Table of contents for March 2017 in 3D World

3D World|March 2017

WELCOME

We embrace Houdini 16 (H16) this issue. Starting on page 18, SideFX reveals all of the new features coming to the leading industry software. Also, we offer exclusive training for H16’s new hair tools (page 32) and new fluid features (page 44). Plus, those new to Houdini can get ahead with our starter tips and advice on page 26. SUBSCRIBE FROM £11.25! Get print and digital editions every month, turn to page 30 SPOTLIGHT ON OUR CONTRIBUTORS Mark Spevick Mark is head of 3D and a course leader at Escape Studios, and a board member of VES. On page 26, he shares his tips for getting started in Houdini. www.bit.ly/mark-spevick Gustavo Åhlén Gustavo is the founder of Svelthe, a creative studio working for games, films and advertising. On page 58,…

1 min

3D World|March 2017

BECOME A HOUDINI WIZARD

Houdini has traditionally been viewed as having a steep learning curve, particularly when migrating from other 3D software. Houdini requires not only good basic knowledge of 3D animation, but also a whole new and different way of thinking compared to traditional 3D software. Understanding these differences, and getting your head around a few other concepts, is key to demystifying how to work within Houdini, and will help to reduce that steep learning curve. After many years of using, learning and teaching Houdini to people of all levels, I want to share with you some key points that I believe will help you understand these key differences in order to get the most out of Houdini. 01 PROCEDURES The biggest difference between Houdini and other 3D software is proceduralism. According to…

8 min

3D World|March 2017

FREE PLURALSIGHT COURSE! REAL-TIME DESTRUCTION IN UNITY

This issue, we’ve joined forces with Pluralsight to offer you a comprehensive video-training course that you can download from our online Vault – for free! Visit our online content downloads page at www.bit.ly/vault-218-houdini. In this course, Authoring Real-time Destruction in Unity 5, you’ll create a destruction FX system to simulate a wooden bridge collapse using rigid bodies, physics joints and particle effects, as well as writing some C# code to provide art direction control that will allow you to perfectly choreograph the destruction sequence. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to create a wide range of destruction systems, from bridges and buildings to environments and vehicles. You’ll need Unity v5.3.5 to do this fantastic video course. To find more high-quality video training, visit Pluralsight at www.pluralsight.com Michael is…

1 min

3D World|March 2017

SPEED UP YOUR CREATURE MODELLING

Piers has over 12 years’ experience in the games industry and is director and 3D artist at digital art studio The Digi Monsters. www.thedigimonsters.com The idea for this project came to me after pouring over some of the amazing artwork on ArtStation. I’d seen many great creature creations, but the ones that seemed to work the best were those that took the form of some sort of chimaera, and used different parts of various existing and recognisable animals, grafting them together to create something interesting and new, but more believable than a completely fictional creation. After going through my reference material, the idea for the Pygmy Chinchibex was finally born… It’s part ibex, part chinchilla, part creature of nightmares! This was a personal project from the outset, and I knew…

6 min

3D World|March 2017

ARTIST Q&A

Syawish A Rehman A motion graphics and VFX artist from Pakistan with nine years’ experience, Syawish loves motion graphics and making video tutorials. www.facebook.com/theredpineapplearts 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 video games, media and TV. www.polyjunky.com Jason Knight Jason is a freelance digital artist with over 30 years’ experience. His digital journey began in 1983 on a computer with 2K of memory. www.knightgraphics.daportfolio.com 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 GET IN TOUCH EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS…

14 min

3D World|March 2017

THE CHALLENGE OF WINNING

The latest Humster3D challenge tasked artists with creating detailed car render scenes that told a story. In total, 156 artists took part in the challenge, and the overall winner was Piotr Tatar with his entry Nööburgring. Coming in second was Lukasz Hoffmann with Inside the Inventor’s Barn, and in third place was Aldison Ymeraj with his render of Toyota GT86. “Long story short, it feels awesome!” exclaims Piotr when asked how it feels to win. “You’ve got that little feeling for a moment that you are special, everyone is sharing your work and talking about it – it’s nice. But the more I think about it, I realise it’s not about winning, but about the effort you put in to win and what you have learnt doing it. It feels…

9 min

3D World|March 2017

Scan 3XS Classic 3D

PRICE From £1,849.08; as tested £2,933.33 plus VAT | COMPANY Scan | WEBSITE www.scan.co.uk/3xs 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 FEATURES 3GHz Intel Core i7-6950X running at 4GHz 64GB 2,666MHz DDR4 SDRAM AMD FirePro WX7100 graphics with 8GB GDDR5 memory 256GB Intel 600p Series M.2 solid state disk, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 SATA 7,200rpm hard disk, Asus DRW-24D5MT DVD rewriter Warranty: 3 years – first year onsite, second and third years RTB (parts and labour) Workstations using Nvidia graphics are almost as universal as the Intel processors they are based on. But AMD has finally released a new range of professional graphics cards, and our first taster comes installed…

3 min

3D World|March 2017

SiNi IgNite

PRICE £150 (Annually) | COMPANY SiNi Software | WEBSITE www.sinisoftware.com Paul leads a UK-based studio of visualisers. He delivers a whole host of projects including video and interactive environments. www.cadesignservices.co.uk/services/3d-studio FEATURES Scene set-up tools Export to Nuke and After Effects Up to 4K network play blasts Custom Maxscript launcher Object and animation tools HISTORY PLUG-IN PROGRESS SiNi Software is a relatively new start-up from two people called Si and Nigel, hence the name of the company. They are attempting to draw on their experience of using other plug-ins within the industry to try and release “world class plug-ins.” Over the years, there have been a variety of utility plug-ins for 3ds Max that have attempted to make our lives easier. That is exactly what SiNi (the name comes from the…

3 min

3D World|March 2017

SHOWCASE

PRO TIPS Download the workflow and model from the Vault GONDOLA ARTIST Khaled Alkayed SOFTWARE Maya, Mudbox, V-Ray, Photoshop “Ian McQue is one of the most creative concept artists I have ever seen,” says Jordanian 3D artist Khaled Alkayed, who based his personal project on Ian’s Gondola concept. Modelling was done in Maya, and textures hand-painted in Mudbox. “There were no photos used – it’s all about layering up the textures, starting with base colours and adding colour variations and rust,” says the artist. One area that proved tricky was the chain detail: “Suspending the chain in a dynamic way involved assigning active and passive rigid bodies and fields, such as gravity. Also, to create the Gondola’s umbrella I used dynamic simulation (nCloth),” reveals Khaled. Compositing the scene was enjoyable,…

4 min

3D World|March 2017

MASTER REALISTIC HAIR IN HOUDINI 16

Practical tips and tutorials from pro artists to improve your CG skills A 3D and 2D artist, photographer and filmmaker from France, Andrey loves the traditional arts yet believes that new technologies allow artists to perform miracles. www.cgfaunstudio.wixsite.com/home After you have spent time creating long and carefully laid-out curly hair, imagine that the director of your project comes and says, “Good hair, but I want it less frizzy with more curls.” In this situation, using most 3D packages, you have to almost completely remake the hair. In Houdini, if you create a well thought-out process from the start, you can make these changes with a single click later. Due to its procedural core, Houdini enables you to create a hairstyle very quickly, and you have complete control across all the…

6 min

3D World|March 2017

MAKE MOVING LIQUID EFFECTS WITH HOUDINI 16

Ryan is an FX artist from Hong Kong and a recent graduate from SCAD. He works at SideFX in Toronto, where he loves working on fluid effects in Houdini. www.ryanngfx.com Suction Fluid is a new tool within the Particle Fluids shelfset in Houdini 16. This tool allows you to suck up a fluid surface and fill a target object with that fluid. Depending on the amount of Suction Strength you use, along with Inside and Outside Distance, you can create rather interesting results with your fluid surface taking on the shape of your target object. The fluid can retain the liquid shape of the target object and keep the volume intact, or there can be a gentle moving force that grabs and releases the fluid. Additionally, the use of static…

5 min

3D World|March 2017

CRAFT AN EERIE CINEMATIC SCENE

Gustavo Åhlén is the founder of Svelthe, a creative studio working for games, films and advertising. He is also a concept designer, matte painter and traditional artist. www.gustavoahlen.com FOLLOW THE VIDEO If you see the Play icon, use the link This tutorial will teach you how to create a cinematic sci-fi scene packed with atmosphere. I’ll be using a variety of software and different CG techniques to create the final rendered scene. I will focus on how to sculpt the scene’s objects in ZBrush, how to create the UV mapping to export them into the final scene made in 3ds Max and V-Ray, as well as how to postproduce the final render. During the first steps, I will look at how to sculpt the little deer that will be a…

9 min

3D World|March 2017

REALITY CHECK: LOOKING TO A VIRTUAL FUTURE

News and views from around the international CG community With an accountant for a mother and an opera singer for a father, Penrose Studios founder and CEO Eugene Chung has always had what he describes as a “duality of left and right brain,” something which has influenced his career path. “I’ve been a software developer, but also a filmmaker who has made some independent movies that were done for animated film companies,” he explains. At an early age, the native of Virginia learned that public consumption changes over time. “There is a German phrase that describes the ideal work of art [Gesamtkunstwerk], and the followers of Richard Wanger said it had to be opera, which was the culmination of the best characters, stories and music. A few decades later, people…

8 min

3D World|March 2017

Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16

PRICE £1,600 (13-inch) to £2,000 (16-inch) | COMPANY Wacom | WEBSITE www.wacom.com Ian is editor of the magazine you’re holding and has over 20 years experience editing and writing for film, games, art and technology magazines in the UK. www.bit.ly/iandean FEATURES 15.6inch, 16:9 ratio screen size 16.7 million displayable colours Up to six hours battery life Intel Core i7 Nvidia Quadro M1000M, 4GB GDDR5 512 GB SSD / 16GB DDR 5MP HD camera on the front, 8MP HD camera and 3D Intel RealSense camera with Artec 3D on the rear 3 USB-C ports 6 customisable ExpressKeys Wacom tried and stumbled when it released the Wacom Companion two years ago. With a short battery life and the need to connect to a workstation to really use any 3D software, that release…

5 min

3D World|March 2017

NitroMoFracture

PRICE £42 | COMPANY Nitro4d | WEBSITE nitro4d.com Steve is a freelance tech journalist and CG artist, with an unhealthy addiction to 3D apps and plug-ins. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Steve_Jarratt FEATURES Creates shattering simulations automatically Manually paint Voronoi fracture patterns Tags for adding fragments, dust, and retiming dynamics modes Connect function keeps fractured objects intact Provides extra control over destruction of multiple objects Prolific developer Lazaros Paschos – aka Nitroman – has spent the best part of the last decade making plugins to shatter, break and smash objects in Cinema 4D. But with R18’s new Voronoi Fracture tool, he’s gone to the next level. NitroMoFracture uses a similar auto-fracture approach to NitroBlast, enabling you to easily set up collisions and have objects knock chunks off one another, but now you can use…

2 min

3D World|March 2017

FREE RESOURCES

MODEL + VIDEO + STEP IMAGES SCULPT CLOTH IN ZBRUSH Download our artist’s video walkthrough, plus get the model for free! FREE! GET THIS MODEL VIDEO + STEP IMAGES CREATE AN ATMOSPHERIC SCENE Follow the video walkthrough and download the step-by-step images to get more from this tutorial STEP IMAGES FLUIDS IN HOUDINI 16 Use the high-res step images to follow this exclusive training VIDEO + STEP IMAGES TIPS AND TRICKS TO MASTER REDSHIFT Download this collection of video tips and tutorials for Varomix’s advice on getting more from Redshift 12GB 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 218-houdini 2. FIND THE FILES YOU WANT FROM THE…

1 min

3D World|March 2017

HOUDINI 16

Occasionally a software release comes along that has everyone excited – a release that offers such a gear change in tools, features and improvements that it demands you pay attention. This month sees the release of Houdini 16, and it’s a release that every CG artist should pay attention to, as the industry standard for VFX and animation in film and games looks set to become even more powerful and accessible. “As one of the most fast-paced, continually innovating 3D platforms, Houdini is always in development,” says SideFX chief technology officer Cristin Barghiel. “That’s why, after 20 years, Houdini still feels young and vibrant. We don’t patch things, we take the time to do it right. For example, our Boolean was fine before, but the new one sets the bar…

16 min

3D World|March 2017

REDSHIFT TIPS AND TRICKS FOR AMAZING RENDERS

FOLLOW THE VIDEO If you see the Play icon, use the link Varomix is a VFX magician and educator, and has been creating animation and VFX since 1999. www.mixtrn.com Redshift is just an amazing tool for artists. Its render speed is amazing, not only for final renders, but while working on your scene, meaning that your scene looks the best it possibly can. Let me show you a few tips to make the best of it. These tips will help you get incredible-looking images out of Redshift, which is really simple to use. It is also very artist-friendly, and once you understand the basics, you are free to explore and you can start creating. Redshift is really powerful even on consumer These tips will help you get incredible-looking images out…

6 min

3D World|March 2017

BUILD A REALISTIC, REAL-TIME ARCH-VIZ ENVIRONMENT

Jingtian is assistant professor at the University of the Incarnate Word. He is a 3D generalist and particularly enjoys character modelling. www.tiansart.com Architectural visualisation has always aimed to achieve a result close to reality, to provide clients with the feeling of seeing the finished project. In the past we were limited to still images and videos of these environments, but now we have the ability to produce very realistic real-time virtual environments with ease, thanks to Unreal Engine and the performance of modern hardware. Here, I am going to walk you through my workflow for creating a super realistic real-time interior environment in Unreal Engine 4 (UE4): It is one of the most powerful game engines, and is fast becoming a standard in the arch-viz community for rendering in real…

9 min

3D World|March 2017

TEXTURING A MODEL WITH QUIXEL SUITE

Victoria is an industrial designer and self-taught 3D artist who specialises in hard surface modelling. She loves creating robots, mechs, vehicles, ships and weapons for video games and films. www.victoriapassariello.com FOLLOW THE VIDEO If you see the Play icon, use the link A ll of us have probably heard about Quixel Suite, the new generation of texture software. The Suite contains a huge variety of physically-based rendering (PBR) materials including metals, cloth, dirt, wood and so on, which you can modify entirely as you wish. You can create your own materials from scratch too, plus the Suite offers a very helpful and easy tool to create Normal maps. Quixel is a very intuitive and easy to learn software if you know the basics of PBR, editing masks, and working with…

7 min

3D World|March 2017

CREATIVE CROSSOVER

This year’s VFX Festival, held in London’s Rich Mix venue and presented by Escape Studios, part of Pearson College London, promises to be the biggest show yet. Not shying away from the big questions being asked in the industry right now, the festival will explore how many strands of the creative industries – VFX, animation, games and motion graphics – are crossing over and merging, and how new techniques, tools and technology are bring the industry closer. “As the gap closes between new and old technologies, the 2017 festival will focus on how the elements intersect, while remaining on top of new and existing trends,” says Ian Palmer, director at Escape Studios. At the heart of the festival will be a series of discussions and demonstrations from the leading VFX,…

4 min

3D World|March 2017

RealFlow 10

PRICE €995-€3,695 (depending on license package) | COMPANY Next Limit | WEBSITE www.nextlimit.com Rob is a 3D artist and creative director, working across TV, film and print. When not in the studio he is often found presenting at various events, from FMX to Siggraph. www.pariahstudios.co.uk FEATURES Multiple particle types Dynamic physics engine New daemons and falloff options New visual project manager Updated Export manager Dyverso Multiphysics Improved performance CPU and GPU support RealFlow has a reputation as a capable VFX tool with lots of power on tap, although at the cost of a steeper-than-normal learning curve. Version 10 looks set to ease people into its workflow more quickly, while at the same time adding to its toolset. RealFlow’s user interface was updated a few versions ago now, and this release…

4 min