Table of contents for Christmas 2020 in 3D World

A fond childhood memory for Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) is of her late mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) recounting Chinese folktales, in particular of the goddess Chang’e (Phillipa Soo) who drinks the elixir of immortality and is transported to the Moon where she is eternally separated from her husband. A personal crisis arises when the adolescent learns that her father (John Cho) is going to remarry, and she decides to prove to him that the lunar deity is fact not fiction. Despite his feature directorial debut Over The Moon being CG, legendary animator Glen Keane has not left behind working in 2D and with low-tech tools. “For me, the pencil is an extension of me,” he says. “It is a design element and the simplest instrument. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.…

Reviews for the lighting department at Animal Logic are unique, with diagnostic information presented alongside a breakdown of the final output. This allows for specific feedback and subtle changes to be made on a single light, which is extremely helpful when artists can have up to 50 lights on an interior shot. During a lighting review, supervisors and leads will look at all the information on the screen to provide specific feedback to the artist. They will examine each component and use this information to suggest ways to improve the shot. Here are the different parts of the lighting diagnostic that supervisors and leads will consider while reviewing the lighting (see Peter Rabbit shot above): 1. Direct light contribution 2. Indirect light contribution 3, 4 & 5. Heatmaps that indicate…

In Issue 265 we designed a large mechanical spider that looked like a JCB from the future. This month is all about futuristic weaponry and I decided to augment the mech we built with some rocket launchers and a couple of powerful arms loaded with munitions. I will often get a job where I have to design the same character or vehicle but give it different add-ons or enhancements. This vehicle/mech will go from a basic loading machine to something a little more sinister and ready for action in the future. We can use the same Gravity Sketch core tools including the older spline-based tools and some of the newer features, like subdivision modelling and things like the revolve tool for the rockets. I will make the base model available…

The idea behind an external GPU (eGPU) is straightforward. Take any desktop graphics card, capable of delivering the kind of performance needed to run professional 3D applications, and put it into an external enclosure connected to a PC, rather than housed inside a tower chassis or shrunk down to fit into a laptop. It offers the freedom to use 3D software on devices where the option for powerful graphics hardware otherwise doesn’t exist. An obvious candidate is small mini-ITX PCs or the Mac mini, which usually have a decent CPU and plenty of memory but rely on Intel’s relatively weedy integrated graphics hardware, which definitely isn’t suitable for high-end graphics tasks. But it’s absolutely perfect for thin laptops that rely on puny graphics integrated into the CPU. An eGPU enclosure…

PRICE £95 (Indie licence) | COMPANY Lightmap | WEBSITE www.lightmap.co.uk Lighting is a task that takes a particular set of skills and experience to master, but HDR Light Studio is a tool that allows even the novice to produce fantastic-looking renders, using whichever pipeline they prefer. The premise is a simple one, in that all you need to do is load a model into HDR Light Studio and then use a set of simple-to-use tools to add, position, and tweak assorted lights and properties. The software ships with a handful of preset models, including a car, which is an excellent way of working your way around the application. With the model loaded into the scene, you are presented with a main render view, a light dome view, which is flattened,…

Follow the link to download your free files bit.ly/3DWorld-synthwave MODELS + TEXTURES FREE ASSET DOWNLOADS Download a set of fantastic textures from and build your own asset library with these incredible food-themed models from in our monthly model and texture giveaway. VIDEO & HIGH-RES SCREEN GRABS BUILD VR WEAPONS Glen Southern shows you his process for building hard-surface models in Gravity Sketch. VIDEO & HIGH-RES SCREEN GRABS Q&A Our expert panel is back to answer your CG woes. Get the high-res screens and video here. ISSUE 268 NEXT MONTH Next issue is our Blender special, with tips, insights & expert training ON SALE 1ST DECEMBER Subscribe today: www.bit.ly/3dworld-subs…

Orestis Bastounis Orestis puts the best eGPU units through their paces to help you decide which option is best for adding heavy-duty rendering capabilities to your system. Trevor Hogg 3D World regular and industry writer Trevor Hogg explores the production secrets behind the creation of Netflix’s Over The Moon. Glen Southern CG veteran Glen Southern returns this issue to bring you a detailed step-by-step tutorial on creating hard-surface poly models in Gravity Sketch. WEBSITE 3dworld.creativebloq.com FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/3dworldmagazine INSTAGRAM @3DWorldMag TWITTER @3DWorldMag…

In recent years, Animal Logic has been called on to produce visual effects and animation ranging from things as diverse as brick-based LEGO characters and environments to furry photoreal rabbits – and many elements in between. Just about anything might be needed for the studio’s projects, which is why Animal Logic has invested significant time and resources in its visual effects and animation pipeline. This includes FX and lighting, two very critical areas that have undergone lengthy development over the past few projects. In 3D World’s newest breakdown of how Animal Logic works, we talk to members of the studio’s team from lighting and FX to see how characters and other assets go through simulation, and how lighting is carried out. Some of the central projects in this latest case…

This medieval kitchen was created in just four days using Blender 2.9, the newest version of the software. Some assets and materials were sourced from the Quixel Megascans library, exported thanks to the companion app Quixel Bridge. Quixel Megascans is a massive online scan library of high-resolution, consistent PBR calibrated surface, vegetation, and 3D scans, also including desktop applications for managing, mixing, and exporting your downloaded scan data. One of those is Bridge, the best solution for exporting those models. In these steps I will demonstrate the full workflow behind this interior to help you create your own medieval kitchen and many other environments using the Quixel tools. 01 PLANIMETRY AND BLOCKOUT Once you have a clear idea of the environment and location, we’ll start with creating a simple planimetry…

Maya Jermy replies ZBrush 2021 has brought some big changes to the software. We get to enjoy upgraded performance, expanded existing features and iMage3D. The most interesting one, and one we all have been waiting so impatiently for, is cloth dynamics. You will no longer have to struggle sculpting folds, or export your model to another application just to create a piece of clothing. Of course, manual sculpting is always a much-needed practice and it is highly advised to learn the manual process as well, but as technology improves, we can afford to take advantage of it. For many artists, that newest Pixologic release is a game changer. It makes it a whole lot easier to build a complete character/model in one piece of software. The time saved on not…

Since 2014 Basil Murad has worked as a freelance CG designer and animator. Since then he has created a number of diverse projects as Blood + Chrome, all of which are unified by his distinctive synthwave aesthetic. Murad works primarily as a 3D generalist, animator, motion designer, illustrator, and graphic designer. Each project helps him to develop skills that are relevant to his interests in design, animation, film, and interactive entertainment. His drive and inspiration are drawn from his never-ending desire to develop his know-how and apply it to new projects. 3D World caught up with Murad to find out more about his distinctive synthwave style, and how he created the stunning CG video for synthwave duo Alex & Tokyo Rose’s single Affliction. How did you get started in CG?…

PRICE £386 | WEBSITE www.asus.com There’s a slight catch with most eGPU enclosures. They’re big. A few are as big as a (mini-ITX) desktop PC, in particular the Razer and Sonnet enclosures, reviewed overleaf. That somewhat negates the point of an eGPU. If you can render faster on a real Windows PC that takes up the same space, why not just get a PC? But Asus has kept things seriously slim with the design of its XG Station Pro, teaming up with chassis and cooling brand In-Win to produce the smallest, quietest and most attractive eGPU enclosure we’ve tested, by some margin. It measures just 10.7cm wide, and can slot neatly into (well-ventilated) nooks and crannies around your work area. Being so small it weighs just 2.95kg, around half that…

PRICE £330 | WEBSITE www.akitio.com Mac users who spend enough time looking at accessories, add-ons, or tools needed for a hardware upgrade will inevitably run into OWC (Other World Computing), via their massive portfolio of clever products and guides that aim to make life easier on MacOS. They sell all kinds of Thunderbolt enclosures, with many aimed at storage expansion, catering for hard disks, 2.5-inch SATA and NVMe SSDs. Akitio is OWC’s eGPU enclosure brand, just as compatible with Windows PCs as well as Macs. Their portfolio has enclosures for full-length, half-length and dual graphics cards, but it’s the Node Titan that is their most recent external graphics enclosure, coming with an impressive specification, and an all-metal build in a shade of dark grey that feels solid and high quality.…

Also known as outrun and retrowave, synthwave is first and foremost a style of electronic music, heavily indebted to the electro-synth sounds of the 1980s. As the genre rose to prominence throughout the 2000s, achieving more mainstream success in the 2010s with cultural touchstones like Drive and Stranger Things, it became associated with a particular visual style. This visual style is similarly indebted to the 1980s, with purple and magenta neon, chrome, gridlines, and VHS effects, to name just a few of its recognisable tropes. It’s a style familiar to any artist working today and after more than a decade, its popularity doesn’t appear to be fading. 3D World felt the time was right to get the inside track on this popular style. Where did it come from? What is…

For me, 3D is the ultimate expression of art, and I love using it to create characters. In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to create a great character like Prometheus in ZBrush and integrate it into a background for a striking look. To do this we will use various programs and different modelling techniques. When it comes to working in 3D, it’s important to take it easy, be patient, and above all enjoy the process. Let’s get started! 01 INITIAL BLOCKOUT The first thing we have to do is create a blockout of our character, that is, we have to look for the general volumes. There is no point in detailing the ear or the eyes if we have not yet achieved a general structure. To do this we…

1. AS IF IT WAS FILMED IN A BACKYARD Before Ninjago, we had made LEGO movies that were predominantly brick-only. But on Ninjago, director Charlie Bean wanted to make it look like a child had filmed this in their backyard. So, the rain would look like it came from a watering can, for example, and then the idea is we would match that look in Houdini. 2. LEGO TESTS We would set up little dioramas with LEGO. We’d take it from display shelves or off people's desks – “Oh we won’t go far with this, we won't destroy it…”. And then we’d go film footage with watering cans, or with flour for snow, or we’d spritz the LEGO to see how water droplets stayed on it, or dunk things in…

Bifrost Fluids is known for its capability to recreate real-world liquid simulations such as oceans, but it can also be a useful tool in creating abstract fluid simulations. The added bonus is that it is a free plug-in with Autodesk Maya, so there is no need to leave the Maya software in order to create these types of fluid simulations. This tutorial covers the process of setting up and manipulating Bifrost Fluids that morph from one shape mesh to another, giving a zero-gravity effect. An overview is given on how to set up the initial Bifrost Fluid simulation, tweak the liquid properties, caching and finally rendering. Motion Fields in Bifrost Fluids have the ability to control the particles’ movements and velocities, and this tutorial uses the Along Normal attribute to…

Pietro Chiovaro replies I will show you the full process I use to create a simple leather material using Substance Designer. For this type of material, I selected the Physically Based (Metallic/Roughness) Graph Template and deleted the Metallic output since it is not necessary for this material. Next we can add the following nodes from the Substance Designer library: the Cells 3, BnW Spots 3 and Grunge Map 9 noises (these three are the main elements of the material), the Height to Normal World Units filter or the Normal filter, four Levels filters, two Blend filters and lastly the Gradient Map filter. Now we can start to link these elements together, starting with the Cells 3, which will be placed at the beginning of the graph with the BnW Spots…

Maximilian Auer, a Stuttgart-based freelance digital and VFX artist currently finishing a diploma at Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, began creating retrowave-style art under the moniker of RETRIC DREAMS several years ago. He is constantly excited to take on new challenges and create unique worlds and visuals across graphics, animations, short films or music videos, and he invites anyone interested in working with him to get in touch via his website. 3D World caught up with Auer to get an inside look at his creative process and daily routine. 08:00am I usually start the morning by catching up with emails and any other social media comments or messages while preparing for the day. Also, I’ll have a look at the day's schedule and prioritise the tasks that need to be done. After…

eGPUs come close to offering a nirvana of plug-and-play portable 3D hardware. Connect one to any Thunderbolt-equipped kit and immediately it becomes a 3D-capable workstation, more or less. We can now answer two big questions about the technology. The first is whether the expense, hassle and effort is worth it for the performance boost offered by a discrete graphics card sitting outside your computer. Testing was a bumpy ride when it comes to stability and reliability. At one point we connected a second display to the eGPU, and Windows immediately blue screened. We had to reboot a few times to solve issues like this, where the eGPU didn’t immediately work, but actually problems were few and far between. A little patience goes a long way. We expect stability to improve…