CGArena

Get Attention in the Computer Graphics Community

VOLUME 6, ISSUE 3, JUL - AUG 11

Softimage

Making of Pink Converse

Paintin hop Makin g Natalie g of D aydrea mer

Interview

Photos

n Patryk Habry

Maya

Making of a D

ay

x s Ma of 3d

g akin City M er Und

VOL

Get Attention in the Computer Graphics Community

Issue Contents
Volume 6, Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

05 12 20 32 42 48 56

Interview Photoshop Softimage Maya 3ds Max Photoshop Gallery

Patryk Habryn Painting Natalie Making of Pink Converse Making of a Day Making of UnderCity Making of Daydreamer Showcase of latest 3D art

Magazine Edited: Ashish Rastogi Magazine Cover Image: Daria Widermanska-Spala Magazine Design: Yousef Ikhreis

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Industry News

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

CGArena Pic3D Screen Films Turn Any LCD into a 3D Screen

Global Wave claims that their Pic3D sheet is a firstof-its-kind film that can produce 3D images just by being applied to a LCD. Pic3D is being developed for everything from 12.1-inch laptop screens and 23-inch monitors to the iPhone 4 and iPads. The tech behind the Pic3D is a lenticular lens system, which uses array of magnifying lenses to display images at different angles to produce the illusion of depth. This is not the first time we have seen lenticular technology as it was used in Toshibas Glasses-Free 3D TV and a Fujifilm 3D-Printer. Unlike the 3D derived with parallax barrier slits partially blocking the screen, the lenticular systems image retains 90% of the LCDs brightness and viewing angles claim to go as wide as 120 degree.

Gyroscopik Studios Opens Largest Vicon Motion Capture Stage

Vicon announced that Gyroscopik Studios, one of Mexicos largest 3D animation and VFX facilities, is opening Latin Americas largest Vicon motion capture stage at the new Chapala Media Park near their headquarters in Guadalajara, Mexico the regions filmmaking hub. The new mocap studio is home to a 10.85 X 20 meter capture stage and houses a 32-camera system from Vicon with plans to double the number of cameras in the next two years. Gyroscopiks studio is also equipped with workstations loaded with Vicon Blade motion capture processing software, Autodesk MotionBuilder, Maya, 3ds Max and more. The company plans to use the new studio and mocap system to extend its animation services into full body and facial capture.

The Digital Matte Painting Handbook - Matte painting affords seamless integration between an artists painting with live action film footage and allows for greater flexibility and creative input in the appearance of movie settings. This unique book reveals a variety of tools and techniques that are both industry and classroom tested and will enhance your existing skill set. Veteran author and instructor David Mattingly walks you through the process of creating a matte painting etc. Youll gradually upgrade to using Adobe After Effects and Autodesk Maya in order to fulfill your matte painting vision.

Book Training

722 - McLaren SLR - Learn how to design and texture a highly detailed model of the legendary McLaren SLR 722s Roadster hyper car. Featuring the most in-depth tutorials for vehicle design. You will also learn ow to create realistic texturing techniques. This DVD contains the highly detailed 3D modelof the McLaren Mercedes SLR 722s Roadster, fully textured, and video tutorials lasting more than 12(Twelve) hours. No third-party plugins required: in True Henrythejedi.com Tradition, we save you time and money on expensive plugins by relying on 3D Maxs limitless creative possibilities.

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Interview with

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

CGArena

Patryk Habryn
Q. Hi could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in CG and are you self taught or taken some training? My name is Patryk Habryn, Im 21 and I currently live in Warsaw, Poland. Im a CG artist and matte painter. Right now Im working as 3D / 2D artist / matte painter at Lunapark studio. Q. 3D or 2D which you like the most and there are very few artists which are good in 3D and 2D both, what is the secret behind this? I cant tell, sorry. No, seriously, its tough question for me personally, because Im so divided between those two worlds. Im kind of guy that stare at viewports in 3d software over my Wacom Tablet, cleaning everything around me from oil colors at the same time. People I work with know that very well. So there are three worlds for me: 3D, 2D, and traditional art. Q. Please share your experiences, working in Lunapark, Warsaw and whats your nature of your job? Have you worked on some movies? Yep, I worked on movies and exhibitions. But right now, for most of my time I work on commercials. Im mainly responsible for animation, texturing, concept art, matte painting, rendering and compositing. I use this point of what I do, to be more generalist, less specialist, but Im aware that my various specializations will be verified in future. I stick with character TD and matte painting for future. Q. So, howz your first journey to FMX 2011, as a Media Partner CGArena like to ask you to share some good and bad experiences with us and what you like to see in future? www.cgarena.com

There are three worlds for me 3D, 2D and Traditional art

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Interview with

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

CGArena

Patryk Habryn
FMX is definitely great event. I cruised from on presentation to another. There so many classes, presentations, case studies at the same time, that theres no way to see more than 20% of FMX. But I choose very wisely which seat should I take. Ive been there also with my friends so we can share experiences from different presentations. Stuttgart is also great place. Definitely Im going there next year. Q. Your current work Starfish Umbrella is quite different. Where do you find the inspiration? What difficulties have you encountered while working on this image and how you overcome those obstacles? Every work is different. I think, by different You mean its cartoon character? Inspiration comes from documentary movie; one of the subjects was marine snow in seas and oceans. Its shower of mostly organic detritus falling from the upper layers of the water column. Work itself was pure joy, no difficulties while working on this one. Most people ask about translucent tentacles and rig. Rig is quite advanced for such simple character, but I think theres plenty controls that I could still add on. Translucent tentacles are trick, using three layers: sss pass, reflection pass, and mask. Combining those three in post, you can achieve nice effect, cost little render time, and working fine in animation.

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Interview with

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

CGArena

Patryk Habryn
Q. There are some nude images in your portfolio, can you tell us why nude images are part of majority of portfolios, this is just for attract the eyeballs? I think for most fresh artist - yes. Painting nude characters make your art more mature because most of traditional masters do such works. Nude its more expressive, and as you say, audience likes that kind of works, even if they say they dont. For me personally, that kind of works are more studies, than finished works.

Q. Do you do any preliminary drawings before you model, or do you just start and see what happens and how long on average would you spend on a character? Drawing before sculpting is proper thinking. It always helps to understand what you want to achieve, helps to orientate in space before sculpting. You can always skip this step, you have everything in your head and you just start from a box. Some modelers cant sketch, but 3D sketching in ZBrush or Mudbox, playing with shapes, could be even better for them. But trust me, preproduction its always most skipped step, and thats terrible mistake that many artist, teams, studios to ignore that. Greatest studios know excellent how important it is, and thats why there are the greatest not just great.

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Interview with

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

CGArena

Patryk Habryn
Q. Would you like to give any 5 tips to the users which like to create an artwork like yours? Im quite young, Im afraid that that those tips will rapidly change in few years. But I will try to give some general, that I quite sure: 1. Be ambitious. 2. Give all your heart to what you truly love. 3. Dream big. 5. Always blame Autodesk. 4. Stay hungry, stay foolish. I just not like doing vulgar pinups or with any explicit sexual appealing in them, although I know that when it is provocative is really interesting and sells better. Q. Which are the major tools in your arsenal? I use tons of software but I use mostly: Maya, Renderman, mental ray, ZBrush, Mudbox, Photoshop, Painter, After Effects, Boujou. Q. Do you have an aim or dream as an artist? What are your hobbies and please describe your free time, if you have any? Im lucky because I know exactly what I want to do in my life. I say lucky because its my job, my hobby and passion. But except CG, Im competitive person; I like go-karts, tennis, water sports stuff like that. I enjoy my life. Trying everything I think I might like.

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Interview with

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

CGArena

Patryk Habryn
Q. Can you share; are you working on any projects currently? If so, what are they? Im currently working on projects that I cant speak about, sorry. But stay tuned, and check out my website and blog for news.

Q. Anything you like to add? It is your chance now to state your opinion about anything? If you have any questions, please write to me. I have tendency to skip e-mails and never answer them, but please send it few times, spam me and I will answer eventually. Thanks for having me on this interview. Thanks a lot Patryk for taking out sometime for us from your busy schedule.

Web: http://www.phabryn.com Blog: http://phabryn.blogspot.com www.cgarena.com Page 11

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Daria Widermanska-Spala, Poland CGArena Software:

Painting Natalie

Photoshop

2D

Hello fellow artists! My name is Daria Widermanska-Spala and Im a freelance illustrator, who loves digital painting. In this tutorial I will take you through the process of creating my Character 01 concept illustration. This is the first picture from my 8 characters project, where I introduce main protagonists from my futurewritten-story. When painting digitally, I always use Photoshop (my version is CS5, but I guess anything above 7 will do) and Wacom tablet (Intuos3, to be exact). SKETCHING The girl presented here is a 16-year-old main female character named Natalie, who despite being involved in extraordinary events, is a typical nonexperienced, naive & rebellious teenager. That is why the first phase consisted of thinking about how to show these two sides of her normal, but with a slight of mystery. I opened my Photoshop, created a new file, picked a random brush with an Opacity Jitter set to Pen Pressure, and started sketching some quick silhouettes, not focusing on any details yet, just to catch the overall idea about the pose and how the character moves.

Once I chose the concept that suited me the most, I moved it onto a new file (I usually start from normal A4 300dpi and crop/resize it later), set the layer Opacity to about 20%, created a new one above it and started defining the final sketch. My Natalie is a bit emo-styled, so I did a little research to know how her clothes should look like image. I generally use the same brush for both sketching and painting, a rounded blob jagged on the edges (Spacing 10%, Opacity Jitter to Pen Pressure & Smoothing on), which I found some time ago on the Internet. But anything rugged and rounded will do the job, believe me.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Daria Widermanska-Spala, Poland CGArena

Painting Natalie
CHOOSING COLORS When I have a sketch finished, I usually take a one-day break from it, to keep my mind fresh. After that time some new ideas may show up to make the picture more interesting. And then the coloring phase starts. I keep my sketch layer locked on the top for now, to make sure I wont paint over it by accident. I created a new layer below and started playing with different textures & brushes to create a visually absorbing background. Its just having pure fun with colors and shapes until I receive the fine effect. Something went wrong with the color palette, it was far too saturated, so I went to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance and did some magic with the zippers. Now I was happy. Then I made a new layer, still below the sketch, and chose the base colors for my character. When I wasnt sure about the color, I painted it on a separate layer, so that later I cloud easily change it using Color Balance or Hue/Saturation Tools and match it with others. As you see, theyre usually desaturated and rather dark, because I lighten the picture later while painting. TEXTURING I have skinned all the work in the old fashioned way, making the sweep in 3DS Max or Unfold3d, and then worked in Photoshop with these scans. Next as an example I will describe the process of texturing on the walls of the lighthouse. So first I made a sweep of the main wall of the lighthouse. Then picked up the basic texture of the wall (1), imposed a scan and adjusted to the format. The next step was to add the texture of the crack (2). Then on the wall were added to the in homogeneity, some spots; taking texture (4), I lost the regimes and to me quite approached Color Burn opacity of 50. Next, you need at the top of the lighthouse to begin to flow, what typically happens in these corners. Texture (3) was taken and posted on the sweep to the right place; at least for the contrast of the form I put away a little transparency. In the same way at the bottom, near the ground, you had to do

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Daria Widermanska-Spala, Poland CGArena

Painting Natalie
PAINTING FACE & HAIR When I was happy with the colour palette, I moved on by creating a new layer, this time *above* the sketch, to paint the face. Just like many other artists that I know, I cant go any further with the picture unless the face looks good enough. :) Still using the very same brush, I picked a slightly brighter and more saturated skin tone and slowly defined the shape of the face. I have my tablet Tip Feel set to *very* firm during that stage, so that the strokes I paint are very smooth, delicate and blend with each other well. You can gain the same effect by reducing the Flow value in the Photoshop brush settings. Sporadically I create new layers to keep what Ive done untouched. Sometimes, when I dont like the way my painting goes, I delete some of them and come back to earlier stages. Eventually I add other colors. Keep in mind that middle parts of a face (nose, cheeks, ears & space around eyes) usually have more red/pink color than others. Also remember that even if youre not aiming for full realism, you still have to obey the rules of anatomy to make things believable. Natalies eyes are much bigger than they would be in reality, but still theyre two balls covered by eyelids. Dont be afraid of using various photo references, theyre extremely helpful when you start painting digitally. Also, be consistent when it comes to the light source. Here I set it on the upper right front, and reminded myself of that while forming the face shapes. When everything seemed to look right, I created a new layer with an Overlay mode and with a light turquoise I gently painted over the face this action broke its overall redness. Being happy with the face, I moved to the hair. Painting hair is always a tricky part, because there are many various effects you can gain and each need different methods. Since my character is semirealistic, I didnt need to worry about single hairs; I had to focus on the curls and wisps instead, firstly making their shapes, and then slowly lightening them up. I started with a big brush, and gradually decreased its size as I painted thinner and thinner. The gleam on hair should highly contrast with the darker parts, although it shouldnt be brighter than the main source of light. www.cgarena.com Page 15

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Daria Widermanska-Spala, Poland CGArena

Painting Natalie
RENDERING MATERIALS It was time to work on Natalies body. Shes wearing a jeans jacket, so it would be nice to reflect the materials structure well. I decided to create a special custom brush for this occasion. Firstly, I searched for some jeans textures in the internet (theres plenty of them!) and chose the best one. I opened it in Photoshop and clicked Edit > Define Pattern. Then I picked a random rounded brush and went to the brush settings where I set Hardness to 15%, Spacing to 1%, and Opacity Jitter to Pen Pressure and turned Wet Edges on. Now the most important step I checked the Texture setting and from the patterns I chose the one I had just created. Some regulations with its scale and voila the jeans brush was ready! With a bright blue I painted carefully with it over the dark material. Then I shaded it with a normal brush and added little details such as buttons and threads. Using the same method as with the face and hair, I was painting now the whole character, and moving from one object to another to keep the cohesion of everything. Rendering the right surfaces of materials is extremely crucial. For instance: metal elements (here: medallion and buckle)

reflect light almost absolutely the shadows & highlights are sharp and greatly contrastive. Smooth leather objects (here: belt and boots) are less reflective, but still shine, blending softly lights with shadows. On the contrary, fabrics like in Natalies cotton blouse absorb light so much that they hardly reflect anything at all. Look at as many references as you can to make sure you paint the surfaces correctly! Its also important to mention that I flip my pictures horizontally very often (Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal). This helps you look at your work with a fresh view, pointing out all the mistakes immediately. Page 16

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Daria Widermanska-Spala, Poland CGArena

Painting Natalie
FINAL TOUCHES The picture was almost finished. At this stage I usually add some rim light. Different sources of lights always bring more life to pictures and rim light does most amazing effects in my opinion. Lets say somethings shining right behind her back. On a separate layer with a tiny brush I painted over the edges of my character, keeping in mind how light would spread over the shapes. Rim light should always be brighter than most elements on the picture to look believable. I also decided to change the blouses color from dark blue to dark violet, so I made another Overlay layer and used some magenta to achieve this effect.

It looked OK, but a bit too dark. I went to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast and brightened the picture. It still didnt look good enough, so I checked this layers mask and filled it with black. Then with an Eraser I painted over the elements I wanted to have brighter now everything looked just as I wanted. Also, on a new layer set to Linear Dodge I painted a few gleams of metal etc. Time for the finishing touches. I picked a dirty looking texture from my textures library (I truly recommend you to collect as many free textures as you can) and put it over my work. Using Free Transform Tool (Ctrl + T) I enlarged it so that it covered the whole canvas. I played with it some time, checking different layer modes, desaturating it and creating a mask, where I erased parts I didnt want to have texture. Lastly, I noticed that Natalie is far too slim, even for a semi-realistic character. The picture is already finished, so what shall we do? This is when the Liquify Tool comes in handy! I selected, copied and then merged all the layers of my picture. Then I www.cgarena.com Page 17

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Daria Widermanska-Spala, Poland CGArena

Painting Natalie
picked Filter > Liquify and with a few moves of tablet my character virtually put on weight. The picture was considered finished! Thats how I create my digital paintings nowadays. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that youll find my tips and explanations helpful when creating your own pictures. Good luck!

Web: http://www.anako.pl Portfolio: http://anako.cgarena.com Email: daria@anako.pl

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena Software:

Making of Pink Converse

Softimage, Photoshop

3D

Hi, my name is Ivn and I am from Spain, right now I am taking a 3D animation and special effects course. Well in this tutorial I am going to share with you the process of my model Pink Converse, or at least I will try, since this is my first Making Off ;). I am really happy to be doing this Making Off, and I thank CGArena for this opportunity. Lets get started! I used Autodesk Softimage and Photoshop for this piece. I decided to make a pair of tennis shoes because I am in the process of making a little girls model, and this model needed a shoe. MODELING Well I guess this is the tricky part, at least I do, I dont know where to start. After searching for some reference images we are ready to start. I started by modeling the sole model from one polygon, and I shaped it to the form point by point, with a low poly count, since the sole would give the form to go up and model the rest of it. After I had the basic form done, I started deforming it by its sides, thats because I didnt want to use any displacement or normal maps. Once I had the full geometry finished, I started detailing it very slowly; the first detail I added was the holes for the shoe laces.

For the details, I created the holes using the reference image than I selected the polygons where I wanted the hole to be and used Inset Polygons, I had to add a lot of edges to make the holes look good. After creating the holes, I created the metal piece that covers them, me create a Torus and delete half of it, and I modified it a little bit to make it similar to the ones in the image. Make sure you have enough subwww.cgarena.com Page 21

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena

Making of Pink Converse

division so you dont have to smooth it. I copied all of the torus as an instance of the original so it wouldnt consume a lot of memory. Now the shoelaces, it the easiest part, but it is also the most time consuming. We create a curve; we put 2 points in each hole and 1 more in between holes, that way we have enough control to make it go in and out of the holes without entering the geometry. When you have the curve adjusted, you have to create the geometry for the shoelaces, to do so I created a curve-> Circle

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena

Making of Pink Converse

and modified it to fit the silhouette of the shoelaces, after you have the form done you use one Extrude Along Curve so that the circle uses the curve you created earlier as a path to create the geometry of the shoelaces. Now the worst part, I am not saying it is the most difficult part it is just time consuming, adjust the curve so that the shoelaces get a good looking shape. TEXTURING Once I had the model solved and ready I started opening the UVs, to do so I used the unfold embedded within Softimage. After I had the UVs opened and packed I took them to Photoshop and started painting! For the seams of the shoe I used ZBrush to see where they were going, once I had the guide line made in ZBrush I took the texture to Photoshop again and used the Pen Tool and traced them. I used a lot of different

brushes and added some dirt to it as well. Well the shading was something really basic, but I think I got a decent result. If you look at the picture (A), www.cgarena.com Page 23

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena

Making of Pink Converse

I used a phong and connected the image I made in Photoshop to the Ambient and Diffuse, since it was the fabric of the shoe, I also created the bump map to make the fabric relief, I used a fabric texture for the bump. In picture (B) I also used phong and changed the specular decay value to something very high since I wanted to simulate plastic. In picture ( C ) I created the bump map also with the fabric texture to simulate the texture and relief . In picture (D) the pins, I looked at a lot of pin images and them I created a phong material with some reflection.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena

Making of Pink Converse

In picture (D) the pins, I looked at a lot of pin images and them I created a phong material with some reflection.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena

Making of Pink Converse

LIGHTING I used MentalRay to render the scene; i am going to explain my lighting process. First you need to have a big sphere with the entire scene inside it, in this sphere you apply a white material Constant, after that we create a grid for the floor and a panel around the object we are illuminating, with a material lambert also white and last but not least the lights, one at the right side of the object and another one at the left side. I also changed the light shaders to Portal Light. I will now put some images so you can look at my render and light settings.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena

Making of Pink Converse

Passes - I created 3 passes for this model - 1- Ambient Occlusion, 2- Depth and 3- Main

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the details shared by me. Thanks to Jhon Mauricio for always being there for the shading doubts, Rodri for helping me in translating to English and a special thank to my girlfriend for supporting me even when I am most of the time in front of the PC.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ivan Serrano Ruano, Spain CGArena

Making of Pink Converse

Web: http://www.Ivanserrano.com/blog Email: kalidesigner@gmail.com

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Page 28

CG Store Corner
CGArena

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CG Store Corner
CGArena

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Han Yu, USA CGArena Software:

Making of a Day

Maya

3D

Hello everyone, my name is Han Yu. Im very happy to create this tutorial and honoured to share this with you. CONCEPT & REFERENCE IMAGES Inspiration from Ratatouille was a starting point of this work. I wanted to make a cozy, peaceful and personal place like brunch time. To create this work I needed to collect abundant images for reference such as camera, pancake, fruit salad, and old library. I generally used reference sites such as Flickr, Getty Images, Google, and Bing. Above all, I spent most of the time gathering brunch images and fruit salad images which were my primary prop. MODELING At first, I drew my draft in Photoshop using a tablet, and then built rough blocks of the model. By using only boxes and rough low resolution models, I set up overall composition of environment. After getting a rough shape of the models, I made an ideal composition for the final image and set up the camera movement plan. Some of the models were made with Nurbs surfaces and then converted to Polygon afterwards. Almost all the modeling was then revised again for a mod-

erate poly count for the final render. Almost all the models are mid-res polygon and deformed by Displacement and Bumps. I need a good model before texturing. It doesnt www.cgarena.com Page 33

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Han Yu, USA CGArena

Making of a Day
have to be a super high resolution model, but some of them which will be focused should have an enough polygon.

LIGHTING This way of lighting is what I occasionally use without the MR irradiance feature. This is related to the Key light; as you can see in above image, there are two key lights in the scene. The first one is the main Key light to make the sharp shadow and strong shape of light which is the primary light, and the second one is copied key light to make relatively blurred shadow and highlight for the fake irradiance effect by the main www.cgarena.com Page 34

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Han Yu, USA CGArena

Making of a Day
Key. I used more than 20 spot lights for final light set up.

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Page 35

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Han Yu, USA CGArena

Making of a Day

TEXTURING & SHADING After finishing the initial lighting setup with just using Lambert shader, I started working on texturing and look development at the same time. In case of texturing, I focused on making extreme details by using huge texture sizes rather than optimizing UV arrangement, so almost all the textures are more than 6K.

These are the book textures included inside the scene. After getting a bunch of sources from the internet and using photos that I took myself, I made these textures with Photoshop.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Han Yu, USA CGArena

Making of a Day

In case of the Pancake texture, it was hard to get a high quality pancake texture source, so I bought some pancakes from a restaurant and then took pictures by myself after getting rid of the oil.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Han Yu, USA CGArena

Making of a Day
To make the pancake texture I used SSS in Mental ray. The color was based on three different textures: epidermal, subdermal, and overall color. Although recent version of Maya supports automatic Linear workflow, I used the manual way by Gamma Node and Mental ray Lens Shader. every color(gamma 0.4545 by gamma correction node) camera lens shader(gamma 2.2 by mia_exposure_simple) Linear Work Flow The transfer curve of the CRT electron gun isnt Linear. Increase in illumination is much faster in the bright range of the CRT output brightness than in the dark range of the same CRT output brightness. This nonlinearity of the transfer curve of the CRT electron gun can be represented by a power formula. Brightness = pow(volt, gamma) The brightness is proportional input voltage, exponent gamma, the gamma of a CRT is about 2.2 so we get Brightness = pow(volt,2.2) Mathematical 3D lighting doesnt count gamma 2.2 - to correct for a display gamma, setting the Exposure to 1.0 / 2.2 (0.4545) before the designing lights. - since the event of the sRGB standard, the standard monitor is assumed to have a gamma 2.2 . All digital photos are now tone corrected with the equivalent of a gamma 2.2 so they can be viewed correctly on the standard monitor. Those two facts have important hidden consequences for the 3D CG artist. Thus: colorR.value = pow(colorR.value, 2.2) colorG.value = pow(colorG.value, 2.2) colorB.value = pow(colorB.value, 2.2)

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Web: http://www.desaic.com Email: berdandyss@gmail.com

Please consider the environment before printing this magazine. Save Paper. 100% Environment Respect.

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by David Munoz Velazquez, Spain CGArena Software:

Making of UnderCity

3ds Max, Mental Ray

3D

The first step is to find some references to build the basic environment if you dont have a concept. Looking over the net I found images of the catacombs and keep looking I discovered that image. I liked the columns there, so that is my reference. The basic structure is almost the same. I wanted to do something similar but a bit more interesting lighting. The first step was to modeling the 3D base having in mind the type of lighting, the thematic on the lighting if you will. Im quite use to model and light environments without previous sketches, so I knew I will use a frontal light, thats why I had and small entrance on the bottom left. This is the light set up, Mental Ray to have some bouncing, but keeping it simple, to give the sensation of one point of light. First idea was to use ZBrush for the whole environment, so I model the column and a wall. But I changed my mind and only used the columns. I model the floor with geometry because I wanted to use ZBrush for the floor, but finally I didnt use it. I dice to use just one texture for the whole image, using a Box Mapping, just to have

some colours for the light and a basic texture to start painting. When the basic render is done, I thought I had enough with image so I havent used Ambient Occlusion or Volumetric Light that very useful, I rather build those elewww.cgarena.com Page 43

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by David Munoz Velazquez, Spain CGArena

Making of UnderCity
ments by painting as an exercise. The image was smaller, scale up the image to give it more details. This is the final geometry, I added Ambient Occlusion for the Wires to showing it with volume, but I haven`t use the AO because would darker it too much. This is the image to start paint over.

These are the brushes I used for the image. Is a good technique to use any brush to paint a colour and use for example last one to erase over the painted, It will leave a really cool effect. Try to paint and erase with different brushes to create texture while painting, also works well to blend darker areas in to brighter parts.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by David Munoz Velazquez, Spain CGArena

Making of UnderCity
To begin painting I wanted to get rid of the sharp edges, and start adding a bit more flat looking for the floor. Also adding shadows and darker areas to create more evident shapes. I have put some dirt areas, but still not detailed at this point. On the next image I added colour variation using red colour for some elements, also adding some props to give a bit of live to the image, avoiding to be just a ruin. Candles and other objects. Also given more shape to the bottom left hole, like is made of stones. Lighting up a bit more some areas. Always giving it more irregularity and removing hard edges. At this step I focus on the general lighting, adding shade and smother transitions to achieve a nice semi-darkness. Is a good method to have a grey layer over the top on Saturation mode, so you can check any time if the image has the light and shade that you are looking for.

Keep working on irregularity everywhere and building structure a bit more. At this moment I realise that was too symmetrical because of the columns, I removed the top of one. The one closer to the light so the light moves the eyes from down to the top. That was my intention. I added a bit colour correction by saturating the image where the light hits the surface, and adding cooler tones for the shaded areas, to give it more depth.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by David Munoz Velazquez, Spain CGArena

Making of UnderCity
I have scaled the image so I have size for details, a size that my computer and me we feel comfortable to work with. I removed the light splash on the top left, that was confusing to my. Added some things hanging over the column as an idea of some kind of ropes to hang things. Adding some objects on the shelf. More hints of light to some borders and volume to the left column.

More detail, dirt and pores to the rock. Adding cooler tones for the areas in shadow. Also I put there some spikes on the top to make it more irregular then general looking. For the main light source I added a colour variation make it more warmer, and giving a transition. Also I had to make darker the left corner behind the column, to make this effect more clear and avoid adding light over the image that can change the balance of light and shade that I like, checking with the grey layer as saturation effect to see the picture black and white. I simplify some surfaces; make them less textured or noisy. Also I drop a bit of lighter parts. www.cgarena.com Page 46

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by David Munoz Velazquez, Spain CGArena

Making of UnderCity
Using the colour balance, why add to the image contrast and more differences between the colours of the bright and dark areas. Bring some blues and removing a bit greens. This is going to depend on the calibration of the screen, but the difference should be visible anyway. Here is the point where I add over the image a texture with a blue tone and some white sparks, I will contras this image until gives noise, variation, irregularity and old looking maybe, is something I just like on pictures. Polishing some details as the candles, the spikes, etc... Basically everything the same as the image above, just some colour and contrast corrections and a Sharpen filter to make everything more visible, this is a personal taste what Sharpen does, I dont really like a overall smooth looking, if is not made on purpose. Also a noise layer is added at HardLight 4% of opacity, this is cool for dark areas to dont look too flat, can be done with a texture as well. To finish, a small amount of colour

fringe to make it even messier.

Thanks to everyone and CGArena for the interest and the time to read this words, I hope you find it useful.

Web: http://www.munozvelazquez.com Email: munozvelazquez@gmail.com

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ekaterina Pushkarova, Bulgaria CGArena Software:

Making of Daydreamer

Photoshop

2D

First of all, Id like to thank CGArena which allows me to present a tutorial about the creation of my work Daydreamer! I have used Photoshop CS4 and Wacom Cintiq. Very often the creation of a work of art begins with a sketch or a drawing. With me, most of the times it would begin as a chaos evolving from scattered spots, based on the principle of a colorful overlay in the classic drawing. Just like the children stare in the clouds in a hot summer day, so do I discover, in the chaos, fanciful creatures and vast lands. THE IDEA While looking at the colourful spots you will see that your fantasy is gradually going to create images, which otherwise you would find hard to produce and the idea is going to take shape step by step. Once the basic idea has already taken form in your mind, then comes the time for the first main steps: 1. A quick sketch of your work. 2. The basic silhouette and range of colours. 3. And last but not least, creating the specific sense or effect by which you recreate the kind of mood that you would like to fill up your picture. THE MAIN FEELING ON THE PICTURE This could be, as it is in this case, flying splashes of light and pieces of green land could be a strong foreshortening, a particular source of light or something else, which could grab the audience attention, because as we know the first impressions are the most important. They win the audience. COMPOSITION Composition could be divided into triangular, pyramidal and circular. The objects in the picture are situated in such a way, so that the main sought after effect could be achieved. In my particular case I have used circular composition, which follows the movement of the flying splashes of light, and I have later on intensified this feeling through one of the creatures tail, which also follows the circular movement. This way or other, the composition centre remains the most important to me. The point, which is noticed first by any human eye. Or this is the centre of the picture. Most often, if you draw two lines between the picture angles, the point www.cgarena.com Page 49

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ekaterina Pushkarova, Bulgaria CGArena

Making of Daydreamer
where they cross is the picture centre. There is the object, which will be noticed firstly by the viewer a main character or an impressive detail, or a colour spot. It happens often that the composition centre has been pushed further away and does not coincide with the format centre. But in order to be perceived easily by the human eye, the picture centre in this case should be peaceful and clear. LIGHT AND ATMOSPHERE The light is what draws the black and white picture. It fills up with a different colour the atmosphere between the viewer and the mountains in the distance. When you have well expressed cast shadows or more dramatic lighting, the picture effect of perception on the viewer is always better. Here, the light comes from the setting behind the mountains sun. In the background I have put quite a lot of layers with different degrees of opacity, so that they could tint the backgrounds and the clouds into warm shades. I have experimented with various layers when doing the shadows. For example Layer - Soft Light - Opacity - 43 so that I could keep the shadow main color, but to tone it towards a darker shade. Apart from that, I have darkened the ends a little bit and lightened the centre of the composition. The generalization of some parts of the picture, for example as it is in the case with the rock and the girl in a cool shade, gives an air of depth, peace and summarize some of the unnecessary details. DETAILS Practically these are several pictures in the picture. If you look carefully you will notice them. Here the difficulty was not only in the recreation of the sense of chaos in the picture as if in a dream but also the preservation of the harmony between the different components. Thats why some of the details have been blurred, so that the background could look more peaceful.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ekaterina Pushkarova, Bulgaria CGArena

Making of Daydreamer
This way or other, if you wish to create a work with super realistic details, I would repeat the basic principles of drawing in one sphere. Every separate part, if you perceive it in the way you do the sphere, then everything would be all right. Everything is volume, volume and again volume!!! From the drop to the grass always think about the volume! And if you dont know the qualities of the matter you are drawing, look up on the Internet for reference and think the things over! For example, what does a drop of water do? Really just a drop? First, its transparent and reflects the colour of the surface, which means that there should be a light spot, but as the light has passed through some matter (i.e. water), the light spot should be at the bottom of the drop and it will have a different colour from that of the surface. And last but not least is the volumeThink about the drop as if it has volume. Do not just draw its contour. BRUSHES Because all the things mentioned above are the basic principles of drawing and painting, this is perhaps the most important part for those who are making their first steps in the digital art. The brushes in Photoshop experiment with the settings of every brush. They offer thousands of possibilities. I personally have not more than 10 brushes and change their settings all the time. The more brushes I have, the less I use them. I choose a few main brushes, basic to Photoshop and a few more, which effects I like and they could recreate texture, close to that of the painting.

Experiment with the layers. For example, the main green shade of the grass is on 1 layer, above it is a layer with a brush, which has texture, so that it could recreate the slight chaos and grainy look and on top I draw separate blades of grass, which shape up the basic mass. Hold the different thing separate, so that you would be able to take them away at every moment in case you decide you dont like them anymore.

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Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ekaterina Pushkarova, Bulgaria CGArena

Making of Daydreamer
The other important setting to me is Color Dodge. I choose a round brush with white colour. From Mode I set it to Color Dodge and turn down the Opacity. I paint with it the places, which I want to make lighter or strongly light contours. This is the light-making brush, but you have to be very careful about her strength, because it is possible to spoil the colour and turn it into pure white. The third important brush is Smudge Tool. When you go through its settings Shape Dynamics and Scattering, you can get a result pretty close to the mixing of paint in the classing painting. Choosing a brush with an interesting shape is something I very much prefer. IF YOU DONT LIKE ANYTHING... DONT HESITATE, DELETE IT Take a look at your work from a distance. There is something you dont quite like? DO not hesitate, delete it and try something else in its place. After all you have layers. If your try isnt successful, you can always show the old layer. In my case the balloon in the left part of the picture has been constantly was rather irritating to meso I took it off, waiting to see what Ill replace it with. Then it occurred to me that as a child I used to flow little paper boats in a bucket of water. And there they arethe painted pieces of paper, flowing towards the fairytale world. And after that I didnt want to change anything. Take the old away, so that the new could come in its placeAnd do not hesitate, when you dont like something in that corner at the bottom Change it! The same has happened with the town. It seemed to me rather fragmented and scattered. Ive tried to make it up, but it wouldntt work out. Then I remembered the best inspiration is the reality! My home townwith its thousands winding narrow streets, little houses situated on rocks, one above another as if perching on the hill. In order to concentrate on it only, I chose Crop and drew it as a separate picture. So that the feeling of my town could be full blooded, I decided to add some little lights like layer with Lighter Color. www.cgarena.com Page 52

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ekaterina Pushkarova, Bulgaria CGArena

Making of Daydreamer

And so I could have missed many things which I would like to tell you or such, which you would have wanted to, ask me. But the most important thing I would repeat is that a picture is painted with heart and soul, not with brain! Do train your logic before you start painting. Have a look at the works of many artists, not just one, so that you wont turn into someones imitator!!!....Be yourself.find yourself! While looking at an artists works, ask yourself how exactly has this happened, how has he done it? Learn him or her, draw a lot of sketches until the moment comes when your brain would have remembered the main principles of the construction of objects. Just then he or she would stop interfering with you and your heart and only by the stroke of the brush your hand would place the spot exactly where its place is. And your picture will be sealed with the magic of your soul. Every one of you can do it only if you have faith in yourself! Here it is the Daydreamer What I am going to tell you about is part of my life. www.cgarena.com Page 53

Tutorial

Issue 3 Jul - Aug 2011

by Ekaterina Pushkarova, Bulgaria CGArena

Making of Daydreamer
It took place a long time ago There was a girl in a red dress, sitting on a rock. Each of her thoughts materialized and flew away into space, Creating a dream world piece by piecejust like a jigsaw puzzle It was a dream Ten years later I was sitting on the same rock, writing about and painting enchanted far-away places My dream had come true, and I had turned into Creator of worlds As have you all daydreamers... I dedicate this picture to all creative artists. Perhaps there is a place somewhere, beyond the limit of this world, Where they call you the CREATOR looking at the sky as the girl in the red dress is Keep on creating! Portfolio: http://katerin.cgarena.com Email: kati.sunlight@gmail.com

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Have you created your CG Por tfolio?

www.cgarena.com/por tfolio

David Moratilla Amago, Spain dmoratilla@gmail.com Maya

Titouan OLIVE, France boxreception@gmail.com Maya, Mental Ray

Sbastien Czaja, France czajasebastien@yahoo.fr 3ds Max

Hugo Silva, Portugal hugodesign@hotmail.com 3ds Max, Fryrender

Leonardo DellAgli, Milan leonardo.dellagli@gmail.com 3ds Max, Vray

Ognian Bonev, Bulgaria ogyb99@yahoo.com 3ds Max, Phoroshop

Anton Valiev, Russia master-3d@mail.ru 3ds Max, V-Ray

Ramzi Boudemagh, France ramziboudemagh@live.fr 3ds Max, VRay, ZBrush

Vlad Konstantinov, Russia swordlord@rambler.ru 3ds Max, VRay, ZBrush

Diffuse Virtual Studio, Brazil contato@diffusevirtual.com 3ds Max, VRay

How to send in your images...

We showcase the cream of reader images in magazine and on website gallery. Heres how to get yours noticed

Upload Images through Website

Follow this link http://www.cgarena.com/submit.php This is by far the quickest and easiest way to send your images to us.