MARVELOUS DESIGNER
Creating realistic clothing
ANIMATION CAREER Getting started in animation
ROCKET SKY One-on-one animation training
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contents January - March 2017
Cover Art Model Used: Dash Background Art by: Victor Zastol’skiy @stock.adobe.com
Cover Stories 32 | Animation Career
Practical tips from Jim Lammers, founder of Tranity3D, on getting started in an animation career.
40 | Marvelous Designer
The advantages of using high powered software, like Marvelous Designer, to create realistic clothing for your 3D project.
20 | Rocket Sky
One-on-one training. Learning Character Animation online and why it’s Superior.
44 3D Projects 16 | 6 Feet
One-on-one training. Learning Character Animation online and why it’s Superior.
44 | Welcome to Paradise
VFX Animation Workflow for a Live Action Movie. A workflow tutorial from Animation Mentor.
54 | Two Worlds
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One-on-one training. Learning Character Animation online and why it’s Superior.
50 50 | TruForm
The step-by-step creative process in making automobiles for 3D projects, from the model blueprint to the end lighting.
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Distribution 46 | TVtibi
The world’s first global a-la-carte video platform, helping the independent artist reach a global audience.
Showcase 12 | Independent Showcase Independent artists are a major focus for MC3D. We show you 3D modelers who offer objects and models for your 3D animation projects.
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David Valentin P3Design PhotoBots 3DWarehouse Jennifer Rash Sander Osephius
10 | Vultran Type 3
A futuristic concept motorcycle created by Lee Rosario.
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46 60 | News Pros
The next phase for MavCore Media is a bringing its sitcom, News Pros, to the public, starting with a comic series being referred to as a “graphic sitcom.”
32 26 | Humster3D
The largest collection of 3D models and resources, with content creators from around the world.
Three phase launch: • Graphic sitcom • Card game • Animated series See the MavCore Media update for details on the series. http://mc3dmag.com
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- stock.adobe.com Januaryi3d_vr - March 2017 | MC3D | 7
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MC3D APP The MC3D app will be arriving by April 2017. Look for the app to get on the site http://mc3dmag. com to find: • • • • •
Magazine articles News/updates Contests & deals 3D resources Free products & discounts
And more...
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Model created by Lee Rosario
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Lee is an industrial design major based out of Orlando, Florida with a passion for concept transportation design in the fields of land and aeronautical vehicles.
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http://leerosario.com
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The Vultran Type 3 is an electric concept motorcycle that aims towards 3 simple principles: simple yet aggressive design, road performance and use of cutting edge technologies. The design is inspired from auto brands such as Lamborgini and Porsche. The body features carbon composite materials, the stylistic shaping of modern day hyper cars with distinctive LED accents. The traditional suspension/drive chain assembly is replaced by a right mounted assembly (front and rear tires) built from extremely durable, light and strong alloy composites, which house the suspension and drive chain assembly (rear wheel). The Vultran Type 3 proposes to make use of past and future technology such as: • •
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Electric powered high performance A.C. motor Smooth Roll Auto Balance Technology Fiber Optic cabling for digital interfacing High Performance lithium battery technology 5K Rear Mounted Camera system direct feeds into helmet Lazer - Tech Headlight/Tail Lights Aventor Kinetic Recharge LED Rims Aventor Kinetic power LED tires Advanced holographic dashboard display panel Advanced traction/torque control system High performance digital regenerative ABS brakes Digitally programmable 4-button handle bar grips Weather resistant and heated leather seat Standard charging port compatible with current charge station standards (easily updatable)
Custom fitted augmented reality racing suit and helmet HUD real time environmental digital helmet display
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LaCozza - stock.adobe.com
Independent 3D Creators
showcase
Creating our worlds
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Every great 3D project needs great 3D models and props to work with. Here we showcase a handful of 3D artists from around the world who offer quality products and 3D entertainment, such as: • Vehicles • Urban scenes • Everyday props • Backdrops • Buildings • Effects • Comic Books And more... These are independent artists, some of whom make their living off their craft. Connect with them for your 3D needs.
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DAVID VALENTIN 3D Artist based in New York City focused on architectural renderings and virtual staging. For high quality 3D sets: http://www.3dvalentin.com/
P3Design Creating numerous high quality models for art and animation. For high quality 3D models: http://www.pdesign3d.nl
PhotoBots Creates 3D set items and scenes, vehicles, and characters. For high quality 3D items:
http://facebook.com/thePhotoBots
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3DWarehouse Offering 3D model scenes, VRay materials, game character, plug-ins and more. For high quality 3D sets:
http://turbosquid.com/Search/ djeymax
Jennifer Rash Creates multiple 3D comic books in both digital and print. For 3D comic entertainment:
http://dreamangelsparadise.com
Sander Osephius Creates vehicles, buildings and household items. For high quality 3D sets:
http://customized-graphics.nl
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6 FEET 3D Animation
project
Written by: Shai Getzoff
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The impact our pets have on our lives is immense. I grew up from the age of 10 with my beloved dog, Brandy. We got her as a little puppy and watched her grow into a beautiful dog. She was there for most of my life’s big moments. Going through the change between being a child, through my teenage years and now, as a young adult. In May, 2016, Brandy passed away, leaving us with only wonderful memories, many of them. That is how the idea of the film “6 Feet” was born. I am a photographer, video maker and an animator. I am currently studying for a degree in Photographic Communications at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem. My passion is to present stories, messages and feelings through the visual arts, combined with sound and music. I believe that through this kind of medium, I can express myself in a very powerful way. That is what I tried to do with my short animated film “6 Feet”. Over the last year I took a 3D animation course at IAC (Israel Animation College). We learnt the basics of creating 3D animations. I decided when I joined the course that by the end of it, I would have successfully created a short animated film. http://mc3dmag.com
Brandy passed away during the time I was thinking of idea for my short film. I decided that it would be best to express my feelings for her loss through the film I would create. The initial idea came to me one night when I was lying in bed. I got up and started sketching the general layout of the story. As we started learning more about the complexity of animation I began to wonder whether a project of such a scale would be possible to complete within a few months. That’s all the time I had until the end of the course. I began to try and think of alternative ideas. I even had some planned out. I tried running the different ideas through family and friends to see what they thought. Every time I told someone about the story for “6 Feet” they sighed with great understanding and revealed to me that they had experienced a similar story. I guess what really made me stick to the script of “6 Feet” was when I told my mom and two sisters the story and they all broke out into tears. At that moment I knew that the story was a very powerful one, and one that many people could relate to. At first, the ending was supposed to be of the man leaving the collar on the rock and walking back into the forest. But I felt that the story needed to end in a more positive and special way. After I told my family of the story and saw their reaction I suddenly thought of the idea of creating a light which would come out of a flower and float up into the sky, where it would blend in with the stars. Symbolizing hope, and also revealing the circle of life. Showing that the ones we loved and lost are still with us. And so, I set out on the journey to create “6 Feet”. I decided to create the film in Blender, which is an open source 3D modeling and animating software. At first I started gathering all the models I would need for the film. The main characters I got from the website Blendswap.com in which you can download many models. I had to adjust the models to fit the look of my film as well as add a rig to parts of them (I ended up rigging the dog entirely myself ). The next stage involved modeling and setting up the scenes in which the story would take place. Most of the modeling was done by myself. The big tree by the dog’s grave was downloaded from Blendswap and I adjusted it to fit in my story. I decided to give the world the story took place in a special feeling. I wanted the story to take http://mc3dmag.com
place around the sunset. It helped emphasize the meaning of time in life. That things change and that’s just how life is. I decided that the trees would be in the colors of Autumn, also a time which emphasizes change. I wanted to keep the design simple. So I went for a low poly feel, although the characters were a little more realistic. That didn’t bother me though. I actually felt that they both fit in very well in the world I had created. I created the layout and started the animation process shortly after. The whole process of the layout and the animation took about two months. I spent most of August, 2016, in front of the computer, working on the animation for endless hours. As I was working on a schedule, I decided that once the animation was mostly there I would start rendering as well. Rendering can take up a decent amount of time. The rendering phase took almost a month to complete, rendering on both my desktop and laptop. I rendered each scene out into several layers so I could work with them in the post production phase efficiently in Adobe After Effects. I completed the film towards the end of September. Eventually after releasing it onto Vimeo. The initial reaction was quite overwhelming. I got many messages from people revealing their own personal stories about their beloved pets. I felt that I could be a listening ear for those wanting to express their loss. I learned a lot from the process of “6 Feet”. I learned the process of production and more importantly, how the films I create can have an impact on other people’s lives. That is something I would like to take with me forward into my professional future.
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Rocket Sky One-on-one training
Learning Character Animation online and why it’s Superior
training
By Garth Drake, Founder of Rocket Sky 3D Animation School
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Several years ago if you had asked me if it would be possible to learn how to animate online I would have simply said “no”. Having been a Department Head and an instructor for over a decade I just couldn’t get my head around not teaching and learning within a live, physical environment. It’s such a hands-on process when it’s done right that I couldn’t see how it would ever work sitting on a computer learning such a complicated art form online. It would take an unfortunate incident that would change my mind entirely, and my approach to teaching animation all together. While teaching at a college in a live setting in 2012, a student of mine suffered a tragedy in her family and had to leave school for over two months. She was at a relatively advanced stage in her program and missed quite a bit of material which hindered her ability to finish her demo reel; which was a short, 3D animated film. http://mc3dmag.com
I had to figure out how to help her to quickly learn the material, finish her film and ultimately graduate with her class. Before she returned, I began to create some video tutorials to learn the material so she could attempt to make up the time and catch up to her class. While making the tutorial, I recorded the lessons like I would teach them in a classroom. As I was going along I began to add notes, video reference from films and other aspects that accentuated the lessons and made them richer and richer. When she finally came back to school and began to study the material on the tutorials, we were shocked with what happened next. Within a very short period of time, she not only caught up to her classmates, she surpassed them. How? What was it about the tutorials that allowed her to learn the content so quickly and effectively compared to learning the same material in the classroom? When I asked her she said she was able to watch the lessons over and over and seemed to learn something new with every viewing, something that just isn’t possible to do while learning from live lectures. And with the constant one-on-one feedback she received, she was able to revise her work much more quickly, speeding up the process. It was more like the professional process you experience working in an animation studio.
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It was here that a bright lightbulb lit up above my head and I began to change entirely the structure and processes of my own teaching. I also realized that with this style of learning platform I could offer a program online to reach students all over the world, giving more people a chance at learning this amazing art form and a much better chance at success. I began to create Rocket Sky. Any professional animator will tell you that they learned much more in the first few months after getting their first job than the whole time they were in school. So we developed a structured system of learning that works like a professional studio; a simulated studio environment, all while attending school. A project driven, tutorial-based, mentor-style approach that develops high level skill while conditioning students for the real world. Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and star of Shark Tank said that “online learning is the future of education�. I may have been skeptical about this statement a few years ago, but after 3 years I can honestly say, he may be right. I know I would never go back and we feel great about our school leading the way as we continue to develop students all over the world at a very high level, completely online.
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#1 3D Model Creators The largest collection
Information from http://hum3d.com Since 2005, Humster3D helps 3D artists from more than 80 countries save their time and create stunning works in the field of cinema, video games and visualization. At our store, designers can find 3D models of any epoch. We offer our customers the best combination of price and quality. Humster3D studio successfully works with leaders of advertising and gaming markets. Whether you are a freelancer or an art director, our team has enough experience to help you with your deadline. http://mc3dmag.com
Quick Facts The studio was created in 2005. At the very beginning, we just wanted to draw a couple of models of classic cars for ourselves to make an animation. But we were so fascinated by the process of modeling that it was impossible to stop and now we have more than 3000 car 3D models no one has more than we have. The name of the company didn’t come up straight away and despite the common opinion this is not a misprint in the word “hamster,” but an abbreviation for the phrase “humans stereotypes” - the result of the company founder’s passion for oriental culture and philosophy. More than 50 professionals from different countries work in our company. Therefore, our company can be really called worldwide. Services: High quality 3D models, custom scenes, rigging, materials and lighting setup and more. Our team has huge experience in 3D modeling and visualization and you won’t ever find a better price and quality offer. We make 3D presentations, advertisements, architect walkthroughs and any kind of other video products with 3D models. Some of them you might see on TV.
You will find in our portfolio hundreds of successful projects for well known brands. Contact us and we will send you a proposal as quickly as we can.
Visit us at http://hum3d.com
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MC3D APP The MC3D app will be arriving by April 2017. Look for the app to get on the site http://mc3dmag. com to find: • • • • •
Magazine articles News/updates Contests & deals 3D resources Free products & discounts
And more...
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A Career in Animation Practical advice for aspiring
animators
Written by: Jim Lammers
trinity3d
A career in Animation
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This is a golden age for artists. There have never been more potential places to find work as an artist than at the present time. And it has never been as fun as it is today, for a modern digital artist or animator. So much of the drudgework is handled by the computer that you can focus your mind and creativity on the art you are creating and not cleaning brushes, cutting masks, stretching canvases, and breathing chemicals. A modern digital artist needs to have modern skills beyond being an artist, encompassing the hardware and operating system of their workstation, general understanding of the internet, email and communication, as well as mastery of the software they use to create their art. Artists are often tech averse and some view it as a cruel irony that to be part of the golden age for artists, the artist must be very computer savvy. If you have decided this might be the career for you, this article offers a few tips on learning and honing your skills and then finding a first job in the industry. http://mc3dmag.com
Pre-College Don’t wait for a school or college to teach you the heavy stuff. 3D software such as Sketchup and Blender are free, and are an excellent way to start creating 3D art. If you are still in K-12 school, you can get almost any software at a discounted “educational” price. Usually you will want to learn an image editing program like Photoshop or Affinity, a compositing/motion graphics tool like After Effects or Nuke, and a 3D program like 3ds Max or Maya. Going to college The arts are unique as a career path, in that a college degree is not a requirement. In other fields like medicine or engineering, a degree is required and also a state professional license may be required as well. So if college is not required for an animator, what good is it? Here are the primary benefits of going to a school that offers an art or animation degree: - Exclusivity – to the extent that the college is selective in who they allow to attend (and even more, who they will allow to graduate), the degree will hold some name value. - Peers and networking – you will meet people at college that may get a job before you do, and find an entry point in a field you are interested in pursuing. So your college friends are sometimes the big break that gets your career started. You’ll need to be outgoing and friendly at college for this to apply. And - willing to relocate after college. - Sometimes, rarely, a good teacher there may become your mentor and help challenge and guide your efforts to make you a better artist. - 2 to 4 years of uninterrupted study, assuming you give it serious focus, should result in some real skills and a portfolio of good work. There are two major drawbacks to college: - You give up 2 to 4 years of your life working toward an art degree, that you could be working and making money. - You will likely spend or owe a significant amount of money for tuition, books, http://mc3dmag.com
materials, room and board. If you end up choosing a different career, you will not get your money back. Self-Study If you have good self-discipline, you can develop your skills and portfolio on your own. Online training from sources like Lynda.com and digitaltutors.com can provide all the curriculum you need. Peer review of work in progress can be found at many online forums, such as cgtalk.com. Educational software is priced to make it easy for a student to afford. If a student ID is required to attain the educational software you need, you can become an official student with as little as a single class at a local community college. The portfolio Your main tool of employment is your portfolio. This is your body of work that you show off to prospective employers. The subjects and types of work included are decided upon as you go along, and it is important to actively choose what you will create during your development as an animator. Some tips on developing your portfolio: - Make sure the work is exclusively your own – rather than group projects or a sample/tutorial file that you modified and added to. - The work is not obviously classroom exercises assigned by a teacher during a course. These are usually fairly obvious to the person evaluating your portfolio. If much of the portfolio consists of quick, short, teacher assignments and studies, it will seem like the candidate has not created much on their own. In fact, you should… - Have at least one or two “great works.” That is, something you created from scratch, put a lot of thought into and that visually is obviously a large ambitious project. - Choose a variety of subjects: characters, architecture, fantasy, product visualization, realtime/game/vr, spaceships, etc. The “Expose” series of books by Ballistic publishing can provide inspiration for good and varied subjects and some beautiful digital 3D art to try to equal in quality and appeal. - If possible, speak to your efficiency. It’s January - March 2017 | MC3D | 33
very important if a project took you 10 hours versus 1000 hours. For an employer, it’s a critical multiplier of your value since you are almost always paid by the hour or by the year. The employer is usually paid by the project. So your efficiency is one of your key statistics when you seek employment. - Limit the in-person portfolio. About 6-8 great pieces of 3D art would be perfect. Always have fewer, better pieces than lots of average pieces. If you have a natural media portfolio, bring it too – about 3 or 4 of your best would be ideal. You can have an online gallery with your larger portfolio of all types of art, animation, photography and any other talents you possess. The resume Be sure to include your full work history on your resume. If you have experience at retail, food service, freelance lawn service, or any situation where someone was paying you for your services and skills, it is definitely worth listing as you apply for your first job as a professional. This is because employers prefer not to be the first ones to teach the sometimes harsh realities that are always a part of work. If you list software and your skill level, you might summarize your knowledge rather than assign a rating to it. Too many applicants list ten or more complex software products like Maya or Nuke and then assign a rating like a movie review – 4 out of 5 stars. This is often grossly exaggerated and it will come out in the interview if the truth is that there is only a shallow exposure to an application that we all know takes many years to master. A better approach might break the applications out to two categories, (A) primary tools with which you are very proficient and (B) secondary tools that you have used in a project but only know some basic areas. If you think it will help with a specific employer you can list other applications that you know they use in a (C) category that you have at least spent a few hours on it and know what it does. A Thousand Places to get Hired The first and most obvious points of call for a newly minted game art or animation creator are the big animation and game studios. If these don’t result in a job, or your location requirements 34 | MC3D | January - March 2017
limit the number of potential large studios, don’t despair. Businesses of many types have jobs or will make jobs for a person who can help them solve their problems. The problems you can help with are communicating, marketing, and visualizing. So if you search more along these lines you might find many new potential places to seek employment. A few ideas for expanding your range of potential employers: - Manufacturers – many manufacturers need ongoing marketing, training/ instruction and design visualization. Even a mid-sized manufacturer can support a full time position, if the employee is not very expensive and comes off as one that is willing to fulfill a lot of roles. And every city has dozens if not hundreds of midsized manufacturers with this need. You may be able to create your own position if you choose a firm where you can directly approach the owner and make a deal with them. - Architects and developers – mid-sized and larger firms often have enough projects going on that they can justify a full time animator, especially if that person is not very expensive and has other skills. Or expresses willingness to learn. Again, the work involved is design development (helping with inhouse idea visualization), marketing (winning new jobs by having some beautiful renders of what this firm could do for that proposal) and client or public communication (presentation via renderings and animation, rather than blueprints, what the firm has in mind for the project). - Gaming and VR developers – a growing field with many small new upstarts. - Legal and medical visualization – larger metro areas often have firms that specialize in creating courtroom graphics. They need well rounded artists and animators. - Videography and production studios – these usually have their primary business in shooting and editing live action, but there is usually a position open for a person to do motion graphics and similar work. If they can create 3D graphics too they are even more valuable.
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Keep Interviewing What do employers want to hire? Often it is boiled down to two things – can they do the work? And are they someone we can live alongside? The employer always seems to be in a dominant position relative to the applicant. The employer is usually older, has the big desk, and is the one offering to pay the money. But the truth is that it is much more equitable: two parties that are seeking a mutually beneficial arrangement, talking and investigating enough to be able to take the chance with the other party that it might work. For both sides it is a big gamble: Bad bets usually consume many weeks of time and startup costs for both parties. Everyone wants it to be a good fit. So take time and ask questions to make sure you have a good feel for the “personality” of the company (which usually flows from the attitude and character of the owners or top brass) so that you don’t make a bad bet. Also, both sides should be putting on their best first impression for the other party. Both sides know that this is probably as good as the other party will ever act. So, both parties should dress and groom well, listen attentively and speak in firm clear sentences. They should let their personality through and be as positive as possible. Finally, if the job interview does not result in a job, remember that you are not being evaluated as a human being. The applicant is evaluated only with respect to the value they might bring now and in the immediate future, versus other candidates who have or will interview for the same position. If you are passed over for a particular position, it is not an evaluation of you as a human being or even as an animator. It only means that, at that moment, the employer decided to take the gamble on a different candidate for their immediate needs, based on their best guess. Jim Lammers works for Trinity Animation - a popular studio for architectural rendering.
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Marvelous Designer Create realistic cothing
design
Who we are:
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Based upon 3D Fashion Design Technology, which is faster and more sophisticated, CLO Virtual Fashion Inc. has developed two Softwares called CLO3D and Marvelous Designer. It has been a dream for those who are in the fashion industry to design clothing virtually with 3D technology for a long time. CLO3D is a powerful solution that offers the opportunities to design custom clothing for the fashion designer by using computer based technology, just like car designers and architects. The other software, Marvelous Designer, also provides Computer Graphic artists with the solution that is much faster and easier than using other 3D software to create realistic 3D clothing for movies, commercials, etc. With our technology, we expect that anyone who wants to design clothing, whether for modeling or cinematic productions, can create their own design easily. In this article, we will take a look at what can be done with the Marvelous Designer software. http://mc3dmag.com
Lady lying on Sofa Seungmin Kim- Lead 3D Artist in NAT GAMES My name is Seungmin Kim and I work at NAT GAMES as a Lead 3D artist. I have been involved in the game industry for several years now. From my experience, Marvelous Designer is completely user friendly and I believe anyone can quickly get used to its interface and pattern making tools. Probably many of CG artists agree that the most challenging part in terms of creating 3D clothes for character is how realistic of details such as folds and pleats you can create.
To create Cushions and sofa, I applied pressure on fabric of cushion to make it inflated. Piping is recommended to speed up your workflow by creating piping to the seamlines of the 3D clothes.
This is my first artwork that Marvelous Designer was used in throughout production for the character’s clothes. I have realized it is extremely important to make patterns in a proper way in order to create realistic wrinkles. The more reference images you have before getting into 3D clothes modeling, the more creative works you would be able to be created. For reference, I tried gathering as many similar images that I as I could from Google to create what I was looking to create.
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The highlighted materials in yellow were created by Marvelous Designer. I am certainly sure to recommend it to everyone as it is such a perfect software, meeting all my requirements for fabric details. It is very useful in contrast to poly modeling or sculpting. I managed to make the wrinkles in the clothes look very realistic on the avatar in different poses. Due to the advantages of Marvelous Designer, I have learned that Morph Target wasn’t the only solution to resolve the difficulty of creating wrinkles. Marvelous Designer is the best tool I have ever experience for modeling. With using bone and joint in the default avatar provided or tack on avatar in the software, it was easy for me to have wrinkles on clothes in different poses. No other software should ever be compared to Marvelous Designer.
I am definitely sure once you get familiar with patterns, it saves so much of your time. It’s perfectly good to create folds in Scarf and Skirt. Furthermore, the most amazing thing for me is I can actually add more materials to the fabric in a controlled way that makes it easier to create realistic cloth simulation.
(Tianyu) Online MMORPG – NetEase Pangu Studio Marvelous Designer was also helpful for me to create 3D clothes for the character in (tianyu), an Online MMORPG character from NetEase pangu studio. Since I got used to Marvelous Designer, I couldn’t stop using it to avoid time consuming on 3dsMax.
The biggest advantage of Marvelous Designer is being able to simulate 3D clothes in real time with wind to see how they might look in simulated base motion and pose. It has definitely become the standard in both industries when creating clothing for our characters and it’s easy to see why. With Marvelous Designer you can design in 2D and it can be reflected directly in 3D to see some changes. This has broken down many barriers in terms of 3D clothes modeling!! It represents a tremendous savings in time of creative production. I have tried other similar programs but I don’t feel too comfortable with them anymore.
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Welcome to Paradise 3D Animation
project
Information provided by: Alex BarĂł Cayetano
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The story is about a little humanoid named Eggs, who is working to keep B4-CON (bacon) operating while they walk in a never ending environment. He is lost, but he does not know it. He is greedy and selfish, constantly in need of entertainment and will do anything to ensure he gets it. The idea was born a year before starting the preproduction. I remember looking at random concept art online and seeing these amazing robot silhouettes from the artist Gennaro Grazioso. Instantly I tried to imagine a backstory for these giant mechs and started writing it down. In no time, the four of us were refining the idea and coming out with new concepts and designs. We clearly remember how difficult it was to make up our minds about the ending, characters and plot. Friends and lecturers were giving us different opinions and at the end we decided to stick to what we really wanted to make. The film was made by mainly four people. Veronika Epsteina, AmĂŠlie Talarmain, Simeon Ganev and myself, Alex BarĂł Cayetano. But aside from us we got help from some other talented people, all named in our website. We all studied the same degree at the http://mc3dmag.com
University of Hertfordshire and joined together to make Welcome to Paradise our final year film. We all come from different countries (Sweden, France, Britain and Spain) and had different ideas to bring together. SYNOPSIS Our film opens with a scene of paradise; sunny beach, palm trees, open sea etc. As the scene goes on, we quickly realise that this vision of pure bliss is actually an advert with the words “Welcome to Paradise!” Stamped across it. The advert glitches out and we see that it’s being broadcasted on an old school 70’s style television. The TV is found to be on the front of a huge, 20 foot, rusting robot. Which in turn is being dragged through a wasteland by a very small humanoid type character. This wasteland is vast and dead - no life - with black, coal like rocks covering its expanse. As the robot is being dragged through the wasteland we see that it starts to shake and eventually breakdown. The humanoid tries his best to pull the robot to go again but it just won’t budge. Clearly annoyed that this has happened, the humanoid walks up to the broken down robot and gives it a good kick. As a result a ladder drops from the back of the robot. The humanoid huffs as if he’s done this before and walks around to climb up the ladder. Once up the ladder, we see a valve on the back of the robot. The humanoid struggles, but eventually opens the valve to reveal a smoking black ball floating inside. He picks up the ball, taps it and throws it over his shoulder. He then opens his side satchel and rummages around until he pulls out a life-filled planet hovering just above
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his hand, a moment of serenity and peace engulfs us. This planet is quickly grabbed and forced into the robot, valve door slammed and kicked in and the valve turned tight again. The humanoid comes down from the robot as it starts to reboot, tugs the robot and encourages it come as they walk off into the distant wasteland again. The Meaning Welcome to Paradise is an allegory that refers to Eggs perfect world. He lives in his reality which is no more than what he sees and hears on his multiple TVs and radios. For him, paradise does not have the meaning as the general audience. He cannot go beyond those televisions, not even aware of the meaning of advert selling a vacation resort. For him, the ad is everything. Opening with that would bring a big contrast between that we see on TV and Eggs and Bacon’s world, which is a wasteland. Eggs represents us, the human being, consumers of society. Bacon, in contrast, represents the big entertainment industry we have created and we will create whatever it takes to make sure it keeps running.
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distribution 46 | MC3D | January - March 2017
Distribution for the independent artist
The landscape of film distribution has been changing rapidly, moving from the traditional networks to various online and mobile platforms that have the ability to reach a global audience. However, the need for flexibility and control is a growing attraction for the independent filmmaker when considering distribution options for their film or series. Unlike the days of old, filmmakers are looking to maintain their rights and control over their work. The good news is; in this modern age, as things continue to rapidly change in the industry, there are many options available to choose from. The goal of distribution is to reach an audience. Cord cutting services have been growing, allowing a potential audience to stream entertainment when they want it, on any device they want, customized to how they want to view it. With mobile technology http://mc3dmag.com
becoming faster and services allowing greater ability for media streaming, mobile options are being sought out. This demand in the entertainment industry benefits the independent creator by opening up new audience bases, as well as new streams of income. TVtibi: Ready, Set, Sync! launched TVtibi in June of 2015, as the world’s first global a-la-carte video platform. With both live channel and video on demand offerings, TVtibi gives consumers control over what they watch and what they spend, offering individually purchased channels, series, episodes and movies. Much of the content is free, including live college sports that can be streamed each week.
TVtibi is now streaming in over 114 countries and accepts more than sixty currencies through its media application. The audience number is expected to grow as the system exits the beta phase. Up until now, the service has been offered through the Windows Store to Windows 8.1 and higher operating systems, while moving toward the goal of all mobile and desktop platforms.
The system has recently moved from Windows only operating systems, to beta testing on multiple platforms in 2016, such as IOS and Android mobile apps. Although still in a beta phase, this boosts the potential audience reach for content creators. Distribution: TVtibi caters heaviy to the independent filmmaker. Although they plan to have larger projects streaming in the future, it’s the independent content creators who are being actively sought out and offering generous 50/50 profit sharing. All types of video and genres are accepted, including movies, shows, shorts, documentaries, etc., both live-action and animation. Your content can be sold, rented, or streamed free. If a filmmaker has a lot of content, whether their own projects or rights obtained through third parties, it’s also possible to set up a channel. Although individual projects are needed and necessary, TVtibi has the ability to also host channels.
These channels can be free channels paid for through ad revenue (great to develop a large audience), or paid channels, allowing a consumer to enjoy the channel content on a daily, weekly, or monthly bases, depending on the providers preferences. If you operate a live stream network, the system can accommodate that was well, as it does with the weekly college sports that are streamed live. TVtibi is designed to allow flexibility, not only for the end consumer, but for the independent filmmaker as well. Visit TVtibi at http://tvtibi.com
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3D Props, Sets & Vehicles Creating our worlds
Written by: Sebastian Govender From TruForm on Renderosity
truform
Good Blueprints
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When it comes to creating cars, the first thing that’s needed is a good blueprint - a picture of the car from the front, side (left or right), top and back. The more detailed the blueprint, the more accurate the model. Unfortunately not every car has one and those that do don’t always have a proper one, meaning the blueprint was made out of photos of a car or from 3D models that others have made. The problem with this is that photos and renders add perspective whereas original blueprints are flat drawings of the car. Perspective may be ultimately more appealing, but when it comes to modeling this is not ideal! Initially, flat drawings are the best basis for car modeling when you’re trying to get your basic shape in place. At the same time, blueprints which are flattened from perspective shouldn’t be followed 100% accurately as sometimes there are parts that won’t line up; i.e., the peak of rear view mirror may be lower in the front view of the blueprint than from the side view. So, when dealing with blueprints, you shouldn’t leave your own creativity at the door and follow the blueprint to the tee, but instead consider it as a guide and let your eyes direct you as to what http://mc3dmag.com
is the best way to go. It goes without saying that you should also find various angled photos of what it is that you’re trying to build so you have a good idea of the appearance of what you’re trying to create.
Blueprint setup Once I’ve gotten a blueprint that I find acceptable, the next step is to set up multiple views with the 3D program, in my case Blender 3D. I split the view into 4 sections as per the blueprint and arrange the views spacing as each view requires it. Top view begins on the left which has a nice vertical length to get the whole area visible; side view goes at the bottom right with long a horizontal view and front/back view sharing the space above the side view in an almost square size window. A final step to the blueprint setup is to add a plane to the front of the car and back so I can see where the car’s front and back is in 3D space. That way I know how to align the top view with the side view because I know where the ends of the car are. Once they are aligned, I delete the planes that I temporarily made. Also important is to be sure that the blueprint is at the center of the world in 3D space otherwise modeling on the blueprint will become a nightmare.
are added to refine the shape, I find it’s going to be problematic because if you add a new edge loop when you’re working on the hood you’re essentially going to add a line for the roof and then again the boot is going to have that new line. This is true for underneath the car as well because the edge loop creates a complete cut that loops until it reaches back to the original point. So you’ve created so much more geometry for other parts when all you needed was an extra edge loop for the hood only. Hence one piece at a time is my workflow. Typically I start with the hood using a plane and work my way from there, extruding until I have the general shape. I also add 2 modifiers - a mirror modifier and a subsurface division in that order. One is to copy what I do on the one side (because cars are symmetrical of course) and the other is so that I can create with little geometry and let the software increase the detail virtually. At this early stage in modeling there doesn’t have to be a lot of geometry for all the tiny details because it’s easier to maneuver a few vertices to correct something than to have a ton of correcting to do. Also, moving vertices around are bound to happen because what looks right in one view may not be right in another and so moving them few around is faster, plus it’ll avoid having ‘bumps’ in the final design. It’s also important to look at all blueprint views while working to make sure the shape is being followed properly.
Modeling Process To begin the building process I like to start from one point, in the form of a plane object, and expand from there. I’ve seen tutorials where one begins with the general shape and then refines the object until it becomes shaped (known as box modeling), but this isn’t my process. While it’s seemingly easier to start with a cube that encompasses the entire car and then loop cuts http://mc3dmag.com
So from the hood I work toward the front of the car and side fenders surrounding the front tires. It’s a habit of mine to finish the main or ‘featured’ detail when I model because not only do I cover the harder parts first it also looks as though I’ve made a lot more progress than if I started with the doors. Once I’ve done the front area and work to the side I have the placement for the tires so I leave the base of the car object and start a new January - March 2017 | MC3D | 51
object for the tire. Typically I only separate objects when they need to be an independent object, like the tires. The entire car body I leave as one object initially because sometimes I need to move sections together which won’t be easy if, say, the hood and side fenders were two different objects that needed adjusting. With the tires I use a circle as my obvious choice to begin but the amount of vertices in the circle will always be determined by how many spokes there are. Drawing a little sketch of the rim helps in finding out how many vertices are needed because I can draw the dots to show where vertices need to be. All the spokes are modeled at once because of the kaleidoscope pattern they form; a mirror modifier will not line up very well in this case. Then I start outward and extrude inward until I reach the center. After the rim is made I add the tire around it which often has fewer vertexes in its circle than the rim because there’s no complicated detail. And yes, I create the tire grooves in a texture rather than physically modeling it as the tread depth isn’t that deep… unless you’re making a monster truck. The tires are then link duplicated, meaning they share the same geometry source but are different objects in case later edits are needed, and place them in their positions. The car at this point will still have a paper-like appearance where the various parts meet (like hood, fenders, doors and boot) because just the outside is modeled. It’s kind of like demoing the geometry flow to make sure it looks good in their own individual parts and in their connection to each other. Loop cuts are added where one connection point between these different parts have detail that the other part lacks. Sometimes geometry is deleted and created differently if I see there’s a better way to make it flow, or simply because there are kinks in the model that won’t come out just by rearranging vertices. When this process is done then I extrude the edges of the model inward to give it some depth to remove the paper look. I could also extrude the entire geometry to give it thickness but that will be unnecessary detail that will never be seen and the renderer will still need to calculate that, except when it comes to parts that open which is where thickness is required. The windows on the other hand have both the inward and outward areas visible so I use a modifier to create a virtual thickness. That way I have the flexibility of adjusting how thick the window will become and still have less work to do if the window shape 52 | MC3D | January - March 2017
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needs adjusting. When the external body shape is mostly in place I separate parts that will open, i.e., car doors, bonnet, boot, etc. This makes it easier for me to look inside and create the interior because I can hide the blocking parts that are now separate. Interiors are mostly done by eye because blueprints don’t cover the inside of the car. Some do, but it’ll most likely just be the seats and steering wheel and won’t be that much detailed, more like an outline. Plenty of photo references helps and some imagination. I especially find car reviews to be helpful because the reviewer often times takes a camera into the smaller unseen areas that photos miss and it allows you to get a better sense of the texture detail you’ll need.
Texturing I have a standard material setup for the external car body which works for most car paint jobs. Sometimes a bit of adjustments are needed for colors like chrome or white but they’ll still use the same setup. UV unwrapping for image textures are fairly straightforward, sometimes seams need to be created for parts such as the seats but buttons on the dashboard will mostly just require a projection from the view that looks head-on to it.
rather believability. If I take a few core concepts of engines and the basic parts people will look out for then the rest is secondary, which means I can make up the pipes direction and what they connect to and it’ll be accepted. Lighting & Rendering And of course when it comes to showing off the final look in rendering I commonly resort to the photography way of product advertising: 3 point lighting and an infinity curve. The curve makes the background seem as though the ground continues seamlessly and the lighting setup allows the car to not only be lit but also separated from the background with what’s known as a rim light to draw more attention to it. Also, because of the reflective nature of cars, adding an HDRI background adds a layer of realism by faking an environment. Depending on how the car looks, I can either go for a dramatic lighting that has some dark areas in the render to make it more striking, or take a lighter approach by filling the entire scene with light so that it appears more fun. There are no fixed rules in car making but there are a few tips that can make it less of a trial and more pleasant to create. These I have picked up by observing others process as well as my own process learned with time and experience. In the end it’s not only about creating something but having fun while doing it.
Final Detail In the final stages of designing, I look for extra detail I might have missed earlier which can be something as simple as a sphere inside the car lights to act as a light emissive object, or a missing door handle. I handle the engine last most of the time. Engines vary greatly in car models so that it becomes hard to see the extent of the proper design, so this is where I take advantage of a great 3D principle: It’s not about accuracy but http://mc3dmag.com
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Two Worlds Short Film
Brief synopsis: Snibb is a stranded and lonely character, but not by choice. He has been marooned on a desolate planet where he struggles to utilize his weak and failing satellite link to attempt daily distress beacons for rescue. Through fate, he may have a way out. Finding hope in the bleakest of moments. Two Worlds is a 3D animated short film created by Andy Lefton that has evolved over 5 years. The story is about two opposites coming together out of necessity and finding hope at the end of the world. Link to the film: http://twoworldsfilm.com http://andylefton.com
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Bio: Andy Lefton is an award winning 3D/VFX artist and film maker with over 12 years in the industry. Based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Andy has worn many hats, from artist to producer to creative director.
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MavCore Media is moving into the next phase of it’s operation. News Pros, which is a 13 episode animated sitcom that has been developed and written, including an interactive card game that goes with it, will start as a comic series. The series is currenty bringing on sponsors and is scheduled to start production by April, 2017, with the card game launching in August of 2017. The animated series, at this time, has no definate aunch date, but we are aiming to start pre-prodution by mid to late fall, 2017. The graphic sitcom: News Pros as a comic series will be longer than your average comic, much like a graphic novel, which is why it’s called a graphic sitcom. The publication will be presented in a sitcom format with a cold open, acts 1,2,3, and ending. A reader will know it’s a sitcom. http://mc3dmag.com
About the show/comic: It’s a small town news studio with the most unprofessional “professionals” in the business, where the short filler broadcast is more entertainment than serious news. The news, which is compiled by unpaid interns, is delivered by Rod Fritz, a narcissistic news anchor who lacks internal filters while on air, along with the field reporter, Kate, who is a severe germaphobe. With the weather being delivered by the handyman and the untalented camera guys thinking they can produce “interesting” news, it’s a setting for a chaotic debacle. The corporate owners, who are making money off the chaos, keep the studio underfunded and staffed with unqualified personnel to capitalize on the entertainment value with DVD’s, t-shirts, and even action figures, while letting the crew, particularly Rod, believe they are news pros.
The comic series, as a “graphic sitcom,” will open up new areas in 3D entertainment, as a sitcom format is not commonly done on comic platforms. Launching the series in three stages in different formats helps the series reach a wider audience. • Comic - This reaches an audience through publication platforms, such as Amazon. • Animation - The future animated series will be distributed through global distribution, reaching new audiences on platforms such as Akymen tv and Tvtibi. • Card Game - This makes the show itself interactive and more engaging overall. These three separate products will help offer stability and longevity to the series, reaching an audience base that just one product could not reach on its own.
Card game image concept: For future updates: http://news-pros.com
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