Here’s a litte breakdown how I create 3D images.
(Click on the pictures to enlarge)
These are the main steps in creating 3D images and animations:
1) Modeling
2) UV mapping
3) Texturing
4) Scene setup
5) Animation & Simulation
6) Lighting, Camera & Render settings
7) Rendering
8) Post / Compositing
This is a glimpse of how my workflow looks like:
1) Modeling
A 3D mesh is built from Splines, Points, Edges and Polygons, that can be created and modified with various modeling tools. Subdivision modeling requires following certain geometry rules in order to create a proper mesh that renders well in different light situations.
I started creating this model some time ago, so the mesh quality is not really that good and I would model it differently if I would start again from beginning.
The modeling process starts from a simple Cube, Spline or Polygon.
By using tools like Bevel, Extrude, Array etc., complex shapes can be created.
2) UV mapping
Creating the UV coordinates for proper texture placement:
UV mapping is not easy and not always the fun part in 3D creation. The task is basically to create seams to unfold the 3D mesh in a flat form, so a 2D texture can be applied properly. The image above is not a good example of proper UV mapping 🙂
3) Texturing
Creating and tweaking the materials using layered channels for Color, Diffuse, Reflection, Fresnel, Transparency, Bump mapping, Displacement and more. This can be a very time consuming process.
Creating Vector graphics where needed (in this example for the Guitar head):
4) Scene setup
In this process, the composition is setup, the objects are placed, using instancing, cloning etc.
5) Animation & Simulation
Animation modifies object position, rotation and parameters over time (for example the camera movement) to create a movie.
Simulations can create cloth, particles, explosions, fire, water and other physical effects (like in this example the cloth / drape):
6) Lighting, Camera & Render settings
For rendering I use different render engines, depending on the task, for example Cinema 4D Physical, Vray or Cycles4D:
7) Rendering!
Adjusting render settings and waiting for the render calculation:
Rendering can take many hours (even on a fast computer), depending on the complexity of the scene. When rendering an animation, 24 to 30 images need to be rendered for one second of animation and it can take some time to find and setup efficient render settings.
8) Post / Compositing
After the render is completed, I add some post effects and color corrections to the rendered images.
Render Buffers allow a 2D and 3D composition after the render is complete, for example to create the illusion of depth, color corrections or combine layers of images, masks and 3D objects. This is also known as Compositing.
Done!
Software
I started learning 3D with LightWave 3D and later changed to MAXON Cinema 4D Studio (C4D), which is now my main application for 3D work. I started with C4D Broadcast and later upgraded to C4D Studio.
Additionally to LightWave and Cinema 4D I purchased several great plugins like LWCAD, Rhiggit, Forester, X-Particles, Cycles4D, Vray4C4D, Xfrog and TurbulenceFD which complete the toolset in a great way.
Cinema 4D is a very stable software that offers a non-destructive / parametric and polygonal workflow and has a very flexible user interface. It is one of the few 3D software left offering a full perpetual license.
Besides C4D I use many other 2D and 3D tools (like GeoGlyph Pro, World Machine Pro, Terragen Pro, Vue xStream, Blender, Affinity Photo & Designer, 3D-Coat, Substance Designer & Painter, Fusion and DaVinci Resolve). For the future I plan to start using SideFX Houdini additionally.
Learning new software is a passion of mine!
There is the free 3D software Blender available which is great to start learning 3D and has also a huge set of tools and great rendering quality.