Maya is the culmination of three 3D software lines: Wavefront's The Advanced Visualizer (in California), Thomson Digital Image (TDI) Explore (in France) and Alias' Power Animator (in Canada). In 1993 Wavefront purchased TDI, and in 1995 Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) purchased both Alias and Wavefront (due to pressure from Microsoft's purchase of Softimage earlier that year) and combined them into one working company, producing a single package from their collective source code. The combined company was referred to as Alias|Wavefront. In the mid-1990s, the most popular pipeline in Hollywood films was a combination of tools: Alias Studio for modeling, Softimage for animation, and PhotoRealistic RenderMan for rendering.[2] This combination was used for numerous films, such as Jurassic Park, The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It took Alias|Wavefront two more years after the merger to release Maya.
Both Alias and Wavefront were working on their next generation of software at the time of the merger. Alias had taken a Macintosh product, "Alias Sketch!", moved it to the SGI platform and added many features to it. The code name for this project was "Maya", the Sanskrit term for "illusion." Maya was developed in close collaboration with Walt Disney Feature Animation, during the production of Dinosaur, and the GUI was all customizable as a requirement from Disney so they could set up their own GUI and workflow based on decades of animation experience. This had a large impact on the openness of Maya and later also helped the software become an industry standard, since many facilities implement extensive proprietary customization of the software to gain competitive advantage.
It was then decided to adopt Alias' "Maya" architecture, and merge Wavefront's code with it.
In the early days of development, Maya used Tcl as the scripting language. After the merger, there was debate amongst those who supported Tcl, Perl and Sophia. Sophia was much faster than the others and won out. However, once error checking was added, it ended up being equally slow.
Upon its release in 1998, Alias|Wavefront discontinued all previous animation-based software lines including Alias Power Animator, encouraging consumers to upgrade to Maya. It succeeded in expanding its product line to take over a great deal of market share, with leading visual effects companies such as Industrial Light and Magic and Tippett Studio switching from Softimage to Maya for the animation software.
Later, Alias|Wavefront was renamed Alias. In 2003, Alias was sold by SGI to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and the private equity investment firm Accel-KKR. In October 2005, Alias was sold again, this time to Autodesk, and on January 10, 2006, Autodesk completed the acquisition and Alias Maya is now known as Autodesk Maya.
[edit]
Overview
Maya is a popular, integrated node-based 3D software suite, evolved from Wavefront Explorer and Alias PowerAnimator using technologies from both. The software is released in two versions: Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited. Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) was available (excluding the Linux version)[3] at no cost for non-commercial use, with the resulting rendered image watermarked, but as of December 2, 2008, it was no longer made available.
Maya was originally released for the IRIX operating system, and subsequently ported to the Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems. IRIX support was discontinued after the release of version 6.5. When Autodesk acquired Alias in October 2005, they continued Maya development. The latest version, 2009 (10.0), was released in October 2008.
An important feature of Maya is its openness to third-party software, which can strip the software completely of its standard appearance and, using only the kernel, transform it into a highly customized version of the software. This feature in itself made Maya appealing to large studios, which tend to write custom code for their productions using the provided software development kit.
A Tcl-like cross-platform scripting language called Maya Embedded Language (MEL) is provided not only as a scripting language, but as means to customize Maya's core functionality (much of the environment and tools are written in the language). Additionally, user interactions are implemented and recorded as MEL scripting code which users can store on a toolbar, allowing animators to add functionality without experience in C or C++, though that option is provided with the software development kit. Support for Python scripting was added in version 8.5.
The core of Maya itself is written in C++[4].
Project files, including all geometry and animation data, are stored as sequences of MEL operations which can be optionally saved as a human-readable file (.ma, for "Maya ASCII"), editable in any text editor outside of the Maya environment, thus allowing for a high level of flexibility when working with external tools.
A marking menu is built into larger menu system called Hotbox that provides instant access to a majority of features in Maya at the press of a key.
[edit]
Modeling
NURBS, polygons and subdivision surfaces (or SubDivs) are available in Maya.
Polygons are a widely used model medium due to its relative stability and functionality. Polygons are also the bridge between NURBS and SubDivs. NURBS are used mainly for their ready-smooth appearance and they are used in Dynamics because they respond well to deformations. SubDivs are a combination of both NURBS and polygons. They are ready-smooth and can be manipulated like polygons, providing the artist with an instant representation of a smoothed polygon. This can result in a model of many objects including knives and sheaths. Maya's hair cannot be applied to Sub division polygons.
[edit]
Dynamics and simulation
Maya features a particle system for handling masses like steam and water drops. Dynamic fields allow adding gravity, wind and vortexes, allowing for effects such as blowing leaves or even tornadoes. Special tools give artists the ability to brush and style particles like hair and fur. This module is a direct evolution of Wavefront Dynamation.
An artist may create rigid body geometric objects which collide automatically without explicit animation, as well as soft body objects which can ripple and bend, like flags and cloth.
Maya effects are built-in programs that make it easy for users to create complex animation effects such as smoke, fire and realistic water effects, with many options and attributes for tuning the results.
In version 8.5 a powerful cloth simulator called "nCloth" was added, allowing users to simulate cloth with control over aspects such as self-collision and interpenetration. The cloth objects can be modified to behave as rigid or soft bodies.
In version 2009 , "nParticles" were added, offering a new particle simulation system (based around the same system running 'nCloth'), in addition to the original particle system available in Maya. This addition was similar to the inclusion of "nCloth" alongside "Maya Cloth", insofar as it did not take the place of any existing dynamic tools, despite being newer. (see 'Unlimited Features' below).
[edit]
Maya Unlimited
Maya Unlimited version comes with a set of tools not available in the Maya complete version.
Maya Fluid Effects
A realistic fluid simulator (effective for smoke, fire, clouds and explosions, added in Maya 4.5)
Maya Classic Cloth
Cloth simulation to automatically simulate clothing and fabrics moving realistically over an animated character. The Maya Cloth toolset has been upgraded in every version of Maya released after Spider-Man 2. Alias worked with Sony Pictures Imageworks to get Maya Cloth up to scratch for that production, and all those changes have been implemented, although the big studios opted to use third party plugins such as Syflex instead of the (relatively) cumbersome Maya Cloth.
Maya Fur
Animal fur simulation similar to Maya Hair. It can be used to simulate other fur-like objects, such as grass.
Maya Hair
A simulator for realistic-looking human hair implemented using curves and Paint Effects. These are also known as dynamic curves.
Maya Live
A set of motion tracking tools for CG matching to clean plate footage.
Maya nCloth
Added in version 8.5, nCloth is the first implementation of Maya Nucleus, Autodesk's simulation framework. nCloth gives the artist further control of cloth and material simulations.
Maya nParticle
Added in version 2009, nParticle is addendum to Maya Nucleus toolset. nParticle gives artists an intuitive, efficient workflow for simulating a wide range of complex 3D effects, including liquids, clouds, smoke, spray, and dust.
[edit]
Scripting and plugins
In Maya, anything can be connected to anything. E.g. a color intensity of a shader can be used to control the movement of a door opening and closing. To control the node based system of Maya, fully reconfigurable user interface can be scripted with MEL script code which can be dropped onto a shelf to create a new icon that executes that code.
With the release of Maya 8.5 support for the Python scripting language has been included. The current implementation of Python in maya is not fully object oriented though.
List of Maya plugins
[edit]
Mel scripting
Mel stands for Maya Embedded language and it's a script language similar to C embedded in Maya. Code written in Mel can be executed from the script editor, from the shelves and from drop down menus.
Mel lets the user have more access and more control than the User Interface; some functions of the software and advanced options are only available by using Mel. All maya preferences are maya code so are the drop down menus. This means that it is always possible, with a little digging, to retrieve the mel commands and mel functions that maya calls when you click a specific button of the UI.
Mel is not object oriented, this means it is not possible create classes and methods or functions associated to it as you would in C++ or Python. This however shouldn't be seen as a mere limitation because it gives Mel a strong structure making it accessible and easier to understand to Maya users and to first time programmers. Also the linear scripting nature of the language would assist the user in making the most of the maya nodes instead of tempting him/her to make its own objects, as in case of object oriented languages.
[edit]
Official learning tools
Along with the history of Maya the company has produced Maya learning tools which date back to the earlier Alias days. Beginning with an internally produced newsletter on Maya software techniques and workflows, the company continued with the internally produced Art of Maya book and training videos and tutorials. In response to strong user demand the company's education department further developed instructional books and video-based learning content referred to as learning tools. Autodesk continues to develop learning tools with content developed both by internal product specialists as well as industry professionals. The company's video-based learning tools have recently moved away from physical production and are now available as digital downloads.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Animation; the term gives an instant thought of cartoons and films based on computer graphics but prior to this a technique called Phenakistoscope was there which had simple drawings which moved simultaneously giving the effect of animation. There were several animated features created by using these drawings which differed from the previous one. This method disappeared by the end of the twenty first century and drawings were directly scanned or drawn into computers. The computer animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. 3D animations give the impression to look at characters from all angles like in real life. It can be grouped under various terms:
Cel-shaded animation:
It is also called cel-shading or toon shading which is designed to make the computer graphics to look as if hand drawn. It is used to copy the style of a comic book or cartoon characters.
Morph target animation
It is stored as a series of vertex positions. In each key frame of the animation the vertex will move to a different position. This can be used for animating cloth, skin and facial expressions.
Skeletal animation
This is also referred to as rigging and is an technique for the vertebrates. This technique works by constructing a series of bones and each bone is associated with some portion of characters visual representation.
Motion capture
It is a procedure for digitally recording the action movements. It can be used in video games to animate the characters of the game and in film making it refers to the technique of recording the action of human actors.
Crowd simulation
It is the process of reproducing the movement of a large number of objects or characters and used when there are more characters than that can be animated using the other methods.
The industries that are using 3D animations are interior designing, medical visualizations, architecture naval architecture and corporate presentations. There are several interactive 3D animation software that enables one to visualize and redesign a room. These are used by architectures for designing homes for their clients. This can be used in medical field training for explaining various concepts, phenomenon and surgical techniques to give a better and clear vision to the scholars. Then in naval field it is used in designing of ships by making a 3D ship model which helps in quick progress of ship building projects. In corporate world too it is used for preparing impressive presentations and interactive websites.
The 3D animations are very realistic and are used for giving special effects in movies. The film and advertisement sectors provide ample opportunities for the growth of animation industry. The employments of computers and software's have fastened the pace of animation industry. The growth of its use in gaming industry has made it a fast growing and dynamic field. To provide an in depth description of product we now no longer depend on still images, 3D animation is the answer to create an interactive environment where an individual can relate to the objects and enjoy the virtual world created around him. We can say that with its diversity and effectiveness has left no field untouched by its impact.
At EMS-USA we offers 3d scanning software and reverse engineering software. We also offer 3d scanning, reverse engineering and rapid prototyping services involving both on-site and off-site engagement models.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_T_Smith
Cel-shaded animation:
It is also called cel-shading or toon shading which is designed to make the computer graphics to look as if hand drawn. It is used to copy the style of a comic book or cartoon characters.
Morph target animation
It is stored as a series of vertex positions. In each key frame of the animation the vertex will move to a different position. This can be used for animating cloth, skin and facial expressions.
Skeletal animation
This is also referred to as rigging and is an technique for the vertebrates. This technique works by constructing a series of bones and each bone is associated with some portion of characters visual representation.
Motion capture
It is a procedure for digitally recording the action movements. It can be used in video games to animate the characters of the game and in film making it refers to the technique of recording the action of human actors.
Crowd simulation
It is the process of reproducing the movement of a large number of objects or characters and used when there are more characters than that can be animated using the other methods.
The industries that are using 3D animations are interior designing, medical visualizations, architecture naval architecture and corporate presentations. There are several interactive 3D animation software that enables one to visualize and redesign a room. These are used by architectures for designing homes for their clients. This can be used in medical field training for explaining various concepts, phenomenon and surgical techniques to give a better and clear vision to the scholars. Then in naval field it is used in designing of ships by making a 3D ship model which helps in quick progress of ship building projects. In corporate world too it is used for preparing impressive presentations and interactive websites.
The 3D animations are very realistic and are used for giving special effects in movies. The film and advertisement sectors provide ample opportunities for the growth of animation industry. The employments of computers and software's have fastened the pace of animation industry. The growth of its use in gaming industry has made it a fast growing and dynamic field. To provide an in depth description of product we now no longer depend on still images, 3D animation is the answer to create an interactive environment where an individual can relate to the objects and enjoy the virtual world created around him. We can say that with its diversity and effectiveness has left no field untouched by its impact.
At EMS-USA we offers 3d scanning software and reverse engineering software. We also offer 3d scanning, reverse engineering and rapid prototyping services involving both on-site and off-site engagement models.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_T_Smith
A Real-World Project
By Nathan Segal.
In this month’s column, I’m going to show you how I used Poser, 3D Studio Max 5 and Photoshop 7 to create images for a an Art exhibition titled: “The Dark Night…” It began with obtaining a review copy of Poser 5. When I installed it, it crashed my computer the first time I tried to run it (a Pentium 4, 2.1MHz with 512MB of RAM). A reinstall fixed the problem but when I tried to use it recently, it crashed my computer every time I tried to use it. The only solution was to use the Service Release 3 patch downloaded from the Curious Labs web site. After that, the program opened, but I remained suspicious of it for awhile, though it now seemed stable.
Still, I wanted to use Poser in the way the name implies, for posing figures. I needed a face and neck for a series titled: “The Faces of Denial.” In the early planning stages of the project, I obtained a white mask, but I wasn’t satisfied with the look of the mask, nor was I confident that it would work with textures I had in mind, so I turned to 3D and Poser was the perfect starting point.
Upon working with Poser, I looked at the Face Sculpting tools and experimented with adjusting the features using the Ethnicity controls, but I quickly realized that the default face gave me the overall blank look I was after. Using the cameras, I zoomed in on the default male figure, then using the Lipsync Morphs, I adjusted the mouth position so it resembled the Venetian mask above. Once I had that, I was ready for the next step, which was to export the image into 3D Studio Max.
To do that, I returned to the Pose tab, then selected File>Export>3D Studio. In the Export Frames dialog, I selected a single frame for export and clicked on OK. This brought up the Heirarchy Selection dialog box, which allows you to select which parts of the body that you want to export. In this case, I wanted the head and neck so I deselected the other parts of the body, then exported the head and neck.
Next, I opened 3D Studio Max (version 5), imported the 3DS file and began to edit the face. The first thing I wanted to do was to remove portions of the mesh so only the face remained, similar to the Venetian mask. To accomplish this task, I created a couple of different box objects and used a Boolean operation to delete parts of the head.
The figure below shows the edited mesh. Note that there were portions of the mouth and eyes still remaining, but those were easy enough to retouch in Photoshop, so I left them alone for the time being.
The next step was to light the face and to make it appear to be as realistic as possible. For the material, I used a default gray color with no texture. Next, I created several white spotlights, all in slightly different positions, but with four of the spotlight targets focused on the same location on the right hand side of the face and one spotlight on the left, to control the amount of shadow detail. With all lights, I initially used an intensity of only 20% . The lower setting allowed me to see what effect the lights had on the mask surface. From there, I could move them around as necessary, change the size of the hotspot and falloff and experiment with the intensity. Looking at the lights from right to left, I set the intensity to 80, 80, 80, 20 and 40, respectively.
By Nathan Segal.
In this month’s column, I’m going to show you how I used Poser, 3D Studio Max 5 and Photoshop 7 to create images for a an Art exhibition titled: “The Dark Night…” It began with obtaining a review copy of Poser 5. When I installed it, it crashed my computer the first time I tried to run it (a Pentium 4, 2.1MHz with 512MB of RAM). A reinstall fixed the problem but when I tried to use it recently, it crashed my computer every time I tried to use it. The only solution was to use the Service Release 3 patch downloaded from the Curious Labs web site. After that, the program opened, but I remained suspicious of it for awhile, though it now seemed stable.
Still, I wanted to use Poser in the way the name implies, for posing figures. I needed a face and neck for a series titled: “The Faces of Denial.” In the early planning stages of the project, I obtained a white mask, but I wasn’t satisfied with the look of the mask, nor was I confident that it would work with textures I had in mind, so I turned to 3D and Poser was the perfect starting point.
Upon working with Poser, I looked at the Face Sculpting tools and experimented with adjusting the features using the Ethnicity controls, but I quickly realized that the default face gave me the overall blank look I was after. Using the cameras, I zoomed in on the default male figure, then using the Lipsync Morphs, I adjusted the mouth position so it resembled the Venetian mask above. Once I had that, I was ready for the next step, which was to export the image into 3D Studio Max.
To do that, I returned to the Pose tab, then selected File>Export>3D Studio. In the Export Frames dialog, I selected a single frame for export and clicked on OK. This brought up the Heirarchy Selection dialog box, which allows you to select which parts of the body that you want to export. In this case, I wanted the head and neck so I deselected the other parts of the body, then exported the head and neck.
Next, I opened 3D Studio Max (version 5), imported the 3DS file and began to edit the face. The first thing I wanted to do was to remove portions of the mesh so only the face remained, similar to the Venetian mask. To accomplish this task, I created a couple of different box objects and used a Boolean operation to delete parts of the head.
The figure below shows the edited mesh. Note that there were portions of the mouth and eyes still remaining, but those were easy enough to retouch in Photoshop, so I left them alone for the time being.
The next step was to light the face and to make it appear to be as realistic as possible. For the material, I used a default gray color with no texture. Next, I created several white spotlights, all in slightly different positions, but with four of the spotlight targets focused on the same location on the right hand side of the face and one spotlight on the left, to control the amount of shadow detail. With all lights, I initially used an intensity of only 20% . The lower setting allowed me to see what effect the lights had on the mask surface. From there, I could move them around as necessary, change the size of the hotspot and falloff and experiment with the intensity. Looking at the lights from right to left, I set the intensity to 80, 80, 80, 20 and 40, respectively.
3D in Depth: Lighting, Part 1.
By Nathan Segal.
Lighting, (in combination with textures, camera angle etc.) is where your scene has the potential to come alive. But used improperly, light can wash out your scene, make objects appear hard or flat, and destroy all you've worked for. But skillfully applied, lighting can make your scene convincing, or if realism is your aim, create (in combination with materials and geometry), a scene that is virtually indistinguishable from real life.
In 3D, lights don't actually exist as they do in the real world. Lights in 3D are objects that are designed to simulate how lighting works in real life, but in order to obtain the results you're after, you have to apply a number of settings, not only to the lights, but to the materials. To elaborate, let's say you turn on a lamp.
Looking at this screenshot, notice the intensity of the light, the color, the softness of the shadow on the wall, the haloing effect around the light source and how that affects the color of the black casing the houses the light (the halo effect changes, depending on the angle at which you view the light and if there atmospheric particles in the air).
Other factors are decay, where the light is strongest at the source and decays or decreases, the further away you move from the source. Other factors, are whether the bulb casing is clear, colored or frosted, whether the light bulb is tungsten, halogen or daylight corrected (this is a tungsten bulb which casts as yellowish-orange light) - the list goes on and on.
Even if you have lighting specifically designed for photography, you're dealing with issues of light placement, direction and shaping of the light (which you can accomplish with snoots or barn doors), falloff, etc.
In a 3D scene, being aware of lighting conditions is very important. While the aim of this article is to introduce some lighting concepts, it's not designed to be a complete course. To understand lighting in more detail, it's helpful to experiment with 3D, but if you're not familiar with lighting, I encourage you to take a studio lighting course in photography or to read up on lighting setups.
In 3D (depending on the application), if you don't add lights to a given scene, the entire scene and objects will be rendered as a black frame (as in Maya). In other programs (such as 3DS Max), there is default lighting in a scene which is replaced as soon as you start adding lights. Depending on how you add lights to the scene will determine the effect. In 3D (again depending on the program), some basic lighting components are spotlights, omni lights, directional lights and lights that mimic the effects of the sun.
Lighting Guidelines
The type of lighting you'll need to use depends on a multitude of factors, such as whether you want to simulate a natural or artificially lit scene. In the case of a natural scene, such as in daylight or a night sky, there is only one light source.
With artificial lighting, such as a downtown city street, there are multiple light sources, often in different colors and intensities. Indoor and outdoor scenes also make a big difference. The quality of lighting will interact with your materials and you might have to change the color or intensity.
Color
Color is an important element of lighting. When you first consider it, you might think of lighting as white, a natural assumption. But if you start to observe your environment, you'll find that light casts many different colors, even supposedly "white" light. To see what I mean, have a look at the lighting in your home. If you look at a tungsten light, you'll probably notice that the color it emits is yellow and with tints of orange. If you go into a department store and look up at the fluorescent lights, you'll probably see a variety of colors, such as pink, blue and green. All of this affects what you see. In addition, let's say you're looking at white clothing. Some clothing will appear whiter than other clothing. This is the result of brighteners that have been added to the fabrics to make them appear to pop, to be whiter than white.
Outside, all sorts of factors come into play such as the angle of light and the time of day, which produces a wide range of color shifts ranging anywhere from pale yellow to red or orange at sunset. Cloudy weather can tint the light into shades of blue and even gray on dull days. However, paradoxically, on overcast days where the entire sky seems to be one gray mass, the sun's rays are filtered, almost like using a soft box in a photography studio. The result? Bright colors (such as yellow) really pop and appear to be brighter than normal. At the same time, shadows are minimal and soft, unlike a brightly lit day, when shadows will have a much harder edge and will be darker.
By Nathan Segal.
Lighting, (in combination with textures, camera angle etc.) is where your scene has the potential to come alive. But used improperly, light can wash out your scene, make objects appear hard or flat, and destroy all you've worked for. But skillfully applied, lighting can make your scene convincing, or if realism is your aim, create (in combination with materials and geometry), a scene that is virtually indistinguishable from real life.
In 3D, lights don't actually exist as they do in the real world. Lights in 3D are objects that are designed to simulate how lighting works in real life, but in order to obtain the results you're after, you have to apply a number of settings, not only to the lights, but to the materials. To elaborate, let's say you turn on a lamp.
Looking at this screenshot, notice the intensity of the light, the color, the softness of the shadow on the wall, the haloing effect around the light source and how that affects the color of the black casing the houses the light (the halo effect changes, depending on the angle at which you view the light and if there atmospheric particles in the air).
Other factors are decay, where the light is strongest at the source and decays or decreases, the further away you move from the source. Other factors, are whether the bulb casing is clear, colored or frosted, whether the light bulb is tungsten, halogen or daylight corrected (this is a tungsten bulb which casts as yellowish-orange light) - the list goes on and on.
Even if you have lighting specifically designed for photography, you're dealing with issues of light placement, direction and shaping of the light (which you can accomplish with snoots or barn doors), falloff, etc.
In a 3D scene, being aware of lighting conditions is very important. While the aim of this article is to introduce some lighting concepts, it's not designed to be a complete course. To understand lighting in more detail, it's helpful to experiment with 3D, but if you're not familiar with lighting, I encourage you to take a studio lighting course in photography or to read up on lighting setups.
In 3D (depending on the application), if you don't add lights to a given scene, the entire scene and objects will be rendered as a black frame (as in Maya). In other programs (such as 3DS Max), there is default lighting in a scene which is replaced as soon as you start adding lights. Depending on how you add lights to the scene will determine the effect. In 3D (again depending on the program), some basic lighting components are spotlights, omni lights, directional lights and lights that mimic the effects of the sun.
Lighting Guidelines
The type of lighting you'll need to use depends on a multitude of factors, such as whether you want to simulate a natural or artificially lit scene. In the case of a natural scene, such as in daylight or a night sky, there is only one light source.
With artificial lighting, such as a downtown city street, there are multiple light sources, often in different colors and intensities. Indoor and outdoor scenes also make a big difference. The quality of lighting will interact with your materials and you might have to change the color or intensity.
Color
Color is an important element of lighting. When you first consider it, you might think of lighting as white, a natural assumption. But if you start to observe your environment, you'll find that light casts many different colors, even supposedly "white" light. To see what I mean, have a look at the lighting in your home. If you look at a tungsten light, you'll probably notice that the color it emits is yellow and with tints of orange. If you go into a department store and look up at the fluorescent lights, you'll probably see a variety of colors, such as pink, blue and green. All of this affects what you see. In addition, let's say you're looking at white clothing. Some clothing will appear whiter than other clothing. This is the result of brighteners that have been added to the fabrics to make them appear to pop, to be whiter than white.
Outside, all sorts of factors come into play such as the angle of light and the time of day, which produces a wide range of color shifts ranging anywhere from pale yellow to red or orange at sunset. Cloudy weather can tint the light into shades of blue and even gray on dull days. However, paradoxically, on overcast days where the entire sky seems to be one gray mass, the sun's rays are filtered, almost like using a soft box in a photography studio. The result? Bright colors (such as yellow) really pop and appear to be brighter than normal. At the same time, shadows are minimal and soft, unlike a brightly lit day, when shadows will have a much harder edge and will be darker.
Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Giovanni Nakpil. I am 23 years old, and currently living in Toronto, Canada.
How did you get started at 3d?
Actually, I almost never got to do 3D at all. I originally saw myself taking Creative Advertising in College, since I thought that was the field where I could best apply my love for drawing. Back then, 3D animation was not quite as big as it is today. After going through different courses the college offered, I came across a 3D animation course. It ended up becoming a draw between that or Creative Advertising, but I eventually chose the former rather than the latter. To this very day, I still thank my lucky stars that I chose what I chose because I have heard from a few friends in advertising that it is in a slump right now.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books, so the bulk of my ideas are sparked either by something I read, or something that I saw on the screen. Also, everyday surroundings can be a great source of inspiration for me. If I see something outdoors that piques my interest, I tend to translate it either on paper or through the computer.
What's your favorite genre, theme?
I would have to say science fiction. I grew up with the Star Wars series, so the majority of my work will always reflect on my love for spaceships and weird aliens. Sci-fi is a genre that really gives an artist a chance to let his/her imagination run amok. That is why I love it so much. I also like to do imagery that deals with modern life and issues. I've always wanted to duplicate the many compositions of some of the grittier photographs that can be found in LIFE magazine, or National Geographic. My first attempt in this would be the RUSH HOUR image.
What are your strong points?
Modelling and animation would be my strong points. Modelling, for me, is the ultimate kick when doing 3D. I get the most of my satisfaction through that part of the process. Animation, even though I havent done it in a while, is something that I really devote my time to in order to make sure everything looks right.
Tell us a little about "Rust".
"Rust" is supposed to be a title for this series I had in mind. My original plan was to create little 2 minute animated shorts that took place inside this Rust world. Its your typical post-apocalyptic world where all its inhabitants wear worn leather and look weird...very Mad Max-ish. The main character (the one in the picture) is a loner type who travels the land on his hoverbike. He's basically your archetypal hero who wanders around and gets himself in trouble. I wanted to give the model a very weary appearance. He should at least have the look of someone who has been travelling thousands of miles while fighting evil.
How much time did you spend on it?
I worked on him whenever I came across a break from the job that I was doing at the time. I devoted at least 2-3 hours everyday for one month modelling and texturing him.
What kind of reference material did you use?
I created the Rust character after a year of not modelling anything remotely human in 3D Studio MAX. Because of that, I wanted to make sure that I had enough reference material so that the model would progress fairly well. I ended up buying a lot of books by Burne Hogarth. The one that I really used was "Burne Hogarth's Drawing the Human Head" since the references inside had more of a comic-bookish quality to them. It offers a very extensive look at the head as a structure. I love how the author reduces the head into simple geometric blocks to show the readers just how exactly it would look when each section of the face is broken down. For other references, I also checked out many drawings by Frank Frazetta and Simon Bisley for muscular and defined faces.
How did you model the face?
For the face of this particular character, I decided to use the very popular method of Surface Tools modelling. I started off by drawing the face on paper. I did several drawings, each of them with varying degrees of detail. After I decided on a particular look, I then drew highly detailed views of the front and side of the head for reference. From there, I saved out the two drawings as bitmaps so I can place them inside 3D studio Max as a visible texture. Once each textures were placed on their respective viewports (front and side), I then proceeded to draw the main countours of the face via splines. Its basically like tracing the drawing and connecting the dots. After each spline is placed accordingly, and while making sure all spline corners were set as CORNERED for easier manipulation, the next step was to pull out the structure in 3D space. From there, it was just a matter of tweaking, and converting certain areas of the spline into bezier to give the model a smoother, organic look.
Once you have all the vertex of your spline cage placed, do you transform directly corner vertex to bezier vetex or do you also use smooth vertex in order to save time adjusting all the bezier control points?
Once I have all the vertices connected, I make sure everything is set to CORNER. This is because it is a lot easier for me to pull it out into 3D space. Having the corner vertices as smooth, or bezier can be a pain when pulling out because of the way they sometimes interact with each other. Set to cornered verts makes for easier and faster manipulation. It is only when I have all the vertices placed in 3D space that I turn the corners into SMOOTH. From there, I tweak the individual points, turning some into bezier, to get the features of the character out.
Do you have your spline cage on paper, or do you imagine it as you move on?
I just create the spline cage on the program itself rather than on paper. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm pretty anal about the separation between where the traditional aspect of the process ends, and where one begins. I get a better feel of where to place the splines when the reference drawing is staring at me up in my monitor, instead than on paper. Although it shouldnt matter at all if you do it on paper or in the program itself.
How did you model the other parts of the body?
I would say at least 80% of the character are composed of splines. The rest, like the utility belt, the strap, and other parts of the gear, are composed of lofted geometries. For the straps and belts to conform, I just took the lofted objects, and added a path modifier with a spline guide that followed the contour of the character's body. From there, it was just a matter of using the free form modifier to move sections of the belt so it would look like it fit snug on him.
How did you texture him?
Since the style of the character is somewhat stylized, and comic book-ish, I avoided using photographs for textures. For the face, I used a tile-able skin map. I first unwrapped the mesh in MAX, and brought the wireframe guide into Photoshop where I placed the skin map on him. From there, I used tools such as dodge and burn to give the skin some variation. After everything was pretty much finished, I then created a black and white image of the texture to be used for bump mapping and specular mapping. For his suit, I used a mixture of procedural noises and texturemaps to give it a very layered look.
How big do you usually paint your textures?
I dont usually create my textures below 1000x1000. Very large texturemaps lend to the image and gives it a very crisp and rich appearance. Of course, computer resources tend to suffer, but for the final output, its definitely worth making your maps HUGE!
What are the maps to pay attention to in order to have a realistic looking skin?
From my experience, the most important part of making a texture look realistic is through a good mixture of specular mapping and bump mapping. Also, the bump map should not be overly high setting-wise. Sometimes people make the mistake of putting in a high number for their bump map, making the image look somewhat irregular. Subtlety goes a very long way when making skin maps look realstic.
Which coordinate system do you think is best to use, when dealing with characters?
When mapping characters, I like to use cylindrical coordinates. It makes creating the texture in Photoshop that much more easier because once you unwrap the mesh with the cylindrical coordinates, the wireframe image is neatly laid out for you to paint on. This pretty much depends on the form of the character though. If, say, I was going to map a fish, I would use a planar map instead. I would then create the texture by using the profile render of the fish as reference in Photoshop. If a little bit of stretching happens in the middle area of the mesh, I just apply a mask with a top texture to blend it together seamlessly.
What do you think of 3D Studio MAX texturing features?
I havent really explored the material editor to its fullest extent, but from what I have used, I think that it is one hell of a powerful tool. Its filled to the brim with options...from unlimited material channels, to its awesome procedurals, its pretty safe to say that its probably one of the most powerful editor of its kind in the industry.
Tell us a little about "Logan".
I created the Logan image for a contest that was held at 3dluvr.com. The contest called for me to make a 3D composition with a comicbook superhero as its subject matter. I chose the Logan character because I have been a big fan of the X-men ever since I was in elementary school. For the contest though, I did not want to create your typical spandex clad superhero. To increase my chances of winning, I decided to create the character in a realistic manner thru the use of real world clothing. Since I could not really afford any of the cloth plugins for 3D Studio MAX 3, I decided to model the clothes via vertex pushing and Meshmooth (NURMS). Needless to say, I encountered a lot of problems and headaches, but I am very happy with the results. From a composition standpoint, I wanted to create a scene that was dramatic, yet simple. The juxtaposed images of the Logan character ready for attack, and the peaceful, almost serene background, turned out to be an interesting contrast.
What technique did you use to model the face?
I used a combination of Surface tools and Polygon modelling. This technique, I find, gives users a lot of control when adding detail to the model. I created the base structure of the face through the use of splines, then turned it into an editable mesh for further editing. Once an editable mesh, you can cut, chamfer, extrude faces to your hearts content. Those features were heavily used when adding details such as folds on the skin, or a defined area such as the jawline. After the detail work was done, I added NURMS on top of the stack to smoothen things out.
Have you ever tried NURBS for characters?
No, I have never tried that method of modelling.
Could you compare Polygon Modelling and Patch modelling?
Polygon Modelling is great for getting a mixture of organic, and hard edged look. You have a lot of control in terms of what to do with the mesh. You are not limited to having tri or quad corners when you are using it (although it might be a good practice to keep your meshes as quad, so that it will look clean). Editing with polygon modelling is, for me, one of its highlights. You can do numerous methods of adding detail. Methods such as chamfering edges to make it look hard edged, extruding faces to add different branches to the existing core mesh, cutting and splitting areas for designated detail, adding weights to the vertices, and the list goes on. The only drawback is, if you get carried away with the detail work, your polygon number can get really high once you subdivide the mesh cage. When that happens though, you can always modify/animate through the mesh cage, and just have it set up so that during render time, it would render out the Subdivided version. As for patch modelling, to be honest, now that I have tried out polygon modelling, I dont think I will ever go back to it. All the pros that I can think of is outweighed by everything that polygon modelling can offer. I just use this method for when I construct the rough mesh cage through splines.
How did you texture it?
The method of texturing used was pretty much similar to that of the RUST character. I used cylindrical mapping as the dominant coordinate type.
How did you model the clothes?
For the clothes, I applied the same method I used while modelling the face. I created the mesh cage through splines. After I created the basic structure, I then collapsed the splines (with a SURFACE modifier set to zero steps) into an editable mesh where I could then use the cut tool to create patterns on designated areas. These patterns formed the subtle indentations and creases of the fabric. It was just a matter of pushing and pulling the vertices to give the mesh the needed detail in order to convey the folds and such.
How did you model the razor wire?
The barbed wire was fairly simple to model. They were actually just individual circles (with sharp geometries spread out along its surface) rather than a one continuous helix-like mesh.
How did you create the hair?
The hair was a mixture of texturemaps, and actual modelled hair. Since Logan's hairdo is somewhat out of the norm, I did not want to worry about having to re-create it as a separate geometry, rather, I decided to incorporate the shape into the form of the head mesh. This made things a lot easier for me during the mapping stage. All I had to do was paint both the hair texture and skin texture into one map. To add some extra dimension and mass to his hair, I lofted several clump like patterns, and stuck it on his head.
For characters, do you prepare your models for animation in the modelling process?
Yes. I always make sure that all the joints deform properly once the appendeges are bent. You want to make it look like there is an actual bone underneath the skin and clothing.
How did you achieve such realistic looking snow?
Through the use of noise procedurals. Just playing around with the procedural tools in MAX can really get you the results that you want. For the displaced geometry underneath Logan's legs, I used just that -displacement mapping. I tweaked the areas by pushing and pulling vertices so that it would conform properly to the character's pose.
What kind of lightning did you use in this scene?
I believe I have four different lights on the scene: One fill, two spotlights that are directed at him from the back and front, and one coming from beneath the model.
Did you in anyway simulate the reflective light from the snow?
The light reflected from the snow was actually simulated through a spotlight placed under the character.
Tell us a little about "Rush Hour".
Rush Hour was my very first full composition in 3D. I created it back when I was still attending school and learning 3D MAX. Being my first true personal project, I took the extra step of taking pictures of subway interiors at the subway station near my house. The decision for the scene to take place inside a subway is integral in showing the overall theme of the piece, which is loneliness. I tried to inject many symbolism and imagery in the composition through the use of the windows, and several others elements in the scene. I can remeber adding the tiniest details that no one will ever pick up on. I dont know if its as noticeable in this particular resolution, but I actually modelled a gum that was spit out on the floor. Unfortunately, I lost all the max files and texture files that I created for this scene. Luckily I was able to salvage the image found in this article.
How did you model the character?
I modelled him through the use of patches. This was back when I did not know Surface Tools even existed, so I was pretty much pulling out my hair out frustration at one point.
The clothes as well as the face have a very particular look (crumpled). How did you achieve that?
It was done through a mixture of textures and manipulation of the points on the patch grid which made up the clothing.
When creating your textures, do you rather start from real world photos, other textures or from scratch?
Depending on the kind of style I am doing I guess. I think that in order to get a fairly realistic looking texture, you really need photographs as reference...basically a base to start off your texture on. I usually take a photograph, and then just modify it in photoshop so that it looks fairly flat, and without any shininess reflected from a particular light source. I leave all the specular and bump effects work to MAX's material editor.
Could you explain the lightning used in this scene?
If I remeber correctly, I think I placed a row composed of several omni lights in the middle to illuminate the environment. For the character, I placed three spotlights that focused on him. One was directly in front, and the others on the side and top. Almost all the lights were colored to give it a painted look.
Tell use a little about "Scout" and "Surveillance Ship".
These were renders taken from a game that I was contracted for. Luckily my employer gave me permission to use them for my website.
What inspired you to find such original shapes for these ships?
I based the design on ancient jewelries. Basically, I wanted these ships to have a very Egyptian-like look to them. I also wanted them to have a very elegant feel...like something that a highly sophisticated race of aliens would create.
As someone wrote in a critique about these ships, they look organic: grown, not built. How did you achieve that?
For the design of these ships, I wanted to use very irregular and organic shapes. I guess through the mixture of organic and streamlined shapes, I was able to achieve a certain look that departs from your typical X-wing or TIE fighter design.
Are you fed up of traditionnal 3d space ships everyone has seen thousands times?
I would not really say fed up. It has just reached a point where it does not interest me much anymore when I see the typical Star Wars scene with the typically huge lens flare in the background. Mind you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with creating scenes like that. Its just some artists might benefit from creating ships off their own designs rather than doing Star Wars stuff. I love spaceships that have a particular design where you do not know what is up from down, or front to back. Something that has more of an abstract design, for me, is so much more interesting to look at.
Do you make the whole scenes in 3d or do you composite them?
I usually make all my scenes in 3D. For stills, I should really think about compositing them just so I can have more control over each layer.
Do you retouch or edit your renderings afterwards?
Yes I do. There are always flaws that I want to fix after I hit the render button. Photoshop is great for that.
Do you have everything clear in your mind, lights, textures, color, etc when you start an image or it develops as you move on?
I have a pretty vague idea as to how the final image would look during the rendering stage. What I do lock down on is the composition and the theme. From there, it is just a matter of fleshing it out through sketching and the actual creation in 3D. There are a lot of hit and misses along the way.
What are the most important points in a scene to make it look good?
In my personal opinion, it all has to come down to subtlety. Not overdoing something in a 3D scene is definitely important. When putting a lense flare for example, do not place one on your scene just for the sake of having it there. Have it there only if its truly essential to the image. I once saw a space scene that had at least five different lense flares going off on different angles (which is fairly impossible in the real world). Also, some make the mistake of bombarding their images with lights, just to make sure that every detail on the scene is accounted for. Looking at compositions by some of the artists at the 3D Artists gallery, you'll find that what makes their compositions so successful is that they are not afraid to hide parts of their images in the shadows. Having a dramatic play between light and shadow is definitely something that can help elevate an image. You do not have to show off every single detail on the mesh you worked so hard on (although I know how tempting it is to do so).
How important are sketches, drawings, ... to your artworks?
For me, they are just as important as the 3D creation process itself. I always make it a point to sketch out the elements that I will be doing in 3D just so I can familarize myself with whatever it is I will be doing. Plus, it gives me a visual reference, which is a lot better than trying to see it inside my head.
What is the most improtant aspect of 3d graphics, and why did you chose this medium to express yourself?
For me, the most important thing about 3D graphics as a medium is the ability it gives me to express myself through the images that I create. Invoking some form of response from the viewers (may it be negative or positive) is something that I really like. It is the same with all the different mediums of art...the difference is very minimal. What sets 3D apart for me though is that it gives me the ability to create the image, and then have it conform easily to whatever I want it to do. The varying styles you can create are limitless. With 3D, I can create something that has a photorealistic look, and then without hesitation, have that transform into something very stylized through the use of different rendering filters, or any other techiniques one might have up his/her sleeves. The ability to control something like that with such ease is, for me, what gives 3D an edge over the other mediums. It makes creating something a very exciting process.
Some people believe that in order to be a good 3D artist, you don't have to have traditional art skills... what are you thoughts on this?
I really believe that having good traditional skills in art is very important when doing 3D. Being traditionally trained means you have proper knowledge of perspective, anatomy, good composition, and, are quite adept with whatever art tools used. Those are the very same elements that are needed in order to produce a cool 3D image. Now in contrast to someone who does not apply any of the stuff mentioned, more likely than not, his or her image will always end up missing something in terms of vision, and the wow factor.
What is the best way of getting started in 3D imaging?
Learn your stuff. Spend hours with whatever software you intend on using in the industry, and just explore it inside out. You can do this either by taking a course in school, or by buying the software and locking yourself inside your room with a good supply of food and water for several months (kinda joking hehe). Also, I believe that everything happens for a purpose. So whatever first job in the industry that might land on your lap, take it. From there, its just a matter of meeting and knowing people in the industry. Having a wide number of connections to fall back on is invaluable. Keep in touch with the people you meet, because they are the very ones who will be passing along contract work your way, or vice versa. One of the main reasons as to why I'm working now is because of the people who I've met along the way who have helped get me this far. Keeping yourself grounded is also very important. No matter how good you are in 3D back in school, or how much of a hotshot you were then, do not let it get to your head cause most likely companies will not hire you anyway if you've got a pretty negative, and stuck-up attitude.
Are there any artists at 3D Artists you particularly admire?
Yes. There are a lot of artists on your site that continually put me in a state of awe. One of them would have to be Jeremy A. Engleman for the way he treats 3D like a canvas to paint beautiful images on, Eni Oken for the way she uses digital light to illuminate her scenes in such a surreal (yet very realistic) way, Timur Baysal for his awe inspiring modelling skills and texturing ability, and Victoria Brace for the fantastic imagery that she creates.
What will be your future plans?
Besisdes hitting it big and eventually buying out ILM and Pixar, I plan to focus more on developing my style and experimenting with the medium as I try out new and different things with it. I also want to expand my knowledge and learn other fantastic software packages such as Maya, Lightwave, and Softimage. To sum it up, I plan to continue learning what I need to learn in the coming years so I wont get left behind. Its survival of the fittest out there, and I plan to keep fit.
Thanks.
My name is Giovanni Nakpil. I am 23 years old, and currently living in Toronto, Canada.
How did you get started at 3d?
Actually, I almost never got to do 3D at all. I originally saw myself taking Creative Advertising in College, since I thought that was the field where I could best apply my love for drawing. Back then, 3D animation was not quite as big as it is today. After going through different courses the college offered, I came across a 3D animation course. It ended up becoming a draw between that or Creative Advertising, but I eventually chose the former rather than the latter. To this very day, I still thank my lucky stars that I chose what I chose because I have heard from a few friends in advertising that it is in a slump right now.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books, so the bulk of my ideas are sparked either by something I read, or something that I saw on the screen. Also, everyday surroundings can be a great source of inspiration for me. If I see something outdoors that piques my interest, I tend to translate it either on paper or through the computer.
What's your favorite genre, theme?
I would have to say science fiction. I grew up with the Star Wars series, so the majority of my work will always reflect on my love for spaceships and weird aliens. Sci-fi is a genre that really gives an artist a chance to let his/her imagination run amok. That is why I love it so much. I also like to do imagery that deals with modern life and issues. I've always wanted to duplicate the many compositions of some of the grittier photographs that can be found in LIFE magazine, or National Geographic. My first attempt in this would be the RUSH HOUR image.
What are your strong points?
Modelling and animation would be my strong points. Modelling, for me, is the ultimate kick when doing 3D. I get the most of my satisfaction through that part of the process. Animation, even though I havent done it in a while, is something that I really devote my time to in order to make sure everything looks right.
Tell us a little about "Rust".
"Rust" is supposed to be a title for this series I had in mind. My original plan was to create little 2 minute animated shorts that took place inside this Rust world. Its your typical post-apocalyptic world where all its inhabitants wear worn leather and look weird...very Mad Max-ish. The main character (the one in the picture) is a loner type who travels the land on his hoverbike. He's basically your archetypal hero who wanders around and gets himself in trouble. I wanted to give the model a very weary appearance. He should at least have the look of someone who has been travelling thousands of miles while fighting evil.
How much time did you spend on it?
I worked on him whenever I came across a break from the job that I was doing at the time. I devoted at least 2-3 hours everyday for one month modelling and texturing him.
What kind of reference material did you use?
I created the Rust character after a year of not modelling anything remotely human in 3D Studio MAX. Because of that, I wanted to make sure that I had enough reference material so that the model would progress fairly well. I ended up buying a lot of books by Burne Hogarth. The one that I really used was "Burne Hogarth's Drawing the Human Head" since the references inside had more of a comic-bookish quality to them. It offers a very extensive look at the head as a structure. I love how the author reduces the head into simple geometric blocks to show the readers just how exactly it would look when each section of the face is broken down. For other references, I also checked out many drawings by Frank Frazetta and Simon Bisley for muscular and defined faces.
How did you model the face?
For the face of this particular character, I decided to use the very popular method of Surface Tools modelling. I started off by drawing the face on paper. I did several drawings, each of them with varying degrees of detail. After I decided on a particular look, I then drew highly detailed views of the front and side of the head for reference. From there, I saved out the two drawings as bitmaps so I can place them inside 3D studio Max as a visible texture. Once each textures were placed on their respective viewports (front and side), I then proceeded to draw the main countours of the face via splines. Its basically like tracing the drawing and connecting the dots. After each spline is placed accordingly, and while making sure all spline corners were set as CORNERED for easier manipulation, the next step was to pull out the structure in 3D space. From there, it was just a matter of tweaking, and converting certain areas of the spline into bezier to give the model a smoother, organic look.
Once you have all the vertex of your spline cage placed, do you transform directly corner vertex to bezier vetex or do you also use smooth vertex in order to save time adjusting all the bezier control points?
Once I have all the vertices connected, I make sure everything is set to CORNER. This is because it is a lot easier for me to pull it out into 3D space. Having the corner vertices as smooth, or bezier can be a pain when pulling out because of the way they sometimes interact with each other. Set to cornered verts makes for easier and faster manipulation. It is only when I have all the vertices placed in 3D space that I turn the corners into SMOOTH. From there, I tweak the individual points, turning some into bezier, to get the features of the character out.
Do you have your spline cage on paper, or do you imagine it as you move on?
I just create the spline cage on the program itself rather than on paper. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm pretty anal about the separation between where the traditional aspect of the process ends, and where one begins. I get a better feel of where to place the splines when the reference drawing is staring at me up in my monitor, instead than on paper. Although it shouldnt matter at all if you do it on paper or in the program itself.
How did you model the other parts of the body?
I would say at least 80% of the character are composed of splines. The rest, like the utility belt, the strap, and other parts of the gear, are composed of lofted geometries. For the straps and belts to conform, I just took the lofted objects, and added a path modifier with a spline guide that followed the contour of the character's body. From there, it was just a matter of using the free form modifier to move sections of the belt so it would look like it fit snug on him.
How did you texture him?
Since the style of the character is somewhat stylized, and comic book-ish, I avoided using photographs for textures. For the face, I used a tile-able skin map. I first unwrapped the mesh in MAX, and brought the wireframe guide into Photoshop where I placed the skin map on him. From there, I used tools such as dodge and burn to give the skin some variation. After everything was pretty much finished, I then created a black and white image of the texture to be used for bump mapping and specular mapping. For his suit, I used a mixture of procedural noises and texturemaps to give it a very layered look.
How big do you usually paint your textures?
I dont usually create my textures below 1000x1000. Very large texturemaps lend to the image and gives it a very crisp and rich appearance. Of course, computer resources tend to suffer, but for the final output, its definitely worth making your maps HUGE!
What are the maps to pay attention to in order to have a realistic looking skin?
From my experience, the most important part of making a texture look realistic is through a good mixture of specular mapping and bump mapping. Also, the bump map should not be overly high setting-wise. Sometimes people make the mistake of putting in a high number for their bump map, making the image look somewhat irregular. Subtlety goes a very long way when making skin maps look realstic.
Which coordinate system do you think is best to use, when dealing with characters?
When mapping characters, I like to use cylindrical coordinates. It makes creating the texture in Photoshop that much more easier because once you unwrap the mesh with the cylindrical coordinates, the wireframe image is neatly laid out for you to paint on. This pretty much depends on the form of the character though. If, say, I was going to map a fish, I would use a planar map instead. I would then create the texture by using the profile render of the fish as reference in Photoshop. If a little bit of stretching happens in the middle area of the mesh, I just apply a mask with a top texture to blend it together seamlessly.
What do you think of 3D Studio MAX texturing features?
I havent really explored the material editor to its fullest extent, but from what I have used, I think that it is one hell of a powerful tool. Its filled to the brim with options...from unlimited material channels, to its awesome procedurals, its pretty safe to say that its probably one of the most powerful editor of its kind in the industry.
Tell us a little about "Logan".
I created the Logan image for a contest that was held at 3dluvr.com. The contest called for me to make a 3D composition with a comicbook superhero as its subject matter. I chose the Logan character because I have been a big fan of the X-men ever since I was in elementary school. For the contest though, I did not want to create your typical spandex clad superhero. To increase my chances of winning, I decided to create the character in a realistic manner thru the use of real world clothing. Since I could not really afford any of the cloth plugins for 3D Studio MAX 3, I decided to model the clothes via vertex pushing and Meshmooth (NURMS). Needless to say, I encountered a lot of problems and headaches, but I am very happy with the results. From a composition standpoint, I wanted to create a scene that was dramatic, yet simple. The juxtaposed images of the Logan character ready for attack, and the peaceful, almost serene background, turned out to be an interesting contrast.
What technique did you use to model the face?
I used a combination of Surface tools and Polygon modelling. This technique, I find, gives users a lot of control when adding detail to the model. I created the base structure of the face through the use of splines, then turned it into an editable mesh for further editing. Once an editable mesh, you can cut, chamfer, extrude faces to your hearts content. Those features were heavily used when adding details such as folds on the skin, or a defined area such as the jawline. After the detail work was done, I added NURMS on top of the stack to smoothen things out.
Have you ever tried NURBS for characters?
No, I have never tried that method of modelling.
Could you compare Polygon Modelling and Patch modelling?
Polygon Modelling is great for getting a mixture of organic, and hard edged look. You have a lot of control in terms of what to do with the mesh. You are not limited to having tri or quad corners when you are using it (although it might be a good practice to keep your meshes as quad, so that it will look clean). Editing with polygon modelling is, for me, one of its highlights. You can do numerous methods of adding detail. Methods such as chamfering edges to make it look hard edged, extruding faces to add different branches to the existing core mesh, cutting and splitting areas for designated detail, adding weights to the vertices, and the list goes on. The only drawback is, if you get carried away with the detail work, your polygon number can get really high once you subdivide the mesh cage. When that happens though, you can always modify/animate through the mesh cage, and just have it set up so that during render time, it would render out the Subdivided version. As for patch modelling, to be honest, now that I have tried out polygon modelling, I dont think I will ever go back to it. All the pros that I can think of is outweighed by everything that polygon modelling can offer. I just use this method for when I construct the rough mesh cage through splines.
How did you texture it?
The method of texturing used was pretty much similar to that of the RUST character. I used cylindrical mapping as the dominant coordinate type.
How did you model the clothes?
For the clothes, I applied the same method I used while modelling the face. I created the mesh cage through splines. After I created the basic structure, I then collapsed the splines (with a SURFACE modifier set to zero steps) into an editable mesh where I could then use the cut tool to create patterns on designated areas. These patterns formed the subtle indentations and creases of the fabric. It was just a matter of pushing and pulling the vertices to give the mesh the needed detail in order to convey the folds and such.
How did you model the razor wire?
The barbed wire was fairly simple to model. They were actually just individual circles (with sharp geometries spread out along its surface) rather than a one continuous helix-like mesh.
How did you create the hair?
The hair was a mixture of texturemaps, and actual modelled hair. Since Logan's hairdo is somewhat out of the norm, I did not want to worry about having to re-create it as a separate geometry, rather, I decided to incorporate the shape into the form of the head mesh. This made things a lot easier for me during the mapping stage. All I had to do was paint both the hair texture and skin texture into one map. To add some extra dimension and mass to his hair, I lofted several clump like patterns, and stuck it on his head.
For characters, do you prepare your models for animation in the modelling process?
Yes. I always make sure that all the joints deform properly once the appendeges are bent. You want to make it look like there is an actual bone underneath the skin and clothing.
How did you achieve such realistic looking snow?
Through the use of noise procedurals. Just playing around with the procedural tools in MAX can really get you the results that you want. For the displaced geometry underneath Logan's legs, I used just that -displacement mapping. I tweaked the areas by pushing and pulling vertices so that it would conform properly to the character's pose.
What kind of lightning did you use in this scene?
I believe I have four different lights on the scene: One fill, two spotlights that are directed at him from the back and front, and one coming from beneath the model.
Did you in anyway simulate the reflective light from the snow?
The light reflected from the snow was actually simulated through a spotlight placed under the character.
Tell us a little about "Rush Hour".
Rush Hour was my very first full composition in 3D. I created it back when I was still attending school and learning 3D MAX. Being my first true personal project, I took the extra step of taking pictures of subway interiors at the subway station near my house. The decision for the scene to take place inside a subway is integral in showing the overall theme of the piece, which is loneliness. I tried to inject many symbolism and imagery in the composition through the use of the windows, and several others elements in the scene. I can remeber adding the tiniest details that no one will ever pick up on. I dont know if its as noticeable in this particular resolution, but I actually modelled a gum that was spit out on the floor. Unfortunately, I lost all the max files and texture files that I created for this scene. Luckily I was able to salvage the image found in this article.
How did you model the character?
I modelled him through the use of patches. This was back when I did not know Surface Tools even existed, so I was pretty much pulling out my hair out frustration at one point.
The clothes as well as the face have a very particular look (crumpled). How did you achieve that?
It was done through a mixture of textures and manipulation of the points on the patch grid which made up the clothing.
When creating your textures, do you rather start from real world photos, other textures or from scratch?
Depending on the kind of style I am doing I guess. I think that in order to get a fairly realistic looking texture, you really need photographs as reference...basically a base to start off your texture on. I usually take a photograph, and then just modify it in photoshop so that it looks fairly flat, and without any shininess reflected from a particular light source. I leave all the specular and bump effects work to MAX's material editor.
Could you explain the lightning used in this scene?
If I remeber correctly, I think I placed a row composed of several omni lights in the middle to illuminate the environment. For the character, I placed three spotlights that focused on him. One was directly in front, and the others on the side and top. Almost all the lights were colored to give it a painted look.
Tell use a little about "Scout" and "Surveillance Ship".
These were renders taken from a game that I was contracted for. Luckily my employer gave me permission to use them for my website.
What inspired you to find such original shapes for these ships?
I based the design on ancient jewelries. Basically, I wanted these ships to have a very Egyptian-like look to them. I also wanted them to have a very elegant feel...like something that a highly sophisticated race of aliens would create.
As someone wrote in a critique about these ships, they look organic: grown, not built. How did you achieve that?
For the design of these ships, I wanted to use very irregular and organic shapes. I guess through the mixture of organic and streamlined shapes, I was able to achieve a certain look that departs from your typical X-wing or TIE fighter design.
Are you fed up of traditionnal 3d space ships everyone has seen thousands times?
I would not really say fed up. It has just reached a point where it does not interest me much anymore when I see the typical Star Wars scene with the typically huge lens flare in the background. Mind you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with creating scenes like that. Its just some artists might benefit from creating ships off their own designs rather than doing Star Wars stuff. I love spaceships that have a particular design where you do not know what is up from down, or front to back. Something that has more of an abstract design, for me, is so much more interesting to look at.
Do you make the whole scenes in 3d or do you composite them?
I usually make all my scenes in 3D. For stills, I should really think about compositing them just so I can have more control over each layer.
Do you retouch or edit your renderings afterwards?
Yes I do. There are always flaws that I want to fix after I hit the render button. Photoshop is great for that.
Do you have everything clear in your mind, lights, textures, color, etc when you start an image or it develops as you move on?
I have a pretty vague idea as to how the final image would look during the rendering stage. What I do lock down on is the composition and the theme. From there, it is just a matter of fleshing it out through sketching and the actual creation in 3D. There are a lot of hit and misses along the way.
What are the most important points in a scene to make it look good?
In my personal opinion, it all has to come down to subtlety. Not overdoing something in a 3D scene is definitely important. When putting a lense flare for example, do not place one on your scene just for the sake of having it there. Have it there only if its truly essential to the image. I once saw a space scene that had at least five different lense flares going off on different angles (which is fairly impossible in the real world). Also, some make the mistake of bombarding their images with lights, just to make sure that every detail on the scene is accounted for. Looking at compositions by some of the artists at the 3D Artists gallery, you'll find that what makes their compositions so successful is that they are not afraid to hide parts of their images in the shadows. Having a dramatic play between light and shadow is definitely something that can help elevate an image. You do not have to show off every single detail on the mesh you worked so hard on (although I know how tempting it is to do so).
How important are sketches, drawings, ... to your artworks?
For me, they are just as important as the 3D creation process itself. I always make it a point to sketch out the elements that I will be doing in 3D just so I can familarize myself with whatever it is I will be doing. Plus, it gives me a visual reference, which is a lot better than trying to see it inside my head.
What is the most improtant aspect of 3d graphics, and why did you chose this medium to express yourself?
For me, the most important thing about 3D graphics as a medium is the ability it gives me to express myself through the images that I create. Invoking some form of response from the viewers (may it be negative or positive) is something that I really like. It is the same with all the different mediums of art...the difference is very minimal. What sets 3D apart for me though is that it gives me the ability to create the image, and then have it conform easily to whatever I want it to do. The varying styles you can create are limitless. With 3D, I can create something that has a photorealistic look, and then without hesitation, have that transform into something very stylized through the use of different rendering filters, or any other techiniques one might have up his/her sleeves. The ability to control something like that with such ease is, for me, what gives 3D an edge over the other mediums. It makes creating something a very exciting process.
Some people believe that in order to be a good 3D artist, you don't have to have traditional art skills... what are you thoughts on this?
I really believe that having good traditional skills in art is very important when doing 3D. Being traditionally trained means you have proper knowledge of perspective, anatomy, good composition, and, are quite adept with whatever art tools used. Those are the very same elements that are needed in order to produce a cool 3D image. Now in contrast to someone who does not apply any of the stuff mentioned, more likely than not, his or her image will always end up missing something in terms of vision, and the wow factor.
What is the best way of getting started in 3D imaging?
Learn your stuff. Spend hours with whatever software you intend on using in the industry, and just explore it inside out. You can do this either by taking a course in school, or by buying the software and locking yourself inside your room with a good supply of food and water for several months (kinda joking hehe). Also, I believe that everything happens for a purpose. So whatever first job in the industry that might land on your lap, take it. From there, its just a matter of meeting and knowing people in the industry. Having a wide number of connections to fall back on is invaluable. Keep in touch with the people you meet, because they are the very ones who will be passing along contract work your way, or vice versa. One of the main reasons as to why I'm working now is because of the people who I've met along the way who have helped get me this far. Keeping yourself grounded is also very important. No matter how good you are in 3D back in school, or how much of a hotshot you were then, do not let it get to your head cause most likely companies will not hire you anyway if you've got a pretty negative, and stuck-up attitude.
Are there any artists at 3D Artists you particularly admire?
Yes. There are a lot of artists on your site that continually put me in a state of awe. One of them would have to be Jeremy A. Engleman for the way he treats 3D like a canvas to paint beautiful images on, Eni Oken for the way she uses digital light to illuminate her scenes in such a surreal (yet very realistic) way, Timur Baysal for his awe inspiring modelling skills and texturing ability, and Victoria Brace for the fantastic imagery that she creates.
What will be your future plans?
Besisdes hitting it big and eventually buying out ILM and Pixar, I plan to focus more on developing my style and experimenting with the medium as I try out new and different things with it. I also want to expand my knowledge and learn other fantastic software packages such as Maya, Lightwave, and Softimage. To sum it up, I plan to continue learning what I need to learn in the coming years so I wont get left behind. Its survival of the fittest out there, and I plan to keep fit.
Thanks.
from :www.animation-arena.com
3D Animation Tutorials
It's impossible to overemphasize the importance of modeling skills to the 3-D artist. Good 3-D modeling is difficult, but it is a skill very much in demand. Some models are intended for animation of course, but a great many are not. A static 3-D model can simply be viewed interactively (by a VRML browser for instance) or can be rendered from many different points of view, perhaps under different lighting conditions. The applications for product design, sales presentations, scientific simulation, architecture and environmental planning are obvious, and will soon become ubiquitous. Most people so readily associate 3-D with motion picture or video entertainment that they must be reminded that the present and future of 3-D is much broader.
The internet, in particular, promises to be a fertile ground for the dissemination of 3-D models for interactive exploration. The ability to look at a realistic model of a car on a web site, from all angles--to go inside, or even pop the hood--all this awaits only a little more computer power in the hands of the average person. In a year or two, this kind of internet experience will be routine. To do this kind of modeling, even for relatively simple objects, we need professional level modeling tools. In the last lesson, we began using Lightwave 3D to demonstrate texturing, and this step up to a professional level application is unavoidable if we are to grow. We have deliberately used Fractal Design Ray Dream Studio, a low-cost, entry-level application, to get these tutorials started.
The purpose was frankly to encourage the beginner to jump in. But the email I receive, and my own judgment, convince me that it is time to introduce professional level tools to this audience, even if they are not yet prepared to purchase them. For the overwhelming majority, these will be Lightwave or 3D Studio Max, but new products are appearing fast and furious. I express no preference whatever for any application. I use Lightwave because I started on the application and know it best, and learning any single application well is a considerable feat. Each application has its own special modeling tools, but the basic mentality of the artist creating a 3-D model transcends the specific application. And all of the professional level modeling tools share the basics.
Learning to think through the modeling process--learning that special discipline for building objects in abstract space--is at the root of becoming a 3-D artist. Thus we will not be performing a step-by-step tutorial here. Even using Lightwave, our project could be successfully completed in at least 20 different ways. Rather, we will be examining a modeling project, over a few lessons, to understand it in the most comprehensive and general way. Our project is an old fashioned chest, perhaps to be used as a child's toy box or as a pirate-style treasure chest. This model is especially valuable to us because it has both inside and outside surfaces. The top can be set on a hinge and opened realistically, either interactively or as part of a rendered animation. Here is the finished model, fully surfaced and rendered. It is shown both closed and open, at different camera angles.
Here is a wireframe version that reveals the structure of the chest as component polygons. They are conveniently color-coded to make the identification of the surfaces easier.
The serious student will realize how much can be learned from studying these three images, and will take some time to do so. Notice how confusing a wireframe view can be where there are multiple overlapping surfaces. Yet all models must be built in wireframe simply because that is the only way to grasp the entire three-dimensional structure. The rings appear solid gray at this resolution, but blown up much larger, they would reveal themselves as composed of many small wireframe polygons. A basic skill of the 3-D artist is the ability to work with wireframes, just as the trained architect or draftsman works easily with plans. Study these images until you have at least a basic comfort with the correspondence between the wireframe and the rendered views. And then move on to Part 2.
It's impossible to overemphasize the importance of modeling skills to the 3-D artist. Good 3-D modeling is difficult, but it is a skill very much in demand. Some models are intended for animation of course, but a great many are not. A static 3-D model can simply be viewed interactively (by a VRML browser for instance) or can be rendered from many different points of view, perhaps under different lighting conditions. The applications for product design, sales presentations, scientific simulation, architecture and environmental planning are obvious, and will soon become ubiquitous. Most people so readily associate 3-D with motion picture or video entertainment that they must be reminded that the present and future of 3-D is much broader.
The internet, in particular, promises to be a fertile ground for the dissemination of 3-D models for interactive exploration. The ability to look at a realistic model of a car on a web site, from all angles--to go inside, or even pop the hood--all this awaits only a little more computer power in the hands of the average person. In a year or two, this kind of internet experience will be routine. To do this kind of modeling, even for relatively simple objects, we need professional level modeling tools. In the last lesson, we began using Lightwave 3D to demonstrate texturing, and this step up to a professional level application is unavoidable if we are to grow. We have deliberately used Fractal Design Ray Dream Studio, a low-cost, entry-level application, to get these tutorials started.
The purpose was frankly to encourage the beginner to jump in. But the email I receive, and my own judgment, convince me that it is time to introduce professional level tools to this audience, even if they are not yet prepared to purchase them. For the overwhelming majority, these will be Lightwave or 3D Studio Max, but new products are appearing fast and furious. I express no preference whatever for any application. I use Lightwave because I started on the application and know it best, and learning any single application well is a considerable feat. Each application has its own special modeling tools, but the basic mentality of the artist creating a 3-D model transcends the specific application. And all of the professional level modeling tools share the basics.
Learning to think through the modeling process--learning that special discipline for building objects in abstract space--is at the root of becoming a 3-D artist. Thus we will not be performing a step-by-step tutorial here. Even using Lightwave, our project could be successfully completed in at least 20 different ways. Rather, we will be examining a modeling project, over a few lessons, to understand it in the most comprehensive and general way. Our project is an old fashioned chest, perhaps to be used as a child's toy box or as a pirate-style treasure chest. This model is especially valuable to us because it has both inside and outside surfaces. The top can be set on a hinge and opened realistically, either interactively or as part of a rendered animation. Here is the finished model, fully surfaced and rendered. It is shown both closed and open, at different camera angles.
Here is a wireframe version that reveals the structure of the chest as component polygons. They are conveniently color-coded to make the identification of the surfaces easier.
The serious student will realize how much can be learned from studying these three images, and will take some time to do so. Notice how confusing a wireframe view can be where there are multiple overlapping surfaces. Yet all models must be built in wireframe simply because that is the only way to grasp the entire three-dimensional structure. The rings appear solid gray at this resolution, but blown up much larger, they would reveal themselves as composed of many small wireframe polygons. A basic skill of the 3-D artist is the ability to work with wireframes, just as the trained architect or draftsman works easily with plans. Study these images until you have at least a basic comfort with the correspondence between the wireframe and the rendered views. And then move on to Part 2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
