of instances it
appear on features case, I decided to ll the volume of the takes to create a convincing effect in
with a thinner surface scene with dust. the nal render. Once out of focus, the
Starting from a cylinder that I then specks that catch the light will bloom
deformed and sculpted, I created a dust into a fairly convincing bokeh effect.
65
EXPERT PANEL ARTIST
Q&A
Davide Bianca
Davide is founder, CEO
and executive creative
director of Saizen Media,
Fundamentals
Shao Jun
Shao is a character artist.
He works at Red Hot CG,
a Shanghai-based digital
art and animation studio serving the
game, TV and lm industries.
www.redhotcg.com
MAYA | PHOTOSHOP | V-RAY
Vasin Alexander
Vasin works at Wolphins What are the most important aspects of
in Moscow, where he
also teaches at the creating mechanical objects or characters?
Moscow State University of Printing
Arts. www.wolphins.com/graphic-
Daniel Barrett, UK
designers/alexander-vasin
Francesca replies
Ive built a few mechanical
objects and characters in
recent years, my favourite
being Steampunk Buttery
(right), and the rst thing I like to do
is work out the mechanics behind the
object youre about to build.
I normally start by looking at the
anatomy of organic equivalents, such as
humans or butteries, if Im building a
mechanised character. I study the basic
fundamentals of structure, joints and
movement range, and this allows me to
get a basic understanding of how the
mechanics in my object or character
are going to work. It just adds a level of
realism to whatever it is you are creating.
I usually nd that building the model
from the inside out helps me to make
my mechanical objects much more
convincing. So for my buttery, I started
by splitting up the abdomen and thorax
into sections and building the inner cogs
and joints between them. I enclosed
the entire body with glass, and then
proceeded to add a metal casing, which
I envisioned would protect the inner
working mechanics.
From there, I focused on separately
constructing the legs, head, and nally
the wings. What I found with this layering
system is that it allows you to focus on
66
EXPERT TIP
Hair plug-in
I used Hairtrix to create
the hair for this model,
a handy plug-in that
integrates Hairfx and
Ornatrix and gives
good results.
STEP-BY-STEP MAKING MECHS
ONE WORK OUT THE ANATOMY
Break your structure down: work out the 3DS MAX | ZBRUSH
engineering behind certain joints and the
range of movement needed. Work out How can I sculpt facial
the mechanics behind the object youre
building. Start by sketching it, then in 3D details for a young boy?
Fundamentals
you can look at the hinges more closely
by moving pivot points, parenting smaller
Seema Ali, India
parts to larger ones and so on. This basic
skeletal structure helps when positioning
your model and makes mechanical objects Shao Jun replies
more convincing to the viewer. The importance of using proper
reference material for any portrait
TWO INSIDE OUT work cant be underestimated. For
Breaking down your model into sections this piece (called So Young), I asked
allows focus, and starting from the inside a neighbour to pose for me to ensure my
and building an entire structure around it proportions were correct.
gives it a depth that will get noticed. The I start the model from the head, building
layering adds more interest and again, a a topological base model in 3ds Max with
more convincing final product. Symmetry on, and then import the base model
into ZBrush for further sculpting. After the rough
THREE FOCUS ON THE DETAILS shape is done, I start to sculpt with Symmetry
How do pieces fit together? How do parts off, and then concentrate on the facial features.
move (if they need to)? Do certain parts The skin of a young boy is fresh and clear,
have functions? You have to make sure so create a layer so you can easily adjust the
everything looks like its meant to be intensity later. Use the Standard brush with an
where you put it. Be aware of why youre alpha to make a base skin layer, then use the
adding certain parts to your construction DamStandard brush to sculpt the structure
this makes you think about why its there, like the forehead and chin. Next use the
how it would look physically and how ClayBuildUp and Slash3 brushes to sculpt
it connects to other parts of the model. distinct details such as mosquito bites or scars.
Again, it validates your creation and makes Use the Standard brush to sculpt lips, and then
it more convincing to the viewer. the Inate brush with an alpha for details. I make
good use of layers, building a base bump layer
FOUR MAKE INTERESTING TEXTURES for skin rst and then others for details.
Dont just create a clean material and My working process might be a little different
leave it. For mechanical objects, add many artists start from a lower level and work
a slight bump or a texture into your up to a higher level, but I start at the highest
reflection glossiness. Give your metals (Level 6). I use the Standard and ClayBuildup
some age and realism by rusting up the brushes for main structure sculpting, the Move
textures. Materials always have some brush for shapes, and Smooth to smooth.
elements of irregularity to them make The boys runny nose is created with the
sure you dont forget this when building InsertHSphere brush (perfect for simple uid
mechanical objects. shapes) and DynaMesh brush with a ZSphere.
67
ARTIST Q&A
EXPERT TIP
Render times
To obtain high quality
renders at reasonable render
times with Arnold, increase
the settings only for the
aliasing value. The aliasing
Fundamentals
68
There is no universal
pipeline for creating
a character, but Vasin
sets out a sample
workflow below
Fundamentals
ZBRUSH | PHOTOSHOP
How do I create realistic
still life images?
John Seldon, UK
Francesca replies
My rst ever 3D piece was a still life
scene with plums and pears sitting
on some cloth. For me, realism
comes with the subtlest of things, like
imperfections and irregularity.
Taking my meshes into ZBrush, for example,
allowed me to sculpt into the plums as well as EXPERT TIP
areas of the cloth around the edges of where Face your fears
the fruit would be resting, which set the base When I was creating Sci-Fi
scene incredibly well. From there, I had to make Girl I had to face different
sure that my UV maps were clean, followed by difficulties and bugs. This
using photography to create my texture maps in is normal, and I think you
Photoshop for the fruit. By also adding texture need to know how to
maps in my material reection for the fruits, I fight them. This is why
got that almost dappled glossiness that you you take time to solve
get with plums and pears, which really made the such creative crises.
textures come to life.
Focusing on clean models and building an
environment for your still life objects is key.
But getting the textures as realistic as you
can by using real world photography, bump
maps if needed, and maps in your reections ZBRUSH | MUDBOX | MARVELOUS DESIGNER
for example really makes a massive difference
when trying to make your scene look as realistic What is a typical character design workflow?
as possible. I even ended up adding some water
droplets to the plums just to add another level
Anna Williams, Australia
of detailing to the image!
69
EXPERT PANEL ARTIST
Q&A
Bjorn Klaassen
Bjorn has a background
in post-production and
video games. He works
Fundamentals
in Themepark Construction as a 3D
generalist and Python developer.
www.nl.linkedin.com/in/bjornklaassen
Your software queries solved
Hugues Giboire
Hugues is a 3D artist
with more than 20
by our CG experts
years experience in the
CG industry. Hes a BAFTA nominee for
artistic achievement in video games.
www.3dpeyote.net
Mike Griggs
Mike is a concept 3D,
visual effects and motion
graphics artist
working across television, exhibition
and digital design.
www.creativebloke.com
Nuttavut
Baiphowongse
Nuttavut a creature
ZBRUSH | MAYA | PHOTOSHOP | NUKE
designer and character
artist. He freelances for the Aaron How do I model a lifelike dinosaur scene?
Sims Company and other studios.
www.baizilla.blogspot.co.uk
Jane Henderson, US
Bjorn replies
Research is always key to a
strong scene, especially with
dinosaurs. My example here
is a project that started as just
a dinosaur walk cycle, as a pitch for an
animation project, but it evolved into
this full rendering to be used as a wall
decoration at work; to teach children how
to see the world, as well as demonstrate
the scale of puertasaurus.
Research is key, then, especially when
creating a scene based on scientic
evidence. For example, the puertasaurus,
a titanosaur, was big even by dinosaur
standards; the largest found vertebrae
is 1.6 metres wide and scientist estimate
that the whole animal is about 30-35
meters long. The belly has enough space
for two hummer vehicles!
My dinosaur models are made in
ZBrush (with DynaMesh for fast model
iterations and ZRemesher for export)
while the scene layout, vegetation
(PaintFX), rigging, shaders and lighting
is done with Maya and mental ray.
Textures are created in both ZBrush
and Photoshop, then composited in
Nuke. I want to get the ZBrush model,
with all the detail, back into the render
this is accomplished with the use of
(vector) displacement and normal maps.
70
STEP-BY STEP RIGGING DINOSAUR MUSCLES
ONE MODEL THE DINOSAUR
This is the first ZBrush model. Take a
DynaMesh sphere, and then push and pull
it based on reference images and research
acquired before starting. The result is this
initial model pictured. I am using this as EXPERT TIP
Fundamentals
the base for the rig in Maya. Specular component
All of my fabrics are
TWO RIGGING THE MODEL composites of diffuse
The rig itself is quite basic. The neck is a and specular materials.
splineIK and the muscles are from Maya. Remember all materials
With this base setup I can check the have a specular
muscle flow, which is important as this will component.
form the base for the further work to be
done in ZBrush.
MAYA | OCTANE
THREE SET THE PROPORTIONS
After a while of going back and forth How can I create
between Maya and ZBrush, and following
the references, youll probably find new believable fabrics in 3D?
proportions as I did. Its important to pose
the rig in Maya and send it back to ZBrush
Eugene Clarke, US
to see how the deformations occur. This
way both the model and the rig get quite
a few fast iterations. Hugues replies
Whether its for modelling, lighting or,
FOUR TEST THE POSE in this case, creating textures, I love
The final model in a test pose. Since working in details. Naturally, one of
new models from ZBrush get instantly my favourite ways to approach the
incorporated into the rig, which has a few construction of precise textures is to rst look at
poses setup with keyframes, I can easily how much of it can be achieved using procedural
see if there are problems. All in all it was a methods. I like that procedural textures take very
pretty smooth ride for this project. little memory and allow for extreme detailing
and nesse at almost no cost other than render
time. I recently found myself in need of a variety
The 3D scenes are kept small and of fabric materials and decided to create them
split into different les for use with all using simple procedural functions.
referencing. This keeps down load times The rst thing I like to look at is the bump
while iterating, and theres less risk of or displacement texture, as it is the one that
scene-breaking changes, automatic rig conveys the most information. To start, I use
updates and so forth. The main scene simple sine waves to create the threads, which
contains only the materials and render I then combine into a weave using a simple
layers. To lower iteration times, I write chequerboard texture. The size ratio of the weft
small scripts in Python. For example, and warp threads, as well as the horizontal and
textures chosen by me are automatically vertical proportions of the chequerboard, help
reloaded in Maya, linear workow nodes dene the initial weave of the fabric. Using this
simple technique, we can create a wide variety of
I kept the 3D scenes small weave patterns that provide good starting bases
ready for further enrichment.
We can use fractal noises to slightly distort
and split it into different the threads and eliminate the obvious overall
symmetry of the weave. By using similar noise
les, which meant I could functions, we can modulate the weaves intensity
globally to offer a slightly uneven surface. I
iterate more easily usually create a few surface noises to create
variation in depth and other incidental details.
get setup automatically; theres also a
EXPERT TIP switch between a fast smooth-bound
Set the composition version for posing and a muscle-bound WEFT WARP MASK RESULT
Mock up the scene with one for rendering.
dummies before the real Finally, I dont tweak the 3D scenes
models are done. This way on materials and lighting, I let the
youll have control on how to compositing take care of making it
guide the viewer through pretty. I ood Nuke with all kinds
the picture. Using relative of passes such as specular colours, You can add fractal noises to slightly distort the threads
scale helps; I used small ID-mattes, depth, occlusion, shadow and eliminate the obvious overall symmetry of the weave
reptiles and trees. and indirect lighting.
71
ARTIST Q&A
Fundamentals
EXPERT TIP
Selectable geometry
To create the material
selection areas, use Airtight
Final w/parts with Material
Groups selected to create
polygon election sets,
these can be selected in the
Statistics window. These
The new boolean selection sets can also
modelling plug-in for be used for detail
Modo could transform enhancement with
the way you work Modos modelling
wider toolset.
72
An unused alien
design for Falling
Skies season 2
EXPERT TIP
Create cool FX
Experiment with the
alignment of your
Fundamentals
lens attachments
in order to create
interesting tilt- and
shift-like effects!
MAYA | OCTANE
Is there any way to
recreate camera optics?
Elana Rizzo, Italy
Hugues replies
From thin lens, to panoramic, to
sh-eye, many unbiased rendering
engines now offer the possibility of
using physical camera lens simulations
to render out images and allow for realistic EXPERT TIP
camera behaviour. Still, theres a limit to what is Artistic inuences
offered to us. What are our options if we want I tend to look at nature
to use completely intangible setups to create a and the work of leading
wide range of optical effects and even defects? artists for inspiration:
Failing everything else, the natural choice would People such as Jerad S
be to turn to post processing, but wheres the Marantz, Aaron Sims,
fun in that? As always, I want to see the results in Vitaly Bulgarov, Carlos
my renders. Fortunately, good physically based Hunate, Takayuki Takeya
renderers will allow us to close that gap. and Allen Williams.
In one of my projects, I needed to gure out a
way to distort the light reected by the subject
in order to create an uneven underwater look ZBRUSH | KEYSHOT | PHOTOSHOP
with strange chromatic aberrations. After a bit
of experimenting, I found that the best way to Whats the trick for making realistic aliens?
approach was simply to create attachments for
the camera. One of the easiest ways to do this is
Nathan Biggs, UK
to parent a sphere with inverted normals around
the camera. Anything beyond the boundaries of
that reverse bubble will be seen by the renderer Nuttavut replies accident, where interesting shapes and
as an innite eld made of the material you After deciding the body shape forms occur. Then I look back at the
assign to it. By adjusting the refraction settings of the alien consider what kind reference and mix specic details in.
and giving our materials subsurface scattering or of folds, wrinkles and detail You need to think about how deeply
dispersive properties, we can get alien effects. you should add. I always start detailed each section needs to be. I
by looking at reference material, which recommend using the Slash3 brush for
includes my book library, images found adding detail. Compared to the Dam
We can extend online, and my favourite new reference Standard brush, the Slash3 brush makes
this technique by website, Pinterest. deeper marks and I feel more in control
creating wide For this alien I chose to use a mixture with this brush.
varieties of of insect details and old peoples Other things to consider are: dont
attachments wrinkled skin. Once youve got your put too much detail everywhere leave
reference sorted its time to jump back some space in your work; and think
into ZBrush. Before I put detail in I tend about the use of soft and sharp edges in
to experiment with alpha maps. I have a your detail. I use these two rules all the
big alpha library, gathered from various time. Make sure the detail in your work is
websites or custom-made by myself. I dynamic; show how you care about the
use a mixture of alphas to nd a happy small elements.
73
EXPERT PANEL ARTIST
Q&A
Alexis Anderson
Freelance artist Alexis
creates 2D and 3D art
and also has a passion
Fundamentals
Francesca Forzoni
Frankie is a 3D artist
and visualiser in London.
She has recently moved
from working in post-production
to branding and packaging.
www.francescaforzoni.com
Lee Souder
Lee is a cinematic artist
ZBRUSH | MAYA
at Treyarch, and has
previously worked for How can I finish off
Trion, EA and Sony, where he created
models for God of War: Ascension. my mech design?
www.leesouder.com
Matthew Griffiths, UK
Tomi Visnen
Tomi is a 3D generalist
and compositor working Lee replies
in the advertising The last stretch of completing
industry. His clients have included your mech design can be the
McDonalds and drinks brand Pommac. most gruelling. The beginning
www.tomivaisanen.com is always the most exciting,
but staying focused and motivated at the
end can be tough. Here I suggest four
things to think about while nishing up.
The most important would be mimicking
design details. Try to reuse design
74
EXPERT TIP
Use asymmetry
Use asymmetry to
add wires, decals,
techy modules,
missing parts and
so on. This will help
to make your mech
STEP-BY-STEP MAKING A COHESIVE MECH look interesting
and real.
ONE MIMIC DESIGN DETAILS
For this mech, half the inspiration came
from robotic factory arms and the other
half from aggressive sportscar styling. Try
to mimic your details as much as possible.
Whenever I get stuck in an area, I look
Fundamentals
around the model itself for ideas. I set
up some rules so I can hold the design
together. My first rule is to use angular
styling for any armour plate. The second is
to use ring bolts that are found on robotic
arms for any rotation joint.
75
ARTIST Q&A
EXPERT TIP
Find your own look
When you are working in 3D,
dont get stuck at making
it exactly right, or exactly
how it should be done.
Instead find your own
aesthetic approach. Better
fake and interesting than
perfect and boring! TWO APPLY IMPERFECTIONS
Start with the creases and crackles. Paint
crackles in Photoshop and save them as
MAYA | ZBRUSH | PHOTOSHOP .psd files, then in ZBrush click the Brush
Alpha and import the .psd file. After that
How can I achieve the look of modelling clay? use dragRect to place them randomly.
Chris Maskell, UK
76
Materials make your
model come to
life so spend time
crafting each one
Fundamentals
aspects as you want.
I tend to boost the contrast,
materials in Cinema 4D? saturation and hotspots,
and add elements like
Alex Peters, London glows to enhance the
final results.
Francesca replies
There are a million possibilities when
creating materials. I would suggest
you go in and play! To create a new
material, double click in the Material
Manager to create a new material, then click
the material youve just created which opens up
the Material Editor and this is how you go about
building your material. To apply this material
to an object you can either drag and drop it
straight onto the object into your scene or drag
it onto your object over on the right hand side,
in the Object Manager, where there is a list of
Asian Dragon Model courtesy of XYZ RGB Inc.
77
EXPERT PANEL ARTIST
Q&A
Hugues Giboire
Hugues is a 3D artist
with more than 20
years experience in the
Fundamentals
Gleb Alexandrov
Gleb is a 3D artist and
indie game developer.
He has been involved
in developing games, educational
projects and historical reconstructions.
cgcookie.com/prole/spelle
MAYA | PHOTOSHOP
Erik Major
Hungary-based Erik has How can I have maximum control when
been using Cinema 4D
R15 for over two years, retouching glass products?
since discovering the software its
become his tool of choice.
Brandon Mayes, UK
www.erik-major.tumblr.com
78
EXPERT TIP
Render all options
Render in layers, separate
out your main objects
(if there are a lot of
reflections) and make
use of multi-passes. This
allows you to rebuild your
image from scratch in
Photoshop and gives you
optimum control over
all aspects.
CINEMA 4D
How do I set up global
illumination in Cinema 4D?
Fundamentals
Alison Whittaker, UK
Erik replies
This image was created for a
Greyscalegorilla render challenge,
and as a chance to show what can I
do. Thankfully I didnt have to model
the grape because I found an ideal readymade
model from CG artist Jarom Brand.
I used global illumination, and within the
global illumination I used Interior/Preview (High
Diffuse Depth) and made two softboxes with
the disc object and one overhead box with the
Bezier Spline and Extrude Nurbs combination.
The light setup was the easiest part, because
I have a lot of experience in studio photography
from my school studies.
The hardest part of this project was to nd the
STEP-BY-STEP MODELLING GLASS OBJECTS right material, because at rst the colour of my
grapes didnt look real. I made a lot of versions
ONE LIGHT LINKING before I found the solution: the colour was
Linking up lights to objects separately initially too unied, so I used the Noise option
allows you to tailor each part of your within the colour to mix the brightest and the
model to achieve the highlights you want. darkest green, and I added a little reection with
I find this really helps when doing glass fresnel. The water drops were given a simple
products and cars in particular. For my transparency and high specular height.
Diesel bottle, I had lights purely for the The render challenge wasnt a particularly
glass and lights linked only to the chrome complex project and the render time was
lid. You have a lot more control this way, extremely short but thats what makes the
and when rendering you can render results really surprising.
individual passes for each light, which
again helps so much when retouching.
79
ARTIST Q&A
EXPERT TIP
Here we have three Light scattering
spots turned on, two You can also use geometry
reflectors and minimal other than simple planes
setup time. Unlike here, as emitters to scatter your
remember to turn off light in different manners.
the planes primary You can create simple gels
visibility for your or even highly diffractive
final renders! shaders to obtain
STEP-BY STEP CREATE DRAMATIC KEY ART exotic effects!
Thinking of the set of planes as a sphere Thinking of the whole set of planes as a simple sphere
centred on my subject, I can easily rotate the entire rig
centred on my subject, I can rotate the to adjust it to the view angle, and scale it up and down
in order to t the size of the subject. Each light is driven
entire rig to adjust it to the view angle by a simple circular or square gradient texture that I
reshape through a scalar ramp.
This setup comprises a set of 14 planes organised We can use procedural or raster textures to add
symmetrically around the object to be rendered. Each details to our lights, like barn doors, blinds or even
of these planes is set as a light emitter driven by its own import high dynamic range (HDR) images of windows
shader. The shader attributes are shared across the or any other bitmap source to add more richness to our
board and each shader instance is named after the plane scene, and provide a good ll light if necessary. Finally,
it is assigned to (for example, top, bottom, and left). a couple of simple diffuse reector planes strategically
That way, I can easily control each plane independently. positioned around the object help seal the deal.
80
EXPERT TIP
Get the rays just right
In order to get high-quality
images from path tracing, a
large number of rays must
be traced to avoid visible
noisy artefacts, but dont be
afraid to cut the maximum
light bounces and caustics
chances are the scene
will not lose too much
if set up correctly.
CINEMA 4D
Can I create an object
in Cinema 4D without
Fundamentals
modelling by hand?
Jo Chen, China
81
EXPERT PANEL ARTIST
Q&A
Gleb Alexandrov
Gleb is a 3D artist and
indie game developer.
He has been involved
Fundamentals
Paul Hatton
As the 3D visualisation
team leader at CADS 3D,
Paul creates renders and
models, visualisations, animations and
interactive walkthroughs.
cadesignservices.co.uk/3d
Mike Zheng
Originally from Toronto Paul replies EXPERT TIP
and currently living This is a great question and I Reduce your regions
in Los Angeles, Mike want to propose an answer to it When trying to make sure your
specialises in look development, that is not immediately obvious regions are three or four sides,
lighting, and compositing for when you think of the tools make use of the Create Line
production and is currently at MPC. that are available to you in 3ds Max. The tool in the Geometry rollout
www.linkedin.com/in/mikezhangvfx reality is that if you can use multiple tools with Automatic Welding
in conjunction with each other then you turned on. You can insert
can do some really powerful things. lines between vertices to
The technique most people use when reduce the number of sides
modelling is the polygon modelling in your regions.
technique which involves adjusting
vertices, polygons and edges to build up
your model. You can then apply smooth
modiers on top to generate topology
in between your base mesh. While this
method has its benets, when it comes
to creating organic objects in a quick and
easy way, I prefer a different technique.
I do it by utilising the power of splines.
They are exible, simple to use and yet
incredibly powerful. They allow you to
create organic shapes and adjust their
overall look by moving only a few vertices.
Now youre probably wondering how
on earth you go from simple splines to
complex surfaces. Well what we have to
do is think of our object as a series of
cross sections. If our object can be split
up into multiple slices whereby each This decorative ornament model has been created using five simple
slice is made up of a similar shape then splines. Its a great technique to make organic shapes, like lamp shades
82
STEP-BY-STEP USING SPLINES
ONE BACKGROUND
To create complex surfaces we will use
multiple splines and two separate modifiers,
the cross-section modifier which connects
the splines together and the surface MAXWELL RENDER
modifier which adds a surface on top of the
How can I control Maxwell
Fundamentals
splines. The thing to remember is that the
surface modifier will only create geometry
where there are three or four-sided regions. grass for my renders?
You will need to add extra splines to your
shapes to ensure the regions are not made
Dominique Benage, UK
up of more than four sides.
83
ARTIST Q&A
EXPERT TIP
Generated mapping
for textures
When you want to move fast
through texturing, try using
procedural mapping types:
Generated and Object. These
texture coordinates dont
require you to prepare the UV
maps, so the time saved on
this procedure can be spent
on tweaking the values of
the mapping nodes.
84
Fundamentals
MAYA | ZBRUSH | ARNOLD | PHOTOSHOP
How do you keep a sense of scale
with stylised 3D animations?
Polly Friend, UK
OCTANE
Whats the best way to set Mike replies The scale and depth of the castle also
I encountered a problem with gave me some problems, but together
up image-based lighting scale in a recent personal with a foreground element that was
project: Hayao Miyazakis out of focus and some grass and rocks
and reflectors in my scene? lms were a big part of my to compare with the scale of the castle
childhood and when I heard that he itself, I was able to pull more width in
Toshir Leung, China planned to retire this year, I wanted to the scene and give the illusion of the
pay tribute to his retirement! I picked immense castles size.
Howls Moving Castle because I felt that For my workow, I used Maya to
Hugues replies its variation of materials and stylistic model the assets, Mudbox to sculpt and
One of the two most important textures would translate well into 3D, not texture everything (along with a bit of
aspects of rendering is lighting. Even to mention 3D was used in the original Photoshop), Arnold to render everything,
a great model loses its potential to movie to animate the castle. Optical Flares in After Effects to render
make an impression under the wrong Keeping the stylistic watercolour and a lens are out of, and Nuke to nally
light. Unbiased rendering engines such as painterly quality to the render became a composite everything together. Arnold
Octane Render offer numerous possibilities in huge challenge. In the end, I used many proxies were also essential to this project
order to create various types of lighting. procedural noise textures, soft ambient as it allowed me to navigate and work in
One of my favourite ways to rapidly light lighting, and a couple tricks and cheats in the viewport while having tens of millions
an object is to use panoramic HDR images in comp to solve this problem. of polygons in my scene!
order to immediately provide a rich, natural
light to work with. Colour and ambience are
present, but it rarely compliments our subjects
perfectly, often leaving areas of darkness that EXPERT TIP
should be lled. Adding extra light sources is the Arnold proxies
traditional solution to this problem, but I tend to I used Arnold proxies to
recall my own experience in photography to nd render out the grass in the
a better approach. foreground and midground.
Remembering that They were essential as doing
EXPERT TIP we are working with this allowed me to navigate
All shapes and sizes advanced rendering and work in the Maya
Dimensions, shape, colour, techniques that viewport even though there
curvature, material Every allow us such were tens of millions of
aspect of your reflectors have luxury, something polygons in my scene!
an impact on how the light is as simple as
bounced. Look around online a carefully
to discover what is available positioned white
to photographers and polygon will provide
extrapolate from there. a perfect solution in
Unlike actual reflectors, most cases.
virtual ones are free By the use of such
reectors, we can employ
the natural light already
available to us and bounce it back
onto our subject to the keep the mood and Mike created a sense of scale
tones of our scene coherent. Whats more, unlike by using lens effects and
real life, we can make our reectors invisible to foreground elements in his
keep them out of the shot. tribute to Hayao Miyazaki
85
FEATURE
Better portfolios
Fundamentals
86
ANDREW GORDON ON
SUCCESSFUL DEMOS
Pixar Animation Studios directing animator Andrew Gordon reveals
Fundamentals
eight simple things you can do to ensure a job-winning demo reel
ANIMATION
When I rst started was amazing. The problem was,
ABOUT THE AUTHOR at Pixar there was a the content of the reel was not
Andrew Gordon has wall of fame of demo enough to get them an interview.
worked in animation reels. Back then, demo Having been involved with the
for 20 years. He is a reels were on VHS tapes or even artist training at Pixar I have seen
Pixar Animation Studios bigger D1 format tapes as big as a lot of work come in and out, and
directing animator. a dictionary. The demo reel cases I can say condently there are
Andrew has taught were decorated with all kinds of many different types of reels.
since 2000 and teaches different packaging to attract the The reality is that if a demo reel
around the globe. viewer. I remember one that was a does not capture the attention of
www.splinedoctors.com clay sculpture of a person reading the viewer quickly then it is very
a paper where the headline said, quickly changed out for the next
Animator gets job at Pixar. one. I know this sounds harsh, but
The amount of trouble that the there are so many reels sent in, its
artists went through to be noticed simply the reality of the situation.
1 4 7
TAYLOR TO THE AUDIENCE WHAT WORK IS YOURS? SHOW PERSONAL WORK
If you are a VFX animator but want Animators should separate scenes If you are a professional who is
to break into feature animation, by colour or title. You dont want not getting the chance to shine
showcase the work that shows your to claim any work that isnt yours. Its with the work you do day-to-day, then
potential as a feature animator. If you a small industry, people know who did animate something you would want to
are applying to games, then show how what. A reel breakdown is a good idea. do instead and include this in your reel.
5
good you are at action and so on. Some of the best reels I have seen have
START AND END STRONG
2
good work, done professionally, but
KEEP IT SIMPLE You should hook your audience with had some amazing personal tests that
Place your name and information at great work and end on something showcased acting and performance.
8
the beginning and end of the reel. special. Ive been in reviews where
Choose music that does not upstage or someone would pop in a reel and fast- ALWAYS BE ORIGINAL
drown out the animation on the reel. forward until they saw something good. One thing that really bugs me on
3 6
demo reels is when I see a stock
KEEP IT SHORT MAKE SURE YOUR REEL PLAYS rig on a grid background. I want to
There is no reason to put everything About a third of all reels we receive see what you bring to the test you are
you have ever animated on the reel. do not work. Make it fool proof. You animating. Who is the character lifting
Nobody cares about bouncing balls. can do this by providing a link to your the heavy object? Where are they? Why
Potential employers want to understand reel on a website. Most people do not are they doing it? Give that assignment
that you have ideas, character, acting, have physical reels anymore, but its context. Show them you, not that boring
physicality, appeal and so forth. still nice to look at extra material. grey colored rig you downloaded.
87
FEATURE
Better portfolios ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ben is a freelance concept designer in the game
and lm industries who uses 3D and 2D tools
to create environment and mechanical designs.
www.benmauro.blogspot.com
Fundamentals
GAME ART
1
always fresh. Hes
one of our favourite THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
concept artists; Pascal If you really want to stand out, you need
loves his work too! to bring something to your work that
others dont have yet. Explore and master new
techniques, you will always improve your own
style in the process.
PASCAL BLANCHE
2
CHALLENGE YOURSELF
A great way to improve your work is to take
3
EXPLORE AND LEARN
Never commit to the rst draft or concept.
WHY PASCAL CHOSE BEN have to be exible and adapt to Always try new approaches, new angles.
MAUROS PORTFOLIO the needs of the production, and You need to fall in love with every piece you
Ben is one of these rare Bens portfolio shows us a brilliant make and then be able to put it aside, learn from
ABOUT THE AUTHOR artists that are leading example of the new set of skills it and try something new.
4
Pascal Blanch is one of the the new trend of game needed by todays artists. By
most popular digital artists artists. Not only do his going back and forth from ZBrush SHOW YOUR PROCESS
working to day. Hes currently unique designs stand out from sculpts to Photoshop paintovers, Showing process helps studios to understand
an art director at video game the pack, but also his approach Ben can explore shapes with lot your way of thinking, and shows them your
giant Ubisoft. to the job embraces a wide range of freedom and in the same time communication and social skills. Displaying
www.3dluvr.com/pascalb of tools and techniques, and show stay strongly anchored in reality. an open-minded attitude is always a plus.
5
us a glimpse of where the game His works have a sense of
art industry is heading to. practicality and are grounded EXPOSE YOUR WORK
From sketching, to modelling, designs, but yet they still always The industry is big, but still a small place.
rendering and photo feel open to any other possible When you create good pieces of work,
compositing, Ben embraces all iterations that is something that display them and create your own blog. The
the genres to achieve a vision. could be hardly achieved in more exposure you get, the easier it becomes
Now, more than ever, game artists another way. Im a big fan. to get the studios attention.
88
ABOUT THE ARTIST
After graduating from Supinfocom Arles,
Alejandro Diaz landed a job at the new Oriental
DreamWorks studio in Shanghai.
www.alejodiaz.com Alejandros designs
for his graduation lm
Home Sweet Home
caught Shelleys
expert eye
Fundamentals
C0NCEPT ART
2
WHY SHELLEY CHOSE USA provided great design
SHOW YOUR WORKING ALEJANDRO DIAZS PORTFOLIO opportunities for exploring many
Concept art portfolios should show a variety I love discovering great different locations, times of day,
of artistic skills we also like to see rough ABOUT THE AUTHOR new artist portfolios and changing seasons and interior and
colour studies and sketches to show how you Shelley is head of international websites particularly exterior environments.
arrived at your nal designs. outreach at DreamWorks student work, which is The great success of Alexs
3
Animation, she has worked in often so inspiring! artwork is that he imbues the
GET FEEDBACK feature animations since 1986 A question I frequently get story with a range of emotional
Funny is hard. If you are making a comedy on movies like Kung Fu Panda, asked is: What exactly do highlights through his subtle
lm show your work in progress to your How to Train Your Dragon. you look for in a concept art colour palettes and lighting
colleagues often - if they laugh in the dreamworksanimation.com portfolio? One outstanding choices, which gave his team an
appropriate places you are on the right track! recent discovery is concept artist amazing canvas to build on.
4
and matte painter Alejandro (Alex) This variety of designs is key
DO YOUR RESEARCH Diaz. His designs for his delightful to a really successful concept art
Story, design, lighting, effects and animation graduation lm Home Sweet portfolio for feature animation.
all benet from close observation and Home are lively and appealing Some concept artists feel most
analysis of real-life references. Do your research and his excellent portfolio condent working in a particular
and show how you got to the end result. instantly attracted my attention at style (whether fantasy, graphic
5
his graduation show last summer. or photoreal), however, I mainly
SHOW PROGRESS The story of this charming and look for artists who can tell many
Polish your work. Good enough is never the unusual lm where two small different stories using a range of
best option for a demo reel or portfolio aim buildings escape from their colour and lighting techniques,
to be self-critical and gure out how you can suburban foundations and set and design styles.
always improve on your work. off on an epic journey across the Alexs portfolio presentation
includes some great examples
of early designs for both the main
characters (the buildings) and the
OUR PICK OF OUTSTANDING PORTFOLIO PIECES key locations. It is always helpful
to see early concepts, work-in-
progress and nished designs
through to nal lm images
especially when looking at designs
for CG animation projects. I
particularly love the variety of skies
in this lm the weather is almost
another character in the story!
One of my favourite moments in
DAVIDE DI LORENZO CHRISTOPHER SUPARDJO Home Sweet Home is the magical
Sci-fi waxy monkey frog is a fresh idea. Mr Crab is wonderfully modelled. ice-skating sequence who knew
wix.com vimeo.com/user1037728 that houses can skate!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Rebeca Puebla is a spanish artist from
Madrid who works as 3D character artist for
videogames, TV, lms and advertising.
www.rebecapuebla.com
Rebecas ne
modelling,
Fundamentals
texturing and
shading, combined
with unique
themes, make
great art 3D ILLUSTRATION
BALDASSERONI CHOOSES
1
POLISH YOUR PRESENTATION
Maximise your presentation by studying
2
BRING THE ART TO COMPLETION
Dont rely on speed sculpts to enhance
WHY ALESSANDRO CHOSE theres a clear intention to nd your portfolio. These can show potential,
REBECA PUEBLA and express her own visual style, but studios want to see nished work, images
Looking at Rebecas create moods, and to also be that show your skills and above all a multi-
ABOUT THE AUTHOR online portfolio one provocative and original. discipline approach.
3
Alessandro is lead character of the rst things What really comes through
artist at Blur Studio. Samples that caught my Rebecas portfolio, and is USE REFERENCE
of his character modelling attention is the ability to convey something thats hard to nd, is Use reference and search for research about
work can be seen in several great technical skills with an the intention to transcend the a subject before working, leave the minor
recent game cinematics, original aesthetic and sense technical stiffness and articiality details to imagination and interpretation. And
movies and commercials such of storytelling. Not only is the of the 3D medium to express show your reference, employers like to see your
as: The Girl With The Dragon modelling very well executed, ideas. I strongly recommend you workow and thinking as it demonstrates how
Tattoo, Thor: The Dark World, but also the shading and texturing try to differentiate your portfolio you can t into their studio.
4
Elder Scrolls Online. is very polished, and these as much as possible from the
www.eklettica.com elements combine to serve others when it comes to 3D, PUT YOUR WORK IN CONTEXT
a quite original aesthetic. and this can be accomplished in Rebecas portfolio works because she
Most of her modelling work is different ways. contextualises her art, she uses themes
put in context, in nely crafted, One is denitely through and composition to show how her technical
moody illustrations and this is contextualisation of your models, skill translates to wider ideas of storytelling
quite refreshing in the modern poses, gesture and lighting, even and project creation.
5
scenario of derivative, trendy on simple subjects, these skills
subjects when it comes to 3D art. and attention to detail show the KEEP IT SIMPLE
The appeal of looking through viewer a lot about yourself as It is better to have few elements very well
her portfolio comes from her an artist more so than several polished even if simply done, rather than a
unquestionable technical skills, anonymous grey-shaded models. noisy mess of intricate details all over the place.
90
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Rafa Barnas is an architectural visualisation
artist in Poland. The images shown here are but
a small sample of his work.
www.uniquevisionstudio.com Ronen says
photorealism is no
longer the main goal
of top architectural
visualisation rms
Fundamentals
VISUALISATION
RONEN BEKERMAN
1
DONT GET CAUGHT UP WITH DETAILS
If there is one thing Ive learned from Rafa
is how powerful a simple sketch can be. Go
back to basics and lock in your ideas with the
most basic of tools you are comfortable with.
CHOOSES RAFAL BARNAS
Ronen Berkerman nds Rafa Barnas highly emotive approach
2
PHOTOREAL IS NOT A MUST to image-making refreshing and inspirational...
It is mostly a preference and a specic
requirement outside the core architecture
visualisation stream. Focus on the subject and WHY RONEN CHOSE creating a 3D model and render,
what you want to convey rst. RAFAL BARNAS going with a physical scale model
3
Rafas work is unique, or just some collaged image
LET YOUR IMAGINATION LEAD ABOUT THE AUTHOR vivid, highly emotive scraps as a starting point, doing
Try to express your own approach to the Ronen is an architectural and tells a story. He all of it by hand.
subject and how you envision the process all visualisation artist based is very talented and The process is more of a
the way to the nal images. Clients will respect in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Starting at the same time very humble, conceptual one, cinematic
you more for that and youll probably be a lot as a freelancer in 2002, giving lots of respect to his even, with Rafa as the director
happier with the autonomy you have set for he founded Polytown clients and the subject matter setting the tone and mood using
yourself as well as with the end results going Media in 2005. He is well he so masterfully takes care smart composition, bold and
directly to your portfolio. known for his Architectural of. I like the fact he always contrasting colours, with strong
4
Visualization blog. approaches a project free from lighting leveraging the free-from
DONT FORGET THE REAL THING www.ronenbekerman.com any predetermined techniques painterly approach to its fullest.
You visualise architecture so visit it and in mind for executing it. For He even takes it a step forward,
experience it as much as possible under him, every topic with the right creating an animation, based on
various light conditions and different seasons. approach and way of thinking, the images, for almost each one
Take pictures and feel the materials that make can evolve into an interesting of his projects.
up a place. There is no better schooling. project at the nish line. The best Im fascinated by what he
5
example of this is his Biotherm accomplishes by departing from
SHARE YOUR WORK AND GET FEEDBACK Radiators project who thought 3D and photorealism so early on
Dont be shy. After almost ve years of this subject could be so exciting! in the process, and the levels of
blogging, Im still amazed to see how many Looking at Rafas raw renders creativity he manages to reach in
artists do not share their work. Just state it is up clearly shows where his attention the execution and presentation
for critique and learn from the feedback you get. lays. In some case he even skips of his work.
PUT
YOURSELF
IN THE
FRAME ANTXON GMEZ
An experienced art director and
production designer, Antxon won a
Goya for his work on Che. He was
also nominated three times for Pedro
Ian Dean speaks to art directors from lm, Almodovars films: All About My
Mother (2000), Bad Education (2005)
animation and video games who reveal how and The Skin I Live In (2012).
www.imdb.com/name/nm0351016
to get noticed and land your dream job
G
etting your foot in the Speaking with Marcelo at the the industry at that time, says
door of the CG industry recent Workroom Barcelona Marcelo, highlighting the need
is a major challenge. Just congress on art direction in the to tailor your portfolio. Theyre
how do you get that rst great CG industry is an eye-opening not developing talent, theyre
job on your way to a career at glimpse behind the curtain. A 25- selecting it and plugging it in
Pixar? It feels like its even harder year veteran in animated features, right away, so work on your
than it used to be, right? Marcelo sees that the industry is design and expression sheets,
I think people look back changing. Dressed in a Hawaiian your turnarounds and mapping.
on the industry with shirt, relaxed and condent,
rose-tinted glasses and Marcelo is a seasoned pro. Its all about the basics
nostalgia: they say it The brutal, honest truth is When it comes to portfolios,
was easier back then that its an industry, a business, Marcelo is clear: Know yourself
to get a job, but they forget the and the likes of Pixar dont hire and know your limitations.
industry was smaller, says art your knowledge of design but The process of observation
director Marcelo Vignali. the design that is relevant to is important: distil the design
92
92
Fundamentals
Photos by Angel Ruiz. www.tr3senlinea.com
MARCELO VIGNALI FRANK MARIA MARCOS
A respected production designer, art Frank is the director of specialist
director and visual development artist, animation studio Animaldia and runs
Marcelo has worked in animation for the Media Design Masters degree in
over 25 years, on projects such as stop-motion animation at the Bau
Atlantis, Open Season and Surfs Up. Center Design College.
www.vignalistudio.blogspot.co.uk www.animaldia.com
CARLES GRANGEL
Starting in comics, Carles moved
to animation in the 1980s before
eventually settling into a career in teaches a masters degree in think its great to have a strong
CG and stop-motion animation. His photography and CGI through knowledge of visual arts and
films include, Madagascar, The Corpse Leonard Blum, using LightWave. design, but that can come from
Bride and Hotel Transylvania. If you know about photography anywhere these days, says the
www.grangelstudio.com then your backbone in CGI is artist, adding: If you can paint
strong, he says. nice scenery then you can light
Likewise Daniel Prez, art an environment.
director at video game studio Theres a sense that what
and observe. I often see work Digital Legends agrees employers are looking for are
thats technically impressive but with the need to show artists who have a knowledge of
academically awed. the core knowledge core skills. Software is changing
The idea of a grounding in the in your portfolio. I so fast that if you focus too much
basics to showcase your skills in a on the technology, you may get
portfolio is picked up left behind. Those guys who had
by Iaki Gonzlez, CG Know your limitations. The process to learn the technical language
artist and specialist on of a particular software ten years
photoreal rendering of observation is important: distill ago are nding it can now be
techniques at Leonard Blum. done at the push of the button,
CGI is about writing with light,
so photography is the starting
the design and observe says Marcelo.
The industry is interested
point, says Iaki, who also Iaki Gonzlez, CG artist, Leonard Blum in making the process more
93
93
REALISM CAN LEAD
TO A CAREER
Iaki Gonzlez, CG
artist and specialist on
photoreal rendering
Fundamentals
techniques at Leonard
Blum, reveals how the studio
created a virtual prop in LightWave
to demonstrate the importance of
photorealism as a training option
[This model is] based on the
Chippendale chair that was proposed
for art director Antxn Gmez in LEONARD BLUM
Pedro Almodvars lm Talk to Her. We Leonard Blum is an advertising
decided to make a virtual model of photography studio specialising in
it and comped it into the main room advanced retouching techniques, film
where the conferences were held. and VFX. They also run an annual
We used LightWave and Masters Degree in Photography and
Photoshop to get the most realistic CGI, and several weekly and weekend
results. To generate a virtual based workshops. For a 15% discount,
environment, we took several pictures use code XHF0264L on the website.
of the room at several exposures www.leonardblum.com
and stitched them to generate the
environment (HDRI) that we used for
lighting (IBL) and reections. We did
the nal comp in Photoshop using This model of a Chippendale chair
different render buffers for reections, was created and then comped into
shadows, diffuse, ID etc. the virtual conference room
IHMAN 3D SCHOOL
An online teaching site, IHMAN
automatic and easier, so you is to work with free software to 3D School uses Blender to teach
dont need to study for a year to teach the fundamentals that the fundamentals of CG, including
make it work. can then be applied to any modelling, rigging and programming.
What we require now is software, to learn a Courses run 24 hours a day and offers
people who have a good sense general workow, says networking beyond the training.
of the movement, a natural talent director Diego Moya www.3dschool.ihman.com
for the timing thats Parra. But the main
really the issue, ingredient is to study something
highlights Toni Garcia, you have a passion for, he adds.
creative director at of work, and you t into the role,
BRB Internacional/Screen21. Show your intentions so know what youd like to do
You may have good skills with Passion should be reected in and focus on that, says Daniel,
the software but this is going to a portfolio too. People relate who points to team goals being
to people, and not simply important to smaller studios.
work on a page. I look for And if you want to aim high,
What we require now is people who have a potential, personality and be aware that you restrict your
professionalism, says Digital chances: If you want to make
good sense of the movement, a natural Legends Daniel Prez. Above StarCraft models, theres only
all you want people to know one place to go and thousands
talent for the timing thats the issue youre professional. Its going to
be hard, sometimes tedious work
of others want that job.
Dressed immaculately all in
Toni Garcia, creative director, BRB Internacional/Screen and you need a certain kind of black, Carles Grangel, character
personality and professionalism artist on Tim Burtons
change, and then maybe your to do it. Corpse Bride and Boo!
skill is forgotten what wont Personality in your portfolio (which is currently
change is your need for skills is key. Does it show your ability in production for
with timing, with emotion; this is to handle pressure, understand DreamWorks) puts it this way:
natural in some people and this workows and pipelines? Start Show that you can do some
is the thing we need to promote by being honest with yourself. things very well or many things
because software is no longer Then focus on what you want to not so well. He suggests taking
as important. do a generalist or a specialist, time to invest in yourself as an
To this aim, IHMAN 3D School freelance or studio work. artist. Time is precious, he says
Carles Grangel was a offers online courses in Blender, Being a 3D generalist means quietly. Become the best artist
character artist on Tim designed to teach the core skills you wont be a creative person; you can be, then look to the big
Burtons Corpse Bride and pipelines of CG. The plan its a business, a chain method studios later.
94
94
INDUSTRY ADVICE
Stop-motion animator Can you explain this concept in
Frank Maria Marcos more detail?
explains what it takes to Animation can be done in a lot of
Fundamentals
make it in animation ways, its surprising and visual. Its
important to match the technique
What is fundamental to good with the story, but the story comes
animation? rst and then the techniques
Its important to have passion you
have to really want to do it. If this is What makes a good animation?
what you want to do, dont give up, Good animation has to have a soul.
get the dream. Youre not moving things, youre
animating them giving them life.
What advice can you share for When you forget about the person
improving animation? behind the animation and only see the
BRB/SCREEN21 Its important to have a message to character, this is a good animation.
BRB has over 40 years experience in tell, a story and a script. Also, good
TV animation, with brands including communication and creative skills Do you think its important to
Dogtanian and Willy Fog. They DANIEL PREZ if you know how you want people remain creative?
currently work with Barcelonas An art director at game studio Digital to feel, you can then use the right Yes! Dont forget that stop-motion
Screen21 on the award-winning TV Legends Entertainment, Daniel began tools. Knowing how to use a camera animation can be done with anything:
series Invizimals. his career at Dygra Films on The Living or software is meaningless without a you can use cutouts, people, objects,
www.c21media.net Forest, before moving into video message, something to tell. rotoscoping anything!
www.screen21.es games to focus on character design
and animation.
www.digital-legends.com
Stop-motion animation
can be done using any
media you like...
Freelance is also becoming Invest in yourself to create have talent then you can do
a good route for people to content, make your own IP and this you can be the creator
gain experience and build stories. The future of the industry and do something important on
their portfolio if studios arent for the next ten years is about the internet.
responding, but its not for content, says Marcelo as he Its a direction of travel that
everyone. You need a certain describes how Amazon, even seasoned art director Antxon
personality to make it work, says Warner Bros. and Disney are Gmez agrees with.
Marcelo Vignali cryptically. falling over themselves to nd Smartly dressed, curly
Carles is a freelancer, and it new content. They cant keep grey hair, Antxon has
works for him: Freelance is the up, he says. worked closely in the
freedom to be an exotic bird; to Toni is equally direct: The lm and advertising industries
be in the jungle outside the cage. traditional TV broadcast system with Pedro Almodvar. Young
I exercise more, I work harder. In is in crisis, they arent paying for Antxon Gmez has people should take risks,
the cage life can be easier, they new animations. So who is? The decades of experience as experiment and try new things,
feed you and you dont have to answer is marketing departments a production designer, he says thoughtfully, combing
work as hard to nd the work I inside toy and video games and says you should take his hair through his ngers.
love it outside the cage. studios, who are searching for risks to land your dream Dont be afraid, be positive,
new IP and stories. job in lm and TV dont follow other people. Enjoy
Do it yourself We [BRB] are a small making mistakes and do what
Talk at the Barcelona Workroom creator going to YouTube and other people arent doing learn
event soon turns to the industry the internet and nding ways to break the rules. Above all,
itself. While ten years ago there to market what we have, its he reects, its better to regret
was one route into a CG job, the great because theres a direct something you tried and failed at,
consensus now is to nd your relationship between the creator than regret not trying at all.
own path. If the industry wont and the audience, there are no Discover more interviews at
give you a job, create your own. rules, explains Toni. If you
FYI 3dworld.creativebloq.com
95
95
Theory
96
THEORY
VIRTUAL LENSES 98 PARTICLE SYSTEMS: PART 1 108
Create faultless renders with virtual lenses Part one of two looking at particle systems
Theory
Think of pixels as data and not colours Further advice on particle systems
97
AUTHOR PROFILE
Denis Kozlov
Denis is a CG
generalist with 15
years experience
in the lm, TV,
advertising, game
and education
industries. He is
currently working
in Prague as a
VFX supervisor.
www.kozlove.net
Theory
THEORY
W
hile there is hardly a position and rotation coordinates certain cases, you may also nd the
CG image rendered (just like any other object), clipping planes handy to quickly
without them, virtual horizontal and vertical angles slice the scene into portions based
cameras are often overlooked by of view, and two clipping planes: on depth for separate rendering.
the artists, who understandably near and far. Put together these Once the position and rotation
prefer to focus on scene geometry, properties form the view frustum, of the camera are known, it is two
lighting and animation. A camera, or the pyramid of vision of the angles of view (horizontal and
with its seeming simplicity, stays notional camera. vertical) which do the best job of
behind the scenes both literally Clipping planes are designed to describing what exactly is going
and metaphorically. Nevertheless, optimise rendering by excluding to be seen/rendered. The relation
it possesses some not too obvious unneeded portions of the scene, between them also provides us
features and properties, which can and normally have little practical with the information about the
either help or hinder you during signicance as they are most nal images aspect ratio. (Angle
the project. Ill be addressing these commonly set automatically by the or eld of view abbreviate as AoV
things here, so that you can get to software. One thing to watch for is or FoV respectively.)
know your CG camera better. that nothing gets unintentionally More often you would have
clipped off especially when one value for the angle (either
The cameras anatomy transferring a camera between horizontal or vertical), and the
Anatomically, a CG camera is applications and/or drastically second one would be derived from
described by three-dimensional changing the scale of a scene. In the nal images aspect ratio,
98
Far clipping plane:
nothing gets
rendered behind it
X Near clipping frame:
Y nothing closer
gets rendered Horizontal angle
X=800px of view denes
the width of the
rendered area
=60
Y=600px
Location and
orientation: the
basic properties
View frustum common for
is a clipped any 3D object
EXPLAINING THE pyramid dened
by the cameras Vertical angle
VIEWING FRUSTUM properties: only
the objects inside
of view limits
the rendered
The pyramid of vision of the notional camera it are rendered area vertically
which is pretty much the same generally facilitate dynamism Because of this, to describe the
and easily convertible. Well touch and drama while introducing zoom level in photography and
Theory
upon this and the focal length distortions, whereas narrow ones cinematography we use focal
which is another parameter allow for focusing on details and length instead, which is a great
describing the cameras angles compressing the space. convention for those who deal
later in the article. Position, rotation and eld with real cameras daily, but makes
of view is all you really need to things much less straightforward
Revert from default know to perfectly match your when applied to the computer
Every piece of software I can notional camera with the majority graphics world. Here is a very
think of defaults to average camera of 3D editors. However, life has a rough description of how it relates
angles. Whether the project allows tendency to make things harder, to the angle of view (AoV).
FURTHER you to set them arbitrarily or so this is where things start to get Light passes through the lens, is
STUDYING you need to match a live-action more complicated. focused and projected or ipped
plate, leaving these values at their
defaults without even considering Matching the cameras Wide angles facilitate dynamism
Read up on the an adjustment is ignoring an In the rst instance, we need to
language of opportunity to improve the work. check how each of the programs
camera angles Natural human eld of view is were matching the cameras with and drama, whereas narrow ones
a subject for a longer discussion measures the AoV horizontally,
FRAMED INK than we have room for here, and vertically, both or even diagonally? allow for focusing on details
Marcos interpretation is based on what Then we can just copy and paste
Mateu-Mestre one would dene as seeing and the data if the measurement is onto a lm or a sensor lets
other individual factors. However, of the same type, or do a simple use the word lm for nostalgic
GRAMMAR OF a horizontal angle of 40-60 is conversion using the image aspect reasons. Moving the lm closer
THE SHOT often considered to correspond ratio as a coefcient if they differ. to or further away from the focal
Roy Thompson to the useful eld of view the However, this might not work, point makes different parts of the
& Christopher area in which we can distinguish as one of the programs you are image appear sharper or softer.
J Bowen objects at a glance, without using might rely on real-world This is a relatively small movement
moving the eyes or the head. camera parameters, like focal in an area dened by the lens
HOLLYWOOD Therefore the default camera length and aperture size, to dene design and marked as the lenss
CAMERA WORK angles should provide a decent the cameras FoV, which would focal length (F) the distance
Video training starting point for representing an bring us to the second point: what from the focal point to the lm.
course observer, but deviating from them if you need to match your virtual
enables you to emphasise drama or camera to a real-world one? Simple setups
other artistic aspects of the image, The difculty is that it is quite Lenses with a higher focal number
making it more interesting and hard to measure the actual angles will have lm located further away
expressive overall. Wide angles of view for a physical camera. from the focal point. However,
99
MEASURING THE AOV
OF A CAMERA LENS
Focal length conversion between 35mm and digital
X
AoV=2 arctan
F 2F
since the lm has a constant documentation on your particular The bottom line is that if you
Theory
width (X), the longer the lens, the lens/camera model. However, even have a choice, stick to the angle
narrower its angle of view will be. with 35mm lm there are issues of view rather than focal length
Actually, it is usually the lens that as the actual area exposed to light when transferring your camera
moves not the lm back but (and this is the area that denes data between different programs.
thats irrelevant for our discussion. the angle) is smaller, about 24mm.
Another thing we can change You also have the additional Rendering overscan
in our setup is to put the lm back problem that almost every DSLR However, if you do need to use
in front of the focal point all camera has its own sensor size. focal length rather than the angle
the angles and ratios will stay of view, there is a neat CG trick,
geometrically the same, but now Errors and aberrations which you can do. This can be
the setup will be simpler and As if this doesnt make things hard used when you need to overscan
correspond better to a CG camera. enough, your 3D software will render a wider image of the
Knowing all this we can now probably have its own system for same scene so that the middle
convert the focal length into the describing the virtual aperture part matches perfectly. This
size and proportions with allows you to add zoom, shake
Overscanning allows you to add coefcients for overscanning and
rules for which dimension (width
or simply recompose the image
in compositing, and is especially
or height) is the dominant one. useful when using virtual camera
zoom, shake or simply recompose Even more confusingly, you projection techniques.
will have to interrogate all these The problem is that if you
the image in compositing measurements to nd out which were to increase the AoV, the
axis (horizontal or vertical) is size occupied in-frame by the
angle of view. The rst thing to described, and if the sizes are original image would change in
notice is that focal length alone given in inches or millimetres. non-linear proportion. So if, for
tells us absolutely nothing about Oh, and remember that you may example, we double the AoV, our
the angle of view unless we know have to do a sum or two as well initial framing will not be exactly
the lm back size (or sensor size, double-checking if the tangent half the width or height of the
as it is often referred to in CG). function uses degrees or radians, new image. The better option is to
A good thing is that lenses are for example and not simply trust divide the focal length by two. The
usually marked with focal length the scripting manual. benet of using the focal distance
which corresponds to a 35mm Finally, we should be mindful is that the picture size changes
lm. Usually is the important that the error of such conversions proportionally, so an object shot
word here, since no-one would is increased by the fact that with with a 50mm lens will look 1.5
actually guarantee this is the case; physical cameras, there are times smaller than one shot with
you will simply have to check the always physical aberrations. a 75mm lens from the same point.
100
Arch-viz renders The correct way
often preserve to stitch these
the verticals, but renders together
that only happens is to rst project
if the camera is them onto a
pointing parallel to sphere (as below)
the ground, which centred around
doesnt make for a the cameras
great composition
NATURAL
SELECTION
Digitally
replicate the
imperfections of
a lm camera
ABERRATIONS
Geometric-like
distortion and
chromatic-like
diffraction
So if you want to render a wider Unless youre using some fancy instead of a full 3D solution. It
Theory
version of the image, while camera shader that does vertical also means that images rendered ARTEFACTS
preserving the initial render lines compensation for you (like in this way can be stitched Grain, noise
matching pixel-to-pixel in the the one in V-Ray, for example), together seamlessly. However, and compression
centre, you need to divide the the way to go is to expand the if you try to stitch them in a artefacts
focal length by the same number vertical angle of view, render the straightforward manner, it wont
that you multiply the output image centred (with the camera work, which can be seen in the EFFECTS
resolution. This is a handy trick pointing parallel to the ground two frames in the example above. Depth of eld
as it works in the same way in plane) and then reformat (crop out The right way to do so would be to and motion blur
any application. the unneeded areas) in 2D. In such rst project them onto a sphere,
cases its also worth considering centred around the cameras. In a LENS FLARES
Aligning the perspective rendering only a partial region of similar way, when creating a pan Lens ares (caused
Showing the scene from a low the frame to save time. animation from a still frame, it is by bright hotspots)
point, especially with a wide lens, And as were touching on best to rst project the image onto
is one way to accent its scale and perspective issues, the further the a sphere, or to at least mimic this TRAJECTORIES
objects are away from a camera, behaviour with a distortion applied Camera movement
Showing the scene from a low point, the more of them it takes to ll up
the view. This means it is often
after the pan animation in 2D.
Hopefully, the aspects listed
in reality is
restricted to the
practical to use foreground objects in this article will be useful capabilities of
especially with a wide lens, is one way or telephoto (narrow angle) lens in improving your artistic the rig. Too much
to create a busy impression with experience. We have been looking freedom in the
to accent its scale and signicance fewer assets in the frame. at the capabilities of a CG camera virtual cameras
which is basically a simplication ight might make
signicance. This is a method Nodal panning of its real-life counterpart and your shot look
thats used often in architectural Rotating our notional camera in the sidebar here I have listed unconvincing
visualisation. However, another without changing its position effects that you might get with
thing often desired in architectural mimics what is called a nodal lm but which would need to be
visualisation renderings is to pan in cinematography, and added to CG shots.
preserve the verticals, and that features no parallax changes in Replicating these features can
will only happen when the camera the resulting images that is, all add a breath of life to the frame,
is pointing exactly parallel to the the objects keep their positions but overdoing them can make the
ground. As a consequence, the relative to each other; even the whole image look articial. Its all
horizon line has to coincide with shape of the reections dont about balance and achieving the
the vertical centre of a frame, change. This is very useful for cleanest picture you can.
which results in an image that is visual effects shots, since it allows To see Deniss showreel and
not very good compositionally. for the use of a 2D matte painting
FYI work, visit www.kozlove.net
101
AUTHOR PROFILE
Denis Kozlov
is a CG generalist
with 15 years
experience in
the lm, TV,
advertising, game
and education
industries. He is
currently working
in Prague as a
VFX supervisor.
www.kozlove.net
Theory
THEORY
Pixel perspective
Denis Kozlov explains why a pixel is not a colour square
and why you should think of images as data containers
A
lthough those raster formats like .gif as it allowed for numbers, and again there are
image les lling our certain size benets at the expense multiple ways of describing the
computers and lives are of a limited palette. colour with few (usually three)
most commonly used to represent Another way (the most common numbers each in 01 range. In
pictures, I nd it useful for a one) is to use a continuous range an RGB model they stand for
CG artist to have yet another from 0 to 1 (not 255!), where 0 the amounts of red, green and
perspective a geekier one. And stands for black, 1 for white, blue light, in HSV they stand for
from that perspective a raster and the numbers in between hue, saturation and brightness
image is essentially a set of denote the shades of grey of the accordingly. But whats vital to
data organised into a particular corresponding lightness. This note is that those are still nothing
structure, to be more specic way we get a logical and elegantly but numbers, which encode a
a table lled with numbers (a organised way of representing a particular meaning, but dont have
matrix, mathematically speaking). monochrome image with a raster to be interpreted that way.
The number in each table cell le. The term monochrome
can be used to represent a colour, happens to be a more appropriate A logical unit
and this is how the cell becomes than black and white since the Now let me move onto why a pixel
a pixel, which stands for picture same data set can be used to depict is not a square: Its because the
element. Many ways exist to gradations from black to any other table, which is what a raster image
encode colours numerically. For colour depending on the output is, tells us how many elements are
instance, (probably the most device like many old monitors in each row and column, in which
straightforward one) to explicitly were black-and-green rather than order they are placed, but nothing
dene a number-to-colour black-and-white. about what shape or even what
correspondence for each value, ie. This system, however, can be proportion they are. We can form
3 stands for dark red, 17 for pale easily extended to the full-colour an image from the data in a le
green and so on. This method case with a simple solution each by various means, not necessarily
was frequently used in the older table cell can contain several with a monitor, which is only one
102
option for an output device. For be just lled with interpolated This raster image
example, if we take our image le (averaged) values of originally has been created
and distribute pebbles of sizes neighbouring pixels. by lling a table
proportional to pixel values on In a similar fashion, a PPI with the digits of
some surface we shall still form (pixels per inch, commonly Pi divided by ten
essentially the same image. also called DPI dots per inch)
And even if we take only half parameter is only an instruction
of the columns, but instruct establishing the correspondence
ourselves to use the stones twice between the image les resolution
wider for the distribution the and the outputs physical
result would still show principally dimensions. And so PPI is pretty
the same picture with the much meaningless on its own,
correct proportions, only lacking without either of those two.
half of the horizontal details.
Storing custom data ...and this one has
Returning to the numbers stored been created using
This numerical way of image-thinking in each pixel, of course they can random values.
be any, including so-called out-of Both data sets
is of paramount importance and is range numbers (values above 1 and have a particular
negative ones), and there can be meaning different
extremely benecial to all CG artists more than three numbers stored from each other;
in each cell. These features are yet visually they
Instruct is the key word here. limited only by the particular le represent the
This instruction is called pixel format denition and are widely same thing noise
aspect ratio, which describes the utilised in OpenEXR to name one.
difference between the images The great advantage of storing
resolution (number of rows several numbers in each pixel
Theory
and columns) and proportions. is their independence, as each
It enables you to store frames of them can be studied and
stretched or compressed manipulated individually as channels. Every time you render
horizontally and is used in certain a monochrome image called something out, you decide which
video and lm formats. Channel or a kind of sub-raster. data to include and where to place PIXEL
Now lets talk about resolution Additional channels to the it. In the same way you decide in VALUES
it shows the maximum amount usual colour-describing Red, compositing how to manipulate
of detail that an image can hold, Green and Blue ones can carry the data you possess to achieve
but says nothing about how much all kinds of information. The the result you want. It helps if you
it actually holds. A badly focused default fourth channel is Alpha, This numerical way of thinking think of a pixel
photograph cant be improved which encodes opacity (0 denotes about images is of paramount as a digit...
no matter how many pixels the a transparent pixel, 1 stands for importance, and will benet you
A computer camera sensor has. In the same completely opaque). Z-depth, greatly in your visual effects and The described
monitor is just way, upscaling a digital image in normals, velocity (motion vectors), motion graphics work. perspective is also
one of the many Photoshop or any other editor will world position, ambient occlusion, how programmers
possible ways to increase the resolution without IDs and anything else you could The benets see image les.
visualise the raster adding any detail or quality to it think of can be stored in either Applying this way of thinking So, for example, in
image data the extra rows and columns would additional or the main RGB to your work as you use the game industry
render passes and carry out the it can help
compositing work is vital. artists achieve
In this example Basic colour corrections, a better mutual
of an image stored for example, are nothing but understanding
with the pixel elementary mathematical with developers,
aspect ratio of 2.0, operations on pixel values and resulting in better
representing pixels seeing through them is pretty custom tools and
as squares results essential for production work. cutting corners
in erroneous Furthermore, maths operations with various
proportions like addition, subtraction or tricks like using
(left). Correct multiplication can be performed textures for
representation on pixel values, and with data non-image data.
needs to rely like Normals and Position
on the stretched many 3D shading tools can be
elements like in the mimicked in 2D.
image on the right To see Deniss showreel and
FYI work, visit www.kozlove.net
103
AUTHOR PROFILE
Denis Kozlov
Denis is a CG
generalist with 15
years experience in
the lm, TV, game
advertising and
education industries.
He is currently
working in Prague
as a VFX supervisor.
www.kozlove.net
Theory
THEORY
P
reviously weve discussed address the precision of such a (1-bit image) would give us a
encoding colour information representation, which is dened picture consisting only of black-
in pixels with numbers by a number of bits dedicated in a and-white elements with no
from a zero-to-one range, where particular le format to describing shades of grey.
0 stands for black, 1 for white and that 0 to 1 range, or a bit depth of However, the great thing about
numbers in between represent a raster image. bits is that when you group them
corresponding shades of grey. Bits are the most basic units together there is exponential
In a similar way, the RGB colour of storing information. Each can growth, as each new bit does not
model uses three numbers for take only two values, which can be add two more values to the group,
storing the brightness of each red, thought of as 0 or 1, off or on, the but instead doubles the amount
green and blue component, and absence or presence of a signal, of available unique combinations.
represents a wide range of colours or black or white in our case. It means that if we use 3 bits to
through mixing them. Here well Therefore using a 1-bit per pixel describe each pixel value, wed
104
The circle below
shows the gradient
banding, which
can be solved by
adding noise, as
can be seen in the
circle below right.
By introducing
other artifacts
you can reduce
unwanted ones
Theory
get not 6 (2*3) but 8 (2^3) possible
combinations. 5 bits can produce
simply because they count
the sum of all three channels
Going above 2 bytes per channel
GRADIENT 32, and 8 bits grouped together together. An 8-bit RGB image
BANDING result in 256 different numbers. can possibly reproduce 16,777,216 becomes impractical as the le size
That group of 8 bits is typically (256^3) different colours and
called a byte, which is another results in colour delity normally increases proportionally to the bit depth
How to reduce standard unit computers use sufcient for not seeing any
banding artifacts to store data. This makes it artifacts. Moreover, regular the purpose. But even 10 bits like
convenient (although not consumer monitors are physically in Cineon/DPX format can give
Insufcient bit necessary) to assign the whole not designed to display more four times higher precision against
depth of an byte to describe a colour of a pixel, gradations (in fact they may be the standard 8. Going above 2
output device and it is one byte which is most limited to even less, like 6 bits per bytes per channel, on the other
can be another commonly used per channel. This channel) so why would someone hand, becomes impractical as the
cause for is true for the majority of digital bother and waste disk space or le size increases proportionally
banding artifacts, images existing today, giving us memory on higher bit depths? to the bit depth.
especially in the precision of 256 gradations But regardless of the number of
gradients. Adding from black to white possible in Special cases gradations (2, 4, 256, 65,536, and
noise can help to either a monochrome picture or The most basic example when so on), as long as we are using an
ght this issue each Red, Green or Blue channel 256 gradations of an 8-bit image integer le format, these numbers
through dithering for RGB and is what is called an are not enough is a heavy colour- all describe the values within the
8-bit image in computer graphics, correction, which may quickly range from 0 to 1. For instance,
where the bit depth is traditionally result in artifacts called banding. middle grey value in sRGB colour
measured per colour component. Rendering to higher bit depth space (the colour space of a
In consumer electronics the solves this issue, and normally regular computer monitor not
same 8-bit RGB image would 16-bit formats with their 65,536 to be confused with RGB colour
be called a 24-bit (True Colour) distinctions of grey are used for model) is around 0.5 not 128,
105
0 1
and white is 1 not 255. It is only
because 8-bits representation is 1 BIT
so popular, many programs by
default measure the colour in it.
But this is not how the underlying 2 BITS
maths is working and thus can
cause problems when trying to
make sense of it. For example,
take a Multiply blending mode 3 BITS
its easy to learn empirically
that it preserves the colour of the
underlying layer in white areas
4 BITS
of the overlay, and darkens the
picture under the dark areas but
why is it called Multiply? What
exactly is happening? With black 5 BITS
it makes sense you multiply
the underlying colour by 0 and
preserve white areas if white is the memory usage, this allows HDR data by converting an integer 256 gradations
255? Multiplying something by for representing High Dynamic image to oat and gaining up the of 8 bits are
255 should make it much brighter, Range (HDR) imagery, additional highlights (bright areas) of the normally enough
right? Well, its because it is 1, not freedom in compositing, and picture. This wont give you a is illustrated here
255 (nor it is 4, or 16, or 65,536) makes it possible to store arbitrary real replacement for the properly as well through
and so with the rest of the CG numerical data in image les like acquired HDR, but should sufce comparison with
maths: white means 1. the World Position Pass. for many purposes like diffuse 16 bits
It is natural for a 3D renderer to IBL (Image Based Lighting). In
The oating point work in oating point internally, other words, regardless of the
So far weve talked about how so most often the risk of clipping output requirements, if you do your
the bit depth works in integer would occur when choosing compositing in at least 16 bits the
formats; dening the amount of a le format to save the nal nal downsampling and clipping
possible variations between 0 image. Having said that, even for delivery wont be an issue.
and 1 only. Floating point formats when dealing with already given Its important to have a clear
work in a different way. Bit low bit depth or clipped integer understanding of bit depth and
depth does pretty much the same les, there are certain benets integer/oat differences to deliver
thing here denes the colour in increasing its colour precision the renders in adequate quality
precision. However, the numbers inside of the compositing software. and not to get caught during the
stored can be anything and may (Nuke converts any imported post-processing stage later. Read
well lay outside of a 0 to 1 range, source into a 32-bit oating point up on the le formats and options
like brighter than white (above representation internally and available in your software. For
1) or darker than black (negative automatically.) Such conversion instance 16 bits can refer to both
numbers). Internally this works wont add any extra details or integer and oating point formats,
by utilising the logarithmic scale qualities to the existing data, which may be distinguished as
and requires higher bit depths but the results of your further Short (integer) and Half (oat)
for achieving the same delity manipulations would belong in Maya. As a general rule of
in the usually most important to a better colourspace with thumb, use 16 bits if you plan
[0,1]. Normally at least 16 or even less quantisation errors (and a to do extensive colour grading/
32 bits are used per channel to wider luminance range if you compositing, and make sure you
represent oating point data with also convert an integer to oat). render to oating point format
to avoid clipping if any out-of-
range values need to be preserved
CALCULATING IMAGE FILES SIZES BY RESOLUTION AND BIT DEPTH
(like details in the highlights
Whether its a oat or integer, the size of a raster image in memory can be calculated or negative values in z-depth
as a product of the number of pixels (horizontal times vertical resolution), bit depth or if you simply use a linear
and the number of channels. This way a 320x240 8-bit RGBA image would occupy workow). 16-bit OpenEXR les
320x240x8x4 = 2,457,600 bits, or 320x240x4 = 307,200 bytes of memory. can be considered a good colour
This does not show the exact le size on disk though, as rst, there is additional data precision/le size compromise
like header and other meta data stored in an image le; and second, some kind of which can be used in most cases.
compression (lossless like internal archiving or lossy like in .jpg) is normally utilised in
image le formats to save disk space.
106
The same source
image rendered
to 8 bits integer,
16 bits integer
and 16 bits oat
with two different
colour corrections
applied. Notice the
colour banding in
8-bit and clipping
highlights in
This shows clipping after
integer versions lowering the brightness
(gain down). It happens
because no data is stored
above 1 (white) in integer
formats can be solved
only with oating point
formats (as shown below)
Theory
COLOUR
INTEGRITY
How to test if
your image is
clipped
Integer formats
always clip the
out-of-range
pixel values. The
quick way to
test for clipping
is to lower the
brightness of a
picture and see 16 BITS INTEGER
if any details get
revealed in the
overbright areas
16 BITS FLOAT
107
AUTHOR PROFILE
Denis Kozlov
Denis is a CG
generalist with 15
years experience in
the lm, TV, game
advertising and
education industries.
He is currently
working in Prague
as a VFX supervisor.
www.kozlove.net
Theory
THEORY
Part 1: Evaluating
a particle system
In this two-piece article, Denis Kozlov takes a look at
the criteria for evaluating a particle system
M
ost 3D and compositing aid of scripting or by utilising some denition, however, it can offer
packages offer some application-specic techniques. It some unique speed optimisations
sort of particle system often requires adjusting your way and convenient features like per-
toolset. They usually come of thinking to t the particular particle blurring control, extended
with a nice set of examples and tools setup, and I personally nd support for blending modes and
demos showing all the stunning that knowledge of the various utilising data directly from images
effects you can achieve using different products available is a big to control the particles. The ability
the software. However, the best help. Even if youve made up your to dial-in existing 3D camera
way to really judge a packages mind about your software choice, motion is quite important in a
capabilities is often not by the you might still nd the following real production environment.
things it can do, but by the things list useful as a set of exercises, In general, it is all about
it cannot. And since it may not be which can help you gure out control. The more control you
so easy to think of all the things how to achieve the necessary have over every thinkable aspect
one might be missing while using functionality within your app. of a particles life, the better. One
a given bit of software, it is good distinctive aspect of this control
to have a checklist at hand when Taking control is the data ow how much data
evaluating it. The rst question would be can be transferred into the particle
Even if some possibilities are whether it is a two- or three- system from the outside, passed
not obvious out of the box, you can dimensional system, or one that through it and then output at the
usually make particles do pretty allows for both modes. A 2D-only end? Which particles properties
much anything you want with the solution is going to be limited by can it affect? Ideally, we want
108
as much as possible. The need
for high levels of control over
particles also means that if the
system doesnt have some kind
of a modular arrangement, like
nodes for instance, it is likely to be
limited in functionality.
Emission features
Following the old-fashioned
tradition of starting at the
beginning, lets start with the
particles emission. What are
the predened emitter types and
shapes and, most importantly,
does the software allow for user- This shows a simple
dened emitter shapes? You can particle system driving
only get so far without custom the metaballs
How much data can be transferred into with image data, so we want all modelling tool. Whether youre
the various properties of the using sprites or geometry, in
the system from the outside, passed particles (amount, size, initial order to have real power you
velocity, age and mass and so will need versatile control over
through it and then output at the end? on) to be controllable through the timing and randomisation
texture data, using as much of of these elements.
sources input geometry or the texture images channels as Can an elements animation
Theory
image data increase the systems possible. For instance, you might be offset for every individual
exibility enormously. want to set the initial particles particle to start when it gets
Emitting from custom volumes direction with vectors stored in born? Can a random frame of the
MAKING allows for great possibilities RGB channels of an image, and use input sequence be picked for each PARTICLE
HAIR & FUR as well. What about emission the alpha or other custom channel particle? Can this frame be chosen INSIGHTS
from animated objects? Can to control the size, as well as use based on the particles attributes?
the emitters velocity and the emitters texture to assign Can the geometry animation be
Creating hair deformations data be transferred groups to particles for further stretched to the particles lifetime? Important
and fur strands to the particles being born? For manipulation. The same applies So, for example, if you have a clip functions in your
with particles the geometry input, particle birth to driving particles properties with a balloon being blown up and particle software
should be possible from both the with different volumetric channels eventually bursting, you should
Rendering a static surface and the enclosed volume (density, velocity, heat) or dialling be able match it to every particle Does your
particle system of the input mesh, and then we an image directly into the 2D in a way so that no matter how system allow
as strands for will often need some way of particle system as a source. long a particle lives, the balloons you to create
representing hair restricting it to certain areas. So appearance will coincide with its custom particles
or grass is yet to achieve real control, texture The look options birth, and the bursting will exactly attributes and
another possible information also needs to be taken Now lets consider the options match its death. assign their values
technique which into account. available for the look of each from a sources
some software Geometry normally allows particle. Both instancing custom Rotation and spin texture?
might offer. for cruder control compared geometry and sprites are a must And the last set of controls that
for a full-featured 3D particle we will touch upon in this article With a good level
system and of course animation are rotation and spin options. of randomisation
should be supported for both. Are Although the Always Face Camera and timing
there any additional special types mode is very useful, it is also management,
of particles available that allow important to have an option to animated sprites
for speed benets or additional exchange it for a full set of 3D and meshes are
techniques? One example of such rotations, even for at image quite powerful
a technique would be single-pixel instances such as sprites think when creating
particles, which can be highly small tree leaves, snowakes or effects such as re
optimised and so can be available playing cards. and crowds.
in huge amounts (like in eyeon Another frequently required
Fusion for instance), allowing for task is to have the elements
some unique results. oriented along their motion paths
Another good example are (in shooting arrows, for example).
metaballs. While each one is And of course having an easy way
merely a blob on its own, when to add randomness and spin, or to
instanced over a particle system drive those through textures or
These images show especially if the particles can other particles attributes, is of the
an effect created control their individual sizes utmost importance.
with millions of and weights metaballs can On page 110 we look at the tools
single-pixel particles become a powerful effects and
FYI needed to drive particles further.
109
AUTHOR PROFILE
Denis Kozlov
Denis is a CG
generalist with 15
years experience
in the lm, TV, game
advertising and
education industries.
He is currently
working in Prague
as a VFX supervisor.
www.kozlove.net
Theory
THEORY
Part 2: Evaluating
a particle system
Denis Kozlov looks further at the toolset required
to efciently drive particles later in their lives
I
n this two-part article we are be controlled along and with key functionality for a particle
looking at some criteria for their age? Colour and size are a system. Its numerous applications
SYSTEM evaluating a particle system. must, but it is also important for include changing the look of
BASICS The last time we considered the age to be able to inuence a particle based on events like
options required at the initial any other arbitrary parameter, collisions or parameters like age,
emission stage, and now were and in a nonlinear fashion, like creating different kinds of bursts
Taking control taking a look into the further life plotting an age-to-parameter and explosions and creating all
of the particles of a particle. The questions and dependency graph with a custom sorts of trails. Firework effects is
considerations here can serve as curve. For example, when doing a a good example where spawning
Gaining maximum a checklist for evaluating new dust cloud with sprites you might functionality is used in at least
control over software or as a list of exercises want to increase their size while two ways: it creates the trails by
all thinkable within your existing program decreasing opacity towards the generating new elements behind
parameters and of choice. The key requirement is end of their lifetime. Can custom the leading ones, plus produces
undisrupted data to have maximum control over all events be triggered at the certain the explosion by generating
ow through the parameters and undisrupted points of a particles lifetime? Can new leads from the old ones at
a particles life data ow through a particles the age data be transferred further a desired moment.
and between life and between the different to those events? Just like with the initial
the different components of the system. emission discussed last time, it is
components of The rst question I would Spawning paramount to be able to transfer as
the system is key ask after the emission is how Spawning (emitting new particles much data as possible from the old
many particles properties can from the existing ones) is the particles to the new ones. Velocity,
110
shape, colour, age and all the
custom properties should be easily
inheritable if required; or possible
to set from scratch as an option.
Recursive spawning is the last but
not least option. A good software
solution provides the user with
the ability to choose whether to
use newly spawned elements as
a base for spawning in each next
time-step (to spawn recursively)
or not. Although this is a powerful
technique, beware; due to
the number of elements growing
exponentially, recursive spawning
can quickly get out of hand.
Behaviour control
Forces are a standard way of a certain timeframe. Now lets be limited in number or limited to Stunning and
driving the motion in a particle consider the options to limit contain some particle exclusively. complex effects
system. The default set of any force or event (including For example, you might want to like this spiral
directional, point, rotational, spawning) that may be added group some particles based on galaxy can be
turbulent and drag forces aside, to the particle ow. speed, others based on age and created entirely
it is important to have an easily What are the ways to restrict then create yet another group: with particles
controllable custom force the effect of each particular an intersection of the rst two.
functionality with a visual control operator? Can it be restricted Flexible enough software allows
over its shape. The ability to use to a certain area only? A certain
Theory
arbitrary 3D objects or images as
forces comes in very handy here.
lifespan? Can it be limited with a
custom criteria like mathematical
It is paramount to be able to transfer
Forces raise the next set of expressions, arbitrary particle
FRICTION questions: How much can the properties or a certain probability as much data as possible from the
FORCE system be driven by physical factor? How much control does a
simulations? Does it support user have over the active area for old particles to the new ones
collisions? What are the supported each operator custom shapes,
Friction helps types of collision objects, what textures, geometry, volumes? Is for quite complex effects like the
drive the motion are the options for post-collision there a grouping workow? spiral galaxy shown above, created
behaviour and how much data can with particles alone.
An often a particle exchange in a collision Group work There are more considerations,
overlooked drag with the rest of the scene? Groups provide a powerful way which have less connection with
force plays a very Can further physical phenomena to control particles. The concept the direct capabilities of a given KNOW THY
important role like smoke/combustion or uid implies that at the creation point system, but would still make a NEIGHBOUR
as it counteracts behaviour be simulated within or further down the life of a difference in a real deadline-
the other forces, the particle system? Can this kind particle it can be assigned to some driven production. (See the boxout
not letting of simulation data be dialled into group, and then each single effect below.) Aside from the presence of Create
them get out of the system from the outside? One can be simply limited to operate variation/randomisation options, cool effects
control through efcient technique, for instance, on the chosen groups only. For which should be available for the with particles
overgrowing is to drive the particles with efcient work all the limiting maximum number of parameters
the results of a low-resolution options just discussed should be in the system, you need to check Many interesting
volumetric simulation, using them available as criteria for groups how stable and controllable the effects can be
to increase its detalisation. assignment. Plus the groups randomisation is. If you reseed achieved if the
In order to direct particles themselves should be a subject to one parameter will the rest of the particles have
they can also be set to follow a logic operations (like subtraction simulation stay unaffected and some awareness
path and to nd targets within or intersection), they should not preserve its look? How predictable of each other (like
and stable is the particle solver? which particle
Can the particle ow be split into is its nearest
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS TO EVALUATE YOUR SYSTEM
or merged together from several? neighbour).
Ask yourself the following questions to check your workow efciency: And it is worth considering Then forces like
s Whats the max amount of particles the system can manage interactively and render? the quality and accessibility of ocking can be
s Are there optimisations for the certain types of elements? documentation of the software used to simulate
s What kind of data can be output from the particle system for further manipulation? solution, together with the amount the collective
s Can the results be used for meshing into geometry later or in another software? of available presets/samples and behaviour
s Can a particle system deform or affect, in any other way, the rest of the scene? the size of the userbase. Trying
s Can it be used to drive another particle system? to dig through a complex system
s Can the results of a particle simulation be cached to disk or memory? like Houdini or Thinking Particles
s Can you play it backwards or scrub back-and-forth across the timeline? would be daunting without these
s Are there options for a pre-run before the rst frame of the scene? documents and guides.
s Does the system provide good visual aids for working interactively in the viewport? Discover more of Deniss work
s Can individual particles be manually selected and manipulated?
FYI at www.kozlove.net
111
164
142
136
Tutorials
160
TUTORIALS
ANATOMY: PART 1 114 LIGHT AND TEXTURE 142
Sculpting the torso Apply texture and light to a complex character
Tutorials
148
113
Tutorials
114
ZBRUSH
ANATOMY PART 1:
SCULPTING THE TORSO
Learn the core skills to sculpt accurate gures in the rst part
of this anatomy series from Ninja Theorys Dan Crossland
O
ver the course of this discuss rening the gure before comes to reproducing an corch
tutorial series, which will detailing, adding veins and so gure, before we look at how to
be printed in consecutive forth, then briey touch on posing roughly block in the torso. We will
issues of 3D World, we will look the gure; to add feeling to the look at achieving smooth surfaces
at dissecting the process of form and rhythms; to make our and accurate sculpting. I will also
ARTIST PROFILE sculpting a character for 3D print. gure look natural. Lastly well set reveal my general process, which
Dan Crossland In the coming tutorials Ill cover up a watertight le for 3D print. can then be applied to other areas
With a background in blocking in the model using a Here, in part one of my anatomy of the gure over the next stages
ne arts, Dan discovered ZSphere base mesh, honing in on series, I will cover gathering of this tutorial.
digital sculpting seven separate areas of the gure to reference for the model, as this is For the assets, go to
years ago and nds it give each one our attention. Ill the most important part when it creativebloq.com/getinto3D
the most immediate
method of transferring
drawing skills to digital.
Tutorials
Dan has worked in the
video games industry
for 10 years and is a
senior character artist
at Ninja Theory.
www.dancrossland.co.uk
STARTING POINT
I typically start new
characters with a
ZSphere rig, as theres no
laborious box modelling
involved and its a fun 1 MAKE A ZSPHERE RIG 2 CHOOSE REFERENCE
dynamic way to feel a For the characters basic sculpt begin by making Later well use ZRemesher to create a clean topology
characters proportions a biped with ZSpheres. The ZSphere rig will make that will hold the details more economically.
our lives super easy when it comes to making base Spotlight is used to load in some reference images
meshes to sculpt on. This is the quickest method I these particular images are from 3DSK I chose this
have found it frees you early on to experiment with model because her proportions are nice, and we can
TOPICS COVERED a basic mesh, plus you can place the points exactly at clearly see muscle groups and the bony landmarks. I
Using reference the key bone positions so you know the proportions am going for a generic representation of a female, so
Sculpting forms are pretty much locked in early on. I chose a model of average height and weight.
Smoothing surfaces
115
LIMITED INFO
This is exactly the same as
using a limited palette in
painting; limit yourself so you
focus only on whats necessary
MUSCLE DIRECTION
Using the ClayTubes brush
at the blocking in stage
is great to break up the
surface, so we can start
to hone in on muscle
direction and so on
Working on two separate 5 ROUGH IN THE FORMS 6 USE THE BONE LANDMARKS
Aim to block in only the major forms giving a strong Pay close attention to the bone landmarks and their
models for the two halves foundation to ensure our success later. Keep your
strokes light but precise, look at the form directions
construction. The areas where the bones are closest
to the skin gives us a lot of information about how
of the sculpt helps focus and ow, and make marks that respect these
directions. Work the whole model lightly and hint
we should sculpt those areas to keep them realistic.
Exaggerate areas such as the clavicle, the hip bone,
our eyes on symmetry, turned on and resist the urge to divide the mesh, we the
at areas and muscle groups. Work with Symmetry patella and the elbow on the model, so they are
always in the back of your mind. Later we will blend
before we add them together are focused on large shapes and their placement. them as we constantly work over the gure, adjusting
our work in the previous session.
Tutorials
NATURAL MODEL
A nice-looking gure that
reads well, is relaxed and
natural looking, that is
our ultimate goal
116
EXPERT TIP
Subdivisions
Work broad
changes at low
subdivisions levels
to keep the model
from becoming
lumpy later in the
detail stages.
SMOOTHING OUT
Back and forth
You may nd your model is
looking blobby in certain areas
due to all the pushing, pulling
11 FOCUS ON THE TORSO and moving its undergone. Dont
This is a complex area to work on as everything worry, theres a simple technique
hangs from this main trunk. Reference images will we can use to smooth out the
only take you so far, you really have to study anatomy model. Once you are happy with
reference books to understanding of whats going a muscle, drop it down a level
on under the skin to give your characters life. So we and give it a little smooth over.
will use the muscle chart from Step 8 as a guide to Because we over exaggerated
block the muscle in, quite forcefully at rst, as this will earlier, the model can now take
also be our base for the corch side of the gure, so this smooth out at a lower level.
we should save some time. Once we step back up the levels,
we get some detail back, which
is good and then on this more
Tutorials
rened mesh, I do the process
again and again as I work to push
the torsos renement.
TORSO CONTOURS
The torso has very
specic contours, so
checking the outline
is a very effective
method of checking
12 RHYTHMS AND FORMS 13 CHECK THE SILHOUETTE the angles and shapes
Try not to focus on minor details. Carefully examine Finally, check the silhouette of the torso to look for of your model
ways to add to the overall attitude of the model, its opportunities you might have missed to add more
posture and pose. Gradually develop your forms life into the character. I constantly check with my
over the entire torso. Once you are happy with the anatomy reference to make sure Im not mindlessly
large masses, start to look at the secondary shapes sculpting a surface. I am looking for the relationships
included within those masses. This is a process of between the outline and the inner muscle, the way
self correction, as we get closer to a realistic surface one wraps around another and folds over another.
we need to adjust the overall shapes at a lower level This is one of the hardest things to grasp with digital
if we spot parts that feel incorrect. sculpting, but with practice it starts to make sense.
117
Tutorials
118
ZBRUSH 4+
ANATOMY PART 2:
SCULPTING THE MASSES
In the second instalment of Dan Crosslands anatomy
tutorial, he focuses on sculpting the limbs
I
n this series we will dissect the can delve deeper into specics at and focused our attention on
process of sculpting a character your leisure. The human form is the torso. With the main trunk
for 3D modelling. In this second so complex and full of subtleties established, we will now pay
instalment of the tutorial, we will that it will take dedication and attention to developing the
outline general workow rather consistent study to master. Youll corch version, starting with
ARTIST PROFILE than focusing on the specics of come to master the forms in the other side of the torso,
Dan Crossland anatomical naming, as that is a time, and the more you sculpt the establishing the arms and hands,
With a background in whole section in itself that would better and clearer it all becomes. then the legs and feet.
ne arts, Dan discovered require more time and space than However its difcult to convey In the next part, we will focus on
digital sculpting seven we have here. without confusing the process. the head.
years ago and nds it My main focus for this tutorial In the last tutorial we worked For the tutorial assets, go to
the most immediate is to show you my workows; you on developing the whole form creativebloq.com/getinto3D
method of transferring
drawing skills to digital.
Dan has worked in the
Tutorials
video games industry
for ten years and is a
senior character artist
at Ninja Theory.
dancrossland.co.uk
FINGER SHAPE
If you look at the cross
section of a nger it is
quite square, more so
than a cylinder. Making
it square and at is 1 START WITH THE HAND 2 SHAPE THE FINGERS
closer to reality The hand is very complex and can take time to I look at the three teardrop muscle masses of the
develop, but following some simple rules will ensure hand. I like to atten the ngers on the top and
success and avoid the typical cylindrical ngers that bottom adding this atness early brings us closer
can look unrealistic. First I pose the nger geometry to realism and aids the progress of nuanced shapes.
into the position I want for the gure. I block in the I move over the whole hand, bringing shapes and
bony landmarks, the knuckles and joints these give forms to life with a very low powered Standard brush.
TOPICS COVERED us indications of length and proportions to base the However I dont linger too long on details as I want
Sculpting block in sculpt on. an overall gesture and feel to the hand.
Forms and muscle groups
119
THE ELBOW
The complex motion of the
elbow joint is divided
into two components that
act around different axes,
exion/extension and
pronation/supination
120
EXPERT TIP
Block in
Using Clay Tubes
at the blocking-in
stage helps break
up the surface so
we can start to
hone in on muscle
direction.
Tutorials
READ THE TUTORIAL,
GET THE MODEL
Get the corch model Dan
has created for 3DTotal
The model featured by Dan
Crossland is the second in a
range of affordable anatomical
reference gures for artists from
www.3dtotal.com. Coming soon
to Kickstarter, the female gure
will be a 26.5cm tall, grey resin
13 OVERALL REFINEMENT PASS 14 SETTING UP FOR DETAIL statue, making her the perfect
I dened polygroups earlier; now I go back in and After getting the correct undulations and shape, desktop companion for digital
look in detail at the masses, making a precise the Clay Tubes marks are gently erased with a little artists. To nd out more and to
surface. My general technique is to drop down to a smoothing. This leaves you with a dened surface, register for the Kickstarter project,
lower level and smooth the area a little, then dial the ready for pores and super high frequency details visit www.3dtotal.com
detail up again and use Clay Tubes to break up the safe in the knowledge your base can take it. I wont
surface. I use a low power at 2 or 3 to block in the add pores to this model, but I will add a slight noise
volumes of each form following muscle direction and some supercial veins to add realism as this will
and sculpting the correct volume, and bringing read well under lighting. On page 122 we will focus
shapes to a standard Im happy with. on sculpting the head in part three of the series.
121
Tutorials
122
ZBRUSH 4+
ANATOMY PART 3:
SCULPTING THE MUSCLES
In the third part of Dan Crosslands anatomy tutorial, he
focuses on sculpting the muscles in intricate detail
I
n part three of this anatomy dedication and consistent study version, establishing the limbs.
masterclass we will outline to master, but little by little it will Now we will move onto marking
the general workow rather sink in and the more you practise the muscles for the skinned
than focusing in on specics of sculpting, the better and clearer it version, before sculpting the main
anatomical naming, as that is a will all become. muscles groups.
ARTIST PROFILE whole section in itself that would In the rst part of the tutorial, As with the previous tutorials
Dan Crossland require more time and space than we worked on developing the so far, I will work on the model
With a background in we have here. whole form and focused our symmetrically and then combine
ne arts, Dan discovered My main focus for this tutorial is attention initially on the torso. the two halves in the last step to
digital sculpting seven to show you the workows I use. And in the last issue, the second form a complete model.
years ago and nds it The human form is so complex part of the tutorial concentrated For all tutorial assets, go to
the most immediate and full of subtleties that it takes on developing the corch creativebloq.com/getinto3D
method of transferring
drawing skills to digital.
Dan has worked in video
Tutorials
games for ten years and
is a senior character
artist at Ninja Theory.
www.dancrossland.co.uk
123
3 SCULPT HAND TENDONS 4 DEFINING THE MUSCLES
EXPERT TIP Mask off the hand and soften it ([Ctrl]+click on the Continue to follow the lines of the muscles and add
Muscle denition model) then go to the Deformation palette and volume with the ClayTubes brush. When the muscles
This is key to getting select Inate with a value of -1. This will make the look like they are in good shape, smooth out the
your figure looking model look more skeletal while keeping the boney lines slightly and polish the muscles into dened
good. It can take landmarks intact, which you can use as the base for muscle groups. Use masking to give the edges of the
a while to achieve sculpting the muscles. Add mass to the thumb and muscles a shaper edge, and to add a more realistic
the correct level of major muscles, then hang the rest of the form from look to the muscles so that they lie on top of the
detail so work at these. Sculpt in the extensors with the Standard bones and intersect with one another, rather than
it carefully. brush with LazyMouse turned on. just looking carved in.
MORPH TARGETS
Using a Morph Target
on the mesh when
sculpting details is
good for dissolving
veins into the muscle
use the Morph brush
to gently pull back to
the original mesh
124
FURTHER READING
Artistic Anatomy
Dr Richer wrote the seminal
volumes on artistic anatomy
in the late 1800s, and theyve
9 ADDING VEINS 10 FACE REFINEMENT PASS become the standard to which all
Add another layer and, using the Standard brush Now its time to focus on the muscles that make up other artistic anatomy books are
with LazyMouse turned on, start to add the veins. I the face. These are very complex, so you will need compared. The English-language
follow the guide images from Paul Richers anatomy to use a lot of masking to dene the shapes and get edition brings Dr Richer together
book (see boxout, right), which clearly shows the the correct overlapping of muscles. Add two spheres with the twentieth centurys most
placement of the vein network. Next we can increase for the eyes. These will only show up very small in renowned teacher of anatomy and
or decrease the look of the veins using the power the model so they will have to be very cleanly and gure drawing, Robert Beverly
slider on the layer; I choose to go with 50 per cent carefully dened around the eyelids. Hale, who translated and edited
power, which should show up well in the nal model. the book for the modern reader.
Tutorials
READ THE TUTORIAL,
GET THE MODEL
Get the corch model Dan
has created for 3DTotal
The model featured in Dans
tutorial is the second in a
range of affordable anatomical
reference gures for artists from
www.3dtotal.com. Coming soon
to Kickstarter, the female gure
will be a 26.5cm tall, grey resin
I sculpt in the hair, rather than 11 SCULPTING THE HAIR
I choose to sculpt in the hair, rather than separate it
statue, making her the perfect
desktop companion for digital
separate it into a subtool, as into a subtool, because I like the really soft transition
that you get from the scalp to the hair and I think it
artists. To nd out more and to
register for the Kickstarter project,
I like the soft transition looks more natural in a sculpt. After sculpting the
hair you are ready to move onto the nal stages of
visit www.3dtotal.com.
125
ZBRUSH 4
ANATOMY PART 4:
CREATE A MASTER MODEL
In his nal anatomy tutorial Dan Crossland reveals how
to compile a sculpt into a nal model gure for printing
D
uring this anatomy series master, but little by little it sinks in the next task is to combine the
we have dissected the and the more you sculpt the better two halves of the model into one
process of sculpting an and clearer it all becomes. mesh, then I will show how I rene
anatomically correct gure. The nal model on these pages and tweak the model to ensure
We have looked at the general is now available as a 3D printed the render is lit properly to show
ARTIST PROFILE process and workow of creating reference gure from 3DTotal. off the muscle details. Finally, I will
Dan Crossland a lifelike gure, its muscles and A model like this is important to share some advice on creating a
With a background in details without being held back by use as reference as its so much watertight mesh and decimate the
ne arts, Dan discovered correct anatomical naming. easier to understand the form and model before explaining how to
digital sculpting seven The human form is so complex muscle structure of the human export the nal .stl to the printers.
years ago and nds it and full of subtleties that it takes gure when you can hold it. Now For all the assets you need go to
the most immediate dedication and consistent study to that my sculpt is nearly complete creativebloq.com/getinto3D
method of transferring
drawing skills to digital.
Dan has worked in video
Tutorials
REMESHING TOOL
ZRemesher can really
speed up the workow,
making new meshes has
never been easier, to
achieve greater accuracy
use ZRemesher guides to
dene tricky areas 1 COMBINING MESHES
To combine the meshes I need to create a mesh that
holds the details of the muscle side of the model
and the skin side. I create a new mesh for both sides
by duplicating twice, then run ZRemesher at similar
resolutions to both sides. I split the models down the
TOPICS COVERED middle and delete each opposite side. I take the two
Re-projecting halves and export them to Maya to manually weld,
Rendering in mode 1 clean and edit the mesh. With the mesh now joined
Sending files to print I can export back to ZBrush.
126
127
Tutorials
MUSCLE DEFINITION
Using a morph target
on the mesh when
sculpting details is
good for dissolving
veins into the muscle by
using the Morph brush
to gently pull back to 2 RE-PROJECTING
the original mesh To begin I import my newly created mesh and divide
it six times and store a morph target to hold all the
details at a good resolution. I step back down to
Level 1 and make Polygroups of each side of the
model. I hide the muscle side and project just the
skin side going up through the levels, projecting one
at a time. I repeat the process for the muscle side,
which now gives me a continuous mesh with all my
details from both models combined into one model.
USING LAYERS
Utilise the use of
layers to control
details over a model
EXPERT TIP
Check your model
Check all the details,
such as the fingers,
as these need to be
somewhat closed
and straight if youre
printing so they
dont break.
128
EXPERT TIP
Keep decimating
Dont be afraid to
keep reducing the
poly count to get the
file to a manageable
size. I decimated a
further 20 per cent
on from Step 8.
7 MAKING TWEAKS
After seeing the renders I decided to carve some
of the torso details in a little harder as they were
reading quite light. Since the model is now a
DynaMesh its really easy to carve new details or
smooth and adjust as needed. I also tighten up some
of the details on the back of the model and smooth
out some uneven surfaces. This last step completes
the model.
Tutorials
READ THE TUTORIAL,
GET THE MODEL
Get the corch model Dan
has created for 3DTotal
9 EXPORTING THE STL FILE
Now the model is complete I export the nal output The 3D print is just for the master
le. In this case we will be exporting an .stl le for 3DTotal then created resin
the printer. I dont need to worry about scale as the copies. For more details visit
printer will be scaling to match the clients sizes so 3DTotals website:
I tick the STL and the All boxes and hit Export. This www.3dtotal.com
gives me the le to send to the 3D print bureau. The
nal model on these pages will be available soon as
a resin reference gure from 3DTotal, so now youve
read the tutorial, you can get the model!
129
Video Guide
ZBrush
Modelling
Render a detailed
FOR
ZBrush 4R5 or 4R6
TIME TAKEN
Four hours
TOPICS COVERED
tStudying hand
anatomy
tSculpting a hand
tAdding details and
hand in ZBrush
creases Titouan Olive guides you through the techniques
DOWNLOADS needed to realistically sculpt a human hand
Youll nd the video
and assets you need
by going to: fter the face, hands are They also have the ability to betray Hands can be time-consuming
creativebloq.com/
getinto3D
A possibly the most important
part of a characters
our age and what we do in life: a
sherman wont have the same
to sculpt because you need to
individually sculpt each of the
creation. They express a large hands as a pianist. ngers as well as the ngernails;
variety of emotions, opinions and The rst thing you need to but fortunately for us hands are
choices. We move them about when consider before sculpting hands symmetrical, and its easy to create
we speak to make our point more is what type of character you are the second hand automatically by
clearly and eloquently. creating. Are they going to be mirroring the rst.
We also indicate what we want stylised? Are they male or female? Sculpting hands is a great way to
or dont want with our hands. How old are they, and whats their improve your skill and knowledge
Were often not really aware of this profession? In this tutorial, we of character creation as well. In
point, but they are the basis of an will create realistic male hands, fact, you could argue that if you can
elaborate hidden language, just like strong with classical proportions, sculpt hands successfully, you can
our facial expressions. of someone about 30 years old. sculpt anything.
130
Expert tip
Before sculpting, search
for reference on the web
or in books and dont
forget to use your own
hands, which are the best
references you can find
and are close to hand!
Tutorials
131
Expert tip
At the very beginning, the
first thing to do will be to
work on the overall form of
the hand and on the main
proportions, roughing out
the main silhouette.
132
05Adding fingernails
Next well create the ngernails: start
with the Standard brush to build the shape around
the ngernails. Once thats done, hold down [Ctrl]
and draw a mask on each nger to shape the
nails. Then invert your mask and use the Move tool
to extrude the ngernails. You can now erase the
mask because you dont need it any more hold
[Ctrl] and click and drag on the canvas to do so.
Tutorials
Round off the shape
of the ngernails using
the Move brush
133
08Refining the details
Next we will very roughly sculpt the
creases on the palm of the hand and reinforce the
places for example they are very prominent at
the base of the ngers, on the back of the hand
and on the thumb so focus your attention on
tendons on the back of it. Rene the wrist, and identifying and sculpting those areas in order to
also the muscles and tendons on the forearm. suggest the underlying skeletal structure.
As you work, take time to step back and look at In the same way, areas where the skin is thicker
the sculpt as a whole to discern what is and isnt or where the bones are missing (between the
working, making sure to view your model from thumb and the hand, for instance) need to be
Add tweaks and renements to the palm, all angles, and make any small tweaks that are sculpted differently the most important aspects
ngers and wrist to rene your sculpt necessary to keep your work on track. The bones are proportion and shape. Check the ow of the
in the hand are very close to the skin in many ngers and the way they relate to each other.
09More detailing
Next we are going to focus our
attention on the smaller details, so divide your
model one last time and start to draw lines on
the back of the hand to create the veins. Try to
respect their particular ow and take also into
account their different sizes.
At this stage we will use the Standard and
Inate brushes to get a nice realistic result,
and use the Smooth brush if you feel your work
is too sharp, or to erase details such as a vein.
Dont hesitate to redraw one or more of the
veins if you feel that they arent working.
Tutorials
Expert tip
The anatomy is a
very important thing to
get right as it is the main
foundation under the skin.
Many of the underlying
bones, veins and tendons
are visible on the surface.
10Use LazyMouse
Continue to compare your
work with your references as you
sculpt and draw some subtle veins
on the wrist. A good tip for drawing
regular lines is to use LazyMouse, a
feature within ZBrush that is used to
sculpt more accurately. Simply press
[L] to activate it (and use the same
key to deactivate it).
134
Use the Inate
and Pinch brushes
to redraw and
sharpen creases
11Improving creases
Now we will work on the area between the thumb and the palm
of the hand, trying to rene the look, before switching to the knuckles,
where we will focus particularly on the creases. We are going to do another
sculpting pass on them, using the Inate brush at rst and the Pinch
brush afterwards. Redraw and sharpen any crease that you think is lacking
denition, then use the Dam Standard brush with a low radius to create ne
details around the knuckles and on the ngers.
Tutorials
is add some texture and ne details. To do
this, open the Surface menu in the Tools
palette and click the Noise button. A simple
bump is automatically applied everywhere
on the hand, which adds more denition
and simulates skin pores on the back of the
hand. At this point, the noise is not actually
applied to the geometry its a simple 3D
bump texture that you can see in real time.
We dont want to add this noise to the
palm or ngernails, however, so mask
out those parts to erase it and then click
the Apply To Mesh button in the Surface
menu. The noise will only appear on the
appropriate areas, adding a realistic skin
Expert tip texture to the correct parts of the sculpt.
There are two prominent Congratulations, your realistic sculpt
masses of muscles inside of a hand is now complete. You can go
the hand: those of the further, if youre brave enough, by adding
thumb and the little finger. more colours and a bump texture to create
They are both clearly ngerprints, as well as rendering your model
visible, mainly on the palm. with lighting to create a photorealistic
render. The level of detail is up to you.
135
BODYPAINT
CORE SKILLS:
UV UNWRAPPING
Overcome the mental barrier to UV unwrapping with
this essential guide from Rob Redman
Tutorials
U
nless your job involves only put seams. If your character has modern shaders come close
creating greyscale clay hair, then hiding a seam there is to photorealistic, with most
renders of your models, you a good idea, as is following any applications providing the
will at some point need to apply natural folds in the characters essentials, such as wood grain,
materials and textures to your clothing or in the geometry. bricks and tiles. These can
work. At rst this will probably Included here is a simple toy be projected using standard
ARTIST PROFILE consist of adding simple colour model that you can download mapping types, such as cubic,
Rob Redman and reection, and maybe some to practise on. The model is in planar or camera projection,
Rob is the technical editor bump, but sooner or later you separate parts and each part while some are even volumetric
of 3D World magazine, will need to add more detail to is fairly low resolution, which 3D shaders.
and is a digital artist and specic areas of your models. should make it easy to work with. Even with the ability to layer,
designer with over While there are some Adding smoothing in your chosen mix and fuse shaders, procedural
a decades experience techniques you can use to help application should be easy materials very often still look CG.
in the CG industry. do this simply, the time will come enough. In this case I am using Grunge and organic randomness
3dworld.creativebloq.com when you need to learn how to Cinema 4D, with the models can be approximated using
UV unwrap your own meshes, so constituent parts grouped angle of incidence, noise and
you can have total control over under a null and then placed other tricks, but to generate truly
your texture placement. Many inside a NURBS object. For the believable materials you need
people nd the whole idea of UV UV unwrapping I am using to learn how to UV unwrap your
unwrapping a daunting prospect, Maxons BodyPaint. geometry and apply textures,
TOPICS COVERED but in reality it isnt difcult. Its possible to get quite a either as images themselves or to
Projection methods The important part of the long way towards your nal control other shaders.
Materials process is to plan ahead and goal using procedural textures. For all the assets you need go to
UV unwrapping think about the best places to They are versatile and many www.3dworldmag.com/vault
136
1 CLEAN UP YOUR MESH 2 CHOOSE YOUR SEAMS
The rst part of the process is to clean up your Make a selection set of the edges that you want to
mesh. Ensure you dont have any points that arent be the seams of your unwrapped mesh. Its usually
attached to polygons, or holes in your mesh. Moving best to try to hide them away if possible, to avoid
points around later isnt too problematic, but adding having to paint over them later on in the process.
or removing can be tricky. To remove points that As well as choosing edges that are less prominent or
dont form polygons, select your geometry in the that will be hidden, you can also select entire edge EXPERT TIP
object manager, right-click and choose Optimise. loops, which is helpful if you want to separate an ear Wireframes
(You can right-click and choose Run With Menu to (or any other complex piece of geometry) that may When taking a texture
set some options, but the defaults should be ne.) not otherwise unwrap so easily. into your image editor,
screengrab your UV
wireframe view so you
can easily see what goes
where. Just add it to
your texture and use
a blend mode to
aid visibility.
Tutorials
keep in mind the
memory overheads
137
Depth of eld will add
a lot of believability
to your images
Expert tips
Creature
creation
FOR
ZBrush
ALSO REQUIRED
Maya
Nuke
Photoshop
V-Ray
TOPICS COVERED
tBlocking out
tSculpting
tUV layout
tTexture map
t Lighting
Create a creature
for the big screen
Tutorials
138
Tutorials
01Blocking out the
basic model
There are multiple ways to begin
modelling by using base meshes, box
modelling and so on, but if getting
to the sculpting stage as quickly
as possible is the order of
the day use ZSpheres. Try
to think of ZSpheres like an
armature in traditional clay
sculpting, and keep it simple. For
more freedom during the sculpting
process, turn your adaptive skin
mesh into a Dynamesh, since it will
be retopologised anyway.
139
02Sculpting primary forms
Next dive into the sculpting and use a
combination of the Move, Standard and Clay
Buildup brushes to establish the models main
forms. Its best to concentrate on the big
overall forms rst and work your way down
to the details last. Keeping the topology
as low as possible for as long as you
can will help give you clean forms and
eliminate lumpy geometry.
DISPLACEMENT
NORMAL
BEAUTY PASS
Tutorials
Expert tip
When modelling
environments it can take
hours to place geometry
in your scene by hand. A
great plug-in for speeding
up workflow is spPaint3d,
which allows you to paint
and scatter debris.
09Setting up shaders
V-Ray offers a variety
of physically accurate material
V-Ray material and tweak the IOR
(Index of Refraction), reection and
refraction settings to achieve the
10Rendering and
compositing
When doing personal work dont
are Beauty, Ambient Occlusion and
ZDepth its often best to keep it as
simple as that.
attributes to achieve very realistic results you are aiming for. get too caught up in render passes; Always work in a linear fashion
results within your renders. When When beginning shading, its best instead you should try to get the and render your passes out as 32-bit
shading characters its best to use to do so without texture maps as it image as close as you can in the .exr les. For stills use Photoshop for
the V-Ray SSS2 with varied settings allows you to see how the material is render and then use compositing compositing; it doesnt allow you to
for skin, gums, teeth and eyes. For truly behaving and is easier to dial in for minor tweaks and colour edit .exr les so use Nuke to convert
all other objects, use the standard the correct attributes. adjustments. The main passes to use your .exr images to .tif format.
141
MAYA | ZBRUSH | PHOTOSHOP | MENTAL RAY
C
onceptualising a female wigs to give an exotic touch of the modifying the scene accordingly
character can be a really sci- or fantasy to the character. for the best results. For this cover
complex task, especially To add more realism, I try to use art I decided to create a sweet
if the base is made by directly as many details as I can in the character, with the peculiar detail
sculpting in 3D without having a mesh, and I sometimes work of the pipes inserted in the head,
ARTIST PROFILE perfectly dened idea of the nal excessively on every detail and giving the impression she was
Daniele Scerra result. I often use ZBrush to make the textures. The most important inspecting something to the right.
A 3D artist/graphic heads, bodies and armour in the aspect of a scene is, in my eyes, I wanted to use a dominant
designer and illustrator sketching phase, modifying the the light as with it I can make it colour pink to underline
since 1991, Daniele sculpture and the pose as I go hard or elegant as needed. the impression of a gentle and
has worked in lm along in order to work towards I then use Maya to nalise my gracious girl even if she could
and special effects. His that perfect concept. projects, inserting my models also be a combat android!
work has appeared in I particularly like to create as works in progress to test the For all the assets you need go to
magazines, books and different helmets, also using big lights and shadows, and then creativebloq.com/getinto3D
trade publications.
www.danielescerra.com
Tutorials
142
143
Tutorials
CREATE THE EAR
Starting with a cube,
deform it to create
the ear and then
sculpt a hole for the
ear auricle
EXPERT TIP
The eyelashes
To give more realism
to the eyelashes,
I create a single slim
model, duplicate and
modify it several
times and then
position each
one with care.
144
IN-DEPTH
TEXTURES
USING PHOTOSHOP
FOR FINAL COMP
Tutorials
THREE ANDROID SKIN & HAIR
The last setup is to use a Fresnel
pass in several different modes,
to simulate the plastic surface of
the androids body and head, and
to add shine to the hair.
8 UV AND MAPPING
For the UVs I use Maya. As she is an android, I select
the front and the back parts of the head and helmet
as separate mesh parts. In Maya, use the Planar
Mapping Projection (set to Project From) in front of
the face and then, and use Cutting Edge down the
vertical axis, use Unfold to open the UVs correctly.
Next, I export the models to ZBrush where I use a
photo reference to paint and project textures over
the surface, extracting the maps as 4K meshes.
145
9 PHOTOSHOP TEXTURES
Using Photoshop, its time to develop the textures
extracted from ZBrush to create more contrast for
the helmet and generate the SSS, specular and
diffuse maps. I also create the textures for the eyes,
paying particular attention to them and the face. I
EXPERT TIP want the gaze of the viewer to look directly at the
The eyes characters face. This part takes time, as it requires
To define the eyes in parallel lighting work, which may vary the texture
a more realistic way, map. Im aiming for a non-photorealistic look.
I divided the model
into four different
meshes to simulate
the iris, the crystalline
lens, the pupil and
the sclera.
146
From the makers of 3D World
animation
In the Ultimate Guide to 3D Animation,
youll discover the secrets of creating 3D short
lms and animations just like the pros! From
designing characters to making them move to
adding special effects, all you need is here
FOR
Mudbox Sculpt a rig-ready
creature in Mudbox
ALSO REQUIRED
Maya
ZBrush
TOPICS COVERED
tModelling
tSculpting
tUVs Adam Dewhirst shows you how to use retopology
tRetopology
tools to create a character ready for rigging
DOWNLOADS
Youll nd project
les, screenshots reating a good base mesh packages like Mudbox and ZBrush, its to be conned by lack of technical skill
and textures at:
creativebloq.com/
C is vital if you intend to
animate your characters. In
become increasingly easier to simply
retopologise your concept sculpt as
and can be free to sculpt in a creative
and limitless way.
getinto3D the past this would have been done part of the process of its creation. Here, Ill walk through how to turn a
painstakingly, polygon by polygon, in This gives you a complete and loose 2D sketch into a fully functioning
a 3D package like Maya or 3ds Max. usable model in as much time as it animation-ready model, using
However, with the recent addition took to conceive: the benets of this Mudboxs retopology tools and the
of retopology tools to sculpting are enormous, as modellers need not new retopology tools in Maya 2014.
01Starting out
and reference
For this tutorial Im using a concept
by Dan Mason (see previous tutorial).
I work with Dan at Framestore, so
I got to talk through a few ideas
rst. The concept for this character
was something dark and a little sad,
a creature that lives in darkness.
I wanted something that could t
into a number of worlds Lord of
the Rings, Harry Potter, Narnia so
Tutorials
02General shaping
Start out with a sphere in
Mudbox normally I would start out
with a human gure, but Im keen
ARTIST PROFILE to prove that this Coal Troll can be
Adam Dewhirst modelled entirely from a sphere.
Adam is a lead modeller at Mudbox may not have DynaMesh to
Framestores lm VFX branch
in London. He has worked in the play with, but using the retopology
industry for almost ten years toolset will allow us to increase the
for studios like Cinesite, Double
Negative, MPC and Passion
polygon spread as we go. Working in
Pictures. His lm work includes a similar way, start by using the Grab
The Golden Compass, The Dark tool to pull out very basic limbs and a Start by using a sphere and pull
Knight and World War Z.
www.adamdewhirst.com torso; this is the rough blocking. out the limbs to get a rough shape
148
Learn how to make
animation-ready
characters with Adam
Dewhirsts tutorial
Tutorials
149
03Add the clothing 04Retopologise
The only part of the model
were not making from scratch in
We dont want to spend too
much time rening this, but we do
05Refining the shape
The topology at this stage isnt perfect, but as its not going to be the
nal mesh, its enough to work with for now. Use the Wax brush to build up
Mudbox is the loincloth for this we need to step up a few subdivision the muscle shapes and rene the gure, and next well drop in two spheres for
use a simple cylinder in Maya as the levels early on and use the Wax brush the eyes. To do this, go to Create>Mesh>Sphere. Duplicate the sphere, then
belt, and extrude two cubes to make (on a high-strength setting) to shape go to Mesh>Flip Mesh>Around X.
the hanging cloth. Its important the sculpt a bit more. As were going
to keep the geometry as basic as to need a better spread of polygons
possible so we can rene the shape to continue, its time to retopologise
in Mudbox later on. (go to Mesh>Retopologise>New
Operation). Were only changing two
things: Target Base Face Count up to
5000 (as its the whole gure) and
Face Uniformity to 0.5. The result can
be seen in the image below.
Use the Wax brush to build up the muscle shapes and rene the character
07Second retopology
After further rening with
the Wax and Grab tools, retopologise
again, as we have a lot more surface
area inside the mouth and also were
going to need to start working up the
other areas, such as the hands and
the feet. Use the same retopology
settings that we used the rst time.
Now we have a vastly superior mesh
to the sphere we started with.
150
Expert tip
There is plenty of
anatomy reference
available for free online
anatomy4sculptors.com
has great breakdowns of
muscle and bones for the
human form.
09Final shaping
of the hands
All the elements we need are now 10Add guide curves
for final retopology
present, so its time to rene the Now all the basic forms have been
detail. This is where you want to give sculpted, were ready to do the nal
your model a bit more love, working retopology pass in Mudbox. For this,
up the hands, feet and so on by using its best to lay down some guide curves
good references from the internet the most vital is a loop around the
or your own library. Were also going centre line in X. To do this, go to Curve
to freeze everything except the area Tools>Curve Loop. Make sure Mirror
directly above the eyes, so that we Tool is turned off, Snap is turned on,
can pull out some eyelids. Although and that Plane is set to X. Click on Expert tip
they would be pulled back in the the middle of your model, then use When you retopologise
pose were modelling, we want them the Curve Loop tool to dene areas a mesh in Mudbox it
to be quite prominent for the basic around the arms, neck and legs. With creates a duplicate, so you
bind pose in case the animation the window open, right-click on the never lose your original
requires a more prominent blink. curves and dene them as a soft or sculpt. This is useful for
hard constraint: we want the centre line exporting the mesh at
Use good reference to help you and the eye and mouth loops to be hard different resolutions.
work up the models ner details constraints, to ensure edges are there.
11Maya clean-up
Knock the subdivision down
to its lowest level and import the
12Basic UVs in Maya
In order to deliver your
ready-to-rig sculpt you will also need
mesh into Maya to clean up a few displacement maps from Mudbox, so
errors. The main thing you want to well need to create some UVs. Its
do is delete half the mesh, duplicate best to do this before bringing the
and ip it so that its symmetrical model back into Mudbox. First divide
(symmetrical retopology tools are the mesh up into sections; assign a
coming in the next release of colour to each section to identify
Mudbox). There are a few areas here them. These UVs are basic a simple
that need cleaning up. Maya 2014s cylinder map in most cases. We want
new topology tools allow you to set to create UV shells of each section.
Tutorials
a Transform Constraint, which lets
you import your high-res sculpt into
Maya and use it as a mesh to snap
your new topology to. You can set
this up by turning on the new
topology tools using the new icon
(highlighted green) next to the
Attribute Editor icon.
13Unwrap in ZBrush
Import the (half) mesh
into ZBrush as an .obj le.
Were going to use the UV
Master to unwrap the Expert tip
mesh using the existing Check the UVs via the
UV shell as a guide this Map box: hit Morph UV.
will do a much better Bring the mesh back into
job of unwrapping the Maya, duplicate and flip it
UVs than Mayas Unfold and lay out the UVs in a
option. Go to ZPlugin>UV symmetrical format over
Master, making sure that four tiles, making sure the
Use Existing UV Seams is head has its own tile.
on, and then hit Unwrap.
151
Expert tip
To make the rocks,
use the Wax brush to
build up the surface, then
15Adding the
asymmetrical detail
We want to add some asymmetrical details
knock it down to a hard
edge with the Flatten
brush. Finally use Pinch
as in the concept down one side of his and Amplify to sharpen
Transfer Attributes. Go to Mesh>Transfer Attributes and select your target Wax tool again to build up some rocky surface detail.
model (new topology) and your source model (sculpt), then transfer the During the retopology phase, make sure to add some extra loops around the
details over. You may have a few stray vertices to clean up afterwards. shoulder with this in mind, so you have plenty of surface area to play with.
152
Where great art begins (again)...
1P 80
AGE
OF ARTIS
SKETCH ST
ES!
Pick up Sketchbooks Vol.2 today and discover how the worlds best
fantasy artists and illustrators start their work
On sale now at WHSmith, Barnes & Noble, www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/design
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Expert Tips
Character
design
FOR
ZBrush
ALSO REQUIRED
Creating successful
Mudbox
Photoshop
TOPICS COVERED
tSketching
character concepts
techniques
tUse of colour
tUsing software
to aid the design
process
tComposition
more believable, and will help tell their back story. can take a looser, more artistic approach.
ARTIST PROFILE
Dan Mason
Dan is a senior texture artist,
concept artist, and modeller
currently working at An example of an
Framestore London. He has orthographic concept for
worked in the VFX industry
for around seven years. the Coal Troll character
www.danmasonvfx.com
154
155
Tutorials
03Be bold with
sketch work
The sketch stage is a time for
experimentation. Try to explore as
many different looks as possible,
and dont be afraid to go to town
creatively. Its always possible to
reign in a design if it goes too far in
one direction, but its not as easy to
make a mundane design exciting.
Try drawing several quick versions
of your character, changing the
proportions of a certain aspect
each time for example, the
position of the eyes, nose or mouth.
After the first few drawings your
design will start to become more
original, as you force yourself to Coal Troll
play around with scale and sketchbook
positioning past the normal character
proportions we are used to seeing. exploration
Character
portrayed
through
costume
Expert tip
Flipping your image
horizontally in Photoshop
will help you get a greater
sense of balance, and will
help you see any diagonals
Tutorials
05Prioritise
UV space
your
A really successful character should
give the viewer a real insight into a
character. Duplicating a silhouette
and exaggerating various parts of
be identiable by their silhouette its anatomy using the Liquify tool
alone. A strong silhouette can add in Photoshop can be a very useful
a lot to the designs personality, way of experimenting in a non-
as posture and proportions can destructive way.
156
Expert tip
Speed sculpting is a
great technique and skill
to have. Giving yourself a
one-hour speed sculpting
challenge will improve your
ability to create realistic
form quickly.
Using 3D
elements,
before and
07Make use of 3D software
Mudbox and ZBrush are both great tools for creating your character in
3D. When sculpting in any package, make all of your big changes at a low level
after (below) of subdivision before you get carried away with sculpting detail. Your levels of
detail should correlate to your subdivision levels.
Start with large changes in form at a low subdivision level and work in stages.
Create a new layer for each stage. Your layer with the highest polygon count
should be the layer with the smallest details.
Camera framing:
menacing versus pitiful
Tutorials
Expert tip
Building up a library of
well-known characters from
TV and film is extremely
useful, as it will familiarise
you with successful
archetypes that will help to
inform your own designs.
157
This ManBat image shows how lighting can be used to create atmosphere
colour to your scene is by using photographic images. Photoshops Overlay lip can completely change the way an early stage can push your work
layer mode is particularly useful when adding texture layers as the detail we perceive the mood or personality towards a very different and more
underneath isnt lost, but you should also experiment with other layer modes, of the character. successful result.
such as Color or Hard Light, for different results. This is where your research
images will come in handy.
IN EVERY ISSUE
READER GALLERIES We showcase INTERVIEWS Be inspired by top WORKSHOPS Discover new digital
the best digital and traditional art. artists in the entertainment industry. art techniques and drawing skills.
Expert Tips
3ds Max / V-Ray
Rendering
12 ways to make
better car renders
FOR Auto CGI artist Dave Cox shares his top techniques
t 3ds Max
t V-Ray for visualising cars using 3ds Max and V-Ray
TOPICS COVERED
t Preparation utomotive rendering is one tips that will help to remove some of lights and so on. They are designed
t Framing
t Lighting
A of the toughest disciplines
to master. As with pro car
of the mystery about the subject.
Whether youre creating shots in a
to help you understand what you
need to do to create an image that
t Testing photography, the techniques you studio or in an outdoor environment, youre proud of. Each will help you to
t Rendering need to use are often closely guarded youll nd these tips benecial to develop your own ideas, and although
t Compositing secrets, creating a large void between streamlining your workow. each of the tips are practical, they
beginners and those who know what The tips arent about providing you are the foundations rather than the
they are doing. So Ive selected 12 with render settings or the positions blueprints for success.
DOWNLOADS
t Post-production
time-lapse video of
E30 M3 rolling shot
t Screenshots
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getinto3D
160
01Use reference
images
I can hear you groaning, but Im
determined to drill this point home:
good reference imagery is essential
to get a good render. The reference
images dont have to contain the same
car as the one youre rendering, they
dont have to have the same wheels,
and they dont even have to be the
same colour. The purpose of reference
imagery is three simple things:
composition, lighting and inspiration.
I constantly collect reference images
and store them in a folder on my PC.
I even have a collection on my phone.
Its important to have an idea of the
kind of image you want to achieve.
Tutorials
02Set up your scene
with dummies
A dummy is a positioning object that you can link
I always set up my scene with dummies. I assign
one to the whole car so I can move the car by
clicking one thing. I then have one assigned to
enables me to control the camber and how sunk
in the wheels and tyres are. Then I have another
for wheel rotation, so I can motion-blur the
geometry to, so when you move the dummy, the the whole car body, but excluding the wheels. wheels if I choose to. Get into the habit of doing
geometry moves with it. Whether youre setting This means I can control the cars ride height this in every scene; then if you want to change
up for a studio or an environment shot, youll and rake. I set up another four dummies, one for the position of something, youll be able to do it
inevitably want to move your scene around. each wheel, including the brake assembly, which quickly and efciently.
161
04Light one
at a time
The biggest pitfall in studio
rendering is not knowing what your
lights are doing. The best policy is
to start with one light. It doesnt
have to light the whole car just a LEFT FRONT RIGHT
part of it. Move it around, rotate it, LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT
change its size, and add gradient
ramps to it. Make sure youre happy
with the reections and illumination
until you create the next light.
By doing this, youll have a good
understanding of what the light is
doing. Its also a good idea to name
each light so you dont forget what
each is doing. The key is not to rush
speed will come from experience. REAR LIGHT
If youre using V-Ray RT, you can
see the results of moving your Make sure youre happy with
lights around in real time. each light before moving on
162 3dworldmag.com
10Split up your renders
High-quality renders arent always
created in a single pass. Rendering a tracking
shot in one pass with high render settings will
take forever unless you have a render farm at
your disposal.
What I typically do is render the car, then
the wheels and then the background. I then
composite them together in Photoshop. This
saves time on the rendering side because not all
the parts will need high settings. It also means
that if you need to re-render a section,
it wont take forever.
To do this, simply select the items you want An example of
to hide, right-click and then untick Visible to rendering different
Camera and Inherit Visibility. sections of a scene
11Pre-post-processing
If youre going to render just one render
pass, I would advise you to render VRayWireColor
BEFORE Changes at the
compositing stage can
because this will give you the opportunity to select make a big difference
certain sections of your render, which will speed up
your post-processing. Any other render passes are
entirely up to you, and how much time you want to
spend processing your image after the render.
Tutorials
AFTER
12Post-processing
The rst thing I do in compositing is to
stack my render passes so that they equal the
adjustments to each of the render passes both on a
general scale and on specic parts. I also make a few
colour corrections to some of the parts of the render
beauty. Ill then organise the renders into separate to sit it into the background better. Once I have
folders, for example wheels, background and car. this stage done, its time to start adding additional
I drag my VRayWireColor pass to the bottom of the elements such as ares, fog and so on. I usually use
stack and use the Magic Wand to create selections VRayZDepth for this. Finally, Ill apply a few global
when and where I need them. I then make small colour corrections.
3dworldmag.com 163
Tutorials
164
3DS MAX 2015
Tutorials
Art Department. Al
currently works at
architectural agency
Federation Design.
behance.net/albrady
165
3 PRIMATIVE BEGINNINGS 4 FEARLESS SYMMETRY
EXPERT TIP Start with a primitive cylinder object, then choose Repeat the process until your shape roughly
Use shortcut keys Edit Poly>Polygon Sub-object; select and delete the conforms to the sketch. Youll notice I only built one
The Edit Drop down face at one end of the cylinder. Changing the Sub- half of my rough model. This is because 3ds Max
menu is alphabetised, object selection setting to Border you can select allows me to ip this half over onto the other side
so pushing [L] instantly the circle at the end of the cylinder. By choosing the using the Symmetry Modier. By moving the Mirror
brings you to Lathe Select and Move tool; [Shift]-dragging the circle Gizmo into the correct axis and location I can ensure
in the list. This can along the X axis, draw out a new section of cylinder. the geometry is mirrored in the correct way. This
really speed up The points that make the circle can be moved, Modier is a lot of fun to experiment with, creating
navigation of this changing the cross-section of the new geometry. cool forms. (I stick to my sketch for this project.)
dropdown menu.
OPACITY MAP
166
CREATING
THE SURFACE
EXPLORE AND
MAKE SOME NOISE
Tutorials
THREE THE END TEXTURE
This creates a stretched out
texture, which reects your
craft and makes it look like
its travelling over a stretch
of water at supersonic speeds.
EXPERT TIP
Always experiment
Often very chaotic
base meshes will yield
strange, interesting,
11 FINISH LINE new forms, whereas
I usually take about eight shots and sketch over them more controlled
in Photoshop, tidying up imperfections that would ones will create smooth
be time consuming to x in 3D. Sometimes I use flowing designs with
those ideas to inform new areas of geometry on regular surfaces.
my design. I also output orthographic views of the
model to create a high-quality asset based on this
rough model. There you have it, a fun way to make
a racing speeder in an afternoon for your portfolio,
or to practice your futuristic vehicle design.
167
ARTIST PROFILE
Anthony Eftekhari
Anthony has been
working as an artist for
over six years on feature
lms, television and
video games. He is
currently a senior digital
matte artist at Blizzard
Entertainment working
on cinematics.
www.artofae.com
CREATE A REALISTIC
ENVIRONMENT
Blizzards Anthony Eftekhari reveals how to take control
of a scene to create a photo-real matte painting
T
his image is called Palace: Palace took about three weeks atmosphere. These core elements
the idea was to create an to complete. This involved are essential to making a piece
environment that would concepting the environment and interesting, to look at and convey
feature a large palace and its architecture, gathering reference, a feeling and emotion. Here Ill
TOPICS COVERED surrounding architecture. 3ds and rendering the nal assets show you how to combine these
Scene planning Max was used for the modelling, and compositing. elements with an environment
Modelling texturing and lighting. V-Ray was What I like most about creating that is grand and unique, to create
Lighting used to render and compositing any image is trying to create an image rich with history.
Texture painting was done in Photoshop with a mood and feeling through Anthony created this project
Render passes different passes and renders. composition, colour, lighting and for The Matte Department
168
Tutorials
169
FRAME THE SHOT
Once you have
gathered all your
reference material,
start sketching to block
out a composition
SET DRESSING
Additional props can
help to add realism
to the environment
while giving the city a
sense of life
BE A GENERALIST
Mastering many tools
As a digital matte artist, you
might be called on to create full
3D environments that sometimes
involve large camera moves and
you have to make it look real.
This involves a wide variety of
skill sets that have to contribute
to the believability of the scene.
This was the case for this project.
Things like animated crowds,
simulated ags and cloth, layout 5 LIGHT THE SCENE 6 CREATE THE REFLECTION
and creating animated camera The rst step is to establish a lighting direction and Next its time to create the water and the reection.
moves. Terrain generation with mood. The scene is mostly lit by ll light; I want a low The water is a simple V-Ray shader mixed with
World Machine, as well as trees lying light to subtly hit the tops of the domes and a ground shader. A black-and-white matte is
and vegetation distribution with buildings. The warm subtle sunlight and the cool ll used to blend the two together. Take care here:
Forest Pack may also need to be light create a nice colour contrast and mood through you have to make sure that the V-Ray shader has
used, so you tend to become a lighting. An HDR image is used to light the scene sufcient reection and is the appropriate colour
generalist with a wide variety and a key light is created for the direct light. These to sell the appearance of water.
of tools at your disposal. are both rendered separately so that I can control
them in the painting process.
170
7 ADD DEPTH WITH FOG 8 USE POINT LIGHTS
To further enhance the mood of the environment, To create the city lights in the environment, place
add a Fog pass that creates separation and depth small point lights around the scene. This creates real
between the buildings and knocks the furthest reections on the water and casts proper shadows
buildings back into space. Render the Fog pass from the environment. The lights help to create life POINT LIGHTING
as a separate layer so that you can control it in and adds more visual interest to the scene. The lights Placing point lights
Photoshop. A Z-depth pass is also rendered to add are rendered as a separate pass in order to have around the scene
even more control over the fog and depth. more control over the value, intensity and colour adds interest and
in the painting stage. helps the environment
come to life
CORE SKILLS
Study the Old Masters
I am inspired by the Old Master
painters and illustrators: The
9 CONTROL THE PAINTING brilliance of their designs,
I usually like to have as much control over the composition and their complete
painting as possible, in order to do this I have to mastery over colour and lighting
render different passes and mattes to be able is always a humbling reminder of
to control all aspects of painting. I render out how much further I still have to
object IDs for buildings, trees and boats to be go! Those are all things I aspire to
able to control, colour, value and atmosphere master and replicate in my own
on those elements. work and try to incorporate a bit
of in everything I do.
Tutorials
171
Expert Tips
Texturing
FOR
Photoshop
TOPICS COVERED
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DOWNLOADS
t4DSFFOTIPUT
creativebloq.com/
getinto3D
172
01Customising
your brushes
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02Good cloning
techniques
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Tutorials
04Advanced blending
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173
05Adjustment layers
Adjustment layers have long been
one of Photoshops greatest features,
when used in combination with the Blend If
sliders (see tip 4), theyre a powerful way to
selectively alter tones and colours without
allowing you to alter the values of colours or having to use layer masks. For example, you
tones of the layers beneath them without can use the Blend If sliders to make the
permanently applying the change to them. adjustment layer affect only the light pixels, or
Levels, Hue/Saturation and Color Balance are just the dark ones, or any of the red, green or
all of particular use to the texture painter, and blue tones of the underlying layers.
Adjustment layers
non-destructively
alter underlying tones
and colours
06Layer clipping
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Tutorials
UXPMBZFSTJOUIF-BZFSTQBOFMUPHFUUIFDMJQPQUJPO UIFODMJDL
Clipping an adjustment
layer to the layer below
protects the layers
beneath the clipped layer Layer masks are the
most effective way to
control a layers visibility
non-destructively
07Layer masks
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174 3dworldmag.com
08Masked adjustments for removing lighting
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Masking adjustment
layers is the best way of
non-destructively removing
lighting from an image
Carefully build up
tones by using low
opacity brushes for a
more natural look
Tutorials
3dworldmag.com 175
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