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The best-selling magazine for 3D artists on animation, VFX, games, illustration and architecture. Featuring artistic and technical advice, product reviews and an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of groundbreaking projects in the industry.TRANSCRIPT
3dw
orld
mag
.com
OCTOBER 2011 UK £6
147
How Jellyfish Pictures delivered 2,100 CG shots for the BBC TV showPLUS: Jellyfish’s tips for creating your own giant reptiles
Monkey business down under inthe new Planet of the Apes movie
in under down business Monkey in under down business Monkeymovie Apes the of Planet new the movie Apes the of Planet new the
WETA GOES APE!
MONSTERTRAININGISSUE!32pages of tips
and tutorialsCreate fluids in MayaReplicators in modoTips for ZBrush
THE WORLD’S BEST-SELLING MAGAZINE FOR 3D ARTISTS
Discover newreader artStunning images from3D artists like you!
Game ofThrones VFXBringing the amazingfantasy show to life
The latestanimationGhostly goings-onin CG short The Visit
+++++
Planet
Dinosaur+
Tipsfor
ZBrush
+Maya
fluidsim
ulations+Rise
ofthe
Planet
ofthe
Apes
Octo
ber
2011
3dworldm
ag.com147
Scale modelHow to sculptwrinkles, scarsand knobbly skinPage 68
Learn newCG skills
Axis points in 3dsMaxDepth of field in Vue
Speed up V-Ray
DISCWORTH$248!
Plus texturesand models
FREEVideo tutorials
45 architecture texturesplus workplace props
October 2011 | | 005
WelcometoThe black art of visual effects:who’d do this for a living…?
Five things you’llfind in everyissue of 3D World
Expert analysis and opinion
1Get under the skin of the 3D industry withregular assessments of industry trends.Pre-Viz looks at what’s happening right now,
while Post-Production and our in-depth features offerprivileged access to the biggest names in the industryas they share their expertise with you.
Road-tested tutorials
2Seasoned professionals from across the3D industry write tutorials based on projectscreated especially for you. We test every step
ourselves to ensure accuracy and accessibility.
3dworldmag.com
In an attempt to keep my hand in with a bitof CG, I thought I’d try a little VFX sequenceof a flying saucer crashing into a building
using some footage I’d shot in New York. My plan wassimple: match-move the building; create a replica inLightWave; transfer to Cinema 4D for breaking; backinto LightWave for rendering; layer it all in AfterEffects; wait for ILM job offer to roll in.PFhoe delivered a decent track, so I was off and
running. However, without on-set measurements I’veno idea how big the building was, so I spent a tedious evening nudgingboxes around in LightWave until it sort of lined up with what I’ll generouslyterm ‘the live-action footage’.I then spent hours modelling and texturing a detailed facsimile of the
building, using images taken from the footage and un-warped in Photoshop.The first major hitch was importing my matchmoved LightWave scene intoCinema 4D, which removed all of my lovely textures. After more time spentstumbling blindly around in BodyPaint, I gave up and decided my buildingwould be just fine as a rectangular block with a basic UV map.
Not waving but drowningNext it was time to demolish it with Nitroblast – but, good as it is, theplug-in destroys your UV textures when there are too many pieces. Also,the top of the building was falling onto the camera, so after many morehours of tweaking, I decided on a subtler effect with the saucer merelydislodging a few chunks. I was going to create the dust particles in Cinema4D, but every time I tried to replicate the simulation, half my buildingdisappeared. Ah, bugger it… I’ll do it in post. Yet more compromises.So here I am. Four or five entire evenings later, I’ve got multiple
composite layers cobbled together in After Effects with various masks toget rid of unwanted pieces and strange keying artefacts; layers that – forno adequately explained reason – don’t line up any more; and a Particulareffect that, while great, still isn’t quite what I’m after. To be honest, I thinkI’m going to have to go back to near the beginning and start all over again.So having sampled the pure horror of a pipeline that refuses to work,
coupled with a lack of planning, and an over-optimistic client (my brain),I can only suggest that if you do this for a living, you are a martyr to thecause. I’ll be sticking to the day job, thanks.
Steve Jarratt, editor
Contact 3D WorldPortfolio submissionsSend us your 3D artworkand you could be publishedin [email protected]
General enquiriesSteve JarrattEditor01225 [email protected]
AdvertisingRoss ArthursAccount salesmanager0207 042 [email protected]
SUBSCRIBERSGot a questionabout your 3DWorldsubscription? [email protected]
Inspiring artwork
3We comb all areas of the 3D scene to find thebest examples of work that’s being producedtoday, from the hottest commercials to game
cinematics and illustrations. 3D World reflectsthe state of the art every month.
The whole of the 3D scene
4Why restrict yourself? Whatever your maincreative discipline, 3D World enables you to keepup with trends and techniques across animation,
visual effects, games illustration and architecture. Asthe world of 3D evolves, so does 3D World.
Free disc
5Your free disc contains 3Dresources with an averagecommercial value of $830.
Every month you’ll receive a disccrammed with the best 3D assets
we can lay our hands on, including the scene files youneed to complete our training projects.
3dworldmag.com006 | | October 2011
Introducing ouradvisory boardEach issue, our panel of leading figures from acrossthe CG industry give us their advice and help
Spotlight on…
This issue’scontributors
Meet all ofour advisory
boardmembers at3dworldmag.com/board
CHIEF EXECUTIVE Stevie SpringNON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN Roger Parry
GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR John BowmanTel +44 (0)20 7042 4000 (London)
+44 (0)1225 442244 (Bath)
Future produces carefully targetedmagazines, websites andevents for people with a passion. Our portfolio includesmorethan 180magazines, websites and events and we export orlicense our publications to 90 countries around the world.
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Next issue on sale 14 Sept 2011
Tim AlexanderVFX supervisor, ILM
Stuart AdcockTechnical art director,
Ninja Theory
Jordi BarésJoint head of 3D,
The Mill
Pascal BlanchéArt director, Ubisoft
Tim BradeTechnical director,
Aardman Animations
Rob BredowCTO, Sony Pictures
Imageworks
Gustavo CapoteArt director, Neoscape
Andrew DaffyDirector, The House
of Curves
Lee DanskinTraining development
director, Escape Studios
Jonathan DaviesHead of 3D production,The Moving Picture
Company
Sofronis EfstathiouMA 3D programme
leader, National Centrefor Computer Animation,Bournemouth University
Paul FranklinVFX supervisor,Double Negative
Andrew GordonAnimator, Pixar
Eddie LeonPresident/CEO, Spine3D
Andrew LindsayDirector of animation,Lionhead Studios
Stefan MarjoramDirector, Aardman
Animations
Jeremy MoorsheadAnimation department
chair, SCAD
Alex MorrisFounder,
Alex Morris Visualisation
Ximo PerisCreative director,
Crystal CG
Shelley PageHead of International
Outreach,DreamWorks Animation
Robi RoncarelliEditor and publisher,
PIXEL
Jolyon WebbR&D art director,Blitz Game Studios
Chris HemmingDIRECTOR/ANIMATOR,PASSION PICTURESChris’s directing projects include
videos for Cornershop and The Winter Olympics.On page 104, he reveals the team effort behindPassion Pictures’ exciting new stereoscopiccinema ad for Audi.
Scott SpencerDIGITAL SCULPTORScott Spencer is a digital sculptorand designer at the Weta
Workshop in Wellington, New Zealand, wherehe’s burning the midnight oil on The Hobbit.Luckily, he still has time to share his ZBrushworkflow tips with you on page 84.
Eric KellerFREELANCE ANIMATOREric keeps busy creating animationsfor both the entertainment industry
and the science community, writing books andinstructing at the Gnomon School of VisualEffects. On page 62, he explores the latest fluidsimulation tools in Maya.
EDITORIAL EDITOR Steve Jarratt [email protected] ART EDITOR Roddy Llewellyn [email protected] PRODUCTION EDITOR Richard Hill [email protected] EDITOR Rob Redman [email protected] ONLINE EDITOR Andy Price [email protected] STAFFWRITER Kerrie Hughes [email protected] DESIGNER Shona [email protected] NEWMEDIA EDITOR Simon Holland [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS Conrad Allan, Juan Manuel Bautista Hoepfner, Paul Beards, Ricardo Bonisoli, MathewBurniston, Mathew Cooling, Chris Hemming, James Cutler, Eric Keller, Ola Madsen, Michael McCarthy, James Morris, Andrew Price, Mark Ramshaw, Mental Roy, Tom Skelton, Glen Southern, Scott Spencer,Jim Thacker Cover Jellyfish Pictures Illustration Simon Cornish Image library iStockPhoto SENIOR CREATIVES CREATIVE DIRECTOR Robin Abbott EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jim DouglasADVERTISING SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE Ross Arthurs +44 20 7042 4128 [email protected] SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE Laura Watson +44 20 7042 4122 [email protected] SALES MANAGER Ricardo Sidoli +44 20 7042 4124 [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Nick Weatherall +44 20 7042 4155 [email protected]
LONDON SALES DIRECTORMalcolm Stoodley +44 20 7042 [email protected] PRINT & PRODUCTION PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Charlene Vaughan [email protected] LICENSING INTERNATIONALLICENSING DIRECTOR Tim Hudson [email protected] Telephone +44 1225 442244 Fax +44 1225 732275MARKETING CAMPAIGNMANAGER Emma Kershaw [email protected] CIRCULATION TRADE MARKETINGMANAGER Stuart Brown [email protected] INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER Richard Jefferies [email protected] TRADE MARKETING DIRECTOR Rachael Cock [email protected] PUBLISHING LIMITED PUBLISHER Fiona Tully [email protected] GROUP PUBLISHERMatthew [email protected] GROUP PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Stuart Anderton [email protected] EXECUTIVE Mark Wood SUBSCRIPTIONS SUBSCRIBE ONLINEmyfavouritemagazines.co.uk CALL OUR UK HOTLINE 0844 848 2852 US & CANADA: SUBSCRIBE AT imsnews.com/3dworld US HOTLINE +1 800 428 3003.Printed in the UK by William Gibbons. Distributed in the UK by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT. Tel +20 7429 4000
Alex MorrisDIRECTOR, ALEX MORRIS VISUALISATIONAlex Morris studied at Cambridge and Liverpool universities, qualifying as anarchitect in 1990. In 1996, he joined leading international visualisation studioHayes Davidson, becoming a partner in 2001. He was responsible for manyof HD’s landmark images, including London’s Millennium Dome and the TateModern. He is a judge for the CGarchitect 3D Awards and sits on the boards ofnumerous key industry bodies. In 2009, he left Hayes Davidson to found his ownagency, which works on visualisation projects as diverse as teacups and citymasterplanning. Alex was instrumental in selecting nominations for our 3DWorldCG Awards, the winners of which we’ll be showcasing in the next issue.
Glen SouthernCREATIVE DIRECTOR,SPARKLEVFXGlen has been modelling in 3D
since the early 1990s and maintains an activefreelance modelling career alongside his workat SparkleVFX. He continues his series onmodelling basics on page 76.
Mathew BurnistonFREELANCE 3D ARTISTMathew is a motion graphics and3D freelancer, with a wide range
of skills frommodelling and texturing throughto rigging and 2D/3D animation. On page 78,he shows you how to use replicators in modoto make complex multi-component models.
© 2011 Future Publishing. 3D World is the registered trademark of Future Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine June be used or reproducedwithout the written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited [company number 2008885] is registered in England and Wales. The registered office ofFuture Publishing Limited is at Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, BA1 2BW. All information contained in this magazine is for information only and is, as far as we areaware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Readers are advised to contactmanufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this magazine. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automaticallygrant Future a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digitalformat throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents orsubcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage.
Amember of the AuditBureau of Circulations
12,842Jan-Dec 2010
3dworldmag.com
008 | | October 2011
Contents
SHOWCASE
TRAININGCOMMUNITY
FEATURES
REVIEWS
PRE-VIZ
Issue 147 October 2011
THE MONTH’S BEST NEWCOMMERCIAL PROJECTS
052 ProjectsOur selection of recent printand short-form 3D work
CRITICAL 3D TOPICS,DISCUSSED IN DEPTH
034 Rise of the Planetof the ApesWeta Digital on its all-new fursystem and a leap forward in digitalacting in this simian prequel
044 Planet DinosaurVisit Jellyfish Pictures for anin-depth exploration of how itbrought CG dinosaurs to your TV
COMMENT AND ANALYSISFROM THE CG INDUSTRY
028Modelling standardsTurboSquid aims to toughen up itsmodel artists by certifying assetsbefore sale: will it work?
032 The FilterA major update for Nuke leads ourround-up of new 3D releases
IMAGES AND OPINIONSFROM YOU, THE READERS
010 PortfolioBreathtaking new artwork,including a brilliant pirate portraitand a sumptuous interior scene
018 In FocusRicardo Bonisoli reveals the hiddendepths of a fantastic series ofrenders, with tips galore
024 Short CutsMeet the maker of The Visit, acharming animated short tackling adifficult subject
026 InboxYour views on 3D laser scannersand CG gobbledygook
PRACTICAL TUTORIALSTO BOOST YOUR 3D SKILLS
062Make a splashwithMayaExplore the latest fluid simulationtools as Eric Keller shows you howto animate a fountain stream
068 Planet Dinosaur creaturesculptingworkshopJellyfish Pictures’ Mathew Coolingreveals the techniques he used onthe stunning new BBC series
076 Displacement basicsFind out how to use displacementmaps to add modelling detailwithout taxing your computer
078 Photoreal plants inmodoDiscover how replicators can helpyou create complex model formswithout the hassle
084 ZBrush tipsWeta Workshop’s Scott Spencershares his tips and techniques forfaster, better sculpting
088 Questions &AnswersOur experts tackle your challenges,including tips for Blender, Vue,V-Ray and After Effects
NEW TECHNOLOGY,TESTED BY 3D EXPERTS
096 Shade Professional 12The cult visualisation suite getsa new look and new 3D toys
098Workstation SpecialistsWSX4workstationIs this budget system the idealbalance of power and price?
099Workstation SpecialistsRS-D2600 render nodeDouble your WSX4’s renderingpower with this add-on unit
100 recoilAdd rigid body dynamics to modowith this plug-in – if you dare...
101 Cryo Octane EDP-WSSay hello to the fastest workstationwe’ve ever tested!
010PORTFOLIOSergey Samuilov’s pirateheadlines a stellar line-upof new 3D artwork
018
Contents
PLUS: How the dinosaurs weresculpted in ZBrush 068
EVERY ISSUE
ESSENTIAL 3D ASSETSAND VIDEO TRAINING
112 On the disc$248 of assets include a completeoffice accessory pack, 45 high-resarchitectural textures and twoappealing cartoon vehicles. Plus:two complete video tutorials!
Turn to page 114 to grabyour packed free disc
ON THE DISC
KEY MOMENTS IN CGHISTORY REVISITED
104 DebriefChris Hemming of Passion Picturespresents themaking of the company’sexciting new stereoscopic ad for Audi
108 Freeze FrameHow a fresh new studio won the prizeof the effects work for HBO’s fantasyblockbuster Game of Thrones
POST-PRODUCTION
003 Cover Artist005 Editor’s Intro006 Advisory Board042 Subscriptions095 Next issue102 Back issues111Mental Roy
PLANETDINOSAURGo behind the scenes of the BBC’snew all-CG prehistoric series
044
034 RISE OFTHE PLANETOF THE APESHowWeta Digital reinvented fur andperfected the art of digital acting
SUBSCRIBE ANDSAVE MONEY!Get 3DWorlddelivered to yourdoor and save 30%!See page 42
078
062
088
October 2011 | | 009
Der Besuch is a story that addresses some delicateissues of old age. Kerrie Hughes talks to directorConrad Tambour about the family-inspired tale
VITAL STATISTICSTitle Der Besuch (The Visit)Duration 8:30Website neuer-trickfilm.atBudget €5,000Director Conrad TambourProduction time 2.5 yearsSoftware Maya, V-Ray forMaya, Mudbox, Photoshop,Nuke, Unfold3DSynopsis An old lady iscooking up a treat in thesmall hours of the morningfor her long-deceasedfriends. She must be mad…or is she?If you like this, watch…Bunny by Chris Wedge, HessiJames by Johannes Weiland
COMMUNITY Short Cuts
The environments werecreated to look as thoughthey’d been built in real life,much like a stop-motion set
The personalities of thefilm’s characters were
based on the director’sown family members
024 | | October 2011
and quickly set keyframes, copy animationor apply poses.”
Tambour, who was also responsible formodelling and animation, agrees that Mayawas the right choice: “The interface wasintuitive and could be handled very well. Youcould touch the characters at every point byusing handles that allowed us to give themalmost any shape we wanted.”
The team took full advantage of the MELscripting language: it helped speed up theirworkflow and provided accurate and intuitivesolutions to many challenges they faced.One example of this was the need for a fakecloth simulation. A Maya expression wasautomatically set up in MEL and added toa node that would follow another one aftera delay, creating a drag effect.
This simple, controllable systemmeant that the animators couldmaster the strength of the effector override it, saving a lot of time in
the simulation process. MEL was
3dworldmag.com
Short CutsThe best newanimated shortsfrom outside themajor studios
colleagues set to work on the eight-and-a-half-minute film. The director worked oncreating the sets and characters, whichare also loosely based on the designs andpersonalities of family members.
Mainly MayaMoving production forward, the next stagewas deciding on which software to use tocreate the bulk of the work. This ended upbeing a fairly simple choice, consideringmost of the team members had experienceusing Maya. The 3D application was pivotal toproduction and its capabilities provided theteam with the flexibility they needed.
Character TD Jonas Jarvers explains:“Within Maya we could create our ownsubtools, such as a character interfacewritten in MEL. With that, it was possiblefor all animators to access the animationcontrols for every character in the scene
er Besuch (The Visit) is a tragic yetheartwarming tale of an old lady whocan seemingly no longer differentiate
between fantasy and reality. At a ridiculoushour of the morning, her son Wolfgang isawoken by noises coming from the kitchen.On investigation, he finds his mother talkingto the cooker and insisting that her long-deceased friends are coming over for dinner.
Filled with despair and frustration, andclearly worried for her, Wolfgang hugs hismother, tells her no-one is coming and urgesher to go to bed. Confused, the old ladybegins to tidy up, resigned to the fact thather son is correct – but is he?
The idea for the short came from its writerand director, Conrad Tambour – a student ofthe German training facility FilmAkadamie.Tambour drew a lot of inspiration from hisfamily, in particular his grandmother.
“She told me once that she had justbeen visited by her parents and, of course,they had died a long time ago,” he explains.“Everybody was concerned abouther, but I thought that thesituation was touching as wellas tragic.” This encounterlaid the foundations for theplot of Der Besuch.
With the narrativedecided, Tambourand a team of
D
Food for thought
between fantasy and reality. At a ridiculousis Wolfgang son her morning, the of hour
awoken by noises coming from the kitchen.talking mother his fi nds he investigation, On
to the cooker and insisting that her long- deceased friends are coming over for dinner.
his hugs Wolfgang her, for worried clearly mother, tells her no-one is coming and urges
D
The personalities of thewere characters film’s
director’s the on basedown family members
effect. drag a creating delay, asystem controllable simple, This
could animators the that meanteffect the of strength the master
in time of lot a saving it, override or the simulation process. MEL was
3dworldmag.com
fake a for need the was this of example Onewas expression Maya A simulation. cloth
to added and MEL in up set automaticallyafter one another follow would that node a
interface character a as such subtools,possible was it that, With MEL. in written
for all animators to access the animation controls for every character in the scene
FilmAkadamie. facility training German thehis from inspiration of lot a drew Tambour
family, in particular his grandmother.just had she that once me told “Shecourse, of and, parents her by visited been
they had died a long time ago,” he explains.about concerned was “Everybody
her, but I thought that thewell as touching was situation
encounter This tragic.” asthe for foundations the laid
plot of Der Besuch. With the narrative
Tambour decided,
October 2011
effect. drag a creating delay, asystem controllable simple, This
could animators the that meanteffect the of strength the master
in time of lot a saving it, override or the simulation process. MEL was
course, of and, parents her by visited been they had died a long time ago,” he explains.
about concerned was “Everybody her, but I thought that thewell as touching was situation
encounter This tragic.” asthe for foundations the laid
Early concept arthelped to finalise the
character designs
3dworldmag.com
Short Cuts COMMUNITY
October 2011 | | 025
The environments’ differentmoods were achieved through the
use of specific lighting rigs andscripts integrated in Maya and Nuke
All of the film’scharacters weremodelled, riggedand animatedusing Maya 2009and MEL scripts
Send us your shortTo submit work for inclusion inShort Cuts, contact us at the
address below, attaching a brief synopsis andat least three [email protected]
KEY TECHNOLOGYLighting TD Karen Wagenknecht and compositingsupervisor Sebastian Nozon made full use of Nuke’scapabilities in the compositing stage. The duo wrote aPython script that would build a complete node graph inNuke for each render layer and carry out some initial set-ups for each shot. This included colour correction for eyesand hair, vignetting and a glow. It accounted for at leastfive different lighting moods and light changes during ascene, too. “The script also uses shot and character-basedmetadata to set up the shots differently depending on thespecific lighting moods,” says director Conrad Tambour.
WATCH THE TRAILERYou can view a Der Besuchpreview in the Animationssection of our website3dworldmag.com/derbesuch
also used to write a complete adjustable autorigger, which created the same rig for everycharacter in the scene with just a few clicks.
With the characters poised and readyto go, it was rendering time. Impressedby what they’d already seen, the teamchose to use V-Ray for Maya – however, ithadn’t been released at that time. Ratherthan change their minds, they used a betaversion of the software, which meant a lotof technical challenges to overcome.
Lighting TD Karsten Wagenknechtsolved them by working day and night,writing even more scripts in Maya, creatingshading networks and generally dealing withtechnical issues to get the film where theteam needed it to be.
A right spectacleIn a significant part of the film, where theold lady resigns herself to the fact that herguests aren’t coming, she moves from roomto room turning out the lights. This meantthat lighting rigs were needed for on and offlighting situations. Her glasses were also anissue. “In these shots, the old lady is facingthe camera from the front and you can seeher face and heavy glasses, which causeblack shadows,” says Wagenknecht. “Weused a special shadow shader for the glassesto be able to adjust the shadow.”
Just when everything was going to plan,the team found that, for some reason, theGI pass for a particular dinner table shotcouldn’t be rendered. Confused as to whatthe problem was, they solved it by usingArnold Renderer after a friend recommendedit. They later realised that it wasn’t downto a bug in V-Ray, but a mistake caused bythemselves, which could have been fixed andrendered in the initial software.
With the 3D jobs handled, focus moved totexturing and compositing software. The UV
map generator Unfold3D was used to fullyaccomplish the textures on a huge numberof objects in each scene. “A good UV layoutcould be made quite quickly with Unfoldand easily transferred to Mudbox, where theobjects were painted,” Tambour explains.
With assets and textures finalised,composition began; this was doneentirely in Nuke. The team usedstandard layering techniquesfor many scenes, includingseparate render passessuch as AO, specular, diffuseand GI. Creating the correctlook for the eyes, however,was a very difficult matterand they required additionalspecular layers and meticulouscolour correction to achieve.The characters’ hair was alsomainly defined in compositing,
October 2011
Send us your short in inclusion for work submit To
the at us contact Cuts, Shortand synopsis brief a attaching below, address
at least three [email protected]
WATCH THE TRAILERBesuch Der a view can You
Animations the in previewsection of our website3dworldmag.com/derbesuch
nalised, With assets and textures fidone was this began; composition
entirely in Nuke. The team usedtechniques layering standardincluding scenes, many for
passes render separatediffuse specular, AO, as suchcorrect the Creating GI. and
look for the eyes, however,matter diffi cult very a was
additional required they andmeticulous and layers specular
film’s the of All characters were
rigged modelled,animated and
using Maya 2009and MEL scripts
achieve. to correction colouralso was hair characters’ The
compositing, in defi ned mainly
and synopsis brief a attaching below, addressat least three [email protected]
WATCH THE TRAILERBesuch Der a view can You
Animations the in previewsection of our website3dworldmag.com/derbesuch
done was this began; composition entirely in Nuke. The team used
techniques layering standardincluding scenes, many for
diffuse specular, AO, as suchcorrect the Creating GI. and
look for the eyes, however,matter diffi cult very a was
additional required they andmeticulous and layers specularachieve. to correction colour
also was hair characters’ Thecompositing, in defi ned mainly
with one shot using approximately 12 layersto get right.
Der Besuch is still on the festivalcircuit, but is due for release later thisyear. At present, Tambour is working onestablishing an animation business, NeuerOsterreichischer Trickfilm, in Austria, which
he founded together with BenjaminSwiczinsky and Johannes Schiehsl.
ZBrush tips TRAINING
October 2011 | | 085
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3dworldmag.com
01 Use UV Master to quicklycreate human-readable UVs
The ZBrush plug-in UV Master is a quick and effective way of generatinghuman-readable UVs in a semi-automated manner. Unlike the other automaticmapping techniques available in ZBrush, such as AUV and PUV tiles, UV Masterunwraps a model in a manner that’s readable to the human eye whilemaintaining the least distortion and highest efficiency possible.
Other automatic mapping solutions create a UV unfold that’s understandableto the machine and not the naked eye. This often introduces problems later in theprocess when you want to edit a map in Photoshop to paint elements in or out.It’s also harder to track down and correct artefacts when the map isn’t clear tothe human eye. UV Master allows for user input to help determine where theseams are placed, as well as the texture scale for various parts of the model.
02Use Maya to helpsupport UV Master
While UV Master enables you to paint regions whereyou’d prefer the seams to lie, it’s possible tocombine UV Master with Maya and specify exactlywhere the UVs will be cut. Unfolding the model intomultiple UV islands based on polygroup, ZBrush willthen unfold the shells exactly as defined by the user.
By taking this approach, you can use ZBrush tounfold a body into multiple user-defined shells, thendistribute those shells across several UV regions.
The power of this technique is that it enables youto generate a separate colour and displacementmap for each UV region. This means a singlecharacter can have its detail distributed acrossmultiple 4K maps, rather than packing it all into
limited pixel space. This vastly increases quality andis imperative for some applications. When using HDgeometry for colour and detail, it’s necessary to usemultiple high-resolution maps to capture the level ofdetail HD is capable of presenting. By breaking thetexture map for the body into individual maps forthe head, arms, legs and torso, you maximisetexture resolution and final quality.
Break the texture map into multiple sections for maximum quality Get more control by specifying the seam placements in Maya
The UV Master plug-increates readable unfolds,ideal for easy editing
The free UV Masterplug-in helps you definewhere your UV map seamswill appear
086 | | October 2011 3dworldmag.com
The new BPR rendering engine for ZBrush 4.0 enables you to create more accurate-looking shadows.You can fine-tune the effect by tweaking settings including Strength, Rays and LDepth
If you’d prefer a startup material other thanthe default Red Wax, it’s easy to pick your own
TRAINING ZBrush tips
03Store viewport planeswith Image Plane
ZBrush differs from Maya and most other 3Dapplications in that there’s only one viewport and you’removing the actual model when you navigate, rather thanmoving a camera around a central point. This causessome issues when trying to create a reference imageplane to use in modelling.
To resolve this, Pixologic released Image Plane, aplug-in that enables you to create multiple referenceimages. Linked to a button or hotkey, each image canbe recalled to screen with a single press. Image Planealso stores the position of the model relative to thebackground image, so you can easily have front, side,top and other views instantly available. The modelopacity is also editable from the plug-in interface, whichenables you to see through the mesh as you work.
The plug-in was previously available for ZBrush 2.5,but has been thoroughly updated and rewritten, and isalmost an entirely new suite of image plane tools. You’renow able to store project files of your image plane data,which includes the model positions as well as the rawimage plane information. This is one of the rare plug-insthat doesn’t appear under the ZPlugin menu onceinstalled: it’s found under the Texture menu.
05Customise shadowsettings in BPR
BPR is a new rendering engine developed for ZBrush4.0. One of its benefits over the previous standardrender modes is that BPR calculates far moreaccurate shadows. You may also introduce ambientocclusion by clicking a few options in the Rendermenu for a much more realistic and compelling finalimage than the standard settings supply.
These shadows look good under default settings,but you can exert more control via Render > BPRShadow. Strength adjusts the intensity of theshadows, for example, while Rays helps to soften
04Change the startupmaterial from RedWax
By default, ZBrush starts with the Red Waxshader as the selected material. Even if you seta new startup document, this material defaultwill remain unchanged. Luckily, it’s possible tocustomise your materials so that the Red Waxshader isn’t the default.
In the Material menu, select the Red Waxmaterial and save it to the folder ZBrush 4 /ZStartup / Materials. (In Windows, this isinside Program Files; in Mac OS X, it’s insideApplications.) Back in the Material menu, selectthe material you’d prefer as your startup andpress the CopyMat button. This copies thematerial into memory. Now select the defaultRed Wax shader and press the PasteMat buttonto overwrite it with your new choice. You saveda copy of Red Wax in ZStartup, so the materialwill still be available on startup, but the defaultmaterial slot now has a new shader in its place.
To finish, make a small mark with your brushin the corner of the document, making sure thatthe Material Channel (the M button in the toptoolbar) is active. Save the document viaDocument > Save As Startup Doc. This willensure that when you next start ZBrush, thedefault material will be your new selection.
the edge of the shadow by increasing the number ofrays cast to generate it.
The most useful slider in my experience is LDepth,which calculates shadows based on the angle of thelight. Adjusting this to a negative value helps create astronger contrast between light and shadow. VDepthperforms calculations based on the viewer.
Enable Ambient Occlusion under the Render menuand dial down the gamma for a darker, morecontrasting effect. In the image above, I’ve renderedthe head with the following settings: BPR Shadow:Strength, 0.6; Rays, 70; LDepth, -5. BPR AO:Strength, 1; Rays, 44; Gamma, 5.
3dworldmag.com October 2011 | | 087
ZBrush tips TRAINING
06ZBrush for BooleansBooleans in Maya are sometimes difficult
to make work, especially as the mesh becomes morecomplex. Booleans in ZBrush 4.0 are far moreaccurate and consistent than those found in Maya.They work by calculating the volumes of the SubToolsand generating newmeshes to reflect the selectedBoolean operations. One of the benefits of thisapproach is that the meshes generated are all quadand even polygrouped into the new surfaces.
Booleans are set by selecting the icon in thesubtool that corresponds to the action you want toperform. The top SubTool is the mesh on which theoperation will occur. The Booleans calculate byworking their way down each successive SubToolthat’s visible on the list.
In this example, the SubTool will be subtractedfrom the top-level tool. To execute the Boolean,select Tool > SubTool > Remesh All. You can adjustthe resolution of the resulting mesh with the Resslider. The original parts are unaltered, but a new toolis appended to the end of the SubTool list. Note thatthe resulting mesh is polygrouped and all quad.
Choose the Trails setting forsmooth strokes with no delay
ZBrush 4.0’s approach to Booleans offersa higher level of accuracy than Maya’s
Make your object stand out from thebackground by adding a rim light
Use Replay Last to repeatyour most recent brushstroke
07Smooth strokeswith Trails
Brush strokes can be smoothedout by enabling Stroke >LazyMouse, but this tends tocreate a delay on the brush. Youcan smooth the stroke withoutthis delay by using Brush >Modifiers > Trails. This createsmultiple instances of the brush,slightly offset to help createsmooth, even strokes.
08Replay thelast stroke
To replay the last stroke appliedto the model, click Stroke >Replay Last. This helps to buildup forms by repeating theapplication of a brushstroke withthe same location and pressure.Using this technique, textures canbe built up gradually by replayingthe application. You may also usethis to increasingly deepen orraise lines on the surface to helpcreate more machined shapes.
09 Image Planeview hotkeys
When using Image Plane tostore model views, it cangreatly increase productivity toset hotkeys for those views.
To store a hotkey, hold[Ctrl] and click a view buttonunder Texture > Image Plane> ReferenceViews, and thenpress the key that you want tostore as a hotkey. (For thispurpose, I tend to use acombination of [Alt] and thenumeric keys.) Now when youpress your hotkey, the modelwill snap to the correctposition, with the referencevisible on screen.
10Create a rim lightBe sure to set up a rim light to
help accentuate your renders when usingstandard materials. (Note that this won’twork with MatCaps.) The rim light helps todefine the edge of the object and pull itout from the background.
To create a rim light, turn on a new lightin the Light menu and raise Intensity to 2.Click the sphere once to put it in the backof the model. As you move the light, theillumination appears to come from behindthe model and highlights the edge.
Boolean Subtracticon enabled
Click ReMesh All withtop SubTool selectedto execute Booleans
Top SubTool isoperated on
3dworldmag.com096 | | October 2011
t might not be widely known thatShade is one of the oldest 3Dproducts available. Launched in
1986, it even precedes LightWave (1988)and 3D Studio (1990). Developed inJapan, Shade’s relative obscurity certainlyhas to do with the language barrier: untilversion 4 in 2001, there was no English
Juan Manuel Bautista Hoepfner assessesthe all-new interface and revampedtoolset in this upgrade to a cult favourite
Shade Professional 12transform gizmo, a more intuitive Qt-based user interface, and a host of otherimprovements that really make it shine.
NEW INTERFACEThe entire interface has been revampedin Shade 12. This is no mere eye-candyimprovement: it’s evident that a lot ofthought has been given to the iconsetdesign and dialog box layout, while thekeyboard shortcut manager acceptsvastly more keyboard combinations. Forthose new to Shade, the initial learningcurve has been greatly reduced, and forthose coming from previous versions,the new look and feel does not interferewith how things worked before. There aremany things that were already possiblein previous versions, but it’s now moreobvious how to actually do them.
The viewport display modes now boastGLSL Phong and stereoscopic 3D options.The first means more accurate speculars,while the stereoscopic mode enables youto see in ‘real’ 3D with the help of eithercyan-red anaglyph or Nvidia 3D Visionglasses. The stereo camera settings dialogis straightforward, combining commonpresets with the freedom to tweak.
While viewing transparency in theviewport’s shaded mode is not yet
version, yet it already had over 200,000users. Shade’s relative isolation has had acurious effect on its development.
While most 3D programs evolvedtogether in a broadly similar fashion, Shadehas grown in ways not typically seen in thewest. And just when it was finally startingto have more acceptance here, e-frontiersold e-frontier America to Smith Micro– and with it, all non-Japanese supportfor Shade. Mirye Software later came tothe rescue, providing English-languagesupport and distribution. But the damagehad already been done.
So how are e-frontier and Miryeresponding to the challenge of re-establishing Shade in the western market?Shade 12 is the answer. It’s the resultof keeping Shade’s original workflowparadigm, but incorporating what havebecome standard 3D tools, like the
SoftwareVisualisationsuite
I
PRICEBasic•£61 / $99 / €70Standard•£215 / $349 / €245Professional•£461 / $749 / €526UpgradeStandard•£151 / $245 / €172Professional•£323 / $525 / €369
PLATFORMWindows /Mac
MAINFEATURES•Qt-basedGUI•Enhanced renderengine
•Multicore viewportpreview render
•Pathtracing andSSSsupport
DEVELOPERe-frontier /MiryeSoftware
WEBSITEmirye.net
Shade 12 boasts a completely new Qt-based interface, as well as stereoscopiccameras and viewport preview rendering
The new render engine supportsrender layers to save in a single EXR,PSD or Epix, or as multiple images
Reviews
About the authorJuanManuelBautistaHoepfneris a freelancearch-viz illustratorand3Dcontent
creator. He’s also forumadministrator at Shader’sCaféjuanmanuel.cgsociety.org
3dworldmag.com
Shade Professional 12 REVIEWS
October 2011 | | 097
PROS• Prettier, friendlier, faster• Great render engine• SketchUp andCOLLADA support
CONS• Animating canbe confusing• Noambient occlusion
Shade in English returns froma longabsence,with a newGUI, better andmorerobust import, amuch improved renderengine, and viewport preview rendering.Almost everything has been improved
VERDICT
possible, the new Preview Renderingmode can show not just transparency, butraytraced shadows, global illumination,reflections and refractions. It’s aprogressive type of rendering, giving nearreal-time feedback in most situations.The preview can be almost as good as the‘real’ render in a fraction of the time. Youcan even export an image of the result.
Shade also comes with Sketch Modelingand Photo Modeling, the main differencebeing that the latter is for more precisework and requires less user interventionon the resulting mesh. Polygon meshesnow support multiple mesh/materialgroups. There are also custom workplanes,surprisingly clean mesh Booleans, andvertex, edge and object snapping. In all,the modelling toolset has been vastlyimproved, although an external modellerlike Silo might still be more suitable forheavy-duty mesh work.
Another huge improvement has beenmade with the native renderer, whichno longer needs (or even includes) theCallisto external renderer. It now supportsnormal maps, displacement maps,volumetric lights and materials, as well assubsurface scattering, controlled at the
material level. Global illumination includesphoton mapping and path tracing, andsupports caching to reduce render times.Volumetrics can slow down renders to acrawl unless set up correctly. Again, theviewport preview rendering comes to therescue: it can preview the effect of user-configured render settings, to give visualfeedback on optimising render times.
Another welcome addition is thatShade now supports SketchUp andCOLLADA import. SketchUp importworks surprisingly well, although with theCOLLADA format not all of its features are
currently supported, camera animationbeing one of them.
Previous versions of Shade couldgenerate enormous files when saving:packaging everything in the scene to asingle file was great for migrating scenes,but was otherwise a space hog. This hasbeen solved with the ability to have prettymuch everything be an external reference.File sizes can be reduced dramatically, andupdating textures becomes a snap.
ANIMATION TOOLSAnimation is an area in Shade 12 wherethere remains room for improvement.Entities are not directly animatible: theymust be contained inside a part that drivesthe animation. This has advantages, aschanging what is being animated withoutadjusting the animation parameters is apiece of cake; but certainly the way toaccomplish things is not how things arenormally done outside Shade.
And while the new system does supportinverse kinematics and bone deformation,and has BVH import, this might be the onlyarea where the improvements do not feelso impressive. Character animation, whilepossible, is not as straightforward as in
messiahStudio, for example, and lacks thevisual feedback you receive elsewhere.
The material settings window, while alsoimproved and closely tied to the renderenhancements, uses a layer-based systemto create surfaces. Obtaining gradienttransparencies (and indeed, gradients ingeneral) is much easier than before, butfor some meticulous tasks, a node-basedmaterial alternative would be welcome.
Some common settings, like having allimported images be external reference,are reset to a default when the programis restarted. Remembering these settings
across sessions or across scenes wouldstreamline the workflow. Scripting supportvia Python is tightly integrated, but itsEnglish documentation is still incomplete.
Shade 12 is a massive improvementover previous versions. It no longerfeels like a program that works best inisolation, and is quickly becoming a seriousalternative to the other 3D programs morecommonly used in the west.“Shade 12 is a massive improvement over
previous versions. It no longer feels likea program that works best in isolation”
Shade 12 is great forarch-viz renderings.With COLLADA andSketchUp support,importing props justbecame much easier
Imag
ebyStefanClaas
Importing meshesfrom outside (TopMod)and toon renderingin Shade 12 is mucheasier now