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135

OCULUS PAINTA
QUEST 3DCRAB
REVIEWED MODEL
PAGE 86 in Adobe
Photoshop

ISSUE 135

DISCOVER JUMP
ARTELLA
The project from the
INTO 3D
Learn the best way to
mind of Carlos Baena start your CG journey

MASTER ZBRUSH
MODELLING
Create stunning masks that you can 3D print!
 Maarten VerhoeVen
artstation.com/mutte
Software ZBrush

ZBrush
for 3D
printing
Page 46
3

ZBrush has tools to prep your model
for 3D printing. Learn how on page 46
Our fantastic cover art was
created using ZBrush, prepped
for 3D printing before being
painted. This is a perfect
example of how different areas
of art come together, and on
page 46 we show you how to
start your own.
Sometimes we can get
excited by starting something new, or discovering
options you didn’t know were there. However,
knowing how to learn these new skills, or even get
your head around where to begin, can be a
struggle all in itself. Luckily we have explored all
the available options to learning 3D, so head to
Sign up, share your art and chat to other artists at www.creativebloq.com
Get in touch... 3dartist@futurenet.com
4
Subscribe
today!
Go to page 84 to
see the deals
page 22 where we show you how to start your 3D
journey and get the best from your own learning.
Elsewhere we bring you the next instalment of
our MPC series, this issue looking at how they rig
their models.
In our training section we cover everything from
stylised character work, to 3D modelling for
miniature design and creating a still life homage to
your hero.
We are really excited to see your own images, so
be sure to share your work by emailing us at
3dartist@futurenet.com.
Rob Redman, Acting Editor
@3DArtist Facebook.com/3DArtistMagazine
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Contributors
Maarten Verhoeven, James Clarke, Dahlia Khodur,
Marta Macedo, Hector Moran, Glen Southern, Paul Flower,
Paul Hellard, Hannah Watts, Natalia Freitas, Pierrick Picaut,
Tom Goodchild, Stephanie Wagner, Bobby Beck,
Carlos Baena, Shawn Kelly
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 is issue’s team of pro artists…
MAARTEN VERHOEVEN
artstation.com/mutte
A regular contributor to this magazine,
Maarten’s stunning sculpting work
adorns this issue’s cover and in the
training section he shows you how to
sculpt your own mask, ready for 3D
printing. Turn to page 46.
HECTOR MORAN VARGAS (HEC)
www.hec.mx
Hector Moran is an industry expert
with many years of experience working
cross genre. Here he shares his process
for creating stunning character sculpts,
from concept to render, for the
miniatures industry. Turn to page 68.
AMBASSADORS
ambassadors.com
The world-famous studio Ambassadors
have recently turned their hand to
creating a photorealistic digital baby in
the womb, a step beyond the more
commonly seen digital actor. Turn to
page 94 to find out more.
6
DAHLIA KHODUR
artstation.com/dahlia
Art-led 3D artist and trainer Dahlia
returns to the pages of 3D Artist this
issue to teach you how to take a 3D
asset and paint it using Adobe
Photoshop, so you can take advantage
of all its tools. Turn to page 52.
GLEN SOUTHERN
www.southerngfx.co.uk
Glen is a veteran of the 3D modelling
world and has spent many years
working on all kinds of projects for
studios such as Disney and for many
developers. This issue he talks about
ZBrush retopology. Turn to page 74.
PAUL HELLARD
vfxscience.com
Paul Hellard has an illustrious career as
a prominent journalist and editor in the
field of computer graphics. This issue
he turns his attentions to the team
behind Artella, the superstar led
production platform. Head to page 38.
MARTA MACEDO
martamacedo.com
Portuguese CG artist Marta Macedo
makes her 3D Artist debut this issue,
with her tutorial on creating stylised
caricatures, turning celebrity references
into whimsical rendered artwork. Head
to page 60.
PAUL FLOWER
www.3dorigin.co.uk
This issue Paul Flower has turned his
considerable skills to creating a
photorealistic still life image of a racing
helmet in homage to his hero, Michael
Schumacher. He shares his process on
page 78.
JAMES CLARKE
N/A
In the second part of our exclusive
series, CG journalist James Clarke talks
to the teams at MPC to discover how
they work on rigging their characters
and creatures for their varied high-end
projects. Turn to page 30.
What’s in the maga

News, reviews
& features
12 The Gallery
A collection of inspirational artwork
22 School’s Out
Self-taught creators share their advice for
starting out as a 3D artist and learning on
your own terms
30 MPC: Pokémon and a
menagerie of monsters
Two rigging leads at MPC discuss the work
that went into blockbuster movies Detective
Pikachu and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters
38 Animating in Artella
The founders of Animation Mentor tell us
all about Artella, a platform that enables
easy interaction between project
collaborators, even across the world
44 Technique Focus:
We’re All Mad Here
Discover Andrea Savchenko’s amazing
Alice In Wonderland image
We will start
82 Technique Focus: from a sphere in Maarten Verhoeven
Forgotten Yard
Girman Albert on the post-production
ZBrush and prep it takes us through the
process of creating a mask
work for his image to make a digital ready for 3D printing,
84 Subscribe today!
Save money and never miss an issue
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46
86 Review: Oculus Quest HMD
We test out this untethered headset
87 Review: Light for Visual Artists
Check out this fantastic resource for CG
artists, teaching you how to effectively
utilise light in your artwork
98 Technique Focus:
Vampirelord
Yago de Amorim talks texturing his image

Community
Render a racing News: RizomUV
helmet with V-Ray 78 90 2019 update

Make board
SUBSCRIBETODAY! Grab five Turn to
g
game issues for just £5 in our special page 84
miniatures 68
summer sale! for detaaiils
8
Paint 3D objects
in Photoshop 52 30 MPC: Pokémon and a menagerie of monsters

I am constantly doing The Pipeline

46 Step By Step: Create a
personal projects, and kitsune 3D print
with each project and its Discover how our amazing cover
artwork was created, as Maarten
challenges I always learn Verhoeven demonstrates how to
make a print-ready sculpture
something new 52 Step By Step: Paint 3D
Self-taught creators share their best objects in Photoshop
advice on how to start a career as a Create a painterly effect in
3D artist, Page 22 Photoshop with a step-by-step
guide from Dahlia Khodur
60 Step by Step: Create a 3D
render from a 2D concept
Marta Macedo shows us how to
sculpt and render a character from a
2D illustration
68 Step by Step: Make board
game miniatures
Find out how the miniatures for the
Men In Black/Ghostbusters board
game were created with this tutorial
from Hector Moran
74 Pipeline Techniques:
Retopology techniques
22
in ZBrush
Glen Southern covers three
ISSUE 136 retopology methods in ZBrush
78 Pipeline Techniques: Render a
racing helmet with V-Ray

NEXT Paul Flower takes us through the

process of creating and detailing a
racing helmet

MONTH EXPLORE THE

WONDERFUL WORLD
OF FANART
The Hub
90 Community News
Find out more about Rizom-Lab’s

ON SALE 2019 update for RizomUV, and its

host of new features

27 AUGUST 92 Industry News

Create a 3D render
from a 2D concept 60
Discover the latest industry updates
94 Project Focus
Visit the 3D Artist online shop at Creative production studio
myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Ambassadors took on the
for back issues, books and merchandise challenge of creating a photoreal
CG baby for a political campaign
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12
 I’ve always been
inspired by famous
paintings. Sebastiano Farzad Maleki
Ricci is one of my artstation.com/komododragon
Farzad Maleki is a 3D character
favourite artists; I was artist from Sydney, Australia.
impressed by one of his He has been active in most
parts of the animation workflow
beautiful paintings and it since 2002.
Software ZBrush and KeyShot
inspired me to make Work in progress…
something similar in 3D. It
wasn’t easy, because I
never had a chance to see
the original painting
closely and photos were
my only reference
Farzad Maleki,
PERSEUS, 2019
13
 Harnain Singh
artstation.com/harnainsingh
Harnain Singh is an India-based
artist, working primarily in
digital art.
Software ZBrush, TopoGun,
Substance Painter,
Marmoset Toolbag
Work in progress…
14
I was always amazed by
the game Battletoads during
my childhood and wanted
to reimagine a character
from the 8-bit sprite sheet
days as a fully 3D
character, in sync with the
quality of today’s next-
generation games.
The character was
fully conceptualised and
treated by me
Harnain Singh,
Battle Toad, 2019
 I created Gobbs as a
promotional image for a
ZBrush course at
Rainbow Academy. It’s
based on a concept by
Simon Quemener. Our
goal was to create a
character with a worker’s
look and not a very
likeable attitude. I tried to
give him a stare that says,
“I don’t like you, go away.”
Maybe I have something
in common with him
Claudio Amoroso,
Gobbs, 2019

Claudio Amoroso
bit.ly/2XMuU4P
Claudio Amoroso works as a
3D modeller at Rainbow CGI.
Prior to that, he studied
traditional arts, played video
games and tried his best to
improve his skill set, which he
still does to this day.
Software ZBrush, Photoshop
Work in progress…

15
 Bruno Camara
artstation.com/brunocamara
Bruno has over 12 years of
experience in the production of
digital creatures and characters.
Software ZBrush, 3ds Max,
Marvelous Designer,
Substance Painter, V-Ray
Work in progress…

This Undead
Warlord is my latest
fantasy illustration
of a movie-ready
character. The project
originated as an
exercise for students
at my previous
workshop
Bruno Camara,
Undead Warlord, 2019
16
 This piece was
made for the personal
Oskr Segura
pigmalionanimation.com
challenge of adapting an
Oskr Segura is a 3D artist existing character that I
at Pigmalion Animation
Studio in Colombia. He has love in my own graphic
worked as CGI director on
several film projects.
style. I really enjoyed
Software ZBrush, Maya every single feature of
Work in progress… this project, from the
basic modelling to the
hair and rendering
Oskr Segura,
Harley Quinn, 2019

17
 In depth

18
 The image was
inspired by going to
aquariums with my
kids, so I decided to
create a picturesque
tunnel for the car. I
chose Porsche because Dmitriy Glazyrin
I really like this car and mondlicht-studios.de

in my opinion, it suits I have been working in the

advertising industry for more
the story perfectly. than ten years. In 2019 I became
co-founder and CEO of
Personally, I love the Mondlicht Studios.

image because of the Software Photoshop,

3ds Max, V-Ray
story and atmosphere Work in progress…
it shows
Dmitriy Glazyrin,
Underwater road, 2016

19
 InItIal concept
The image started with the
concept. I created a scene to
figure out how the idea will
look, where would be best to
place the car, and how I
should work with light,
perspective and details.

Small DetaIlS
Next I turned my
attention to the tunnel and
background. To create a
sense of reality, your story
should contain details,
which is why it’s important
to spend some time thinking
about small aspects that can
add life and dynamics to
your image.

20
 First, I created the
model of the tunnel in 3ds
Max, then added the
atmosphere in Photoshop
to make the background
more interesting and
profound. I then added
the car and polished it in
Photoshop again
Dmitriy Glazyrin,
Underwater road, 2016

the car
After detailing the background I
added a car pass by pass, to make
it photorealistic. Then I retouched
the model in Photoshop to
improve the light, reflections and
some small details.

retouchInG
Finally, I spent some time generally retouching the image. I added a few adjustment layers to make each part of the image look like a consistent whole.

21
SCHOOL’S OUT

22
 3D Artist has
gathered an array of
self-taught creators to
share their advice and
insights for learning on
your own terms

A
s 3D art becomes an increasingly
prevalent part of modern society,
the software behind it becomes
democratised; it’s now easier than
ever for someone to teach
themselves the processes and techniques
behind 3D artwork. Even so, knowing how to get
started can still be a daunting prospect. It is for
that exact reason that 3D Artist has assembled
three self-taught creators to tell their success
stories and share tips for how you can stay
ahead of the curve.
From practical advice on how to sharpen your
The Smoking Frog, an skills to encouragement on maintaining a healthy
image on which
Natalia Freitas was mindset, each artist has wisdom to share.
responsible for Whether you are just getting started on the road
sculpting, retopology,
UV mapping and to becoming a 3D artist or you’re stuck someway
texturing along, it’s time to get inspired.

23
SCHOOL’S OUT
GETTING STARTED
Natalia Freitas is an animator and artist from
Brazil. “I started my career as a traditional 2D
animator and illustrator,” she tells 3D Artist.
After completing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts
and classical animation, she spent some time
working as a freelancer. “While working as a
traditional animator, I saw people who could
model 3D props but couldn’t even draw a chair
being hired by studios,” she recalls. Freitas was
struck by the realisation that artistic talent was
no longer the be-all and end-all in the industry.
“I didn’t have a computer at the time,” Freitas
continues, “but I got a second-hand one which
had Maya 2007 installed. I felt challenged and
started to learn 3D using online tutorials to
increase my chances of getting a job. After
studying a lot and gaining new skills, I fell in love
with 3D.” Since then Freitas has gained extensive
experience internationally, working as a 3D artist
for the likes of Walt Disney in California, Sony in
Vancouver and currently as lead texture artist at
Mill Film in Montreal.
3D generalist, game art director and trainer
Pierrick Picaut came to 3D with a technical
background in 2D software. “I was a production
manager at a printing factory in the corporate
goodies industry,” he recalls. After their supplier
started sending 3D-rendered proof pictures,
SHARPEN
YOUR SKILLS
The experts share their tips on how
self-taught artists can keep their skills
ahead of the curve
Whenever business is quiet, or he’s struck
with inspiration, freelance artist Pierrick
Picaut will start a new personal project. “I
choose a project that I’m not 100 per cent
skilled in so that I have to push myself to
learn new things,” he adds. Picaut also buys
courses online, on everything from character
creation and anatomy to environment
creation. “You can find so many resources
online that the only difficulty you will face is
finding the motivation,” he says.
Indie game artist Hannah Watts uses
social media to keep up to date with artists
that inspire and motivate her. “It’s very
useful for seeing how others approach
things,” she continues, “Sketchfab is similar
in this regard. I love being able to zoom in
to other people’s models and check out
their wireframes.”
Watts also spends much of her
downtime watching tutorials and says that
she listens to talks while she works at the
studio. “There’s such a wealth of information
on YouTube and Gumroad now that I’m
always learning,” she says.
24
You won’t be
amazing overnight if
you’re just starting
out. It takes practice Watts created this
antique ring using
3ds Max, Substance
and patience Painter, ZBrush and
Marmoset Toolbag 3
Hannah Watts
Senior artist, Coatsink
Picaut was impressed enough to inquire about
the technique. “They told me they were using
McNeel Rhino, a NURBS-based software. So I
got a copy and started making an Audi R8 based
on André Kutscherauer’s book. It took me a year
to achieve, working daily on it.”
Hannah Watts, senior artist at indie game
publisher Coatsink, found her way into 3D during
Dare to be Digital 2013. “I was helping to make a
2D mobile game and I met a bunch of other
game artists,” she recalls. “Some were students
from other universities, some were young
professionals. It was from meeting and watching
them work that I realised I knew nothing about
3D for games. We’d had a couple of lessons on
Maya for some of our modules, but mostly it
was about how to use the UI – there wasn’t
as much focus on game art production or
modelling fundamentals.”
Watts continued to absorb as much as she
could from her fellow Dare to be Digital
contestants, “mostly techniques like baking out
texture maps and UV unwrapping,” she adds.
From there she joined Polycount and began
posting 3D tests, eventually embarking on
monthly art challenges. “I would get really
thorough feedback from other artists,” Watts
recalls. “I was also watching tutorials on Digital
Tutors and YouTube as I went.”
For the last three or four years Watts has
been focused on realistic game props, teaching
herself PBR theory by reading all the
documentation, alongside some good old-
fashioned trial and error. “I improved my
hard-surface skills by watching tutorials by
creators like Arrimus 3D,” she adds, “as well as
dissecting similar models on Sketchfab.”
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
“Anyone can learn 3D if they really want, even
someone with zero traditional artistic abilities,”
 Watts used
Photoshop to
create the details
for this café till

3D render of a
wirephoto machine by
Watts, a device used
in the early 20th
Century to transmit
documents

A study of a radio
that Watts found
in an antique shop

25
School’S out

Freitas worked
on the look dev
(texturing,
shading,
grooming) and
lighting for this
Gypsy Queen
image

The Drummer King

was modelled by Leo
Rezende from a
concept by James
Castillo. Freitas worked
on texturing, shading,
grooming and lighting

26
 explains Freitas. She goes on to explain that
some degree of artistic ability will be beneficial,
but is hardly compulsory in the contemporary
3D industry.
“I think the ability to take feedback is critical,”
adds Watts. With the lengthy processes behind
3D art, it’s easy for creators to become attached
to their work. “Sometimes someone might give
good feedback that requires a huge change to
your model, which can be a pain if you’re quite
far along,” she continues. “Ultimately I’ve always
found that it’s worth it. If getting feedback from
Anyone can learn peers isn’t available, set up a framework for
yourself to self-critique all your pieces.”
3D if they really want, Organisation is an imperative quality when
even someone with working in the studio environment, or in any
scenario that involves deadlines. “We have
zero traditional servers of working files at Coatsink, and any
number of artists may touch your 3ds Max or
artistic abilities Photoshop files,” explains Watts. “It’s always
Natalia Freitas good practice to make sure you follow the
3D artist and animator naming conventions set by your lead, and to
make sure your scenes and layers are tidy.”
This image by There are a number of more solid skills that
Freitas, entitled can be of help when embarking on a journey into
B3LIEV3, is based
on a concept by
Giselle Ukardi and
MAKE YOURSELF the third dimension. “I’m always a strong
advocate for dabbling in more ‘traditional’ art as
has lighting by
Giorgio Lorenzetti
AT HOME a 3D artist,” admits Watts. “I paint a lot on the
Pierrick Picaut shares his advice for side and I’ve found that my eye for composition,
creating a perfect home workspace colour and taste has generally improved.” She
adds that painting from life and doing masters
Light it up studies has helped train her eye to dissect
Try to have as much natural light as reference imagery, a highly valuable skill when
possible, as long as it doesn’t reflect on creating realistic props and surface materials.
your screen. This will help you to be
aware of the time passing, and your mind TAKING SHAPE
and body will thank you. There’s no right or wrong way to teach yourself
3D art, but there are a number of different ways
Take a seat to go about it and each of our contributors had a
Make sure you get a really nice seat. different approach. Their unique experiences
Doing this has changed my life and my mean they have some words of wisdom for
back is happier for it. those looking to learn from scratch, or sharpen
their skills.
Make space “I am constantly doing personal projects, and
Get a large desk or table, it’s so important with each project and its challenges I always
to have empty space around you so that learn something new,” says Freitas. Despite the
you don’t feel claustrophobic. There also obvious benefits of understanding a range of 3D
needs to be some distance between you processes, Freitas highlights the importance of
and your screens. focusing on one specialisation and honing in on
what you are best at. “If you want to do
Seek clarity modelling then spend more time on that and
It’s important to get a good screen, don’t concentrate so much on texturing,
and I would definitely advise on using a shading, grooming and lighting,” she continues.
workstation computer. Laptops are not “Be exceptional in what you do. Collaborative
made for 3D. Only use a laptop for your work is also always great, so both sides can win.”
nomadic needs. Picaut stresses the importance of self-
confidence when taking the self-taught route.
Get inspired “Don’t be self-conscious about your skill level,
Surround yourself with anatomy figures, especially when looking at ArtStation feeds or in
books and art that you enjoy. This this very magazine,” he says. “The people
Based on a
concept by Carlos should stimulate your will to make art. featured here are a very small fragment of all the
Luzzi, Freitas was Also, make sure you uninstall battle.net 3D artists in the world.”
responsible for all
3D aspects of this and Steam. Like many newcomers, Picaut spent a long
Rhino Soldier time feeling as though 3D was an elite artform,

27
School’S out

Artwork that Pierrick Picaut made

to support the Event Horizon board
game. It was featured as an official
Blender 2.71 splashscreen

I choose a project
that I’m not 100 per
This little bird was
created by Picaut
in just a few hours
cent skilled in so that
I have to push myself
to learn new things
Pierrick Picaut
3D generalist & game art director

reserved for a higher class of artist. “That’s why I

started very late,” he admits, “I regret this a lot.
It’s a very broad field and everything takes time,
but anybody can learn and get good.” He also
warns against the perils of having a ‘this
software is better’ mentality, “this is generally a
limitation to your curiosity. Be curious.”
The hardest piece of advice is quite possibly Picaut created this
the one that will you help you the most in your Crimson Ronin
game character for
journey to becoming a 3D professional. “Show a new course
your work as much as possible and be humble,”
says Pierrick. “The 3D community is always
willing to offer constructive criticism, and if you Akuyandi is a
character Picaut
can reach out to any artists for advice then don’t made for the Noara
be shy. This is such a boost to your skills.” game trailer
Watts stresses the importance of being
patient and trying to tackle things one at a time.
“When I first started learning PBR I was
intimidated by all the technical-sounding names,
and Substance seemed alien to me,” she
explains. “The same goes for your own
progression – you won’t be amazing overnight if
you’re only just starting out. It takes consistency,
practice and patience.”
Any budding 3D artist may feel the
temptation to dive headfirst into a big project
and put their skills to the test, but this can often
be detrimental to their development. “Often it
can be overwhelming to tackle something
complex while also learning the ropes,” confirms
Watts. “I’d always recommend starting with a
small prop and preferably one you have a
real-life counterpart of. Small challenges hosted
by places like Sketchfab or prompt lists like
Blender52 can help with this.”
With all this in mind, Watts’ final piece of
advice may be the most important: “Enjoy it,”
she says. “Being a 3D artist is a wonderful and
rewarding career and I love the challenges that
each day brings.”

28
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‫א׎‬٣ȒȸƏȸƺǣȇƬǼɖƳƺƳƏɀȵƏȸɎȒǔƏȇɵǣȇƬǼɖɀǣɮƺȒȸǔȸƺƺȅǣȇɖɎƺɀƏǼǼȒɯƏȇƬƺɀ٢ǣǔȒǔǔƺȸƺƳƫɵɵȒɖȸȵǝȒȇƺɎƏȸǣǔǔ٣ِIȒȸǔɖǼǼɎƺȸȅɀƏȇƳƬȒȇƳǣɎǣȒȇɀȵǼƺƏɀƺɮǣɀǣɎ‫ي‬ƫǣɎِǼɵٖȅƏǕɎƏȇƳƬِ…ǔǔƺȸƺȇƳɀ‫׏ב‬ɀɎɖǕɖɀɎ‫ِח׏׎א‬
POKÉMON AND A MENAGERIE OF MONSTERS
POKÉMON
AND A MENAGERIE OF MONSTERS
Tom Goodchild and Stephanie Wagner
© 2019 Legendary and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
(Leads – Rigging) discuss two new MPC projects
I
f there’s something that summer movie
releases excel at it’s the pleasures of visual
spectacle and, for MPC, their 2019 projects,
Detective Pikachu and Godzilla: King Of The
Monsters, affirm this.
Tom Goodchild knows all too well the
importance of nuance in crafting a character in
the digital realm, and in speaking with him about
Detective Pikachu he recognises the responsibility
of inheriting the mantle of a pop culture icon
© 2019 Pokémon
with over 20 years of heritage behind it.
Goodchild begins by explaining that MPC’s
creation of the yellow-furred detective “was very
informed by the anime – we didn’t use so much
30
from the games as he is locked off. The sort of
thing that we did notice, though, was that in the
1990s he was more of a short sphere and in the
2000s he is more of a bean shape.” Goodchild
acknowledges that the character’s detail and
nuance provided an immediate challenge at the
start of his work on the project, saying that “the
earlier version didn’t read so much. We had to
cherry pick [our reference material]. Even
though there are many kinds of Pikachu we went
with the more modern, and liberties were taken Final shot
because we found 2D that doesn’t work with compositing the
live-action plate
3D. We tried to pose 3D to get the 2D look, with the animated
but his arms might get longer. The rigging character
31
Pokémon and a menagerie of monsters

Realistic texturing
and rigging makes
the three-headed
Ghidorah believably
spectacular and
menacing

was influenced by the need to make him

cartoony silhouette-wise, because he’s not
really an animal.”
Critical to how Goodchild and his rigging team
approached the rigging of Pikachu, he notes
that “lots of work was done to reanimate from
the anime: it felt like we were changing the
rigging every day.” Goodchild adds, “The testing
was harder [than final animation and rigging].
Pikachu does a lot of bipedal work even though
his design is quadruped. He can’t really do the
traditional T-pose. We had to ask if he was a
biped or a quad and the more animal-like we
made him, the less Pikachu he was.”
Goodchild explains that “75 per cent of his
work was just going over him in a non-shot
context to test out iterations. There were lots of
versions and you quickly start to realise how
long the iterations would take.”
Of this iterative process, Goodchild recalls
how “from the very beginning we did start from
a game model for the DS Detective Pikachu. We
We quickly found uprezzed from there, then went into rigging: we
started off with a human skeleton and skin
that Detective Pikachu cluster and we had no muscles or volume
primitive. We must have done [this] 20 or 30
was new for MPC: times before rigging the muscles. In the game,
it’s a cartoony world. he’s T-posed but if you bring his arms forward,
his shoulders [didn’t work]. We wanted that
We had [done] bean shape. Quick iterations. We tried to go
more towards a squirrel with his legs and we
cartoons into live found that you see four legs. We had to bring his
action before, but pelvis to line up with his feet. After we’ve got the
joints down, we would go into muscle primitives
with Pokémon the and bind them in an anatomically correct way.”
Goodchild notes that MPC’s work on The Jungle
silhouette is key Book “changed how we did rigging and muscles.”
“We quickly found that Detective Pikachu was
new for MPC: it’s a cartoony world. We had
[done] cartoons into live action before, but with
Pokémon the silhouette is key,” he adds.
“I spent almost two years on the film,”
Goodchild continues. “For me, it exceeded my
expectations. Before Detective Pikachu, I would

32
 Live-action plate into which
Ghidorah will be composited

GODZILLA TM & © Toho Co., Ltd. © 2019 Legendary and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

Performers at
work against
a bluescreen

have said that you need to know exactly where

Rigging is where
things are going. But I’ve learnt that you can
be a little more improvisatory.” technical meets The anaTomy
Of rigging as a discipline within the broader of DeTecTive
pipeline at MPC, Goodchild offers a neat artistry. We’re the Pikachu
encapsulation of its function and sensibility. He
says, “Rigging is where technical meets artistry bridge point between tom goodchild on creating believable
and it occupies and commands a nice place in
the pipeline. Modelling and texturing do their
assets and shots and motion by combining rigging methods

thing and then it comes to us. We’re the bridge so we tend to be the “What we found with Pikachu was that if
point between assets (models, grooming) and
shots (animation, VFX) and so we tend to be the
jugglers of what both you try and lay him out anatomically
correctly, he’d be too rigid. As he’s bending,
jugglers of what both sides need: we play the
in-betweens. We do play a mediation role. Also,
sides need: we play we realise that we couldn’t bind him
anatomically, and so we made a volume for
sometimes, because we’re a very technical the in-betweens his head, chest and pelvis. We still wanted
department we have to interpret requirements: muscle for Pikachu’s anatomy. So, we built
for example, an animator might say ‘We think the animation version, [which was] too
we want a pivot here.’ And we’re like ‘Okay, you solid, and the volume version was too
want to hit this…’.” spongy. So, we used the volume version to
Looking to the future of rigging, Goodchild drive the anatomical version, and blended
explains, “I feel that the overall picture of rigging the two together.”
isn’t going to change at the macro level. The

33
Pokémon and a menagerie of monsters
© 2019 Legendary and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
© 2019 Pokémon

On the live-action
set, a Detective
Pikachu figure is
used for lighting and
position reference

In creating Pikachu
for the movie,
reference to the
legacy of Pokémon
media informed
the approach
GODZILLA TM & © Toho Co., Ltd. © 2019 Legendary and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

On set, a model
of Pikachu was
used to assist in
determining light
and shadow
references for
texturing work

34
 micro-level tools will change. When you get into
what the binding is, potential change [is going to
happen] there: more volume and layers of
binding rather than meshing.”
The conversation then turns from a diminutive
yellow furball to a three-headed monster as
Stephanie Wagner, Goodchild’s colleague in the
rigging team, focuses our attention on her
work on Ghidorah for Godzilla: King Of The
Monsters. Of the core approach to the aesthetic
In this frame from for Ghidorah, Wagner begins by explaining
the movie, the that “I did look at the old movies and other
influence of earlier
Pokémon projects video games – they were using puppetry and
can be seen people in suits. It’s good to understand the
history of a character. You’re trying to grasp
the range of motion, personality and movements
of the creature.”
Of the evolution in MPC’s work for Godzilla
(2014) and now for the new release, Wagner
says, “I think that overall, between the last one
and the new one, the [monsters] were more
hidden in the first. In this new one you’re going
to see the characters large on screen and
interacting. The creatures will be shown in close

It’s good to
understand the
history of a character.
You’re trying to grasp
Live-action plate and
partial practical set the range of motion,
personality and
against bluescreen

movements of the
creature
up and fighting, and that is why a lot of time
went into attention to the detail for close-up
shots.” Of the particular challenge in crafting
these monsters that will be so much more visible
this time around, Wagner notes that “work on
muscular aspects was a real challenge.”
Godzilla unleashes Echoing Goodchild’s observations in relation
his legendary
apocalyptic power to Detective Pikachu, Wagner notes that “rigging
is a little bit between departments and there are
a lot of challenges. We want to take the design
and work tighter through modelling and
communication in animation so that the model
does what’s needed. We also produce [game
engine] rigs for on-set.”
Regarding the kind of skillset that MPC look
for, Wagner explains, “What’s being looked for is
someone who can visually and technically solve
a problem. Rigging works with assets
(modelling) and shots (animation, TechAnim,
layout). Rigging works closely with modelling to
enable the static model to move once animation
animates the character. We look at the
anatomical concept and advise on how it has to
come together in order for it to move correctly. I

35
 Pokémon and a menagerie of monsters
GODZILLA TM & © Toho Co., Ltd. © 2019 Legendary and Warner Bros.
Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved
do think a big chunk of our job and responsibility
is being involved and communicating upstream
and downstream.”
Of the nuanced work required on the neck
rigging for Ghidorah, Wagner explains
aDvice for
asPiring
riggers
Tom Goodchild stresses that “one of the
key knowledge bases for a rigger is knowing
anatomy: knowing where bones are and
why bones move in a certain way and what
they cause to happen.” Goodchild also
cautions aspiring riggers as follows: “Don’t
learn from other rigs: go out and observe
reality. If you know why something is
happening [anatomically] it’s easier to
recreate it. It’s easier to reference reality
because that’s kind of the perfect system.”
36
I treated the neck in
motion similar to the
snake, mimicking their
muscle movements in
terms of muscle
contractions and
fleshiness
how she has to keep coming back to the
question of “‘How can a creature have three
necks and informal body structures?’ If you have
three necks you need to think, where is the neck
originating from? Birds have really big chest
muscles; if the character is flying the chest
muscle doesn’t want to impact – deform – on
the neck. So many shots have challenges.”
She continues: “There was lots of going
through sequences and asking ‘Can it be done in
one rig?’ All of the close-ups use muscle rigs and
Ensuring believable
muscle movement for
Ghidorah’s head
and neck motion was
key to the rigging
department’s work
work with deformation rigging. We looked at
snake references… I treated the neck in motion
similar to the snake, mimicking their muscle
movements in terms of muscle contractions,
fleshiness and shaping of the neck by using a
different set of blend shapes and skin sliding.”
Wagner returns to the critical issue of building
controls that are appropriate for the needs of the
animator. “We have to think about all kinds of
behaviours and ask the animation team
questions like: Do you want to be able to work
with FK (Forward Kinematics) and IK (Inverse
Kinematics)? Is the head driving the motion of
the neck? You can have a great rig but you need
the controls to work. If you have a character you
want to be able to pin the head so animators can
smoothly do blocking. When I was starting out I
used to make cool rigs but didn’t think about
how the animator would use it.”
Of the future landscape in terms of what
might be in store for riggers, Wagner makes the
point that “visual effects and gaming are
merging, bringing gaming into visual effects.
There’s a big fusion, diving into both worlds.”
AnimAting in ArtellA

AnimAting
in ArtellA

38
How three passionate
C ArtellA
arlos Baena, Shawn Kelly and Bobby
Beck are names synonymous with
animators opened happy creativity. Their enthusiasm
for clear animation education
their own school and
In January of 2018 the team launched a
rings happy bells to the global completely new platform to the community
created a platform community of new creatives. As founding
directors at Animation Mentor, one of the
of Animation Mentor. Born out of a
necessity to figure out a tool for long-
for collaborative most prolific global animation schools, these
guys are themselves graduates of celebrated
distance collaboration on the animation

animation projects art schools and top-tier studios, and each say
projects, Artella is a remote-distributed
pipeline tool. “Since Carlos, Shawn and I are
they never stop learning. partners at AM, we also partner in Artella.
We built that tool in a way that we could
leverage it for Animation Mentor,” Bobby
Beck explains. “We’re a small team with a
mighty vision, and we’re so happy to be able
to create one piece of great software that
can be used in multiple ways, for learning
and production.”
The new platform enables students to
interact with each other easily, wherever
they are on the planet. It allows them to give
each other feedback with integrated drawing
tools, downloadable recorded feedback and
a place to manage all their files and tasks/
assignments, all in the Cloud.
“Artella continues to evolve with each
project and from the feedback from the
hundreds of other projects being created
on the platform,” says Beck. “The platform
is node-based. Each component of the
platform is written in a way that it can
be turned on or off depending on the
client’s needs.”
The tool presently has a file management
module (pipeline), a feedback module with
Selections of concept media drawing tools, a messaging and
art for Carlos Baena’s
La Noria short film notifications module, and a community
module for making, viewing, filtering and

39
ANIMATING IN ARTELLA
ARTELLA
ARTILLERY
There have now been so many
productions run completely on Artella,
and here is by no means an exhaustive
look at some of the standouts
BEING GOOD
Jenny Harder’s Being Good launched online
after a solid run in the festival circuit.
CIRCUS JAM
One of the first short films made with
Artella, with 120 artists from 23 countries.
THISTLE ONE
Thistle One is an action-packed CG short
that highlights a moment in time.
DUEL
Duel is a colourful short by Tim Rudder,
authored in Artella.
LILY & SNOUT
Artella was used with Sketchfab to create
this first WebVR animated short.
40
searching what you’re looking. There’s a tag
module so anything/everything can be
tagged, and a task management module.
Large businesses also use Artella for their
corporate communications creation. “We
plan to roll the new features into the
platform late this year and re-release
Artella,” explains Beck. “It’s a big effort and,
as I noted before, we’re a small team with a
big vision and this is the next step in that
process for us.”
“Each production created using Artella is
unique, but there are common threads that
keep a production going,” Beck says. “Solid
tech, for one thing. A simple process for
people to follow. Enforcing that process no
matter what and being consistent. Having
team meetings, giving feedback, accepting
editorial reviews.” He adds: “Part of leading
a production is finding a core team that is
willing to stick it out until the end. It’s very
easy to start a project and quite another
thing to finish one.”
Many outside global film projects have
taken up the use of Artella. Australia’s Jenny
Harder has just launched the online debut of
Being Good after a solid run in the festival
circuit. Michael Cawood’s The Wrong Rock is
currently in the festival circuit and will make
its online debut later this year. “There is a
project I directed via Artella that is coming
out any day now called Thistle One,” says
ANIMATION MENTOR
Beck. “It’s a two-and-a-half minute full CG
short that highlights a moment in time. It’s
not really meant for the festival circuit,
rather, more as a pitch for something bigger.
The plan is to put it out online very soon
and to see what people think. The goal of
this project, like La Noria, is to push
computer graphics into new areas and to
show that it can be much more than a kid’s
medium. Animation is magical, fantastical
and in any project that I’m involved with I’d
like to see that aspect being pushed.”
“Working with an online platform such as
Artella is a visionary new approach to
collaborative work,” says Jenny Harder, the
director of animated short Being Good.
“Artella allows people from all over the
world to work together, in spite of borders
or time zones. In an industry that is still
dominated by major players, this could truly
become a new way of film or game making.
We are really excited to see what the future
holds for independent filmmakers like us.”
Artella allows people
from all over the world
to work together,
in spite of borders or
time zones

The new mobile
interface for Artella
extends the value of
online production
“People say it’s not a good idea to go into
Rendered interior
scene from La Noria business with your friends,” says Bobby
Beck, “but working with Carlos and Shawn
is truly inspiring to me. It’s been an
incredible ride working with these guys over
the last 15 years as business partners and
friends. I love them both like brothers and
the business side keeps us connected both
creatively and in terms of innovation.”
Animation Mentor (AM) is one of the
trio’s most successful ventures. “The
community aspect of AM still blows me
away,” says Shawn Kelly. “Originally, our
goal was simply to make sure people would
interact enough to give each other feedback
on their animation and hopefully get to
know each other a little bit. Now there are
countless tight friendships, and I’ve lost
track of how many students have gotten
married after meeting at the school. There
are children that exist because of AM’s
community, which is completely surreal and
wonderful! The strong bond that our
students make in the school, both with each
other and with the mentors, is a huge factor
in our continued success.”
Start-up splash screen
for Artella online
The strong bond
that our students
make in the school,
both with each other
and with the mentors,
is a huge factor in our
continued success
“As animators ourselves, we are also
programmed to not just be interested in
feedback, but to seek it out and thrive on it,”
he adds. “Because of that, it’s a part of our
culture to constantly be refining and
improving the school. If you compare the
AM of today with the AM of a decade ago,
there is a world of difference, and a good
chunk of that is thanks to the feedback from
our amazing group of students. Our goal is
to provide the best educational experience
on the planet, and we strive every day to
refine every aspect of the school.”
41
AnimAting in ArtellA

lA nOriA
Carlos Baena spoke about using Artella in a
presentation in Turin for the VIEW
Conference 2018. He spoke passionately
about the creation of his horror-themed
animation short, La Noria. “The learning
curve of the students these days is so much
faster than when we started,” he says.
“A few of the animators on La Noria
were former AM students that wanted to
come back and collaborate on something
global,” Baena adds. “With the tools we
have today, it has become so easy to forget
the tech and be creative. Lately, they’ve
been finding wonderful new ways to
achieve entertainment in their shots.”
The process of generating colour arcs and
themes for the shots in La Noria were also
assisted greatly by the open forum format in
Artella. Animators and concept artists were
able to reach deep into their collective
creative minds to form some sensational
imagery, as shown here. While the ‘horror’
aspect was merely suggested, the reaction
of the vulnerable young boy character was
heightened by his surroundings, the house
interior and his toys.
Lighting in the short film played a big role
in the storytelling, and became another
character in itself. The small crew studied
the work of master cinematographers like
Roger Deakins, Conrad Hall, Vilmos
Zsigmond, Derek Vanlint and Hoyte van
Hoytema, as well as film-noir styles. Staircase render
They forced themselves to remove lights; for La Noria
try to tell more with less. “I have to give
big props to the lighters,” says Baena, “as
Character face
many of them were outside their comfort study in La Noria
level and worked very hard to do something
very special.”
All 3D work in La Noria was done using
Maya 2012 and 2015, and everything was
run through Artella. Other software
packages used included Foundry’s Nuke,
Arnold Renderer, Peregrine Labs’ Bokeh and
Joe Alter’s Shave and a Haircut. These
companies were kind enough to sponsor the
La Noria film.

A few of the
animators on La
Noria were former
Animation Mentor
students that wanted
to come back and
collaborate on
something global
42
 AnimAtion
mentors

Carlos Baena worked as an

animator on Pixar’s Finding
Nemo, Ratatouille, Wall•E,
Toy Story 3 and Monsters
University while at Pixar
Animation Studios.

Concept Bobby Beck has also

work for La
Noria worked as an animator at
character Pixar on Monsters Inc., Finding
Nemo, The Incredibles and
Cars. Beck is a driving force
behind the success of
Animation Mentor.

Shawn Kelly has worked as a

key animator at ILM on Star
Wars Episode 1, 2 and 3,
Rango, the Transformers series,
the Pirates Of The Caribbean
series, and a lot of the Marvel
projects including Avengers:
Concept for the Infinity War and most recently
eyes in LA Noria Avengers: Endgame.

43
 LIGHTING

Andrea Savchenko
artstation.com/andreasav
Andrea is a student artist with
Incredible 3D artists take us behind their artwork a desire to make things people
have never seen before.
LIGHTING Take time to really study where the light sources are in the concept. Lighting is often
overlooked but it is the one thing that can make or break your final render. When creating my piece, I Software Maya, Mudbox,
Mari, V-Ray, Substance
thought about how things should be lit with every render, throughout the entire project. I also did not Painter, CrazyBump, XGen
hesitate to create artificial sources of lights and shadows to achieve the look I was going for. Creating
mesh lights, breaking light links, and creating artificial shadows have all helped in this piece. We’re All Mad Here, 2019

44
45
 Expert advice from industry professionals, taking you from concept to completion
All tutorial files can be downloaded from: bit.ly/3DA-135

46

MAARTEN
VERHOEVEN
Kitsune, 2019
Bio
I’m specialised in digital
sculpting and concepting with
ZBrush, for 2D images as 3D
rapid prototyping. Being a
digital sculptor I work on
many different types of
projects including concept
sculpts, creatures, props,
toys, collectibles and fine art.
Software
ZBrush, Meshmixer, PreForm
Learn how to
• Use Sculptris Pro
• Use ZRemesher
• Amp details
• Hollow out models
• Perform Boolean actions
• Set up for print
Concept
I’ve been doing several tests
with these head sculptures
and after a trip to Japan I
decided to create a ‘kitsune’
half mask. Fascinated by
storytelling and cultures from
all over the world, this is my
take on this mythical creature.
It’s always nice to be able to
show your art in the physical
world to an audience, as the
response is more positive
than purely showing a 2D
image on a screen.
YOUR
FREE
DOWNLOADS
from bit.ly/3DA-135
• Tutorial screenshots
Create a
kitsune3Dprint
Discover how to bring digital dreams and nightmares into the physical
realm through 3D print and paints!
I 02
n this breakdown I’ll take you step by step along the path
of how I created a ‘kitsune’ 3D print, inspired by Japanese
folklore. I’ll try to give an insight into how I typically go
about these types of personal projects. So, let’s take a look
at how you can take your digital sculpts to 3D print. We
will start from a sphere in ZBrush and prep it to make a
digital print-ready file on a Form 2. Once the 3D print is
done we will take a quick look at how I paint and present
my final small art pieces.
01 Start simple, be prepared For me, it’s always
important when starting on a new personal project
to be clear to myself on what I want to create. We start by
looking for images that might inspire us and some texts if
we want to base our designs on an actual mythical
creature, just to get an idea of how people have visualised
such a thing throughout the centuries. Feel free to explore
the typical shapes and forms that make up our sculpture. In
this case the input was a kitsune or Japanese fox, so the
features that we need to explore are very straightforward:
nose, snout, ears etc.
01
02
Sculptris Pro My favourite weapon of choice in
ZBrush for the past two years has been Sculptris
Pro. It gives us a way to quickly develop shapes without
being held back by geometry restrictions. Just try to get
your big shapes in at this stage, nothing too fancy, as it’s a
blockout. We are looking for the big facial landmarks, ears,
snout, eye sockets. I never sketch out anything on paper.
For me personally as a 3D artist, it’s a bit of a waste of time
when you’re working in a 3D package; why would you try
to discover shapes in 2D? It will take up double the work
and not everyone can perfectly translate 2D to 3D.
03 Refine the blockout So, once we are happy with the
first big shapes, I would say it’s time to now refine
the blockout. In this stage of the sculpt we use mostly
broad strokes to get all our volumes in there. I tend to do
this with the ClayBuildup brush but I switch out the alpha,
as the square alpha somehow always feels rough when we
are building up shapes; for smoother transitions the round
one works better (Alpha 06). And on the proportions, to
be honest I tweak these right up until the end of my
sculpting stage, but I make sure that I’m happy with the
first features before pressing on with the next step, which
will be adding details.
03
Sculptris limitations
One little note when you start pulling out shapes.
While sculpting in ZBrush with Sculptris mode on, I
would suggest not going over 1 mil polys on a single
subtool, as I’ve noticed that it drag down your
sculpting abilities a bit and creates some lag on your
strokes. And to be honest, that’s the last thing we
want while we’re trying to be fast in our shape
explorations. I would suggest to only use medium and
big brush sizes in the first stage, and later on you can
refine spots on your sculpt if necessary.
47
 CreAte A kItSune 3D PrInt

04
04 05
Create extra subtools the teeth are created by
inserting spheres with a primitive insert brush.
Very simply drag out the little spheres as a placeholder;
this doesn’t have to be perfect because we will modify
them and sculpt teeth out of these. Just use the Move
topological brush over them and place them at the right
spot. And if you feel that the topology gets too distorted
quickly, use Zremesher to clean up this little problem. the
good thing now is that you can go up in your subdivisions,
start polishing and add little details.

05 Polish the hairs In this step I’m refining the shapes

of the hair locks. I’m using a standard brush with
an Alpha 38 to add the highs and lows on the hairs, and in
between I start polishing it with the hPolish brush just to
get those nice flat planes on the hair strands. these are all
to get the shapes in there in the Sculptris Pro mode.

06 ZRemesher When we’ve got all the bigger shapes

in our sculpt, we run Zremesher over the whole
head. Why? Because of the polyflow that’s generated.
Zremesher recognises shapes on our sculpt and tries to
06 07
generate a polyflow that respects these volumes. And by
reprojecting our details we can get all the lines/flows of
these shapes even smoother. Without doing this you’ll
notice that there will be jagged edges in the flow of the hair.

07 Amp up details now it’s time to finalise all the

major sculpting on the head with a detailing pass,
and to be honest it’s nothing more than redoing most of
your previous steps. But now we can go up with our
subdivisions and add smaller details with finer brushes and
alphas if necessary. the most important thing is to make
everything sharp and crisp for the 3D print.

08 Hollow out there are several ways we can hollow

out our model, with extracting a subtool inwards in
ZBrush or using the Meshmixer software; I tend to go with
the second option. Step one is to get all our subtools into
one solid mesh – just merge everything together and make
a duplicate. take the merged subtool and run DynaMesh
over it and turn on project details. If all the details are not
DynaMeshed perfectly, subdivide it and use the second
08
duplicate as a projection master to transfer the details to
the DynaMesh version. Once we are happy, we use
Decimation Master to cut down the polycount to roughly
1.5 million. now export that model as an OBJ and load it up
in Meshmixer. Once in Meshmixer we can restore and fix
any faults. Choose a scale and hollow it out exactly, with a
measured wall thickness in millimetres. When you’ve
hollowed it out export it again as a new OBJ or StL.

ShadowBox and MatchMaker

For the kanji on the kitsune’s head, just find a black
and white image online and use it as a logo with
ShadowBox. Load up the image in your Alpha tab and
open ShadowBox on a new subtool. Draw a mask with
the alpha on one of the sides of the shadow box and
turn it off again. now you have some new geometry
ready to align on another head subtool. the best way
to match the shape of the kanji surface to the head
subtool is by using the MatchMaker brush.

48
 Zremesher
recognises shapes on
our sculpt and tries to
generate a polyflow
that respects these
volumes

49
 CreAte A kItSune 3D PrInt

09
09 10
Boolean the back take the model back into ZBrush
and we can Boolean out the parts we don’t need.
We can just start with a sphere as a separate subtool and
turn on Live Boolean. now you can drag the shape around
and see what will be cut out once we make the Boolean
mesh. When we feel that a certain shape is working, use
the Boolean action and a new uMesh is created as a new
tool. Open it and check the edges; just to be sure I would
do a Close Holes action on it to make sure it’s solid.

10 Final check! After we have a shell or in this case a

half mask, we go over the entire model one last
time to double-check everything before we send it to our
3D printer, and in this case it’s a Form 2 from Formlabs. It’s
crucial to make sure that all the shapes are working and
that your model has no mistakes in order for the next 24
hours to be successful.

11 Set it up on the print bed Getting your model into

PreForm is very easy, but there are a few tricks you
can apply to save printing time, material cost and print
quality. the first thing we do is orientate the object
11
ourselves on the print bed, making sure that all the
supports will not hit our valuable areas. then let the
program add the supports, but dial back the numbers as
much as possible within the safety warning. You can
modify your supports by hand and tweak how much you
want and where. Finally lower the print height a tiny bit
and reduce the slope by a few millimetres.

12 Print clean-up After the 12-hour print is done you

can easily snap it out of its supports with almost no
dents or marks on the important areas. now we need to
give the piece a wash with isopropanol alcohol (open your
windows). I do this in two short sessions of 5-7 minutes
and check my print to make sure none of the details are
‘burned off’. In between you can use some pressured air to
blow dry the bits where some alcohol may be left behind.
When it’s not sticky anymore just put it in a uV oven.
Make sure all surfaces are ‘baked’ equally and you’re done.

13 Prep it for paint Prepping the model for paint is an

easy step, but it determines how your whole paint
job will go. I went out and looked for a matt model kit
12 13

primer; it’s very important to prime your prints correctly to

get the best results. We can get a primer in a spray can –
keep a distance of 20/30cm and give it some thin coats of
paint. Build up your layers, don’t spray it flat. You will fill up
all of the details of the 3D print. First I did a white primer
with a spray can, then I loaded up my Airbrush set with a
black primer and gave it a coat. Let it dry for 12 hours
before you continue.

Amp detail
A small trick that you can use to make your details
pop even more for 3D print is using ‘ryan’s tools 1.3’
by ryan kittleson. He has written a ZBrush plugin that
can help you with some detailing magic. there’s a
script in there called AmpDetail, just run the script and
it gives you a morph target and a custom brush. With
this brush you need to go over your model slowly and
it will push and pull all your details.

50
14 Paint it up the whole painting thing is still a bit experimental for me, projects like
these are tests and every new thing is a new lesson learned. We approach it like
sculpting, first painting the big shapes with a spray can or airbrush. We maximise the
usage of the black prime layer to let the copper and aluminium paints do their magic. I
would say start with dark paints and go lighter in steps. For the details I’m using acrylic
model paints and brushes. In the end just give it a few small pin washes to make some Maarten Verhoeven
details pop and add a gloss varnish to highlight certain bits, then seal it with a matt model Maarten is a freelance digital sculptor, concept
kit varnish. A quick tip: we can do a colour test in advance on the digital model with and VFX artist specialising in work for film,
Polypaint and render it up in keyShot as a guideline for the paint. commercials, prototypes and toys. Today he is
working as a freelance ZBrush artist, contributing
14
his skills worldwide to various companies,
publications and projects.

Kappa, 2019
ZBrush, KeyShot, Photoshop
A little classic kappa creature created with ZBrush and
keyShot. I made this after I took a trip to Japan, I always
like to be inspired by other cultures.

15

Corrupted, 2019
ZBrush, KeyShot, Photoshop
this image was created after seeing images of the
Vatican catacombs. I always like to create things that
evoke horror without jumping in your face.

15 Presentation this little guy belongs to a series that I’m working on. Presentation is
everything for me. I look for different materials to make the concept work, and I’m
going for a museum type of look. You don’t have to go far and wide to find materials, just
ONI, 2019
ZBrush, KeyShot, Photoshop
OnI was created in one day. I saw some images of a video
be creative. the stand is a ¤1 candelabra cut to size, and the eyelashes were bought from clip and this triggered my inspiration. I love creating
a make-up store for almost nothing. Just let your imagination run wild and step outside images of these mythical creatures.
what you do on a daily basis, get your hands dirty and create.

All tutorial files can be downloaded from: bit.ly/3DA-135 51

 Paint 3D objects in PhotoshoP

52

DAHLIA KHODUR
Sea Crab Sailor, 2019
Bio
I graduated as a graphic
designer, however I pursued
my MFA in illustration and
fine arts and worked with
production companies to
create storyboards for
TVCs and animations. Now
I teach design, illustration,
and VR art at several
universities in Lebanon.
Software
Photoshop CC
Learn how to
• Import a 3D file to
Photoshop
• Use a Diffuse map
• Edit light direction
• Use texture brushes
on a 3D model
• Apply texture to a
Diffuse map
• Colour correct
• Paint over details
Concept
I have chosen a 3D print
model of an actual sea crab.
We will go for a more
whimsical character and
transform it into an
adventurous sea crab sailor.
YOUR
FREE
DOWNLOADS
from bit.ly/3DA-135
• 3D_Crab_psd
• Dark_Finger_Reef_Crab
• Finalized_piece
• Tutorial screenshots
Paint 3D objects
in Photoshop
Find out how to create a painterly effect of a plain 3D export by
colouring in Photoshop and painting over details
I 02
n this tutorial we are going to cover how to paint a 3D
exported model in Photoshop and apply it to the model
itself. Photoshop’s 3D section offers a wide range of
handy painting options to help make your model as realistic
as possible. The textured brushes are easy to use for giving
your models that painterly feel, and the colour correction
options push your design to a more illustrated look. Texture
use in Photoshop’s Diffuse map will also be covered. Finally
we will do a paint-over, once we have chosen the angle and
pose of the model, to combine the piece all together, which
in this case will be a sea crab sailor.
01 Import 3D model to Photoshop First off, you need to
import your sculpted model into Photoshop. You
can simply click and drag the OBJ file into the PS
workspace, or go to File>Open and select your sculpt. A
new window will pop up asking you to set the dimensions
and resolution, so keep in mind that the higher the
resolution, the more lag you will experience. So to keep it at
a medium range, we will go for 2,500 x 3,500px, 300dpi
resolution. Next, Photoshop will ask you to change your
workspace from Essentials to 3D so you can access all of
the 3D painting options.
01
02
Diffuse fill colour Now we are going to fill the base
colour of your entire model instead of painting it
piece by piece. You can do that by going to the Layers
window and double-clicking on the ‘PS_3D_Default
Diffuse’ layer so another window will pop up. This window
will be your main texture map that will be applied to the
model itself. Get the paint bucket tool and fill the Diffuse
window layer with your chosen colour and press save.
Once you save the Diffuse window, the filled colour will be
applied to the entire model back in your original document.
03 Paint with brush Dividing the window will be
helpful in case you want to strictly rely on your
Diffuse map. This can be achieved by going to Window>
Arrange>2-up Vertical. You can use any brush you are
most familiar with and start applying the paint after you
make sure you select the 3D model layer. Be sure to vary
your colours and use more than one shade. The more
variety of colours, the more realistic the outcome. Here we
are painting the base of the crab, the red shell and the
mud-grey extremities directly on the Default Diffuse map
window, and you can see how it directly applies to your
main window of the crab.
03
Layers in Diffuse window
If you want to add a coloured detail but are still unsure
about applying it, simply head to the Diffuse window.
Add a new layer above your main fill colour layer to
apply the necessary details on the 3D model. Using
layers makes it way easier to organise your Diffuse
map instead of having a flattened layer with all the
information. You can also experiment with the
transparency options layer to add more interest to
your colour palette, such as overlay, soft light, colour
dodge, and so on.
53
 Paint 3D objects in PhotoshoP

04
04
Infinite light and rotation You can freely rotate
your model to paint all the sides by using the
current View section in the 3D panel beside your layer
window, and the transform tool to rotate. once you
change the angle, you’ll notice that the light doesn’t rotate
with the model and stays in its neutral position. to fix this,
you can simply select the infinite Light layer in the 3D panel
until a lit sphere appears on your screen. select that small
sphere (the light source) and drag it downwards so you can
apply light on the bottom area of your crab, then switch
back to selecting the current View layer. that way, you can
see what colours or textures you add. if you want to paint
on the other sides, rotate the model then set the light
source according to the area you are working on.

05 Colour variety if you want to achieve maximum

realism, you need to use several colour tints. For
example, the crab’s shell should be a red colour, so we
painted the base with a red-orange shade at first. to make
it pop and look more realistic, we add a brighter and more
contrasted colour on the shell and apply blending while
using the brush’s pen pressure to our advantage. the crab
05 06
legs are also supposed to be a darker shade than the shell,
so we went for dark desaturated blues and purple-tinted
mud greys mixed with a small amount of orange to add a
more reflective feel. You can increase your visual library of
colours by studying classical paintings and how they mix
several colours to achieve life-like realism.

06 Blend brushes the colours applied before are

enough to set the major colour tones of your
model. however, if blended incorrectly, your model might
end up looking dirty and unreadable. always keep in mind
that you have to think about the main anatomy of your
model and divide your blending process into shapes so you
can blend each separately; here we have the shell, the
claws and the legs. Using the eyedrop tool, we select the
colour in between the orange and red on the shell and start
painting to decrease the high-contrast shine. the legs need
to look like they are connected to the main body, and to do
that we choose the purple tinted colour and blend it on the
shell as well in small amounts.

07
07
Texture brushes Painting textures onto your model
is a vital step for extra realism. an advantage of
choosing Photoshop to paint your 3D model is that you can
make use of your favourite brush pack. For this model we
will go for a spotted scatter textured brush to apply it to the
shell since it’s a ragged, uneven surface. Using the eyedrop
tool, we choose the light orange colour and paint along the
back of the crab. For the legs we change the brush to a
more hard-edged scatter and paint along the shapes to
give it this very rough texture. the window on the top left
will help you get a better look of how your textures are
affecting the overall result.

increase your visual

library of colours by studying
classical paintings and how
they mix several colours to
achieve life-like realism
54
 08
08
Transparency layer options once our blending is
complete, we need to set the main colour tone of
the entire model. our sea crab will end up in a setting by
the beach, so a very subtle blue will be the general
reflected colour on the top of the crab’s shell. to do that,
we create a new layer above our 3D layer, choose a light
blue and paint over the entire model. once done, we set
the layer to overlay for smooth blending, then right-click
on the layer and select the Merge Down option. this will
cover the top part of the model with your ‘overlay’ and
merge with the 3D model itself. think of it as covering
the sea crab with a big translucent blue blanket!

09 Use soft brushes textured brushes aren’t

the only thing needed for realistic colour
applications. You should also keep in mind the
advantages of using a soft brush, which helps in giving
smooth gradation of colour. For our sea crab, the
abdomen area should be a light sand-coloured yellow.
so, we choose a small-sized soft brush and apply the
colour to the lower abdomen area, and afterwards, we
increase the size of the soft brush and gently expand the
09
area to where the legs connect to the basis. that way we
can instantly achieve good blending. but be careful of
using the soft brush too much, since it will give out an
unwanted airbrush feel!

10 Face airbrush details once the shell is complete,

we start to move to the details. We rotate the crab
to the front view so we can add more colour and details to
our sea crab’s face area. Using the soft brush, we create a
new layer then choose a purple-blue colour and paint
along the entire face. same as we did before, we lower the
opacity of the layer then merge down on the 3D model.
this way, we will have the front face of the crab separated
from the shell’s colour palette for interesting focal points in
our final painting.

You should also keep in

mind the advantages of
10 using a soft brush, which
helps in giving smooth
gradation of colour

3D print ready!
You can even 3D print directly using the 3D Utilities
option in the 3D drop-down menu. once you hook up
your computer to a 3D printer, Photoshop will
automatically scan and you can choose from the
presented options, such as calibrating the printing
plate, loading, removing, or even changing the
filaments. next you go to the Properties panel and
select 3D Print settings, where you can set the size of
your print and of course choose the level of detail you
want to go for, then go forth with the 3D printing
pipeline process. just don’t forget to tick the support
structures options so the small and thin details of your
print won’t break!

55
 Paint 3D objects in PhotoshoP

11
11
Legs and rough detailing one thing that would
definitely grab attention from the audience is the use
of unusual colours in a known organic subject. our sea
crab here looks a little too real and there is no clear interest
yet. to change that, you can add bright colours on small
details so it would pop and not end up looking like any
other simple 3D model. We choose a nice shade of blue
and start to apply it to the small bumps and spikes on the
legs and also the shell and claws. Remember that you can
go as wild as you want with your colouring! the blue could
even be replaced by bright orange, just make sure your
colours still fit with the general palette and do not look too
off and distracting from your main focal point.

12 Real texture application another advantage to using

the default Diffuse map is that you can create a new
layer and import an image of a texture to directly apply it
to the model. We chose a texture of snake scales to add
some extra bumps on our sea crab’s shell. once imported,
make sure you manipulate the shape of the texture using
the Warp tool to follow the curve of the surface, otherwise
it would look like a flat 2D image pasted on top of a 3D
12
model. another tip is to paint around the texture, in the
Diffuse map window, with a brush and using the eyedrop
tool so you can add the needed texture in the small bumps
and creases underneath the shell.

13 Texture transparency once your texture is

warped and set according to your surfaces, set
the transparency to hard Light while still in the Diffuse
window; this will allow a quick blending process. next,
decrease the opacity of the layer so it won’t look too off on
our crab’s shell. You can also add areas of texture on other
parts of the crab using the clone tool. the clone tool really
helps in picking up the right colours and mapping your
texture so you can apply it anywhere else on your model.

14 Colour correction after you decide on the angle

you want to present your coloured model, you can
add the background image. here we will go for a rocky
shore setting. From the first screenshot, notice how the
colours of the background image do not go well with the
colour tones of our sea crab. so, for a more believable
13 14
piece, we edit the colours using the adjustment layers such
as colour balance, brightness contrast, curves and so on.
We edit the colour of the background to a blue and purple
tint and then blur the areas that are out of focus in our
shot, such as the foreground and the far background.
Finally, we add some painted details such as an anchor
tattoo and a band-aid on the shell for a more whimsical
character presentation.

exporting options
there are several ways to export your painted 3D
model from Photoshop. You can go to 3D>export 3D
Layer and choose between Dae, Flash 3D, Google
earth, stL or obj. these formats will help you edit
your model later in other 3D programs. if you choose
to export with the background and painted details,
you have the option of exporting it as any 2D image
format. save your PsD file before you export so you
can preserve the painted editing capabilities.

56
15 Paint-overs and light source People love funny characters, so why not pimp up our
little sea crab? that’s why we are going for a stranded sea crab sailor. the tattoo
and the little band-aid on his shell are a great addition to his look. next, we will give him a
sailor hat; here you can download any stock photo of a hat and then paint over so that it
looks as if it really belongs to our character. a tip is to always think of your light source and
on what direction is it casting, that way the shadows added will make it more believable. Dahlia Khodur
the shadows in this case will be painted on the right side while keeping the left side a little I graduated as a graphic designer and pursued
illuminated. studying surfaces really helps in expanding your knowledge on how light my MFA in illustration and fine arts. I work with
affects shadows. production companies to create storyboards
for TVCs. Currently I am a design, illustration
15
and VR art instructor at several universities
in Lebanon.

Gem’s Flowers, 2018

Photoshop
an oc who is very dear to my heart. Gem’s struggle
through heartbreak is vivid with the surreal elements
around her, and the centipede adds a sense of fear.

16

Frida, 2018
Photoshop
Frida is a tortured artist living in juvenile prison but always
trying to escape. her main hobby is “artistic vandalism”
as she describes it, and painting on shoes.

16 Shadows, peak points and highlights our final step is to add the shadows on the
ground and the water drops on his skin. before editing, the shadows were
automatically generated on a flat ground. to edit this and make the shadow more
believable, you can erase some parts of the shadow to go along the dimensions of the
rocks as you can see in the preview. that way the shadow will cover the rocks in a more Joe’s Fish, 2018
Photoshop
believable mapping. You can paint some small waves crashing on the rocks beside him so
a painting done to spread awareness of the garbage crisis
that the white brush strokes on the skin and highlights, resembling the ocean spray, fit in our oceans. his face reflects utter surrender to his
with his setting. these details add to the 3D model’s believability and the strokes will give situation, clear by the way he accepts trash as his home.
it a more painted feel rather than presenting a lifeless model under direct light.

57
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 Create a 3D renDer from a 2D ConCept

60
 Create a 3D render
MARTA MACEDO
Drive, 2019
from a 2D concept
Learn how to sculpt, light, shade and render a cartoon-style character
Bio
I’m a 3D character artist with
based on an illustration
a traditional background,
always interested in

I 02
exploring new techniques n this tutorial you will discover how to translate a 2D Details After blocking out the main shapes
or software to integrate into concept into a 3D render, capturing the storytelling of the character, start by adding detail
my workflow to create
captivating characters and behind it and exploring the best techniques and the in ZBrush. It is essential to gather good references
compelling images. key elements that will make a beautiful image. beforehand. In this process you can DynaMesh the
Software We will be using ZBrush for sculpting details, making subtools to have more geometry and start sculpting
ZBrush, Maya, the retopology and UVs in Maya and learning how to details using mainly the ClayBuildup, hPolish, Dam_
Arnold, Photoshop use Substance Painter in order to improve the look dev Standard and Move brushes.
Learn how to of your characters with awesome textures. Then back
• Create a character
from a concept
• Sculpt details in ZBrush
in Maya with all the materials assigned, we will light up
the scene and render the final image using Arnold. 03 Hair and jacket details For the hair use Orb_Cracks
to sculpt the details and the CurveTube brush to
add more hair clumps that fall from the head. For the
• Make textures in
Substance Painter
• Bake maps
• Light a scene in Maya
01 Basic shapes in ZBrush The first step in creating a
character is making the overall shapes based on our
concept. Make sure you block out all the shapes with
jacket you can use Dam_Standard, LES_ClothSeam_1 and
the Inflate brush to sculpt the folds, and then use the
Stitches3D brush, with a small size, in the areas that have
• Achieve better results simple geometry and low subdivisions, using the Move stitches. In the end use IMM Zipper to ‘close’ the jacket.
with a good pipeline
brush and Transpose Line. In this phase you can use The collar and sleeve details will be done later with
• Create compelling images
symmetry; later you can give some asymmetry to your textures and bump maps. Don’t forget to name and
• Render with Arnold
character to give it a more realistic and dynamic look. separate different objects by subtools.
Concept
01 03
I chose this amazing concept
from Gabriel Soares, a
cartoon version of Ryan
Gosling in the movie Drive, to
improve my workflow, learn
new software and master
modelling, textures and light.

02

Speed up retopology
If you have a high-poly model too heavy to handle and
you want to speed up retopology, use GPU Cache.
Import your high poly to Maya and after selecting the
object go to the top Cache>GPU Cache>Export
YOUR Selection. Choose Current Frame in the Options and
FREE save it. Import that object again in Cache>GPU
Cache>Import Selection and you can now work with a
DOWNLOADS live model with zero polygons that has the same
from bit.ly/3DA-135
• Tutorial screenshots geometry as before.

61
 Create a 3D renDer from a 2D ConCept

04
04
Model the car in Maya Since the car has more
hard surfaces and less details it’s easier to model it
in maya by using polygons, extrudes and connections. this
way you will achieve a cleaner mesh and basic forms,
resulting in a topology ready for the UV mapping process
later. You can always add more details in ZBrush with
subdivisions. With the car try to keep the edge flow of the
character by making the edges smooth and stylised.

05 Retopology using Quad Draw Import all the

high-poly objects to maya so you can start the
retopology. this will allow you to have a cleaner geometry
and to later apply the textures. Use Quad Draw to make
the low-poly mesh on top of the high poly as a live surface.
make sure you avoid triangles and that the edge numbers
match before combining them together. make loops
around the eyes and mouth. Since you’re working with
quads, in the beginning it is easier to start with pair
numbers of points and have less polygons. You can add
more polygons later.

06 Make UV maps With retopology done you can

now group the high-poly and low-poly objects with
layers so you can easily select or hide the geometry you
05

want to work on. to make the UV maps you can also

change your workspace to UV editing. Select each object
and make the seams in hidden areas to avoid having visible
seam lines in your textures. after unfolding use the
Checker pattern to make sure that the textures are
consistent and not stretched, and arrange the layout.

07 Colour ID maps now you need to assign different

colours with materials to each group of objects
that you’ll want to apply the same texture to. export that
group of low-poly objects to prepare the character for
texturing in Substance painter. once you have all the
materials named and assigned you can export the fBX. It is
also important to soften the edges of the objects in mesh
Display before exporting to Substance painter, otherwise
you’ll have hard edges showing.

Since the car has more

hard surfaces and less 06 07

details it’s easier to model it

in maya by using polygons,
extrudes and connections
Making realistic eyes
to create realistic eyes start by making two spheres:
one for the cornea that you scale up a tiny bit, and the
other for the iris that will stay inside the cornea. to
sculpt the iris, mask out the pupil and remove those
polygons. make another mask around that hole to
make a concavity for the iris where you can sculpt
more details. In the cornea sphere, mask the same
area and pull it out, making a smooth dome. then
texture the iris with an image or by painting by hand.
You can also add some veins and later give it a shiny
look by adjusting materials.

62
08 11

Create UDIms so each

group can have its own UV
09 tile, which gives you a good
pixel density to work with
08 Prepare the character for texturing at this stage
you can finally create your textures, adding your
own personal touch based on your mood board. Since
we’re creating a character for a still image and not a game
character, we have more freedom when it comes to texture
resolution. Create UDIms so each group can have its own
UV tile, which gives you a good pixel density to work with.
Don’t forget to rename everything after exporting to
Substance painter and to assign different materials to
each group.

09 Bake maps in Substance Painter Before you start

texturing the character you have to bake the maps
with the high-poly fBX in order to transfer all the details
you sculpted into the low-poly model. turn on your 2D/3D
view so you can see both model and UV maps. then go to
texture Set Settings>Bake textures and choose normal
map, ambient occlusion and all the maps you want to use
10
as well as the output Size of the texture. In the High poly
parameters browse your high-poly file and press Bake
textures at the bottom.

10 Texture the face now that you have your high-poly

details, start texturing the face by choosing a
default skin material or making your own. add all the
layers you need to paint different parts like the mouth and
the colour tones of the face. to make the skin more
realistic it is important to follow the face colour theory by
applying red to both cheeks and nose, yellow to the
forehead and mouth, and blue to the chin and around the
mouth and eyes.

11 Texture the clothes for the jacket you can make a

material with an aluminium base, since it’s a gold,
shiny jacket, and change Color, roughness and metallic in
the properties. for the jacket details start with a Scarf
Wool material and change the colour and size of the UV
projection. for the gloves try a Leather Soft Grain material
and change the settings according to the references.

63
 Create a 3D renDer from a 2D ConCept

12

using HDrI maps

the best way to add atmosphere to a scene and
create a 360-degree image for a render is to use a
Skydome Light with arnold renderer, with an HDrI
map attached to the Color slot. Change the Color
Space in your file attributes of the HDrI to raw. You
can always change the intensity and resolution
according to your scene. If you don’t want to see the
image in the render and want to only use the light for
rendering, you can change the Visibility of the camera
to zero in the attribute editor of the Skydome Light.

You can create your glass

material for the windows
and a transparent, shiny
material for the cornea of
the eyes that will make the 13 14

eye glow
12 Car materials the car has different materials to work
on. So for the seats, you can use an artificial Leather
material. as for the wheel you can start with a rubber tire
smart material and change the colour and settings, and
finally for the car structure you can use a Steel painted
material, for example. to make the belt use a fabric
Stretchy Sci-fi smart material to begin with and add a
different fabric pattern with a fill layer to imitate the
texture of a car belt, and then change the colour. You
can always create your own materials and save them.

13 Export texture maps Substance painter gives you a

lot of tools to explore, working pretty much like
photoshop for 3D textures where you can apply filters,
layers, paint, stamps, images and change parameters that
will improve your look development. once you have
finished texturing you’ll need to export your texture maps
in file>export textures. Here you can change its
15
configuration according to the program you’ll need to use
and choose your final document size.

14 Materials in Maya Back in maya you can assign

your color, normal, specular or emission maps and
create your materials with arnold renderer. With
Hypershade you can assign your maps connecting nodes
to each shader, using arnold ai Standard Surface material.
You can also create your glass material for the windows
and a transparent, shiny material for the cornea of the eyes
that will make the eye glow.

15 Light the scene this is a key stage to the final look of

our character since it is the light that sets the mood
of the image. So to start use a SkyDomeLight with an
HDrI to light the whole scene. then add a front light to
illuminate the face, especially the eyes, a backlight that
gives a bright outline to the character and a fill light to
create the sunlight that comes through the window. to
highlight specific zones and colours add more lights to the
scene until you achieve the desired mood.

64
Change focus distance
Don’t forget to check your Camera Settings to define
your focus distance in order to recreate human sight.
the default in maya is 35mm, but you don’t want your
character to have a fisheye perspective. So to fix that
change the value to between 50mm and 70mm using
the focal Length slider.

65
 Create a 3D renDer from a 2D ConCept

16 Camera and AOVs after setting up the location of the camera, go to Camera
Settings and enable Dof in arnold. to determine the focus Distance between
the face and the camera enable object Details in Heads up Display and copy that
number. prepare your render aoVs in the render Settings by selecting the ones you’ll
need in the final render and use render Setup to set up your own, including ambient
occlusion and Wireframe. Marta Macedo
I’m a 3D character artist with a traditional
16
background, always interested in exploring
new techniques or software to integrate
into my workflow and create captivating
characters and compelling images with a
good storytelling.

Space Girl, 2018

ZBrush, Maya, Arnold Renderer, Photoshop
Like many children I wanted to be an astronaut, so I really
loved this illustration from taraneh Karimi and decided to
make my 3D version from this glowing character.

17

Milkshake Girl, 2017

ZBrush, 3ds Max, Photoshop
I wanted to create a sweet and expressive character with
its own temper, so nothing better than the illustration
from Loyal to use as a concept.

Think Outside the Box, 2018

ZBrush, KeyShot, Photoshop
17 Composite in Photoshop Import all the render passes to photoshop to composite
the final image. Separate them by layers and combine Diffuse, Specular, SSS and
ao using blend modes and enhance your image. You can also use object_ID to mask
With this 3D character inspired by an awesome
illustration from Leslie rosique I faced the challenge of
doing a lot of hands in an image that pushed my creativity.
different objects and make final adjustments to your image.

66 All tutorial files can be downloaded from: bit.ly/3DA-135

 MAKE BOARD GAME MINIATURES

68

HECTOR MORAN
VARGAS (HEC)
Miniatures for Men In
Black/Ghostbusters:
Ecto-terrestrial
Invasion, 2019
Bio
Originally from Mexico,
Hector studied computer
animation in the US, then
moved to Europe to work in
the games industry. After
seven years of studio work he
started working as a full-time
freelancer and has been doing
so for around seven years.
Software
ZBrush, Marmoset, KeyShot
Learn how to
• Use groups for ZRemeshing
with better results
• Refine a base mesh
• Match the character to refs
• Pose the character
• Refine the pose to
match concept
• Refine and finalise for print
• Present renders to client
Concept
The idea is simple. I’ve been
able to match required art
styles of projects before, so
the plan here is the same: take
Derek Laufman’s concept art
and match it as close to 1:1 on
the main angle while making
all other angles look good.
YOUR
FREE
DOWNLOADS
from bit.ly/3DA-135
• Tutorial screenshots
• Accompanying videos
Make board
game miniatures
Learn how the miniatures for Men In Black/Ghostbusters:
Ecto-terrestrial Invasion were created
M 02
iniatures for board games and collectors have
been booming thanks to advances in 3D
printing and crowd-funding platforms like
Kickstarter. In this tutorial you’ll learn how two of the
miniatures for this game were created. This project
consisted of 21 figures based on concept art by Derek
Laufman. While the IPs involved are separated by time
of creation and different visuals, they are both
humorous takes on the paranormal subjects of aliens
and ghosts. We’ll cover the full process with two of the
figures from scratch. The main focus is on matching
and interpreting concept art in an appealing and
effective manner. Characters in cartoony styles can be
deceiving in that they look simple and easy, but it takes
some practice to become proficient at matching art
styles and interpreting or designing on the fly any
aspects that are not fully shown in the concept art.
01 Start with the body I start out in ZBrush by first
placing the concept art into the grid as a model
sheet. I then mould a DynaMesh sphere into the rough
shape of the head. The body gets pulled out of the head,
first with the neck, then the torso. The rough shapes of the
arms and legs are done next. For hands I sculpt one single
digit that later gets duplicated and merged with the body.
01
02
Group the body Once the rough shapes of the
body and the head are in place, the fingers are
merged to it, and I start grouping segments of the body
based on joint areas. The torso is split into upper, lower,
pelvis and neck. I make mask selections on the face that
will later become radial eye and mouth loops. The whole
body gets grouped in a way that will facilitate good results
for the ZRemesher feature to provide a workable base
mesh for subdivisions.
03 Refine Once the basic DynaMesh of the body is
turned into a subdivision mesh, it’s easier to refine
the forms. Before subdividing the ZRemeshed body I
inspect it for problematic geometry that I could quickly fix
with the ZModeler tools. The refinement is mostly done by
using the Damian and Orb Cracks brushes to create deep,
sharp cuts and crevices. This specific art style calls for a lot
of sharp, chiselled shapes, so the Pinch brush and the
hPolish brush are also pretty handy for that.
03
Build your own asset library
For this project I only built the non-human characters
from scratch since some of them were unique aliens
that called for it. After several years freelancing I’ve
built myself a pretty substantial library of base bodies,
clothing, sculpted hair styles and props. If I’ve built
something similar before to something I need now, I
search my hard drives for an asset I can modify or
repurpose. Many of my base bodies have handmade
topology that has been tweaked and improved upon
through the years. This saves a lot of time and has
allowed me to take on the full cast of figures for games
like Street Fighter.
69
 Make Board GaMe Miniatures

throughout the
04

construction of the t-pose

model i kept track of
proportions by checking
them with the concept that
is loaded up on the grid

04 Outfit construction once the base body is ready,

it’s fairly easy to create the outfit using primitives
and ZModeler. i don’t really leave ZBrush anymore for
these projects. some parts, like the body suit, are extracted
or duplicated from the main body and modified to create
the shapes and segments that the concept art calls for. i
don’t overspend time on detailing or making perfect
topology for the clothing, since i know that the pose will
affect the shapes later, and even the topology might
change after posing later.

05
05 06
Colour testing as i go through modelling the
remaining pieces i start assigning Polypaint colours
based on the concept art. the focus is on getting all the
pieces in place for a complete t-pose character that can be
further refined in pose. this goes especially for the
smoke-like shapes coming out of his head. those start out
as dynaMesh blobs that are symmetric and will be
completely reshaped after posing.

06 Posing throughout the construction of the t-pose

model i kept track of proportions by checking them
with the concept that is loaded up on the grid. now it’s
time to go into the transpose Master plugin in ZBrush and
start posing the character. i’ve been asked if i use Zsphere
rigs for posing, i don’t. i just start masking the extremities,
blurring the masks as needed and using the transpose Line
or the gizmo to start rotating the arms and legs. i prefer to
use the transpose Line because it looks and feels like
placing an animation joint that i can rotate into position.

07 Keep it rough i usually only spend about half an

hour to an hour maximum in transpose Master
mode (partly to avoid data loss in a crash, but also to avoid
07

overworking anything too early), and then i send all that

back to the main file. if another round of transposing will be
needed later to finish the pose, i’ll do that later after some
clean-up in the main file.

Getting it right
When it comes to sculpting miniatures, toys and
collectibles you start stepping out of the usual
character artist comfort zone, which often ends in
t-pose. it’s one thing to match concept art or model
sheets, it’s another to take one key illustration, often in
a 3/4 angle pose, and to interpret that and fill in the
blanks for all other angles and design gaps. this side
calls for deeper knowledge of anatomy, body
dynamics, silhouette, drapery, 3d composition etc. if
you work from t-pose bases, one very important thing
is that your sculpts don’t end up looking stiff or lifeless.

70
 08
08
Clean up and refine the next step after the round
of transposing is all about cleaning any bad
deformations that happened while posing the model. i
keep checking things with the concept by switching it on
with the grid. it becomes a lot like tracing the drawing
carefully while making sure that the model still functions
on all other angles. the most important part to clean up
and refine first is the naked body. as long as the basic body
looks good in pose, with a great silhouette and no clipping
issues or bad deformations, things are on track.

09 T-pose or not T-pose? Many people start these

kinds of pieces in pose. While i don’t start my
models for miniatures and collectibles in pose like
traditional sculptors and some digital sculptors do, i make
sure that the posed body under the clothing looks good. if
muscles and shapes are stretching and compressing in a
convincing manner, i’ll have a good foundation for the rest
of the character. once the body is cleaned up and polished,
i start going down the list of subtools and polish the next
items. the smoke shapes on his head get re-shaped to the
09
concept, and then re-sculpted and detailed on all angles.

10 Client approvals Most miniature projects have

multiple stages of progression that can be shown to
the client for approval. in some projects i show the piece to
the client before i start posing it, but in projects like this
with a more cartoony art style i just show the piece to the
client once it’s posed and looking like the concept. i didn’t
bother showing the t-pose characters to the client in this
case – i waited until i had the first pass of the pose.

if the muscles and

shapes are stretching and
compressing in a convincing
manner, i’ll have a good
foundation for the rest of
the character
10

71
 Make Board GaMe Miniatures

11

11
12
Print prep Most of these Ghostbusters/MIB miniatures
were approved on first showing. in the case of this
Grunt character he was approved on the first go. the last
step in this case is to create a single-piece merged stL
export that will go to the manufacturer for production. this
is done by making a Boolean union of all the subtools and
decimating that to under 1 million polygons for an stL
export at the required scale. For demonstration i still made
a mock breakup to show how this piece would usually be
split. once the piece is cut, decimated and scaled it’s ready
for export.

12 KeyShot For this project i provided the client with

grey renders of the figures that could be used for the
crowdfunding campaign. these renders show an early
preview of what the miniatures might look like and help
promote the project if the prototype miniatures aren’t
ready when the project is launched for crowdfunding.
ZBrush + keyshot Bridge + keyshot = Win.

13 More Polypaint and some fun sometimes i like

taking some of my miniature models a few steps
further, because why not? so on this project i took the
13
models and did some occlusion and cavity masking to
enhance the Polypaint and give the figures a more textured
look. i then decimated the figures and took them into
Marmoset toolbag for some beauty shots. this makes for
nicer portfolio pieces and allows me to play with some
colour, which is not always necessary for miniatures
presentation, but again, it’s fun.

about cuts and keys

Cuts and keys is the process of chopping up the model
into pieces that are friendly for mass production via
two-piece moulds. this is part of the tasks for the
sculptor, but in recent years it’s being phased out of
the sculptor’s hands, at least on some projects.
For years doing miniatures, i’ve done cuts and keys
for dozens of figures. this process used to be more
tedious with earlier versions of ZBrush, but the
improved Boolean operations since ZBrush 2018 have
made that process easier and faster.

72
14 Rinse and repeat the same process that was shown here for the Grunt is the
process used for all 21 miniatures on this project. the human characters used a
modified version of male and female base meshes i had in my library. the outfits, hair and
props were all created from scratch. some characters were quick to make in about a day,
others took a couple of days. the four Ghostbusters share outfits and props with new
parts made for hair, and in the case of the MiB new weapons were built when needed. Hector Moran Vargas (HeC)
Hector is a freelance character artist. He works for
14
video games, cinematics, toys, collectibles and
miniatures. His first miniatures were for Kingdom
Death and recently he completed the full set of all
the figures for Street Fighter: The Miniatures Game
and the full set for MIB/GB: Ecto-terrestrial Invasion.

Street Fighter Miniatures Collage, 2019

ZBrush and Photoshop
a mega-collage of the full set of miniatures i produced for
the Street Fighter board game by Jasco Games in
partnership with angry Joe.

15

X-Men Infinity Fanart, 2015

ZBrush, 3ds Max, Photoshop
Fanart of the X-Men i created as a tribute to both the
X-Men from the nineties and the Disney Infinity art style. i
wanted to match the style and look of the official art.

15 Presentation i made two types of presentation renders for these, one type in grey
tones with keyshot and the full colour one done with toolbag. i put all of that
together in Photoshop with logos and set it aside for publishing when the client gives the Black Betty Miniature, 2016
Photo of painted miniature
go-ahead. as soon as that clearance is obtained and the project becomes public, i blast
original miniature that i designed, sculpted and produced
the images out on art communities, social media and my websites. this project came my in partnership with Painting Buddha. the boxart paint job
way from idW after they saw my work for Street Fighter: The Miniatures Game. one project shown here was done by Ben komets.
leads to another, and if you make good work, more opportunities will keep coming up.

All tutorial files can be downloaded from: bit.ly/3DA-135 73


GLEN SOUTHERN
www.southerngfx.co.uk
Bio
Glen runs SouthernGFX, a
small Cheshire-based studio
specialising in character and
creature design. More
recently he has been creating
in the VR space working with
companies like Oculus
Medium and Gravity Sketch
in the UK.
YOUR
DOWNLOADS
FREE
from bit.ly/3DA-135
• Tutorial screenshots
74
Exper
Alll
ZBRUSH 2019
Retopology
techniques in ZBrush
O
ne thing that all 3D sculptors or 3D modellers have
to master is how to retopologise a model they have
created. Having a highly detailed model is only part
of the process, and if you want to get that model out of
ZBrush and over to an animation package you are going to
need a lower-polygon version of your model. That version
also has to have topology that is good for rigging and will
deform well enough to perform the required action. Even if
you are making static items like rocks and trees, you will
need good topology and accurate UV mapping to give you
good texture maps.
Lots of programs have features now that allow you to
create good underlying topology from a high-resolution
mesh. We are going to look at ZBrush in this tutorial and
look at the different ways that you can take your model and
‘retopo’ it. Firstly we will look at a very simple method of
auto retopology using something called ZRemesher. It is
now in its third iteration and the later version that came
with ZBrush 2019 is more advanced and better at doing
retopology on hard-surface models. Then we will explore
how to use the Topology brush, which lets you draw your
new mesh on top of your sculpt. Lastly, we will look at
mpletion
135
retopologising using the ZSphere tool, which gets a little bit
more complex. All three methods have their uses and you
can choose the one you need depending on the type of
project you are doing.
01 Start with automatic retopology The quickest
and most simple way to retopologise a model is to
use ZRemesher. It is as simple as telling ZBrush how many
polygons you want and clicking the button. Find it in
Tool>Geometry>ZRemesher. The input number is in 1,000s,
so if you put 5 you will get roughly 5,000 polygons. It takes a
minute to calculate based on how many polygons you are
starting with. The results are often great for models that
don’t need specific edge loops, like inanimate objects. The
edge loops might not be where you need them, so we can
address that in the next step.
02 ZRemesher guides To control the edge loops a
little bit more you can use ZRemesher guides to tell
ZBrush where to put specific loops. Type B, Z, R to access
the ZRemesher Guide brush. Now with a small brush size
draw rings around areas where you would like more
 suBsCRIBe ToDay! Turn to page 84 to learn more

01 02

accurate loops. Focus on areas like the eyes, the mouth, the
03
ears and anywhere you might want a targeted loop. Once
this is done you can change settings in the ZRemesher panel
to improve things. The Adaptive sliders give you more
regular shaped polygons. The Curve Strength slider makes
ZBrush stick more closely to your guides.

03 Move to the Topology brush The Topology

brush is accessed using B, T, O. The basic idea is
that you can now draw out lines on your mesh. Draw out
four lines that intersect and ZBrush gives you a polygon
shape. You can then continue to draw out lines by drawing
through the ones you have already laid down or by
continuing from the green points that are now visible. To
clear away any overspill lines use Alt and drag on the model,
and if you want to clear one specific line simply Alt-draw
over that line.

04 Topology brush detail Continue drawing

geometry and building up your new low-poly mesh
as needed. You can extract the geometry at any time but if
you only want to have a single polygon thickness (which is
essential for retopology) you need to keep your draw size to
04
1. Any higher and you will get geometry with progressively
thicker walls based on the size you enter. Once you click on
the mesh you will mask off the sculpted model. If you now
go to SubTool>Split>Split Masked you can separate out your
model from the new low-poly geometry.

ZModeler to change topology

As you work through the different ways to
retopologise your models you may find that you need
to do some low-polygon editing to complete the job.
There may be areas that aren’t quite as you planned,
or you may decide to change the topology. ZModeler
(B, Z, M) gives you access to a set of these tools and
allows you to modify faces, edges and points. You can
use tools like Bridge to join polygons with another
polygon, Stitch to weld two points, Close to seal up a
hole and so on. Take time to explore this brush as it
has a huge amount of power to draw upon.

75
 TECHNIqUES

05
05 06
Use a ZSphere to retopologise The next
method to try is the ZSphere retopology method.
Make sure that your model is the active one in the SubTool
panel. Use Insert to append a ZSphere (the red ball icon)
below your model. Now look at Tool>Topology. You must be
in Draw mode for this next step (q). When you click on Edit
Topology the model changes to a state where you can add
topology lines and build up your new low-polygon model.
The model we are using is asymmetrical, but you can easily
do a symmetrical retopo by hitting X on the keyboard to
activate symmetry mode.

06 Lots of settings This is by far the most accurate

way to retopologise your models and as such, it
comes with lots of options. To add points simply click. To
delete a point Alt-click on it. To begin a new starting point
Ctrl-click on an existing point. You may need to move points
once you have laid them down. To do this switch to Move
mode (W) and then move the point as needed. If you want
to move lots of points at the same time increase your Draw
Size. Be sure to switch back to Draw mode to continue (q).

07
07 08
Good edge flow We can now begin to build up a
set of geometry with good edge flow. Wherever you
can see a need for animation be sure that you are making
the correct judgment about laying down edge loops. Make
sure to follow muscle rings around the eyes and mouth. If an
eye needs to blink then the topology needs to be made to
work just as a real eye would. Use Move mode as needed
where topology hasn’t been laid down in the correct place.

08 The whole head Work around the entire head

and complete the geometry to suit your need. If
you intend to project the high-resolution detail onto the new
topology make sure you match the entire model. If you just
need patches of geometry for other uses (a new face for
another model for example) then just finish it as needed
(see next step). This process is a great way to create new
geometry for all sorts of uses, including making armour that
follows the geometry of your character, clothing, straps etc.

09 Finish the topology Unlike the Topology brush,

the ZSphere Topology tool uses the Adaptive Skin
panel to finish the process. Once you have gone as far as you
09

need to and the retopology is all complete, go to Tool>

Adaptive Skin. Set the Density to 1 and the DynaMesh
Resolution to 0. That way the resulting mesh will be exactly
as you drew it and not a high resolution. When you click
Make Adaptive Skin the new topology is created as a new
ZTool and you can click on it in the Tool panel.

Projecting detail
Once you have a new model with good topology you
can subdivide it and project the high-resolution detail
back on. Make sure the new topology is in the same
subtool as the high resolution but underneath it in the
stack. Now subdivide it and use Project All from the
Projection panel and the bottom of the Tool panel.
Repeat that process and project again until you are at
a high enough level to carry all the required detail. If
you use Solo on the sidebar you can switch between
each model and see if they look exactly the same.

76 All tutorial files can be downloaded from: bit.ly/3DA-135

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 TECHNIQUES

3DS MAX, V-RAY

Render a racing
PAUL FLOWER
www.3dorigin.co.uk
Bio
Born and based in the UK, I
helmet with V-Ray
am a freelance digital artist

I
work as a freelance artist on various small projects,
and 3D modeller who travels
to Hong Kong and Macao. mostly creating and texturing 3D assets using my
software of choice, 3ds Max.
This image took about a week to complete and was a
personal project. As a fan of Michael Schumacher since
1991, I wanted to create something a bit different to my
usual renders of themes such as vehicles or race cars. I
wanted to make an image associated with racing,
something with more abstract elements that highlighted
Michael and F1, but without turning it into an on-the-
track scene. I also wanted it to look a bit dreamy or
fantastical in post-production.
map and make sure it’s as clean and as flat as possible, to
ensure textures cover the model without stretching. I chose
to export these into Mudbox and added a higher subdivision
so that I could create more detailed creases and dents using
the Wax and Grab tools available in Mudbox.
02 Clothing The balaclava was modelled based on
the style Schumacher used, and in a way that would
make it easier to get it to fall right when adding the Cloth
modifier, by modelling a more flat back and the face up.
Similarly this was done with the gloves, but the hat was just
created in a traditional pose. I created Unwrap UVW maps
for all three and made materials in Photoshop based on the

01 Modelling All modelling for this image was done

using 3ds Max 2018, based on my own knowledge
resource material gathered.

YOUR
and resource materials I could gather. Starting with the main
focus of the image, Michael Schumacher’s helmet was 03 Cloth modifier Having modelled the balaclava
and gloves, I wanted these to look more realistic and

FREE modelled off a 1/2 scale Schuberth helmet.

DOWNLOADS
from bit.ly/3DA-135
• Tutorial screenshots
To ensure accuracy of detail and ease of UVW mapping,
it’s best created in many elements, adding the MeshSmooth
modifier to give a smoother, more realistic finish. For a few
elements such as the gloves and hat, add an Unwrap UVW
as if they had just been thrown down onto the side. To do
this I opted to use the Cloth modifier in 3ds Max.
Positioning the model above a flat plane, I added the Cloth
modifier. In the Cloth Properties I added the glove model as
a cloth object, and the plane and any other objects that they

78
 suBsCRIBe ToDay! Turn to page 84 to learn more

01 02

03

For the gloves and hat, add an

unwrap uVW map and make
sure it’s as clean and as flat as
possible, to ensure textures cover
the model without stretching

would come in contact with as a collision object (see

screenshot for property settings). using simulate Local and
some manipulating of the glove position, i got something
close to want i wanted.

04
04
V-Ray Fur Once the gloves and balaclava were in
a position i liked, an edit Poly and FFD modifier
were applied to edit any collision between the front and back
side of the cloth. Once that is done, and to add more realism,
select the seams/edges and create a new object from them
so it is independent to the original model.
next, add a V-Ray Fur modifier to the newly created
edges to create threads on the balaclava and a fluff-like
seam on the gloves.

edit Poly modifier

When using the cloth modifier, a big issue you can
get are collisions where the backside of the cloth
shows through. By adding an edit Poly modifier you
can manipulate the vertices or polygons of cloth
showing through, by pushing them back through or
creating a higher crease on the front. Adding a final
Meshsmooth modifier can really help too.

79
 Techniques

05
05 06
Materials i used various V-Ray materials for this
image. i tended to use preset VRayMTL materials
with a base map/bump map and reflection map that i
created in Photoshop to fit the corresponding model’s uVW
map. To get a mixed texture like that on the helmet, create a
VRayBlendMtl with two VRayMtl maps, one with helmet
paint (base material), the other a lacquer coat material to
create a realistic finish to the helmet. Then create a VRayMtl
for the silver lines and a mask of the silver lines on the
helmet. Finally create an overall VRayBlendMtl, add the
helmet material as the base, the silver lines as the first coat,
and add a mask to Blend Amount at 100. see the screenshot
for the helmet settings.

06 Scene setup creating the overall scene, basing

this render on where Michael schumacher would
have kept his helmet, i looked at various resource images to
create the metal rack and the typical internal wall of a pit
garage. i also added additional details like the ear plugs and
the visor sticker for the secondary helmet. Just to add to the
overall realism, for reflection purposes i also added a rough
pit garage as well as a car i had already created.
07 08

07 Lighting setting light is key for a good end result.

Despite being able to do significant changes in
post-production, the reflections and glossy surfaces are very
important for a good base image. i used four V-Ray lights,
one above, one to each side angled in and one in front, all set
to a low multiplier to prevent glare and set to invisible to
prevent impeding the camera. Due to the surrounding wall
being quite close it also helps to create a studio-style layout
for the light. Additional lower multiplier lights were added
into the helmets to lighten the internal cloth.

08 Rendering Once the key elements are in their

correct positions, set up a standard camera and use
the various positioning tools to place it where it best fits the
result you’re looking for. using camera perspective can help
you achieve a more dynamic image. i also render an
additional ambient occlusion image using a standard
material with a VRay Dirt map as diffuse, and set self-
illumination to 100. Add this map to VRay Global switches
and select ‘Override mtl’ under the render settings. And now
09
you’ll have a render-like image that can be tweaked in
post-production to create depth.

09 Create the final composite The final step is to

take the main render into Photoshop to finish up
the image. First we need to import the main render, then on
a new layer import the second VRay Dirt map render that
we created and set it to Multiply – this brings out the
shadows and depth in the lines. From here adding a
combination of some iris blur, lens flare and a colour overlay
creates the final image.

Textures
A key factor when creating any model is the
textures. Getting them to react with lighting and
your chosen renderer, along with creating clean
bump, displacement and reflection maps, really
makes the difference between a flat render and
having realistic depth in an image.

80 All tutorial files can be downloaded from: bit.ly/3DA-135

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 Post-Production

Girman Albert
behance.net/MUSICANT
Girman is a 3D designer
Incredible 3D artists take us behind their artwork from Ukraine. He is
proficient in 3ds Max,
PoSt-Production For the post-production I used three layers, RGB Color, VRayReflection and Photoshop, V-Ray and more.
VRayShadow, with screen overlay. When the image was ready the most difficult thing was trying to
Software 3ds Max,
make it more realistic, for this I used layers with smoke, particles and glow. On certain areas during V-Ray, Photoshop
post-production, I made the lighting darker so that it would look more natural. Lastly I used colour noise
and chromatic aberration, which gave the picture a realistic look. Forgotten Yard, 2019

82
83
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85
 OCULUS QUEST HMD
OculusQuestHMD
The latest untethered headset has a lot to offer many users
W
hether or not you have used the
previous incarnation of the gamer-
centric HMD, the Go, you will be
pleasantly surprised by the Quest.
From the well thought-out packaging design,
through to the materials chosen for various
parts of the device, everything feels good to the
touch and comfortable, for most people. The
head straps for the Quest have changed to a
rubber-type strap system, which while soft and
grippy does take a bit of tweaking to get a good
fit. This is fine for most but if you share with
friends and family there will be some inevitable
adjustment needed.
Overall the fit is good and, even with the
built-in tracking cameras and having all
processing components in the front, the HMD
isn’t too front-heavy and playing a title like Beat
Saber isn’t much of a discomfort for extended
play (which is about a maximum of three hours
in real-world terms).
Setup is a breeze, with a very useful guardian
system allowing you to define the safe zone,
preventing you from walking into furniture or the
wall. A nice touch is that you get to see your
room through the headset each time you turn it
on, to confirm the safe space but also to help
you feel centred in VR.
Once you are in VR space you will find that
the experience is far superior to previous efforts,
including the Rift, as the barndoor effect is
considerably improved and the screen resolution
86
E SS E N T I A L
of 1,440 x 1,600 per eye is increased, allowing
for a much more immersive experience.
Although the Quest isn’t really aimed at the
digital content creation market, there are still
many useful apps and tools to help the working
artist, although you will find yourself drawn to
TOP The design of the Quest is sleek, with a look and feel
experiences like Vader Immortal, which really that is comfortable and robust for most heads
showcase the power of the device.
ABOVE The hand controllers work well, with excellent
Tilt Brush is the most creative app available tracking at almost any angle or position
right now, which allows you to paint in 3D space,
with animated strokes and varied environments,
which really go to show the potential for
creatives (we’d love to see Quill on the Quest).
Essentialinfo
What is actually a really exciting use for the Website www.oculus.com
Quest is for liaising with clients, either locally or Price £399 £499
remotely. You can output your 3D scenes from Monitor 1,440 x 1,600 per eye
Maya or Cinema 4D etc as VR scenes, or even Audio Built in positional audio
simple spherical renders, the type of which you Other features Easy account, headset and
see commonly now on platforms like Facebook. controller setup
Load these up in the Quest or on an online
platform that you can share, send the link to a
client (or show them directly if you meet
physically) and get immediate feedback. Summary
This is not only an efficient way to gain Features
feedback but can also work as an novel and Performance
exciting way to talk to a client, offering that extra Design
unique perspective, and there’s nothing like an Value for money
excited client to help grease the wheels.
Overall the Oculus Quest HMD is an
excellent update, where the incremental Verdict
hardware changes are more than the sum of The Quest is a VR solution that has a lot to offer all
their parts. users, from casual gamers to 3D content creators.

LightforVisualArtists
A fantastic resource for CG generalists and lighters
T
here are many resources out there that
aim to help digital content creators
improve their understanding of basic
principles, right through to mastering their
chosen tools. Light for Visual Artists, by Richard
Yot, differs slightly in that it aims to give a
fundamental grounding in the subject, but also
allows readers to apply the knowledge in a
software-agnostic way.
The cover design may be a little uninspiring,
but that really shouldn’t put off potential readers
as, once you start turning the pages, the quality
is evident for all to see. Good-quality paper stock
with well-designed layouts, illustrated by clearly
reproduced imagery, are the standard here.
The book is broken down into logical sections,
with each narrowing in on a specific element of
light and its use in the visual arts. To start with
the book talks about the science of light, what it
is and how we visualise it. This is basic science
but important, as it is often overlooked by
people writing for an artistic community.
Throughout the pages of this book it is clear
that much thought has been given to the reader,
no matter what discipline they are in, from fine
artist to CG animator. It’s this, as well as the
author’s clear expertise and authority in the
subject, that makes this book so compelling.
Littered by many examples, as well as
graphical representations, the depth of
information is impressive and once you take
it all in you will have a firmer grasp of how to
LIGHT FOR VISUAL ARTISTS
E SS E N T I A L
communicate your message more effectively
than you did before.
You may not get to learn how to mix paint,
or discover how to set up an area light with
soft shadows, but you will certainly have an
understanding of how to manipulate your
TOP The cover mayy be less than inspiring,
p g, but the content is
viewers into understanding the emotional fantastic, informative and clearly put together
content of a shot or still frame. This isn’t just
ABOVE Split between information and exercises, you’ll gain
true of narrative projects but any area of CG or a clear understanding of light and how to apply it
VFX that you might look at.
From birth we develop a connection with light
and artistic language that helps us immerse
ourselves in film, TV and illustration, building an
Essential info
understanding of the fundamental language Website www.laurenceking.com
used to direct our attentions and expectations, Price £16.98
so that we can follow subtext more easily. If you Pages 176
have never studied this field this book will reveal Images Full colour
a lot of what you intuitively know, and Richard
Yot takes you on a bit of a journey of discovery.
You won’t find much in the way of step-by-
step tutorial-style content here, but that isn’t the
aim and if it was included it would make the
book obsolete. There are other sources for that Summary
information, so head to YouTube to find what Features
button to press in your chosen application. Performance
Keep this book to learn how to use light to tell Design
a story, understand how to effectively Value for money
communicate a message, and how to give depth
to any kind of renders you might create, from a
simple product visualisation to a chase Verdict
sequence through a sprawling metropolis in the A fantastic book that will help any digital artist to
next big blockbuster movie. increase their skill at using light in their projects.
87
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 The inside guide to industry news,
VFX studios, expert opinions
and the 3D community

I look forward to
helping grow both
Blue Zoo’s UK
and international
presence
Alison Warner,
managing director, Blue Zoo

090 Community News

RizomUV 2019 update
The UV unwrapper ups its game with
user-suggested features

092 Industry News

DNEG’s new VFX supervisor
Senior VFX supervisor Chas Jarrett
takes on the new role at DNEG

094 Project Focus

Ambassadors
The leads discuss the creation of a
92 photoreal CG baby

To advertise in The Hub please contact George Lucas on 01225 687311 or george.lucas@futurenet.com 89
 Community news
Rizom-Lab reveals RizomUV
2019 update
The speedy UV mapper has a host of new features in its latest release to make the
process even simpler for users
R
izom-Lab has released the first major update of the
year for its standalone uV mapper, RizomuV. “we
started developing RizomuV 2019 in 2018,” says
Cirstyn Bech-yagher, product manager at RizomuV.
“one of our biggest and best development tools is our
community. we ran a poll with user-suggested features,
which we then worked on implementing.” the team
at Rizom-Lab realise ease and quality of life are as
important a feature as continuously improved tools,
hence their dedication to inviting input and discussion
from the community.
since 2017 RizomuV has been
speeding up users’ uV mapping
processes by providing automatic
More than ever,
as well as manual uV unwrapping ease of texturing
and an easy-to-use toolkit to go
with it. it is the brainchild of Rémi
demands a solid
Arquier, who started Rizom-Lab in canvas to speed up
2016. the company takes its
name from a perpetually growing,
your workflow. That’s
underground root system called a where we come in
rhizome, reflecting Rizom-Lab’s Cirstyn Bech-Yagher,
own refusal to stop growing. product manager
90
the company’s products are used in pipelines across
VFX houses, game studios, freelancers and hobbyists.
they are a vital part of the toolkit for modellers and
sculptors, as well as texture and CAD artists. the
company’s mission is to create the ideal uV mapping
toolset for any pipeline.
Among the updates in RizomuV 2019 is a new script
launcher panel, which allows users to load and store
relevant scripts after using the LuA scripting tool. there
is also the addition of a growing script library, including a
starter script that lets users select an
edge, and leaves the script to find
similar edges, unwrap and pack them.
elsewhere there are point-snapping
improvements for vertices, edges,
polygons and island selections to
vertices located on an island’s border.
Grid snapping distance can now be
viewport zoom grid or absolute
distance based. FBX enhancements
mean that island Groups, uDims, tile
geometry and island properties are
now saved into FBX files.
 similar island stacking changes ensure that RizomuV
now takes the current island selection as a working set,
which means that the first island selected is now the
reference island and destination position. in addition to
this, both viewports can now display either Flat or
unflattened or Both Flat and unflattened islands. tools
and commands will be applied to what is currently
displayed in the viewport under the user’s mouse pointer.
Finally, in-panel statistics island, group and tile selection
are now displayed condensed and in colour.
According to Bech-yagher the scripting panel and the
growing library of scripts are the most significant updates
to RizomuV. “one of our scripts lets you make a single
cut, and the script will then copy the cuts to matching
geometry, unwrap and pack it for you,” she explains.
updates such as RizomuV 2019 are increasingly
important as the market for uV mapping applications
grows ever more demanding. “with the emergence of
tools like the substance suite and Quixel’s megascans
tools a few years ago, texturing has gone through a
fantastic revolution,” says Bech-yagher. “However, not all
uV problems can be solved with a triplanar map, and now
more than ever, ease of texturing demands a solid canvas
to speed up your workflow. that’s where we come in.”
Get in touch… creativebloq.com
Rizom prides itself on being light and fast, alongside RizomUV takes a traditionally
scary and slow process and turns
its ability to auto-unwrap. it into an intuitive and rewarding
when asked what sets RizomuV apart from its one that is fun to do
competition, Bech-yagher adds: “we have some of the
flattest and fastest algorithms around, together with a
super-friendly ui. Besides, our developer has worked
with uV mapping algorithms for almost 20 years, so if
there’s something he knows how to do, it’s how to get
it flat, and fast.”
After a short vacation the team at Rizom-Labs will
begin fleshing out features for the upcoming autumn and
winter releases. “one thing we’ve learned is that we need
to take a look at how we can improve the workflow for
what’s called ‘dirty’ or ‘messy’ geometry,” explains
Bech-yagher, “which typically is a mix of subD and CAD
mesh, and that mix of tris and quads doesn’t always play
nice together. i’m sure we’ll ask our community what
they’d like to see as well.”
RizomuV 2019 Rs, Vs and sDK updates are free for
currently licensed users. new users can purchase a
variety of licenses, ranging from student licenses at a
70% discount, indie pricing at a monthly cost of ¤14.90
and annual rates of ¤149.90, as well as Pro and sDK
licensing. Find out more at www.rizom-lab.com.
@3DArtist Facebook.com/3DArtistMagazine
91
 industry news
DNEG appoints
Chas Jarrett
The Oscar-nominated senior VFX supervisor joins
DNEG’s team of world-renowned talent
Visual effects, animation and stereo conversion
company dneG has hired seasoned senior VFX
supervisor Chas Jarrett to join its team of
supervisory talent. Most recently Jarrett was a
production VFX supervisor on Guy ritchie’s
live-action remake of disney’s Aladdin. Prior to
this he worked on James Mangold’s Logan, Joe
wright’s Pan, and Guy ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes.
Jarrett has received numerous accolades over
his 20-year career, including an Oscar
nomination for Poseidon in 2006, a BAFtA
DNEG named Media
Company of the Year
DNEG has been awarded Media Company
of the Year at the Evening Standard
Business Awards 2019. The shortlist was
compiled by the Evening Standard’s
specialist correspondents, before a panel
of judges selected winners based on which
firms were innovating with technology and
transforming their industries.
Have you Heard? Epic Games has acquired Maya plugin Shave and a Haircut and will make it available for free on GitHub
92
Blue Zoo
DNEG is currently
in production on
highly anticipated
launch rights
films such as
Dune, Wonder
Woman 1984 and
company
Fast & Furious 9
The animation studio has
also hired Alison Warner
as managing director
Blue Zoo has announced it will branch
into rights management for its own and
third-party IP. Alison Warner will
oversee the new division growing Blue
Zoo’s slate of properties, as well as
handling pre-sales, distribution, brand
management and merchandising. In
addition to managing the studio’s
existing IPs,Warner will seek new
projects to complement and diversify
the portfolio.
“I am truly delighted to be joining the
fantastic Blue Zoo team and tasked with
setting up a brand-new division within
the company. It comes at a time where
the UK animation industry is looking
extremely positive with the UK Tax
Credit in place and the Young Audience
Content Fund launching, and I look
forward to helping grow both Blue Zoo’s
UK and international presence as a
brand rights company,” says Warner.
Co-founder Adam Shaw adds: “I’m so
excited to welcome Alison to Blue Zoo at
nomination for Charlie And The Chocolate this significant time for us. With
Factory and a Visual effects society Award opportunities aplenty, her passion and
win for his work on Sherlock Holmes. know-how will be invaluable in realising
dneG CeO namit Malhotra says: “i’m the great ambitions we both share.”
delighted to welcome Chas to dneG. He is an
outstanding creative leader with a passion for
storytelling, a talent for developing long-term
collaborative relationships with directors, and a
wealth of creative and technical experience in
supervising and guiding teams through the
process of creating complicated, high-end
visual effects for major motion pictures. He
is an invaluable addition to our talented
global team of supervisors and i’m excited to
have him on board."
Jarrett adds: “i’ve admired dneG’s work
for many years and their run of Academy
Awards successes is incredible, four Oscar
wins in five years is a testament to the strength
of their creative and technical abilities. dneG
is a force to be reckoned with and i’m excited
to be a part of the vision that namit and the Alison Warner has a vast experience in the
leadership team are laying out for the future animation industry spanning 20 years
of the VFX industry.”
Technicolor opens
pre-production
studio in LA
Facility will be dedicated to creating a
seamless pipeline for projects
Technicolor has announced the opening of a studio in
Los Angeles that will oversee the pipeline from
concept art and visualisation through virtual
production, production and into final VFX.
The pre-production studio is headed up by Kerry
Shea, an industry veteran with over 20 years of
experience. “Filmmaking has reached an inflection
point, one in which storytellers can redefine what is The pre-production
studio can work
possible on set and beyond,” says Shea. “I am seamlessly with any of
passionate about the increasing role and influence that Technicolor’s visual
effects brands, MPC
the tools and craft of visual effects can have on the Film, Mill Film, MR. X
production pipeline, and in creating more efficient and Technicolor VFX
workflows that create memorable stories.”

Red Giant Corona Renderer 4 for Cinema 4D

release VFX Suite The latest update includes
one-click caustics and better
The new toolkit offers a set of
nine tools for keying, tracking,
cleanup and compositing
Software creators Red Giant have announced
a new VFX Suite, consisting of nine tools for
keying, tracking, cleanup and visual effects
compositing, all inside After Effects. The
VFX Suite aims to solve some of the biggest
challenges faced by visual effects artists
today. There are even tools for glows,
distortions and lens flares.
A full licence is available for $999, or an
academic licence is priced at $499. You can
find out more information by heading to
redgiant.com/blog.
interactive rendering
Chaos Czech releases its second major
update in two weeks, bringing the power of
one-click caustics to Cinema 4D. “Caustics
are a missing link of photorealism, holding us
back from achieving natural looks in some of
our most common environments,” says
Adam Hotový, vice president at Chaos Czech.
“With one-click caustics, the Cinema 4D
community can now start fooling viewers
with less effort, achieving a level of
photorealism that was inaccessible before.”
Corona Renderer 4 is available now for the
macOS and Windows versions of Cinema 4D.
Subscriptions are available at monthly rates of Caustics will work alongside
g all Corona Renderer features,,
$28.50 and yearly rates of $330. including LightMix

Software shorts
3ds Max 2020.1
Autodesk’s latest update to 3ds
Max focuses on enhancing
workflows. Users can now easily
customise, merge and visualise shortcut keys with
a new hotkey system, and there is also the ability to
extend your viewports across multiple monitors.
There are also updates and improvements to the
Chamfer modifier, giving users a more predictable
modelling tool.
Bringing you the lowdown on product updates and launches
Autohedge
Happy Digital’s latest offering
gives users a faster, easier way
to make hedges for their
environments. The plugin for V-Ray for 3ds
Max instantly fills any mesh with a realistic
hedge, with a variety of sizes and shapes
available to choose from. Autohedge can be
picked up for a special introductory price of
$149 or $19 a month.
X-Particles
The latest release from
INSYDIUM introduces the
xpDynamics Tag – fully integrated
into the X-Particles system, it works with fluids,
smoke, fire and constraints. Dynamic Objects
can also be controlled and art-directed using
X-Particles emitters, modifiers and data
mapping. X-Particles can be purchased for
£540 at insydium.ltd.

DID YOU KNOW? Industry pros Mike Golden and Hrvoje Cop have launched a CG podcast called Wrong F-ing Question

93
 project focus

Crafting a
photoreal
baby in CG
Website
ambassadors.com Will Jeffers and Vincent
Location Netherlands, USA Lammers of Ambassadors
discuss this challenging project
Project Zeker zijn van een
eerlijke toekomst
Project description A

television spot for a political
campaign by the socially
democratic party, De Partij
van de Arbeid, called Zeker
zijn van een eerlijke toekomst.
This translates as ‘be sure of a
fair future’.
Studio Ambassadors
Company bio Ambassadors
is a creative production studio
with a team of over 80 artists,
creatives, directors, designers
and producers crafting the
finest creative content in
advertising, film and art.
Established in 2007 and with
three studios across
Amsterdam and New York,
Ambassadors works to live
up to its name as
ambassadors of craft.
Contributors
• Will Jeffers, head of 3D
• Vincent Lammers,
creative director
c
reative production studio Ambassadors took on the
challenge of creating a convincing cG baby and 01
womb interior within the confines of a 40-second
tV spot. “this project for Dutch political party partij van de
Arbeid came to us from our long-time friends at N=5. they
developed a concept for a film about an unborn baby that
is contemplating life and its future,” reveals creative
director Vincent Lammers. the team at Ambassadors
were tasked with telling a compelling story with just one
character, in one tiny environment.
the team were incredibly conscious that adapting this
script could land them squarely in the uncanny valley. “the
cG team love to keep on top of developments in feature
VfX,” head of 3D Will jeffers explains. “the human face is
so infinitely detailed and full of subtleties, particularly in
movement, and we relished the opportunity to test out
some high-end techniques.”
jeffers and the team were inspired by some of
Hollywood’s most forward-thinking VfX. “reading about
how Digital Domain textured thanos led to us using
texturingXYZ multi-channel micro displacements for the
Mari bump and displacement texturing,” says jeffers. “the
work that Image engine did on the Logan digi-double gave
us some great ideas for the Yeti groom and eye shading.”
Despite the enjoyable process of testing the latest
cutting-edge techniques, the team remained conscious of
the complex technical rabbit hole that photoreal digital
humans present. “We were aware from the start that if the
character started getting creepy we would push it towards 03
cuteness,” adds jeffers. “It was most important to us and
the client that the baby could tell the story and give a
relatable performance.”
the baby’s facial rig is a fAcs-based setup; having seen
NaviGatiNG the
Kite & Lightning’s talk on real-time facial capture at uNCaNNy valley
siggraph, Ambassadors were keen to try these techniques
on their cG baby. “It quickly became apparent that this Ambassadors’ head of 3D, Will Jeffers,
approach wasn’t capturing the subtleties we wanted for explains how to avoid an unsettling look
the pared-down performance of the spot,” jeffers to your digital humans 04

continues. “our animator/technical director on this project,

ralph Meijer, grabbed the trial version of faceware and ran
the footage we captured on the iphone through the
analyser and retargeted it to our rig. the results were great
and this set the foundation of the performance.”
Lead creative on the project, Asli Zeren, was cast as the
facial capture talent. “she knew exactly which emotions
and facial expressions were needed for each shot,” says
Lammers. “these kind of projects tick all the boxes for us,”
he adds, “it has technical and creative challenges and
requires all of us to collaborate extensively to achieve the
best possible quality.”
According to Will jeffers, the best way to steer clear
of the uncanny valley is to constantly experiment
and try new techniques. “the field of cG humans is
always developing,” he adds. “It’s exciting to check
out some of the amazing research that is being done
in the field.” there is an assumption among 3D
artists that human cG requires a big budget and
infinite resources, however that’s no longer the case.
“the technology is developing rapidly,” adds jeffers,
“there’s a lot of tools you can use to experiment.”
06

94
 We were aware from
the start that if the
character started getting
creepy we would push it
towards cuteness

02

01 Managing the amount of

revision rounds and keeping
render times down was
crucial to meeting this
project’s tight deadlines

02 F or caustics the team placed

an animated caustics
projection along the path of
the key light and rendered it in
VRayExtraTex

03 T
 he eyes also use maps
from TexturingXYZ and
some layered up SSS and
refractive shaders

04 T
 his project allowed the
team to try new techniques
from realistic rigging to
texturing, shading and
high-detailed sculpts

05 L ead creative Asli Zeren

delivering the performance
05 and capturing the subtle
expressions of the character

06 A
 mbassadors consists
of a team of over 80 artists,
creators, composers,
directors, designers
and producers

95
NEVER MISS AN ISSUE!

Issue 134
Expert artists give their top Houdini
tips, MPC discuss their character
work, and we explore the role of CG
artists in the advertising industry.

Issue 135
Discover the best way to learn Issue 129
3D, get exclusive access to MPC Get advice from top artists on
creating breathtaking artwork, and
in part 2 of our series, and master go behind the scenes of Alita: Battle
ZBrush for 3D printing prep. Angel and Wonder Woman.

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Learn new skills with top tutorials, We ask a range of experts to Discover how progress is being made Animal Logic take us behind the
ranging from creating a vinyl share their ZBrush sculpting advice. in the VFX industry when it comes scenes of The Lego Movie 2, plus
superhero toy to producing a beautiful Plus, go behind the scenes of to equality, and learn about Laika’s we collate 100 practical tips from a
winter scene with RenderMan. incredible TV VFX. animated adventure Missing Link. variety of industry experts.

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Animation studios and games We talk to the team behind Disney’s Build your best arch viz renders! Master new techniques in Blender 2.8
companies divulge 20 expert tips for Ralph Breaks The Internet. Plus, Plus, create pro stylised hairstyles in with our experts! Learn more about
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 texturing

Yago de Amorim
artstation.com/yagute
Yago specialises in
Incredible 3D artists take us behind their artwork modelling stylised
characters for animation.
TexTuring After using Maya to open the UV maps, I painted a base texture for the skin using ZBrush and
Software Maya,
worked the leather textures and metals in Substance Painter. Then I worked on the textures in Photoshop, ZBrush, Substance
before using the layered texture to compose the maps within Maya. This allows me to see a preview inside Painter, V-Ray, Photoshop
Maya’s viewport, giving me a better sense of how it works in 3D. I used VRayAlSurface for the skin and
VRayMtl for the other objects. Vampirelord,2019

98
9000