3D World Septiembre 2015

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September 2015
#198
25
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Turn to page 36!
Who doesnt love modelling robots? And

Mike Jensen creates some of the best. So
this issue Im really excited to share his
incredible ZBrush tutorial, where he reveals
how to experiment with hard surfaces to
create a unique robot character. Read his
full tutorial on page 54 and follow his video
too, plus download his ZBrush model and
custom brushes from this issues online
Vault! Theres lots more training this issue
too, with our 25 quick tips to mastering
Cinema 4D on page 44, a guide to editing
V-Ray materials on page 74 and in this
issues Develop we begin Josh Parks
guide to getting started in Nuke.
Ian Dean, editor

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Issue 198
Contents
digital
subscriptions
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6 Free downloads
Get your hands on 10GB of assets

via our Vault download system
8 artist showcase
Discover the best new digital art

and more from the CG world
15 community
16 payIng for 3D tools
How are pricing policies changing?
20 stuDIo profIle: spIn vfx
20 studio proFile
The VFX studio pushing 3D software forward
Canadas SPIN VFX
26 short cuts: stellar moves

How the charming short was made
38 artist Q&a
All your software queries solved by

our panel of professional artists
Feature
44 cInema 4D technIques
Essential tips to master Cinema 4D
53 tutorials
Improve your CG art skills
8 artIst showcase
Discover the most outstanding new creative work from the CG art community
78 3d maker
Explore 3D print art and trends
85 develop
Theory, research and reviews
regulars
7 next month
36 subscrIptIons
69 competItIon: wIn keyshot
98 DIgItal back Issues
30 termInator genIsys
34 jurassIc worlD
MPC returns Arnie to the big screen
How the famous dinosaurs were created

4
44 cInema 4D technIques
Master modelling, simulation and more
in
d et
t h rd
ho 9 fo
ys e 6
k e o pa g
rn
Tu
ai
ls
tutorials
54 harD surface moDellIng
Concept and model a detailed
character from scratch
60 create anImateD objects

Vikrant J Dalal demonstrates how to
use the Cloth Modifier in 3ds Max
64 character creatIon
64 character creatIon
Model a production-ready sci-fi character
How to create a production-ready

sci-fi character for video games
70 DesIgn a robot
Steve Talkowskis process for creating
the new KeyShot 6 mascot
74 master v-ray materIals

Learn how to create and edit
VRmats for 3ds Max
54 harD surface moDellIng
70 DesIgn a robot
Mike Jensen shows how to concept and model a detailed character from scratch
How KeyShot 6s new mascot came to life
3d maker
nd
fr
3d pree!
modeint
l
78 creature creator
James Stewart shares his work
80 3D prInt collectIbles
Cast a character in resin
83 the last frontIer

David Fernandez Barruz discusses the
creation of his epic scene, Going West
78 creature creator
One artists journey from clay to 3D printing
80 3D prInt collectIbles
83 the last frontIer
Aiman Akhtar creates resin characters
David Fernandez Barruz on his biggest model
develop
86 nuke technIques
Master a more efficient workflow
with Josh Parks top tips
reviews
88 top graphIc carDs for 3D
94 revIew: moDo 901
Mike Griggs explores the new features
We put six of the best GPUs to

the ultimate test
92 keyshot 6
The latest version takes a leap forward
with its range of new features
94 moDo 901
Could this be a landmark release
from The Foundry?
96 lIght stuDIo 5
This upgrade comes at a hefty price
but is it worth the money?
97 golaem crowD 4
92 revIew: keyshot 6
96 revIew: lIght stuDIo 5
Andy Jones tests the new tools and explains why Luxions upgrade is essential
Is the upgrade worth the hefty price tag?

5
Cirstyn Bech Yagher looks at the

softwares host of new features
100 my InspIratIon
Andr Luis on nurturing CG talent
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showcase
artist
showcase
The best digital art from
the CG community
SAMURAI JACK
ARtISt Roumen F. Filipov
SoftwARe 3ds Max,
ZBrush, Photoshop,
Mari and V-Ray
Currently working as a 3D generalist in Brazilbased studio Hype.cg, Roumen F. Filipov also
makes time for freelance projects. Samurai
Jack was created over a period of four months,
with Roumen having to pause as other jobs
came in. Im inspired by old school animated
series that I watched as a kid, Roumen
explains. 3D animated movies and games
are also hugely inspiring. I love the colours
and the characters.
With experience in 3D production for
animation and working with arch-viz, Roumen
is a dab hand when it comes to producing
distinctive characters. Using 3ds Max, ZBrush,
Photoshop, Mari and V-Ray, Samurai Jack is
the outcome of his software experience.
I usually start with an idea for the character
and when the basic proportions and shapes
are done, I start to plan the composition of
the final image, posing and blocking it directly
in 3ds Max, Roumen continues. From there
I just go on detailing and tweaking all the
aspects of the scene until the final render and
post-processing.
Roumens favourite part of the production
was creating the samurai itself, specifically
the fine detailing and shading, he says.
Another cool thing I did was to use 3ds Maxs
native fur to simulate the thorn cloth, which
came out really well.
See more examples of Roumens work at
fYI www.roumenfilipov.com
get pUblIShed
eMAIl YoUR Cg ARt to
Visit the online Vault to download

extra process art for these projects:
www.3dworldmag.com/vault/3dw198
Im inspired by old school

animated series that
I watched as a kid
3d world view
I have to agree with
Roumen as the fine
detailing and shading
is what really makes
this famous samurai
character stand out.
IAn deAn
Editor
avxhome.se
showcase
It took me a couple of days

to assemble and render
the complete scene
3d world view
The many hours
Matt put in here have
certainly paid off
and I really like the
personal touches that
have been added.
IAn deAn
Editor
taking insPiRation
The powerful cover

image from The Magic
Tattoo, which Matt has
illustrated. Being inspired
by travel, it was visiting
Mongolia that first gave
him the idea for the
childrens book
the MAgIC tAttoo

ARtISt
Matt Roussel
SoftwARe
Cinema 4D, Photoshop
This is the cover art for a childrens book Ive
illustrated, titled The Magic Tattoo, explains
artist Matt Roussel. It will be published at
the end of the year by a great little French
publishing company called Sarbacane Edition.
Using Cinema 4D release 15 and the physical
render engine included within C4D itself, Matt
then used Photoshop for the finished piece,
making minor adjustments until happy. It took
me a couple of days to assemble and render
the complete scene. I created this image after
making 15 others I had all the elements
modelled so then I just had to import them into
the scene. A lot of hours went into this one.
Matt works as a freelance illustrator and
woodcutting artist and brings these skills to his
3D pieces. He starts with a quick sketch then
moves to complicated aspects. I try to include
personal elements within my illustrations. Here I
included some woodcut as a tattoo model and
my wifes calligraphy and etching.
Browse through the rest of Matts work at
fYI www.mattroussel.com
10
nd
wondeR woMAn
& lAdY MeChAnIKA
showcase
ARtISt
Danilo athayde
SoftwARe ZBrush, Maya,
Photoshop, Marmoset
Teaching a subject can often lead to its
mundanity but Danilo Athayde proves that
theres always time to ignite your passion
through the continuation of freelance projects.
Combining two of his favourite characters
Wonder Woman and steampunk Lady
Mechanika the modelling teacher has
produced a seamless tribute to two beloved
individuals. It was very fun, explains Danilo.
I love steampunk clothes and dressing
Wonder Woman in this style makes it the
perfect mix of two of my favourite characters.
Using ZBrush and Maya for modelling, Danilo
then turned to Photoshop for the textures and
compositing before finishing with Marmoset
Toolbag for the realtime rendering. I used
Marvelous Designer for her skirt it was the first
time I had experimented with that software and
I think it came out really well.
A lot of things inspire me, Danilo explains.
Good movies, games, animations and the
works of other traditional and digital artists.
Taking three months to complete the
character design, he created it during his
spare time. I began working in 3D with
mechanical projects, he reflects. I used
software like SolidWorks and AutoCAD.
After a while, I discovered my passion
for characters, and I hope Ill never
have to make any mechanical
projects again!
See more of Danilos creations at
fYI www.danilo.artstation.com
3d world view
Its clear to see
where Danilo has
taken his inspiration
from. I love how hes
merged these two
iconic characters and
the end result really
is superb.
felICItY bARR
Production editor
12
petS And
MonSteRS
ARtISt
teoduro Badlu
SoftwARe
Modo, Photoshop
With a creative media design diploma,
Austria-based artist Teoduro Badlus passions
lie with character design, illustration and 3D.
Creating 3D-based illustrations and characters
since 2005, Teoduro is inspired by everything
and anything, be it music, movies, religion,
comics or toys. For most of my work I use
a combination of box modelling, polygon
modelling and sculpting in combination with
retopology and the other tools that Modo has
to offer, he explains.
For this particular image there was no
need for any kind of simulation or procedural
modelling. Switching from Adobe Illustrator
to 3D modelling programs to create his
characters, Teoduro says the change was
no easy feat. I also made the change from
Cinema 4D to Modo which was really difficult
but I am really happy that I took on that
challenge and that I succeeded.
Basing his personal work on the stories and
the worlds that he develops for his characters,
Teoduro is always quick to get sketching.
As soon as a new idea is born, I begin to do
some sketches or to search references that will
help me to create the characters that I have in
mind, he enthuses.
To see more of Teoduros work go to
fYI www.theodoru.com
Feeling ColouRFul
Teoduro chooses colours

that complement but
separate the characters in
the final composition
3d world view
Teoduros
combination of
techniques and his
switch to Modo was
definitely worth it
these colourful and
creative characters
are great fun.
For most of my work I use a

combination of box modelling,
polygon modelling and sculpting,
in combination with retopology
dARRen phIllIpS
Art editor
13
nd
CONTENTS
Community
News and views from around the
international CG community
nd
16 the big issue: pricing
18 3d squirrel challenge
20 studio profile: spin VfX
22 creating san andreas
24 Kung fury sequel
26 short cuts: stellar moVes
30 terminator genisys VfX
32 maKing bad blood
34 jurassic worlds VfX
The new ways to pay for CG software
Cinesite and Method shake things up
Meet the competition winners
Meet the studio behind the hit short
The VFX studio pushing 3D software forward
Be inspired by this sweet homage to Pluto
GET publiShEd
Email yOur CG arT TO

How MPC returned Arnie to the big screen

Ingenuity bring a sci-fi music video to life

15
How the famous dinosaurs were created
Communit y
The big issue
The Big issue
New ways to pay for 3D tools

As budgets tighten, software providers are shaking up their pricing
policies to serve the industry better, explains Tom May
part from being 3D software

providers, what do The Foundry,
Pixar, Side Effects, Adobe, Unity
and Unreal have in common? Theyre
all part of a pricing revolution thats
radically changing the way we pay
for the tools we use.
The biggest change in
pricing models recently has
been the introduction of
rentals, says Tim Flett, sales
to the latest versions, maintenance

and support. Startups can scale the
technology around the work they have
coming in and collaborate more easily
with external studios.
Another game-changer has been
the release of free versions of paidfor software. The Foundry now offers
a free non-watermarked version of
Nuke, which enables artists to become
experienced with these tools in a noncommercial environment. Pixars done
the same with RenderMan. And a fullfeatured version of Unity 5 is available
for free, as long as you make revenue of
less than $100,000 (approx. 65,000) or
have less than that amount in funding.
More and more people are transitioning

from 2D to 3D. Addressing indies, hobbyists,
wannabe game developers is now a
Bucking the trend
priority for any software vendor So whats
ndbehind these trends? A big
A full-featured
version of Nuke
is now available
for free for noncommercial purposes
director for Escape Technology, a

London-based reseller of digital
software. Firms such as Autodesk, The
Foundry and Adobe have all seen
increased demand for this flexible
licensing model.
This is making high-end tech more
affordable for smaller studios, he adds.
Subscriptions give customers access
factor is the increasing number of new

entrants to 3D, adds Alexis Khouri, VP
of strategy and sales at Allegorithmic,
which has recently introduced a
new pay-monthly option for its tool,
Substance Designer.
More and more people are
transitioning from 2D to 3D
and want to use the best
tools available, he explains.
16
They often have very tight budgets,

or no budget at all. So addressing
indies, hobbyists, wannabe game
developers is now a priority for any
software vendor out there.
But its not just the small studios
who are looking to save cash so
are the major studios, says Richard
Lewis, CEO of render management
experts PipelineFX.
VFX studios are requesting
licensing that provides
software as an operating
expense that matches their
projects timelines, he reports. Our
customers generally have perpetual
licenses for all of their in-house
dedicated render nodes and their
desktops. But for short-term peaks
they prefer renting both hardware and
software. So weve added subscription
licensing to respond to that preference.
As technology makes new services
possible, so expectations are raised,
says Paul Snell, Escape Technologys
general manager.
Virtualisation in the industry
and GPU are enabling more
cloud-based services to
appear, he explains. In
Allegorithmic
recently introduced
a new pay-monthly
option for their tool,
Substance Designer
response to this, licensing models have
had to change. Over time consumer
expectations have changed as well.
Weve come to expect everything to be
a service. We dont just want the tool;
we want support and maintenance
included in the package as well.
Benefits of scalability
For many, the logic of renting is

inescapable. Think of it like choosing
where to stay in a new town, says
Richard Lewis. If youre only in town
a few nights, you get a hotel room.
If its six months or more you rent an
apartment. If its staying several years,
youll want to buy.
Its the same with render capacity,
he believes. You should purchase
render management licenses for onpremise render nodes and desktops
used for rendering. You should lease
or rent servers, connectivity, software
and render management licenses for
short-term projects of three months to
two years.
And now we have the Cloud
available for the very short-term
requirements that may occur if a
project gets behind or there is an
emergency rendering requirement.

Of course, for some the best way to
save money is to use tools that dont
cost a penny, even for commercial use.
For example, Unreal Engine 4 is now
available to everyone for free, and all
future updates will be free too. And
then theres the open source tool,
Blender, which continues to improve
year on year.
Besides the obvious
benefits of being open
source, Blender aims to be
just as good as any other
product, says Ton Roosendaal,
chairman of The Blender Foundation.
To make this happen, the various
Blender initiatives (the Blender
Foundation, the Blender Institute)
employ eight to 10 people already,
in full-time, paid jobs. In some ways
closed programs are quite a lot ahead
of Blender big budgets, big paying
clients but the gap is getting
narrower every year.
So could the pricing model of the
future, at least one day, be everything
free for everybody? Heres hoping
For more details of the best free 3D
fyI software, visit www.bit.ly/198-free
nd
Nuke is described as
being for anyone
who wants to learn,
explore and have fun
with Nuke, but there
are a few restrictions
17
indusTry insiders
Thoughts & opinions from the experts
Alexis Khouri
lee DAnsKin
richArD lewis
VP of strategy and
sales, Allegorithmic
www.allegorithmic.com
CTO, Escape
Technologies
escape-technology.com
Chief executive
officer, PipelineFX
www.pipelinefx.com
There is a chance
that free will
become the norm
and that its
all going to be
about monetising
communities and
offering great value
in return. However,
there might also be
a backlash similar
to whats currently
happening in the
Free-to-Play games
field. Lots of people
are now coming back
to more traditional
models, where you
pay an up-front
fee once for all,
without having
the impression
theyre being milked
in the long run.
Despite the many

advantages to
rental licensing
its not currently
addressing growing
concerns around IP
protection. Youll find
these days that, in
an effort to better
protect themselves
from leaks or hacks,
studios and large
manufacturers
enforce air gap or air
wall solutions to the
infrastructure within
their facilities better
securing their IP in
the process. For these
companies cloudbased solutions arent
an option so software
manufacturers
should continue
to offer traditional
license models that
dont require an
Internet connection.
Largely the future
for software will
be subscription
models or site
licenses for the larger
studios. Pay per use
is also on the horizon,
as soon as the billing
infrastructure and
predictability is
in place.
Customers are
always looking for
flexible licensing
models. In the
coming years we
will see more
consumption-based
licensing where
you pay as you use
it like electricity.
We will also see
value-based licensing
which charges a
customer based on
the results produced
by the software.
Examples could
be the number of
successfully rendered
frames or the
total CPU minutes
managed per month.
Metered licensing is
also on the horizon,
perhaps as finegrained as by the
minute.
Sci-fi is a huge influence

in the work of self-taught
3D artist Alan Guyant
Communit y
Interview
XYZ ZenSen
interview
StarShip winS
unique 3D challenge
Second prize in the challenge went to

Frederic Bessy for his golden potato
asteroid. To fit the outpost theme,
I decided to build a little diorama
where the action would take place, he
explains. A place that exists to protect
an area of natural resources. He first
sculpted high models of the asteroid,
the machines and characters in 3D Coat
before doing the retopology work in the
same software. Then he used the low
and high models to bake normal maps
in xNormal. The textures were almost
all done out of the normal map with the
xNormal Photoshop plug-in. Finally I
rigged and skinned the little characters
in Maya to give them poses, and
arranged the whole assets in one scene
which I finally exported in .obj format
and rendered in Marmoset Toolbag2.
You can see Frederics design here:
www.bit.ly/198-xyz.
Alan Guyant explains how he created this

winning sci-fi scene using free software
arlier in the year, in association

with 3D World magazine, online
store 3D Squirrel launched a
unique modelling challenge. They
invited artists to create either a single
model suitable for a remote outpost
or multiple assets that could be placed
together to make an intriguing scene.
You can see the winning design by Alan
For the main render, the lighting is not meant

to be realistic at all, which gave a lot of
freedom to illuminate each part of the scene
AlAn GuyAnt
Alan is a self-taught
graphic designer/3D
modeller whose work
has been featured on
TV, mobile games and
computer games.
www.millionthvector.
blogspot.co.uk
Guyant, a self-taught artist from the

Greater Milwaukee Area, on this page
and here: www.bit.ly/198-win.
The winning entry is a high-poly
model called Starship Invincible, the
space theme is typical of Alans work.
Sci-fi has just always been something
that Ive been interested in for about as
long as I can remember," he enthuses.
My bedroom is adorned
with various models of the
Enterprise from Star Trek.
When I sit down to create
something, its hard for me to think
of much else.
Alan used Blenders texture painting
tools and Gimp for the build. I started
with a very simple concept sketch on
a piece of scrap paper, just to get the
basic shape down, and then I began
by modelling the bigger sections,"
he explains.
nd
Once the main hull of the space

station was created I began filling in
all the various areas with small details.
I then textured the bigger hull sections
using both Blenders texture painting
tools and Gimp.
So what about lighting? Usually, I
will try and show off a decent amount
of specular with the brightest light
coming from behind the model,
Alan responds. I then use global
illumination to light the rest of the
model. For the main render, the
lighting is not meant to be realistic
at all, which gave a lot of freedom to
illuminate each part of the scene
how I felt.
Accuracy was key to the success of
the build, Alan continues. Because of
the attempt at creating the illusion of
scale there are a lot of very thin, very
small parts to the model. There is a very
fine line between having the edge of a
polygon embedded nicely inside a wall
where no-one would see it, and having
it poking right through the hull of the
space station.
Meanwhile, for anyone wanting to
follow Alans success and win a 3D
competition, he has this advice: Make
sure your project isnt too big or too
small. Dont decide youre going to
work on a perfect model of entire New
York and never finish it on time, but
also make sure your project isnt so
small youll be wasting half the contest
duration just sitting there.
For details on future challenges,
FYi visit www.3dsquirrel.co.uk
18
XYZ Zensen by
Frederic Bessy
Fallen lighthouSe
Third prize was awarded to Arlen

DeCambre for his entry Fallen
Lighthouse. He started off making the
base models in 3ds Max, then he used
GoZ to bring his models into ZBrush.
Once done sculpting I would bake
out my material maps; Diffuse, Normal,
Spec, AO and Displacement for each
asset. Originally my plan was to set
up my scene in Unity 5 for real-time
lighting and PBR. But other variables
got in the way. Luckily my backup plan
was to render the scene in 3ds Max
using mental ray, which was then my
final presentation. See Arlens design
at: www.bit.ly/198-fallen.
The model was
inspired by Arlens
motorcycle commute
nd
Communit y
Studio profile
studio profile
SPIN: PuShINg 3D nd
Software forwarD
Tom May talks to the Canadian VFX studio powered
by a belief in bleeding-edge technology
W
Neishaw ali
President/executive
producer of Spin VFX,
Neishaw Ali has been
involved in the film and
television industry for
over 20 years. She is also
partner at sister company
Triangle Post.
www.spinvfx.com
hen it comes to visual effects, all the artistic talent

in the world wont get you far without technical
expertise. But thats one thing SPIN never has to
worry about. One of our original founders, Nigel McGrath,
was one of the founding partners in Maya, points out
president Neishaw Ali. So weve always had a
strong focus on technology and software.
Founded in 1987 as Side Effects, the company
started out by servicing the commercial market.
Then four years later came a big change. We decided
to reinvent ourselves, explains Neishaw. We changed
our name to SPIN and started buying state-of-the-art
technology The Henry from Quantel and Inferno from
Discreet Logic before anyone else had it.
With this new focus on staying ahead of the curve, SPIN
began to branch out into VFX and creature and character
animation. We really earned our wings in 2006, when we
were approached by Ascendant Productions to produce
Outlander, a sci-fi movie about a spaceship crashing in
Viking-era Norway, recalls Neishaw. We did more than
200 creature shots, 60 matte paints, and more than 500
shots in total. That set the bar for us: great VFX would
now be our calling card. It was an expensive calculated
gamble but it paid off.
Since then, SPIN has evolved into an internationally
recognised VFX studio, with TV credits including The
Borgias and Game of Thrones, for which they won three
VES awards, along with film credits such as The Twilight
Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One & Two, Underworld:
20
ColiN Davies
Joining SPIN in 1999,
VFX supervisor Colin
later became a partner.
He led SPINs team to
Best VFX BAFTAs for
both The Day of the
Triffids and ITV miniseries Titanic.
www.spinvfx.com
SPINs computer museum

pays tribute to the once cutting
edge tech of years gone by
Awakening, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire

Hunter and 22 Jump Street. And its
a continuing focus on technology
that lies at the heart of this success,
Neishaw believes.
Its made everything possible, she
stresses. A lot of companies cant see
into the future and are stuck in their
ways. But because of our background
in software, we wanted to change
things, and thats really shaped and
moulded us.
VFX supervisor Colin Davies
outlines a recent example, in their
use of Katana as both a
Lookdev and lighting hub.
All of our assets come into
Katana through an alembic
geocache and then well do all of the
shading set up in Katana, he explains.
Weve got templates built that allow
us to quickly get straight to the art
part of it.
Most of the nodegraph is already
built into the template so people just
bring in the alembic and they just start
working. The way the pipeline works is
the textures come along with tags that
are read by Katana and automatically
StuDIo
PortfolIo
offIce brIefINg
Established in 1987, SPINs roots trace

back to creative and technological
innovations that are now standard in
visual effects facilities around the globe.
Founder and CEO Nigel McGrath cofounded Alias Research in 1984, creator
of Maya, later acquired by Autodesk;
and in 1987 Side Effects Productions,
the production arm that supported
the initial R&D of software giant, Side
Effects Software, the creators of
Houdini. In 1992, current president
Neishaw Ali was instrumental in
rebranding Side Effects Productions as
SPIN, blending the science of business
and creativity. SPIN has since evolved
into an internationally recognised visual
effects studio, working with respected
directors, VFX supervisors and producers.
StuDIo
StatIStIcS
loCaTioN
Toronto
TeaM siZe
60-100
kNowN for
VFX, creature/
character animation
TeaM
CEO/founder
Nigel McGrath
President/executive
producer
Neishaw Ali
CFO
Kenny Girdharry
Visual effects
supervisors
Colin Davies,
Jeff Campbell
get plugged into the ports and the shaders. But the real
power of it comes on the lighting side, he adds. Because
with the same templating concept you can set up a key
shot in a big production. And once youve lit it, you can
take the nodegraph that was used to build that shot and
then branch off all of the other shots that are very similar
to that. And you can very quickly spread out the work that
was done on one shot through to 15 shots.
all is losT
SPIN delivered over 300 VFX shots for the Robert Redford film. Storm
elements and water simulations were created using RealFlow and Maya
Particles, rendered in mental ray and composited in Nuke. The CG boat
was modelled in Maya and rendered using Katana and RenderMan.
The sigNal
SPIN delivered more than 150 shots for the 2014 sci-fi thriller,
including space environments, alien leg replacements,
and Laurence Fishburnes CG robotic head. All 3D was modelled
and animated in Maya with lighting and look development in Katana
and RenderMan pipeline, then composited with Nuke.
Because of our background in software,

we wanted to change things, and thats
really shaped and moulded us
Because of the focus on templates, the outputs are
always very consistent for compositing, he explains.
This means the compositors in turn can have their own
templates. It really speeds things up and allows people to
concentrate more on the creative aspect.
Its all typical of the focus on innovation that drives the
company, Colin believes. Technology changes so quickly
and if youre not always looking out there and seeing how
things are being done, and how things are changing, youre
not going to be able to keep up, he says. Thats always
been a big part of what we do.
To find out more about SPIN and see some examples of
fYI their work then visit www.spinvfx.com
21
afTer earTh
SPIN created a number of 3D environments for M. Night Shyamalans
sci-fi adventure. The first sequence involved establishing the pods that
would transport a mass exodus beyond the solar system; the second
featured a spacecraft damaged after it crash-landed in a crevice.
Communit y
VFX focus
VFX Focus
Cinesite Creates the VFX

that shook the earth
VFX supervisor, Holger Voss, reveals the challenges of
creating an impact with San Andreass opening scene
Holger Voss
Holger is an awardwinning VFX supervisor
for Cinesite. He has
supervised Cinesites
work on San Andreas,
X-Men: Days of Future
Past, the 2014 Robocop
reboot and Iron Man 3.
www.bit.ly/198-cinesite
pening up a blockbuster feature

sets a tone and marker for the
entire film, and its no mean feat
to nail the VFX from the start, especially
with a film like San Andreas, packed
full of visual effects and CGI mayhem
from start to finish. The man in charge
of tackling the tricky opening sequence
was Holger Voss, VFX supervisor at
Cinesite, who managed to control the
process across two continents.
If you arent aware of the 3D disaster
flick starring Dwayne Johnson (aka The
Rock) without spoiling the premise
too much, it involves a major shift in
the San Andreas fault beginning with
the character Nathalie being hit off
a mountain road due to a
landslide: The car starts
tumbling off the edge of
the road and starts flipping
over several times and gets stuck
in a canyon, then the scene cuts to
an interview that is taking place in a
nearby rescue helicopter, they get a
phone call and fly in and rescue her.
Our work basically ends when she is up
in the helicopter, explains Holger.
The production team decided late in
production that they wanted the entire
car to be CGI after discovering there
were restrictions on stunts at their

location, and the camera angle was
near impossible. Holger and his team
had to add CGI damage to the original
car, as well as create a digital double
for the actress driving.
When she travels off the road, most
of the environment is digital because
the camera move would have been
impossible. It was a combination of
projected matte painting and full CG
environment, says Holger.
A difficult perspective
Most of the development was driven

by an existing set piece filmed in
Australia and the location in L.A.
Director, Brad Peyton, had a cliff in
mind for the scene, but there were no
canyons available to shoot in L.A. so
the team had to find another cliff and
insert the footage of the set piece
helicopter. This environment really
had to hold up for all sorts of camera
angles, from wide establishing shots
to close ups, where we are really close
in certain areas so it was a bit tricky
going down the full 3D road for the
cliff, Holger recalls. We invested a lot
in building the assets properly first and
then populated a lot of vegetation on
nd
The opening sequence of San

Andreas really packs a punch: from
the CG helicopter to the dust and
atmospherics surrounding cliffs
22
it as well as CG mist, debris, helicopter

and people. Cutting between the shots
of our full CG helicopter and the shots
with the set piece helicopter caused
a lot of continuity issues, so we ended
up replacing the helicopter with CG
just because it looked better.
Keeping on track
The team used bespoke tracking

software, 3D Equaliser, for all their
tracking. In order to achieve the
effective rebuild of the existing
real-life environments required
for their sequence, they used
Agisofts photogrammetry software
how Method studios

digitally destroyed l.a.
VFX supervisor Nordin rahhali on
Methods destruction techniques
to reconstruct geometry and get

camera projections for textures.
You give the program a set of
photos that you have shot from the
helicopter and from the ground, and
it aligns them and generates a point
cloud which can be the basis for
modelling your geometry, Holger
explains. We did this for two different
cliffs and then merged them together
and then started modelling and
texturing on top. It was a great solution
for such a big environment.
After this Holgers team transferred
everything into Maya for effects and
rendered in V-Ray.
nd
The big investment into building assets

at the start really paid off, as the whole
scene was difficult to make seamless
due to merging set pieces with liveaction plates from L.A. and CG. But,
this wasnt the biggest challenge for
Holger. Cinesite had recently made the
move to Montral from London: Holger
had been based in the UK and due to
the data centre remaining there, he had
to liaise from overseas. We had to be
organised across facilities; you need to
invest into scheduling and keep track of
everything effectively, he says.
For more on Cinesites San Andreas
Fyi VFX, visit www.bit.ly/198-cinesite
23
In addition to
destroying Downtown
L.A, Method Studios
contributed helicopter
composites to the film
For the opening shot,

Cinesite created
the helicopter using
a combination of
the hydraulic rig
with CG rotors and
a full CG version
While Cinesite set the tone

for San Andreas with the
opening sequence, Method
Studios took the baton
completing 247 complex VFX shots that
saw Downtown L.A. and San Francisco
being demolished.
Methods VFX supervisor Nordin
Rahhali spent two months onset overseeing shots in both L.A.
and Brisbane to ensure the digital
elements were added seamlessly
in post-production.
This included the standout
continuous three-minute shot beginning
with an aerial view into the top-level
restaurant of a mid-rise building that
then tracks actress Carla Gugino
through the chaos as she attempts
to escape the impending carnage
via rooftop helicopter, piloted by her
characters husband, played by Dwayne
Johnson. This sequence was made up
of 4,500 frames, the shot was carefully
pre-visualised by director Brad Peyton
working with The Third Floor.
The Los Angeles sequence was
a huge challenge in terms of the
scale and the complexity of what was
needed, comments Nordin. We had
full CG environments where everything
from high rises to trees are collapsing
and everything needed to look photoreal and behave realistically, even
down to the type and behaviour of
the smoke clouds.
Lidar scans, as well as aerial shots
to use as photography and lighting
references, were used to ensure a
photo-real CG replica of Downtown
L.A. was created for the sequence. From
this, artists built the CG environment,
stitched into with live-action plates with
smoke and pyroclastic clouds added to
blend the shots.
Approximately 90 Method artists
worked on San Andreas, with the
project spanning nearly a year. Methods
pipeline included Maya for layouts
and tracking, Houdini for VFX and
lighting, Mantra for rendering, Nuke
for compositing and Massive for the
extensive CG crowds.
Communit y
Industry interview
the dell
connection
Fido worked on Kung Fury for

seven months, creating 400
VFX shots for the short
industry interview
Kung fury will return

Ian Dean speaks with Swedens rising stars about the
lure of the homeland and more Kung Fury
S
Claes Dietmann
Claes is executive
producer, studio manager,
and co-founder of Fido
VFX, a studio best known
for fur, feather and
creature animation on
feature films
and commercials.
www.fido.se
wedens VFX studio Fido has big

name films on its roster to shout
about, including cult favourite
Attack the Block and the impressive
Kon Tiki. But its Kickstarter short Kung
Fury that has got the studio excited.
The story of a one-man kung-fu army
fending off a time travelling Hitler with
the help of Thor, uzi-wielding Viking
vixens and dinosaurs has become a
16 million YouTube sensation.
Theres definitely plans
for more Kung Fury, says
Fidos Claes Dietmann.
Were one of the backers
and its always been in the plans to do
more, this has always been the first
step to something else.
Fido worked on Kung Fury for seven
months and created 400 VFX shots for
the 30 minute short, the whole movie
is CG, quips Claes. Its testament to
the success of Fido and its ambition
that the studio is venturing into
nd
creating its own IP, with Kung Furys creator and director
David Sandberg. So why did Fido choose Sweden and
not London or LA as a location? As an outsider, starts
Fidos Australian head of 3D Cameron Scott, I
think the mix of technical but also creative skills
needed to succeed in the CG industry works
well with the Swedish mindset.
Claes nods in agreement but takes a broader view,
In Sweden the CG industry is still young, its in the early
I think the mix of technical but also creative

skills needed to succeed in the CG industry
works well with the Swedish mindset
Cameron Scott, head of 3D, Fido
stages of development. No one has yet to do a full cycle in
Sweden, weve yet to see anyone retire from the Swedish
CG scene. Also, says Claes, Sweden has good schools
that encourage artists to go abroad for experience but
always come back.
the futures bright
Fidos short, Kung Fury, which sees a one-man kung-fu army take on a
time travelling Hitler has racked up an incredible 16 million YouTube hits
Its a feeling shared by Niklas Jacobson, VFX supervisor

and co-founder of Swedens Important Looking Pirates.
Niklas spent time in London, working for Double Negative,
before deciding to return to Stockholm and set up ILP.
In the US people are afraid of being fired, its
very competitive. But in Sweden its a different
culture, its more equal and encourages
sharing, reflects Niklas. As with Fido, business
is good. ILP has been nominated for a VES award for its
work on ABCs Constantine and is working on season 3 of
pirate show Black Sails, pirates working on pirates, what
could be better? concludes Niklas.
For more information on Fido and ILP and to see examples
fyi of their work visit www.fido.se and www.lpvfx.com
24
Dells hardware is
powering Sweden
the storage
problem
As studios like Fido
and Important
Looking Pirates
earn more success
and acclaim, so the
demand for more
power and storage
increases. We get
a new system and
have terabytes of
storage and it feels
like a universe
and then we fill it
up, explains Fidos
chief technical officer
Thomas Ericsson.
problem solveD
To help, Fido and
ILP turned to Dell
Compellent for their
storage solution. The
flickering lights and
whir of power is the
first thing you see
on entering Fidos
Stockholm offices,
because its at the
heart of what we do
here, says Claes.
Were a technology
and art studio, the
technology matters.
Niklas is equally
happy, super
happy, he says
smiling, adding for
ILP it was less about
the hardware and
more about the
shared values that
led them to Dell.
Products are one
thing, but were
buying trust
and support.
nd
Communit y
Short cuts
short cuts
stellar moves
reaches For the stars
get published
email your short to
Stellar Moves: The story of Pluto is a charming, retrospective homage to Plutos

planetary downgrading, by senior students at Ringling College of Art and Design
Millivette
Gonzalez
Millivette is a character
animator and CG
generalist from Puerto
Rico, with a strong
passion for storytelling.
millivettegonzalez.com
tabia lees
Tabia is a enthusiastic
character animator and
CG generalist.
www.tabialees.com
valerie
sattazahn
Valerie is a 3D modeller
and CG generalist
from Pennsylvania.
She loves comedy and
entertainment.
valeriesattazahn.com
Millivette Gonzalez, Tabia

Lees and Valerie Sattazahn,
affectionately referred to
as The Llamanauts began
Stellar Moves by sitting down and
making lots of doodles on a big piece
of paper. The short tells the story of
Pluto, who decides against joining
the exclusive and cliquey intergalactic
dance group, The Planets, in support
of his weirdo best friend, Charon. We
always felt that Pluto had something
untold about his story, that could
involve a lot of heart and take place in
an interesting world, says Valerie.
Taking inspiration from 1980s cult
classics, like Back to the
Future and Footloose, the
team created a fun, colourful
aesthetic. Stylistically
we were aiming to have a Cartoon
Network shape language with detailed,
believable textures. Something like
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
What was the hardest job?
VS: The hardest part was
maintaining a good balance
of imagination and logic.
Sure, planets can be characters, but
there has to be a structure of rules so
that the audience isnt confused or
pulled out of the story. If the sun is a
character, what is their light source?
How do you texture something that is a
planet and a face at the same time? The
next obstacle was finishing the amount
of content we had within tight deadlines
while still maintaining the quality.
What was your pipeline like?
MG: We primarily used Maya to model,
animate and assemble everything.
It was challenging to decide

how fleshy and believable
we could make the planets
without having them lose their
simple shapes and appeal
We did a lot of texture work in Mari,

and we detailed certain hero assets
like Plutos boots and Charons hair
with displacement maps that were
generated from ZBrush sculpts. We
used HDR Light Studio and the new
RIS renderer in RenderMan 19 to light
and render all the plates. We then
composited them in Nuke. I made our
effects and comp elements in After
Effects. We then assembled the final
shots and music in Premiere, and made
the final encoded files in Handbrake.
What was the biggest challenge?
MG: Preserving the simple shapes
we wanted for the planets in our 3D
production environment posed a lot
of technical problems. When we were
modelling and rigging the planets
faces, it was very challenging to decide
how fleshy and believable we could
make them without having them lose
their simple shapes and appeal. We
discovered early on that if the planets
squashed and stretched too much,
26
they wouldnt look as spherical and

wouldnt look like planets anymore.
Because of this, we had to be very
careful when deciding the topology for
their faces. When we were sculpting the
blendshapes for their faces we had to
actually negate natural deformations
and volume-preservation to achieve the
simple look we were going for.
Animating the planets was interesting
as we had to keep the face shapes
appealing. It was also challenging to
light their spherical faces and we had to
work very hard to keep the lighting from
being flat and boring. The planets look
deceptively simple in the final film, but
thats because of all the effort we put
into making them look good.
What lessons did you learn?
VS: Sometimes technical solutions
arent obvious, but limitations lead you
to be creative. Also, we learned that
theres no one way to fix a problem.
Watch Stellar Moves online now:
Fyi www.vimeo.com/124168998
1 To keep the
spherical shape of the
characters heads was
a challenge. We used
the Quad Draw tool
over a live sphere to
keep them smooth.
2 We used the same

topology for all the
planets. Because of
this, any face pose or
body animation was
easily copied from one
planet to another.
3 Each character has

a simple shape, but
with interesting little
details: Using ZBrush
displacements helped
us to accomplish this
in an economical way.
4 Earths face had to

be non-distracting, but
still look like our iconic
planet. We achieved
the look with a mix of
layered shaders and
PxrLMSubsubsurface.
5 Carefully planning
harmonious colour
schemes helped
us deliver the right
feeling for the scene
and kept continuity
between shots.
nd
6 We used the free

python script Studio
Library to keep
pre-posed versions
of our characters to
save valuable time
with lipsync.
7 RenderMan 19 gave
us great renders, but
as we were short on
time, we relied more
on post and colour
correcting in NukeX
to get the final look.
Global renderinG
When in RenderMan, we focused on appealing light direction,

form, overall colours and getting a high-res image within a
reasonable render time. In NukeX, we took our plates, de-grained
them, meticulously graded the colours to match the original script,
and added effects or, for example, in this shot, the TV elements.
Lighting and compositing turned our film around and increased its
production value. Its what made the film complete and made our
story click; the mood of the scenes felt right and it showcased all
the textural details we poured our hearts into. Here you see what
we got from RenderMan against the final image from NukeX.
7
vital
statistics
teaM
Directors
Millivette Gonzalez,
Tabia Lees,
Valerie Sattazahn
Other contributors
Weston Snider, Jenna
Iacono, Georden
Whitman, Adam
Ratner, Martin Sumiere,
Mutante Media,
Carlos Oliveras
software
Maya, RenderMan,
Photoshop, Nuke,
Mari, Premiere
production tiMe
18 months
27
avxhome.se
nd
nd
Communit y
VFX focus
VFX Focus
He said Hed be back N

Discover how MPC brought two Arnolds to
the big screen for Terminator Genisys
Sheldon StopSack
Sheldon is a VFX supervisor
at MPC and has worked on
Guardians of the Galaxy,
Skyfall and X-Men: Days of
Future Past.
www.bit.ly/198-sheldon
The MPC team had to

create a model of the
older Arnold for the
final scene where he
faces off against his
younger self
30
o matter how explosive the

summer blockbuster, its
often smaller, subtle VFX
that most impress. This summer the
Terminator Genisys returned Arnold
Schwarzenegger to the role that
made his career, but bringing the
actor back to the screen as a robotic
killing machine 30 years on proved a
challenge for MPC.
VFX supervisor Sheldon Stopsack
says: When I first heard
about it, it was quite an
overwhelming task. Right
from the start I thought
taking that on would be a big challenge
for anyone in the world, not just us
as a company expectations will be
incredibly high.
Sheldon had been involved with the
film for a year when the concept of
creating a young Arnold arrived on his
desk, We knew we couldnt go about
it like we usually do when creating a
digital double; it was clear this sort of
task required us to take a new approach,
leaving no stone unturned to attain
the Holy Grail of digitally recreating
such an iconic figure and avoiding the
uncanny valley, he explains. Everyone
has a clear idea of what he looks like
And there was a fine line between
recreating a machine pretending to be a
human and recreating Arnold, a human
pretending to be a machine.
MPC were provided with an actual
life cast of Arnold from 1984, which was
scanned and became the starting point
for the project. Back in 1984 people
didnt necessarily pay attention to the
kinds of detail modern VFX artists are
used to, says Sheldon, for example,
V-Ray goes VR
texture references and photography.
The material to hand proved limited, so
his team relied on other sources.
We were sorting through all kinds
of material, he says. We never really
stopped looking at reference footage,
no matter where we found it from; the
movie Pumping Iron which documents
Arnold Schwarzeneggers rise to fame,
or print media any imagery we could
get our hands on to figure out how to
model him as accurately as possible.
The sequence is a recreation of the
original movies scene, so it was logical
to use it as a guide. At each stage the
team cross-referenced against the
original footage to avoid deviating or
going off-character, which was a risk.
Schwarzenegger changed so much
from year to year, Sheldon explains.
Bringing Arnie to life
It took a year to model Arnolds

youthful likeness; the mesh and model
was refined up until the last days of
production and three models were built,
for three different purposes. Sheldon
explains: One covers the bases for
quick animation, to a higher-res mesh
which was around 1.3 million polygons,
including teeth and everything.
Luckily the character was naked in the
sequence, so we didnt have to worry
about clothes or any of that stuff.
Once young Arnold was built, it was
time to bring him to life, which caused
some challenges. The team began by
trying to use motion-capture and even
old mocap clips from past movies MPC
had worked on, but nothing felt right.
Its difficult with such an iconic figure,
because it doesnt really get you there
you can show that something is moving,

but Arnold Schwarzenegger is unique,
so its not that simple.
When it came to shoot the final
scene, where Arnold faces off against
his younger self, a stunt double was
used in most shots. A beefy guy, who
basically acted as the young Arnold,
fighting the real Arnold, reveals
Sheldon. And sometimes Arnold
himself wasnt there, and we had to
recreate the older model too! So that
was choreographed, and we were tied
to what was shot, effectively, when we
began developing the sequence.
It takes the language from something

well-loved and brings it up to modern
standards for visual effects
But something was missing. The
final scene wasnt quite violent or
fraught enough this was, after all, two
Terminators going at it. To spice it up
MPC added more face-off shots, where
the two giants really struggle with each
other to add a human element to the
machine-on-machine mayhem.
So, is Sheldon happy with the final
movies feel? It stays true to the first
and second movies the designs, style
and characteristics you know. I wouldnt
say it was a homage but it takes the
language from something well-loved,
and brings it up to modern standards
for visual effects, taking new technology
and tying it together with the original.
For more on MPCs work on the film,
Fyi visit www.bit.ly/198-terminator
katana 2 is HeRe
Out now, Katana 2 has been rebuilt

from the ground up to move it away
from a simple look development and
lighting tool to an integral component
of an advanced visual effects pipeline.
As well as a new UI and performance,
new features include Lua scripting
and scene graph data API as well as
enhanced live rendering.
comedy goes liVe
2015 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
MPCs VFX
supervisor Sheldon
Stopsack says
he was aware of
the challenges in
bringing the iconic
film back to the
big screen
31
The latest free update to V-Ray (3.2)

delivers new VR camera support for
3ds Max.
The two new VR camera types will
enable you to render stereo cube
maps and spherical stereo images for
VR headsets, such as Oculus Rift and
Samsung Gear VR.
Our clients are constantly expecting
more sophisticated and immersive
experiences to differentiate their
projects, says Erik Altman, managing
director at Steelblue. The next
evolution is, and will continue to be, VR
experiences, so its incredibly exciting
that Chaos Group is supporting this
progression at such a high level.
The writers of Jimmy

Kimmel Live have turned
to iClone and CrazyTalk
to bring timely jokes to
the small screen. The shows script is
delivered by 1pm, giving animator
Jesse Griffith five hours to put
together his shorts.
When the writers have an ambitious
animated bit, they want to see what
styles can be delivered by the end
of the day, said Jesse. By firing up
CrazyTalk we can add an immediate
automatic lip-sync to any photo or
drawing with full-facial motion
puppeting. This allows writers to stand
over my shoulder and say things like
less crazy eyes, faster movement,
widen the mouth, as I make those
changes in real-time.
For more elaborate 3D projects, such
as fake video game spoofs, Jesse uses
iClone, Reallusions full 3D animation
suite. iClone comes with a lot of
premade actions, like personalities in
the models, and walk cycles that make
creating a video game-like atmosphere
easy, Jesse explains.
Communit y
Industry interview
The Ingenuity team had three

weeks to produce four minutes
of non-stop VFX shots for Taylor
Swifts Bad Blood music video
nd
inDustry interview
Swift taSk for ingenuity

Ingenuitys Grant Miller reveals how they brought Taylor Swifts
ground breaking sci-fi music video, Bad Blood, to life
lugged as one of the most

elaborate music videos to date,
Taylor Swifts cameo and VFX
heavy video for Bad Blood caused a
lot of hype when it was released in
May. Ingenuity, who worked on Taylors
Blank Space, as well as a wide range
of visionary Joseph Kahns music
video projects, were responsible for
this mammoth task of bringing a faux
futuristic London to life, equipped with
Tron light cycles, RoboCop technology
and Sin City styled femme fatales
performing some excellent stunt work.
Blood, sweat and tears

Grant Miller
Grant is creative director
and VFX supervisor at
Ingenuity, who create
moving images for film,
television and advertising,
with clients ranging from
FOX to Coca-Cola and
Sony Pictures.
www.ievfx.com
Weve done some big

projects over the years but
when it comes to density
I think this one might take
the cake. We had three weeks to do
four minutes of pretty much non-stop
VFX shots, many of which had a lot of
moving pieces that needed to all come
together, says creative director and
lead CG artist at Ingenuity, Grant Miller.
There are tons of little FX throughout
that can easily get overshadowed by

the larger sequences. The shot where
blades pop out of the compact mirror
is honestly one of my favourite shots;
its a great bit of animation, rendering,
and compositing and looks totally
believable. In a commercial that
might be the only shot we do, but on
a music video like this then its almost
a throw-away!
Design diva
The heavily stylised use of design

proved challenging for Ingenuity, Grant
reveals, most of the pressure came
from the more design-heavy elements.
While the more straightforward aspects
like the explosion comps and invisible
car certainly took some finessing,
three weeks is a quick turnaround to
design a high-tech conference room or
a futuristic motorcycle. Getting those
elements finished in time to render
dozens of shots was certainly difficult.
Another challenge was the invisible
car, which required a lot of pre-work,
and the final explosion shots: They
32
had to look completely real, which

required tons of hard work with the keys
and explosion elements. The comp
team really did a great job of layering
all that together.
technical tuning
The team used Modo for 3D, which

made it easy for them to push a lot
of CG through the pipeline quickly,
the speed of lighting and shading
in Modo made sure everything still
looked great on the other end. Grant
adds, PFTrack is another standout, the
object tracks on the bike shots were
incredibly difficult and it really provided
a robust toolset to get the job done.
Grants more than proud of the
final cut, and needless to say, fans
were impressed, I cant overstate the
amount of effort that went into getting
this video done, but everyone really
pulled together and we crushed it as a
team. At the end of the day thats what
matters most to me.
Watch the VFX break of Bad Blood at
fyi www.vimeo.com/131010480
Vote
voTe now!
We invite you to join us for the CG Awards 2015, a celebration of

the most amazing art and technology that has been created over the
past year in the world of animation, computer hardware and VFX
The caTegories
The 3D World CG Awards 2015 will feature the following:
creaTive awards
Technology awards
Best VFX feature film scene
New application of the year
VFX short film of the year
Software update of the year
sponsored by
Plug-in of the year

Software innovation of the year
CG animated feature of the year
Hardware innovation of the year
CG animated short of the year
3D print innovation of the year (new)
Best CG commercial campaign

Arch-viz animation of the year
communiTy award
Arch-viz still of the year
Live Event of the year
CG video game of the year: in-game
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CG video game of the year: promotion
Vote now at www.thecgawards.com

sponsored by
Communit y
VFX focus
new
plug-in
Node-based lighting
tool helps out
caribou
Jurassic World as a
whole showcases an
incredible amount
of technical detail,
from the dinosaurs
skin to the perfect
lighting the latter
of which the Image
Engine team nailed
through the use of
their own node-based
lighting tool, Caribou.
Jurassic World was
the first time the full
version of the Maya
plug-in was used and
proved invaluable
for production.
Caribou was
extremely valuable
to manage the
multiple characters,
full CG environment,
FX and props in
complex lighting
scenes, explains VFX
supervisor Martyn
Culpitt. We were
able to pull off our
full CG shots in a
very short amount
of time and pass the
templates to others.
We spent a lot of
time streamlining the
lighting workflow on
past shows so this
was a huge push to
give artists more time
for creative creation
rather being a
technical assistant.
jeremy mesana
Jeremy is animation
supervisor at Image
Engine. Hes worked on
films such as Jurassic
World, Happy Feet
and Chappie.
www.bit.ly/198-mesana
VFX Focus
RetuRn of the
RaptoRs
nd
Jurassic World has opened its gates to the most intelligent dinosaurs
seen on screen, Kerrie Hughes investigates how they were made
ast month the world returned to

Isla Nublar and broke box office
records. With Jurassic Parks
visual effects legacy casting a shadow,
Jurassic World had to deliver jawdropping effects, 280 of which fell
at the feet of the team at Vancouverbased VFX facility Image Engine. This
included everything from creating a
detailed CG jungle and environments
to breathing life into dinosaurs.
Raptors return
Despite featuring a new dinosaur, its

the infamous velociraptors that some
might argue have become the stars.
So the Image Engine team had a lot to
live up to when tasked with bringing
the beloved creatures back to the big
screen. And this time, with the need
to portray the therapods, they had to
believably animate them interacting
with humans so their work was cut out.
The shots where the raptors
were interacting with a
human counterpart were
some of the most difficult
shots to animate, explains animation
supervisor Jeremy Mesana.
It was the quieter moments, where
we needed to convey intelligence and
awareness in the raptors but still show
them as being on the edge of lashing
martyn culpitt
Martyn is visual effects
supervisor at Image
Engine. His credits include
Jurassic World, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles and
White House Down.
www.bit.ly/198-culpitt
out and killing something, he continues. We looked

at lots of raven footage for how they stare and observe
things, along with footage of lions surveying and stalking
prey. We tried a number of different things and, in the
end, we found that doing less worked best and was the
most believable. There is a stillness to predators that really
is very intimidating.
Provided with original assets from ILM, the Imagine
Engine team worked tirelessly to develop the dinosaurs
individual characters. Each raptor had its own unique
look and characteristics, says VFX supervisor Martyn
Culpitt. The other main difference was trying
to give them the feeling of real animals, the way
their muscles moved, the twitches, ticks
movements that each of them had, all
contributed to the creation of each [raptor]. ILM animation
supervisor Glen McIntosh and director Colin Trevorrow
really wanted the movement of the animals of Jurassic
World to be based on real world reference, national
geographic-style.
Predatory behaviour
To achieve this, the team carried out extensive research

before putting their animation pipeline into effect. In the
early stages of production, while the animation rigs were
being worked on, we spent much of our time combing
through animal reference videos so that when we began
animating we had a strong realistic foundation to base our
motion on, says Jeremy.
We spent many hours studying the legs and feet of
ostrich and emus and how their bodies would react during
locomotion. Alligators and crocodiles were studied for
tail motion and jaw snapping and lions and tigers for
34
Image Engine were tasked with producing

280 jaw-dropping effects for the hotlyanticipated Jurassic World, which ranged
from detailed environments to the famous
dinosaurs themselves
behind the
scenes
All images 2015 Universal. All Rights Reserved.
The return of a
Jurassic classic
nd
The galloping pack

of gallimimus is a
standout scene
their predatory behaviour, stalking,

pouncing and overall majestic stances.
This meant when it came to actually
animate the creatures, the animation
team had a wealthy library of reference
to pull in for inspiration. They then got
to work in Maya. ILM provided us with
The shots where the raptors were

interacting with a human counterpart were
some of the most difficult to animate
Jeremy Mesana, animation supervisor, Image Engine
some great motion capture to start as
our base for the first blocking stages,
Jeremy comments. Since each of the
raptors were a character in themselves
and not just a generic dinosaur, they
spent a lot of time coming up with
back stories and different behaviours
that we would imbue each raptor with to give them more

individual character. The motion capture actors wouldnt
just run around and perform like a generic raptor, but they
would do specific things for each of the creatures. The
motion capture was then taken and staged and composed
for each shot and this would be our base for where we
would begin the animation process.
Motion capture was used to get the initial staging
and performance cues, keyframe animation to bring
real world animal behaviour and locomotion to the
characters, further refined keyframe animation was used
to add individual character to each raptor, before tying
everything back into the real animal world by adding the
last pass of detail to the face, muscles and eyes.
The Jurassic universe
Its no surprise Jurassic World has been a huge hit, but its
been no easy task. It is difficult to contend with peoples
memory of the original Jurassic Park as that is held up in
such a lofty place, Jeremy says. From a visual stand point
I think we created dinosaurs that seamlessly live along with
those found in the rest of the Jurassic universe.
For more on Image Engine and their VFX work visit
fYi their site at www.image-engine.com
35
GallopinG
Gallimimus
Much like the raptors,
the gallimimus hold
a special place in
peoples hearts. The
stampede of creatures
which flock towards
Dr Alan Grant, Tim
and Lex has become
one of the most
iconic and memorable
scenes in the original
film. And theyre back
in Jurassic World
once again and in
large numbers, which
proved a challenge.
Martyn explains:
We started with a
very small number
and to be honest it
didnt really work.
We needed to keep
adding more to fill
gaps and to help the
shot come alive.
The final number
ended being 60.
We really needed
to have the feeling
of being immersed
in the running of
the herd. Camera
shake, grass chunks
being kicked up and
flying past camera,
dirt being ripped up,
gallimimus whipping
past camera, all these
things really help sit
you among it.
Without the vast
growth in numbers
we wouldnt have
the same feeling. The
shot is such an iconic
part of Jurassic Park
so it was important
to not stray too
far from that. The
animation of the
galli was based on
how the ostrich
move and change
directions. Throughout
production we were
directed to use as
much real reference
as possible.
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Artist
EXPErt PANEL
Q&A
Mike Griggs
Mike is a UK-based
freelance 3D, VFX and
mograph artist, who has
been polishing pixels since 1995 for
broadcast and commercial projects.
www.creativebloke.com
Anita Brown
Anita provides a 3D
visualisation service to
the interior design and
event design industries. Shes also a
Maxwell Render certified expert trainer.
anitabrowndesignstudio.com
Your software queries solved

by our CG experts
Cirstyn BechYagher
Cirstyn is a freelance
CG artist and educator,
with over 15 years experience in 3D.
Her clients include AMD and DAZ 3D.
www.northern-studios.com
Joe Parente
Joe is a freelance CG
artist with experience in
3D modelling, animation,
editing and post-production, and a
strong background in the visual arts.
wachtraumdigitalart.com
Rob Redman
Rob runs a 3D animation
and VFX studio, working
for clients ranging from
governments to rock stars. Hes also
an industry commentator and trainer.
www.pariahstudios.co.uk
Get in touch
EmAiL your quEstioNs to
38
expert tip
Add more realism with

the ZDefocus node
The ZDefocus node enables
you to have even more control.
Use the filter type to define the
look of the bokeh. Switching
to Bladed can allow closer
matching to specific lens
setups or, by switching to
image, you can add a specific
lens characteristic.
modo | NukE
How can I create an interactive depth of field
for a render using Modo and Nuke?
Sandy Catchpole, USA
Mike replies
Creating depth of field in a CGI

render is recreating the focus
blur or bokeh of a camera
lens. It can be a useful effect to
help pinpoint where you want the focus of
the image to be, as well as help to make
images more convincing when camera
matching. For example, macro images
tend to have a lot of bokeh.
While Modo has an excellent system
for depth of field, which accounts for
refractive and reflective elements, it
does add extra time to renders. This is
particularly problematic when animating
colourspace switch the colourspace

to Linear) and if there is no apparent
graduation in the depth in the preview
window, click on the Remap Pixel Values
checkbox and set the depth according
to the scene, so that there is a good
graduation from white to dark grey/black.
Render the image out, and save as a
layered image such as an .exr, and bring
the image into Nuke using a Read node.
Modo uses the correct naming
structure with the depth pass so no
renaming needs to be done. Add a
ZDefocus node and connect the render
via the image pipe. Make sure that
the Depth Channel dropdown of the

ZDefocus is set to depth.Z; this will read
the depth pass from the render and then
defocus using either the Direct or Depth
dropdown from the Math dialogue. Use
the Depth of Field slider to adjust the
amount of bokeh in the image and the
interactive focal point in the Nuke viewer
window to set the focus point. The size
and maximum sliders can be helpful for
creating the size of the blur, if the effect is
not strong enough. All of these attributes
can be animated allowing a wider range
of iterative possibilities more quickly than
if using Modos in-built render tools.
all of these attributes can

All
be animated allowing a wider Step-by-Step creating bokeh fx
one Add A depth output in Modo
range of iterative possibilities
Once the scene has been lit and textured,
as the depth of field is locked in, so if
changes are needed this means you
have to re-render.
Instead of wasting time with costly
re-renders we can use Modos powerful
render output system to create a
depth map, which we can use in the
compositing package Nuke to create
an interactive depth of field.
Once the scene in Modo is ready,
add a Depth Output render output
by selecting Add Layer>Render
Outputs>Basic>Depth at the top of the
Shader tree. Switch the Modo Preview
to the Depth channel by using the Effect
dropdown at the top of the Live Preview
window. With the Depth Output render
node selected in the Shader Tree, switch
off Antialiasing (if working in 32-bit
add a Depth Render Output in Modo

using the Add Layer>Render Outputs>
Basic>Depth dropdown. Alternatively,
duplicate an existing Render output and
set the effect in the shader tree to Depth.
Next, in the Depth output properties
switch off Antialiasing.
two refine the depth output

Switch Modos Live preview to the Depth
Channel by using the Effect dropdown
at the top of the preview. If the image is
only showing black and white, click on the
Remap Pixel Values checkbox to adjust the
depth manually using the Maximum Depth
dialogue box. If working in 32 bits, switch
the colourspace to Linear.
three iMport the render into nuKe

Once the image has been rendered in
Modo, save as a layered image and use a
Read node to bring the render into Nuke.
Add a ZDefocus node by finding it in the
sixth symbol dropdown or by pressing [Tab]
and typing the nodes name. Connect the
image pipe of the ZDefocus node, and set
the depth channel to depth.z.
four Set the dof in nuKe

In the ZDefocus node, use Direct or
Depth from the Math dropdown. Use the
interactive focal point in the Nuke Viewer
window with the output set to Focal plane
setup to pick where the focus of the image
will be. Use the Depth of field slider to
define how large the focus area is to be,
and adjust the blurs size using the sliders.
39
Artist Q&A
To add a slightly
tarnished look to the
brass fitting, it was
edited in Photoshop,
where a dirt Photoshop
brush was applied
expert tip
Ready for your close up?

If the final image is a close-up
shot that includes a high level
of detail, consider adjusting
the focal distance so that the
background is out of focus. By
doing this you will be drawing
attention to this area of the
scene and your hard work
will be allowed to shine!
skEtchuP | mAXwELL rENdEr | PhotoshoP

How can I create a textured brass material
using the SketchUp plug-in for Maxwell Render?
Martin Oakley, UK
Anita replies
Its possible to create highly

realistic materials using the
SketchUp plug-in for the
Maxwell Render suite without
having to use the full Maxwell Render
Studio. This is a great testament to the
exceptional functionality of the Maxwell
Render and SketchUp interface. The fact
that the SketchUp plug-in is extremely
user-friendly is a bonus.
First of all, its necessary to apply
a material to the relevant SketchUp
component. In this example, I painted it
with a coloured version of the associated
bump map to assist in calculating the
correct scale of the chosen texture. Once
the material had been applied, I opened
the Maxwell Render Scene Manager to
refine the associated settings. There are

many presets in the Scene Manager:
Navigate to the Character section and
select Metal from the dropdown menu.
A number of additional settings are
adjust the roughness

value to your liking and view
the results in real time
displayed. For this particular material, I
chose Gold from the Metal IOR options.
However, it is possible to adjust the
hue of this material by clicking on Color
and adjusting the rgb values to your
preference. Note that any specific textures
40
imported into the SketchUp model and

applied to the relevant component,
will automatically appear in the Texture
section in the Scene Manager.
Adjust the roughness value to your
liking and view the results in real time
via the Preview window. There are also
additional settings to adjust the surface
properties further, for example, Angle.
To illustrate the actual diamond texture
of the brass, I created a bump map (in
Photoshop) using the original texture and
imported this into the Scene Manager
(navigate to the Bump section). I was then
able to adjust the strength of the bump
accordingly. For this particular texture, a
Standard Bump map was used, however,
the option to use a Normal Bump and
Displacement are also available.
Brokering models or textures

can be a quick and easy way
to generate some extra cash
expert tip
Mind your money

One of the most stable incomes
in 3D brokering is the trickle
income the accumulated income
of several products maybe
even distributed over several
brokerages. Once the money
starts coming in, set a little
aside for taxes, so you
wont get any nasty
surprises when tax
season arrives.
ANy softwArE
How can I position myself to sell my 3D wares?
Tomas Sheanby, UK
Cirstyn replies
Now that summers here, and schools out

(forever, for some of you), you may want to
spend some time brokering your models or
textures, as its a nice way to generate some
extra money for yourself, and its not too bad for your
portfolio either, as your purchasing audience ranges from
hobbyists to illustrators to gaming studios, ad agencies
and other multimedia companies.
If you decide to take the plunge, look around to see
which brokerage is a good fit for you. Sites like TurboSquid,
CGTrader, 3DOcean or other places are always looking for
new, well-made products. Once youve picked your store,
here are some basic tips to get you started.
Stick with what youre good at and develop yourself over
time. Competition is fierce, and this way youre starting
out with a creative process youre familiar with, (hopefully)
consider giving away some freebies

brokers with free items in their portfolio
can rack up to twice the number of sales
giving you faster and better end results. You may also
want to try giving away some free models or textures.
People love freebies, and a recent survey from CGTrader
showed that brokers with free items in their portfolio can
rack up to twice the number of sales, because a free item
will link a customer directly to your store.
Keep in mind youre expected to deliver more than just
a model or a texture. In order to ease the marketing of
your product, this means youll need to provide promo
renders, the more the merrier, including a wireframe
and AO render, a good description of your model, which
formats it comes in, whether its rigged or not, and tags
to make searching easier. In addition to the model, youre
expected to upload it with good, flat UV map(s), material
groups where applicable, and a basic set of shaders, or
textures. Here are some additional tips
tipS how to sell your items
nd
one Mind your uV MAp(S)

Ensure your UV map is distortion-free
and arranged in a logical order. Youll
save your users time and effort, as a lot
of purchased content ends up retextured
and tweaked to fit the clients needs.
Industry standards like UV Layout and
Unfold3D offer great unwrapping and
packing options.
two nAMe your lAyerS & GroupS

Help your fellow artists to do a good job:
Name your layers and/or groups as you
go. Nothing eats more into creative time
than wading through unnamed layers or
groups filled with objects named ngon11,
object 572, shape 73, to find the ones
the client wants changed or retextured
especially when working for a set fee.
three Keep your textureS flAt

Some artists still add light to their
textures, believing it will make them
pop, or sell scanned foliage textures with
light in them. Please dont do this. Let
the customer decide where the scenes
light is going to bounce or reflect in the
texture, and save them from having to
strip it out in Photoshop.
four reMeMber the little thinGS

Keep your filepaths relative, so users
dont get a file that opens with Cant
find username/the_path_to_someones_
desktop.jpg. Enclose a readme file so the
user knows what they can and cannot
do with your files, and add your broker
names, Facebook and Twitter feed, as a
social media presence is a must.
41
READ ME FILE
Even if your rendered image

looks perfect straight away,
its worth taking it into
Photoshop to see if any
improvements can be made
Artist Q&A
expert tip
ZBrush | mAyA | V-rAy

How can I create fur for a fantasy character in Maya?
Moira Bolviski, UK
Joe replies
In this example, I start by sculpting all of my

geometry in ZBrush. I use UV Master for some
quick UVs, and then generate my texture and
normal maps. This process in ZBrush is fast and
easy. It works really well for still images. And especially for
a model that will be mostly covered in fur. So you dont really
need to worry about your seams as much. It only matters
on the portions of the skin that will be showing. I export
everything into Maya using the GoZ plug-in.
There are several different ways to approach hair and fur in
the more recent versions of Maya. This is why its important
to plan out your composition, to get an understanding of
which approach will work best in the specific circumstance.
For this project I was originally going to use the groomable
splines option for the fur. I already had a good idea in my
head of what I wanted the finished look to be. Then later
I switch methods to placing individual guides along the
plates, for that added level of control. The guides make it
really easy to go back and modify a specific area of the fur.
To create the grass I dont feel the need to use guides,
and just use expressions and modifiers to control the look.
I modify the width and taper of the primitives and also
use a rand expression to make the length of the grass
less uniform. I use density maps for the grass to lower the
amount growing under the tree, roots and other parts of the
scene that arent visible in the final render.
I use V-Ray to render the whole scene. I find that V-Ray
gives the rendered image a softer look, especially when
its dealing with subsurface scattering and hair. I apply a
VRayFastSSS2 to the skin. I plug in my diffuse and normal
maps. Then I play with the settings. I think there is a delicate
balance between how much of your diffuse map you want
showing through versus how much subsurface scattering
there is. You can deal with this in the compositing stage with
render passes, but I prefer to get it as close as possible in
the initial render. For the fur I used a VRayMtlHair3. I tweak
the diffuse and specular settings until I am happy with the
sort of desaturated purple colour.
Once the render is completed I take the images into
Photoshop to composite them.
Composition is key
Composition is really
important to create an
aesthetically pleasing image.
Try placing the assets of
your scene strategically, to
maintain a level of symmetry.
This will help to keep the
viewers eye moving
around the image.
Step-by-Step adding fur in maya
nd
one SettinG up fur plAteS

Block out where you want your fur to
be and begin to retopologise the model
with Quad Draw. Make separate pieces
for the eyebrows, the eyelashes, the
dreadlock, and the upper and lower
portions of the body. The fur plates need
to conform to the contours of the base
mesh (but dont have to be perfect).
two plAcinG GuideS

Next, place the guides across the fur
plates. Create separate descriptions
for each plate to allow for maximum
control. Use these to set the length and
direction of the fur on the model. In this
case, the fur on the cheeks and chin is
long, and is short on the hands, feet,
eyelashes and eyebrows.
three uSinG denSity MApS

I want the fur to thin out in some areas
and completely disappear in others.
xGen will save out Ptex maps for
density after you paint the values on
your plates. I lower the density in certain
areas by painting them a dark grey. And
I remove the fur completely in other
areas by painting them black.
four uSinG ModifierS

The modifiers I use on most of the fur
descriptions are Noise and Clumping.
Noise makes the fur look unkempt. I set
up the clumping maps and then lower
the magnitude and frequency to give it
a more subtle effect. For the dreadlock
I use a Noise and Coil modifier, to make
the hair bunch up and curly.
42
avxhome.se
expert tip
Under the sea

Maxwell is a complete
spherical environment, so your
ocean will look particularly
bright and unrealistic, until
you add a seabed. Add a
plane to the scene and scale
it up as needed, then in the
nodes Maxwell tab add
a rocky/sandy material
then render.
rEALfLow
How do I make an ocean in RealFlow
that isnt just a square section?
Henry McCormack, UK
Rob replies
Creating large bodies of water is something

that many VFX artists are called upon to do
and there are a few tools that cater to this task;
some specialist tools and other methods that
use your softwares built-in tools. For example, you could
use a combination of displacement and shaders to create
a pretty good-looking ocean surface, but getting the
interaction between it and other geometry in the scene
could become tiresome. That is where the specialised
software comes in very helpful. RealFlow is probably the
best known and although it is hugely powerful, there are
some really simple methods for creating oceans that can
be made to cover any size.
The obvious choice would be to use either a Hybrido
domain with a large volume, or a massive RealWave object
with some modifiers to get the look right. That second
option is probably better, but rather than making a huge
object, you can tile it instead, which makes for RealWave
interaction being much easier, as you only need to set it
up for a single tile (the RealWave object itself).
The first thing to do is ignore the standard particle
systems and move straight past Hybrido to add a RealWave
object to the scene. Set the nodes scale to around 25x25
or more. Treat this as the real size of the area of water you
will work on. If you can find references then even better,
but if not RealFlow is pretty accurate with its real-world
scaling. Just make sure that any objects you want to have
interacting with your water are modelled to a physical scale
too. This is a pretty reasonable starting point for use with
the Wave modifier. Right-click on the RealWave object
and choose Add Wave/Ocean statistical Spectrum.
Oceans that stretch off into

the distance are easy to create
thanks to the combination of
RealFlow and Maxwell Render
Although
although RealFlow
realflow is hugley
hugely powerful, there
are some really simple methods for creating
oceans that can be made to cover any size
43
44
Author profile
Rob Redman
VFX and animation
trainer, Rob is founder
and creative director
of Pariah Studios,
a boutique studio
working in TV, film
and archviz, for clients
from governments
to rock stars.
pariahstudios.co.uk
Make the most of one of the industrys best all round

software suites, with Rob Redmans guide to Cinema 4D
inema 4D has had massive

growth in recent years, both
in terms of user base and in its
abilities. If you happen to have
picked it up around a decade ago,
you would barely recognise it: its
now one of the most rounded and
capable applications available.
Its fair to say that Cinema 4D
used to be a bit of an ugly duckling,
with a UI that was less than intuitive
and a workflow that could be a
little frustrating, but Maxon has
developed what is one of the most

powerful 3D applications you can
buy. It has tools for almost anything
you can think of, from traditional
keyframe animation to the beautifully
understated mograph tools.
Modelling and simulation options
abound, as do methods for texturing
and lighting (dont forget BodyPaint
comes with C4D), motion tracking
and camera matching. It supports
standard GI models, physical
rendering and a selection of options
45
for NPR output in the form of the

Sketch and Toon module.
The workflows are now some
of the most intuitive, but, as with
any application this big, there are
things you may have missed, tools
or commands you werent aware
of, as well as shortcuts to help you
improve your working day. Over the
next few pages Ill be sharing my
favourite tools, tips and techniques.
For the assets you need, go to
creativebloq.com/vault/3dw198
C4d insight
3
1
working in
layers is best
Cinema 4D has a great

layers system, which
works with materials and
object hierarchy. Rightclick any object to add to
an existing or new layer.
You can then affect
everything on that layer
at once, so tidying up
materials and your object
manager becomes easy.
Adding all your lights
to their own layer, for
example, makes easy work
of setting things up to
render. Just hide the rest.
[shift]+[C]
Command
If you dont have the

type of brain that can
retain a multitude of
keyboard shortcuts
then dont panic.
Maxon thought of you
and recently added the
[Shift]+[C] command.
Start typing and a list
of all commands, which
includes what youve
typed, appears. If you
know you want a type
of extrude start typing
ext and you will see
them all there.
Custom interfaCing
Cinema 4Ds interface is one of the

most adaptable and clean out there. You
can build just about any layout you like
and save it for later use. Plus, you can
create colour schemes too, so if you swap
between C4D and another app regularly,
try setting up a matching scheme, as
shown in EJ Hassenfratzs image above.
Heavy edges
If you need to tighten up the
edges of a sub-D object, but dont
want to (or cant) add loops,
you can use the Surface Weight
tool to increase the sharpness
of any edge selection. This also
has options for changing the
subdivision level.
keep things
snap happy
The snapping option

in Cinema 4D enables
you to very easily align
objects, or selections
to either each other,
grid lines or grid points,
with further tools to
refine your snapping
interactions. This makes
easy work of ensuring
angles are correct or
that objects sit on the
floor, avoiding that nasty
render-time surprise of
floating props. Switch on
and off by hitting [P] to
open the menu.
thend
power of axis points
The axis point of an object is the

point used for rotation, scale and
translation, and usually lives at the
centre of an object. Press the L key to
move into the Axis mode, to move the
axis point, allowing you to give any
object a custom centre point; this is
great for off-axis rotation animations.
referenCe images
and the power of viewports
Create your own

asset library
Modelling from references is usually best, and you can

do it without the need to set up any special planes.
Just go to Attributes Manager and click Mode>View
options, where youll find tabs for safe zones, border
opacity; and in the background section theres a place
to add your blueprints for easy referencing.
Im a big advocate of modelling to

scale, mostly because it means I can
reuse assets from scene to scene,
knowing everything will be consistent. I
tend to store my models in a structured
folder hierarchy on a network drive, so
I can access them from any machine.
However, you can use the C4D content
browser to make finding the right
model really easy. Simply drag a folder
in and save as a preset collection.
46
Creating a simple sphere
mograph symmetry
one build your segment

Starting off with a primitive sphere and
delete all but one segment. Keep in mind
that your segment should be a division of
360 degrees, so the cloner can generate the
right pieces. Try to leave your axis point at
the spheres centre pole too, as this will help
further along down the line.
proCedural noise in displaCement
If you want to see the effects of displacement in your

viewport theres a trick you can use. Add a displace deformer
as a child of your object. Not only do you get real-time
feedback, but also you can stack the deformers and theyre
easy to switch on/off, and to increase/decrease the intensities.
two endless opportunities
Quantize to easily move objeCts and seleCtions
If you like or need to be accurate while transforming, rotating

or scaling, then go to the Attributes Manager and under the
Mode menu choose Model. You can then activate Quantize and
set an increment. So, if you set Move to be 10cm, as you move
an object or selection it will snap to 10cm moves, without the
need to hold [Shift] or activate snapping.
10
You can see here, that following this process

opens up some doors that might otherwise
have stayed shut: The nature of mograph
means that many happy accidents can
happen and this could be the start of a
mechanical flower, rather than the sphere
it is go
going to be.
tidy up
your views
Working with a dense

mesh can be frustrating
and finding the right edge
can be tricky, but there is
a solution. Change your
display from wireframe to
isoparms. This is best for
working with subdivision
geometry, and means that
you only see the smoothed
version of the control cage,
not all the subdivided
geometry which you can
select anyway.
three Clone your segment

Make your segment the child of a clone and
set it to radial. In this case on the XZ plane
and with 20 clones. You can set the Distance
to 0 if your axis stayed in the centr
centre. If not,
change the Distance so the segments all
align, then press [C], select all the segements,
right-click and choose Connect & Delete.
47
11
11
Clean boolean display
If you work with booleans you

should clear up the ugly mess that can
appear and make your life easier. In the
boolean attributes there is an option
for hiding new edges. This doesnt
get rid of them, but it does make your
viewports easier to live with.
12
wireframe
renders
Combining Ambient
Occlusion, with a
skydome and Sketch
& Toon with edges
activated is a great way
to do wirefame renders.
renders
There are plenty of
options to choose which
edges are shown or
hidden,, plus you get the
benefits of all the other
NPR options for some
stylised looks.
13
12
13
smart dupliCates
Almost everything in Cinema 4D can be duplicated by

[Ctrl]-click and dragging. This works for materials, geometry
selections, objects, keyframes and even knots on a gradient.
Become familiar with this command and you will save a lot
of time over the course of even a single project, and it will
also help you to keep your managers neat and tidy.
Experiment and mix things up
module interaCtion
14
adaptable effeCtors
and deformers
Effectors and deformers are far more versatile than you

might think. There isnt a right way to use them, but try
combining them in ways you havent tried: for example,
you could make a formula a child of a helix, to get some
really interesting and useful results. Many mograph
and particle tools work together creating an even more
capable toolset than is advertised.
Cinema 4D was, in the past, a modular piece of software and in some ways it still is. For instance,
the mograph module used to be a separate entity that you purchased, or got with a bundle. The
great thing about how Maxon developed the modules is that they all work perfectly together. So
you can use something like a MoGraph Random Effector to displace points on your geometry, not
just move clones around. Similarly, the particle system has some great effectors, such as the wind
generator. If experimentation is key to success in 3D (which I believe it is), then it is especially
true for Cinema 4D. Take the Hair engine, for example. With a little delving and tweaking you
can set up solid thick geometrical fibres, rather than fine strands. Then there is the Sketch &
Toon renderer, which works with the other options, making things like cell shaded clay renders
a breeze. What Im saying is that you shouldnt let the software tell you what to do. Try to mix
things you might not think will work together. You may be pleasantly surprised.
48
Save time with presets
building asset libraries
one build your asset

Its perfectly acceptable to make new
materials as you work, but to save some
time down the road, save them as presets.
For this example, Ive made a nice brushed
metal, using my material testing scene.
15
set Camera edits

before render
Save having to spend time editing

your renders by setting up your cuts
before hand. Adding all your cameras
and then using the Stage object makes
this easy. Drag a camera into the Stage
and add a keyframe, then when you
want a cut, drag in a new camera and
keyframe the switch. You can keep
stacking these, meaning you never
render an unwanted frame again!
16
two save out the preset

If you select the material in the Material
manager then click Create, you will see an
option for creating a preset. Click this to
name the preset and hit OK.
CrunChing the numbers
Not all animators are great mathematicians Im pretty

rubbish at maths but it doesnt matter because Cinema 4D has
a great little trick for helping out. Almost every numerical input
field will act as a calculator. Just type in the sum and hit return
and the answer will be applied. For example, type: 2*2 without
needing to type = and you will get 4.
17
three ready to use

Now you can re-use that asset by choosing
Create, then load the preset, or use the
content browser. Use this method to start a
catalogue like the one you see here.
version Control
Its best practise to save

your start file with a _001 suffix
and for following saves use Save
incrementally, to save a new file
with numerical suffixes. This can
be a life saver when you realise
you need to get to a previous
version, and either need to keep
some recent work or have run
out of undo steps.
17
49
feature
Become a Modo master
18
stay parametriC but editable?
Keeping geometry parametric

is preferable, but there will be times
when you just cant do that. Well, the
correction deformer lets you move
points and polygons of its parent object,
which might just get you out of a bind.
19
time remapping
Now and then its

simpler to reverse a simulation
than trying to make it work
forwards. You can use the
Cappuccino tool set to play to
bake the animation. Then in
your timeline you can select
the keyframes and set the
scale to negative 1 and there
you have it. Reversed time.
C4d insight
UV cleanup
If you dont like to mess with UVs
then use BodyPaints wizard to
unwrap and then paint directly
on your mesh using projection
painting. This is very handy
for cleaning up any seams and
borders that you might have.
BodyPaint works well with
Photoshop too, making it
a versatile set of tools.
21
20
defining your
sCene sCale
If you find your perspective view

is clipping a lot, or takes a lot of
scrolling to navigate, then you
probably need to change your scene
settings. Hit [Ctrl]+[D] to access your
project settings, where you can define
a scene scale and view clipping.
natural Chaos (non-symmetriCal symmetry)
Using the Symmetry tools can save a lot of time, but

organic shapes are usually far from perfectly symmetrical.
Once youre happy with the overall shape make it editable
and use the Brush or Magnet tool to add a little variation
across the surface of your geometry. This should be subtle,
but will have a big impact on the realism of your final result.
22
23
23
manipulating
spline handles
material
previews
Sometimes the standard material

preview isnt suitable. These can
be changed by right-clicking the
preview window of the Material
Editor. There is a large selection and
bound to be one to fit your needs,
even transparent and translucent
materials are catered for, with the
Object options, which have a solid
bar running through them to help
you visualise what your render will
look like. If you prefer one then you
can set it in the preferences.
Splines
plines have a handle either side which
you can use to control the transition,
great for things like manually setting
eases for keyframes or profiles on a
geometry spline. You can get enhanced
control by holding Shift as you click the
knot, which allows you to manipulate
one side independently from the other.
Useful everywhere but especially in the
timeline for finessing your animations.
22
50
The art of rendering
lets get physiCal

Cinema 4D ships with a few options for
rendering. The built-in renderer takes your
viewport and creates very fast playblast
renders, perfect for checking timing before
a more time-consuming render. Then you
need to decide which final renderer to use.
The physical renderer is capable of some
beautiful results, with gorgeous depth of
field (via the physical camera settings)
and lovely motion blur. However, it uses
different methods to the standard renderer
and doesnt render a bucket for each core
of your machine. It really is lovely, but
comes with a speed cost.
The standard renderer is very fast, but
takes more work to get good results from.
It has things like Global Illumination and
depth of field, but they take more skill to
work with and some effects, like depth of
field, are a post effect, rather than being
part of the rendered scene. You have to
decide between highest quality or speed.
Neat rigging tool
fun with targets
one not just for Cameras

The Target tag is often used to set up a camera,
so that it follows the movements of the target
object, but it will work with anything and if
paired up right can be a handy rigging tool. Its
found in the right-click menu.
24
mograph symmetry
If youre modelling an object that has segments, you

can use the cloner object to quickly create symmetry. With
its rotate mode you can easily generate all the geometry
you need, with minimum hassle. This is perfect for things like
motors, architectural details and so much more. Hit [C] and
then connect and delete the parts if you need to; by keeping
it procedural you make the most of MoGraphs versatility.
two taking the piston

This is a basic setup, but works perfectly. Add
a tub to the scene, with a cylinder inside it.
Add a Target tag to the cylinder and in the tags
attributes set the target to be the tube.
25
25
three reverse the pro

proCess
Do the same for the tube, but with the cylinder
as the target, then try moving the objects
in the viewport. They should stay locked
together, but are now able to slide alongside
along
each other. Simple but effective.
tagless sCulpting
Cinema 4D has a pretty full-featured sculpting

section, but you can actually use all the sculpting brushes
on standard polygon geometry, without having to add the
tags and deal with subdivisions. This is great for blocking
out terrains or adding a little variation across a surface,
saving time and reducing file sizes. Middle-button click and
drag left to increase size, or up to increase brush height.
51
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www.creativebloq.com
Contents
TuTorials
Practical tips and tutorials from pro
artists to improve your CG skills
nd
60 master soft-feeling animated obJects
Vikrant J Dalal demonstrates how to create soft animated text in 3ds Max
For more on your

free downloads
& video training
turn to page 6
geT your
resources
Youre three steps away from this
70 design a robot
How KeyShot 6s new mascot came to life
issues video training and files
1. Go to the website
Type this into your browsers address bar:
2. Find the Files
iles Y
You
ou want
Search the list of free resources to find
the video and files you want.
ad what Y
You
ou need
3. download
Click the Download buttons and your
files will save to your PC or Mac.
54 hard surface modelling 64 game character design

Concept and model a robotic character
Create a production-ready sci-fi character
53
www.youtube.com/3dworld
74 create v-ray materials

How to master the VRmats format
TuTorials
Hard surface character modelling
FoLLow
the video
if you see the Play icon, use the link!
ZBrush | 3ds Max | Keyshot| PhotoshoP | LightrooM
Design anD BuilD HarD

surface cHaracters
Mike Jensen demonstrates how to concept and model a highly
detailed, hard surface robotic character from scratch
esigning and creating

hard surface characters
has always been a passion
of mine. I love figuring out how
abstract shapes can contour over
a characters forms, and how
they can be resolved into a set
of futuristic armour.
In this tutorial, Ill be showing
you my workflow for creating
hard surface characters in ZBrush.
I always start projects like this
one by gathering reference and
inspirational pictures. Using the
reference, Ill come up with an
overall theme for the character.
ArTisT profile
Mike Jensen
Mike is a self-taught
character artist from
Seattle. He started
creating in-depth
ZBrush tutorials,
and now works as
a character artist
at video game
company, Bungie.
mikejensen3d.com
Once I have a general idea of

where I want to go, Ill use a
sphere to start sketching out
ideas. The key here is to be as
loose as possible; to capture the
spirit of the character. After I have
the sketch completed, Ill move
onto cleaning up the character.
Ill go over a few different ways
to take a messy sketch, and clean
it up with high precision.
When the character is fully
cleaned up, Ill go over my process
for adding details and decals, and
finishing up the model. Then Ill
focus on taking the model into
nd
KeyShot to make render passes.

Once I have all the passes, Ill
move into Photoshop to create
a composite image. Finally, Ill
take the model into Lightroom
to finish things up.
This tutorial provides a broad
view of my process, and youll
need to experiment with this
information to see what works
best for you. In the accompanying
download you can find several
videos, my final model, custom
brushes and my composite .psd.
For all the assets you need go to
ExpErt
rt tip
Start with a sphere

The fastest way to get
better at sculpting is to
start everything from
a primitive. This will
force you to learn all
aspects of creating
a character.
1 GATherInG reFerence
Topics covered
Concepting
Clean-up sculpting
Detailing
Rendering
Compositing
The first thing I do when starting a project is gather

reference. Ill collect images for shape language,
overall theme, colour palette, and so on. For this
character I want to do a futuristic pilot, so Ill gather
a lot of pilot reference. Initially, I had a shape
language close to the science fiction universe of
Maschinen Krieger, which has very round shapes.
eventually I changed the shape language to more
aggressive shapes and sharp edges.
54
2 STArT SKeTchInG
Once I have my reference and Ive decided on the

basic overall shape, I start to sketch from a sphere
in ZBrush. I start with a very low density DynaMesh
object at first, as it helps me to focus on the broad
picture. The first thing I do is pull out the head
and torso shapes, trying to suggest where the
ribcage and other landmarks lie. At this point in
the modelling process, I tend to use the Move,
Snakehook, and clayBuildup brushes.
looking shArp
Develop your hard
surface modelling skills
to create a mech or
robot character with a
sharp suit of armour
CLiCK to PLay video

www.bit.ly/198-metal-1
CLiCK to PLay video
CLiCK to PLay video
CLiCK to PLay video
nd
55
TuTorials
ExpErt
rt tip
Keep it loose
The best way to come
up with bold shapes is
to keep your concept
messy. If you tighten up
your shapes too much,
you will be afraid to
make changes.
CLiCK to PLay video

www.bit.ly/198-sharp
3 FInDInG heLMeT ShAPeS
The first area I work on to define the shape language

is the helmet. I go through several different ideas
quickly, not afraid to erase things that arent working.
While working on the helmet, Ill add the Standard,
DamStandard, hPolish, and Trim Dynamic brushes
to my workflow. I also start to add value differences
for readability. Doing this enables me to work on
the design with a better understanding of how it will
look in the final image.
4 BLOcKInG OUT BODy
At this point Im fairly happy with the helmet, so I

move on to working on the body. The first thing I do
is pull out the pelvic region and the legs using the
Snakehook and Inflate brushes. Ill also start to add
landmarks, such as the bottom of the ribcage, the
iliac crest and the belly button. The main thing Im
focusing on here is the proportions and silhouette;
you certainly dont want to be putting any muscle
definition in at this point.
sHarp
sHapEs
using DamstanDarD
tO CrEatE armOur
nd
OnE BuilD up tHE surfaCE
DamStandard is the perfect brush for
creating aggressive armour shapes.
Use it with Zadd, and play with
different stroke directions to find
interesting shapes.
5 FInIShInG The BODy
6 ScULPTInG cheST ArMOUr
7 ScULPTInG The cLOTh
8 reFInInG The ArMOUr
Since I have the proportions where I want them,

its now a matter of defining the muscles. The
main brushes I use here will be DamStandard, clay
Buildup with alpha 48, and Smooth Peaks. I also
worked on the helmet while refining the body. Its
important to be working on all parts of the character
at any given time. This way you build up the
character as a whole.
next, its time to build the chest armour. First I

duplicate my SubTool, so I can have a base to work
on while preserving the anatomy. I use the clay
Buildup brush to start pulling shapes directly off
from the body. I also use my Diamond_cutter brush,
insert meshes, and the standard brush with a Focal
Shift of 77. At this point I also add a few quick details
so I can see the character as a whole.
tWO CrEatE a planE

Adding an adjacent line using
Zsub will create a new plane
on the mesh. Using this in
combination with smooth peaks
and smooth valleys can create
clean surfaces.
tHrEE rEsOlvE tHE armOur

Once there are several more
strokes on the mesh, it will begin
to resolve into an aggressively
shaped armour piece.
For his arms and legs I want to make high fashion

clothing with interesting folds and shapes. I use
DamStandard to start the fold creases, and the Move
brush to get more interesting shapes. At this point
Im also exploring my final colour palette. So its
important for me to lay in all of my major colours.
I basically only want the arms and legs to be yellow,
with all the other parts being shades of grey.
56
now its time to hammer home the design

on the helmet and torso. For reference at this
point Im looking at a lot of industrial machinery
and milled objects. I use a lot of masking and
clipping to define flat shapes, and tend to use
the DamStandard brush to separate out panels.
ExpErt tip
Exp
Unify your
shape language
When coming up with a
design language, constrain
yourself to one or two
shape themes. This will
ensure that your character
will read cohesively.
9 FeeDBAcK AnD reAcTInG
now its time to get feedback. The longer you wait

for feedback, the more time is potentially wasted
going in the wrong direction. The feedback I
received was to go with a harder sharper feeling,
something more robotic. I take this feedback and
apply it to the character as quickly as possible using
hPolish, Planar, Trim Dynamic and DamStandard.
even though the character looks drastically different,
it isnt much work to make the changes.
10 FInIShInG The ArMOUr
Since the sharper design is approved, its time to go

in and finish off the rest of the armour. Again I use
DamStandard to get the ridges and valleys, and the
smooth brushes to relax the areas inbetween. I also
take the time to sculpt the hands and feet at this
point. The hands are created mainly using clay tubes
and Move, while the feet were created using the
same process as the armour.
nd
11 MAKInG The SWOrD
Although initially I had planned on this character

being a pilot, at this point he feels more like a
ninja or samurai. I think thats a good direction to
take this character in, so now I want to give him a
sword to play up that fact. Both the blade and the
hilt are created using the Trim curve brush. I go
to a glancing angle, and keep slicing them until
I come up with cool blade shapes.
12 MOcKUP POSe
At this point I want to do a test pose. The purpose

of this is to make sure that the character design
works well with the pose I have in mind. To pose
the character, I use Transpose Master located in
Zplugin>Transpose Master>TPoseMesh. Then I use
Lasso Mask with Transpose to isolate and rotate
the character into position. Once the character is
posed, go to TPose>SubT to move your pose back
to your sketch.
CLiCK to PLay video

www.bit.ly/198-zbrush-1
13 cLeAnInG The heLMeT
There are a few ways to clean the mesh. I want to

clean the character in the way that preserves the
subtle shapes. For the helmet I decided to clean the
mesh as a single object. First I simplify the mesh by
removing all details. I use hPolish and Trim Dynamic
and Planar Flatten to smooth out the large surfaces.
I then use DamStandard to sharpen lines. This
method does a good job of preserving nuances.
14 reTOPOLOGISe The cheST
For the chest I decide to retopologise the mesh in

3ds Max. First, isolate the chest piece by duplicating
the SubTool and bring it into 3ds Max. Under the
graphite modelling ribbon, select Freeform>Surface.
Then pick the decimated mesh. After that, create
a new Object, and use Step Build to create the
retopologised model. hold your mouse over Step
Build to learn how to use the tool if youre unfamiliar
with how it works.
57
s
orienTATion
Use selecTed
Using the Selected Orientation
function under Pick
Picker>Orientation
can be useful when creating
shapes with specific angles.
Combine it with the planar
brushes to create some
unique planar shapes
TuTorials
CLiCK to PLay video

BEttEr
ligHting
15 cLeAnInG The cheST

gEOmEtry ligHts
COntrOl ligHting
now back in ZBrush, I DynaMesh the low poly chest

at a high resolution. currently there are too many
facets so I need to polish some of them out. I use
hPolish and TrimDynamic to remove the extras. Then
I use DamStandard to accentuate some of the lines.
16 cLeAnInG The LeGS
For this example, Ill go over the calf area. First I

use the Slice curve brush to separate the major
planes. This enables me to smooth out the areas
individually when Mask By Polygroups is set to 100.
The smoothing is done with both the hPolish and
the Smooth brushes. Then I DynaMesh the cleaned
up mesh, and smooth it out a little. This is the best
method for preserving the subtleties of the surface.
OnE aDD gEOmEtry ligHts

KeyShot has powerful imagebased lighting, but sometimes
you need a bit more. Planes
created in ZBrush can be turned
into lights in KeyShot, allowing
for more control over lighting.
nd
17 creATInG A BOLT
Since Im moving on to detailing, I need a bolt I can

use as an insert mesh. I start with a cylinder and
DynaMesh it. Then I turn on Transform>Activate
Symmetry, clicking [r] and [y] for radial symmetry.
Then I use Trim Dynamic to create a chamfered
edge. To create the groove for the screwdriver, I
use Maskrect and the clipcurve brush. Once I
like the look of it, I decimate the mesh and make it
an InsertMesh.
18 ADDInG DeTAILS
Its best to keep the variation in your details to a

minimum. For this character I have three types of
details: A bolt, rectangle insets, and circular insets.
Generally its best to keep details near the edges
of each mesh, since this allows your eye to rest on
the larger areas. The rectangular insets are created
using the provided MJ_rectangle_Inset brush. The
small circular insets were created with the vanilla
Standard brush.
tWO COntrOlling
intEnsity anD COlOur
Applying a light shader from

KeyShot will instantly turn any
geometry into a light. Play with
the power and colour to find the
right feeling for the light.
CLiCK to PLay video

tHrEE CrEatE full ligHt rigs

You can duplicate and scale your
lights right inside of KeyShot
to create your own rig. With
this method you dont need any
image-based lighting.
19 ADDInG DecALS
For this character I have three types of decals: Large

numbers, small text strings, and accent-colour
circles. To make these kinds of brushes, first make
a black and white image in Photoshop with some
text. It can be anything. Then in ZBrush, select the
Standard brush and change the Stroke Type to
Dragrect. Then set the focal shift to -100, and import
your black and white decal. Also make sure that Zadd
is off, and rGB is on.
58
20 SUBDIvS AnD UvS
Since all my meshes at this point are all very dense

DynaMesh models, I have to give them subdivision
levels. To do this, click Tool>Make PolyMesh3d
and DynaMesh the model at a low resolution. Then
Append the high-poly version from your original
Tool. now subdivide your low poly, and under
SubTool select ProjectAll. repeat this until your new
version is high fidelity. now use UvMaster at the
lowest subdiv level to give the model Uvs.
avxhome.se
rE
rEnDEr
passEs
How to choose rrender passes
21 FInAL POSe
At this point the model is done. now its time to

pose the character. For this I load both my finished
model, and the previously posed character. This
way I can match the mockup pose. now I use the
Mask Lasso brush along with Transpose to rotate
the character into place. Once the mockup pose
and the final pose match, use TPose>SubT to send
the mesh back to the SubTools.
22 DecIMATInG The MODeL
Since Im going to be rendering in KeyShot, I have

to reduce the density of the model. To do this I
use the free Decimation Master plug-in. I want to
keep my Uv data, so I choose Keep Uvs. Then I
preprocess and decimate all of the meshes. I find
a decimation value of around 5 to 10 is usually
enough to preserve fidelity.
nd
23 renDerInG In KeyShOT
To get the model into KeyShot, I use the ZBrush

to KeyShot Bridge plug-in. Then I use several of
the default shaders to create my render passes.
I also use an outdoor hDrI along with some area
lights. For my composite, I make a base render,
a rough material render, a metal render, a grease
render, a dust render and an objectID render.
I render everything in eXr format so I can change
exposure values.
24 PhOTOShOP cOMPOSITInG 25 FInIShInG UP

To achieve the final render, I bring all of my render
passes into Photoshop. All of the render passes
except for the base render are used to weather the
character. The rough material render acts as minor
weathering, the metal render is for scratches, and
the dust and grease renders are for dirtying the
character up. To blend them, I add a black mask to
each layer, and paint in white where I want each layer.
After compositing, I like to take my render into

Lightroom to do the final pass. Since were going
for a realistic render, it makes sense to take our
render into a photography adjustment program.
In Lightroom I add noise, adjust the exposure,
and sharpen up the render. The robot ninja is
complete and ready for action.
59
When choosing render passes, its

important to think about how your
character would be built in real
life. For this character, the surfaces
are for the most part glossy.
When considering manufacturing,
however, there would be several
layers. The base material would
be some type of metal. On top
of that would be some white or
black primer paint. That would be
followed by the matte red paint
and finally a glossy coat. Think
about where your character will
be and what they will be doing:
If its in an outdoor environment,
it could be covered with dirt and
dust. Deciding this will determine
the render passes you need.
TuTorials
Create soft animated text
3ds Max | MCloth | after effeCts
Create soft-feeling
animated objeCts
Vikrant J Dalal shows how to produce soft, animated
text in 3ds Max using the Cloth Modifier plug-in
I
ArTisT profile
Vikrant J Dalal
Vikrant has eight years
experience in the VFX
industry and graphic
design. He started
his own VFX studio,
Project01 Design
Studio, which provides
VFX, graphic design
and tutorial services.
www.project01studio.
blogspot.in
n this tutorial we are going to

take a look at how you could
make soft-looking animated
objects, using cartoon text
balloons as an example.
There are a number of software
options you could use, for example
Maya, Houdini and Cinema 4D,
which will all enable you to create
soft-feeling, animated text. But Im
going to use 3ds Max as my main
application as 3ds Max Cloth has
some great and straightforward
options to achieve the effect
that Im after.
I am using the 3ds Max Cloth
Modifier. Unfortunately, I cant
teach you every parameter of this
modifier, as that would require
too much time. So as far as this
text balloon effect is concerned,
we will learn as much as will be
required for this particular tutorial.
Its worth mentioning that there
are different plug-ins to create this
effect, for example Particle Flow

Tool Box 2, Thinking Particles and
more as well as Cloth Modifier.
Before you start working on this
kind of effect, you should have
a basic knowledge of modelling
to create text balloon models.
You must know the properties of
different cloths, because every
type of cloth will react differently
depending on their parameters,
so you have to understand those
properties too.
This is a very interesting subject
and the process Ill explain in
these steps can be used to
create different types of effects,
for example flying balloons and
cartoon balloons.
So take what I am going to show
you here and experiment with
it in your own work for new and
interesting results.
nd
CliCk to PlaY Video

www.bit.ly/198-cloth-1
ExpErt
rt tip
Add more elements

Add more elements or
different types of balloons
to create a whole new
scene. There are many
options in cloth modifiers!
Try, learn and use
these tools to make
better outputs.
CliCk to PlaY Video

www.bit.ly/198-cloth-2
1 OBjeCT MODellIng
Topics covered
Scene set up
Cloth simulation
Lighting and rendering
Post-production
To create a text balloon effect you should have a

basic or good knowledge of modelling, because if
your model is properly detailed then you will get a
more realistic cloth animation. So create a proper
three-dimensional model of text using polygon
modelling and remember your model shouldnt have
any holes. You can find basic steps to create threedimensional models of text in the video tutorial
accompanying this feature.
60
2 SeT UP THe SCene
After youve finished modelling the text, place the

letters into position to fit your requirements. If you
want to add more elements then add them now, for
example balloons, particles and so forth. now place
a camera in the scene. Refer to the accompanying
video for more details on setting up a scene. Once
your basic scene has been set up its time to move
on to the simulation part of the tutorial.
up And AwAy
Vikrant uses the 3ds
Max Cloth Modifier
to create soft-feeling,
animated text balloons
nd
follow
the Video
3 ASSIgn A ClOTH MODIFIeR
now its time to assign a Cloth Modifier to the text.

To do this, select the text and go to the Modify
panel and turn Cloth on. now you can see the Cloth
Modifier options and its parameters. go to the Modify
panel and turn Object Properties on. A new window
will appear and on the left-hand side you can see your
text names. Select them and click Cloth on the Radio
button, situated on the right-hand side. Choose any
cloth type in the Presets dropdown menu.
4 SeT UP ClOTH veRTICeS
Use the same procedure for all the text as you have
just done. Once finished, go to the Modify panel and
click on the [+] button near the Cloth Select group.
now you should see vertices on your text. Select the
bottom vertices and click Make group>Preserve.
now the vertices will stick in the position you
have selected. Use this same procedure for all the
remaining text models and refer to my video tutorial
if you need help.
61
TuTorials
Create soft animated text
geTTing sTArTed
By simulating your cloth
this will give it an initial
position and shape
5 ClOTH InITIAl STATe SeT UP
After 100 frames you

will see the text
cloth fall down
like real cloth
Its time to simulate your cloth to give it an initial

position and shape. Dont change any parameters
in Simulation Parameters, just go to Simulation
Section>Simulate to start the simulation. After 100
frames you will see the text cloth fall down like real
cloth. go to the last frame and click Set Initial State
and to the first frame and click erase Simulation.
now you can see the initial shape of the cloth.
6 FInAl ClOTH SIMUlATIOn (1)

we have already made all the necessary changes
in the cloth parameters, so now we have to make
the final cloth simulation. Select the text and click
on the Object Properties button here you can see
the Pressure section with Pressure 0.0. now on top
of the right-hand side you can see Property 1 and
Property 2. Property 1 stays at its current setting.
Click on Property 2 and go to the Pressure section
and change to 30.0. now click OK.
nd
gEt ExpErimEnting
nting
Create different
ent types of
elements for unique results
7 FInAl ClOTH SIMUlATIOn (2)
8 SeT UP THe MATeRIAl
9 lIgHTIng AnD RenDeRIng
10 POST wITH AFTeR eFFeCTS
After finishing the previous changes to properties go

to the Modify panel and then to the Select Object
section where you can see the Interpolate option in
Property Assignment. now animate this Interpolate
button from 0 to 30 Frames and turn off the gravity.
Use the same procedure for all text models. After
finishing this, click the Simulate button and you will
get your text balloon simulation. Follow my video
tutorial in the online vault for this process.
After the simulation is complete, its time to assign

some colour to the cloth. I use v-Ray Material to
improve the realism of the cloth. I select v-Ray
Renderer to activate v-Ray Material where I make
some changes, as shown in the image above (a
high-res version can be downloaded from the online
vault). Alternatively, you can make your own material
using a different renderer.
In this tutorial we have learned

how to create text balloons.
However, by using this tutorial
you can make different types of
elements, for example cartoon,
flying and hydrogen balloons or
even imitate the famous balloon
house from Pixars Up. So just try
different techniques and modify
the tools and parameters to create
different effects. Remember, this
is a simple starting point keep
experimenting and always try
new things.
Its now time to set the lights. I use v-Ray lights and
place them like studio lighting around the scene.
After this I set up the output name and path and
press the Render button. You can refer to my 3ds
Max files (downloaded from the vault) for a better
understanding and follow the video too, or create
your own light set-up using a different renderer.
62
we need to composite the text balloon elements,

so open After effects and load the layers into the
Timeline and assign some effects, such as Brightness
and Contrast, some sharpen and so forth. You can
use your own effects or parameters to make it more
to your liking. In short, youre aiming to give the text
balloons a more realistic look and achieve a solid,
bulbous text balloon effect which is reminiscent of
credits and colourful animations.
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TuTorials
Game character creation
Follow
the viDeo
Maya | ZBrush | XnorMal | nDo | Mari | PhotoshoP | MarMoset toolBag | nuKe
model a productionready Game character

Maria Carriedo shows you how to create a sci-fi character
for games, from concept art to production-ready model
elcome to this sci-fi

character tutorial, where
I would like to share my
workflow to develop an appealing
character for games, from
concept art to final, productionready model. I will guide you
through this lengthy process,
sharing key points and pipeline
tips that will make your process
more organised and professional.
Starting with a good design is
crucial, thankfully there are skillful
concept artists whose illustrations
we 3D artists get to take into
ArTisT profile
Maria Carriedo
Maria is a freelance
3D generalist based
in Los Angeles. Shes
passionate about
visual development
and storytelling
through art.
www.mariacg.com
final completion. You can be the

best 3D artist, but if the concept
you chose or were given has
no appeal, then ultimately your
model is not going to be very
successful as it will not look good.
Here, Ive used concept art
by Bruno Gauthier Leblanc
(www.inkertone.blogspot.co.uk),
whose skills allow me to exploit
mine and really push the design.
Im going to guide you through
the process I follow when creating
a character for games, from doing
a simple block out model in
nd
Photoshop, to final texturing and

shading in Marmoset Toolbag.
To make it easier, Ive included
videos showing the process, and
I also provide a commentary to
explain in more detail some of
the techniques and the workflow
I follow when creating a game
character. There are also the
project files, which you might
find useful to see how I put the
character together in Marmoset,
including model and texture files.
ExpErt
rt tip
Custom brushes in Mari

Although Mari comes
with some very decent
and useful brushes, you
are not tied to using only
these; you can import any
Photoshop brushes
ushes by
going to Tools>
Import brushes
CliCK to Play viDeo

www.bit.ly/198-maya
1 PLan of aTTack
Topics covered
Planning
Block out model and sculpting
Retopology and UV mapping
Normal map baking
Texturing and scene setup
once you have got your concept, the easiest way

to start is by doing a simple paintover in Photoshop
to block out and list all the meshes that are part
of the piece. Ive found that doing this gives you
a plan of attack; it really does help you to have a
clear idea of all the pieces that you have to make,
whether you are going to polymodel or sculpt in
the software of your choice. In my case, I always use
Maya and ZBrush.
64
2 BLockInG ouT THe MoDeL
I start the block out in Maya and ZBrush. I use

Maya for the hard surface pieces and ZBrush to
adjust the proportions of the body I had previously
polymodelled. Inside Maya, I keep it fairly simple by
using basic geometric shapes and simple extrusions,
while in ZBrush I tend to use the Move, clayBuildup
and Smooth brushes. The vital thing to remember at
this stage is to keep the proportions as close to the
concept as possible, topology isnt important yet.
The gAme plAn

Follow this tutorial
to transform Bruno
Gauthier Leblancs
sci-fi concept art into
a production-ready
game asset
65
ExpErt tip
TuTorials
Block out the hair

Even if youre doing
hair cards for your
game character, its
incredibly useful to
sculpt out the shape
of the hair for later
using it as a guide
for your cards.
quad draw
rEtopoloGy
usE this maya tool

to rEdraw topoloGy
oNE sEttiNG thE hiGh rEs
nd
Bring your high-resolution

model into Maya and make it a
live object, by going to Modify>
Make live. Doing this means that
everything you create will stick
to the surface.
3 ScuLPTInG THe DeTaILS
The next step is to sculpt the shapes and details

of the game character, as well as giving her an
appealing face and adding a basic shape for
the hair. for the cutlines in this sculpt I used the
DamStandard brush using a medium Lazy Mouse
stroke to keep the lines as clean as possible, and
for the edges of the cutlines I used the clayBuildup
brush, which can be used to raise the edges and
build up the shapes needed.
two lay out your vErticEs

With the modelling toolkit on
and the Quad Draw tool selected,
you can now start laying out
vertices on the surface by clicking
exactly where you want them.
thrEE Go with thE flow

Click-[Shift] to create a quad
between the vertices that you
drew, and [Shift]+[Ctrl] to
delete. Once you have quads laid
out, you can relax them by hitting
[Shift] and clicking on the surface.
4 oPTIMISInG & ReToPoLoGY
Retopology depends directly on how the character

moves, the types of material (organic or hardsurface)
and your polycount budget. You want to resurface
with the least amount of separate meshes as possible
to facilitate the rigging and animation. Most objects
have to be modelled into a single mesh, but looking
like they are separate is the objective. Some parts of
the high-res model (such as buttons and belts) are
going to be baked into the normal map.
66
5 SMaRT uV MaPPInG
for this task, use uV Layout, as it enables you to

see the distribution and address any stretching
issues, as well as neatly packing the shells for
texturing and baking. for this character, Im
separating the uV tiles by material type, which will
make the texturing easier later on. usually uVs are
separated by skin, hair and fur (or anything using
transparencies), by body area (torso, legs, and so
on) or by material (cloth, metal, and so on).
Normal
maps
crEatE sEamlEss
hard surfacE maps
6 eaSY noRMaL MaPS
In order to keep all the nice detail from your highpoly sculpts, normal maps are crucial. for this task,
xnormal does an amazing job. Just load your highpoly and low-poly meshes on their sections and use
the Ray Distance calculator tool to calculate the
map. xnormal also allows you to bake an ambient
occlusion map, as well as other useful maps, to
use on your textures later on. keep in mind normal
angles, and soft and hard edges.
7 TRIckS wITH QuIxeLS nDo
Sometimes when you dont have much uV space,

xnormal is not enough to get the tiny details of your
sculpt, or they come out blurry or pixelated. for
this reason, creating some of the tertiary details in
Photoshop is a great option. I usually draw out the
detail, in this case stitching, and use Quixels nDo
to create the normal map, which gives you a lot of
control on how the map is going to look.
oNE prEpariNG your mEsh

Keep any shell in the UV separate
from the rest if the corner angles
are 90 degrees or less, as well as
making these edges hard.
two makiNG thE caGE

Duplicate your object and gently
expand it using the move normal
tool, under Modify>Transformation
tools. Save this as your low-res
cage, as youll need it in xNormal.
nd
8 STaRT TexTuRInG In MaRI
I usually start by importing everything into Mari

and calculating the ambient occlusion. Go to your
objects pallette, right-click on each object and
click ambient occlusion, which calculates each
ao and stores it. To actually see it, you have to
create a procedural ao layer in the diffuse channel
of each mesh; this allows you to use this occlusion
in your diffuse, to give the texture more depth,
or even invert it and use it as a dirt mask.
thrEE usiNG thE caGE

Load you high- and low-res object
into xNormal, but in the low-res
one, click on Use cage, and rightclick to Load External Cage File.
Proceed as normal after this.
dirt pass quickiE

Use normal maps as masks
9 PoweRfuL MaSkInG
Mari has extremely powerful procedural masks for

you to play with. I use the edge mask most, which
prevents paint smearing and gives a soft falloff
instead of a sharp smear, preventing seams and
resulting in a more even painting (I have this mask
on almost all the time). The second mask I use often
is the fractal noise mask, which makes painting dirt
really fast consider this as your dirt base, as its
noticeable when this is used and not polished up.
10 SMaRT PoSInG
although some people prefer ZBrush to set the

pose of their characters, I find that having a rig in
Maya gives you more flexibility and possibilities.
I use RapidRig plug-in for Maya, which allows you
to quickly create a rig for a character that, with
little work on your part, gives really clean results.
The best part of having a rig is that you can always
go back to your original pose, or even animate
your model to show off your skills.
67
For a quick dirt pass, you can turn

to your normal map and use it as
a mask. If you go into your green
channel and adjust the levels to
increase the contrast. You can use
this as a mask, since the green
channel in the normal points
upwards, making it very quick to
add wear and dirt in areas of your
model that would be more prone
to get this sort of detail.
TuTorials
reAl-Time
l-Time rendering
Marmoset Toolbag is
one of the most popular
stand-alone rendering
solutions on the market
for real-time game artists
11 STaRTInG wITH MaRMoSeT 12 non-DeSTRucTIVe TexTuReS

ExpErt
rt tip
Turn on the lights!

For creative glowing
effects, make a black
and white map and
plug it in into the
emissive map spot in
your material, where
you can also add
some colour.
after posing, drag and drop your meshes into the

viewport, or go into file>Import meshes. Marmoset
Toolbag is a very intuitive program, and youll find
almost everything you need is right in front of you.
Start by creating a new material from the palette
on the right, and plug in your textures into the
designated areas. a good way to start is giving basic
settings to your materials, determining how metallic
or plastic and how shiny the objects are going to be.
ExpErt
rt tip
Picking the camera lens

Having the right lens for
each project is crucial, for
a portrait shot use a longer
lens (80-90mm), since
the default 30mm is too
short and will make the
image distorted.
when texturing, always keep a neutral environment

at the beginning so youre sure that your textures
work and that theyre not oversaturated or blown out.
By starting off your textures with a normal map and
the spec/gloss, youll get really close to the end look.
Your material should read as the type of surface
you want without any colour information; the
diffuse/albedo map just brings everything together
in the end.
nd
13 fInISHInG ToucHeS
In Marmoset Toolbag, there are several HDR

images to pick from for lighting, however, you
shouldnt just stick to only this. I usually use one
of these, or import my own image, as my indirect
lighting or fill lights, and for my key light, I usually
go for a spotlight or a directional light. By combining
these two techniques, you have full control of the
mood and the look you want for your final image
or turntable.
14 RenDeRInG THe TuRnTaBLe
once youve finished your model, its time to show

it off. To render a turntable go to capture>Settings
and set up the size and duration of your render, as
well as the type of rotation you want. usually scene
rotation is the best way to showcase your model,
although camera and sky rotation also give interesting
results, like, for example, showing the spec hits in your
surfaces. To render, simply go to Scene>Turntable and
wait for your image sequence to render out.
15 fInaL PReSenTaTIon
In a game pipeline, after texturing and shading you

would be pretty much ready to put your character
in a game engine, but for presentation purposes I
like to give some final grading and post effects in
nuke for the turntable, or Photoshop if its just a still
image. In nuke, I add the final touches with a gizmo
called LensSim, which enables me to add a subtle
bloom and glints to the highlights, as well as some
minor colour grading.
68
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new
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KeyShot 6 includes
some stunning new
tools to make your
renders sing:
Interior lighting mode

Materials on labels
Material Graph
Material animation
Geometry splitting
Realtime region render
Pivot point object axis
Fade light animation
WIN! a copy of keyshot

Five copies of KeyShot HD are up for grabs! Just apply
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he latest version of renderer KeyShot,

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away five licenses to KeyShot (HD edition).
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imports and plug-ins for the widest range
of 3D file formats.
A key feature is KeyShots ease of use.
Its logical workflow from import, through
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up and final output ensures you can get great
results in no time at all.
More so, KeyShot uses a drag and drop
system to apply material and lighting
presets with hundreds more available
on KeyShot Cloud.
You can set up and save cameras, effects,
scene sets and view all changes in real-time.
KeyShot 6 (reviewed exclusively this issue

on page 92) is the latest upgrade that will
be available in August. Featuring an all new
lighting algorithm for interiors and faster
rendering in general, plus an advanced
node-based material editing capability
with the new Material Graph, KeyShot 6
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too, with the new Geometry Editor and
KeyShot Scripting console.
But, if you want to get your hands on
KeyShot 6 absolutely free of charge, then
enter this issues prize draw to win one of
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69
TuTorials
Create a robot character
avatar design
Steve wanted the
new robot mascot for
KeyShot 6 to have
the attributes of a
speed skater
nd
topics covered
Concepting
Blocking out
Panel looping
Rendering
Rigging
70
artist profile
Steve Talkowski
Steve is a 20 year
veteran of the
animation industry
and has worked on
the ground-breaking
feature films Joes
Apartment, Ice Age,
Alien Resurrection
and the 1988
Academy Award
winning short, Bunny.
Steve now creates
designer toys via
his startup,
Sketchbot Studios.
www.sketchbot.tv
nd
Maya | ZBrush | Keyshot
Design a sleek
robot character
Steve Talkowski reveals how he concepts, models
and renders the new robot mascot for KeyShot 6
eing an avid user of KeyShot,

when the team at Luxion
contacted me to design
their new avatar for KeyShot 6, I
jumped at the opportunity.
They wanted their new mascot
to exhibit qualities of high
performance, sleekness, and most
importantly, speed. I immediately
thought of a character that would
have attributes of a speed skater,
and potentially, wheels in place of
feet. Specific racing motorcycles
were also suggested as reference.

The model itself was blocked out
in Maya. All of the exterior shell
pieces were sent over to ZBrush
for segmenting into panels, as
well as pieces that required
further detailing. The character
was then rigged in Maya and
finally exported to KeyShot for
the final render.
Over the past two years of
using KeyShot, I find the time
spent on bringing my renders to
71
a polished finish has decreased

greatly. I am also able to explore
numerous colour and material
variations, as well as a wide range
of environmental lighting very
quickly, making my turnaround for
final presentations both expedient
and loads of fun in the process.
In this tutorial I have broken
down for you my process for
designing the KeyShot 6 avatar.
TuTorials
Create a robot character
gathering ideas
Its essential to invest
time sourcing reference
material before you get
started. This will inspire
your designs and give
you a clear focus
1 gATherIng referenceS
2 cOncepT & BrAInSTOrMIng
3 MOve InTO 3D
4 BLOcKIng OuT In MAyA
As this is to be a fully original character designed

from scratch, I assemble a variety of references
to share with the team to illustrate what I have in
mind before executing sketches. In addition to the
plethora of sleek robots, I really try to hit on some of
the qualities we talk about initially, especially those of
speed skaters and motorcycles. I am fortunate to find
such a motorcycle locally and took a slew of reference
photography to draw from.
Wanting to ensure this idea will look functional, I

quickly mock up a leg structure with these pivot
points in mind. This allows me to quickly pose
the leg in a straight and bent position and check
clearances for the wheel. The leg design eventually
evolves into the final design, with the rimless wheel
attached at one point. I find being able to concept
in 3D helps keep the process fluid and allows me to
explore options quickly.
using my style boards as reference, I begin to

thumbnail poses of what a speedy robot might look
like. I look at a variety of options for incorporating
wheels as a replacement for feet. Inline skates,
rollerblades, and wheels housed directly to the ankles
are explored. not happy with these, I eventually strike
on the idea to have a rimless wheel attached via an
angled bar, enabling the wheel to rotate at this new
ankle position and still feel believable.
Im ready to block out the full character in Maya. I

use very simple shapes to begin with, then add edge
loops to start defining the silhouette of the volumes.
These will serve as the base meshes that will be
panel looped and segmented inside ZBrush. Its
also much easier to further experiment with size and
relative proportions at this stage. Im also constantly
switching between the low resolution cage and
subdivided preview mode to check on the volumes.
5 STArTIng TO DeTAIL
next I begin to detail the various different sections

of the model. The head takes the longest for me to
settle on as I go through a multitude of options for
how I can best implement a lens and work it into
the design language of the entire character. Air
intakes are employed throughout the model in
order to give it a sense of cohesiveness to the
overall design and also create a visual language
for the robots look.
72
QuiCk
guide
6 MAKIng DeSIgn chAngeS
The chest goes through two major revisions. At first,

I want to accentuate the different muscle regions,
especially the pectorals major as two large plates
that would flank both side of the chest logo. After a
while, I feel the chest region lacks a solidity and so I
adjust the upper region to be more of a solid, unified
piece. I also add two light panel regions that better
clarify the rib cage region.
working in Zbrush
using edge Loops
one sLiCe Curve TooL

Using the Slice Curve tool, define
the regions of your panels. In
EdgeLoop>Panel Loops, adjust
the Elevation to -100, which will
keep the volume intact.
7 DeSIgnIng The hAnDS
The hands are also a stage of the design that I

continually revise. I dont want them to be too
simplified, yet they also have to be believable and
read clearly as a working structure. using a picture
of my own hand as a reference, I section off areas
of the palm that make sense to me for articulation.
I also want the fingers to have working joints and
so therefore I come up with a solution I feel will
achieve this purpose.
9 rIggIng The MODeL
With all my geometry imported back into Maya,

a polySmooth node is added to the pieces. I then
create a new attribute that will control the level of
detail. This channel is added to the top hierarchy for
each limb grouping. The model is rigged with Mayas
built-in human IK module. Once the model is posed,
it can be exported out as an .fbx file with animation
selected. KeyShot can read this file and the
geometry will update based on the posed skeleton.
8 expOrTIng TO ZBruSh
As various regions are completed, the exterior shells

will be exported to ZBrush in preparation for panel
looping. I use the Slice curve tool to section off where
I want panels; panel Loops are used to create the
plate segments, Auto group to group all the subtools,
and group Split to separate out all the pieces.
Depending on complexity of polycount, I then run a
Zremesh pass to simplify further, knowing that Ill add
a polySmooth node back in Maya.
10 renDer In KeyShOT
I specify all my material assignments in Maya. When

importing to KeyShot, I can then select the specific
material and change its type, or assign a new one
from the library. I dont settle for defaults, I go to
the environment tab and adjust the contrast and
Brightness settings for the hDrI map and add set
custom highlight pins in the hDrI editor where
needed. The final render, along with a clown pass, is
brought to photoshop for tweaking and adjustments.
73
Two Combine pieCes

After applying Panel Loops,
go to Polygroups>Auto Group
to combine all of the pieces
associated with each panel
together as one.
Three exporT To maya

Under SubTool>Split, use
Groups Split to separate out
the individual panels, which
can be exported back to Maya
via the GoZ plug-in, or, saved
individually as .obj files.
TuTorials
V-Ray materials
Follow
The Video
3ds Max | V-Ray
create and edit

V-ray materials
Paul Hatton explains the benefits of using VRmats, aka
Vismats, in V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max, and how to use them
ith the release of V-Ray

3.0 for 3ds Max, Chaos
Group opened up a
whole new world to Max users
that would otherwise be out of
reach. I knew that these V-Ray
materials (VRmats, formerly
Vismats) were already available
for other modelling packages
like SketchUp and Rhino, so I was
eagerly awaiting the day that
Chaos Group would allow 3ds
Max visualisers to take advantage
of it! Scrolling through the
implemented features of V-Ray 3.0
a few months ago I found that my
wishes had finally been granted!
VRmats are essentially V-Ray
materials which are packaged
in such a way that they can be
opened up and edited whether
ArTisT profile
Paul Hatton
Paul Hatton leads a
studio of visualisers
based in Great
Yarmouth, UK. He
delivers a whole host
of projects including
video and interactive
environments.
cadesignservices.co.uk
you are using 3ds Max or another

modelling package that supports
them. So if you or someone else
has created a material using V-Ray
for Sketchup, that material can
be exported and imported into
3ds Max. The main advantage
of this is that it really opens up
the market for those creating
V-Ray materials because they can
distribute their content to a wider
audience. It is also beneficial to
users because they have more
choice. Its a win for everyone.
In this article, I am going to
explain how to find, download,
import and edit VRmats. This
will really help you on projects
with demanding deadlines and
will open up a whole new world
of possibilities for creating and
nd
editing materials. behold a

beautiful open source world!
In the second half of the article,
we will create a leather material
using the standard V-Ray Material
editor. well set up its diffuse,
bump and reflection properties
before finally saving it in the
VRmat/vismat format, ready for
exporting to another piece of
software or to your colleague on
the other side of the world.
by the end of the article, youll
be better equipped to make full
use of the benefits of VRmats and
be able to save time on material
creation by utilising the online
libraries that have been created
by many generous people!
ExpErt
rt tip
Upgrade to V-Ray 3.0

V-Ray 3.0 has some
fantastic features, one of
which is the Render Mask
tool. Rather than relying
on the useless region
render tool you can now
render your selected
objects in isolation.
CliCk To Play Video

www.bit.ly/198-vray
1 whaT aRe VISMaTS/VRMaTS? 2 OnlIne VISMaT lIbRaRIeS
Topics covered
Vismats/VRmats
V-Ray 3.0
3ds Max
Materials
In V-Ray 3.0, VRmats has been introduced as a new

extension format. So there are two file types: .vismats
and .vrmats. either will work and depending on which
library you use, you could get either type, but thats
fine. (I like to refer to the material presets as Vismats
for historical reasons.) Its worth noting that you
should really be creating your own materials, but if
youre up against a deadline or youre struggling to
represent a material, then this is a great solution.
74
There are a variety of online material libraries that

you can make use of. a simple Google search will
give you a range of options. I would previously have
to make use of V-Ray materials that were created
specifically for 3ds Max, whereas I can now utilise
VRmats created in any software such as SketchUp
and Rhino. For our example, were going to use
www.vismats.com as its got a huge library and its
straightforward to use.
universAl shAders
A VRmat (or Vismat)
material can be created
in V-Ray for 3ds Max
and transferred directly
to V-Ray for Maya
nd
Dont rEly on Vrmats

Create your own materials
With such amazing material
libraries out there it is tempting to
just rely on these resources for all
of your projects. On many projects
it may be possible to do this, but
what if a client needs something
more bespoke or what if the
materials you download dont
look quite right in your scene?
Then youre in trouble. As good as
these resource websites are, they
are no substitute for becoming
experts at creating your own
materials. Knowing what every
setting does is key to creating
predictable results with sensible
render times. V-Ray hasnt
changed that much in recent
years and is unlikely to change
that much in the coming years,
so it makes sense to familiarise
yourself with how it works and
how you go about setting up your
own bespoke materials.
75
TuTorials
V-Ray materials
layEring
Vismats
aDDing a
rEflEction layEr
onE aDD thE layEr

The first thing to do is to open
the Vismats editor, right-click on
the material, go to Create Layer
and select Reflection. This will
give you a new reflection rollout
in the editor.
3 DOwnlOaD a VISMaT FIle
Once youre on www.vismats.com feel free to

navigate through all the material libraries. They are
quite extensive. Once youve located the material
you want, click the Download material button on the
right-hand side. Clicking on that will give you a .zip
file of the vismat file and all the associated bitmaps.
what I love about this website is that there is no sign
up required! (If the vismats.com team is reading this,
thank you for your generosity!)
4 IMpORT The MaTeRIal
with the .zip file extracted head over to 3ds Max and
open your Material editor. Go to the list of material
types and select VRayVRmatmMtl. navigate to its
properties and youll notice a simple interface with
two buttons and one list. The first button lets you
open a new Material editor for the material you have
imported and the second button lets you actually
import the material. Click on this button, select your
downloaded file and see it populate into the list.
nd
two aDjust thE sEttings
Hopefully the majority of the
settings look familiar from the
main 3ds Max material editor
interface. It may look a bit
daunting, but its just a case
of familiarising yourself with it.
5 The new eDITOR
The beauty of these vismats is that they are

editable. you are therefore not restricted to the
material youve downloaded, but can tweak all the
properties, including the reflection, refraction and
bump settings, to name only a few. lets do this by
clicking the Open editor button. youll be faced with
an interface that you are unlikely to have ever seen
before. Dont worry, just take a few minutes to play
and youll find its familiar in no time at all.
6 eDITInG yOUR MaTeRIal
It was a shame that Chaos Group didnt integrate this

into the standard interface that you expect for V-Ray
materials; I think theyre trying to keep a standard
interface for vismats across all of the programs that
implement them. with the editor open, youll see
that you have different rollouts for things like the
diffuse, reflection and maps etc. all of the properties
can be edited in the same way as you will be used to,
its just a case of getting used to the new layout.
thrEE rEmoVE thE layEr

If you decide that you want to
get rid of a layer, youll see all
your layers listed underneath
your material. Right-click it and
youll see the option to remove it.
ExpErt tip
Chamfer everything
When setting up materials
you want to ensure that
your objects are modelled
in a realistic fashion
with chamfered edges
so that they will pick
up nice reflections
on the edges.
7 SaVe yOUR eDITeD MaTeRIal 8 a leaTheR MaTeRIal

Once youre happy with the material its time to make
sure its saved. There are a few things to note here
and theyre all on the left-hand side of the editor.
Firstly there are two standard save buttons which
youll be familiar with. but Id recommend keeping
the Save on close checkbox to ensure you dont lose
any amends. with your material edited and saved, I
think thats all to be said for utilising downloadable
online materials.
76
now lets try creating a material using the standard

3ds Max material interface. Once the material is
fully customised well progress to converting it into
a VRmat using the built-in converter. were going
to create a leather material as it has some nice
properties that we can explore and its also quite
common in architectural scenes. Open the Material
editor and create a normal V-Ray material. next, lets
crack on with setting up the properties.
ExpErt tip
Exp
Organise your materials

I find that its essential to
keep copies of materials
for each specific project
rather than referencing my
material library directly all
the time. This way I can
tweak materials without
worrying about them
affecting other projects.
9 The DIFFUSe SeTUp
Start by getting a high-resolution image of a piece

of leather online. place this into the diffuse slot and
voila! The key with creating any material is highresolution imagery. Its a case of garbage in, garbage
out. you really shouldnt skimp on this, so if you can
get hold of a higher-resolution leather swatch then
please do. websites like CGTextures.com provide
great high-resolution textures. youll certainly notice
the improvement in the results.
10 The bUMp SeTUp
The bump map can be created directly from the

diffuse image using two methods: you can use
photoshop or a similar photo-editing program to
adjust the levels of the image, or you can utilise a
program like Crazy bump to automate the process.
either way, you need to ensure that your resulting
bump image is black in the cracks and grey/white
where you want the leather protruding. place it in
the bump slot and adjust the bump amount to suit.
sTAnd
sTAndArd
uvW mAp
You may want to apply
Y
a UVW map to the
mesh, but if its a more
complex object, you
may like to employ your
unwrapping skills
nd
11 The ReFleCTIOn SeTUp
The reflection can be set up with a simple colour

in the Reflection slot. Make it a greyscale value of
around 50, and then you can adjust it further to suit.
The Refl. glossiness value wants to be in the region
of 0.7 and make sure that the Fresnel reflections
box is ticked. Finally, up the subdivisions so that
your reflections are displayed nicely. For further
improvement and customisation you could use a
similar greyscale map as you did for the bump map.
13 VRMaT COnVeRTeR
Once youre happy with your V-Ray material, youre

ready to share it with the world. To do this we need
to export the material into a VRmat format by going
to Materials>Tools>VRMat Converter. The resulting
interface enables you to either convert a whole
library or a specific material within the scene. lets
do the latter by clicking pick & Convert Material.
Scroll down to your scene materials and select your
material before selecting the export location.
12 FInalISInG yOUR MaTeRIal

with your material properly set up, its just a case of
setting up the mapping on your object. If the object
is fairly straightforward then you may get away with
a standard UVw map with a predefined mapping
type. alternatively if its a piece of furniture then
youll want to dust off your unwrapping skills. Thats
out of the scope of this article, but there are some
great training resources out there from the likes of
Viscorbel, for example, via www.viscorbel.com.
14 lIMITaTIOnS
Its relatively early doors for these materials and

so there isnt really a perfect workflow just yet.
This seems to be a disconnect between creating
materials through the normal 3ds Max Material
editor and this new editor for us with vismats. There
is also no way (as far as I can tell) to convert a vismat
into a format for use with the normal Material editor.
On the whole though, it seems pretty stable which
is good.
77
Vismat altErnatiVEs
If you dont lik
like vismats
If you want to work natively
inside 3ds Maxs Material Editor
with V-Ray materials and not faff
around with a new interface then
you do have other options. One
alternative is to find a good
online material library, such as
www.vray-materials.de where
you can download native V-Ray
materials. Ive not made a huge
use of this site over the years.
The only negative is that you
do have to create an account
before you can download any
materials. This isnt necessarily
a bad thing though as it builds
a certain community around the
trading of materials. Another
website you can make use of
is www.vraymaterials.co.uk
which contains larger swathes of
materials, many of which are free.
3d printing
3d maker
Exploring the best 3D print art,
technology and trends
With its vibrant

surface, the shiny
3D-printed sculpture
looks like painted
porcelain
get published
email your Cg art to

78
James Stewart
used Photoshop
to 3D-print Jeri,
a sculpture that
debuted at 3D
Printshow in New
York earlier this year
interview
moNster maKer
James Stewart has gone from working with clay to 3D
printing Jem Roberts asks him how they compare
JAMES STEWART
Despite having a very
famous namesake,
James has made
his own fame as a
sculptor. He lives
and creates in British
Columbia, but also
travels the world in
search of inspiration.
www.jamesstewart
sculpture.com
rom Harry Potter and The Chronicles of

Narnia to District 9, James Stewart has
a reputation as one of the most adept
creature creators in Hollywood, but his own
sculpted depictions of humanity in the raw
remain his core passion.
Its the classic method used by classical
Greek sculptors, he says of his style of lost
wax sculpture. A mold is made from the
completed piece, then a wax, then another
waste mold before the wax is melted out for
the casting of the bronze artwork. Each stage
is hand-finished with a patina applied as the
final step. However, despite being thumbsdeep in clay since the age of eight, James
is equally happy to sculpt digitally: It took
more than 10,000 hours of sculpting before
I actually got good at it. But it was
all on the computer. Through my
career as a sculptor, my hands would
mold the clay, but it was my eye that
developed what the finished piece would be.
Your eye is the expression and does the work,
the tool is just the conductor for that vision,
whether you mold clay, paint with brushes or
work in Photoshop. Many people think digital
art is faster than something made by hand, but
a lot of extra time goes into digital design.
James is the perfect example of the
traditional artist who has not let the march
of technology bamboozle him one bit. Ive
been a sculptor my entire life, he says, since
I sculpted my first piece at eight years old.
While I was getting my BBA and fine arts
degrees, I sculpted on the side because I

was so passionate about it, and Im now a
sculptor full time. But digital design is not
just something foisted on him by professional
trends, and his unique life study, Jeri, is
entirely 3D-printed: I did not have to re-learn
anything. As an artist, I can intuitively create
without noticing any interface between me
Many people think digital art

is faster than something made
by hand, but a lot of extra time
goes into digital design
and the artwork. I use Adobe Photoshop CC
to add layers of vibrant colour, which would
be unattainable with traditional methods. On
Jeri, I created a tattoo texture map by opening
a 3D scan of a sculpture in Photoshop,
opening a photo as a separate file, selecting
and copying parts of it, and then projecting
it as a texture. Photoshop takes care of the
complicated maths, so its simple to go back
and forth between 2D and 3D. The difficulty
lies in choosing photos and deciding where
to place them. There were size limitations
too: For Jeri, James digitally disassembled the
statue to construct the large sculpture.
Find out about Jamess work on his website
Fyi at www.jamesstewartsculpture.com
79
iNspiriNg
worK
Take a closer
look at the art of
James Stewart
ThE poWER of
phoToShop
James has moved
from creating VFX
for movies to pursue
sculpting full time.
He uses Photoshop
to do the
complicated maths.
www.jamesstewart
sculpture.com
3d maker
Cast resin collectibles to sell
DownloaD
the moDel
3D print tutorial
Make your own line of collectibles

Aiman Akhtar inspires you to become a 3D print artist, having recently
been inspired himself to buy a 3D printer and create resin kits
his month, I have a big announcement:

After researching 3D printing for years,
and trying out multiple technologies
and services, Ive finally bought my own 3D
printer! This was not an easy decision as the
tech is still relatively expensive and there are
so many choices out there. What ultimately
gave me the push is the topic of this issues
article, the importance of going to 3D print
workshops for artists.
In May, I attended a character design for 3D
printing workshop hosted by Mold3D. It was
a two-day weekend event, held onsite at the
Concept Design Academy School in Pasadena,
California. Day one was taught by industry
veteran, Ian Joyner of Legacy Effects Studios,

(formerly Stan Winston Studios) and focused
on using ZBrush to make characters come
alive. Day two was taught by Robert Vignone,
veteran 3D artist and co-founder of Mold3D,
and was all about 3D printing workflow using
the Formlabs Form 1+ 3D printer. Both
instructors took us on their own personal
journeys of 3D printing discovery and used
their successes and failures to demonstrate
the potential of this medium. What set this
workshop apart from others was the teachers
focus on 3D printing as a tool for artists.
3D printing is often touted as a
technological marvel, but my interest in it
has always been driven by the possibilities

of what art I could personally create. These
possibilities were limited by knowledge, and
a 3D print artist not willing to invest in good
training limits what they can create. Aside
from an education on workflow, the artistic
benefit of attending such a workshop lies in
the inspiration and fresh ideas that you walk
away with for future projects. The professional
benefits include networking and adding a new
skill to your portfolio, however, the general
discussion amongst students was not about
the jobs this could land them, but rather the
entrepreneurial businesses they could launch!
Mold3D itself is a great example of just
The general discussion amongst students was not

about the jobs this could land them, but rather the
entrepreneurial businesses they could launch
Artist profile
Aiman Akhtar
Aiman is a freelance
3D artist, specialising
in characters. Hes
a beta tester for
Adobes 3D print
tools and continues
to experiment with
the technology.
www.aiman3d.com
The recent Mold3D

workshop Aiman
attended has inspired
him to buy a 3D printer,
so that he can set up
his own business
80
such an entrepreneurial business model:

The company was founded by two industry
veterans Edward Quintero and Robert Vignone
only a couple of years ago and has grown to
become one of the best online 3D printing
resources for artists. In addition to their live
workshops, Mold3D has just launched an
online education platform, Mold3D Academy,
in order to produce innovative courses
teaching emerging technologies to the widest
possible audience. They also maintain a
curated 3D print shop, featuring original and
exclusive content created by some of the most
talented artists in the entertainment industry.
Their greatest accomplishment has been the
massive online following they have created,
with a YouTube channel that regularly posts
free educational videos and the Mold3D
Printing Artist Group, a Facebook community
where over 2,500 members come to share and
learn 3D printing from each other.
Ultimately, it was attending Mold3Ds
workshop that gave me the confidence to
purchase a Form 1+ and pursue my own
3D printing business ideas. The printer was
perfectly suited to my detailing needs and the
preparation workflow and cleanup/polishing
process was quick to learn. Training geared
towards the technical and artistic process of
3D printing is a rarity, and a chance Im glad
I didnt pass up.
Help is at hand for molding/casting resin
fyi kits: www.mold3dacademy.com
l u st
ow
l l n s i a ug
fo M a tor 12 A
ai t tu sale
x on
ne 199,
s
Is
ue
DesiGn Project: how to cast a character in resin

Software: ZBrush | KeyShot | PreForm
one GatherinG reference
two Zbrush sculPt
three PrePare Print in PreforM
Im the proud owner of an eight-month old

corgi puppy named Kuma. Since we got him Ive
been browsing corgi-themed artwork online
and I happened across Meg Parks awesome
illustrations at the 2014 CTN expo. I bought the
print and with her permission started sculpting
a corgi a day to practise stylised modelling.
This one in particular had some great shape
language and a lot of character, so I chose it as
a test case to develop my 3D printing workflow.
Every day I tried a new way to sculpt hair and

to push a little further to tell a story with each
sculpt. The exercise yielded eight corgi sculpts
in total and I decided to spend another week
using them to develop a KeyShot rendering
workflow for myself as well, since I had
recently acquired the software. I developed my
own clay material and backdrop, and now had
a new presentation setup for my quick sculpts
for the rest of the year.
Stereolithography prints have to be set up

differently to standard FDM prints. For one thing,
prints need supports. PreForm is a free software
by Formlabs that creates supports for the Form1
printer. I imported my corgi sculpt as a .obj and
oriented it at an angle so that it would build up
from a small starting point. This angle reduced
print failure and in one click of a button PreForm
generated supports as well. I edited the supports
so they would be less destructive and sent it.
four Print Post-ProcessinG
five surface PriMer
six Presentation
The print completed in three hours at 100 microns

resolution. After removing it from the build tray,
I soaked the print in isopropyl alcohol for 10
minutes to begin hardening the resin and let it
sit out in the open for 24 hours to be cured by
natural light. I then used clippers to break off the
supports and separate the corgi from the support
base. Lastly I used sanding tools and a nail file
to remove any remaining trace of the supports.
I picked up a Tamiya brand fine-surface primer

for model kits from a local hobby store. I set up
a spray paint station with a couple of pieces of
poster board taped together and I 3D printed
some joints to secure the boards together. I
primed the corgi print from multiple angles,
letting the paint dry and sit in between angles.
I noticed a few areas that required more
sanding. I used my nail file to sand these down
and added another coat of primer.
I took some shots on my DSLR camera with

a 50mm macro lens. The print was ready to
send to my molding service, but I had hoped
it would be free of build lines. I realised these
lines were still visible as I had printed pretty
small at only two inches tall and at 100 micron
layer height. Form1+ can print as high as 25
micron layer height. Printing at 25 microns with
a combination of surface primer and wet sanding
should yield the ideal quality for molding/casting.
nd
81
avxhome.se
3d maker
Cast resin collectibles to sell
Meet the Pros: resin kit sculPtors
Insights from successful 3D print artists at the Mold3D event
Dominic Qwek
miguel guerrero
Scott whitworth
Ive always been interested in creatures and

monsters. I also loved collectibles and knew I
wanted to make my own. I first heard about 3D
printing six years ago, but high-end printing was
still hard to access. Once the technology improved
to where its at, I decided to start producing my
own line of kits. My first print was Brainsynch,
which I did back in 2011. I started selling in 2011
at first on hobby forums and marketing on social
media platforms like Facebook. My preferred
method would be my own website. Tradeshows
are great too because you get to meet your
customers in person.
3D printing technical limitations dont impact
on me much. The sculpting part is the same, you
just have to be more mindful of what scale you
are printing at and make sure that some areas are
not too thin. The rest of the process, like molding
and casting, have remained largely unchanged for
many years. The next project Im excited about
creating is a line of full figure kits based on my
own intellectual property. Perhaps also moving on
from there to a more complete IP package which
includes comics, toys, and so on.
My advice to artists interested in using 3D
printing to create resin kits is to be mindful of
form. Its sometimes tricky to evaluate form with
the shaders in ZBrush. I find exporting my models
to KeyShot helps me check form better because of
the camera and lighting features.
As a kid I loved comics and I wanted to be a comic

book artist. I also collected action figures and
built model kits. I went to different art schools
and learned different mediums, but I always had
in the back of my mind that I wanted to make my
own collectibles.
In 2006, I read a couple of articles regarding
big companies using 3D printing. I then
researched and found a company that offered
3D prints. I still have that first print on my desk.
After 3D printers became available for consumer
purchase I went ahead and purchased one to see
if I could do it on my own. Translating my digital
work to a tangible product has become much
easier with practise. I can now produce something
in 3D and print it that same day.
I decided to start selling my garage kits
after going to a couple of trade shows. I created
a website along with an online store, but my
preferred method is trade shows. I like to meet
and talk to the people who share the same
interests as me. I like to show people innovative
ways of doing things and whats available.
Im excited to start working on a full figure
collectible next and hope to have it done by Son
of Monsterpalooza, 2015.
My advice to artists is to research 3D printing
to figure out whats the best, most cost-effective
way to produce your specific project. Once you
get your first print you will be hooked.
As a kid I grew up watching the classic Universal

monster movies and really connected with the
monsters in John Carpenters The Thing, American
Werewolf in London, The Howling, Alien, and
so on. I was always fascinated by them. I would
always sketch, but didnt really start sculpting
until I was out of high school.
I first learned about resin model kits back
in 1997 when I came across Amazing Figure
Modeler Magazine. I thought this would be great
to be able to sell casts of my work and make a
little money from the pieces I was sculpting. I
starting selling my stuff from my website, online
modelling forums, and getting them shown in
Amazing Figure Modeler Magazine. Thats when
things started to take off. The majority of all of
my sales now are from my website, commission
work, and trade shows such as Monsterpalooza,
Wonderfest and Jerseyfest.
3D printing has had no impact on my
workflow: So far, all my work is done traditionally,
sculpted out of clay such as Monster Clay, WED
clay, or Chavant. I make all my molds by hand,
most of these are typical two-part silicone molds
or shell molds, and the final products, the casts,
are all hand-poured using two-part liquid resins.
Im currently working on a mech gorilla that
a friend sketched out for me, and Ive started
roughing it out in Maya. This may end up being
part traditional and part 3D print.
Senior cinematic artist

at Blizzard Entertainment
Visual effects artist

currently at Digital Domain
nd
82
Traditional sculptor,
painter and mold maker
Going West is Steam

Wars biggest model,
containing two
figures and a scaled
locomotive
3d Maker
3D print project
using the
zbrush 3d print
exporter
Daniel Bel shares

his advice
cuBe
step 1: create a cu
From the Subtool panel,
append a 3D cube and put
this over your model. Scale it
to cover all of the boundaries
of the figure.
step 2: set ratios
Leave only the cube visible
and open the Zplugin menu,
find the 3D Print Exporter
palette and click Update
Size Ratios.
step 3: set
step
s height
Choose millimeters and put
on the Y slider (height) the
size you want your model
to be, for example 400mm.
Press Enter.
3d print projeCt
the last frontier nd
Modeller David Fernandez Barruz explains

how he created the epic scene, Going West
T
DaviD FernanDez
Barruz
David began his career
as a 3D programmer
before taking up ZBrush
and mastering character
modelling. He works at
Scale 75 and also teaches
3D modelling for video
games at CICE in Madrid.
www.bit.ly/198-barruz
he rise of 3D printing is fast becoming

an important part of the model
miniatures market. Leading studios are
adopting the technology to help their artists
create richer, more detailed models in a
fraction of the time.
One such company is Madrids Scale
75, whose large steampunk model series
has caught the eye of collectors
worldwide. Experienced CG artist
David Fernandez Barruz, has been
at the heart of creating some fan
favourites that include Jessica Thunderhawk
from the Steam Wars collection.
David says he has learned 3D printing
along the way. Roberto Snchez and Jorge
Lopez were looking for a professional who
was a good artist but also a good technician
to organise Scale 75s digital sculpture
department, he says. So I have learned
about 3D print modelling by creating models
and working for Scale 75.
Calm under pressure
With a background as a CG character

modeller, and as a progammer, the process
has come fairly easy to David, who describes
character sculpting as primarily a well-crafted
pose, adding, I apply my knowledge of
rigging, skinning, and animation to get an
effective pipeline.
Currently the Scale 75 modellers work
as if creating a character for a video game,
beginning with a T-pose, making it easier to

amend the character and detail elements.
Once I have finished the model in ZBrush I
merge all subtools and use DynaMesh to get
a good mesh to perform cuts and inserts for
production. Finally, we reduce the number of
polygons and export to .stl.
David, along with fellow artists Manuel Puerta
and Ivan Pardo, has recently completed work on
Steam Wars biggest model, Going West. This
contains two figures and a scaled locomotive.
The challenges were primarily technical in
preparing the mesh for 3D printing, says
David, adding: The most interesting challenge
which I enjoyed most was modelling Daisy
Reed, the bored looking sexy girl.
The Going West model took several months
to create, There were a lot of concept
drawings and many great ideas from the
Scale 75 creative team; Adrian Prado, Elas
Alonso and Carlos Hernndez, reflects David.
The kit contains over 75 white metal pieces and
15 resin pieces. The larger pieces are produced
in resin to save weight and for the very high
levels of detail needed for this model.
So what advice does David have for new
artists taking up 3D printing? I recommend
you check the thickness of pieces on the scale
of your model, and seal the recesses. If you do
this in the modelling phase you will avoid many
problems when printing.
To see some more of Scale 75s 3D printed
fYi models, visit www.scale75.com
83
step 4: set For export

step
Now turn off the cube and
make visible the other
subtools. Choose from the
3D Print Exporter pallette
if you want to export All,
Visible or Selected subtools.
step 5: File Format
Finally, click on the file
format you want to export,
for example .stl, and press
Save. Youre ready to print!
tip: keep it small
Decimate your model before
setting it and sending it to
print. Most printers dont
like large files!
0
0
2
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free
gifts
nd
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Contents
our
awarDs
Develop
Theory, research and reviews plus

industry insights from todays experts
Best in class
Awarded to products that
excel in their class.
highly commended
Awarded to great products that
achieve a high standard.
86 nuke techniques
Master a more efficient workflow
88 group test: graphics cards review round-up

Six of the most popular professional GPUs are put to the test
94 review: modo 901
Mike Griggs on the softwares new features
96 review: light studio 5
Is the upgrade worth the hefty price tag?
Get published
email your CG art to

92 review: keyshot 6
The latest version takes a leap forward

97 review: golaem crowd 4 100 my inspiration

How does the updated simulation tool fare?
85
twitter.com/3DWorldMag
Andr Luis on nurturing CG talent
develop
Nuke techniques
nuke techniques
Master a more efficient

workflow in Nuke
Josh Parks shows you how to work in a smarter manner,
in the first of our six-part Nuke tips and tricks masterclass
O
Author profile
Josh Parks
Josh is a compositor
at MPC as well as
a part-time lecturer
at the University of
Hertfordshire.
www.joshparks.co.uk
ver the course of this

six-part masterclass series
were going to be looking
at what I feel have been the most
important compositing tips and
techniques for me, as well as
those that will have the biggest
impact on your work.
As soon as I started at MPC,
I was hit with having to work
efficiently. Not only did I have to
produce good-looking work, but
also optimise everything I could
so that my Nuke script would
run as quickly as possible: These
neccessities have made a huge
difference to the way I work.
In this tutorial Im going to
share with you several ways of
creating a more efficient script,
allowing you to work quicker due
to shorter caching and rendering
times. Due to the fact that Nuke
is becoming such a multi-tool now,
from particles to relighting, there
seems to be a need for our scripts

to grow ever bigger in every
project. Because of this, getting
into this optimisation headspace
is incredibly important. This is
especially true for the working
environment, where Nuke scripts
are more than likely going to be
picked up by other artists.
compositing techniques
Plenty of us know the feeling when

you pick up a shot from someone
and you have to spend a day or
two decoding what is going on
and trying the figure out why
its running slow. If you havent
step up
to NuKe
Download a free
version of Nuke,
to find out if its a
piece of software
that youd like to
take further.
thefoundry.co.uk
nd
Getting into this optimisation head

space is incredibly important,
especially in a working environment
click to plAY Video

www.bit.ly/198-nuke
experienced this: congratulations!

If you familiarise yourselves with
these tips, others can be in the
same shoes as you. This is the kind
of thing you will be remembered
for when working.
Its because of my experience
with this topic that I wanted
to create this series of articles.
Understanding these techniques
compared to other compositing
skills wont necessarily be the
biggest learning curve, however, all
of them are worth keeping in mind
when working. Together they will
have massive implementations in
the speed of your script.
The following tips can be used
in conjunction with the rest of the
tutorials in this series, and should
be used in all your current and
future projects. Work well and
work quickly!
FYI creativebloq.com/vault/3dw198
Auto crop
Set up an animated smart crop

You can use the Curve tool to
evaluate the edges of your image
and plug this info into your crop
node. To do this bring in a Curve
tool node and set type to Auto
Crop, and hit Go. Now go to
the AutoCropData panel and
[Ctrl]+click and drag from the
side of the properties panel to
that of the crop tool. You now
have an animated smart crop that
will accommodate for any size
changes in your image size.
Follow Joshs tips on

the following page
and youll soon be
compositing like a pro
86
t
o w x t l us
l l N e I a ug
Fo hs tore 12 A
s u l
j o K e t on s a
Nu 199,
s
Is
ue
NuKe
tIps
process: Keep Your scrIpts sImple aNd Fast

Josh explains bounding boxes, postage stamps, concatenation, nodes and more
When different images merge

over one another its easy for
the bbox size to get out of
control: by setting it to B in
your Merge node you can keep
it the size of the blackplate
oNe postage stamps
two set BouNdINg Box to B
Postage stamps are the images on Read nodes that show

you the read-in image sequence. As you cycle through
your frame range these will update to the current frame
that youre on. This update takes computational power
that could otherwise be used in caching your output. If
you select any node that has a postage stamp and hit
[Alt]+[P], you can toggle them on and off.
The bbox represents the area that is being processed

while previewing and rendering. In a large script its
easy for the bbox size to get out of hand. (Keep this in
mind while working.) Your backplate should be plugged
into the b pipe with everything being put on top; so its
often useful to have the bbox set to B in your Merge
node in order to keep it to the size of your backplate.
nd
three coNcateNatIoN oF traNsForms
Four remove/Keep Node
Concatenation happens when consecutive nodes do one

lot of filtering to your image, with the filtering type set
by the node at the end of the concatenating nodes. So,
if you do two transforms, the first set to 2 in x with cubic
filtering and the second set to 12.5 in x with filtering
set to Lanczos6; itll give the same output as doing one
transform set to 14.5 in the x with filtering to Lanczos6.
The remove node enables you to remove channels from

travelling further down your script. Or it can be set to
keep, allowing you to select the channels you want to
keep travelling down. This can be useful after a scanline
render node, as this node, as well as outputting RGBA
channels, gives you motion vector and depth channels
as well. These will be processed even if not used.
FIve usINg the crop tool
sIx the precomp
Cropping is incredibly important when it comes to

actively managing the size of your bounding box as
we discussed before, keeping on top of it can massively
speed up your script. A crop node enables you to set a
fixed bounding box size. If setting your bbox to B hasnt
got your bounding box under control you can use the
Crop tool in order to set a new bounding box size.
Precomping enables you to render from a point in your

script and read this back in (so you dont have to compute
this part of your script). It should be used when you know
nothing will be changed up to that point. Precomping
after a denoise or retime node is general practise as these
are very computationally intensive and, once you have
chosen the desired output, shouldnt be touched again.
87
postAge stAmp
How to composite confidently

If youve grown fond of postage
stamps and a lot of compositors
generally have you can set
them to remain on a static frame
in your read in image sequence.
This gives you the best of both
optimisation and visuals, which
is why this is my personal
preference. You can set this up
by opening Nukes preferences
(Edit>Preferences), then opening
up the Node graph panel, you
can then change postage stamp
mode to Static frame.
develop
Group test
group test
Whats the best graphics

card for 3D content creation?
We pit the six most popular professional GPUs three
each from AMD and Nvidia against each other
Author profile
James Morris
James has been
writing about
technology for two
decades, focusing
on content creation
hardware and
software. He was
the editor of PC
Pro magazine for
five years.
webmediology.com
he professional graphics
card market used to be
awash with alternative
brands. But for over a decade
the choice has been exclusively
between AMD and Nvidia. Even
more recently, the latter has
grabbed the lions share of the
sales, shipping 79.4 per cent of
units in Q1 2015 according to Jon
Peddie Research. But AMDs
professional graphics are still very
competitive, and its far from a
foregone conclusion that a Quadro
will always be the way to go. This
issue, we pit three of the most
popular Nvidia Quadros against
their AMD FirePro alternatives,
to find out which is the best, and
which is the best value.
Whilst they are ostensibly
based on the same overall GPU
designs as consumer graphics

cards, professional cards have a
number of significant differences
that make them worth the
(considerable) extra money. One
of the key features is optimisation
for professional applications.
The drivers will be coded for
stable performance with the
key software used in 3D content
creation, rather than the fastest
frame rates possible. The cards are
also usually guaranteed for three
years instead of two or one, and
this can even be extended to five
years in some cases.
Another point worth noting
is that whilst consumer-grade
graphics cards come from a
number of brands, Nvidia Quadros
are all sold under the PNY brand
in the UK, while AMD FirePros
nd
are all Sapphire-branded. So

there is only one card model per
professional GPU to choose from.
Although we have three products
each from AMD and Nvidia on test,
they dont precisely parallel each
other in price or ability, either. The
Nvidia Quadro K5200 is around
twice the price of the AMD FirePro
W8100, while the Quadro K4200
sits somewhere between the W8100
and W7100 FirePros.
pushing performance
However, both the AMD cards

sport 8GB GDDR5 memory
where the K4200 only offers
4GB. So where frame buffer is
required, they have a distinct
advantage. As our tests show,
though, performance depends
considerably on optimisation, and
When specifying a GPU for pro 3D

usage, the choice between AMD and
Nvidias products will partly depend
on the software you usually run
ExpErt tIp
GPU rendering?
The idea of harnessing the huge
power of the GPU for final 3D
rendering has been hovering in
the wings for some years now.
But it still has yet to hit the
mainstream. All of this issues cards
will enhance modelling
alone unless you enlist a
specialist renderer, so spending
on a multi-core CPU is the
best choice when it
comes to output.
the best card for your workflow

will be determined by whether the
software you run works best with
Nvidia or AMD drivers.
All of this issues tests were
performed on a RENDA PW-E7F
workstation from Overclockers.
This system is based around an
Intel Core i7-5960X processor
permanently clocked to 4.2GHz
and backed by 32GB of 2,133MHz
DDR4 SDRAM. Since 3D
modelling benefits from clock
speed rather than cores, this is
an id
ideal test platform. To compare
the cards, we ran industrystandard SPECviewperf 12.02
and the OpenGL test from Maxon
Cinebench R15.
Read our review of Overclockers
FYI RENDA PW-E7F in issue 199.
88
AMD Firep
Firepro
Fire
pro W5100
AMD Firep
Firepro
Fire
pro W7100
Developer/mAnufActurer AMD
Website www.amd.com
cost 222.51 ex VAT / $340*
Developer/mAnufA
Developer/mAnufActurer
nuf cturer AMD
nufA
Website www.amd.com
cost 479.71 ex VAT / $733*
nd
The AMD FirePro W5100 is the cheapest card on test

this issue. But its still a capable piece of hardware.
It sports 768 Stream Processors and a healthy 4GB
of GDDR5 memory. So whilst this wont be the
fastest option, it should have no trouble running
any mainstream application.
usability and design
However, the memory uses a 128-bit interface, so

the bandwidth available is just 96GB/sec. Another
beneficiary of the healthy frame buffer complement will
be the four DisplayPorts, each of which supports a 4K
monitor when used with a DisplayPort 1.2a connection.
This card doesnt require any extra PSU power
connection, either, as it draws less than 75W.
performance
As the cheapest card on test, the FirePro W5100 is

unsurprisingly the slowest. But it still posts some good
results, taking this into consideration. The Cinebench
R15 OpenGL result of 102.06 is way behind the rest
on test here, but 34.13 in maya-04 in SPECviewpwerf
12.02 is only a little less than the more expensive
Quadro K2200, whilst the showcase-01 result of
25.73 and snx-02 score of 45.73 are ahead.
For around twice the price of the FirePro W5100, the

W7100 is essentially twice the card. It sports double
the GDDR5 memory and more than double the Stream
Processors, with 8GB and 1,792 respectively. So its a
potent piece of hardware for the money.
MaIn
FEaturEs
4GB GDDR5
memory
The memory bandwidth is also almost twice that of the

W5100, thanks to the 256-bit interface. So the GDDR5
runs at 160GB/sec. This card will be even more capable
of utilising its four DisplayPort 1.2a connections with
a quartet of 4K monitors for a massive 3D-accelerated
video wall. However, the W7100 also draws around
150W, which is also twice that of the W5100, so a
separate power connector is required.
128-bit memory
interface
Up to 96GB/s
memory
bandwidth
performance
Direct graphics
memory access
support
The W7100 is a much more accomplished performer

than the entry-level W5100, with 161.88 in the OpenGL
portion of Maxon Cinebench R15, although this is
behind the Quadro K4200. But it fares well against
the latter in SPECviewperf 12.02, with comparable
scores in maya-04 of 55.96, in snx-02 of 62.24, and
creo-01 of 51.57. Its 24.77 in medical-01 and 44.73 in
showcase-01 are ahead, showing the benefits of the
large frame buffer. But the results in sw-03 of 86.48
and 56.6 in catia-04 are notably behind the Quadro.
Four standard
DisplayPort
outputs
Conclusion
Overall, the AMD FirePro W5100 acquits itself well

for it 200/$340* pricetag. Considering that it is
two thirds the cost of the Nvidia Quadro K2200, its
definitely better value, and a good choice if you are
on a very tight budget or need only light modelling
abilities. The 4GB frame buffer means few applications
will be impossible to use, although they might be
a little slow.
VerDict
Conclusion
The W7100 provides a mixed bag of performance

results compared to Nvidias Quadro K4200, beating
the latter in some areas, equalling it in others, and
falling behind elsewhere. However, at over 150
cheaper, AMD wins out on value. This is a capable
all-round professional 3D accelerator for the money.
(*Currency conversion)
89
VerDict
MaIn
FEaturEs
8GB GDDR5
Memory
256-bit memory
interface
Up to 160GB/s
memory
bandwidth
Direct graphics
memory access
support
Support for
DisplayPort 1.2a
and Adaptive-Sync
develop
Group test
AMD Firepro
ro W8100
NviDiA QuADro K2200
Developer/mAnufActurer AMD
Website www.amd.com
cost 707.18 ex VAT / $1,080*
Developer/mAnufActurer Nvidia
Website www.nvidia.com
cost 324.95 ex VAT / $497*
The W8100 is the second most powerful card in AMDs

FirePro range, yet its not even 50 per cent more
costly than the W7100. It has the same 8GB GDDR5
frame buffer size, but a larger 2,560 quantity of
Stream Processors, so should offer significantly
greater performance.
Although the quantity of memory is the same, the

W8100 uses an even wider 512-bit interface than the
W7100. So the bandwidth available is doubled to
320GB/sec, the fastest of any card on test. As with the
other FirePros in this test, there are four DisplayPort
1.2 connections, each capable of driving 4K monitors.
However, this is the most power-hungry card in this
group, requiring up to 220W and two power inputs.
performance
Despite extra GPU grunt over the W7100, the

W8100 still cant beat the Quadro K4200 in Maxon
Cinebench R15, resulting 183.21 in the OpenGL test. Its
SPECviewperf 12.02 sw-03 result of 87.7 is also notably
behind. However, in most other areas, the W8100
equals or beats the K4200, with some scores ahead of
the K5200. The results of 3.7 in energy-01 and 55.83
in showcase-01 are the fastest on test, whilst 70.84
in maya-04 is a whisker away from the K5200, as are
27.28 in medical-01 and 79.12 in snx-02.
nd
Although the Quadro K2200 is our entry-level option

from Nvidia in this test, its actually the only one
based on the most recent Maxwell architecture, rather
than Kepler. The main benefit of this is a faster 1GHz
core clock than Nvidias other offerings. It also sports
a capable 4GB of GDDR5 frame buffer, although
otherwise this is a budget card.
MaIn
FEaturEs
8 GB GDDR5
memory
512-bit memory
interface
The K2200 sports 640 CUDA cores, less than half that
of the K4200, and its 128-bit memory path means
it offers an even lower 80GB/sec bandwidth than
the cheaper AMD FirePro W5100, although the 68W
power consumption is a little lower too. However,
only three connections are available two DisplayPorts
and a single DVI with only the DisplayPorts
supporting 4K monitors.
320GB/s
of memory
bandwidth
Direct graphics
memory access
support
performance
The Maxon Cinebench R15 OpenGL result of 119.48

is notably ahead of AMDs FirePro W5100, and the
K2200s score of 86.37 in SPECviewperf 12.02s sw-03
viewset is on par with the more expensive FirePro
W7100. However, elsewhere results are variable. The
maya-04 score of 37.82 isnt far ahead of the W5100,
nor is 38.87 in creo-01, whilst 22.08 in showcase-01
and 33.41 in snx-02 are actually behind.
Four DisplayPort
1.2 outputs
Conclusion
Conclusion
At less than 100 more expensive than the Nvidia

Quadro K4200, the AMD FirePro W8100 provides a lot
of professional 3D acceleration for the money. If youre
running Maya, for example, this is a much more costeffective option than the Nvidia Quadro K5200.
Costing over 50 per cent more than the AMD FirePro

W5100, the Nvidia Quadro K2200 doesnt beat it in
enough areas to justify the extra money. Whilst this is
still good value for a 4GB professional 3D accelerator,
the AMD FirePro W5100 offers only a little bit less
performance for a lot less money.
VerDict
VerDict
90
MaIn
FEaturEs
640 CUDA cores

4GB GDDR5
memory
128-bit memory
interface
80GB/s of
memory
bandwidth
DisplayPort
1.2 outputs
NviDiA QuADro K4200
NviDiA QuADro K5200
cost 634.42 ex VAT / $969*
cost 1,444.35 ex VAT / $2,207*
The Nvidia Quadro K4200 and its predecessors have

been some of the most popular pro 3D accelerators in
the workstations we have reviewed, and its not hard
to see why. The K4200 is still in the affordable price
bracket, yet it packs decidedly high-end performance.
The K4200 provides 1,344 CUDA cores. Although the

frame buffer is the same 4GB of GDDR5 as the K2200,
the bus is 256-bit so bandwidth is more than double at
172.8GB/sec. It still offers 4K-supporting DisplayPorts
and a single DVI connection that wont drive a
resolution this high. Despite these specs, this isnt a
particularly power-hungry card; requiring just 105W.
performance
With more than twice the CUDA cores, the K4200 is

notably quicker than the K2200 across the board. The
OpenGL result in Maxon Cinebench R15 of 200.85
is faster than anything AMD has to offer, as is the
SPECviewperf 12.02 score of 103.63 in sw-03. The
K4200 nudges ahead of the AMD cards in catia-04
with 67.69 and in creo-01 with 52.78. However, its
maya-04 score of 56.87 is behind the FirePro W8100,
as is 63.54 in snx-02, whilst 21.14 in medical-01 and
37.17 in showcase-01 are behind the FirePro W7100.
nd
The Nvidia Quadro K5200 is by far the most expensive

card in this issues test, costing more than twice as
much as AMDs top-end offering the AMD FirePro
W8100, although both companies also offer rangetopping models costing around the 3,000 mark.
MaIn
FEaturEs
1,344 CUDA cores

4GB GDDR5
memory
256-bit memory
interface
172.8GB/s
of memory
bandwidth
The K5200 is a significant improvement over the

K4200, as you would expect for the price. It sports
2,304 CUDA cores and twice the frame buffer at 8GB
of GDDR5. However, the bus is still 256-bit, so the
bandwidth is only slightly improved to 192GB/sec
notably behind the much cheaper AMD FirePro W8100.
But this is still only a 150W card, and there are two DVI
connections alongside two DisplayPorts, although only
the latter can drive up to 4K monitors.
performance
DisplayPort 1.2
outputs
Thankfully, you do get what you pay for in performance

with the K5200 mostly. The Maxon Cinebench R15
OpenGL result of 217.66 is the fastest we have seen, as
are the SPECviewperf 12.02 scores of 94.81 in catia-04,
71.69 in creo-01, 3.63 in energy-01, 72.61 in maya-04,
29.54 in medical-01, 82.05 in snx-02, and 128.45 in
sw-03. But the W8100 still manages to run the K5200
closely in some of these, and beats its score of 48.9
in showcase-01.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Nvidia Quadro K4200 doesnt beat the AMD

competition across the board, but it is consistently
capable with enough different applications to make
it the best high-end all rounder. If youre running Maya
or need an 8GB frame buffer, the FirePro W8100 would
be a better choice. But otherwise, the K4200 provides
the most consistent performance in its price range.
The Nvidia Quadro K5200 is the fastest professional

graphics card you can buy unless you spend around
3,000. If you do want the best performance and
are willing to pay for it, the K5200 certainly delivers.
However, the AMD FirePro W8100 comes close in a
number of areas, making it much better value overall.
VerDict
VerDict
91
MaIn
FEaturEs
2,304 CUDA cores

8GB GDDR5
memory
256-bit memory
interface
192GB/s
of memory
bandwidth
DisplayPort 1.2
outputs
develop
Software review
Software review
KeyShot 6
price $995 (HD) $1,995 (Pro) | compAny Luxion | website www.keyshot.com
Author profile
Andy Jones
Boston-based Andy
Jones has been
working in the CG
industry for five years
and is currently senior
3D artist at Mullen.
Andy has also worked
as a concept artist and
graphic designer.
andyjonescreative.
artstation.com
nd
KeyShot offers an
intuitive approach
to the sometimes
daunting world
of nodes
uxion has made a huge leap

forward with KeyShot 6 a
release with new features
that satisfy both sides of the 3D
artists brain. It has amazing new
plug and play options for those who
need to get something out fast but
remain beautiful.
On the other side, the new nodebased Material Graph gives you the
power to get under the hood and
make really cool materials. Going
further, Luxion has added Scripting
Console for those who practise
this dark art. So wherever you are
on this spectrum, KeyShot 6 is an
update that impresses.
Lets start with the new lighting
presets that deploy different
algorithms to fit the subject. That
said, I was having fun just clicking

around them and seeing what flies.
For example, Performance cuts
the fat and is really fast great
for moving stuff in a big file. Basic
is the default setting and pretty
much KeyShot as normal. Product
is really great for small, reflective
objects, and bumps up the indirect
lighting leaning towards local
lighting (like sphere with a light
material). Interior makes amazing
V-Ray quality, dreamy interior
shots to get that beachhouse
afternoon lighting in one click.
Full Simulation has all the bells
and whistles; GI caustics and all
of that stuff that finally runs your
CPU like it was made to do. Finally,
Custom lets you create your own
92
settings. Luxion is showing great

under the hood support here.
Next up is by far my favourite
update the Material Graph editor.
This is accessible but also holds
enough depth to keep node-pros
happy. You can jump in and just
tune something up or dive deep
and control every parameter
with a plethora of new options. I
also enjoyed just poking around
in there as part of the creative
process. With the blazing fast
rendering you can move through
many iterations in minutes.
Now theres Occlusion, too. A
word that we have been hoping for
in KeyShot for a long time. Most
of you will already be associated
with ambient occlusion from other
Main
Features
New lighting
presets
Material Graph
editor
Supports
Occlusion
Procedural text/
nodes
VR support
What is Keyshot?
KeyShot is so good
at using all available
CPU power its used
by Microsoft to help
stress test new CPU
technology
KeyShot is an interactive raytracing and global illumination program

developed by Luxion. Releasd for both PC and Mac, KeyShot has built
a reputation for being fast, accurate and easy to use, but while earlier
editions were limited, KeyShot 6 aims to offer more customisation
and deeper options for more varied results.
in practice: using caMo

Camo is a great feature. I chose
this one because it represents
a broader movement within
KeyShot. This in particular is a
four colour camo pattern that
looks slick. This is one of many
procedural text/nodes that
is completely editable within
KeyShot. So this means youre
making changes and seeing
them beautifully rendered
before your eyes. This leaves
a really nice environment to
explore creative options in
such a way that I have never
seen elsewhere.
nd
At the heart of KeyShot

is an Oscar award-winning
algorithm developed by
Henrik Wann Jensen.
Henrik was awarded for
his involvement in
Gollums skin in The Lord
of the Rings
software packages. Its best known
for showing small detail and
adding lots of realism to shadows.
So Luxion decided to add this as a
node and therefore as a material.
This expands the usefulness of this
effect beyond simply being a finer,
darker shadow. A world of dynamic
effects can be achieved with this
feature living in the material/node
environment. A good call.
Another great new feature
is Curvature. Its a very unique
looking effect that takes into
account the way light is hitting
the curvature of the geometry and
affecting it accordingly. At the risk
of sounding repetitive, I will again
say this feature, when combined
with the node interface, is almost
limitless. This is a really good

choice to get amazing complex
shines on visors and sunglasses.
There is also the major addition
of geometry editing in KeyShot
6. This again is a nice feature,
and means youre able to stay in
KeyShot rather than have to go
back to your modelling program
just to split off some geometry.
Another big one is the Scripting
Console. If youre trained in the
dark arts of scripting you can now
cast your spells on the KeyShot
render engine. There are also
some really amazing updates to
the VR capabilities, including
object detection. These are all
groundbreaking for KeyShot and
not to be underestimated.
93
With the blazing fast rendering

you can move through many
iterations in minutes
At every turn KeyShot 6 opens up
to the user and shows us a bit of
Luxions outlook. In these days
with proprietary software and
secrecy its good to see such a fine
piece of software open its doors.
I used to think of KeyShot as a
camera a really nice camera but
with these latest updates KeyShot
is more like an entire professional
studio ready to go.
VerDict
develop
Software review
Software
Modo 901
price 1,199 plus VAT (full licence) 329 (upgrade) | compAny The Foundry | website www.thefoundry.co.uk
Seeing the UV
boundaries on a
mesh is just one
of the many UV
enhancements to
Modos UV toolset
Author profile
Mike Griggs
Mike has been a pixel
polisher since 1995.
He has worked in
many sectors of digital
content creation from
website design to
3D and VFX for film,
and TV where he has
built a reputation as a
digital problem solver.
creativebloke.com
nd
M
Main
Features
New physically
based shader
system
UV tools enhanced
UI and viewport
performance
improved
Modelling
workflow
enhancements
MeshFusion now
integrated
odo has been steadily

increasing its user
footprint since the
release of 801, now with the
release of Modo 901, The Foundry
has built on this success with a
potential landmark release that
adds new features as well as a
higher price tag.
The first thing to notice is that
the UI has received a welcome
polish. Modo has always been a
handsome application. Dedicated
layout buttons take the place
of the older tabbed view, which,
with better colour keying and
icon enhancements for the major
tools, means Modo 901 has one
of the more inviting UIs of any
3D application.
There are two new additions
to the layout selections. Schematic
Fusion has become a permanent
addition as MeshFusion is now
included with Modo 901 rather
than being the paid plug-in that
it was previously. The inclusion
of this excellent SubDiv Boolean
modelling solution with the core
software sets Modo apart from
The Advanced Viewport

mode brings a new way
of exploring your mesh
at the build stage
many 3D apps as it enables the
creation of very complex (and
watertight) meshes that wouldnt
be as easily accomplished in other
3D software.
Scripting also gets its own
dedicated layout, which enables
TDs to get better access to the
mechanics of Modo and integrate
it more easily into their pipelines.
New advanced Viewport
The Foundry has been working

to refine the Modo experience,
in concert with the new UI
changes, speed and stability is
notably improved. The viewports
are much quicker to respond
whether you are modelling,
texturing or rendering.
94
One of the standout features is

the new Advanced Viewport
mode, which, while still in its
early days (it does tax GPU
hardware and there are glitches
on some hardware configurations),
enables the user to see shadows,
reflections and transparency in the
main viewport while modelling.
When coupled with another
new addition, OpenSubDiv, this
allows for an excellent animation
environment. The Advanced
Viewport mode brings a new way
of exploring your mesh at build
rather than at the lighting stage
which aids the creative process.
final-frame rendering
Rendering has always been one

of Modos strengths, and with
this version it has been given a
huge upgrade with the addition
of a physically based shader
paradigm, which along with
speed improvements in the core
render engine coupled with simpler
controls and added features, such
as Importance sampling for Light
objects, as well as the existing HDR
The new OpenGLbased Advanced

Viewport display
shows shadows
and reflections
while you work
MODO HiStOry
Modo artist Steve

Barrett leverages the
new wireframe shader to
dramatic effect with his
Soul Catcher render
Started by ex-NewTek employees Luxology (now The Foundry) launched Modo as a SubDivision modeller only, but quickly enhanced it with advanced rendering technologies such
as the Live Preview window, and it has become well known for its excellent modelling and
texturing toolset which has been bolstered by animation and dynamics.
nd
maps brings Modos renderer

bang up to date for workflows from
game design to feature film VFX.
Animation and dynamics tools
have also been enhanced. Object
shattering is now part of the
dynamics system meaning you
can use background geometries,
to drive the shatter pattern, and
there is a range of new deformers

and a more straightforward rigging
system has also been implemented.
At long last there is a wireframe
shader which can be used as
a driver for many elements
throughout the shader tree with
gorgeous results.
UV tools have also been hugely
upgraded with improved UDIM
support, better aligning and
relaxing tools, and the ability to
pass one set of UVs from one mesh
to another with the same topology.
In fact, thats the story of
this release, there are so many
enhancements that have been
added to the core Modo software
that the new additions mask what
a great job The Foundry has done
with the existing application.
While there are still some issues
with Mac and AMD performance,
its early days and The Foundry is
seeking the help of the community
to improve the release. If you
havent looked at Modo yet, you
should, its a compelling product.
in practice:
MODO is nOW One OF tHe cOre 3D appLicatiOns
Modo 901 is the most significant release so far. The
inclusion of the Scripting layout, and the huge raft
of enhancements that have been added will bring
a smile to any existing users face. It also carries
the stability improvements from 801 through to
the new version on Windows and Mac, which is
very welcome. The painting tools and sculpting
tools in particular are much improved with greater
fidelity, which, when coupled with the Advanced
Viewport gives a really good environment for
character modelling or adding textures to hard
surface meshes. The wireframe shader is a great
example of a new addition that just works it can
be used to drive transparency, displacement, you
name it. The addition of upgrades to core standards
such as EXR, Alembic and now OpenSubDiv, which,
with the excellent new UDIM support for UV, make
Modo 901 perfect to build assets for any other
application or game engine.
VerDict
95
develop
Software review
Software review
HDR Light Studio 5

Price 295 (annual subscription) 695 (permanent licence) | comPany Lightmap Ltd | website www.lightmap.co.uk
author Profile
rofile
Mike Griggs
Mike Griggs, has been
a pixel polisher since
1995. He has worked
in many sectors
of digital content
creation from website
design to 3D and
VFX for film and TV
where he has built a
reputation as a digital
problem solver.
www.creativebloke.com
DR Light Studio was one

of the great secrets in a
CGI artists toolbox. It
enabled the creation of bespoke
HDR images, which can be used to
light models and scenes using the
unique Light Paint paradigm. This
allows the artist to interactively
choose which part of the model
they light.
With the release of HDR Light
Studio 5, Lightmap are positioning
their product as the lighting
package to use with its radically
overhauled interface, allowing a
much more customised approach
to light creation.
This is welcome as the new
interface really allows the
underlying friendliness of HDR
Light Studio to come to the fore.
Up until now, HDR Light Studio
was a Oh I get it application,
whose inherent value couldnt
be understood until it was used
in production.
Quick set up
Now that the disparate elements

of the old interface have been tied
together into one resizable (at last)
screen, it is much easier to see
what the fuss was about.
Using the Light Paint tools you
can create a light and choose, by
clicking in the Render window,
which part of the model to light
The new interface really

allows the underlying
friendliness of HDR Light
Studio to come to the fore
with either a rim, illumination
or reflective light. This allows
incredibly complex light set-ups
to be created in minutes.
The lights can be one of the
default lights, a picture light, your
own bitmap, or the new Uber
Light which is configurable to be
any light from the HDR set-up.
This is really useful and it means
you can experiment with various
parameters without having to set
the light up from scratch.
nd
Handy plug-ins
When the light set is complete

it can be rendered as an HD and
formatted for a variety of software.
However, the best way to use HDR
Light Studio is to use a plug-in for
your app and most major 3D apps
are supported.
One of the best implementations
of the plug-in is with Modo,
where the live preview tied to
the interactive HDR light system
provides an excellent way to light
your scene. This can easily be

transferred to other software via a
rendered environment from HDR
Light Studio.
With the plug-ins, the new UI
version 5 helps rather than hinders.
The UI is customisable, and it is
much easier to add one of the many
picture lights which come with
HDR Light Studio.
All elements, such as colour
gradients are available in the
primary interface rather than
being buried in separate pop-outs
as they were in previous releases,
which makes environment creation
much quicker.
Hefty price tag
Lightmap have immensely

improved the usability of HDR
Light Studio, but the core
functionality is still similar to
previous versions, which is why the
only downside to the new release
is the price.
A single user licence has
more than doubled in price and
application plug-ins need to be
bought separately. There is a
cheaper annual subscription option
which was equivalent to the old
price of the standalone application.
This increase in pricing does taint
an otherwise excellent release.
Verdict
HDR LigHt StuDio

HDR Light Studio is created by UK-based Lightmap
Ltd. It produces bespoke HDR images which can
be used in 3D and compositing packages to light
scenes and objects. Using an HDR is usually a
much more efficient way of lighting than using
light objects within a 3D application.
3d World September 2015
96
Main
Features
The new combined

Interface of HDR
Light Studio brings
together all the
disparate elements
into one easy-touse interface
The new interface
is customisable
and makes it
easy to add and
manipulate light
objects using the
Light Paint brush
The Modo plug-in
really stands
out, with tight
integration
between Modos
live preview
window and the
interactive toolset
of HDR Light
Studio
Software review
Golaem Crowd 4
Price $6,599 / 4,999 (full licence) $1,155 / 875 (support & upgrade) | comPany Golaem | website www.golaem.com
Main
Features
Even stronger
Maya integration
Behaviour
optimisations
(triggers and
recycling)
Easy to use
behaviour
manager
Handles bipeds to
quadrupeds
Free assets to help
you get started
olaem Crowd is a featurerich crowd simulation tool,

fully integrated into Maya,
which will save many pipeline
integration hassles. Its deceptively
simple to use and, once you get into
the workflow, youll be creating
medieval battles or football crowds
in no time.
Founded in 2009 by Stphane
Donikian, Golaem Crowd is
based and funded on the results
of years of research on how
crowds interact, physically as
well as mentally. Created as a
plug-in heavily reliant on Mayas
native particle workflow, Golaem
Crowd enables you to create
virtual, particle-based crowds
able to react in, and to almost any
environment. In addition, each
particle instance or individual
can be allocated separate and
independent behaviours.
Released earlier this spring,
Golaem Crowd 4 shipped with
a host of new features such as
spline-controlled vector fields and
paint zones, the ability to have
several terrain, physics and flock
locators in the same animation,
The improved animation

system in Golaem Crowd
4 integrates the plug-in
even more into Maya
procedural blend shape animation,
and post-simulation editing.
Most of the new features focus
on making the pipeline from
entity to final rendered crowd
scene even better. The standouts
are no exception: The improved
animation system integrates the
plug-in even more into Maya, via
Physics Shapes, Squash & Stretch,
and it can now also utilise nCloth
based cloth simulations, as nCloth,
nRigid and their constraints can
now be duplicated into Golaem
Crowd, meaning the group of
entities nearest the camera can
wear dynamic cloth.
Also new in this version are
Dynamic Triggers, which define
the behavioural start and stop
conditions for how and when
nd
entities in your crowd will react

when something happens to them,
or they happen to something, like
a new environment. Regardless of
how straightforward the interface
is, it does require you to know a
little about MEL-scripting, as you
can add several trigger attributes
to the trigger, ranging from
random to per particle attributes
to script commands. Add to that
the ability to fade your triggered
behaviours in and out, in addition
to the ability to duplicate and reuse
behaviours, you can now control
and fine-tune crowds in new ways.
If youre used to Mayas
workflow, and used to working
with crowd simulators, youll
probably be happy with the
new features and workflow
optimisations, even though you
may be a bit peeved over how it
sometimes crashes or wont render
in your renderer.
If youre new to Golaem Crowd,
you will need to spend some time
getting used to the workflow, as
its a strict taskmaster.
Verdict
author Profile
Cir
Cirstyn BechYagher
Cirstyn is a freelance
CG artist and educator,
with over a decades
experience in 3D,
focusing on modelling
and texturing.
northern-studios.com
Need flocks, crowds

or swarms? Simply
provide the models
and assets, Golaem
Crowd 4 will help
you do the rest
Golaem Crowd 4 for maya

Fast and versatile, and now with even more features, Golaem Crowd is being used in TV series
and films such as Game of Thrones and Jonathan Strange. In terms of functionality, price and
pipeline ease, its definitely worth considering as an alternative to Miarmy, for example.
3d World September 2015
97
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Issue 197 August 2015

Video games art special
Professional games artists share their work and insights
Model a mecha character for video games
Create perfect run animation cycles for games
Master Unreal Engine 4, includes video tutorial, models and textures
Downloads iClone 5 worth 69, video tutorials, project files and more!
Issue 196 July 2015

VFX special
40 years of ILM, plus discover the
/VFX of Avengers: Age of Ultron
Model Star Wars inspired
spaceships
Master the new modelling tools
of Maya 2016
Create an epic sci-fi environment
in Modo
Downloads Video tutorials,
project files, resources and more!
nd
Issue 195 June 2015

Photoreal portraits
Issue 194 May 2015

Make a Star Wars movie
Create a lifelike portrait with

effective modelling & rendering
Sculpt armour in ZBrush
Meet Chappie: how Image
Engine brought the robot to life
Industry experts advice for
kickstarting your career in CG
Downloads Free book, video
tutorials, project files, resources
and more!
Create your own VFX movie

Master mech modelling in
Cinema 4D and ZBrush
Star Trek interview: Pierre Drolet
talks building starships
The ultimate guide to lighting
and rendering a complex
illustration in LightWave
project files, resources and more
Issue 193 April 2015

ZBrush anime skills
Master the art of modelling an
anime style character
ZBrush 4R7: why the latest
release is an essential upgrade
Create a collectible action figure
10 years of CG in anime: meet
the directors who are creating
the leading 3DCG
Google Play www.bit.ly/tdw_google

98
Apple Newsstand www.bit.ly/3dworld-app
Issue 192 March 2015

Model magical ZBrush Creatures
Create our cover character.
Complete tutorial with video
and model!
The ultimate guide to mastering
Maxwell Render
Big Hero 6: discover Disneys
latest software
Matte painting for video games
Issue 191 February 2015

Master 3D print modelling
Issue 190 January 2015

Create ZBrush robot Art
Model a robot toy for 3D printing

and finishing tips
25 Modo tips to reinvent
your sculpting
Star Wars VII: what the industry
really thinks
Speed up your workflow with
Mayas Polygon tools
Issue 189 Christmas 2014

Create Photoreal Vehicles
Unleash your modelling skills to

create a killer sci-fi predator
Learn to use 3ds Max to create
your own film
25 Maya tips for making game
environments
The ultimate guide to the 3D
printing phenomenon
Give your car V-Ray renders

an artistic angle
Learn to blend photography
and ZBrush models
How to model a complex Modo
environment
The VFX of Star Wars: Discover
new photos and interviews
nd
CG AWArDS
SPECIAl!
Featuring the winners,
with 16 pages of
extra content!
Issue 188 December 2014

Master Pixars renderMan
Issue 187 November 2014

Expert renders
Get started in RenderMan 19

with this official Pixar tutorial
Learn to use Bifrost and nParticles
in Maya 2015 for realistic rain
Model a lifelike cityscape
using CityEngine
Discover the character VFX
behind Guardians of the Galaxy
Issue 186 October 2014

Create award-winning animation
Master an advanced setup in

V-Ray for perfect renders
ZBrush 4R7: discover new tools
that will reshape your art
The making of The Lord
Inquisitor using Cryteks Cinebox
Develop your LightWave
modelling skills
Issue 185 September 2014

Modo 801 modelling
Model a perfect cartoon figure

for use in animation
Learn how to design dynamic
heros and villains
Sculpt DC Comics supervillain
Catwoman in ZBrush
Ed Hooks on how to make every
performance matter
Zinio www.bit.ly/tdw-zinio
99
Design and build a high-poly

Wolfenstein mech model
Learn how to build your very own
video game
Discover the rise of real-time tools
in video game creation
Find out how to give depth to
your matte paintings
develop
My inspiration
My inspiration
Andr Luis
ge Image
Tomek Baginski. Plati
The CG enthusiast explains how he came to nurture top industry

talent with the Trojan Horse was a Unicorn project
E
Andr Luis
Andr has always
had a passion for
digital animation. He
co-founded the first
school in Portugal
catering for the CG
industry. After five
years working at the
school he established
the Trojan Horse
Unicorn project.
www.trojan-unicorn.com
ver since I can remember I

wanted to be an animator,
mainly because of Disney
animations that Id seen. However,
if I really think about it the project
that really struck me and made
me believe that I should work in
the CG industry was the 2002
short animated movie, The
Cathedral, created by Tomek
Baginski for Platige Image and
based on the science-fiction short
story by Jacek Dukaj.
What really made an impact on
me was the complexity and quality
of the animation. It is masterfully
done and used CG technology [3ds
Max] in ways that I hadnt seen
before. Everything was perfect
when it was released the story,
concept, direction and lighting. In

my opinion it was a key moment
for the European animation
industry. I dont really consider
myself to be an artist, or at least
I think the THU project

is the project that
Im most proud of so
far in my career
Im not as good as some of my
colleagues and friends. However,
there was a point when I realised
that Im better at organising and
managing projects and so I turned
100
Tomek Baginskis
short, The Cathedral,
my attention to something else
inspired Andr to
and founded the first CG school in enter the CG industry
and to promote
Portugal. This was the first step
artists via THU and
in my career.
other avenues
Later on I co-founded the
Trojan Horse was a Unicorn
(THU) event. This is a premier
event for producers, animators,
game developers, concept artists
and 3D generalists. Its a festival
for the fearless, passionate, restless
and the eager to learn. It also
offers the opportunity to network
with the best in the industry.
I think the THU project is the
project that Im most proud of so
far in my career, but I really hope
that this is only the beginning.
Find out more about the THU
FYI festival via trojan-unicorn.com
nd
9000
9016

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