Innehållsförteckning för Christmas 2022 från 3D World

The Gallery CG art to inspire The goal for this scene was to recreate a carriage from a game I enjoy, Hunt: Showdown, and an alleyway where the wagon is placed. The actual alleyways were made by arranging buildings and props. The basic modelling was undertaken in Maya, and tents and fabrics were made using Marvelous Designer for natural simulation. The basic type of windows and doors were manufactured and transformed to fit the building. A total of five lights were used, aiming to give the feeling of sunlight penetrating the alleyway. I think the most important process is finding good references to work from. I collected various photographs and artworks, and even referenced some movies. The street and clock tower were inspired by FreshCan 3D (bit.ly/3VtqZVx) and the carriage…

Feature Luck Echoing the misfortunes experienced by protagonist Sam Greenfield in Luck was also the movie’s production, until the hiring of John Lasseter as head of Skydance Animation and the arrival of director Peggy Holmes. “The movie had been in production for two years and it wasn’t working, so we basically did a reboot and were writing the story while we were building assets,” reveals production designer Fred Warter. “It was challenging to stay ahead of story with design and keep the production moving. Time was the biggest issue. COVID-19 happening at the beginning of the project didn’t help.” The work was divided amongst studios situated in Los Angeles, Connecticut and Madrid. “You’re across three different time zones,” states Peggy Holmes. “You have production pipelines that don’t necessarily talk to…

The Pipeline Build a G1 Transformer MAYA | SUBSTANCE 3D PAINTER | ZBRUSH | REDSHIFT The Pipeline Practical tips and tutorials from pro artists to improve your CG skills HOT ROD The goal with this project was to successfully echo the 2D character's original design The concept behind this project was to model one of the robots from the Transformers franchise; this character is called Hot Rod, the original protagonist in the 1986 Transformers: The Movie. The design direction was something much closer to the original Gen 1 style of the cartoon and also the Bumblebee live-action film in 2018. I have always been a fan of the Hot Rod character from the G1 Transformers cartoon, and seeing how I hadn't seen the original design recreated in any of the…

Artist Q&A Your CG problems solved SOFTWARE: NUKE Mike Griggs replies For many 3D artists, one of the most annoying things when working with 3D renders is realising that the vital pass is not available. Even when systems like Cryptomattes are available, it is back to the drawing board if they have not been rendered. Artists can use a compositing tool such as Nuke from Foundry, which has a complete 3D environment that allows artists to import a 3D model. This can be used as a method of driving compositing elements. Using a model format such as Alembic, artists can export a scene from their 3D software and bring it into Nuke. The great thing about how Nuke implements importing an Alembic file is that it allows the artist to…

FOREST HOUSE Software Unreal Engine 5, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Suite, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag Year made 2022 PAINTERLY LIGHTING I really enjoyed exploring lighting in this scene. I started out in Unreal Engine 4 and moved into UE5 on its release. Though I used Lumen to create the majority of the lighting, there are some painterly dapples of light on the floor that I used Light Functions to achieve. To do this, I hand-painted an alpha in Photoshop, which gave me control over the dappled light effect. I then plugged this into a Light Function Material in a spotlight to achieve the look you see across the floor. It's a simple technique but I've found great success with it.…

MODELS AND TEXTURES EVERY MONTH Download these models and textures to use in your own projects FREE ASSET DOWNLOADS Download a set of fantastic textures from and build your own asset library with these incredible free ‘lamp’ models from in our monthly model and texture giveaway. DESIGN CUSTOM TOYS Discover how to model custom toys using ZBrush, and prep for 3D printing. BUILD A G1 TRANSFORMER Learn to model, texture and render a retro Transformer using Maya, ZBrush and Redshift. ISSUE 294 NEXT MONTH We talk to the inspiring master movie-maker Guillermo Del Toro ON SALE 29th NOVEMBER Subscribe today: www.bit.ly/3dworld-subs…

The Gallery CG art to inspire "I PURPOSEFULLY SEARCHED FOR A CONCEPT WITH THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DETAILS" (WWW.ARTSTATION.COM/MIKELREK) ARTIST Maria Anikina SOFTWARE ZBrush, Blender, Substance Painter, CLO3D, Marmoset Toolbag 4, Photoshop The prehistory of this work is that I purposefully searched for a concept with the maximum number of details. I really wanted to immerse myself in a high-detail project, and the technical limitation of ten UDIMs allowed me to do this. Mikel Rekondo's concept inspired me to enter the Dragon’s Rise ArtStation competition, and I started to create the Sulaizam Priest. Most of the work on this project was done in Blender. There I created the blockout, modelled all the secondary shapes, created repeating details through modifiers, did UV and packaging, and after texturing I assembled the scene…

The Gallery CG art to inspire "I'M DRAWN TO JAPAN, A CULTURE THAT IS SO COMPLETELY INTERTWINED WITH THE NATURAL WORLD" Marketplace assets from: www.artstation.com/theoj, www.artstation.com/jeministudio, www.artstation.com/gbin, www.artstation.com/souravkumar, www.artstation.com/iansmithartist I’ve always been interested in spirituality, history, philosophy, art history and science. I’m drawn to films and games that have spiritual undertones, such as the work of filmmakers Terrence Malick, Denis Villeneuve, Christopher Nolan and Hayao Miyazaki. I love nature, and cultures that revere the beauty of nature. For this reason I’ve always been incredibly drawn to everything about ancient Japan, because theirs is a culture that is so completely intertwined with the natural world. I like to study the way light interacts with surfaces in the world and emulate that in my artwork. I also really enjoy studying cinematography, and…

They may be extinct, but dinosaurs are truly alive and well in the public consciousness with Apple TV+ and BBC Studios partnering to produce a five-part nature documentary series. Prehistoric Planet explores what life was actually like during the Cretaceous period, which came to an end 65.6 million years ago. Each episode is devoted to a different biome and titled accordingly: ‘Coasts’, ‘Deserts’, ‘Freshwater’, ‘Ice Worlds’ and ‘Forests’, exploring various themes like family dynamics and mating. Overseeing the project were executive producers Mike Gunton (senior executive, BBC Natural History Unit), and filmmaker Jon Favreau; sharing directorial duties were Adam Valdez and Andy Jones; MPC looked after the animation; and Jellyfish Pictures was responsible for the initial concept art and storyboards under the guidance of creative director Tom Brass. Back in…

The Pipeline Master your C4D motion graphics CINEMA 4D Motion graphics used to be a simple affair. Maybe a bouncing logo or some text flying in as a lower third, but these days motion graphics can be complex and sophisticated, in production and result. Here are a few tips to help you become more efficient and hopefully increase your creative output. Whether you use motion graphics for some slick TV advertising spots or to craft dynamic print ad campaign art the tools are the same, but don't feel left out if you are more into modelling or visual effects. Many of the mograph tools are perfect for visual effects too, and can save a lot of time and keep you working procedurally, which is often a good thing. The same…

EXPERT TIP JUST OBJ IT! If all else fails and you're tearing your hair out, simple export the model as a basic OBJ file. Make sure you disable most of the options so all you are exporting is the very basic model information, and the resulting file will have any rogue data removed. Antony Ward replies You would think that building a model is a straightforward task. You manipulate some polygons, reposition vertices and maybe, if you're feeling adventurous, do a bit of sculpting. A nice and relaxing process, resulting in a polished model ready to be passed onto the next person in the pipeline to be UV'd and textured, or maybe rigged. In an ideal world this would be true, but as we all know, it's never this plain…

News and views from around the international CG community A struggling outerling pilots his race-craft over the apocalyptic streets of future Los Angeles, in a fierce aerial competition against the much better-funded corporate teams in The Cloud Racer (bit.ly/3Mm2KEB), a short film by Impossible Objects. Inspired by the likes of race films such as Rush, Ford v Ferrari, outcast dreamer films such as October Sky, and imaginative escapist films such as Star Wars and The Hunger Games, The Cloud Racer is a proof of concept for a full-length original feature film. For the Impossible Objects team, the project came to fruition as a result of their devotion to developing narrative passion projects in between commercial projects and virtual production pipeline building. Impossible Objects co-founder and director of the film Joe…

Technique focus Psychedelic Renders RETRO SAMURAI Software ZBrush, Photoshop Year made 2022 PSYCHEDELIC RENDERS This artwork was made in ZBrush and Photoshop with non-photorealistic rendering. In ZBrush I used the SkinShade4 material and changed the Ambient, Diffuse and Specular values in the Modifiers section so the render remains flat. To add the white outline you must go to BPR Fitter in Render, add the Outline Cavity filter and select the colour. This way you can now render by exporting the composition, ambient occlusion, depth and shadow maps. Export everything to Photoshop, with the composition map as the main layer, and the ambient occlusion, depth and shadow maps used as masks on colours, gradients, or on the composition itself to give it style with vibrant colours.…

The Pipeline Create scenes with golden hour lighting MAYA | SUBSTANCE PAINTER | ARNOLD | NUKE The 'golden hour' - the last hour before sunset and the first hour after sunrise - is often harnessed by professional photographers. Also referred to as the 'magic hour', these times of the day provide the perfect lighting to capture stunning photos. The golden hour is known for producing beautiful natural light that is easy to work with, and this was something I aimed to demonstrate with this 'Mushroom Girl' artwork. In these steps I break down my creative process, sharing my lighting techniques for capturing a golden hour atmosphere. 01 PREPARE THE SCENE AND CHARACTER This 'Mushroom Girl' scene was modelled by Sara Tarr. First, I checked the topology of the models before…

SOFTWARE: ZBRUSH Artist Q&A Your CG problems solved Glen Southern replies Sculpting big creatures and monsters is one thing, but posing them is a whole other skill. Often we create creatures using symmetry to save time, but very rarely in nature do we find anything that 'stands' in that unnatural way that you see when sculpting with symmetry on. 'Breaking the symmetry' is where an artist will work on a creature with symmetry on until it is 'blocked-out', and then 'break' that symmetry (turn it off) to sculpt each side in a different way. Of course we would keep the muscle groups and skeletal landmarks there, but they would look different depending on how the creature has moved. To pose a creature it is often the case that a model has…

Artist Q&A Your CG problems solved SOFTWARE: BLENDER Pietro Chiovaro replies The creation process of a realistic terrain can be divided up into two parts, the 'theory' and 'practice'. In the first stage, we need to search for a collection of references of the terrain we are planning to create: photographs, concept art, sketches and everything that can help us have a clear understanding of the characteristics that define our desired terrain. In the second part, we have to create all the models that compose the scene: the terrain, debris, stones and grass with their respective variations. For the creation of this particular scene I tried to imagine the terrain of the valley mainly composed of grass, ivy and flowers, and to do that, I created a small library of…

WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3Dworld-293 Animation studio Blind Pig are the craft behind The Co-operative Bank’s spectacular new projection project. A catalyst for change, the campaign consists of a 3D animated film, Withdraw From This, that was projected onto Waltham Forest Town Hall and captured in a live-action shoot. In a world where we’ve all become sadly accustomed to stock imagery campaigns fighting climate change, Co-op, which remains the only UK bank with a customerled ethical policy, needed to cut through the noise. The brand’s new campaign serves as a visual reminder of the terrifying impact of these topics. “OUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE WAS TO RENDER THE 3D WALL DESTRUCTION FROM MULTIPLE ANGLES” Sean Cooper, creative director, Blind Pig Conceived by Dentsu Creative, the film was developed in collaboration between director Anthony Rubinstein…

SOFTWARE REVIEW + PROS Regularly updated Huge asset library Stats display for objects - CONS Only works with 3ds Max Other competitors are chomping on its heels SMALL BUT IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENTS Every piece of software has those little niggles in them. Those annoyances that leave you wondering why on earth the developers haven't fixed them yet. One such issue was in the name field of the lister. They've now removed double-click behaviour on it so that now just selects the object. Niggle gone! PRICE £234/$330 COMPANY iToo Software WEBSITE itoosoft.com/railclone RailClone, made by iToo Software - who are the famous creators of Forest Pack - began as a simple plugin that let artists create copies of their models using parameters. We were familiar with the duplication and instancing tools available…