Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från 3D World

This month we have some real inspiration for you! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been well-loved for a long time, but nothing looks quite like their latest movie, Mutant Mayhem, which showcases absolutely stunning visuals. We caught up with Cinesite, who spoke about their work on the film. On top of that, we also have a wonderful in-depth look at virtual cinematography, a real growth area. That’s not all, as we talked to Pedro Conti; one of our previous cover artists and a veteran of the 3D art world. Plus, we have our usual range of informative tutorials. Enjoy the issue! rob.redman@futurenet.com…

Feature Teen Spirit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has reinvigorated the on-screen adventures of the pizza-loving heroes in their half shells. 3D World speaks with Eric Cheung, Cinesite’s animation supervisor, and VFX supervisor Chris Kazmier about the studio’s part on the new, visually stunning film. For Mutant Mayhem, Cinesite’s artists worked in collaboration with Mikros Animation, taking on particular sequences and scenes. With an origin in the comic book series created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in the early 1980s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have become an enduring set of characters across comics, toys, animated TV series and feature film versions and variations. Mutant Mayhem marks a particularly successful entry in the Turtles’ filmography with its dynamic animation and compelling story. Our conversation begins with Cheung addressing…

Even with the dominance of digital photography, there is still a push to reflect the grounded philosophy from the film era – though this traditional approach is changing as several generations have grown up with a video game console in their hands, and smartphones have led to the global proliferation of cameras. As a result, the criteria for what is considered to be believable and attainable imagery is being redefined, and causing a reshaping of the cinematic visual language. “There’s got to be a knock-on effect from people growing up with that sort of world,” observes Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser who shot the pilot for The Mandalorian, which sparked the virtual production craze. “I don’t think every film in 25 years will be a first-person shooter but we’re seeing that with…

“Imagine shooting a car, taking a wide-angle lens and shoving it in there. All of a sudden, the hood of that car where the mouth is becomes gigantic on the screen, the eyes are tiny, and it doesn’t look like a character anymore,” notes Jeremy Lasky. “It’s unappealing. For Finding Dory, I switched the film back from 35mm to 16mm to see if it would help us to have a smaller piece of film with smaller characters. It brought everything into the right perspective immediately.” The decision was made to go between 16mm and 35mm. “We decided 16mm will be for when Dory is safe at the reef at home. You feel like you’re among the characters. And when we go out into the big ocean, especially when we get…

Artist Q&A Your CG problems solved SOFTWARE: NUKE Mike Griggs replies One of the toughest elements about learning new creative software is plodding your way through the essential elements to give a foundation for doing the fancy stuff. This becomes even more frustrating if the software is already in a skill area the artist knows, and understands the underlying knowledge of the task or brief at hand. That often means finding a tutorial on a specific process can actually hamper more than help the overall software experience. Nuke is a piece of content creation software that, in many ways, can do too many things. It’s imperative to cover as much of the basics as possible, as they can lead to potential time-sucking ‘gotchas’ later down the line. The fantastic thing…

The Hub MEET THE ARTIST Meet the artist News and views from around the international CG community As a compositing supervisor, Tav Flett is instrumental in managing the compositing pipeline of Bristol-based studio Lux Aeterna. With over 10 years of experience working for industry giants like Walt Disney and Aardman Animations, he’s brought new tools, techniques and ideas to his projects, particularly when it comes to colour science and compositing workflows. After working freelance with the company for three years, leading on titles like Netflix’s Our Universe, Flett joined Lux Aeterna as a permanent member of staff in February 2023. He sat down with us to talk about his origin story, career highlights, and the challenges of running a VFX pipeline. Can you tell us about your path into the VFX industry?…

Reviews Mobile apps for 3D scanning GROUP TEST There’s no getting away from it. Asset creation is easier than it has ever been. That is, assuming you have access to a physical version of the asset that you want to replicate in 3D. If you don’t, then this group review won’t help you in those circumstances. Sorry. If, on the other hand, you have access to the object or room that you want a 3D model of, then the rise of 3D scanning apps will save you countless hours and make the modelling of complex objects something no longer restricted to more advanced artists. What was initially possible with expensive laser scanners has increasingly found application within the mobile market. The rise of LiDAR in some of the most recent…

“A lot of care and time was spent on studying what makes food beautiful,” states Ian Megibben. “When it came to the rats themselves, I remember spending a lot of time getting highlights on their whiskers just right for maximum appeal. One of the shots that I worked on was the aerial shot of thousands of rats running everywhere through the kitchen. The cheese has to have a certain glow to it, the sauce has to have a sheen to it, and every copper pot and pan needed to look like it was expensive. There is a lot of beauty in finding the artefacts of how something is shot. Just the simple warm colour grading that the movie had was a great example. Generally, CG can have a cold, grey…

Feature The art of Pedro Conti Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, Pedro Conti has had a long career in the international animation industry. He has worked with many of the world’s biggest studios and names including Netflix, Walt Disney Animation and DreamWorks, and collaborated with artists such as Katy Perry, Gorillaz and OSGEMEOS. Conti specialises in character development, lighting and rendering. The stories he tells through his directorial work are told with a big heart and often explore topics we all can relate to through the struggles of daily life. He works as a freelance visual development artist and runs the production company Flooul Animation. Your The Wonder Years image took CG forums by storm. How did that help you break into the 3D industry and were you…

The Pipeline Add virtual lights with the Relight effect in Resolve DAVINCI RESOLVE This exercise will be a continuation from our previous tutorial in the last issue on isolating backgrounds using the Depth Map. In this part we’ll use the Relight effect, introduced in DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.5, to analyse a scene so that three-dimensionally accurate virtual lights can be added. If you’re not sure what we mean yet, then keep on reading. Thanks to the Relight effect we’re able to correct lighting mistakes that were made during the production process, or in this instance enhance an existing look with additional virtual lights. Even though Relight is computationally intensive, render caching means you’re still able to enjoy smooth playback in your timeline. In the shoot our interviewee has been lit…

Artist Q&A Your CG problems solved SOFTWARE: BLENDER Paul Hatton replies Getting hair right is tricky, and the challenge becomes even greater when that hair needs to be animated. Hair grooming tools in the likes of Houdini have become so advanced that the only limit seems to be an artist’s abilities. Blender contains an improving set of grooming functionality as well, but as the question focuses on braids we’ll take a more specific approach. To help answer this one I’m indebted to Nino (AKA DefoQ) for Braidify, a free tool developed alongside some incredibly helpful training videos. The first iteration was impressive, great for creating braids and animating them, but was highly processor intensive. Making changes to the output was, at times, rather slow and sucked some of the life…

Reviews Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium Bundle HARDWARE REVIEW PRICE £330/$420 COMPANY Xencelabs WEBSITE xencelabs.com AUTHOR PROFILE Paul Blachford Paul is the Art Editor for MacFormat magazine, the leading publication covering all things Apple in the UK. + PROS Stunning build quality Wireless or wired connectivity Fuss-free setup Class-leading drawing experience − CONS Complex interface Steep learning curve PACKAGE AT A GLANCE The Pen Tablet Medium comes with a host of extras, including a Quick Keys remote, one Thin Pen (12g) and a 3 Button Pen (17g), both with 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity. It also has wi-fi or USB-A connectivity, with a USB-C adaptor supplied, and up to 16 hours of battery life. When it comes to fully featured graphics tablets, Xencelabs is on a tear right now, and it’s…

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 free audio-themed models from in our monthly model and texture giveaway. DESIGN ART TOY RENDERS Oscar Juárez shares his process for making beautiful product renders using Corona. CREATE A STYLISH KITCHEN SCENE Follow along as Shaygan Shamlou shows you how to render stunning interior images. NEXT MONTH Discover the varied and stunning VFX of Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 ON SALE 3RD OCTOBER Subscribe today: www.bit.ly/3dworld-subs…

The Gallery CG art to inspire "This luxury bathroom is a personal project aimed at enhancing my artistic skills. Created in Unreal Engine using the Lumen workflow, it features a variety of styles, with a focus on incorporating elements of nature such as lush, green plants. The design seeks to seamlessly blend opulence with natural aesthetics, offering a serene and luxurious bathing experience. I’ve been part of the 3D industry since 2014 and worked on Pakistani animated movies, TV series, and architectural visualisation projects using Maya and Unreal Engine. I truly enjoy my work and always strive to create amazing art for the industry." • artstation.com/ahsanali1414 ARTIST Ahsan Ali SOFTWARE Unreal Engine, Maya, Photoshop…

“Up until WALL-E our virtual lens was just a lens that used field of view instead of focal length,” explains Jeremy Lasky. “You would say, ‘I want a 50-degree field of view.’ And that’s what you got and dialled in anything you wanted.” However, filmmaker Andrew Stanton wanted WALL-E to look like a lost sci-fi movie from the 1970s that had been rediscovered. A major point of reference was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “I was looking at the aspect ratio, lens distortion, lens breathing – which is when you shift your focus – and the amount or lack of depth of field you get when putting something close,” states Lasky. “We had never gotten depth of field exactly realistic before; flares are different in anamorphic and I said…

As the world of creating art toys has become more and more popular, an increasing number of people are creating figures of their own. From sci-fi, anime, and wargame models to the more stylised figures, the widening variety on offer may never end. With all of this, many creators are eager learners, which is why we have so many more people designing, modelling and printing their own figures. Some even put their products forward for enthusiasts and collectors to buy. It’s an exciting process, but it also has its steps, and one I’m here to help you with is creating a fast and easy 3D setup that will allow you to make product renders of your own figures. When creating figures, many views will be seen, and with that come…

Artist Q&A Your CG problems solved SOFTWARE: BLENDER Pietro Chiovaro replies With the advent of web 3.0 and new, better-performing virtual reality headsets, entertainment is changing, and it’s not uncommon to produce virtual gigs you can enjoy from home. In this tutorial, I’ll show you a simple way to get parameters from any audio to produce lighting and movement effects that sync with music in Blender, without the need for any external software. In this render, I first created a simple stage using basic shapes, then assigned some materials, and lastly added lights and the crowd. As soon as you have your environment, we can focus on the process of getting the data from an audio file. Let’s start animating a light of any kind; spot light, point light, sun…

Reviews SOFTWARE REVIEW PRICE £195/$275 COMPANY iToo Software WEBSITE itoosoft.com/railclone AUTHOR PROFILE Paul Hatton After graduating with a first-class computer science degree, Paul Hatton has spent nearly two decades working within the 3D visualisation industry. + PROS Great support and development Ever-growing and improved asset library − CONS Only works with 3ds Max Rivals chomping at its heels MACRO NODES When working with RailClone nodes it can get pretty cluttered. Macro nodes aim to solve this problem by enabling artists to copy and paste entire graphs into macros. If you’re struggling to conceptualise what this looks like, in essence it’s pretty much a case of grouping a collection of nodes into one single Macro node. RailClone first hit the 3D marketplace in 2010, making it possible to create procedurally driven models.…

Reviews Unreal Engine 5.2 SOFTWARE REVIEW PRICE Free Standard licence COMPANY Epic Games WEBSITE unrealengine.com AUTHOR PROFILE Paul Hatton After graduating with a first-class computer science degree, Paul Hatton has spent nearly two decades working within the 3D visualisation industry. + PROS Free standard licence Excellent tool for virtual production Massive worlds are even easier to create Includes native Apple Silicon support − CONS Complex interface Steep learning curve ML DEFORMER CHANGES At present, Unreal Engine relies on an offline solution for its ML Deformer. In version 5.2, Epic Games is making moves to give artists the tools they need to enable this simulation to be carried out in the engine. This will speed up workflows for cloth simulation artists and simplify the creative process. This is carried out using…