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Introduction
The concept behind the 3D Production Challenge is to provide artists with a task that resembles something that they might encounter in a real world production environment, wether it be at a game, vfx or animation studio. For the first 3D Production Challenge, we have provided a model sheet with orthographic views of a character (generously created for this activity by the incredibly talented Adrian Smith) and from there the artist's job was to bring that character to life in three dimensions. The winners for this challenge were picked through a public poll voting process. Congratulations to everyone who entered and for all the great work that was generated for this challenge! We encourage you to check out all of the many fantastic entries by clicking here.
Finalists
1st Place - Rishikesh Nandlaskar [nandlaskar]
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WIP Thread
2nd Place - Guilherme Formenti [gformenti]
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WIP Thread
3rd Place - Furio Tedeschi [Blaze]
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WIP Thread
Artist Interviews
We caught up with the 3 top finalists and they answered a few of our questions. Here is what they said:
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself, is 3D sculpting a hobby or do your work professionally in the industry? If so, tell us a little bit about what you have worked on and how you got started doing 3D.
2) What was the most challenging aspect of bringing Adrian's concept into 3D?nandlaskar
I am currently working as a Senior Modeler at Rhythm and Hues studios for over 4 years now. As a graduate from Applied Art (specialized in illustration) from Raheja School of Art Mumbai, I picked up 3D for my final year project. From there I worked for a game studio named "Paradox " for about 2 years where I discovered my passion for 3D modeling. During this period I managed to participate in Cgtalk's "Spectacular" competition, where I won the 6th place in the challenge. Work is important, but much artistic satisfaction comes from participating in online challenges and competitions.
My interest has always been character modeling, but when I started working at Rhythm & Hues studios I learned that a good modeler is one who can give character to anything (I would like to give credit to my guru, Craig Chun, for imparting this knowledge to me). It may be a prop, environment or character, but they all need to be crafted with care and attention to detail and treated as if they were as important as the main character. I have worked on over ten movies now, including the OSCAR winning movie"The Golden Compass," The Incredible Hulk, The Night at the Museum 2, Alvin and Chipmunks 1 & 2, Mummy Returns 3, and The Ateam. For more info nandlaskar's credits, check out his IMDB page.gformenti
I have been a 3D generalist for about 4 years now in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, and I worked with architectural visualization for 2 years, last year I started using/learning zbrush and getting more hands on with digital sculpting. For now 3D sculpting is just a hobby, but I’m trying to hone my skills to get into the industry, and I'm always up for a challenge!Blaze
I'm Italian born in Rhodesia and grew up in South Africa JHB. I've been in the industry on and off for 8 years. I went to the National School of Arts where I did small Photoshop course, that was my first introduction to a pc. Hmmmm what does this button do...lol.
Then a friend told me about a Silicon Graphics course, which we assumed we would be sculpting with silicon and that was then somehow transferred into the computer. We were wrong...Silicon Graphics was the pc and 3Dsmax the program that freaked me out...way too many buttons for a guy that was just used to pencil and pad, and nobody seemed to know what they were doing - including the teachers. Then I moved to the UK where I worked at a company called Blitz games and got to work on Taz Wanted game and on another title that was never released. Then left...needed sun :]
Australia was next and I worked on Naval Radar and Gun simulations, but that was not really for me, but I suppose it helped with modeling and the function of things...well guns. Soon after, I got back into games and worked at some pretty dodgy places till I moved to Krome Studios. I started out there as a Technical Artist on Spyro Eternal Night, it was a small team, so I got to work on a couple of things, then moved on to work on Star Wars Light Saber Duels, where I was lead artist and the days were packed with meetings and stuff, but I always managed to get some art done in the after hours. Also met some awesome and very talented dudes there. I guess high rez modeling has mostly been a hobby for me. I try use Zbrush where I can. But I never had the chance to really work with it on a game, most the high rez stuff I do is personal work.
The most challenging part for Adrians Concept was, being true to the concept- drawing all the way through the competition and keeping myself motivated throughout the challenge. I took this concept as something which is approved by any client and I had to give justice to the artwork.
The drawing has its own flavour of Adrians style which I tried to get as close as possible. Deviating slightly from the artwork is fine but will remove that core essence and style according to me. I tried my best in the given time, but I think I could have given it more character and pushed it more to take it close to the artwork.
Well there were a couple things, lol. It’s the first time I have sculpted someone else’s concept most of the time it’s just me doodling my deviations or trying to sculpt someone’s likeness. When I started with Adrian’s concept my first obstacle was, how to translate the 2d concept into 3d. My second struggle was with the face I went through a lot of testing before I was finally happy with it.
But my biggest challenge of all was the “weight” of the character, and how to convey the feeling of massiveness that the character has I wanted him to be big but not ripped of muscles I wanted a feel of flesh stuffed into a broad structure. To achieve that I struggled, every time I would stop a day of sculpting on him I would look and say: It's looking cool but it’s not quite what I want and I don’t know why. My breakthrough came after I took a 1 week break from the model, and when I came back I restarted it all, but now I knew what I wanted and what wasn’t looking right before.
The face and the multitude of subtoolz needed for all the different parts.
3) What did you enjoy most about working on this character?
I enjoyed sculpting the variety of surfaces all over the character and there's nothing like working on Adrian's concept art.
The whole process was loads of fun but I think the most enjoyable part was modeling the armor and dressing him bit by bit, I felt like a kid again playing with my G.I JOES.
Probably the armor...most of the time was spent on that.
4) Tell us a little about the techinical aspects of your tools and workstation, what programs did you use to complete your sculpt?
Zbrush is a brilliant, efficient and very effective Digital Sculpting program. I basically like to work on the base shape in Maya and try to get the proportions of the character along with all the props at this stage and then all the sculpting in Zbrush and finally use of Photoshop for comps and presentation which is very important.
My Computer Specs:
IntelDg 45 ID
CORE 2 DUO Processor 2.93GHZ
nVDIA 9600 GT card
4GB RAM
Wacom Intuos 2
I used Zbrush, 3ds max and topogun to do this challenge. My computer is reasonably old, it’s a quadcore with 4 gigs of ram, which is too little for what I wanna do in Zbrush most of the time. I use an Intuous 4 wacom tablet. During the challenge I lost my HD, it fried and I had to get a new one. I didn’t lose any of my zbrush files however I lost my first armor set that I had done in 3dsmax. : /
I used 3Dsmax for base mesh and extra mesh parts, Zbrush and Photoshop for minor tweaks.
5) Briefly describe your workflow from start to finished render.
Planning the timeline was the first thing I did. I knew I wouldn't be able to put in the whole 3 month time frame for this challenge because of my job and other responsibilities, which is the case for many artists who were in this challenge. But I think CGhub had considered this while giving the deadline, 3 months is a pretty good amount of time for just sculpting a character.
Ok, so back to workflow. Studying the character artwork is very important. After trying to understand the style, proportions, weight, balance and rhythm, I tried to draw the silhouette in black. This gave it a kick start. Then I jumped into making the base mesh in Maya and tried to make as many separate objects as possible to have better control over the model at any stage.
I divided the whole process into 3 Passes- First Pass consisted of getting the overall form and volume. The Second Pass consisted of adding the props in place with the repeat of the First Pass. The Third Pass consisted of detailing, using of alpha maps and textures and the repeat of First Pass again because with every pass the model sometimes starts drifting in a different direction so it is important to repeat the process from First Pass at every stage to stay on track.
I like to work on grey-shaded models. For this challenge, I tried making my own material in zbrush. Working around with light and shadow to study the form also helps. I always believe that taking constructive critiques from friends and artists on forums is very important because I get another point of view, I call it the "fresh eye vision". Taking critiques constructively is very important, too. I take what makes sense and look at my model with a fresh eye, stepping back to make changes that I think would really enhance my model and add that extra dimension.
I created a boxman basemesh in max and sculpted the body. The armor was done all in 3ds max and detailed in Zbrush using a few custom brushes (and regular ones too) and alphas, most of them downloaded from pixologic.com. Unfortunately, I was cutting it close in time for the deadline and I didn’t have time to take many zbrush renders to compose in photoshop. I just tweaked the matcaps a bit and from that zbrush render and I used Photoshop to do some post production.
A lot of head scratching, then base meshes done in 3Dmax (base mesh, armor, chains, etc.) and then exported into Zbrush for tonz of sculpting and details. The model was then posed in Zbrush and I did some final adjustments in Photoshop.
6) If you had to do the character over again, is there anything you would change?
I definitely would change the helmet part on my model. I wanted to give it more character but still staying within the boundaries of the artwork by Adrian which means so much to me.
Yes definitely, I would pose him properly, lol. The upper body gesture on my model is good and I’m happy with it, but the feet are boring T-pose like. I tried posing using transpose master before making the final renders, but I got a lot of errors due to insufficient memory. Final model was 24 million polies and apparently my computer couldn’t handle transposing all that at the same time : /
No change, but could of spent a bit more time doing final passes of sculpting and renders.
7) What advice would you give to beginners who are breaking into modeling highly detailed 3D characters?
If you are an artist, it's a plus, but if not you can still work towards it by practicing- life drawing sketching, studying real sculpting, studying colors and composition. All this plays a major role in your artwork. Not everyone might have gone to art school but one can always develop an interest for art knowledge which would really make a difference in ones artwork, 2d or 3d.
As far as Digital Sculpting is concerned or becoming a better modeler, look for basic forms and shapes first and then jump into details, because if the forms, volume and proportions are in place, details will look proper and certainly enhance your work.
Never get attached to your artwork and be ready to make minor or significant changes if the work demands and if it's really going to make the art better. This will help to improve and develop ones skill set as a 3d artist. This also applies to 2d art as well. As an artist I am still putting conscious efforts towards improving my work as I always try and make my new work better than the last. Learning art is forever. Improving and developing skills in art is what we should all work towards.
gformenti
I think the best advice is to mind the bigger forms, by that I mean the gesture, weight, proportion and planar changes on surfaces of your model. These things either make or break your model.
Don’t get overwhelmed by details and don’t start doing them until you are happy with your model and overall shape. Pores and veins don’t mean a thing when they are placed into a incoherent inflated model.
Another piece of advice is knowing human anatomy is THE most important thing BUT do NOT try to sculpt every single muscle into your character, muscles that only people with 0% body fat would show, there's fatty tissue and skin in everyone. And last but not least REFERENCE, download, search, books feed your brain with visual information, sculpting like drawing is an exercise of your mind and your eye, you have to train those before your hands can do something worthy.
Practice and time. Everyone can learn something so don’t be a know it all and make the effort to get on with the people you work with...always helps :]
8) Additional Comments
I would like to thank my parents and my wife and my younger brother for supporting me, because I cannot give time to them when I am working on such challenges after office hours. Their role of encouraging me is very important which helps me to finish my work.
Adrian's Closing Comments
I was very flattered to be asked by CGHub.com to take part in this challenge and very glad that I did so. Working as a freelance artist it is rare I get a chance to see 3D work in progress shots of my designs. So this was a real treat for me and I must say I've been blown away by the professionalism and talent shown in all the entries. Nandlaskar is a worthy winner indeed with gformenti and Blaze's work deservedly up there on the podium with him. I for one, will be watching these guys with interest and have found there work to be very inspiring, and a joy to see.
I hope everyone involved enjoyed this challenge as much as I. Best of luck to you all.
Cheers!
Adrian.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the first Production Challenge at CGHUB.com. Adrian has generously offered to create another concept for a future Production Challenge, so if you enjoyed working with his concepts stay tuned for more info. If you are a professional concept artist and would like to be involved and create a character for future Production Challenges, please contact us using the contact form, we would love to hear from you!
Prizes
The top 3 entrants will receive a copy of Adrian's latest book, "Dark Fantasy" and the first place winner will receive an original drawing from Adrian Smith from one of his earliest projects with Gamesworkshop, an original from the book 'The lost and the damned.' Finally, the first place winner will get a 3D print of his model courtesy of Ownage.
Relevant Links
3D Production Challenge Forum
3D Production Challenge Finals & Voting Thread
Adrian Smith CGHUB.com Profile
Adrian Smith Homepage
Pick up a copy of Adrian Smith's latest book, Dark Fantasy!
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