Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 118 i 3D Artist

Evolve your textures this issue with our seven incredible Mari projects. You can learn from pro texture artists from the likes of ILM and Ubisoft to discover new ways of working with Foundry’s incredible texturer on page 22! We’ve also put our headsets on this month to immerse ourselves fully in Ready Player One. Ian Failes has spoken to ILM and Digital Domain to find out everything there is to know about the latest Spielberg film on page 40. Meanwhile, Tony Camehl, one of the most exciting concept artists emerging in the game art sphere, tells us about his ZBrush creature workflows and career. You can learn all about his techniques on page 34. We’ve also headed into stylised character territory with the brilliant Safwen Laabidi. He gives us his…

COVER LARGE AREAS When I do my first pass of texture projections, I try to cover large surface areas in a single projection. This will reduce the amount of seams and clean-up needed at the end of the process and it also allows me to get broad coverage quickly in the beginning of the texture process. ZOOM IN To make sure you are getting the most resolution out of your projected texture, zoom in relatively close to the geometry. This will make sure you are getting the most out of your paint buffer’s resolution. If you need to zoom out while projecting, just increase your Buffer Size under the Painting Channel in Mari 4.0. CLEANING UP Once you have finished projecting all over your surface, make sure to view your…

Can you tell us a little about your background as a CG artist? I began my career in VFX over a decade ago now. While studying for a degree in industrial design, I quickly realised it wasn’t the path for me and after graduating I went to work for a small advertising studio where I produced CG assets and final renders for print. From there I spent two years at MPC London in their commercials department where I began texturing using Mari, not long after its initial release. Then I headed off to Double Negative in London where I took a break from texturing and spent a few years as a generalist working on all aspects of the 3D pipeline. I have now come back to texturing and recently took…

01 Create preliminary sketches of the scales First, create the dinosaur’s basic model with ZBrush. Even though the sketch is supposed to be rough at this stage, it is important to be conscientious and firmly consider the flow of the muscles in the whole body as well as the texture of the dinosaur’s skin. 02 Sculpt the scales based on sketches Load models and textures in Mari. You can directly paint textures onto the model in Mari, which allows flexible and efficient texture creation. 03 Use Mudbox to create Occlusion and Vector Displacement Maps The advantage of using Mudbox is that it can handle far more polygons than ZBrush. By loading and integrating models in MudBox, you can export a beautiful map without any joints. 04 Paint the model When…

01 ZBrush to Photoshop plugin In ZBrush 4R8, we have that great new plugin called ZBrush to Photoshop, which is perfect for quickly sending basic renders to Photoshop in no time. It is a great time-saver and is excellent for showing quick concepts or, in this case, to quickly have our polypainted red cardinal crest available in Photoshop. 02 Find a interesting spot Finding an interesting spot is kind of tricky. There are a few different methods out there, like the golden circle or the rule of thirds. We will use the rule of thirds to get an interesting composition. It is important that we don’t place our selling point, the bird’s head, in the very centre or on one of the crossing lines. We will play around and see…

BACK TO THE FUTURE As Parzival, Wade Watts chooses the famous DeLorean motorcar from Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future as his mode of transport in the OASIS. Scenes involving the car were filmed on the motion capture stage with a wireframe version of the DeLorean built out of steel mesh. “The DeLorean is such an icon and such a fantastical thing from that era of cinema,“ says ILM visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett. “You can only imagine the effort and interest at ILM in constructing that DeLorean for the movie, and trying to understand the various design details, like the flux capacitor, and trying to capture all of that in our CG builds.“ THE IRON GIANT Brad Bird’s beloved 2D-animated feature is referenced in Ready Player One as part…

Born and raised in Iran, Farid has been a 3D generalist and lighting artist for ten years. He is now the art director at 3FX Inc in Philadelphia, US. Bottles of Life, 2017 Maya, V-Ray, Substance Painter, Photoshop The idea came to me when I saw some oil paintings on Pinterest. They all had perfect lighting and were eye-catching images with just some brush touches. Autumn, 2017 Maya, SpeedTree, SolidAngle Arnold I came up with the idea of a fun, colourful, autumnal scene and so I tried to create some abstract trees just for a bit of fun.…

PATTERN CREATION I love creating patterns in my work so I thought a chameleon would be a fun character to get really detailed with in ZBrush. I hand-painted all scales in a mask and then used Inflate Balloon to extrude the scales out. Before clearing the mask, I used Clay Polish to soften the edges. Lastly, I used the Dam_Standard brush to define the cavity details. Nikie Monteleone nikiemonteleone.com Nikie Monteleone is a senior surfacing artist at HouseSpecial and is obsessed with all types of textures and surfaces Software ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, Arnold Renderer Chameleon , 2018…

Substance Designer 2018.1 The spring release is aimed at the VFX industry by introducing a complete UDIMs workflow. Bakers now give full support to UDIMs and the reworked 2D Viewer gives real-time, high-res feedback to artists during baking. Performance is improved too with a partial core rewrite. Perpetual licences cost $149 and rental options start at $19.90 a month. RealFlow | Cinema 4D 2.5 The integrated version of fluid simulation software for Cinema 4D gets a new visualiser for previewing, adjusting and evaluating force-based daemons. There are also three new Vertex Maps for Vorticity, Age and Weight to add greater realism and they can be previewed in the viewport in real-time. A node-locked licence costs $795. Cheetah3D 7.2 After a complete rewrite of the movie import/export code, Cheetah3D harnesses the…

Although the bulk of how the ship looked inside wasn’t achieved by modelling, it still fell on the VFX teams to make the physical sets sing by adding some elements of realism. Russell said, “For the glass and reflections of the main windows, one of our lead compositors created a setup using V-Ray for Nuke that created a multi-layered reflection of an HDRI projected on to the set geo. This meant that we had a lot of flexibility to tweak this in comp. “The interior set also had a variety of lighting states, so we always had to have this in mind when creating the colourful space exteriors. The last thing we wanted was to create an overpowering colour palette or a background that clashed.“…

Wright didn’t always seem destined for the motorsport industry – nor, for that matter, the design sector – until a heady mix of friendly advice and an anime inspired by a legendary PlayStation game sent him along a new path. “Back when I was studying my A Levels, it was either economics, which I was good at, or art, which I wanted to do. Luckily, a friend of mine introduced me to an art foundation course at Exeter College where some friends showed me Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and I was blown away.“ Wright freely admits he didn’t have the freehand design skills to excel as a 2D animator but found his niche with 3D tech. “I loved working with computers and seeing that film made me realise 3D…

22 4K UDIM Tiles 6 TEXTURE CHANNELS DIFFUSE, SPECULAR, GLOSSINESS, BUMP, METALLIC, EMISSION OVER 240 LAYERS IN MARI OVER 20 MATERIALS REPRESENTED OVER 2GB OF FINAL TEXTURE MAPS Can you tell us a bit about your background as a CG artist? I experimented a bit with early versions of Maya and 3ds Max in grade school but my first serious foray into computer graphics came when I decided to take an elective course in visual effects at the Florida State University Film School. I was there studying biology but I had such a good time learning compositing and visual effects at the film school that after I graduated I decided to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in visual effects at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Since leaving…

FINDING STRONG PHOTO REFERENCES Work begins with the search for a photo reference. You should not rely solely on your own life observations – you need to improve on them with good reference materials that have been collected for a specific task. MAKE THINGS EASIER WITH NODES I really like working with Mari’s nodes, as this way many operations become clearer and more flexible. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MARI’S ABILITY TO CACHE LAYERS Be patient – we always want to see quick results but this tendency can interfere with your process. Remember that Mari can cache layers so you can return to them later. GET TEXTURING WITH XYZ TEXTURES These are the best assets I have encountered; I have long enjoyed using them while working at a large company, and now…

TEXTURING When I began texturing this project, I assigned the normal and AO maps, which were baked from Marmoset, into Substance Painter, along with others such as material ID, curvature and world normal position. With real-time rendering, we can see the results and make changes directly without waiting.…

01 Transpose Line tool and Alt If you ever struggle to create smooth curves on your model, try the Transpose Line tool while pressing Alt. For example, you created that beautiful eagle in full flight but the stretched wings looking stiff and straight. Switch to the Transpose Line tool, draw it out and while in move mode hold Alt on your keyboard to start manipulating your model. 02 Gather reference images This might be the most important step as soon as you plan on creating something new – everyone uses reference images and it’s definitely not cheating. When it comes to animals, it is also very important to watch a lot of videos showing how the animal behaves and moves. 03 Do your homework It is absolutely not enough to…

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001) To help visualise the neon-lit resort of Rouge City, Spielberg enlisted ILM to develop an on-set previsualisation system so that the actors could be filmed on bluescreen while the director could see an approximation of the CG set in the viewfinder. Such systems are now commonplace now but this was a leap forward at the time. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN (2011) Spielberg partnered with Peter Jackson and Weta Digital to bring Hergé’s comics to life completely via virtual production. The main actors performed scenes in a motion capture volume while wearing mocap suits and head-mounted cameras. Weta Digital then crafted CG characters and expansive digital environments, effectively producing a fully animated film. THE BFG (2016) Re-uniting with Weta Digital, Spielberg returned…

DANIEL RIPLEY Tyrion Lannister Portrait Fan Art, 2017 Software Cinema 4D Studio, ZBrush, Unfold3D, Substance Painter, V-Ray, Photoshop Learn how to • Model organically • Understand the importance of UV mapping • Layer hair using Cinema 4D • Sculpt • Work with perspective • Texture • Light • Set up skin material • Post work in Photoshop Concept The concept was to create a portrait that reveals the tough life of Tyrion Lannister using an ‘old age’ dark setting with warm tones that set the mood for this piece. For this fan art piece of Tyrion Lannister, we will break down how the image was created. We will cover the importance of edge flow when polygonal modelling and how each step plays a role in the final composition. We will…

Unreal Studio will feature Datasmith, a toolkit for efficient transfer of CAD and 3ds Max data into Unreal Engine, video tutorials, technical support and 100 Substance materials. “Datasmith simplifies bringing Unreal Engine into architecture and design pipelines with automatic lightmap and UV creation along with scripted workflows to organise, optimise and clean up geometry,” says Marc Petit at Epic Games. The open beta registration is available now at unrealengine.com/en-US/studio.…

A little over a year ago, my manager pitched an idea to me. He said, “Just hear what I have to say with an open mind. If you’re not in, okay, but it’s impossible to imagine you won’t be.“ The result was LiveCGX, which represents the first step towards a completely new type of live performance – one that connects real-time visual effects and human-driven expression. It’s an evolution of Lucasfilm’s rich history with technology and storytelling. LiveCGX has the potential to be used for any film franchise, as well as non-movie applications like sports, music and fashion. The latter helped to shape our first public deployment at London Fashion Week (LFW) and the fashion and storytelling collaboration was with the University of the Arts London: Fashion Innovation Agency’s designer…

Black Mirror is a show perhaps like no other on British TV in that, despite being all about the future and trailblazing issues just coming to the fore, it often views technology in a dystopian way. With that in mind, the team were glad to be part of a wider network of talented individuals to ensure the story informed the tech, not the other way around. Russell says, “The rest of the team is amazing, they have an incredible production design department led by Joel Collins, great editors and the series attracts really strong directors and actors. ‘USS Callister’ was really blessed in this way as Toby Haynes was a great director to work with and the cast was fantastic.“…

01 Mountain villa by Nguyen Thành Vích 3DA username vic nguyen Nguyen Thành Vích says: “This is a villa project from the United States, bordering Canada. The customer requested a snowy environment among other things, such as it being highly realistic and artistic. I initially found this project very difficult because I have never painted snow and I have never seen snow in Vietnam. Luckily I got quick, great results from the SnowFlowPro software.“ We say: Wow, for someone who has never seen snow in real life before, this is a great effort from Vích. Outstanding mood, too. 02 Earthworm Jim by Massimiliano Lai 3DA username _m.v.l_ Massimiliano Lai says: “This is a 3D remake of a concept that was created by Alberto Camara. The image summarises the humour…

Senior texture artist at Industrial Light & Magic Adam Elkins recalls a “collective sigh of relief“ from texture artists when Foundry released Mari, on account of its exceptional power and suitability for working within a tight VFX pipeline. “I have been using Mari for around seven years now and have seen its toolset grow to include some amazing features like advanced layer blending, baking features and great procedural nodes,“ says Elkins. “The latter feature is probably my favourite. I use Mari’s procedurals everyday in my work, whether that be for hard surface or organic assets, being able to adjust textures non-destructively is essential. Foundry’s strong connection with the industry means that most of the large VFX studios have adapted the software to suit their needs making for some great proprietary…

01 Use references First of all I studied references to understand the basic colour patterns in the animal’s skin. I decided I couldn’t use real photos of caimans to create the textures and so I used things like rust, concrete and old walls. 02 Create base textures I created one image in Photoshop for each colour pattern that I identified in the caiman. There’s one with a dirt-looking yellow, one with dark spots that looks like rust and a mostly grey one that looks a bit like cement. 03 Apply the base textures I projected the yellow texture in all of the caiman’s body as a base skin colour and adjusted the curves to make it orange at the top of the body. I then applied the dark spots following…

This project started with the need to find out how UVs react to different mesh smoothing methods but it quickly turned into a personal project for me to work in Mari some more and bring my textures into Arnold for volumetric lighting, rendering and compositing. GIZMOS I always say that 70 to 80 per cent of anything can be automated – and so can texturing. I prefer spending a week on a little node that does a lot of work than doing the same thing over and over again. You will always end up painting for that final personal touch but when deadlines are tight, that little gizmo will be useful. Export them and make your very own library! EXTENSION PACK I used Mari 3.2v1 with Extension Pack 4R1. This…

When people think of films about virtual reality (VR), it is perhaps 1992’s Lawnmower Man that might first come to mind. But now there is a new project likely to be forever associated with VR – Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, the director’s take on Ernest Cline’s future dystopian pop culture-filled novel. And the movie adaptation is certainly full of pop culture, too, as teenager Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) navigates the OASIS, a virtual reality of the future where people in 2045 spend more time than in real life. Watts, known as his avatar Parzival in the OASIS, is able to imagine virtually anything and this leads to all sorts of cinema-infused imagery, from Back to the Future’s famous DeLorean to Jurassic Park’s T. Rex and even the robot from…

In this tutorial we’ll learn the techniques required to be able to make a stylised character with very complex details. From skin detailing to fabric and hair shading, we’ll be covering the process of sculpting cloth without using any simulation software in ZBrush and 3ds Max. We will also discover how to use ZBrush polypaint and mix that with Mari texture painting and then take everything to Substance to further enhance the look of the skin and create the tattoos. After that, we’ll explore how to create the haircut from blocking the base in ZBrush and make the actual hair in Ornatrix. Finally, we will do the lighting and shading in 3ds Max and render in V-Ray. 01 Block out the main form Before starting the sculpt, check some references…

“You will always need to redo some work during the process, whether it be textures colours, lights or even slight changes” FARID GHANBARI Sperms and egg, 2018 Software Cinema 4D, X-Particles, V-Ray, After Effects Learn how to • Create a medical rendering • Use X-Particles and Cinema 4D to create many sperm • Create a sperm shape with a spline • Use V-Ray Fog Box to illustrate medical visualisation • Set up lighting perfectly with V-Ray for Cinema 4D • Make medical rendering more artistic Concept I was asked to create an image for 3FX, Inc that was to be published in the 2018 Medical Illustration Sourcebook, so I came up with this concept: sperm and egg. This tutorial will teach you how to create a medical visualisation in the…

At this year’s Unite events, Unity will demonstrate real-time rendering made possible by Unity 2018, explore new technologies and give a sneak peek at what Unity will bring in the future. “In 2018, we once again can’t wait to get on the road and meet with developers and creators, learning together and making the world a better place with more creativity,” says Brett Bibby, vice president of engineering at Unity Technologies. “We’ll be out in force around the world offering expert talks, instructional demos and curated panels covering a full range of topics. Whether it be creating content or programming, performance or high-end rendering, or innovating on the next generation VR and AR experiences, we’re excited to share this deep-seeded knowledge with our community.” Dates and locations are: 2-4 May,…

“Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones are such lovely people to work with… you are constantly reminded that everything is in service of the story and the viewer” Company Framestore Location UK Website framestore.com Project description Framestore worked on the VFX on the Black Mirror episode ‘USS Callister’, including numerous environments like those in outer space, the USS Callister spaceship, the nightmarish CG Arachnajax creature, and the many visual effects, matte paintings and graphic replacements. Biography Formed in Soho in 1986, Framestore is now a Bafta- and Oscar-winning creative studio that specialises in a range of visual effects, production, direction and post-production services for film and advertising clients. It is notable for its VFX work on blockbuster films such as Gravity, Avatar and the Harry Potter franchise. Contributor • Russell Dodgson…

“Coming up with creative solutions to problems on a moment’s notice is the daily challenge”Dean Wright, Creative video director Job title Creative video director Location London, UK Education Exeter College: Art Foundation course Bournemouth University: Computer visualisation and animation Website getwrightonit.com Biography Dean Wright is creative video director at motorsport.com. He oversees the production of creative video projects for Motorsport Network including visual effects, motion graphics and series branding. Prior to that he worked on television, film and advertising projects, with stints as creative director at commercial animation studio Get Wright On It, and at Nvizible where he worked on Eddie the Eagle and King Arthur. Portfolio highlights • Autosport Racing Car of the Year, 2017 • Eddie the Eagle, 2016 • BB-8 in London (Personal), 2015 • Williams FW37 Concepts (Personal), 2015…

REFERENCES References are often the key to great artwork. Depending on what you are working on or what you want to create, and before getting to start in details of your design, keep the big picture in mind and block out the composition. Ensure that you do not move onto the next step until you’re completely happy. Bondok Max be.net/bondok_max  Bondok has been doing CG for about seven years, working on 3D environments and lighting Software 3ds Max, V-Ray, ZBrush, Mari, Quixel, SpeedTree, World Machine, Photoshop TheGladiator69 , 2017…