Table of contents for July 2017 in 3D World

SAVE UP TO 47% When you sign up to a print subscription – turn the page. If you want to work in games, then turn to page 30 for our insight from the pros behind Cloud Imperium Games’ Star Citizen and Ninja Theory’s Hellblade. They talk us through the technology they’re using, and the artist behind our exclusive cover art tells us how it came together for 3D World. Enjoy! amy.hennessey@futurenet.com…

ARTIST Alvaro Claver SOFTWARE Maya, Photoshop, Mari, V-Ray, Nuke, Premiere Artist Alvaro Claver created Apex the Robot over four months, putting into practise the skills he learned from training with one of the world’s best texture artists, Justin Holt. “I was looking for a piece for my demo reel when I saw this beautiful sculpture on a website,” says the 3D artist. The piece was based on artwork by Dan Jones, and Alvaro flew to California to realise the collaboration. Alvaro pinpoints learning how to texture in Mari as the most challenging part of the project, but says that it was also very rewarding. “There is nothing you can’t do, combining [textures] with good, proper masks and baked maps,” he says. “My workflow involved creating multiple channels for every material…

Making a genetically modified racoon was no easy task for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 even when utilising the same visual effects vendor from the original movie. “We asked Framestore to redesign Rocket almost from the ground up,” remarks Marvel Studios VFX supervisor Christopher Townsend. “We wanted him to look and feel like the same character but I also sought to induce another whole level of reality to make him a more believable living creature.” A major focus was improving the articulation and enunciation of Rocket to make it feel like the voice of Bradley Cooper’s is coming out of him. “What was done in the first film was tremendous but we’re nearly two or three years further on in the process in terms of technology and artistry. There…

Last year, Ninja Theory wowed audiences at GDC and SIGGRAPH with demos of its upcoming action video game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which showcased incredible real-time motion capture technology. The project, a collaborative effort between multiple companies including Epic Games, 3Lateral, Cubic Motion and IKinema, blew people away. “We showed the world that game engine technology isn’t just about making pretty pictures akin to what you’d see in a modern visual effects movie, but that it gives you a wealth of creative possibilities that enable you to do live performance,” says Kim Libreri, CTO at Epic Games. GAME-CHANGER From a creative point of view, this real-time technology is hugely exciting. But it also presents time- and cost-saving possibilities that make it even more appealing. Whereas a traditional games workflow involves shooting…

Shirley Rodriguez, USA ARTIST Q&A Practical tips and tutorials from pro artists to improve your CG skills Paul Hatton Paul leads a studio of visualisers based in the UK. He delivers a host of projects including video and interactive environments. www.cadesignservices.co.uk Rafael Duffie Rafael is a designer, digital sculptor and a CG generalist with over 15 years’ experience. He specialises in design and modelling. www.rafaelduffie.com Pietro Chiovaro Pietro is an Italian 3D artist, who creates 3D assets and environments, and is currently working on an open-source game. www.bit.ly/PietroChiovaro Francis-Xavier Martins Francis-Xavier is a character artist and CG generalist based in Brighton, with over a decade of experience in videogames, media and TV. www.polyjunky.com Syawish A Rehman A motion graphics and VFX artist from Pakistan with nine years’ experience, Syawish loves…

CLICK TO PLAY VIDEO www.bit.ly/222-Maya1 01 CREATE AN EMITTER In Maya, change the module to FX. You’ll notice the menu bar changing. Go to nParticles. Roughly halfway across the drop-down menu, you’ll find a Create Emitter button. By default, the emitter generates colourful balls. They’re the only type of built-in geometry that Arnold can render at the moment. Play with the particles in the nParticleShape node. 02 CUSTOMISING THE PARTICLES By default, Maya generates three nodes: Emitter (which is the emitter node), nParticleShape (which is the shape node for the particles), Nucleus (which is the physics node of sorts). You can set up a ground plane, which is infinite in size in any axis you set it, using the Nucleus node. You can also play with the physics of the…

Over the last two years, Technicolor animated Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – which was launched earlier this year – with Japanese video game developer and publisher Capcom in Osaka. “This title is probably the biggest and most successful virtual reality title to date,” says Owen. “It’s a funny story, but for 18 months of the two years we animated on Resident Evil 7, not only did we not know what the project was – we work under serious confidentiality and code names – we also did not know we were working on a game with a virtual reality option!” The work saw the team produce more than 1,500 files, averaging 12 animators over 3,195 man-days for an immersive three hours of gameplay. “[There was] a lot of ingame character and…

PRICE £805 | COMPANY Blackmagic Design | WEBSITE www.blackmagicdesign.com AUTHOR PROFILE Rob Redman Rob is creative director at a boutique VFX and animation studio, working across film, TV and print. He is often found presenting at industry events from FMX to THU TV. www.pariahstudios.co.uk FEATURES USB powered Weighted trackballs and rings Dedicated buttons, including transport controls Lit button labels Viewer switching Colour grading is one task where you feel the strain of the input device. Specialist software tools, such as colour wheels, can benefit hugely from a dedicated control surface to reduce the repetitive motions you make with a mouse or tablet. With this in mind, Blackmagic Design has crafted the DaVinci Micro Panel. It’s obvious at first glance that this is a precision tool, made from high-quality materials and…

Sean Puller Sean quit his job as an engineer and has taught himself everything 3D. On page 50 he shares his knowledge on how to make responsive snow scenes. www.bit.ly/222-seanp Jake Woodruff Jake is an environment artist for Playground Games in the UK. On page 44 he shares his tips and techniques for making faster foliage in Speedtree. www.bit.ly/222jake Alex Senechal Alex is a freelance concept designer who works as an environment artist at 343 Industries. On page 56 he explains how to build a weapon in 3ds Max. www.bit.ly/AlexSenechal Zeno Pelgrims Zeno is a lighting artist in the feature animation industry and founder of shaders.xyz, a shading website. He shares his shading skills on page 62. www.zenopelgrims.com Stefano Dubay Stefano is an Italian 3D artist with a focus on…

After Groot sacrificed himself to save his friends, Rocket brought him back to life by planting a twig that displayed some serious dance moves. Baby Groot features in several scenes, which posed many creative and technical challenges. “How do you make a young sapling look in character relative to the old tree Groot from the first film?” asks Marvel Studios VFX supervisor Christopher Townsend. “How do you make him move and animate in a way where it doesn’t look like stretchy wood? We found after extensive testing that keeping things simple was the best and least creepy way. Baby Groot was inspired by a two or three-year-old toddler but he is an alien wooden character. I was always pushing against anything where we went too anthropomorphic. I was always saying,…

1 PORTFOLIO IS KING “Specifically, the first 10 per cent of it,” says Nathan. “Don’t be in the habit of thinking that quantity makes quality because it doesn’t. In fact, it’s usually the opposite.” “Only show your best stuff. You will be judged by your weakest piece on your reel/ site,” says Josh. 2 TRY TO FIND YOUR NICHE “There’s no point in applying to Blizzard if all you want to do is make something that’s the complete polar opposite,” says Nathan. “Because ultimately, you’ll get there and be unhappy and that’s not cool. If you want to make fantasy-type games, go and work for Blizzard. If you want to make space games, come and work for us. It’s very straightforward. Always try to focus your portfolio on that.” Josh…

TUTORIALS Practical tips and tutorials from pro artists to improve your CG skills AUTHOR Sean Puller Sean quit his job as an engineer and has taught himself everything 3D. He is currently working on VR tool development for films. www.bit.ly/222-seanp Realism is important when it comes to the effects in video games. Uncanny valley doesn’t just apply to character models, it applies to effects as well. If a character running across the snow doesn’t leave footprints, or if they throw another character to the ground and an imprint isn’t left, the player will get an Uncanny Valley response. This reminds them that what they are looking at isn’t real and it prevents them from becoming fully immersed in both the game’s story and its world. After reading a GDC presentation…

AUTHOR Zeno Pelgrims Zeno is a lighting artist in the feature animation industry and founder of shaders.xyz, a shading community website. He’s probably waiting for uncompleted render buckets now. www.zenopelgrims.com When I saw Andy Estrada’s line work drawing, I got insanely inspired to make a 3D interpretation of it. It lit a spark in my mind. This happens to me when I get my own great idea or when I see someone else’s work. The image reminded me of my own childhood – being completely engulfed by fascinating things, without any worries. You don’t realise it at the time, but these are some of the purest moments of your life. The image also contains a message to all parents: remember that when you come home from a night out and…

Rafael Duffie replies When it comes to presentation rendering, you can render out all of the elements you need in ZBrush, without really leaving the software. I often use ZBrush and just a handful of other programs to accomplish this, which is a great time-saver as you don’t have to extract normal maps or subdivide, you can just show the high-res sculpt in its full glory. However, if you do want the character to move for some reason, then using this workflow may not be so useful. In this tutorial, accompanied by a time-lapsed video series, I will go over my entire process of creating characters for presentation. I’ll create a fully sculpted character in ZBrush, use Marvelous Designer to come up with a quick dynamic cloth simulation, and then…

PRICE £132-£980 | COMPANY Chaos Group | WEBSITE www.chaosgroup.com/phoenix-fd/maya AUTHOR PROFILE Antony Ward Antony is creative director of antCGi Ltd. With over two decades’ experience in digital media, he has worked for many top studios and written three technical manuals. www.antcgi.com FEATURES Fast and more realistic liquid solver Quick presets: New toolbar with presets Optimised volume rendering Improved Fire and Smoke solver Force controls: Art direct and control simulations INDIE BENEFITS WHO IS PHOENIX FD FOR? While simulations are a specialised area, many artists find that they will need to dabble in a variety of liquid, fire, smoke and such like. Freelancers are a prime example, as are smaller studios. These users in particular will find Phoenix FD a useful addition to their pipeline. C haos Group’s user-friendly particle simulation…

ARTIST Akin Adekile SOFTWARE 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, SpeedTree, Photoshop, Marvelous Designer, Mari, Nuke This sci-fi landscape was inspired by artist Akin Adekile’s Nigerian roots, and took him just under three weeks to complete. “I started off with a concept that I painted in Photoshop,” says the Gnomon graduate, who’s currently freelancing with studios including Method Studios. “My favourite part was when I put my image into Nuke and Photoshop,” says Akin, because “I was able to take advantage of the render passes, adjust the brightness and contrast, and add additional textures and effects.” Akin says his biggest challenge was scene management: “When you’re dealing with so many assets, you have to get good at organising. All those trees and vegetation can slow my machine down, but this was alleviated by…

Filmmaker James Gunn (Super) faces high expectations as he is reunited with a band of intergalactic criminals that includes a gun-toting sarcastic racoon, an anthropomorphic tree with a limited vocabulary, and a renegade half-human on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This time around the story focuses on Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) uncovering the identity of his father and with the help of his misfit friends, saving the universe from an evil and genetically perfected High Priestess. With all of the action taking place in outer space, a key member of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was Marvel Studios VFX supervisor Christopher Townsend who previously worked on Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man 3, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. “The first [Guardians of the Galaxy film] was about…

“We really wanted to show off some of Star Citizen’s alien races in the Banu, Vanduul and Xi’an,” says Cloud Imperium Games character art director Josh Herman. “These have been worked on for a long time and recently we have been updating them all as we get them ready for production. The older designs had good direction but needed more explorations and to be brought to a more resolved level. “The Xi’an (front-right) are our most recent update, so we’re proud to be showing them off to all of our fans and look forward to getting them into the game soon.” 01 CONCEPT SCULPTS We went with a 3D rendered image for this image, so we needed to make a couple of costumes to go along with the aliens. We…

CLICK TO PLAY VIDEO www.bit.ly/222-Zbrush1 01 DYNAMESH BLOCKOUT For this step, use DynaMesh with large shapes. Reuse the same subtool to make the different parts of the body. I make the head shape, then make a new DynaMesh tool for the torso. Make the pelvis from the torso. I readjust the mesh and clip off edges to make the shape. For the arms and legs, make another DynaMesh subtool (a cylinder), reshape it into an arm and do the same for the legs. 02 SCULPT DETAIL For this step, use alphas to sculpt the base level of detail. Try to keep the alpha size proportionate to the scale of the character. Don’t drag out the alphas too much. This will make the detail look unrealistic and not to scale. Also,…

W ith a century of entertainment inventions under its belt, Technicolor is at the cutting edge of digital innovation. The company’s world-class research and innovation laboratories enable it to lead the market in delivering advanced video services to content creators and distributors worldwide. “We work with many of the top game developers in the world, in engine, and with a broad suite of software tools, creating and animating characters, building the worlds they inhabit, creating cinematics, lighting, creating FX… we essentially operate as an extension of the developers’ in-house teams,” explains Owen Hurley, VP of Technicolor’s Animation and Games, the arm of the group that focuses on the creative needs for the DCC industry. Over the years, Technicolor has collaborated with many of the leading game developers and its work can…

AUTHOR PROFILE Cirstyn Bech-Yagher Cirstyn is a freelance CG artist and educator, with over 15 years’ experience in 3D. Her clients have ranged from AMD to Daz 3D and Future. She is currently collaborating with AMD as technical artist for Radeon ProRender for 3ds Max. www.twitter.com/cirstyn FEATURES Adaptive Lighting Massive GPU overhaul On-demand MIP-mapping Interactive Production Renderer New shaders: MDL, Glossy Fresnel, alSurface SPEEDING AHEAD NEED KETCHUP A lot of us have cracked jokes about V-Ray’s speed over the years. I think we need to eat our words now, because 3.5 for Max is blistering fast, even on low-end cards. I started wondering where the ketchup was when I saw one adaptive lighting scene had taken three minutes to render on a 970 GTX. Seemingly everybody from Allegorithmic to Chaos…