june...maga

CGArena

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, JUNE - JULY 09

Get Attention in the Computer Graphics Community

PAINTER

INTERVIEW

Making of Naval Officer

Francisco A. Cortina

GALLERY

XSI

Latest 3d inspiring art

Aramaki, Section 9

PHOTOSHOP Portrait of Nathan

3DS MAX

Portrait of Martha

VOL

4

Get Attention in the Computer Graphics Community Issue Contents

05

Interview

Francisco A. Cortina

20

Photoshop

Portrait of Nathan

28

XSI

Aramaki, Section 9

36

3ds Max

Portrait of Martha

42

Painter

Making of Naval Officer

48

Gallery

Showcase of latest 3D art

Volume 4, Issue 3 June - July 2009

Magazine Edited: Ashish Rastogi, India Magazine Cover Image: GuzBoroda, Russia Magazine Design: Yousef Ikhreis, Jordan www.cgarena.com

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Issue 3 June - July 2009

Industry News

CGArena Prime Focus Appoints Michael Schunk VP, Digital Asset Mgmt.

Artbeats’ Birth of a Baby Provides In-depth Look at Birthing Process

Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), a subsidiary of Prime Focus Group, announced the appointment of Michael Schunk as VP, business development, digital asset management. Schunk will be based out of Prime Focus’ North American headquarters in Hollywood, CA, and will report to North American CEO Larry Birstock and PFT President and CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan. Schunk’s role will be focused on developing sales strategy for Digital Asset Management services globally, and driving sales throughout North America.

A truly unparalleled moment in time, the arrival of a newborn is also one of the most difficult events to effectively document on film. Artbeats’ newest royaltyfree stock footage collection, Birth of a Baby, conquers that challenge and provides an exceptional and uncensored look inside the real-life human birthing process.

Training

Book

In addition to being market leaders in traditional content processing and library mgmt services, Prime Focus also has over six years experience in delivering digital services to advertisers, broadcasters, studios, production houses and archives.

A graphic, yet true-to-life presentation, Birth of a Baby offers multiple camera perspectives including extreme close-up, doctor point-of-view of the birth itself. With over 40 high-quality clips depicting real-time capture of prenatal monitoring, step-by-step delivery process and post-birthing procedures, this footage is ideal for any filmmaker, documentarian or medical presenter in search of a complete library of accurate, cost-effective birthing footage. www.artbeats.com/birthofababy

More Autodesk Maya Hyper-Realistic Creature Creation - More Autodesk Maya Hyper-Realistic Creature Creation shows you how to create hyper-realistic humanoid creatures using advanced rigging and modeling techniques. You’ll learn savvy tricks from top artists, how to use Maya effectively in production settings, and how to set up smart workflows. A DVD is included with models, setups, and scene files to complete the tutorials in the book, as well as instructor-led training movies and interviews with the author-artists. ISBN - 978-1-897177-49-5

Digital Painting - Illustrating Eyes - Perfect for traditional and digital artists. Easily learn the essential elements and techniques to sketching, inking, and rendering eyes for toon, anime, manga, comic book, and portraiture styles with over 4 hours of step-by-step training. Projects are perfect for artists creating character concepts and graphic work for the entertainment industry. Popular highlights include * Eye Anatomy * Male Eyes * Female Eyes * Rendering Eyes * Design Language * Understanding Colors * Blending Skin Tones * Quick Sketching * Portrait Style and much more...

www.cgarena.com

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Issue 3 June - July 2009

Interview with

CGArena

Francisco A. Cortina Q. Hello Francisco, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in CG and from where you have taken some training?

Talent alone is never enough for someone to be successful or the best at what they do

I’m a professional 3d artist who originally started out as a traditional artist. I now have my own company called Cortina Digital.

My journey as an artist began when I was young, attending fine arts “magnet” programs from early grade school, through junior high and on to high school. I attended Norland North Center for the Arts as well as New World School of the Arts.

I stumbled upon the world of 3d when I was going for my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute, College of Art. Ironically, I ended up discovering my passion and love for 3D animation and computers there. After I saw my one of my roommates using this strange and amazing software called 3D Studio R3, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Not long after, I began creating and animating my own medieval style creatures, characters and environments.

In terms of training, I have always been the type of person who prefers to read the manual and learn by trial and error, versus taking a specific class or course on something. After I got my first job in the industry, most of my learning and training has been obtained while working on the job on various projects and companies.

Q. Currently where you are working and what’s your nature of job?

For some time now I’ve been operating as an independent contractor, running my own company called “Cortina Digital”.

I work with clients in the film, games, web and medical industries, providing high-quality 3D character development, including modeling, texturing, rigging as well as art direction.

Body Francisco Cortina Face by Yamakawa Hair by Hoashi.

www.cgarena.com

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Interview with

Issue 3 June - July 2009

CGArena

Francisco A. Cortina Q. You have worked for games and movies both, so please tell us what’s the major difference in pipeline of both and which you prefer the most?

While smaller VFX companies and game studios have a harder time developing their own proprietary software tools, they tend to have more fluid and flexible pipelines. Most are able to adjust and adopt changes both during and after projects, allowing for fast improvements and adopting changes in industry advances.

Large animation and VFX studios like Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, ILM, Sony Imageworks and others have very established pipelines with much larger teams that have taken years to develop. Because of that, they tend to have artists and programmers become “specialists”. It also takes them longer to adopt and accept change, both from within its non-management ranks and from outside advances that smaller software developers and researchers make.

I prefer the approach that many game companies and smaller VFX companies take in that they build more fluid pipelines and have smaller teams with multi-tasking artists and programmers. The result of this is a more flexible approach to problem solving. It is certainly a more difficult thing to achieve the larger the teams get.

www.cgarena.com

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Q. Which freelance services you offer to the clients?

I offer complete 3D character development services including Zbrush and Mudbox digital maquettes, modeling, texturing, shader and look development, hair, cloth sim and rigging. I also offer consulting and art direction depending on the needs of the client.

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Interview with

Issue 3 June - July 2009

CGArena

Francisco A. Cortina Q. Which software’s, plug-ins used for your CG work and why?

For most clients, I use Maya as the main 3d development application. For texture painting in my pipeline I use a combination of both Photoshop and Bodypaint 3D. I mainly use ZBrush for high poly digital sculpting, though Mudbox is a close second depending on the project. Because my clients’ software choices and pipelines vary greatly, I often develop in different software packages like 3DS Max and Softimage|XSI as well.

Q. Mudbox or ZBrush and why? Any specific thing like to change/updated in upcoming versions?

I’ve used both in production environments and really enjoy using them. I must admit, however, that they each have a couple of very frustrating flaws. If I had to choose one over the other at this time, I would say ZBrush because of its silky smooth brushes and sheer speed in handling very dense meshes. On the other hand, while Mudbox doesn’t have the absolute speed and robust brushes, it does have a significant advantage in having a pipeline friendly subdivision algorithm and excellent geometry and paint layering/editing system.

If I had two things that I could improve on in each I would say that: • Zbrush needs the ability to easily replace/re-target the base cage of a sculpt with another cage that has a completely different topology. In most cases, using the re-topologize technique or applying an old sculpt’s displacement map on a new cage is just not feasible.

• Zbrush needs a fix to their subdivision algorithm so that when a mesh is divided, its base cage does not “shrink”. For most meshes, simply re-importing the original cage at the lowest level causes severe exaggerations and pinching at the higher levels which is quite undesirable. The docs state that it uses the Catmull-clark subdivision scheme, however, many other applications also use a variant of this and they don’t suffer from this side effect.

• Mudbox can handle a very large amount of poly data, but the complaint that most have is that it needs to be faster during actual interactive sculpting, levels switching and undo/redo.

• Mudbox could also use improvements in how some of its brushes work. For example, the stencil brush is currently less intuitive and interactive than it could be, i.e., like ZBrush’s.

In the end, both apps have some incredible features and I’m confident that as they get updated over time, many of their flaws will be fixed. I give kudos to both Pixologic and Autodesk for really pushing some great advancements in the latest versions of their software. www.cgarena.com

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Q. Your portfolio shows your experience with big companies like Digital Domain, Dreamworks, Square… so what’s the secret mantra and how you cracked the job?

There is no magic bullet, but to students and young artists I say: Stay focused, driven and on the path which works for you and you’ll succeed. I’ve met some people who felt that getting a job at one of the prestigious companies was their dream goal and that if they were to be rejected they would be devastated. This is the wrong approach to take because many times perception and reality of those jobs and places are completely different things. If they stick to what they really love doing, the “job” opportunities will happen on their own.

Aki for Maxim Magaziine. Hair, bikini and Anatomy modeling by Francisco Cortina.

Textures and face by Steven Giesler. Lighting by Steven Giesler. GI pass and lighting support by Andrea Maiolo.

Q. Do you believe in ‘talent’ or just daily practice and understanding concepts will help?

I absolutely believe that talent plays a critical role, but talent alone is never enough for someone to be successful or the best at what they do. Experience, hard work and “daily practice”, as you say, play a very important role in excelling at something. In sports, for example, the athletes with the most talent are not always the best athletes. Many times, it’s those that have talent and the incredible drive and work ethic that are the really the most successful and brilliant. In our field, although anyone can learn how to use software and be technically proficient at it, I believe talent is the intangible which separates the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Hair and Facial animated displacement Wrinkles Francisco Cortina. Face re-model texture Steven Giesler.

Original face modeling by Rene Morel. Lighting by John Monos.

Interview with

Issue 3 June - July 2009

CGArena

Francisco A. Cortina

Q. In your portfolio we can mostly see lots of male and female heads, so which you like to model most and why?

After working on Final Fantasy, I gained a great appreciation for the difficulties in trying to emulate and reinterpret the human form, especially the face. Even as a young artist in school I was always interested in drawing and sculpting the human figure. Although I’ve done many more complete “full body” characters in recent years, many consider the face to be the most difficult thing to replicate. As a result, many of my clients have no doubt been interested in pushing the realism of the characters in their games and projects.

Q. On which projects you are working these days, and which project you enjoying the most.

I just recently finished working with the team at MOVA|OnLive™, helping them create a completely digital character to showcase and demo their next generation OnLive™ console. At the moment, I’m working with a game company based in Los Angeles, developing a highly detailed character for their next-generation game.

www.cgarena.com

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Publicity Gray for Magazine Hair pants and anatomy modeling Francisco Cortina.

Textures Steven Giesler Lighting Steven Giesler Francisco Cortina.

Interview with

Issue 3 June - July 2009

CGArena

Francisco A. Cortina

Q. Which 5 modeling tips and advice you like to give the upcoming artists, how they can create realistic models, what is necessary to generate photorealistic characters?

Tip #1: Reference - Try and prepare your reference images beforehand so that they line up with each other.

Use Photoshop guides to line up the key proportions so that when you add those images as background image planes in your 3d app, they will easily line up and you won’t have a difficult time aligning your models to them.

Tip #2: The edge flow of your meshes should always follow the logical anatomy and structure of the object you are creating. If you are creating a t-shirt, for example, build the seams and structure the edge flows just like you would in real life. Form should always follow function.

Tip #3: Whether using Deeppaint, Bodypaint, Photoshop or even Mudbox/Zbrush to paint texture layers, remember to preview and paint the textures with a flat “surface” shader that doesn’t contain any diffuse shading. Shading often hides problems which can later show up in rendering.

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Interview with

Issue 3 June - July 2009

CGArena

Francisco A. Cortina Tip #4: When working in Zbrush or Mudbox to create the bump or displacement passes, try to keep the broad sculptural changes in a separate layer from the fine “high frequency” level sculpting details. I usually postpone the very fine level of detail sculpting until the general color map is done so that the small wrinkles, grooves and blemishes can be matched up properly.

Tip #5: “Less is more”. It sounds easy to do, but I’ve seen many 3D artists and animators work scenes that become too large and very slow to work with because there is so much useless junk in them. Keeping only the essentials in your scenes is critical not only for productivity, but also for efficiency.

All other images copyright Francisco Cortina | Cortina Digital 2009, unless otherwise stated. Images may not be printed or reproduced without prior, written consent.

Q. Anything you like to add? It is your chance now to state your opinion about anything!

Sometimes it is hard to know where one’s path lies. It may sound cliché, but following one’s dream is the most important thing. Many of us are lucky to do what we truly love for a living and for students or young professionals, it is important to think about this and pursue your goals with your heart and not just for monetary reasons.

Web: www.cortinadigital.com www.cgarena.com

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Issue 3 June - July 2009

Tutorial

by Jason Seiler, USA CGArena Software:

Portrait of Nathan

Photoshop

2D

These are the steps I took while painting “Portrait of Nathan”. The sketch was drawn with a ball point pen in a toned sketchbook. I used Photoshop CS and a Wacom Cintiq for the painting. The size of the painting is 8.6” w x 10” h, at 300 resolution.

Step 1.

After scanning my sketch of Nathan, I choose Select All, copy that layer and paste another copy of the Nathan sketch above the background layer, one above the other. Then I switch to my background layer, Select All again and delete the Nathan sketch from the background layer. Now I select Layer Two which now has my Nathan sketch on it and set that layer to Multiply.

Next I create a new layer above the Nathan Sketch layer and fill it with a flesh tone. The flesh color I choose to use in RGB Mode was R: 189, G: 127, B: 101. Then I bring the opacity level down to 58%. I adjust the levels until they feel right.

I do this to soften and lighten my sketch lines, this adds a nice mid tone color and value. I do not always start with this color, in fact, I hardly ever start with the same colors because each subject I paint presents a new mood or feeling that I want to capture.

My photo reference felt cool and looked too green, I wanted a warm painting so that is why I choose a red flesh tone to start with. I tend to paint from dark to light, so the background here is used as a foundation to build from.

Step 2.

In step 1 I set the layer with my Nathan sketch to Multiply. The reason is because now I can go to the background layer directly under the sketch layer and block in rough color and values without loosing my sketch lines.

The brush I start with is a 13 round. I make sure that Other Dynamics is clicked on and that the Opacity Jitter is at 0%, Control is set to Pen Pressure, the Flow Jitter set to 0% and the Control below the Flow Jitter is set to Off. These settings give me the control that I prefer. I usually paint with my Opacity set to 85%-90% and my Flow set to 100%, although this sometimes differs depending on effect. Make www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Jason Seiler, USA CGArena

Portrait of Nathan sure that Shape Dynamics is clicked off.

What I typically do in this stage is use my eye drop tool to select the color I’ve created for the background and then use that color to begin my block in. Remember, the top layer, has been completely filled with a color (opacity brought down to 58%), so this means that when I block in my painting in the background layer, I cannot get too dark because the top layer will not allow it (you will need to experiment with this a bit to get a feel for it). I do this so that I can roughly build up my values in a controlled manner. At this stage of the painting, I am mostly concerned about painting the correct values. It is also important to know that in the block in stage I never zoom in too close. I paint from a distance and use only large brushes. This way I can focus on capturing shape and values, I merely suggest detail.

Step 3 For this next step, I create a new layer that is put on top of the other layers. I then set this layer to Soft Light, choose white from my color picker and begin blocking in lighter values. At this stage, I want to control my lights, my goal here is to softly bring in a little light and slowly bring out shape and form. Because my layer is set to Soft light, I cannot get a pure white. Think of it as if you are sculpting, chipping away small pieces until the form appears. I’ll usually save my bright highlights and whites for later on in the painting and start first by establishing my darks and working lighter from there. This stage is simply for me to create a balanced foundation for my block in. Stages 1-3 take 5 to 10 minutes at most to complete. www.cgarena.com

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Jason Seiler, USA CGArena

Portrait of Nathan Step 4.

This is where the painting becomes a little more complicated. I am now ready to start blocking my painting but first I need to create a color palette that has harmony. As I said earlier, my main priority is getting the values to look correct. I know that if I can succeed in that, I can do just about anything with the color. I want to create a variation of red, yellow, and blue. As you know, with these three colors most color can be created. You’ll notice that in this painting I do not have any pure colors, instead my colors are more earthy.

To create this palette, I make a new layer that will remain on top of all my layers from this point on. This layer will be used as my “palette layer”.

I select my eye drop tool and eye drop a redbrown color from my background. I then click my color picker and choose a few more reds based off the red-brown that I chose and create a small grouping of flesh-like reds and browns.

I do this by squinting my eyes while looking at my photo reference and then choosing color according to the values I see while squinting my eyes. When I squint at my photo reference I see oranges, greens, violets, and blues. I create those colors and mix my red-brown color into them to create harmony. This technique is similar to the “pigment soup” technique that I’ll sometimes use when painting with oils.

I now create another layer that will go directly under my “palette layer” but will be on top of all the other layers. I now begin to paint on top of my block-in. Everything up to this point will be used as a guide for me to follow as I build up layers of color.

The first thing I want to do now is establish my darkest darks, and block those in. I still haven’t zoomed in and I continue to use a large round brush. My technique when painting digitally is very similar to how I would paint traditionally with oils. Start with the bigger brushes, block in largest shapes of darkest colors and as the painting progresses, use smaller and smaller brushes. Also, never stay in one area too long, painting from a distance with larger brushes will help you cover more ground quicker. www.cgarena.com

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Issue 3 June - July 2009

Tutorial

by Jason Seiler, USA CGArena

Portrait of Nathan Step 5.

Now this is where the painting begins to come to life. I continue the same process as in step 4. Squinting my eyes, I look for the lighter values and with a larger round brush I block in lighter values. I have also begun to block in a bit of the background as well. The background is important to establish early on in the painting. It should complement the portrait, the colors and values of the background will affect the colors and values in your portrait so it’s important to work back and forth between the portrait and background while blocking in.

Step 6.

As the painting develops, I continue with the same approach, squinting my eyes and mixing color to match the value and temperature that I desire for the piece. Now I can zoom in a bit and begin to render in details, such as the eyes nose and mouth. I’m still using a round brush at this stage, but a much smaller brush as I get into the details. Move around the painting, blocking in the entire piece all at once, as to get a better feel of the piece as a whole.

Step 7.

I’m still using a round brush. I have now started refining detail in areas like the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, hair as well as shirt. I have also added a bit more to the background, increasing size for a better composition. You can start to see a softer transition on edges between values. I continue this technique of painting until I feel the piece is finished. I have removed the palette because I now have enough colors in my painting to work with. If www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Jason Seiler, USA CGArena

Portrait of Nathan I need to change the value or saturation of a color that I already have, I simply click on the color picker and mix or adjust my color there.

Step 8.

Not much has changed in step 8. You can see that I have now begun to add hair-like strokes to his hair as well as beard. For hair I like to use a soft round, I make sure that I click on Shape Dynamics so that I have a tapered point to work with. I have also started to use my favorite Photoshop brush, brush #24. Follow the brush settings mentioned in Step 2. Brush #24’s marks and strokes feel more like a natural paint brush and I use it as such, this is the brush I will use to finish the painting, with the exception of a soft round that I use for hairs.

Step 9.

With brush #24 I continue to soften edges, adjust values and introduce more lighter values.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Jason Seiler, USA CGArena

Portrait of Nathan Step 10.

The shirt is coming along, although it is my intention to leave the shirt a bit loose and sketchy. I continue to develop the different shapes I’ve created. At this stage I freely zoom in and out. Zooming in for details, zooming out to have a look from a distance. It is important to often step back from the painting. With this painting it was not my intention to copy the color I was seeing in the photograph, instead I decided to focus mainly on values while keeping color temperature in mind. Squint your eyes for value and open your eyes to see the color.

Final Step.

The painting is all but finished in step 10 with the exception of the hair. First, create a new layer for hair, this way if you need to erase a hair that doesn’t feel right, it won’t ruin the rest of the painting. For hair, I paint the large mass of value and shape that I see, squinting my eyes, I block in the basic form or design of the hair. I block it in a little bit darker than it needs to be. This way when I paint smaller hairs on top in a lighter value, it will give the illusion of depth. To add to this illusion, I also change the size of my brush to differ the widths of the hairs. I use a soft round brush with a tapered point to paint smaller hairs. Keep it simple, study what hair does and then make it more interesting.

Well, that’s it, remember to have fun, sketch, draw and paint from life, as much as you can. Keep it simple. If you look at the design of my portrait, you can see that my shapes and forms are basic and simple. When I combine strong values and color to my basic design, the final appears more complicated than it really is.

If this fails you can always push “Control Apple Jason”, see if that does it for ya!

Website: www.jasonseiler.com Email: jseiler@jpusa.org www.cgarena.com

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Exchange insight and inspiration with the animators, artists, researchers, developers, and producers who are creating this year’s most amazing experiences. In the city that has been inspiring musical innovation, culinary excellence, visual splendor, and architectural wonder for 300 years. You’ll return from SIGGRAPH 2009 with re-energized imagination, renewed skills, and insider information to spark your creativity and surpass your goals for the coming year.

Right Image: ATLAS in silico © 2007 Ruth West

Join some of the world’s finest players at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans.

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by David Arberas Recondo, Spain CGArena Software:

Making of Aramaki, section 9

Autodesk XSI, ZBrush

3D

Before I start anything I would like to thank CGArena for giving me the opportunity to put my techniques used in the work on this wonderful magazine.

The idea for this work came from while watching a chapter of one of my favorite anime series, Ghost in the Shell. Aramaki Daisuke is next to the lieutenant Kusanagi my favorite and I wanted to make a small tribute to this work. It happened to me that I could use enough programs to practice a little with all of them.

REFERENCES I consider this one of the most important since it is impossible without a satisfactory job. First I catch some of the chapters where I can see the character’s facial features and hair, the area of the mouth, nose and eyes. The most characteristic feature of the character is his mouth and hair, so I tried to take care of that aspect much.

Because my idea was to make a version of the character in more detail, something in between the anime and reality, so I had to use references of older people. For this task it is best to search in google or on websites such as deviantart.com.

These references are very important to see and help in determine how to make wrinkles, follow the direction, details of the skin, different types of pores, blemishes on the skin and others.

MODELING The modeling of the objects is done in XSI because according to me it is the best 3d package. In this section I did not want to complicate much, what I wanted most was the practice of sculpture, I tried to correct www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by David Arberas Recondo, Spain CGArena

Making of Aramaki, Section 9 everything so they don’t have groups of 3 and 5 sides.

The jacket divided into two parts, the flaps and part of the shoulders, lapels models starting with a grid and adding edges as needed to give it the right way, then I symmetrize. The part of the shoulder started with a bucket and did the same thing, as your tie.

With the shirt the process was similar to the one of the jacket with taken care of which geometry was not only overlapped and modeling the visible parts, unnecesarily not to waste the geometry within the jacket because it was not going to be seen. To model the eyes, look in google a good outline of the human eye and created the model.

The hair and the knob are simple cubes, the topology does not worried me because I would render the model with high resolution. Once this processis finalized, I export the geometry in. Obj format, to take them in other sculpture programs.

SCULPTURE Throughout this process I used two programs, Mudbox 2009 and ZBrush 3.1, first to make the sculpture with the greatest wrinkles and the second for the wrinkles and small details of the skin. The common error that occurs when you make your first digital sculpture is to begin to detail the models at the highest levels of subdivision, Believe me, it is NOT a good idea to do that unless you’re a true genius of sculpturing. For a sculpture works, always work on the low-res base mesh and devote most of the time in the lower levels of subdivision.

Like a house does not start with the roof and a design is not detailed from the beginning, with the sculpture happens the same.

Having said that, as you can imagine most of the time spent in the lowest subdivision sculpture appeared Aramaki, for this I focused on the main features of his face: small nose, part of the nose to upper lip bigger than normal, very long hair ... to see if it works. I advise you to always try to make a material constant, like this is just the silhouette of the character.

When we have a good base so we can make major wrinkles of the face. To make a good crease brush I usually prefer “sculpt”, www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by David Arberas Recondo, Spain CGArena

Making of Aramaki, Section 9 “pinch” and “smooth.” The first thing is to mark both sides of the ridge with the brush “sculpt” and “falloff” 2, then with the same brush, the “falloff” 0 “steady stroke” on a smaller size but marks the crack of the wrinkle. Now reslataremos the crease with the brush “pinch”, that what does is to bring together the points of the grid and finally we use “smooth” on the edges of the crack if we see that it has become very strong.

Following this technique check all the wrinkles of the face of the main character.

Once finished the sculpture in Mudbox 2009 I exported the highest level of subdivision in .obj to ZBrush 3.1 and use the wonderful feature recontruction subdivision “of this program that allowed me to get the lowest subdivision for later able to the pose of the character. At this point I started to use the brush “inflat” with a low intensity and alphas of human skin for getting the details of the smaller pores and wrinkles. This part is very satisfactory, but it is very important to look good on different types of pores of the skin to obtain the good results.

TEXTURING Polypainting used for the texturing in ZBrush. It should be borne in mind that for best results with this technique you need to know how it works: what it does, paint on the polygons are not using UV’s to paint, so if you need a texture of 2048x2048 (which is I used) then you have to paint polygons 2048x2048 is 4,194,304.

I wanted to test the technique of painting the skin of Aramaki with Airbrush. This consists of painting the area warm, temperate and cold regions of the face and then add a layer of soft color on them. With a custom brush I painted the warm areas first, then cold and finally hardened. Then there are some patterns to be www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by David Arberas Recondo, Spain CGArena

Making of Aramaki, Section 9 painted while you can do by hand or using the alpha 22.

In order to finalize the texture I superficially painted with a brush “standard”, a very soft and close to a color of human skin. The rest of the objects I painted with a base color and tonal range just try to put them in and playing a bit with the color palette.

The next step was to open the UV’s, Modo 302 having a powerful tools for this. From ZBrush export each tool on its lowest level of subdivision to import in modo 302. Once you open the UV’s, which took me about 10 minutes (now I understand that I said “powerful tools for this, no?), I went back to the matter. Obj www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by David Arberas Recondo, Spain CGArena

Making of Aramaki, Section 9 in ZBrush to transfer UVS every tool at its lowest level of subdivision, and thus able to transfer textures polypainting created with the “texture> col> texr” SHADING, ILLUMINATION AND RENDER This part is done entirely in XSI and I must say it is the most rewarding because it is where you begin to solidify and enhance the results of the work, which I enjoyed very much.

For the skin shader I used the FastSkin after obtaining the textures in Photoshop. Layer “diffuse” is the texture as you have painted, “epidermal” gives texture Desaturation and “subdermal” saturating it. “Back to scatter weight” is a black and white texture which indicate where the white color is more pronounced the translucent effect of subsurface scattering, in this case, ears and nose. All other materials are “phong with values adjusted to speculate.

In the area of illumination light used for soft shadows. I wanted the left side had a bluish hue and in right a yellow hue, as they are complementary colors and composition tend to give very nice results.

Configured to render an image at a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, and the lowest possible aliasing.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by David Arberas Recondo, Spain CGArena

Making of Aramaki, Section 9 POST - PRODUCTION The last step was to finalize the details in photoshop, so I took a texture of the wall to adjust the levels and put a gradient from blue to yellow (left to right) over and playing with blending modes and opacity according to my liking. Then I added a bit of noise and placed as a background image.

To make the picture more interesting, I added a little blur in the silhouette of Aramaki and trim the image to a square format to play around with the image composition. Don’t hesitate in sending your comments.

Web: www.cgdavarb.com Email: neo1001@gmail.com www.cgarena.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Kamil Mlcak, Czech Republic CGArena Software:

Overview of Portrait of Martha

3ds max, ZBrush, Photoshop

3D

Hi, My name is Kamil Mlcak, I am from Czech Republic and I will try to give you short overview of how I did my picture “Portrait of Martha”. This was made with ZBrush, 3ds max and Photoshop.

I wanted to create mulatto female and I decide to use Zspheres in ZBrush. I found all the references for modeling in Google search and for texturing I used photos from www.3d.sk MODELING I started in ZBrush where I made base model of head from zspheres and started sculpting. After several hours, when model was ready, I exported lowest subdivision level and do the mapping. Then imported back to ZBrush with mapping.

For clothes I made base model in 3ds max and then some detailing in ZBrush.

The rest of the model was done entirely in max. www.cgarena.com

Page 37

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Kamil Mlcak, Czech Republic CGArena

Overview of Portrait of Martha TEXTURING I used 3d.sk photo references for textures and used zapplink method for texturing with ZBrush and Photoshop. I did some photo projections on model, then I did a lot of retouching in photoshop.

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Page 38

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Kamil Mlcak, Czech Republic CGArena

Overview of Portrait of Martha

Shaders: Shaders was created in mental ray, I used mental ray fast sss skin shader for body. For clothes it was blended standard material and for eyes used the raytrace material.

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Page 39

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Kamil Mlcak, Czech Republic CGArena

Overview of Portrait of Martha HAIRS Hairs, eylashes, eybrows and little skin fur created using hair&fur plugin. Hairs has 15 sources to gain variability, I used splines as guides and than some hand tweaking. Hairs were rendered as geometry and they received color variation from head texture. Then I did second render with buffer method and mixed both (hair shader and buffer method) in Photoshop. I did that in this way because I had some problems with loosing volume of hairs with buffer method, but with geometry there was nice volume all the time. For other fur it was same as for hair.

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Page 40

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by Kamil Mlcak, Czech Republic CGArena

Overview of Portrait of Martha RENDERING Scene was rendered with mental ray, there was 3 MR area lights, one from front, the other two helping from back. I used final gather without GI and rendered too many elements for compositon in Photoshop.

POST - PRODUCTION In photoshop I did some color corrections and mainly tweak the hairs little more, cos it was just a quick way to draw some problematic areas over.

Hope you like this small overview of the method I follow to create this image, if you have any doubts or questions then don’t hesitate to ask and send me an email.

Kamil Mlcak

Email: alcado@seznam.cz www.cgarena.com

Page 41

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by GuzBoroda, Russia CGArena Software:

Making of Naval Officer

Corel Painter X

2D

This image was created as a cover for the PC game for client Akella where the player had to participate in sea battles, trade with various countries and to establish own colony in East India. The main idea I choose naval officer in ceremonial suit at a marine landscape. I specifically avoid any action in this figure. I want to draw brave and nobility captain. Since the game takes place in the English colonies, I use English military costumes.

In the beginning, I fill background by beige, creating another layer with composite method “gel”, choose a 2B pencil and start drawing. Determine the composition and give full attention to the idea of the image, there is very important for me. In this case the main idea is a serious person officer. On this stage most important thing for me is to consolidate the basic idea in the beginning, and then the work goes much faster.

I make changes in the composition throughout my work. With the lasso I select the pieces of the picture increases and moving them

as I want. From that moment I start searching the references for my subject - uniforms, ships and even the Taj Mahal. As the reference of human anatomy I use Andrew Loomis’s and Burn Hogarth’s books. I like the fact that they have to overstate the human body muscles, they helps me in understanding the anatomy. Photography can’t help it as a penciling. But! If Loomis and Hogarth can’t help me after all, I take the desktop mirror of my wife and find my answers there ;).

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Page 43

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by GuzBoroda, Russia CGArena

Making of Naval Officer At the initial stage, I drew a mast behind the backs of the steering, but later when viewing the reference material, I understand it’s can’t be like this. I had to move not only the mast and pieces on the background, but I had to refuse a sail and placed ropes on another direction. At this stage, I draw everything by using the minimum number of colors, a round oil brush with a large diameter. I try to solve all the objects in tone and constantly think of the overall composition! The most important thing for artist is to look at own work and did not see three people + ship + the city and the sky, but see the spots, the unique shapes and rhythm. It is very important! In fact, the combination of these abstract forms most important rather than the correct anatomy and authentic costumes. If your composition do not take into account the movement of these forms, there is no beautiful military uniform can’t help your work. I will tell you honestly, in this work, I was carried away drawing “correct” blue jacket, cocked hat, and other parts of the scene and forgot about the forms that I wrote above. Now I know that the shrouds, mast, wheel and the edge of the ship should have been resolved differently. But, if you excuse me, I must give you one more advice: after you’ve finished the picture, and after the veil has fallen from your eyes and you saw a bunch of errors don’t turn back!

Fixing old bugs you will never be able to develop your skills properly. If so disgusting to look at own work, draw it again, but did not correct the finished work. Start a new one! Remember your mistakes and in the future this knowledge will help you.

That I don’t get bogged down in the details, I use a large brush, and after I decide that nothing more I can do with this brush, I make a move to a small diameter. In this work, I used a few tools: pencil, eraser, round oil brush, blender (rare), lasso, and sometimes aerograph for overlay effect or staining. In my work with oil brush I constantly adjust Opacity and Grain. Adjusting Grain - changing mixing a brush’s paint with paint on canvas. When you need to fix the form without changing the color, you must reduce Opacity and increase Grain, then the color on the brush does not mix with the color on a canvas and smear will not look cut by scissors because of the low opacity. I do not use a palette. I mix colors directly on canvas. When mixing colors, I try to use oil brush www.cgarena.com

Page 44

Tutorial

Issue 3 June - July 2009

by GuzBoroda, Russia CGArena

Making of Naval Officer rather than a blender, because it is harder and my sense of color is coached very well. All the sake of progress! ;) Often happens that I immediately notice some errors in the form of an object, such as shape hand wheel or spyglass. Then, I create above a picture on another layer, fill it beige, adjust layer transparency about 75%, and create another layer (gel) above and a penciling forms again. After that I remove the beige layer and on the main layer make the necessary corrections using the pencil’s drawing as a hint. When I drew a person an officer, I have tried to use only light colors, without deep shadows and greatly clarified area. I have to keep in mind the idea that human face is a set of complex shapes and spots, not just the nose, eyes and mouth. I tried to find solutions to show the volume and difficult terrain of the human face.

In addition, I tried to use more than two light sources. I tried as late as possible to begin to detail, knowing that I am often get carried away and lose sight of the main. It happened with the hands of the soldier, cocked hat, and ropes. Instead of scratched each finger and a thread on the rope I had to draw the general shape of ropes so that it is organically combined with other forms of close. So the hand of a soldier should have been drawn together with a rifle, so that their shadows combine in an interesting shape.

A rope should have been an interesting shape like a spider’s web, but not as the individual strings.

I work with color throughout the work and do not like to paint using colorize or overlay layers. I have resorted to these effects are very rare, when I don’t have time absolutely to fix mistakes and I need to quickly do something. It is because I have 3 days (24 hours) for work on cover. I prefer to put the color of paint using oil brushes that picture was more like a real painting www.cgarena.com

Page 45

Tutorial

Issue 3 2 June Apr - -May July2009 2009

by GuzBoroda, Russia CGArena

Making of Naval Officer in oils. And yet it is learn be responsible for the painting, which is very important for the artist. I hope my description of the process to someone can help.

Web: www.guzboroda.ru Email: pavel@guzboroda.ru

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Page 46

gallery

Antonio Bonora, Italy principe_antonio@hotmail.it 3ds Max, ZBrush

Massimo Righi, Italy info@massimorighi.com Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop

Hugo Costa, Portugal lw4d@hotmail.com Cinema 4D, Corel Photo Paint

Federico Scarbini, Italy fede@federicoscarbini.com ZBrush, Photoshop

Weilin Ke, China keweilintuke@sina.com 3ds Max

Wesclei Barbosa, Brazil wesclei@hotmail.com 3ds Max, ZBrush

Salvo Brullo, Italy gandall@gmail.com 3ds Max, Vray

John Hayes, USA zugok@sbcglobal.net Maya, ZBrush, Modo

Sibel Aksan, Turkey sibelproje@hotmail.com 3ds Max, Photoshop

ChengChan, Singapore tchengchan@yahoo.com Maya, Mental Ray

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