3D WORLD
FREE! 5 hours of video + project files + zbrush models Inspiring CG Artists
issue 193
38
pages of cg tutorials
April 2015
• Model anatomy in ZBrush • Compose 3ds Max scenes • Learn Marvelous Designer
“over-sized anatomy combined with dynamic poses really do it for me” – page 84
3dworld.creativebloq.com April 2015 #193
10 years of cg in
anime
3d print project
reviewed Zbrush 4r7
Why you need to upgrade today!
2render free guides! How Physically Based Rendering works
Model a jointed action figure
learn all-new
PRINTED IN THE UK
£6
Master the art of anime to refresh your ZBrush models! plus! Get a cel-shaded look with Posterize rendering!
April 2015
3dworld.creativebloq.com
zbrush anime skills
Make this Image
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 ian.dean@futurenet.com
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
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
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
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
Communit y In Focus
Vital Statistics
Software ZBrush, Maya, mental ray, Photoshop Country Israel Production time 10 days
Hulk Š 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
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
LightING 3 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
feature 10 years of CG in anime
Uncanny Valour 10 year s of CG in anime
The las t ten year s have seen Japan’s CG feature creator s fighting for recognition in a hos tile and conser vative indus tr y, Jonathan Clements
the leading 3DCG anime
3D World April 2015
42
3dworld.creativebloq.com
© LEIJI MATSUMOTO / Toei Animation
talk s to the direc tor s behind
Key milestones of CG in anime
1986
1983
Polygon Pictures (PPI) founded
Fujitsu commences work on the 2D Computer Aided Toei Animation System (CATAS)
1993
Celsys releases first 2D RETAS (Revolutionary Engineering Total Animation System)
1995
Ghost in the Shell uses digitally scanned cels and Avid editing
Author profile Jonathan Clements Jonathan is the author of Anime: A History (British Film Institute, 2013) and the co-author of the third edition of The Anime Encyclopedia: A Century of Japanese Animation (Stone Bridge Press, 2015). schoolgirlmilkycrisis.com
(2 0 1 2 )
t of a 19
60s
oo hiny ing a reb C y b o rg : e from be ith the sleek, s at R d re 9 e ff 0 u w 0 s th s d d rg e d o c o b embra Re :Cy are at
uably signs ’s 0 09 b e c aus e o o ny d e igen arg miyama ji, “but Kenji Ka anga. The cart his staff at Sanz ing,” notes Ken uld go.” d ym ag sh o super-sp als, but Kenji an photo-real im real we ake u ure how ied tion to m 3DCG vis We originally tr DCG, I wasn’t s using 3D anima f anime’s “ o k, g3 contrast. limit when usin the realism bac yborg was one g zooms and lin o e :C le ir n R a c w 9 ’s s s 0 re s 0 to e it . d th e of nne r on g much he decid uman ru l animati Instead, t resembled ce 3D films, makin hich the superh lear bomb. w uc tha pic images ctual stereosco erb set-piece in st radius of a n la p a b u s w g a fe in very c h as o nco m shots, su t of the tracking ura sprints ou am Joe Shim
In Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Mamoru Oshii blended 3D environments and hand-animated characters to great effect
Hiroaki Matsuura Hiroaki studied 3DCG at Digital Hollywood in Tokyo, while already working as a freelancer. He joined Gonzo Digimation in 2003, leaving three years later to found Sanzigen (in Japanese sanjigen means ‘3D’). He is production producer on 009 Re:Cyborg, and director at Raiden Film and Ultra Super Pictures. www.bit.ly/193-hiroaki
J
apanese animation has used CG for over three decades. While the use of the technology is on the rise, anime directors are still discovering how best to make use of the technology. “This is probably the wrong thing to say,” admits producer Hiroaki Matsuura, “but I believe that our primary audience isn’t the general public, but other animation artists. I want professionals to recognise what we have achieved, and I think that the market follows behind that.” He is referring to 009 Re:Cyborg, the film his studio Sanzigen made in true, stereoscopic 3D, but that imitates the look of old 2D cels, even down to a frame refresh rate of an antique eight per second. But he is also speaking of a long-running battle in the Japanese animation industry, which regards 3DCG as a costly and unnecessary alternative to handdrawn animation. For many viewers, the most noticeable uses of 3DCG only form elements of other films, such as the parade sequence, two years in the making, from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) or the aerial combat in The Sky Crawlers (2009) both directed by Mamoru Oshii. Mamoru famously used digital 3D World April 2015
Digital images can fail to reach the level of ‘data’ you can achieve when drawing by hand Kenji Kamiyama, director, Eden of the East
Kenji Kamiyama Lead animator on Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1998) for Production I.G. Achieved true prominence when handed the keys to the Ghost in the Shell franchise as the director of the TV spin-off Stand Alone Complex. He also directed Eden of the East. imdb.com/name/nm0436784
43
effects to add realistic imperfections such as lens flares and moments of fuzzy focus, and has spoken of the joy of being able to create a scene in which he could wander through, repositioning his camera as if shooting live. But there remains great resistance to all-3DCG projects, from an industry that repeatedly asserts there is no demand for them. Some in the industry say it’s about the art. “The big charm of 2D animation can lie in distortion, in conveying an animator’s personality,” suggests Mamoru’s protégé, 009 director Kenji Kamiyama, “and in the power of handdrawn images to exaggerate certain elements. Digital images can often fail to reach the level of ‘data’ you can achieve when drawing by hand. But, we can build up a library of models with more data to use in close-ups, so I believe it is possible to come close to the quality of hand-drawn images.”
3dworld.creativebloq.com
Tutorials Sculpt a superheroine
Follow The video www.creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193
ZBrush 4R6
learn to Sculpt a superhero figure Senior character artist Titouan Olive explains how to transform ZBrush's standard female figure into an original superheroine
W Artist profile Titouan Olive Titouan is a freelance 3D artist working as a senior character artist on animated films and video games. He has worked on freelance projects including 3D printing, product design and architecture www.digitalia3d.teria.fr
hen 3D World editor Ian Dean approached me with the idea of sculpting a superheroine, it was the best thing I could imagine. I had always wanted to create such a character, but I had never had the opportunity before. I began my research by studying the work done by other artists to see how they tackled the subject. Comic books are a great source of inspiration and I finally had a good reason to read some of them! But since I wanted to create my own concept for this character, I began by making some very
rough sketches on paper, in order to explore ideas and to give me a direction in which to head. It’s worth spending some time preparing and scheduling your work before diving into your 3D software. That way, you know in advance exactly where you want to go, whch will save you some time later on. To avoid having to create everything from scratch, I began with the generic female body available in ZBrush. I started by blocking out the main shapes, before moving on to sculpt the anatomy of the body, taking
particular care over proportions and gradually pushing the sculpt further and adding more detail. In the tutorial I will also show you how to create clothes, as well as some tips and tricks for sculpting folds accurately. The walkthrough in the magazine provides you with an overview of my workflow, but the video in the accompanying download shows the entire process from beginning to end. So have a watch, be inspired and get creating your ultimate caped superheroine! For all the assets you need go to creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193
GETTING STARTED To save time, start with the generic female body and then clean up the model
1 Base model
Topics covered Blocking out Sculpting anatomy Adding clothes Detailing
Launch ZBrush and open the Lightbox browser by clicking the LightBox button at the top of the screen, or by pressing [,] on the keyboard. In the browser itself, under Tool, choose Julie.ztl. There are many things wrong on this model but it doesn’t really matter since we are only going to use it as a base to build our own character. Enter Edit mode by pressing [T]. In the SubTool sub-palette, delete the swimsuit.
3D World April 2015
58
2 Cleaning up the model
Select the body and press [Ctrl]+[D] to increase the subdivision level. In the Layers sub-palette, click Bake All to delete the layers. Now press [Shift]+[F] to see the wireframe and polygroups. As you can see, the wireframe looks really bad, so we need to correct that. In the Deformation sub-palette, press the Smart ReSym button to make the model symmetrical. Duplicate the model by clicking the Duplicate button in the SubTool sub-palette.
www.youtube.com/3dworld
Super sculpting Initially Titouan used comic books to get inspiration for his caped superheroine character
3D World April 2015
59
www.youtube.com/3dworld
3d maker Modelling an action figure
Download the model www.creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193
3d print tutorial
Create your own articulated hero Aiman Akhtar turns his attention to the popular subject of modelling a collectible action figure
I Artist profile Aiman Akhtar Character artist Aiman enjoys creating personal, digital artworks and continues to work on various freelance projects. He’s also a beta tester for Adobe’s 3D print tools and continues to experiment with the technology. www.aiman3d.com
n this month’s chapter of our 3D printing odyssey, we face the hydra of articulation and create our own pose-able superhero. Articulation is a controversial topic in the collectibles community, as everyone has their own opinion of what makes the perfect action figure. Each additional point of articulation compromises the sculpture, and for some, how well the joints are hidden is the key. Yet for others the pose-ability takes precedent and there is no upper limit to the number of moving parts. In the toy industry, due to the high cost of casting, moulding, manufacturing and assembling each additional part, the deciding factor is usually the budget. 3D printing alleviates several of these concerns, and though material costs are in the forefront of any design, we have the advantage as the structural complexity of our parts costs us nothing – a simple sphere is valued at the same price as a detailed torso made up of the same amount of plastic filament. We can even 3D print a complete, ready-to-assemble figure and skip the need-to-purchase pins or 3D World April 2015
80
dowels to tie the joints together. 3D printers don’t, however, spare us from the pitfalls of modelling for articulation and there’s several to keep in mind – accuracy in the way the joints fit together, range of motion, measured in degrees and directions each joint can rotate, and the issue of how best to hide our joints.
We have the advantage as the structural complexity of our parts costs us nothing Planning is key and some designers incorporate articulations as they build their model, while others prefer to finish sculpting the figure before cutting in the points of articulation. For this figure, I decided not to worry about hiding the joints and went with the straightforward approach: design first and articulate after. For all the assets you need go to FYI www.creativebloq.com/vault/3dw193 3dworld.creativebloq.com
Presenting your model properly will encourage more views and purchases
l rch ow ll n’s ia Ma F o m a t o r 25 Ai t tu sale x on n e 19 4 ,
s Is
ue
Design project 3: Create an articulated superhero Software: ZBrush | Modo | Photoshop
one Model the base character
Two Research articulation
For this step I open my favourite sculpting program, ZBrush, and sculpt a simplified human model, with idealised superhero proportions and anatomy. I want to keep the design basic, as his primary purpose is to serve as a pose-able reference tool. I figure I’ll give him a cape later to add some character and to develop the model further than is needed here. This stage is about getting the basics right.
Everything I’ve learnt about articulation comes from research. This includes scouring the internet, breaking apart toys and manikins, and reading Pop Sculpture by Tim Bruckner, Zach Oat and Ruben Procopio. These sculpting legends pooled their extensive years of experience to create the perfect guide to creating action figures and collectible statues. Many of their techniques are directly applicable to 3D printing.
BALL JOINT HINGE JOINT PIVOT POINT
Three Plan articulation
four Model the joints
I take a quick render of my base character sculpt and bring it into Photoshop to plan what kind of joints to use, and where. I decide to add 13 points of articulation, which means 16 parts to print. I also decide to primarily use ball joints, a few hinge joints for elbows and knees, and one pivot joint for the waist. Planning ahead in this way will always save you time and stress later in the print process.
This means modelling accurate male and female interlocking sections. I create these in Modo, starting with the male joints. For the ball joint, the male was a simple sphere placed on top of a cylinder. I then duplicate the male geometry, delete some faces and flip the normals to start creating the female joint – which can overlap and encompass the male joint. By modelling this way I’m sure the joints will snap together.
five Assemble the parts
six Export for print
I put the modelled ball, hinge and pivot joints into ZBrush. I divide my base character model into Polygroups by hiding sections. I use Tool>Polygroups>GroupVisible, then SubTool>Split>Groups Split to break into SubTools, based on those Polygroups. I merge the corresponding male and female joints into each SubTool, DynaMesh, and sculpt together, leaving me with 16 individual interlocking SubTools.
Next, I name the SubTools appropriately, and run the Decimation Master plug-in to lower the geometry count of each SubTool. I click the Export in Separate Files button in the 3D Print Exporter plug-in and export all the SubTools as .stl files, ready for printing. I upload these to 3D Hubs (www.3dhubs.com) and send them to Cybertech – a hub I’ve used frequently due to their quick response and even quicker print time.
3D World April 2015
81
3dworld.creativebloq.com
Picture perfect
Tips on photographing your figure First make sure your tools are up to scratch. Buy or rent a DSLR with a decent lens – 50mm or 28mm are good for shooting products close-up. Always shoot in Camera Raw format so you can make adjustments digitally. Opening a .cr file in Photoshop will present you with simple slider controlled interface to adjust the exposure, contrast, and clarity of your photo – make the most of this handy feature. Keep the background simple and dark as this will help to keep the focus on your figure, and since eyes are drawn to contrasting values, a detailed background will often visually clutter a photo. Consciously choose the direction of your main light source, to set the mood. Add a rim light and fill light for a basic three point light setup and a more professional presentation. Avoid direct light sources as these will blow out the highlights on your model and those details cannot be restored digitally. I often create a makeshift softbox by wrapping a white t-shirt around a lamp. Know your final intent: are you photographing for online presentation or print? This will determine the size and resolution of your files. Up-ressing photos digitally will leave them pixelated, blurry and spotty.
ENJOYED READING THIS MAGAZINE? Subscribe and make great savings at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk