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(3) DE. FR. VI. EE. Tu. TS SE A S ge 6 N D pa O A rn to. !. EDITOR’S. WELCOME Master the complete character design process this issue. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE UP TO 59% Now you can get the best of both worlds! Subscribe to 3D World and get both the print and digital editions. Turn to page 30!. There’s been a three-decade long debate in Japan as to the value of CG in animation, and on page 42 we gather together leading anime directors to discuss how they are using the latest technology in their work. Plus, this issue’s cover artist Oliver Milas shares his techniques for modelling anime characters in ZBrush – if you want to try your hand at this unique artistic style, start now on page 50. The comic feel is taken up by Titouan Olive on page 58 who reveals how to model superhero anatomy. Also, the big news recently was the release of Pixologic’s ZBrush 4R7, we give our view of the feature-laden update on page 92.. Ian Dean, editor [email protected]. EMAIL [email protected]. WEBSITE 3dworld.creativebloq.com. FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine. TWITTER @3DWorldMag. 3D WORLD April 2015. 3. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. MANGA MODELS Jon-Troy Nickel shares his collection of 3D printed manga character models on page 84.
(4) ISSUE 193. CONTENTS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Our complete line-up for this month’s 3D World. Get the latest magazine for free in our new offer or download a back issue on iPad and iPhone today! www.bit.ly/3dworld-app. 6 FREE DOWNLOADS. Get your hands on 5GB of assets via our Vault download system. 8 ARTIST SHOWCASE. Discover the best new digital art. 19 COMMUNITY 20 THE BIG ISSUE Should mocap actors win oscars?. 20 THE BIG ISSUE. 24 STUDIO PROFILE Glasgow’s Dimensional Imaging. Should mocap artists be able to win oscars?. 32 IN FOCUS Rendering a classic character. 38 ARTIST Q&A. All your software queries solved. FEATURE 42 10 YEARS OF 3G IN ANIME. 49 TUTORIALS. Improve your CG skills. 78 3D MAKER. Explore the best 3D print art, technology and trends. 8 ARTIST SHOWCASE. Discover the most outstanding new creative work from the CG art community. 24 DIMENSIONAL IMAGING. The studio at the forefront of 4D capture. 87 DEVELOP. Theory, research and reviews. REGULARS 30 SUBSCRIPTIONS 36 BACK ISSUES 63 NEXT MONTH 86 FREE RENDER GUIDES Download your free ebooks to learn how PBR works. 32 IN FOCUS: SMASHING HULK 38 ARTIST Q&A. Your software queries solved by our experts. Yanir Tearosh talks through an iconic render 3D WORLD April 2015. 4. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. 42 10 YEARS OF 3G IN ANIME Meet the leading 3DCG anime directors.
(5) EE. S DE UI 6 G G e8 I N pa g ER to N D T ur n. FR. RE. !. TUTORIALS 50 CHARACTER MODELLING Everything you need to create an anime style character using ZBrush. 56 CGI FOR ADVERTISING Explore the creative process for advertising photography. 58 SCULPT A SUPERHEROINE. 58 SCULPTED SUPERHEROINE Learn the art of super hero modelling. Learn how to transform ZBrush’s standard female figure. 64 ADVANCED PARTICLE EFFECTS Josh Clos demonstrates the potential of the Data Operation in Particle Flow. 66 DYNAMIC COMPOSITION Learn how to create an immediately appealing 3D scene. 70 CREATE SMOKE & FIRE Vikrant J. Dalal shows how to use the FumeFX plug-in for a realistic plume. 74 FANTASY WARRIOR CLOTHING. 50 CREATE AN ANIME STYLE CHARACTER. 70 LARGE SCALE SMOKE & FIRE. Oliver Milas explains how to master character modelling in ZBrush for a cel-shaded look. Learn how to design a believable outfit in Marvelous Designer. Learn how to master particle simulation. 3D MAKER. NE 3D PRW SECTIOINT N. 78 SCANNING THE CLASSICS One 3D artist’s mission to bring classical scans to the CG community. 80 ARTICLATED HERO Learn how to model a collectible action figure with Aiman Akhtar. 84 FIGURING IT OUT. 78 SCANNING THE CLASSICS Cosmo Wenman’s scanning mission. 80 ARTICULATED HERO. 84 FIGURING IT OUT. Make a print-ready action figure. Jon-Troy Nickel’s passion for collectible 3D print model figures. Creating collectible 3D print models. DEVELOP 88 CLOUD BUILDING Turn any 3D model into a cloud with Maya’s clever plug-in. 90 EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Alexander Kiesl on the changing face of performance capture. REVIEWS 90 PERFORMANCE CAPTURE Alexander Kiesl shares his thoughts. 92 ZBRUSH 4R7 Rob Redman looks at the final release in the ZBrush 4 series. 94 LIGHTWAVE 3D 2015 Lorenzo Zitta on why this is more than a simple upgrade. 96 DA VINCI 1.0 AIO Can this new all-in-one printer offer anything evolutionary?. 97 MAXWELL RENDER 3.1 What improvements feature in the latest version of this popular render?. 88 A QUICK TRIP TO THE CLOUDS. 92 ZBRUSH 4R7. Learn how to transform 3D models into realistic clouds with Maya’s Elementacular plug-in 3D WORLD April 2015. Rob Redman reviews the latest release 5. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. 98 MY INSPIRATION Gustavo Sanchez on his career.
(6) OVER 5 HOURS OF VIDEO. IN THE VAULT. FREE RESOURCES. Follow the link to download your free files www.creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193 Get a complete video course and project files!. GET YOUR RESOURCES You’re three steps away from this issue’s video training and files…. 1. GO TO THE WEBSITE Type this into your browser’s address bar: www.creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193. EBOOK RENDERING GUIDES. 2. FIND THE FILES YOU WANT Search the list of free resources to find the video and files you want.. Download the guide to real-time rendering. 3. DOWNLOAD WHAT YOU NEED Click the Download buttons and your files will save to your PC or Mac.. PLUS!. There are more files, art and resources waiting online…. VIDEO+MATCAPS+SCRIPTS ANIME CHARACTER MODELLING. VIDEO ZBRUSH SCULPTING. VIDEO+FILES FIRE & SMOKE. MODEL PRINT-READY FIGURE. Download over two hours of video training and all the resource files to get started. Learn the art of super hero anatomy. Video Follow the training for Andrew Finch’s final game environment tutorial. Video Download the training for this issue’s Artist Q&A tutorials. WIPS Download the extra step images to accompany Showcase. Artwork Download the professional finished art from this issue’s artists.. VIDEO SIMULATE CLOTH. Master particle simulation and much more. 3D WORLD April 2015. Learn to master Marvelous Designer. 6. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. Download Aiman’s .stl file for 3D printing.
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(35) SHOWCASE. ARTIST. SHOWCASE The best digital art from the CG community. SPOIL BOY GORILLA ARTIST Joel Erkkinen SOFTWARE Maya, ZBrush, mental ray, Linear Workflow, After Effects Joel works as the animation director for medical film company Meditech Communications, so he already has a decent grasp of the ickier bits of creating 3D models – something he put to good use when creating Spoil Boy Gorilla. “I really liked texturing him,” he says. “With my background I have to look up a lot of things that make most people squeamish. Think about doing an image search for ‘bed sores’ with the safe search turned off.” The Gorilla’s bed sores are a result of his rather unfortunate treatment by Spoil Boy, the title character, who comes to possess the primate. “He keeps him in a crate only big enough to house the animal’s body, taking the creature out just to ‘train’ him,” Joel explains. “Seeing no light and only eating, he eventually becomes what you see.” To create the animation, Joel employed mental ray’s userIBL node, which is one of his favourite tools in the software. “It allows for realistic lighting with minimal lights and no need for Final Gather,” he says. “In the case of this render I did use Final Gather and Global Illumination to try to achieve the most realistic lighting possible. Most times, using Final Gather can produce artifacts and flickering. The userIBL reduces that flicker immensely.” To see more of Joel’s work visit FYI burntstick.blogspot.com. GET PUBLISHED EMAIL YOUR CG ART TO [email protected]. Visit the online Vault to download extra process art for these projects: www.creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193. 3D WORLD April 2015. 8. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
(36) CLICK TO PLAY VIDEO www.bit.ly/193-spoil. STRONG STOMACH. Joel is used to the squeamish parts of 3D modelling and particularly enjoyed texturing the gorilla. 3D WORLD VIEW “The detail is fantastic, even if it is a little grotesque. I’m looking forward to following the making of this short animation.” IAN DEAN. Editor. 3D WORLD April 2015. 9. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
(37) SHOWCASE. I tried to develop a relation between the pilot and the hovercraft, and this was really fun to create!. WASP ARTIST Paul H. Paulino SOFTWARE XSI Softimage, Maya, Mudbox, Mari, V-Ray, Photoshop Based on a piece of concept art by Ian McQue, Paul managed to extrapolate an entire world based on McQue’s flying vehicles. “Since the concept didn’t have an environment, I had to come up with something new which would fit inside McQue’s world,” he says. “I also tried to develop a relation between the pilot and the hovercraft, and this was really fun to create!” Paul’s varied experience so far includes work as a short film director and photographer in his native Brazil, before moving to Canada to join the Think Tank Training Centre, a prestigious school that teaches game design, 3D animation and visual effects. His ultimate objective is to combine all his passions: “I came here to develop my skills and hopefully work in the CG industry as a texture painter for film.” In creating Wasp, Paul also learned an important lesson. “Two years ago I decided to learn how to draw, and with that I started to develop my eye to observe the world around me, and I realised how amazing it is,” he says. “To create the lighting setup for Wasp, I spent days taking photographs in the sun to understand how light works and applied that to my artwork.” There's more of Paul’s amazing art at FYI www.behance.net/paulhpaulino 3D WORLD April 2015. 3D WORLD VIEW Ian McQue’s concept art is full of great shapes, but it’s Paul’s lighting that manages to give those forms life in his render. Brilliant work! IAN DEAN. Editor. LIGHTING IS KEY. Paul spent a lot of time photographing in the sun to understand how light works. 10. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
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(39) SHOWCASE. GEEK ROOM ARTIST Oscar Perez SOFTWARE ZBrush, 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop A huge science-fiction and fantasy fan, Oscar’s works have included detailed renderings of a new, imagined foe for Iron Man, and a fairly gruesome depiction of one of The Hobbit’s Orcs in a video game store. Geek Room marks a move away from depictions of fantasy characters and into a more realistic territory, while preserving a few nods to nerd culture. An epic undertaking for Oscar, the whole piece took about three months to create, and an additional 400 hours of rendering. He employed a combination of 3ds Max and ZBrush for the different objects. “The most complex details are made with ZBrush,” Oscar says. “I used 3ds Max to create the more simple ones, such as the telescope, the chairs and the boxes.” Oscar’s day job involves working as a freelance video artist in Spain’s burgeoning games industry, and his clients include Pyro Studios (the Commandos series) and Mercury Steam (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow). But he draws his influence from outside of the game world. “It really inspires me to see the work of other artists, as well as fantasy films,” he says. See more of Oscar's portfolio work at FYI www.oscarperezart.com 3D WORLD April 2015. The whole piece took about three months to create. 12. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
(40) 3D WORLD VIEW What an amazing geek den! But it’s actually the lighting that stands out. It manages to pick out every action figure, comic cover and sketch, guiding your eye around the scene. DARREN PHILLIPS. Art Editor. 3D WORLD April 2015. 13. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
(41) PILGRIM/MONK. SHOWCASE. ARTIST Arash Beshkooh SOFTWARE ZBrush, 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop Arash’s piece is so fresh it doesn’t even have a name. “I usually don’t choose titles for my works,“ he says. “It can be either Pilgrim or Monk. I’m happy with whatever you choose.“ We’ll go with both. Created over the period of about a month, it’s an example of ZBrush at its simple but powerful best – and this is what Arash loves about the program. “I’ve sculpted all the pieces by hand within ZBrush with no special technique, just a regular workflow,“ he says. “It’s powerful software which allows the artist to get what they want, without technical complexity.“ Once completed, Arash used 3ds Max and V-Ray to render it, and finished in Photoshop for the piece’s composition. Arash currently works as a freelance 3D artist in Tehran, Iran, but he’s looking for a full-time job within the games industry. He finds inspiration in real life, other people’s artworks, movies and the internet. “I love to give personality and soul to my characters,“ he says. “That’s what I always try to do – and enjoy it.“ View more of Arash's sculpts at FYI www.arash-bsh.cgsociety.org. 3D WORLD VIEW This lovely sculpt really helps to show off what can be accomplished using ZBrush. The sepia tone adds to the figure’s gravitas. Lovely job. FELICITY BARR. Production Editor. I love to give personality and soul to my characters. 3D WORLD April 2015. 14. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
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(43) LAMBORGHINI SUPER TROFEO VIRGO TEAM. SHOWCASE. 3D WORLD VIEW A great model and simply lit. It’s the attention to detail that I love, and a mention of our sister magazine, Edge, is always a plus!. ARTIST Olivier Dubard SOFTWARE Maya, V-Ray, Nuke Lamborghini’s annual Super Trofeo race features a handful of identical supercars racing against one another at courses around the world. This year the Italian company has unveiled a new version of its Huracán sports car, specifically built for the races, and 3D artist and car fanatic Olivier has given the ludicrously expensive vehicles his own spin. “I wanted to take a race car that was announced as a concept and add my own modifications,” Olivier explains. “It’s based on what Lamborghini is actually doing on their car for races, but I added my own logos – some of them are even from companies that I know personally.” To make rendering easier Olivier used multi-tiled UVs so he could separate them while they stayed on the same shader. He was also surprised at how easy the model was to light: “I only used a HDRI for lighting the car, and it worked so perfectly that I didn’t have to add any extra lights.” A native of France, Olivier now lives and works in Los Angeles, where he’s worked on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. He still has plenty of French blood in his veins, though: “Being from Europe there is so much to be inspired by – the environment, the technology (especially the cars), the comic books and the literature.” See more of Olivier's work at FYI www.olivierdubard.com. DARREN PHILLIPS. Art Editor. NEED FOR SPEED. Multi-tiled UVs were used to make rendering easier. I wanted to take a race car that was announced as a concept and add my own modifications. 3D WORLD April 2015. 16. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
(44) LMS IN SKULL AND SHARK (GABRIEL) ARTIST Jian Han Ng SOFTWARE Maya, ZBrush, V-Ray, Photoshop A combination of two of the most intriguing comic book characters of the decade, Jian Han’s LMS in Skull and Shark transplants the head of Daniel LuVisi’s Gabriel – the protagonist of Last Man Standing – onto the body of Skull, from Dave Rapoza’s graphic novel, Skull and Shark. “I really enjoyed being able to see the concept of such an amazing character come to life,” says Jian Han. Currently studying at The One Academy in Penang, Malaysia, Jian Han will graduate soon and is looking for work. He’s also picked up a few nifty shortcuts from his education. “I like using Lightroom on a low-res render as a quick and fun way to experiment with lighting, colour, and mood, which in turn helps me to visualise what my final product may look like,” he says. While Dan and Dave provided the source material in LMS and Skull and Shark, Jian Han also draws influence from his peers. “I love the art community,” he says. “Being able to see what others have envisioned in their mind and how they interpret the world around them inspires me to take up the pen and make my own ideas come to life!” For more on Jian's work visit FYI www.destineo.cgsociety.org. 3D WORLD VIEW I’m a huge fan of LMS, so to see Dan LuVisi’s character rendered with such atmosphere and accuracy is a thrill! IAN DEAN. Editor. 3D WORLD April 2015. 17. www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine.
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(46) CONTENTS. COMMUNITY News and views from around the international CG community. 22 VFX OF EXODUS. 24 DIMENSIONAL IMAGING. 26 THERE AND BACK AGAIN. 28 TALL ORDER. MPC’s recreation of the Old Testament. 20 THE BIG ISSUE. Should mocap artists be able to win Oscars? Discover Marvel illustrator Kevin Hopgood. Glasgow-based studio on 4D capture. Ron Frankel on Night at the Museum 3. GET PUBLISHED EMAIL YOUR CG ART TO [email protected]. Visit the online Vault to download extra process art for these projects: www.creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193. 29 LANDING IN THE STARS. How students and staff at Teesside University created Hollywood-quality VFX 3D WORLD April 2015. 19. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. 32 IN FOCUS. Yanir Tearosh reveals his Hulk Smash.
(47) COMMUNIT Y The big issue. The Godfather of mocap, Andy Serkis. Is it time all those involved, artists and actors were rewarded?. THE BIG ISSUE. DO MOCAP ACTORS DESERVE OSCARS? Andy Serkis and other performance artists don’t get nominated for Best Actor – but should they? We ask some motion capture experts their views…. T. his year’s Oscars are all wrapped up, but this year they sparked an unusual debate, over whether or not Andy Serkis should be eligible for ‘Best Actor’ for his emotionally expressive portrayal of lead ape Ceasar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It wasn’t actually his face on the screen, but without the physical and voice acting of Andy, the animators wouldn’t have brought the character to life in the same way. So where do you draw the line between acting and CG? And where do you draw the line between digital makeup and animation? We caught up with industry experts to ask their opinion… Phil Elderfield, entertainment product manager for Vicon, which provides software and systems to motion capture professionals, is firmly in the ‘yes’ camp. “I believe we’re at a point where the technology and the skill of the teams involved allow a sufficiently truthful recreation of an actor’s performance,” he argues. “I think we should let an actor be eligible.”. acting abilities – “I have yet to see any better” – he argues: “That’s not what ends up on screen. The 3D artistry really plays its part.”. Phil recognises that motion capture is a team effort, of course. “We should never ignore or forget the crucial contribution from CG and animation artists and motion editors,” he says. “But I see no reason why the awards structure can’t find a way to honour the people as well as the performer.”. Pushing the pixels. A great performance passed through a 3D process is as deserving of consideration as one that’s passed through a 2D process Phil Elderfield , Entertainment product manager, Vicon Importantly, he points out, “the reason we use mocap in the first place is to get at the skill and talent of the actor. A great performance which is passed through the 3D process is as deserving of consideration as one that’s passed through a 2D process.” Lee Danskin, technology director at Escape Studios, begs to differ though. While he pays tribute to Andy’s 3D WORLD April 2015. 20. MICK MORRIS Mick is managing director of performance capture service provider Audiomotion. www.audiomotion.com. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. Hein Beute, product manager for motion sensor technology provider Xsens, agrees. “The emotions, expression and identity of the actor or actress are a big part of the final piece,” he says. “But the artists are all crucial in making a performance believable. An animator can add to or change the motion capture data – sometimes due to a change in the script. So the final product really is a fusion of motion capture animation and live action.” Audiomotion’s MD Mick Morris, agrees that the actor’s contribution should be praised. “If both the performance and direction are poor then no amount of clever editing is going to fix that,” he says. But at the same time, including mocap actors in the same Oscar category as ‘normal’ actors would.
(48) Framestore used Vicon’s T40 optical camera system to explore the movement of marmalade-loving bear Paddington. INDUSTRY INSIDERS Thoughts & opinions from the experts Vicon’s mocap systems (left) have been used by the likes of ILM to create VFX for box office hits. Audiomotion’s mocap setup for Exodus (right) was epic in terms of scale and complexity be an insult to all the artists and technicians who contribute to the creation of the character. “There are simply too many artists and animators involved in the creation of a believable animated character,” he argues. “We’ve recently been working on a performance-capture movie and have had 40-45 people in the studio every day,” he says. “To credit one actor would be a massive injustice.” Instead, he suggests a separate award such as Best CG Character or Best Performance Capture Character would would be more appropriate. That’s unlikely to happen any time soon: performance capture is a very new discipline and one which, Escape Studio’s technology director Lee Danskin points out, “is still extremely niche”; in contrast, traditional animation has been around for decades and yet the Best Animated Feature category was only added in 2002.. Industry recognition. It would perhaps be better to look to other awards for such recognition, believes Mick. “The Visual Effects. Society goes much further than the Academy in recognising VFX work,” he believes. “Best Animated Creature comes closest to something we might win or play a part in winning. Even there, though, I think keyframe animated characters are still favoured over the motion-captured characters.”. What’s an award worth?. And when it comes down to it, whether you’re an actor or an artist, surely it’s the respect of the audience and your peers that matters? “There’s enough willy waving going on, we don’t need awards to prove anything to anyone!” remarks Mick, and reminds us it’s not just about Andy Serkis: “Most recently, Toby Kebbell’s performance as Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was excellent,” he says. “His work alongside movement expert Terry Notary and top notch VFX really helped bring the Koba character to life.” Sooner or later the Academy will recognise performance-capture performances: maybe next year? For more info about the Oscars, visit FYI www.oscars.org 3D WORLD April 2015. 21. HEIN BEUTE. LEE DANSKIN. PHIL ELDERFIELD. Product manager, Xsens www.xsens.com. Technology director, Escape Studios www.escapestudios.com. Entertainment product manager, Vicon www.vicon.com. “I’d nominate Seth McFarlane for TED 2. Normally the actors and the mocap actors do their shoots separately and the shots are later combined. For TED the motion-capture actor was wearing the mocap suit on set so he could interact with the other actors to get the best result. Especially in comedies, timing is crucial. The timing and improvisations of the acting performance show through in the final result.”. “I would have to nominate Andy Serkis and the Weta team. The amount of films they have generated and the technologies they have initiated in the recreation of faces is awesome. The combination of their tech and Andy’s acting prowess – I have yet to see any better. Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Tintin, Kong, The Apes trilogy, all amazing work.”. “There are a few performances which I’d consider as nominees. Ellen Page, for example, as Jodie Holmes in Beyond: Two Souls or Andy Serkis’s Kong. But Bill Nighy’s maniacal portrayal of Davey Jones in the ‘Pirates’ movies and the team that brought it to the screen in such a believable form, are deserving of a special mention. I think this still stands out as one of the great examples of the art.”. 3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(49) MPC created 500 shots for Ridley Scott’s religious epic Exodus, which proved to be a challenging task. COMMUNIT Y Industry interview. INDUSTRY INTERVIEW. VFX OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS Recreating the Old Testament for a modern cinema audience was no mean feat, MPC's artists tell Tom May. W MAX WOOD At MPC since 2003, Wood has worked as CG supervisor on movies including World War Z, Total Recall, Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows 2 and Robin Hood. moving-picture.com. hen MPC was asked to create 500 shots across 10 scenes for religious epic Exodus, CG supervisor Max Wood was delighted to be back working with Ridley Scott. But he had no illusions as to how much of a challenge it would be. Take crowd scenes. “We ended up with 200,000250,000 agents in some shots,” he says. “And we needed to build three levels of detail for each one.” This involved some technical trickery. “We’d have a lot of very simple textures for the background – almost block colours, but something to give differentiation. In the past, we just used. rendered curves but you can tell when it hasn’t got quite the right build, even when they’re very small. So we built some very simple geometry, which we just projected renders of our characters back through.” The crowds needed to move convincingly too, but open environments made that difficult, says crowd artist Marco Carboni. “On a street you can get some of them running into other small areas, make things look a bit more interesting,” he explains. “But in the open you need to find good excuses. Like, there’s a rock over there that’s falling, or there’s something on the ground for people to avoid.” The Biblical setting also affected lighting – although not as you might expect, explains lighting TD Sebastien Gourdal. “Ridley wanted to incorporate the idea of ‘heavenly rays’, but in a less obvious way,” he says. “So it was very subtle most of the time. It had to be epic and big, but stay natural.”. work It was all worth it to work with Ridley Challenging Similar principles applied to another new challenge. with Audiomotion Studios, MPC needed to Scott again. He’s so artistic and likes to Working motion capture up to eight horses and chariots, often with multiple stunt performers on each. This meant capturing get involved in everything 400 markers moving at high speed, over a capture volume Max Wood, CG supervisor, MPC. MPC had to motion capture up to eight horses and chariots, with multiple stunt performers on each. covering 400 sq. meters, Max reveals. “The horses range from between 30cm to 5cm apart, so there was a lot of shadowing between them. It was quite a challenge!” All that, plus a mountain collapse, a Red Sea parting, digi-doubles of Moses and Ramses, and more, made this a busy project. Maya and RenderMan were the main tools used, along with FlowLine and MPC’s own proprietary plugins; making these all work together was a challenge in itself. “But it was all worth it to work with Ridley Scott again,” enthuses Max, revealing: “He’s so artistic and likes to get involved in everything. Everything he does comes with a drawing. And he’s so good at drawing, he puts a lot of us to shame!” To learn more about MPC’s work and see their reels, FYI visit www.moving-picture.com. 3D WORLD April 2015. 22. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. SOFTWARE INSIGHT. Cloud service offers pain-free rendering WELL INTEGRATED RebusFarm 2.0 offers fast CG rendering without having to buy an expensive server, and seamlessly integrates into your 3D software. BACKGROUND WORKING The latest version includes Farminizer, a live plug-in that works in the background, quietly uploading data from your scene while you work. CONTROL ISSUES 2.0 also includes RebusDrop, an intelligent upload/ download manager, which controls the flow of data, like a Dropbox for rendering..
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(51) COMMUNIT Y Studio profile. STUDIO PROFILE. DIMENSIONAL IMAGING: PIONEERING TECHNOLOGY Tom May meets the Glasgow studio working at the forefront of 4D capture for movies, games and TV. I. COLIN URQUHART Chief executive officer Colin co-founded Dimensional Imaging Ltd in 2003 as a spinout from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, to pioneer the use of passive stereo photogrammetry for 3D surface capture, and more recently 4D surface capture. www.bit.ly/193-colin. t’s only recently that terms like ‘digi-doubles’ and ‘facial performance capture’ have started being bandied about within the movie industry. But while some of the jargon may be new, the technology and techniques behind it have been around considerably longer. And Colin Urquhart and Dug Green have been in the eye of the storm from day one. It was 2001 when the two academics first started working on a research project aiming to create, “virtual characters that are indistinguishable from real-life people,” using the passive stereo photogrammetry technology Colin had developed during his PhD. Two years later, they founded a company, Virtual Clones Ltd (later renamed Dimensional Imaging), in order to sell this technology commercially. “Our technology was unique because it was able to recover dense 3D scans and high quality texture maps from only a stereo pair of digital images. And our timing was perfect because it was later in 2003, with the release of the Canon EOS. DUG GREEN Dug is the co-founder and chief software engineer of Dimensional Imaging Ltd, working closely with clients such as Electronic Arts. www.di4d.com. 3D WORLD April 2015. 24. The Glasgow-based company has pioneered the use of passive stereo photogrammetry for the capture of high definition 3D models. 300D, that DSLR cameras really started to become affordable,” Colin explains. Virtual Clones focused on creating highly realistic virtual versions of real-life people – what’s now known as digital doubles – for the games industry. Frustratingly, they were ahead of their time. “The PS2 and original Xbox couldn‘t really take advantage of the detail and resolution of lifelike data we were creating,” Dug sighs. “It wasn’t until 2006, after the release of Xbox 360, that we started to get real traction in the video games industry.” Their big breakthrough came when EA started using their DI3D technology to capture realistic player images for use in FIFA. “We then followed this up by selling DI3D systems to a number of video game customers for face and expression capture.” But having found success, they didn’t want to rest on their laurels. Instead, they began to develop ‘4D capture’, based on the idea that there’s more value in capturing a faithful representation of a performance than a simple likeness.. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. STUDIO STATISTICS. LOCATION Glasgow, Scotland TEAM SIZE 6 KNOWN FOR Hi-def 3D facial image capture, 4D facial performance capture.
(52) You need that naïve, idealistic Field of Dreams optimism – without that you would never create anything new. STUDIO PORTFOLIO. FIFA A key breakthrough into the games market for Dimensional Imaging was Electronic Arts’ use of DI3D to capture and model digital doubles of star players for FIFA. The quality of player likeness has gone on to become a key aspect of FIFA.. OFFICE BRIEFING. Dimensional Imaging was founded by Colin Urquhart and Dug Green as a spin-out from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2003. Their work extended to the capture of 3D model sequences (or 4D data) and used for high fidelity facial performance capture. Most recently, the 4D capture system was miniaturised for use in a head-mounted camera (HMC) system. Dimensional Imaging’s systems and software are now widely used for entertainment and research purposes.. “Our investment in 4D capture development is really beginning to pay off now,” says Dug. “We were very fortunate that the first project our DI4D system was used on was the Dead Island trailer created by Axis Animation, which went hugely viral.” They’ve since been involved in the facial performance capture of Vincent Cassel for ‘La Belle et la Bête’ (‘Beauty and the Beast’), Oscar-winning actor Adrian Brody for ‘Houdini’, and “two more Academy Award winning actors for forthcoming projects,” explains Dug. “We’re also really excited that Remedy are using our DI4D technology for Quantum Break, which we think will be truly groundbreaking,” he adds. “And I’m confident that our latest innovation – our head-mounted 4D capture system – will bring us even more success.” Based just outside Glasgow, in Hillington Park Innovation Centre, the company is today renowned for providing high fidelity facial data for video games, movies and TV projects, as well as for research work across the facial surgery, psychology, and orthodontics sectors. Colin attributes. their success so far to, “having the patience and resilience to wait if the timing is wrong, but also the ability to react quickly when the time is right.” It’s a belief shared by co-founder Dug who says that, “When you take that first step in developing a new product or solution, you need that naïve idealistic Field of Dreams optimism that if you build it they will come – without that you would never create anything new or innovative in the first place,” Dug explains. “But then realism kicks in and you realise that you didn’t quite build the right thing in the right place or at the right time, and you need to then refine your initial idea. “Our 3D solution was initially ahead of the games market in 2003 and we had to wait for the new generation of consoles to drive demand for higher fidelity capture of likeness. I feel the timing is right again now, with the next generation of consoles for 4D capture of facial performance, and we have reacted to this opportunity by developing our head-mounted DI4D HMC solution.” To learn more about Dimensional FYI Imaging, visit www.di4d.com 3D WORLD April 2015. 25. DEAD ISLAND Axis Animation’s renowned Dead Island announcement trailer was the first project to use Dimensional Imaging’s DI4D facial performance capture solution. The trailer went viral in a huge way and generated an enormous amount of interest from the industry.. QUANTUM BREAK Remedy Entertainment has licensed Dimensional Imaging’s DI4D software to process facial performance capture in the highly anticipated Xbox One title, ‘Quantum Break.’ This is possibly the most ambitious project yet to use Dimensional Imaging’s technology.. 3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(53) COMMUNIT Y Industry interview. SPEEDTREE SPROUTS OSCAR. Go-to software for vegetation wins Academy Award IT'S ACADEMIC SpeedTree: IDV co-founders Michael Sechrest and Chris King, and senior software architect Greg Croft have been presented with an Academy Award for their creation, which allows artists to quickly add a variety of vegetation to their scenes.. INDUSTRY INTERVIEW. THERE AND BACK AGAIN We talk to industry veteran Kevin Hopgood about hopping between 3D and 2D comic and game art. K. evin Hopgood’s career has followed the ebb and flow of the entertainment industry. He began as an artist for 2000 AD and Marvel UK in the mid-80s, and created Iron Man’s iconic War Machine and Hulkbuster armour in the early-90s. Following the comic book crash of 1996 – which resulted in Marvel filing for bankruptcy – Kevin spent three years in the games industry, working on models for Psygnosis’ Blast Radius. Following. KEVIN HOPGOOD Kevin's clients have included Marvel Comics, Games Workshop, Oxford University Press, DC Thompson, BBC Worldwide, Macmillan and 2000 AD. www.kevhopgood.com. The big game changer has been digital sculpting and the ability to shunt around millions of polygons dabbles in Warhammer 40,000 and Doctor Who comic books, Kevin is back in familiar territory with publisher Eaglemoss’s Marvel Fact Files, a series of collectible documents based on some of the world’s most popular comic book characters. Kevin’s brought some of the skills he’s learned through his career with. him, though – notably, an understanding of how 3D software can be used for tasks which would conventionally call on 2D software. “I initially did the illustrations in Adobe Illustrator, and treated them as a technical drawing exercise,” he says. “The jobs seemed to demand more ‘shiny chrome’ effects, which can be a pain to draw, but a really easy effect to get in 3D. I finally bit the bullet with a cutaway of Iron Man villain, The Titanium Man. That one turned out how I wanted, so I’ve stuck with a 3D workflow for the rest of the illustrations.” As a veteran of 3D art, Kevin’s seen it change from a complicated endeavour to something far more accessible and manageable. “The big game changer has been digital sculpting, and the ability to shunt around millions of polygons,” he says. “I’m a bit old school, so I still keep an eye on the polygon count while I’m working. Just because you can use millions of polygons doesn’t mean you have to, necessarily.” Always one step ahead of the game, Kevin’s next project adds another medium to his prodigious CV: 3D printing. “Eaglemoss also does a range of Marvel & DC Comics figurines,” he says. “In the past I’ve done concept sketches for the modellers to work from, but I’ve been aware that with 3D printing it’s possible to sculpt digitally and output a model to make a cast from. I’ve been honing my 3D skills and Eaglemoss have finally let me have a crack at doing a figurine.” Check out Kevin's impressive cutaways for Eaglemoss’s FYI Marvel Fact Files at www.herocollector.com. 3D WORLD April 2015. 26. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. LEAF IT TO SPEEDTREE It's not the first time Speedtree has had to thank the Academy – it also played a part in Oscar-winning and nominated movies Avatar, The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street. TREEING OFF It's pretty impressive for a piece of software first developed in 2002 for a golf simulation. It also provides the foliage for games such as Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed: Unity and Tom Clancy's The Division..
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(55) COMMUNIT Y Industry interview. TALL ORDER. Making huge and tiny characters share the same space convincingly was a tough job, explains Proof’s founder, Ron Frankel… What was Proof’s biggest challenge on Night at the Museum 3? Making sure characters of different scale could believably share the same sequence. Jed and Octavius (Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan) are three inches tall. When they interact with full size characters like Ben Stiller’s Larry, or Dexter the capuchin, they have to be filmed separately and composited. Even background plates had to be filmed separately and composited, so were always going to be filmed on green screen. What approach did you take? Each shot with the small characters has to be filmed twice. Once with the actors on green screen, and a second time to get the background plate. If the background plate is real or digital, we still need to have largely the same kind of information to give to the cameramen or the VFX team. In Previs, we take our characters and cameras and film them in two differently scaled environments, and measure them twice so that we can relay the information for each plate. Can you give an example? When Jed and Octavius are watching YouTube videos in the museum lobby, we film the background plate at miniature scale, measuring the height of the camera off the desk as if it were filming a three inch character in the foreground. Then we take the same camera, (same lens, tilt, relative distance from the subject) and film the actors on green screen, making sure the production team know what camera rig they would have to use, and knowing if the actors would have to be filmed on a platform for a low angle. In Postvis, we composite the two plates together. Learn more about Proof at www.proof-inc.com. INDUSTRY INTERVIEW. MUSEUM PIECE Merging historical accuracy with childhood fantasy made Night at the Museum 3 a challenge, says MPC's Seth Maury. N. ight At the Museum: Secret of the Tomb may be a kids’ film, but it wasn’t child’s play to work on. The tension between the need to be authentic and accurate, but create a fantastic, dream-like feel, threw up a lot of interesting challenges, says MPC’s VFX Supervisor Seth Maury, whose team completed 250 shots for the movie.. lifeless collection of bones in the form of a triceratops skeleton a personality. “We had Rexy from the first movie so had an idea of how a dinosaur moved, but giving personality to a static face was tricky. The animators did a great job bringing it to life by posing, shoulder motion – essentially like a dance performance where you can’t speak,” says Seth. But MPC wanted the skeleton to look realistic. “We searched high and low for textures so it felt weathered and worn – like tangible bone.”. With everything we did, we tried to make it grounded in reality but altered it to be Keeping authenticity cinematic, fun to watch and serve the story Indeed, MPC strived to recreate all. SETH MAURY Seth has worked at MPC since 2010. He was visual effects supervisor for Night At the Museum 3 and Maleficent, and CG supervisor on Maleficent. He previously worked at Sony Pictures Imageworks.. There was the scale of work involved to create a variety of characters, digi-doubles, and environments. “There were an endless number of characters to create, from elephants, to Balinese dancers, to painted stone hippos,” he says. “Some were close replicas of pieces from the British Museum and some were interpreted works. So the sheer scale was tricky.” Then there were a series of more specific problems, like how to give a. MPC created 250 shots for the movie, including a huge number of animals. 3D WORLD April 2015. 28. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. real-life objects and environments authentically, based on extensive reference work – visiting everywhere from the museums to a taxidermy shop. But sometimes the needs of the fantasy meant compromises were made. “Throughout the process we changed the scale and texture of the carvings, curves and shapes, to give the objects scale.” It was a similar story for the environments. “We built a set extension for the New York Planetarium, based on photography. But the production designer didn't like all the supporting architecture, so bits were removed.” Lighting was another compromise. “Museum lighting is soft and diffuse so you have to bring that cinematic quality to it but with a delicate hand,” he adds. This thorough approach of reference work, matching, and subtle cinematic tweaking was used throughout the movie. “With everything we did, we tried to make it grounded in reality but altered it to be cinematic, fun to watch and serve the story,” Seth concludes. Learn more about MPC’s work at FYI www.moving-picture.com.
(56) Shared knowledge meant the umbilical was created using the same techniques Framestore used on Gravity. INTERVIEW. LANDING AMONG THE STARS Teesside University’s Penny Holton explains how staff and students created the VFX for hit documentary Last Man on the Moon. T PENNY HOLTON In 2009, Penny became a senior lecturer in Animation at Teesside University following a 15 year career as an animation generalist. In 1997 she co-founded the post house Skaramoosh with Daniel Slight. www.tees.ac.uk. he story of Apollo 17 astronaut ‘Gene’ Cernan, in documentary film The Last Man on the Moon, has been getting great reviews, not least for its VFX. So it’s perhaps surprising that they weren’t created by one of the major VFX studios, but by a group of lecturers and students at Teesside University in Middlesbrough. It’s been a mixture of surprise and relief, for Penny Holton, senior lecturer in 3D Animation at the university, who describes the project as “kind of a leap of faith”. Following a 15-year career working as an animator in Soho, she’d thought her days of working on big productions were over. But when her partner Mark Stewart – a graphic designer who’d been trying get into documentary making – landed his first big feature film, she couldn’t turn him down. So Penny assembled a team of fellow lecturers to work through the summer holidays on visual effects sequences that reconstructed the historic Gemini 9 and Apollo 10 missions. The team used Maya to ensure the technical accuracy of the spacecraft.. The riveting VFX on Last Man on the Moon are comparable to that of Framestore’s work. “Initially because we were short of time we bought a Turbosquid model of the Apollo and then completely UVed it and created new texture maps for it, so that gave us a head start. But there were no Gemini 9 models that were any use, so that was modelled from scratch. “We also had to do an Earth, a Moon and an umbilical. One of my ex-students had been working. HOUDINI 14 RELEASED. Our top three highlights SAND SCULPTOR The new Houdini features PositionBased Dynamics, a multi-threaded, multi-physics environment ideally suited to the creation of wet and dry sand.. We paid the students and gave them a screen credit, and had a special screening on Graduation Day – they were very excited at Framestore on Gravity, so I asked how he did the umbilical on that. And we ended up using the same cross-simulation technique.”. A fantastic experience. Working alongside Penny were Paul Noble, Dave Cockburn and Chris Wyatt, all senior lecturers in Animation at the university, and former lecturer Em Johnson, with help behind the scenes from Michael Ryding, the school’s head of digital enterprise. Some of Penny’s students – Bianca Iancu, Caitlin Watts, Emma Berry and Heather Gretton – forewent their summer break to do some retouching work. “There were an awful lot of stills taken on the Moon that had crosshairs to remove, for example,” recalls Penny. “The students didn’t get to do any CGI this time, but we’re currently in talks over a big feature, and now we’ve found our feet with this one, we’re going to get them more involved.” The students didn’t go empty-handed though: “We paid them and gave them a screen credit, and had a special screening on Graduation Day,” Penny says. “It was their first-ever credit so they were very excited and their parents were besides themselves.” And the lecturers got the validation that they could still cut it. “Someone saw the film at Sheffield Doc Fest and asked: ‘Who at Framestore did the animation?’” smiles Penny. “So that suggests we did a pretty good job.” For more information about The Last Man on the Moon, FYI visit www.facebook.com/thelastmanonthemoon. 3D WORLD April 2015. 29. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. CROWD CREATOR A new crowd system uses artist-friendly shelf tools along with a new packed agent primitive type, a Finite State Machine solver and hardware accelerated display of instanced crowds.. HAIR APPARENT A new hair creation, trimming and styling toolset, based on OpenVDB, works with the existing fur tools and lets you create, cut, extend, randomise, lift and comb hair..
(57) SUBSCRIBE TO 3D WORLD READ WHAT MATTERS TO YOU WHEN AND WHERE YOU WANT. Whether you want 3D World delivered to your door, device, or both each month, we have three great options to choose from. Choose your subscription package today…. OFFER OPEN TO UK & OVERSEAS READERS PRINT FROM £27.49. DIGITAL FROM £20.49. Stay up to date with the latest news, trends and techniques, and get exclusive access to video tutorials, with every issue delivered to your door. 3D WORLD April 2015. Instant digital access on your Apple or Android device, our digital edition features interactive image galleries, movie trailers, behind-the-scene films and more! 30. www.3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(58) GET THE COMPLETE 3D WORLD PACKAGE Never miss an issue, with delivery to your door and your device. Enjoy huge savings, the best value for money, a money-back guarantee and instant digital access when you subscribe today!. PRINT & DIGITAL BUNDLE FROM £32.99 Your subscription will continue at £32.99 every 6 months - SAVING 30% on the shop price and giving you a 83% discount on a digital subscription.. BEST VALUE BUNDLE!. SAVE UP TO 59%. TWO EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE TODAY… Online myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/3dwsubs Call 0844 848 2852 (Please quote: PRINT15, DIGITAL15, BUNDLE15). TERMS AND CONDITIONS Prices and savings quoted are compared to buying full-priced UK print and digital issues. You will receive 13 issues in a year. If you are dissatisfied in any way you can write to us or call us to cancel your subscription at any time and we will refund you for all un-mailed issues. Prices correct at point of print and subject to change. For full terms and conditions please visit: http://myfavm.ag/magterms. Offer ends 13 April 2015.. 3D WORLD April 2015. 31. www.3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(59) COMMUNIT Y In Focus. VITAL STATISTICS. SOFTWARE ZBrush, Maya, mental ray, Photoshop COUNTRY Israel PRODUCTION TIME 10 days. Hulk © Marvel Comics 2015. With this character I had the chance to push my anatomy knowledge to the extreme. 3D WORLD April 2015. 32. 3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(60) IN FOCUS. SMASHING HULK Yanir Tearosh talks us through this iconic render of the classic comic character…. M ARTIST PROFILE Yanir currently works as a freelance 3D artist specialising in character modelling and digital sculpting for games, feature film and TV. He also teaches Maya and ZBrush at the Israeli Animation College. www.yanirart.com. arvel’s Incredible Hulk is the perfect subject for a character study. While his cinematic appearances tend to err on the side of realism, there’s scope to push the green giant to his most exaggerated extremes – and they don’t come much more exaggerated than 3D artist, Yanir Tearosh’s, take on the character. “I always loved the Hulk,” Yanir says. “With this character I had the chance to push my anatomy knowledge to the extreme and learn a lot in the process.” The massively muscled model and its awe-inspiring pose were created by Yanir in about 10 days, mostly late at night in his spare time. “Creating the pose was definitely the most enjoyable part of it all.” Yanir considers anatomy and character modelling his strongest skills, but he's well-versed in texturing, shading and rendering. And while Smashing Hulk is one of the most fantastical models we've seen, he’s keen to keep his feet grounded in reality. “I think it is very important for any artist, and especially concept artists, to have an interest in a wide variety of subjects,” he says. “The more you know about the world, the better you can create your own fictional world.” See more of Yanir’s portfolio work FYI at www.yaniart.com. 3. 2. 3 LIGHTING TESTS. To check my model volumes I render it under different lighting angles early on, and try to establish rough colour and lighting for the final image. This is even more important if you are working on a single image, as opposed to an animation.. 1 GATHERING REFERENCE. ©. 1 Ja c e ag kP. AND MODELLING 2 SCULPTING I begin with a sphere and rough out the. ©D ere. m an au f kL. I collect as much reference material as I can, and create sketches to plan the project in advance. The references provide guidelines for anatomy, posing, lighting and shading. Without good references you are limited by your own knowledge and imagination. These images (by Derek Laufman and Jack Page) were the inspiration for this piece.. main shapes of the character, starting with a symmetrical pose. Asymmetry is established with the Transpose tools after the main shapes are created. I use DynaMesh to sculpt all the main volumes and muscles, then cut the model to achieve higher subdivision levels. 3D WORLD April 2015. 33. 3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(61) COMMUNIT Y In Focus. AND DETAILING 4 REFINEMENT With the volumes and muscles. finished I start adding irregularities, such as veins, pores and wrinkles. I use skin alpha to create the details. I sculpt the details in different layers in order to control their depth at any point in time.. 4 AND 5 UV TEXTURING. I create automatic UV maps using UV Master in ZBrush, and then I paint the model with basic colours and export it as a texture map. Using a simple alpha, I create three maps (veins, pores and colour variation), that I later blend into the texture using Photoshop. It's a fast way to work and it gives me more control.. 5. 6 SUBSURFACE SCATTERING SHADER. To control the specularity and reflections easily I use a mia_material_x and plug it into the mental ray sub-surface scattering shader. Sometimes it’s hard to see how each layer affects the final result, so I use different colours so I can see their contribution clearly.. 3D WORLD April 2015. 34. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. 6.
(62) 7 DEVELOPING THE LOOK. At this stage I revisit textures, shaders, the main lights, and even the model to make sure the image looks the way I want it to. Sometimes I find I’ve overdone something, like bump or colour, and will tone it down later. This is the longest part of the whole process.. AND 8 LIGHTING RENDERING. 8. 7. Once I’ve got the shading and main lights close to the look I’m aiming for, I add reflector plans and three more rim lights to push the arms and legs out of the background. I block unwanted areas with polygons in order to focus the lights on specific areas. I render out beauty, ID and two AO passes that I combine in Photoshop.. 9 9 POST-PRODUCTION I use Photoshop to add chromatic aberration,. noise and depth of field to the image. I also do small manual touch-ups to specific places in the picture that would take too long to fix in Maya. To me it’s important to keep the harsh contrast, but not lose all the details in the shadows. 3D WORLD April 2015. 35. 3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(63) CATCH UP TODAY! Visit Google Play, Apple Newsstand and Zinio stores to download a 3D World back issue to your tablet or computer.. Back issues Missing an issue of 3D World? Fill the gaps in your collection today!. Issue 192 March 2015 Model magical ZBrush Creatures Create our cover character. Complete tutorial with video and model! The ultimate guide to mastering Maxwell Render Big Hero 6: discover Disney’s latest software Master matte painting for video games Downloads Video tutorials, project files, models, book sample, custom brushes and more! Note: Free Maya book is not available on back issues.. Issue 191 February 2015 Master 3D print modelling Model a robot toy for 3D printing and finishing tips 25 Modo tips to reinvent your sculpting Star Wars VII: what the industry really thinks Speed up your modelling with Maya’s Polygon tools Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Issue 190 January 2015 Create ZBrush Robot Art. Issue 189 Christmas 2014 Create Photoreal Vehicles Give your car V-Ray renders an artistic angle Learn to blend photography and ZBrush models How to model a complex Modo environment The VFX of Star Wars: Discover new photos and interviews Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Unleash your modelling skills to create a killer sci-fi predator Learn to use 3ds Max to create your own film 25 Maya tips for making game environments The ultimate guide to the 3D printing phenomenon Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Issue 188 December 2014 Master Pixar’s RenderMan Get started in RenderMan 19 with this official Pixar tutorial Learn to use Bifrost and nParticles in Maya 2015 for realistic rain Model a lifelike cityscape using CityEngine Discover the character VFX behind Guardians of the Galaxy Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Google Play www.bit.ly/tdw_google 3D WORLD April 2015. 36. 3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(64) Apple Newsstand www.bit.ly/3dworld-app. CG AWARDS SPECIAL! Featuring the winners, with 16 pages of extra content!. Issue 185 September 2014 Modo 801 modelling. Issue 186 October 2014 Create award-winning animation. Issue 187 November 2014 Expert renders Master an advanced setup in V-Ray for perfect renders ZBrush 4R7: discover new tools that will reshape your art The making of The Lord Inquisitor using Crytek’s Cinebox Develop your LightWave modelling skills Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Design and build a high-poly Wolfenstein mech model Learn how to build your very own video game Discover the rise of real-time tools in video game creation Find out how to give depth to your matte paintings Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Model a perfect cartoon figure for use in animation Learn how to design dynamic heros and villains Sculpt DC Comic’s supervillain Catwoman in ZBrush Ed Hooks on how to make every performance matter Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Issue 181 May 2014 Hair & Fur. Issue 182 June 2014 Dinosaur CG uncovered. Issue 183 July 2014 Mech Models Make a destructive ZBrush scene in ZBrush & Maya Discover 10 tips to make awesome mechs The Lego Movie: Behind the scenes at Animal Logic Sculpt realistic folds and creases in ZBrush Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Issue 184 August 2014 Master Maya 2015 Use Bifrost and Bullet for explosive CG results Add Fracture FX and Pulldownit to your workflow Find out how MPC created the VFX in Godzilla Discover Weta Digital’s motion capture secrets Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Issue 180 April 2014 Discover ZBrush. Create this cover: Model realistic hair and fur in Maya Learn to control light in a scene using LightWave Mix hard and organic surfaces in your modelling Education special: The courses and advice to land your dream job Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Create our fearsome T-rex cover. Complete tutorial with video! Discover palaeoart and the R&D for Jurassic Park 5 Make photoreal textures for scales and skin Hands on: First impressions of Autodesk’s Maya 2015 Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more. Zinio www.bit.ly/tdw-zinio 3D WORLD April 2015. 37. 3dworld.creativebloq.com. Create this cover: Daniele Scerra shows you how to texture and light a complex character Part one of Dan Crossland’s anatomy series Delve into Neverwinter with Cryptic Expert motion capture techniques Downloads Video tutorials, project files, resources and more.
(65) ARTIST. EXPERT PANEL. Q&A. Taha Alkan Taha is founder of Volumetrik Creative Workshop. !N AWARD WINNING DIGITAL ARTIST
(66) HE creates artworks for commercials. www.tahaalkan.cgsociety.org. Cirstyn BechYagher Cirstyn is a freelance #' ARTIST AND EDUCATOR
(67) with over 15 years’ experience in 3D. (ER CLIENTS INCLUDE !-$ AND $!: $ www.northern-studios.com. Your software queries solved by our CG experts. Clint Rodrigues Clint studied 3D at Vancouver Film 3CHOOL AND -EDIA Design School. He has worked as an environment artist at EA Canada. www.clintrodrigues.com. Leandro Silva Leandro is co-founder OF ,3 s 2//-
(68) AN ARCH viz studio from Portugal that seeks to deliver high-quality 3D images for architecture and design. www.leandrosilva.pt/ls_room. Mateusz Sroka -ATEUSZ WORKS at Platige Image as a lighting/look development and environment artist. He also worked on the Ambition film. www.behance.net/Sroka8888. GET IN TOUCH EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO [email protected]. FOLLOW THE VIDEO If you see the Play icon, click the link. MARVELOUS DESIGNER How can I create simple patterns for clothing meshes? Dwain Law, US. Cirstyn replies. If you’re creating clothing in 3D, the chances are you’ve either created, or are going to create, a fantasy garment. One garment pattern that you can easily convert into your own custom designs is the humble doublet. Originally a garment worn under armour, like a hauberk or a cuirass, the doublet slowly evolved into the jacket we recognise in paintings from the Renaissance to the Tudor period. We’ll create our pattern based on the later, shorter models, as this is more versatile. In order to use a non-DXF pattern in Marvelous Designer (that is, a pattern grabbed off the web), you need to trace over the image in order to create pattern pieces you can sew together to create a garment. The following workflow applies to Marvelous Designer 3 and 4. It is also explained fully in the accompanying video (see page 6 for details). After loading your avatar of choice and its Bounding Volume/Arrangement Points, import your reference image into the 2D Pattern Window by using it as a Fabric texture in a rectangle. Scale it so it renders untiled. Draw your pattern on top of the rectangle using the Rectangle, Line and Curve tools. Adjust the scale, select your pattern pieces, then copy and paste them back into the 2D Pattern Window using Mirror Paste. Attach the pieces to 3D WORLD April 2015. 38. EXPERT TIP. Better retopology Try using the Unfold function to reduce the number of mirrored pattern pieces and the need to keep an eye on your poly count.. Try different materials in order to ensure your design drapes correctly. 3dworld.creativebloq.com.
(69) EXPERT TIP. STEP-BY-STEP HOW TO TRACE A PATTERN ONE IMPORT THE IMAGE. Artefacts mean realism! !DD SCRATCHES
(70) CRACKS AND chisel strokes for maximum detail. Use the Clay and 4RIM BRUSHES IN ,AZY -OUSE mode. Experiment with the /RIENTATION AND 'RAVITY direction settings in the Brush sub-palette.. CLICK TO PLAY VIDEO www.bit.ly/193-tunic. !FTER IMPORTING YOUR AVATAR
(71) SETTING UP Bounding Volume and Arrangement 0OINTS
(72) DRAW A RECTANGLE OVER THE TORSO IN the 2D Pattern Window. Import reference IMAGE BY SWITCHING TO &ABRIC TAB IN /BJECT Browser and clicking Load Pattern icon. Use Transform 2D Texture tool (T) to scale. You want only one instance of the pattern to show. Scale drawn pattern pieces later.. TWO BLOCK BASIC SHAPES. ZBRUSH. !S WERE GOING TO -IRROR 0ASTE OUR PATTERN
(73) we only have to trace half of it. Start by blocking in shapes on top of the reference IMAGE USING THE 2ECTANGLE TOOL 4WEAK THE lines by adding points – you can press X where you need one – and moving them as necessary. It helps to block out the entire layout roughly before you start to refine the pattern.. How do I sculpt an existing classical figure in a different pose? Corey Lynwood, US. THREE REFINE YOUR SHAPES Taha replies. &OR SIMPLE CURVES
(74) LIKE THE ONES ON THE front and back pieces for the neck and SLEEVES
(75) USE THE %DIT #URVATURE TOOL n clicking and dragging to create a curve. &OR MORE COMPLEX SHAPES
(76) LIKE THE TOP OF THE SLEEVE
(77) USE THE %DIT #URVE 0OINT TOOL
(78) as it allows you to add and edit curves BETWEEN POINTS
(79) WHICH PROVIDES A Bezier-like workflow.. FOUR STITCH EVERYTHING TOGETHER. © www.costumeantique.de/schnittmuster.html. 7HEN YOURE DONE
(80) SAVE THE SETUP AS A PATTERN
(81) AND DELETE THE RECTANGLE with the reference image. Check your SCALE AND ADJUST IF NECESSARY 3ELECT ALL YOUR PATTERN PIECES
(82) #OPY THEM AND -IRROR 0ASTE
(83) BEFORE ADDING THEM TO Arrangement Points. Stitch all the pieces TOGETHER
(84) RUN THE SIMULATION
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