Innehållsförteckning för June 2024 från 3D World

It never ceases to amaze me how certain characters continue to thrive, even after some less than critically acclaimed instalments. This issue we take a good look at one of the most perennial cult characters out there, Godzilla, who has returned to our screens in Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, as part of the MonsterVerse franchise. Elsewhere in the issue we have some great training lined up to help you improve on your own projects, from a complex car rig to sculpting and texturing a stylised cowboy character. I also show you how to use Adobe After Effects to add some moody rain to your renders, and we answer your burning questions in our expert Q&A section. And if you're on the hunt for new tools, check out…

“This project emerged from a challenge posed by a group of my friends: to finish an artwork within a week. That was fused with the desire that I've had for some time to sculpt a different body type and experiment with stylisation. I knew I wanted to sculpt a huge, muscular dude, and when Nesskain's art appeared on my timeline, I just had to give it a try! My favourite part of this artwork was sculpting his arm anatomy and matching the illustration to the final render.” • artstation.com/vickmiotto ARTIST Vitória Miotto SOFTWARE ZBrush, 3ds Max, Substance 3D Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, Photoshop…

Konrad reveals: “After Cate Randa sees the bus go over the edge in episode 101, getting the timing right was dfficult, so the team had to cheat objects ahead and behind the bus to get the smoke reacting at the right time, and then closing up behind to occlude the bus. They had to simulate a couple hundred feet of volume to get the correct performance, which is computationally difficult to get right, and then figuring out the densities to do what you want also means rendering it a few times.” Rising Sun Pictures had to simulate Godzilla swimming in Episodes 103 and 106. “Ideally, you want to just simulate the object in a smaller contained area and then blend that into a procedural water surface,” explains Konrad. “It's why…

“There used to be ideas about how you light bluescreen, but we've proved that you can put intention into it,” says Hall. “For the reactor scene, it's dark and lit by the cocoons of the creatures off daylight that's coming from 300 feet above from a gap in the building. It wasn't lit flatly for VFX, that was lit how I wanted the scene to look. If you do that carefully and collaborate with VFX, you can get a much better result as the lighting still has integrity. That's why it isn't easy doing these types of shows. It's not just let's put them against a greenscreen and off we go. If it becomes that, you'll see it.”…

Given that Anthony Hopkins was only doing the voice of Jimmy with Dustin Ceithamer on-set interacting with the actors, it was important the two performances be in sync with each other. “We did a scratch track with Anthony Hopkins that our editor Dody Dorn put together,” states Taormina. “Then we made a Jimmy suit for Dustin Ceithamer, who's 6ft 8in, which had a rich filigree on the chest plate. The intention going in was to have Dustin do the performance and figure out what we needed to do in post.” The end result was more humanist. Taormina continues: “They were like, ‘I need digital shots like that. They need to act not like robots.’ We limited ourselves creatively and did subtle movements of his ears, changes in his eyes and…

Paul Hatton After graduating with a first-class computer science degree, Paul Hatton has spent nearly two decades working within the 3D visualisation industry. bit.ly/3vuv0AT 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 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 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 Paul Hatton replies KeyShot provides powerful yet simple-to-use rendering tools through both a standalone package…

01 SET UP THE SCENE In this simple example scene in Cinema 4D 2024 – which uses Redshift to render, a series of Sweep objects lit with key, fill, rim and dome lights – each of the lights has a distinct colour, creating a potentially shocking image. Even though a normal lighting situation will work with most setups, this example has been made extreme in order to highlight the differences between the lights. To add a light into a new or existing Light Group, select the light and go to the Details tab in the Attributes palette. In the AOV Light Group dropdown, select ‘Add New Light Group’, which you can then give a logical name. If you wish to add a light to an existing Light Group, simply choose the…

PRICE £960/$1,215 COMPANY Nvidia WEBSITE nvidia.com AUTHOR PROFILE Rob Redman Rob is Editor of 3D World and also works as a creative director, producing 3D animations and VFX. When not at his desk, he can usually be found painting miniatures. robredman.co.uk + PROS Excellent build quality Great ray-tracing performance Support for up to four displays CONS Non-ATX 3.0 workstations need to use supplied power adapter NVIDIA STUDIO DRIVERS GPUs used to be easily discernible as either gaming cards or creativeuse cards, but those lines are blurred these days. Nvidia offers some of its cards the ability to use its studio drivers, which work differently from the standard consumer ones, making the GPU more suited for DCCs like 3D rendering and animation. There's no extra cost for this, but it does…

The Gallery CG art to inspire BASED ON THE CONCEPT BY TERRY WEI (artstation.com/artwork/eazlEX) ARTIST Edu Morales Ojeda SOFTWARE Maya, ZBrush, Marvelous Designer, Wrap, RizomUV, Marmoset Toolbag, Substance 3D Painter, FiberShop, Photoshop “This project is the culmination of my journey through my studies at Think Tank Training Centre. I wanted to create a challenging piece, and the aura that the original concept evoked was the trigger for starting the project. I think it's a complete concept: clothing, hair and fur (and lots of it!), leathers, cloth, metals, hard surfaces, organic objects and facial anatomy. It's been my first time doing a more realistic approach to a male portrait. I really wanted to do a take on that, so that's why I adapted that part of the concept, while trying to keep…

“In the original design for the planet of Neu-Wodi, where we meet the Bennu and the flight takes place, it was an arid planet motivated by the fact they were shooting on a location like a desert,” explains Bob Winter, a VFX supervisor for Framestore. “But we wanted to add an intimidating look and feel to the terrain. The idea was if you think of a meteorite or asteroid hitting, and say the planet was molten at some point. You could almost quick freeze the impact and get these rock structures [like spires] that would form. We started to create these spires, and radial orientations and patterns to mimic that. If you look at the Moon you can see there's the impact of a crater within a crater within a…

The Pipeline ZBRUSH | SUBSTANCE 3D PAINTER | 3DCOAT | MARMOSET TOOLBAG Create stylish hand-painted character art Practical tips and tutorials from pro artists to improve your CG skills WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3dworld-monarch Stylised characters are my passion, and in this tutorial I'll go through my steps for creating a high-quality unlit and hand-painted character from start to finish. This process will involve using ZBrush for the high-poly creation, Modo for retopology and UVs, Marmoset Toolbag for baking and final rendering, and both Substance 3D Painter and 3DCoat for the texturing process. You'll be able to use this workflow for any hand-painted characters, props or environment pieces. The aim here is to leverage the strength of several pieces of software to create quality models and textures efficiently. We'll use ZBrush and lots…

Rob is Editor of 3D World and also works as a creative director, producing 3D animations and VFX. When not at his desk, he can usually be found painting miniatures. robredman.co.uk Adding atmospheric effects to your renders can be something of a challenge, both in terms of your workflow and speed. You can use volumetrics for creating fog and mist, or particles for rain and so on, but that might not always be the best solution. You can of course add rain this way and there are benefits like true depth in the scene, although this comes at the expense of slower rendering times and a much longer workflow, as well as dealing with bigger file sizes. If the rain is a key component of your narrative then that may…

01 DECIDE ON A CAMERA ANGLE Use the Real-time View to orbit and zoom your camera with either your mouse or trackpad. I also like to use the four sliders included in the Camera Settings panel, as these allow for much finer adjustments than you could achieve directly in the Viewport. The Twist setting in particular is useful for adding something a little bit different. If you find that things aren't working out, just rightclick and choose ‘Center and Fit Models’. 02 LENS SETTINGS Four different lens types provide various outputs including perspective, orthographic, shift and panoramic. I use the perspective output the majority of the time, but for specific purposes I might use one of the other three options. Orthographic, in particular, can create a nice alternative look that's intriguing for…

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR /VFX SUPERVISOR Provides visual quality control and oversees the processing of volumetric footage through each step of a project's life cycle. You'll need plenty of production experience and a deep understanding of the technology. VOLUMETRIC STUDIO SUPERVISOR Manages and supports the innovation, operation, and maintenance of the holographic video capture stage. This is a great opportunity for experienced VFX professionals who are full of ideas and have the ability to solve problems quickly. VOLUMETRIC PROCESSING TECHNICIAN Responsible for the reconstruction of 2D video to final 3D video asset. Additional tasks include running test takes on-set for review, monitoring software, and manipulating and modifying 3D meshes. This role is for those with a good understanding of 3D and video tech. PIPELINE ENGINEER Ensures interoperability of data and creates custom…

Unity is an incredible gaming engine, and other than Unreal Engine, you'll be hard pushed to find a more capable program. But software is often only as strong as the community that supports it, and Unity has a seriously committed fanbase. Many are developers who have worked hard to create plugins that extend the program's core functionality. In this round-up, we've picked out four different plugins that will not only make your life a whole lot easier, but will also push your designs to a whole new level of creativity. We've picked plugins that represent a range of different parts of the game development process, each one of which stands out as a leader in its particular field. If you're on the lookout for a suite of 2D camera tools,…

“I often scroll through ArtStation projects to find something that looks fun to recreate in 3D, and this is exactly what happened with this handheld console concept from IWSE Zhang. I fell in love with the retro feel of the piece and saw something that could really challenge my skill in both the modelling and texturing. I set up a camera and the basic scene in Blender to match the angle, and then started blocking out the main shapes. The next thing I wanted to focus on was the parts that aren't visible, such as the back and bottom of the model (seen below). Overall, the modelling was done with a lot of modifiers such as Booleans, mirrors, remesh and smooth corrective, before being brought into ZBrush to sculpt all…

The Gallery CG art to inspire “UNDERSTANDING THE ARTISTIC FOUNDATIONS IS CRUCIAL FOR ANY PROJECT” “For this project, my primary goal was to incorporate stylised visuals, all stemming from my 3D base. The idea was to create a dynamic 2D/3D feeling, which required a complex shader to bake the lights and maintain the dynamism and hand-painted appearance. This was a style that I've been trying to develop for a few years now, and it's the result of plenty of experimentation through personal projects that have helped me understand what works and what doesn't. Understanding the artistic foundations is crucial for any project, so take time to grasp your references.” • manisalguero.com ARTIST Mani Salguero SOFTWARE Maya, Arnold, XGen, ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter…

“It's interesting that you bring up Star Wars because I've done a handful of projects now where there are interactive sticks glowing in someone's hands,” notes Taormina. “There's only so much you can do for that. When I had that initial conversation with Zack, all we knew is that we were going to have glowing light sticks. I had this one image of light painting. I don't know if you're familiar, but it's a long exposure where at nighttime you open the shutter and it basically streaks. We did a lot of R&D to make those streaks right. If we shot the film at 180, we can go anywhere from 270 to 360 degrees shutter. If our plates are at 180 degrees, we still streak the swords at a longer…

WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3dworld-monarch ON THE MOVE The MadCar plugin introduces elements such as suspension Creating in 3D becomes more and more friendly every passing day with new tools being released. These are incredibly helpful for working on various objects and most aid us in one important aspect: creating the most in less time. I do the majority of my work in 3ds Max, and one thing I love is that animations can be quickly modified as many times as we need, allowing us to speed up our process and add complexity. This time I'll be using a plugin called MadCar. Back in issue 310, I showed you how to animate a car wheel using 3ds Max's built-in tools, and at the end we had a vehicle with fully animated…

Technique focus AAA-standard characters DRAGON WARRIOR: MING DYNASTY GUNNER Based on the concept by Ningbo Jiang (artstation.com/artwork/xzVVRr) Software Maya, ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, Marvelous Designer, Marmoset Toolbag Year made 2024 “MY APPROACH HELPED TO IMBUE THE CHARACTER WITH LIVELINESS AND EMOTION” AAA-STANDARD CHARACTERS This project let me explore organic materials like leather and metal, and experiment with my texturing variations. Colour is a crucial tool when you're bringing materials to life; when used properly with roughness, metal will become colourful yet remain grey, allowing you to achieve a warmer or colder look. The dragon, created as an Insert brush within ZBrush, is an important detail and draws the viewer's attention to the armour's shoulders and the axe. On top of this, I showcased how the gold had scratched off the…

01 MODEL AND PAINT Sculpt and model your creature or character however you'd normally do it. Keep elements in parts, for example here I have the head, horns, teeth, gums, eyes and hair all as separate models to make it easier for the UV process, texturing and creating materials. Painting with vertex paint is fine as this will be captured onto a UV map at a later stage. 02 REDUCE THE MESH AND UV Duplicate the head and keep it in the same place, but hide one copy. There is a new plugin called QuadRemesher that will be released with Nomad Sculpt 1.85 any day now. If you have access, use it to make a lower-polygon model with accurate topology. If not, just use the built-in Quad Remesher that comes with Nomad.…

PRICE £65/$80 DEVELOPER More Mountains WEBSITE topdown-engine.moremountains.com FEATURES Character controller Camera effects Level controller Multiplayer ready Unity is a fantastic engine for creating top-down games, and there's no better plugin to get it done than TopDown. With a range of different features that are perfectly suited to creating this type of game, new and experienced users are given easy-to-use tools that work straight out of the box. The plugin centres around a well-built and finely tuned character control. It includes movement, collision detection, slope handling and jumps to make sure the character moves around the scene as it should. Additionally, weapons are fully supported with controls for aiming, charging and, of course, firing. Characters can be created and then tweaked using the inspector, and if you're ever not sure where…

PRICE £795/$1,000 COMPANY LightWave Digital WEBSITE lightwave3d.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. bit.ly/3vuv0AT + PROS Powerful new procedural nodes Motivated development team Unreal Engine live connection CONS More geometry nodes required Limited instance painting settings TEXT TOOL It's now possible to make dynamic text directly in LightWave Layout. This offers an improved level of functionality, including the animation of individual characters. Being able to treat each character individually rather than as a whole word is a big win for animators. This might seem like a niche tool to be added with limited buy-in, but maybe the inclusion of bevelling, surfacing and alignment tools might win over more people. The 2023…