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THE MAKING OF THE MATRIX AWAKENS
3dworld.creativebloq.com Unreal Portraits #285
VFX SECRETS ISSUE 285
Kevin Baillie on Star Wars, VFX & Robert Zemeckis
CREA E STRIKIT NG UE 5 AR T Page 32
UNREAL LIGHTING
Discover Unreal MetaHumans PLUS Sculpt and light your own portraits SONY 3D SCANNING | CREATURE SCULPTS | FANTASY ENVIRONMENTS
The Matrix Awakens
Trevor Hogg dives deep into this ambitious, open world project, showcasing UE5’s exciting new features Images courtesy of Epic Games
As the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds continue to blur, filmmaker Lana Wachowski has partnered with Epic Games to create an interactive experience for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S; coinciding with the release of The Matrix Resurrections, it reimagines Thomas Anderson/Neo (Keanu Reeves) as a video game creator who begins to question the validity of his reality. Collaborating on the project with Epic Games were The Matrix trilogy alumni James McTeigue, Kym Barrett, John
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Gaeta, Kim Libreri, Jerome Platteaux, George Borshukov, and Michael F Gay as well as SideFX, Evil Eye Pictures, The Coalition and Weta FX. Reprising their iconic roles as incredibly realistic digital doubles are Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. Capture sessions were held at Epic Games’ 3Lateral Studio in Novi Sad, Serbia, which produced high-fidelity 3D scans of Reeves’ and Moss’ faces and 4D captures of their performances. “All of the demos we create as part of the Special Projects team are designed
Create dynamic portraits in Unreal Engine
Practical tips and tutorials from pro artists to improve your CG skills
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Create dynamic portraits in Unreal Engine
ZBRUSH | MAYA | SUBSTANCE PAINTER | UNREAL ENGINE | PHOTOSHOP
CREATE DYNAMIC PORTRAITS IN UNREAL ENGINE 5 Bringing the character of Nima to life using UE5
AUTHOR
J Hill Jason Hill is a long-time CG artist. He’s worked on games like Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends, and teaches online. www.artofjhill.com
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y goal when I set out on the project was twofold. My main objective was to create Nima, an original character designed by Ross Tran, in 3D. The second was to use Unreal Engine and some of its features to bring her to life. I have long been a fan of Ross and the worlds he builds with his art. I’ve always been partial to the character of Nima because I really like her aesthetic and colour scheme. This project was an opportunity for me to try my hand at creating something with a bit more style and simplicity than usual and pay tribute to the work he has been doing. I also knew it would be a great opportunity to try some things in Unreal Engine that I hadn’t before. For me, the next step in character modelling is to bring that character to life, and these days with the tools we have, including Unreal Engine, the power to do just that is more accessible than ever. So for me, it’s something I am particularly excited and passionate to try and learn more about, because the possibilities are endless.
DOWNLOAD YOUR RESOURCES For all the assets you need go to https://bit.ly/3D-world-matrix
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01BLOCK OUT THE MODEL
After collecting all the necessary reference and forming an initial plan for the project, the first thing I always build is the blockout. The goal is to create a representation of every model you think you’ll need to complete the project. This establishes the scope of what modelling needs to be done and serves as a 3D to-do list. Getting everything started also enables you to work on everything together as a whole and not just individual parts, which
is hugely important in making an appealing piece of work. No need to worry about clean forms or topology here, it’s all about the shapes, proportions and overall composition of the model. Have fun and worry about cleanup later.
02 MAKE HAIR WITH MAYA The best quality hair is made up of individual strands. Thankfully, the recent versions of Unreal Engine can import actual curves, animate, and render them. To take advantage of this we
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