Indice dei contenuti per October 2016 in 3D World

Laura Gallagher Laura is lead character artist at Eidos Montreal and has worked on the Deus Ex games for eight years. On page 22 she shares her process for modelling a working 3D printed prosthetic arm, based on her in-game model worn by lead character Adam Jensen. www.bit.ly/laura-gallagher Fabio M. Silva Fabio has been in the CG industry for five years focusing on VFX for games, and currently works for Naughty Dog. He has contributed to titles such as Ryse: Son of Rome, Killzone 3, Killzone Shadow Fall and Uncharted 4. Follow Fabio’s VFX workflow on page 56. www.fabiomsilva.com Kimmo Kaunela Kimmo has worked in CG for six years, creating environment art and indie game assets. This issue, on page 40, Kimmo reveals his workflow for creating a real-time environment…

ONE HILT MATERIAL For the hilt, I use the Stone Washed Steel material as is. The preset looks great unchanged. TWO BLADE MATERIAL To create the blade material, I started with the Stained Brushed Steel material. THREE USING LAYERS Above the preset dirt layer, I add a new material layer – an Edge Wear material to make the blade look sharper. I choose the Steel-Scratched material because it is clean with tight scratch lines. FOUR MODIFY THE MASK I modify the mask to isolate the edges: select the Edge mask and reduce the Tightness to 10 (Mask Editor>Edge>Adjust Tightness). FIVE FINAL TWEAKS To finish, I lower the Gloss level of the original steel to be darker than the edge wear layer. This makes the blade’s edges shinier than the rest…

ONE USE THE SLICEMESH BRUSH Duplicate the mask, reduce the resolution and remove division levels. Use the Slicemesh to draw curves, to cut the mesh. Press [Alt] to create curve points at intervals. TWO MIRROR AND WELD Rationalise generated polygroups and weld your chosen side across the X-axis. Create curves with the Frame Mesh function: Stroke>Curve Functions, with Polygroups active. THREE MULTI MESH LOFT Select the Curve Tube brush. Under Brush>Modifiers>Meshinsert button preview, select the tileable geometry you wish to loft along the spline. Now click on the spline.…

FOLLOW PART 2 OF OUR LUMBERYARD SERIES NEXT ISSUE! Subscribe at www.bit.ly/3DWorld-subs FOLLOW THE VIDEO If you see the Play icon, use the link ARTIST 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 Plc. She is currently working on an unannounced project with AMD. www.nothern-studios.com Even though Amazon’s new game engine, Lumberyard, is still in beta, it shouldn’t discourage anyone with a budding interest in game and asset creation to dive right in. With access to an early and open beta you actually get to influence the game engine’s end result by providing feedback to the developers. In addition, you give yourself a head start in this new platform. This…

Costas Borgus, Serbia Jason replies Years ago, when I was new to Cinema 4D, I spent a lot of time tinkering with all of the different options and objects. Like many people, I tossed two spheres in a Metaball object and moved them around until I had myself a cool abstract blob that resembled an hourglass or figureeight shape. That was the extent of my experimenting with the Metaball object, and for several years I dismissed it as a generally useless gimmick in my Cinema 4D tool bag. That was until one day when I was flipping through a magazine and read something about using splines with the Metaball object. What was this? The Metaball object works with more than just spheres? My whole world changed. The fog lifted. My…

DOUBLE EYE EVENT Mark 7 September in your calendar. Training school Image Ireland has launched the first VFX event to be held in Ireland, called Double Eye, and with seven keynote speakers offering professional advice and training it looks like a good one. Speakers include the very best in the industry, including Justin Fields, Bastiaan Koch and Ben Mauro. Book your tickets here: www.bit.ly/image-ireland CORONA PROVES THE PERFECT TOOL The animated short, Malak and the Boat by André Holzmeister, made great use of Corona Renderer to create a unique ocean. The film was created as part of the UNICEF Unfairy Tales campaign so was pro bono and under a strict fiveweek deadline. “An issue was that the shading and lighting and render time should be doable,” says André. “Corona played…

PRICE £379 plus VAT | COMPANY Nvidia | WEBSITE www.nvidia.com AUTHOR PROFILE James Morris James has been writing about technology for two decades, focusing on content creation hardware and software. He was editor of PC Pro magazine for five years. www.tzero.co.uk Looking at the model names of Nvidia Quadro cards, you could think the high-end models were a generation ahead of the low and mid-range. But it’s not quite as simple as that, and the arrival of the new M2000 will take things in a more uniform direction. Perhaps it makes a little more sense – just – that only now are we seeing a 2000-series card with an M prefix. Except the M2000 is not as big a leap over the K2200 as the latter was compared to the…

5GB OF VIDEO & FILES GET YOUR RESOURCES You’re three steps away from this issue’s video training and files… 1. GO TO THE WEBSITE Type the following into your browser: www.bit.ly/vault-212-game 2. FIND THE FILES YOU WANT Search the list of free resources to find the video and files you want. 3. DOWNLOAD WHAT YOU NEED Click the Download buttons and your files will save to your PC or Mac. PLUS! There are more files, art and resources waiting online… Files: Download the files to get more from our PBR tutorial Files: Download the training for this issue’s Artist Q&A tutorials Artwork: Download the extra tutorial images that accompany Showcase Files: Download the files to follow our texturing feature training Follow the ZBrush video training VIDEO+FILES+BRUSHES ZBRUSH DETAILING MASTERCLASS Download…

01 URBAN Generally, when I want to create a substance, I start with a list of the materials involved and make a quick base for each of them. I find that the materials themselves aren’t actually as important as the transitions and masks used to put them together, so I spend most of my time working on that. I then break down the way they blend into a few categories. When blending almost any materials together, they will fall into one or more of the following: weathering, height or environment. Each of these requires some information in order to blend the materials properly. This information could be something like a Curvature map, Ambient Occlusion map or a Height map. An example of each would be: weathering – paint on metal…

ONE CREATE ALPHAS For the micro surface detailing for the mask, alphas were created using Bitmap2Material. It’s very quick and easy and allows me to focus on the details that I want for the implication. TWO HIGH FREQUENCY DETAILS From my desktop, I load my image into the main input by dragging it from the Explorer window into B2M. Next, I play with the low, medium and high frequency settings under the Relief tab, using the height map and the 3D view to preview the results. I am focusing on higher frequency details with these textures and so they are balanced in favour. THREE ASSESS YOUR RESULTS The file is then imported into ZBrush and with the Standard brush, RF applied to the alpha and Brush Focal Shift at -100,…

Bert Davis, UK Your software queries solved by our CG experts EXPERT PANEL Anita Brown Anita creates photoreal 3D images, specialising in providing a 3D visualisation service for the interiors, weddings and events industries. www.anitabrown3d.com Paul Hatton Paul leads a team of visualisers at a company in the UK. They specialise in traditional visualisation and interactive environments. www.cadesignservices.co.uk Jason Knight Jason is a freelance digital artist with over 33 years’ experience. Today his Wacom tablet receives much love while his paintbrushes rest. www.knightgraphics.daportfolio.com Francis-Xavier Martins Francis-Xavier is a character artist and CG generalist, with over a decade of experience in games, media and TV. www.polyjunky.com Pietro Chiovaro Pietro is an Italian 3D artist who works in creating 3D assets and environments, and is currently working on an open-source game. www.bit.ly/pietro-chiovaro…

Christine Smith, US EXPERT TIP Baking by name When baking maps, the usual procedure is to ‘explode’ the model, and move all the high and low pieces in world space in order to avoid errors. In Substance, changing the Match from ‘Always’ to ‘By Mesh Name’ utilises the suffixes we applied earlier, eliminating the need to explode the model. Francis-Xavier replies Using the CreatureBox creature Tentacle Dude from the last issue, I will go through the process of taking the high-res sculpt from ZBrush and turning it into a game-res model. First, I took the decimated model into Maya and using Quad Draw started on the retopology. I wanted to keep it relatively high, so I allocated myself a budget of 15,000 triangles. The head, trunk, body, tusks and claws…

Renaud Galand, character lead on Overwatch and modeller on Tracer, remarked on seeing the displays for the first time: “It was breathtaking and very emotional. Seeing something you worked on and are so attached to, translated with so much care by a legendary studio such as Alliance to such a MASSIVE scale was a very unique experience. I was 12 years old again for a couple of hours. It was really nice to see how well the Overwatch style translated in the real world. I loved that the stylisation of these assets really helped with the readability of the overall product. It looks amazing from both far away and up close. From the weathering and decals that really add interest up close to the bold big shapes of the models,…

AUTHOR PROFILE James Morris James has been writing about technology for two decades, focusing on content creation hardware and software. He was also editor of PC Pro magazine for five years. webmediology.com For the best part of a decade, 2K was the prevailing production norm. But in the last couple of years it has been increasingly difficult to stick at this resolution, as film production has shifted to 4K, 5K, and even 6K. The 2012 Olympics even saw some early testing of 8K television cameras. If you’re going to produce 3D content for the market from now onwards, you will need to have the ability to produce in 4K, and preview results at this resolution. So this month we look at six monitors that can give you the 4K experience,…

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the latest game in the sci-fi role-playing series set in the distant future that explores the impact of advanced technology on the human condition. The game tells its narrative through the art, which meant the Eidos Montreal art team needed to create a complex future world that’s relatable and realistic. The solution was to aim for what art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête calls the “graphic novel look.“ The game presents a stylised world that lives on its own rules. It’s not realism, but hyperrealism. “Visuals in a game are not only about illustration but about communication,” explains Jonathan. “A lot of the industry is still about making things look pretty in a technical way [such as realistic shiny metal surfaces], but what happens is you only…

ARTIST PROFILE Petur Arnorsson has worked in the CG industry for eight years, modelling and texturing characters for leading video games, films and promotional art. www.bit.ly/212-petur VITAL STATISTICS JOB TITLE Lead artist (Ulfur Studio) NOTABLE CREDITS Doom, Mortal Kombat XL, Dawn of War III, Dishonored 2, Final Fantasy Kingsglaive XV, Everest COUNTRY Iceland ARTIST INSIGHT Making Everest Petur Arnorsson was part of the team behind the VES-nominated film Everest Modeller and CG artist Petur Arnorsson has had a very varied career that includes video game modelling, commercial 3D illustration and VFX work for film, including the VES-nominated Everest. Petur says he’s been drawing all his life but only started practical sculpting at about the same time he got involved in digital sculpting. “I had a friend working at a local…

ARTIST PROFILE Matt Corcoran Matt is a professional artist who specialises in designing and sculpting heroic characters. He has worked with Industrial Light & Magic, AnatomyTools.com and Outpost Games. www.swordofhonor.com TOPICS COVERED Combining ZBrush SubTools Exporting Maps from ZBrush Exporting UVs from Modo Mastering materials in Quixel The Warrior is a personal project that I had the joy of concepting and designing. I wanted to create a character that embodies the spirit of a warrior fighting for righteousness and virtue. As a symbol, he carries with him the Sword of Honor. To create the Warrior, I sculpted in ZBrush and modelled with 3ds Max and Modo. I used Quixel to texture all the armour and the sword, and Mari for texturing the skin. I chose to use Marmoset and rendered…

FOLLOW THE VIDEO If you see the Play icon, use the link ARTIST PROFILE Andrew Entwistle Andrew is a freelance 3D artist. He’s worked primarily in the video games industry for the last 13 years, on an eclectic set of console titles. www.bugzero.co.uk TOPICS COVERED Sculpting mask details Tarnished KeyShot materials Building the mask patina up in layers EXPERT TIP Curve Tube geometry When preparing your shape for the IMM loft, ensure that in the preview window, the geometry’s orientation is vertical. This will prevent you having to rectify orientation problems later. During the course of this tutorial we’ll go though some of the processes used to create the embossed detail and decorative patina of this concept. This was designed by PGD Studios, primarily using ZBrush and KeyShot software. This…

PRICE $999 (First nodelocked license), $3,198 (Floating license) | COMPANY Isotropix SAS | WEBSITE www.isotropix.com AUTHOR PROFILE Cirstyn Bech-Yagher Cirstyn is a freelance CG artist and educator, with over a decade’s experience in 3D, focusing on modelling and texturing. www.twitter.com/cirstyn Adopted by industry names such as Double Negative and Gameloft Montreal, Isotropix recently released Clarisse 3.0, its blistering fast, image-centric 2D/3D rendering and animation software A layer-oriented combination of a CPU-based render engine, compositing and (non-character) animation software, Clarisse fits into the niche between KeyShot and Nuke, enabling you to work on work-in-progress shots or final digital mattes, look development and/or VFX and animation. Everything in the application – even shading, lighting and antialiasing – are entirely independent, which in addition to geometries and textures being path-based, gives the application…