Rob Redman discovers whether Gnomon’s latest training course offers anything to Mari artists

PRICE: $79

FEATURES

• DVD-ROM or digital download
• 333 minutes

DEVELOPER: The Gnomon Workshop

Painting Realistic skin in Mari 2.0 is a title that slightly undersells what the course has to offer. If all it did for the price was showing you how to press the right buttons and get the logistics right, it would be a good deal, but this course has so much more to it.

It is obvious from the outset that the author knows his stuff, and he has a very watchable presentation style. The course covers everything you need to know about painting skin, including gathering high-quality references and grading photography for best results, as well as looking closely at each area needed, from displacement to sub-surface scattering.

The skills you will pick up from watching are a great benefit, but what is more valuable is that you will understand why you are doing what you have learned to do. This means you can apply all that new knowledge to any project, not just a clone of the one in the course.

UV unwrapping still scares many artists but this video, which guides you through the use of UV Unwrap, shows which tools you need. What is particularly good is that, unlike so many other tutorials I’ve seen, this one isn’t just a video of the user interface manual.

It is this approach and the way it is presented that makes this one of the highest-quality CG courses I have ever seen. You learn how to do everything, but more importantly you learn why, and it is this transferable knowledge that is invaluable to you as an artist.

If you are looking to learn how to paint realistic skin, not just in Mari, then you can’t get better training than this

RATING 5

Rob Redman is a 3D artist and trainer, and is 3D World’s technical editor

Discover the 30 best 3D movies of 2013 at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

Offering updated functionality and stacks of potential, this system is absolute genius, says Steve Jarratt

PRICE: $250 Upgrade $99

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows / Mac OS X

MAIN FEATURES

• Create bodies from After Effects layers
• Apply collision, friction, bounciness, gravity
• Six body types for various physics effects
• Four joint types for object linking
• Generates separate comp with keyframes

WEBSITE: www.motionboutique.com

Your options for generating believable natural movement in After Effects are pretty limited, apart from the odd particle system or getting clever with expressions. But while After Effects isn’t really designed with physics simulations in mind, that didn’t stop two French developers from making one. Newton was released in 2011 and brought a full rigid-body physics engine directly into After Effects – and now Newton 2 adds extra functionality and an updated user interface.

Newton works with layers, so text, masks and shapes can all be used as objects, which will collide, attract and repel, or form joints with one another. Once your layers are defined and arranged, you’ll find Newton at the bottom of the Composition tab, rather than the usual Effects menu. A separate window opens up which features a large preview window, a duplicate list of your layers, and various panels for controlling the simulation.

The workflow is nicely straightforward: select your layers in the preview (or in the Layers panel), then make them static, dynamic, kinematic and so on. To see the effects of the simulation, just hit Play – it really is that simple. Newton 2 is designed to run as real-time as possible. You can tweak the settings to help – for example reducing mesh complexity or using the new Convex Hull option, which speeds things up by ignoring cavities and indents (so if you want to have your letters neatly jigsawing together, leave this option off). You also have control over the solver accuracy, gravity and so on.

By connecting each letter to a Mask layer with Spring Joints, you can get the text to realistically bob up and down. Extruding it in 3D means this sequence is done entirely in After Effects

CHOOSE YOUR BODY

There are several types of physical bodies available: static bodies remain stationary and are unaffected by other elements. Dynamic bodies react to external forces, falling under gravity and colliding with other objects. Kinematic bodies are animated using AE keyframes and can trigger effects but remain unaffected by the physics. Dormant bodies remain static until touched by a moving object, at which point they become dynamic.

The movement of AEmatic bodies is partially controlled by keyframes, but they are allowed to divert from this according to whatever forces are applied and the amount of damping and tension you apply. For example, an object moving from left to right will attempt to reach its final keyframe, but can be diverted by gravity or other forces – think of the keyframed destination as a goal, rather than a set position.

Adding joints is a similarly simple task: [Shift]-select the two objects in question, then click the type of link you want. You can then define anchor points, set angle limits, even add motors to create rotational movement.

Distance joints act like a solid connector rod; Pivot joints act like a hinge; Piston joints constrain the movement to one axis, so no matter what force is applied the object will only move along that axis; and Springs are, well, springy. By mixing and matching these various joints you’re able to create all manner of set-ups, from ragdolls to ropes and chains to sprung trapdoors. You’re pretty much limited only by your imagination.

This update also adds magnetism, producing an object that can attract or repel others as necessary, which can also be used to create basic flocking motions. One really nice feature is the Velocity Tool, which lets you very quickly apply motion to a selected object. It acts like a Bézier handle, controlling speed and direction by the length and location of the control line, and an on-screen curve shows the object’s path, taking gravity into consideration. The Velocity Tool takes all the guesswork out of adding movement to an object and is easy to use.

These cogs were animated in Newton: the large cog is driven by a motor, while the other two are turning because of the physics engine. They’re more natural looking as a result

In all, Newton 2.0 is simple to use and really good fun, providing the kind of animation usually reserved for bullet-style 3D systems. And because it generates keyframes, you can always use simple objects to drive more complex imagery – such as the position of a particle emitter – or go in and edit the keyframes manually.

One of the biggest issues is actually not with Newton at all but After Effects: it can often take longer to prepare the assets for Newton than to run the simulation itself. Every object needs to be on its own layer, which can be a lengthy process for complex scenes, and you need to make sure the anchor points are located on each object, not the layer centre, otherwise you get some really odd results.

SAVE YOUR SETTINGS

Fortunately, you can just replicate objects onto a single layer and Newton will split them up for you. I also recommend picking up the Array script from www.aescripts.com, which simplifies this process. However, once you’re set up, getting Newton to do its thing is easy.

Although Newton has an Auto Load/Save settings option, it’s still a little tricky to experiment on the hoof. If you save the settings, then you can’t move objects around in AE – they revert to their previous position – but if you don’t save the settings you have to set up your bodies and joints every time you go back to Newton. So although it’s fun to play around with, you do really need a pretty firm idea of what your end result is going to be, otherwise it can be a time-consuming exercise moving between the two environments.

However, these are minor and largely unavoidable niggles in what is an impressive and brilliantly useful addition to After Effects’ armoury. Frankly, it’s a miracle that it works at all, let alone as well as it does, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible.

These shots show the effect of an object with Magnetism applied with positive and negative values. The smaller circles are attracted or repulsed accordingly

Newton won’t be useful for everyone, but the time it takes to set up and tweak, compared with a fully 3D bullet-style solution, makes it a really attractive option. And although the physics engine only works in two dimensions, when allied with After Effects CS6’s new extrusion options and ray-tracing engine, you can create some very realistic 3D scenes. It’s easy to see how you could create all manner of projects, from a simple bouncy cartoon logo through to funky idents or animated infographics for a presentation. Newton comes with some great scene files, a fully animated user guide – and a solid 3D World recommendation.

PROS

• Fast, accurate results
• Joints have user-defined anchors
• Excellent docs and scene files

CONS

• Tricky to experiment as you go
• Takes time to set up

Newton 1.0 was ingenious and Newton 2.0 is genius. It’s a must-buy for any serious After Effects artist, offering stacks of creative potential

RATING 4

Steve Jarratt has been into CG for many years. He’s a regular contributor to 3D World and edited the magazine for two years

Free 3D software! Discover seven top tools to download today, at Creative Bloq.

Change can be a good thing when it’s an upgrade. That’s the case with the new version of Modo, as Mike Griggs finds out

PRICE: £999 / $1,495 / €1,169. Upgrade from £324 / $495 / €379

OTHER EDITIONS: Education licence, £99 / $149 / €116

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows / Mac OS X / Linux (beta)

FEATURES

• Advanced subdivision modeller
• Integrated live and final GI rendering
• Multi-resolution sculpting and painting
• Character and constraint-driven animation solutions
• Complete dynamics and particle solution

DEVELOPER: The Foundry

It has barely been a year since 3D World reviewed Modo 601 – and yet somehow Luxology has managed to shorten its development cycle on major releases from approximately 18 to 12 months while at the same time going through a merger with The Foundry. The latter event has changed the landscape of the 3D application market, bringing Modo to a whole new audience within a high-end VFX market that The Foundry is increasingly well placed to develop, thanks to products such as Nuke and Mari.

So, despite a tightened schedule and corporate shake-ups, we have Modo 701, one of the first children of this new creative marriage. Other than a change of the Modo icon to a look more in keeping with the other Foundry apps, at first glance it appears that not much has changed. But looks can be deceptive. For a start, the familiar tabbed layout has been developed into part of a tabbed view switcher. The view switcher takes a bit of getting used to, but it is worth getting to know: Modo intelligently adjusts to the last used layout, which allows quick switching between layouts if you’re in a specific workflow, which definitely speeds things up.

The Environment Importance Sampling technology fixes historic Modo rendering problems

Speed is probably the defining word for 701. Put simply, it flies in OpenGL view. Once complex meshes have loaded, it is genuinely stunning how capable Modo is at handling large data sets. This becomes very useful when you want to retopologise a sculpt from an application like ZBrush, for example. Instead of the previous workflow of trying to reduce the size of my ZTool, I exported a 8 million-poly .OBJ into Modo: once the model had cached into the OpenGL view, I was freely able to use Modo’s excellent retopo tools. These have been improved both in terms of speed and accuracy from 601, and have been augmented by additions as the Contour tool, which allows you to create edge loops across a mesh. The loops can be connected by smart bridging tools to allow you to speed through your mesh creation, much quicker than if you were using ZBrush alone.

NEW FEATURES

I was able to flip between rendering and retopo layouts with the heavy ZBrush mesh and work with the preview improvements. While every view of Modo now has advanced ray tracing available, the speed improvements in the preview mode are phenomenal. There is also a new feature in the Global Illumination settings called Environment Importance Sampling, which optimises the renderer based on the HDR used for lighting it, and with one checkbox fixes most of Modo’s legacy rendering problems instantly. Obviously tweaking can still be done to optimise your render, but the render enhancements make 701 worth the upgrade in terms of speed, reliability and render quality alone over previous versions – especially since the gains are still realised on older equipment and so-so graphics cards.

The new particle system works with the dynamic system to let you create complex simulations

It feels like every one of Modo 701’s features have been overhauled, but it’s not all upgrades. New features have been added, the biggest being a particle system. This is placed in the Setup tab along with the rigging systems, which were added in 601 and have been enhanced with deformers; and an improved dynamics system that finally works as advertised.

The particle system allows a range of tools such as emitters, which can be combined with specific particle modifiers, such as flocking and terminator tools, to get an advanced particle system setup in minutes. The particles can even have dynamics working quickly and easily and, with the new Workspace view, setting up logical connections combined with the existing replicator toolset allows an exciting range of possibilities that are applicable to VFX and motion graphics. There is a range of caching options, which work with the OpenGL speed improvements to allow you to see very complex sims play out in real time. There is an added benefit to particles in Modo: Modo’s core has always been about modelling, and particles and their paths can be frozen as meshes, which can be sculpted and used just like any other piece of geometry.

Animation has also received an overhaul, with a well thought-out interface which works well. New features such as audio track ingestion and dynamic parenting, which allows you to pass animations from one mesh to another whenever you please, could be revelatory to a lot of 3D artists who have been scared away from rigging due to its steep learning curve. The new feature sets in Modo 701 really do make certain types of animation simpler in Modo than in any comparative application.

As well as new features, Modo 701 has received upgrades to its rendering toolset which make images such as this one by Richard Yot and Seth Richardson readily achievable

INTEGRATION

One of the worries with Modo has been that artists were gaining new tools with every new release while losing the focus on what made Modo great in the first place: speed, simplicity and a new methodology of creating content where the app got out of the way. With Modo 701, The Foundry has managed to regain this core feeling and have made a truly astounding 3D application.

While still presenting steep learning curves in some areas, Modo 701 has at its essence a core toolset that’s applicable across virtually all of the new features, which allow a breathtaking array of creative possibilities. While most 3D applications really do benefit from plugins to help provide complete workflows, Modo is pretty much feature-complete for most 3D tasks. In areas where other applications may offer better solutions for specific tasks, Modo integrates into most pipelines exceptionally well.

This integration will be improved with the long-term stability that being part of a product suite alongside the rest of the Foundry’s applications brings. The benefits can be seen in Modo 701 becoming available on Linux for the first time: a beta is currently available.

When you consider that this package is a third of the price of most of its competitors, with one of the best licensing systems (cross-platform, unlimited render nodes) on the market, there is no reason not to recommend Modo 701 as one of the best tools that a 3D artist can have.

The new particle modifiers combine with replicators to let you to make complex instance rigs with targeting, using the improved Workspace view

PROS

• Revised interface improves workflow
• New features have been integrated
• OpenGL speed and stability improved

CONS

• Steep learning curve in setup mode
• Price has increased
• Stability and UI redraw can be problematic

Modo now has the potential to become one of the standard 3D tools in the industry. Modo 701 offers an exceptional combination of toolsets, value for money and render capabilities

RATING 5

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

Discover 15 inspiring examples of 3D art at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

Rob Redman takes a look at Autodesk’s latest iOS app for sculpting creatures on the move

PRICE: £2.99 / $4.99 / €4.49

PLATFORM: iOS (iPad only)

MAIN FEATURES

• Large-scale modelling
• Fine-detail sculpting
• Texture painting

DEVELOPER: Autodesk

When Autodesk released 123D Sculpt, I was impressed with its usability, but I also knew that something even more impressive was coming down the line. So when 123D Creature was finally released, I was quick to get it in for review.

This new release walks you through a number of stages to create a creature. You start by drawing out a skeleton using simple joints and bones. You then define the large volumes before moving on to the sculpting section, where fine details are added. Once happy with the geometry you can paint textures and – in a limited way – render out lit versions.

Where this app really shines is in its presentation. The excellent ‘first-time use’ guides explain the user interface perfectly. The UI itself is simple but effective. Creating your first creature takes minimal learning – if you get stuck, you can access the training with one click. You can save, duplicate and open projects easily, as well as export your mesh or share models with the community via the built-in browser.

The final icing on the cake is Autodesk’s partnering with Sculpteo, the 3D printing company. From within the app you can order a print of your model, even in colour, which can be with you in just two days – and there’s nothing quite like seeing a model you’ve created in real life. The quality of the prints is good, with a decent level of detail. You can choose from a range of sizes, with larger prints having better detail.

123D Creature is a fantastic app for creating critters on the move. It isn’t high-end, but it’s fun and intuitive to use

RATING 4

3D World’s technical editor Rob Redman is a 3D artist and trainer

More creature design tips and tutes

• Creature design is both exciting and daunting in equal measures. Mike Griggs helps you get started with this Creature Design tute
• Step-by-step ZBrush workshop by Ryan Kingslien on sculpting and painting a bust of the mythical monster Medusa
• Sculpt a biomech figure in ZBrush with Scott Spencer
• ZBrush Tutorial: Scott Spencer shows you how to create an insectoid alien
• Discover Aaron Sims Company’s concept artist: Luca Nemolato

Rob Redman delves into Ben Simonds’ asset creation-focused guide to Blender

PRICE: Book/ebook bundle: $50, Ebook: $40

FEATURES

• 288 pages
• Book includes DVD
• Ebook supplied as EPUB, MOBI and PDF

PUBLISHER: No Starch Press

In an age of ever-increasing numbers of online training guides and videos, sometimes it’s great to just pick up a book. Its publisher describes Blender Master Class as “a hands-on guide to modelling, sculpting, materials and rendering”. It walks you neatly through these areas with decent instruction spread over three practical projects. If you’re new to Blender, or 3D in general, you might possibly be overwhelmed by content such as animation and game engines. The book’s focused approach makes it useful and easy to read.

Each topic is clearly explained, and the projects used to help build practical experience are varied and complement each other well. I particularly like the fact that both hard-surface and organic models are included, alongside natural environments, to give some depth to the training. This gives newcomers to Blender a thorough understanding of the software, starting with a look at the interface.

The pace of the training eases readers into the software gently, and while it does pick up speed, it never overwhelms you, even though a good amount of fundamental understanding is being imparted. The use of three projects in each chapter works well: books split into project-based sections can mean that the less favoured projects stay unread.

Ben Simonds has a strong grasp of his subject, and his relaxed approach makes this one of the better training resources for any new Blender artist.

While it ignores certain aspects of Blender, this book provides exactly what it aims to in a clear and concise manner

RATING 3

Rob Redman is a 3D artist and trainer, and is 3D World’s technical editor

Discover 10 amazing examples of experimental design at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

This upgrade to Luxion’s real-time renderer makes light work of product visualisation and look development, says Steve Jarratt

PRICE: KeyShot Pro $1,995, Upgrade from $795

OTHER EDITIONS

• KeyShot, $995
• KeyShot Pro + Animation $2,495
• KeyShot Pro + KeyShotVR $2,995
• KeyShot Pro + Animation + KeyShotVR $3,495
• Other bundles available

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows / Mac OS X

FEATURES

• Real-time ray tracing
• Certified physically correct render engine
• Materials library
• Transform-based animation
• Render passes & layers

DEVELOPER: Luxion

Luxion’s KeyShot is a real-time renderer for artists, designers and engineers who need to produce quality visualisations with the minimum of fuss. It’s entirely CPU-based and relies largely on HDRI for lighting. Workflow is a matter of importing your mesh, adding materials by dragging and dropping, and adding a suitable HDR image or backplate. The main window continuously renders the image as a high-quality preview, which can be saved at any point, although you can output a final render for large, print-quality images or to create a KeyShotVR sequence.

As with previous updates, the core rendering technology remains much the same, but the application gains lots of new features to help improve workflow. KeyShot now has live linking with Rhino, SolidWorks and Creo, so models can be textured, lit and rendered while being built or modified. One major upgrade is in the area of lighting, where you can drop a physical light material onto any object, and it will act accordingly.

KeyShot Pro can now export render passes. Here’s the original image, plus depth, normal and clown passes. The latter isolates objects for easy selection in an image editor

To add some specular hits to your object, for example, simply import a primitive, such as a plane, disc or sphere, and apply your preferred light source – area, point, radial, IES – then adjust the scale and position of the object and the intensity of the light.

It’s not a huge issue to have some primitives on hand for just such a purpose, but it would be nice to have the option to add light sources directly within KeyShot itself. Still, this is a really valuable addition for those times when you simply want to sweeten a shot without messing about with HDRs or doing it in post.

If you apply an area light material to a plane or disc, the object remains visible, so it’s easy to get beautiful lightbox-style reflections. Of course, you can still toggle the object’s visibility to the camera, in reflections and in shadows, to get the shot just as you want.

To add a light bulb to these wall fittings, Steve stretched a sphere and added a light material, then duplicated it. The Wood and Rippled Glass are standard KeyShot presets

You can also apply emissive materials to any part of your object, so if your latest gizmo has a cool blue glow – and what doesn’t these days? – you can replicate the effect and have the rest of the model lit accordingly. When used in conjunction with KeyShot’s glass or iridescent paint materials, for example, you can get some really lovely results.

Given that you now have all these extra objects to manipulate, however, I think it’s about time that direct keyboard shortcuts for the translate/rotate/scale widget were added to KeyShot, instead of having to access it via the right-click menu or Position panel. It’s a minor gripe, I know, but the current set-up makes manipulating parts or objects a fussy, multiple-click operation.

With really heavy scenes, such as interiors, scene navigation can also become quite slow, even in Performance mode. It would be really useful to have the option of switching to a wireframe or other proxy view while placing objects and lights and setting up your camera.

MATERIAL WORLD

Designers working to a specific brief will welcome the support for the Pantone and RAL colour libraries. Colours can be searched for by number or shade – a neat proximity search brings up any colours that match ‘blue’, ‘red’ and so on – or by using the colour picker. Then you can simply drag and drop it onto the model, which is then coloured irrespective of the underlying material.

The curved edges feature adds the effect of micro bevels at render time. There’s a real improvement in these before and after shots although it doesn’t cope well with corners, and some edges go very dark

KeyShot 4 also gains hundreds of Mold-Tech textures, with a range of grains from stippled to leather to wood grain to textiles. The mixture of industry-standard colour swatches and textures offer a quick way to iterate design and material changes, and KeyShot’s final output can generate a wonderfully realistic representation of your product.

The translucent material presets benefit from faster and more accurate subsurface scattering, helping you to recreate a range of material effects such as plastics, wax, skin and so on. It relies on using real-world units with small objects to get realistic SSS effects, although you can rescale your objects with the Set Model Units menu.

A new work-in-progress feature is the ability to render sharp edges as curves. It’s accessed from the Scene Tree Properties panel, with simple slider values that control the edge radius and minimum edge angle. It’s great for making angular CAD models look like real-world objects, but it has a few limitations: it only really works on solid, untextured materials and with small values.

Introduced in KeyShot Pro 3.1, the HDRI Light Editor now allows you to interactively allocate a highlight on your object, which pins a new light to the HDR

With things like glass, it generates unsightly black edges, and textured materials tend to distort. Even with simple surfaces, you get black corners where the rounding can’t be properly resolved. Hopefully, this will continue to be refined, because it’s a simple and largely effective way of getting realistic images from models that lack fine geometry.

LIGHTING CONTROL

The Pro version of KeyShot gains other niceties, such as stereoscopic viewing, render passes, View and Model sets for managing multiple shots, and more. The HDRI Light Editor introduced in KeyShot 3.1 now allows you to create highlights from within the real-time window – hold down [Cmd] and click the object, and a new pin is made on the HDRI, which can then be moved around the scene interactively or scaled and coloured in the Editor window. You can also blur and tilt the HDRI to better suit your scene, so Pro users now have nigh-on complete control over every aspect of their lighting setup.

KeyShot 4’s range of new features constitutes a substantial upgrade that helps make product visualisation easier, more efficient, and – dare I say it – more enjoyable. There are still a few UI and workflow niggles, but KeyShot is rapidly maturing into a dependably solid app that answers all the questions thrown at it. The improved range of materials and lighting options means its final output is better than before, with even less effort. If the price isn’t too much of a hurdle, there’s much to recommend here.

The new translucent materials have faster and more accurate sub-surface scattering. Here, an object is lit via a physical light placed inside

PROS

• Physical light sources for precise lighting
• Live linking for CAD users
• Vast range of preset materials

CONS

• Object manipulation still clunky
• Some features limited to Pro edition
• UI still needs a little work

KeyShot continues to evolve, and with each iteration it gets better and easier to use. Long may the trend continue

RATING 4

Steve Jarratt has been into CG for many years. He’s a regular contributor to 3D World and edited the magazine for two years

What’s next for Augmented Reality? Find out at Creative Bloq.

Powerful graphics and general workstation performance in a portable package for a reasonable price, says James Morris

PRICE: £1,401

SPECIFICATION

• 2.7GHz Intel Core i7 3740QM processor
• 16GB PC3-1600 DDR3 RAM
• Nvidia Quadro K3000M graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory
• 240GB Corsair Force GS solid-state disk
• 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Black 7,200rpm SATA hard disk
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Windows 7 64-bit
• Two years premium collect and return warranty

MANUFACTURER: Scan http://3xs.scan.co.uk

Powerful mobile workstations normally cost a significant premium. If you want serious 3D content creation on the move, you have to be prepared to pay for it. Scan doesn’t seem to believe in this, however. At just over £1,400, the 3XS-MGW-10 doesn’t cost much more than a consumer-grade laptop. So what has Scan reduced to achieve this level of affordability?

Thankfully, the processor isn’t an area Scan has economised on. The MGW-10 is based around an Intel Core i7 3740QM, a quad-core CPU that runs at a nominal 2.7GHz. But Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost 2.0 are on hand respectively to make eight virtual cores and to allow a single core to hit 3.7GHz. This powerful processor is partnered by a healthy 16GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, although you can specify 32GB for just over £70 more.

More significantly, this is the first laptop I’ve reviewed to include the Kepler generation of Nvidia Quadros. In this case, it’s the mid-range K3000M that’s been included, and is in fact the only option for the 3XS-MGW-10. This sports a highly impressive 576 CUDA cores, which is a big step up from the previous-generation Quadro 4000M’s total of 336, although the CUDA units now run at GPU core speed rather than double, so the performance increase won’t be quite so big. The GPU is backed by a decent 2GB of GDDR5 frame buffer. Storage is generous too. The operating system and applications are installed on a 240GB Corsair Force GS solid-state disk, while general data is held on a 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Black conventional 7,200rpm hard disk. You could also specify an mSATA drive for main storage and two 2.5-inch disks. Even the Sony BC-5550H-01 optical drive is a cut above the average, adding Blu-ray reading to the DVD rewriting facilities (although this costs an extra £13). The 17-inch screen offers the 1,920×1,080 resolution you would expect at this size. The image is clear and colourful, and viewing angles are decent. However, this is still a standard laptop screen rather than the premium Super IPS unit found in the Dell Precision M6700.

VERY CAPABLE

All these quality components mean the 3XS-MGW-10 has impressive performance in the standard benchmarking applications. Its rendering score in Maxon Cinebench R11.5 of 7.06 is slightly behind the Dell Precision M6700, but still excellent for a laptop. The Cinebench OpenGL score of 60.81 is similarly slightly lower than the Dell, but capable nonetheless. The Nvidia graphics show their worth in SPECviewperf 11, however. The result of 60.39 in the lightwave-01 viewset is desktop calibre, and 62.72 in maya-03 is similarly capable. The SolidWorks sw-02 score of 38.83 shows this laptop will be equally at home with CAD product design as it is with 3D modelling and animation.

Despite the competitive price, there doesn’t really seem to be a weak point in the Scan 3XS-MGW-10. The screen can’t compete with the Dell Precision M6700’s, but otherwise the Scan offering is a close match, and notably better with some key 3D applications, for less than half the cost of the M6700. It also managed 137 minutes of intensive OpenGL animation on battery, which means it will give a useful couple of hours of work on the move. Overall, you get a huge amount of power for your money for modelling and even rendering with this laptop.

PROS

• Desktop-grade modelling
• Good rendering performance
• Great value

CONS

• The 17-inch screen could be better

The MGW-10 showcases the Kepler-generation Nvidia Quadro well, providing loads of graphics performance in an affordable package

RATING 4

James Morris has tracked the rise of every new development, from OpenGL accelerators to multiprocessor workstations, over more than 15 years of testing 3D content-creation hardware

Discover 35 free Photoshop brushes that every creative needs, over at Creative Bloq.

Nvidia’s new mid-range Quadro offers a huge amount of professional 3D acceleration for the money, says James Morris

PRICE: £384 / $599

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows / Mac OS X

MAIN FEATURES

• 2GB GDDR5 RAM • DirectX 11
• OpenGL 4.3
• Shader Model 5.0
• 384 CUDA cores
• 2 x DVI-I
• Mini DisplayPort
• 4,096×2,160 resolution (DisplayPort 1.2)

MANUFACTURER: Nvidia

Nvidia’s latest graphics generation, code-named Kepler, arrived with less fanfare than expected. The first taste came in the shape of the Quadro K5000, supplied in Armari’s Magnetar M32-AW750R, which provided a pretty impressive performance. But only now do we have the official launch of the entire range, from entry-level upwards. The Quadro K2000D is arguably the most interesting card in the range. It occupies the lower end of the professional market, yet sports a specification similar to high-end cards from the previous generation.

The K2000D’s headline feature is how many CUDA cores it has. Where the previous Quadro 2000 had 192, and the Quadro FX 1800 before that had just 64, the K2000D has 384. This is actually more than the previous-generation Quadro 4000 and 5000, although the K2000D only offers 64GB per second memory bandwidth from its 2GB of GDDR5 frame buffer, where the Quadro 4000 offered 89.6GB per second. With its wealth of CUDA cores, the K2000D boasts 733 GFLOPS of single-precision performance – slightly more than the Quadro 5000 – and yet it still only draws 51W, one third of the power. However, as with the other members of the Nvidia Kepler generation, while the main GPU core runs at a faster 954MHz than previous models, the CUDA units now operate at the same frequency, rather than twice as much, so each one will be slower than before. Hence, the overall performance increase is not as dramatic as it could have been, and double-precision capability is actually decreased for the K5000 compared with the Quadro 5000, so I expect a similar situation for the K2000D.

PRODUCTIVITY BOOST

We tested the Nvidia Quadro K2000D in the Workstation Specialists WSX4-V2 workstation

The K2000D comes in two versions, depending on connection configuration: the K2000 sports two DisplayPort and one DVI connection, while the K2000D I tested opts for a single Mini DisplayPort plus two DVI connections. Whichever version you choose, up to four displays can be driven at once, and they are otherwise identical. There’s also Bezel Correction available if you want to create a single desktop from multiple monitors.

I tested the K2000D in a Workstation Specialists WSX4-V2 workstation, sporting an Intel Core i7 3770K and 16GB of RAM, making it an ideal partner for the budget-conscious card. The K2000D managed 60.12 in the OpenGL portion of Maxon Cinebench R11.5 – almost the same as the Quadro 4000-sporting Boston Venom 2300-7T.

The SPECviewperf 11 results were similarly stunning. The score of 94.42 in the lightwave-01 viewset is 50 per cent quicker – one of the best I have seen. The result of 85.31 in maya-03 is also amazing, with only the Quadro K5000- based systems I’ve tested being faster. In the SolidWorks sw-02 viewset the K2000D managed 54.63, which is again very competitive with previous-generation high-end cards.

Overall, the Nvidia Quadro K2000D is a pretty exciting card, and not just because it offers similar, if not better, performance than the previous high-end cards. Most significant of all is the price – at under £400, the K2000D is more than £200 cheaper than the Quadro 4000. This means that now even more keenly priced workstations can offer serious modelling performance, which is a very exciting proposition for productivity.

PROS

• Great OpenGL performance
• Keen price
• Low power consumption

CONS

• Kepler GPUs offer reduced double-precision performance

The Nvidia Quadro K2000D brings you greater performance than previous high-end cards at a sub-£400 price

RATING 5

James Morris has tracked the rise of every new development, from OpenGL accelerators to multiprocessor workstations, over more than 15 years of testing 3D content-creation hardware

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Now priced for mere mortals, this finishing software promises to be a useful tool for your edit workflow. Mike Griggs fires it up

PRICE: £3,200 / $3,495 / €3,900. Upgrade from £615 / $675 / €863

PLATFORM: Mac OS X

MAIN FEATURES

• NLE and VFX finishing tool
• Supports 3D environments
• Wide range of conforming tools
• High-end interface
• Advanced keying technology

DEVELOPER: Autodesk

Applications such as Flame, Inferno and Smoke have always been talked about in whispered tones – mainly because many of us have no experience of these applications and what they can do. This was unsurprising given their eye-watering price tags, which were high because the applications came bundled with hardware. They were so prohibitively expensive that rather than being bought in, they were usually accessed by ‘renting’ time at a post-production house with an operator.

However, the price of some of these applications has plummeted and, with Smoke 2013, Autodesk has brought the price point down into ‘normal’ application pricing territory, so that for the first time it can be considered a viable tool by a much wider range of artists.

FINISHING SOFTWARE

Originally, Smoke was one of a range of products by Discreet (which was later bought out by Autodesk) that enabled the finishing of films and commercials – working with the footage at full resolution in real time, which programs like After Effects and Final Cut Pro were not able to handle, and therefore had to work with offline (usually lower-res) versions. Any offline changes were noted in an EDL (Edit Decision List) file, which was then brought into a finishing program where the work could be applied to the full online footage.

These finishing packages were sold as complete hardware and software solutions, with products like Flame and Inferno concentrating on VFX and compositing, and Smoke and Fire working more on the editing side. However, the increase in hardware computing power has made the purpose of these highend tools increasingly harder to justify – especially with the majority of client deliveries moving to pure digital formats – so it’s time to take a fresh look at what Smoke can do.

Smoke has integrated a lot of the VFX tools from other Autodesk/Discreet products. In a nutshell, Smoke 2013 combines the functionality of a non-linear editing package (such as Avid, Premiere or Final Cut Pro) with a really decent set of VFX and 3D compositing tools, which can hold their own against high-end programs such as Nuke.

The high-end heritage of Smoke becomes apparent when you open it – the pedigree comes satisfyingly through the UI, unlike some other programs that offer niche features but don’t seem to worry about a clean, easy-to-use environment. Even if certain workflows are not immediately apparent, Smoke is a lovely place to be working in, and the start screen – which makes sure everything is set up before you get stuck into your work – feels like a kindly concierge.

Smoke can handle working with the majority of footage, from RED to OpenEXR; and with a toolset that includes advanced keying, tracking and masking tools, there isn’t much Smoke can’t do in a modern 2D workflow.

Which is just as well, because in use Smoke takes over your Mac (Smoke is only available on this platform) in terms of resource requirements, unless you have specified otherwise by placing media folders at the root level of your drive. Be prepared to do things the way Smoke wants to, or not at all.

I ran Smoke on both a 2012 MacBook Pro with a high-res Retina display and a 2012 12-core Mac Pro, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it ran. However, it did show up the need for apps to be stored on SSDs if hardware is to keep with today’s video workflows.

In terms of the user interface, I found it to be surprisingly intuitive and easy to use, and the range of features is impressive. Nuke users will probably find it easier to grasp than others, but expect to invest in training to get you up to speed. Thankfully Autodesk supplies a good range of starter tutorials on its YouTube channel.

Applying effects using the ConnectFX nodes is simple, and the node UI is simple and responsive. In fact, it makes you wish all nodes looked like this. But if you’re unfamiliar with the system, trying to get immediate feedback – even to see the result of a quick key of two bits of footage – can be daunting to the uninitiated.

Smoke will extract a commitment from you, then, but it feels like persistence in training will pay off with a well-established workflow that has been honed over decades, allowing you to move through shots quicker than any other application I’ve used. Comparing Nuke to Smoke does throw up some interesting contrasts in terms of workflow.

Nuke is a freeform playground that, with the right team of artists and TDs, can create virtually anything in the composite. In many ways, Smoke is a better tool than applications like Nuke for the standalone artist who doesn’t want to code new gizmos for the vast majority of tasks, and should be seen as a potential ‘upgrade’ from the Adobe pairing of After Effects and Premiere, with its tortuous dynamic link that’s still not ready for serious production use.

While you probably wouldn’t want to edit a motion picture in Smoke, it’s more than capable of handling the majority of short-format work, from footage and 3D file input through composite and grade to export, and its fast, responsive interface is a joy to work with. Smoke is an application you want to use because it makes you feel like you’re improving your work while you’re doing so, and it brings the term ‘finishing’ into the 21st century.

PROS

• Handles edit and VFX in one application
• Robust UI and workflow
• Comparatively good value for money

CONS

• Mac only
• Needs latest hardware and fast drives

An excellent application, especially at this price, offering a fast workflow to get your projects done and out of the door

RATING 4

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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Does the texturing tool of choice for VFX artists have enough additions to get more artists on board? Mike Griggs finds out

PRICE: £1,210 / $1,995 / €1,450

PLATFORM: Windows / Linux

FEATURES

• Enables direct painting onto geometry
• Ptex support
• Layers and channels
• Integrates with Nuke and Photoshop

DEVELOPER: The Foundry

Ever since its launch as the application that painted Avatar, the 3D community has been looking at Mari by the Foundry as the next logical step in image manipulation for 3D asset creation. With its integration of Ptex, Mari’s ability to paint seamlessly directly onto a model was a huge eye-opener for 3D artists, and gave hope that one day we might be able to avoid the complication of UV maps in our workflow.

The first version of Mari was a breakthrough application, but it was daunting to most people outside VFX studios. (It was originally created at Weta.) Its workflow was shader- and channel-based rather than layer stack-based, the conceptual model used by 2D image creation mainstay Photoshop. The notion that Mari is a Photoshop-killer, while not necessarily fair, has been around since Mari launched. As its name suggests, Photoshop has a vastly different 2D remit, and there was always the potential for Mari to become the 3D artist’s texturing tool of choice alongside Photoshop.

The layer system integrates seamlessly with the channel workflow to expand Mari’s potential to new 3D artists

With Mari 2, the key feature that has deterred many artists from the software has been asddressed: Mari now has full support for layers. And instead of just copying the Photoshop system we’re all familiar with, Mari has expanded on the idea in an innovative and robust way.

In Mari 2, you can have layer stacks controlling individual layers and masks. Initially this sounds confusing, but it’s exactly what you want in a paint program. By right-clicking a layer in its palette you can add an adjustment stack, which is essentially another layer stack. This new stack can contain adjustment layers, filters and so on – just as a normal layer stack can – and enables a level of fine control over individual layer elements, which is fantastic to see and easy to implement. Adjustment stacks are also applicable to masks as well.

The new procedural layers allow you to create complex patterns from the built-in generators or your own images

LAYERED COMPLEXITY

As you add layers, you get to see one of the other new killer features in Mari 2. Procedural layers enable you to quickly cover your object or patch using either one of the built-in patterns to add noise or one of your own images. Once applied, the full power of the new layering system and Mari’s paint tools can be brought to bear on the procedural layer, with masking and layer overlay, adjustments and filters all available, so you can build up complex textures very quickly. Substance Designer also uses procedural textures as an integral part of the workflow, but the Mari implementation is easier to use and customise if you’re coming from an app such as Photoshop.

Setting up a project is also much more simple, with logical creation of channels, which are now directly linked to the layer system by the underlying architecture of the application. Also, layers can be linked to other layers so that attributes such as opacity can be controlled, which is great if you have am image layer in various channels such as diffuse and spec – one adjustment will control all linked layers throughout the project.

The new layer system is augmented by adjustment stacks, which let you add layer stacks to individual layers or masks

This relative simplicity seems to be one of the core principles of The Foundry’s work over the past year across many of its releases. Mari really is simple to use once you’ve got your head around the interface and initial workflow, for which there are some excellent tutorials in the included guide. Little things such as the paint buffer caching as you rotate the model are great, but take a bit of getting used to if you use other, similar apps such as ZBrush and Mudbox.

Mari works with OBJ models either with or without UVs, where Ptex becomes an option. Even with models where the UVs are not especially tidy, Mari can still make a fair stab at letting you paint successfully on your models.

Mari needs everything you can throw at it in terms of hardware, especially on the graphics front, with a pro-level card being the optimal solution. I had some stability issues, but these could be attributable to my gaming-level Nvidia graphics card. Mari still did the best it could, and I was able to work reliably. If you’re on a tight budget, Mari should work on your hardware, but it’s best to check before you buy. The free 15-day trial should allow you to work out any kinks.

Mari 2 allows layers to be linked in the same stack or in adjustment stacks in channels, where common attributes can be controlled by one element

DIFFERENT STROKES

The one thing I haven’t touched on so far is what it’s like to paint with Mari. There’s a responsiveness to the strokes – a tablet is mandatory to get the most out of it – and layer control is unlike any other program I’ve used when working with models in UV or with Ptex-based texturing solutions. This is enhanced by touches like the well thought-out symmetry tools; the scratch pad at the bottom of the Brush palette, which enables you to test your brush before you commit to painting onto your model; and the good range of stock brushes that get you up and working quickly.

Mari is an easy application to pick up, yet there’s a huge depth to the toolset and digging deeper into the tools brings up menu upon menu of options that you can tweak to your heart’s content. However, Mari still feels complex on launch, and has the vestigial feel of a facility pipeline tool rather than a dedicated standalone application.

The customisable UI can be streamlined to suit the way you work. Pop-up boxes help you find the tools you need

For the texturing artist in a studio or standalone 3D artist, Mari 2 is very nearly a must-have tool. While the price and the lack of a Mac version could put off new buyers, Mari 2 cements The Foundry’s reputation as one of the most exciting developers in image-creation software. The well thought-out implementation of layers, along with other enhancements such as procedural textures, makes this an essential upgrade for existing users. The other new additions, along with the already capable painting toolset, make Mari 2 the most intuitive 3D painting tool on the market without a doubt.

PROS

• Excellent new layer system
• Well thought-out procedural layers
• Intuitive workflow and UI while painting

CONS

• No Mac version
• Expensive for a painting tool
• High-end GPUs required to maximise use

Mari seems expensive at first glance, but there’s no faster way to create complex and innovative textures and shaders

RATING 4

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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