feb-7

CGArena

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1, FEB - MAR 10

Get Attention in the Computer Graphics Community

Interview

Nicolas Crombez

ZBrush

Batman Desertstorm

Photoshop

Cadenus and Vanessa Barbarossa

Maya

Garage

Gallery

Latest 3D inspiring art

VOL

5

Get Attention in the Computer Graphics Community Issue Contents

Volume 5, Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

05

Interview

Nicolas Crombez

22

Photoshop

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa

32

Maya

Making of Garage

40

ZBrush

Making of Batman Deconstruction

48

Photoshop

Making of Barbarossa

58

Gallery

Showcase of latest 3D art

Magazine Edited: Ashish Rastogi, India Magazine Cover Image: Rafael Teruel, Spain Magazine Design: Yousef Ikhreis, Jordan www.cgarena.com

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Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

Industry News

CGArena Weta Workshop Adopts StudioGPU MachStudio Pro

Prime Focus Software Releases Deadline 4.0

StudioGPU has entered into an agreement with Weta Workshop, a multiple Oscar® winning onestop studio servicing the world’s creative industries, to integrate and further develop StudioGPU MachStudio™ Pro for its television production pipeline.

Prime Focus Software, the R&D and software development arm of Prime Focus, announced the release of Deadline 4.0, the company’s easy-to-use administration and rendering toolkit for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX-based render farms. This new version includes improved Mac OSX support, enhanced scalability and stability, in addition to an abundance of key new features.

Training

Book

MachStudio Pro real-time 3D workflow and rendering software allows artists, designers, engineers, directors, and technical directors (TDs) to work with 3D lighting, camera views and multi-point perspectives in an interactive non-linear fashion with real-time high fidelity views as they will appear in the final rendered format. For more information on this software please visit - http://www.studiogpu. com/machstudio/

“Most notable in this release is the number of subtle enhancements that have been made, to not just the main applications, but also all the underlying softwarespecific scripts,” continued Mike Owen, senior technical director. Deadline 4.0 is now available through Prime Focus Software. Please visit http://software. primefocusworld.com for additional information.

How to Cheat in Maya 2010 - With this essential handbook, learn which circumstances call for which techniques, and how to get quality results fast. You will not only learn how to be productive in Maya, but also be given access under the hood to the actual scene files of a professional animator. Covering such topics such as pose to pose blocking, layered animation, fixing gimbal lock, facial animation, and much more, How to Cheat in Maya 2010 is an invaluable resource for artists and animators alike. ISBN - 13: 978-0240811888

ZBrush 3.5 Character Production - High Res Sculpting, Polypainting, ZPlugins, and more - After the new features are covered instructor takes everything that you have learned up to this point and puts it into practice by creating an entire highres character right inside Zbrush. Many techniques are used during this character creation process that would benefit almost anyone. After the character is made he goes through many of the useful ZPlugins like Zapplink, Subtool Master and even goes through creating a turntable video of your character.

www.cgarena.com

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Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

Interview with

CGArena

Nicolas Crombez Q. Hello Nicolas, like we ask everyone could you tell us a bit about yourself, location, employment etc. and what first inspired you to take up a career in the Arts.

Writing is the art form which is the simplest to implement and takes us furthest in the imagination

Hello and thanks for your interest in my work. My name is Nicolas Crombez, I was born in Belgium in 1975 and currently live in France. I have two professional activities: freelance graphic design (web design, etc...) and in parallel, I teach computer graphics in art school in Belgium, the Institute Saint Luc of Tournai. I studied myself in that school, the concept and the basics of computer graphics. My school career was essentially artistic; it’s the only thing I can do!

I felt very early the need for creating and developing worlds. The computer and the tools it offers, both in graphics and sound or interactivity initiated by the Internet, allows a total autonomy in the development of a project. I have no specific cultural references. I operate on instinct, I digest what I see, what I feel and I transform it all. Many subjects interest me, the technical side, strict, purely functional and, on the other side, the emotional, sensual and awkward stimulate me a lot in my projects. I love making incongruous connections.

Q. What is your first job or from starting you are freelance graphic designer?

I started working in the industry of comics. In Belgium, this is a real institution. I sculpt licensed figures for mass production.

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Interview with

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

CGArena

Nicolas Crombez Q. Today, traditional sculpting helps you in any way in creating digital art? Which software’s you use to create digital art and why?

The traditional sculpting has a certain influence in my virtual development; I can abstract the volume and imagine the contours before the image was built. I appreciate the anatomical rigor, but this is not the main objective in my work. The imperfection and chance are, for me, allies. I do not want to fight them, but rather, to integrate them into the design process. I like creating my own techniques, the need to divert their original functions.

I mostly use the software Lightwave 3D (Newtek), very flexible and powerful. It meets all my needs. In addition, the plug-in “FPrime” is an essential tool in Lightwave, to view near real-time changes to a scene, in conditions close to the final rendering.

I also work a lot with Photoshop, especially in the use of brushes and retouching.

Q. Besides, CG work anything else you doing professionally?

Sometimes I make skins for various audio projects (sound effects for plays, for example), but the majority of my work revolves around the CG. Q. Can you tell us in detail about your panorama image (The procession of pigs), from where you got the idea and how this related to your upcoming album?

I develop in parallel with my professional activities, a personal universe, called DEU TER ROR, for which I’ve created “A picture”. This latest achievement will accompany, with some other visual, a fourth album of music.

Structured around the sound and image, DEU TER ROR makes me stage the reality while playing on its deep sense (through the symbols, the use of incongruous elements, for example). The CG images allow me exploration and transformation of a reality into another.

I started working on this project since 2007, after my first album, “Le gueule de guerre “. First, I wanted to consider the notion of space / time and develop a story without using animated techniques. Therefore, I did not have time fixed structure, like a movie in which the action unfolds in a linear mode. My idea was to allow the viewer to make his own history by moving into the picture, as in the paintings of Flemish Primitives.

Then I developed the story that the picture should be told. This is a result of research that began last few years, forming the heart of the project DEU TER ROR. I wonder especially about this “faith”, which makes us stand, and this gigantic timeline in which we operate without knowing where, when and to what it takes www.cgarena.com

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Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

Interview with

CGArena

Nicolas Crombez us (the meaning of life has not stopped questioning us, even in the computer age).

Formally, I use symbols, such as items related to traditional Belgian, wildlife and local flora, etc...

The red Magma is initiated by a light wave (wave mechanics) who hits the ground and whose course through the universe and the matter will be reported in the musical part (electromagnetic wave).

This course illustrates several scenes, animals. First naked, then clothed in animal skins, they are adorned with leather armor and warlike. Some devour each other; others are fighting, etc... Where are they? What is the reason for their actions? Each has its own interpretation.

On a technical level, once the concept is validated, I began to realize a number of sketches and drawings, to get a rough idea of the whole.

I cut the scene into five main parts + transitions between scenes because even 64-bit software has limits...

I first modeled the components, from stock or old models converted achievements. Modeling and positioning these elements took me several months; I worked a few hours per month.

My idea was not to make a “full 3D” picture, but to mix several processes. I believe that art must serve the story and not stand on its own.

Therefore, the models are not as fine or perfect accurate. They have mainly served basis. The textures are also relatively rudimentary. www.cgarena.com

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Besides a key light and a sun, most models were lit to create a light-type “studio”. The rim light effect allows separating the subject from the background. This technique has been used so sparingly because I did not want to produce on the picture, an “advertising” effect.

Each part of the picture was calculated separately with FPrime. For each, I set the camera according to several angles to choose what would suit me best when compositing. Not being a fanatic of “flying camera” or “endoscopical shoot” I’m more impressed by the sequence shots of Kubrick or those of Alfonso Cuaron for “Children of Men.” The camera has a role in the narrative; it does not replace the story that captured a plethora of visual effects or motion. I didn’t want to interfere in the course of history. The camera is present as a witness, as if, on the other side, I noticed the facts that happen to me. This fits so perfectly with the introspective nature of the music I compose.

Finally, the most important and longest in terms of time is the work under Photoshop.

The whole picture, with few exceptions, was reworked: animal’s fur, clouds, some plants and a lot of work for cleaning and harmonization of the whole. The picture was assembled at one time under Photoshop to ensure the homogeneity. The file weighs more or less, 15 gigs and I had to make several copies for the increasing number of layers significantly slowed the computer.

Since the beginning of this project, my main anxiety was to find a way to present this image in its original format. While researching on the net, I found the tool Openzoom by Daniel Gasienica.

With this application, the picture is divided into thousands of 256 pixel images large, called by a powerful script in Flash, depending on the zoom done.I would also print this work and present it in its entirety at an exhibition, which is impossible to present on a classic screen.

You can watch the panorama on the web here: www.deuterror.org/dtr.html

What you enjoy the most, creating CG art or albums?

My work revolves around sound and image. I like to alternate these two disciplines to attack a work I rested a while from a new angle. I also try to write, I realized a short story in audiobook. Writing is the art form, which is the simplest to implement (it only takes a pencil and a sheet), but it is, paradoxically, one that takes us the furthest in the imagination.

I take great pleasure to start a new job and draw up an outline. The technical aspect is also a form of creation and invention to solve all problems.

According to you what are the main elements which keep in mind while creating and developing the art?

In my point of view, the crucial element is not closing any doors. Art is life. Therefore, any feeling, any information, any idea may at some point be incorporated into a project. It is also important to be critical about his own work and segment phases of work: I dream/imagine (I do not close any doors), I create (I apply or I turn techniques) and I criticize (I take the time necessary to assess whether I am in harmony with myself). My answer may seem intellectual and rational, but in practice, these steps are done so entirely subjective and instinctive in my case.

What are your hobbies and please describe your free time, if you have any?

Almost all of my free time is spent in developing my projects. I’m very lucky because my daily life allows me to dream a lot.

On which projects you are working these days, can you share with us if not confidential?

Currently, I want to finish my album (his musical part) and find a way to expose this picture. I imagined presenting this work directly in a field, closest to the ground; I am not a supporter of museums.

You have 5 cats, so are you animal lover or just a cat lover?

I love animals; they have a great importance in my inspiration. Cats have a soothing power over me and innate understanding.

Here is what E.M. Cioran told about it: “For the animal life is everything; for humans, it is a question mark.”

That is why we want to know what’s behind the hill, while the animals already know.

Anything you like to add? It is your chance now to state your opinion about anything Thank you for your attention regarding my project. I would also like to thank all those who have expressed their support and my wife Maud, without whom I could definitely not consider my life or my dreams.

I invite those who wish to follow this project through my website. Please let me share your impressions.

Web: www.deuterror.org Email: nicolas@dehollander.net

Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Rafael Teruel, Spain CGArena Software:

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa

Painter, Photoshop

2D

I secretly made this drawing to gift it to my girlfriend. So, for me, it has a special value. Her name is Vanessa and hence the title of the painting. ‘Cadenus and Vanessa’ is the title of a poem by Jonathan Swift gave rise to the name of Vanessa.

Its original resolution was 5000px x 3000px and it was made using my Wacom Intuos 3, Corel Painter XI for painting and Adobe Photoshop CS4 for post-production.

The brushes I used in Corel painter were divided in two groups: painting and blending.

Painting Brushes: 1.- Round Camel Hair texture, custom brush for paint details. With light pen pressure acts as a blender.

2.- Square Conte, for blocking colors and big color areas.

3.- Digital airbrush, for smooth color transitions Blend Brushes: 1.- Grainy water, I adjust the jitter to 0.39 for a better no-linear blending 2.- Real Blender Round, for blending on the oil way.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Rafael Teruel, Spain CGArena

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa I alternately used ‘basic paper’ and ‘coarse cotton canvas’ changing the contrast depending on the area I’m painting or blending.

STEP 1 - I started on a white canvas and began blocking colors and defining forms in a very traditional way. I decided on a dark color and my first intention was to make Vanessa floating on the water. I chose a green dress as I would like to add a touch of fairy forest. The color palette on this stage was basically skin tones and green tones for the dress.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Rafael Teruel, Spain CGArena

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa

STEP 2 - I started to add details: a little bit to the dress and to her face.

I decided to add flowers as per the concept that I had in my mind.

STEP 3 - I further added more details on the face. I stressed on the looks and the eyes because I considered it to be very important. I added patterns and ornaments to the dress to make it more appealing and glamorous. But, this didn’t look good to me so I would change this later.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Rafael Teruel, Spain CGArena

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa STEP 4 - After doing some color tests, finally I decided to choose another style of clothing, more like of nineteenth century and with some violet tones. I also did a test with a secondary pink light that was outlining the right side of the face.

STEP 5 - I painted do the sleeves with the same color as the torso and added some semi-transparent flounces. At this point I observed that flowers were not fitting-in. I painted above the front portion to eliminate them and I put something else on the neck that was consistent with the dress.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Rafael Teruel, Spain CGArena

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa STEP 6 - I didn’t like the hair much and decided to draw it with pencil on paper to give wavy looks that can fit into the artwork which could be scanned and could be used as base to work with it. I added some more details on the makeup so it looked more Gothic. I didn’t like the background color and I chose a much lighter color, very neutral beige that better differentiated the background from the figure.

STEP 7 - With the scanned hair layer in multiple mode, I started to color on a new layer. I chose two color palettes for the hair - Warmer color for the light parts and a little bit colder color for the shadow parts.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Rafael Teruel, Spain CGArena

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa STEP 8 - Once satisfied, I started to paint over these two layers to give it a more natural and realistic look.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Rafael Teruel, Spain CGArena

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa STEP 9 - And finally, global integration work. I added a texture to the background, the shadows, hair on the face and clothing. I added a braid that went around the forehead and face for detailed refining. I decided to remove the secondary light of the face that just does not fit now. Finally, some adjustment in layers and textures with noise were made to give a warmer touch.

If you got any queries then please email me and visit my website to see more artworks. Thanks.

Website: www.rafater.com Email: contact@rafater.com

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Please consider the environment before printing this magazine.

Save Paper. 100% Environment Respect.

Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Luca Fiorentini, Giovanni Lo Re CGArena Software:

Making of Garage

Maya

3D

INTRODUCTION Hi all! It’s a pleasure for me to give you an overall view of this project! This image started last summer... Due to vacation I decided to take a model from our short in development and use it to study lighting and shading with a cartoony look.

I wanted to create an ambient with an alien look... The principal character is from another world (the one with the big foot outdoor) and I wanted to communicate that with little details here and there.

As usual I asked Giovanni Lo Re (a really good friend I used to work within Italy) to make a little sketch of the scene and to design the objects.

After collecting some reference images (especially from other 3d artists) and after some emails he ended up with this drawing and was a really good starting point! Then he sent me some detailed drawings of the tools and the car.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Luca Fiorentini, Giovanni Lo Re CGArena

Making of Garage MODELING Modeling was pretty straightforward... All poly modeling and a lot of little pieces! For the car, after the body was finished, I started modeling the interior and the details.

As to the environment, I modeled every object separately and then imported them as references. I wanted to find a good camera angle, similar to the one of the drawing.

At the end I decided to turn wall on the right side about 45 degrees to have more space and get a nicer shot.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Luca Fiorentini, Giovanni Lo Re CGArena

Making of Garage

TEXTURING AND SHADING For texturing I’ve been using the Total Texture collection.

For the wall I took the base layer from the Total Texture 1, some dirt from Total Texture 5 and 2 and mixed them in Photoshop following the UV layout... same for the tires.

For the sky Giovanni started from a base from the Total Texture 15 and continued adding details, painting clouds and little planets.

For the carPaint and tires material I decided to go with layered materials... this gave me the ability to add dirt, scratch and all the little details I wanted with the minimum effort.

The texturing is based mostly with Total Texture 5 & 8 because they’re full of dirt masks... after importing them in Photoshop I reduced the details to make them cartoonier www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Luca Fiorentini, Giovanni Lo Re CGArena

Making of Garage and I make a lot of masks to control the layering.

The shaders are quite simple, lots of fresnel effect for glass and metal and then simple shader trees layered with a mib_color_mix node.

LIGHTING AND RENDERING At the beginning I wanted to try the new Mental Ray pass system, but after a while I liked the raw render from Maya so I decided just to use beauty pass, occlusion pass, one pass for light fog and some masks. I ended with 16 passes, mostly masks because I wanted to do separate color correction while still doing an image ready for animation without hand drawn masks or retouching in Photoshop.

Lighting was real fun and also time consuming... I think I’ve spent most of the time on this and on compositing. I rendered a lot of different versions with different colors and light rigs going back and forth between versions until we found a good combination of mood and details.

I used a technique I saw in a DVD from Jeremy Vickery (www.jermilex.com) on the use of Ambient Occlusion to simulate bounce/fill lighting: all you have to do is to connect the output of the AO to the ambient color of ALL the shaders in the www.cgarena.com

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scene. You have to think about it like this: the light color is going to light the non occluded parts, while the dark one is going to light the occluded ones... so, avoid pure black and pure white!!! I put some orangish tones to warming the image up.

After establishing the key + fill I started adding bounce lights for the sunLight and a lot of rim light to separate

Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

by Luca Fiorentini, Giovanni Lo Re CGArena

Making of Garage the objects from the background. This is a screenshot of the scene and a list of all the lights in the scene. I also added some reflectors with a white surface shader to give that cartoony look to the reflections on the glasses.

COMPOSITING This was the first time I tried to use Nuke and I really learnt a lot!

I rendered some passes as 32bit floating point openEXR (beauty, zDepth) to have more freedom and the rest as 8bit iff.

Nuke gives you the possibility to create new channels from images, so I used the colorID passes to put new channels into the pipe in order to select the various objects with just one click through the whole script. This was especially useful while doing color correction.

Height passes and the light fog helped me to improve the atmosphere while the vignetting www.cgarena.com

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Issue 1 Feb - Mar 2010

Tutorial

by Luca Fiorentini, Giovanni Lo Re CGArena

Making of Garage allowed me to concentrate the attention on the car, which was supposed to be the most important spot of the image. Here you can see a screenshot of the whole script with some explanations!

CONCLUSION I’m really happy about writing this tutorial and sharing what I’ve learnt with you! I think that this has been a little like a production workflow because we had to get feedback from each other by mail... sending progresses and trying to understand each other just by reading. Maybe if we had been able to work side by side we wouldn’t have done all those tests, but I think that this has been a nice research and I’m just looking forward to start a new project :) If you have any questions feel free to write me! Thank you to everyone!

Luca Fiorentini Blog: lucafiorentini.wordpress.com Email: luca.fiorentini@gmail.com Giovanni Lo Re Portfolio: www.pixila.com/portfolios/portfolio/?artist=1424 Email: giovanni.lore@gmail.com

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Faraz Mobin, Dubai CGArena Software:

Making of Batman Desertstorm

ZBrush, 3ds Max

3D

Hello everyone, here I will explain the few steps that were involved in the making of Batman Desertstorm for the Comicon Challenge ‘09.

First I made the base mesh for all the parts separately. I usually make the head, torso and hands as one basemesh, but sculpting hard surface means subdivision levels go really high, so I decided to divide and sculpt all the parts separate, which is really helpful for focusing on details and also keeps some RAM of the system free.

I imported all the base mesh to ZBrush and one by one started sculpting on them. I went for the head first and making this a warm-up excercise, when I

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Faraz Mobin, Dubai CGArena

Making of Batman Desertstorm was all set, I started adding details and made sure this is going to be the most iconic part of the model. I wanted the head to be more like the one from darknight. I also do a bit of coloring to the model to remove the flat look of the high-poly model.

This was my first try with hard surface in ZBrush, usually I would go and retopo in max, but I had to try the ZBrush way. I was pretty happy with the head and started moving towards the torso where things were more interesting and my sculpting methods really proved well. I always go ahead and take the model to 8th division in the beginning; this makes the model really smooth like clay, making the brushes fine cuts/trims.

I use standard, move and clay brush with combinations of lazy mouse to make a rough sculpt. I keep changing the position of lights in ZBrush and checking renders and how the shapes cast self shadows. The good thing in ZBrush is if I don’t like a shape I can always change it within minutes.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Faraz Mobin, Dubai CGArena

Making of Batman Desertstorm Once I am happy with the shapes and volumes, I go ahead and start refining the surface. I use pinch and flatten brush a lot for this stage. At this stage I avoid making big changes since it can spoil the cleanliness of the model. If needed, I use the smooth brush to clean the area and re-sculpt it.

A lot of people ask me about the brushes and the method. I tell them to try all the brushes with Zadd and Z-Sub (with and without alt key held). They give a different effect every time you use them, you can see the small difference and understand it how to apply on your model, you can make a lot of amazing shapes. And so I did with the rest of the body. I used alphas only for the logo. www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Faraz Mobin, Dubai CGArena

Making of Batman Desertstorm I modeled the belt strap and accessories in max, thin and small parts are pain to sculpt in ZBrush. In the end, I duplicate the arms and the legs to the other side for a final render. Final renders was done in ZBrush and composed in Photoshop.

After that I start to prepare the low-poly model. I import mid-res versions of the parts back into max and start building a lowpoly mesh in max, making sure the low-poly engulfs the complete high-poly model.

The model without the cap sits around 9500 tris.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Faraz Mobin, Dubai CGArena

Making of Batman Desertstorm

Unwraping the model and making sure almost all the parts I made separately in ZBrush are unwrapped as separate. This will make my life a lot simple when I am baking the model for Normal maps and AO. I use Xnormal for baking Normal Maps as it can import really high poly models with no problems. I bake all the parts separate and then combine it in Photoshop. All the setting are set to default.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Faraz Mobin, Dubai CGArena

Making of Batman Desertstorm For AO, I use 3ds max 2009 64bit along with mental ray, unlike the 32bit, the 64bit version has no issues baking with high-poly meshes. I use a plane underneath the model, it gives a really good milky AO; again I take all the bakes in Photoshop to make the final cleanups.

The cape was an important part; I had to make sure it was functional too. I modeled the cape in max, and then tiled the section that would fold. After applying a simple normal map to it, I cleaned it up and made it look close to a cape by refining the edges and silhouette. The cape was around 500 tris.

Then applied an HSDS Modifier in max which triangulates the mesh and makes it suitable for the cloth simulation. Applying a cloth modifier with a simple cloth fall animation applied to the open cape with constraints on the neck area gives a good settled cloth. Since I didn’t change the polycount of the cape I can morph and hence

any time can change between open and close cap. This was not needed for the challenge, but I like to make it functional rather than have a rigid cloth model.

In the end I rigged the model and posed it on a pedestal, added lights and rendered using Default Scanline Renderer in 3ds Max. With a mix of area and spot lights, I focus on some of the metal and interesting parts in the model and making them glow and standout in the render.

That’s it, hope you like the small explanation of the model and if you have any query, then please email me. www.cgarena.com

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Website: www.farazmobin.com Email: farazmobin@hotmail.com

Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena Software:

Making of Barbarossa

Photoshop, Maya

2D

This is a matte painting that I have realized for the “Barbarossa” movie directed by Renzo Martinelli in 2009.

The request of the director was for a singular version of the High Middle Ages Rome set in a river with a church in the background. I’ve been inspired from an old painting of Rome with Castel Sant’Angelo. The painting settings have been very helpful to me to realise this scene and it has allowed me to create a portrayal of Rome’s sunup in the year 1000.

In an early step I delineate a manual version, with the key elements, keeping a front view and creating shades with the hills and the buildings. The image in my mind was that of a city in the first lights of the day, a week red light that cherishes the landscape and gives a peace sensation. So I have searched for photographic references to begin the creation of the first draft.

From the reference images used the details for the houses in the background.

An important element has been the choice of the Church image. I needed a very detailed photo, from which to start and re-model inside Maya.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena

Making of Barbarossa

Vegetation, stones, houses and the most important thing a capital, as you can see down on the right side, to give depth to the scene.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena

Making of Barbarossa Once I had the approval of the draft, I went on with the next step, start modeling in 3D. At first, I created the series of perspective lines that can helped me to realize the scene. Then putting the illustration into the image plane of the camera in Maya.

I began to sketch out the ground, the buildings and the bridge, keeping the drawing and lines as references.

Step by step I have processed with the scene elements, testing the depth and the volume.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena

Making of Barbarossa

I tried to keep the correct proportion of the houses to have the correct spaces in the scene. In this step I have been asked to add the Colosseum as you can see behind the church in the background.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena

Making of Barbarossa Some of the textures used to map the models and done some test rendering.

Part of the matte painting work has been the realisation of the river water and of the mist, both in movement. The modeling of the houses and ground should had been perfect, to make it possible to reflect in the water and to seem realistic. I have used the Maya’s tool Ocean/Fluids and after a series of attempts I achieved the desired result.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena

Making of Barbarossa

The next step was to elaborate the finest details in Photoshop. Using different render pass and high definition images I have retouched the buildings, the ground and the bridge.

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena

Making of Barbarossa

www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 1 Feb- Mar 2010

by Daniele Scerra, Italy CGArena

Making of Barbarossa To better define the final image I have applied the image on a plane in Maya and reprocessed it. Illuminating it with some point lights in the desired key points for obtaining a new render.

I hope that this tutorial can be helpful for you and you could apply these techniques at your work.

Enjoy yourself!

Web: www.danielescerra.com Email: daniele.scerra@fastwebnet.it

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Page 56

Everything starts with a dream!

When great professional sports teams were first created in NFL, MLB, NBA, no one dreamed that their value would become astronomical!

Today history repeats itself.

Today ADA (Animation Dance Association) is creating professional teams that will quickly acquire a higher value than the world's most prestigious sporting teams. ADA's creating the new global sport and the new global industry!

ADA professional sport has three global sporting arenas: ¥

Cell phones - 3,500,000,000 users

¥

TV - 1,500,000,000 viewers

¥

Internet - 1,000,000,000 users

The most exciting and fair sport competitions in the world will start on December on www.adasport.com!

Five professional animator teams will be taking part in the first ADA Championship!

Each team will create and then expose during the competition their short animated clips (15-90 sec.) in which animated characters will be performing any kind of dance to any kind of music while the audience will be playing the role of a judge in the thrilling competitions!

These five professional teams will be competing against each other in order to win prizes and gain the admiration of millions of spectators!

Each one of you can take part in the development of the project while at the same time raising money for yourselves and making yourselves famous!

You can send through the web-site www.adasport.com ¥

Your brilliant scripts for our clips!

¥

Animated clips with dancing characters created by you!

¥

Interesting models or sketches of the characters invented by you!

We will pay you money for the ideas and creations we liked most and we will happily use them in our project!

Become rich with ADA! Become famous with ADA! Animation Dance Association Team www.adasport.com

Jonas Skoog, Sweden jonas_skoog@hotmail.com Maya, Mudbox, ZBrush

Jaroslav Pijáèek, Czech Republic jaros.pijacek@seznam.cz 3ds Max, ZBrush

Alexis Van der Haeghe, Belgium vdhalexis@hotmail.com Maya, ZBrush, Mudbox

JayKrushna Rawool, India jaykrushna.rawool@gmail.com Maya, Photoshop, Hypershot

Volkan Kacar, Turkey art_of_volkan@hotmail.com 3ds Max, Final Render, Photoshop

Titouan OLIVE, France digitalia3d@gmail.com Maya, Mental Ray, ZBrush, Photoshop

Hannu Koskinen, Finland hasugore@hotmail.com 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop

Farkas Adam, Hungary info@visualharmony.hu 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop

Jian Xu, Shanghai jian.xu@hotmail.com 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop

Luiz Alves, Rio de Janeiro kitoalves3d@gmail.com 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop

How to send in your images...

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Here’s how to get yours noticed

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