Cineversity

I have had some online training courses about this, but I could always improve and learn new techniques on how to do this.

Is there natural scene tutorials about these:
-Making the trees, background mountain, dirt, debris, etc.
Example scenes: deserts, forests, valleys, etc.
-Often when I do grass, it takes a long time to render and it adds up too.

As for vehicles, new sports cars, especially the interiors and parts such as the seating and the control panel, as it’s harder to do on the insides. And so it doesn’t look plain on the inside. Modeling the lighting too.

-The buildings and structures look a lot more realistic with realistic backgrounds.  And my goal is to model something realistic.  There is probably other people who would benefit from this too.
Thanks.

Hi Jamestown,

This is quite a wide variety of themes. Very nice ones as well.

For landscapes and such, you might check out anything for Camera-projection. The typical tool for large detailed landscapes is Vue Xtreme, with a nice connection to CINEMA 4D. I have stopped using it two years ago, as I use Camera-Mapping exclusively for my movies, and that works for me. You might click in some JET making of clips here on Cineversity, where I combined both a little bit, but mainly—as I said—I use Camera-Mapping and it worked nicely (many awards), even on the big screen (as my movie was printed on Cinemascope 35mm).

I have no idea about car-modeling tutorials here on Cineversity, which is certainly interesting, but then again very specialized. You might go to the suggest tutorial forum with this.

Modeling is certainly an endless theme, as everything on this planet (and perhaps beyond) can be modeled, even complete landscapes. If you model a fork or a “four in one” motorcycle muffler is pretty much the same, at least that is my impression modeling in 3D since over two decades.

Which brings up the question about buildings, certainly a theme by itself, and having worked as an architect/design lead and office manager in Berlin over a long time, I used Nemetschek for our CAD team and Archicad for my smaller projects.

Based on that history I have developed a series how to create, e.g., very fast from a photograph a 3D facade - Speed-modeling. Which was also part of the JET movie short, the Background city. A short series how I did it can be found here:
http://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/speed-modeling_city_part_01

I hope that gives some ideas. So far I got feedback from studios here in L.A. about this mini series, they liked that the ideas are close to the productions cycles and that they are very deadline friendly. But of course—if you need more details, get blue prints and start from there. Architectural visualization is not just a “bag of tricks”, and to get into the top group (you requested realistic) it might need a couple of years to get the full spectrum of materials and aesthetics of architectural thinking established. It is—to quote one of the masters of it ” kind of an art form by itself”. It needs practice and passion.

I grew up in a 70 head strong construction company, and learned to be a draftsmen as my official first job during a three years long education.  My job was building little houses, starting with the age of 16. Just to mention where I come from, with my perspective to visualization. Later architecture and then art: Which I always extended to Set-design for example as my initial connection to film, which I prefer since my first feature film work in the late ‘80s. Which explains the work on JET for example. (Lots of camera-mapping again
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtBHyYaOQ9I 

Sorry, I could give you a direct link to any of your questions.

My best wishes

Sassi

This does help.  Thanks.  Gives me some great speed modeling techniques.

And another question: what would be the right forum if I were working on a Cinema 4D based picture and I wanted to improve it?

Hey Jamestown,

Thanks for the reply, I was not certain if I had shared too much of my history, but missing out of available content that would fit to your interest—I tried to show that these themes are close to me, at least landscape and buildings to name something that I really like. BTW, you might like the sculpting tool and some relatively new shaders for landscape design.

The forum that would fit best (if at all) is this one here, though not specifically designed for this. I hesitate to critic the work of our artists here. Let me explain: For me critic is not to be harsh and brutal as some might think of it. Real critique (vs critic) is to know the target of the artist, his abilities and speed of development, and push with support these goals as much as a healthy grow allows. A good feedback motivates to work on the project, with a supply of information that makes the next step possible (and perhaps clears where one worked against his/her own targets. Art has no mistakes). Anything else is perhaps just individual taste or even less. I see sometimes such “harsh and brutal” stuff in public fora, and it is the last thing I want to see here at all, at any time. I had great teachers and I know to spot a bad one very quickly. Great teachers are rare.

With that idea about critique I enter the theme of being a mentor, which takes quite some time and background to be efficient. I have done this in the past in an online art group, and it took many month for a small group. Certainly a rewarding work, but it would be for a forum like this here more than a full time job. My suggestion, if you haven a MSA (MAXON Service Agreement) perhaps you can use the time (One On One) for such. I think especially here on people such Patrick who has as well and art background and could certainly support nicely here. I personally don’t do “One On One/MSA”.

What I like to suggest, what ever you do, get reference material! Shoot with a MacBeth chart, and if possible/needed, shoot HDRi. With the color chart you can create a profile and given that you have a calibrated monitor, you can explore what makes things look real. If done as suggested, you can even measure shadow color temperature (shadows are not opaque or black for example!). If you get after a while a nice library of reference you have always something to refer to. Avoid reference from the web, it does not re-pay your invested time as images shoot as “re-productional photography”. (Web means—you have no idea what happens to the material) Avoid color corrections etc. on such material of course.

“Attention to Detail” was a long running series from Alex Lindsay (ex ILM) DVGarage, and I have watched each one many times. Having given him credit here, the title is all one needs—to explore, attention to detail, how light works on surfaces (flat parts, corners and irregulars parts, parts that are worn out etc). There—is the main part—as I mentioned why it takes some time to get to know all the details. Reference images, a great investment, and as a side effect, knowing the camera very well, leads to better CG work. (I have finished this year a ~200 part series about Photography for 3D Artists, and I hope I was able to share the needed information above the starter knowledge—(starter information: which I might publish next year in a specific book)

In short, if you ask for critique and no one is interested what you wanted to achieve, ignore it. Just my two cents.

My best wishes

Sassi

P.S.: the link in my “signature” has a lot of camera projection/mapping in it. No building is filmed (when billboards are visible”, these are all still images used in C4D’s fantastic camera mapping with the support of the camera calibrator.

Hi Dr. Seuss:
Yes, thank you for sharing your history.  I am also interested in architecture.  I’ve recently found some good landscape materials too.  My goal was to design buildings, in particular:  They would be like new cars, except different shape, size, and extra rooms.  Easier shown than explained.  And be hired to design buildings like this, that would ‘match’ the vehicles.
Rather than being made of wood, stone, drywall, the exterior would be painted steel plating, the interior consisting of synthesized materials and control panels as you’d find in a vehicle.  These buildings would have soft edges too, as vehicles do. I’m getting better at this.  I’m sure lots of people would like to have their homes redesigned like this and jobs that would hire me to do this, as I’m getting Cineversity training.

Thanks for the feedback, but my name is not Seuss. I guess that was meant as a compliment, but I prefer Dr. Sassi (or if you like it longer—Sassmannshausen Ph.D.)

Your input sounds more like digital creating or (Digital) Matte-Painting, and having watched everything on DVD from “The Gnomon Workshop” what they offer about this specific theme, it might be a nice starting point to check out their material as well. Just an idea.

Digital Matte-painting is split obviously in “Effect-only” and “Science-Fiction” (with an emphasis on Science), to start with an orientation about. Some artists use it just as “canvas” and paint what they believe is architecture on it. Certainly a way to go, if pure phantasy is requested. Others explore what the society could be and translate that into shapes and forms. Of course a large mix between is a given. For me, with a two decade background of architecture, the pure phantasy version is fun to watch, but ruins a movie for me—from time to time. After many years one starts to read architecture like a new language in a book. Some words might need interpolation (between what was understood so far, to interpret these) but the main sense comes across. Exactly the most fun, at least for me is given with the translation of a society into architecture. We had this year both extremes in block busters so far. I will not name them, but I think it is obvious which one they are. A good background in art history would be my suggestion to have.

To use CINEMA 4D for such is certainly a way to go then. The direction goes, from my point of view, since some years away from 2D paintings to the creation of complete “3D backdrops”. Here exactly I can see C4D not only as creation tool, but as well as authoring tool. Perhaps with a close connection to NUKE. Which is not in opposite to the suggestion of Vue, which I have given above, but C4D sits for me in the center of such a complex city development or architecture design work.

To use a car as base means a certain direction of a specific culture—where this would fit in. I guess you have a background story in your mind why that is shaping the materials in the way you describe it. If so, write it down, and develop a theory for it. You might notice that the “shape logic” follows then much more easily. Which brings me back to standard modeling, which is certainly useable for this as well, such as the series from Patrick Goski here on Cineversity. Most modeling techniques boil down to these standards. But yes, modeling is like playing chess, and to get good at it, one needs to practice.

Materials have their own weakness and strength in reality, and that in many ways. You can work against material or with it. In my philosophy good architecture is always efficient, which means it takes advantages of the materials (and not the opposite—Post Modernism artists might argue here ;o). This needs to be known and takes some time when you like to mix materials, so it makes sense. But that goes of course into an education about architecture, which we can’t give you here. To make this work for real, is certainly a different story. I can’t support this here, perhaps my tips from above might help there more. Keep in mind, most digital matte-painter are not at all architects, but many are certainly great artists, and have my respect.

Perhaps the differentiation was clear to you already, but I hope I was able to clear what we can’t provide.

My best wishes on your way to this.

Sassi