Well, my love for Corona is real, but that doesn’t limit me to just using that engine. I had originally gotten Redshift purely for it’s volumetrics (which are fantastic), but I just finished a job where I had to do texturing in Redshift and it showed me what a nice and fast engine it is. So trying to learn more - slowly but surely. Here’s some experiments.
Suzuki GSX 750 model by CGTrader.
I hit a pretty big mental block on daily renders and R&D experiments outside of my client work. It’s been a busy year, but when I did find some time, I often scratched my head and wondered what I wanted to make. The end result was I didn’t make much for about 5 months. At first this upset me, but I’ve come to realize that it is just part of the ebb and flow of a creative journey. Nothing more, nothing less. So I thought maybe I would just start to make some stuff without putting too much thought into it. Simple lighting sketches to just get back into the software and create something - without putting any pressure on myself. These car shots were some of the first of those. Don’t think. Make.
Model from Turbosquid
A life long journey
Horse model from Turbosquid
I’ve taken a break from daily renders and have put much of my usual R&D work aside for the summer. I’ve been focused on Client work and taking some downtime to try and rest and rejuvenate. I love my career of making images every day, but like any other art form, one needs to change it up and take a break now and then to avoid too much fatigue. I’ll start posting more work when the Fall kicks in.
In the meanwhile - I’ve started making Vectorworks tutorials. I have done a lot of teaching and training in 3D with Vectorworks over the years - both at New York University and for the United Scenic Artist Union (829). There is a real lack of training materials out there for production designers who want to get started with 3D but don’t know where to begin. So I’m starting a serious of Basic 101 concepts. Some will be long and some will be short. I hope to eventually get into much deeper training and paid tutorial series, but one step at a time. Here are the first three: Extrude. Extrude Along Path, and Sweep. Enjoy.
Wow - two months since the last update. 2019 has been a baller year and I’ve been busy with client work this whole year so far. I really can’t complain, but the R&D work and experiments have had to sit on the back burner for a while. I’m also trying to spend less time in front of a machine and more time actually moving my body.
I have been sneaking in some lighting techniques though, to try a new approach to stage renders. Traditionally I have made the render and then added in the lighting - now I’m trying to start with the lighting and then build the rest of the scene and color around that. Basically, right back to paint and natural medium where value is laid in first and then color and detail on top of that. It’s early days still (my current workflow took about 5 years to finalize), so no rush, but it does show potential and GPU rendering has greatly speed up the workflow on this. Here are some volumetric experiments using Redshift for Cinema4D.
Here is the raw Set design - just made it up for testing.
Been trying out Redshift Render Engine for rendering of Volumetric lighting. Early days, but initial tests are looking good. The real test will be to see how Redshift handles large scenes. Octanes lack of good support for large scenes is what moved me towards Corona in the first place. More testing to be done. All images below are straight out of the render engine with no photoshop.
Fumigator model from Turbosquid.
More testing and learning with Marvelous Designer - a great fabric simulation program. Playing with the wind effects to try and get a wind tunnel kind of feeling with silk.
It’s been a super busy start of the year over here. I’ve been buried in client work and not had much chance to do R&D work or my own projects. I’m also horribly behind on posting to the blog - so here are various works from December 2018 through end of January 2019 in no particular order.
Furniture from Dimensiva.com
AC Shelby Cobra from Turbosquid
Porsche 365c Model from CGTrader.com
Testing Marvelous Designer Cloth simulation. Jetvette model provided by Ollitei
Testing some ribbed glass
Fun with Booleans
Female Bust from CGTrader.com
Posing practice. Beefy Character provided by Ace 5 Studios.
Manny and Ninja models from CGTRader.com. All posed by me.
Always fun.
Jetvette model provided by Ollitei (Olli Teittinen) via Sketchfab. I retuxtured it.
Aston Martin One-77 provided by Turbosquid.
I saw an image on Greyscale Gorilla’s Redshift training that I like and tried to get the same vibe in Corona. I like it - I like theirs better, but I still like this one. Experimenting more with camera lensing and angles.
Working on a few things here, but the focus was on camera work. Trying to be a bit more dynamic with camera angles and I will say: a little goes a long way. Also more hard modeling work in Vectorworks and some kit bashing with Cinema 4D.
Working with Glass and liquid shaders. Always a balancing act with lighting.
Toad model from Sketchfab
Product Shot lighting practice - never easy to get right.
Bottle model from Turbosquid. Textured by me.
Trying to get better at moody scenes that don’t feel too dark…the struggle is real.
It’s been a very busy fall and I’ve been focusing on client work mostly. Here are some random experiments - mostly R&D for other projects.
Working on dusk and sunset looks. HDRIs from Shawn Astrom.
Working on scale and exterior sky lighting. Kit bash parts from Andrew Averkin.
Modeled in Vectorworks. “Rigging” and texture practice.
3 hour free form modeling session in Cinema 4D.
More work on Hard surface modeling using Vectorworks, Cinema and Corona renderer.
Haven't posted in a while. Been both super busy with client work, and far away from a computer enjoying the summer. Here's some random stuff of late.
Gundam model by Kanatee via Sketchfab.
Working on Sub-D modeling in Cinema4d. Trying to get better at organic shapes. So much to learn. Fun to create whole species of Beetles though....