Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i 3D World

AUTHOR Dora R. Fitzgerald received an MFA in Film from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas San Antonio. Her academic interests include film spectatorship and grammar, and race and representation in cinema. www.uiw3d.com In this series, we will take a slow and measured walk through the choices every filmmaker has to achieve meaning in the cinematic process. As a filmmaker, moving from the ideal (inside your head) to the real is no easy task. These lessons are not about new equipment or technology, but rather reflections on time-tested techniques. This is a journey of options based on understanding the medium you seek to master. From your first decision to your last, we hope to bring additional clarity to the activity of film construction. Your primary job…

By utilising a node-based, procedural approach, 3D software Houdini from SideFX provides digital artists with a remarkable level of power, flexibility and control. It’s a complex piece of kit – so much so that you would be hard pushed to find someone who knows everything about it, or who really understands the software and its many features inside out. The majority of Houdini users utilise the software to carry out very specific tasks, with few taking full advantage of its highly extensive toolset and capabilities. That said, in recent times the software has become more artist friendly, so now’s the time to jump right in. So whether you’re completely new to Houdini or just want to hone up on its many features, going back to the basics is often a…

Simon Edwards Simon works freelance at 3DArtvision. He has worked professionally both as an architectural visualiser and 3D artist for 20 years in Holland and the UK. www.3dartvision.co.uk Maya Jermy Maya is a 3D artist and animator based in the UK. She started her career five years ago remaking and animating characters for Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – New ‘n’ Tasty. www.mayajermy.com Oscar Juárez Oscar is a 3D generalist based in Mexico City. He has been running Fibrha Studio since 2010 and specialises in archviz rendering, animations and Unreal Engine. www.facebook.com/FibrhaStudio Pietro Chiovaro Pietro is an Italian 3D artist who creates 3D assets and environments, and is currently working on an open-source game. pietrochiovaro.artstation.com GET IN TOUCH EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO rob.redman@futurenet.com Simon Edwards replies Creating realistic portraiture will more than…

Maya Jermy replies There is something oddly satisfying about lava lamps. A soothing, colourful light and mesmerising waxy blobs raising and descending due to temperature changes. It almost makes me want to touch and play with it. When it comes to achieving that beautifully looking material for a lava lamp model, you might find yourself stuck at first. It seems as though it should be an easy thing to create, but to achieve that realistic look it can be a bit of a hassle if you do not know much about materials. I will show you how to make a very simple KeyShot material for the blobby lava floating inside of the lamp. It will leave some room for improvement depending on how far down the path of realism you…

In order for software companies to offer sought-after products, the continual development of the technology behind them is vital. For many teams to do this effectively, it means adopting various Agile software development methodologies – the basic idea of which aims to put in place a highly disciplined project management process, which encourages frequent adaptation and inspection. One company currently doing just this is leading 3D texturing software company Allegorithmic. “We base our approach on common sense and good practices from different inspirations,” says Substance team facilitator Damien Letournel. “We constantly learn and adapt our way of working. We do not take Agile as it is, but get inspiration from it and adapt it. Here are three methodologies we have implemented from Agile principles.” 1. SCRUM - DELIVER (OFTEN PARTIAL)…

PRICE £540/$716 (Upgrade from X-P3.5: £220/$292) | COMPANY Insydium | WEBSITE insydium.ltd AUTHOR PROFILE Steve is a freelance tech journalist and CG artist, with an unhealthy addiction to 3D apps and plugins. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jarratt FEATURES New fluid dynamics systems for fluid, smoke and fire Particle-based cloth simulation with tearing Direct particles with splines and flow field systems New modifiers including strange attractors Newtonian gravity, circle packer and cellular growth RENDERING WITH CYCLES Insydium recently released a new version of its Cycles 4D GPU renderer, which includes dedicated support for ExplosiaFX. It takes a little more effort to set up, but removes the preparation time that blights C4D’s own renderers, and provides extensive control over the look of the simulation. Cycles 4D is available to buy separately for £185 ($245, €210). With…

ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE ARTIST Mohamed Chahin SOFTWARE Blender, Cycles This insanely adorable little alien monster pilot was created by Mohamed Chahin in Blender, before rendering in Cycles. Discussing his creation process for this character, 3D artist Mohamed explains, “For the monster I made his facial expressions using shape keys, and experimented a bit with subsurface scattering to make his skin and tongue. For the smoke I made a particle emitter that emits metaballs, a colour ramp for their scale – so that over time the particles start small, get bigger, and after that get smaller. I used a particle system for the trees, and an Array Modifier. I used an array that follows a circular curve for the airplane blades, and placed some point lights behind them.” When…

NIKE CAGE 3 “With Nike's Cage 3, the challenges were mainly technical as we had a rather short time to come up with a setup that allowed for the organic animation of a geometric structure, while maintaining a high degree of control over the structure's behaviour,” Schwind explains. “We solved this by using a combination of Houdini's built-in simulation tools together with bits of custom VEX code.” Moritz Schwind is the kind of artist who ruminates on every little detail. The Munich-based designer is currently the art director at Aixsponza, whose clients include everyone from Nike and Red Bull to Nescafe and Fendt, and it’s his concept-driven process that ensures his work jumps from the screen. Like a lot of artists, Schwind first became interested in motion graphics when he…

AUTHOR An aspiring FX TD and former SideFX and Mill NY FX intern, specialising in technical and procedural visual effects using my primary tool Houdini, from SideFX. vimeo.com/trzanko In this overview, we’ll discuss how to create a flamethrower and compare the results of the same simulation calculated with and without OpenCL acceleration. We’ll look at some Houdini tips along the way and emphasise what’s most important for achieving this effect. We’ll also take a look at how to render pyro with some extra steps to get a nice look when compositing, and dive deep into a few custom VEX steps. DOWNLOAD YOUR RESOURCES For all the assets you need go to www.bit.ly/vault-231-procedural Start small Always start small when working with pyro and make sure your forces are working as desired…

AUTHOR Mike Griggs is a 3D and visual effects artist with vast experience across the industry, as both a creator and a technical writer. www.creativebloke.com GPU (graphics card) rendering is now no longer the young upstart of the CGI industry. For many freelancers and studios, the speed benefits of rendering with the GPU are now matched by feature sets that are equal to the traditional CPU render engines which have long been dominant. And leading this insurgence is Redshift (www.redshift3d.com). Redshift is unusual within the GPU rendering market as it is the first biased render engine. This offers much more flexibility and ways to optimise an image than an unbiased engine, which tries to accurately model the physics of light. Redshift also offers a solution to the amount of data…

Maya Jermy replies Chromatic aberration (distortion), also known as ‘colour fringing’ is a common optical problem, I imagine, often haunting photographers in their sleep. Whether you are a professional or an amateur, you have probably encountered this issue at some point in your career. It occurs when a camera lens fails to bring all colour wavelengths to the same focal plane, or when the wavelengths of colour focus in different positions on the plane. It is caused by a lens dispersion, with different colours of light travelling at different speed while passing through a lens – in effect, producing a blurred image with coloured fringes (a rainbow edge in areas of contrast). There are two types of chromatic aberration: axial (longitudinal) and transverse (lateral). Without going into too much detail,…

Pietro Chiovaro replies Similar to the creation of a fluid simulation or a smoke simulation, for fire we have to understand which elements will be of interest in the simulation; in this case the main elements are the torches. Once you have defined these elements we can start to create our fire simulation. The first step consists of the creation of a cube that will ‘contain’ the fire. Once created we have to select it, then open the Physics panel in the Properties window. Here we have to enable the smoke physic and select Domain. After that we have to create or select an object that will emit the fire, in this case I select the coal. In the same way, for the emitter we have to open the Physics…

There’s no question about it. China has become a world power. It is now the most powerful and influential country in the Asia Pacific area, and given its trajectory, could easily become the most powerful and influential country in the world. And for some reason, every time a nation gains great economic power, that nation wants to become the new Hollywood. China is no exception. The question is, why? I mean, Hollywood is sexy… but not the greatest business in the world. I recall having had a dinner in Beijing several years ago with a cadre of Chinese media people as well as several high-ranking Generals. When the topic of “why is China so hell bent on being a major player in the film business?” came up, the answer was…

SIDEFX: DID YOU KNOW? As with any place where you work, it’s the people who make it unique. Here are some fun facts about SideFX! • One of the developers has a fairly fancy setup as a keyboard. It is unlike anything most people have ever seen and even has foot pedal controls (Kinesis Advantage2). Another uses the Dvorak keyboard layout. • There are three yearly internal image contests that take place and the prizes range from Pixar teapots, 3D printed characters and internal build splash screens (some images get very tasteful, use your imagination). • Thursday nights are reserved for D&D sessions, president included! SideFX is the Toronto-based, Academy Award-winning developer of Houdini software – a 3D application best known as the tool of choice for visual effects in…

MIKE GRIGGS WILL BE PRESENTING AT VERTEX VERTEXCONF.COM TICKETS ON SALE NOW AUTHOR Mike Griggs is a 3D and visual effects artist with vast experience across the industry, as both a creator and a technical writer. www.creativebloke.com If you’re new to CGI, you may feel that there are far too many tools to choose from in a dizzying array of software. This series aims to break everything in CGI down to the very basics, so that every artist can be armed with the knowledge of which tool is best. This time we are looking at how instances can be a very useful tool for 3D work. Scene management is one of the ways to spot a good CG artist from a bad one. Effective scene management can be as simple…

Oscar Juárez replies When creating interior archviz a key fundamental element is the lighting. Lighting gives an image mood, balance, creates volume and so on. In this tutorial we will light up an interior scene using 3ds Max and V-Ray, and we will use VRaySun, some planes and some other tricks to balance our image without having to render over and over again. I hope you find it useful. Let’s go! STEP BY STEP ADD EFFECTIVE LIGHTING TO AN INTERIOR SCENE 01 ADD VRAYSKY ENVIRONMENT One of the most common mistakes when it comes to creating effective interior lighting is not using the Environment and Effects tab. For this type of project we can set an HDRI or a VRaySky so that we can have natural lighting going around our…

When Thor’s father dies, his murderous elder sister Hela, Goddess of Death, is released from the ancient prison that has prevented her from wreaking havoc until now. She wastes no time with her new freedom and seeks to take her place as ruler of Asgard by bringing about Ragnarok; a process which necessitates thousands of hours of CG work to successfully enact. This is your typical big-action blockbuster from Marvel, except in many ways it’s not. Director Taika Waititi, known for comedies such as Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows, has brought his special brand of humour and put his own unique spin on things, so while there’s plenty of the elaborate set pieces and high-octane frisson we’re used to, there’s an element of personality…

PRICE Apprentice: free / Indie: rental $199 per year / Houdini FX: $4,495 | COMPANY SideFX | WEBSITE sidefx.com AUTHOR PROFILE Simon is a graduate of Hyper Island and has worked for ManvsMachine as a TD over the last eight years. He’s a global leader in VFX-led motion design, and speaks at international conferences. simonholmedal.com I have been a big fan of Houdini for the past few years. It has very much changed my life and how I approach my design process, all the way down to final production and dealing with changes. It’s a very established tool in the VFX industry for its versatility and its capable simulation tools, and it’s now starting to become more popular in both games and motion graphics. I have been working almost exclusively…

FOLLOW THE VIDEO www.bit.ly/vault-231-procedural VIDEO + STEP IMAGES SCULPT VR SCI-FI MODELS Follow the step-by-step images and videos from Martin Nebelong’s awesome virtual reality content creation tutorial, to learn how to make your own real-time, VR spaceship fleet. VIDEO + STEP IMAGES CREATE A FLAMING CHARACTER IN HOUDINI Rob Redman shows his pipeline for combining different applications, finally using Houdini to setup a realistic flame simulation. VIDEO + STEP IMAGES PYRO PARTICLES Learn how to create a realistic flamethrower particle system. VIDEO & FILES GET YOUR RESOURCES You’re three steps away from this issue’s video training and files… 1. GO TO THE WEBSITE Type the following into your browser: www.bit.ly/ vault-231-procedural 2. FIND THE FILES YOU WANT FROM THE LIST Search the list of free resources to find the video…