Rob Redman demonstrates how to get into the replication game with LightWave 11.5’s Place Mesh command

When you first think about this type of process, you might think it sounds easy: just model your parts and move them into position. However, this can quickly become laborious. Imagine having to place multiple trees on a landscape, ensuring that each one was the right distance into the ground. Likewise, adding scales or horns to a creature: if it was just one or two, it would be a pretty simple task – but if you have to add more, finding a good, efficient way to do it becomes a necessity.

Luckily for us, LightWave 11.5 has a tool that enables us to do this and more easily. The Place Mesh command works similarly to other tools in LightWave. You model the geometry that you’d like to duplicate, and place it in a visible background layer. Then, in a foreground layer, you build the mesh that you want to duplicate onto. Once this is done, run the Place Mesh command, and you’ll see the cursor change to an orange circle with a line coming from it perpendicularly. This shows you the draw point and direction for the mesh being placed. On a flat surface, such as a floor or a cube, this is less useful because it’s easy to see where you’re painting the mesh; but on a more complex model, such as an undulating landscape, it’s very useful, and can prevent mishaps and the need for undos.

A simple click will add a copy of the background mesh to the draw point. Where the true power of the tool lies, however, is if you keep the mouse button pressed. Dragging upwards or to the right will either rotate the placed mesh clockwise or scale it up. (The two actions can be done together.) Likewise, clicking and dragging left or down will rotate the mesh anti-clockwise or scale it down.

Taking the example of trees on a landscape, you can easily understand the benefits of this. Nature is all about organised chaos, with no two objects the same – the Place Mesh tool enables you to replicate this in a particularly intuitive way. Admittedly, you don’t get variations in the actual geometry, but the size and rotation helps to disguise that.

This technique could be extended fairly easily to take into account some changes in geometry as well. All you would need to do is to create a number of meshes to duplicate, with each on its own background layer. Then just switch which background layer is visible to choose which geometry you’re placing. It wouldn’t take many variations, combined with the scaling and rotation features, to build a complex scene where any similarities are unnoticeable.

Populate a forest in minutes

Create an undulating landscape

In this example, you’re going to make a stylised landscape. Start off by building the mesh you want to place other meshes on: a simple 50×50 square, with nine divisions in both axes. Press [Shift]+[J] then [Enter] to run a Jitter command. I used a magnet to raise the middle for a hill.

Model a cartoon tree

You’re going to place assorted trees over the landscape, so with the hill layer visible (to roughly size the tree by), add a cube in a new layer. A couple of quick bevels later, you’ve formed a cartoon tree, ready to populate your hill with multiple copies.

Populate the landscape

Now all you need to do is make the hill your foreground layer, the tree a visible background layer, and you’re ready. Run the Place Mesh command and start painting. You can also just click Populate in the numerical window to automatically place random trees over the hill.

3D World technical editor and 3D artist Rob Redman has been working in the field of VFX and motion graphics for over a decade

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Jason Harding’s pro tips for 3ds Max and V-Ray will help you improve your visualisation work

When rendering products, there’s a lot that needs to be taken into consideration to achieve believable results – getting your modelling and lighting correct is just the beginning. Here I’ll share some of the tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years to improve product renders using 3ds Max and V-Ray.

With each of these tips, I aim to give you an insight into how I tackle product renders. There are many other approaches you can take, but this is my preferred workflow. As a 3D artist, I work on a variety of different projects – be it design visuals, advertisements or animations for TV – but I find myself using many of these techniques on a daily basis.

The main focus of this tutorial is product renders, but the same principles apply to many other areas of 3D, so hopefully everyone will be able to learn a thing or two from them, no matter what field they work in.

01 Start the project with good reference material

If you’re modelling a product that already exists, start by gathering as much reference material as possible, making sure you have views from the front, top and side so that when you’re modelling you can be sure that it looks correct from every angle. This might sound obvious, but if you get your proportions wrong then your render won’t look photorealistic no matter how good your lighting and texturing is.

To view your reference material in your Max scene, model three flat planes in the same proportions as your reference images, and position each one facing flat in the top, front and left viewports. For each reference plane, apply a standard Max material with the image applied to the diffuse slot and select Show Shaded Material In Viewport in the material editor.

02 Work to real-world scale

It’s important to make sure that your scene units are set up correctly and that you model to real-world scale. This will ensure that the lighting in your scene behaves as it would in real life.

A low-poly mesh before a TurboSmooth modifier is applied

Imagine lighting a huge mountain with just a small torch. If you model your product to be much larger than it would be in real life you’ll end up with a similar situation, and the lights won’t behave correctly. You’ll have to dial up the intensity of your lights so much that the results would become unnatural. Working to a real-world scale also future-proofs your scene should you want to introduce any dynamics at a later date, such as liquid or cloth, which rely on your units to be set up correctly.

03 Keep your mesh clean

It’s good practice to keep your mesh clean and relatively low-poly, applying a TurboSmooth modifier to anything that needs extra detail afterwards. This keeps your scene size down, making complex models easier to work with. It also means your model is suitable for any situation, be it a print-resolution visual or a low-poly game model. I prefer to use a TurboSmooth modifier over a MeshSmooth because 3ds Max handles them faster, and converting your mesh to an editable poly rather than an editable mesh gives you more modelling tools to work with.

It is better to model in quads rather than triangles or ngons, because your mesh will deform without pinching or creasing when you apply a TurboSmooth modifier, thereby keeping your renders clean. This is particularly important on refractive materials such as glass, anything with a shiny surface, or anything that will require rigging.

04 Soften hard edges

Real-world objects rarely have sharp edges, so to add realism to your renders it helps to chamfer hard edges. Not only does this make your models look more realistic, but when you light your scene these edges will pick up nice highlights.

Selecting your edges and chamfering them or adding extra edge loops manually are two ways of achieving this, but it could become a tedious process if you are working have complex models.

Another way to achieve this effect is to apply a VrayEdgesTex to the bump channel of your material and then adjust the size setting accordingly. This method will quickly and easily soften the edges of any object that has this material applied to it when you render your scene.

If you combine the VrayEdgesTex material with a noise map using a VrayCompTex, you can add rough chamfered edges to your models should you need to.

05 Avoid Booleans where possible

When modelling non-organic shapes, it’s tempting to put Boolean holes into your mesh to avoid the sometimes tricky process of modelling holes by hand. This can be fine for low-res renders, but if you plan to render at a high resolution, Booleans normally create unpredictable results and an untidy mesh that won’t reflect and refract lights correctly.

Booleans can alter reflections and refractions on your model, so avoid them where possible

To model holes in a flat surface, convert your mesh to an editable poly, go to Vertex Selection and chamfer a single vertex. This will give you a diamond shape within a square. Select the Cut tool and cut between the corners of the square, then select the four vertices on the side of the diamond and scale them up to form a circular shape. Finally, delete the faces of the circle, extrude your mesh, and add a TurboSmooth. You’ll be left with a perfectly round hole.

06 Pay attention to small details

Small details can go a long way when it comes to rendering product shots. It’s often tempting to take short cuts and avoid the small details of a model that won’t be seen very clearly – but it’s a false economy, as it’s often these small details that trick the eye into believing your render is real.

Every piece of this Lego robot was modelled using the instruction manual to ensure a perfect representation

I like to leave the modelling of all these finer details right until the end of the process, after I’ve modelled, lit and rendered my shot. Then I compare my final render to the reference material and try to find any areas where I can add subtle details to enhance the image. This can include extra details, material tweaks, additional bump or displacement maps, dirt materials or additional small lights that only affect certain objects. Adding details and real-world wear and tear reduces that ‘too perfect’ CG look.

07 Use a linear workflow

To get the most realistic results from your renders I recommend using a 32-bit linear workflow. When you save 8-bit images such as .jpg, .bmp or .tga files, they are gamma-encoded (sRGB) to look correct on your monitor, but in fact what you see is a misrepresentation.

These images are actually a lot darker than displayed, so you have to compensate when you light your scene by adding more lights and increasing their intensity, which will increase your render time.

The same light settings rendered with and without a linear workflow

When using a linear workflow, however, you can light your scene using real-world settings, so you don’t have to apply any lighting tricks to make your renders look realistic.

The result is that you won’t have blown-out highlights and contrasted renders, and your lighting and colour reproduction will be more natural. Read about this in Paul Hatton’s linear workflow guide.

08 Three-point lighting

A three-point lighting set-up is a good starting point to lighting products in a studio environment

I like to use a three-point lighting set-up, with a key light, a fill light and a back light. The key light shines directly onto the product and serves as its principle illuminator, having the strongest influence over how the shot looks. The fill light is placed on the opposite side, with a lower intensity. This brightens the shadows created by the key, while the back light is placed behind the subject to give subtle highlights and separate the product from the background. This won’t always be the best lighting set-up for every product model, but it’s a good starting point to build on.

09 Typical V-Ray settings

The V-Ray render settings panel can be a bit of a minefield for new users, so in the first instance I would recommend heading over to the Spot3D website where you can find simple explanations and examples of how each option works. To give you a head start, these are the settings I would use for a typical studio scene. There are no right or wrong settings, of course – it depends on the scene you’re rendering and what you want it to look like – but the settings below should get you started.

10 Use a VRayLight to control shadows

Rather than using directional lights or a VRaySun to generate sharp shadows, I prefer to use a standard VRayLight. I scale it down so it’s small and give it a really high intensity.

Applying shadows this way means you have full control over how sharp or soft your shadows are. A small light with a high intensity will give sharp shadows, while a larger light with a low intensity gives a softer shadow.

If you disable Affect Specular and Affect Reflections in the VRayLight settings, the light will only affect the diffuse channel. Add one of these lights, along with a three-point lighting set-up, and the result will be a nice, evenly lit product with sharp shadows in one direction.

11 Use V-Ray’s physical camera

The V-Ray physical camera has many advantages over 3ds Max’s standard camera, allowing you to change your exposure, aperture and white balance as you would with an SLR in real life.

Rather than increasing your light’s intensity or adding more lights, you can change the camera’s exposure for a similar result. I often apply a slight vignette to my camera, or use the camera settings to apply a precise depth of field – an accurate but render-intensive method.

Also, keep your camera’s safe frame turned on at all times by setting your viewport to be your camera’s view and pressing [Ctrl]+[F]. This will ensure that your composition will be the same when you render your image.

12 Use override materials when necessary

When rendering a product in a studio environment, the colour of the backdrop can often overpower the image, affecting the reflection, refraction, GI and shadow colours. If your backdrop is green, for example, this will reflect green onto your product and bounce the colour around your scene if GI is turned on. This might be fine, but it doesn’t always look natural. Using a VrayOverrideMtl lets you control the colour of the reflections, refractions and GI given off by the backdrop, while keeping the base colour the same. You can dial down the intensity of the colours or change it completely, depending on your scene requirements.

A green ground plane with and without a VrayOverrideMtl applied

To do this, select Get Material from your material editor, double-click VrayOverrideMtl and copy your original material to the Base Material slot. Apply different materials to the other slots to get the effect you want.

13 Experiment with HDRIs and environments

I almost always add an HDRI to my scene to get realistic-looking reflections. To do this, go into your render panel and, under Vray/Vray Environment, switch on Reflection/Refraction Environment Override and click None to add a VrayHDRI material. Drag this into your material editor and apply your HDRI.

Even a simple environment can enhance a model

Product shots are often rendered in white environments to look clean and professional, but this can also become quite boring because it’s been done a million times before. As well as changing your HDRI, try experimenting with different background colours. Contrasting colours can make your render stand out more and add more interest to your shot. Or you could try adding a simple environment around your product, which will give it more purpose and a real environment to reflect from.

14 Quick preview renders

For a quick preview render to see how your lights and materials are behaving, the only two settings I lower are the Min/Max Subdivs under Adaptive DMC Image Sampler and the Noise Threshold under Settings/DMC Sampler. For final renders I set the Min and Max Subdivs to 1 and 8, and the Noise Threshold to 0.01 – but for a quick preview, just change all the settings to 1. These two settings alone can double your render speeds while maintaining enough detail to see what the lights and materials in your scene look like.

Another good way to get quick previews of your scene is by setting your viewport’s active shader to V-Ray RT, V-Ray’s real-time render engine. This is great way to preview if your lights and materials are working without having to render your scene each time you make a change.

15 Render in passes

This is often overlooked, but in the long run rendering in passes can save time and really improve your renders. It can take time to set up in your 3ds Max scene, but if you’re rendering high-res images or animations, different passes can be rendered at the same time and won’t affect your render times too much.

These passes give me greater control over the final rendered image in Photoshop

These passes give you control over individual diffuse, reflection and specular channels, depth of field and much more without having to render any frames again. Choose what you want to render in the Render Setup dialog under Render Elements – I always render specular, reflection, Z-depth and material ID passes at a minimum.

Jason Harding is a freelance 3D artist based in south London with over eight years of advertising, design and TV experience

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James Cutler shows you how to give your renders that lived-in look with a coat of procedural grime

Download the support files and accompanying video for this V-Ray tutorial

Dirt and weathered effects can improve the overall look and feel of the materials in your scene. However, when you’re using procedural materials such as metals and plastics, you might not have UVW mapping. By using VRayDirt, you can add these effects without the need for UVW mapping because it’s done using procedural techniques. You can build up dirt and blend as many layers as you wish very quickly to improve the look and feel.

Start by opening 3D World 0168 t_Q&A_168_ Vray_Start.max, from the supporting files for this tutorial, and select the group named Water Hydrant. In the material editor select an empty material slot and apply it to the selected group.

Add a VRayCompTex to the diffuse slot. This texture map enables you to blend the two dirt effects into one material. In Source A, add VRayDirt, and you’ll be presented with a range of parameters for adjusting the material.

By default the dirt spreads equally until it reaches the maximum radius. The larger the radius, the further the dirt spreads from its origin, so set the radius to 100mm. The occluded colour will be where the dirt is present. The un-occluded colour will be where the dirt isn’t present. Set the diffuse for the occluded colour to R 6, G 2, B 1. The distribution and falloff parameters affect how the dirt appears within the set radius. For example, you can make the dirt more apparent closer to the origin, but for this tutorial the default settings are suitable.

Much like everything else in V-Ray, the quality of the appearance of the dirt is controlled by the number of subdivisions. Set this to 32 to increase the quality and reduce noise.

In the Radius Maps rollout, add a noise map and set the size to 1.0. This will affect how the dirt is distributed within the set radius. The noise map colours are black and white, so the dirt will appear at zero size where there are black areas, and at full size where there are white areas. A mid-grey colour would mean the dirt is at half size. Click Go to Parent, add a splat map to the un-occluded colour and set the size to 10. Set the first colour to R 68, G 0, B 0 and the second colour to R 36, G 2, B 2. This will be the diffuse colour of the material.

Click Go to Parent twice and copy the VRayDirt material from Source A of the VrayCompTex and paste it into Source B. In the Operator drop-down box, choose Minimum (Min{A,B}). This will combine the two texture maps by their darkest RGB colour.

Within Source B, set the Y and Z bias to 5.0 to force the dirt in a non-uniform direction, but leave X at 0.0. Tick the box for Invert Normal. By using the VrayCompTex, you’re combining dirt that will appear in dark corners and crevices as well as dirt that travels along open faces in a downward direction.

Click Go to Parent twice to go back to the top level of the material. Copy the VrayCompTex from the diffuse map slot and paste it in the reflect map slot. For both Source A and B in Reflection, set the occluded colour to R 0, G 0, B 0 and the unoccluded colour to R 75, G 71, B 59. This will make any area where the dirt is present non-reflective.

Remove the splat map and click Go to Parent twice to go back to the top level. Set Reflection Glossiness to 0.85 and set Subdivisions to 32. Turn Fresnel on and set the Fresnel IOR to 3.0. Scroll down to BDRF parameters and choose Ward from the drop-down list – this type is used for metallic reflections. Finally, in the bump map slot add a noise map and set Size to 0.7.

Grunge up your renders in V-Ray

Set the size of VRayDirt

Using a large radius for small objects may cause surfaces to render completely occluded, so set your radius to the size of the object and use separate materials.

Reducing influences on VRayDirt

If multiple objects are intersecting the VRayDirt material, you may wish to stop some, if not all, of them from contributing to the dirt effect. Use Exclude or consider same-object-only options to do this.

Make dirt on transparent objects

By default, VRayDirt isn’t set up to work with transparent or translucent objects such as glass. Tick Work with Transparency in the settings in order to generate accurate occlusion.

James Cutler runs MintViz Workshop, a resource for any CG artist, designer or generalist who’s looking to develop their skills

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Create realistic movement for a muscular character by taking advantage of the muscle creation system built into Maya

You’ve got a lovely Facebook member to thank for this in-depth Maya tutorial, first published in issue 116, by Tippett Studio’s character setup artist Kent Schoberle, as they asked for the files.

If you’d like to see a tutorial on a specific subject, why not drop us a line at enquiries@3dworldmag.com and make a suggestion? In the meantime, here’s something for Maya fans for the weekend:

• Download scene files and supporting docs below:

Download tdw116-muscle_hero.zip(141.5MB)
Download tdw116-muscle.zip (98.1MB)
Download tdw116-muscle_v5.zip (145MB)
Download tdw116-muscle_v4.zip (157.4MB)
Download tdw116-muscle_v3.zip (96.5MB)
Download tdw116-muscle_v2.zip (101.1MB)
Download tdw116-muscle_v1.zip (150.7MB)

THIS TUTE IS FOR: Maya 2008 Complete Extension 1 or later
DIFFICULTY: Intermediate
TIME TAKEN: 3 hours

Introduction

With the release of Maya 2008 Extension 1, Autodesk users were introduced to Maya Muscle, a powerful package of muscle and skin deformation tools previously known as cMuscle System.

Through the integration of these systems within Maya, animators and technical directors have been given a new level of control, yielding results that were previously only achievable through proprietary software or third-party plug-ins.

One advantage of Maya Muscle is that it can build on a default Maya skin cluster. In this tutorial, you’ll convert an existing Maya skeleton and bound mesh to a Maya Muscle-ready mesh. Using the Convert Smooth Skin to Muscle System function, Maya’s joints will be turned into primitive bone objects called capsules. In addition to capsules, you will use custom polygonal bone objects.

This tutorial will provide you with a method for taking an existing Maya rig and converting it to a full-on muscle rig. Let us know how you get on!

This new skeleton serves as a base for your muscle attachments. As you dive into the muscle-building interface, you’ll see just how easy it is to create, manipulate, finalise and mirror muscle objects on symmetrical characters.

You can also access a variety of parameters used to define behaviour: volume control, jiggle settings and custom muscle shapes based on rotations are easily modifiable at any point after creation.

Muscle behaviour can then be translated into various types of skin behaviour.

For the purposes of the tutorial, you will concentrate on just the sticky and sliding skin weighting types, but there are a host of other types that can be used.

Once you’ve done the work of applying muscle influences to one side of your mesh, you will save and transfer the weighting information to the opposite side. As you layer the muscle systems and skin effects, the rig will become increasingly heavy. Using the Maya Muscle Cache option, you will learn how to create file caches for the purposes of speedy playback or playblasting.

The Maya Muscle documentation that comes with the software is highly recommended for explaining the various components, behaviours, and functions that are available.

Although this tutorial will provide you with a clear method for taking an existing Maya rig and converting it to a full-on muscle rig, there are other ways to use the plug-in. You have several options and, in some cases, you could use the systems in innovative ways that have nothing to do with muscles at all. As usual, the best way to discover is to just get in there and experiment, once you’ve learnt the basics.

Thanks to Scott Spencer for creating the original model and final renders.

Legend Scott Spencer is a long-time writer for 3D World. Here’s are just a few of the tutorials he’s written:

• Weta Workshop’s Scott Spencer shares some of his techniques for sculpting better-looking models in less time

Discover new tools and techniques, and how to combine organic and hard-surface modelling to create a biomech figure in ZBrush

TUTORIAL: RIGGING A MUSCLE SYSTEM IN MAYA

STAGE ONE | Preparing the rig for Maya Muscle

You must be using Maya 2008 Complete with Extension 1 (or a later release) to access Maya Muscle.

1. If you don’t see Muscle in the main menu bar, select Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager. Scroll down until you see MayaMuscle.mll, and tick the Loaded and Autoload checkboxes. Click Refresh then Close. Open superHero_stage01_start.mb from the downloads.

2. The scene has the skeleton and skinned meshes, separated into five Display Layers. Unhide the torso via the Upper_Body Display Layer. Select the torso mesh. Choose Muscle > Skin Setup > Convert Smooth Skin to Muscle System. Select Disable then X-Axis in the resulting dialogs. This converts your joints to capsules and the mesh to muscle skin. Hide the Upper_Body Display Layer.

3. In the Outliner, select LshoulderJNT and [Ctrl]- select RshoulderJNT. In the Channel Box, set the joint SHAPES nodes’ Radius to 2, and increase Length to 33.76. The capsule on the RshoulderJNT is aiming the wrong way; correct this by selecting the right-side capsule and setting Capsule Axis to Neg X-Axis. Set the remaining capsules’ Radius values to 2 and adjust lengths.

4. Sometimes custom modelled bones can be a good visual aid and be used for skin effects. Unhide the bone objects from the Bones Display Layer.
Select the clavicle and scapula capsules, and set their Draw attribute to off. Now select the six custom bones (highlighted in grey in the screenshot), then choose Muscle >Muscles / Bones > Convert Surface to Muscle/Bone.

5. Each bone now has a muscle node with attributes. Now that you’ve converted your polygon bones to muscle objects, you need to attach them to the muscle skin. With the six custom bones still selected, unhide the Upper_Body Display Layer. [Ctrl]-[Shift]-select the torso, then choose Muscle > Muscle Objects > Connect selected Muscle Objects.

6. In this stage, you’ve seen how to convert an existing Skin Cluster to the Maya Muscle skin, adjust Capsule attributes, and create and connect custom bone polygon objects to the muscle skin. To verify that everything has been connected, select only the torso mesh, choose Muscle > Paint Muscle Weights and review the list of objects in the Weights menu.

STAGE TWO | Building the first muscle

7. Open superHero_stage02_start or continue with your scene. Set the Upper_Body Display Layer to Template (represented as a T). Select Muscle > Muscles Simple > Muscle Builder. To build the biceps, select LscapulaSpineBONE and click the directional button for Attach Obj 1:. Select LelbowJNT and do the same for Attach Obj 2:. Now click Build/Update and position the biceps.

8. Select the Cross Section tab in the Muscle Builder window. The Curves are for manipulating the shape of the muscle. Select Curves 2 through to 6 and shape the biceps, as seen in the video. It’s sometimes preferable to modify the curves in Component Mode through the viewport as opposed to the Muscle Builder window. To avoid unpredictable behaviour, do not adjust Curves 1 and 7.

9. Go to the Finalize tab. Leave the first options at default. These are to do with the underlying Deformer that controls muscle behaviour. For Create Mirrored Muscle, select X. For Search, type L; for Replace, type R. Click Convert to Muscle. In the Muscle Builder: Warning dialog, name the muscle Mus_Lbicep. Rotate the L and R elbow JNTS to see the muscles work.

10. Close Muscle Builder and open the Outliner. The Muscle Builder created grpMUSCLES, a default group. Set the Draw attribute for the biceps to off. The controllers on each biceps drive the muscle spline Deformer and have attributes to enhance animation. Select then hide ([Ctrl]+[H]) both CONTROLS groups to avoid clutter. You will need to re-organise these nodes for your own rigs.

11. Select Muscle > Muscles Simple > Set Muscle Parameters.Select LelbowJNT and rotate in Z until the arm is straight. Select the left biceps.In Spline Length Settings, click Set Current as Stretch. Rotate the elbow until the arm is bent, select the biceps and click Set Current as Squash. Rotate the elbow to a middle point between these positions, select the biceps and click Set Current as Default. In Stretch Volume Presets, select the Small preset. Repeat for the right arm.

12. Still in the Muscle Parameters tab, scroll to Jiggle Presets.Create a simple forward arm movement animation using Rotate Z. (To keyframe, right-click Rotate Z and choose Key Selected.) This way, you’ll be able to preview the jiggle effects. Once you’ve got a basic arm motion, let it play. Select the biceps and hit the Light jiggle preset. This will be more suitable for this particular muscle.

13. The only items influencing the torso mesh at this point are the capsules and bone objects. To connect the biceps to the muscle skin, select the biceps, [Ctrl]-[Shift]-select the torso mesh, and choose Muscle > Muscle Objects > Connect selected Muscle Objects. In the Sticky Bind Maximum Distance dialog, select Auto-Calculate.

14. Auto-Calculating the maximum bind distance tells the muscle which points on the mesh it will be able to influence. To visualise this, select the left biceps and choose Muscle > Muscle Objects > Visualize Sticky Bind Distance for selected Muscle Objects. Once you are done, simply delete the reference sphere.

15. Rotate LelbowJNT to about halfway. Select the mesh and choose Muscle>Paint Muscle Weights. Ensure Weights is set to Sticky. I prefer grey values, so if you don’t want colour, tick the Gray box. Ensure Add is selected and set the Weight value to 0.1. Paint the biceps area of the mesh until you’ve got a good-looking bulge. Select Show in the viewport menu bar and un-tick NURBS Surfaces to hide them and better see what you are painting.

STAGE THREE | Custom muscle shapes and sliding effects

16. Open superHero_stage03_1_start or continue with your own file. To create the triceps in the Muscle Builder, use LshoulderJNT for Attach Obj 1: and LelbowJNT for Attach Obj 2:. Set nSpans to 12 and nSegs to 10 to give the muscle more resolution for a custom shape. Name it Mus_Ltricep and mirror it in X. Set the volume parameters. Refer to the video for a full demonstration.

17. Select Muscle > Muscles Simple > Custom Muscle Shapes. Select Mus_Ltricep and hit the directional button next to the Geo: field. Rotate LelbowJNT’s Rotate Z until the arm is straight and the greyed-out Current State attribute is at -1. Click Prep for Sculpt to put the muscle into Component Mode. Manipulate the CVs on the muscle (see video). Hit Create New and name it tgt_Ltricep_squash.

18. Rotate LelbowJNT to the opposite position until Current State is 1. Click Prep for Sculpt and manipulate the muscle CVs. Once you’ve got a shape similar to the one in the video, click Create New and name it tgt_Ltricep_stretch. Rotate LelbowJNT to see the triceps blend between your target shapes. You can create custom shapes for any point of contraction on any muscle.

19. Un-template the Upper_Body Display Layer. Select the Mus_Ltricep muscle, [Ctrl]-[Shift]-select the torso mesh, and connect the muscle to the skin as in step 5. Use Auto-Calculate to set the bind maximum distance. With the torso selected, bring up the Paint Muscle Weights window. Ensure Weights is set to Sticky, and choose Add with a value of 0.1. Paint in the triceps influence, as seen in the video. Rotate the elbow to see the effect.

20. Open superHero_stage03_2_start.mb. This scene file has two more custom bone polygons for the elbows, which have already been connected to
the muscle system. Select the torso and highlight the cMuscleSystem1 node in the INPUTS stack in the Channel Box. Set Enable Sliding to on.

21. Rotate LelbowJNT to halfway. Select the torso mesh and select Muscle > Paint Muscle Weights. Set Weights to Sliding. Choose Add with a value of 0.1. Paint the elbow area as demonstrated in the video. Rotate the elbow and watch the skin slide over the bone. To adjust, select LelbowBONE and, via the Channel Box, set Fat to 0.25. Hide the Bones Display Layer for better viewing.

STAGE FOUR | Building the rest of the upper body musculature

22. For this stage, reference the videos for detailed demonstrations. Enable Template mode for the Upper_Body Display Layer. Disable Sliding on the mesh muscle nodes to get faster feedback. For the chest, create three muscles. The first two will attach to spineCJNT; the third will begin at LclavicleBONE. All three insert at LshoulderJNT. Refer to MuscleReference_01.jpg on the CD.

23. Create shoulder and forearm muscles. The front shoulder attaches at the clavicle; the middle and back attach to LscapulaSpineBONE. All three insert at LshoulderJNT. For the forearm, convert the wristJNTs to Capsules. Select LwristJNT and choose Muscle > Muscles / Bones > Convert Surface to Muscle/Bone. Repeat on the right, orienting the right-side capsule to Neg X-Axis.

24. Create the lat back muscle first. It attaches at spineBJNT and inserts at LshoulderJNT. Next, create the teres muscle. It attaches at LscapulaBONE and inserts at LshoulderJNT. Finally, make three muscles for the trapezius, as it has multiple attach points. The first attaches at neckAJNT and inserts at LclavicleBONE; the second attaches at spineDJNT; and the third attaches at spineCJNT. The latter two both insert at LscapulaSpineBONE.
 

 

25. Set the volume parameters for the shoulders and trapezius. Select all muscles and set to the Light jiggle preset for now. Select all muscles that have not been connected to the mesh (everything except Mus_ Lbicep and Rbicep). Disable Template mode for the Upper_ Body Display Layer, then [Ctrl]-Shift]-select the torso mesh, and choose Muscle > Muscle Objects > Connect selected Muscle Objects. Use Auto-Calculate for the bind distance.
 
 
 
 
 
 

26. Select Muscle > Paint Muscle Weights. Ensure Weights is set to Sticky, adjust the Weight value to 0.1 and check that it’s on Add. Begin adding influence to the left chest area. Don’t worry too much about costume intersections for now. Hide and unhide the muscle objects periodically to see the area the muscle is going to influence, and only paint the muscle influences for the left side. If you have the Paint window up and you need to re- activate the brush, select the torso mesh and hit [Y].

27. As you will have noticed, the speed of your scene is drastically reduced once you’ve enabled the Sliding feature, but feel free to experiment. Set Weights to Sliding. Paint in some light values over the deltoids, triceps, pectorals, scapula and clavicle bones, making sure to only paint the influence on the left side. After you’ve done this, select the torso mesh and set Enable Sliding to on to check your results. Remember to enable and disable sliding only when needed for faster performance.

28. Now mirror the weighting information to the right. Select the torso mesh and put it into Component Mode. Select the vertices on the left side without selecting any vertices down the middle of the mesh. Once you’ve got the selection, choose Muscle > Weighting > Load/ Save Weights. Hit the directional button next to Node: to load the muscle system. Under Save, select a file path and set Weights to Sticky. Click Save Weights. Repeat for the sliding weights, setting Weights to Sliding rather than Sticky.

29. Once you’ve saved the weights, choose Edit > Invert Selection to select the vertices on the right side of your mesh. Make sure it didn’t select vertices down the middle of the mesh. Bring up the sticky weights file via the Load sub-panel. Change Load By to World Pos. Now select X under Mirror Pos. Under Search, type L; for Replace, type R. Click Load Weights. Repeat for the sliding weights file. You’ve now mirrored the weighting information.

30. Now you should preview the deformation. To do this, you’ll use the Maya Muscle Cache feature. Begin by either loading the superHero_step30_ start file, or continuing with the file you have open. Add some keyframed animation to the joints. Make sure to set Enable Sliding to on for the cMuscleSystem1 node so that you can preview this feature as well.

31. Once you’ve got animation on the skeleton, select the torso mesh and choose Muscle > Caching > Create Cache. You can either create a Node that will carry the cache information, or write the cache to an external file. Select Muscle > Caching > Set Location of File Cache.

After choosing a file path and name, go back to the Generate Cache window and set Cache To to External File. Generate the cache and let it scrub through the Timeline without interrupting the process. Once complete, the muscle skin is no longer following the rig, but reading the external file cache. You can now Playblast or scrub through the Timeline to view the results.

If you need to disable or modify the cache, you can find the options by opening the Attribute Editor menu for the cMuscleSystem1 node, then editing cMuscleSystem Attributes > Cache Path.

About the author

Kent Schoberle joined Tippett Studio in Berkeley, CA, as a CG puppet artist. He was previously a technical director at The Orphanage in San Francisco www.tippett.com

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Retopologising a model may seem like a chore, but as Mike Griggs reveals, it’s a key aspect of the 3D workflow

Efficiency should be at the heart of every 3D artist’s decision-making process when starting a new project. Efficiency doesn’t just mean using your time to the best of your abilities – it also means allocating enough time to your modelling to maximise the efficiency of your meshes when they are assigned to the task you have for them.

One of the key skills in making efficient models is gaining a good understanding of retopology (aka retopo, if you’re one of the cool kids). One of the best examples of why you would use retopology is in making a sculpted figure, which you may have created in an application such as ZBrush or Mudbox, capable of supporting an animation rig in a more traditional 3D application such as Maya, 3ds Max or Cinema 4D.

At its most basic level, retopology is reducing the number of polygons used in the model as much as possible while maintaining the integrity of the main form. This makes the model easier to manage in animation, in complex scenes and so on. However, in the 3D artist’s workflow, a model would potentially be expected to switch to a different level of polygons smoothly, depending on the range of outputs it could have, from high-end animation to a game asset for a mobile device. There’s also the question of polygon flow. This has huge implications for animation. The imported mesh of a figure may have a dense mesh over the chest and shoulder muscle area, thanks to an amazing job done by the digital sculptor; but when moved into the animation application, such a mesh may bend in an unrealistic fashion due to the density of the polygons and their directions.

Essentially, the act of retopology is rebuilding the dense model as a much more efficient one for your pipeline, and it should be accounted for in any project, whether it’s preparing a sculpt for animation or rebuilding industrial design or architectural models from their original CAD model formats into a file useful for a CGI process, whether still or animated.

To retain the detail, especially in sculpted work, a range of specialised image maps can be used to cheat the geometry back onto your retopologised model. For most output types this is a completely valid approach, and an essential skill for game development designers.

Thankfully, 3D software developers have realised that hardly any artists use just one 3D application any more, and have started adding retopology toolsets into their core workflows. These tools can also enhance your day-to-day modelling work. Learning retopology may seem like starting from scratch but it’s a critical skill, and one that will make the most of your 3D creations in their target environments.

Refine your model by stripping detail

01 Import the mesh

I import my sculpted mesh into my main 3D application. I’ve used ZBrush’s Decimation Master plug-in to help lower the poly count.

02 Reduce the polygon count

I draw a strip of quad polygons along the major muscle lines, ensuring my snapping tools tie into the main forms of the sculpted mesh.

03 Copy and flip the work

My model started in a neutral pose, so I only need to work on one side. Once finished, I can then mirror the mesh to complete the work.

Key points of a retopology workflow

Model in a neutral pose

When working on a mesh, always start with a neutral pose, unless it’s for a one-off sculpt that will never be used in any other way. While the model may be for a still only, modelling in a neutral pose allows you to concentrate on the model’s polygon flow, and ensures the likelihood of interoperability of your mesh between 3D applications. It will also help you to cover areas more evenly with textures – especially when using UV maps.

Shrink wrap polygons

Many retopology tools enable you to shrink-wrap ordered meshes of polygons onto the mesh that’s to be retopologised, which is usually on the layer in the background, if your 3D application supports layers. This can be a good way of covering large areas with ordered geometry. Be careful, though, to adjust your new mesh to the lines of the existing model rather than being strictly on a rigid XY grid.

Create a simple blocking mesh

It’s a good idea to create a basic blocking mesh of your model, usually by generating your mesh from a simple cube. By doing this, you’re creating a base form that any further modelling work is just a child of. This method also allows you to plan your model topology at the earliest stage of your build, and makes texturing and UV mapping easier to manage.

Plan your retopology by drawing

Applications such as 3D-Coat allow you to draw your suggested retopology lines, and then create geometry accordingly. Even if your application doesn’t support this kind of workflow, it can be a good idea – if your application supports drawing in the 3D view either directly onto the model or on overlays – to draw your retopology lines onto the base mesh. This allows you to map out your plan of retopologising your model.

Use image maps to aid retopology

Texture maps such as normal, displacement, bump and so on should be generated from your high-res mesh. Many applications, especially game engines, can take these maps and place them on your retopologised model to give it an appearance not too different from the original. Create your maps at the highest level of detail before you start any processes such as decimating your model, to make sure the information captured is purely from your artistic endeavours.

Mike Griggs is a freelance concept 3D, VFX and motion graphics artist working across TV, exhibition and digital design

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What’s best for starting a sculpt in ZBrush: ZSpheres, DynaMesh or a base mesh? Wes McDermott provides some pointers

One of the things I really like about ZBrush is that it has some great mesh creation options.

Being able to quickly prototype design and concept ideas is what drew me to the program in the first place.

Within ZBrush, there are several options for starting a sculpt, such as using ZSpheres, DynaMesh, Mannequins and Shadow Box.

The broad answer to the question would be that it really comes down to personal preference and how you like to work.

The good news is that there isn’t a right or wrong way to start a sculpt.

I find that the hardest part of any project is getting started. It’s putting that first stroke on the canvas, so to speak, that tends to be the most daunting step. So in this regard, I find the best method to be the one that gets me going the quickest.

Each method mentioned above has its own strengths and weaknesses, so I’ll share what works best for me.

I tend to take a hybrid approach to base mesh creation, which is to say that I often use ZBrush’s mesh creation tools, particularly ZSpheres and DynaMesh, in conjunction with a 3D application such as Maya.

With ZBrush 4R5, you have some really nice mesh-creation and polygon-editing tools.

A lot of the editing I do in a traditional 3D application, such as inserting edge loops, creasing edges and extrusions, can also be done in ZBrush.

However, I find it to be much easier to perform component-level operations using a more dedicated modeller.

For me, this is especially true for hard surfaces, where I’ll use DynaMesh or ZSpheres with hard-surface sculpting brushes to block in the form, and then recreate the surface using traditional polygon-modelling tools.

I could use the topology tools in ZBrush, but I find that I’m more comfortable to just GoZ the mesh to modo or Maya and use their topology tools.

Taking a quick look at some other options in ZBrush, I find I don’t particularly use Mannequins. They are nice from a rigging standpoint, and they are good for quickly experimenting with various pose concepts, but I don’t like the angular geometry they create in terms of a base mesh.

Shadow Box is a very nice tool, but I find it to be more helpful on less complex base meshes.

I could get crazy with some sophisticated masking, and paint specific reference images to make some complex base meshes, but I tend to use Shadow Box to rough out a very basic shape, which I then further refine with ZBrush’s sculpting tools, or resurface using the topology tools.

DynaMesh, on the other hand, is a revolutionary feature. In my workflow, I use DynaMesh at the beginning stages of a sculpt. I find it’s great for rapid concepts and prototyping ideas.

I use DynaMesh to block in the overall shapes and form of my sculpt. I can work quickly because DynaMesh enables me to re-mesh at any time, and continue blocking in my sculpt without having to worry about the topology. However, once I’ve blocked in the main forms of the sculpt, I’ll leave DynaMesh and continue the refinement stage with subdivisions.

At this stage I’ll also perform a retopology of my mesh to make sure that I have the edge loops and polygon flow that properly support the underlying forms.

For me, the process of working to build up form from low complexity to high is DynaMesh’s drawback. It’s kind of like modelling vertex by vertex – adding detail from the inside out. I’m continuously pulling shape and form from the DynaMesh geometry to build up the mesh and add complexity. Because of this, I tend to have trouble with overall proportion. However, this is where ZSpheres come into play.

ZSpheres have been in ZBrush for a long time, and I think they are still invaluable. ZSpheres enable you to sketch out the foundation of a mesh very quickly.

What I like most about the tool is that I can work up the overall shape and then easily refine the proportions of the model while working at a manageable level of detail.

For me, the ZSpheres tool is all about being able to properly gauge proportions at that very important early stage. Once the model has been formed, I convert it to an adaptive skin, then I move into DynaMesh for further refinement.

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In the end, it’s all about maximising a tool’s strengths. I can work out a complex shape in ZBrush more quickly than box modelling in Maya. However, I can get more accurate edges for hard surfaces in Maya as well as creases, and control polygon flow much more easily. By using the tools together, and in ways that play to my strengths and preferences, I find that I can work smarter and faster. I use a combination of ZSpheres, DynaMesh and my dedicated modeller to work up and refine my base mesh as I move into the detail phase of the sculpt. Fortunately, ZBrush presents you with several options, and gives you the ability to work in the way we feel most comfortable. It comes down to finding what works for you. Don’t forget: GoZ is your friend!

ZBrush modelling

Use DynaMesh for a basic shape

Starting with a basic DynaMesh sphere, you can quickly rough out the overall shape of the base mesh.

Tweak the base mesh in Maya

Now the overall shape is designed, use GoZ to send it to Maya, where you can resurface the mesh for a more refined base mesh.

Edges with Maya’s Crease tool

Define hard-surface edges with Crease. When you transfer the base mesh back to ZBrush, the creased edges will be retained.

Wes McDermott is a 3D artist and multimedia developer. He’s the author of Real World modo and the CameraMan for Maya iOS app

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Neil Maccormack explains how to create a 3D scene for a 2D conceptual design in LightWave and Photoshop

Download the full-size screenshots for this tutorial

Painting directly in Photoshop can be daunting. If you don’t have traditional 2D drawing skills, then the learning curve means a long, slow process before you get to see anything like the results you want. Often, however, artists can create the scene in their favourite 3D applications and use that render as a basis for their paintings. This way, elements such as lighting, shadow, perspective and to some extent textures can be created, ready to bring into Photoshop for the final post-production work.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show my workflow using LightWave and Photoshop. Don’t worry if you don’t have either of these programs: these techniques are quite common matte painting methods, and can be translated into any 3D software.

You’ll go through the process of the initial scene setup, gradually build up the scene until all the elements are in place, light it, do some basic texture work, and once happy you’ll render out the full-size image to take into Photoshop, where you’ll do some basic painting and colour theory to finish the image.

Scene setup: preparing the basics

The first part of the tutorial will focus on the setting up of the basic elements. This will include the initial background painting, and using this as the background environment for the scene, camera position and angle, ground plane, and adding some basic objects to create the base on which the rest of the scene can be built. You’ll also add some basic environmental elements to make the scene more realistic, so that the render matches the background painting.

01 Create the background

The first thing you need to do is to create the image you’ll use as the background. I had already decided I wanted this to be a dusty, sandy environment, so I used some stock images of the surface of Mars and blended them with some basic cloud images in Photoshop to create the background. I used the Clone Stamp tool to retouch the image slightly, because some of the rocks were quite large, and I knew that the scale would look strange when the characters were in the image.

02 Create the scene

With your image ready, you can now create a new scene in LightWave and import the touched-up image as the background. Load the image using the image editor, then open the Scene and Compositing windows and select the image as the background image.

Once done, switch to Camera View and you should see the image. If the image doesn’t show up, you may have to change the display settings. Open the Preferences panel and check that the Camera View Background option is set to Background Image.

03 Camera settings and angle

The next step is to alter your camera settings to match the properties of the background image. To do this, click the camera and open the Properties panel, then amend the lens dimensions to those used to capture the image. I would also normally choose the Real Lens Camera option, because I prefer to work with these settings.

Next, rotate the camera angle to match that of the image. This guarantees that the render will match the perspective of the background image without distortion. Use the Layout grid to move the camera up and down until you’re happy with the viewpoint.

04 Ground plane and surface settings

To enable the 3D objects in the scene to marry with the ground image, you need to create a ground plane object and then project the background image onto this object. This will allow objects on the ground to catch shadows and integrate into the image. Create a square plane in LightWave Modeler, then subdivide and deform the object using the Jitter function so it isn’t perfectly flat, which would be unrealistic. You’re trying to model the ground that you have on the image, so try to get it as near as you can to that. The object is then positioned in LightWave Layout to match the angle and perspective again, and the background image added as a front projection so it displays correctly on the ground plane.

Making the scene: modelling the buildings and adding characters

Once you have the basic ground plane in place, you can start to build up the scene using some basic models to depict the street and the buildings. As with all environmental and outdoor scenes, it’s important to only use detail where it’s needed. The buildings in the background and those out of shot are not high-poly, because they will neither be seen in the final render nor used in the final painting.

05 Make basic buildings

Start the side buildings with a few basic boxes, then bevel and smooth-shift them to create the basic shape. Divide the boxes – without sub-patching – and then repeat the process again until you’re happy with the shape. Add some cylinders and smaller boxes on the top to depict some chimneys and roof details, and again bevel some selected polygons for the final model.

06 Create more detailed buildings

The secondary buildings need to have more detail, because they will be closer to the camera. With the Knife tool, cut away the front half of the previous model and subdivide the object. Using the smooth shift and bevel tools, create some futuristic-looking buildings. These will be used in the scene at the front of the blockier basic buildings.

07 Add the buildings to the scene

With the two objects complete, load the scene you created previously and begin to put the objects into their correct positions. The camera is already matched to the background, so the objects can be rotated, moved or scaled as desired to fit the scene. In order to allow the objects to fade off into the distance, clone them multiple times. You’ll add fog to the scene later on in the process to mask the end of the road.

08 Add the foreground detail

Before you add the characters to the scene, build up the other elements of the street. Add some pots, barrels and trees along the sides of the road next to the buildings. Model them from very simple boxes or cylinders to keep the poly count as low as possible. Once made, clone them a few times and position them in the scene.

09 Add the characters

Each character in the scene was either an existing model I had used in older images or a model derived from them. I knew that I wanted a mixture of alien, human and robotic characters in order to really set this in a sci-ficontext. I also knew that some of the characters would be relatively close to the camera, while others would be positioned further in the background to add depth to the scene.

Once your models are loaded, rotate and position them in the scene, then clone, rescale, and position the copies in the background to add depth to the scene. Any modifications you can make to these will help immensely.

Lighting, texturing and environmental elements

You now have the modelling of your scene completely set up, so you can start work on lighting the scene, adding some basic texturing, and enabling the fog. While you’re using LightWave for this, the lighting should be translatable into any 3D program using similar settings. You won’t spend too much time on texture work – especially on the characters, because they will be painted over later, but it doesn’t hurt to have some basic image textures and surface values in place at this stage.

10 Naturalistic outdoor lighting

The first thing I normally do when lighting an outdoor scene is to change the scene’s standard distant light to an area light, and then enable radiosity. This combination will allow for soft, diffused shadows, and also some directional light to highlight the focal point of the image. Position the area light above the main characters in the scene, and set the fall-off to around 25m to focus the light into one particular area. Alter the light colour to match a hue from the background image, and then add the image as the light source for the bounce light by adding the Image World environment in the Backdrop effects panel. This will allow the bounce light to take on colour values from the background, which looks natural.

11 Add fog for realism

A great way to add realism to any outdoor scene is to enable the fog option in the Volumetrics tab of the Effects panel. By choosing the Use Backdrop Color option, the fog will take on the background image as its colour, making the elements in the background fade into the fog, which is exactly what happens in real life. Play around with the distance and the Max Amount option until you find the right settings to match your scene. Here, I decided that at around 50m from the camera the objects would be covered by 73 per cent of the fog.

12 Apply basic textures to the scene elements

Don’t go into too much detail when texturing the buildings and other elements. Choose a rock or wall texture to use on the buildings. It’s important to choose something that fits with the environment in general. I chose a picture of a concrete wall, which I applied using the Cubic Mapping projection. There’s no need to create any UV maps or to spend too much time with this: these are general elements. For the pots, barrels and trees, simply add some basic colour and specular values.

Render the scene for painting

Before rendering out the final scene at high resolution, it’s important to plan a step or two ahead, and think about what you’ll need in your compositing or painting program to complete the image. Rendering out the different elements separately is ideal. Then, you can easily select different elements of the image in your compositing program. This will make the painting process much easier because you’ll be able to mask the section you’re working on to avoid affecting other areas of the image.

13 Finalise the camera

Go back to your camera settings and choose your final lens settings. I normally select Canon SLR and EOS 10 or 20D. If you used an original photo in your scene as the background, you could leave these options to match the camera used, but because I’m creating a painting, I use these generic ones. I also adjust the irradiance falloff. This adds a circular shadowy edge to the image that I find helps direct the viewer to the focal point of the image, in this case the central characters. Again, play around and find what works best for you.

14 Prepare the render

For maximum flexibility in your painting or compositing program, it’s sometimes necessary to render out different elements or layers separately.

You can do this automatically in LightWave by adding the PSD export filter in the scene image processing options. This will render out a separate PSD file consisting of layers of different options depending on what you’ve selected. For this image I only wanted to have the depth map available, so I could add depth of field to the render later in my compositing program.

15 Render out the elements

For this project I thought it would be easier to render out the full image, so for print this ended up being 3,252×1,930. The next job was to render out specific objects in the scene one by one. Select the front three characters separately, and press [F10] to render each selected object. This allows you to save out the mask of the render separately so you can add a new alpha channel in the Photoshop painting. You can then use this channel to select various parts of the image and paint only in those selections, without harming other parts of the image.

Final compositing and painting

With the image rendered out, you can start to assemble the Photoshop painting. Ideally, you can now make all the alterations that you need to – such as colour correction, blur, noise and painting – outside the 3D program. This gives you more flexibility without having to go back into LightWave and re-render the entire scene, which could take many hours at high resolution in a poly-heavy scene like this one.

16 Assemble the layers

I recommend that you set the main render as the base layer, and then create new layers every time you want to add or change something. This means you do things in a non-destructive way, and that you always have your base layer intact. So, with your PSD containing your render passes open, begin by adding the alpha masks as new alpha channels. This way, you can select any object on the original render by selecting the relative channel, and then either the black or white depending on what you need to do. If you rendered the depth map, add it as a channel. It can be used later on to add depth-of-field blur should you want to.

17 Colour-grade the image and tweak the tones

Back in the RGB layers, create a new group and then start to tweak the colour balance, curves, vibrancy and channels using adjustment layers until you’re happy with the overall look and feel of the image.

I always like to desaturate the image slightly and try to tweak the colours to be more natural-looking in their environment. In this case, that meant boosting the red and orange values because the scene is a hot, desert-like place. I also added an extra layer as the very top layer, it contains a red metal texture set to Overlay mode at 44% opacity to give everything an extra texture-like feel and tonality. This step involves a lot of tweaking and testing to see what works best for you.

18 Paint over the characters and other props

Use a mixture of simple brushes and custom brushes to add shapes and textures using various blending modes to paint the characters. I find that sometimes the Smudge brush is useful to add a painterly effect to the work. Change the brush size, tip and opacity as often as necessary to add various levels of colour and texture to the painting.

It took me a while to decide on the specific colour palette for each character, but in the end I found that I liked the yellow of the front soldier-like characters, and more subdued colours for the others. I also tried overlaying different metal textures, sometimes using the Dodge tool to pick out the metallic highlights on the background and painted layers.

19 Add the final touches

Finally, you’ll need to add some extra environmental details such as fog and dirt. For this I used a large soft brush to paint over the top half of the image, then gradually erased this layer until I was happy with what was left. Sometimes this can be a better technique than just painting directly. The dirt specs are painted using a simple scatter brush with a low opacity, adding some random dirt.

Once done, I sharpened the image using the Sharpen filter and added some noise to the image, selecting Gaussian noise at 2%. This gives it a grainy, old kind of feel that can add to the realism. On this occasion, I decided against using the depth-of-field blur because the fog I added in LightWave seemed to work well enough.

Neil Maccormack is a freelance 3D artist based in Geneva, Switzerland. His work has won many awards, and has featured in many publications worldwide

 
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Maxwell Render features its own powerful material manager – Rob Redman demonstrates how to make the most of it

Download the supporting files and video for this tutorial.

Many people set up their scenes in a host application, and then export to Maxwell. This can make life easier if you’re used to setting up textures and shaders in your favoured host, but you may miss out on some of the options Maxwell offers.

So next time you work on a scene, don’t use your host’s material manager, but use the Maxwell one instead. It offers many kinds of surfaces, all of which are easily layered for complex and realistic results.

The trap people seem to fall into here, though, is not knowing which control to use to set up what’s showing from the lower layers through to the top. Each layer has a weight control with a slider and a textured control slot. This seems like the place you’d load in an alpha image, which enables you to blend layers, but in fact it isn’t. To load an alpha image, you need to go up a level, so click the word ‘layer’ for the layer that houses the uppermost part of the material. You’ll now see the opacity control. Click the texture slot of mask map, then the folder icon at the bottom right to navigate to your alpha file. It’s also worth noting that you have control over other aspects of the image here, such as inversion, brightness, and contrast, so you may not need to edit the image in Photoshop if there’s a small fix needed.

This layering system is very flexible, and allows you to build hugely complex shader systems all within one material. For example, you could start with a matte ceramic finish; add a layer of dust and scratches (note that you could just add bump here – you don’t have to have colour in every channel); followed by a glossy SSS layer, as if the dust is trapped under a lacquer; and on top of that you could have a light-emitting layer. Maybe you want to add some surface detail that a bump isn’t suitable for? Well, just add a displacement layer.

The opportunities are endless, and layering up elements is not only easy, but fun, and with Maxwell Fire running you get instant feedback, too.

Layering multiple textures together in Maxwell Render is easy and fun

Layer materials

Create a layer

Add a layer to a basic material by right clicking the layer panel. This will give you the option of the available layer types, such as a BSDF or Displacement layer. For this example use a normal layer.

Load a texture

Load a texture for your top layer using the texture map button to navigate to your chosen image. I used this mossy texture to go with a grungy alpha to control its placement. If it’s too saturated or too bright you can use the image controls to adjust it.

Add layers

Your preview will show a pure mossy sphere. Click the word ‘layer’ in the layer panel (ensuring it’s the top, mossy layer) and in the opacity control, load your alpha image. I used a simple gradient with some noise and grunge. It was the wrong way round, so I chose the invert option in the image controls.

3D World technical editor Rob Redman is a CG artist and trainer with over 10 years of experience in the field

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Neil MacCormack breaks out LightWave 11’s new FiberFx tool to create a hairy monster

This was my first attempt at using the new FiberFx tool in LightWave 11, so it was quite a learning process for me to try to create some semi-realistic/ stylised-looking frozen icicle hair and fur.

The first stage was to rig and pose the character. I knew that this was never going to be animated, so it made it a lot easier for me to create separate layers from a pre-posed character.

Once I was happy with the pose, I could save out the model in the posed position and select only the polys I wanted the base layer of hair to grow on.

The first layer was a torso and arm layer, so with those polys selected I used the FiberFx tool in LightWave Modeler to create some fibre polys. These were flat polys with tipped ends to mimic icicles. Each icicle ended up being a poly divided into four parts, which could be bent and twisted to hang down to simulate the weight of the frozen ice that they were made from. You can use the Gravity tool in the FiberFx panel to do this.

FiberFx automatically assigns surfaces, so I textured these using an image of some ice and then experimented with some variations in transparency/ reflection and translucency until I was happy with the results. This object was then saved out and added to the original posed character for render.

The second layer of hair was intended to be the finer, thinner hairs of the character, which would appear in between and matted in with the larger frozen spikes from the first layer. In order to do this I had to render out in real time rather than have them pre-modelled as before.

For this, I again selected the necessary polys (the torso, forearms, feet, and hands) from the pre-posed character and saved this out as a separate object. This would then be the active object for the fibres to grow from.

In LightWave Layout, with my object selected, I activated the FiberFx tool and chose a Thin Fiber Type and started to play with the width, length and scale until I was happy with the results. This took a lot of tweaking and test renders to finally get the correct settings. Next, I moved on to the colour and shading, for which I chose some light and dark grey colours for the Base and Tip of each fibre to simulate an old person’s hair, which I thought was appropriate for my yeti model.

I made sure the diffuse was quite high to make sure that it would be seen among the larger polygon hair that I had already modelled. I made sure the tip of the fibres was slightly translucent, then I increased the ambient light value to try to make sure that each fibre would be lit – even the ones under the larger icicle polys. This, of course, adds to the render time. However, it produces a slightly more stylised effect, which is the look I was going for with this cartoon-style yeti.

Grow a super furry animal in LightWave

Create the hair fibres

In Modeler make sure you have the object or polys selected on which you want the fibres to grow. Experiment with the settings until you’re happy with the results.

Create the hair polys

Click OK and the hair polys will be saved out in an object layer ready for you to render.

Import and render the object

With the hair layer now brought into the scene and added to the posed character, you can start to tweak the surface settings until you get the results you want.

Neil MacCormack is a freelance 3D artist. His work has been featured in numerous publications around the world

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Creating custom graphics for your 3D models is an excellent opportunity to exercise your design and texturing muscles – Mike Griggs shows you how to do it

Download the support files for this modo tutorial here.

The texturing tools in modo are brilliant for creating and modifying graphics on the surface of a model, but what happens when you want to apply custom graphics from a client, or some that you’ve designed yourself? For this tutorial, I’ll use the Nascar model that comes with modo (you’ll find it in Meshes/Automotive/NASCAR 01). The model comes with a full range of material selections, as well as a UV for the car body.

With graphic design of corporate logos and so on, it’s best to work at the highest resolution possible. Ideally, this means working with vector graphics in an application such as Illustrator. It’s worth noting that Photoshop has a good range of vector drawing tools as well, but they aren’t in the same class as those in Illustrator.

To get the car livery applied to the model, you need to get the UV map of the car body from modo to Illustrator. To do this you select the NASCAR 01 mesh, go to the modo UV tab and make sure you can see the Texture UV map in the UV map drop-down menu of the Lists tab. If your model has more than one map, select the Texture UV and rename it by holding down Alt and clicking the UV name. Make sure the centre line of the car UV is horizontal in the UV tool by selecting the polygons in the UV view and using the rotate tool. Next, go to Texture > Export UVs to EPS. This creates a generic .eps file that can be read by the majority of vector or 2D bitmap editing software. Even if you’re going to be using a vector program such as Illustrator, it’s better to open the UV.eps in Photoshop first so that you can define the canvas size. This is important when re-importing your graphics back into modo to maintain UV alignment. In the Rasterize EPS Format dialog, open the UV.eps as a 4,096-pixel square image in RGB mode, with Anti-aliased switched off. You now have a file with a correctly placed outline bitmap representation of the UV map, which you can use as a template for your graphic work. Save this file as a transparent PNG.

Make a new RGB document in Illustrator the same size as your newly created PNG, and use File > Place to insert the PNG of the UV into your Illustrator file. Now you can create your livery design with Illustrator’s drawing tools, with the bonus of having the lines of the UV map as a guide.

When you’re ready to try your design on the model, go to File > Save for Web to create a transparent PNG. Give this file a unique name. In modo add an image layer to the Car Body Material and load your new design. It should appear on the model in the correct place. When you iterate the design, overwrite your design PNG. If you do this, modo notices that the file has been updated and asks to reload it so that the model updates accordingly. This workflow is valid across design and graphic elements, which can be enhanced by modo’s painting toolset by using custom image stamps or by using the image ink toolset to create wear and scratches on the car paintwork, for example.

Use custom graphic artwork in modo

Export the UV map

With your model loaded and selected, make sure you have a suitable UV map, which you then export as an EPS using Texture > Export UV to EPS.

Open and define the file

Open the EPS in Photoshop, even if you’re going to use Illustrator to create vector artwork. Open the image as a square RGB image with Anti-aliased switched off.

Reopen in Illustrator

Save the image as a transparent PNG using File > Save for Web. Create a new file in Illustrator the same size as the PNG. Use File > Place in Illustrator to insert the transparent PNG of your UV map, which you can now use as a template for your design.

Mike Griggs is a freelance 3D, VFX and mograph artist. He can be found on Twitter, and his work is available on his site

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