3D Art Design - Volume 2 2013

02 V
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3D art
&
design
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Practical inspiration for the 3D community
FROM THE MAKERS OF
Creative
guides for
amazing
3D art
Maya 3ds Max Photoshop Vue Cinema 4D ZBrush
02 V
O
L
3D art
&
design
Imagine Publishing Ltd
Richmond House
33 Richmond Hill
Bournemouth
Dorset BH2 6EZ
% +44 (0) 1202 586200
Website: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk
Editor in Chief
Jo Cole
Production Editor
Jon White
Design
Charles Goddard
Printed by
William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT
Distributed in the UK & Eire by
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Disclaimer
The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All
text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced
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used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured
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bookazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.
3D Art & Design Volume 2 2011 Imagine Publishing Ltd
ISBN 978-1-906078-9-73
3D art
&
design
Character
Gallery ....................................................................... 58
Interview: Oliver Ponsonnet ...............................64
Painting up a demon image .................................72
Texture and light a beautiful girl..........................76
Creating a savage warrior ...................................80
I made this: Hodong La ........................................ 96
Making of The Sky Fisherman ........................... 98
Create a sexy fairy woman ............................... 104
Portrait masterclass ............................................ 108
I made this: Iker Cortzar ................................... 114
Model a cute fantasy figure ................................116
Build your own monster ..................................... 120
Interview: Andrew Hickinbottom ....................124
Create a futuristic bar scene............................. 130
Create a friendly dragon .....................................134
Add textures and light to objects .....................138
I made this: Martin Ruizl .....................................142
Create a Lovecraft legend ................................. 144
Create Pixar-style artwork ................................ 148
Environment
Gallery ........................................................................... 8
Feature: The world in your hands ....................... 14
Create a futuristic city ............................................22
Create a beautiful landscape ................................28
I made this: Meny Hilsenrad ................................32
Creating a magical forest lake ..............................34
Texture and paint environments ........................ 40
I made this: Nikita Veprikov ................................. 44
Model environments ............................................. 46
Creating nature plant modelling ......................52
I made this: Rafal Waniek ......................................57
02
Your guide to whats
included in the book
6
FREE
CD
Turn to page 258 for full listings
25 textures Tutorial files Podcasts
Create a
magical
3D lake
34
210
96
Transport
Gallery ........................................................................194
Interview: Daniel Simon ...................................... 200
Creating a futuristic flying vehicle ......................210
Get that post-apocalypse look ............................214
Creating a magnificent Spitfire ...........................218
I made this: Simeon Patarozliev ......................... 234
Modelling a sports car.......................................... 236
Lighting the Silver Arrow .....................................240
I made this: Andr McGrail ................................ 245
Building a concept car ..........................................246
I made this: Neil Maccormack ........................... 252
7
102
Architecture
Gallery ........................................................................ 152
Grand designs .......................................................... 158
Texturing and lighting architecture ...................164
Creating a stylish museum building ..................168
I made this: Viktor Fretyn ................................... 172
Interview: Kuan Studio .......................................... 174
I made this: Anton Cherenko ............................... 179
Creating a mansion ................................................180
I made this: Luis Tejeda .........................................186
Interview: F10 Studios ............................................188
I made this: Arkin Esref ......................................... 193
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Page 254
104
168
234
The hottest 3D
artists show us
how they create
inspirational
works of art
64
Feature: The world in your hands ................ 14
Create a futuristic city .....................................22
Create a beautiful landscape .........................28
I made this: Meny Hilsenrad .........................32
Creating a magical forest lake ...................... 34
Texture and paint environments ................40
I made this: Nikita Veprikov ......................... 44
Model environments ...................................... 46
Creating nature plant modelling ................52
I made this: Rafal Waniek ...............................57
Environment
8
When I started work on Interurban, my intention
was to convey both the massive scale and the hustle
and bustle of the sprawling cities of the future. Dont
look down
Jacob Charles Dietz,
Interurban, 2010
9
Personal portfolio site
JacobCharlesDietz.com
Country America
Software used
Poser Pro 2010, Vue 9 In nite
and Photoshop CS5
Artist bio
Jacob is an award-winning artist,
illustrator and matte painter
specialising in science ction
and fantasy. Born and raised in
Seattle, Jacob studied Visual
Communications at The
University of Washington before
moving on to receive traditional
ne arts training at Seattles
School of Visual Concepts. He
has always been fascinated by
the fantastic worlds of comic
books and classical paintings of
the old masters, so he leverages
both of these in uences in his
work making a one-of-a-kind
style that can be seen in
everything he does.
Jacob
Charles Dietz
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Light played a key
part in the composition of
this image everything
was assigned to guide
your eyes from the bright
centre to the darker sides.
For the main illumination,
I used a V-Ray Plane light,
while a Target Direct light
was used in order to
simulate sunshine
Istvn Vastag, The Way I Feel, 2009
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http://dy217.cgsociety.org/
gallery
Country Hungary
Software used
3ds Max, ZBrush, V-Ray,
Photoshop
Istvn Vastag
Work in progress
11
It all started when I watched
the lm Mary Reilly (1996). I very
much liked a eeting shot with
an old watch, but gradually the
idea and composition developed
and I also wished to introduce
some history into the interior
Lebedev Denis Victorovich, Antique clock, 2010
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N/A
Country Russia
Software used
3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop
Lebedev Denis
Victorovich
Work in progress
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http://hris.cgsociety.org/
gallery
Country Poland
Software used
CINEMA 4D R10.101, Advanced
Renderer 2.5, Photoshop
Elements 6
Christopher
Czerwinski
Work in progress
This was created for the NVArt 5 competition. Its
inspired by pictures by Syd Mead, who is a living
legend of futuristic images. I used similar colours to
try and convey the same mood as master Syd
Christopher Czerwinski,
Periodical Service, 2010
12
13
Cirrus Minor
Using stratied materials on the rocks nearest the camera, and then a
moon and planet in the sky using MojoWorld
14
E
ver since there have been computers
capable of creating semi-realistic-looking
images, there have been software
programs around to help create CGI landscapes.
It really started in the days of the Commodore
Amiga, when terms such as multimedia and
information superhighway were fresh on
everyones lips. Since then, the software has
become ever more sophisticated and the images
more natural with massed vegetation, stunningly
realistic water, architecture and atmospheric
conditions being added to the mix. In this feature,
well take a look at the main options for those
looking to create their own piece of CGI heaven,
from bargain-basement oferings, to those
designed for pro studios.
It wasnt always the case, but it certainly is now.
Vue from e-on software is the number one
landscape creation program and not just for
Hollywood studios. Theres a Vue for everyone as
the range is split into Enthusiast, Artist and
Professional categories. For enthusiasts theres
entry-level Vue 8 Pioneer (its actually free), three
pack versions: Fantasy, Fairy Tale and Sci-Fi
($49.95 each), and Frontier ($99). Artists get
Esprit ($199), Studio ($399) and Complete
($599), while the professional users can look at
shelling out $895 on Innite and $1,495 on
EdsonMoraes
The
world
hands
in
your
If you want to create
your own CGI world,
you need the right
software. Duncan
Evans investigates
the best options
Environment
15
xStream. In terms of functionality, the initial
packages are fairly basic, concentrating on
terrains and manual placement of vegetation.
Frontier adds Poser support, while Esprit enables
high-resolution renders, more import support and
ofers a content pack. Possibly the biggest Vue
upgrade of recent years was the introduction of
the EcoSystem tool that enables vegetation and
indeed, any compatible objects, to be spray-
painted onto the terrain surface. You only get that
from Studio upwards but it really does enable
complex environments to be created in a short
timeframe when the alternative wouldnt bear
thinking about. The top-end package Innite
incorporates all the modules from the series and
in xStream you have a version that integrates with
mainline 3D apps like Max and Maya as well.
The heart of Vue is terrain creation with a
2D/3D sculpting interface that has seen plenty of
improvement with recent releases. Like any kind
of sculpting it takes a good concept and some
practice to get a decent result. While the tools are
quite good, theres denitely room for expansion
and improvement here so look forward to this
being enhanced, especially with dedicated brush
types, in the twice-yearly updates. For those
seeking to re-create existing landscapes, then the
ability to import 16-bit heighteld data from
Woodland Waterway
Featuring a bridge from
Cornucopia3D, this Vue image
uses a couple of terrains, lots of
tree models and thick cloud cover
English Country Garden
Vue master Dominic Davison
creates the perfect English country
garden with this classic scene
Masses
of trees
If you want to cover
your environment in a
swathe of realistic-
looking trees without
having to go to the
efort of planting every
single one, then the
best solution by far is
to use Vue. However,
youll need the version
that actually uses the
EcoSystem painter
which starts with Vue
Studio. Large forested
areas should generally
have a limited number
of diferent tree
species otherwise it
wont look realistic.
The best way of doing
this is therefore to load
two or three varieties
of the same tree into
the EcoSystem and
use the airbrush to
spray the instances
onto the terrain. For
really thick jungle
canopy, change the
density setting so that
they can stack up
together or it will look
more like a city park
than a lush forest.
Dominic Davison
Forever Autumn
Using items from the Cornucopia3D store to create an autumnal feeling
with an arching canopy of branches
Dominic Davison
Dominic Davison
16
external apps or USGS DEM data will be useful.
Its the kind of thing that made VistaPro popular in
the rst place. Also on this front, theres a very
handy ability to load a terrain picture as a bitmap,
display it inside the Terrain Editor and then sculpt
a landscape based on it.
The interface has a more old-fashioned feel to it
than, say, Bryce, but it works well and consistently
with a four-pane display on higher-spec versions,
or a single display on the Enthusiast options. The
real quality of the program is in assigning
materials to your terrains and whether they are
regular or procedural. The innite procedural
terrains have the benet of automatic subdivision
closer to the camera for more detail, and render
time-saving general detail further away. Getting
into the heart of the program is creating the
materials and mixing them, applying rules for
greenery, snow lines, scale, etc.
Its the EcoSystem painter that really makes
Vue invaluable for densely populated terrains.
Any objects can be loaded into the EcoSystem
whether they are clumps of grass, trees or even
buildings, and they can be painted singularly for
precision, or airbrush painted to cover your
landscape en masse. This is the feature that the
Hollywood studios love and youve seen it at work
in everything from Pirates Of The Caribbean and
Indiana Jones to Terminator: Salvation.
When you throw in mist, atmospheric haze,
low-lying fog, the diferent types of lighting with
editable clouds and then the water simulation
where surfaces can be smooth and lake-like or
heaving like the Atlantic and you have
unparalleled control for realistic landscapes. The
caveat to this is that while it is easy to pick up and
use, the results tend to be poor on close-up shots
until you have mastered the technical aspects.
Scott Brisbane of DreamWorks Animation increasingly uses
Vue in his role as a matte painter
Scott Brisbane graduated from USCs School of Cinema-
Television with a BA in Cinematography. He then studied
matte painting at the Academy of Art University in San
Francisco and was hired shortly after as a digital matte artist
at Matte World Digital. After creating matte paintings for
The Last Samurai, The Alamo and Catwoman, Scott moved to
DreamWorks Animation in 2005. His credits as a matte painter there
include Over The Hedge, Flushed Away and Shrek The Third. He was then
promoted to lead matte painter on Kung Fu Panda, the rst lm where the
studio used Vue extensively, creating over 700 shots. In 2008, Scott has
served as the matte painting supervisor at DreamWorks Animation for the
studios rst stereoscopic movie Monsters vs Aliens. This lm allowed the
matte department the opportunity to push the boundaries of digital
environments in 3D. Under Scotts supervision, the team of ten artists
delivered hundreds of shots with environments ranging from foreground
buildings and distant city views to dimensional aerial cloudscapes. After
completing Monsters vs Aliens, Scott left DreamWorks to work at Rhythm and
Hues Studios on Land Of The Lost, The Wolfman and The Cabin In The Woods.
Landscaping the movies
Scott moved over to Weta in 2009 as senior matte painter where Vue was
used on James Camerons Avatar. Hes now back at DreamWorks, where he
completed work on Shrek Forever After. Scott had this to say about using the
program: Vue is one of the most artist-friendly tools Ive ever used. It has
become an essential package in my workow for environment creation. In
fact, as more and more stereo lms enter production, I see Vue becoming an
extremely helpful tool in creating those imagined worlds dimensionally.
Avatar
Scott joined Weta in the matte painting department as the senior painter where they worked on shots for
Avatar, now available on Blu-ray/DVD. The oating mountains are only 3D to the mid-ground; the ones in the
background are all matte paintings
Peaceful Island
Created with Terragen 2 and reecting
the artists romantic mood at the time
20th Century Fox Film Limited
Susanne Krings
For us, Digital Nature has a dual meaning. Firstly, its Vues ability
to create Digital Nature scenery with all that Vue is renowned for and
seen in major cinematic productions: windswept forests, cloud-lled
skies and vast mountainous terrains. Secondly, even novice users can
quickly create awesome renders. The path between ones own
creative Digital Nature and a visually satisfying render with Vue is
very straightforward and unobtrusive Nicholas Phelps, president, e-on software
Environment Environment Environment Environment
17
Then the results can be jaw-dropping. Vue also
supports animation, and this is where studios tend
to go for the xStream version. The animation
wizard is a bit ropy but theres Poser gure and
animation support, atmospheric and individual
object and camera animation. Objects can even
be congured to react to the terrain.
While there are certain areas that would
obviously benet from improvement, Vue has the
kind of breadth that means it can do pretty much
everything and you certainly get out what you put
into learning it. Thats why its the number one
choice for landscapes.
For those looking to get powerful facilities and a
good user interface, without having to spend very
much, theres a great alternative in Bryce.
Originally launched in 1994 for the Mac, Bryce
named after the famous canyon in the US rapidly
overtook VistaPro in the landscape popularity
stakes. A PC version came out in 1996 and by
1999 the program had rapidly evolved with
version 4 ofering a sophisticated SkyLab for
atmospherics, better textures and object import.
MetaCreations sold it to Corel in 2000 where
trees and a few improvements were added for
version 5 in 2001. And after that helter-skelter
development, it stagnated under Corel until DAZ
3D bought the program and released version 5.5
which allowed import of DAZ and Poser
characters thus expanding the range of the
program. Finally in 2006, the basis of the latest
version came out with Bryce 6.1 which improved
the terrain editing, added HDRI lighting and made
it take advantage of multi-threading and multi-
core CPUs.
At the moment, a signicant upgrade is in the
nal stages of development with Bryce 7 which
will incorporate the Instancing Lab, new light
types, more data exchange, improved SkyLab and
Material Lab, particle animation and more
rendering options. The Instancing Lab allows
users to copy objects or create Instances, making
it possible to create larger, more realistic scenes
than ever before, using less memory. The new
lighting includes Distant light, Parallel, Cluster,
Dome and a series of 3D ll lights. The data
exchange function means models and scenes
from DAZ Studio can be imported more easily,
while the Sky Lab gets a big
upgrade with more tools and
controls over cloud settings. Tools
include Image Based Lighting
(illuminating your scene or objects
in the scene with images of light
www.e-onsoftware.com
www.planetside.co.uk
www.daz3d.com
www.rendernation.com
www.xfrog.com
www.cornucopia3d.com
www.mojoworld.org
Essential
links
Venedig Kopie
No post-work on this Vue image;
Rudiger was aiming to simulate a
painting style
Rudiger Wacknitz
An entire world
Out of all the software applications, from dedicated
landscapes, to general 3D, there is only one package
that lets you create an entire world in one go and
thats MojoWorld. Creating a complex and
interesting world is in fact so tough and time
consuming that the author of the program
recommends starting with an existing planet and
modifying it to your specications. After that, set the
camera down anywhere on the surface or let it loose
and create an animation as you soar above the
surface of an entire planet. Next up are entire solar
systems apparently! Watch this space

E
d
s
o
n

M
o
r
a
e
s
Bryce 7 is a toolset inspired by artists. Based on the input and
direction of professional Bryce users and DAZ 3D community
members, the Bryce 7 toolset is truly customised to t the needs of its
artists. With updated lighting, rendering and export capabilities, as
well as a brand new Instancing Lab that allows users to create even
larger scenes that require less memory, Bryce 7 offers more options
than ever before Dan Farr, CEO, DAZ 3D
18
from the real world), added capabilities for HDRI
images (saturation control, transparency and
HDRI from inside), soft shadows for IBL, specular
map settings and Powerful Sun options.
So its all cooking in the Bryce world, but how
easy is it to pick up and how good is it in practice?
Well to answer the rst question you need to go
back to the beginning. It was developed on the
Mac and ported to the PC and its had the same
bizarre and idiosyncratic interface since. Lets say
that its full of good stuf, though vegetation isnt a
strong point, but youll need to learn the interface
to use it. The best parts of Bryce are the terrain
creator but note this is 2D with a 3D preview, the
various sky types and the Material Editor.
Back in the good old days, before the rise of the
PC, the Amiga world gasped with amazement
when the original Vista program brought CGI
landscapes to the desktop. Using fractal
technology, where previously blank polygons had
ruled supreme, we marvelled at the swathes of
greenery. Surprisingly, the veteran software
package is still around, and at $50 from
VendorNation it would appear a worthy
alternative. However, like giving a Lada a new
paint job, it might look shinier, but its still pretty
abject compared to a Jag. And so it is with whats
left of the VistaPro franchise. You can buy DEM
map packs for it that look kind of realistic if you
squint, but the basic interface is the same as 15
years ago and the results simply dont stand up to
any modern alternative.
Back to the modern world and theres a brace of
options for those that like to get their rendering
ngers dirty. Were alluding to Planetsides
Terragen 2 and Terragen Classic, which is a
simpler version. Both versions can be downloaded
and used free for non-commercial use but they do
have limitations. These include rendering limited
to 800 x 600 on Terragen 2, lower detail and anti-
aliasing quality, a limit to three-object populations
and no animation. On the plus side, you can get to
try the products out for free before deciding
whether to lay out $299 for Terragen 2, $399 with
the animation module and $699 with XfrogPlants.
The commercial versions also ofer ve additional
render node licences, tutorial videos and no
restrictions. Terragen Classic can be upgraded for
commercial use for $99 pitching it directly
against Bryce and Vue Frontier. If anything,
Terragen 2 is the spiritual successor to VistaPro,
using complex fractal technology to render
stunningly realistic landscape terrains right from
Countryroad Slope
The aim here was to re-create
the look and feel of a small
countryside lane in a very hilly
area of Western Jutland,
Denmark, in midsummer
Blue System
Radial lights were used in this
Bryce scene (of which one has a
violet tone) to add that additional
ethereal tint to the mountains on
the left
Bernie Staford
Susanne Krings
Importing characters
While most software packages can import characters in a variety
of formats, if you want to actually create characters and objects
and put them into scenery, the fastest and easiest way is to use
Bryce and DAZ Studio. Your DAZ characters and objects can be
exported at the moment for easy inclusion into a Bryce scene, but
this relationship will get even closer with the release of Bryce 7. Vue
has a few tricks up its sleeve as well with the Enthusiast versions, so that
Vue Frontier supports physically posing the Poser characters making
animation a real possibility.
Bernie Staford
Dawn Patrol
Using an Anders Leczar model, rendered in Bryce for the clouds
Old Ironsides
Created with a ship
that Bernie Staford
modelled himself
Lars BraadAndersen
19
the start. The interface, though, is something of a
horror show for the newcomer, being a node-
based system where each element can be
adjusted and tweaked as it feeds the next.
The shader tree setup does allow for plenty of
control and has a similar pipeline and technology
to traditional 3D software. This is no accident as
the founder of Planetside worked for award-
winning VFX studio Digital Domain, where the
company developed its own proprietary terrain-
generating software. Much of that technology
went into Terragen 2 which was subsequently
used to create landscapes for lms such as The
Golden Compass and The Wicker Man. Its
denitely worth looking at both versions of the
software before deciding on purchasing either.
The strong point about the program is the quality
of the results, the weakest being the heighteld
editing possibilities.
As Xfrog Inc was just mentioned as the main
supplier for a massive set of bundles with
Terragen 2, its worth elaborating at this point
exactly what the company has to ofer. Xfrog Inc
provides DVDs containing highly realistic plants,
trees, owers and grasses as well as a plethora of
objects suitable for use in landscape CGI. There
are 29 DVDs of XfrogPlants alone, massive
bundles and also a separate program itself
called Xfrog. This comes as a standalone app or
as a plug-in for CINEMA 4D or Maya and is used
for organic modelling and animation so you can
create your own vegetation.
Third-party object creation is in fact key to
expanding your chosen landscape CGI program
with all manner of ora, transport and
architecture. As well as the Xfrog material, e-ons
Cornucopia3D store sells a massive amount of
objects for all versions of Vue at a fairly low cost,
20
Twomobo
Martin Roes specialises in
alien deserts with lots of detail
and, of course, it just wouldnt
be a MojoWorld without some
extra planets in the sky
MartinRoes
Realistic
landscapes
without hassle
If theres one strong point about Terragen its
that anyone, once they gure out what does
what, can create the most photorealistic terrains
with the minimum efort. There is a steep
learning curve just to get to grips with the
program, and as a rendering engine it isnt fast
either, but the textured surfaces have a craggy
and dirty look to them that makes a Terragen
landscape distinct. Shots from a high elevation
look like photos taken from an aeroplane
window. Mastering the node-based shader
network is key to creating variety and compelling
realism in close-up shots.
Terragen 2 features industry-leading displacement rendering
performance and exibility, allowing realistic detail from orbit to
centimetre scale. A sophisticated planetary atmosphere model allows
creation of unlimited cloud types, while a global illumination lighting
model optimised for large scales contributes to overall cloud and
atmospheric realism. TG2 is uniquely capable of realistically
rendering large-scale natural environments, freeing you from the
limitations of set-oriented scenes Oshyan Greene, business manager, Planetside Software
Making it
look real
Realism
If youre trying to get a realistic render, then use
photographs for reference. If using your own, try
to create as near to the exact picture as possible.
Notice how the light reacts with the objects in
the photo plants, buildings, people, etc. Try not
to use any additional lights, but if you really
must then use as few as possible and make sure
you only have one shadow. All lights will cast
shadows so if they are in varying directions
youll get multiple shadows which is unrealistic
in daylight scenes.
Plan ahead
In any type of scene, its always best to plan
beforehand rather than just plopping things
along the way. If youre not using photo
reference, then make a sketch even the
roughest sketch will help you plan.
Trees
If you plan on using trees close to the camera,
try to use good-quality models rather than the
native Vue trees. Even the HD are not really
close-up quality due to the leaf planes. If you
dont own a program such as OnyxTree or Xfrog,
there are plenty of models for sale at
Cornucopia3D and other stores.
Scale
When you load a Vue terrain, remember its
only 5.375yds high and 28yds wide. Mountains
are somewhat larger! In any type of scene, make
sure your objects are scaled to each other.
Nothings worse than a small house with a giant
standing in front of it unless its a fairy tale.
Post-work
Dont think that rendering is the end. Post-work
not only enhances your image but also adds a
personal touch. Even just a little lighting
correction can go a long way to making an
ordinary render pop.
Gill Brooks is an established Vue artist.
Here she gives her insights into what
makes for a superior CGI landscape
21
while DAZ 3D is increasingly supplying more
material for Bryce. Expect this to ramp up with the
release of Bryce 7.
To round things of, how would you like to
create an entire world and then y around it?
Thats the promise made by MojoWorld 3 which
comes in a variety of avours from Focus to
Standard and Pro versions and is compatible with
both Windows and Mac.
Focus comes in at just $49 but does little more
than allow the user to plonk digital photos of
themselves into strange new worlds. Its the
Standard edition ($199) with which you can begin
to create your own worlds though the planet
wizard is recommended when using the software
the rst-time round. There are still limitations here
though, the most telling of which is that there are
no trees supplied with this edition. To create trees,
youll need to purchase the MojoTree ($69) add-in
which can input individual trees or vast procedural
forests. The Pro version ($479) includes the tree
support and comes with more animation, 3D
object le support and the MojoGraph which
throws in a node-based shader editor similar to
that which can be found in Terragen 2. Dont
expect to master MojoWorld quickly, though. Not
only is the interface unlike anything youve ever
used, even the author of the program concedes
that three years after the initial release of the
program, no one had yet fully exploited the
possibilities it ofered.
Whichever app you decide to use, theres little
doubt that it takes considerable practice and a
good sense of colour, lighting and composition to
create something special. When you do, make
sure you then share it with the world!
Winter Forest
With temperatures above
freezing point, fog and mist will
appear when the relatively warm
and damp air meets the frozen
ground. This kind of weather,
alternating frost and thawing, is
quite common in Denmark
Der Maierhof
The Vue EcoSystem tool was
used to populate the foreground
with hay and a few poppies
Waiting for Grandpa Kopie
A fairly complex scene requiring accurate object placement and
use of Vues EcoSystem function to populate the foreground
Stef Goetz
Lars BraadAndersen
The skys the limit
Most of the landscape-creating software can manage great-looking skies, but if you want complete
control, you need Vue Frontier or upwards with the new Spectral 3 cloud system for layers of clouds.
In fact, clouds now can even be independent objects that can be resized, rotated and rearranged just
like any other object. The clouds themselves have their own internal density, which afects how light
travels through them, detail can be rened for close-up views and cast realistic shadows over the
ground detail. It means that you have total control over both the look and feel and the actual shape of
cloud cover in all your outdoor scenes.
Rudiger Wacknitz
Environment
22
T
his tutorial will lead you through the creation of
a futuristic cityscape in a fantastical setting, as it
doesnt exist in reality these days. It depicts what
can be achieved when technological advancements and
the imagination are combined.
Maya was used to create the basic geometry as well as
some lighting references of a few of the buildings, the
highway and the bridge. Photoshop was the tool of choice
for more than 90 per cent of this image.
The hardest task was to get all the details together and
make them look integrated in the nal piece. Maya helped
a lot in order to nd a starting point and paint on that in
combination with photographs.
I will be leading you through the whole creation process
of Cityscape, but rst I will start of by describing how I do
my concepts.
Create a
futuristic city
Cityscape 2008
Marco Bauriedel specialises in shading, lighting, texturing and laying out render passes
Use Maya to help create buildings in a city layout
and then use Photoshop to paint in the details
Software used in this piece
Photoshop Maya
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www.marcobauriedel.com
Country Germany
Software used
Maya and Photoshop
Expertise Marco specialises in
shading, lighting and texturing,
laying out and seeing what can
be created with render passes
in Photoshop or Nuke
Marco Bauriedel
3D artists explain the
techniques behind
their amazing artwork
22
Modelling,
composition,
painting
Save yourself some modelling
time by using the model and
maps created here
Cityscape.mb
wip_03.jpg
IMG_6300.jpg
IMG_6784.jpg
IMG_7611.jpg
IMG_7245.jpg
IMG_5911.jpg
IMG_6143.jpg
IMG_6145.jpg
01 Concepts on paper
Drawing quick boxes with a ballpoint pen and lling it with
rough lines that mark a composition helps tremendously
to pick the basic scheme you want to go after. By using a
ballpoint pen instead of a pencil, you force yourself to just do
a new sketch when you mess up, which raises the chance of
even more ideas coming up. Starting with a horizon line (if
inside the view) and putting focal points or vanishing points
using the rule of thirds is the best way to go A.
A These are some raw
concepts on paper that help to
nd ideas quickly and ef ciently
b Here, grey values start to
mark depth in an early
Photoshop sketch
c This is the nal concept with
a basic atmosphere, which
frames the idea pretty well
Concept
Concepts get your
imagination going and
make the process more
enjoyable than starting
with little thumbnails and
photographs on a blank
canvas from scratch.
02 Concepts in Photoshop
Its time to bring the chosen composition into Photoshop by
scanning or just re-creating the sketch by eye with big
greyscale strokes that start to form shapes. In this phase, its
important to go beyond rough line sketching and dene a
logical lighting situation and basic depth values in the image b.
03 Finish the concept
A colour scheme is then added to the sketch to support the
lighting situation and basic mood. Always remember that the
colour of the sky tints shadowed areas much more than lit
areas. The further objects are in z-space, the more they
seem saturated, coloured and valued like the sky at the
horizon line.
With these thoughts in mind, its easier to create your
colour palette. As this project is a personal painting, I kept
the freedom of developing the colour scheme away from the
initial concept during the process towards the nal piece c.
A
b
c
Environment
3DArtist 23 23
d Import the image into the
scene connected to a new
render camera
e This shows the modelled
city in two perspectives and the
top view of the streets with an
extrusion example
f Position the lights and create
shaders for a basic composition
g The nal renderings as they
were used to get the
imagination going
04 Camera alignment and scene setup
After creating a simple camera in Maya, a background image
is added by looking through the newly created camera,
accessing the Space menu bar and importing the image
plane as shown in the screenshot. In this case, the standard
value of 35 in Focal Length works out pretty well, because
my renders work with pretty rough alignments and no
additional adjustments of the image plane were needed, as
the major objects we want to create are in the centre of the
image. To be sure the whole concept is in the camera view,
choose Horizontal at Fit Resolution Gate d.
05 Set the perspective and modelling
A stretched-out ground plane marking a clear horizon line is
a perfect base to get everything in place. The foregrounds
stairs and two distant buildings are then modelled and
aligned to t in the cameras view, and have a pretty logical
distance in a perspective view. If this lines up, the other
simple cube buildings, bridge, the bridges piers and spheres
are created to roughly t in a perspective view and more
precisely t in the cameras view. For the highways, a cube
is created and its faces are extruded over and over again
and later smoothed to form the streets shape e.
06 Lighting and shading
At this stage two mia_materials are dened: one having
a Glossiness of 1.0 for all spheres that will have sharp
reections, and the other shader having a Glossiness of just
below 0.3 to receive rough reections, which is also assigned
to all other objects.
To have more reections going on, parts of the city are
duplicated towards the camera (marked red in the modelling
screenshot). Then Point lights are positioned and coloured
diferently to have some variation. Additionally, the Physical
Sun and Sky settings are used to roughly imitate the time
of day and direction of the sun f.
07 Render for Photoshop workow
For the rendering, the Production render preset is chosen
and Final Gather is activated with a Filtering of 1.
In addition to the Beauty render, the Occlusion pass always
gives more depth. Sometimes its needed to tint it to a warm
colour in postproduction before multiplying onto the Beauty
pass for better integration into the image. One of the best
things about 3D renders are masks for any geometry, which
can be quickly rendered with surface shaders in any colour to
extract any shape with the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop g.
Problems
and solutions
I wanted to quickly create
some streets and a bridge for
this concept, which would be
lit and rendered to be even
usable in a later, more detailed
and more real version of the
painting, and just t in as a
base. Modelling geometry in
perspective onto your concept
is a pretty quick way to add
basic shapes with basic
lighting. The hardest task may
be to get the perspective and
distance dimensions correct.
A stretched-out highly
subdivided ground plane is a
great help for the perspective
when adjusted to end on the
concepts horizon line.
For the modelling, lock, key
or bookmark your camera
when the perspective is set so
you dont lose the settings
when accidentally changing
the cameras view.
Start modelling with very
basic shapes that are aligned
as well as possible, and use
the power of Physical Sun and
Sky for really quick render
results that t your concepts
time of day.
Some coloured reections
may give great details that
later help a lot to sell rather
simple geometry or help add
realism and lighting on top of
objects placed in Photoshop.
Modelling the scene
How the basic scene was arranged in Maya
D
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24
h The rst photo
material added to ll the
concept with a rough base
to start from more detail
08 Add rst photographs
The rst step is to add photo material to the image that
roughly ts the buildings shapes in the concept. The photos
are stretched and cloned to ll up as much space as possible
for a good painting base.
Obvious perspective issues should be erased through
image distortion as early as possible, and later painted out for
a more realistic feel h.
09 How to light the stairs out of a texture
To create the stairs in Photoshop, a perspective-transformed
marble texture is used to match the stairs shape. Then
Occlusion-like shadows and core shadows are painted,
followed by a screened mask for the lit areas that are later
erased out on the shadow areas of the railings. Finally, the
reection of the railings is added to make the marble shiny i.
10 Roughly integrate the renderings
The renderings are layered on each other and then imported
to the Photoshop painting. After that, the layer stack is
positioned into the painting and the Occlusion is slightly set
to Multiply on top of the geometry. With the help of the
masks, separate adjustments are done and the whole
geometry is cut out. Finally, details and more dened lighting
are painted on top for rough integration j.
i The process of taking a
marble texture and creating
a lit, shiny balcony out of it
j The rough integration
of CG elements into
the painting
k Grey values start to
mark depth in an early
Photoshop sketch
11 Perspective orientation
For help on the perspective, its great to have perspective lines.
These are created with paths that stick to the vanishing points,
and are then lled by choosing a small brush and pressing the
little button marked in the screenshot below. You can see in
the background that the balcony is gone for a wider view,
which gives the whole image a more epic feel k.
Painting in the main details
How the concept was developed towards a painting
Lighting
the sky
It was especially hard to nd a
nice composition for the sky,
as my intention was to support
the city with huge beautiful
clouds that had to t into the
lighting scheme at the same
time. Luckily, halfway
through the process of the
image I was on a trip through
Nepal, where some fantastic-
looking clouds found their
way onto my DSLRs memory
card (some are included on the
CD). These had a lot of depth
and made it easier for me to
paint and adjust the light on.
The lighting mood changed
several times throughout the
concept, because I tried many
things. In the end I was most
happy with a saturated low
sun lighting, which in my
opinion supports the sky
details and gives more
contrast. For the lighting in the
city, a lot of painting light on
top was used to get the overall
lighting to work. I wanted to
have both a great sky
atmosphere and a little light
from windows and lampposts.
i
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h
Environment
25
Render time
Resolution:
4,200 x 2,000
15 minutes
l These were clouds added
early on, which lacked depth,
integration and detail
m This shows slightly
modulated clouds with a more
detailed mid-ground city
n The start of the nal sky
composition with another
concept idea added on top
of the painting
12 Basic clouds
The clouds seen here were the rst ones that were added to
the image. Most of them look like they were cut and pasted
into the painting and lack depth and integration; however,
a lot of recolouring and repainting was applied at this stage.
Some more difuse clouds at the horizon help to make the
scenery look more believable, too l.
13 Modulate the clouds
Painting highlights gives more depth to these clouds but they
still seem to be too evenly distanced, with a clear sky behind
the front line of clouds, which seems quite unrealistic. At this
stage, the sky and the whole image is tinted in a warmer
mood. The streets are much more detailed now with a newly
painted lighting onto the mid-ground buildings m.
Creating the sky
How the sky was developed
in the process of this painting
Quickly
adding detail
A great technique to add more
detail to your painting may be
to search for images with high
contrast, like lit windows at
night. Add them to your
painting, using the Overlay or
Screen blending mode. This
way, I saved a lot of time when
making the lights of the city.
You can stamp things around
to be even faster.
14 The nal sky composition
New photographs were now added, which I shot in Nepal
(you can nd some of these on the CD). As they are taking
up more space in the sky, they seem much more epic.
Additionally, gentle colour changes help to create interest.
The nal stages of the sky follow in the nal section. In this
version of the piece, another concept is added on top of the
half-nished painting. I decided not to use the hangar
concept either, and kept the undisturbed panoramic view
later on n.
l
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26
Marco Bauriedel
Born in 1982 in Germany, after starting out digitally in
Deluxe Paint on an Amiga at the age of 12, I waited to
discover my passion for art until turning 21. From then
on, various elds of digital art were parts of my studies,
covering CGI, animation, digital painting, compositing
and programming.
Montblanc Minerva Maya, Nuke, Photoshop (2008)
Montblanc commissioned Albert Bauer Studios to create a
virtual clockwork of the Minerva Watch to y through in several
animations. I was responsible for shading, lighting, rendering
and compositing.
Audi Car Maya, Photoshop (2008)
This is an Audi Q7 rendered for photo agency MAGROUND at
Albert Bauer Studios. My job was to do all the CGI and a part of
the retouching in Photoshop.
Jeep Planets Vue 6, Maya, Photoshop (2007)
These planets were created for the KNSK agency at Albert Bauer
Studios to show the versatility of a Jeep on any terrain. I was
responsible for the CGI creation of the planets.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Fine detail and finishing off
How the finishing process developed the piece towards a better painting
Compositing
the layers
Layers were used extensively
to be as exible as possible in
the process. I mostly used
adjustment layers that I later
grouped with the changed
pixels and duplicate. Then the
duplicated group is merged
and the old group is turned off
visually to have a Photoshop
le thats easier to handle.
0 Here, we are starting to get
somewhere with this painting
p A high-contrast version of
the cityscape with a bright sun
q Its getting too saturated and
monochromatic in this rather
at version of the painting
r The nal cityscape painting
with the nal touch of colour
variation and details
15 Continue the sky composition
As the skys composition is almost nished in this step,
the whole image looks a lot less cartoonish and has
a more realistic feel.
The lighting and colouring is still too dreamy in this version,
but the direction starts to work. Details like the harbour piers
and additional kicked highlights support this 0.
16 Finalise the sky composition
In this step, the sky is completely lled up with a new
composition of clouds that work a lot better. The contrast in
this version creates a more balanced image, but also a darker
mood that kills some ambient sky lighting details on the city
and the efect of depth. The sun seems distractingly bright
right now, but the overall composition is working p.
17 Later that day
When working for too long on a painting without a pause,
you get that tunnel vision that pushes you further into a
saturated colour scheme. This red sunset version with too
few highlights almost looks monochromatic compared to the
previous version and the nal image. The ambient skylight
painted onto the big clouds gives more depth nonetheless.
Some little perspective corrections and the mid-ground city
extension make the panoramic view complete q.
18 Final cityscape painting
And here is the nished painting. Opening some parts of
the sky again gives more colour variation and a more friendly
mood. One of the most important nal tweaks is the
desaturation of the reds in combination with a bigger variety
of colours and more ambient skylight details on the buildings
roofs and clouds r.
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Environment
27
28
T
he image Flying over Crater Lake
was one I did for fun during time
off from work. I was interested in
experimenting with some digital sculpting
software and a friend of mine who owns
ZBrush let me play with it for a bit.
I didnt set out to make this image in
particular; the idea just came to me while
playing around.
When I had a mesh I found interesting, I
imported it into Vue and started playing
with diferent surface and lighting options.
Initially I wanted to have a mysterious green
light shine up from the vortex that I had
modelled. In the end, though, I went for
something more realistic and less magical.
Sometimes, 3D art is all about going with
your instincts and experimenting.
Once I had a render I was happy with, I
jumped into Photoshop to tweak levels and
colour, ne tune the atmosphere, plus add
some clouds and some nishing touches.
Since I need to follow precise instructions
and direction in my day job as a matte
painter, I always enjoy creating more
organic images when doing personal work.
Concepts
Rough out ideas
Flying over Crater Lake 2010
Crater Lake is one of my typical digital
illustrations purely done for fun, using a
combination of ZBrush, Vue and Photoshop
Peter Baustaedter is a digital matte artist/environment designer
Step by step:
Create a
beautiful
landscape
01
This was basically the starting point
coming out of ZBrush. I had modelled
this vortex and I wanted to use it to render
through Vue. Initially I thought I would have a
biomechanical feel to it or make it something
quite sinister. But, as I progressed, things
would turn out diferently as you will see.
Modelling,
painting
I didnt set out to
make this image in
particular; the idea just
came to me while playing
around. Sometimes its all
about experimenting
29
ZBrush Photoshop Vue
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http:// llingthedrywell.
blogspot.com
Country New Zealand
Software used Vue In nite 8.5,
ZBrush 3.5, Photoshop CS3
Expertise Peter specialises in
environments/matte painting
Peter Baustaedter
techniques behind
Username: baustaedter
02
Once I had the geo formed in Vue, the fun really
started playing around with diferent lighting and
moods. Vue is a great tool and provides the artist with many
options for environments. This low-res image was the only
image I saved during this phase out of many attempts.
03
After exploring diferent lighting situations I
ended up with one of my old favourites straight
daylight. This basic shader is based on Vues Square Rock
with simple grass mixed in. I quickly modelled some
background hills with the Terrain editor and placed some
water into the bottom of the pit.
Once I had the geo formed in Vue, the fun really started playing
around with different lighting and moods. Vue is a great tool and
provides the artist with many options for environments
Modelling
How the elements were put together
04
Here I deployed another one of my favourite elements cloud shadows. They
strengthen the spacial impact and if placed correctly help to create a focal
point for the eye. Volumetric lighting was turned on so that the Spectral 2 clouds cast some
nice shadows throughout the atmosphere.
05
After various tries with procedurally placed
EcoSystems, I decided to paint them by hand.
Consisting of Vues Plum Tree and two other kinds of small
shrubs, I painted an ecosystem to emphasise the weird
topography of the crater/vortex. Here you can see my very
simple setup and the nal painted ecosystem.
06
I usually like to underexpose a bit so no part of
my render gets overexposed. I rendered this with
Ambient Occlusion with the simple nal settings. Not very
spectacular, but I personally like to do a lot of tweaking in
Photoshop as I nd that method much quicker.
07
A great thing about Vue is that it can render a layered Photoshop le, containing
useful passes and Alpha channels. This image shows the diferent layers I used to
mix down a version of the render for me to paint on. Left to right show: Difuse, Shadow,
Reection, Indirect Lighting and Atmosphere Gain channels activated step by step.
08
A lot of things happened
once I took the image into
Photoshop. First, I ipped the whole
render to make the composition
more readable. I replaced the water
with a photo I took and cranked up
the spec of the water surface to
boost realism. The background was
cleaned up and trees cloned to break
it up. Quite severe colour corrections
and some painted-in atmosphere
tweaks nished this step.
re
n
d
e
r tim
e
R
esolution
:
2,500 x 1,406
5
h
o
u
rs
30
Flying over Crater Lake was a fun image to work on and it has encouraged me to get a
ZBrush licence and get into sculpting some extreme environments to take them into
Vue. I found I had to severely reduce the polygons of the mesh that came out of
ZBrush. With the high-res model, Vue was just laughing at me it was quite a few
million polygons though. Vues 8.5 Terrain editor is very capable, but still cant do
things that a 3D mesh-sculpting application can do.
One thing I noticed is that when taking sculpted geo into Vue is that a lot of detail
seems to get softened. I guess I might have saved time to just sculpt the big features
and then invested that time to tweak the rock shader some more, as Im not too happy
with the look of the rock faces. Hopefully this can be remedied in a future project.
An overall Vue
Peter Baustaedter
I have 15 years experience as a digital matte painter
and concept artist. Over the course of my career Ive
used countless applications to create digital imagery. I
started out with Deluxe Paint and Sculpt 3D on a
Commodore Amiga in the late Eighties. Nowadays I
mostly use Photoshop, Vue, Maya and Nuke to create
my professional work.
My most noteworthy recent project is James
Camerons Avatar, for which I did countless matte
environments of Pandora at Weta Digital.
Untitled Photoshop 4.0 (1999)
I thought I would throw in an old-school illustration of mine. I was
working on a matte painting that featured a lot of architecture and
got tired of all the hard edges and surfaces. So I sat down and
quickly painted this submarine alien only featuring round and
curvy shapes and no windows, roofs and doors.
Launch! Maya, mental ray, Photoshop (2007)
Launch! was an image I made for my personal portfolio. It started
with a freehand sketch. Most of the elements in the nal image
started out in Maya and were rendered through mental ray. None of
those renders were textured though, so any kind of surface detail
you see was added afterwards in Photoshop.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Untitled Vue 7, Photoshop (2009)
Usually after nishing a movie, I need to get it out of my system.
That means quite often I do artwork in the style of the project to try a
few things I didnt get to do during my work on it. So this is an Avatar-
inuenced image but has nothing to do with the movie except that
I used techniques and styles I picked up during production.
09
The matte painter is coming through here I guess. I added a lot of clouds
that I lifted from my own photographs. Vues clouds are pretty good, but for
an illustration like this, photographic elements were the right choice in my opinion. I
have a photo archive of about 15,000+ photos many of which are of clouds. Some
more atmosphere touch-ups nished this stage of the painting.
Lighting & rendering
Applying the final touches
10
This is the nal image. I added the birds as a foreground element, so now
the ipped image makes sense it can be nicely read from left to right and
the birds lead you right into the heart of the image. I added a slight lens distortion
with a chromatic aberration and some grain and just slightly blurred the background
to slightly reduce the pixelated edge.
Environment
31
Incredible 3D artists take
us behind their artwork
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Meny Hilsenrad
Website
www.studio-aiko.com
Country Israel
Software used 3ds Max, V-Ray,
Photoshop, After Ef ects
Meny Hilsenrad, co-founder of Studio Aiko, a VFX studio specialising in
CG production for commercials, games, music videos, architecture and
more, explains how Classroom was created.
The Classroom scene is part of a video clip, which we wanted to make
for a long time as an in-house project. I started working on it and, as I
progressed, things started to go in dif erent directions. The original plan
was to make only the general camera angle that shows the entire
classroom, but as I worked with the scene, I started doing more and
more tests for dif erent camera angles and saw the potential in them.
Thats how I started working on the desks and the electrical equipment
area which eventually became my main concern in the project and took
the most time to do!
Classroom
2010
V-Ray 3dsMax Photoshop AfterEffects
The lighting setup was a challenge,
as I wanted it to work in all of the layers.
The goal was to build the lighting in a
way that would work for each camera
angle simultaneously. It required lots of
camera and lighting adjustments, as
well as render tests and checking the
results constantly in each camera
32
The work on the shaders and
textures was a big challenge as
most of them were made from
scratch and some were hand-
painted, like the blackboard. Each
appliance has a unique texture
and shader that I made using close
attention to reference pictures
The most prominent thing in the scene is the amount
of detail. To handle this, I divided the scene into three
different layers of work: the general classroom angle, the
desk area and the close-ups of the desks
Close to the end of
the lighting setup of the
daylight version, I started
doing different lighting tests
camera ash, nighttime,
etc; after investing so much
time in building the scene, I
wanted to squeeze the most
out of it! This extended the
work much more than I
expected, since it required
lots of post-work, eg colour
correction and extra
render passes
33
Creating a magical
forest lakeElven Lake 2009
M
y inspiration for making this scene came from
viewing some wonderful oil paintings, and one in
particular caught my eye. It depicted a lovely forest
lake in the colours of fall (autumn), and although it was an
illustration of a real place, it had an ethereal mood. Since I love
tweaking Vues atmosphere engine, I decided to make a
colourful, scenic, dreamlike, yet believable environment, which
leads the viewer to the world of fairy tales. This is how Elven
Lake was born.
In this tutorial I will show you the step-by-step process of
how to go about making this scene. You will get an insight into
the way that I set the basic composition, use Vues procedural
materials, create the ecosystem, and set the most important
parts of the scene: the atmosphere and the lighting, using
Global Radiosity.
I will cover my render settings, Ill reveal some tips and tricks
for decreasing your render time, and nally I will show you a few
steps for how to make your ethereal render look even more
magical in Photoshop.
Drea Horvath Freelance digital environment designer
This picture represents a dreamlike,
yet believable environment, with the
purpose of leading the viewer to the
world of fairy tales
The idea was to create a lake
surrounded by luscious
woods. With the placement of
a suitable building it became
a fantasy environment.
Concept
34
A
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techniques behind
Personal portfolio site http://
dreahorvath.darkfolio.com/
Country Hungary
Hardware used Intel Core 2
Quad 9650, 8GB RAM
Expertise Drea specialises in
creating mostly large-scale,
detailed, natural landscapes
in e-on Softwares Vue, with
particular strength in
atmosphere and lighting
Drea Horvath
Username: Drea
a The very beginning a main
camera view of terrains placed to
form the basic shape of the lake
B A top view showing the lake formed by the terrains and the
painted rocks
01 The basic concept
Unlike many 3D artists, I never make a sketch before
starting to compose a scene. Instead, I just place the
terrains to the position I imagined, and the rest of the
ideas come while working on the concept. Since I wanted
to have a lake in this scene, I started my work by adding
Vues default MetaWater, and I deleted the Foam layer.
Following that, I placed terrains to the middle-ground and
background; they gave the basic shape of the lake. Finally,
I placed a smaller terrain to the foreground, right below
the camera a.
02 Adding rocks to the lakeside
If I want to make a lake or a river in Vue, I often use EcoSystem
Painter to paint rocks or plants to the ground to create the nal
shape of the lake or river. I apply this technique more often than
painting a terrain map in Photoshop then importing it into Vue,
because I nd it easier, I save time and since I can paint and
erase instances as I want, I have more control over the shape.
So I turned the ground to an EcoSystem, added rock, deselected
Dynamic Population and started painting rocks along the side
of the terrains b.
C A main camera view showing progress after the changes
described in Step 3
03 Materials ground and water
After making the basic composition, I continued my work with
setting the materials. First, I modied the water material; in the
Highlights tab I set Highlight global intensity to 69%, and
Highlight global size to 76%. Then in the Transparency tab, I set
Turn reective with angle to 75%. These steps made the water
surface more shiny and reective; more realistic.
For the ground I picked a soil material. I also changed the
EcoSystem rocks material for a more realistic one Ive
purchased from Cornucopia3D c.
Vue8
Infinite
Photoshop
CS4
EcoSystem,
materials,
lighting
Environment
35
The EcoSystem Painter had a
bigger role in shaping the lake,
because, as Ive mentioned in
Step 2, I nd it easier and more
controllable to paint the
lakeside than to use a large
terrain and spend more time
in Photoshop and in the
terrain editor. I knew exactly
where I wanted to have the
edge of the lake, so I painted
rocks right there, then
adjusted the smaller terrains
next to the rocks. This is a
great and easily applicable
solution to create lakes, if you
use similar EcoSystem on the
surrounding terrains. If you
use the same, dense-grass
EcoSystem on each terrain,
the multiple smaller terrains
will look like one large terrain.
Since I used a multilayered
EcoSystem here with a dense
grass layer, the terrains
underlying material was not
too important either. I used
the same rock material I
added to the painted rocks,
but I could have picked some
soil or mossy rock too.
Multilayered EcoSystems are
useful if you want to have
more control over the overall
density of the different
species, and their direction
from surface. While the
grasses and the bushes
direction is 100%
perpendicular, the trees
grow rather vertically.
Problems and
solutions
04 Creating the ecosystem overview
Since I wanted to paint the scene in the colours of fall
(autumn), this season determined my selection of plant
species for the EcoSystem. The foreground terrain has
one grass layer, the middle-ground terrains have two
layers (grass and bush), while the larger, background
terrains feature a third layer of non-HD fall rural maple
trees too d.
05 EcoSystem - grass
My rst step of creating the EcoSystem was adding grass,
as the rst ecosystem layer. A fresh-looking, bright green
grass wouldnt t this autumnal environment, so I chose
Bufelgrass from the AsileFX Sample Grass Pack. In order
to increase the brownish look, I added Dead Grass from the
same pack too. Since I didnt want the ground to be visible,
I set the Density to 96%, I deselected Decay near foreign
objects, I set the Direction from surface to 100%
perpendicular, and then, to add some realism, I marked
Shrink at low densities e.
06 EcoSystem bushes & non-HD trees
For the bush layer I picked Nadina Domestica from the
Incredibly Lush Autumn Shrubs collection, and Bush 1
Crawling. To make this bush t the environment, I went to
the Materials tab under the preview screen and changed the
colour of its leaves to something reddish. I set the Density to
90%, and the Direction from surface to 96% perpendicular.
I left everything else at default. I added another EcoSystem
layer to the background terrains, and loaded Scott McEwans
non-HD fall maple trees from his Rural Maple Tree pack. To
achieve a dense forest feeling, I set the Density to 80, and
I left everything else at default F.
D A screen capture of the material editor that shows the three
layers of the EcoSystem
E A screenshot of the grass layers Scaling &
Orientation settings, and a render that shows
these settings in practice
F This render shows how the
scene looked after adding the
bush layer and the non-HD
maple trees
Assembling the scene
Planting the foliage for the EcoSystem
36
07 Manually placed HD trees
While non-HD trees are perfect for lling the background,
as we are getting closer to the camera, we need to pay more
attention to details and quality. HD trees are much more
detailed and elaborate than non-HD trees, so they are a great
choice for closer views. I placed HD maple trees from the
same pack to the middle and foreground, creating a
somewhat dense forest around the lake g.
08 The centre of attention
The environment was starting to look pretty nice, although
when I viewed it I didnt know where to look, and the middle
of the scene seemed so empty. When composing a scene, it is
important to place an object, building, larger plant something
prominent to the spot where you want to attract the viewers
attention. In this composition I followed the Rule of Thirds, and
placed this tiny elven house with a boat onto a small island
with a layer of rocks and a layer of grass ecosystem. This
denitely made the scene more pleasing to the eye h.
09 Fallen leaves on the water surface
To add more detail and to increase the autumn feeling,
I decided to paint some maple leaves to the water surface,
near the lakeside. I took my water, turned its material into
an EcoSystem, and added two Autumn maple leaves Ive
purchased from Cornucopia3D. To avoid oating leaves,
I set the Ofset from surface to -2cm, I set their maximum
rotation to 180%, then I started painting the leaves on the
water. As I was getting farther from the edge of the lake,
I decreased the brush ow and density i.
Atmosphere and lighting are the key elements in this
scene. The soft, subtle lighting and misty atmosphere give
the fairy-tale mood of the scene, and make it diferent
from an ordinary shot of an autumn forest. You can use
legendary creatures, buildings or other objects, but
without the right atmosphere, the scene loses its purpose.
Although photorealism was not my goal, I wanted to
make the scene as believable as possible. When it comes
to lighting, Vues Global Radiosity (GR) engine is the key,
because using photon calculations it can mimic real-life
lighting with reected light. It is also essential to enable
Indirect Skylighting to get colour-reected light, and
Optimized for outdoor rendering should be enabled if
making a natural environment.
There is only one disadvantage to GR: since it uses a lot
of calculations, it consumes more system resources, thus
it can increase render time. Thats why I reduced its quality
to -2 while composing the scene and to -0.5 for the nal
render, decreasing render time without visible quality loss.
Lighting and rendering
10 No sky visible
I wanted to achieve the feeling of being in the middle of
the forest. For this, I needed to cover the whole sky with
large, densely populated terrains placed to the far
background. I used three horizontally stretched terrains
with a single, dense (87%) layer of non-HD fall maple
trees. The rst terrain added more depth and density to
the ground level, and the other two, larger terrains were
rotated to cover the sky j.
h In this shot I highlighted
the focal objects to emphasise
their position
i On this screen capture
you can see how I painted
a path of fallen leaves to the
water surface
j Side view and main camera
view with the highlighted far
background terrains
render time
Resolution:
3,000 x 1,688
33 hours
g This shot shows how the scene looked like after the EcoSystem painting.
You can see how these plants and colours brought the scene to life
h
i
j
Environment
37
Drea Horvath
I am a 23-year-old self-trained freelance digital
landscaper living in Budapest, Hungary. I started
playing with Vue as a hobby about two years ago.
It took a while to develop my skills to my current
level, and to nd the style that suits me best.
Mostly I create large, complex environments, with
powerful, dramatic atmospheres. Recently I joined
iMU Studios THUNDER Throne Wars game project
as an environment and level designer.
In Perfect Harmony Vue 8 Innite,
Photoshop CS4 (2009)
This render turned out somewhere between real and surreal, but
I actually liked the result. The soul of the scene is the atmosphere;
its powerful and dramatic, yet it reects peace and harmony.
Sanctuary Vue 8 Innite, Photoshop CS4 (2009)
My goal was to create a large jungle scene with realistic
lighting and ascending morning fog. I populated the rest of the
terrains with Alder, and for the foreground I used crawling
bush and AsileFX jungle plants.
Chasing Heights Vue 8 Innite, Photoshop CS4 (2010)
This render is a the result of some experimenting with rock
materials and functions. The unusual POV, the fog and the subtle
God rays add some drama to the image.
Besides using bitmaps to
create materials, in Vue
it is possible to apply a
procedural method to
create your own materials
or use and modify presets
as well, using fractals that
are literally innite.
Procedural materials can
be dependent on any
aspect of the world that
you create, such as
altitude, slope, or height.
In my scenes I use
procedural materials for
terrains and water, and
plants have bitmaps.
Bitmaps and
procedural
materials
k Screen grab of the Sunlight
softness and Lighting settings
l Screenshot of Sky, Fog and
Haze settings
m The diference is signicant
Lighting the scene
To give depth and make it believable
m
k l
38
11 Global Radiosity and shadow softness
To make the scene look as believable as possible, it was
clearly best to use Global Radiosity. I used a Gain of 2.0
to add some reected light, and I increased the Sky dome
lighting gain to 0.30 to add some light being reected
from the sky itself, just like in real life. Since most of the
sky is covered by trees, this value of 0.30 was enough.
Pulling the light balance to Sunlight (70%) decreased
articial ambient light, and the ambient light was set to
come from the sky, instead of being distributed
throughout the scene. Since the shadows dont have such
sharp edges in real life, I set Sunlight softness to 3.00,
then I found the best sunlight direction k.
12 Sky, Fog and Haze
Sky settings didnt have a big role in this scene, so I left
everything at default. Thick forest mist is a key element of
such scenes. Sometimes it can be achieved by increasing
Haze density, though in this scene I wanted to keep the
colours as vivid as possible. So I ended up decreasing Haze
density to 12%, and increasing Fog to 30%. To keep the
warm reddish tones, I added a slight red tone to the fog
colour (RGB 94 90 85). Since I wanted a somewhat
powerful morning sunlight, I pulled up Glow intensity
to 100%. For subtle rays, I used volumetric sunlight l.
13 Adding more depth
A very nice, mysterious forest mood can be achieved
by increasing Aerial Perspective. It actually multiplies
atmospheric values, making the scene look bigger. Here,
my purpose was to add more depth and misty look, so
I increased AP to 30, and added a fuzzy metacloud to
enhance the efect. After global settings, the scene was
ready to be rendered m.
n A screenshot of the custom
render settings that I used for
the nal render
o This is how the image looked
after contrast and colour
corrections. The changes are
minor, but the picture looks
quite diferent
p Almost ready. You can see
how the technique I described
works on a fairy-tale-like render
Rendering and post-production
Creating and tweaking the final scene
q ...and here is the nal image
after post-work
o p
Environment
39
14 Final rendering
Render settings are based
on a sensitive balance
between quality and speed.
Anti-aliasing: 4/256 rays
were used for both object
and texture AA. With a
quality setting of 45% this
provided good results and
reasonably fast render.
Settings like motion blur,
DOF and blurred reection
were disabled, as they didnt apply to this scene and
would have only increased render time. Advanced efects
were left at the default 46%, as the GR and Atmosphere
settings were tweaked independently. The scene took
exactly 33h4238 to render at 30001688 n.
15 Post-production corrections
After nishing a render, my next step is always launching
Photoshop and making some minor corrections (contrast,
colour, levels etc) on the nal render. It gives me more
control over the nal result, and some clever steps can do
wonders to the image. My rst step was adjusting the
contrast in the most simple way, by hitting Auto Contrast.
Then I duplicated the background layer, and applied Auto
Color and Auto Tone on the copy, then changed its
Opacity to 65%, where I liked the image the most. After
merging the layers, I needed to reduce noise a bit o.
16 Adding more magic
The following technique is based on one of GeekAtPlays
tutorials, and I apply it in 95% of my work. In a mysterious
forest scene this method works very well, since it adds
more magic to the render.
Basically I duplicated the background layer twice,
applied Gaussian blur with a 4.2px radius on the two
copied layers, set the second layers blending mode to
Multiply, and the third layers to Overlay. I adjusted their
opacities to 20-20%, and got the result I wanted.
I added a very little soft light with brush to the darker
areas, and nally I added a new layer, rendered clouds
(with foreground and background colour black and white),
hit Diference clouds, set the blending mode to Soft light,
and the opacity to 18%. With this step I added some very
subtle, soft shadows to the picture p.
17 Final steps
I was just a few steps away
from getting the desired
result. Since the previous
technique makes the
colours more saturated, I
needed to desaturate reds
a bit. I adjusted Levels, and
nally I used the Clone tool
for minor corrections q.
n
40
T
his tutorial will be focusing on creating an old arctic base
from the very beginning: from concept through to
modelling, texturing, composition and matte painting.
Ill show you how to use 2D elements to make the nal scene more
atmospheric and realistic. Additionally, throughout this walkthrough
there will be an overview of 3ds Max and Photoshop in the
production of this project, as well as several of the style techniques
that I employed to develop Arctic Base.
There is a sample making-of movie le on the CD that shows a
selection of short video step-by-step clips based on my workow in
Photoshop. A major part of the video concentrates on how to mould
hard landscaping like rocks into the desired shape.
Step by step: Texture
and paint environments
Arctic Base 2010
Dmitriy Glazyrin specialises in CG modelling and matte painting
A symbiosis of 2D and 3D to produce a CG
wintry landscape which is both technically
complex and atmospherically evocative
Easy-to-follow guides
take you from concept
to the nal render
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
http://ujean-glazyrin.com
Country Russia
Software used 3ds Max 2009,
Photoshop CS4
Expertise Dmitriy specialises in
environments, 3D modelling,
concepts and matte painting
Dmitriy Glazyrin
Username: Glazyrin
40
Concepts
Inspiration behind the image
01
I wanted to create a fast motorcycle,
which rushes through the icy wilderness. A
powerful jet of snow from under the wheels shows the
speed of this motorcycle. During the process, the
emphasis changed to focus more on the base. While
trying to establish a concept, I made a simple model of
a motorcycle and pasted it into the photograph of a
frozen landscape. I then started to paint objects,
though it was all very sketchy at this stage.
02
With an idea for the nal image, I made a
simple rider for the bike as he was now a
secondary character. The model was in need of a
composition. I experimented with a variety of options
as to what the base could look like. The best of these
I rendered and nished with Photoshop.
03
Next I thought of a story for the arctic base. I
had the idea it could be an abandoned ship and
ran with this. For many years great ships sailed ice drifts,
cast anchor and worked in the frozen land, so its
reasonable such a base might appear. Taking this
inspiration as a basis for the ship, I made one
compartment, which provided a guide for the rest.
Texturing,
painting
3dsMax Photoshop
41
Making of video
Modelling the textures
Giving the scene the right look
06
A very important
thing when creating
environments with an aerial
perspective is to set the right
depth, in order to add realism
and to divide the scene along
the lines of front, middle and
long-range. To create
perspective, I use V-Rays Z-
Depth. In Photoshop, I invert
the image, apply Screen
blending and adjust Levels to
obtain the desired result. I also
play with the transparency of
the layer to help with depth.
04
For this work, I
pretty much painted
wholly in Photoshop and
textured mainly in 3ds Max. I
used simple textures such as
VRayDirt. V-Ray Render
Elements utilised to enhance
this piece were Specular,
Reections and Lighting,
among others. I always try to
include a lot of passes in my
work for tight, realistic detail.
08
Sometimes I render the objects
separately from one another and other
times I do a scene in one pass; it all depends on
the composition. For me, its a lot easier to work
with separate objects in Photoshop. It may take
a little more time in the production stage, but if
you want to make adjustments at the end, it is
innitely easier as you have complete control
over each and every element. Also, you do not
have to put the whole scene in jeopardy.
05
Here is an
example of V-Ray
Render Elements with
processing in Photoshop for the
nal render. Remember that you
can make your life easier by
adjusting the highlights,
shadows, reections, etc,
without wasting time on
additional renders by taking
advantage of built-in pass
efects and layer adjustments.
07
I always spend a lot of time
carefully choosing the texture of the
sky. A fellow modeller and friend of mine says,
The sky is the most important thing in a
landscape, and I wholeheartedly agree with
him. A sky will determine the overall
atmosphere, where shadows will manifest and
how light will be distributed. In other words, it
sets the pace for almost everything. Never rush
when it comes to the sky.
42
Dmitriy Glazyrin
I started as a matte painter two years ago. Looking to
bring something new to my style, I became acquainted
with 3D and realised that, combined with 2D, it could
make my work more interesting. I would no longer be
limited to photographic references; I was now able to
create whole worlds. Currently I work in the
advertising eld, where it is necessary to create mainly
contemporary corporate work, but environments
remain a passion in my free time.
Persia Photoshop (2010)
This image was made for a matte painting challenge for a Russian
art society. The theme was Prince of Persia. I used pictures of a
settlement in Morocco as the main inspiration.
Praetorian 3ds Max, Photoshop, Poser, ZBrush (2009)
This is a personal image in which I was trying to visualise one of my
favourite themes the atmosphere of ancient Rome. For the base
forms and buildings I used 3ds Max. Textures partly were made in
3ds Max, partly in Photoshop, using some stock photos and custom
brushes. The Praetorian guard was made using Poser and ZBrush,
while post-production of the nal scene colour correction etc
was completed with Photoshop.
Showcase Showcase Showcase
Tortuga 3ds Max 2009, Photoshop, Poser, V-Ray (2009)
This image took a lot more time than I intended, but now its nally
done I can say it was great fun to do something piratey and to learn
a lot of interesting details about that period. I wanted this piece to
be complex in its composition and details, showing not just a single
ship, but a busy port. Modelling was done in 3ds Max, rendering in
V-Ray and post-production in Photoshop.
Combining 3D and 2D elements
Lighting and painting
09
First I cut elements from photographs in Photoshop,
from the ground up to the sky. These textures were used
to render and provided the basis for the entire scene, so they were
approached very carefully. I merged them to form my base matte
painting; sometimes it can be very dif cult to nd all the perfect
textures you require in one stock image.
10
Next I added the
building, which was
already rendered, applying
elements such as Z-Depth,
Lighting and Reections, as
mentioned earlier. I cloned the
front rank bases, transformed
them and added to the rear of
the scene to bulk out the
structure. I drew in some snow
and highlights for the buildings
too and placed these at the top
of the layer stack.
12
After all of the
objects had been
incorporated, I created a light
source for the picture namely
the setting sun. I made this on a
black background in Photoshop
and used Screen blending
mode. The sun is not just a
white circle; its rays need to
immerse and bounce of
objects in the scene. I reduced
the contrast and saturation of
these objects. For most of my
environment works, I tend to
use VRaySun and few other
light sources.
13
In the nal stages, I drew snow in
the air and behind the wheels of the bike,
which boosted drama and movement. I then
added some lights to the arctic base, but you
could also include a ock of birds, more vehicles
or other details to ll out your scene. Finally I
performed some all-important colour correction
and retouching, where I removed defects
unintentionally created during production.
re
n
d
e
r tim
e
R
esolution
:
3,700 x 1,644
1
5
h
o
u
rs
11
A clear demonstration on
the creation of rocks in the scene
can be viewed in a short video on the
disc. I drew natural rocky formations
and imposed the texture of the ice over
them. I painted in light, shadows and
glare from the ice oe to get the
realistic feel I needed.
43
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45
environments
City Ruins 2010
T
his image was a chance to use a few models
that Id been creating for my DAZ 3D
storefront where I sell commercial 3D
content. I used 3ds Max for all modelling and UV
mapping, and also used a 3ds Max plug-in written by
Mir Vadim called RayFire; nalRender was used for
rendering and Photoshop for postproduction.
The image only uses three buildings and a UFO
model; these were instanced throughout the scene to
build up the environment, proving that dozens of
buildings are not required to create a cityscape. The
image came together very quickly due to the models
already being made for other projects; it was a nice
deviation from working on a commercial models as I
often dont get the chance to use my own models in
my artwork sometimes its been years between
creating the models and using them in my own
imagery. Its handy having so many models that I can
call upon at any time; always recycle your work!
Stefan Morrell is a content creator and illustrator
This image was made as a
personal project using models I
had been making for work
I wanted a scene that was easy to read so
the concept was kept basic: its a very
formal composition using a slight camera
tilt to work with the crashed UFO. I made
no concept sketches, but played in 3ds
Max to nd interesting shapes and angles
that were visually pleasing.
Concept
Model
3dsMax ZBrush3.5 RayFire
xNormal
Photoshop
CS4
finalRender
SE
46
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
techniques behind
stefan-morrell.cgsociety.org
Country New Zealand
ZBrush 3.5, RayFire, nalRender
SE, xNormal, Photoshop CS4
Expertise Stefan specialises in
environment design, creation
and rendering
Stefan Morrell
Username: stefan-morrell
a Here we can see the
composition of the 3D scene
without textures
01 Composition
Ive always preferred
compositions that are easy on
the eye and where the viewer
can quickly read what is going
on, often using the golden ratio
or divine proportion to help esh
out an image. My initial plan
was a street of ruined buildings
with a thick, oppressive
atmosphere; the UFO being
more of an afterthought when I
realised the scene needed a
focal point. I originally played
with the idea of a boy looking
down the street in the
foreground, but I thought the
UFO added a kind of lonely
atmosphere that worked well a.
Modelling,
texturing,
lighting
47
Having made many buildings
over the years, Ive come up
with a workow thats both
efcient and quick. Initially I
use a simple plane and apply a
texture to it, and then cut
around the texture and
extrude, inset, etc, to add extra
detailing. This is a unique
workow in that my textures
and modelling occur at the
same time most other people
model rst, then UV map and
then texture. For my own
work, I nd doing everything
at once is both faster and I can
achieve more; it may require
some additional UV mapping
to tweak extrusions as you
model, but overall its a very
fast method for creating a
building based on a photo.
The major issue I faced in
creating these ruins was
keeping the poly count down
while still allowing for plenty
of visual detail. Once
everything was done I spent a
long night deleting polygon
faces that the camera would
never see. If the model was
only for my own use, I
wouldnt have bothered with
that step, but given these were
intended to be commercially
available I had to think of
people using them on lower
spec systems.
Problems and
solutions
Start the modelling
Build from photo references
b The rst stages of modelling
involved creating the faade
c
d
c This is one of the hi-res
sculpts, as seen in ZBrush
d A close-up of a destroyed
concrete wall
04 High-poly ZBrush modelling 2
For other high-poly assets such as this destroyed wall, I used
brushes like HPolish (for chipped edging) and Mallet Fast
(with very low strength settings). I enhanced the cracks
using the Standard brush and, as with the previous step, I
used Alpha maps of concrete cracks to ensure everything
looked reasonably realistic. The model was subdivided to
around six million polygons, with displacement generated in
xNormal (www.xnormal.net) d.
02 Cutting based on texture
Starting from a good photo texture reference, I created a
plane in 3ds Max and cut out the major shapes of the applied
texture map. At this early stage a simple Planar UV map is
the best way to start. Use the Preserve UVs option in Max to
avoid destroying the UVs as you move edges and vertices
around the model.
Once the major cuts were in place around windows, doors
and other major shapes, I then extruded windows etc to get a
3D shape. All these extrusions required new UV mapping, as
the Preserve UVs feature doesnt work on extrusions b.
03 High-poly ZBrush modelling 1
To go alongside the regular low-poly assets, I also created
several high-poly ZBrush sculpts of concrete debris. From
these I generated a series of Displacement maps to be used
on the nal low-poly model.
After laying out a good set of UVs, I sent the UV template
to Photoshop and used photo references to get cracks and
fractures in the right places. This image was then used as a
Displacement or Alpha mask in ZBrush, and then another
layer of sculpted detail was added on a new ZBrush layer
using the original image as a guide. The nal Displacement
map also served as a great starting point for applying the
coloured textures c.
48
05 Buildings
Only three buildings were used in the entire image; I used
instancing to duplicate them around the scene. Instancing is
a great technique that I use all the time in rendering as it has
such a low memory footprint. The road sections each
building sits on were kept modular so I could t them
together in various congurations, and the nal building was
given the least amount of detail as it was only going to be
seen in the distance e.
06 Think modular
Keeping things modular is a good idea as you can then create
variations on the same theme by using one hero model. With
the hotel building for example, I have four main sections; for
many renderings I may only want to render the bottom
section so any extra geometry in the scene is a waste of
resources. With a modular approach to modelling, I can just
delete parts of the model that arent seen f.
07 UFO
Adding a crashed spacecraft gave the image some focus; this
is a model that I quickly made in a few hours. The UV map
was projected from the camera view to save time, and I
applied only one texture map. It was only ever to be seen in
the distance so I didnt want to waste too much time on it.
During postproduction I added small blue lights to give it a bit
more punch, and during rendering, I focused on getting very
strong highlights so the viewer would see it as a focal point g.
Global Illumination by way of Physical Sky controls is my
most used method for outdoor lighting. Its a very forgiving
lighting type and perfect for outdoor scenarios. I also
added a Direct light that throws a good deal of nalRender
volumetric lighting into the scene. The Direct light was
also used as it helped me see where shadows would fall.
I paid special attention to sun placement so that the
light cast shadows in an interesting way. nalRender also
has a great feature called Detail Detection; with this option
you can pick out all the small details via an Ambient
Occlusion pass. I usually overdo this part because I like the
efect so much. In postproduction, I toned it back and
masked out some areas of occlusion; I also used the Z-
Depth renders to ensure the AO was only present in
foreground elements in this image that meant a subtle
gradient mask from the foreground to the background.
The same Direct light was used as a Sun light in the
Physical Sky palette options. Ill often use a compass
helper to aid in positioning the lighting, but for this one it
was enough to rely only on the single Direct light. This
simple light setup made for a fairly quick rendering too.
e The three nal buildings (the
rst two are now available at
www.daz3d.com)
f Here we see the model
broken into its three main
modular components
g The UFO rendered with a
nalRender Dirt shader
render time
Resolution:
6,000 x 2,396
4 hours
f
e
g
Environment
49
Stefan Morrell
I design and build environment and prop models
for DAZ 3D, where Ive been the top-selling artist for
several years. I also work as a freelance illustrator;
recent clients include National Geographic
magazine, where I was tasked with producing
several pages of space-themed images.
Shuttle 43 3ds Max, nalRender, Photoshop (2010)
Just another chance to create a magical environment. The
character is a great way of framing an image and leading the
viewers eye back into frame.
The Neighbourhood 3ds Max, nalRender,
Photoshop (2007)
Urban environments are always fun to work on and allow plenty
of room for unique detailing. With this image I received a Master
award in Ballistic Publishings ELEMENTAL book.
Flight to the Blue Tower 3ds Max, nalRender,
Photoshop (2010)
A still from an animation that Ive been working on featuring a
ight through a sci- cityscape.
For the most part I use my
own photo-sourced
textures that are tweaked
in Photoshop; working
from real-world photos is
essential when doing
realistic urban
environments. In addition
to this, I used a faade
texture from www.
cgtextures.com which is a
fantastic online resource
for CG artists.
Textures
H A before and after of a group
of bricks randomly placed,
and then as they appear
after RayFire simulation
Lets break some stuff
Now we come to the destruction
j This image shows one of the
nal rubble piles
i Detail of a manually destroyed
wall created using basic poly
modelling techniques
50
08 RayFire
To make these buildings
ruined I used a lot of manual
modelling and a plug-in called
RayFire (www.mirvadim.com),
widely used in the
entertainment industry, from
game cinematics to movies
such as 2012 its the go-to
tool for destroying and
generally wreaking havoc on
your models! I usually fracture the models rst and then
use RayFires PhysX connection to do the simulating; I also
make use of additional demolition options that allow the
models to break on impact. For this model I tried to keep
things very low-poly, but with RayFire you can achieve
some very detailed destruction H.
09 Manual destruction
Along with RayFire, I manually added some destruction;
this takes a lot of time, but the payof is some very specic
destruction and optimised geometry. I used basic poly
modelling techniques in 3ds Max; because these were to be
commercial models, keeping everything optimised was
paramount. I rst cut out a basic shape from the textured
building faade and then duplicated a single brick around
the broken opening (stopping occasionally only to move
UVs around to avoid repeating textures). When placing
these bricks I followed the applied texture map so the
manually placed bricks lined up correctly. I also added
many broken bricks that had been fractured in RayFire I.
10 Rubble piles
The biggest thing that will help sell a destroyed
environment is bucketloads of detail. Adding lots of
rubble piles and other debris is essential. The focus
with these is creating a good silhouette. My images
usually have a good amount of atmosphere so I
know the piles will read better as they recede into
the distance as long as the shape is interesting.
Add pipes, steel reinforcing, chunks of concrete
and brick whatever you can to sell the
destruction, as these will also be seen close up. I
use displacement for added detail j.
Texturing the ruins
Add a desaturated look to the buildings
N Screenshot from 3ds Max showing
decals applied to the building
Rendering was fairly
straightforward. I tend to
render out several
elements (passes) so I
have a lot of room to move
in postproduction. Z-Depth
is an essential ingredient in
cityscapes and I use this to
create atmospheric
perspective, depth of eld
and also to paint in smoke
behind buildings.
I rendered the image at
6,000 polys on a Windows
7, 64-bit, i7 Quad core with
12GB RAM.
Rendering
the image
K This is one of the faade textures; a variation of this
map with burn damage was used for the upper oors
L This image shows the Color map, Bump map, Opacity
mask and Reection mask
M Image shows a close-up of the textured UFO; note the simple
one-colour theme, letting the geometry carry the detail
Environment
51
11 Building faades
I tried to keep this texture as simple as possible and so the
windows are just box shaped with a simple trim at the
base of the map. This tted in well with the theme and
overall design of the building.
Adding the concrete trim around the windows was an
efective way to avoid matching up the brick pattern as it
appeared in the inset part of the windows k.
12 Matching textures
To go with the previous texture, I also used a tiling texture.
This appeared at ground level and, as such, needed a bit
more texel density to hold up in close-up shots. I used
Photoshop Curves adjustments to match the tiling brick
pattern to the original faade. Its a good idea to have a
collection of brick patterns saved in Photoshop that can
easily be called upon. For every brick texture Ive saved as
a Photoshop pattern, I also create a Bump map. This again
saves time when creating the nal texture as the nished
Bump map is just a Flood Fill away L.
13 Texturing the UFO
In keeping with the keep it simple mindset, the UFO was
the simplest of all. The UVs were projected from the
camera view and textured using a generic concrete image.
All the glowing blue lights were added in postproduction
to avoid extra render time and also to allow for more
exibility when deciding if I even wanted the lights M.
14 Decals
I often use decals to help break up repetition in textures.
In the ruins, these are single polys representing bullet
holes. I randomly distributed these across the model,
initially using the Scatter option, but then using manual
placement with some rotation etc. Even though they all
used the same texture, they added a nice sense of
randomness to the building and also helped to sell the
idea of a war-torn, battle-damaged city n.
Pawe has supplied three chair
models with this tutorial. Add
them to your model library to
improve your arc-vis renders
chair1.max
chair2.max
chair3.max
Modelling,
texturing
3dsMax V-Ray Photoshop
A
r
t
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t

i
n
f
o
Pawe Podwojewski
techniques behind
www.podwojewski.org
Country Poland
Hardware used
2 x Xeon quad 2.83 and
16GB RAM
Software used
3ds Max, V-Ray 1.5 SP5,
Photoshop CS4
Expertise Pawe specialises in
environment creation and
exterior lighting setups,
particularly for dusk/night
52
I
n this tutorial we are
going to learn how to
create highly detailed
plant models using 3ds
Max, V-Ray and Photoshop
as the base tools. I would
like to show how easy it is to
transfer the techniques to
other plants, so you can use
the skills to build up your very
own library of models.
The presented scene is the
result of a collaboration with
the Nadau Lavergne studio
that designed the building.
My task was to create an
image that would be able to
express the ambience
created by various elements
of the environment. From the
very beginning the plants
were the focal point of the
scene. Because their type
and position was clearly
specied I had to work out
some new techniques that
allowed me to complete the
task with accurate results. I
wanted to make the scene
unique to brand the idea in
the viewers memories.
This tutorial will explain
how using reference pictures
and basic 3ds Max
techniques can create plant
models just like those shown
in the illustrations. We will
also go through the V-Ray
rendering engine and
material options to polish up
the image for the best results
in Photoshop.
The groundwork
Source reference and create basic models
53
Wisteria Floribunda 2010
Focused on environment creation, this scene inspired new solutions in Pawes
workow to help him create a selection of plants for compelling arc-vis renders
Pawe Podwojewski is an architect and CG artist
Creating nature
plant modelling
For this piece, I was quite simply inspired by gardens
canopies of Wisteria owers are amazing! Once Id seen
the rst reference pictures, I was sure this was going to be a
very exciting project.
Inspiration & reference
01 Plan the modelling
The rst thing we need to do is to nd reference pictures
that will allow us to understand the anatomy of a particular
plant, which in this case is Japanese Wisteria (or Wisteria
oribunda). Be sure to nd pictures showing your focal
object from diferent angles and scales; try to nd shots that
will be orthogonal to each specic part of the plant, like the
leaves or shoots. This process will aid you with the textures
in the following steps and can also be a great help with the
modelling process A.
02 Basic shape denitions
We are planning to create a pretty large scene including lots
of plants. We need to think about the polycount in the rst
place to make sure that our workstation can actually
manage with the size of the scene. Its important to answer
the question: which elements need more and less detail
to make them work in regular shots, as well as close-ups? In
this case we have four main objects: owers, shoots, leaves
and branches B.
03 Choice of modelling techniques
Once we have dened the necessary elements, its time to
choose the modelling process. Most single components can
be created using very basic techniques; in this instance, I
chose Editable Poly. To make the plants more natural we will
need a few variations of the same elements to make sure
nothing is repeated. Well also need to use some extra tools
to scatter single elements in a random way C.
A
B
C
C These are the main elements that make up the planned object to
create a scene heavily populated with Wisteria oribunda
A Gather your reference wisely
B Each component of the model in this scene might require a diferent
placement technique
Environment
The main problem when
creating plants is the
random impression
required for all elements.
We need to make sure
the owers, leaves, etc,
will not appear
countable in the end.
Creating the Wisteria
scene, I also needed
very dense branches to
cover the whole
courtyard and climbers
on columns.
Each new model will
require specic textures
and mapping, which in
some cases might be
dif cult to complete
because of the lack of
stock textures and the
unusual geometry. The
many repetition issues
might discourage at rst
sight, but remember that
once you go through the
process you will gain a
unique model that can
be used in future
projects, and will make
your artwork distinct.
Overall the solutions
are very simple. To
spread the predened
components we will use
the Advanced Painter
script developed by
Herman Saksono;
branch creation will be
solved with the Ivy
Generator plug-in from
GuruWare; and the rest
will be covered by basic
poly modelling and a
little patience!
Problems &
solutions
Modelling the Wisteria
This process is based on simple, efficient solutions
04 Model the owers
In the presented scene we did not use blueprints; we simply
focused on the reference images and tried to retain the
general forms. The ower consisted of three elements.
Create a simple plane object and add new divisions to obtain
the low-poly shape of the main body. Follow the same
procedure to prepare the petals and core. In the end, well
need a shoot that will connect the ower to the stalk. Copy
the ower twice and change the geometry a little to give it
more variety D.
05 Prepare the geometry to multiply
Once the main elements of the ower are done, apply a
UVW map to each object. We used a simple box-mapping
procedure. Create the necessary maps, shaders and apply to
your models. Next, convert the geometry into Editable Poly
and attach all the components into one object. Adjust the
pivot; make sure the Z axis is placed exactly as shown in the
example this stage is very important, so take your time E.
D Create the owers using
simple elements with
Editable Poly techniques
F Note that having plants of
diferent ages in the scene
will produce a much more
realistic nish
E Be sure to pay close attention
as to keep the correct order
of actions
06 Stalk and leaf creation
In this step we will create the stalk object and some leaves.
The actions in this step are pretty much the same as in the
basic ower creation process. First, use a spline to draw the
stalk and leaf. Copy them twice and tweak the size and
shape slightly. You can create three diferent lengths of stalk
to produce plants in various stages of development. Also,
take care when adjusting the pivot points here f.
07 Create groups of plants
Using the Advanced Painter script spreads the leaves and
owers on the stalk. Set Advanced Painter to Randomizer
mode, and select the correct object to Multiply. Be sure to
check the Align Up-Direction is set to N, and remember to
use stalks with diferent lengths. Once you have created
similar groups to those shown, convert the objects into
Editable Poly and attach them into one object. Once again,
carefully adjust the pivots until it looks right g.
G Play with the general size
and density in each group
to achieve a more natural,
random impression
d
e
e e
The Advanced Painter script
is a very powerful tool.
Among its many options you
will nd the Randomizer,
Grass and Stone modes.
Depending on your needs, it
can be used to arbitrarily
spread custom objects on a
mesh surface or to apply
predened settings. It is a
very accurate tool that allows
you to, in fact, paint with
objects in real-time very
handy when adding ner
details to your scenes.
Advanced Painter gives
you control over the position
and rotation of distributed
objects so there are many
ways to apply them, as
demonstrated in this scene.
Advanced
Painter
f
g g
g
54
Applying the techniques
to other models
Ivy Generator is a simple tool
that can be used in many
ways. We chose this plug-in
as it is very efcient: it allows
you to very quickly and
easily generate ivy, and also
gives control over physics,
like gravity or adhesion. One
of the top features is the real-
time preview when growing
the ivy. Its also possible to
adjust the level of detail to t
with your composition. Use
this plug-in to create ground-
cover or all manner of
natural environments.
Ivy Generator
08 Branches and their distribution
Using the great GuruWare plug-in Ivy Generator, we will
now create the branches. In the scene we have some cables
in the courtyard that the branches can follow. This might not
be enough though to cover the whole sky, so we will create a
fake distribution object. To do so, use the circle from the
Splines rollout and convert it to Editable Poly. Place the ivy
seed and use the provided settings. Repeat this action a few
times until the density is thick enough. Place some branches
on the ground and columns too. Remember to uncheck the
leaf option in the ivy settings H.
09 Establish the scene
At this point all plants are ready to spread in the scene. Use
the V-Ray mesh export option and create proxies from the
predened groups from Step 7. Once again, we will use
Advanced Painter. Run the script and choose the ower
proxies. Select the Instance cloning method and the
distribution object from Step 8. Paint the owers; tweak the
rotation, position and scale in the Advanced Painter settings.
Once your camera is set up in the scene, add some more
groups to areas where they will be well exposed I.
10 Additional details
We will now add some extra owers to make the scene
more complex. We can use the geometry from Step 5.
Change the shoots into stalks and add small leaves before,
once again, tweaking the pivots to previous settings. In this
scene, weve created a noisy terrain with the Push/Pull tool
from Editable Poly rollout. Using Advanced Painter with the
terrain as the distribution object, multiply the owers in the
lower areas. This way you can achieve some ower carpets,
which should attract the attention of the viewer. J
H Prepare a fake distribution
object and set its properties
to Not renderable
I Painting the proxies, check
the Bounding Box display
mode to obtain more FPS
in the viewport
J Create some additional
plants to make the scene
more complex
Using the Editable Poly modelling technique
combined with the Advanced Painter script, it is
possible to create very different types of plants to
build up your own collection of vegetation
Using the Editable Poly modelling technique combined with
the Advanced Painter script, it is possible to create very
diferent types of plants. In this tutorial, we reveal the
creation process of the Wisteria oribunda. The presented
scene also contains a very specic moss terrain with
production steps that were very similar. Once you
understand how the script
works, you are able to use it
in many ways to build up
your own personal collection
of vegetation.
For the moss creation, we
started with a single blade of
moss. Once again, using
many reference pictures, we
were able to create the
specic species of moss.
The single blade with a
properly adjusted pivot was
multiplied over a hemisphere
object. After the textures
were applied, all
components were attached
into one object with a new
adjusted pivot and exported
using the V-Ray mesh
option. The Advanced
Painter script was used again
to populate the new plant
across the terrain.
H
i
J
J
render tim
e
Resolution:
4,050 x 2,880
2
hours
Environment
55
Textures, shaders and postproduction
Proper textures and shaders will really bring your plants to life
Pawe Podwojewski
After several years of collaborating with
architectural studios, in 2008 I decided to
open MOTYW (MOTIVE). Working with
clients all over the world, I have become
very experienced in different types of
projects. Im always looking for a
challenge in my work, to improve myself
and to evolve.
Housing in Bordeaux 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop
(2010) An autumn dusk scene. I love to play with the
atmosphere of my scenes; nearly every time I am
surprised by the results.
Winter in the city 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop
(2010) An urban environment in the winter. I spent
some time working on the street textures, painting a lot
of Displacement maps to achieve this efect.
11 Paint the textures
In the early steps we applied UVW box mapping to the main
components, such as the ower and stalk. Its a massive
help to have reference pictures taken from orthogonal views
for the elements you are about to texture. There is a great
plug-in called Texporter (www.cuneytozdas.com), which
may help when creating texture templates. Once the
template is ready, you can simply copy a part of the
reference picture and t it to the comp. In some cases its
even better to paint the textures from scratch as this will
give you more control over the size and placement k.
12 Create materials
After your difuse textures are done, copy the layers and
desaturate them. Tweak the contrast and brightness to
prepare the Bump, Reection and Translucent maps in
Photoshop. Once all the textures are set, choose the
VRayMtl and organise the channels as shown. To get more
control over the shaders behaviour, use the ColorCorrect
parameters with all created textures L.
Texporter is a
plug-in that helps
you to create
basic templates
for textures.
Please remember
to keep the
resolution ratio
(width and
height) the same
as in the UVW
you have applied
to an object.
Once the
template is done,
save it and paint the
texture in your favourite
software. In the end, the
texture will perfectly t
your object.
Texporter
k Use the orthogonal reference
photos for texture creation
L Control the shaders
behaviour using the
ColorCorrect parameters
k
L
A standard Direct light with area shadows was used as
the main light source, clipped with VRaySky in the
environment and reection override. In the
VRayPhysicalCamera, enable the depth-of-eld
checkbox and set the correct focus distance. Add some
extra channels in the VRay: Frame bufer, as follows:
Alpha channel, Z-Depth, V-Ray raw reection and the
Reection lter.
In postproduction, control the reection amount using
the ref. lter channel. Apply a Lens Blur lter in
Photoshop with a Z-Depth map. Finally, tweak the
setting to achieve an extra stylish bokeh efect.
Rendering additional
channels & postproduction
Utilise the Texporter
script to produce masks
for your textures
Using additional passes, such as Alpha and Z-Depth channels,
hone the lighting and other efects in postproduction
56
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58 3DArtist
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
http://trungpad.cgsociety.org
Country Greece
Software used
ZBrush, Shake
Yiannis
Tyropolis
This character was
created during beta testing
for ZBrush 4. The look and
style came by itself as I was
exploring the new rendering
features. I was interested in a
hand-made, non-slick look
similar to stop-motion. This
was also an attempt to test
the potential of rendering in
ZBrush. Modelled and
rendered in ZBrush, with
compositing done in Shake
Yiannis Tyropolis, And how does that
make you feel, hmm?, 2010
59
Work in progress
Interview: Oliver Ponsonnet ........................ 64
Painting up a demon image ..........................72
Texture and light a beautiful girl ..................76
Creating a savage warrior ............................. 80
I made this: Hodong La .................................. 96
Making of The Sky Fisherman ..................... 98
Create a sexy fairy woman .......................... 104
Portrait masterclass ......................................108
I made this: Iker Cortzar ..............................114
Model a cute fantasy gure ...........................116
Build your own monster ...............................120
Interview: Andrew Hickinbottom ..............124
Create a futuristic bar scene .........................130
Create a friendly dragon ................................134
Add textures and light to objects .................138
I made this: Martin Ruizl ..............................142
Create a Lovecraft legend ..............................144
Create Pixar-style artwork ............................148
Character
Character
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
http://www.maxanimator.
com and http://www.
triplekeystudio.com
Country Spain
Software used
Zbrush, 3D Studio Max,
Mental Ray, Photoshop
A. Martn
Puentes Rivera
This is a personal
project from a concept I
created at university. I
like horror lms and
tried to create a
character for an
animation short that I
am working on in my
spare time
A. Martn Puentes Rivera, Crazy
Zombie, 2010
60
I created this illustration for the Boiler Room contest. My
goal was to achieve a stiing-hot, anxiety lling atmosphere
and also to refer to the vision of Hell where devils torment sinful
souls. I was also inspired by human sacrices made to Tixiptlas
in ancient Aztec civilization. The idea of Pandemonium and the
Diabolical Boiler God, hungry for innocent, cuddly teddy bears
was born
Andrzej Kuziola, Teddy Bear Snacks
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
www.kuziola.com
Country Poland
Software used
Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Photoshop
Andrzej Kuziola
61
A French friend of mine, Serge
Birault, does great pinup art that Ive
admired for a while. I thought Id do
a clichd French girl as an homage/
present to him
Andrew Hickinbottom, Ooh la la, 2010
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
http://andyh.cgsociety.org
Country UK
Software used
3ds Max, V-Ray
Andrew
Hickinbottom
Work in progress
62
Pirate Robot was born from a collaboration of
ideas between Alicia Pereira and myself for a
personal illustration. Using a simple robot Id
already made, I created an interesting pirate
from it for a scene based around the idea of a
universe without humans, just robots looking
for treasure and batteries to survive!
Angel Gabriel Diaz Romero, Pirate Robot, 2010
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
www.ti os.com
Country Spain
Software used
3ds Max, ZBrush, Mudbox,
Photoshop
Angel Gabriel
Diaz Romero
Work in progress
63
beauty
Timeless
O
livier Ponsonnet is a renowned
master of the CG portrait in the 3D
community. In stark contrast to the
stunning portraits that don his portfolio,
when he is not creating intriguingly
beautiful characters that capture our hearts
and inspire our own creative pursuits, he is
working as a 3D artist in the videogames
industry. By day, he creates real-time
characters and CG environments, from level
design to the nal visuals and yet, in his
spare time, he still nds the motivation to
produce wonderful portraits like these
featured here.
Having worked in videogames for around
four years now, after what may seem an
unexpected educational background for
such an aspired 3D creator, Olivier has never
regretted his decision to become a CG artist.
He has told 3D Artist that he will never tire
of creating, and we certainly hope that he
doesnt. With an ever-impressive portfolio
and a work-in-progress underway, Olivier
will continue to inspire with his unique
representations. Something of an enigma
in the CG community, we wanted
to nd out more about the man behind the
hauntingly beautiful faces
Can you tell us a little bit about your
education and how it helped set the
foundations for your career?
Olivier Ponsonnet: Im actually self-taught.
Before working in videogames, I studied
Computer Science at university. While I was
studying, CG was my passion and I was
doing it in my spare time. At the end of my
course, I chose to work as a CG artist and
continued practising as a hobby in my free
time. I might not have directly done art or
CG as part of my degree, but I think my
studies helped me a lot in understanding
the basic functions from a technical point of
view; from how lighting works, to how its
actually simulated and rendered, etc.
When I was younger, I also had drawing
lessons for some years, practising with many
types of media, such as pencil, charcoal,
acrylic, silk painting and so on this all
helped me to develop my artistic skills.
Name Olivier Ponsonnet
Job title 3D artist
Personal website
http://re1v.free.fr
Country France
Software used 3ds Max,
ZBrush, Photoshop
Expertise Real-time
environments and characters
Current employer
Asobo Studio
A Flame
The ornamental
elements provide
extra narrative
and encourage the
viewer to look beyond
the beauty that
is portrayed
I try to create timeless illustrations.
It sounds pretentious but thats really what
I try to achieve. I mix many inspirations from
different eras so that my characters do not
look too contemporary
beauty
Olivier Ponsonnet specialises in real-time environments and characters
We talk to Olivier Ponsonnet, a community favourite, who creates videogames
by day and moonlights as a CGI character portrait artist by night
64
a 65
How exactly did you teach yourself 3D?
How did it start, where did you get your
learning resources and how steep was the
learning curve?
OP: Well, it was pretty simple. I was 13 years
old, I liked to draw and I had a computer so
I just tried to merge these two hobbies
together. Thats why I bought my rst 3D
software: Voxel3D. It didnt offer many
possibilities, but I was really happy with
it. A couple of years later, I started using
Amapi. I could create more complex objects,
but the rendering part of this software
was extremely limited. Thats why I turned
to 3ds Max 1.0. In the beginning, I was
just using it as a renderer with imported
objects from Amapi, but I ended up using
3ds Max for nearly all stages of my work.
To start with, my only resources were
books. I bought two or three of these huge
books describing every single 3ds Max
function. I learned the software from the
literature and obviously by practising.
Later, the internet really helped me to
improve my skills with its CG artist
communities. My learning curve was pretty
long: I began 3D quite young but I seriously
practised for about ten years, accumulating
both the technical and artistic know-how to
allow me to create what I do now.
Your portfolio contains a wealth of stunning
portraits realistically rendered, but also
illustrative in style. Can you talk us through
the work involved in the creation
of one of your characters?
OP: I do these portraits during my spare
time. My goal is always the same and pretty
simple: to create a beautiful character. To
achieve this, I focus on both the technical
and aesthetic aspects. I work hard at the
technical part (rendering, lighting, shading,
etc) to make a believable character. I do like
to test the latest revisions of 3D software
with their brand new tools and features to
get even more possibilities and this
technical aspect remains a means to
achieving the aesthetic part. Overall, Id say
I pay way more attention to the aesthetic
aspect than the technical one.
I always try to create characters with some
kind of timeless beauty. I avoid an over-
contemporary look; I usually prefer more
classical ones. Maybe this is because I just
hope my artwork wont look too old too fast.
What are the tools of your trade in terms of
hardware and software, and how
are they important to your workow and
content creation?
OP: I mostly use 3ds Max from the rst poly
to the nal render. I sometimes use ZBrush
when I want to create complicated organic
objects, but most of the portraits I create are
modelled with 3ds Max solely, using polygon
modelling and subdivision surfaces.
d Obsidian Eyes
This characters beauty
is deceiving; you are
pulled in by her stare,
but the dark elements
warn you away
b A Fairy World
Created for a French contest, A Fairy
World was inspired by butteries,
reies, royal clothing and coleopters
c Vlad
Created as a sharp face
with clean features;
contrast was given by
adding a red blood splat
to the mouth
even when I create environments, I cant
do this without adding a character in the scene;
Im not interested in creating a picture without
any characters
c
d
66
When I create a picture, a source of my motivation and
inspiration also comes from other CG Artists. I saw a
picture representing a girl with a simple bird by a Korean
artist. It was just great. Thats what inspired me to create
this child and his pet.
I really like this picture because its the only portrait
Ive done with two characters. It was quite challenging
for many reasons: the rst because the pet is a monkey
and creating animals with fur is not my speciality. I also
wanted the monkey to have something in the eyes as
deep as the main character. Creating a child was also
challenging. I tried to make a pure face with clean facial
features, but not something completely smooth; I wanted
to give her personality.
1
Opal Child
67
For texture painting, I use Photoshop with
a Wacom tablet. I also use this software for
compositing and postproduction. My
hardware is quite common: Intel Core i7
Processor, 6GB RAM, ATI 5850 video card,
and dual monitor display.
How long does it generally take to complete
one of your character portraits,
from concept to nal 3D illustration?
OP: It varies a lot. Id say from
two weeks to a couple of months. It depends
on many things. It rstly depends on my
inspiration or motivation. As you know, I
work as a CG artist in a videogame studio.
All the portraits I do are non-commercial
images created during my spare time, so its
not always easy to nd motivation after a
day of work. The duration of the creation
process also depends a lot on the quantity of
things to create. Making ten characters is
always going to take longer than making
one. Thats also why I like doing portraits. I
know I dont have much time to create my
illustrations, which is why I prefer to focus
on something specic like a single face, and
try to improve it as much as I can.
How long have you been evolving
your character creation techniques and
how would you say they have changed
over time with the various advancements
in 3D software?
OP: Ive been evolving my character
creation techniques for about eight years.
Actually, 3D software advancements always
make character creation easier in terms of
technique: we now have realistic lighting,
soft shadows, nice skin aspects with
Subsurface Scattering all of these tools
make the technical part easier. But in my
humble opinion, the most important part
remains the artistic one. I think thats
what really makes my latest creations
different from my rst ones and partly why,
I guess, I create better characters now than
I did eight years ago. The best way to
improve is quite simple though and not
really magic: observation and practice. I
mean a lot of practice!
When it comes to rendering, what passes do
you render out and why are
these so important to the nal look of your
3D illustrations?
OP: I usually dont use many passes. I try
to keep my rendering pipeline as simple as
I can. I use passes when I dont have a
choice. For example, when I create a
character with hair, I have to use passes.
I render hair and its shadows using the 3ds
Max Scanline renderer because its way
faster than using mental ray primitives and
gives smoother results. I use mental ray for
everything else. I then create three passes:
one for the main render, rendered with
mental ray, and two for the hair the hair
itself and its shadows rendered using the
Scanline renderer.
In terms of postproduction, how much work is
done on your 3D renders to take them from
raw render to nal illustration?
OP: I only do pure postproduction in
Photoshop. I mean, I dont add any new
elements, objects or details to my pictures
at this stage, nor do I paint anything on
them. I usually apply Color Balance and
saturation lters to my illustrations to
adjust the colour scheme and the mood
of the picture. I also add Noise, Chromatic
Aberration and Depth of Field (using the
Z-Depth from 3ds Max) to remove the raw
look of the 3D render.
For you, what is the most important part of the
creative process when producing one of your
beautiful, elegant characters?
OP: I think the most important stage is
modelling the face. I can spend hours
f e
68
e The Fall
Qualphantus are
creatures that travel
from one galaxy to
another, feeding on every
life form they nd
g Mr Bone
In contrast to my other
works, Mr Bone started as
a simple ZBrush test. The
result was rendered in
3ds Max
moving vertices until I get some kind of
harmony. I try to get a nice looking shape
even without advanced lighting, with default
lights in the viewport. I dont try to push my
render further until I have an aesthetically
interesting face. Obviously, nice lighting and
shading will also help to achieve a nice
looking character, but the modelling really
remains essential in my opinion.
Your characters are all highly unique,
seeming to pull elements from a variety of
cultures and stories. Where do you seek your
inspiration and how important is storytelling
in your work?
OP: As I said earlier, I try to create somehow
timeless illustrations. It sounds slightly
pretentious but thats really what I try to
achieve. I mix many inspirations from
different eras so that my characters do not
look too contemporary. As I want to create
something that is believable, I often use
classical or traditional clothes from many
cultures as bases. I usually get this
inspiration from classical painting books
or from history of dress books. I also get
inspiration from contemporary artists,
from comic books, or simply from people I
see in the street everything can be a
source of inspiration.
Your portfolio also demonstrates great skill
with environment creation, particularly in the
context of sci- and fantasy. With such a
strong and varied skill set, why do characters
capture more of your attention?
OP: There are many reasons for that. The
rst and the most important is personal
taste: a portrait talks to me a lot more than
an environment. Second, even when I
create environments, I cant do this
without adding a character in the scene;
Im not interested in creating a picture
without any characters. As I dont have
f Moon Key
Aiming for a charming
and elegant portrait not
realistic all of Moon
Keys textures were hand
painted in Photoshop
h Pink Sugar
Pink Sugar was
something quite diferent,
purposely made using a
diferent colour scheme
and blonde hair
much time to create my pictures, I prefer
to focus on characters.
Your conventionally beautiful characters are
often portrayed with a gothic and macabre
twist, with recent works having turned
darker. What does this stem from,
and where do you see future works going?
OP: Well, I dont know. I use classical
paintings as an inspiration. I like the
aesthetic look of classical works, like
Tiziano Vecellios portraits work with their
bright skins, dark clothes and black
h
Obviously, nice lighting and shading will
also help to achieve a nice looking character,
but the modelling really remains essential in
my opinion
g
69
backgrounds. Maybe as Im getting older,
I also like more sober colours I dont know.
I just try to make things that I like. And as
I dont know how Ill evolve as time goes on,
I cant really say where my future artwork
is going. But I think thats what makes the
journey more interesting.
Giving life to lifeless digital content
is a skill all in itself. How do you give your
characters the souls that we can clearly see
in any of your illustrations?
OP: To give them life, I rst try to make
them believable. Thats why I pay a lot of
attention to clothing design, anatomical
details, rendering and so on. When I have
this base, two areas need more attention:
the eyes and the mouth. Those parts are
not that difcult to produce I mean from
a technical point of view. You just have to
be careful about topology in these areas, but
its not that hard. The hardest part is to get
something beautiful and natural. Its a very
subtle process and one of the most
interesting parts of the creation especially
in the eye area, where you have to nd the
perfect balance between eyebrow shape,
the eyes curvature, the position of the
eyelids and so on, in order to create that
lively and expressive look.
With constant advancements in technology
helping more people than ever create realistic
looking characters, how do you keep an edge
over them?
OP: Well, Im not sure. Maybe its just
experience and practice. I mean, yes, its
easier to create realistic looking characters
technically, but its always difcult to create
original and unique characters. My aim is
not exactly to create realistic characters; I
try to give them something more. I dont try
to reproduce what you could actually shoot
with a camera.
How different is your professional
work to your personal portfolio and how
does this balance out?
OP: My personal portfolio is completely
different from my professional work. My
personal portfolio is mainly composed
of portraits simply because thats what
I like to make best. My professional work
includes level building, environment
creation and, more recently, real-time
character creation. This is very different
from my personal creations and how I nd
motivation to create CG after a days work.
Can you tell us what you are currently
working on at the moment, and if possible
where the inspiration for the project originally
came from?
OP: Im working on an underwater scene
a kind of mermaid portrait. However, I dont
want to create a happy mermaid with shiny
scales and a shell bikini. Id like to make
something closer to the original mermaids,
something more elegant but also darker.
How about your future plans; what
can we look forward to seeing next, and what
projects would you most like to work on?
OP: I really dont know. I barely have time
to create personal work, so Id just like to
nish my work on the mermaid, then think
about whats next. It will most likely be
another portrait. I could do portraits for the
rest of my life and not get tired of them. I
may also try to create some 2D illustrations.
I might not always know what the next
project will be, but one thing that is for
certain is that I wont ever stop creating.
i Ina
Made initially as a SSS
test in 3ds Max, Ina was
continued and rendered
in mental ray
j Red Opium
A vision of a female
vampire, created in 3ds
Max 8, with all maps
hand painted
i
j
70
2
The dress is based on a real dress I found
in paintings representing Anne of Cleves.
The original dress had more colour
variety and a diferent colour scheme.
I modied it to get something more sober
and also a little more contemporary. The
make-up matching the material colours
is also there to break from the original
classical look. The eyes are also
interesting. The reections are huge
completely exaggerated but it really
gives her something special, more depth.
The composition and the pose are
quite simple and dont distract; you just
focus on the characters face.
Cold Blue
71
72
I
n this tutorial, I will be explaining how
I created this Halloween-themed illustration.
I am going to focus more on texturing, materials,
lighting and postproduction than on modelling. The
illustration was created mixing both 2D and 3D
techniques. I feel more comfortable working this
way as I have greater control over the process.
My goal was to achieve a mixture of cartoon-like,
exaggerated characters with a colourful, painterly
look. I usually work mainly in dark, unsaturated
colours so working with a new palette was a bit
of an experiment and I was curious to see how it
would look in the end. I was working with CINEMA
4D and ZBrush for modelling and rendering, while
using Painter and Photoshop for texturing and
postproduction. I also used UVLayout to unfold
the model and to create UV maps.
Step by step: Painting
up a demon image
Trick or Treat 2010
Andrzej Kuziola specialises in modelling and character creation
Discover how to create a painterly image with
vivid colours on the theme of Halloween
The style for the scene
01
I started from a concept created in
ZBrush and Painter inspired by disguised
children walking from house to house and asking
for sweets at Halloween. The idea here was to show
a little girl asking for a treat and a big demon behind
her whos ready to play a trick on those who dont
provide any goodies.
02
It was important to me that the girl
should look sweet and innocent at rst
glance, particularly in comparison to the sinister
looking demon. Look closer, however, and you realise
that she is a she-devil and that out of the pair, she is
probably the one calling the shots.
03
I wanted a very stylised look for the demon.
I was going to try diferent approaches to
achieve an interesting painterly efect despite it being
done in 3D. I wanted to achieve this with lighting and
hand-painted textures using RealBristle brushes.
Everything was maintained in warm orange-red hues
associated with hellre.
Design inspirations
72
Texturing,
lighting,
painting
to the nal render
A
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www.kuziola.com
Country United Kingdom
Hardware used Mac Pro 2.66
GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon,
7GB RAM
Expertise Andrzej specialises
in modelling and quirky
character creation
Andrzej Kuziola
Username: ak666
ZBrush Photoshop Painter UVLayout CINEMA4D
73
Materials and lighting
Adding textures and setting the scene
06
For the demon, I created a few
diferent colour maps in Painter, which
I used in the materials Color channel, modifying
desaturated versions in the Difusion, Bump
and Specular Color channels. I wanted the
demon to look very stylised so I experimented
here to achieve a look similar to a portrait thats
been painted with thick oil paints.
04
I started the texturing process
in ZBrush with PolyPaint. After
establishing overall colours and painting
cavities, I moved to Painter where I created
proper textures mainly with Artists Oils before
exporting them to Photoshop, where I made
Bump maps by playing with Desaturate and
Levels. I used this workow with some
modications to texture all of the objects.
08
When I was
happy with the
result, I swapped the models
with high-poly meshes and
rendered them in Advanced
Renderer with Global
Illumination, Ambient
Occlusion and a separate
Alpha channel for each object.
I made diferent renders for
the girl, for the demon and one
for the background, which I
lled with Fog material.
05
For the girl, I painted a esh-
coloured map, which was placed in the
Color and Difusion channels of the standard
CINEMA 4D material along with modied maps
in the Bump and Specular channels. The most
time-consuming process was tweaking the
Luminance channel, which consisted of a
Subsurface Scattering layer in Dodge mode
with another colour bitmap beneath.
07
To set up lights, I used low-poly
meshes to speed up test renderings.
I like to accentuate diferent shapes and surfaces
so I used quite a lot of lights mainly warm-
coloured ones with Area shadows and Inverse
Square Fallof applied. To illuminate the girl,
I also used blue lights and placed everything
inside a sphere as a Floor object so that the light
bounced of the sides.
74
Andrzej Kuziola
I am a self-taught digital artist. I qualied in Dentistry,
but no longer work in that profession. I am a freelance
illustrator and 3D modeller now and I really enjoy it.
Software such as CINEMA 4D, ZBrush and Photoshop
help me to create realms that would otherwise exist
only in my mind.
H2O CINEMA 4D,
Photoshop, ZBrush
(2009)
This is my rst illustration
where, instead of the dark
arts, I started to create nice,
cute female characters with
bright colours. This
illustration was selected by
MAXON for promotion of
CINEMA 4D. It was
published in MAXONs 2010
calendar and you can nd it
in the gallery on the website
www.maxon.net.
Parthenogenesis
CINEMA 4D, ZBrush,
Painter, Photoshop
(2009)
Parthenogenesis is
an asexual form of
reproduction where
growth and development
of embryos occurs without
fertilisation by a male.
This is my dark and twisted
interpretation of the word
Newborn, which was the
theme for a contest. Polish
artist Zdzislaw Beksinski
was a great inspiration
behind this image.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Teddy Bear Snacks CINEMA 4D, Photoshop, ZBrush (2008)
Pandemonium, the diabolical Boiler God, hungry for innocent,
cuddly teddy bears. I was inspired here by human sacrices made
to teixiptlas [cult ef gies or impersonators] in ancient Aztec
civilisation. This is another illustration created for a contest this
time with the theme of Boiler room. It won third place in the
competition and was published in Expose 7.
Creating the colours and smoke
Postproduction painting
For both characters, I
started from my
standard human base
mesh created in
CINEMA 4D. Final
form and details were
done in ZBrush. I
rapidly reshaped the
base meshes with
Move and Standard
brushes and then
detailed it. My goal was
to create stylised,
cartoon-like characters
correct anatomy and
topology were not
important for me here,
so the process was
very fast particularly
for the demon. I posed
the characters with
ZBrushs Transpose
tools and then added
details with SubTools.
Clothes and hair were
made with the
Retopology tool, while
the horns, lollipop and
jack-o-lantern were
created with meshes
imported from
CINEMA 4D.
Modelling
the scene 09
I combined all the
renders in Photoshop
and loaded Alpha channels
into layer masks to separate
the characters from the
background. I also reduced
the size of the girl to make
the demon look more
menacing and composed all
his renders with layer masks
to create the textured efect
I was looking for.
10
To strengthen
the efect and make
it even more interesting, I
exported it to Painter where
I overpainted the texture. To
do this, I used the Soft Flat
Oils brush from the Art Pen
Brushes menu, Cloners and
Artists Oils. I loaded colours
sampled from the demon into
the Mixer palette and used
them extensively. This palette
is very handy when you are
working with Artists Oils.
12
Back in
Photoshop, I looked
to improve the composition
and make it more dynamic by
rotating and deforming the
demon a little and starting to
add details to the ground. I
used custom brushes made
from photographed
scafoldings. I wanted the
demon to look like he was
emerging from an abyss, so I
merged him with the ground
with the help of the same
custom brush and a series of
layer masks.
11
To clean and
brighten the
girls skin tone, I
overpainted some
parts on a separate
layer set to Lighten
blending mode with
Fill at 70%. I painted
in eyes as well (it was
much faster for me to
do it in 2D). When I
was happy with the
result, I started to
detail the background.
I painted in smoke to
frame the demons
head and make it a
focal point.
13
To add more
contrast and rhythm
to the illustration, I changed
some colours from selective to
complementary using a Hue/
Saturation adjustment layer
with a new layer mask. I then
painted some strands of hair
and made nal tweaks to the
image. Finally I added more
smoke with the custom brush.
This integrated all of the
elements, created a more
mysterious atmosphere and
helped to lead the viewers
eye through the picture.
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Character
75
76
T
he main tool used to model
and build this scene was 3ds
Max and it was rendered in
the standard mental ray. Photoshop
was used for a nal composite of the
various render layers. The most
dif cult aspect of the image was the
rendering time. Even though the image
used the standard Hair and Fur
options, it took a frighteningly long
time to render the hi-res version two
whole days. In this tutorial we will
discuss the volumetric lighting for the
background, and the materials and
textures used for the girl. The aim of
the image was to produce a movie-
quality scene with a sense of serenity.
Step by step: Texture
and light a beautiful girl
Girl in Church 2010
Satoshi Ueda specialises in game graphics and concept art
Aiming to create a sense of tranquillity, this
image features a pretty girl inside a church
Concepts
Inspiration behind the scene
01
In terms of modelling the gure, the idea
was to create a sense of innocence. I carefully
balanced the position of the eyes, nose and mouth to
make her as attractive as possible. There was a
tendency to go over the top and give her more anime-
style features, but I didnt want the image to become
unreal. So, Ive enlarged the eyes as much as possible,
because thats the main focal point, but not overdone
them. As the overall theme is one of purity, the girls
make-up has been kept to a minimum.
02
I did practice render passes with mental
ray and the standard Hair and Fur options
in 3ds Max just to see how well they performed.
The challenge was to create really long hair that fell
naturally. The hair itself was made from splines so
that adjusting the hairstyle was relatively easy.
03
To make streams of light work, a dim church
setting was chosen for a background. This
choice also afects the lighting because the only source of
light comes from the window. The result is a stream of
volumetric light positioned behind the girl, which just
illuminates her face.
76
Texturing,
lighting
to the nal render
A
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www.akatuki.biz
Country Japan
Hardware used Xeon CPU
E5430 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM
Expertise Satoshi specialises
in game graphics and concept
art, as well as writing guides
Satoshi Ueda
Username: Satoshi Ueda
3dsMax ZBrush Photoshop AfterEffects
77
Textures and materials
Creating the skin and clothing textures
06
The material of
the skin uses SSS
Fast Skin Material. Six kinds of
handmade textures were used.
Because a lighting sphere was
used to light the environment,
the Only Reect Environment
tab was activated. Also,
because Exposure Control is
being used in the scene, the
Soft Screen compositing check
was removed.
04
A biped frame
was set to the model
and posed this made it easier
to change the composition.
The camera was then
arranged, focusing on the girls
face. Seams were put in the
parts that you cant see to
make it easier when it came
to the UV unwrapping.
Because part of the shoulder
was hidden with clothing, a
seam was put there as well.
The UV was then opened.
08
The wrinkles and the drapes
in the clothing were modelled inside
Max. After trial and error, the Arch & Design
material of mental ray material was selected,
though I was tempted to use the standard
material, Oren-Nayar-Blinn. It would have been
easier to create a red dress because its so easy
to overexpose white fabric, but that wouldnt
have t in with the mood of the image.
05
Unwrap UV was guided. The
photograph of the material collection
was tiled using Photoshop and the texture was
then created. A white, bright point was used
on the tone curve to help make everything high
key. Then in Photoshop, the Bump, Overall
Difuse colour, Unscattered Difuse colour,
Epidermal Layer Scatter colour, Subdermal
Layer Scatter colour and Specular textures
were all established.
07
In the Hair rendering options, I
chose mr prim. Hairs were copied and
duplicated and the settings nalised. On a test
render, the rendering time took far too long, so
as a compromise, the total number of individual
hairs was reduced. Even then, it still took two
days! When the rendering was nally done, a
black material was applied to the body so it
would be easy to process.
78
Satoshi Ueda
Satoshi is a 3D artist from Japan. He has worked on
making models for the movie Resident Evil: The
Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil: The Darkside
Chronicles, for which he created the CG-illustrated
packaging too. Satoshi also worked on the art direction
and packaging for the XBOX 360 game, Bullet Witch.
Prayer Photoshop (2006)
Adult woman who is sending
up a prayer. The painting
was done using Photoshop.
Power was put into the
expression and a solemn
atmosphere applied
generally to the scene.
Maxbook Girl 3ds Max,
V-Ray (2004)
I made this for the cover
of my book, 3ds Max Super
Technique. It is a practice
model for those needing
an image to use in V-Ray
for the rst time.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Rain Street Photoshop, RETAS STUDIO (2009)
This is one still frame from an independent production animation.
The girl in the centre is the heroine, wandering about a shopping
area in the rain. Japanese company RETAS STUDIO made the
animation software that was used for the expression of movement.
The background was painted using Photoshop.
Creating the ambience of the scene
Lighting the girl
From the start,
I wanted to base the
central focus of the
image around the
serene girl as much as
possible. Considerable
attention was needed to
create the models face,
as I concentrated on
getting the balance of
eyes, nose, mouth and
even the length of the
eyelashes, just right. To
give your character the
most realistic hair at the
rendering stage, set the
Sampling Quality lter
in mental ray to the
maximum. If you want
to shorten the rendering
time, consider using a
third-party plug-in,
though, if youre happy
to wait, even the
standard Hair/Fur
functions can produce
impressive results.
Modelling
the figure
09
Three lights were added with ray-traced shadows
using Photometric Light. The lighting was created to give
a backlit efect. The light in the back left was made the strongest;
it is an image of the backlight. The two other lights were used to
brighten up the foreground of the image, as it was too dark
otherwise. They provide ll-in lighting.
10
The camera was
set up inside the
church model, focusing on the
girl, with the church window in
the background. The HDRI
map was made using
Panorama Exporter. This map
was then put on the sphere
model. This map was also
used for reections when
rendering with mental ray.
11
mr Photographic
exposure control was
used (in Environment and
Efects). The light and shade of
the image were adjusted with
the image control. With backlit
images, its very easy for the
foreground to become too
dark. Even though a couple of
front lights were used, the
backlit light was permitted to
blow out the highlights to
produce a volumetric efect.
12
The volume light
is set to the backlight.
Volumetric light is an efective
means to producing an airy
feeling. To edit it back in
Photoshop, the rendering was
done as a Monochrome map
le and details tweaked to
improve the depth of eld.
13
Four individual
render layers: volume
light for the background,
highlights on the ne facial
hair, the girl and background
of the image were output and
composited in Photoshop. The
nal adjustments made to the
depth of eld were output with
the lens lter using a ZMAP
le. The background was
already out of focus because
it is distant from the viewer.
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Character
79
Creating a
savage warrior
Warrior 2010
John Hayes is a videogame character artist
How to create a warrior from a distant land with realistically exaggerated forms and
brutal weapons, inspired by the style of Frank Frazetta
O
ften the best looking characters
comprise not only good modelling, but
also sound textures and rendering.
Indeed, the nal step can be the most critical,
though it depends upon a strong base model.
We will start with the concept and reference
image collage to help create the personality,
anatomy and costume detail. Concept art is
often only used for the inspirational direction of
the character, but its helpful to have lots of
photo references. A good place to nd additional
free stock reference images is www.deviantart.
com. Be sure to get a few anatomy photos as
theyll help make the character more convincing.
The process I will be using is called box
modelling, which allows for the overall form of
the character to be rapidly created and then
rened by several additional passes. Each
subsequent pass will develop the overall volume
and add detail where it is needed. At the same
time, I will add polygons and edge loops for an
even quad polygon distribution (except for the
face and hands, which will consist of a greater
amount of polygons).
I will be using modo for much of the tutorial
since I nd its integrated modelling, sculpting
and UV layout tools essential in speeding up the
process. Finally I will use ZBrush to create the
high-resolution detail model that will be used as
a source for rendered textures. Part two of this
guide will focus on creating textures and posing
the model in Maya and modo and will nish with
lighting and rendering in modo.
80
The base shape
Creating the basic torso
01 The base shape
The character should face
along the positive Z with the
head in the positive Y
direction. Start with a basic
cube wider at the top than
the bottom. It should be
three polygon rows wide
and three rows high. The
middle row should be
central to the X axis. This
will form the basic torso A.
02 Tackle the torso
Adjust the side poly of the top row; where the arm comes out should be roughly square. The
leg polygons at the bottom should also be roughly square with a smaller gap for the crotch.
The arm and leg base polygons should be angled outward between 20-45 degrees B.
A The side prole should
suggest the waist and the
side vertical cube rows are
thinner in the middle
B Angle the top and bottom of
the cube to form the
shoulder/trapezius and the
crotch/buttock
a
b
Part one:
Modelling,
UV layout,
sculpting
80
81
Maya modo Photoshop ZBrush
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
http://john-hayes.cghub.com
Country USA
Software used
modo 401, ZBrush 3
Expertise Videogame
character artist
John Hayes
techniques behind
Username: John-Hayes
The nal non-posed modo
character model and the nal
ZBrush ZTool.
Stock images used for
reference and textures:
For the body skin texture:
http://senshistock.deviantart.
com/journal/12576734/
For Anatomy Reference Photos:
http://mjranum-stock.
deviantart.com/
and http://vishstudio.
deviantart.com
03 Create the limbs
With Symmetry X active, bevel out the arms and legs and scale the end polygons so that
they taper. The arms should be made at about 45 degrees and the legs made to run straight
down from the hips. Bevel out the top two middle polygons for forming the head. Using the
Loop Slice tool, split each limb approximately in half and adjust to form knees, elbows and a
rounder head shape c. John Hayes
I am a videogame character artist working in
PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 development. My
background includes working at Capcom, Sanzaru
Games, SEGA and Factor 5, where I have created
characters for Iron Man, Golden Axe, Final Fight, Maximo,
among others. Working on console games is exciting as I
always learn new techniques and skills.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Crimson Dynamo
modo, Photoshop
(2010)
The Crimson Dynamo
boss that appears in
the Iron Man 2
videogame, developed
at SEGA for the PS3
and Xbox 360. The
model has fully
articulated weapons
and tesla coil system, a
complete cockpit
interior and swappable
armour plates. All
modelling, UV layout,
textures and rendering
done in modo.
05 Round out the form
Bevel the front polygons to form the face. Create a loop slice along the front arm that should
ow along the pectorals and nger edges. Add another loop slice along the front leg, with
the ow going around the back of the leg, over the shoulder and across the face. Add more
edges around the shoulders so they form polygon loops. Repeat for the hips e.
04 Add in the feet
and hands
Make the wrist and ankle
polygons slightly longer
along the Z axis. Bevel the
hand out to the ngertips,
add two loop splits and
bevel out a thumb at the
side polygon twice. For the
foot, bevel to the bottom of
the heel and bevel out to the
tips of the toes d.
c Use Loop Slice and Bevel
tools to add more poly
edges to the silhouettes
d Once the bevels are
adjusted, add edges at the
foot bridge and heel, as well
as the nger joints
e The shoulder edges ow like
a cape from the bottom of
the pectorals and then over
the shoulders
Halloween Witch modo,
Photoshop (2009)
I made this character using
modos modelling, sculpting,
UV layout, 3D texture
painting and rendering tools.
Photoshop was used to clean
up the renders, adjust the
colour values and add
highlights. I normally use
several diferent 3D software
packages in order complete
a character, however since
modo ofered all the tools I
needed, I used this as an
opportunity to learn more
about the program.
c
d
e
The Twins Maya, modo, ZBrush, Mudbox, XSI (2008)
The Twins boss characters I created for SEGAs Golden Axe. The
characters were modelled in Maya, hi-res sculpt created in ZBrush,
Normal maps created in Mudbox, Ambient Occlusion in XSI,
textures edited in Photoshop and modo used for UV unwrapping,
texture clean-up and rendering. The character is roughly 15,000
polygons with three 2,048 x 2,048 map sets.
82
83
Body details
Honing the body features
07 Add more facial edge loops
Add edge loops around the mouth so they ow under the lip
and over the bridge of the nose. Bevel the eyes in a few more
times and build the edge loops so they form a mask that
connects both eyes. Once the loops are complete, you can
add further edges for the smaller details such as nostrils and
tear ducts g.
09 Smooth the shape
Add several more edge loops to create an even distribution
of polygons over the whole body. Continue to add edges to
minimise any angles as seen in the silhouette. At the same
time, keep areas that are bony or close to a fold that is sharp
and dened i.
06 Define the
face structure
Add another loop to the
head on either side of the
centre line; this should give
you four vertical poly rows
on which to add facial
details with four horizontal
rows. Select two where the
eyes should be and bevel
inward. Next split the eye
horizontally so each eye
socket is four quad polygons
and the edges help to form
the bridge of the nose. For
the mouth, bevel the centre
two poly edges and the
resulting polygons inward to
form a poly loop f.
08 Model the fingers
To quickly create the ngers, add two edges to create four polygon rows, one for each nger
up to where the base of each would be. Then make sure there are two edge loops for each
knuckle row and for the bottom of each nger. When complete, select only the three edges
between each nger polygon row and bevel the edge and delete the thin middle polygon; do
not delete the end triangles h.
h Select a top and bottom and
top edge on each ngertip
side and use the Bridge tool
to ll in. Fill the base
between each nger by
double-clicking the edge and
using the P key
I Make the knee and elbow
bumps by bevelling out.
Edge loops in these areas
are important for good
deformation of joints
f Bevelled base edge loop
structure for eyes and
mouth. The side of the head
also has a bevel for the ears
g The ears and nose tip are
bevelled out. To add nostrils,
bevel the edge on each side
of the nose
Using the Action Center is an important part of modelling in
modo. I prefer to use the Action Center set to Selection as
the axis will often automatically align to an angle for the most
accurate edits. Sometimes Selection does not meet my
needs, so instead I align the work plane to Selection and then
use the Action Center set to Automatic. Although the work
plane will align to most selections, I get the best results by
selecting the vertexes. The setting I use most often is Local
to help me edit several separate elements simultaneously.
Action Center
f
g
h
i
Character
j Using the sculpting tools
beyond Vertex, Edge and
Face Selection really helps to
create organic forms
k Once in place, edit the face
geometry to make sure the
eye spheres look natural
with their poles near the
centre of each opening
l The feathers are made at
the origin from a at oval
shape, with 35 instances as
positions out the back
m The Slice tool is used to cut
the boot where straps would
be on the wrapped leather.
The edges are bevelled for
thickness and nally the
leather in between is
bevelled out to folds
n The shield is made from a
sphere end pole and a few
poly rows, which have been
attened slightly. Detail is
added afterwards
10 Exaggerate the muscles
The Frazetta-like design inuence I am attempting has
exaggerated shoulders, rounded muscles and narrow joints.
The deltoid muscle is larger than others, including the
pectorals, giving the body a nice taper. The back latissimus
and trapezius are large too. Adding crude costume detail
and brutal weapons helps to complete the look j.
12 Create the headdress
The bird skull originates from a cube, with two segments on
the X axis, thats subdivided once. Next two lower front
faces are bevelled out for the beak, then the side face
bevelled inward for the eye sockets. Finally the edges at the
bottom, beak base and eyeholes are slightly bevelled before
being subdivided again and ner details applied l.
11 Eyes and hair
The eyes are spheres, with their poles along the Z axis. A
ponytail is a short bevel from the back of the head, the
bevelled faces shaped into a circle, then bevelled straight
back a few feet. The length is then loop split so that the
polygons do not become long rectangles k.
13 Fitted details
The quickest way to add details such as belts, straps, boots,
etc, is to either duplicate the base geometry and scale it out
and modify, or just build an edge that denes the details.
The nal step is to remove any geometry not seen (eg feet)
and to merge all the elements m.
Adding costume details
The Frazetta style
84
Make sure to use the
Symmetry function as
much as possible to cut
your workload in half.
Always have a centre
polygon edge. If you nd
that it is not working
properly, you can either
delete half and use
Duplicate/Mirror or use
the Geometry/Symmetry
tool to get it working again.
Half the work
14 Weapons and
small details
Additional belts and a
necklace are added, rst by
duplicating a polygon loop
from the area, editing and
nally using Thicken
Polygon to create some
volume. Necklace claws,
armband spikes and a round
belt buckle are added to the
model. I also included
several smaller buckles and
detail shapes to the belt.
This is a chance for you to
get creative n.
j
k
l
m n
o The body geometry under
the belts, cufs and boots is
removed and the open
edges merged
p After using the Inate tool, I
use the Tangent Pinch tool
to dene the muscle
q I use the Unwrap tool mostly
set to Group Normal,
followed by the UV Relax
tool set to Adaptive
r Scale the UVs evenly with
the Action Center set to
Local, Axis Auto
s The focal areas of the head
and hand UV shells are
scaled up slightly to give
them a better pixel ratio
16 Sculpting and
clean-up
Using modos mesh
sculpting tools, I add muscle
and detail denition, as well
as wrinkles and folds on the
loincloth, leather belts and
boots. The purpose of the
pass is to sharpen detail as
well as cleaning up the edge
geometry that might have
clashing polygons or weird
polygonal shapes. All the
metal items such as
weapons and buckles are
left smooth p.
Preparing for UV mapping
Mesh subdivision and UV layout
19 Pack the UVs
After all the UVs are unwrapped, objects that reuse the
same UV space are hidden. Next, a simple chequer texture
is applied and I run Pack UVs. UVs are placed from largest
to smallest and evenly at UVs are placed next to each
other. I keep some space between each shell to account for
any pixel bleed s.
15 Break down the details
Edges are bevelled on the cuf and belt. An extra row is added to the spike and claw tips to
keep them sharp, as well as the various costume details. After dening the edges, each part
is subdivided. The subdivision method Smooth with default settings is used on the body to
keep the muscle planes relatively dened. For the other parts, SDS Subdivide is used o.
17 Use UV Unwrap
To get clean UVs, any existing UV map textures are deleted.
The body geometry is then broken up into separate sections
for unwrapping at the joins of diferent materials or sections,
such as the cuf and loincloth leg seam. The edge for UV
borders is placed in the least visible area (usually at the back
or other hidden spots). Since the feathers are all instances,
only the main source feather needs to be unwrapped q.
18 UV Peeler
For long, tube-like objects I
prefer to use the UV Peeler.
The arm cufs, belts and
ropes are all peeled and
then their UVs made at
along the U and/or V axis.
The UVs are then re-packed
onto a map to use the pixel
space more ef ciently r.
85
To create a Frazetta-style
warrior, there needs to be
an exaggeration in the
muscles that includes
large shoulders, hands and
feet. Additionally a
costume should have
several layers of detail,
such as weapons, a
fearsome mask, belts,
trophies and, nally, some
equipment pouches.
During the process to
create this warrior, it was
important to make sure
the early stages of the
model were well
constructed and clean
since all the other steps
are built upon them. Good
polygon placement and
edge loops help when
adding ner details,
sculpting and posing and
will speed up the process.
Frazetta nish
o
p
r
q
s
Character
86
t I prefer to sculpt using the
MatCap Gray material for its
wide specular range and the
fact its not translucent, so
details and aws are visible
u Using the Slash3 brush in
reverse helps to add raised
details to the esh
v Using the Move tool, I adjust
the muscle shape and ow
20 ZBrush setup
For export into ZBrush, all parts are centred on the Z axis,
combined into one mesh layer and its UVs are in 0-1 space.
The model is saved as an OBJ and imported into ZBrush.
Before any sculpting, I organise the parts into separate
SubTools, give them Morph targets and ensure any open
edges are creased. I also organise the SubTool list with
names and objects sorted according to their position in
space, top to bottom t.
22 Sculpt muscles
Using the Standard brush with Z Intensity set to 10 and
Focal Shift to -100, do an overall rst pass over the body. I
only use the Smooth brush to even out the surface, keeping
the stroke edges and bump that lend to an overall eshy
feel. Keeping the brush stroke dened helps to provide the
muscle bre look v.
21 Overall body patterns
I like to map out the muscle patterns, bumps and bres to build
upon. Using the Slash3 brush set to an intensity of about -30, I
start by tracing out the edges and creases for muscles and
tendons, etc. When the rst pass is done, I like to use the
Slash2 and Slash1 brushes to add ner details and bumps u.
Sculpting in ZBrush
Creating a ripped body
23 Head detail
For face detailing I like to have some photo references handy
to help with the smaller, more subtle features. I try to get the
eye area correct, then move on to the mouth. Lastly I work in
the ear detail to complete the head w.
24 Hands
Hands tend to be somewhat
bony, so I start with dening
the major joints on the
ngers and the tendons on
the back of the hand.
Generally its good practice
to get the knuckles looking
correct and then the area
around the thumb base. The
last step is usually dening
the ngertips x.
To get much better results,
faster, I use the Alpha
palette and masks as I
work. Alpha is great for
hiding parts Im not
working on and helps to
speed up my workow, as
well as improve general
application responsiveness
as I add subdivision layers
to the SubTool. I nd that
using masks helps me to
quickly add folds and
overlapping detail just as in
real sculpting. Pushing and
moving the shape together
helps to get a good ow in
the models form.
Top tips
w After overall sculpting I nd
using Alpha masks a very
quick method for adding in
wrinkles and folds
x Hands can be tricky to get
right. Work from the main
joints out to the ngertips
t
u
v
w
x
87
y Sculpt the feathers using
Alpha 54 for a subtle bump
and then use the Slash brush
to break up the edges
z I use the Slash brush to
quickly incorporate cracks
and knit marks
aa The Slash2 brush is used
to break up the leather to
simulate patches
bb I made a mask using
Alpha 58, inverted it and
brushed over to create a
wooden plank efect
cc Draw simple scrollwork
onto the surface, invert
and then inate
26 Headdress
As with the body, I do an overall pass on the headdress to
rough out the shapes. When complete, I start to add bone-
like details. The skull should look old and worn, so using the
Spray stroke with a Standard brush, I add a Bump texture to
recessed areas and keep raised areas more smooth. Next, to
add a more brous look to the bone, I use Alpha 54 to
quickly brush in ridges and recesses z.
Detailing the costume
Adding surface properties and clutter
29 Final details: war wounds, weathering
and battle damage
Using the Slash1 brush, I add several scars and cuts to the
body and the equipment. To add smaller details such as
extra bits of wrapping, I mask of the desired location, invert
and use the Brush tool with Alpha 45 to quickly add depth.
When complete, I invert the selection and use the Move
brush to tuck in and tidy the edges cc.
25 Hair and feathers
For the ponytail, I rst mask of the hair tie-downs and then use the Standard brush with
Alpha 54 and brush along the length. After, I invert the mask and inate the tie-downs. The
feathers are treated in much the same way. Since all the feathers will use the same UVs and
textures, we only need to sculpt one and duplicate y.
27 Leather and
boot detailing
For most wrinkles, I like to
use Alpha 54 with the
Standard brush. The rst
pass is to create the major
wrinkles and the other
passes are very light to
smooth and blend. Finally,
using Alpha 59 with the
Brush Tip set to DragRect, I
add a slightly cracked
leathery surface aa.
28 Shield and weapons
For the weapons, I need to make the surface look like metal
or wood. For wood I use Alpha 58 to help create the wooden
grain and planks. The metal needs to feel like crude, beaten
iron, so I use the tortoiseshell-like Alpha 25 with the Brush
Tip set to DragRect. To create a beaten look, I mask of any
non-metal areas and work from large to small bb.
With the rst part done, the next step is to show how to
use the hi-res model to render out Normal and AO maps
to use as a base for Difuse and Specular textures. Ill
import the model into Maya for some quick rigging and
posing and back into modo for tweaks and nal scene
setup. Lastly, Ill use the textures combined with
advanced shaders to render out the image in a dramatic
environment to complete this magnicent warrior.
Halfway there
y
z
aa
bb
cc
Character
O
ften the best looking images are more than just
rigid, ambient rendered models or grey ZBrush
sculpts they are fully surfaced, posed and
rendered in their own environment that helps to
suggest a mood or story. To help complete the savage
warrior, we will need to create surfaces that look like
worn metal, hard muscle and weathered bone. Then to
bring him to life, we will give him an aggressive pose, in
an unforgiving environment similar to warriors found in
Frank Frazetta paintings.
Continuing with the models created in part one, I will
use the hi-res model in both ZBrush and modo as a
88
Rendering maps
Creating maps from the hi-res model
01 Cavity maps
in ZBrush
I begin by rendering out
as many detail and efect
maps as possible. Since
the hi-res sculpt has the
same UV set as the
modo le, I save Cavity
masks and PolyPaint
maps for each part to
help add more rened
texture detail when re-
creating them later in
Photoshop. The UV Map
Size is set to 8,192 and
each SubTool is
subdivided enough to
smoothly capture detail,
before creating images
A.
02 Render AO
maps in modo
I re-export the Level 1
geometry and use
Decimation Master to
export the hi-res
geometry into modo.
The hi-res and lo-res
geometry parts are
matched up into non-
overlapping sets. The
render resolution is set
to 4,096 x 4,096 and
Render Output set to
Ambient Occlusion,
with Occlusion Rays
raised to 300. All lo-res
geo is enclosed in a
quad ball cage with a
small ground plane with
no UVs B.
A I used PolyPaint with Cavity
masks and RGB set to 10 to
evenly create a series of
maps of the surface detail
B A shade sphere created by
bevelling all the edges and
deleting in-between faces
b
Maya modo
Photoshop ZBrush
Part two:
Texturing,
posing,
rendering
The nal modo render scene.
For further images, see below
Stock images used for
reference and textures:
For the body skin texture:
http://senshistock.deviantart.
com
For anatomy reference photos:
http://mjranum-stock.
deviantart.com
http://vishstudio.deviantart.
com
Environmental details: www.
luxology.com/asset
Background images: www.
deviantart.com
a
source to render and transfer highly detailed texture
bases and masks to the lower-res modo model.
The rendered maps will then be assembled and
cleaned up in Photoshop and modos 3D Paint, before
being used to help create several Difuse, Specular,
and Surface Shader efect maps. Next the model
will be roughly posed in Maya before lastly importing
into modo for composition of the scene, shader setup
and rendering the nal image. All the necessary les
for this part of the tutorial provided on the CD are
listed here so you know what you need to be working
with as you progress.
88
89
03 Render Normal maps in modo
All lo-res geo has a TextureRender material applied with Smoothing Angle set to 180 as well
as a 4,096 x 4,096 blank texture with Efect set to Normal. The hi-res geo also has its own
shader set to 180 to get an even surface. Duplicate Normal maps are rendered out at
diferent distances to help patch out errors caused by surfaces crashing into themselves C.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Axe Battler
ZBrush, Maya, modo, XSI,
Photoshop, Mudbox (2008)
Tarik the Axe Battler created for
the SEGA videogame, Golden
Axe: Beast Rider released on the
Sony PlayStation 3 and
Microsoft Xbox 360. The
character was modelled in
Maya, hi-res sculpt created in
ZBrush, Normal maps created
in Mudbox, Ambient Occlusion
in XSI, textures edited in
Photoshop and modo used for
UV unwrapping, texture clean-
up and rendering. The character
is roughly 15,000 polygons with
three 2,048 x 2,048 map sets.
War Boar
ZBrush GoZ, modo (2010)
A Boar 101st Airborne
Soldier, created using ZBrush
GoZ and modo 401. Since
GoZ really speeds up my
workow, I decided to create
only a test bust before I
proceeded with a full
character model. The base
model and details with UVs
were created in modo, and
then exported to ZBrush for
detailing. I then used GoZ to
transfer mesh edits and
updates between modo and
ZBrush for the hi-res model.
Ultimo Bust
modo, Photoshop (2010)
A close-up of a major boss in the Iron Man 2 videogame. In game, the
character is about 600 feet tall and is comparable to a full and
animated level; basically Iron Man is about the same size as two of
the eyes. This surface of the model is supposed to look massive, with
many small structures, weapons and details.
05 Map assembly and clean-up
All the rendered set maps for AO, Normal, ZBrush Cavity and Photo Color are assembled in
Photoshop, and then the combined images for Color and Ambient Occlusion are re-
imported back into modo for UV seam and rendering error clean-up. Any rendering errors in
Normal maps are patched with new rendered maps, as clean-up on a 3D surface is not
possible with Normal maps E.
04 Projecting
photos in modo
To help the skin look more
convincing I use modos
Paint set to Image Ink to
apply parts of high-
resolution stock photos of
models to create a colour
skin texture. This will be
used to add minor skin
details and help add subtle
skin colour variation to the
nal Difuse, Subsurface
and Specular maps D.
c
d
D Check that Symmetry is set to X when projecting
images onto the geometry
E Use modos Paint with Clone Stamp or a brush
set to Procedural to clean up
e
C I make sure that
there are no
overlapping UVs
as they may cause
Normal map
rendering errors
90
91 91
Texture creation
Making textures in Photoshop and modo
07 Adding colour
The Ambient Occlusion is used with the Alpha map
variations to add to at base colours for the Difuse map.
Each at colour is a new layer: tan for skin, dark grey for
metal, brown for wood, and so on. Working dark to light, I
load alpha selections to add shaded detail using separate
layers for each pass, then import the attened map into
modo for further detail work G.
08 Creating specular
I use a copy of the un-attened Difuse map as the basis for
the Specular map, with some shaded parts around the eyes,
mouth, hands and underarms inverted to increase spec in
those areas. The overall shading is adjusted for each
material type; esh is closer to 50% in Hue with low
contrast, metal is lighter with high contrast, while wood and
cloth are darker with high contrast H.
06 Detailing Ambient Occlusion
Using Photoshop, I combine the ZBrush PolyPaint and rendered Cavity maps as well as the
desaturated Photo Color map to add more details to the rendered AO map. I also create
Alpha channels with copies of the AO, adjusted lighter or darker to provide masks for
additional detail. I will use the Photoshop Unsharp mask and High Pass lter to add more
variations of Alpha channels to help emphasise detail areas F.
09 Making material masks
To apply diferent materials such as skin, metal, leather,
wood and bone in modo, I quickly build black-and-white
masks in Photoshop. Each mask will block out one type of
material. I then import each into modo for edge clean-up
and detailing I.
F I use Alpha maps as a mask to quickly add in
highlights and shading to the Ambient
Occlusion map
G Using modos 3D Paint I add colour details
such as war paint, ne detail decoration and
scars/battle damage etc
H Skin and leather are low in contrast, while
metal is lighter and has a very high contrast
I Black areas mask material efects, while white
areas reveal them
f
g
i
h
Character
Scene composition
Laying out the scene
92
The shader networks in modo work from bottom to top,
much like layers in Photoshop. By using layer masks it is easy
to combine diferent software shader efects on top of one
another. When setting up shaders, I like to have a reasonably
nalised version of the lighting as well as a simple light setup
with only Ambient Occlusion and the default light set to
Sunlight, to make sure the shaders look accurate.
Shader efects
11 Create ow
I use background props to help frame the character and add
to the mood and atmosphere. Each of the elements is placed
to help lead the eye to the main point of focus, as well as
support the models pose. All the elements are at angles to
keep everything dynamic k.
12 Add the props
With the basic composition established, I start to replace
the background proxy objects. The rocky base and columns
have detail added with piles of rocks and clumps of grass.
Lastly, I import and modify vines grown in a freeware
application called An Ivy Generator (see http://graphics.
uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/) l.
14 Let there be light!
With the HDRI image set up, I add a few lights to add colour and pick out form. To add dark
blue to the shadows, I insert a low-angle Directional light that casts no shadow, a blue Rim
light at the back and an Area light to emphasise and ll in the top half of the body n.
j A strong, dynamic pose
helps to lend life and
purpose to the character
k The props and camera angle
are adjusted to best t the
pose and composition
l Creating ivy vines in An Ivy
Generator on the imported
pillar base
m Shapes in modo with several
preset materials that help to
quickly establish surfaces
n Area lights are just enough
to illuminate the model
13 Set atmosphere
Using preset materials included with modo, I apply a Skin
material to the body, Sandstone to the pillars and rocks, plus
Wrought Steel to the weapons, then I turn to lighting. I
switch of all lights, turn on Global Illumination, then import
an HDRI image into the environment to serve as the primary
light; it works particularly well with metallic reections m.
10 Camera angle and pose
Frank Frazettas painting Death Dealer V provided inspiration for mood and composition, with
its lower view angle and stark backdrop. I start with simple polygon shapes as proxies to
help position and pose a copy of the body mesh from Part one. I then use a low camera
angle and the Deform/Flex tool to block out a pose that feels aggressive and dynamic j.
j
k
l
m
n
o I make sure the arm and leg
joints have a bend going into
positive Z, then add IK
p Using the Paint Skin
Weights tool to x blending
q Shifting the weight of the
model to make it a bit
more dramatic
r The vertex deform data is
transferred to the active
Morph map
s Using the Flex and Sculpt
tools, I adjust the nal pose
and deformations
16 Skinning
I use Bind skin with Max inuences set to 1 so I can easily
nd any vertexes that dont belong and x appropriately.
Next I use the Paint Skin Weights tools to quickly blend
between joints, and adjust the weights slightly, testing the
deformation by bending the joints p.
An aggressive pose
Posing the warrior
17 Posing
With the base object imported in for reference, I start to
pose the model, carefully checking from all angles, but
mostly from the compositions low camera angle. With the
pose complete, I detach the skin, and make sure Bake
History is active, then export both the posed and unposed
mesh of the warrior as OBJ les q.
19 Tweaking
The posing in Maya was
rough and joint bends could
look better. With the Morph
map active, I adjust the
deformation at joints and
hips. I will also slightly bulge
out muscle, position the
weapons and add a bit of
variation to the costume
feathers for a ruf ed look s.
93
18 Morph setup
The unposed warrior mesh
and the posed one are re-
imported into modo. I place
the posed version in a
background layer and create
a Morph map for the
unposed mesh and use
Vertex Map/Transfer to
apply the deformation of the
background mesh onto the
morph of the active mesh.
When posing, ensure the
Morph map is active R.
Frank Frazettas paintings have lots of action and colour.
Action shots require a dynamic pose, and I nd that when
deforming or posing geometry in modo, its helpful to use
Morph maps to retain the original shape for additional
editing or to try other poses. For a painterly look, all the
textures use saturated colour rather then blacks and whites
for tone and hue. For the skin, I used a saturated copy of the
main Difuse texture applied to Subsurface Color in the
shader to bring out the skins tans, blues, greens and reds.
Top tip
15 Joint setup
Bringing the warrior into
Maya, I place the geo into its
own layer and set it to
Template. Next I quickly add
the spine joint in the
Orthographic side view up
to the neck and head. I make
joints for the legs and join
them to the hip. In the
Orthographic top view I
create arms and join them at
the shoulder scapula. The
position of the joints should
be close to the centre of the
mass theyre located in o.
o
p
q
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Character
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Creating the surfaces
Setting up advanced surface shaders
t The group mask image is
placed at the top of
each group
u A layer mask is applied to
the base shader to mask out
Subsurface Scattering for
the hair and body paint
v Creating an Incident angle
ramp to add a slight fuzzy
look to the leather edges
w Gold/Bronze metal is added
over the top of the base
metal for more variation
x Using the Difuse settings to
control Subsurface
Scattering colour
20 Add textures
I begin by adding modos preset materials to the character
and separate each of them with a material group mask. I
layer the shaders in order of inside to outside, major to
minor. In order: Skin is rst, followed by Leather, Metal,
Gold, Wood and Bone. I turn of the visibility of any shader
efects for each material and make sure they are all set to
180 degrees Smoothing t.
22 Leather
Leather is similar to the skin with a more matt nish to the
surface and without Subsurface Scattering. To help
emphasise a worn-out look I add the maps for Ambient
Occlusion set to Roughness, and Difuse set to Specular
Color and adjust their values to get twice as much contrast.
Finally I use a ramp set to Incident angle to get the slight
peach-fuzz look to the edges v.
21 The Skin shader
The skin surface is made up of the modo Skin shader preset with Difuse, Specular, Normal,
Subsurface Color and Subsurface Amount textures. When applied, I adjust the high and low
values and opacity of each layer if needed to get the rugged and colourful Frazetta look I am
aiming for. Finally to add a bit more shading, an Ambient Occlusion map is put in the top
layer at 50% Opacity with blending mode set to Multiply u.
A good way to get
convincing lighting is to
illuminate the model with
an HDRI image, with
Global Illumination active.
After a few adjustments,
the result will provide an
even, well-lit model. For
this scene I wanted to add
more colour and drama, so
the HDRI image needed to
have a black base where I
introduced lights to add
coloured shadows.
Use HDRI
for lighting
23 Worn metal
I wanted the metal to look very worn, similar to an old
copper coin. Using the modo preset for Cast Steel as a base,
I add the Difuse, Specular and Normal maps and use them
to drive other efects as well. The Specular map is also used
for Roughness and Reection amount with the high and low
values to create a high, almost black-and-white contrast.
The Difuse map is used to control Specular Color w.
24 Wood and
bone textures
The bone and wood needed
to look aged. The bone has
some Subsurface Scattering
with the efect being much
more desaturated than the
skin, making it somewhat
grey. The wood is not very
glossy and has a more solid
difuse colour, as it needs to
look hard and jagged x.
u
v
w
x
t
95
y Toggling the shaders on and
of really helps to speed up
lighting adjustments
z A Directional light is used to
add more depth to the rocks
and pillars
a a The camera depth is
matched up with the
Depth output settings
b b The nal render
before adjustments
and colour balance
c c Finally some minor light
glow and rim light efects
are added
Finishing touches
Adjusting the light and rendering
29 Post-processing and balance
I use the various other render outputs as either overlays or
Alpha masks to adjust the lighting and surface detail. I also
tweak light and colour saturation to help emphasise the
focal points. I overlay the Difuse Coef cient pass to balance
and x blown-out colour, while AO and Depth are used for
shading tweaks and to bring out outline details c c.
25 Quick adjustments
Its now time to make nal adjustments to the lights. At this
stage, to speed up the renders, I hide everything except the
main areas of focus such as the head, weapons and arms. I
also use the proxy geometry for background elements to
help speed up the renders in the Preview window y.
27 Render settings
I change the default render
setting to 0.1 for Renement
Shading Rate and 1% for
Renement Threshold. I
check lights have a Spread
angle of 10%, leaving Depth
Blur and Bloom to post. To
help in Photoshop, I include
outputs for Final Color,
Alpha, Difuse Coef cient,
AO and Depth a a.
When creating the warrior,
it was important to start
simple and make sure
each stage was well
thought out and carefully
built. The model started as
a box, and a good
silhouette shape was
formed and posed. The
scene composition was
roughed out with primitive
proxy shapes before
adding rocks, leaves and
other details. The lighting
started from one source
and was tweaked before
any surfaces were made.
A good silhouette, clean
textures and the use of
various surface materials
helped to bring this
magnicent warrior
inspired by Frank
Frazettas work to life.
Highly
detailed AO
and masks
28 Clean-up and colour balance
I import all the rendered output into one PSD le. The rst thing to do is clean up any rough
rendering artefacts or edges. Next all images are separated from the black background and
images of a stormy backdrop and a moon from deviantART are added. I then adjust the
colour balance and hues to bring the foreground and background elements together b b.
26 Tweaking light and shade
A couple of additional Directional lights are added to illuminate the silhouette of the
character and some parts of the background. I also add a couple of small Point lights to ll in
areas of shadow. With the nal lighting in place I do another quick pass on the shaders for
any elements that are not working well with the light. I also change the contrast of the
surface shading by adjusting the opacity of the top layer AO maps and setting to Multiply z.
y
z
aa
bb
cc
Character
96
A
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Hodong La
Website www.hodings.com
Country South Korea
Software used 3ds Max, Photoshop,
mental ray
Using mental ray, I rendered all
elements to start and then made
separate passes for Specular, Colour,
Diffuse, Ambient Occlusion and Z-
Depth. For the Z-Depth layer, I used
the Lens Blur lter in Photoshop,
where I also made use of the Color
Balance tool and corrected the overall
contrast. Working with an image of
6,000 pixels, it was a very heavy le!
I believe composition is
very important, but my
work doesnt employ a
difcult technique: I
focus on story, message,
mood and colour.
When establishing the
composition, I spend
most of the time looking
for the right feeling
This giant humanoids name is Roy and his mission is
to nd a way to heal a sick planet Earth. Exploring an
unknown world, during his expedition, he discovers
a blue life form on Mars, capturing a photograph of
it to keep as a record.
D
iscovery 2010
S
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97
Making of The
Sky Fishermen
The Sky Fishermen 2008
Akin Bilgic is a CG/VFX artist
The Sky Fishermen is a stylistic character model inspired by an
evocative piece of concept art by Christopher Stoph Green
I
n this tutorial, well
take an in-depth look at
the character modelling
workow which I used to
create The Sky Fishermen.
Topics covered will include
translating from 2D
concept art, poly modelling
in 3ds Max, digital sculpting
in ZBrush, as well as nal
integration and tweaks
using Photoshop.
The creation of The Sky
Fishermen was a big
challenge in my
development as a CG artist,
and Ill attempt to distil the
successes and errors of the
process so you can learn
from my mistakes and
apply the successful
techniques to your work. If
you have any further
questions after reading this
making-of, I invite you to
contact me through my
website www.cggallery.
com, and Ill do my best to
answer any questions. I
hope you can use these
steps to create your own
concept characters. Enjoy!
Concept
Ideas and reference
01 The concept art
The idea for The Sky Fishermen came from the work of the
amazing concept artist, Christopher Stoph Green. I
stumbled upon his art one day while browsing www.
conceptart.org looking for good concepts to work from
since Im not much of a 2D artist myself. I immediately fell in
love with this concept and knew I wanted to try re-creating
it in 3D. I contacted Stoph shortly after, asked for his
permission, and he was more than happy to have me take a
crack at it. The underlying concept for The Sky Fishermen is a
story about two boys, Eli and Ardent, who ride the skies on
their ying turtle, Artoise, hunting a menacing species of
ying squid that terrorises their skies.
02 Gather reference
One of the most important parts of starting any model is to
take a step back and gather enough reference to help inform
your decisions as an artist. For this project, I gathered as
many sea turtle references as I could get my hands on. I
gathered both real pictures, as well as reference of other
artistic interpretations of sea turtles like the ones done by
Pixar for Finding Nemo. For the boys I gathered reference of
exaggerated childrens facial expressions, and for the hand
poses, pictures of my own hands. Having the right reference
is key to achieving good results.
b
ZBrush 3dsMax Photoshop
a
03 Plan your approach
So now that youve got your reference, you might think its
time to get modelling! But not just yet. I cant express how
much time you can save from the whole process if you just
spend a bit of time planning your approach, identifying
potential problems, and thinking of ways to be ef cient. For
this project, I saw that I had two children that (aside from a
few pieces of clothing) could be made from the same base
model and the front and back ippers of the turtle are very
similar so I could probably use an alpha to get them detailed
quickly. Spending an hour to plan your approach can save
you days of unnecessary work later on.
A Stophs original
concept art
B A reference image
from iStockphoto
C A quick paintover to
gather my thoughts
c
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Modelling
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www.cggallery.com
Country USA
Software used
3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop
Expertise Akin specialises in
character modelling and visual
ef ects, including lighting/
compositing for lm
Akin Bilgic
techniques behind
Name Christopher Stoph Green
Website www.stophdraws.com
Country Australia
Project title The Sky Fishermen
Software Photoshop CS2
About the concept image
This was an entry for a character design challenge back in 2005. After being given the title Sky Fishermen, I
somehow ended up with this quirky result. To be honest, creating the concept was quite simple in comparison to
replicating its success, popularity and longevity even to this day in the rest of my work. I was honoured with
Akins request to realise my concept in 3D and his faithful treatment of the characters is a true credit to his skill.
04 Model the turtle base mesh
I began the modelling process in 3ds Max, as I nd its native poly modelling tools are a very
powerful and quick way to create a clean base mesh for use in ZBrush. I like to keep my base
meshes fairly low-poly and loose just enough to give me an idea of the overall form and
proportions. I constantly referred to the concept art as a guide and made sure the base
mesh would have just enough to work with once I took it into ZBrush for higher level
detailing. The turtle base mesh was constructed from basic geometry using a spherical cube
for the shell and extruded cubes for the ns and neck.
06 Turtle Alpha
map creation
For the ippers and neck, I approached
the sculpting a little diferently. I took a
screenshot of the low-poly ipper base
mesh in ZBrush, took that into
Photoshop, and used it as a guide to
hand-paint a black-and-white Alpha
map. The reason for this was so I could
use photo references to quickly nd a
way to create the intricate pattern I
wanted. Once I was reasonably happy
with the painted pattern, I took the
image into ZBrush and used it as an
Alpha map with the drag-rectangle
stroke to lay the pattern down onto the
higher-res mesh. Once the pattern was
down on the ippers, I went back and
added smaller details and irregularities
so it didnt look too at or uniform,
boosting realism. I also used the lines
as a guide to build up bigger folds and
creases as the appendages merged
into the shell. The same technique was
used for the head and neck areas.
05 Sculpt the turtle
Once I had the base mesh ready, it was time to take it into
ZBrush to really start bringing the turtle to life. I began with
the turtles shell heavily relying on reference images of sea
turtles. Even though the concept is strictly fantasy-based,
having realistic details helps to ground a concept and sell the
characters believability. Most of the sculpting was done by
hand at this point, using the Standard brush with Lazy
Mouse to dene the large scute edges, and Clay Tubes to
create the lined ridge texture on the top of the scutes.
D
D Starting to add some surface
detail to the turtle. Take your
time and experiment
f Using the alpha on the
right to lay down detail in
a controlled and even way
F
Start the modelling
Once we have our reference and approach its time to model!
07 Model the props
For the props, I stayed in 3ds Max to model the high-res
props that would be attached to the turtles body. I felt
having the props on the turtles body early would give me
some additional features to help judge proportions and
would especially help when it came to integrating the
children. 3ds Maxs poly tools are ideal for creating the
precise, hard-surface shapes needed for the props. I made
extensive use of renderable splines for creating ropes and
trim to give additional detail to objects like the saddle and
golf bag that holds the harpoons.
E Simplicity is the key here
add just enough form to block
in loose proportions
G The goggles, saddle and
other prop models created
in 3ds Max
E
G
100
101
10 Sculpt the kids
Once the single base mesh with the two unique sets of
clothing and props were ready, I took them into ZBrush and
began sculpting the higher-res body. The idea was to get the
high-res body sculpt as close to nished as possible, before
duplicating the mesh into two unique copies with their
respective clothing and props. This way I would only have to
sculpt the high-res anatomy once saving me countless
hours. I relied heavily on anatomy reference when sculpting
the body. I collected images from various sources across the
internet and took pictures of myself to use as a guide. I knew
the kids needed to look and feel real in order for the
audience to connect with them. I sculpted as much detail as
I could with the character in its symmetrical T-pose, taking
advantage of ZBrushs Symmetry stroke to again save time
and efort. Im not going too in-depth about the sculpting
process here, but to be honest, there really is no secret trick
to this phase 90 per cent of the workload is being done
with the Move, Standard, Pinch and Inate brushes. It just
takes a lot of time, hard work and tons of reference.
09 Model the kids base mesh
I began modelling the children in 3ds Max. I didnt start from scratch, since I already had a
generic human base mesh that I had modelled from a previous project. It helps save time
and energy to keep a library of generic objects that youve made over time no need to redo
work youve already done! Also in the interest of saving time, I decided that since Eli and
Ardent had very similar anatomy and proportions, that I could use the same base model for
both of them. Using Maxs basic tools like Soft Selection, I took my generic human base
mesh and altered the proportions to better t the look of the boys in the concept art. I then
modelled the clothing and prop base meshes, taking note that the only diferences between
the two kids were their shirts, shoes and headgear. The same base mesh with a new set of
clothing and props made them look like two diferent characters.
08 Prop integration
To integrate the modelled props with the turtle, I brought in
the lowest subdivision level of the sculpted turtle into 3ds
Max. Then, using the standard Transform tools, I moved the
props into place not worrying too much about an exact t.
Next I exported the props into ZBrush and made the nal
alignment with Transpose tools and heavily-blurred masking
to bend solid parts like the pipes that hold the golf bag onto
the shell. Once the props were positioned, the turtle was
mostly nished and it was time to move on to modelling the
kids Eli and Ardent.
H
I
H The props lined up
against the turtle
proxy mesh
I The base mesh is the
same, but clothes and
expressions difer
J The kids sculpted; one of
the base meshes was made
and the other duplicated
It helps save time and energy
to keep a library of generic objects
that youve made over time no
need to redo work youve already
done! Also I used the same base
model for both Eli and Ardent
J
102
11 Pose the kids
Once the high-res body sculpt was ready, I
used ZBrushs Transpose Master toolset to
put the boys in their respective poses. The
pose is a very important aspect of a sculpt
it says a lot about the character so I
wanted to make sure they were just right
before moving on to other parts. Things to
look for when posing your character are
silhouettes, readability from a distance,
conveying weight and motion, and how you
can convey that persons personality
through their posture. A good way to clearly
analyse your characters silhouettes in
ZBrush is to switch the shader to Flat Color.
The facial expressions were also nalised
during this phase mostly by using masking
and the Move brush to change their mouth
shapes, as their eyes are covered by a
helmet and goggles.
Akin Bilgic
Im a modeller/VFX artist currently freelancing and
living in San Francisco, CA. Ive been drawn to CG and
VFX ever since I was a kid, mostly inspired by lms like
Jurassic Park and games like Myst. Since then, the goal
has been to create the visuals for tomorrows great lms.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Leftovers Lounge 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop (2010)
A collaboration with my friend Guillermo Martinez (http://
billybobmartinez.blogspot.com/) for a graphic novel anthology.
Guillermo came up with the concept and I modelled the characters.
Time Trap 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop (2009)
A collaboration with Lior Arditi (http://lioration.cgsociety.org). I
came across his work one day and, like The Sky Fishermen, I fell in love
with his concepts and asked if I could try modelling some of them.
Rockstar Self
Caricature 3ds
Max, Brazil r/s,
Photoshop
(2006)
I decided to
create myself as
a 3D caricature
back when I was
19. The image
was made using
3ds Max and the
Brazil rendering
system.
12 Sculpt the clothing
After the poses were complete, it was time
to sculpt the high-res clothing and
accessories. Its important that you sculpt
clothing after the posing phase, because the
pose will greatly afect how clothes fold and
wrinkle. Hard-surface objects like the shoes
were modelled in 3ds Max, while softer
objects like the shirts, trousers and gloves
were sculpted in ZBrush. This project was
only the second time Id attempted to sculpt
realistic clothing, so it took a bit of trial and
error to get a result I felt was believable. It
helps to give a lot of thought to the specic
material of the clothing, as that tends to
dictate how the folds and wrinkles occur.
For example, for Elis trousers, I decided
they were probably jeans, which are fairly
heavy and have larger, less frequent
wrinkles. For Ardents shirt, the opposite: a
thin cotton T-shirt material with lots of
creases being afected by everything from
the belt around his waist to the wind. Again,
lots of time, hard work and references led to
the nal result.
K Ardent posed over the proxy turtle shell
L Consider clothing material dynamics to get
realistic results
13 Final integration
Up to this point, the kids and
the turtle have been kept in
separate les for the sake of
viewport interaction and
cutting down on saved le
size. Now its time to bring
them all together and start
looking at the model as a
whole, instead of the sum of
many smaller parts. This
phase is mostly about
tweaking proportions and
making sure the scale of
details match between all
the elements. Again I
heavily rely on ZBrushs Flat
Color shader to check my
silhouette and make sure
everything reads clearly and
isnt visually confusing.
M Integrating the kids with
the turtle and the props
making sure everything
works together
K
L
M
N Make sure the artwork
conveys the essence of
the original concept
O A few render passes from
ZBrush composited
together in Photoshop
P The 3D print done by
Of oad Studios it looks
stunning in real life
Q The nal sculpt
Finalise the model
Almost there, time to wrap it all up!
15 Lighting/rendering/compositing
To showcase the nished model, I decided to explore
ZBrushs material capture system to create the nal renders
and composite them in Photoshop. This phase was really
just a lot of experimentation and trial and error. I would
render the model with diferent MatCaps, bring them into
Photoshop and layer them atop one another with diferent
blending modes to see if any interesting results occurred. I
got an interesting look that showed of the details by mixing
a Clay and Copper render. I enhanced it by giving it a soft
gradient background to simulate a lighting stage and added
a bit of specular bloom to really make it pop.
103
16 3D printing
the model
After the 3D model was
complete, I had the great
pleasure of having the
fantastic Of oad Studios
ofer to create an 18-inch tall
physical 3D print of the
model. Of oads team took
care of everything for me
making sure my source les
worked with its printing
technology and even baking
an Ambient Occlusion map
to help highlight smaller
details (its printers can print
textures as well). The
studios work is truly
amazing and its been
awesome to be able to see
and touch something I
created solely on the
computer. Be sure to check
out the rest of the
companys work at
www.of oadstudios.com.
14 Final polish
With the kids and turtle nished and in place, I gave the entire
model one nal polish pass. During this step, I tweaked
proportions, slightly altered poses and cleaned up any areas I
might have overlooked. At this stage its no longer about the
model looking like the concept art its about the model
feeling and conveying the mood of the concept art even if
that means making alterations that deviate from the original
concept. I pushed Ardents pose a little further to really sell
the mid-throw moment, and arched Elis head and posture
back so it would read better in 3D space. Once it had passed
this phase, the modelling was nished.
N
O
And there you have it! Id like to thank
you for reading, and thank 3D Artist
magazine for allowing me to share my
work with you. Once again, if you have
any further questions about this tutorial
or any of my work, please feel free to
contact me through my website (www.
cggallery.com) and Ill try my best to
help out. Happy creating!
Final thoughts
Q
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esolution
:
4,000 x 3,600
1
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104 3DArtist
Step by step:
Create a sexy
fairy woman
Sexy fairy 2009
Kleber Darcio Loreno Silva
specialises in modelling, texturing,
concept art and composition
The biggest
challenge was to give
a sensual tone to the
scene and make the
hair of the character.
The idea was it would
be beautiful, owing
and sensual, with a
natural tone
BodyPaint Photoshop 3dsMax Mental Ray ZBrush
104
T
his tutorial will explain the process I used to
create this character. The model was made
from a base mesh of an old character that Id
made previously. The technique used was poly by
poly with added detailing using ZBrush. The model
was exported to ZBrush, rened, then brought back
to 3ds Max to continue the process of creation.
ZBrush wasnt used to model the character as such,
more to add the details. The biggest challenge was
to give a sensual tone to the scene and make the hair
of the character. The idea was it would be beautiful,
owing and sensual, with a natural tone. The
renderer used for the scene was Mental Ray FG,
especially in the swimsuit. I used a SSS shader to
create the skin and various maps were used to create
layers compositing such as difuse, specular and
reection. Photoshop and BodyPaint were used to
paint the texture of the fairy, Photoshop did all the
background work and BodyPaint was used to paint
the details directly on the character.
to the nal render
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www.kleber3d.com
Country Brazil
Hardware used Intel Core
i7-860 (2.80 GHz), 4GB DDR3
Expertise Modelling, texturing,
concept art, lighting and
composition
Kleber Darcio
Loreno Silva
Concepts
The inspiration behind the scene
Concepts,
modelling,
lighting
01
The concept for
the fairy was inspired
by the models of the Victorias
Secret lingerie fashion show.
The idea was to give the
character an air of sensuality
and beauty. Transmitting this
concept to a virtual character
was a big challenge. The
problem is that actual models
are gorgeous and know how to
work the camera with their
eyes and sensuality. The
virtual character would have
to convince the viewer without
any of these advantages.
02
The image was designed to
mix beauty with a nice 3D
fantasy environment. One of the
challenges was to make the scene with
beautiful shades of colours, making it
visually surreal and highlighting every
detail of the character. The lighting was
to simulate a studio light made by a
photographer. The image had to present
cold tones mixed with vibrant colours of
the wing and butteries.
03
The choice of the
background of the
scene was set to look like the
fairy was sitting posing for a
photograph, but with a surreal
touch. So, this was simulated
by an articial forest, with
a ray of sunshine shining
through the trees to give an
air of fantasy. It also created
volumes of light where the
butteries were ying.
Character
3DArtist 105 105
Modelling the fairy
Creating the picture
05
The hair used the technique of
planes combined with textured hair
and fur using 3ds Max. The planes had the
colour and texture of hair and a map in the
alpha channel opacity of the tips. In the more
voluminous areas, hair planes were used more.
The individual hair and fur was mostly used in
the loosest of threads.
06
The clothing
items were created
to be sensual but not vulgar
as the fairy would have to be
sensual. I created the cloth with
a golden glow that involved the
lighting of the scene. The
clothing model was made upon
the body of the character data
and the details such as
deformation and folds were
added in ZBrush.
07
The fairy wings
were made with the
same technique that was used
in the hair. They were planes
onto which the texture was
painted. Then the opacity and
translucence was set in the
shader. The blue colour
contrasts with the colour tone
of the scene, highlighting the
character and breaking the
cooler tone of the scene.
08
The expression of the character had to be sexy, but
would have to be pure and delicate, with a more serene,
beautiful and engaging tone. The structure made in 3ds Max had
assistance from morphs where various expressions were made by
adding some expression combinations. So I experimented with
nervous eyes contracting, her mouth open, eyes closed, but the
nal image was the serene expression you see.
04
The model was made from the
base mesh of an old character I had
already made. The technique used was poly
by poly, rening the model. The character was
placed in the pose bones so it could be
manipulated. ZBrush was used to dene and
add details to the mesh of the character. This
created more denition and subtlety in the
expression of the character.
106
Kleber Darcio Loreno Silva
I have been working with 3D for some time, and have
always focused on quality and detail. I have focused
primarily on modelling, then renders so I could nish
a scene completely. I have worked on large projects
and am very happy to work for the love of 3D.
Robot 3ds Max, Photoshop, BodyPaint, ZBrush, V-Ray (2009)
A character created for the client Potugal. Modelled in 3ds Max
with help from BodyPaint and Photoshop. Rendered in V-Ray.
Lady-bird 3ds Max, Photoshop, BodyPaint, ZBrush,
V-Ray (2009)
A character created for animation. Modelled in 3ds Max, ZBrush,
also BodyPaint, Photoshop. Rendered in V-Ray.
Wonder Woman 3ds Max, Photoshop, BodyPaint, ZBrush,
Mental Ray (2009)
A character created for studies thats my personal vision about
Wonder Woman. I hope you like it. Modelled in Max, ZBrush, also
BodyPaint, Photoshop. Rendered in Mental Ray. The hair was made
in hairfx combined with textured planes.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Refining the scenery and lighting
10
To generate the
lighting three
Photometria lights were used:
the key light, front light and side
light. These provided the
ambience for the scene. Each
light colour was set to match
the colour palette of the scene.
The lights had an important
function because in nature,
light ows, revealing and
concealing areas. The light
shines, reects, refracts, reacts
and difuses into the air. The
light is warm or cold, high or
low, near or far, bright or dark,
strong or mild. In the digital
world lighting is a matter of
calculation. Normal alignment,
G-bufers and Z-bufers
determine the display of light.
Where the calculation misses
the mark, the artist has to
compensate and correct. The
temperature of light is a
technical aspect that can afect
the emotion of your scene.
Essentially the temperature of
light is a physical aspect of the
light source which afects the
colour of the light. However, it
is not the same as using colour
lters on lights to create colour.
Volumetric lighting
09
The lighting was done to highlight the curves of the
character and to make the scene more fanciful. For this
a key light interacts with the ambient light that falls on the trees
along with the butteries. The key light is set to let the strongest
points of light mark the silhouette of the character. The sidelights
give more depth to the skin tones and the clothing. Colour and light
are two powerful tools that help enhance the mood of a scene that
has been established by the composition, camera angles and
characters. Firstly you see the result of light being reected from
a surface up to the eyes. The colour is a quality of light taken from
a surface, based on the frequency range.
11
The characters shader was made with the SSS Fast
Skin in Mental Ray. The skin needed to have the exact
brightness to make
it both realistic and
fanciful, then working
with lighting shader
to achieve that result.
Maps were used to
work together to result
in uniformity between
the dermis, epidermis
and subcutis skin layers
and the specular and
reection aspects.
12
The backdrop was all done in 3D. The vegetation
was created in 3ds Max and rendered with Mental Ray.
Once completed the background image was placed in the
composition. The layer was designed to merge with a colour
palette to create a more pleasant scene in accordance with the
skin tones of the fairy. Making the character was the highlight
of the scene.
13
To create the nal
image I separated
z-depth maps for depth and
occlusion maps to dene
shadows and contacts were
rendered. These were then
composited in Photoshop. The
fairy character was actually
rendered separately and then
the two images were
combined with a colour map
being used to match the
ambience between the two.
The greatest dif culty in creating the image was deciding
which technique would be better for the hair. The textures
were made and painted in Photoshop with an extra touch
in BodyPaint. The lighting was done with a keylight and
side lights, with the toning following the colour palette.
The best option for this was to use Photometria lights
before rendering the scene with Mental Ray.
The lighting plan
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Character
107
Portrait
masterclass
Pardon 2010
Majorgaine is a freelance illustrator
In this portrait, expression and gestures are of
great importance when it comes to depicting a
realistic face with a touch of fantasy art
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www.renderosity.com/mod/
gallery/browse.php?user_
id=443303
Country Germany
Software used
Poser, DAZ Studio, Vue Pro
Studio, Bryce, Apophysis,
Photoshop
Expertise Majorgaine
specialises in portraits and
landscapes, as well as fantasy
and sci- styles
Majorgaine
techniques behind
Modelling,
painting
T
his tutorial describes the
working process behind my
portrait, Pardon. I used several
objects and textures from the library in
DAZ Studio 3. In addition to Photoshop, I
utilised Photoshops virtualPhotographer
lter and the Rons Pinstriping brushes. For
editing in Photoshop, I also used a Wacom
tablet. At the beginning of my art projects, I
often only have a rough idea of the nal
result, without any exact vision. My policy is
more intuitive than conceptual. I experiment
with a range of varied equipment before I
decide upon a denite procedure. However, in
the interests of establishing a chronological order
to my workow, I will waive some of the
experimental steps in this guide. As with all of my
portraits, the gestures and, above all, the facial
expression and look in the eyes are the most
important elements for me. From the start, I had
quite a clear impression of what I was trying to
achieve with the image, even if the picture itself
was not already formed in my head this aspect
evolved as the project progressed.
DAZ3D Poser Photoshop
VuePro
Studio
Apophysis
108
01 Figure loading and morphing
The rst step is to open DAZ Studio and load Victoria 4. Next you have to load the morphs
of the gure. For this, we used the Poser library, which you can nd in DAZ Studio. When you
install DAZ Studio, search for all the compatible folders and it should appear in the content
column. To use the Poser library, go to Figures>DAZ-People>Victoria 4.2. Then go to
Poses>DAZ-Victoria 4>Morph Injections>INJ Morphs++ V4 A.
A Load the gure and the
morphs into DAZ Studio
b Choose the character and
the textures of the gure
c Modify the character of
the gure
d Dress the model and add
hair and jewellery
02 Choose your character and
the textures
Now you have to pick a character and a texture from your
library. Proceed as the following: Poses>(choose the
character you want) Tosca>Farissa>Poser
MATS>2BrowsBrown. For changing the eye texture, go to
Poses>Tosca>Farissa>Poser MATS>3Eyes b.
03 Modify the
character
The next step is to remodel
the face. For this, go to the
scene and choose the
gures head by opening the
folder until the head appears
(or select by clicking on the
face). Zoom in on the model.
In the Parameters palette,
its possible to modify
particular features for
expressions and visemes
(facial cues which represent
speech sounds) c.
Building up the portrait
Arranging the scene in DAZ Studio
Problems and solutions
To be able to work with DAZ Studio, you have
to start by equipping the library with objects
and textures. The gures get loaded morphs
and, from that point, you can alter the face
and body. If you have Poser, you can use its
library within DAZ Studio, which is what we
did for this piece of work.
The library contains gures (people,
clothes, hair, etc) as well as poses and
textures and lighting scenarios, which can
be adapted to the particular scene. The main
job is nevertheless the editing of the
rendered picture in Photoshop. Because
were not only trying to make the image as
detailed as possible but also give it a touch of
fantasy, we use a graphics tablet which
enables us to work in great detail. In
addition, we use Photoshops extensive tools
such as colour adjustment, the amendment
of contrast and posterisation, layer options,
and the different brushes and lters.
Of special importance is to work with
transparent layers. It is worth noting that
this tutorial refers to the particular objects,
textures or Photoshop plug-ins within our
library, so youll have to use similar items
from your own libraries and a little intuition
to complete this exercise.
B
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04 Add clothing, hair and jewellery
Next you can choose hair, clothing and accessories from the
library and adjust to the gure. For the dress, follow:
Figures>V4 Morphing Clothes>Fantasy Dress>Fit to
blMilWom_v4b, 2. For the hair: Figures>AprilAoife>Aoife>
Victoria4>Fit to blMilWom_v4b, 3. For the jewellery:
Figures>DAZs Victoria Clothing>V4_FantasyCollarBig>Fit
to blMilWom_v4b, 4. And nally, for the crown and earrings
(rst choose the gures head), then go to:
Props>Chex>Psyche Jewels>Crown and Earring L d.
Character
3DArtist 109 109
e Changing textures of the
clothing, hair and collar
f Change the camera
justication and pose the model
g Choose and edit lighting for
the scene
h The render setup for the
nal render image
05 Texture clothing, hair and collar
Now take the textures for the dress, the hair and the
jewellery from the library. Beforehand, make sure you have
clicked on the particular object you want to texture. For the
dress: Poses>V3MorphingFantasyDress>Camelot
Guenivere. For the hair: Poses>AprilAoife>2M Blonde and for
the collar: Poses>V3FantasyCollarSet e.
07 Choose and edit the lighting
The basic lighting for this image was reused from an earlier
project. For this portrait, we modied the lighting until the
face was best illuminated. Now you have to choose each and
every light in the scene layer and modify it in the Parameters
palette for Intensity, Color and Shadow Type (note the Deep
Shadow Map has a much shorter rendering time). You can
also adjust the distance and rotation of the
light. To check the lighting efects, do
several trial renders g.
06 Pose the model
Before posing the model, choose a camera perspective for
the nal scene with the default camera. Select a pose from
the library which is as close as possible to what you have in
mind, then adjust the pose until it ts your scene. If you cant
nd one thats appropriate, pose the gure yourself. For this,
use the controller on the Parameters palette. Youll nd that
for every part of the model there are the options: Twist,
Front-Back, Up-Down or Bend, Twist, Side-Side f.
08 Render Settings and rendering
After posing the gure, choosing the camera perspective and
nishing the lighting, the image can be rendered. For the
rendering options, go to Render>Render Settings. Here you
can adjust the format and size of the picture. For this portrait,
we choose 3,000 x 3,000 pixels. Check New Window to
render the picture in its own window. We also switched the
rendering option from Fast-Time Renderer to Software
Renderer for the nal rendering. All other adjustments can be
seen on the screenshot h.
Finalise the scene
Pose and light your model
Objects and
textures used
We used the following
objects and textures
within the scene.
From DAZ 3D: Victoria 4.2
Base, Victoria 4.2
Morphs++, V4 Morphing
Fantasy Dress, V4 Fantasy
Collar, Aoife Hair, V3
Fantasy Collar Set, Once
Upon A Time: Camelot,
Farissa for V4
From Renderosity:
Psyche Jewels
F
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110
i Create a new layer and tint it
j Adjust the Contrast for
greater colour intensity
k Paint more detailed hair on a
separate layer
l Edit lips and eyes on
diferent layers
m Create a new layer to
paint shadows for the dress
and jewellery
10 Adjust the contrast
The next step is to increase the contrast to give the
portrait more brilliance in colour. At rst, youre only
doing this for the basic layer the one that the portrait
is on so select this layer again. Proceed as follows:
Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and increase
Contrast to 17 j.
Painting in the details
Start to edit with Photoshop
13 Separate layer for shadows
To gain a greater 3D efect, make a separate layer for
the small shadows, which are cast on the skin by
jewellery and clothes. With the airbrush (Diameter
approximately 200), you have to hem the jewellery and
the clothes on this layer. For this, choose a colour which
is similar in shade to the gures skin, but darker in tone.
Then, add a Hard Light blending mode. Colour which
was accidentally drawn over the edges of the clothes
can now be removed carefully using the Eraser with a
low-diameter brush m.
09 Load the basic render
into Photoshop
The basic render you just completed
in DAZ Studio and saved as a PNG
le, has to be loaded in Photoshop
(File>File open>Folder>Image
(Pardon basic render)>Open. Next
you need to cut the image with the
Crop tool. Create a new layer and
name it Background layer. Now you
have to pull this layer with the cursor
under the Layers palette, before
choosing the colour for the
Background layer and ll using the
Paint Bucket tool I.
11 Paint the hair
One of the most complex and
detailed steps is editing the hair. To
manage a look that is as natural as
possible, you have to draw single
wisps of hair on special layers. For
this, initially use a brush size of 3-
5px, and after choose the basic
colour of the existing hair with the
Eyedropper tool. Now you have to
draw several wisps of hair line by
line. Afterwards, add shadows and
then highlights to the hair with a
brush size of between 1-2px. At
the end of the process, hair which
is not needed can be erased on the
basic layer with the Eraser tool k.
Where to find the objects
and other equipment
Objects and textures for the DAZ Studio or Poser
library can be downloaded from www.daz3d.com,
www.runtimedna.com, www.renderosity.com or
www.xurge3d.com. DAZ Studio itself is a freeware
program and can be downloaded from its website.
Rons Pinstriping can be bought from the
MarketPlace at Renderosity.
K
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12 Edit the eyes and lips
Now you can edit the eyes and the lips. For this, make three
separate layers (using the process described in Step 9). On
the rst two layers, change the eye colour, for example, from
green to blue for this, use a hard brush with a small
diameter. Choose a colour and an in-keeping blending mode
(in this case, Hard Light). The same steps can be performed
for the lips layer, but this time with Soft Light blending l.
Character
111
15 Paint the glove
Now create a new layer for drawing
the glove. First of all, choose a basic
colour for the foreground of the
glove. The Opacity of the glove layer
should be made approximately 75%
to let the edges of the hand shine
through that way you avoid
drawing over the edges. Its
convenient to make the Background
layer invisible during this step. With
lighter and darker tones and the
airbrush, you can add depth and
light afterwards o.
Keep on painting
Continue to add painted details
16 Re-editing
the eyes
Before the next step, change
the background colour once
again. Now create a new layer
to give the eyelashes more
density. The colour should be
nearly black and the Diameter
of the hard brush 1-2px. Also
add shadow and light efects
to the eyes and lips on the
basic portrait layer using the
Dodge and Burn tools p.
17 Merge layers and
adjust colour
To be able to work any further on
the image, you have to merge all
the layers together now. Its
advisable to make a copy
beforehand to save any previous
work for a possible re-edit. To
merge the layers, go to: Layer>
Merge Visible and keep on
working with the one layer. Next
decrease the yellow tones of the
picture by 40% (Image>
Adjustments>Hue/
Saturation>Edit>Yellows) q.
n Edit the models
shoulders and armpits
with the Healing Brush
o Create a new layer
for painting the glove
p Editing the eyes
and lips and painting
the lashes on another
new layer
q Combine all the
layers and adjust the
yellow tones
14 Edit the shoulders
Since DAZ Victoria 4s armpits are set too high, they
have to be edited to increase realism. For this, use the
following tools: Healing Brush (Diameter around 100)
and airbrush (Diameter around 300). First of all create
a new layer. With the Healing Brush, hit Opt/Alt and a
relevant part of the skin, then draw over the parts that
need correction. With the airbrush, you can level the
diferences in the colour n.
n
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q
112
Majorgaine
Born in 1962 and raised in East Berlin, I acquired all my
artistic knowledge and skills through self-study since I
refused to study arts because I opposed the ruling
regime. Today, Im a freelance illustrator and graphic
designer. Since 2004, Ive delved into the digital arts,
especially renderings.
Cant Fight This
Feeling Poser,
Photoshop (2008)
This is an image made
with Poser 7 and
edited with
Photoshop, showing
the DAZ Michael 4
gure. The tattoo is
completely made with
brushes in Photoshop.
White Elf DAZ Studio, Photoshop (2008)
This is a simple render with DAZ Studio 2. The whitening efect was
achieved in Photoshop with the Levels Eyedropper option.
Porcelaine Poser,
Photoshop (2010)
This portrait is made
with Poser 7 and
edited with
Photoshop. It shows
the contrast of skin
shining like chinaware
and the various violet
colour tones.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Refining the portrait
Add finishing touches to your image
r Use the
virtualPhotographer plug-in
for a soft shine efect
s Hemming the image with
a large airbrush in the
background colour
t Colour adjusting once
again and more lighting
efects with Flashlight
u Create a new layer and
use Rons Pinstriping brushes
v Create a thin frame and
write the signature
18 Use the
virtualPhotographer lter
For the next step, we use the
virtualPhotographer lter, which is not
a basic inclusive of Photoshop but a
third-party plug-in from optikVerve
Labs. With this, we achieve a soft
shine efect and a higher brilliance of
colours. To keep the sharpness of the
face, you have to double the layer
beforehand (Layer>Layer Duplicate).
After using the lter, the face can be
erased to make the unltered layer
shine through r.
21 Layer for applications
One of the last steps is to add some applications. We use Rons
Pinstriping, which has to be installed additionally to the included brush
presets. From those, we choose the Fitting Brush application and rstly
put them on separate layers to individually resize and erase whats not
needed. After this, all are merged in one layer (make the basic layer
invisible for this). In Layers, apply an Exclusion blending mode u.
22 Frame and signature
Next, delineate with the Rectangle Marquee tool on
a new layer. To make a thin frame, use the Subtract
from Selection option. This way, youre able to
delineate a second rectangle inside the rst and
then colour the space in between with the Brush
tool. Lastly create another layer to add your
signature with the graphics pen v.
19 Hem the image with
the airbrush
The next step is to hem the whole image with a soft
airbrush. The Diameter of the brush should be about
1,000 and the colour the same as the background.
By choosing the soft airbrush, youll gain a covering
efect on the outer edges of the picture, but a
transparent efect on the inner edges. You can do
this step on a separate layer and merge this later
with the one below s.
20 Readjust the colour
and light
After this, decrease the yellows
again by about 40% to make it less
dominant (see Step 17). Afterwards
re-illuminate the whole picture with
the rendering lter: Filters>
Rendering Filters>Lighting Efects>
Flashlight. Make the diameter larger
than the picture, the centre as the
middle of the face, all colours white,
Intensity 13, Gloss -33, Material 100,
Exposure 0 and Ambience 18 t.
Render time
Resolution:
3,000 x 3,000
27 minutes
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Character
113
Maya Photoshop mental ray
to the nal render
A
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http://stroggtank.cgsociety.org
Country Mexico
Hardware used Intel Core i7
920, 6GB RAM
Expertise Carlos specialises
in 3D modelling, UV mapping
and texturing
Carlos Ortega
Elizalde
Username: carlosortega3d
Supplied on the disc is the
model of the bow with UVs
in OBJ format.
tesalia_bow_3da.obj
116
T
esalia was created from scratch in Maya and
rendered in mental ray. I created her as one of
the two main characters for an animated story
which Im still developing. I went for keep-all elements in
a stylised fashion, keeping cartoony proportions without
being too childish. One thing I took a lot of care with was
the modelling. As this is a female character, the
silhouette had to be thin and delicate, but balanced and
solid at the same time. The armour, weapon proportions,
facial expressions and colour palette had to reect the
attitude of the character: cute, pure and delicate, yet
dangerous, agile and strong. The nal rigging was one
of the most dif cult tasks, as it was tricky to manage
extreme positions in face and body and avoid a harsh
look at the same time. At the end of the project, the rig
could have used a bit more cleaning, but that stage was
enough for the still images purpose.
Step by step: Model
a cute fantasy figure
Tesalia 2010
Carlos Ortega Elizalde specialises in modelling and texturing
A young female centaur visiting the ruins of her
birthplace Arkadhia, an ancient mystical city
Concepts
01
I created the original model about six
years ago in Carrara 2, as one of my rst 3D
works since centaurs are one of my favourite fantasy
characters. Back then, my skills were pretty low,
so this year I decided to model the character again
with more style and detail.
02
I changed some things from my original
concept like thinner proportions and a
diferent hairstyle. I did a quick sketch in Photoshop to
block the main proportions of the body and the zones
the armour would cover, as well as the basic colour
palette, which consists of a dark magenta and white.
03
Most of the inspiration I had for the armour
ornaments were the beautiful oral graphics
created in the Arts and Crafts movement and, in a
special way, one of the pages of The Centaur, which has
beautiful decoration. This helped me to enforce the
pure and elegant nature I wanted for my character.
Modelling
Character
3DArtist 117 117
Creating the model
How the centaur girl was created
06
The legs were modelled extruding from the waist edges
of the torso. I modelled the whole horse body almost as an
animal counterpart of the human torso, aiming to produce delicate
but athletic legs. I created the horse body so it could be recognised
as female just from looking at the animal part.
04
Using my sketch as reference,
I imported it into Maya as an image
plane to maintain proportions. Since this was a
new version of my character and not a diferent
one, I used only my old models head as a
reference, though many of the details were
rened later to suit the new style.
08
To rene the detail in the hair,
I inserted several edge loops in each
stripe of hair, then moved some of the new
edges outwards and others inwards, to
reinforce the simulation of the hair density
in each strand and the ow of each stripe.
05
The human torso was probably
the part on which I spent the most
time. It had to have nice topology and decent
anatomy, but still be recognisable as part of
a stylised, cartoony character. I went for an
athletic and slender body, trying to mix it with
an elegant, cute and attractive look.
07
The hair consists of at polygonal
planes. I started using a cylinder to
recreate the mane and tails volume, then
I extracted several strands to get a nice density
of thin planes. I sculpted them by moving
vertices by hand and using modiers like
Bend and Twist on each strand.
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Carlos Ortega Elizalde
Im a graphic designer and 3D artist from Guanajuato,
Mexico. I currently work as a tutor in the media
department in Guanajuato University, focusing on
Motion Graphics and 3D art most of the time. Im also a
freelance 3D modeller although I often nd that personal
3D design work is almost a full-time job in itself.
End of the Year Maya, Photoshop (2009)
This images shows a weird New Years party taking place in a
space-based environment, attended by just a robot and an octopus.
In the Ice Zone Maya, Photoshop, mental ray (2010)
The Echidna, all-terrain vehicle in a mission through the Ice Zone.
This model was created for an online speed modelling contest.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Fulgencius the Wise
Maya, Photoshop (2009)
Fulgencius, aka The Wise.
He might be wise, but he
has a terrible memory.
Tonight is this 200-year-old
wizards birthday party, but
he cant remember where
its taking place!
Finishing touches and the environment
Refining details
I painted all textures by
hand. I didnt want to
create realistic skin or
hair (just personal taste),
so I only painted diferent
skin tones and very
subtle moles in the skin
map, while for the hair, I
painted colour variations
as well as an Alpha map
for the tips of the hair. I
used the misss_fast_skin
shader for the skin, an
Anisotropic shader for
the hair and a Blinn
shader for the armour. I
kept my palette to a few
colours the dark
magenta with gold hints
to suggest royalty, but
included some wear in
the armour to prove this
girl knows how to handle
herself in battle.
Colours and
materials
09
The last step for this character was to model the
armour and bow. I started with all the armour plates,
most of which consisted of extracted geometry from the
body, then tweaked and rened them to t the way I needed.
I modelled several pieces of ornamentation to use later as
accessories for the armour.
10
The basic bow shape was created from a cylinder,
extracting the top face and tweaking the verts as I
progressed. The bows decoration was added later as separate
geometry, using some of the pieces Id previously created. The
rest of the accessories consist of earrings, an arm bracelet and
a diadem for the head.
11
I created a rig for the face
and body to get several
expressions and poses, from which
I picked a couple to render inside an
environment as still images. The
environment which I decided to
create was the ruins of the main city
where the whole story plays out,
adding a more solid context for the
viewer from a still image.
12
Taking inspiration from some Ancient Greek ruins,
I modelled a series of arches and columns, in which I
sculpted some damage using Subdivision surfaces. I duplicated
the arches section to get a decent set of architecture that could
resemble the ruins of a once powerful ancient city.
13
The nal touches
regarding the modelling
of the whole scene was the
addition of plants and owers.
The ground is a simple plane
deformed with Mayas Sculpt
tool. The grass, plants and
owers were created using
Paint Efects and then
converted to polygons.
Character
119
T
he saying a picture is worth a thousand words was
my primary guideline on this project and I hope this
image can say a few words. It was a big challenge for
me at that time to overcome technical challenges because
this was one of my rst Maya projects, but even more
challenging was to create something that would touch the
viewer. I have always wanted to model Frankensteins monster
because hes a classic character with such a strong story, so
this was a great opportunity. Many great artists have done
their versions of this subject and they did great work, which
makes my job more dif cult. I thought the best way to reach
the viewer was through facial expression and the look of his
eyes that would tell the story about a sad, lonely monster.
With that in mind, I planned how to achieve my goal. The rst
thing was to split all the work into diferent tasks: sculpting a
base mesh, retopology, making a high-denition sculpt with
new clean topology, making clothes, posing, unwrapping,
texturing, lighting, rendering and, nally, compositing.
Step by step: Build
your own monster
Frankensteins Monster 2009
Anto Juricic specialises in character modelling and texturing
My primary goal was to create a portrait that
would have some sort of impact on the viewer
Concepts
01
With every personal project I do,
I am trying to learn something new through
creation rather than using the same workow over
again. This time I decided to take a more artistic
approach and use digital sculpting as much as
I could. The quickest way for me was to make
a simple ZSphere bust model in ZBrush.
02
After extending a few spheres from the
central one to shape the shoulders, neck and
face, I converted the ZSpheres to geometry. This
made my rst base mesh, which I would use for
sculpting a generic human bust. The best tool for
shaping geometry at this stage is the Move brush, and
for higher levels I mostly used the Clay Tubes brush.
03
After making the basic bust shape, the next
task was to make a new topology that I could
use later for texturing and rendering in Maya. I used
ZBrush retopology tools for the task and reshaped the
new topology to create the overall monster shape.
120
Sculpting,
modelling,
lighting
to the nal render
A
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anto-toni.cgsociety.org
Country Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Hardware used Dual core
2.21GHz, 2GB RAM
Expertise Anto specialises
in character modelling
and texturing
Anto Juricic
time by using the ZBrush
model and maps.
Franky posed.ZTL
Silo Photoshop UVLayout ZBrush Maya
121
Modelling the monster
Bringing out the details
05
After a couple hours of sculpting, I was happy with
the results and I added some clothes which I modelled in
Silo. Making the facial expression really gave life to this work and
for that task I mostly used Move and Nudge brushes and
Transpose tools for posing. I also added some simple geometry
for the eyes and metal parts on the neck.
04
The best advice I can give regarding sculpting is to
not rush in too soon with the details. Overall shape and
form is more important than skin pores and a few wrinkles, so
make sure that you have used every polygon before stepping up
to next SDiv level. Again, for this step I used the Move brush, Clay
brush and custom Standard brush.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Obama Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop
(2008)
This was my rst Maya render. I chose
Mr Obama because of his characteristic
facial features. Im fairly happy with the
likeness, but mostly I am satised by the
overall look, especially the lighting and
shading. I reused this lighting later on the
Frankensteins Monster image.
The Incredible Hulk
ZBrush, 3ds Max,
Photoshop (2008)
This was one of my rst
fully completed 3D
renders and I still like it
today. The main goal
was to test and set up
a pipeline and workow
for future works. I made
the base mesh in 3ds
Max, sculpted in ZBrush
and rendered back in
3ds Max.
The Greatest ZBrush (2009)
This is a digital sculpture, made entirely
in ZBrush, which served as a great
opportunity for practising the anatomy
of the male torso. I also tested some new
features in ZBrush 3.5 R2 on this project
and it was great fun.
08
Rendering of hair was a bit dif cult and after much
trial and error I decided to render hair with Maya
software render, which is quite fast for this task. I also rendered
one additional pass to improve the overall look of the hair, by
adding ambient occlusion rendered with mental ray.
06
I have tried a few diferent solutions
for hair and the one that works best for
me is the Shave and Haircut plug-in for Maya.
If you are working in 3ds Max, that plug-in is
already implemented as the hair and fur system.
Basically, workow is simple: I made a scalp
geometry which I populated with hairs.
07
Shave and Haircut is also powerful
for simulating dynamics, so rst I
simulated some freefall of hair over the head
geometry. Combing hair was really fun with the
many brushes integrated in this tool and I found
that using the Translate and Puf Hairs Up
brushes alternately worked best for me.
122
Anto Juricic
I am a self-taught and highly
motivated 3D artist
specialising in modelling and
texturing. Im very passionate
about modelling and
texturing characters and
creatures. I currently live in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and
I work in the Prime Time
production studio in Sarajevo
as a character modeller.
Getting the right look and feel
Textures and lighting
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4
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Among all the technical challenges that I came across
in this project, making the facial expression was the most
dif cult since I did not do any concepts or pre-
visualisation. To make this image look realistic I needed
a good understanding of how human skin reacts to light
and to translate this to the mental ray skin material. Also,
diferent light types react diferently with this material and
I recommend area lighting as the best solution. For
creating hair I used the Shave and Haircut plug-in. For
rendering hair I used Maya, which does so really fast.
Biggest challenges
09
After completing all the geometry,
the next step was to make clean UV
coordinates. For that task I used the headus
UVLayout application, which is great for making
fast and clean UVs on organic models. This task
is important because texture relies on the model
using these coordinates.
10
My goal was to make the monster
look more alive. To do so, I used a few
diferent face photographs and projected them
directly onto the geometry inside ZBrush using
the ZApp Link plug-in. After that, I hand-painted
some missing details in Photoshop. I repeated
the whole process for the clothes.
11
To achieve a realistic kind of look, I planned to use
mental ray for rendering, and its great Fast Skin shader.
This shader comes with many slots for textures that need to be
fed in, in order to create real-looking skin; but I decided to use only
the main ones such as overall colour, front and back scatter,
specular and bump.
12
Basically, I imagine lighting as painting
the image with light, so every light in my
scene has some colour and purpose. Most of the
lights in this scene were area lights, because they
can produce very accurate shadows and a soft
feel. Also, area lights react with the specular
component of the Fast Skin material; so the bigger
the light, the wider specular reections, giving you
great control over the nal look of the skin.
13
After numerous
render tests, I
rendered a few diferent
passes: main beauty pass,
extra reection pass and
ambient occlusion. The most
important thing about
compositing diferent passes is
to understand that everything
that emits or reects light
should be layered over difuse
in additive or screen mode; and
passes that subtract light, like
shadows and occlusion, should
be multiplied.
Character
123
a
I enjoyed modelling characters much
more than environments or props, and I
gradually improved to go on to be a
character specialist at everywhere I
have worked since
124
A
ndrew Hickinbottom recently
made the big move to London, and
things are looking up. With so
many major production companies in the
big city, hes always bumping into people
whove been working on high-prole
projects that hes long admired, which
makes life a lot more exciting and has, in
turn, given his art a new lease of life. With a
lot more work going around in London
compared to back in his hometown in the
Midlands, he is currently freelancing as a
character modeller for regular clients, such
as Nexus Productions, where he models,
UVs and occasionally textures characters.
Before, he worked remotely from
Birmingham the move means he can now
work on site, and be inspired by all the
capital has to offer the 3D artist!

How did the contract at Nexus come about
can you tell us more about the projects youve
been involved with there?
Andrew Hickinbottom: One of the 3D leads
had been trying to get me to work with them
for some time after seeing my stuff on the
internet. I did some character modelling on
a Coca-Cola advert a few years ago, then an
Olympic Committee ad, and now they are
regular clients. Nexus does work for
advertising mainly, but has done title
sequences for TV and lm, music videos and
Name
Andrew Hickinbottom
Job title Character modeller
Personal website
http://andyh.cgsociety.org
http://andyh.cghub.com
Location UK
Expertise Characters
Software 3ds Max
Client list Coca-Cola,
International Olympic
Committee, Comcast,
Panasonic, SEAT,
Imagination Games,
Actimel, Haven Holidays
A Suzie Kickin Back is an
illustration of my Suzie
character lazing about
We talk to Andrew Hickinbottom, a lucky-in-freelance character modeller
currently getting creative under the bright city lights of London
Perfect
pinups
My predominantly pinup-themed personal work is an
outlet for when I want to create something easy on the eye
and different to most of the work I get paid to do
Andrew Hickinbottom is a freelance character modeller
short lms as well. The company has a large
collective of award-winning directors and
can produce content in differing styles: 3D,
2D, live action, stop motion, etc.
You worked on a high-prole project at the
London-based Superfad in December. Can
you tell us more about that?
AH: They needed me to create a stylised
likeness of Shakira for a SEAT car advert.
Getting Shakiras likeness, and the overall
level of stylisation approved was tricky. I
liked the end result, but after all that work,
you only saw her for a few seconds, and
somewhat small on the screen I guess its
because there was just so much crammed
into the advert and my character was just a
small part of it.
Have you worked in any other cities, either
here in the UK or abroad?
AH: I did a small job in Valencia for a month
in January, which was nice thats the
farthest Ive travelled for a job. Some work
in Japan would be good though!
As a freelance artist, how do you nd work?
Do you nd it or does it come to you?
AH: Im quite fortunate: virtually every
freelance job I have done has landed in my
lap. I have yet to chase down ideal clients.
Its something I intend to do in the future.
b Bunny Girl is one of my
most successful personal
pieces to date
b
b
All images
Andrew Hickinbottom
Character
125
What was the pivotal moment when you
knew that character modelling was your
thing? How did it all start?
AH: At the rst studio I worked at many
years ago I was the texture specialist, then I
gradually found out that modelling was my
most useful skill, having been doing it as a
hobby since my late teens. I enjoyed
modelling characters much more than
environments or props, and I gradually
improved to go on to be a character
specialist at everywhere I have worked
since. Ive always admired aspects of
character design ever since I watched
cartoons as a kid.
What software have you mastered in your
career so far as a character modeller, and why
have they been your tools of choice?
AH: 3ds Max, pretty much. Ive used Maya,
Softimage and LightWave in various
capacities during my many years at
different studios, but Ive been
using Max the longest, and I cant
really imagine using anything else
at the moment. Its nicely laid out,
quick, easy to understand and has
some great modelling tools
especially the new graphite modelling
tools in Max 10.
Youve also recently started using ZBrush
and V-Ray. Hows that going and what
kind of new possibilities are they bringing
to your work?
AH: It took me a while to get used to
ZBrushs unusual interface and I have only
learnt the basic tools so far, but its certainly
a powerful program. Its all too tempting to
go nuts and ramp up the detail, creating a
clichd dragon monster or old man, but Im
going to strive to keep my simplistic style
Once I have started and got past the
difcult Is it going to work? part, I get swept
away and wont stop until its nished!
and take advantage of ZBrushs mesh
manipulation and rening tools, rather
than going down the realistic route.
Sculptris is a good alternative to ZBrush,
and its free. V-Ray is great especially for
lighting although Im still pretty new to it
right now.
Your pinup characters are possibly what
the 3D community know and love you most
for. Would you be happy to tell us a bit
about your workow when creating a 3D
character illustration?
AH: My predominantly pinup-themed
personal work is mostly an outlet for
inspirations that gather in my head, and for
when I want to create something easy on
the eye and different to most of the work I
get paid to do. If I see some artwork that I
admire, or if I see things in real life that
inspire me, I try to create an illustration or
c
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126
I wanted to make a character in a similar style to Shane
Glines or Bill Presings pinup work: nice and simple,
quite shapely, and in a retro kind of way. Some retro-
styled cartoon art doesnt really translate well to 3D as
the shapes are abstracted depending on the camera
angle, pose and composition.
I built the model fairly quickly without much detail,
focusing on the simplicity of the shapes and the appeal.
The lighting was very ordinary: just a Key light, a Back
light and an Ambient light to atten the scene. Her PVC
clothes used a simple raytraced shader to reect a
bright white plane I positioned of-shot to get the white,
shiny areas.
Im really pleased with the results, and I think its my
best work so far. It reects what Id like to see in CG
more: more innovation with the look and style of 3D
characters. No super-realistic lighting, dynamic hair or
advanced shaders, just nice, simple characters. Getting
a at, illustrative look without cheap use of a cel-shader
is quite fun and can be approached in so many ways.
1
Trixie
tell us what kind of benets having your
work printed in the likes of EXPOS can
bring about?
AH: Surprisingly, as far as Im aware, I have
not had any job offers directly connected to
my work being in print yet. Nevertheless,
its cool seeing your work on paper,
especially when you are among so many
great artists in the same book. I suppose
having your work in books and magazines
can only be good for exposure and getting
your work circulated and known among
potential clients.
Are you working on any new personal
projects at the moment? Can you tease us
with any info on these?
AH: Since moving to London I have had
quite a few ideas for personal work, but I
dont have much time to work
on anything. I recently
made a new character
that was inspired by
random girls who
Ive seen around
London in nice
weather. Its a bit
more of an ordinary,
slice-of-life piece rather
than a pinup.
As far as future projects go, I
would like to do a very simplistic,
at, illustrative piece that pushes
the look that I adopted for my
Trixie character. I would also be keen
to do something that encourages me to be
bolder and more daring when it comes
to my proportions, compositions and
colour choices, and of course, I have my
long un-worked short lm. Im not sure
if I want to pick up the pieces and carry on
with it or not.
character based on these different
inuences. I have to act quickly, though,
because I sometimes lose the drive to do
unpaid personal work when the initial
spark has gone from my mind. However,
once I have started and got past the difcult
Is it going to work? part, I tend to get swept
away and wont stop until its nished!
How do you keep yourself motivated until that
point? Any tips for those struggling to see a
project through to completion?
AH: I nd it useful to keep a note of ideas
that spring into my head wherever I am a
text le on my phone usually does the job. I
add things to it if I get sudden ideas. Taking
pictures can be useful for reference if I see
anything that can help, such as
composition, interesting people or lighting
schemes. Keeping inspired is denitely the
key! Im always looking around on sites like
CGTalk and CGHub for new and exciting
artists to be inspired by.
The dynamic poses of your cartoons are what
bring them to life. What kind of research do
you have to do and references do you need in
order to pull this off?
AH: Looking at the posing and construction
theories of good old cartoons Tom & Jerry,
Bugs Bunny, etc help you understand how
they simplify the forms of the characters to
create clear poses. Model sheets for
animated lms are good reference as they
show varying poses and expressions. Pinup,
glamour and adult photography/art in
general is good reference, too having some
dodgy pics can genuinely be reference,
despite the old joke!
Your work is popular with CG publications,
like the Ballistic Publishing titles. Can you
Trixie is a kinky
character
inspired by
Shane Glines
retro pinup
cartoon girls
E Suzie & the Lil Nipper is
a Gil Elvgren-inspired
illustration of my
ongoing Suzie character
d Family characters made
for the board game Beat
the Parents
c Grannies was my
honourably mentioned
entry for the CGTalk
Spectacular
competition
f This gure was created
as a collectible vinyl toy-
style soldier design
f
Character
127
We would love to know more about the
short lm can you tell us how this
started, where youre at, and how youd
like to see it go in the future?
AH: I had an idea for a simple short lm
featuring my ofce girl, bunny girl and
ofce nerd characters shortly after I
made them. I had the whole thing
storyboarded, laid out, modelled, lit
and ready to go about three years ago. I
ne-tuned the composition, pacing
and story through animatics and
storyboards. When I got to the
animation stage, I realised I lacked
the experience to make it look as good
as I wanted. I would have liked to do
the whole thing myself as a challenge,
but its an impossibility. I may revisit
it, but I would have to nd an
animator who is motivated, talented
and, above all, someone I know well
and trust. The three characters I
made are about ve years old now Im
worried that they may look quite dated.
Maybe its time to do something new.
What kind of resolution do you work in, and
how does your hardware handle the job? Can
you tell us a bit about your current setup?
AH: To be honest, due to the non-realistic
nature of my work, and the fact that I dont
use advanced rendering and shading much,
I dont really need a very powerful
hardware setup. However, I recently
replaced my four-year-old computer, so now
things are a lot faster to work with, and it
encourages me to use V-Ray more as the
render times are drastically reduced. My
output resolution varies, but I usually make
my images big enough for print, should they
ever appear in a book or magazine at some
point. I rendered my Trixie character out in
a huge resolution, though, as I intend to do
some large posters, canvases or prints for
sale in the future.
At the end of last year you went travelling
around Japan and then spent some time in
Valencia. How important is it as a visual
creative to experience the world?
AH: Well, I was in Valencia to work, not for a
holiday, but yeah, its important to take a
break and recharge your creativity if it gets
in a bit of a slump, as mine often does. You
see a lot of interesting things travelling, and
sometimes you get ideas. Being away from
computers for a while also helps!
Can you tell us about your inspirations and
what inuence can you see in your own work?
AH: I love the work of Shane Glines. I nd
the streamlined construction, retro stylings
A website of which Im a member (www.b3ta.com)
does weekly challenges where you are given a subject,
and invites people to Photoshop them in creative ways.
One week the theme was: Photoshop Thom Yorke from
Radiohead. I thought Id enter and try my hand at
caricature for the rst time.
As the image challenge only runs for a week, I had to
work fast. It was quite fun to do as I was only creating
this one image no body was modelled, no morph
targets or rig, just quick, dirty modelling and plenty of
cutting corners. I experimented with mental ray for the
rst time on this image and tried using Final Gathering
and Subsurface Scattering.
Im pleased with the results, and it was a special
project for me as I had to work quickly, didnt have time
to obsess over every detail like I usually do, and it was
my rst attempt at a caricature.
2
Thom Yorke
g
h Tokyo Girl was
inspired by Harajuku
teen fashion
i Debbie was inspired by
random girls that Ive seen
around London this summer
g Maid with Love was
inspired by visits to
maid cafs in Tokyo
This was my rst attempt
at a caricature: Thom
Yorke from Radiohead
128
and the ow of the shapes on his characters
really fascinating. Bill Presing, Dean Yeagle
and oldies such as Dan DeCarlo and Gil
Elvgren are some of my main inuences too.
I have many inuences and a number of
favourite artists.
Your main inspirations are 2D, so how about
3D art inspirations who do you tend to
follow/admire most in the 3D community?
AH: Although a lot of my design
sensibilities and inspirations stem from 2D
art and illustration, I do admire some 3D art.
Like most 3D artists, I nd Pixar a big
inuence especially its human characters,
as seen in lms like The Incredibles. Certain
lms click with me design-wise, eg Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs. I loved the loose,
rubbery and cartoony look of that they
really pushed it and made it stand out.
Generally, though, I tend to follow a handful
of 3D artists in the community the majority
of stuff I like is from random artists.
Whats next for you or what would you like
to see on the cards for 2011?
AH: More illustration/print work. I nd it
more satisfying being in creative control
over the character, the composition, the
theme and the overall design treatment. Its
less technically minded and meticulous
than making characters for animation too;
if it looks good for the purpose of a still
image you can cut corners and generally
work faster. I intend to improve my
drawing as I feel it would make me a better
artist. Ive been attending the great Dr
Sketchy burlesque life drawing classes in
London because theyre a bit more
relevant to my pinup work, and just
because theyre fun!
I would like to get my website back
online, and perhaps put some prints/
posters up for sale. After seeing the results
of a recent 3D print of my Trixie character I
had made, I would love to get a collectible
gure/sculpture made for sale at some
point in the distant future. Generally, I
can see things being more exciting and
fullling in the future now I have moved
to London. Ive just got to focus and
stay productive!
Taking pictures can be useful for reference if I see anything that
can help, such as composition, interesting people or lighting schemes.
Keeping inspired is denitely the key!
h
i
Character
129
130
N
obody can doubt my inspiration for this picture. When I was creating
the rst concept I was thinking about old pin-up pictures and the light
humour of retro-futurism. Id had enough of classic tough women in
rough poses; I wanted to do something more light and, more importantly,
something funny. I started work on this picture because of an ongoing
competition on CGSociety website. About a year later I did a makeover for this
image. I made it modern and the dress of the waitress more detailed, and I
added some new details like poker chips. From the beginning I tried to gure
out an overall colour for the picture and a light composition. Sometimes it was
not easy. When I was creating the image I was working primarily with 3ds Max
and ZBrush, and the nal scene was rendered in V-Ray. An important part of
my work was also Photoshop. I adjusted the colour shades, cleared small
imperfections and, for a greater sense of authenticity, I added the efect of
chromatic aberration in some parts of the image.
Step by step: Create
a futuristic bar scene
Space Drink 2009
Michal Suchnek specialises in character modelling
This image was originally created for the
competition called Uplift Universe, organised by
CGSociety.org. I wanted to make a cheerful and
humorous picture with humans and aliens
Concepts
01
I wanted to evoke the atmosphere of a
familiar environment despite the fact that the
images story takes place in space. There are no high-
tech machines, but I placed some classic cigarettes
and traditional paper playing cards. I like the fun idea
of smoking aliens playing poker.
02
An inspiration for the waitress in Space
Drink were the images of pin-up girls from
the Fifties. I like their funny atmosphere. One of the
best illustrators for me is Gil Elvgreen. It was important
to me that the girl should create a pin-up feeling,
despite the fact that she is not a typical pin-up girl.
03
I wanted to make aliens on the scene with
their own characters. Most of my time spent on
the piece was to create an appearance of the three small
aliens. I tried to make them funny; each of them has its
own part in the picture. No more slimy, scary monsters
that the entire internet is full of.
130
to the nal render
A
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www.michalsuchanek.cz
Country Czech Republic
Hardware used Intel Pentium 4
CPU 3.4GHz, 2GB RAM
Expertise Michal specialises
in character modelling
Michal Suchnek
Modelling,
styling,
lighting
V-Ray Photoshop ZBrush 3dsMax
131
Modelling the figures
Creating the aliens and girl
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First of all I started modelling the
girl. I used an old head model for her
face, that I modied according to the needs of
the new image. This old base mesh was
creating with the Box Modelling method. For
making the best expression in the face I used
reference photos from the internet.
05
The girls body is modelled in
standard Da Vinci pose. I prefer to
pose models inside of ZBrush after years of
modelling and rigging in Max. I think this is a
faster way than rigging the whole mesh. I
unwrapped the UVs of models (head and
body) in Max and then I imported them to
ZBrush where they were ready for creating
normal maps.
06
Lets see our
rst alien called
Bob. I started preparing a low
polygon head and body. This
alien was the funniest for me,
because I love his expression.
07
I modelled only Bobs hands and
upper body; the rest of the body is not
visible. The posed low poly mesh from ZBrush
was exported back to 3ds Max.
08
The other two aliens were
created through the same method as
Bob. Drunken Lou and Pink Greedo also have
only the upper half of the body. I unwrapped
the UVs in Max and then I posed models in
ZBrush. After that I modelled props, such as
cards and cigarettes.
132
Michal Suchnek
I started working with 3D when I was about 17 years old.
I liked the whole technique, which was something
completely new for me. Back then 3D art was not so well
known in the Czech Republic. What I know now I got
from books, tutorials, the internet and many, many
hours of hard work.
Mountain Patrol 3ds Max
2009, ZBrush 3.5,
The story behind Mountain
Patrol is: The two longtime
companions patrol the border
of Windy Mountains. They are
looking out for their enemy, but
nobody has shown up for a very
long time. The truth is that I
was little bit tired of making
girls. I wanted to do something
diferent, but I still didnt want
to make some dull depressive
fantasy picture. I tried to make
it realistic and funny.
Closer 3ds Max 2009, ZBrush 2, V-Ray, Photoshop 7 (2006)
An older image where I rst tested the ZBrush. A lot of people tell
me the main character looks like Angelina Jolie. Well, they are right,
but it was probably more of a coincidence than deliberate.
Rocket Girl 3ds Max
2009, ZBrush 3.5,
After I nished Space Drink
I wanted to make another
picture with a pin-up girl
theme. My inspiration for
this picture was a comic
Rocketeer and the classic
style and humour of pin-up
girls. There is not as much
stylisation as you can see
on the Space Drink waitress,
but I think there is a
humorous retro feeling.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Refining the models and setting the light
Space Drink was rendered in
V-Ray, and I used a V-Ray Light
with V-Ray shadows for the main
light source. There are two
coloured additional V-Ray lights
with less intensity and one strong
back light. I like to use coloured
boards to help light the scene by
the appropriate colour. There are
two boards in this scene: the blue
one is on the left-hand side and
the yellow one is placed on the
ground. The whole scene was then
rendered into two layers the rst
one is the foreground which holds
the aliens and the girl, and the
second layer is simply the
background of the interior. A
composition of the layers and a
nal retouching which included a
colour saturation, a bloom efect
and increasing highlights was all
done in Photoshop.
Retro colours
and lighting
Adding fine details
09
In this part
I modelled basic
meshes representing the
background of the image.
I made some stuf like bottles
and glasses, and then I
started experimenting with
locations for the props, light
direction and colours. I also
tested diferent sizes of the
characters meshes. After
I decided on a nal
composition and a setup,
I started work on textures.
10
Time for adding some details! Every character
has three textures. I used the ZBrushs Zmapper tool for
normal maps. Difuse and specular maps was hand-painted in
Photoshop. Their resolution is about 4,000 pixels. The hair of
the girl is also textured planes. This solution was easier for
me than using the Hair and Fur modier.
11
At the beginning of sculpting it is important to focus
only on the shape. Details can be added later. An accurate
silhouette and natural shapes are important for a natural look of
characters. A stylisation, expressions of all characters and their
colours are important for the overall feeling of the picture.
12
Skin imperfections, wrinkles and skin pores are aspects of realistic and believable
characters. Originally I wanted the pink alien Greedo to just have one eye, but during the
process of making the picture I started to add other eyes. Now he has ve! I like the idea that
every eye looks elsewhere.
13
After rening the models I exported all
the normal and displacement maps from
ZBrush. I used V-Ray SSS shader with a combination
of 3ds Maxs standard Oren-Nayar-Blinn material for
the skin of the aliens and the girl. The view in space
and the smoke in the background were both matte
painted in Photoshop.
Character
133
T
his tutorial focuses in the creation of a stylised
dragon character. I like to retain the personality of
the character if Im happy with the original concept
in the rst place and I always try to emphasise clean
modelling, although good skills like texturing, UV mapping,
and a basic colour and lighting theory are very helpful if not
essential to achieve a solid result. One of the main
dif culties in the process was the rendering; it was intended
to be in mental ray directly in Maya, but after many poor
results I decided to compose the nal image in Photoshop
from diferent ZBrush renders. This was also a good choice,
since I was able to retain full detail from the sculpting,
avoiding the use of displacement maps. The original
purpose of the image was just creating a plain model for an
online forum challenge, but after more dedication it led me
to the creation of a more solid character with some untold
story behind the nal piece.
a friendly dragon
The Final Warning 2009
Carlos Ortega Elizalde specialises in 3D modelling, UV mapping and texturing
Blending attitude and kindness with a menacing
and powerful appearance in a stylised character
Concepts
01
I always start my personal projects with
some quick sketches (in digital or on paper),
to block overall proportions of characters in this case.
I try diferent complexions, attitudes, expressions and
poses. I decided in this case to go for a roguish-looking
dragon, menacing but appealing in some way.
02
My original idea was to put the dragon
at a clifs edge, about to commit some kind
of prank, maybe steal some sheep or burn an old
village just for fun. I focused more on the facial
expression to re-create the dragons intention, along
with his hands and legs in a position that could
suggest he was planning something.
03
I love to work and experiment with diferent
colour palettes, even more when Im working
with fantasy or stylised scenes. I often try to avoid the
colours I frequently expect in a determined situation (a
green dragon, for example) when sometimes it isnt the
best solution; other times it leads to a very unique result
even nowadays, when its pretty impossible to create
something 100% original.
134
Modelling,
sculpting
time by using the posed
dragon character in OBJ with
UVs created here.
the_nal_warning.obj
to the nal render
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http://stroggtank.cgsociety.org
Country Mexico
Duo, 2GB RAM
Expertise Carlos specialises
in 3D modelling, UV mapping
and texturing
Carlos Ortega
Elizalde
Username: carlosortega3d
Maya ZBrush Photoshop UVLayout CrazyBump
135
Modelling the dragon
Working on the creatures body shape
06
Right from the
planning stage,
the character was never
intended for animation. So,
to avoid the use of
BlendShapes or a face rig to
achieve the desired expression
later at the posing stage, I
modelled the face as I wanted
in the nal image directly as
I was moving forward.
04
When it comes to personal 3D
work, I rarely create reference images;
I prefer to use the original concept or even
nothing at all, since I already know what I want
him to look like in 3D space. I often start from a
2x2x2 polygon cube and from the nose area,
moving the existing vertices to match the
concept I have.
08
Once the model was nished, I did
the UV unfolding in UVLayout. In this
case I tried to keep as few shells as possible.
The whole process didnt take much time; even
with tricky parts such as the armpits, the
distortion was pretty low. Final touches like the
shells layout and UV mirroring were made back
in Mayas UV editor.
05
Once Ive blocked the main
shapes, I start to add and tweak
more geometry using the following Maya
tools: InsertEdgeLoop, SplitPolygon, Extrude,
SlideEdge and MoveComponent, among
others. I kept using the Extrude tool over the
neck edges, moving the resulting vertices over
the torso, and then extruding and tweaking
again until the tip of the tail.
07
Hands, wings and legs were made
the same way, starting from a six-sided
cylinder and then sewn to the main mesh.
Dorsal spikes were created by extracting the
matching faces and then extruded outwards.
Fangs and horns were modelled from a cube.
136
Carlos Ortega Elizalde
Im a graphic designer from Guanajuato, Mexico.
I started working with 3D about 6 years ago, using
Carrara Studio and now Maya for the last two years.
I currently work in the media department in the
Guanajuato University, Mexico, doing motion graphics
and 3D art. Im also a freelance 3D modeller, although
3D is almost a full-time hobby.
Back To The Past Maya,
mental ray, Photoshop
(2009)
Started as a speed modeling
exercise as an homage to one
of my favourite sci-
machines, but after adding
the rest of the details I ended
up with this stylized version
of the famous time machine.
Fulgencius The Wise
Maya, Photoshop, mental
ray, UVLayout (2009)
Fulgencius, also known as
The Wise, is actually not
that wise he is a 200-
year-old wizard with a
poor memory.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
The Zcuintli aka Yellow Dog
Carrara 5 Pro, Maya, Photoshop (2008)
Autonomous racing vehicles modied to watch the city limits and
the military facilitys boundaries. They were also modied to carry
a human pilot, but their free will caused many accidents. The
machines still do their job by themselves. Workers only ride them
for maintenance purposes.
Getting the right look and feel
Lighting and colour
Due to some hardware
limitations, I wasnt
able to render a proper
normal map from
ZBrush, so I used
CrazyBump to quickly
generate one from the
displacement map.
I extracted the blue
channel to simulate
a cavity map over my
main texture and
enhance the contrast of
the scales and wrinkles.
As for the lighting, the
fact I rendered three
diferent light sources
in ZBrush helped in the
composition to
simulate a key, rim and
ll light. The nal touch
was to correct colour
with Curves to gain a
warm tone, levelling up
the blue in the shadows
and an orange/yellow
in midtones.
Normal
mapping
09
I imported the
model into ZBrush
for detailing. Although the
topology wasnt that even, the
result was satisfying. I only
used the Standard brush to add
wrinkles and folds. Most of the
scales were created using
custom alphas, keeping them
exaggerated in some parts and
subtle in key zones like the face.
Once done, I exported a 4k
displacement map.
10
Using an UV template from Maya
as a guide, I painted the base colours in
Photoshop, using a basic round brush to create
diferent tones while staying in my chosen
palette. The displacement map helps in many
ways to shade specic areas in the body. The
stripes, eyes and extra scales are hand-painted.
11
I posed the character inside Maya to match my sketch, but the dragon
looked kind of weak, so I decided to pose him into a gallant ying position.
The result was this roguish dragon leaving his crime scene with a satised attitude.
The posed OBJ was imported as a 3D layer into ZBrush at the lowest level.
12
Back in ZBrush
I exported several
renders from ZBrush using
diferent MatCaps, various
light sources, a ZDepth and
a at colour pass, previously
setting my canvas to a pretty
high resolution. All those
renders gave me full control
over the nal image
composition later in Photoshop.
13
In Photoshop,
I composited the
ZBrush renders, masking the
proper areas of the diferent
layers to gain the desired
volume. I wanted a warm
atmosphere ,but also a
painting-like mood. I painted
extra shadows and put smoke
from stock brushes. Finally I
added subtle motion blur in
the wings and depth of eld in
the completed scene.
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Character
137
01
Because the purpose of this characters creation is for a
tutorial, her initial design has to cover both organic modelling
and hard surface modelling. She also has to be visually appealing so
the reader would actually want to recreate her.
W
hen designing Jade Raven, the
Rocket Girl, I had to nd a
concept that t in with what had
to be covered in the book. She needed to be
both organic and have hard surface elements,
plus I didnt want to go down the route of the
cyborg, or mutant hybrid, which has been
done many times before. Instead I wanted
the character to be almost normal in
appearance, but with an added something.
In the end I decided to take inspiration from
the past, rather than the future and give
her everyday clothing and a powerful
rocket pack, all styled with a retro twist.
Once the main model was complete, I
only had a short amount of time to get
her ready for the cover, so I opted to
output a quick Maya render and add in
most of the details in Photoshop during
postproduction. Its this process, and
the shortcuts I used, which I will share in
this tutorial.
02
To cover organic
modelling we make
sure we rst create a full gure,
which can be reused on
numerous future projects. We
then strip her down and dress
her in loose clothing, which will
initially be modelled, and then
have more rened cloth details
sculpted in later.
03
So the reader also experiences Silos hard surface
modelling tools, we add a simple rocket pack to her back, a
helmet and also a pistol for her to hold.
Jade Raven was originally designed to be a subject in my
book, 3D Modeling in Silo, which came out in October 2010
Antony Ward is a game developer and animation expert
Step by step:
Add textures and light
to objectsFlight of the Raven 2010
Designing the Raven
Retro Fifties inspiration
138
to the nal render
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www.ant-online.co.uk
Country UK
Hardware used
Core 2 Duo 3.16GHz
8GB RAM
Expertise Antony has expertise
in game artwork and animation,
character and vehicle modelling,
and rigging
Antony Ward
Username: Anchuvi
Silo Maya Photoshop
Modelling,
rendering,
lighting
139
05
The next job is to nail the
lighting and the camera position.
Having these and the background in place will
help dictate the nal look and feel of the
image. Its also important to add lights to the
base of the rocket as we will later be painting in
the ames, which naturally emit light.
07
Now move on to the rest of her
clothing, rst blocking in the main
colours you want before adding subtle
reections to her visor and metallic areas. To
add more detail, we also apply basic tileable
Texture and Bump maps to her jeans and
jacket, to give them more of a denim and
leather appearance.
08
The nal step is to apply a rim
lighting layer to the materials. As this
scene is shot in the sky, you want to add lots of
ambient lighting, which the Rim light does
perfectly. It also helps to pick out details
previously lost in the shadows.
04
Before starting work,
mock up a background image
plane so you can get a proper feel for the
scene, and how it should be lit. We know
we want her to be up in the air, which
means a bright scene, with plenty of
clouds and blue sky behind her.
Materials and textures
Giving the character the right look
06
Next, set to work on the main
colours for each element. Her body will
be the trickiest part as were looking to create
more natural skin tones, so well work on these
rst. We opt to use Mayas misss_fast_skin_
maya shader to achieve a subtle Subsurface
Scattering efect.
140
Antony Ward
Ive been working in the games industry for close to 16
years now and have been freelance for the last three.
During this time, I have worked for some of the biggest
companies in the industry and have experienced
nearly all areas of game development, with character
modelling, animation, MEL scripting and rigging
being my areas of choice.
Kila Maya,
Photoshop (2004)
Kila is one of the characters I created in my rst book, Game
Character Development with Maya. This was back before Normal
maps and sculpting became commonplace in the games industry
meaning the model and textures were among some of the key areas
to focus on.
Athria Silo, Maya,
Photoshop (2009)
I decided to brush up on my
game art skills and create a
real-time character from the
ground up. I wanted to
create someone with a
futuristic feel; Athria was
born. She was built in Silo
and then made game ready
in Maya with all texturing
done in Photoshop.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Red Sonja
3ds Max, Silo, Maya,
Photoshop (2008)
For this image, I took an
existing 2D concept and
brought her kicking and
screaming into 3D, using
similar methods I adopted
for Flight of the Raven. I was
looking to develop my high-
resolution modelling skills
and this seemed like a
natural step forward.
13
With all the layers rendered, its time to bring them
into Photoshop and organise them into separate layers.
The characters now ready for nal editing adjustments.
Once all the layers are in Photoshop, its time to start work rening and tweaking the
colours, as well as painting in more detail. We focus on the hair rst, almost completely
redoing it, as the 3D model is too at. This also enables you to add more depth and
highlights around the edges. Next, move on to her body and clothing, repainting her lips
and eyes before adding the seams into her jeans and jacket. The nal steps are to
enhance the background and tweak the overall shading and lighting.
Postproduction work
11
Once applied, the
Ambient Occlusion
pass will darken the existing
rim lighting, so you need to
next render a rim lighting layer
which will brighten everything
back up. To do this, simply
make the existing Rim light
white and turn the materials
black, using the resulting
image as a mask.
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Lighting plans and rendering
Apply the finishing touches
12
Finally you have to decide on which areas you need to mask of and create masks for
these. The whole body is an obvious choice and enables you to isolate the character renders
from the background, but you can also add a mask for her skin so you can work on it separately.
10
Next we render a
full-scene Ambient
Occlusion pass, also including
the main lighting from her
rockets. Because shes in ight,
we place a basic Polygon plane,
which isnt rendered, beneath
her so the photons can reect
back up onto her lower half.
This adds much needed depth
and detail to the render.
09
Rather than try to achieve a nal render in Maya, we wanted to have complete
control over how each element looked. To do this, render out various layers of the image,
which you can then combine in Photoshop and tweak as much as you like.
3DModeling In Silo shows in detail howto
create Jade Raven fromconcept to nal
model. The book is published by
Elsevier and is out now.
Character
141
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Martin Ruizl
Website
www.martinruizl.com
Country Czech Republic
Software used Maya, ZBrush,
Photoshop
The main Area light acts
as a kitchen window in this
scene, along with some extra
Rim lights. I also used an
HDR environment for
reections and lighting
One of the most important things in this image is the octopuss
skin. I have tried to create a wet, eshy and jelly-like skin by painting
the main colour texture in ZBrush and sending this texture with a
slight colour temperature offset to the Epidermal, Subdermal and
Color slots of the mental ray Skin shader
The idea behind the image was quite simple: to create an interesting and
simple render, and then print it out on the canvas to give the picture to my
girlfriends mother. She has a whole new kitchen, and since she really likes
seafood I wanted to create something that she could look at while she is
enjoying her meal!
B
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Photoshop Maya ZBrush
142
I chose to use mental rays
Bokeh shader for the depth of
eld effect I like it, but the
render time was hell!
143
Modelling,
sculpting,
texturing
to the nal render
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www.porkpiesamurai.com
Country Canada
Hardware used Intel Core i7
920, 6GB RAM
Expertise Chris specialises
in characters and creatures
Chris Nichols
ZBrush Maya Photoshop
144
I
n November of 2009 I was asked by Pixologic to
present at the Vancouver ZBrush User Event and had
some ideas to make my own version of HP Lovecrafts
Cthulhu. I had done a sketch a while ago and dug it up to
consider modelling it. I wanted to show of some of the
strengths of the latest version of ZBrush, namely a few of
the brushes and tools and the amount of polygons it can
handle. I had about three weeks in all to model/texture and
render the scene ready for the event and wanted to try out
some things I hadnt indulged in before, such as ZBrushs
Polypaint for texturing and Decimation Master for
exporting hi-res meshes that have been modied to retain
their high level of detail while being under a million
polygons. All in all I was presented with some interesting
challenges, but enjoyed the project thoroughly.
a Lovecraft legend
Cthulhu 2009
Chris Nichols specialises in modelling characters and creatures
I wanted to create something squid-inspired
because I like the texture and to play with scale and
colours to make a dynamic image
Concepts
01
To get a good idea of the design
possibilities I collected as much reference
material as possible, rstly of artists interpretations
of Cthulhu, as I wanted to see what had been done
already. Next I collected pictures of squid and various
other cephalopods to give me some ideas for shapes
and textures.
02
Starting with simple sketches, my
version of Cthulhu begins to take shape until
Im happy with the overall look of the design. Im not
too concerned about the colours or surface textures
as this point, but just want a good idea of what Im
about to model.
03
I started out by quickly modelling a head and
body that I was going to use in ZBrush. I could
have used a generic base mesh, but wanted to make sure
I had edge loops in the right places so I could get the
necessary details into the face.
Character
145
Creaturing the creature
Cthulhu starts to take shape
06
I exported the new base mesh into
ZBrush and accepted the option to
transfer the details from the old ZBrush model to
the new animation mesh. So I then had my UVd
animation mesh with all the levels of detail from
my ZTool transferred across so I could continue
rening the model.
04
Exporting the geometry to
ZBrush to start the sculpting, I got
the head to a point where I felt there was a
sense of completeness without getting into
too much detail with the face. Next I imported
the body base mesh and started eshing out
the main forms just I like did with head, keeping
everything symmetrical.
08
Beginning with
Polypaint in ZBrush,
I used diferent alphas to build
up my colours and surface
texture, referring back to
my various references of
cephalopods. Starting with
the head, I worked out the
patterns and colours that
would cover Cthulhu.
Screenshots, colour-corrected
in Photoshop, helped decide
the scheme.
05
When I had a complete mesh I
exported the model back to Maya and
rebuilt the animation mesh over the top. This can
take a bit of time to rene the edge loops, but in
case I wanted to animate it later I went ahead and
retopologised the mesh then UVd it.
07
Using Transpose in ZBrush,
I started to manipulate the model into a
menacing pose and commenced sculpting all the
ne details into the skin surface. I sculpted a lot of
the rough bump details using the clay brush and
went over with alphas for the ner detail.
146
Chris Nichols
Growing up in Australia, I began 3D back in 2004 after
completing graphic design school, and worked on
short lms and TV shows locally. In 2007 I moved to
Vancouver and have worked as a modeller/texture
artist at such studios as Bardel Entertainment, Spin
VFX and CIS Vancouver.
Rock Lizard Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, mental ray (2009)
I made this as a texturing exercise inspired by photographs of
Galapagos iguanas. I spent a long time painstakingly laying out each
scale much of the time, but learned a lot about texturing and setting
up shaders.
The Merc Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, mental ray (2009)
I made this as a model/texture study and to test out Shave and a
Haircut, a hair plug-in for Maya. I modelled all the geo out in Maya
rst, UVd the meshes and sculpted the face expression and the
skin details in ZBrush. Rendered in mental ray.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Gunslinger Maya ,
ZBrush , Photoshop,
mental ray (2008)
This is the rst character
I modelled. It was really
used as a learning project,
that began back in 2006, to
understand the modelling
and texturing process. I kept
going back and redoing
parts of him until I nally
nished it of in 2008.
Making the monster come alive
Refining the detail
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Cthulhu UVs were all in
one map for this project
as I wanted to do 80 per
cent of the painting
inside ZBrush. To get
crisp enough details I
recommend blocking out
the main colours with
Polypaint, but this leaves
you with a fairly low-res
texture. I set my
document size to
4,480x3,360 and
zoomed right into the
area I wanted to rene.
Clicking ZAppLink will
export the screenshot to
Photoshop where it can
be edited at high res and,
once saved, project
those details onto the
mesh. This way youre
only limited in detail to
whatever your UV map
is set up as.
UV map
details
09
Once the
creature was
painted to a certain level
of detail, I started using
ZAppLink to export
screenshots into Photoshop.
Using photos and diferent
brushes, I rened the surface,
giving it a higher res of detail
using the Polypaint work as a
guide. ZAppLink exported the
changes back to ZBrush.
10
After the creature
was complete, I began
texturing the eyes using the
same technique as before. The
ngers, toenails and rocks were
mostly painted with Polypaint
and ZAppLink, and the texture
maps were rened further in
Photoshop with numerous rock
and stone overlays.
11
Now that the creature
was modelled and
textured, it was time to set up
a render in Maya. I exported
out the posed model, base and
anything else at a high
resolution using ZBrushs plug-
in, Decimation Master. This
condenses the creature mesh
from 17 million polygons to
500k for export.
12
In Maya I set up the scene, imported the decimated
meshes and creating shaders for all the geo. I used a simple
rig of about three area lights and one spotlight, an IBL node with an
HDRI mapped to it, and three colour cards for reections.
13
The skin
material
was set up using
mental rays SSS
shader and the colour
map was converted
into multiple skin layers
such as epidermal,
subdermal and overall,
which were used to
create a translucent
slimy skin. I then
rendered out six
passes, difuse,
reection and multiple
speculars and then
comped them all
together using
Photoshop.
Character
147
to the nal render
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http://danielvfx.cgsociety.org
Country Mexico
Hardware used
Dual Xeon quad-core
2.33GHz 8G RAM
Expertise Daniels work
includes shading, texturing and
rendering. He is a co-founder of
Exodo Digital Workshop
Daniel Schmid
Username: DanielVFX
ZBrush 3dsMax mental ray Photoshop
Modelling,
lighting,
texturing
Well Done 2010
Designing the girl
01
On a visit to the school where my sister
teaches, I notice how nice it is to see the kids at
play and enjoying themselves. It makes me think to
myself, If this works for real life, it could make for a fun
digital painting as well! Once back home, I draw this
little girl from memory.
T
his is a quick tutorial based on the
creation of the image Well Done. The idea
came from our concept artist at the
company, Salvador Ramirez (http://www.
reevolver.deviantart.com). The minute I saw the
concept drawing I started to visualise it in 3D.
Soon I had fellow workmate, Omar Sealtiel (http://
omarsealtiel.blogspot.com), interested in
modelling the character so I could work on the
textures, shading, lighting and rendering.
My main focus was to experiment with lighting
techniques I hadnt previously tried. I wanted to
achieve a Pixar look, and also to give the viewer a
pleasant image full of bright colours and with a
good composition. I dedicated a lot of time to the
smallest details such as lighting tone, texture
quality and overall mood so the image could
ultimately exude a warm feeling.
02
I use primary colours and funny
proportions to enhance the cuteness of the
character. I also search for references that I correct later
to give me a nice guide so that I can paint the textures as
clearly as possible. The overall aim is to make her look
interesting and mischievous.
03
I end up with this beautiful girl with pigtails
who I feel is reminiscent of Pixar-like
characters. All she needs is to be given a few articles
that will tell us something about her and make her look
more natural hence the star on her forehead and those
yellow rubber boots. Concept complete!
Create a cartoony character with vivid colours, which is both
charming and visually appealing to the viewer
Daniel Schmid specialises in lighting, rendering, shading and texturing
Step by step:
Create Pixar-style
artwork
Character
149
05
For the hair, I use planes to
dene the primary locks. After this, I
add smaller planes ready to start populating,
repeating this process over and over until the
point in which I use renderable splines to add
ner details to certain areas, eg the pigtails.
07
The model of the background
needs to be simple yet visually
appealing. My colleagues and I think through
the elements of the scene for a good
composition. After a few tests, we decide to go
with a wooden oor, a simple wall, a bureau
and a make-up box.
08
The background
is quite easy to
model as the furniture topology
is fairly simple. The model is
made using primitives. For the
edges, I use a Bevel prole, and
likewise for the make-up box.
As for the concertina supports
of the boxs lid, I use a shape
with an extruded spline.
04
To properly dene volume, I
model from general to specic; this
way, I can draft the main attributes of the
character. As the goal is to produce a still
image, I model the character in her nal pose.
The downside of this is that this makes the
texturing process more complicated.
Creating the model
How the figure was created
06
After Ive polished the loops of the
basic model topology and creases in
the cloth, I export the character to ZBrush. There,
I minimise the perfection by reducing the models
symmetry, giving a more organic look. I export
from ZBrush with three subdivisions.
Character model by Omar Sealtiel
150
Daniel Schmid
I have worked as a 3D artist for nine years in several
animation studios in Mexico. In the last few years, I
have specialised in lighting, shading and rendering.
Now I work as CG leader giving the nal look to work at
Exodo Digital Workshop of which Im a co-founder.
The Barren Citadel 3ds Max, Photoshop, mental ray (2008)
This was the result of an eight-week matte painting workshop I took
with David Luong. All the city was modelled and roughly textured in
3ds Max. The nal matte has four passes: Global Illumination,
Ambient Occlusion, Z-Depth and Volumetrics.
Magma Memories Photoshop (2010)
This is the rst from a series of three matte paintings I have to
complete this year. Im trying to experiment in natural landscapes
and then hope to move on to urban landscapes. This is my rst
matte painting in which no 3D was used at all, just pictures.
La Hacienda 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop (2004)
The inspiration for this scene came from stepping into Guillermo
Fernandez de Castros lithography shop one day, and thinking it
would make a nice render. This scene took about two months to
complete, because I was only using my free time to work on it.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
09
My main goal in this image is to work with the skin
shader and this is what I dedicate most of my time to.
Ive discovered from previous projects that there must be well-
established lighting before testing the shaders. This is why I build
a rough lighting setup before anything else.
11
After I dene the
scenes mood with a
basic lighting setup, I focus on
the skin shader. I use the SSS
Fast Skin shader, which can be
found on Zap Anderssons
blog (http://mentalraytips.
blogspot.com). This shader
gives you more control over
reections and also the
material specularity.
13
After I texture the background, I work on the paintbrush in her hand. For this I create a new le so I can
control the lighting and rendering parameters properly. The last step is to gather everything in Photoshop in three
layers: the character, the background and the brush. With a few nal tweaks, I have the result I want.
The biggest challenge for me in
this image is to achieve the look I
have visualised with the combined
efects of the lighting, skin shader
and the characters clothes. If we
look at the original concept art,
one of the main characteristics of
the little girl is her multicoloured
sweater. As a result, its modelling
turns out to be a signicant
element as I dont want it to look
too rigid or heavy. This is why I
decide to go to town with the
knitting texture. I achieve this with
a good Bump map and some ne
tweaking in the Difuse channel.
Colours and
materials
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Finishing the design
Giving the character the Pixar look
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When Im happy with the overall look of the shader, I
proceed to texture the most complicated elements of the
scene such as the sweater, the bag and the skirt. This means I can
get a rough idea of how all the elements are working together and
also check if some tweaking is needed in the texture values or the
lighting setup.
10
I always thought the lighting of the piece should be subtly
contrasted; this way I can get delicate light bouncing in parts
where visual attention is critical. The lighting setup is the basic three-
point light formula: a light simulating the sun, a Fill light in the left side
and a Back light simulating the reection of the wall.
151
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www.sensestudio.tk
Country Romania
Software used
3ds Max 2009, Vray 1.5,
Photoshop CS5
Artist bio
The goal of this rendering was to
relate to the viewer and also to
express movement. This is
gained through the use of the
sky that gives a lack of balance
to the image therefore
accentuating the feeling of
movement and also throw the
beam of red light representing
the traf c that shifts the centre
of attention onto the building.
Image name Concert Hall
Murea Radu Iuliu
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Grand designs .................................................158
Texturing and lighting architecture ..........164
Creating a stylish museum building ..........168
I made this: Viktor Fretyn ........................... 172
Interview: Kuan Studio ................................. 174
I made this: Anton Cherenko ....................... 179
Creating a mansion ........................................180
I made this: Luis Tejeda .................................186
Interview: F10 Studios ....................................188
I made this: Arkin Esref .................................193
Architecture
http://eden-3d.cgsociety.org
Country Poland
Software used
3ds max 2010, Vray, Photoshop
Artist bio
While browsing the internet, I
came across a photo of a temple
in Chicago. It was a marvellous
harmony of composition that
immediately got my attention.
Being aware that modelling such
a beautiful temple wouldnt be
an easy task, I decided to give it
a try. It turned out to be a
tremendous adventure, a trial of
skill and patience which was
worth all the time and ef ort.
Image name Bahai Temple
Adam Grania
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http://latter.cgsociety.org
Country Denmark
Software used
3ds Max 10, Vray and
Photoshop
Artist bio
Since I have always been
fascinated by New York I
decided to create the 43rd street
with a view towards the Chrysler
building and Grand Central.
Image name NYC 43rd Street
Dennis Kaya
Iversholt
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www.rochr.com
Country Sweden
Software used
CINEMA 4D, Maxwell Render,
Photoshop
Rudolf Herczog
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A project Ive been working on for some time,
which I modelled using tourist photos
Rudolf Herczog,
Fishermans Bastion, 2010
156
www.djillustration.com
Country UK
Software used
formZ, Maxwell Render,
Photoshop
Derek Jackson
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I wanted a vertical composition to give a sense of height and
stacking, hence the portrait format. I also placed the pivot axis of
the building centrally in the image to enforce the sense of
mathematical geometry. Maxwells Shift Lens was used to reduce
the amount of foreground yet keep the vertical lines parallel
Derek Jackson,
Hover Competition, 2010
157
Wholey Building
Desmone &Associates Architects
designs
Grand
158
A
s everyone reading this magazine knows, 3D
software is incredibly complex and can take years to
really master. And thats ne if youre a modeller or an
animator, you work full-time in one program and you have the
opportunity to learn all of its little software tricks at the same
time as you learn your craft. But what if youre a creative that
doesnt work full-time in the 3D space, but instead needs to
dabble in it to serve the needs of your wider job? What if youre
an architect? Or an interior designer? The complexity of 3D
software slowed the migration of these types of creative
profession to computer design for many years, despite the fact
that doing things digitally was obviously going to have major
advantages. But as well as the years of study it took them to
learn how to create buildings, they often didnt have the
time to master the likes of 3ds Max too. But then
came SketchUp and everything changed.
SketchUp is designed for 3D modelling
just like 3ds Max, Maya or Blender, but its
mainly used by interior designers and
architectural illustrators, as well as set
designers and hobbyists, rather than
animators. It is extremely scalable, so its
just as good at redesigning your kitchen
as it would be to plan an extension, a
small local development or even to model
an entire city. But most interestingly,
SketchUp, despite its power and
potential, is not a 3D program aimed at
3D experts. Instead, its designed to be used by those who
want to model as a means to an end, and who dont have the
time to truly conquer NURBS and polygons. Architect and
illustrator Lewis Wadsworth (http://lewiswadsworth.net)
puts it simply: SketchUp has an utterly transparent interface.
And that being the case, its users are free to concentrate on
what they want to design and build.
SketchUp began life as a general-purpose 3D creation
package, with the USP that it was easier to learn and start
using than any of the others. It was created by @Last Software,
but when the developer released a plug-in that enabled it to
work with Google Earth, the attention of the giant search
engine was well and truly grabbed. Google bought the package
in 2006, and released the current version SketchUp 7 in
2008. It comes in both Pro and free varieties, and the former
retails for 354/$495. It also comes with LayOut, which allows
you to create 2D documents and presentation, and Style
Builder, which enables you to customise your display styles
within the program. There are many other diferences between
the two versions, including Pros ability to generate reports and
export models in a greater range of le formats, but the free
version remains a great package for students or those just
getting started.
But despite SketchUp Pros high-end features, its users
continue to be impressed by its straightforwardness. There
are only a little over two-dozen primary modelling tools,
explains Wadsworth, Draw an edge, endpoint to endpoint,
with a tool that looks like a pencil; connect three or more
Disregarded by 3D purists as being feature-light,
Googles SketchUp Pro is taking swathes of new
creatives into the 3D world. Poz Watson discovers why
architects and interior designers are leading the charge
159
edges, and bang, you get a surface! Hit that
surface with the Push-Pull tool and you turn it into
a volume Draw an edge on a surface in
SketchUp and it splits it into two surfaces Push
two objects up against each other and they
become one object.
Argentine Ricardo Cossoli is a partner in Three
Dimensions (http://threedimensionsarg.
blogspot.com), a company set up in 2008 to
provide high-end architectural images for real
estate and construction. He is a big fan of
SketchUp too, and says, We always try to make
the best quality images possible, regardless of the
size of the project, whether a small cottage or a
large apartment building and we use SketchUp
for everything from design to modelling an entire
project, not using any other modelling program.
Using SketchUp end-to-end isnt an option for
everyone though, and many companies and
individuals use it as one component part in their
workow. For instance, Adam Warner, a freelance
designer who
specialises in
architectural
illustration, explains, Larger projects always start
with SketchUp, are pushed to SketchUps polygon
limitations, and are then taken into a program like
3ds Max to add some of the more CPU-intensive
items such as vegetation, cars and other high-
poly-count items. At times, I also use Rhino to
make more organic-looking elements.
So why is SketchUp so loved, given that most of
its users admit that they have to use other
programs as well to get their work done? Greg
McHugh, from a home furnishings and interior
design rm in Washington state (www.ksfhome.
com), says simply: I hate changing software but
the rst date with SketchUp won me over. It was
so easy to learn and very intuitive. Tim Sloat,
senior designer at Lowney Architecture, tells a
similar story: We began playing with it four years
ago when looking for an alternative to Revits
clunky concept design tools and it quickly became
the concept and schematic design tool of choice.
But simplicity alone is not enough to account
for the apps success. As Wadsworth notes,
SketchUp backs this up with a sort of intelligent
second-guessing. The application only presents
you with the tools that are applicable to the job at
hand. And of course, in a depressed economy,
ease of use equals speed of use, which means it
Go global with
Google Earth
Being part of the Google family means that
SketchUp integrates happily with Google Earth,
allowing you to utilise a world of data into your
own projects. Architect Lewis Wadsworth
explains that the combination is very useful
for conceptual work. Its simple to import a bit
of the virtual globe, terrain and satellite-photo
texture into SketchUp, if I dont have enough
survey information for a project or if I need a
site model fast.
Wadsworth made use of Google Earth on a
project he calls Stormhouse, which won the
2009 BSA Unbuilt Architecture Award. As a
structure located on Deception Island, just of
the coast of Antarctica, Wadsworth obviously
couldnt visit himself and could only nd some
dated surveys of the site, so the immediate
local terrain you see in the rendering is in fact
largely imported from Google Earth into
SketchUp. Alternatively, as with 3D
Warehouse, you can turn your hand to a bit of
geo-modelling, and use SketchUp to create
elements to be included in Google Earth. The
world is your oyster after all
Larger projects always start with SketchUp,
are pushed to SketchUps polygon limitations,
and are then taken into a program like 3ds Max
to add some of the more CPU-intensive items
such as vegetation, cars and high-poly items
Thiel Chapel
Desmone &Associates Architects
Stormhouse
Lewis Wadsworth
Palazetto
Lewis Wadsworth
160
costs less. McHughs rm is a small one, and it
recently partnered with a medium-sized
architectural rm on the pitch for the $13 million
expansion of the Lucky Eagle Hotel. We
participated in a competitive design contest
against a much larger architectural rm. I
produced interior room designs with SketchUp
and Artlantis. I collaborated with another designer
at the architectural rm which had just introduced
its staf to SketchUp. He primarily focused on the
building exterior. We produced some very
impressive presentation materials in a three-week
period. Needless to say, they won the bid.
Of course, the great thing about working with a
program like SketchUp is that you can tailor it
precisely to your needs by making use of all its
Ruby Scripts and plug-ins. If you combine the
native tools with several of the great scripts
written by talented developers on the SketchUp
forum, you have a pretty powerful arsenal of
modelling tools at your disposal, notes Warner.
But perhaps the real reason that SketchUp has
become the de facto tool of architects and set
designers alike is that by being rst and foremost
Architectural rm Lowney explains how it used SketchUp to
design a new Safeway store in Oakland, California
Lowney Architecture (www.lowneyarch.com) is a full-service architectural
company based in Oakland, California. Senior designer Tim Sloat has been
with the rm for ve years, and works closely with the boss Ken Lowney, and
the architects to tackle the concept and schematic design of their projects.
The rm specialises in commercial and mixed use projects, as well as
restaurants, and one of its largest clients is the grocery retailer Safeway Inc,
which has employed them to design new stores and expansion/remodels in
more urban areas and in communities especially sensitive to the need for
creating architecture that relates directly to the community.
SketchUp on the job
The design for the new Oakland Safeway (pictured) was primarily created
in SketchUp. Expressing his views on the app, Sloat says, It allows us to
quickly experiment, explore and experience design possibilities in three
dimensions, almost as easily as drawing by hand. The intuitive and immediate
connection between the tip of a pen and ones mind is something that CAD
technology has been striving towards for years for the every-day architectural
designer; SketchUp has come the closest yet to re-creating that experience.
And that ease of use was needed, given that Lowney not only constructed the
proposed project in SketchUp, but also used surveys, aerial imagery and site
visits to construct the immediate surrounding context.
Lowney also uses Revit for site plans and for studying the complicated
grade and oor level changes as they related to the project along its block-long
length. Sloat admits, Workow is a challenge between Revit and SketchUp
[since] we can easily export 3D information from one into the other, the state
of that information is not always ideal. The team also made use of 3ds Max
and Google Earth.
The creation of images to show the community was vital throughout the
project, and Sloat notes, Our SketchUp-generated walk-through movies are
our most powerful presentation tool when it comes to communicating the
experiential aspects of our designs to clients or the public. The proposed
design has been well received and is currently in the process of being entitled
for construction by the city.
an intuitive program, its users can forget about
how they create things, and concentrate solely on
creating them. Wadsworth says, If I have an
architectural project in mind, the rst thing I do is
open up SketchUp on a PC and start modelling
stuf. I almost said sketching stuf, but really with
SketchUp the one is the other. The softwares
name is not inappropriate. Sloat adds that the
program is unbounded by the need for constant
technical input (like most BIM programs require)
for free-owing idea generation.
Its powerful enough to do professional work
but not so powerful that it bogs down ones ability
to get fast and friendly-looking results.
3700BigelowBlvd
AdamWarner/Desmone &Associates Architects
OaklandSafeway
TimSloat/Lowney Architecture
161
OaklandSafeway
TimSloat/Lowney
Architecture
And what Sloat calls friendly-looking results are
crucial in a situation where youre showing your
designs to a wide variety of people the clients,
the planning ofcers, the public not all of whom
may be familiar with the process. When I worked
for other architects, says Wadsworth, I found
clients could be intimidated by utterly realistic
images. They became agitated over carpet
colours or curtain patterns, and couldnt see past
such triviality to the more important design
considerations. That doesnt seem to happen with
SketchUps more painterly images.
And as well as being easy to design with,
SketchUp is also easy to present with, so those
friendly images can be produced on a regular
basis. Sloat adds, With easy-to-apply and edit
textures, simple but efective face me
components and seemingly unlimited
combinations of styles that we can tailor
to the project and client, its easy to go
straight from designing to presenting.
The scene tabs facilitate easy 3D
presentations to clients, with the ability
to manually explore the model in
perspective 3D during meetings.
And this ease has meant that some
users dont even follow the usual
model of rendering their sketches
into nished 3D models.
Sloat explains, SketchUp uses lines as a means
of expressing edges and design compositions
much the same way one might use lines drawn
with a pen. However, once transferred to a true
rendering program, all these lines, and the design
information they might have been suggesting are
invisible and only the faces matter. So suddenly, a
building design that relied on lines as a shorthand
for window mullions or expansion joints in plaster,
etc, becomes a muddy mess. The lighting might
be more realistic and the glass might actually
reect like real glass, but the building must be
modelled to a much more detailed level at this
stage if it is to achieve legibility.
Of course, once you have put the detail in, your
SketchUp designs can be rendered in the
3D Warehouse
The world is a big old place, isnt it? And if you
dont have the time or inclination to model all
the buildings that surround the building youre
designing, for instance, then just head on over
to Googles 3D Warehouse. There youll nd
thousands of 3D models that you can
download and use in your work everything
from detailed real-world landmarks to more
generic components to all the trees, waterfalls
and scenery decoration that your heart could
possibly desire.
3D Warehouse was designed for the
purposes of collaboration, so if youve created
something youre proud of then you can also
upload your own models to share with other
people. And if Google deems them good
enough, your models could be included on the
3D building layer of Google Earth. So, whether
you want to search or upload, http://sketchup.
google.com/3dwarehouse is the place to go.
162
Ofce Interior TimSloat/Lowney Architecture
BeachHut AdamWarner
Victoria GregMcHugh
Cork Factory Restaurant
AdamWarner
Despite the afection the architectural
community clearly feels for SketchUp, there are
features that many wish it had. McHugh admits,
Its still dif cult to create more organic 3D items,
such as rocks, plants, sculpted, free-owing
items, and Cossoli concurs with this, noting that
if there were more modelling tools then you could
avoid having to use so many plug-ins, though this
is just personal taste. Warner echoes this plea,
and also adds, Support for proxies, better
animation controls, higher polygon count and
particle systems to the wish list.
For Wadsworth, there is another problem:
SketchUp was the rst program I used that had
real-time shadows in other words, you could
take lighting into consideration while developing
your design, and instantly see the results in the
application window. But the SketchUp developers
havent really updated the function since I rst
learnt the program, eight years ago. Other
programs have pushed this technology
dramatically forward, and Wadsworth wishes
Google would deal with this, or dump the whole
real-time shadow idea in favour of a quick
rendering system that would generate shadows
from multiple light sources. For my work, I really
dont need reections, raytracing, global
illumination or anything like that. I just want to be
able to place some light sources in my SketchUp
model to see how the lighting afects my design
and where the shadows fall.
So while some programs may hungrily add
features with every new release, SketchUps
appeal to the architectural audience seems to lie
in its continued simplicity. And with rendering
tools, connection to Google Earth and Warehouse
3D and the vast array of scripts available online
might its charms begin to appeal to the wider 3D
community? Perhaps.
Become a SketchUp Pro
If you want to learn more about SketchUp, the rst place to head is http://
sketchup.google.com. If you dont already have the program, you can easily
download the free version here, and theres all the information you need to get
started, although its fairly self-explanatory. Once youre up and running, you
can nd out more about the app from the of cial sites blog (http://
sketchupdate.blogspot.com), including its training information. If you then
want to venture further aeld, http://sketchucation.com has plenty of info,
and www.pushpullbar.com is a more general architectural forum that has
some keen SketchUp users. More of those keen users, as well as some great
tutorials, can also be located at www.sketchupartists.org. If youre tutorial-
mad, then more can be found at www.googlesketchuptutorials.com, www.
architectionary.com/SketchupTutorials and www.sketchuptuts.com.
Despite the affection the architectural
community clearly feels for SketchUp, there
are features that many wish it had. McHugh
admits, Its still difcult to create more
organic 3D items, such as rocks, plants,
sculpted, free-owing items, etc
traditional way and some fantastic results created,
which is what most users do. Arc-vis pro Cossoli
says, To render all of our images we now use
V-Ray but started working with a free program
called Kerkythea and, briey, Twilight Render (for
beta testers), but we decided to stay with V-Ray
because of the successful integration between the
programs, when you need SketchUp to be the end
software. Warner is a fan of V-Ray (www.vray.
com/vray_for_sketchup) too: I use V-Ray for all
of my rendering. I couldnt be happier with the
results I get from it. Other users opt for
Shaderlight (www.artvps.com) or LumenRT
(www.e-onsoftware.com/products/lumenRT).
Savoy Restaurant
Chuck Sanders, John
Bettis andLuca Paganico
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Architecture
Materials,
lighting
3dsMax Photoshop AfterEffects
to the nal render
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radicjoe.cgsociety.org
Country Hungary
Hardware used
Intel Core 2 q9550, 8GB RAM
Intel i7-860, 8GB RAM
Expertise I mainly work on
architectural visualisations
Viktor Fretyn
Username: Radic
V-Ray
164
T
his image is part of a set of renders on a
detached house in Budapest, Hungary. It is
designed by Satoshi Okada and is under
construction at the moment. Since this was an
assignment, it means I had a deadline and had to follow
certain requests and guidelines. Consequently, the end
result was not satisfying enough for my taste and I
decided to make my own version of the rendering. In this
tutorial, I will explain how the materials for the surfaces
were applied and how the lighting was set up. I think it is
always an interesting challenge to make a successful
image of a place that shows of both an interior and
exterior at the same time. The composition, the lighting
and the materials are quite dramatic. Im looking for this
kind of drama in most of my work. I love to play with light
and shadow, as well as with the colour of the light.
Step by step: Texturing
and lighting architecture
Normafa House 2009
Viktor Fretyn has experimented with 3D art since
school and specialises in architectural visualisation
Its an interesting challenge to make an image
that shows off a buildings interior and exterior
01
Satoshi Okada is a Japanese architect
who designed the Forest Refuge known by
almost everyone thanks to Alex Romans
interpretation. I was really excited when I got the
chance to work on his new design. As an architect, the
topic is always important; I have to like the design too
in order to make nice renders.
02
As I said before, this image is not part of
the renders I delivered to the client. As often
happens, clients prefer a more generic, less dramatic
look regarding lighting and composition. Clients always
seem to have a diferent taste in renders and, trying to
gure out what it is, I can rarely satisfy my own
expectations for the project.
03
This project was anything but subtle.
I mean, since the architecture was so pure,
I decided to make the greenery as spectacular as possible.
Every little spot of the image has something on it. There
are no clean or empty surfaces in the scene. I wanted
every image to be really vivid.
Design inspirations
Architecture
165
Material surfaces
Adding textures and materials
06
A typical dirt map is set like
this. I added the dirt map to every
materials Difuse slot. I used to render a
separate ambient occlusion layer, but that
meant every object had the same radius
of dirt; this way, I can control each one
individually. Obviously, a 6m-high plane
wall needs a completely diferent radius
to a 15cm-high vase on a shelf.
04
There are no
complex materials
in the scene. I used only one
concrete material, although it
appears as if there are more,
but those scratches were done
externally in Photoshop. It has
a VRayDirt map in the Difuse
slot which has a Radius of 3
metres. The same map was
used for Reection and Bump
in greyscale too.
08
My nal advice
regarding materials
is always use Fresnel
Reections. If you do just a
little research into everyday
objects around you, youll
gure that nothing has a
constant reection but
depends on the angle you
look at it. And I dont only
mean water or glass, but even
plaster walls or fabric.
05
The oor was
made in the same
way. It has a slightly higher
IOR setting to get more
reections and the VRayDirt
is only set to 1.5 metres. The
same bitmap is used again
for all slots. I used colour
correction to adjust the map.
07
The curtain is
made from a
translucent material. It is set
in the simplest way it can be:
using Hard Wax mode. It is
similar to using a two-sided V-
Ray material. It isnt as nice,
but much faster and, for these
purposes, it is perfect.
166
Viktor Fretyn
I am a 26-year-old architect from Budapest, Hungary.
I started using 3D many, many years ago when I was
in elementary school. I experimented with small
animations, effects and building primitive models.
Years later, while studying at university, I found it was
actually a good way of making money so I started to dig
deeper into arc-vis territory.
KUMU Art Museum of
Estonia 3ds Max, V-Ray,
Photoshop, After Efects
(2010)
This is the project I am
currently working on. I
started months ago, but I
just cant seem to nish it
because the building has so
many great views. This will
be my most grandiose work
once its nished. I would
like to render daylight and
night shots as well as
interiors and exteriors with
diferent seasons.
Row House 3ds Max,
V-Ray, Photoshop (2009)
This is a small, personal
practice piece I made over
a weekend and it included
four renders of Tadao
Andos rst realised project
in Azuma, Japan. I love the
raw concrete material and
it features everywhere on
these renders. I enjoyed
working on this project
especially because I did it
in only a few days.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
In waiting... 3ds Max, V-
Ray, Photoshop (2009)
This is one of my favourite
renders. It is the main aula
[atrium] of the Exchange
Palace of Budapest. I was
working on that project for
quite some time. The
modelling part was insane
as you can see on the render.
This altered version of the
original render tried to
capture the feeling of a child
dragged through a museum.
Balancing the interior and exterior
Lighting the scene
As you can see, there are
no complicated models
in the scene (except for
the trees which are not
modelled by me). I am
really bad at this and
everything you see in
this image is made from
primitives with the
fewest and most basic
of tools. Even the leaves
on the ground were
scattered manually
instead of using the
Scatter tool. I always
want to get over this part
as soon as possible. This
is probably one of the
main reasons I stick to
architectural renders: the
geometry is always the
least complicated, as
opposed to a car or
anything more organic.
Modelling
the scene
09
First, we need
a global difuse light
(sky light). That was achieved
by simply adding a map to our
environmental override in the V-
Ray render window. Its a simple
bitmap I downloaded from
CGtextures.com. Note that this
is not a light source, so it doesnt
produce any shadows.
10
Now put in the main light source that
stands in for our sky here. It is going to be
a VRayPlane positioned above our scene facing
down and tilted a bit towards the camera.
Attached to it, there is a VRaySky which is put
in the Reection/Refraction override.
11
The three lamps on the ceiling will provide the main light in the room.
For these, I used VRaySpheres as lightbulbs. We need some supporting light
sources from each side. I used small VRaySpheres with a Radius of 0.1 metres. I also
needed three VRayPlanes to light the ceiling around the wooden walls on the left.
12
And here is the result of the lighting. Its a bit bright, but thats okay since
the override material is white so, once its all textured up, it will be balanced
out. I particularly love the night shots because of this ambivalent lighting: the blueish
outside colours complementing the warm colours of the interior and vice versa.
13
This shot of the house from another angle provides an alternative
perspective and is a good example of the balance between the two colours
the warm and the cold and how well they can work together.
re
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Architecture
167
Step by step:
Creating a stylish
museum building
KUMU Art Museum 2010
I was
mesmerised by
this museum
some years ago
and, ever since,
I knew I had to do
my own version
of it in 3D
Viktor Fretyn specialises
in architectural rendering
168
I
think a major change has happened over the
last two years in the eld of architectural
visualisation. After the rst appearance of Alex
Romans renders, the landscape of this industry has
been totally reshaped. I knew that if I wanted to make
something signicant, Id have to work harder than
before to get any recognition. Therefore, instead of
making one scene and shooting renders from
diferent angles, I tried to make every render
individual. I considered this to be ten diferent projects
rather than just one, since each shot difers not only in
lighting and composition, but in almost every other
aspect too. The most interesting render out of the
bunch is probably the above scene with the snow. As
you read through this tutorial, you will nd there are
no secret tools no surprises coming up. In fact, this
is a good example of making something look great
with the simplest of tools!
Design inspirations
Modelling
01
The first step is always to do some
research: I gathered every photo that I
could nd of the building from the internet. Some
of them were quite inuential, but most of them
were just to gain a sense of the buildings
geometry. In the end, out of about 150 photos,
only a few were useful.
02
While doing research over the internet, I came across the
website of two students (Ankit Surti and Samuel Gwynn), who had
already modelled the building in 3ds Max some years ago. Contacting them,
they kindly agreed to help by supplying all the information needed to start the
work, including the of cial drawings, which theyd acquired from the architect.
Dont ever be scared to ask fellow artists for favours.
to the nal render
A
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f
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radicjoe.cgsociety.org
Country Hungary
Hardware used
2 x Intel q9550, 8GB RAM
1 x Intel i7-860, 8GB RAM
Expertise Viktors passion is
architectural rendering. Thats
more or less the only part of
3D he considers himself good at
Viktor Fretyn
Username: Radic
V-Ray 3dsMax Photoshop AfterEffects
03
In terms of colour
mood, I loved this
photo and wanted to make a
render with the same feeling.
Its as if you can virtually smell
the rain. I always aim to create
renders that move the viewers
inside emotionally.
Architecture
169
Modelling the building
Constructing the shapes
05
On the other
side, it was quite
similar, except it wasnt
curved. I created rectangles
for the outline of the wall and
the windows, then converted
them into splines and
attached them. After that, I
converted it into editable poly
again and added a Shell
modier. The horizontal joint
lines of the buildings metal
cladding were formed with a
Displacement modier.
06
I modelled the
details as precisely as I
could even the ones I knew
wouldnt be visible from such a
distance. I did everything using
only standard primitives or
splines converted into editable
poly images. The tools I used
the most at this stage were
Lathe, Sweep, Symmetry, FFD
Box as well as the editing tools
for editable poly.
07
For the railing
in front, I used splines
again. I quickly outlined the
posts, extruded the parts,
chamfered the edges a bit and
attached them into one
editable poly. I made sure to
watch the position of the
pivot, so that I didnt have
trouble ofsetting the railings
when using the Spacing tool
along another spline.
08
The leaess tree models started
out as single boxes. Just by pulling
vertices and extruding polygons, in a few
minutes, I had created three kinds of branches.
Applying Turbosmooth and scaling and rotating
them several times, I ended up with some
natural-looking winter trees.
04
I started with the main volume of the building,
which is the green metal wall, drawing a spline of only
two vertices which were set to Bezier Corners. Having switched
to Adaptive Interpolation, I moved it to t the plan, converted it
into editable poly and used Slice Plane to cut it as needed.
170
Viktor Fretyn
I have a very strong passion for architecture and have
never really tried any other areas of 3D. I love renders
with an artistic touch. Technical achievements alone
are not enough for me. I prefer the work of artists who
create a balance with colours, light and shadow.
KUMU, Spring, Daytime
3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop
(2010)
What I especially liked about
this shot is the composition.
The horizon line is kept very
low, making the building look
like it reaches very high and the
camera correction also adds to
that feeling. The aeroplane that
curves across the sky adds a bit
of dynamism as well.
KUMU, Fall, Late Afternoon
3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop (2010)
This is where I tried to achieve the atmosphere I referred to in Step
3 with that evocative photo of a eld. I was aiming for a very bleak
image with the sun almost set and just moments away from the
breaking of a storm.
KUMU, Main Lobby 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop (2009)
I decided to showcase portfolio images all taken from this particular
project. This was actually the rst render I took. I loved the colour
balance between the cold blue coming from above and the warm,
yellowish light from below.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Bringing it all together
10
This might be disappointing for some, but the
snow efect was achieved using a 2D Displacement
modier, rather than a particle system like PArray. I took
a snapshot of the viewport from the top and drew a very
large bitmap. Next, I applied it to the terrain by using a Planar
UVW Map modier.
Refining the details
09
The terrain was
modelled using a simple
plane that was distorted with FFD
Box to follow the slope. I cut the
holes in it by simply using the
Boolean tool and adding a subtle
Noise modier before turning it into
editable poly again. I used the Soft
Selection controls to pull up vertices
near the walls.
11
Theres a little trick to doing glass that not many people
use. I just added a little Noise Bump and simulated the
double glazing by cloning the glass and pulling it back a few
centimetres. I then applied a diferent glass material to it with the
same settings, but a slightly altered Noise Bump.
12
Another problem that can occur when glass panels
are lined up is the reection breaking at the edge of
each panel. To tackle this, I selected every second panel in a
chessboard pattern and rotated them a little in all directions.
13
Modelling a
window is one of the
easiest tasks, but can add a lot
of realism when done right. I
found a drawing of a section of
a window and drew the outline
with a spline. Once Id applied
a rectangle with a Sweep
modier, it was ready.
For the main light source, I used a
VRayLightDome. Usually an HDRI might
be used in the Map slot, but this time I
just used a darker blueish colour.
I set the Multiplier to 1.5 and made
it invisible as to not afect the reections
(for which, I put an HDRI in the
Reection Override slot). The
Environment Override was also checked
in with a black colour to ensure the
background didnt afect the lighting.
As for the rest of the scene, I used
smaller VRayPlanes and VRaySpheres
with a warm orange colour.
Lighting the scene
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R
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:
4,037 x 2,659
2
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h
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Architecture
171
A
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i
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f
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Viktor Fretyn
http://radicjoe.cgsociety.org
Country Hungary
Photoshop
Username: Radic
This image isnt the newest from my
portfolio. Nowadays, Im more interested in
the architecture itself rather than the interior
decoration. This is from a previous era when
my main interests in renders were smaller
interiors, such as this one.
Living Room

by N
ight 2008
The composition is always interesting for me.
In fact, it is one of the most important aspects of
rendering. I wanted to create a nice living space that
is both in order and a mess at the same time
As always, the
modelling part was
the least interesting
for me. I constantly
find myself browsing
through free 3D
libraries on the
internet just to get
over this part
172
Back when this render was
made, I considered it my best so far,
so I decided to make a really high-
resolution render. The nal image is
10,000 by 4,000 pixels, which really
helped bring out all the details
The lighting of this image is also interesting because there are
several light sources in the scene to make it really vivid: the TV itself
and its backlights, the small reading lamp, the IES light sources
from the left, and a warm, diffuse light from the right
V-Ray 3dsMax Photoshop
173
I
t was as recent as 2009 that three men,
Agustn Gutirrez, Rodrigo Pea and
Luis Linares, decided to get together
and form Kuan Studio in Montevideo,
Uruguay. The name Kuan comes from the
Chinese classic text of the I Ching, meaning
contemplation, with which the team feel an
afnity. It was their common vision and the
same passion, which is excellence in the
visual communication of projects, that
brought them together to form Kuan.
Contemplating the project and listening
to the client are key elements at the studio,
as they share opinions in order to reach the
best artistic result. To achieve this, they
concentrate on taking care of details and
have a deep sense of loyalty and a
responsible commitment to the job. Each
member of the team has a specic role on
each project: the project manager is
responsible for each project to assess and
follow up to the nal product, and is also the
Company Kuan Studio
Founded May 2009
Company website
www.kuanstudio.com
Country Uruguay
V-Ray, Photoshop,
After Efects and AutoCAD
Expertise 3D animation
Client list Images of products for
a design studio in Barcelona,
Spain, architects in Switzerland,
architects and real estate group
investors in Panama, architects in
Uruguay and Argentina
A Interior Bridges
Watching a classic movie
in a modern space
Currently, we focus on architectural visualisation
and products in 3D, but our next step is audiovisual
postproduction and videogames
Luis Linares is the co-founder of Kuan Studio
We talk to Luis Linares of Kuan Studio about the philosophy of his new architecture
company, based in South America
174
Advertising ofce
This is a personal project inspired by the
Facebook of ces, with which we were very
pleased. We looked at all the details in the
modelling phase, from the smallest to the
largest, working on all the vegetation in 3ds
Max and V-Ray.
We sought the light that you get from a
cloudy sky, with little direct sunlight on the
scene. We decided that we wanted the
interiors of the of ces seen through the
windows to appear relaxed, because this is
an advertising agency and did not need to
be formal.
In postproduction, the details in diferent
parts of the building and the environment
are greatly enhanced. Through Photoshop
we retouched the grey walls of the building,
the colours of the vegetation and overall
image to get a result that blends serenity
and simplicity in architecture.
The name Kuan comes
from the Chinese classic text
of the I Ching, meaning
contemplation, with which
the team feel an affinity
175
D
B Shower Spa
Refreshing the mind and
body in a concrete setting
(Mediterranean client)
C
176
visible face to the client; the art director is
responsible for lighting as well as the
realisation of the scene in each project;
theres the animation and modelling
manager; and nally, the postproduction
manager is responsible for giving the nal
touch to each image.
What are the main services that Kuan
Studio offers and the areas of CGI that you
cover?
Luis Linares: Currently, we focus on
architectural visualisation and products in
3D, but our next step is audiovisual
postproduction and videogames.
Who are some of your main clients?
LL: We are currently designing a catalogue
of bathroom artifacts for a recognised
European brand. We have had clients in
Panama for important real estate projects,
such as luxury residential buildings and
large commercial spaces. We are now
entering into the Swiss and German
markets; however, any clients require
condentiality, so were only able to name a
few here.
Do you tend to work more in industry
visualisation, commercial or residential, or
is it an across-the-board approach?
LL: We work on every scale across the
industry and we take each project as a new
and unique challenge.
What is the most interesting or rewarding
residential project youve worked on?
LL: The House in Switzerland, because in
this particular image we wanted to transmit
C Close-up Spa
Close-up of the good
life enjoying the
peaceful nature of the
sea (Mediterranean
client)
a warm and comforting mood in the house
we were in charge of visualising.
What software tools do you regularly
employ and why?
LL: As a rst phase, we primarily use
AutoCAD to model different parts. Next, we
use 3ds Max for complex modelling. As an
engine for rendering, lighting and
texturing, we use V-Ray. For postproduction
we use Photoshop and After Effects.
How many people typically work on one of
your projects, either in-house or externally
where necessary?
We work on every scale across the
industry and we take each project as
a new and unique challenge
D Mediateque
Montevideos cultural
reections at dusk
E Loft
Mixing materials for a
unique modern style of
living in a house in
Punta del Este,
Uruguay
E
177
LL: There are three people who work at
Kuan full time, and we all participate in all
the stages of creation. If theres a bigger
project or we have several projects at once,
we hire external contractors.
Can you give us some idea of the actual
production pipeline for producing an image
or set of images for a client?
LL: We want our customers to feel at ease
and comfortable. This working
methodology is based on practicality and
efciency to achieve the best results in a
timely manner. It starts with the modelling
process, where we send previews to the
client to make the necessary corrections to
get the best result in the nal product. Once
the previous images are approved, we begin
the nal rendering of images and/or videos.
What kind of work have you been doing
recently in the animation and product
visualisation elds?
LL: In the visualisation of products, we have
been commissioned for modelling and
rendering a catalogue of bathroom artifacts
in Barcelona, Spain. Also, we are in
preproduction stage for an independent 3D
animation lm.
The building and visualisation industries
have both been affected by the global
recession. Has your country and your type
of work been affected as well?
LL: We are a new studio so we have not felt
the crisis as others may have, and we had a
good impact abroad and good reviews of our
work for the time the studio has been open.
What are your plans and ambitions for the
company in the future?
LL: Our plans and ambitions are to continue
growing on a worldwide scale and enlarge
our clients portfolio, and to grow as an
architectural visualisation and
postproduction studio.
We had a good impact abroad and good
reviews of our work for the time the studio
has been open
The House in
Switzerland
The House in Switzerland is
a project that we loved and
enjoyed throughout the
production process. From
the exchange of ideas with
our client came the goal of
creating a warm mood using
the wood as a motivator of
the scene.
There are specic design
elements that were
modelled exclusively for the
scene, which help to
enhance the atmosphere in
this image. We wanted to
convey the cold
contemplated from a warm
place using multiple items
such as wood that
symbolises the warmth and
serenity; also re and the
stove that further reinforce a
pleasant atmosphere.
Postproduction was the
most important stage to
generate this space, since
colour corrections, contrasts
and efects allow us to
illustrate the idea of the
desired space.
G
F
F House
Cooking and living
with style in San
Sebastian, Panama
G Bridges Building
Modern style of living
in San Francisco
178
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179
T
his rendering was especially important because of its
high prole. It is very close to Washington DC and, at
38,000 square feet, it was an important property
bound to interest those wielding great power.
With that in mind, the architect had very stringent ideas of
how it should look in both building materials and the general
feel of the rendering. Larry Link Jr is an old-school architect and
used a lot of terms that I had not heard before many dating
back to Greek and Roman architecture.
One of the biggest dif culties was guring out the pipeline to
implement all of the greenery around the estate. This was
accomplished by using several MAX les that were rendered
out and the layers blended in Photoshop. The rustication
around the garage also proved quite time-consuming, as some
of the areas didnt work out right with Bump maps and
Displacement maps would have been far too heavy during
render time. For that reason, I decided to place each stone
block individually, which sounds laborious, but in the end, it
looks much better on the nal render.
The most interesting part of the project was that Link was
still designing it as I was creating it, which could have led to a
logistical nightmare. In this case though, it was satisfying to
help shape the building and ofer my thoughts and opinions
during the creative process.
3dsMax
Photoshop
CS4
mental
ray
Grass-
O-Matic
Creating
a mansion
Mansion At 6 Evan Way 2010
This was created as a photorealistic
detailed rendering to aid in the sale of
the largest home on record for its area
Ryan W Knope is a freelance 3D artist with 13
years experience in the visualisation industry
180
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
techniques behind
www.ryanknope.com
Country US
mental ray, Grass-O-Matic,
Photoshop CS4
Expertise Ryan makes a living
largely from his architectural
and interior visualisation
business in Denver
Ryan W Knope
Username: RWKnope
01 Boxing out the structure
Boxing out the structure and dening a viewpoint was my rst step. This boxed-out structure
mainly consists of renderable splines for the walls and roofs. An Edit Poly modier was used
to pull the walls to the desired height. Boxes were added for the chimneys and patio elements.
The goal at this stage was to get approval of the overall shapes, size and positioning. Once
approved, I then moved on to the detailing and rening. I also dened a camera angle. This
allowed me to work on the foreground and side landscape while Link was still designing
other elements of the home a.
The concept for the mansion came directly from the architect,
Larry Link Jr. A solid early plan and viewpoint was dened by
the sketches. This made it much easier for me to lock in the
framework from the very beginning.
Concept
Modelling,
texturing,
postproduction
a Use renderable splines, boxes and Edit Poly to dene the
structure. Try to conrm a camera early on
Information about the home:
Developer/Owner representative: Michael Sotir
Tel: 443-392-6752
Estate Home with great bones and classic new architectural plans. Builder is in place to nish home to new owners desires. Enough space to satisfy all client needs.
181
The most problematic
modelling element was
placing the vegetation and
grass. I quickly realised my
machine had a very difcult
time dealing with more than
one grass mass at a time.
Each grass area had to be
separated and placed into a
different scene. This eased the
tension initially, but then I had
to place the trees into the
respective grass scenes to get
the shadows to work properly.
Each tree was between
750,000 and 1,000,000 polys or
more. The grass was even
heavier with geometry.
Rendering the grass with
the trees took a lot of patience.
A bunch of render settings had
to be rened because of the
model densities and proxies
used. In the end, I had to buy
2GB RAM to solve the issue,
because I was not willing to
sacrice sampling values.
Problems and
solutions
Beyond the walls
Adding in the main features
03 Windows, pillars and roof
The window mullions, casings and sashes were created using
renderable splines. The stool and apron were created using
Chamfer boxes. An Arch & Design material was applied that
included the Round Corners value activated in the Special
Efects Material tab. I used a box for the glass panes. Next I
placed these sets around all of the other open window gaps.
Some I kept as instances and some I did not, but I kept track
of which were real windows and made tweaks to diferently
shaped windows. Pillars started as splines and were lathed.
The roof began as renderable splines for each section. Edit
Poly was added and the roof pitches created by pulling the
top set of vertices c.
04 Roof rake and frieze
For the roof rakes, in Edit Polys Edge Mode, I began by
extracting lines from the top of the exterior walls. From there
I created several ridges via renderable splines on the top and
bottom of the rake bounds. The white backboard also started
as a renderable spline, with vertices edited to match the
existing depth. I drew a prole shape for the tooth detailing,
then added another Edit Poly modier, extruded the shape
and capped the object. Next I copied a previous spline and
matched it to the contour of the walls so that I could use the
Spacing tool to populate the tooth along the spline without
having to place each one. For uniform architectural features
such as railings/beams the Spacing tool is a great device for
saving time d.
b Place boxes to get window
location and size approval
c Roof, window and pillar
creation process
d Use splines, Edit Poly and
the Spacing tool to add the
roof rake
02 Cutting out the windows
Next it was time to cut out the windows. This was a bit
tedious, because there were so many. Thinking about my
workow, I preferred to send Link a screenshot showing the
windows as boxes through the wall. This showed location
and I could get approval without having to cut them out. This
was both good and bad, because once I had the boxes in
place, it was too easy to use ProBoolean rather than cutting
them properly in Edit Poly. About 95 per cent of the windows
were cut using ProBoolean without aws. The remainder had
to be xed and welded, with some re-cut in Edit Poly.
ProBoolean still saved me time, but use it carefully b.
b
c
182
05 Quoining the corners
The quoin stones started of as a box, which I then extruded,
bevelled and scaled to create the front block detailing. The
blocks were then alternated in size to create the necessary
pattern. These blocks needed to share the same colour as
the main stucco nish, so I copied the stucco material and
added a rough stone texture to the Bump map slot. Box
UVW mapping was used. For the corner stones, the objects
were instanced and rotated. The reverse joints were
instanced and mirrored e.
06 Constructing the chimneys
The chimney construction was pretty straightforward,
though slightly diferent from the average design. The
chimneys were created fairly fast by blocking them out with
basic objects, such as Chamfer boxes, cylinders and
renderable splines. Once massed, vertices were moved to
Edit Poly. An Arch & Design material was applied with a
Bump map in order to simulate stucco. This material also
had the Round Corners option applied, saving me from
having to chamfer all of the edges f.
07 French doors
Making sure that the distance from the camera was kept in
mind, the doors were created as simple, yet efective
objects. The hole was cut into the wall via Edit Poly, then the
doorframe and detailing were added with diferent size
renderable splines. The doors themselves started as boxes
and the holes cut using, once again, Edit Poly. The hole
edges were then chamfered and boxes with the
windowpanes inserted. Chamfer boxes were used for the
shutters, box mapping added and an Arch & Design material
applied. The material has a Difuse and Bump map and both
maps were given a Blur of .01 g.
e Boxes are extruded to
dene shape, adding a
bevel and a lip
f Construction of the chimney
was quick with Edit Poly and
basic objects
g Basic construction used
because of distance and
shadowed areas
render time
Resolution:
5,000 x 2,988
28
hours
d
e
f
g
183
The lighting rig started out
with a mr Sun and Sky.
Final Gather and GI were
set up, although I noticed
some areas needed some
ll lighting. Fill lighting was
used in and over the patio
above the garage to help
simulate the articial
lighting from inside that
room. mrs Photographic
Exposure control was set
to Daylight Clear Sky. This
same lighting rig was
utilised for each scene le.
I also set up an Ambient
Occlusion pass. This
greatly increased the
realism of the shadows
and detailing in the model.
Once rendered, I painted
in a lot of shadows and
highlights for realism.
To create an even softer
lighting feel, I added
softened white highlights
in Photoshop.
Lighting and
post-lighting
Ryan W Knope
I started 3D in late 1996. This developed
into an obsession over the next year or two,
which turned into a money-making career
before I had graduated from high school.
From there my love for the art has never
faltered. My freelance visualisation
business has been going strong for about 13
years, and over the last two years it has
gone international.
Sumiyoshi Master Plan
3ds Max 2010, Photoshop CS4 (2009)
Created for Ecocentrix, Sumiyoshi is a Luxury Living
Community that has now been constructed in Japan.
The World Has Moved On
3ds Max 2010, Photoshop CS4, ZBrush (2009)
A fun project for a contest. It won second place. Its
based on a town in Stephen King novel, The Gunslinger.
Block it out
Finish the mansions masonry
08 Applying the rustication 1
The rustication began as copied quoin blocks. I placed each
block one by one in horizontal rows until I could instance
them up. This went along pretty quickly until I got to the
arches. The arch rustication had to be edited quite drastically
in Edit Poly. I used Slice Plane to cut through the object,
adding more segments to deform. Once I had the left side
complete, I then instanced to create the right side.
Around the circular patio balcony above the garage doors
it took longer, but the same methods were used. I placed
actual geometry as I didnt want to use render-hungry
Displacement maps, unless as a last resort h.
09 Applying the rustication 2
Before rendering the nal passes, I processed all of the
scenes at a high resolution and lower sampling rate (1/4) to
make sure that everything lined up perfectly. It is too easy to
nudge a camera or move something by accident. Once I
conrmed all locations and objects as matching, I set up the
render settings and rendered the scene out at a lower
resolution (1/3 nal size).
For the nal render, I used a sampling rate of 4/16, with
BSP2 on. Final Gather and Global Illumination were used
because of interior and overhanging porch areas i.
I placed actual geometry as I didnt
want to use render-hungry Displacement
maps, unless as a last resort
h
i
184
As Humans Control Nature
3ds Max 2010, Photoshop CS4 (2009)
This project started as a contest image and then became an
obsession for two months. The inspiration was my terrarium.
10 Combining the renders in PS
Once rendered, the diferent images needed to be brought
into Photoshop to be lined up and blended using layer masks.
For the blending, I put the main house in rst, then began
adding the tree layers. Since there were areas of similar
colour, I inverted some layers to check the hard-edged
bounds, painting on the mask accordingly, then inverting
back to normal. With all of the rendered layers in position, it
was time for postproduction detailing j.
11 Postproduction 1
Once I blended the layers, I created copies of the original
layers and turned them of, saving them just in case
something went wrong with my edits; you can never be too
careful! Next I began to use Dodge and Burn tools in
Photoshop. I used varying intensities and shade values. I tried
to accentuate the highlights and darker spots.
Starting the vegetation, I sent the architect the thumbnail
shrub library, so that he could begin picking bushes and
owers. I began placing each bush, keeping them on diferent
layers and assessing shadows and highlights. Around a lot of
the trees I added some taller grass stock from the vegetation
library for variation and realism k.
12 Postproduction 2
For the chimney smoke, I began with a smoke stock image
which I found online. I had to mask the image, blur and
reduce the opacity. Lastly I set the blending mode to
Multiply. Next I added detail to the yellow frieze with a black-
and-white pattern. This layers blending mode was set to
Overlay. Including people was a question from the start. In
my opinion people can ruin the integrity of a rendering. For
that reason I decided to only place them on the upstairs patio
at 75% Opacity. This gives an element of scale, but they
dont detract attention from the property l.
Smoke usually does not
rise straight up as there is
often some wind that
whisks it away. Originally, I
had the smoke going
straight up and the
architect gave me a lesson
on how straight rising
smoke is indicative of old
city slums, where less
wind tends to be present.
Hardly betting when it
came to this multimillion-
dollar property!
Smoke
h Quoin blocks are resized to
t the smaller areas and
cover upper patio walls
i Render settings that I used
were not far from defaults
j Some of the diferent render
sets to be combined prior
to postproduction
k The areas applied with
Dodge and Burn tools, plus a
grass detail overlay
l Various items of
postproduction added as
nishing touches
j
k
l
l
l
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Luis Tejeda
luistejeda.tutorial-lab.com/
Country USA, Spain
Photoshop
Username: 3dluis
It took me about
three weeks to
nalise the image.
I used 3ds Max, V-
Ray and Photoshop
for the nal
retouching. I used
a free plug-in called
Ivy Generator to do
the growing ivy on
the wall
I chose to make a combination
between wood and metal with no brick,
trying to get a modern look for the house.
I added a red tree to add distinction to all
the dark green vegetation
For the nal composition, I rendered in different
passes. The most important ones were occlusion,
reection, refractions, Z-Depth, specular, shadows
and, of course, the render ID with which you get more
precision to separate different parts of the rendering
by selecting a colour
186
This image was an entry for a contest where
postproduction wasnt allowed. I elaborated a
lighting scheme that would accentuate dif erent areas. With some postproduction,
I later added details for more realism.
P
e
a
ce
fu
l
H
o
u
se
2009
For the lighting I used VRaySun and
a V-Ray camera. I think for exterior shots
like this one you can achieve better
results. I used V-Ray displacement for the
grass, then in Photoshop I duplicated the
layer, made it darker and erased some
parts to make grass patches
I wanted to make the scene inviting to this
beautiful house at a certain time in the day. Theres
something very serene about a sunset and I wanted
to capture this feeling
3dsMax Photoshop V-Ray
187
I
ts unusual for anyone to start a
business in the middle of a recession,
but thats exactly what Nick Homer
did with F10 Studios, an architectural
visualisation rm on Englands south
coast. By starting out when times were
hard, though, Nick was able to run a cost-
conscious business, ensuring low
overheads and great value for customers.
F10 Studios is based in the heart of
Brighton, right in the thick of the vibrant
and creative North Laines area. The core
team is made up of only three people, but
theres a large network of reliable modelling
and visualising freelancers, so the team can
expand when needed without the
overheads, and risks, that have been very
apparent over the last year or so. If F10
needs other skill sets, it can call upon some
of the many other local creative companies
on the doorstep.
What are the main services you offer and
areas of CGI that you cover?
Company F10 Studios Ltd
Founded 2008
Company website
www.f10studios.co.uk
Country UK
V-Ray, Photoshop
Expertise Architectural
visualisation
Client list LCE Architects,
Blue Edge, West Pier Trust
A A golden hallway in a hotel
designed by LCE Architects
b Hotel concept in an urban
setting from LCE Architects
to see very positive images of
it in full glorious colour, as it used to be
in its heyday, was a very welcome change
Nick Homer is the managing director of F10 Studios
We talk to Nick Homer about running a small architectural
visualisation company in dif cult economic conditions
Pressing all the right
keys
a
188
b 189
Nick Homer: We aim to go the extra mile
with both stills and animations, creating
compelling imagery that assists architects
and developers all the way from concept
design through to successful bid
applications and marketing tools.
Is there are particular style or philosophy that
you bring to your projects?
NH: Understanding the key messages and
working out the most effective approach
to each individual project is vital.
We love to create punchy dynamic images
that stand out and grab your attention. To
make images convincing, the difference is
in the detail, and we strive to add as much
as possible in the timeframe.
Who are or have been some of your main
clients over the years?
NH: Our team has many years of experience
working with many UK and international
architects like Fosters, and has been a
helping hand in some very high prole
wining bids such as London 2012 and
Glasgow 2014. We have also worked together
with LCE Architects on a number of projects.
What is the most interesting/rewarding
architectural visualisation project youve
worked on?
NH: Our work last year with the West Pier
Trust, recreating the West Pier in Brighton,
was a very interesting and rewarding project.
It needed to be a very detailed model,
so there were plenty of 3D challenges like
modelling from 100-year-old design
sketches and worn-out black and white
reference photos, and creating many
weathered materials quite complex V-Ray
blend materials were extensively used.
The reaction that the set of images
received from people, who were very
passionate about the pier, was incredible.
I think people are so used to seeing colour
photos or paintings of it burning down or in
tatters, that to see very positive images of
it in full glorious colour, as it used to be in
its heyday, was a very welcome change.
The goal was to help regenerate interest
in the Trusts plight, and we feel we did.
What software tools do you regularly employ
and why?
NH: 3ds Max and V-Ray are our primary
weapons of choice and everything we do is
created by them maybe with the odd help
from another plug-in or two.
We have all been using Max for many
years, and so it is second nature now. Like
most software, it likes to throw in
challenges from time to time, but on the
whole it is a very good bit of kit, and with V-
Ray on top, which has established itself as
the de facto standard in arch vis rendering,
we nd we have a very effective tool set.
How many people typically work on
a project, either in-house or externally?
NH: A project can range from one person for
a day or two for a quick CGI, through to
collaboration between ten of us and other
companies in the area, lasting a month or
two. There are many creative companies
based around us, so there are always
West Pier
In April 2009, F10 Studios was approached by Brightons
West Pier Trust to graphically restore the pier and provide
visualisations that illustrated the pier in its heyday. F10s brief
was to capture the true beauty and romanticism of the much
loved piece of seaside architecture as it was in 1920. Creative
director Glen Bruckland said: The rst challenge was piecing
together the original plans and drawings, some dating back to
the 1860s. Some of these prints had not seen the light of day
in years, and the job of pulling all the information together was
a huge task in itself. Fortunately local structural engineering
rm HOP was also able to provide several digital drawings,
which assisted with the main structural modelling.
In order for the images to be convincing, a high level of
detail was essential. The West Pier Trust also provided plenty
of reference photography from the Twenties, which was vital
for adding all these details. In all it took over a month to
model, with detailing going down to individual nuts and bolts.
Rachel Clark, general manager of the West Pier Trust, said:
Being able to preserve and show of to a new generation this
wonderful part of British architectural history is extremely
important to us. The stunning visuals produced by F10 have
done just that, and we are looking forward to working with
them on future projects to help our cause.
c
190
A project can range from one person for a day
or two for a quick CGI, through to collaboration
between ten of us and other companies in the
area lasting a month or two
e International fountain
design project
f A private residential project
showing the latest design
thinking in terms of
materials and style
c Busy at work in the F10
Studios of ce, where a
small team means low
overheads and costs for
the client
d A mixed use architectural
visualisation theme for
Blue Edge
f
d
191
Undoubtedly there has been a slowdown,
although there is still plenty of work out
there. F10 was set up at the beginning of the
recession, and keeping overheads down was
always a priority
g
h National Park, design
led by Mark Keville of
LCE Architects
opportunities to bring different specic
skill sets on board.
We work very closely with our neighbours
Blue Edge (blue-edge.co.uk), as their skill
sets complement ours very nicely with
them producing a broad range of visual
solutions that our 3D content can be used in.
Can you give us some idea of the actual
production pipeline for producing an image
or set of images for a client?
NH: The process can vary depending on the
client and the stage of the design process
that we get involved in, but the basic formula
is to start with understanding the key
messages. From that we can decide on
exactly what the views are of, and so what
needs to be modelled. There is no point in
modelling things we dont see, so its very
important to get this signed off straight away.
We then take the clients 2D Cad les and
import them into 3ds Max. Plans, elevations
and sections are positioned in 3D, and a 3D
model built up from these. We stay in close
contact with the architect during this
modelling process, as quite often designs
are not nal or are incomplete, until we
have all structural design signed off.
While working on the lighting and
materials, and with all views signed off, we
can start adding the extra design details
into the 3D model. When all this is complete
we render the scene out, using V-Ray
elements so we have total control when we
are in Photoshop. We will always do
a load of elements, in particular a good
selection of Multi-Matte elements for
individual object control, an AO pass,
depth, and also various lighting. Reect and
refract ones are always handy.
Have you been involved in any, or would
you be interested in working in, the Gulf
states, which house a number of very high-
prole projects?
NH: We have done some big exciting
international projects, but not in the Gulf
states yet. We would love to get involved
in projects out there with other world-
leading architects.
The building and visualisation industries
have both been affected by the global
recession. Have you noticed any kind of
slowdown, and what have you done to
counter this downturn?
NH: Undoubtedly there has been a
slowdown, although there is still plenty
of work out there. F10 was set up at the
beginning of the recession, and keeping
overheads down was always a priority. In
this competitive market this means we can
keep costs low without sacricing quality,
which seems to be a winning combination
with our clients.
What are your plans and ambitions for the
company in the future?
NH: We want to continue pushing ourselves
creatively and technically, and improving our
work so our reputation continues to grow.
We would love to get involved in
supplying architectural work to the
documentary or lm industry. If theres a
lm being made that is set in Brighton 100
years ago that needs some scenes set on the
West Pier, then we can denitely help with
that right now!
g A concept hotel designed by
LCE Architects showing a
luxury development tting
into the natural environment
h
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Arkin Esref
Website
www.arkinesref.com
Country UK
V-Ray, Photoshop, ZBrush
I was sur ng the internet as usual looking for inspiration when I came across images of
construction sites in Dubai. They showed modern towers going up in a desert environment, and I
instantly thought to myself, Id really like to do an image of this. So I began to gather reference
images and analysing construction sites the feel, the atmosphere, etc. I felt that creating a
morning image would be best suited to representing the calm before the scene becomes a busy,
sprawling construction site
Construction site at sunrise 2011
V-Ray 3dsMax Photoshop ZBrush
Quite a bit of
time was spent
thinking how
the actual site
would work;
where rebars
would go; where
they would be
stored; what I
could add to the
scene to make it
a little more
convincing,
etc
Times of day
are always
important in
visualisation. I
really enjoy
sunrise and
sunset, so I went
for a morning feel
with the Sun
slowly rising
and casting a
warm
glow
193
Interview: Daniel Simon ..............................200
Creating a futuristic ying vehicle ..............210
Get that post-apocalypse look .....................214
Creating a magnicent Spitre ....................218
I made this: Simeon Patarozliev ................. 234
Modelling a sports car .................................. 236
Lighting the Silver Arrow .............................240
I made this: Andr McGrail .......................... 245
Building a concept car ..................................246
I made this: Neil Maccormack ..................... 252
Transport
194
195
www.skinnercreative.co.uk
Country UK
Software used
Blender & Photoshop
Artist bio
This was my entry for the 2010
NVART Competition held on
cgsociety.org. The theme was to
create a futuristic vehicle
inspired by the work of concept
designer Syd Mead who is
famous for designing vehicles
for lms such as Aliens, Blade
Runner and Tron.
Image name Orion 5
Chris Skinner
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A r t i s t i n f o
198
www.paulwesley.in
Country Dubai
Software used
3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
Artist bio
The concept behind this piece
was to design a futuristic
automobile that was equipped
with ammunition and had
defence capabilities. Keeping
this in mind, I went with a look
and feel that decidedly looked
futuristic but at the same time
incorporated elements from
current or yesteryear vehicles.
Image name Karmelion
Paul Wesley
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Company Cosmic Motors
Founded 2005
Company website
http://danielsimon.com
Country Born in Germany, lives
in California
Software used Autodesk Alias,
Autodesk Maya, mental ray,
Bunkspeed Move, Photoshop
Expertise Vehicle
concept design
Client list Disney, Marvel,
Bugatti, Puma, Rocket
Racing League, Honda
All Cosmic Motors images featured are from the book Cosmic Motors by Design Studio Press
(ISBN 978-1-933492-27-8). Copyright Daniel Simon (www.danielsimon.com)
C
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200
We talk to Daniel Simon, a vehicle concept designer using
3D to stunning efect in his hyper-real visions of a parallel universe
mechanics
A concept designer creates products
that do not exist, yet makes people believe
that they could. Its about sparking dreams
and fantasies in others and what would
the world be without that?
Daniel Simon vehicle concept designer
a Cosmic Motors Gravion Racer 25
Pilot LaGata Donner posing with her
winning turbine-powered circle racer
201
D
aniel Simon visualises vehicles
of all kinds for feature lms in
Hollywood. Prior to his move to
California to work as a vehicle designer on
such blockbusters as Tron Legacy for Walt
Disney Studios, and The First Avenger:
Captain America for Marvel Studios, Daniel
worked for a number of years for
Volkswagen Design and its related sports
car brands, Bugatti and Lamborghini,
as an exterior designer.
Other clients have included Puma, for
which he designed a global print ad for
futuristic soccer boots. He also successfully
launched his own fantasy label in 2005,
Cosmic Motors, which is a virtual studio,
so to speak. Its all about the lifestyle: palm
trees, blue sky and seductive pilots. But its
not all glamorous: to bring his visualisations
to hyper-reality he relies heavily on 3D
software and spends a fair portion of his
time indoors behind a monitor, where he
envisions a fantastical parallel world.
You design stunning vehicles and work with
beautiful women. What aspects of your job do
you enjoy the most, and why?
Daniel Simon: We all look for balance in
our lives. Mechanical beauty and female
attraction is haunting me all day, so I try
to combine it in my work. Nothing
extraordinarily new, I guess, but its
challenging. Its not easy to stay away from
cheesiness and remain classy. But after
months behind a computer its a relief to get
outside in the sun and do a production shoot
with a real model.
What does working in concept design mean
to you?
DS: Its being out of your comfort zone
almost every day. A concept designer
creates products that do not exist, yet makes
people believe that they could. Its about
sparking dreams and fantasies in others
and what would the world be without that?
So, its not about creating production data
(although if it comes to manufacturing a
vehicle for a movie then very much so), but
more about a spiritual impact. Your art will
be seen by a widespread audience from all
cultures. There is no package to start from,
no pedigree, nothing. You can get lost with
so much freedom!
A concept designer questions everything
in the beginning of a project and does
extensive research. Its fun to know a little
about everything aircraft, ships, cars,
space, manufacturing, architecture,
animals, anatomy, history, fashion,
photography, colour I love this variety and
could never go back to a job that handles
only one of these things.
What are your general feelings about 3D
modelling and rendering for concepts?
DS: CGI is just a tool for me. Like a pencil.
But no one talks about their tool as much as
3D artists about their software. Sure, it is an
interesting subject, but dont over-hype it.
Its a tool and they change every year. Let
software engineers (and God bless them)
talk about it. For artists, all that matters
c
When I render, I imagine being in a pricey
rental photo studio. I choose my angles, lenses,
colours, materials, backgrounds, etc wisely.
My life is too short to render images that
no one will remember tomorrow
b
202
f Puma ad campaign
The design brief from
the client asked for
experimental-looking,
full-leg soccer boots
b Cosmic Motors
Nembiquarer
An exhausted
stewardess taking of
after a long day on board
this lavish business truck
e Cosmic Motors Galaxion
5000 Gangster Coupe
A streamline limo,
refurbished by heavily
armed gangsters prone
to style
f
e
is what you do with it. Your eye, your feel
for proportions, perspective, dynamics
Its the creative mind piloting the tool.
The same applies to rendering: for me,
rendering is photography. Everybody can
take boring photos with a badass camera.
I get so tired of seeing another picture of
a HDRI rendered sphere or bauble who
cares? Its amazing technology and I am still
blown away by it, but why post it on a blog?
I dont get that. Say something with your
rendering! Think about the lighting, the
colour temperature, the mood, the angles
When I render, I imagine being in a pricey
rental photo studio. I choose my angles,
lenses, colours, materials, backgrounds, etc
wisely. My life is too short to render images
that no one will remember tomorrow.
How did the Cosmic Motors book opportunity
come about, and how long did it take to
produce, from the galactic story and concepts
to the 3D and hyper-real illusions?
DS: In 2005 the president of Design Studio
Press, Scott Robertson, saw my website
and dropped me an email saying, Lets
make it into a book. I fell off my hammock
on a Brazilian beach when I read it. I ew
to LA. We polished the concept of it and
all was done in 2007.
c Cosmic Motors
Nembiquarer
This cutaway drawing
reveals the trucks tight
interior due to its
military pedigree
d Cosmic Motors Camarudo
Mono Sport Pod
Made for impoverished racers,
this cockpit is a practical mix of
used spaceship parts
203
COSMIC MOTORS is an independent manufacturer of
vehicles of all kinds, located in the centre of the Galaxion
galaxy. CoMo, as it is afectionately referred to by its fans,
was founded by the famous Redooa brothers in the Galaxion
year 8966-B.
CoMo soon became a shooting-star company among the
big established vehicle makers in the Galaxion system and
countless record-breaking CoMo vehicles steadily caught the
attention of the public
Daniel Simons passion for car design, jet engines, aircraft
graphics and scantily clad female pilots is clearly visible in this
collection of fantasy vehicles. They are all 3D-built from
scratch, rendered to perfection and accompanied by hyper-
precise design drawings and sketches.
This volume only scratches the surface of many of
Daniels ideas, so its no wonder that work on a second
book just started.
Cosmic Motors, 176 pages, is published by Design Studio
Press in hard and soft cover, and is available to order at
www.designstudiopress.com
Cosmic Motors
Cosmic Motors book cover
Order at www.designstudiopress.com
Hardcover: ISBN 978-1-933492-28-5
Paperback: ISBN 978-1-933492-27-8
g Cosmic Motors Ice Train
at Factory Facility
This composite of render,
photograph and Photoshop
painting emphasises the titanic
size of the Arctic machine
204
In total, work on Cosmic Motors took
about seven years two years full-time.
It took forever! It was both fun and torture.
But I wanted the book to be more than a
quick brain fart it had to be a timeless,
quality showcase.
Scott, a concept designer himself,
became a good friend and an endless
source of inspiration.
What work is involved in the creation
of your hyper-real concepts, and how long
does the production of one of these images
generally take?
DS: For each Cosmic Motor I would say one-
to-six months per vehicle. Its not about the
modelling thats the fast part. Its the
design work. Some are easy; some drive me
crazy. I do many revisions, render daily, try
different versions, go back to the drawing
board For example, Im still not happy
with the Gravion Racer on the cover: there
is something weird about it in front view,
so I am still ne-tuning it. Also, I dont reuse
parts or download stuff. Everything is built
from scratch to t perfectly into the design
look. The extensive research also takes up
quite some time.
Per published vehicle I would have
about ve unpublished, different versions.
Then, to render one image I need a few
days to nd the right angle and lighting.
All maps are custom-made; logos have to
be designed. Graphics take days to nish.
If it includes a real human model, add a
week or so for costumes, location and
postproduction. Most images are 10,000
pixels in true resolution, which equates
to about 66 megapixels, so theres lots of
work to do.
On a feature lm its different: its all
about speed. Sometimes I have a day for
a model, sometimes up to two months.
How long did it take for you to perfect
your technique?
DS: I wish it were perfect. I am learning
every day, but sometimes I get stuck with
old techniques. It was 2003 when I started
3D modelling. I built a teapot in three days
and I immediately saw the power of the tool.
At that time I was a car designer at
Volkswagen, dealing with full-size clay
models. I was dependent on modellers
extremely gifted talents but I struggled
with the process. 3D software was a
blessing for my creativity.
What hardware and software is essential to
your workow, and why?
DS: I rely on Autodesk Alias on a Windows
7 workstation, 64-bit, dual quad-core
processor, 16GB RAM and a Quadro FX4600
graphics card (it will be fun reading this
again in a few years!). I model NURBS. For
creative lighting and rendering I like mental
ray through Autodesk Maya. For
fast visualisation on productions I run
Bunkspeed Shot and Move. I also run a Mac
for administrative work. But basically, I hate
computers Id rather be the singer of a
famous band but hell, I was born with a
thrill for design, so I guess Im stuck behind
a 30-inch monitor trying to model and
machine my ideas. Bummer!
You seem to be happy in the old-school world
of drawing as well as the computer world of
3D modelling. Can you tell us more?
DS: A pencil is a great tool to throw ideas
out quickly I am not even saying on
paper; could be digital. I believe somebody
who can draw can work more efciently
in 3D. Most people rely on happy accidents
on the screen, but I am not a fan of that
(although some accidents Ive had have
led to cool results).
In my work on movies Ive found that
every director is different, so its great to be
able to make adjustments with either more
h Cosmic Motors Camarudo
Mono Sport Pod
Built for junior racers to
compete for lucrative spots in
more powerful racing classes
205
i Cosmic Motors
Detonator Mk2 No6
Built for bike fanatic droids and
unsuitable for humans the posing
cosmic siren is misleading
206
I am fascinated by Daniels mastery
of detail that is complemented by a
thorough facility in three-dimensional
realisation of his stunning designs
Syd Mead artist, futurist, illustrator and conceptual designer
207
sketches or more 3D to get the best design
results for the director.
Can you tell us how you got into feature lm
work, and how your earlier experiences
helped pave the path to these opportunities?
DS: In 2005 I quit my comfortable design job
at VW to move to Brazil to work on my own
designs, which later became Cosmic Motors.
I felt it was the right time in my life to take
two years off and work on my dream. After I
nished, I moved back to Berlin and opened
a design studio there, Daniel Simon Studio.
Well, two weeks after the opening, I closed
it to follow the irresistible call of director Joe
Kosinski and production designer Darren
Gilford, to design vehicles for Tron Legacy.
Ive lived in Los Angeles ever since and work
with great people.
What was it like working as vehicle designer
in LA on Disneys Tron Legacy?
DS: I can only say this for now: I guess I
will be proud of no more than three movie
projects before I die, and this is one of them.
In the feature lm design world many
things get changed before they hit the
theatre, for various reasons. But the work
on this one was different. We can talk about
it after its release. It will look incredible!
Continuing the feature lm theme, youre
currently working on The First Avenger:
Captain America. What are your
contributions to this title and how long do
your roles on movies like this tend to last?
DS: Most feature lm projects in
Hollywood hire about a dozen freelance
concept artists preferably members of a
local union so-called concept illustrators.
There is so much talent! I am nding my
niche amongst them as a specialist for
vehicle design. I hope I can contribute to
projects using my experience from the
automobile industry and my quiet, nerdy
interest in all sorts of vehicles. I like to stay
on board from the rst concept phase to
nal set build supervision, which is about
six-to-twelve months. Sometimes I get
hired for one week only, to spark ideas.
Im never really done with a movie though
until its released.
Now youre working on feature lms, whats
happening to Daniel Simon Studio?
DS: Its idling in the Galaxion Universe.
Your work has also been featured in
numerous art, design, automobile and
lifestyle publications, both print and online.
How important is it to promote your work in
this way, and what other marketing tricks
do you employ?
DS: Private me is rather humble, but
publicity gets you jobs. Through my
website happened the book, through
the book happened Tron. Try to be unique
in some way and promote that. Accept
small steps but always think quality.
My local hometown paper interviewed
me rst, a year later Playboy magazine
called. And I try to be present online
producing a book trailer for YouTube was
surprisingly successful.
j Its all about the lifestyle:
cool machines, palm
trees, blue sky and
seductive pilots
l Scene of Starting Grid
Preparation
Hand-drawn with ball
pen and shaded in
Photoshop a fun
exercise between
computer hours
k Cosmic Motors
Nembiquarer
Luxury Truck
The front wheels
housing propellers
can swing forward
and pull the truck out
of the swamps
j
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208
You toured through Japan last year with a
series of lectures in Tokyo, Osaka and
Nagoya on car, graphic and computer design.
What was this experience like and how did it
come about?
DS: Everybody should travel to Japan. Every
inch of that country is designed. I felt like
I was on another planet. You think you are
advanced? Yeah, right welcome to Tokyo.
And the lectures were incredibly different
to Western events; so much etiquette, so
much bowing! And people are very humble
and disciplined. You can nd some of the
best designers there and nobody shows
it off. Love it!
In your lectures you talk a lot about
proportions and design language. Can you
tell us more?
DS: Proportion is everything. Thats the art,
and a thin line. Our eyes are so trained over
the years to unknowingly nd something
attractive, or not. Between a beautiful face
and an ugly face there might be only 3 per
cent difference. Its the same with cars.
A quarter inch here or there will make you
think, Ooh, how sexy! or, Oh, it somehow
looks lame and fat. And then you model
something on the computer and start
ddling with volume that you scale up
and down 20 per cent or so. The freedom
can lead to terrible proportions. The same
applies to shape language. Its so subtle.
A certain type of radius decides if a vehicle
looks Forties, Sixties, or Nineties. The way
panels connect; how part lines run over
surfaces; if glass is at, bent, or even has a
crest line. Each decade of the last 100 years
has been dened by what manufacturing
process was used in the making of vehicles,
and that reects in the design. Knowing all
those subtle differences is only the
beginning of a creative adventure.
When your work on Captain America comes
to an end, whats next for Daniel Simon and
Cosmic Motors?
DS: Los Angeles is fast. You never know.
For years Ive worked on the launch of a
scale model collection for Cosmic Motors,
but Ive never found the time to bring it
to the market. This city hits you every
morning in the face with irresistible job
opportunities. There are so many movie
directors out there I want to work with.
And then there is the next book
You come across as an artist who
has fullled many dreams in his career
already. But are there any new aspirations
for the future, or childhood dreams yet
to be realised?
DS: If I design vehicles all day Id better
know how to y them, so next should be
a pilots licence. That cant be so hard.
Maybe a helicopter licence one day, too.
As for the work, well, my own movie.
Some day.
Each decade of the last 100 years has
been defined by what manufacturing
process was used in the making of vehicles,
and that reflects in the design. Knowing
all those subtle differences is only the
beginning of a creative adventure
m Cosmic Motors Camarudo
Mono Sport Pod
Brunella XII is the most
successful semi-droid on
planet Oosfera
209
Step by step:
Creating a
futuristic
flying vehicle
Future Flier 2010
Michal Kwolek is an experienced
professional artist who specialises
in 3D modelling and texturing
The mass of the
aeroplane is quite
simple so that the
geometry of this
type does not cause
problems, even for
beginners at model
building
Photoshop
CS4
V-Ray 3dsMax Unfold
210
Concepts
Concepts,
modelling
01
Formula 1 cars
of the Sixties were
characterised by simple and
beautiful shapes. The typical
car shape looked like a long tube
with a hole in the front. When
working on the Future Flier craft,
I wanted to re-create this basic
shape. The rst step of the work
was therefore to collect
reference material for vehicles
from those years. When I had
the necessary pictures, I could
start the modelling process.
03
After an initial vehicle concept I decided to draw a more accurate version.
The base for the simple model was constructed mainly from primitive shapes
in 3D, then this model was rendered and composited in Photoshop. Here I have also
modied the vehicle to t the proportions of the interior elements. The modelled ship
now has the look of the original concept drawing.
to the nal render
A
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www.kwolek.org
Country Poland
Quad 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM
Expertise Michal specialises
in 3D modelling and texturing
Michal Kwolek
Username: kreska90
T
his tutorial
shows the
process of creating
the Future Flier image from
conception to a nal render. The concept
was based on the form of old F1 cars. The image has
been completely modelled, lit and rendered in 3ds
Max 2008 using V-Ray. The postproduction work
was done in Photoshop. The modelling work was
established quite quickly, in less than two weeks.
The mass of the aeroplane is quite simple so that
the geometry of this type does not cause problems,
even for beginners at model building. Similarly, the
hangar and equipment were very straightforward.
After creating primitive models, the poly modelling
for the detail parts was simple. The plane materials
are standard materials in 3ds Max. The most
dif cult part of the project was the lighting and
rendering, mainly because a few test renders were
needed to get the exact glow and desired efect.
02
The rst stage was
to work on the shape
of a simple sketch, made in
Photoshop, viewed from the side.
The dimensions werent exact
it was more important to get the
lines of the vehicle sketched out.
At this stage I did not care about
details it was all about creating
the right shape of the car so that
when it came to modelling, it
would be much easier to keep
the form in the right shape.
Transport
211
Modelling the vehicle
Creating the sleek lines of the craft
05
When I was happy with the
balance of the preliminary modelling
of the ship, it now looked liked a perfect tube.
At this stage the most important point was to
capture the correct proportions. I then cut a
hole in the middle and modelled the edges so
that they formed a basic cockpit outline. Then
the front and ends of the hull were modelled
so that the geometry bent inwards into a
distinctive air inlet shape.
06
In the next stage I created the main elements of the ship. Not bothering too much about
the details, I focused on the shape of the vessel and the proportions between diferent parts.
All the elements still used the same Symmetry modier so that only half of them had to be modelled,
with the other side being created automatically. When I decided that it had the correct proportions, it
was time to start the ne-tuning.
07
When I was aligning the engine
I didnt really care about the technical
validity of the construction, I just wanted you
to be able to see it at rst glance. Therefore
I modelled a simple block, pistons and valves.
All kinds of tubes, ropes and cables made lines.
It has (like the hull) been completely treated by
the Symmetry modier to make it faster and
easier to nish.
08
When the ship was initially in place
it had metal-strut feet, but at the last
minute I decided to put them on wheels, which
were modelled from cylinders. The cylinders
were distorted at the bottom edge so as to look
as if they were subjected to a load. The chassis
design of the undercarriage is a typical light
aircraft arrangement. I made it with appropriately
matched tubes that look like pistons.
04
I made a model of the ship using
the poly modelling method. I started
from a simple tube shape with a small amount
of polygons. The tube was converted to
polygons on the object and I removed the eld
along the y-axis. Next I added the modier
Symmetry to the shape of the tube. Now,
the shape of the two halves was a mirror so
the second half was a reection of the rst.
Modifying the rst section modied the second
as well. This allows you to obtain a symmetrical
shape which saves a lot of modelling time.
212
Michal Kwolek
Michal was born and lives in Poland, and is 32 years
old. Hes been a computer graphics professional for
eight years, previously interested in it as a hobby. For
six years he was working for an advertising agency
using 2D graphics. Currently he is working in the studio
as the general graphic artist. He mainly deals with
modelling and texturing, though from time to time
does simple rendering and animation.
Minotaur 3ds Max, V-Ray,
Minotaur was formed in a free
moment at work. The model took
quite a long time, probably nearly
three weeks. Originally intended
to be a hero without a shirt, it was
to be realistic. But I went away
from that approach to a more
cartoon style. Unfortunately,
because a realistic weapon
remains, it detracts from the
whole image. Maybe someday Ill
improve it and make the Minotaur
a realistic gure.
Andrew 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop CS3 (2007)
Reviewing the work of Daniel Frost, I had the idea of making a
steampunk plane named Andrew. Its an amazing idea with large
chimneys on a plane I like this type of invention. Creating it in 3D
(originally it was a simple bar sketch) was a pure pleasure. The
background and water were created in Photoshop. This image
qualied for a CG Gallery Choice Award.
Kids 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop CS3 (2008)
The work of Kids was created for a competition organised by the
Polish portal, max3d.pl graphics. This work took rst place. I really
like this picture; it brings much joy to me, especially the modelling
of the kids and their parents. It was completely created in less than
two months. It also qualied for a CG Gallery Choice Award.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Refining the model and adding textures
10
Initially I wanted to present the vehicle in a neutral
environment. With time, however, I decided the hangar
would be more to the point. I modelled it with a cube, thicker
layers of gauze and I added an undulating shape of the roof, the
whole thing slightly asymmetrical so that sides were not very
equal. The side structures were done with lines, giving them
a proper thickness and rendering options.
Adding fine details
09
Having the basic
vessel and cockpit
completed, it was time to add
the details inside it. First of all
I modelled a simple chair and
then the handlebars for the
steering control. These were
placed inside the cockpit.
Then I added seals around the
windows and small air vents
in the hull rear. All these
elements were modelled with
simple shapes and applied
with symmetries.
11
The modelling of this scene ends with creating the
hangar interior. It needed barrels, bottles, boxes of
tools and such elements. I wish I had the room to include
a convincing character as well, but the perspective would
have looked of with someone in it. Most of the objects were
created from simple solids subject to minor modication.
Besides those, I had taken a cable to connect things up and
use fuse boxes and all kinds of electrics. That concluded the
modelling process.
12
The UV maps were prepared for the
vehicle using the Unfold program and
exported. Mapping was prepared only for those
elements on the side nearest the camera. Knowing
that the ship would only be visible from one side
helped simplify the UV mapping. The walls of the
hangar, as well as smaller items of equipment,
possessed a simple map that was added directly
in 3ds Max. Then I was ready to take on the UV
texture making.
13
The textures were
prepared in Photoshop,
mainly for the vehicle itself.
A 4,096 x 4,096 resolution
texture map turned out to be
high enough. So I prepared a
Difuse, Bump and Specular
channel render. Other textures
were already lower resolutions,
but this didnt matter as they
were in the background.
The oor needed a higher-
resolution texture as the
camera was positioned quite
low and close to it. Most of the
textures I got free from
cgtextures.com.
I wanted to present the
scene at a certain time
of day with the sun
slowly setting
westwards. A V-Ray
light to simulate sunlight,
using a spherical shape,
and a light orange-pink
colour was created
outside. The hangar
doors were xed open
so that this sunlight
could then come in from
outside. I used the
interesting shapes of
the structures and
accessories to create
chequered shadows
around the hangar.
The aircraft was also
illuminated with spots
of light arranged around
the area where it rested
so that it was nice and
bright, despite the
sunlight outside. I also
tweaked the reections
on the paintwork so
that they had a more
realistic efect.
Lighting
the image
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213
Waldemar Bartkowiak specialises
in modelling and texturing
Create a barren
post-apocalyptic
scene featuring a
Mad Max movie style
vehicle nished
with a grungy
concept art look
Step by step: Get that
post-apocalypse look
Open Road 2009
modo
LightWave
3D
Photoshop
214
I
n this tutorial, the main goal is to create an
image, which has the feeling of 2D art, but uses
3D tools. You can nd a lot of shiny, brand new,
realistic car renders out there, but we want this artwork
to stand out from the crowd. We feel that concept art
really complements the rusty pick-up truck in a post-
apocalyptic environment better than any other style. To
create the image, a combination of 2D and 3D skills will
be used. The car will be modelled with a large amount
of detail, using LightWave 3D and modo. We want to
design a truck that looks as if it could actually have
been built in reality, but give it an illustrative nish. For
lighting, rendering and compositing, LightWave 3D will
be used to match the background. To get the 2D feel,
multiple passes will be composited and then combined
with overpaint techniques, using photo textures,
procedurals and hand-painted elements. Finally, all the
layers will be composited in Photoshop.
Design inspirations
01
The idea is to build a post-apocalyptic style car, like you might see
in the Mad Max movies, or Fallout computer games. It needs to be
rough, dirty, put together from diferent parts look mean. Most of the parts
need to be rusty, weathered and damaged, showing it has been built from
junk and that it has a long history on the road. We chose the clich setting
on some desert road, which highlights that there are few to no survivors left.
02
For the base, we used a
combination of two popular pick-up
trucks: a Dodge Ram and a Ford F-150. Using
parts from both of them, the car was
customised to make it less recognisable. Of
course the car also needs custom tyres and
a diferent engine that will stick out from the
car body. We opted for a pick-up truck for
the vehicle as it will be able to carry a greater
amount of armour, fuel and equipment. Plus
the survivors can load various objects/
resources, which they may discover in this
unfriendly environment.
03
You cant have a post-apocalyptic
vehicle without weapons. Militia in some
countries use pick-up trucks as weapon bases/
ghting vehicles called technicals. While looking
for references, we found the big, mean Russian
Kord machine gun that seemed perfect for the
main gun. Then, you can go on to look for other
details and references like rucksacks, fuel
canisters, pieces of armour, etc. This research part
is very important, and the amount of time you
spend on planning your piece at this stage will
denitely pay of later.
to the nal render
A
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www.mancubus.glogow.org
Country Poland
Hardware used Quadcore
Q6600 2.7GHz, 8GB RAM
Expertise Waldemar specialises
in modelling and texturing
Waldemar
Bartkowiak
Username: mancubus
Texturing,
lighting
Transport
215
Material surfaces
Adding textures and materials
05
After applying the base colours
to the parts, break them up with
some procedurals. Procedurals add some
variations to the colours and change the tones.
Next, create a mask to get rid of the paint from
the metal parts and to show the grey steel
underneath; you want to achieve a weathered
look. You can also add some grunge or noise
to make it more interesting.
06
Now, its time
to add the rust to the
plates. To get this efect, we
used a combination of photos
from CGTextures and hand-
painted stains of darker rust.
You want to end up with
diferent variations and stages
of decay for diferent parts.
Dont forget to add rust to the
rest of the metallic parts of the
car. Try to keep the rust to the
seams and on the most
exposed areas where there
is little to no paint, by using
previously created masks.
07
Next, make
scratches in all
the metal textures. On the left
side of this image, you can see
the clear metal, while on the
right, you can see it with a
Scratch map applied. Paint all
the edges with a grungy
brush, and make them
brighter than the rest of the
surface. This enhances
specular highlights, and also
denes the shapes better. You
can also paint drips onto the
rusty surfaces under bolts,
which combined with
Ambient Occlusion, creates
a great grungy look. You may
need to paint extra highlights
on the cloth surfaces to make
the wrinkles more visible.
08
The last part of this stage involves painting dust
textures. To do this, youll need to use a combination
of procedurals and grungy brushes. Try to add more dust on the
lower parts of the car, and less on the top. The most dusty parts
are, of course, the tyres, so they will need extra layers on the
treads. We included quite a lot of dust to tone down the colours
and make the car blend better with the background. Also, this is
the time to add the important small details for the nishing touch
such as bullet holes, scratches, leaks, etc.
04
The texturing process for this
project was quite unique in that the
decision was taken to hand paint most of the
textures instead of using photos. We did use
some pre-made textures (predominantly from
www.cgtextures.com) for the base and to add
a touch of realism, but the main part of the
texturing was done using a Wacom Intuos
4 tablet. Start by painting the base colours
for the various parts.
216
Waldemar Bartkowiak
Im a 3D artist from Poland. I have a generalist
background, which allows me to do a wide range of CG
work from drawing concepts, lighting and animation
to composition. My favourite areas of 3D art would be
modelling and texturing. For my day job, I create
realistic assets, but in my spare time, I like to create
more stylised artworks, like this one.
Greed LightWave 3D, modo, Photoshop (2008)
This is turntable sculpt from my demoreel called Greed. The life of
a noble knight that fought many battles and monsters, completing
numerous quests and dangerous tasks, nally comes to an end.
He was defeated by his own weakness greed. After slaying the
monster and returning with the treasure chest, he gets stuck in the
swamp. With the chest full of gold, he was too heavy to move, and
starts to slowly sink in the swamp. Refusing to let it go, he dies from
exhaustion, but still holding his treasure.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase
Incident Zero LightWave
3D, ZBrush, Photoshop,
Fusion (2009)
This is my admission for
the Polish CGTalk contest.
I tried to achieve a more
illustrative look than a 3D
render. The story behind it
feels like a cheesy, B-class
sci- movie. In a desert
laboratory, while
researching a new
bioweapon, something
has gone terribly wrong.
A squad of special forces
soldiers is sent in to rescue
surviving scientists and to
retrieve research data. I was
trying to get a book cover/
poster look.
Creating the environment
10
When happy with the
nal staging of the car, try
to get the light to match the
background and get the same
ambient lighting on the car. Firstly
work on matching the light angle and
brightness, so you can then work on
matching shadows. Try working with
black-and-white images, so the
colours wont be a distraction, and
concentrate on the contrasting and
corresponding shades of grey.
Lighting the scene
09
Before you start
to work on the
lighting, you need to nd a
tting background. We did
many tests with various photos
and tried many angles to
efectively blend the car into
the environment. We also
wanted to show the empty
road to bring a sense of
loneliness and isolation to
the scene.
11
When you have the car angle sorted out and the
strength of the light matching that in the environment, you
can start working on the nal composition. Dont worry overly
about the environment itself at this stage, as youll be heavily
overprinting it later. In LightWave 3D, use Camera Projection to
project the background image onto the ground plate to easily
match the shadows.
12
Once the car is
incorporated into
the background, split the
rendering into separate
passes such as Occlusion,
Shadows, Reection/
Specular, Color passes for
diferent parts of the scene.
By rendering everything
separately, you give yourself
more freedom within the
composition. This is
particularly important as we
are going for a very stylised
and unique look, which avoids
a straight CG render feel.
Combining and blending all
of your passes in Photoshop
is the key.
13
Once all your passes are rendered, work in Photoshop
to combine them in the right way. At this stage, you can
also start working on the background to give it a more painterly
nish. We have painted some city buildings in the distance to add
a little story to the image. Paint the car render itself to x any
errors and to increase the concept art feeling, while also trying
diferent colour gradings to experiment with the mood.
While modelling, the biggest challenge we faced was the
placement of the details. We wanted to create the feeling
that everything had a purpose and had been placed there
for a reason. Knowing that the nal object would be quite
heavy, we started with a proxy model of the car and
placed all the proxy details on it. The base car was
modelled from two diferent trucks and later armour
layers and details such as screws were added all over
modos Mesh Paint tool is excellent for doing this. We
modelled all the details as separate pieces (engine,
rucksacks, guns, ammo boxes, etc) and replaced the
proxy models with nished ones. The model ended up
quite heavy, but with a highly detailed nal result. Many
polys could have been removed by replacing them with
various textures (tyre thread, for example), but we wanted
this model to be able to withstand close-up scrutiny.
Modelling the scene
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217
Creating a
magnificent
Spitfire
Spitfire Mk5B 2010
Software used
modo401 Photoshop ZBrush
218
A
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techniques behind
www.cg-artworks.com
Country Canada
Expertise I have been
modelling highly detailed
aircraft for over three years to
use in my aviation artwork
Dieter Meyer
Username: Deetz
T
he Spitre rst ew in 1936 and made its combat
debut in 1939 defending a Royal Navy base in the
Firth of Forth, Scotland. Since then, it has been
regarded as one of the best ghter aircraft ever built.
This article will focus on the modelling of a Spitre Mk5B.
This project will require a high level of skill and a good
knowledge of working in modo. However, most 3D
packages ofer the same general methods, so this tutorials
workow can easily be applied to other software. There is a
great deal of work to modelling an aircraft and I may not be
able to cover every aspect of the detailing process. I will be
covering the major sections of the aircraft and the general
process I follow in creating highly detailed models.
The greatest challenge you will face on this project is the
ability to keep the model entirely in SubD without the need
to freeze the mesh. The benet, of course, is you can
control the subdivision level at render time for a higher
or lower level of detail depending on your needs. It also
allows for a much easier UV mapping process.
In the second part of this tutorial, well cover all the
aspects of UV mapping and texturing the Spitre.
Model and render a realistic
Spitre for an animation or for
compositing in your artwork
Dieter Meyer specialises in aircraft modelling
Transport
219
Starting the model
Creating the fuselage
Showcase
Artist
Showcase
P-47D Thunderbolt modo 401, Photoshop (2010)
Modelled and rendered in modo 401 with all of
the textures created in Photoshop. This was an
interesting project for me as I had not done a bare
metal nish on an aircraft before.
Dieter Meyer
I grew up in South Africa before moving to the UK
and nally to Canada. Ive always enjoyed drawing
and sketching and using an airbrush to create
artwork, but it was around 2000 when I started using
Photoshop and 3D software to create digital art.
01 Box out the fuselage
The rst step is to box out the basic fuselage by making
a cylinder with six segments and eight sides. Make sure
its centre is zero on X and delete the two cap faces. Give
it a basic oval shape and extend it from the base of the
spinner to the end of the fuselage; dont worry about
the rudder yet a.
02 Adjust to t blueprint
Your next step is to begin adjusting the vertices so they
line up with our blueprint. Press Tab to enter SubD mode.
The nose of the Spitre is nice and at so well line up the
top of the cylinder here. Take the rst set of vertices and
make them into a circle to match the spinner b.
03 Continue matching adjustments
Now continue the process down the length of the fuselage
starting with the side prole and then switch to your top
view and adjust the width of your edge loops. Next well
need to add ve edge loops at the tail to create the base
of the rudder and begin adjusting the vertices vertically
to match the drawing.
04 Rene the rudder base
Here well continue to rene the base of the rudder
by adding three more edge loops to help control the
thickness. We dont want a bulky looking base here;
b Use the conveniently at
nose of the plane to line up the
top of the cylinder
c Add extra edge loops with
Alt+C and Free mode selected
d The cockpit area after
adjustments to produce
smooth, realistic edges
it needs to nish of looking fairly sharp. Use the Edge
Slide tool to move the edge loops and pay attention to
how they match the ow of the fuselage. Everything must
taper to the rear nicely c.
05 Onto the cockpit
The last area to deal with will be the cockpit. Start by
adding an edge loop at the rear of the cockpit. Bevel the
two faces that make up the cockpit inward and down and
delete them. Next well add more edge loops to sharpen
the surrounding area of the pit. You will need to arrange
the edges after the bevel so they provide a continuous
ow with no triangles d.
a Box out the fuselage
using a cylinder with six
segments and eight sides
b c
d
Modelling
220
Alfa Romeo 12C modo 401, Photoshop (2007)
This is the Alfa Romeo I made for the combination render with my
Macchi 205. modo 401 being the software of choice with Photoshop
used for textures. This was an interesting project for me, learning about
race cars from the Thirties and Forties very powerful!
Towards Kharkov modo 401, Photoshop (2010)
This image uses my previously made Marder III H, made in modo
401, and depicts the advance on Kharkov in early 1943. The
backplate is a combination of photographs I took with a lot of
painting in Photoshop.
06 Create the wings
Begin by adding a cube with three segments on the Y. Use
the top view for initial placement and then the front to get
the needed angle, and then scale the end down using the
Action Center>Selection option. Do the same for the rear
of the wing, making sure its very thin. Remove the faces
that are adjacent to the fuselage e.
07 Hone the wing shape
Move the front top and bottom edge backwards to give
the wings edges a round form. Next well add some edge
loops to start creating a better wing shape. Use Alt+C for
Loop Slice and change the count to 5 with Symmetry
enabled. Repeat this process for the tailplane f.
Those distinctive wings
Giving the Spitfire its edge
08 Add the distinctive curve
Now well add more edge loops along the X-axis to give
the wing its curved shape. Use the Loop Slice (Alt+C) in
Free mode with a count of 2 to add the edge loops. Use
the top view to ensure the rear edge lines up with the
aileron edge on the drawing; well use this later when we
cut out the control surfaces. Move the vertices on the top
edges upwards to give it a rounder shape g.
09 Join wings to the fuselage
Extrude the edges adjacent to the fuselage to get the basic
wing llet started. You will need to add edge loops as you
go and continue to rene the shape. The wings will not
join to the fuselage but sit against it. Once you have made
the llet, add a small bevel to the edges that are nearest
the fuselage to simulate the folded steel h.
e Boxing out the wings and
tailplanes, using various views
f Adding edge loops and
making the leading edge of
the wings round
g Adding more edge loops
to form the curve of the wing
h Placing the wing llet
to sit ush with the fuselage
Included on the CD is the full
Spit re Mk5B model for modo 401 so you can study the nished result.
e
f
g
h
Transport
221
As you model aspects of the
aircraft, you may nd its hard
to see which piece is which.
An easy method to organise
your meshes is to right-click
on the layer and choose Fill
Colour or Wireframe Colour to
better distinguish them. This
can be done without creating
separate materials, making it
very handy.
Organising
your meshes
Rolling and climbing
Cutting in the control surfaces of the wings
10 Form the ailerons Part 1
In order to cut out the aileron, rst well need to add
two more edge loops that will form the sides of the
aileron. Once they have been added, select the faces that
make up the aileron and Cut>Paste them to a new layer by
using the shortcuts Ctrl+X to cut, N for a new layer then
Ctrl+V to paste i.
Now select the edges of the aileron and bridge them so its
a solid piece. Make sure to deselect the vertical edge on the
aileron or it wont work. Use the Bridge tool with three
segments as well need to join the vertices onto the trailing
edge of the aileron. Use the Join option rather than Join
Averaged so the trailing edge remains exactly in place j.
The last step before returning to the wings will be to
add four more edge loops to give the aileron some nice,
crisp edges on the sides. Take the front upper and lower
edges and pull them back to give it a rounded front much
like the wing k.
13 Close the gap
Using the same technique for the aileron, well close the
gap in the wing and then join the vertices on the trailing
edge. Next an edge loop that surrounds the cut-out area
will need to be added. C is the shortcut for the Edge Slice
tool well use. Once this has been added, join the two
vertices on each corner l.
14 Sharpen up
The last step for the cut-out area will be to add one more
edge loop with the Edge Slice tool (C) at the corners in order
to make them sharp. The same process will be used to
complete the tailplanes at the back of the aircraft m.
k Rening the ailerons shape using edge loops
i Cutting the ailerons
(wing-aps) into the wings
j Using the Bridge tool
to add faces to the aileron
l Filling in the gaps on the
wing created by the aileron
m Sharpening up the cut-out
area of the wing
i
j m
l
222
Many 3D modellers like to work with half of the object and
then duplicate and join the edges. I prefer to see the entire
shape take form and frequently use the X Symmetry
option. Even after I have nished an object, sometimes
I may need to go back and edit the surface. The Symmetry
option makes edits and modelling certain areas a snap.
The Symmetry option
o Adding the stencil of the
wheel bay to the wing mesh
p Cleaning up the vertices
to form a complete circle
q Finishing of the wheel bay,
adding caps and sharpening
corners with edge loops
n Creating the wheel
bay reference meshes
Wheel bays
We have to put the wheels somewhere!
15 The shock process
This step is one of the more dif cult tasks of making
a SubD aircraft. It will require more patience and work
to get it absolutely right. Begin by creating a six-sided
cylinder on a new layer, but dont add any depth. Then,
using the Polygon Pen tool, trace out the area where the
shock will lie. These two meshes will be used as the
shapes to trace onto the wing n.
16 Position your meshes
Arrange the cut-out mesh in blue as shown. Use the Edge
Slide tool to arrange the edges on either side of the cut-
out mesh so they wont intersect. With the cut-out layer
underneath your wing layer, select rst the wing layer
then the cut-out mesh layer. Then opening Geometry>
Boolean>Drill, use the Stencil option and Last Selected
as the drive mesh o.
17 Going full circle
Hide the cut-out mesh layer. Select the faces that make
up the stencil area on the wing and Cut>Paste them to
a new layer; these will be used later when we make the
landing gear. Connect the vertices together to form
a complete circle. You will also notice that the top of
the wing received the stencil this can be deleted by
using Backspace p.
18 Mould the edges
Now well add edges to the corners of the circle and
edges to where the shock will lie using the Edge Slice
tool (C). Once this is nished, double-click the outline to
select the stencil and extend it inwards and downwards
(using Z) very slightly, then nally down until its deep
enough to hold a wheel.
19 Final wheel bay touches
Use the Bridge tool and Edge Slice tool to connect the
edges together to form a cap on the wheel bays. As
always, add edge loops to sharpen those edges on the
corners. Use the drawing provided to edit your shape
so it matches the circle of the wheel bay q.
o
p
q
Transport
223
One of the difculties of
working with SubD is that in
order to rene a specic area,
you may need to add a ton of
edge loops. If your model is
one piece, it may lead to an
incredibly high-poly SubD
model. When I model an
aircraft, I use the major seams
on the body panelling to
break the model up, which
allows me to better control
the density of my mesh.
Problems
and solutions
Cockpit
Lets add a frame and some glass
20 Place your window cuts
First we need to add some edge loops to control the mesh
when we make our cuts for the window opening. Using the
Slice tool (Shift+C), add two cuts, one to the nose at the
seam of the engine and then another in line with the
aerial. Select the faces in between and Copy>Paste to
a new layer r.
21 Adding depth
Now we can position the edge loops around the window
area to be cut out. Use the Edge Slide tool with Duplicate
on to position the new edges. In Polygon mode, Copy>
Paste the faces that make up the window to a new layer,
then extend the edges of the opening inward to give it
depth. Once again, add edge loops around it and the
corners to sharpen the shape s.
22 Begin the canopy
Now we can get started on the actual canopy for the
Spitre. Well start of with a basic cube with two
segments added in X, Y and Z. Place the cube into
position and move the vertices to the general shape.
Now well begin rening the shape by adding edge loops
to isolate the frame and window area t.
23 Divide the canopy
The next part of this construction will require us to
separate the front and sliding section of the canopy for
further rening. Select the faces that make up the front
area and Cut>Paste them to a new layer; make sure to
name it accordingly. Now we can continue on the front
section without having to add unnecessary subdivisions
to the rear section.
24 Focus on the details
Once we have rened our canopy to something close to
the real thing, we need to separate the glass areas onto
new layers and give the canopy frame some depth so it
doesnt look too thin and unrealistic. I select edges and
use the Edge Extend tool (Z) to do this a few times,
constantly keeping in mind that I want the edges of the
canopy nice and sharp u.
Although I may not have been able to show how to create
every element of the Spitre here, for all elements the
construction is the same. Start with a cube or cylinder
as a base and avoid adding segments initially as this just
creates problems. Building from a very basic primitive will
help you see where edges should go in order to rene your
mesh. Pay close attention to the ow of the aircraft and try
to use as many reference photographs as you can to help
with modelling accurately.
Keep it plane and simple
r Isolating the cockpit area in
order to cut out the windows
s Cutting out the rear
window of the cockpit
t Box modelling the canopy
area using edge loops to rene
u Adding depth to the canopy
using the Edge Extend tool (Z)
r
s
t
u
224
Now that we have a
Spitre ready to y, the
second half of this tutorial
will show you techniques
for UV mapping, texturing
and lighting your new
aircraft. Well then place
it in a scene and really give
it some life! There will be
nal scene les in modo
plus OBJ models so you
can texture using your
preferred program.
HALFWAY
THERE
Wheels and whatnots
Adding the final details
25 The wheels on the plane...
The drawings provided dont really show the detail in the
wheel or shock. For this tutorial, well use a cylinder, torus
and a disc. Lets start by making a torus for the tyre and
delete the inner faces. The disc, after a few bevels will
be the rim of the wheel. The cylinder will be the shock.
Visit the website provided to add further detail to this
area of your model v.
26 Add the wheel bay doors
Now well use the cut-out mesh we removed earlier from
the wing to make the wheel bay doors. Use your drawing
and delete the areas that arent needed. Use your Edge
Slice tool (C) to add extra edge loops as shown and then
use Polygon Thicken to give it some depth. Add two edge
loops to sharpen it up w.
27 Rudder time
To make the rudder, start of with a cube. Align the cube into
position and scale down the rear edges until theyre almost
touching. Then begin to add edge loops using Loop Slice
(Alt+C) and rening the position. Well need to sharpen the
corner near the top the same way as the aileron corners x.
v Adding the wheels to the
wings using a cylinder, torus
and a disc
w Using the cut-out mesh to
model the wheel bay doors
x Creating the planes rudder
starting of with a cube
y Adding the propeller
placeholder and spinner
28 Get in a spin
Since were going to show the Spitre in ight, well need
something to act as the propeller blades and the spinner
cover. Using the front view, create a disc that matches the
diameter of the blades. Use the cylinder primitive; just
dont extend it to give it any depth. Lastly, create the
spinner, from the front view, by creating a cylinder with
eight sides and three segments and scale the edges to
match the drawing y.
29 Spit-re power
The last details to add are the cannons, named aptly for
their explosive power on the Mk5B and some intakes.
Use a cylinder for the cannons, deleting the rear face that
extends into the wing. For the intakes, well use cubes and
control the round edges by placing edge loops slightly
away from the edge z.
z Adding the cannons and intakes to the Spitre
v
w
x y
Transport
225
Included is a selection of les
to guide you through the
tutorial, plus a cool skyscape
and an active propellor.
spit re_MkVb_textured.lxo
spit re_MkVb_textured.obj
sky.jpg
prop blur.psd
Spit re textures and UV maps
226
Texture, render and composite
the Spitre model mid-ight onto
an authentic sky backplate
Dieter Meyer specialises in aircraft modelling
227
N
ow that you are halfway through this
tutorial covering the creation of a Spitre
Mk5B, its a good time to look at what
youve done. So far I have showed the workow for
the modelling process using modo 401. In the
second part Ill cover the aspects of UV mapping the
Spitre, prepainting the model in modo and then
perfecting the textures in Photoshop. The last stage
will concentrate on lighting and rendering the
Spitre, before compositing the nal renders to a
backplate in Photoshop.
The hardest part of this section will be the UV
mapping. Youll nd that modo has excellent UV
mapping features and, once they are
understood, it will make the process very
easy. I generally create three or four high-
resolution maps for a model, but for the
purposes of this tutorial, we will create
a single 4,096-pixel map that will hold all
of the UVs.
Textures will be created in Photoshop
with additional textures downloaded from
www.cgtextures.com. Further reference
material for the Spitre can be found at
www.supermarineaircraft.com and
http://spitresite.com.
UV mapping
Getting started with UVs in modo
01 Mesh layers
As part of my workow, I initially created and named
several mesh layers for the model. As we progress
through the tutorial, we will combine the diferent layers
into a single mesh with one UV map. Areas that have been
UVed will be assigned a new material to keep things as
organised as possible a.
02 Preparing a new UV map
Switch to the UV tab, on the top tool bar. If you cant see
your model in the right view pane, just press A. Hide all
layers except for the one youre currently working on in
this case, the fuselage. On your Lists tab, select UV maps
and then New Map, type in Fuselage and hit Enter.
03 Project from View
Select the brace on the cockpit and press H to hide it for
now. Hit 3 for Polygons and, in the top view, select all of
the polys on the right side. Switch to the right view and
then select Project from View. Hit the left square bracket
(ie [) to highlight polys not currently selected and click
Project from View again b.
04 Adjusting the UV map
Select the left side of the fuselage and scale it in the V to
100%. Because the fuselage is rounded, well need to
adjust the UV border to compensate or our textures will
look stretched. We dont want to do it for both UVs though,
so select both and then activate Fit UVs with the Keep
Proportion option. Now select the UV Symmetry: V.
05 Continue to adjust the map
Areas in red indicate that the map is intersecting with other
parts of the map. In some cases, this is okay, but not for the
fuselage. Start by selecting the edges at the nose and pull
them forward until there is no more red showing. Do the
same for the rudder. It may be easier to select the edges
in the model pane and move them in the UV pane c.
a
a Organising the mesh layers
b Mapping with the Project
from View option
c Adjusting the edges to avoid
stretching and overlapping
Showcase
Artist
Showcase
Macchi 205 modo 401, Photoshop (2009)
Created entirely with Subdivisions, the Macchi 205
proved to be quite a challenge in terms of modelling,
but, in contrast, was really fun to texture.
UV mapping,
texturing,
rendering
b
c
228
06 Exhaust ports
Using the Unwrap tool is a great way to UV map rounded
or more complex areas of a mesh eg the Spitres
exhaust ports. In Edge mode, select the edge of one of the
exhaust ports as shown in the screenshot. Set the
Iterations to 2,000 and use the Cylindrical projection d.
07 Multiple objects
Since we have six exhaust ports, we dont want to have
to UV map each one individually. Select the exhaust port
polygons in the UV pane and Ctrl+C to Copy. Then select
the next exhaust port in the model pane. Back in the UV
pane, Ctrl+V to Paste the UV map, then move it over
slightly to the right. Repeat this step until all of the ports
are mapped e.
08 Sewing edges
After you have unwrapped the aerial, it will split in half,
so youll have to sew the sides back together. To do this,
select the edges on one portion of the UV map. The
corresponding edges will turn blue for the matching side.
Use Selected to sew the blue edges to the ones you have
selected. Or use Unselected to move the highlighted
edges towards the blue unselected edges.
UV Unwrap tool
UV mapping without Project from View
d Using the Unwrap tool on
the Spitres exhaust port
e Creating UV maps for
duplicate objects
f Using the UV Relax tool to
adjust the UV maps shape
d
Me-262 modo 401, Photoshop (2008)
The only jet in my collection of CG aircraft. Modelled in modo and
textured in Photoshop. The diorama base represents the area in which
this plane is stored outside.
Humber MkI modo 401, Photoshop (2009)
I wanted to start adding some armoured vehicles to my collection
and thought this little armoured car would t well.
09 UV Unwrap
After youve sewed the aerial together, use the UV Relax
tool to edit the UV shape. Select the polygons of the UV
map, with Iterations at 100 and in Unwrap mode, click on
the UV pane to edit the map. It should now be more linear
in shape rather than warped-looking. Rotate the map to
a vertical position f.
f e
229
Transport
Sometimes the rst attempt at
relaxing the map doesnt
work. With Interactive
checked, you can continue to
adjust the UVs. Each time you
click on the map at a vertex
point, a blue square appears
that can be moved around.
These areas are also pinned
and allow you to edit the
specic section without the
entire shape moving.
UV Relax
Painting in modo and Photoshop
Adding a little colour
10 Exporting the UV map
Finish UV mapping the model using the techniques
explained. Refer to the les provided as a guide for the
diferent areas to see how to go about laying out the UVs.
The next step is to export your map as an EPS to open in
Photoshop. Go to Texture>Export UVs to EPS and give the
le a name of your choice g.
11 Setting up a new texture
Before doing anything within Photoshop, paint in basic
colours in modo to get everything lined up. In the Paint tab,
go to Utilities>Add Color Texture, then name the le and set
it to 4096 x 4096 pixels. If you havent given your model a
new texture yet, do so now, then drag it into the new
Material group h.
12 Painting in the base colours in modo
Now, under Paintbrush, select the Hard brush. At this point,
you can choose any colour you like as it will be replaced
later in Photoshop. Using the reference image provided, you
can paint in the basic camouage. No need to worry about
the underside as that remains a single colour. Painting in
modo also allows you to paint across separate UV maps i.
13 Setting up your les in Photoshop
Open the UV map as an RGB at a size of 4096 x 4096
pixels. Next open the colour map saved from modo.
Ctrl+click the layer to create a selection and then Copy and
Paste it to the UV le, keeping the UV layer on top. You
may need to invert the UV layer so that its white to make it
a little easier to see.
14 Painting in the base colours
in Photoshop
Now that we can see where our camouage is going in
relation to the UV map, we can start adding base colours.
For the panel lines, use a 1px black line. To create the rivets,
use a hard-edged brush. In the brush options, under Brush
Tip Shape set Spacing to 300%. Click once to begin and
Shift+click to nish j.
g The nished UV map ready to export as an EPS
h Setting up the new paint le
in modo prior to Photoshop
i Adding the basic camouage
pattern using the Hard brush
j Starting to add the correct
base colours, panel lines
and rivets
h
i
j
230
When a real aircraft has rivets inserted, the steel of the
body is distorted. In addition to the regular rivets and panel
lines, try painting in some slight deformations with a soft
brush and very low opacity to create interesting
undulations in the bodywork. Another step is to duplicate
the rivets and panel lines and add a Gaussian Blur to
feather them out, thereby creating more subtle
undulations to the surface. If the rivets are raised, then
switch the colour so the area around them is depressed.
Riveting stuff
k Bare metal texture
added, set to Multiply with
48% Opacity
l Difuse Amount map after
desaturation and altering the
opacity levels
m Specular map with several
layers of dirt maps added
Texturing
Adding the dirt and light maps
15 Dirt maps
At this stage, we want to break up the clean look of the
aircraft by adding some dirt maps. I nd that the site
www.cgtextures.com is a great place to start when
looking for textures. I tend to use a dirty, bare metal steel,
placed on top of my layers and set to Multiply. You can
then play with the opacity to see what suits you best k.
16 Difuse amount
Organise your layers in Photoshop so that all of your colour
layers are in a single group. Duplicate the group and call it
Difuse Amount; this will control the light saturation of the
colour map. Add a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer,
with Saturation at -100. Hide the camouage as both
colours will receive the same light saturation. Reduce the
opacity on the other layers as well l.
17 Specular map
I like to create Specular maps with high contrasts between
white and black. I usually use a few dirt maps with
diferent opacity levels layered on top of one another.
Here Ive also painted in some areas where I think there
should be more spec for instance, where the aircraft
would see greater wear and tear m.
18 Reection map
White being the most reective colour, we now need to
alter the various areas that will be reective. Tyres, for
instance, should have no reectivity, whereas the metal
body should have a good deal. We will control the actual
reectivity later in modo. Overall though, the painted
reectivity should be kept fairly dark.
19 Bump map
The black panel lines should have the opacity reduced so
that when they are placed in the Bump channel, they are
not too deep and look trenched. This also applies to the
rivets, which are only going to be visible on close-up
renders. Give the background a medium grey shade
and make sure any Bump layers correspond n.
l
n The Bump map showing a
close-up of the rudder fabric
m
k
231
Transport
Rendering
Bringing the Spitfire to life
20 Assembling the textures in modo
In modo, if you havent done so already, assign the Spitre
a material with a unique name. Expand the Material group
and use the Add Layer tab, then scroll down to Image Map
and load one of the textures that you created. Do this for
each map thereafter until all of the textures are loaded o.
21 Adding the sky
We now have to decide on how to light the Spitre. Well
use our backplate as reference in modo. In the Shader
Tree, expand the Environment group. Use the Add Layer
tab to load the sky.jpg image. In the Texture Locator tab,
change the Projection Type to Front p.
22 Boosting the lighting
We already have a Directional light, but well add two
Area lights to help ll in some of the darker areas. The
rst will be positioned below, to create simulated light
bounce from the clouds, and the second as a light ll
opposing the Directional light. Set to Physical Sun with
London as a location and set the time to 17:30 with the
North Ofset at 150.
23 Adding render outputs
The Spitre will be rendered in layers. Expand the Render
group and use the Add Layer pull-down to add a new
render output and set it to Ambient Occlusion. Do the
same to add Reection Shading, Specular Shading,
Transparent Shading and Difuse Shading (Total). In
the Render properties, enable Indirect Illumination q.
24 Rendering
Hide the sky layer for now. Rendering will be done in two
stages. The Spitre rst, then without moving your render
camera, the propeller place holder, which will be used in
Photoshop when we add the propeller blur. The default
options will be okay, but Antialiasing can be turned higher
to 32 samples/pixel if you prefer r.
To make it easier to keep the Area lights concentrated on
the Spitre, create a locator by going to New Item>Locator.
Select the Area light and then the locator and, in the
properties of the light, select Set Target. Now when you
rotate the lights, they will move wherever the locator
moves. Just add the locator to your Spitre group.
Target the lights
o The texture maps once
added to the material
p Adding the sky image
for lighting reference
q Preparing the Spitre
to render in layers
r Rendering the Spitre
o
render tim
e
Resolution:
3,888 x 2,592
30 mins
r
q
p
232
Compositing in Photoshop
Adding the Spitfire to your backplate
25 Opening the rendered les
The next step is to add a mask to all of the layers.
Ctrl+click the Alpha layer to select it, then Ctrl+C (Copy).
In the Channels tab, create a new layer and Ctrl+V (Paste)
the Alpha in. Deselect the layer, then Ctrl+click to reselect
the Alpha channel. Click on any layer and then hit Add
Layer Mask s.
26 Adding the prop blur
Open the render of the prop place holder and Copy and
Paste it onto the Spitre. Next, open the le prop blur.
psd and drag the prop group onto the Spitre. Now use
the Distort option (Edit>Transform>Distort) and use the
prop place holder as a guide. The last thing to do here is to
erase some of the prop that sits over the spinner t.
27 Layer blend modes
The nal step before we composite our Spitre onto the
photo backplate is to adjust the layer blend modes for the
various render outputs. Ambient Occlusion is set to Multiply
to remove all white areas, while Reection, Specular and
Transparent layers are changed to Screen in order to remove
the black areas. These can now be ne-tuned to your
personal taste u.
28 Compositing the Spitre
Create a new group for all of your layers and call it
Spitre. Open the sky.jpg image, then drag and drop
your Spitre group onto it. Resave this as a PSD le to
continue the work. Now add a Photo Filter adjustment
layer with Density set to 25%; this will help blend the
Spitre into the environment v.
29 Motion details
To give the Spitre a sense of motion, we can incorporate
some vapour trails and exhaust fumes. Using a ne brush,
add a few streaks onto the wingtips and perhaps add a
little motion blur (Filter>Blur>Motion Blur). The same
process can be used to add exhaust fumes w.
w Adding some extra details to the image for authenticity
When creating textures in Photoshop, try to use as much
real-world reference as you can. The key is to alter and
blend them in such a way as to in essence produce
your own unique textures. Sometimes it may not be
necessary to create a very worn aircraft, but adding a
slight touch of wear and tear can make all the diference.
Keeping it real
s Creating the layer masks
t Adding the propeller blur
to the Spitre
u Adjusting the layer
blending modes
v Adding the Spitre
to the sky backplate
t s
u
233
Transport
A
r
t
i
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t

i
n
f
o
Simeon Patarozliev
www.spatarozliev.co.uk
Country Bulgaria
Digital Fusion, mental ray
A bank robbery that didnt go as smoothly as
planned I focused on keeping the image simple
in its modelling and lighting, but maximising the
impact of intriguing details such as the blood-
spattered loot. I rst used another cars blueprints
to set basic proportions, then a lot of references.
The G
etaw
ay
Vehicle 2010
In terms of composition,
the image is fairly simple.
I wanted to give the car
more space to breathe and
was wondering if I should
remove the opening in the
wall, but without it, the
image lost a lot of depth
and the background itself
became too uniform
The lighting was done using the plug-in, Smart
IBL. In general, the scene includes a HDRI, a direct
light acting as the sun, and subtle V-RayShadows
234
Digital
Fusion
V-Ray
My modelling techniques arent anything new
to the CG world: I use both box and poly modelling.
I started the cars main body from a simple box and
detached all the parts at the end. The fenders were
made using the poly modelling technique, as was
most of the other geometry you can see. Modelling
this vehicle was an interesting creative process
Rendering with V-Ray, I used Irradiance Map, plus Light Cache.
I also added an Ambient Occlusion pass made in mental ray and
used simple masks to adjust the colours and the contrast
3dsMax mental ray
235
Step by step:
Modelling a
sports car
DX-8 FEV 2010
Billy Cheng specialises in hard surface
modelling and mechanical design
With the popularity
of the electric vehicle
gaining traction,
I decided to create
a unique vehicle,
something that will
appeal to everyone
236
D
ue to increasing concern over the
environmental impact, demands for electric
vehicles are increasing every year. This has
encouraged me to start this project. My goal was
to create a concept car that is appealing and unique
but not too futuristic. Traditionally, the process of
modelling a popular vehicle that exists on the market
becomes easier when reference and blueprint
materials are commonly available on the internet.
Without the use of these essential elements, it is
dif cult to model any object. This tutorial will detail
the workow and techniques used to create my
concept car. The concept drawing created in
Photoshop will be used to assist with the modelling
process. In terms of modelling, I will introduce a brief
of how to create the body in 3ds Max using poly
modelling techniques. The nal stage of the tutorial
describes how V-Ray will be used to light the scene.
Concepts
Concepts,
modelling
3dsMax
01
My aim for this project was to create a concept car like no others.
In order to do this, I needed to gather reference material similar to
the style of car I am after. One of the best sources of inspiration for concept
cars can be found at www.carbodydesign.com. The image above contains
some of my favourite designs.
02
After studying numerous vehicle designs from around the
globe, I started to piece together what my electric car might look
like if it had a Lamborghini Reventon head, Ferrari 458 back and a Citroen GT
Concept side. The image above demonstrates the conuence of diferent
vehicle parts pieced together in Photoshop.
03
I had hundreds of diferent car arrangements in my
mind. I even incorporated references from nature (like
the shape of an eagle) and combined them together using the
photo conuence technique mentioned in step 2, before I came
up with the design in the picture above.
to the nal render
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
http://www.projectreality.
com.au
Country Australia
Quad 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM
Expertise Hard surface
modelling is the area that
I specialise in, including work
in vehicle and mechanical
(robots) design and creation
Billy Cheng
Username: extreme88
Transport
237
Modelling the vehicle
Creating the stylish look of the car
05
Traditionally, if you are
modelling a car where references
and blueprints are easily accessible, you could
draw quick wireframes on them using
Photoshop to get a better understanding of
how the topology might ow from diferent
angles. But in this instance, we dont have the
luxury of this, therefore we will need to create
a spline cage (like the one shown here) and use
this to sketch some quick wireframes.
06
From my
experience, by
drawing some quick wireframe
using photoshop on the spline
cage in diferent perspectives
like the image above, allows us
to use it as a guide which will
result in a quicker and more
ef cient modelling process.
07
Using wireframe
as our guide, start by
using the poly modelling
technique to follow the contour
of the spline cage as closely as
possible, to create the initial
shape. While I am constructing
the car, polygon by polygon, I
will constantly be looking at all
viewports to make sure I am
moving the polygons exacting
where I want them to be.
08
Without
worrying about the
windows at this stage, we are
focusing mainly on the main
body. Make sure the ow of
your model matches what is on
the blueprint especially areas
like doors and hood, where
they will be separated from the
main body at a later stage.
04
The rst thing
we need to do is to
create a set of blueprints from
the concept drawing. High-
quality blueprints are an
essential element when it
comes to modelling. This will
not only help visually, but the
accuracy of your model will
increase tremendously if you
can see precisely what you
are modelling.
238
Billy Cheng
I am a 3D artist / freelancer from Sydney. I have been
in the 3D industry for almost ve years. The services
that I provide include product visualisation, vehicle
and character creation, and interactive 3D applications.
MRH Helicopter 3ds Max, Photoshop, BodyPaint 3D (2009)
This model was part of an interactive training application I did for
a client. All major components, like the engine and other internal
mechanisms, were modelled as well. The nal product consists of
over 500 individual components. It was created in 3ds Max and all
textures were created using BodyPaint 3D and Photoshop. It was
rendered in V-Ray and Photoshop was used for post-work.
Scooter Transformer
3ds Max, Photoshop,
BodyPaint 3D (2009)
This piece was inspired
by the Transformers movie;
I created this based on a
scooter I worked on for a
client. I thought the design
of the scooter looked pretty
cool, so I decided to move it
to the next level and created
a Transformer scooter bot.
Giant Robot 3ds Max, Photoshop (2009)
This piece is a hybrid between a Transformer and a Gundam type
of robot. I worked on this in my spare time. It consists of 2.12 million
polygons. All components were modelled in 3ds Max, rendered
with V-Ray, and Photoshop was used for post-work.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Refining the model
10
It is vital to get the general proportions correct before
we add edge loops to detail the model, because it could
get arduous trying to change the overall shape once you have all
the details cut into the high poly object.
Getting the overall look and feel
09
In the initial stage
of the modelling
process, it is essential to keep
the doors and the main body
as one single object to ensure
the topology is consistent
throughout the entire model.
Once the overall shape is
blocked out, the next step will
involve the detailing of the
current shape.
11
Now it comes to the
part where areas like
the doors and hood will be
separated from the main body.
We do this by selecting the
door area with the poly
selection tool. Then, under
Edit Geometry, click Detach to
create a new object, as shown
to the left.
12
After separating
all required body
parts, it is time to add
elements like windows, grill,
wheels, headlights, back lights
and interior. The nal result is
shown in the image here.
13
Lastly and also
most importantly, I
want to emphasise the
signicance of the headlights,
which are like the eyes of a
vehicle in my opinion, they
will be the rst thing that
attracts peoples attention. To
achieve realism in any image,
the key ingredient is detail. The
image here shows a cluster of
elements such as the reector,
glass cover and light bulb,
which were all modelled as
separate elements.
re
n
d
e
r tim
e
R
esolution
:
1,200 x 648
3
8
m
in
s
The lighting setup for this scene consists of a target direct
light for the simulation of the sun. It is set to a relatively
low value and a V-Ray dome light is used for ambient to
add a bit of mood to the scene. For example, I usually set
the ambient dome light at a quarter of the value of the
target direct light. Finally, open up the material editor and
put VRayHDRI into your difuse slot, then locate your
HDRI and select spherical environment as your map type.
Once this is done, put it inside GI environment (skylight)
override under V-Ray Environment. With the help of the
right HDRI image, you should be able to get a realistic-
looking render using this setup.
The lighting plan
239
I
n this tutorial, you will discover the
best workow for creating your own
virtual studio environment for lighting
a reective industrial model in this case
a 1938 Mercedes Benz W154 racing car.
The studio is made up of a light setup
which consists of two diferent light sources,
custom reection cards and a background/
base. 3ds Max is our main app with a V-Ray
plug-in used as the renderer. We will be
using a standard VRayLight as our main
(difuse) light source, then adding a few
standard Omni lights and assigning them to
our custom reection cards. We can use this
combination to accurately place reections
and separately control the intensities for
difuse lighting and reections. In
postproduction, you can use Photoshop to
add some depth of eld (DOF) to the image
and do some colour correction.
The major advantages of this setup is that
the difuse light and reections have
separate controls and the whole thing can
be set up fairly quickly. The major dif culty
will be the placement of the reection cards
because it can take some time to nd the
spots where reections will be most
efective. I found some interesting studio
images and light setups on the internet that
Id never tried before; these are always good
for inspiration or to use as reference. Similar
inspirational images are shown in Steps 1-3.
Inspirations
Find a cool concept
01
This image provided some ideas for the overall
mood I was looking for. I liked the relationship of the cars
semi-reective surface with the dark background in terms of
contrast. The position of the main light source, directly over the
car, which created a big shadow also appealed to me.
Mercedes Benz W154 2009
Learn how to dramatically pose and light a 1938
Mercedes Benz W154 racing car to make this and all
your future vehicle projects really shine
Djordje Jovanovic 3D artist
3dsMax Photoshop V-Ray
Step by step:
Lighting the
Silver Arrow
240
241
to the nal render
A
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i
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f
o
djordjejovanovic.com/blog
Country Serbia
V-Ray, Photoshop
Expertise Hard-surface and
environment modelling,
texturing and lighting
Djordje
Jovanovic
Lighting,
rendering
02
I liked the reective properties of the car paint
surface in this image and, similarly, the colour of the
paint. I also liked the intensity of the reections, the level of
glossiness and overall gradients across the whole surface as
well as the difuse light in the scene.
03
Almost symmetrical reections were a fairly
obvious choice considering the camera position. I did
the frontal view like this image, but I wanted to go with an even
wider lens closer to the car in order to accentuate the Silver
Arrows front grille and the wheels.

P
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A
G
The whole car was built in
3ds Max 2009 using
standard poly modelling
techniques. I started with
the front of the car body,
which was the trickiest
part. The major challenge
here was to create a lot of
precise details (air vents)
on a surface that is curved
in all directions, while
maintaining the surface
continuity. Once that was
done, everything else was
a breeze. I then quite
quickly created the interior
of the car, the suspension
and the wheels. The tyres
and the front air vent were
the only other parts which
demanded a bit of extra
detailing work.
Modelling
the image
Set up your virtual studio
01
Well kick of with
the main subject the
Mercedes Benz W154. Next
we need some kind of a base
on which the car will stand,
for which you can use a
simple plane. And, lastly, of
course we need the camera. I
like to use VRayPhysical
Camera because it has real-
world parameters (eg F-stop,
Lens focal length, Shutter
speed, Color balance, etc).
The parameters that difer
from the default values are:
Focal length 21.0, F-number
2.0 and Shutter speed 20.0.
Also make sure your
environment background
colour is set to black.
03
To add some reections we rst need to add a
simple plane. This one is placed directly in front of the car
and tilted slightly forward. The plane has a VRayMtl applied to it.
Difuse color is set to White and theres a JPEG added to the
Opacity slot, which is just a basic black-to-white linear gradient. All
the other material parameters are set to their default values.
02
The main light source in the scene will be the
VRayLight placed directly above the car; the Type is set to
Plane. The light area should be slightly longer and wider than the
car and have its colour set to pure White. In the light Options, make
sure that Afect specular and Afect reections are unchecked,
while Cast shadows and Invisible are checked. This way youll have
a light source that emits difuse light and casts shadows, but
doesnt create any reections or specular highlights on the car. Play
with the intensity until you are happy with the mood.
VRayLight with Difuse
settings gives us the overall
mood of the image
Creating the rst reection
card for the front reections
242
The camera is set to use a wide-angle lens which
produces distortion; by moving the planes closer to
the back of the car, we minimise these effects
Djordje Jovanovic
As a son of a photographer, I became involved in visual
arts from an early age. Im currently working as a
freelance 3D artist specialising in hard surface and
environment modelling, texturing and lighting.
Hiroshi Sambuichi 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop (2009)
While browsing through a local bookstore, an image of a Japanese
interior stuck in my mind. I noted the name of the architect and, a
few months later, when I nally found some free time, I created this
image. Its an interior of a rural Japanese house designed by Hiroshi
Sambuichi. I created all the geometry from scratch in 3ds Max and
rendered using V-Ray.
Custom Humvee 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop (2010)
I always had a fascination with old, rusty mechanical stuf, like
construction or military machines and vehicles, so wanted to create
something on the subject. This customised Humvee was made to
satisfy that desire and learn new techniques along the way.
Modelled from scratch in 3ds Max and rendered with V-Ray.
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
Hudson 3ds Max, Maya, mental ray, Photoshop,
BodyPaint 3D (2010)
My desire for creating old mechanical stuf wasnt quite satised
with Custom Humvee so I decided to make some more. This time I
had a great time modelling the old Hudson steam locomotive in 3ds
Max, rendering it with mental ray inside Maya and painting textures
in BodyPaint 3D and Photoshop.
04
Now we need a
standard Omni light
placed between the card and
the car. On this one you need to
make sure that the shadows are
turned of. The most important
thing to set here is the Include
options. You need to include
only the reection card to this
light. This way the light will only
cast its rays onto the card,
which will then reect back to
the car, giving us independent
control over this reection.
05
Next we need to add two more reection cards, using the same process as Step 3.
These two planes should also be placed above the car and rotated slightly downwards.
However, these planes should be placed more towards the rear of the car. The camera is set to use a
wide-angle lens which produces distortion; by moving the planes closer to the back of the car, we are
able to minimise these efects and ensure reections are almost ush to the cars body.
06
For the nal step of this lighting stage, we need to create two more Omni lights. Place
them just above the car in the middle of the scene. Set them up as per Step 4, but include the
left card to one light and the right card to the other. This way you will have separate intensity controls
for each card. By this point, youll be able to see the efect of the gradient in the Opacity slot; it creates
a nice fading-out reection instead of a solid white line.
Transport
243
Depending on the efect
youre attempting, you
can run into a lot of
diferent issues when
lighting a car. However,
there are some universal
things that need to be
taken into consideration.
The rst is the key
relationship between the
subject and its
environment in terms of
space, composition,
colour and contrast. Next
is the position of the main
light source and the
shadows, which can make
the diference between a
dramatic or peaceful
scene. Then there are
reections. The position
of the reections across
the car body, their
intensity and shape can
make or break an image.
Finally the body paint
material is also an
important factor that can
afect all lighting aspects.
Lighting
issues for
3D vehicles
render tim
e
Resolution:
3,500 x 2,161
1
.4
hours
Add some depth
How depth of field was created
This image is almost
texture free. The one
texture I did use was to
create details on the
tyres. It was a standard
black-and-white image
used as a Bump map.
Textures
01
To quickly add a DOF efect to the image, we
rst need to render out a Z-Depth pass. A Z-
Depth is a greyscale image, similar to an Alpha channel
that is a graphical representation of a scenes depth. Go
to Rendering>Render Setup>Render Elements and add
Vray_Zdepth to the list. Next time you hit Render, youll
get a Z-Depth pass alongside the standard RGB pass.
02
Depending on your scene size and default
3ds Max units, you might have to play with the
Z-Depth Min and Z-Depth Max values in the Z-Depth
parameters y-out menu. Basically you need to get a
whole range of greyscale tones starting from white and
ending in black, while maintaining the visibility of the
whole car geometry.
03
There are a few solutions for adding
DOF in post. I like to use the DOF PRO plug-in
for Photoshop by Richard Rosenman, mainly because
of its speed, quality and the options you get. Adding
DOF in Photoshop is as easy as loading your original
RGB pass, starting the plug-in, loading the Z-Depth
pass and playing with the size and shape options.
01
Usually when
working on this kind of
mechanical-based image, I try
to do as much as possible with
the 3D software, leaving very
little to do when it comes to the
postproduction stage.
However, sometimes I do play
a bit with the image in
Photoshop to enhance a model
and its environment. In this
case I just toned down the
saturation a little in the Hue/
Saturation options and then
tweaked the Curves
adjustment very slightly.
Focus on postproduction
Apply finishing touches
02
Theres a cool
plug-in for Photoshop
called 55mm Digital Optical
Filters developed by Digital Film
Tools. This plug-in allows you
to do many things, but I use it
mainly for its Chromatic
Aberration tool. In optics,
chromatic aberration (also
called achromatism or
chromatic distortion) is a type
of distortion in which there is a
failure of a lens to focus all
colours to the same
convergence point. Adding this
kind of subtle distortion can
add an extra layer of realism to
a 3D illustration.
DOF in Photoshop is as easy as loading your
original RGB pass, starting the plug-in, loading the
Z-Depth pass and playing with the options
244
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245
Building a
concept car
Sting Ray 2010
T
his tutorial will show how the Sting Ray
was created. My thought process behind
the idea was to create something that was
on the border of reality and fantasy, yet still with
a designer edge to it. The idea was to create
something fresh and completely original. The
biggest challenge in modelling a concept design is
knowing where to begin. This tutorial will assume
that you are already familiar with the basic
modelling nomenclature of 3ds Max. I will give a
broad overview of the steps used to create the Sting
Ray. While creating the vehicle, I used the box
modelling technique with editable polygons. The big
challenge faced in the completion of this image was
welding the vertices. Although it is tedious, it has a
rewarding feel when you reach your nal render.
Correct geometry is so important when modelling
vehicles. 3ds Max was the software used for the
modelling, along with mental ray renderer. Tyree Ross specialises in 3D concept art
My thought process behind the idea
was to create something that was on the
border of reality and fantasy, yet still
with a designer edge to it
246
A
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techniques behind
www.tyediad.com
Country USA
Duo E8400 3GHz, 8GB RAM
Expertise Tyree specialises
in 3D concept art
Tyree Ross
Username: Of cialist
a One plane will be in the top; place the second plane in
the right viewport
B The blueprints need not be detailed. The idea is to concentrate
on achieving the shape
01 Drawing the blueprint
The rst step is having your idea on paper. Draw as much
detail as you need to help you model your design. The
template doesnt have to be detailed, but have just enough
detail to get you the basic shape of the concept vehicle.
The template or drawing will be the top and side portion
of the tutorial a.
02 Digitise your drawing
Scan your blueprints into your computer using Photoshop
or any other software that you have to scan your images.
Try to save them with the same measurements: it will make
it easier when you import them into 3ds Max. I used Adobe
Illustrator to redraw the design, just to make sure that the
curves were neat and precise b.
03 The setup
Start of with two planes. The rst plane will be in the top
viewport. This will be for your top blueprint material. The
second plane will go in the right viewport for the side view.
This plane will have the side-view material . Be sure to make
the material active in the viewport. In the Hierarchy tab,
check all boxes to keep the planes from moving during your
modelling. Once the planes are set up to your liking, add
cylinders where the front and back wheel would be and lock
them into place as well c.
C Adding cylinders is completely optional. When dealing with
distinct shapes, use extra references
3dsMax mental ray
Modelling,
texturing,
rendering
Transport
247
I found that welding and
chamfering are very powerful
in modelling. Welding vertices
can be so helpful in making
complex shapes, but at the
same time troublesome in
lining up the vertices. After
a few models you will get the
hang of it. Later I found out
that using the scale tool while
having two vertices selected
will bring them closer
together. That alone cut my
work down by hours. Once
I was introduced to chamfer,
I was amazed that the look
that I have been wanting for
so long for the 3D images was
right under my nose. It is a
process like any other
technique. It has its own
separate properties to get use
to. As always, practice makes
perfect. Detail, in my opinion,
will make or break your
image, aside from the design.
The more detail you have, the
better. People will always
remember the detail you put
into your work.
Problems
and solutions
d Be sure to stay true to the blueprints
Modelling the car
Box modelling is the best approach
render time
Resolution:
3,000 x 2,100
30 minutes
04 Sculpting
In the top viewport, make a box with four segments. They
will be divided by height and width. Convert the box to
an editable poly. Use polygon mode to start shaping the
wheel well. Try to start at the bottom of the wheel-well
and work your way around the cylinder, extruding the
polygons. Once the wheel-well has been created, extrude
the wheel-well to start shaping the front end d.
05 Basic shape
Once you have extruded the polygons to the second wheel-
well, start extruding the top and side of the vehicle. Be sure
to wedge the vertices together as you get closer to the rear
of the vehicle. It should stop just behind the back wheel.
In the middle of the base, extrude inward to create the
opening for the pedals. Also, model the base of the vehicle
to make the seating area e.
06 Cut and weld
In the front of the vehicle, cut two polygons
in half. By doing this, we are outlining
where the glass and the vehicle meet.
Perform the same for the rear of the body.
By doing this, you are dening where the
glass ends and the vehicle begins for the
rear wheel. We will cut the shape of the
grill and both lights in the same manner.
With the polygon mode, extrude the grill
and lights inward. Select all of the polygons
in the light casing and copy them f.
e Model wisely with the polygons. Less is more and more
can be a headache
f Basically you are outlining
where details will be added later
248
10 Final details
Make a box with three sections on the top portion to
create the seat. Convert the box to a polygon and bevel
each square individually. Raise each polygon slightly to
form the cushions and add cylinders to each connecting
corner. Repeat the same steps for the back cushion. Take
three polygons from the back of the seat frame and
extrude them to wrap around the tyre. Delete the middle
polygons on both sides and reconnect them to make an
opening. The steering wheel, buttons, monitors, light
bulbs and gas pedals were all made with basic shapes j.
Lighting is very important when rendering your image.
Too much light can make the materials look cheap. If there
is not enough light, you will not see all the hard work and
detail that was put into your model. Not to mention, too
much light can make your render time longer. In the
rendering settings, I make sure that my Gather points
are set anywhere from 750 to 1,000 and check global
illumination. Use a Skylight setting of 1.5 without this the
scene will be very dark. You can also add other lights such
as spotlights and omnis. I try to use three lights in some
renderings. Only one light will be used for ray-trace
shadows and the others will be at a lower intensity
to assist with the lighting.
g Detaching and welding
is tedious, but when it is
completed it is worth it
h The best part of this method
is the exibility you can have
with the design
i Space the rst copy just
right. When its duplicated,
it will ow with the bend
07 Detach and attach
Select all the polygons that would make the glass and
detach them. Select the glass again; with all polygons
selected, extrude slightly. From the corners of both
headlights toward the wheel-wells, detach and drag the
inner edges downward to connect the vertices. Now that
all three sections are separated and edges are connected,
chamfer all edges and corners to dene the Sting Ray.
Chamfer the edges within the extrude as well. For the
nishing touch, extrude two edges toward the back wheel-
well and connect the vertices g.
08 Custom chrome wheels
Start of with a Gengon and make sure that it has llets at
each corner. Convert it into a poly and extrude all sides by
polygons. Extrude a second time and move them forward
slightly. Extrude a third time and chamfer the edges.
Create a cylinder and convert it to a polygon. Select all
vertices in the middle of the cylinder and scale down
slightly to create the rim. Pull back the outer edge of the
cylinder and chamfer the edges. Scale both objects to
create a realistic custom wheel h.
09 Simple tyre tread
For the tyres, create a plane with sections ranging from
six to eight. Convert it to a poly. Extrude the polygons to
your desired tread. On both ends of the extruded poly,
bring the vertices out to create a slope in the tread. From
here, copy the tread 25 to 35 times, and group or attach
them together. Now bend them in a 365 angle. Take the
outer vertices and scale them downward and add a vertex
weld to your modier stack i.
j Cylinders, tubes and boxes
were all used to make the console
g
h i
249
All of the interior textures
were multi/sub-object
materials. Although it
saves space in the
material editor, the
polygons will shift once
you smooth it. The tyre
material is a standard
material with a dark grey
difuse and low Specular
and glossiness setting.
Overall
material
Applying textures and materials
Applying textures is where everything comes together
Showcase
Artist
Showcase Showcase
The Boss 3ds Max (2010)
The Boss is my interpretation
of a concept Harley-style
motorcycle. It was built with
two motors, dual exhaust and
wide tyres for handling.
Tyree Ross
I have been drawing since the age of ten and a
graphic artist for seven years. I was introduced to 3D
artistry six years ago. In college I fell in love with 3ds
Max. Since then, I have been self-taught with
my modelling.
11 Making car paint
Make a shellac material. For the base material, the
Specular level is 120 and glossiness is 60. Go to the
difuse and choose fallof. Set the rst colour to black
and second colour to dark grey. Change the fallof type
to perpendicular/parallel. Change the line to a curve to
where the two endpoints touch the left and top line. Go
to the parent and go into the shellac material and change
it to a ray-trace material. Change the difuse to black;
Specular level is 160 and glossiness is 90. Go to Reect
and choose fallof and fallof type Fresnel k.
12 Tinted glass material
Start of with a standard material. Change the shader
parameters to Phong and check 2-sided. Change the
difuse colour to black. Specular level is 100, glossiness
60 and soften is 0.4. In Extended Parameters choose
In; Amt is 100, Type is subtractive and Index of Retraction
is set to 1.32. Reection Dimming is checked, with the
Reection level set to 3.95 l.
13 Chrome paint material
The chrome material is similar to the
car paint material except for a few
things. Your base material is a ray-
trace material. Shading is Phong, the
difuse is black, and your fallof
material in the reection slot is set to
a light grey (and the bottom colour is
white). Specular level is set to 100 and
the glossiness is set to 70. The shellac
base is a standard material with the
Specular level at 100 and glossiness
at 20. The shellac blend is 50 m.
k Set the value of the shellac
colour blend to 85
l You can change the colour
in the difuse map to achieve
diferent efects
m Set the refraction in the
fallof to 1.5
l
m
250
The lighting process is always trial and error
Breezer 3ds
Max (2007)
A futuristic zip-
line car. It is built
for speed with a
streamlined look
and is lightweight
due to its size.
Tear Drop 3ds Max (2010)
The Tear Drop was a concept based from the Sting Ray. It has
speakers behind the seat and a dual exhaust for life in the fast lane.
14 The illusion of light
Create a box the same width as the vehicle and raise it
above the vehicle. In Object Properties, uncheck visible to
the camera, receive shadows and cast shadows. Make
a material to apply to this box to give the illusion of light
shining down. Create a standard self-illuminating material
of white, with an output of 3.0 RGB in the colour eld n.
15 Using the skylight
Add a skylight to the scene from the lights menu. Without
the skylight, the scene will not be illuminated. Set the
multiplier to 1.5, with the sky colour set to white. The
placement of the skylight does not matter as long as it
is in the scene when it is time to render o.
16 mental ray setup
Choose mental ray as your renderer. Under the Indirect
Illumination tab, enable Final Gather and set the rays per
FG point to 1,000. Set the FG Point Interpolation to a radius
of 15.0 and a min of 0.1. Also enable the Global Illumination
and set the maximum photons to 500. For the Renderer
tab, change the samples per pixel to a max of 16 p.
To achieve the studio
appearance, draw a line in
the right or left viewport.
This line will be in an L
shape. Once the line is
drawn, select the joining
vertices and apply a llet.
The llet will allow the
corner of the line to curve.
Apply a lathe to the line
and set the lathe to max.
This will create a wrap-
around scene to help with
lighting and reections of
reective material.
Studio
appearance
p Get the right settings in the mental ray engine
to produce a quality nish to the render
n The box will only render as a
reection on the vehicle
o Multiplier settings, along with the global illumination,
can be increased to make the scene brighter
Transport
251
A
r
t
i
s
t

i
n
f
o
Neil Maccormack
Website
www.bearfoot lms.com
Country Switzerland
Software used LightWave 10,
Photoshop CS4
I wanted to create an image that was inspired by classic sci- movies,
and what better way to portray that than by having a large, looming
spaceship landing on a dusty, rocky planet? The concept was to evoke
the idea that the landing could be happening on Earth in the future, or
maybe on some far, remote planet I mixed some realistic elements
with futuristic ones to increase believability.
C
arrier 2010
Photoshop LightWave
Only include detail
where you need it. The
background ships are low-
poly and low-res; I didnt
need them to be high-res
because theyre only
featured to give an idea
of depth
Decide what the main focal point of
the image is and stick to it. Dont try to
give the viewer the whole story; let them
imagine some things for themselves
252
To create the notion of scale
and size, I painted some small
characters in the foreground.
This helps the viewer believe
that the ship is huge in
comparison, adding to the
grandeur of the image
Transport
253
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