Innehållsförteckning för February 2024 från 3D World

COVER ARTIST Nicolas Guillet SOFTWARE ZBrush, Blender, Substance 3D Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, Photoshop Substance has come a long way since it was acquired by Adobe, with many new tools to use, techniques to master and capabilities to take advantage of. This issue we help you get the most from your Substance workflows with expert advice from leading artists. Elsewhere, we take a look into how you could combat the economic crisis by starting your own side hustle, whether this be a YouTube channel you can monetise, or a training course that earns you passive income. Either way, we show you how to get your idea off the ground and look at some great gear to help you start. Enjoy the issue! Rob rob.redman@futurenet.com…

Time was of the essence when shooting in the virtual production stage. “We had big pieces that needed to get into the volume quickly,” explains Shira Hockman, the supervising art director. “It was figuring out what was possible to build in the time given, and then how to break it down into pieces that we could literally wheel in on the day and bolt together. “We also had two companies working on that set. We had Supersets building the airlock and gantry, then we had BGI Supplies doing the escape pod door at the end. Then Supersets did the interior of the escape pod and BGI Supplies did the rails, so it was making sure that all of the pieces coming from both companies were going to fit together and…

Unable to reach Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski) in time to protect him, Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) resorts to an act of desperation that has fatal consequences for the Seanchan fleet “Moiraine has been cut off from the One Power for the majority of Season 2, so this is a big release of frustration,” explains Andy Scrase. “It's about her channeling out into the ocean and you're seeing some weaves forming up beneath the ocean surface. The comparison I gave was like a torpedo attack on a ship in a World War II movie, where you're following the torpedo it felt like this I scenario leant itself to that, especially when you have this camera going over the ocean's surface towards the ships, which was a fully digital shot. Then it's…

WATCH BMW SYMPHONY https://vimeo.com/836411494 This project was created in collaboration with Epic Games and BMW at the beginning of 2023 for the Game Developers Conference (GDC), where a whole series of updates and brand new features for Unreal Engine's latest iteration were announced to the world Besides the mind-blowing new Procedural Content Generation (PCG) framework, another huge addition is Substrate, the material authoring system found in Unreal Engine. In addition to all the new material properties with different types of multi-layer shading, the Substrate tooling opens up more opportunities for setting up and mixing several materials into one, which enables the achievement of more complex and photorealistic effects for artists. This became our primary idea: to try to pull off as many gorgeous visuals as we could based on the…

The Pipeline Make exquisite hard-surface scene renders UNREAL ENGINE 5 | FUSION 360 Just two programs were needed to make my battery artwork: the CAD software Fusion 360 and Unreal Engine 5. For this tutorial, I'll give you a brief overview of how I created all the models for my scene using Fusion 360, but the real highlight is the process I followed in Unreal Engine, which is where much of the important work happens. We'll begin by importing all of our assets into Unreal Engine and constructing a basic scene that will be comfortable to work with. After that, we'll continue with creating all the necessary materials for our models. The next steps will be the most important for the render itself, as we'll be setting up our camera…

01 THE OBJECT MANAGER MENU One of the first things any new artist should do with the Cinema 4D Object Manager is explore the menus at the top. These are full of handy tools, such as the ability to fold and unfold all the enclosed parent groups. Still, they can also be used to customise the Viewport to the screen being used. For example, icon size can be adjusted in the View menu, making them much easier to see. 02 SET CUSTOM OBJECT COLOUR To set a custom icon colour for the Object Manager, select an object, in this case an enclosing null in which the text object has been nested. In the Attributes tab, head over to Basic and unfold the Icon attribute, select Custom and choose a colour, which will…

Filming equipment Whether that be a DSLR camera or your smartphone. A tripod You're going to want something both sturdy and reliable to hold whatever camera you're using to film your content. Lighting You can get by with a lamp and daylight bulb for your key light and a dimmable LED lamp for your fill light. It's recommended to start off with a dark space and then experiment with your lighting until you find what works best. A microphone As explained in this feature, the audience are watching because they want to hear what you have to share, so a decent-quality mic is a must-have if you want to keep viewers tuning in. Engaging thumbnails and backdrop While your enthusiasm and knowledge are key to creating good content, good aesthetics…

A good-quality tripod is vital when filming content, providing stability and allowing you to position your camera as needed. If you don't yet want to invest in a fluid-head tripod, the Benro CyanBird is a good option whether you plan to record in your studio or out on location. It has adaptable height levels ranging from 17-155cm and reduces down to a compact 46cm when folded up. At 1.05kg it's lightweight enough to carry with ease. A roll-up padded carry case comes included, which features an open-faced design when unrolled for easy access. One small thing I noticed during set-up is that the legs don't extend automatically when the tripod is shaken, so you may need to pull them yourself. But ignoring that little aspect, the catches snap on easily…

Reviews Houdini 20 SOFTWARE REVIEW 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 Incredibly powerful feature set Tools span whole animation and VFX workflow Increasingly powerful Karma renderer - CONS Steep learning curve Expensive investment MATERIALX MaterialX is ILM's open standard for material and lookdev data, and is heavily utilised by Houdini. In Houdini 20 we see improvements to various parts of the workflow and elements of the material, including a new thin-walled transmission for MtlX Standard Surface. This delivers great results on objects that need complex refractions. Improvements to the Material Linker and Material Catalog also further streamline the creative workflow when it comes to materials. Houdini's popularity among the…

The Gallery CG art to inspire “My Plantagenets project began with the idea of making a massive picture of a military scene. It was developed over around 18 months for my personal portfolio and future individual exhibitions. My primary goal was for the project to involve different characters, all of whom are perfectly integrated, interacting with other characters and the environment. Plantagenets was technically complex, so rendering the entire artwork with V-Ray took about a week on an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor. The long-term plan is to develop the project for as long as possible; we'll be able to see all the knights within this picture as individual and independent characters, and I promise that it will be beautiful and interesting. As a level modeller myself, I'll share some…

“If a Simulant was in a high-stress scenario, we'd amplify the movements to emulate how they were feeling,” says ILM animation supervisor Christopher Potter. “As opposed to a quiet scene where it's almost like breathing, for the scenes where they're interacting with technology it goes extra fast again.” The process was trial and error, as ILM animation supervisor Michael Midlock explains. “We had a total of four cycles that we wanted to use,” he says “The inner ring was supposed to be the cognitive thinking. One of the rings was tied to Alphie's eye movement. We tracked her eye darts in the plate so the rings were reacting to that. We did previs for a couple of different cycles and started putting them into shots, casting them where we thought…

Having worked on His Dark Materials, where the series’ daemons are physical manifestations of a person's soul, Andy Scrase applied a lesson learned to the channeling. “On His Dark Materials, Russell Dodgson spoke to Ruth Wilson about her daemon, the Golden Monkey, and I thought It was quite an interesting concept speaking with a cast member about the VFX that are going to be put on them. There are certain nuances in an actor's performance I may not have known if I hadn't spoken with them [for The Wheel of Time], Their performance is driven by What they do with Scarlett Mackmin, the show's choreographer.” Roni Rodrigues adds: “Andy had interesting ideas of how the waves and weaves actually work. We were doing massive amounts of witness cameras to focus…

Technique focus Master the chisel in ZBrush artstation.com/brud MASTER THE CHISEL IN ZBRUSH This statue came out of nowhere, and I didn't follow any drawings or sketches. There was a feeling and a cloudy vision in the beginning, and of course a couple of cylinders and spheres in ZBrush. Usually my sculptures show a little philosophical history of thought, and both the story and the message come into play during creation. Sometimes I won't even pay attention to the details during the creating phase, and just keep everything intact enough so as not to disturb the viewer. What is important for me is to have a good time when I'm sculpting and creating something new and interesting. I have fun when I'm creative, so it never hurts to make a…

Glen Southern Glen runs SouthernGFX, a small Cheshire based studio specialising in character and creature design. He is a Wacom ambassador, VR artist, and accredited ZBrush instructor. youtube.com/c/SouthernGFX/videos Paul Hatton After graduating with a first-class computer science degree, Paul Hatton has spent nearly two decades working within the 3D visualisation industry. Mike Griggs Mike Griggs is a digital content creator with over two decades of experience creating VFX and CGI for a wide range of clients. www.creativebloke.com Pietro Chiovaro Pietro is a freelance 3D artist and YouTuber. An expert in the creation of game assets and environments, he shares many of his creations on his channel. www.pietrochiovaro.com GET IN TOUCH EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO rob.redman@futurenet.com Glen Southern replies Eyes play a critical role in 3D art for several reasons; most…

01 CREATE EMITTER OBJECTS The first step is to work out where your fire is going to emit from and create the relevant object. This can be any type of geometry, cloth, soft body or particle emitter. The fact that fire can be emitted from any object type is powerful. Sometimes you might want to make a dummy object for the fire to be emitted from, rather than it being the geometry the viewer sees. With the object selected, right click on it in the Objects panel and go to Simulation Tags, followed by Pyro Emitter. If you press play on the timeline controls you'll see your simulation play out in front of your eyes. Can you believe just how easy that was? In the parameters, reducing the Voxel Size will…

Serving up an all-in-one solution for the budget-conscious content creator, SnapGrip's Creator Kit is the ideal way to get you started in your new venture. The main and most exciting part of this kit is without doubt the SnapGrip tripod itself. It utilises MagSafe technology, so attaches effortlessly to the back of your phone. Even if your phone isn't MagSafe compatible, you'll be pleased to hear that you can still make use of the grip as a MagSafe sticker also comes included. Thanks to the Bluetooth connection, the large button on the grip can be used as a shutter button, which makes your phone feel a little more like a traditional camera. The grip helps to offer additional stability when taking photos and has the added bonus of working as…

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 green energy-themed models from in our monthly model and texture giveaway. CREATE A FANTASY CHARACTER Learn how to make detailed characters just like our cover star using Substance in your workflow. DEVELOP A STUNNING VIDEO Discover how to make gorgeous videos with the power of Substrate in Unreal Engine. NEXT MONTH Explore the digital process behind incredible painterly film The Peasants ON SALE 30TH JANUARY Subscribe today: www.bit.ly/3dworld-subs…

“This was created as part of my daily practice routine. I tend not to spend too much time on these as it's more for getting some ideas down; no sketching or work in progress, it's just getting straight to creating. I had a basic idea of what I wanted, but preferred to go with the flow. I started with the background, which is mostly 2D, building up in layers and using photo textures and basic brushes. I had the light for this shot done before I added the creature. In fact, there was only going to be a slight hint of the creature at first, perhaps just a hump, to suggest it was in a big holding pen. The creature itself was created using Nomad Sculpt on my tablet and…

“We had a tour a few years ago in a virtual studio in Los Angeles and on the wall was this giant poster, which showed the process of how you make a film, like a node diagram,” recalls Edwards. “It was such an obvious thing about how you write a script, shoot and edit. It hit me how little has changed in the last 100 years. We have all these amazing digital tools at our disposal, but still go about the process of making a film like we did in the 1920s. Personally I think the process is wrong, or at least there are other ways of doing it. With every movie I'm always fighting that. On The Creator I was lucky they let us shoot a lot of it…

Questions were asked about the look and functionality of the American space station NOMAD (North American Orbital Mobile Aerospace Defense). “Gareth had certain ideas that he wanted where it shoots a targeting beam on villages and acts as a target for weapons, but also to show the way for these soldiers,” says James Clyne. “As far as the shape, we went through hundreds and hundreds of little sketches and ideas. We finally came across this idea of a bird of prey, almost like a circling hawk and how that would look in the sky. The design had to feel primal and make you anxious when you see it circling like that. Once we had that as an idea it was easy to lock into our look. I sent Gareth an…

“In the books it's a flash of bright white light. This is when I tend to look at things from the book and see if creatively or visually it's interesting, and forthat we adjusted it,” reveals Andy Scrase. “We wanted to go for something that looked organic. We went with this wavy, almost watery look with flashes of the experiences that Nynaeve al'Meara [Zoe Robins] is about to walk into appearing through the portal itself. It s subtly done. When she eventually does go to Walk through you do get this flash of bright white light: that s something we did to bring back from the books. From there it's about using the lattice work around the arches as well to appear within the experience itself to show her the…

AUTHOR Nicolas Guillet Nicolas is a French character artist in the games industry, specialising in stylised creations and following a traditional mindset. He enjoys creating 3D art with catchy mood and ambience. bit.ly/3TdEgmz Making a 3D character based on a concept is a classic way for artists to learn new tools and upgrade their skills, but creating your own design from scratch is even more challenging for stepping up your art style. To help you get a handle on that process, let me show you how I create a unique character. My personal project here is a tribute to World of Warcraft and features a goblin fit for use in a cinematic. We're going to cover all the steps and tools you can use, starting from sculpting with ZBrush, exploring…

The Pipeline How to sculpt and texture a demonic bust BLENDER | SUBSTANCE 3D PAINTER AUTHOR Elena Leonteva Elena has been working as a 3D artist in the game development field for over five years. In her spare time, she likes to make fantasy characters and creatures. bit.ly/3sMbJtH When I set out to make this demonic character bust, my main goal was to create a detailed, real-time 3D portrait that looked as close as possible to the original concept art made by Veronika Kozlova. It also gave me the chance to test out Blender's capabilities for high-poly sculpting, which I've been eager to try for a while now, and check on how its real-time EEVEE render engine performs. In this tutorial, I'll guide you through my process creating the bust.…

01 MAKE A SPHERE The first job is to add a sphere. The default sphere that opens up with Nomad will do for a start, but we need to give it more geometry to work with. Go to the geometry panel at the top of the screen and in Multiresolution, increase the Subdivision Levels two times, which will give you a sphere with over one million polygons. That's more than enough. 02 RADIAL SYMMETRY Next we need to work with Radial Symmetry. Go to the Paintbrush and then the Symmetry tab at the top. Enable the Symmetry and pick an orientation to work with. The blue Z option is a good one that means you'll be painting on the front of the eye. Set a high number – around 32 is good…