Рув546н3d creative september 2015

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Issue 121 | September 2015

Ruben Alvarez shares an insight into concept art for the entertainment industry

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• Crafting vibrant cartoon characters • Abstract images with Houdini • Sci-fi creations in ZBrush • Real-time environment assets • Create realistic facial expressions • and much more!

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 121

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Editor’s letter

Welcome to 3dcreative issue 121!

Thanks to everyone who checked out our free issue last month! We hope you enjoyed it. If you missed it, you can find the direct download on our shop page.

MARISA LEWIS Junior Editor

This month’s issue is crammed with variety: from colorful cartoons and ZBrush robots to Houdini abstracts and toothy dinosaur-dragons, we’ve got something for everybody! We interview Teodoru Badiu and Ruben Alvarez about their inspiring careers, learn how to sculpt facial expressions with Djordje Nagulov, create abstract Houdini artwork with Niels Prayer, troubleshoot 3D printer problems with James W. Cain, and much more.

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Contributors TEODORU BADIU Teodoru Badiu is an illustrator, character designer and 3D artist based in Vienna, Austria. He works with a wide variety of media to create his illustrations, from photography to 3D.

MORTEN JÆGER Morten Jæger is a Danish CG artist who works as a modeler in the heart of London. His images consist of everything from realistic sculptures to stylized creatures and characters.

RICHIE MASON Richie J. Mason is a freelance character and asset artist for videogames, movies and short films. He’s 30 years old and lives in Cambridge, UK, and shares his ZBrush sketchbook with us.

PIERRE ROGERS Pierre Rogers is a freelance 3D character artist, designer and instructor from Chicago, United States. He is driven by his love for videogames, and an unhealthy amount of energy drink.

JAMES W. CAIN James W. Cain is a 3D artist and sculptor with a focus on 3D printing, primarily using ZBrush and MODO. He’s a freelance graphic designer by trade, and is based in Maidstone in the south east UK.

RUBEN ALVAREZ Ruben Alvarez Arias is a freelance concept artist currently based in the Netherlands, working on some unannounced projects for the entertainment industry, and teaching at the University Camilo Jose Cela.

EMILIE STABELL Emilie Stabell is a CG artist from Denmark, currently working at Media Molecule in Guildford. She specializes in modeling, sculpting and texturing. She prefers stylized work over realism, and loves working with color.

MATTHEW TREVELYAN JOHNS Matthew Trevelyan Johns has been passionate about videogame content for a long time. From humble beginnings making Call of Duty mods over 12 years ago, he’s now a senior environment and vehicle artist.

DJORDJE NAGULOV Djordje Nagulov is a freelance artist currently residing in Serbia. He is an experienced modeler who also does some light rigging on the side for Loudworks. He shows how to create realistic expressions.

NIELS PRAYER Niels Prayer has worked as FX supervisor and creative director at SUPAMONKS Studio since 2014, after working at Illumination Mac Guff and Framestore in 2013. He lives in Paris, France, and loves creating abstract pieces.

JOSHUA WU Joshua Wu is a 21-year-old 3D character artist . He studied at 3dsense Media School in 2014, and is now working at Batavian Studio in Indonesia. In June 2015 he won a Highly Commended Artist award from Autodesk.

Junior Editor Marisa Lewis marisa@3dtotal.com Sub-editor Adam Smith Graphic Designers Matthew Lewis Aryan Pishneshin Advertising Manager George Lucas george@3dtotal.com Studio Manager Simon Morse simon@3dtotal.com Managing Director Tom Greenway Advertising Media pack and rates are available upon request.

Contact George Lucas: george@3dtotal.com

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Contents Issue 121 006_ Art Gallery

10 of the most inspiring 3D images from the world of CG, hand-picked just for you!

026_ Mastering concept design

Ruben Alvarez shares an insight into concept art for the entertainment industry

036_ Crafting vibrant cartoon characters

Visit the colorful world of 3D illustrator Teodoru Badiu and his exciting cartoons

046_ Having fun with character concepts Discover Morten Jæger and Emilie Stabell’s new collaborative project

052_ Sci-fi creations in ZBrush

Richie Mason reveals his hard-surface ZBrush sketchbook designs

062_ Troubleshooting for the Form 1+

James W. Cain offers help and advice for 3D SLA printing on the Form 1+

070_ Real-time environment assets

Learn how to sculpt a rocky canyon in ZBrush with Matthew Trevelyan Johns

082_ Sculpt a sci-fi cartoon character

Create colorful sci-fi sculpts in ZBrush with Pierre Rogers’ guide

092_ Create realistic facial expressions

Learn how to model expressive faces with Djordje Nagulov’s tutorial

102_ Abstract images with Houdini

Discover how Niels Prayer’s creates abstract images with Houdini and Mantra

108_ Reptilian creature concepts in ZBrush Joshua Wu shares the ZBrush process behind his Mutated Raptor image

116_ Digital Art Master: Lindford

Learn how Mathieu Aerni crafted his stunning 3D masterpiece, Lindford

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Art Gallery

Each issue the 3dcreative team selects 10 of the best digital images from around the world. Enjoy!

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Submit your images! Simply email: marisa@3dtotal.com

High Octane Rampage Tomi V채is채nen Year created: 2015 Software used: 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, Corona Renderer Web: tomivaisanen.com

Warrior Ahmad Samy Ismail Year created: 2015 Software used: ZBrush, Photoshop Web: artstation.com/artist/ahmad-samy Credit: Based on concept art by Johannes Helgeson: helgesonart.tumblr.com

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Gettin Too Old for This Antone Magdy Year created: 2015 Software used: Maya, ZBrush, V-Ray, Photoshop, Yeti, TopoGun Web: artstation.com/artist/antone_m

Time Mage Frederic Daoust Year created: 2015 Software used: ZBrush, KeyShot, Photoshop Web: artstation.com/artist/fredericdaoust23

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Nautilus Aram Hakze Year created: 2015 Software used: ZBrush, KeyShot, Photoshop Web: aramhakze.com

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An Old Warrior’s Home Gavin Whelan Year created: 2015 Software used: 3ds Max, V-Ray, ZBrush, Substance Designer Web: gav3d.blogspot.com

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Lost in the Forest Romuald Chaigneau | Year created: 2015 Software used: 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop Web: behance.net/romualdchaigneau

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Curiosity the Robot David Blaya Year created: 2015 Software used: Maya, Photoshop Web: blayapapaya.es

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Ring Martins Zeme Year created: 2015 Software used: 3ds Max, Corona Renderer, Photoshop, After Effects Web: zemeart.com

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SCI-FI WW2 Allied Vehicle Matthias Develtere Year created: 2015 Software used: MODO Web: develterematthias.wordpress.com

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Discover the delightful work of popular artist and illustrator Lois van Baarle (a.k.a. Loish) as she Kickstarts her first book: The Art of Loish

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The Artist

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Mastering concept design

Ruben Alvarez

Freelance concept artist rubenalvarezdesigns.com Interviewed by: Marisa Lewis Ruben Alvarez Arias is a freelance concept artist currently based in the Netherlands, working on some unannounced projects for the entertainment industry.

Mastering

concept design

Ruben Alvarez is a pro at merging 3D and 2D to bring concepts to life.

We learn more about his inspirations, workflow and education

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Kids like bubbles and Ruben likes sci-fi, so he mixed both ideas!

A scene made in MODO: making reparations before visiting some friends

Ruben Alvarez is a freelance concept artist working for the entertainment industry. He’s been freelancing in the Netherlands for the past two years and is involved now in projects for mobile games and the film industry.

3dcreative: Hello, Ruben! Please could you tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

Ruben Alvarez: Hi, my name is Ruben Alvarez.

As a concept artist my job is to generate visual ideas to help art directors and VFX supervisors

to visualize certain aspects of the creation of a game, movie or entertainment product. This goes from pre-production to production itself and includes character and creature concept design, environment or props design, and key frame illustration among other things.

3dc: What inspired you to get into 3D, and what inspires you today?

RA: In my opinion, 3D is nowadays one of the best ways to quickly generate accurate and fast ideas

during the concept design pipeline; I think it’s a key skill to learn in the entertainment industry.

Strong foundations are always important and 3D helps you to add this extra quality to your work.

I am in love with what the 3D software companies are developing. It’s impossible not to fall in love with ZBrush, MODO, KeyShot, SketchUp… Artists inspire me. The art community is full of really talented artists and I feel small when I see the quality of work that these people are able to 27

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Mastering concept design

Artist history Ruben Alvarez’s career up to this point...

2008: Attended a summer term at Gnomon School of Visual Effects after graduating in computer science in Spain.

2009: Moved to Australia, doing freelance graphic design while improving his portfolio.

2010: First job! Became a concept artist for Sidhe in New Zealand, working on Blood Drive for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

2011: Worked as a concept artist on several mobile platform games for Gameloft in Barcelona.

2012: Art director for Arkalis Interactive, working on the Stargate franchise in collaboration with MGM. 2013: Senior concept artist at Bee & Bird Animation Studios. Sadly the project was canceled.

2014: Moved to the Netherlands to begin his adventure as a freelance artist.

create. This makes me push myself to keep learning and designing original content. Family, friends, movies, music… you can always find inspiration in the things and people that surround you.

3dc: Could you tell us about your education at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and what you learned in your time there?

RA: I wish I could have spent more time at Gnomon back in 2008. It was my first time ever overseas! I was there for one term and I have to say that it was the best summer I had in my life. Not because of the beach or the California weather, which was amazing, but the time I spent in front of a computer listening and learning from amazing and skilled teachers. At that time I didn’t know you could make concept art a professional career, and Gnomon showed me the path. I attended six classes at the school in total, all of them related to concept art: production design, environment design, imaginative landscapes, and so on.

I remember feeling my jaw drop watching Jerad Marantz just making a silhouette! This was the moment I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Can five minutes change your life? The answer is YES! At the end of the term I won the Best of Term contest, and most importantly I decided to become a concept artist.

3dc: Tell us more about your specialisms and favorite subjects to create.

RA: I don’t consider myself specialist on one certain concept art subject. I like variety and I’m curious about different process and techniques. I like using ZBrush for creature concept art but I don’t want to forget MODO or SketchUp when I design environments, vehicles or props.

Keeping my mind active with a variety of subjects helps me to stay focused and be creative. I think the specialty of a concept artist is to be creative, no matter the subject, no matter the tool.

I really enjoy sci-fi, mainly because it’s a difficult matter. Nobody knows how the future or unknown civilizations (buildings, creatures, transportation…) are going to be. This is pure joy for a concept artist’s brain!

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A personal piece, trying to achieve a realistic werewolf

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3dc: What software and tools do you use for your artwork? Any useful tips, plug-ins or underrated programs that you’d recommend?

sketches; I also use it to add different effects at the end of the project (color correction, composition, and final presentation).

for me. Imagine if your art director asked you for another pose of your character; 3D allows you to quickly solve this kind of thing.

RA: The programs I use are Photoshop, ZBrush, MODO and KeyShot. They offer me the main range of tools that I need for each specific task. I work with a Wacom Cintiq 21UX.

MODO and ZBrush are the programs I use for fine-tuning the sketches. This is a very useful way to communicate ideas to your art director or supervisor. Maybe you spend a bit more time sculpting a creature sketch or blocking a vehicle in 3D, but at the end of the process this is a huge advantage. Making changes in 3D is a lot faster

I have recently introduced KeyShot into my pipeline, simply because this program is really powerful for rendering difficult materials in 3D, like glass, metal and gold. Saving time is one of the most important things you learn when you are a concept artist. It’s difficult and time-consuming to render chrome materials in Photoshop!

Photoshop is the program for the beginning of every project, as it allows me to generate A knight goes to meet his destiny, just on the other side

Ruben’s wife is a research scientist and expert in vehicle batteries, so this was his own vision of the electric vehicle

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How chickens will look in the future

I would also recommend Marvelous Designer as a complementary software to learn.

3dc: Could you describe your general 3D workflow for us?

RA: First I begin with quick silhouettes and sketches. I feel more comfortable working with volumes and shapes rather than line drawings.

If the silhouette is recognizable you have a lot of

the design work done, and you just need to polish the design. I usually add some grayscale interior shapes and quick details to the silhouette and then I jump into 3D. I work progressively on details in 3D, adjusting the design all the time, to the point when I’m happy with the balance and shape of it. Sometimes I quickly render the 3D in grayscale and photobash or paint over it. At other times I will render in

KeyShot to add materials, and just add effects in Photoshop afterwards.

3dc: For a 3D artist, what are the benefits of being able to work on concepts in 2D? RA: I think 2D is the route map for 3D. Having a 2D design before modeling saves you time and helps you to avoid getting lost. Sometimes it’s okay to go crazy and try new things directly in 3D,

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There’s nothing better than a walk through the jungle

and there are programs out there that are really good as sketch tools. There are clients that prefer to push the sketch further with more detail, while others ask to jump directly into 3D for a better visualization. It really depends on your workflow and style. A bit of pre-production is always needed and I think 2D helps with that.

3dc: What do you think makes a successful concept design?

RA: Difficult question… I wish I knew the answer!

I think a successful design is the design that fits the needs of the project and the client, and at the same time is original, doable and lasts over time.

Today, a successful concept design is not a matter of just concept artists. It needs the talent of a lot of people: 3D artists, animators, supervisors, technical directors, lighting artists, sculptors, previs guys… all under the direction of experienced art directors and VFX supervisors.

I would say that with all these elements together, the design will be 20-percent successful. The other 80-percent is what the audience think about the design. We create to entertain the people who will evaluate our work, going to the cinema or buying games. Surprising people with something new and fresh is really difficult and that’s also what makes a successful concept design so difficult.

3dc: What is one key piece of advice that you’d pass on to other artists?

RA: After Gnomon I spent one year working on my portfolio. At a certain point, I sent my work to an 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

This creature concept was Ruben’s first piece after learning ZBrush

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Visiting new worlds alone

An alien concept, practicing hard-surface techniques

art director and his feedback was something like, “A four-year-old kid can draw better than you.”

Some could say that the guy was rude or that’s not the answer you should give to an aspiring concept artist (I wouldn’t say that to anybody!). I was very sad reading that, but instead of giving up I deleted my whole portfolio and began again. A few months later I got my first job in the industry, so maybe I have to thank him for his words!

If you have a goal and you dream it, work hard, never give up and be passionate about it. Make the dream happen!

3dc: Finally, and most importantly: if you were stranded on a desert island with only one of your belongings, which item would it be?

RA: A pair of running shoes. Running helps me to clear my mind. I am not sure if they would save my life on an island, but if there were dangerous animals around, they could certainly help!

3dc: Thank you very much for speaking to 3dcreative today!

The Artist

Ruben Alvarez

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The Artist

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Crafting vibrant cartoon characters

Teodoru Badiu

Creative media designer theodoru.com behance.net/Theodoru Interviewed by: Marisa Lewis Teodoru Badiu is an illustrator, character designer and 3D artist based in Vienna, Austria.

He works with a wide variety of media to create his illustrations.

Crafting vibrant

cartoon characters We chat to Teodoru Badiu about his instantly recognizable creations, his 3D process, and his abiding love for toys and cartoons

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Imaginary Friends: Bob and Roy – A 3D illustration based on the theme of kids and their imaginary friends. Created with MODO

Teodoru Badiu is an illustrator, character designer and 3D artist currently based in Vienna, Austria. To bring his ideas and visions to life, he works with different kinds of media including 3D, photography, vector, traditional drawing, collage or mixed media. His cartoon characters are based on drawings or sketches that are converted into 3D artworks. He loves to give his characters a unique style, with a colorful and bright palette but a slightly dark or mean personality twist. But even if his cheerful, bizarre characters in their fantastic environment seem to be a little menacing at times, they are all friendly in the end…

Pixy Wonderland – In this image, based on some drawings, Teodoru aimed to create a more stylized and illustrative 3D environment for his characters

3dcreative: How did you get into the world of 3D? Teodoru Badiu: It all started in 1995 when I went to the People’s Art School in Vienna. My life as an illustrator and character designer started with surreal photo-manipulation work that I created using Photoshop and images that I shot using my digital cameras. My website Apocryph.net and the work displayed there was the actual beginning, around the end of the 1990s.

Later, in 2005, I came in contact with CINEMA 4D during my time at the SAE College and that changed everything. After the setup of Theodoru.com in 2005, it took one or two years until I was ready and able to translate my imaginary worlds and characters to 3D. But I succeeded and have created 3D-based illustrations ever since.

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Tin Timber: Magic Blue Forest – A MODO illustration from Teodoru’s Blue Magic Forest series, with AO, depth of field and minor color adjustments added with Photoshop

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The Critters – Illustration and character designs created with MODO, based on sketches around the theme of critters

3dc: Who or what are your biggest inspirations?

TB: One main source of inspiration is my big collection of vintage rubber toys that grows with each visit that I make to the flea markets in Vienna and the cities that I visit. Another big source of influence on my work are the classic cartoons, from Disney, Max Fleischer, Ub Iwerks, Grim Natwick and Hanna-Barbera. I also love the work of Ron English, Gottfried Helnwein and many other contemporary artists. But anything else could be a trigger for an idea for a new character.

It could be music, a movie, books, games, magazines or daily life.

3dc: Could you tell us more about the colorful characters and settings that you create? What do you aim to achieve with your work?

TB: My main motivation is simply my love for creating worlds and characters that don’t necessarily exist in real life. I love to see how something that I imagine and that exists only in my mind comes to life and suddenly starts to exist through my work. It’s simply a lot of fun to get rid of all rational conventions and to decide myself what can be real or not. It may be surreal for someone else and some people will simply say that something like that can’t exist, but for me it becomes real in the moment I create it. One other important goal for me is to work towards creating and developing my own cartoon show based on the characters and worlds that I create.

3dc: What software and tools do you use for your artwork? Any useful tips, plug-ins or underrated programs that you’d recommend?

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Red Riding Hood – Illustration and character designs created with MODO, on the theme of weapons fanatics and the consequences

TB: My tools of choice at this time are MODO, Photoshop and Illustrator. I made the switch from CINEMA 4D to MODO four years ago and I’ve never regretted it. I love the options that I have with that software and it fits my needs perfectly; I do recommend that everyone who works in the 3D field should try it out. The best part of MODO is that all the important plug-ins that were added to the software’s functionality over the last year were integrated into the software during different releases. Now I need no other plug-ins for my daily work.

3dc: Could you describe your general 3D workflow for us?

TB: Most of the time I start with a drawing or quick Post-it sketch to catch the main idea of a character. That sketch-based idea will be taken afterwards into the 3D software to be modeled, textured and rendered, first as standalone characters. As soon as all the characters that I need for an illustration are ready, I put them together in a pose and create props. Eventually I might create a particular setting around them that could also be populated by some other characters that would fit in that imaginary world.

3dc: Your style is perfectly suited for toys! Could you tell us more about the process of designing specifically for toys, and how you get them made?

Lucha Brothers – An illustration based on my Teodoru’s Lucha Rabbits characters. Modeled, textured and rendered with MODO

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Crafting vibrant cartoon characters

Robo Teens – A 3D illustration created with MODO, Illustrator and Photoshop

Shroomzee and Woody Mecha – An illustration based on Teodoru’s ShroomZee character, modeled, textured and rendered with MODO

TB: Even if my characters are designed for illustrations in the first place, I always consider the possibility to animate them or to turn them into toys eventually. With that in mind, I always model my character as perfectly as possible, considering topology, polygon count, quads and watertightness.

“Nowadays most prototypes are made with the help of a 3D printer. That prototype will then be cleaned and sanded to bring it to a perfect state, and it will be used for a mold” I had some toy design collaborations with different artists, and I also made some for myself. The usual way is to create a character in the 3D software of your choice that will be then used to make one prototype. Nowadays most prototypes are made with the help of a 3D printer.

That prototype will then be cleaned and sanded to bring it to a perfect state, and it will be used for a mold. The mold will be used for the production of different toys, like resin toys or sofubi (a Japanese term for a style of ‘soft vinyl’ toy).

3dc: What valuable skills have you learned from looking after your own freelance business?

TB: To be patient with the client is one of the most valuable lessons that I have learned. It is often not easy to keep your calm when a character changes with every review. At the end, after five, six or more reviews, you may have something that no longer has anything to do with the initial request and brief of the character, but then you do learn an important lesson and know what patience is.

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Zuppo’s Quest – An illustration created with MODO, in which Teodoru created a new style of environment, using the same round shapes to fit with the characters

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Owl City – The image is based on some character drawings and was modeled, textured and rendered with MODO. Meet Owlivia, Hootgar, Owly and Hootley!

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Tin Legends – A MODO illustration around the theme of mechanical tin toys, with AO and minor color adjustments added with Photoshop

Pets and Monsters: Candy Dream – Character designs and 3D illustration based on Teodoru’s character sketches. Modeled, textured and rendered with MODO

3dc: What is one key piece of advice that you would pass on to other artists?

TB: Everybody has to make his own mistakes and learn from that.

That’s the way. There is no way around despite all the dos and don’ts. Jump in! Do your thing! Forget about what others think or say about your work. Believe in yourself and in what you do and never give up.

3dc: Finally, and most importantly: what do you like to do in your spare time?

TB: Unfortunately there’s no switch that can turn the creative mode on or off. It is who I am. I have thoughts about what I could do next or how I could achieve something all the time, but I can’t say that it drives me mad when I am not able to do it right away.

That’s why I choose to spend as much free time as possible working. If I’m not working, I hunt for vintage toys at the local flea markets, go to see a movie, or go out in the city for a walk with my dear wife.

The Artist

Teodoru Badiu

Creative media designer theodoru.com behance.net/Theodoru

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Having fun with character concepts

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The Artists

Having fun with

character concepts

We catch up with Morten Jæger and Emilie Stabell about character design tips and the importance of collaborating with your fellow artists 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

Morten Jæger

Emilie Stabell

Software: ZBrush, Maya

Software: ZBrush, Maya

Morten Jæger is a Danish CG artist who works as a modeler in the heart of London. His work consists of everything from realistic sculptures to stylized creatures and characters.

Emilie Stabell is a CG artist from Denmark, currently working at Media Molecule in Guildford. She specializes in modeling, sculpting and texturing. She prefers stylized work over realism, and loves working with color.

mortenjaeger.com

emiliestabell.com

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Guam Bay – Chamorra Village – A personal project focusing on design and color © Emilie Stabell

Skips Leg Day – An alien bounty hunter and his sidekick that started as a drawing on a napkin © Morten Jæger

Discover Morten Jæger and Emilie Stabell’s new collaborative project...

3dcreative: Thanks for speaking to 3dcreative, Morten and Emilie! Could you tell us more about yourselves: who you are, what you do, and what you’re currently up to?

Emilie: I’m a student at The Animation Workshop in Denmark and am currently taking my internship at Media Molecule in the UK. I’m part of the Art Department working on the production Dreams for PS4, where we do a lot of crazy and colorful stuff – just the way I like it! In my spare time I’m doing a stylized creature project where I’m experimenting with rendering fur using Yeti.

Morten: I currently work as a modeler at Cinesite VFX in London where I work on Hollywood films.

Most of my time though is focused on my tutorial website, FlippedNormals, that I started with Henning Sanden. I’m really passionate about teaching, and being able to help others further their careers or improve their art is something I live for.

Emilie: I’m inspired by anything quirky and colorful. Floriane Marchix is one of my all-time favorites due to her exceptional skills in color and design. Kent Melton and Philippe Faraut are at the top of my list when it comes to sculpting.

3dc: Who or what are your biggest creative inspirations around?

Emilie and Morten: We primarily use Maya and ZBrush. Combining the two has become a very fluent and organic process, so we’re quickly able to get our work done. As for texturing we differ a bit. Emilie’s tool of choice is Photoshop because it’s very precise and the range of custom brushes makes it easy to achieve the look you’re after.

Morten uses a mix of ZBrush and MARI. ZBrush

Morten: I’ve studied a lot of classical sculpture, so a lot of my inspiration stems from that, Bernini in particular. I really enjoy a lot of contemporary artist as well; two of my absolute favorites are Philippe Faraut and Eric Michael Wilson.

3dc: What tools and software do you use for your artwork in general?

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Having fun with character concepts

is easy to use and fairly decent for stylized 3D painting. MARI is just an amazing tool that really makes it easy to create more photo-real textures.

difference. The last thing would be a focal point.

This both applies to color and detail. Don’t clutter your design.

3dc: Tell us about this joint project and how it came about.

3dc: What can artists learn from taking part in collaborative projects with their peers?

E & M: We have known each other for a long time, and have contributed a lot to each other’s work over the years. We felt that a natural progression would be to do an actual project together. We realized that we had a bunch of characters that were fairly similar in style, and thought it would be cool to do a movie-inspired image with all of the characters.

E & M: You learn to work closely together and compromise. It can be hard to merge your respective workflows but it’s key to getting a great result. You have to let go of your artistic pride a little bit. Most likely you’ll have a lot to learn from whomever you are working with, and more than often you find that combining your strengths will make your work better in the end.

Steve the Space Explorer

The look and feel of both Disney’s Big Hero 6 and Blizzard’s Overwatch was a big inspiration, and they’ve done such a great job at unifying all their characters into some epic-looking scenes.

3dc: What do you think makes a successful character design?

E & M: Appeal is key! People think appeal only has to do with something you see in Pixar characters, but it can apply to even the scariest of monsters.

Silhouette is another big one.

It’s hard to make a model work from all the angles, but achieving a good balance between negative space and proportions makes a huge

Initial lineup – Here we are trying to find the right composition for the characters, we had a lot less in the beginning

Final lighting setup – In order to achieve the look we had to add a lot of smaller complementary lights, totaling seven lights

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More is more – After testing the lighting we decided to add all of our best characters

Render elements – A selection of the elements we used to create the final image

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The Artists 3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Having fun with character concepts

Morten Jæger

mortenjaeger.com

Emilie Stabell emiliestabell.com

Nova – A colorful female character inspired by the Japanese Harajuku fashion © Emilie Stabell

The finished piece

3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

Initially we went for something with harsher shadows, but ultimately it was more pleasing with a brighter environment

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Sketchbook of Damir G Martin

The Artist

The sketchbook of

Richie Mason This month we pay a visit to Richie Mason’s wonderful world of battling robots, sci-fi suits and alien mutants ag.com 3DCreativem

Richie Mason

artstation.com/artist/richenks Software used: ZBrush Richie J. Mason is a freelance character and asset artist for videogames, movies and short films. He’s 30 years old and lives in Cambridge, UK.

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Richie Mason shares some hard-surface inspiration…

An alien critter sculpted in ZBrush and rendered in KeyShot

When I started out, I used to sketch on paper first. However I quickly realized it was a much faster workflow to sketch in ZBrush, having the ability to change your sculpt as your ideas change (which they always do).

I don’t usually have a idea in place when I start, so it’s good to play with different forms.

If it’s going to be a suit design I sketch over a base mesh that I’ve already created. If it’s a creature I just start with a sphere and see what happens, although I find it’s always good fun to have a play with the ZSketch tool – it’s great for organic subjects and building up the muscle anatomy.

Once a sketch is at a stage I’m happy with, I’ll send it to KeyShot and put some materials on it, trying different combinations to see if it’s ready for texturing. Occasionally I’ll send it back to ZBrush for touch-ups, but usually most of my rough sketches will end up being my finished model.

A quick sketch before bed that turned out to be really fun, so carried on to the next day. I’d just watched Jurassic World that day!

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | The sketchbook of Richie Mason

Inspiration and ideas I watch a lot of TV while I work, mainly sci-fi and comic stuff. So things I’m watching will inspire me, and I will go over a sketch many times until I think, “That’s what I want!” from a certain curve of armor to a creature claw .

Other artists always inspire me too. I love looking through ArtStation to see what’s new there. It can give you great ideas for things you might want to try yourself.

Materials I use mainly ZBrush for sketching and modeling for art pieces, although I use Maya and CINEMA 4D for finished game and movie assets. There isn’t a better software available that gives you the freedom to create what you imagine than ZBrush.

Although at first glance all the tools can seem daunting to a beginner, once you get used to them you quickly realize you only need to use a handful to make a finished sculpture. With its new integration with KeyShot (the best rendering software available), it just keeps getting better.

This was a DynaMesh sphere shaped out with Clay Buildup, Clay Polish, Extract and Panel Loops. I gave him rough clothes to give him the look of a lonely survivor

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The first in my short line of CNR models (CNR stands for Connor, my son). It was inspired by Spartans; I wanted a model with light leather armor mixed with heavy plates

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This was originally inspired by Halo and Destiny. I wanted a soldier with a more combat feel and also I wanted to add cloth as it’s something I don’t usually do

The Brute of the CNRs, more robotic than man, but his fabric clothing gives him more of a human feel

The NKS MK-X versus an alien – a bad outcome for the NKS!

This was one of the first suit designs I made, and my first full armor suit. This was eventually textured and colored completely in KeyShot

The final image of this is one of the most popular in my portfolio. It started as ZSpheres, detailed with my Slice Curve/Panel Loop technique

Sketching workflow When sketching something out I like to sometimes use a ‘mesh bomb’ technique for creatures. By using a DynaMesh sphere and placing random inserts, then DynaMeshing them into one and polishing it out, you come out with some very unique creases and shapes.

When sketching hard-surface models, I use the Clay Buildup brush to draw out the shapes and the MAHcut brush for definition. Then I use Clay Polish to give a good base for armor.

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | The sketchbook of Richie Mason

A heavy alien soldier created to stand toe-to-toe with the human Vanguard. The Torkra is the biggest of the aliens, standing three feet taller than the Vanguard soldier

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Round two – the NKS MK-IX versus an alien

Two combatants sculpted in ZBrush and rendered with KeyShot

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | The sketchbook of Richie Mason

This is the Brute of my armor sets, the biggest of the humans. I wanted something with a more human element visible when compared to my more full robotic suits

The Artist

Richie Mason

artstation.com/artist/richenks

3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

Would you like to see your sketches featured in 3dcreative magazine?

We’re always on the lookout for talented artists and their artwork to adorn the pages of our magazines. If you think you have what it takes, please get in touch!

All you need to do is email marisa@3dtotal.com with a link to your portfolio and some information about you.

We look forward to hearing from you!

The popular Digital Painting Techniques series returns in its seventh spectacular installment to once again showcase the latest digital painting trends and techniques from talented experts, including Reneé Chio and Cris Delara.

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Browse for inspiration and to pick up top tips or follow project workflows in more detail with the step-by-step tutorials – either way, you’ll open up the book and find something valuable to take away. Useful for intermediate digital artists and professionals, this title is another must-have for any digital artist’s bookshelf!

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Visit www.2dartistmag.com to see a full preview of the latest issue, subscription offers, and to purchase back issues.

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Issue 116 | August 2015

plus

• 10 of the best digital images • Epic game concepts • Create an infected character • and much more!

VIBRANT SPEED PAINTINGS Freelance artist Afanur Rashid shows us his stunning speed paintings drawn from detailed sketches in 30 minutes or less

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Troubleshooting for the Form 1+

The Artist

James W. Cain jameswcain.co.uk

Software Used: ZBrush, Form 1+ 3D printer James W. Cain is a 3D artist and sculptor with a focus on 3D printing. He’s a freelance graphic designer by trade, based in the south east UK.

Troubleshooting for the Form 1+

by James W. Cain

Having issues with print failures, lumpy resin or dusty mirrors? James W. Cain shares some solutions to common printing problems on the Form 1+ 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

Check out issue 116 to see this tutorial series from the beginning!

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Keep your printer in shape with this helpful guide…

A print failure can be the most frustrating experience for users unfamiliar with the Form 1+. Quite often, it’s not immediately obvious what has caused the print to fail, so if you don’t know where to start when troubleshooting, you can end up lost. In the final chapter of this series, I will go through the maintenance routine that is necessary to keep the printer running trouble-free, as well as troubleshooting some of the common problems. (Fig.01)

An example of a catastrophic print failure caused by lack of supports and too much stress on the printer

Maintaining the printer Keeping the Form 1+ clean, dust-free and ready to print can be a battle but it’s essential to minimize potential failures. The following are the main areas to consider and what you need to do to maintain them: 1. The cover and outside From day-to-day use, the outside of the printer can get pretty dusty. I use a dust cover when the printer is not in use to minimize this, and clean the orange lid with general glasscleaning products. It’s important NOT to use anything alcohol-based here as it will crack the acrylic lid. (Fig.02)

It’s not glamorous but a simple dust cover can make all the difference in maintaining your printer

2. The build platform The build platform should be cleaned directly after printing so there is no resin remaining on the surface. I simply wipe the surface with a paper towel as soon as possible. The longer it’s left, the more likely resin will cure onto it, making it difficult to clean. I use the Formlabs metal spatula in this case to firmly scrape away the cured resin. The build platform is pretty robust so don’t worry about scratching the surface; this won’t affect printing.

Also worth attention is the top of the platform where the lever attaches the platform to the printer. There’s a small screw which adjusts the tension of the grip. If this is too loose, the platform could be slightly unstable during printing and cause failure. It’s always worth checking to see if the platform’s firmly attached by wiggling it before printing. Tighten the screw if it wiggles or releases from the arm without releasing the lever. (Fig.03– 04) 3. The resin tray The primary focus of looking after the resin tray is checking the silicone base to ensure it’s clear. Over time the silicone layer will ghost over and affect the laser when printing – at that point, it’s time to replace the tray. It’s

It’s not glamorous but a simple dust cover can make all the difference in maintaining your printer

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Troubleshooting for the Form 1+

My printing platform. Note how scratched it is, but it still prints perfectly

The silver screw must be tight enough to ensure wobble-free printing!

simple to check this using the spatula. It’s also good to clean the bottom of the tray with a glass cleaner as it sometimes gets dusty. Be aware that it’s the same material as the orange lid, so do not use anything alcohol-based.

Something else to watch for are the four ball bearings that keep the tray in place in the printer. If resin gets in these and cures, it can prevent the tray from sliding in or out.

It’s always worth checking this by sliding the tray in and out regularly if the printer is left standing for a while. (Fig.05) 4. The mirrors The mirrors are the most delicate part of the printer and are extremely susceptible to dust.

I’ve found using a dust cover really minimizes this but does not prevent it entirely. To check the mirrors I use my mobile phone’s LED torch, which is really effective at showing the dust when used at the right angle. I then use a camera dust blower to remove any dust that has built up. I would not recommend using aerosol-based compressed air here, as it sometimes has a liquid bitterant that can splash onto the mirror.

A worst case scenario is resin or other liquids on the mirror. In this case the first thing to do is to contact Formlabs support, who will advise 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

This ball bearing in the tray rail got cured resin inside it and got stuck as a result

on the best way to go about cleaning and how this affects your warranty. I’ve only had to do a full clean a few times. If you use a dust cover, are careful and maintain the rest of the printer, it should only really be necessary once or twice a year, if that. (Fig.06 – 07)

5. Resin Mostly the resin can just sit in the tray in the printer when not in use. I’ve found it necessary to filter the resin after two or three prints, however. This is because you get a build-up of cured bits, hair, dust and other mystery

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In normal lighting the mirror can look okay‌

Shining an LED light near the bottom can reveal any dust and liquids

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Troubleshooting for the Form 1+

substances mixing with the resin. If the printer’s laser hits these instead of the resin, it can cause structural damage to the print, even failure. I use a gauze with a paint filter to pour the resin from the tray into a paper cup, clean the tray and then pour the resin back in. Doing this after a set amount of prints has really improved my success rate with the printer.

Examples of print failures

6. The laser assembly It should go without saying that you must speak to Formlabs support if you think there is an issue with the printer’s laser. If it wasn’t in the printer it would normally be found mounted on a shark in Dr. Evil’s lair, so please be cautious around it!

Troubleshooting print failures Here are some common issues while printing with the Form 1+ and some advice on how to solve them. First off, before printing you should make sure that the resin tank is clean, has no damage to the surface of the silicone and is free from major ghosting. Make sure the resin is mixed properly by both shaking the bottle thoroughly and by agitating the resin in the tray with the spatula. (Fig.08)

Fine-tuning the Form 1+ in PreForm

1. The print sticks to the resin tray, and does not adhere to the platform This is because there’s not enough tension between the platform and the tray, or simply because the silicone bottom of the tray is ‘stickier’ than the platform. Exposing the silicone in the resin tray to air is a good way to

An example of a blowout

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decrease its ‘stickiness’ and I have had good results with this. You can do this by using the spatula to gently scrape the resin back and forth, exposing the bottom. I do this for about 2-3 minutes before printing. Increasing the base thickness in the support settings can also help, but what really makes a difference for me is adjusting the height of the build platform. You can do this under the PreForm’s Fine Tuning options, which can be found in the Help menu. (Fig.09)

2. Prints that fall off or break supports Normally this is down to printing a large or complicated model that hasn’t been supported sufficiently or correctly. Sometimes the stresses of the peel process can be too much for the support structure, in which case it will start to break. Adjusting the frequency and contact size of the supports and adding manual supports can rectify this. It also might be a better option to print the object in parts if it’s too big. Another course of action is

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An example of a print ‘skipping’ or misplacing a layer, most evident here on the supports

lowering the resolution to 0.1mm as this will print faster and in larger layers, which can be easier for the printer to handle.

3. Holes and ragged bits I get these when my resin hasn’t been filtered for a while. If smaller parts broke off in the previous print (like ends of hair, etc.) they remain in the tank and can either block the laser’s path or attach themselves to your new print. If you are seeing a lot of holes, it could also be that you have dust on your mirrors or on the base of the resin tray that’s distorting the laser.

4. Blowouts These can ruin a print quite dramatically!

It’s necessary to print hollow objects on the Form 1+, both to save resin and to reduce the stress on the printer. However, it’s possible to unwittingly create pockets of geometry which do not allow the resin to drain correctly, creating air bubbles. As the print proceeds, the resin and air builds up and tries to escape, causing a blowout. Use the layer viewer in PreForm to identify these areas. Sometimes simply re-orientating the model can solve this, but it may be you have to go back to your model to create drain holes that allow the resin to escape. (Fig.10) 5. Lines on the print Sometimes large lines are visible on the print.

I’ve found these are usually because the platform has not been tightened enough. Be sure to tighten the screw near the lever on the platform as mentioned above. This can also happen if you’ve paused the printer while printing for any reason. (Fig.11) These are the most common issues I’ve found with the Form 1+. If you’re having consistent problems printing, your first call should always be Formlabs’ excellent support system.

The Artist

James W. Cain jameswcain.co.uk

The final Gibson Girl, printed and painted. (She now resides at 3dtotal HQ – thanks James!)

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Texture files Scene files

Real-time environment assets with ZBrush

by Matthew Johns

Using ZBrush to create assets suitable for real-time rendering used to be a long and complicated task, but features like ZRemesher and UV Master make the process painless! Matthew Trevelyan Johns shows us how to create a vivid desert canyon scene with ZBrush and 3ds Max, and render it with CryEngine in just a few short steps

The Artist

Matthew Trevelyan Johns artstation.com/artist/trevelyan Software Used: ZBrush, 3ds Max Matthew Trevelyan Johns has been passionate about videogame content for a long time. From humble beginnings making Call of Duty mods over 12 years ago, he’s now a senior environment and vehicle artist at Cloud Imperium Games.

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Real-time environment assets with ZBrush

See Matthew Trevelyan Johns’ take on Antelope Canyon…

The use of ZBrush within the console and PC gaming industry has become common practice. In the past, ZBrush may have been seen as a program with which an artist can only create extremely high-detail models that are simply too costly to render within a real-time application – but in fact, this is not always the case.

In the following tutorial, you will discover how ZBrush can be used to generate meshes suitable for use in a real-time engine, using varied sculpting methods and the employment of custom brushes as well as the built-in procedural optimization and UV unwrapping features that are now a valuable addition to the software.

You will also learn how to prepare this mesh for the CryEngine using 3ds Max, as well as how to create the advanced textures required to drive CryEngine’s powerful shader effects.

Some choice examples of my collected reference images, courtesy of Dollar Photo Club

The basic block-out mesh in 3ds Max

Finally, this tutorial will cover CryEngine’s brand new, experimental lighting feature ‘Voxel-Based Global Illumination’, as well as how to render a screenshot before applying adjustments and filmic effects in Photoshop to make sure the image is presented as nicely as possible. So let’s get started!

01

Gathering suitable and informative reference: Gathering suitable reference is one of the most important preliminary steps when beginning any project. I’m careful to ensure that my reference images are all of relevant subject matter and haven’t already been subject to distracting post-process effects (like additional contrast or hue changes) that might mislead me when I come to sculpting the rocks in ZBrush.

I also look for images where the lighting is as natural as possible, so that I have a clearer idea of the material surfaces when I create my textures.

02

Blocking out in 3ds Max: The following steps are applied to the canyon wall mesh as an example, from modeling through to texturing and shader setup. Once happy with the processes involved, I’ll apply all of these same steps to the sandy floor in my canyon scene.

So now it’s time to create block-out versions of the canyon wall and floor meshes. Before I do this, I set my units to be in meters to ensure that I’m using an accurate scale. I do this by going to Customize > Units Setup and setting the Metric Scale drop-down box to meters.

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Setting the angle of view in ZBrush

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Next, I’ll start with a simple cube primitive and then divide the geometry evenly across the mesh.

Entering the vertex sub-object mode, I can then use soft selection to push and pull the mesh into a desirable rough shape.

03

Preparing to sculpt in ZBrush: I’m happy with my block mesh of the canyon wall, so I export it as an .OBJ file ready to be brought into ZBrush. Inside of ZBrush, using the import function, I load my mesh and draw it

onto the canvas. Pressing P in ZBrush enables perspective in the viewport, and the angle of view can be increased or decreased using the slider found in the Draw menu. I like to use perspective when sculpting large organic objects; in this instance it will help me visualize how the final asset might look when we render it in the CryEngine later.

04

DynaMesh can change the topology of your model at the click of a button

Sculpting with DynaMesh: At this stage I still want to be very loose with my sculpting. Using DynaMesh will help me to sculpt the mesh and change its shape drastically without worrying about my topology. With my mesh drawn onto the canvas, I enter the Geometry tab and expand the DynaMesh menu.

Leaving the resolution at 128 and pressing the DynaMesh button, the topology on the model is instantly updated while still retaining its original shape. I can now continue to sculpt, and when I wish to DynaMesh again, I’ll simply hold Ctrl and drag in an area of the canvas outside of the model to update the topology.

05

Refining the sculpt: I find the most useful brushes in the early stages of sculpting are the Clay Tubes, Smooth, and Move brushes. With the mesh still at a low DynaMesh resolution, I use Clay Tubes to make large grooves in the mesh while trying to establish some of the major forms that are present in my reference images. As I sculpt, I occasionally use DynaMesh to ensure the topology remains even across the model as described in the last step.

While still very low detail, the sculpt is starting to take shape

When I’m happy with my initial shape, I turn off DynaMesh by clicking again on the icon in the Geometry tab. Now I’m ready to divide and sculpt some further detail into my mesh. It’s worth remembering at this stage that the sculpt will be used to create a real-time mesh, so it doesn’t have to be super detailed; so long as the major forms are there, it will work just fine.

06

With a little smoothing and varying intensities and sizes, the custom brush can do a lot of the work

Custom brushes for easier sculpting: The rock formations that exist in Antelope Canyon were carved by fast-moving, debris-carrying flood waters that, over great periods of time, created the flowing grooves in the rock surface. With this in mind, I think a brush with a few additional settings will help me to sculpt the rock and simulate this effect more easily. I’ll create a custom brush by first selecting the standard brush, freehand mode and choosing BrushAlpha 48. I’ll set the brushes focal shift to -100, and in the Brush menu, under the AutoMasking menu, I’ll just tick on BackFaceMask.

With this done, I will be able to sculpt some smooth flowing grooves with sharp edges in just one sweep.

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07

Using ZRemesher and Clay Polish: Having used my custom brush to good effect, I’m now happy with the rocks and am ready to create a low-polygon version with a polygon count that is more suitable for a realtime application. Clicking the Geometry menu and expanding the ZRemesher tab, I’ll set my Target Polygons Count to 80. This is the amount in thousands, so a value of 80 will give us an 80,000-polygon mesh. That may seem high for a real-time asset, but since this will be one of only a few meshes in the scene, it is perfectly suitable.

If you wish, you can choose a far lower polygon count; ZRemesher is very flexible in this respect.

After hitting the ZRemesher button, the result appears a little soft at first, but using Clay Polish with a Sharp value of 20 and an RSharp value of 2 will recreate the sharper creases that our sculpt had previously.

The result of using ZRemesher and Clay Polish on the mesh

08

Unwrapping with UV Master: The model now needs UVs before I can export it and load it into the CryEngine. I’ll use UV Master for this, located in the Zplugin menu. Clicking Work On Clone makes a clone of the mesh and applies a white material to it for easy viewing.

Now I’ll Enable Control Painting and press the Protect button, which allows me to paint all areas of the mesh that I want to avoid having UV seams on. This is visualized with bright red coloring on the mesh.

Next I’ll click the Attract button and paint the rest of the mesh, before finally pressing Unwrap. This will take a few moments and, when complete, I can check the UVs by clicking Flatten (UnFlatten to return to the mesh). If the UVs are suitable and

The bright colors indicate areas that will remain seamless (red) and those areas that will attract the mesh seams (blue)

Setting the material type to be a Crytek Shader is very important at this stage, as it’s the format that the engine understands

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have no seams in places that I do not want them, I’ll export the mesh as an .OBJ ready to import in to 3ds Max.

09

Exporting from 3ds Max into CryEngine: Having imported my rock wall into 3ds Max, I’ll create a dummy node at the world space co-ordinates 0, 0, 0. I’ll then parent the rock mesh to it using the Select and Link button. Next I’ll need to create a Multi/SubObject material with at least two slots: one for the floor, which will be sand, and one for the rock material. I can add more if I need them for other materials that I may create for the scene later. I’ll now select each material and set the shader type to be a Crytek Shader before saving the scene in the CryEngine directory. My file path looks like this, though you may need to create your own ‘objects’ folder: CRYENGINE\gamesdk\objects\ antelope_canyon.

Next, with the CryEngine running in the background and my material selected in the 3ds Max material manager, I press Create Material in the CryENGINE3 exporter. I’ll be prompted to save my material inside the folder directory I just created. Next, before I export my rock mesh, I must assign the correct polygon ID to its faces. I have the rock set as material ID 2, and so I select all of the polygons on the rock mesh and assign those to polygon ID 2 also. I can now add the mesh node to the CryENGINE3 exporter and hit Export Nodes. After a few moments, it’s now possible for me to load my mesh, with the correct shader applied (but no textures yet) from the Brush tab in CryEngine.

10

Creating rocky texture maps: For the rock to convey the type of surface detail that I’d like, I’ll need to create a variety of texture maps to drive the CryEngine material. I’ll start with the diffuse map, sometimes called an albedo map. Using cgtextures.com I am able to source a variety of images that will help the process. I set my background layer as a mid-gray, then use simple Photoshop layer modes like Overlay and Multiply in conjunction with the opacity slider to quickly create a subtle rock texture effect.

Finally I use a Hue/Saturation adjustment to ensure the overall diffuse color matches my reference as closely as possible. When I’m happy with my diffuse texture I save two versions: the original and another with a subtle Hue/Saturation adjustment. Eventually I’ll set up the CryEngine shader to blend between the two.

The next map is a specular map. This is the easiest map to create: it should be a simple gray tone with RGB values ranging from 53 to 61 to

Organizing your Photoshop files with groups makes saving individual textures much easier

CrazyBump allows the creation of various textures within minutes

represent the non-metal quality of stone/rock.

Then I create the gloss map to define how rough or smooth the rock material appears. For this I begin with another photo and remove the color from it using the Desaturate function, found in Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Then, using a Levels adjustment, found here in Image > Adjustments > Levels, I increase the contrast slightly to emphasize the light and dark tones within the texture.

I like to keep all of my textures in a single .PSD file, each grouped under their own folders, which will help when we export the textures later.

11

Creating the height and normal maps: For this step I’ll be using a program called CrazyBump. You can download a free demo from the CrazyBump website, or there are many great alternative free programs that allow the procedural generation of these textures.

In order to feed the program a good base to start with, I duplicate my diffuse texture, desaturate

and increase the contrast using the Levels adjustment once again. In order to emphasize the striations in the rock, I create a new layer and use a low-opacity black brush to manually paint some horizontal lines. CrazyBump will interpret the dark and light values in this texture as varying levels in height and will create normal maps and height maps accordingly. I save this texture and load it in to CrazyBump, where I can use the sliders to finetune the resulting normal and height maps. Once I’m happy with my results, I’ll bring the textures back into Photoshop and add them to their own groups in the .PSD. There are certain guidelines for saving textures for use in the CryEngine, all of which are detailed further in the official CryEngine documentation online at docs.cryengine.com. The main ones to remember are that the gloss map must be placed in the alpha channel of your normal map and saved with ‘_ddna’ at the end of the filename; your heightmap must also be placed in the alpha channel of a blank texture and saved with ‘_displ’ at the end of the filename.

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12

Setting up the CryEngine shader: Switching to the CryEngine once more and pressing ‘M’ to bring up the Material Editor, I’ll first set the Diffuse and Specular Color values to white and the Smoothness value to 100; this will ensure that my textures are the only components driving these values in the shader. Next I’ll simply plug each texture into the corresponding slot in the shader.

Currently the CryEngine shader does not support displacement mapping or the Blend Layer function by default, so I’ll need to tick these features on in the Shader Generation Params tab.

Once this is done, I’ll have access to more options in the Shader Params tab. I’m going to use the same normal, specular and height maps as I have already, but in the Second Diffuse Map slot, I’ll input the alternative version of my diffuse texture that I created earlier. Finally I’ll select a blending map; for this I’ll use the grayscale map that I used to create my normal and height maps with CrazyBump in the previous step.

The blend layer is controlled with three inputs: the Blend Factor slider, the Blend Falloff slider, and finally the alpha values stored in the vertices of the mesh itself. Switching back to 3ds Max, I apply a VertexPaint modifier to the rock mesh.

Under Channel, I select Vertex Alpha, and with my brush set to black with a low opacity setting and large brush size, I can now paint some areas where I would like the blend layer to be visible.

Once happy I’ll re-export the mesh and hopefully will be able to see the effects of my blend layer in action.

The CryEngine shader dialogue box, showing the texture inputs in their appropriate slots

13

Lighting in the CryEngine: The latest version of the CryEngine comes complete with an experimental lighting feature called Voxel-Based Global Illumination. It will attempt to accurately simulate the bounce light effect that gives the canyons the soft lighting and shadows present in the reference photos. First I’ll enable the advanced options for the feature in the Tools menu > Experimental Features > Lighting – I just tick the checkbox by Total Illumination. With my rock mesh loaded into the scene and the correct material applied, I’ll now make a few duplicates and position them end to end to create the feeling of a long, thin canyon environment.

Next I’ll open the Environment tab in the Rollup bar, scroll to the Total Illumination v2 tab and make sure it’s active, before finally setting the Integration mode to 2, which will enable full Global Illumination. Finally I alter the Time of Day and the sun direction sliders that can be found via the Terrain menu > Lighting.

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The Total Illumination settings, located at the bottom of the Environment tab

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14

Using console commands to capture an image: Once I’m happy with my sunlight adjustments and the shadows are playing nicely off the surface of the rocks, I think I need to soften the edges of the shadows a little. I go to View > Console and double-click in the gray bar of the window that pops up to open the Console Variables menu. In here I type ‘r_ShadowJittering’ and raise the value from the default to something more suitable. Next I remove the statistics that are on by default in the top-right corner of the screen; again in the console window I type ‘r_DisplayInfo’ and set the value to 0.

Finally, I type ‘capture frames’ in the console and change the value from 0 to 1. After a few seconds I change this value back to 1 again, and during that period of time all frames per second will have been captured and placed in the ‘captureoutput’ folder located in my CryEngine directory.

15

The final touches: Finally I open my captured image in Photoshop. I duplicate the base layer and apply Filter > Other > High Pass to it at a low value, then change this layer’s blending mode to Hard Light, which creates a nice sharpening effect across the whole image that can be controlled with the opacity slider. Next I add a vignette and two black ‘letterboxing’ bars to create a cool widescreen movie effect.

The console allows us access to a variety of settings and functions

The next step is to adjust the colors to better suit my reference images. My render was a little yellow and lacked some contrast, so I use Color Balance, Exposure, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/ Saturation and Curves adjustments, found in the Image > Adjustments menu, playing with the sliders until I achieve the look I’m after. Finally, all that’s left now is to sign the artwork and the image is complete!

Using color correction and other subtle effects can really transform the image

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The Artist

Matthew Trevelyan Johns artstation.com/artist/trevelyan

3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

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TOP TIPS Choose a higher screen resolution When capturing an image at your usual screen resolution in the CryEngine, it may result in some small aliasing issues. These can be reduced significantly by setting your screen resolution in the top-right corner of the CryEngine to be double, or even triple the size, then capturing the image and reducing it in Photoshop to remove the aliasing.

Adding in extra shadow effects with the console commands At such a high screen resolution, especially while using jittering, the shadows in the scene may seem a little low-resolution. Type ‘e_ ShadowsMaxTexRes’ and raise the value here; I use 4,096 for my render. I also increase the jittering effect to around 60 to achieve really high-resolution soft shadows.

Perseverance!

When sculpting your mesh, arranging the scene, creating the textures, or even applying the final adjustments to your image in Photoshop, there is always the possibility that the result will not look as you’d hoped. I had many tried and failed experiments with the rock sculpt, as well as the correct choice for my final lighting in the image, and at times considered the image finished. At this point, I’ll stop work, have a break and a lovely cup of tea, and return to my computer with fresh eyes to have another go. Being willing to always push yourself to better your work, and maintaining a positive outlook is the secret to progressing your skills and creating work that you can be the most proud of!

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Issue 121 | September 2015

Ruben Alvarez shares an insight into concept art for the entertainment industry

+plus

• Crafting vibrant cartoon characters • Abstract images with Houdini • Sci-fi creations in ZBrush • Real-time environment assets • Create realistic facial expressions • and much more!

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Sculpt a sci-fi cartoon character

Scene files

The Artist

Pierre Rogers

sketchzombie.com Software Used: ZBrush Pierre Rogers is a freelance 3D character artist, designer and instructor from the United States.

Sculpt a sci-fi cartoon character

by Pierre Rogers

Character artist Pierre Rogers shares the process behind his stylized sci-fi duo Foxer and Sidekat, using beginner-friendly ZBrush tools and tricks 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 121

Every armored sci-fi hero needs a cat sidekick…

Making a stick man with ZSpheres

In this tutorial we will cover how to create a stylized character wearing a sci-fi suit of armor, from beginning to end in ZBrush.

We’ll use basic ZBrush tools like ZSpheres, DynaMesh, sculpting brushes, and Polypaint.

We’ll cover how to develop and edit hardsurface geometry, making good use of the mesh generation tools and SubTool splitting to manage multiple parts as if our character was real.

01

Start with a stick man: We get things started by selecting a ZSphere from the Tool menu. Next we want to make sure we are facing the front of our sphere by locating Front View (Texture > Image Plane > Front).

Next turn on symmetry on the X axis, located in the Transform > Activate Symmetry > X. Now that we are set up, draw out ZSphere joints. Under the Transform palette, use the Move tool to manipulate ZSpheres and the Scale tool to size the spheres up or down.

02

Blocking out: Now we want to convert our ZSphere man into geometry that we can sculpt on. Navigate to Tools > Adaptive Skin > Make Adaptive Skin. Now our little guy is available as a new low-res ZTool to begin our journey.

Subdivide the mesh a few times and we can begin sculpting in some rough anatomy.

After we have established some basic forms, navigate to Tool > Geometry > DynaMesh, and

click the DynaMesh button. Undo and increase the resolution until your model has increased in geometry. Use the Clay, Move, and Smooth brushes to edit your model. Every brush is essentially the Move brush, so try to get as much as you can out of it before sculpting on large forms. Take your time developing your base mesh; even though our character will be covered

in armor, most of his armor will conform to his base mesh and so will inherit any flaws from its foundation base.

To create the eyes, append a sphere, being sure that you mirror and weld across the X axis for symmetry (Tool > Geometry > Modify Topology > Mirror and Weld).

Sculpting the base mesh

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Sculpt a sci-fi cartoon character

Adding DynaMesh facial hair

03

Facial hair: To add some simple hair, append another sphere, duplicate it and place the spheres in appropriate locations for editing. I utilize DynaMesh in order to sculpt a beard and mohawk using Standard, Move and Dam_Standard brushes.

“Unfortunately I don’t have an actual cat to pose for me, so I make good use of some reference images to create a convincing cat”

04

Creating Sidekat: Now that we have our main guy fleshed out, it’s time to create his trusty sidekick, “Sidekat.” We use the same steps that created our main character, beginning with a ZSphere stick model and converting it using Adaptive Skin.

After a few subdivisions or DynaMesh, we dive into roughing out our stylized cat anatomy, developing forms with the Clay, Move, and Smooth brushes . Unfortunately I don’t have an actual cat to pose for me, so I make good use of some reference images to create a convincing cat.

05

Slice and dice: Hopping back over to our main guy, it’s time to put some armor on him. To make things efficient we will transform his current body into armor instead of building armor over his body. Using Mask Pen (or any other masking brush you prefer), section off areas of the model that correspond with pieces of armor, and go to Tool > Polygroups > Group Masked. Next select Tool > SubTool > Split > Groups Split, which will separate each Polygroup into individual SubTools. Now DynaMesh each new SubTool to create whole pieces of geometry.

06

Suiting up: Now mask off a portion of the face, drawing the rough shape of a chin strap. Then navigate to Tool > SubTool > Extract, and click the Extract button with a thickness of 0.03. You will see a temp preview of

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Rinse and repeat the previous steps for Sidekat

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 121

Cutting up the mesh for better management

Blocking out the sci-fi suit

the extraction. Extraction is one of many ways to generate custom geometry. If you like it, click Accept to generate it.

Use the Move brush to push and pull segmented pieces to form intersecting parts of armor.

Continue to block out armor and accessories using various tools like the Topology brush, as well as simple primitives with the Insert Cylinder and Cube brushes.

“Time to add some details to the back of our character, starting with a mechanical spine for his exoskeleton suit”

07

Spine and refine: Time to add some details to the back of our character, starting with a mechanical spine for his exoskeleton suit. To do so we create a small section of the spine; you can use Mirror Symmetry to create a perfectly symmetrical piece.

Next go to Brush > Create InsertMesh. Select Stroke > Curve > Curve Mode. Now we have a Curve Insert Mesh brush to use for our project and future projects. Let’s continue now to refine our hard surfaces by increasing our subdivision levels or our DynaMesh resolution, and using a combination of the Polish, hPolish, PolishD, and Trim Dynamic brushes.

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Sculpt a sci-fi cartoon character

Creating a brush for the spine and refining armor parts

Adding Sidekat’s whiskers and equipment

08

Cat gadgetry: Let’s give our trusty Sidekat some gear and whiskers now.

For the whiskers, you can use the custom Insert brush ‘Hair single,’ which is included in the downloadable resources.

We will use simple Insert brushes to block out his equipment. A combination of the Topology, Insert Cylinder, Insert Sphere, and Insert Cube brushes are used to create the base for his gear. Increase the polygon count and use Polish brushes if necessary for crisp edges.

09

Platform: Our dynamic duo could use a stage to stand on. Let’s start with appending a cylinder. Scale and place it appropriately and increase the resolution rather than subdivision or DynaMesh. Duplicate the cylinder and place it to make an extra level.

3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

Put some effort into developing a stage, but don’t overdo it or it will steal focus from our characters!

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Mask and move

Next use Mask Pen to mask off a geometric area and extract some raised detail. After some editing, create a copy of the wedge detail by selecting SubTool > Geometry > Modify Topology > Mirror and Weld. Duplicate this SubTool and select SubTool > Deformation > Rotate _90 on Y axis to create and place a second copy, making a set of four raised designs on our platform.

Now let’s add some detail to the base cylinders by selecting Transform > Activate Symmetry > Y axis > R and setting Radial Count to 50. With Radial Symmetry set up, we can now use Clay brushes to sculpt into the platform geometry.

10

Simple posing: The team has come a long way from simple ZSpheres, but it looks a bit static, so let’s pose them up! There are multiple means of being able to pose your character in ZBrush; however, the basics are simply, Mask and move.

Start by grouping SubTools by appendages, such as arms, legs, feet, torso and head. For solid organic parts like his tie, utilize Mask Pen and Ctrl+click on the model to soften/blur the mask to allow smooth deformations. Then place the Transpose line and rotate.

For multiple pieces, utilize Ctrl+Alt+Shift to hide and unhide parts, mask off appropriate parts and move as needed.

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11

Color and material: Finally comes the moment when we add color to our team.

Select Skin Shade and go to Draw > RGB. Select your color and use masking tools to apply color to each piece accordingly.

Next let’s add a little spice with a simple paint job.

To create a simple airbrush, select the Standard brush, navigate to Draw > RGB, set RGB between Base colors and paint.

Use Flat Viewing mode in Render settings to view your textures without shading

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10-20, and turn off Zadd. Now that we have our airbrush, select darker color values for each part and add some shading to recessed areas.

With some fine-tuning we can create a brush to simulate hair. Select Alpha 23, then click the Stroke button and select the Spray option. With some trial and error, you can edit the placement and flow values to your preference.

Next is the fun part: adding shaders. Using the materials shown, fill each piece accordingly by selecting Draw > M and Fill Object. For an added outline to establish a more stylish look for each material, navigate to Material > Mixer and set Outline to 1 and Depth to 3.

12

Rendering: No character art is complete without a bit of rendering. The default

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You can render your characters in ZBrush for presentation

settings for your BPR (Best Preview Render) won’t flatter your work and will need a bit of tweaking to get some nice results.

Note that trial and error is recommended when editing the render settings – depending on the size of your model within ZBrush, you will get different results.

Start by establishing a preferred angle to render from, then navigate to Render > Render Properties

and turn on Shadows and AOcclusion. Next go to Render > BPR Shadow tab, and set Angle to 246 and Blur to 2. Click the BPR button to render and see the results.

Orton and click the circle in the corner to show a open circle, denoting that the filter is on. Set Orton to 50, Opacity to 100, Radius to 32, and Mask to 0.2.

Next go to Light and double-click to turn on additional lights. Position each light on demo sphere (you can click on the sphere to place the light behind it). Play with the lights’ intensity while clicking BPR to see results. For some extra flair, navigate to Render BPR Filters. Select F4/

Render to see your results and lastly select Document > Export, to name and select the format to export your render. You can also use Photoshop to composite your renders and add some extra flair for presentation – and now we are done!

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Sculpt a sci-fi cartoon character

The Artist

Pierre Rogers

sketchzombie.com

3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 121

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Create realistic facial expressions

The Artist

Djordje Nagulov

nagulov.artstation.com Software Used: ZBrush, 3ds Max Djordje Nagulov is a freelance artist currently residing in Serbia. He is an experienced modeler who also does some light rigging on the side.

Create realistic facial expressions

by Djordje Nagulov

Talented sculptor Djordje Nagulov breaks down the features of the male face and offers advice on modeling expressions with realistic form and volume 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 121

Improve your 3D faces with Djordje Nagulov’s guidance…

It’s a good idea to separate tricky-to-reach areas like the eyes and bottom lip into separate polygroups for easy access

In this article we’ll explore the features of the neck and face. As we’ll be sculpting several extreme expressions in order to analyze how the shapes of the face interact, retopologizing your model’s head and neck will be necessary to begin with. Here we’ll briefly touch on good working practices and the many benefits of proper edge flow. Once this is done, we will proceed to rotate the head in several different directions, so that we can study how the neck muscles, tendons and skin appear at the extremes of rotation.

After the neck we’ll take a look at the main facial features. The mouth and eye areas in particular will go through several different expressions to showcase how mobile the human face is. This will allow us to inspect how the main masses on the face shift and in which direction.

Wrinkle depth and density give a face character, but can also pile on the years. Pay attention to their direction, especially around the eyes

01

Retopologizing first: Automatic retopology tools like ZRemesher might be adequate for a neutral expression, but if you are going to sculpt several dynamic expressions, manual retopologizing is necessary. This will save a lot of time in the long run – introducing proper edge flow around the mouth and eyes greatly facilitates shifting the shapes around, as the underlying geometry won’t stretch too much or run diagonally to your strokes. Try to put the ‘stars’ (vertices where five or more edges converge) in places where the deformations aren’t too extreme, as they can cause pinching on the surface.

02

The face at rest: I sculpted my initial model in ZBrush, then carried out my manual retopology process in 3ds Max before importing the mesh back into ZBrush and transferring over most of the detail from the original sculpt. The wrinkles are rebuilt on a separate layer (taking care to make them asymmetrical), as this allows us to fine-tune their visibility. The eyeballs are placed into the eye sockets as separate objects, and the upper eyelid folds slightly under the brow. Be sure to make the eyelids fairly thick, so that the inside edge of the lower eyelid catches the light enough to make a pleasing arc.

As you turn your head, your eyes automatically tend to turn as well – one of the many ways our body parts work in tandem

03

Turning the head: Mask off the neck with a soft falloff at a low subdivision level. Try to find the best place for head rotation, near the base of the skull, right under the ears. No matter how precise you try to be, the neck will likely end up looking like a twisted 93

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Create realistic facial expressions

candy wrapper. Make sure to regain proper volumes by inflating the collapsed areas. The sternocleidomastoid muscle is very prominent in this pose, nearly vertical and popping out of the neck. As the head turns, other muscles that run under it reveal themselves. On the opposite side it is invisible, hidden by multiple skin folds.

The portion of the trapezius attaching to the base of the skull practically disappears behind bunched skin when we look up

“The skin at the front of the neck stretches fairly thin and becomes almost vertical when the head tilts to the extreme”

04

Looking up: Since we know where the main muscles in the neck attach from previous articles, tilting the head up is a relatively simple, connect-the-dots affair. As the sternocleidomastoid muscles stretch, the other main strand attaching to the clavicles becomes faintly visible. The muscles themselves tend to bulge out slightly when viewed from the front as they compress softly against the trapezius. The skin at the front of the neck stretches fairly thin and becomes almost vertical when the head tilts to the extreme. The laryngeal prominence (or Adam’s apple) becomes more noticeable as a result. When viewed from the back, only a few folds of the skin will show between the skull and the trapezius.

When we look down, the head tilts forward and our chin nearly touches the clavicles. Pretty much all forms at the front disappear behind compressed skin

05

Looking down: It’s a similar situation when the head tilts in the opposite direction, with the roles reversed. The trapezius stretches between the shoulders and the skull, becoming quite taut as it flattens against the vertebrae. This pose also reveals the angle change that happens at the base of the neck as the bony landmark of the C7 vertebrae sticks out. The columns of the sternocleidomastoid muscles shorten considerably, and their bottom halves hide in the folds of skin that form at the front of the neck. All that extra skin under the chin compresses into thick folds, in many cases obscuring the jaw line.

06

Bone visibility: As noted previously, the face doesn’t have that many muscles that describe forms. In fact, the whole upper portion of the head is largely defined by the shapes of the skull, even in corpulent people. In a neutral expression, we can usually see most of the ocular orbit and the outside parts of the cheekbones. Once we start introducing other expressions and the shapes shift, it’s important to keep in mind where the bone is. Since a lot of soft tissue on the face is rather thin, bone structure will in most cases be fairly visible – and more importantly, immovable.

3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

Lifting the edge of the eye socket along with the eyebrows is a beginner’s mistake. Bones of the skull don’t move!

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The nasolabial fold gets more prominent with age, becoming a permanent fixture of the face when we hit our thirties, even at rest

07

Muscle direction and skin folds: The lower half of the face has many thin, stringy muscles which radiate away from the mouth and serve to move the lips. For our purposes we don’t need to know their names, origins and insertions. From a sculpting perspective, however, you need to keep in mind the tension that results from these muscles driving a lot of primary mouth shapes, whereas the secondary, surface forms are actually formed by the skin. These folds run perpendicular to the muscles, forming concentric circles around the mouth. The nasolabial fold is the most distinctive of these, and visually separate the mouth from the cheek.

08 Not lifting your eyebrows when looking up tends to produce a very deliberate glowering expression. Mr. Right is getting real tired of Mr. Left’s paranoia

Rotating the eyes: The eyeballs are only slightly larger than the eyelids.

Due to the bulge of the cornea the eyeball isn’t completely spherical. This influences the shape of the eye as we look around. When rotating from side to side, the cornea shifts the upper eyelid, making the eye ever so slightly larger where the pupil is, and tapering off at the opposite corner.

It’s important to note that many movements on the face involve the surrounding features as well.

When looking up, we tend to automatically lift the eyebrows, which is why you often get some wrinkling in the forehead.

09

Closing the eyes: The upper eyelid does the lion’s share of the movement when we close our eyes, as it slides down over the eyeball to meet the lower eyelid (which hardly moves at all). The skin under the brows ‘unpacks’ and the deep fold that exists there disappears. Depending on how fleshy the upper eyelid is, more or less of the eyeball’s curvature can be discerned under the skin. If we scrunch up our eyes tightly, more muscles get involved – the eyelids push tightly against each other, the cheeks rise and the eyebrows come together in a frown. This results in wrinkles radiating away from the eyes and down the nose.

Even the nose gets involved when the eyes close tight. The nostrils rise along with the cheeks, creating wrinkles down its length

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10

Happy and smiling: When we smile, most of the action happens at the mouth. The corners move simultaneously up and back, stretching the lips thin over the teeth. The upper lip lifts a bit, revealing the upper teeth, whereas the lower lip stays more or less where it is. The nasolabial fold is very pronounced, with secondary creases forming in the cheek.

The cheeks lift, obscuring the cheekbone under fat and stretching the nostrils. The eyes tend to scrunch up to a degree, so that the lower eyelids thicken and deep wrinkles radiate away towards the sides. These wrinkles can extend halfway to the ear.

When sculpting a smile, check from below often to ensure the lips are properly sliding over the teeth, and note that the ears also rise slightly

“This is the sort of expression that involves the whole face.

The nostrils lift while the corners of the mouth move down with the muscles underneath tensed”

11

Angry and disgusted: This is the sort of expression that involves the whole face.

The nostrils lift while the corners of the mouth move down with the muscles underneath tensed.

Notice that this motion actually engages the tendons in the neck. We also tend to thrust the jaw out a little while lowering the head, which results in thick folds under the chin. The cheeks don’t shift much, but the eyes narrow, which can create minute wrinkles at the corners. There’s a lot of creasing between the eyes, with the eyebrows bunching together and the skin down the nose wrinkling because of the nostrils.

TOP TIP The wonders of the Move Topological brush In ZBrush, using the regular Move brush works fine for most situations when areas or even entire parts of the mesh need to be shifted around. However, tricky sections such as the eyelids or the mouth, where two topologically separate shapes touch, are much easier to manage using a special variant of the Move brush called Move Topological.

In short, this brush calculates whether the shapes under the cursor are actually connected or merely close to each other. In our example, we can see on the right how the Move Topological brush understands that the upper and lower lip are separate entities.

3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

Since this brush does calculations to decide which vertices to move, it tends to get sluggish when faced with dense meshes. Low subdivisions work best

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TOP TIP Polygrouping to victory!

ZBrush has a neat feature called polygrouping, which allows the user to quickly create differently colored selection sets. These groups let us easily isolate or mask different parts of the mesh we want to work on, but their true usefulness comes to the fore when dealing with difficult-to-reach areas such as the inside of the mouth or the folds of the eyelids. Creating polygroups works best at the lowest subdivision level since you’re dealing with the least amount of polygons. Extra tip: use Ctrl+Shift+S and Ctrl+Shift+X to grow/shrink polygon visibility, and Ctrl+W when you’re happy with the selection to make a polygroup.

Use ZBrush’s polygrouping function to make your model easier to work on

While the nostrils are fairly mobile, it turns out that the tip of the nose hardly moves at all

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12

Afraid and in pain: The opening jaw stretches the cheeks and pulls the nostrils down. As the corners of the lips tend to draw down when we’re expressing negative reactions, don’t forget to bring out tendons in the neck as well.

The mouth forms a round shape and the lower lip curls outward. This pose reveals the thickness of the lips, so inflate the corners accordingly. In

the upper region of the face, the center of the eyebrows lifts, wrinkling the middle portion of the forehead. The eyes scrunch up at the sides, with the lower eyelids lifting. The main jaw muscles, the masseter and temporalis, pop out as well.

13

Forced to kiss grandma: Goofy title aside, this expression serves to showcase the mobility of the mouth. The muscle encircling the lips, called the orbicularis oris, can stretch

and contract in a manner similar to a sphincter.

When the mouth purses forward, it moves up and out and pulls the cheeks along as well.

Sometimes even the jaw moves forward slightly.

When you smoosh the lips together, take care to retain volume, which in this case means the lips grow larger and puffier as all the tissue packs together. The philtrum also becomes more pronounced and can almost plug up the nostrils.

Take care to rotate the jaw correctly – the pivot should be somewhere in front of the ear and under the zygomatic arch

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The Artist

Thanks to putting our expressions in layers, we can switch different morphs on and off, which can make for interesting combinations

Djordje Nagulov

nagulov.artstation.com

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ONLY 29.99 (APPROX 49.99) | 288 PAGES | ISBN: 978-1-9094142-0-4

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ZBrush is a powerful program offering digital artists of all levels intuitive and inspiring workflow solutions for 3D models and 2D images. Following on from the success of other ZBrush titles such as ZBrush Character Sculpting: Volume 1, this new book focuses on the design and creation of a variety of character and creature sculpts by world-class artists including Mariano Steiner, Maarten Verhoeven, Caio CĂŠsar, and Kurt Papstein.

Topics covered by the panel of industry experts include alien concepts, quadruped designs, and inventive creatures, while a collection of speed-sculpting tutorials offers fantastic insight into working quickly with this revolutionary sculpting software. Aimed at aspiring and experienced modelers alike, ZBrush Characters & Creatures is a go-to resource for those looking to learn tips, tricks, and professional workflows from the digital art masters, taking you from concept to completion across a variety of imaginative projects.

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Abstract images with Houdini

The Artist

Niels Prayer

nielsprayer.com

Software Used: Houdini Niels Prayer has worked as FX supervisor and creative director at SUPAMONKS Studio since 2014, after working at Illumination Mac Guff and Framestore in 2013.

Abstract images with Houdini See how Niels Prayer uses Houdini and Mantra’s FX-based tools to create this atmospheric abstract piece, Storm 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

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Niels Prayer shares his Houdini and Mantra techniques…

Particle system generation to create an abstract and organic shape fitting the framing questions

Storm is an abstract piece created in Houdini and rendered in Mantra. The power in using a software like Houdini is that it’s an FX-oriented package. You can really control every step of the process and procedurally modify and customize during the process of creation.

It’s a really pleasant way to work, having the freedom to make modifications at every step without destroying anything you’ve built.

This image is a great example of the power of this way of working. When I start a project like this one, I have an idea, but I know it will evolve thanks to the procedural approach of this software. The FX-oriented aspect allows you to easily generate really fun effects in combination with others; for example, having particles, curves, fluids and pyro effects in the same scene. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any model or setup; you can go from scratch to an abstract piece in few hours, from idea to final render.

In this making-of, you will see how I’ve managed a particle system to create trails and metallic curves in conjunction with spheres to create an abstract flower shape.

I’ve also played with effects such as smoke and detailed particles to frame the image and create the overall mood. Finally, we’ll cover the lighting and rendering steps and how I’ve put the final touches in compositing to finetune the atmosphere. Thanks for reading! I hope you like it!

Creation of curves trails following the particle system

01

Particle SOP: For this particular scene, I wanted to have a dark, cloudy mood and play with the contrast of textures and shapes.

The opposition of materials, such as clouds and metallic shaders for instance, is a great way to create detailed depth in an image. Playing with lighting, specular highlights, bouncing lights, and creating eye-catching details will put your image in another dimension. The viewer is really sensitive to details in an abstract piece, so you have to create catchy elements! Even if it’s a poetic vision, in my opinion, you have to have a notion of reality that the viewer can identify with.

First, we start with a particle system done with a Particle SOP (Surface Operator). With some custom forces made with metaballs and turbulences (directly into the Particle SOP node), I’ve created this pattern to fit my composition. I wanted to create a squared ratio image, with an organic shape rising up, so I decided to generate my particle system more on the Y and Z axis than just the X axis. With a really tiny focal length, it

would be really effective after adding the depth of field during comp.

02

Converting to curves: To create these trails, I converted my particles into curves. When I generated my points, I simulated some main particles and, with a Solver SOP, I merged the previous and next frames of the

simulation to create some nice trails of particles.

In my simulation, I added an “id” attribute on my points so I could get the point numbers and generate curves on each of the trails.

For that, I used an Add SOP in Polygons and “id” for attribute group method. I now had nice curves trails following my particle simulation.

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03

Converting to polygons: I knew for this image I wanted some rough metallic shapes for the curves. The problem was that my trails were just some NURBS curves, so I wouldn’t be able to apply the textures for roughness or reflectivity later in Mantra. I needed to convert them to polygons and create a basic UV system. So I used a Polywire SOP to convert the curves into polygons, and generated basic UVs with a UV Texture SOP. This meant I could add details to my trails’ material for the shading process later on.

04

Converting to polygons: At the beginning of the trails, I wanted to have a sphere to give a floral look to this abstract shape. When I simulated the particles, I grouped the main ones with a Group SOP for this step. With a Copy SOP and a couple of random expressions (for the size, mostly) in the stamp attributes, I put some spheres randomly at the beginning of my trails. This gave me the final flower-like appearance I wanted for these trails.

05

Creating extra details: For this type of image, I like to play with contrast of shape, textures and materials. I felt my composition was a little simple at this stage, so decided to generate some particles around Adding some spheres at the beginning of the trails

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Convert the curve trails into polygons to add more details at rendering time

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Creating of levitating spheres to obtain a better framing for the image

Creation of the clouds using the Pyro FX tool

my main shape, using spheres added with a Copy SOP, to get better framing.

Later, to contrast with the solid aspect of the trail flower, I put a glass shader on these spheres to add something light and fragile.

06

Using Pyro FX: Now the fun part! Smoke! Since the beginning, I knew I wanted a dark, cloudy atmosphere for this image. To create these cloud shapes, I used Houdini’s Pyro FX, which is a really powerful tool.

With a little tuning, you can make something really cool with a lot of control over your shape. I had two emitters (standard sphere) with a lot of turbulence at emission. On my Pyro FX, I had a lot of swirl with a large amplitude to get those nice rounded shapes. Of course, I put a heavy density in my smoke, to get a really opaque aspect later in lighting.

07

Shading and lighting: For the lighting, I used two kinds of lights.

First I set my environment with an HDRI map using the environment light tool. With that, I got an initial mood for the scene, ready to adjust details. I added an area light to the top-left to reveal a lot of specular on my trails and spheres, and to get really good shadows in my smoke clouds.

For the shading, I used Mantra surfaces for every shader. I created a metallic one for the flower trail, with a little noise added in the Displacement and

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Abstract images with Houdini

Lighting and shading the scene, and choice of materials

Roughness to obtain a really interesting render. As I mentioned earlier, I used a glass shader on the levitating spheres, and finally a Billowy Smoke shader for the clouds, with a colored ramp in the density attribute.

08

Compositing and post-work: Final step, compositing! For the background, I used a custom HDRI map, really blurred to give a cloudy sky feeling in the scene. I put a glow on the really bright specular and desaturated the overall image a little bit. With the depth of field, I got a lot of nice bokeh in the front. In combination with a little flare, I used God Rays on the smoke to give a final stormy effect. Playing with the contrast and the size of the depth of field, I adjusted the final mood of my scene to get this stormy abstract effect.

The Artist Niels Prayer

nielsprayer.com

Compositing and final adjustments

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NEXT MONTH Informative new interviews Design a stylized character Sculpt the female face Inspiring ZBrush sketches 10 of the best 3D images from around the world Plus much more!

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Reptilian creature concepts in ZBrush

Reptilian creature concepts in ZBrush Learn some time-saving ZBrush sculpting tricks from Joshua Wu and his awesome mutant raptor design 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 121

The Artist

Joshua Wu

artstation.com/artist/joshuawu Software Used: ZBrush Joshua Wu is a 21-year-old 3D character artist working at Batavian Studio, Indonesia.

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Reptilian creature concepts in ZBrush

Discover how Joshua Wu made this creature concept…

Having a strong idea before you start really helps the whole process to be much faster and refined. First of all, think about what kind of creature you want to create. What kind of habitat does this creature live in? What does it eat? Is it huge or small? I had some idea of the type of creature I wanted to make from the start; I wanted to make a raptor! The question was what kind of raptor? A prehistoric one, or maybe a sci-fi one? Ask as many of these types of questions as you can to get a really good idea before you start.

01

In order to be fast, I chose to work only with ZBrush and Photoshop. After I’ve got a strong idea of the creature I’m making, I instantly move to ZBrush to block out the basic shape using DynaMesh. One of the most important things to note is to stay on the lower subdivision levels for as long as possible! You don’t want to make the mistake of going straight into the detailing stage.

Sculpt to your heart’s content

Having a strong silhouette allows the model to be easily recognizable from a distance, whether it’s in videogames or movies. A strong silhouette can define the characteristics of a creature.

02

After I finished blocking out the base shape and the design, I duplicated the sculpt and used ZRemesher on it in order to have better topology distribution for the second detail pass. I transferred the detail from the DynaMeshed mesh onto this new one by selecting the new mesh with the DynaMeshed one, then starting to subdivide, pressing the Project All button every time I subdivided the model.

Duplicate your mesh and use ZRemesher on the DynaMeshed model

I subdivided my mesh until I was satisfied with the density of the mesh, then did the next detail pass.

Now it was time for me to continue my sculpting.

03

I personally do not use a lot of alphas to sculpt detail, so half of the scale detail was done manually. However, sculpting the scales one by one would have taken me forever to finish, so I searched for scale alphas and photo textures on Google. While using alphas, your mesh subdivision level has to be very high to get a good result. But even after that, it is better to do some clean-up on the mesh. Sculpt on top of the alphas to blend the scales nicely. Having a clean mesh is always better to work with.

04

Texturing the creature was one of my favorite stages. The result of texturing a character always changes the overall aura of it.

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Combining alphas and hand-sculpting

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Example images courtesy of Dollar Photo Club

Since this wasn’t a realistic character I allowed myself to go crazy with the texturing, but at the time I had no idea how it was going to turn out, so I started by collecting lots of references. I used snakes, crocodiles, and Komodo dragons as my main references. Again, gathering references is very important.

Once I had chosen my main references, I started to block out the base color for the creature. I spent around an hour and a half on getting the basic color.

05

While I was experimenting, I decided to use complementary colors such as green and red as my main color palette, and from there I tried to introduce another color to give more variation to the skin. The reason why I used green and red is because they create the strongest contrast which is dynamic and pleasing to the eye.

For the patterns and second layer of details, I used the photo texture references I found and bashed them onto the mesh using Spotlight.

Spotlight can be found under the Texture tab in ZBrush. Import the image you want, and you can use the color and detail from the photo to enhance your mesh drastically.

Color palette consistency is important

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Reptilian creature concepts in ZBrush

06

ZBrush is able to generate a quick render called BPR (Best Preview Render).

Unfortunately, this method is not very well suited Rendering the passes to experiment

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for production. This rendering technique is fast but very conceptual, focusing on the aesthetic side. I saved a view using ZAppLink (Document

> ZAppLink Properties) to ensure that all the passes would be rendered at the same angle. For the final image, seven render passes were used:

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Bringing it all together!

color pass (base render), ambient occlusion, key light, specular (reflection), rim light, shadow and cavity. I also applied a black background to all the passes.

07

I started by opening the color pass (the base render of the character) in Photoshop and applying the key light using the Screen layer blending mode. I then applied the rim light, which was given a greenish-blue

tint in Photoshop using Hue/Saturation. I also changed the intensity using Levels and Screen layer options. I used a Multiply layer mode for the shadow and AO pass; once again I gave a slight bluish tint to get the feel I was aiming for.

The specular pass was then added in Color Dodge mode. I erased some of the areas such as the teeth, hair, and a little bit near the neck. Lastly, I added the cavity pass in Soft Light mode.

08

It was a great process and I learned a lot from this as well. However, I also realized that there is always room for improvement. I believe that everyone should get out of their personal comfort zone in order to learn and improve further.

There is no denying that practice makes perfect.

I hope you can learn something from this breakdown. Goodbye and thank you for reading!

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The Artist

Joshua Wu

artstation.com/artist/joshuawu

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3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Digital Art Master: Mathieu Aerni

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DIGITAL ART MASTER:

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by Mathieu Aerni Discover the processes behind a stunning 3D masterpiece with a sneak-peek look inside the pages of Digital Art Masters: Volume 9. Learn how Mathieu Aerni crafted his fantastic character in 3ds Max, ZBrush, MARI, Ornatrix and V-Ray 3DCREATIVEMAG.COM

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 121

The Artist

Mathieu Aerni mataerni.com

Software Used: 3ds Max, ZBrush, MARI, Ornatrix, V-Ray

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Digital Art Master: Mathieu Aerni

I experimented with different horns options in ZBrush, including smaller vertical goat-like horns

This image is my take on a mythical creature: the satyr. It all started with the idea of doing a realistic human portrait, but with some imaginary elements added to his head. The idea of a satyr quickly came to my mind.

The horns evolved into ram-like horns to look more impressive and realistic

The final topology was created in ZBrush using QRemesher

In Greek art, this creature was depicted as a man with the tail and ears of a horse, but the Romans gave him a goat’s horns and pointy ears to emphasize his relationship to the goat god Pan. That is the direction I decided to go. It was very important for me to create a character with an interesting personality, and to achieve a certain level of realism and believability in doing so.

Sculpting I started this project in ZBrush for the conceptualization of the character. At first I didn’t know exactly where I was going with the design of the horns, so I tried a couple of different options including smaller vertical goat-like horns. I ended up going for ram-like horns, as they looked more impressive and matched perfectly the type of facial features that I had in mind (Fig.01 – 02).

For his face, I gathered some picture references from the internet to make sure I would achieve a good level of realism. Once I matched those references, I started playing with the facial features to give him a more interesting personality and distinctive proportions. For example, I scaled up the nose a lot and made it puffier; I also gave him pointy ears and I worked on the expression and proportions of the mouth.

In my sculpting, I pay a lot of attention to primary forms, basic proportions and volumes. I used the Move brush and the Clay Tubes brush to establish the overall shape and then I increased

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the subdivision to work on secondary forms, using mostly the Clay Tubes brush. I finally went up to the highest subdivision level to work on the wrinkles, skin pores and all the high-frequency details of the horns. I then created a new topology using QRemesher before using ZBrush’s UV Master to create a first pass of UVs. Finally, I made

adjustments in 3ds Max to achieve the exact result I wanted (Fig.03).

Texturing in MARI Once I was finished with the modeling and sculpting, I started texturing in MARI. This is an extremely flexible way to paint and texture a

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I textured this character in MARI, using several pass of detailing. Here you can see the texturing process on the horns

I used a V-Ray SSS2 material for the face and a V-Ray Standard material for the horns, which were combined using V-Ray Blend

character while seeing the exact result in 3D. It is very quick and intuitive. The horns were totally hand-painted, using no photo-sourced textures.

Here are the steps of my painting process on one of the horns (Fig.04).

1. First, I worked on the base colors and on the transition between the horns and face using MARI’s default Organic Brushes set, plus the SUPERsoft brush and the linear brush.

2. I created another layer and worked on a first pass of details. MARI can easily load very highpoly meshes, so I loaded my ZBrush sculpt at subdivision level 5 to see all the sculpted details.

This allowed me to paint more dirt in the cavity of the sculpture and to make sure there would be an interesting parity between the sculpted details and color details.

3. I created another layer and painted another pass of smaller high-frequency details. The layer-based philosophy in MARI is very similar to Photoshop and you can use very similar blending modes, so I finished the horn texture by creating new layers with bigger brushstrokes and using them in different blending modes. Dodge Highlights, Burn Highlights, Multiply, Overlay, Screen and Sponge Desaturate were used to create paler and darker regions on the horns while keeping all the previously painted details.

Shading It was important for me to make the shading properties of the face very different from the horns. To do so, I ended up using two completely different materials for each of them. I used a VRayFastSSS2 material for the face, and a Standard material for the horns. I also wanted to achieve a very natural transition between the horn and the face, so I used a VRayBlendMtl material, and I painted a black-and-white map in MARI that I then used as a mask to mix them together (Fig.05).

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Digital Art Master: Mathieu Aerni

Hair The hair was done in 3ds Max using Ornatrix. One of the keys to making the hairstyle look and feel natural is the balance between order and chaos.

There’s a natural direction to hair, but if each surrounding hair followed that direction, the result would look like a cheap wig.

I created five different hair systems. Here you can see my beard and eyebrows setup

After carefully combing the beard, hairs, brows and fur collar, I created a fuzz of crazy stray hairs for each of them by duplicating the main hair systems and setting them to grow by 15-percent.

Then I set the Ox Strand Frizz and the Ox Strand Curling settings to higher than the rest of the hair to increase the fuzz effect (Fig.06).

Lighting & rendering The scene was rendered in 3ds Max using V-Ray. I started by using a V-Ray Dome light driven by a high dynamic range image. Image-based lighting is always very good to set the character in a realistic environment, but in this case, I felt it wasn’t enough. The image was lacking contrast, so I used one additional Planar V-Ray light as a key light placed above the head to create lighting that was a little more dramatic. Everything was rendered as one pass straight from 3ds Max. As I always do, I did some fine tuning afterwards in Photoshop, such as playing with curves and colors (Fig.07).

Have fun For this project, every step of the process was a lot of fun. I hope you found something useful or inspiring in this for your own projects! © Mathieu Aerni

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The lighting setup combined imagebased lighting and direct lighting, to add contrast and stronger shadows

HARDCOVER EDITION ONLY AVAILABLE FROM WWW.3DTOTAL.COM/SHOP Digital Art Masters has long been supporting the up-and-coming talent in the digital art industry, showcasing their work to a global audience and helping to bring them the recognition they richly deserve. In the ninth volume of this ground-breaking series, 50 more artists bring their imagination and talent to such topics as characters, scenes, sci-fi, fantasy and cartoons, resulting in a book that is filled to the brim with beautiful images and words of wisdom. With a mixture of veterans and newcomers, Digital Art Masters: Volume 9 provides the perfect cross-section of the best artwork the industry can offer, and is sure to leave you fired up with inspiration, ready to create masterpieces of your very own.

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