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Cart News » Pixologic a Safe Harbor blogPixologic Announces ZBrush 4R3
Just as you've started to fully grasp the new features from the ZBrush 4R2b update less than a month ago, Pixologic provides yet another free update to include even more new features and expand on features introduced in previous versions. Perhaps the biggest update to Z4R3 is the NoiseMaker plugin. This powerful enhancement allows you to create a wide variety of noise and patterns. With over 25 parametric generators, limitless combinations, and the ability to work in both 3d and UV mode, NoiseMaker is sure to help get the job done. NoiseMaker will now use interpolated masking per polygon for an accurate display of noise and patterns even on lower polygon meshes. Furthermore, NoiseMaker features ZBrush navigation style, a larger preview window and new masking capabilities to provide multiple scaling options to your noise. Additional features and updates include Vector Displacement maps, BPR to Geo conversion, significant advancements to FiberMesh, interface and render enhancements, and more. ZBrush 4R3 is set for a February 28th release and will be a free update to registered users. For pricing and additional information, check out our ZBrush sales or head over to ZBrushCentral for the full announcement and feature list. Safe Harbor Computers and e-on Software to Host Webinar for 3D Professionals
Waukesha, WI—July 13, 2011—Safe Harbor Computers, a leading supplier to video and 3D animation professionals, today announced that they will be hosting a webinar with e-on Software, leaders in 3D sky, light and nature technologies. The webinar will feature in-depth presentations and demonstrations of e-on’s flagship Vue product line as well as some of its newly introduced products such as LumenRT and Carbon Scatter. Open to all 3D professionals and enthusiasts, attendees will see how Digital Nature can be incorporated into their workflow and how these award winning solutions are helping the world's leading CG and FX studios to deliver stunning results. With Dave Burdick from e-on Software presenting, users working in 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave 3D, Cinema 4D and Softimage will have the opportunity to learn how they can create complete, hyper-realistic 3D environments without leaving their favorite application. From architectural visualization to film and broadcast, the free webinar is available to anyone looking to integrate high quality scenery into a professional production pipeline. Exclusive show specials from Safe Harbor will be made available to all attendees at the end of the presentation. Event details:
About Safe Harbor Celebrating 24 years of business, Safe Harbor has become one of the most trusted resellers in the multimedia industry, providing quality products and outstanding customer service to a wide range of creative artists. With a clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate website, Safe Harbor has built a reliable reputation as an industry leader. Look to Safe Harbor for quality editing and animation software and hardware, as well as for a professional and personable experience. For more information, visit: http://www.sharbor.com About e-on software E-on software is the leading developer of solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments. Offering a wide array of Digital Nature products and applications, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. E-on software products are used worldwide by the film, television, architecture, game, science, educational and entertainment industries. E-on software products were used in feature films such as as "Thor", "Avatar", "Clash of the Titans", "Despicable Me", "The Wolf Man", "2012", "Lovely Bones", "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", "GI Joe – The Rise of the Cobra", "The Proposal", "Land of the Lost", "Terminator 4, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Indiana Jones 4", "Monster Vs Aliens", "Australia", "The Spiderwick Chronicles", "KungFu Panda", "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and TV series such as "Smallville", "Battlestar Gallactica", "Caprica", "Stargate Atlantis", "Stargate Continuum", and more. Read more on these stories in e-on software's Spotlights section: www.e-onsoftware.com/spotlight. E-on software was founded on the premise that powerful graphics tools should never get in the way of the designer's creativity. By investing significant resources into research and development, e-on software is able to deliver cutting-edge, user friendly technologies that produce stunning Digital Nature scenery. Pixologic Releases Sculptris (for Windows and Mac)
Pixologic, Inc., maker of the Award-Winning ZBrush software is pleased to announce the latest release of Sculptris (for Windows and Mac). For the past 10 years Pixologic has been recognized for its ground-breaking innovation, ‘cool’ creativity and tools that are as user friendly as they are powerful and natural-feeling. These tools enable artists in many industries to open new vistas of possibility with their skills and imagination. The development and latest release of Sculptris is consistent with the Pixologic ethos and spirit to help artists both shine at and enjoy creating art — intuitively, without having to worry about technical barriers! 3D Sculpting and Painting Become Easy with Sculptris Sculptris is an elegant and simple 3D modeling solution, offering artists a platform to harness their imagination and create 3D sculpts in a way that is unique to the digital world. Tomas Pettersson, the bright young programmer and brainchild behind Sculptris commented: "I trust that, with this version, Sculptris will be more accessible for all people on both PC’s and Mac’s. Everyone should be able to sculpt!" Sculptris introduces a dynamic tessellation system, giving its user the capability to sculpt or paint freely on any part of the surface without having to worry about underlining geometry. With Sculptris, triangles are automatically added as needed,and only to the areas where a stroke has been applied to the surface. Users can do just about anything that’s possible with real clay. For example, they can pull, twist and pinch the surface, easily adding volume as needed without the rigorous attention to underlying structure that is typically associated with 3D modeling programs. Pixologic envisions Sculptris as an entry level ‘eye opener’ for a new generation of artists wishing to explore 3D sculpting and digital creation. Fun to use, it’s also a truly effective tool that can be embraced by hobbyists and professional artists, alike. For those wishing to explore further, Sculptris is seen as a perfect ground level upon which to build one’s skills while advancing to the substantial ‘world of ZBrush’. GoZ With the new GoZ integration in Sculptris, artists can now seamlessly move their creations between Sculptris and ZBrush with the click of a button. Navigational Controls The navigation controls in Sculptris have been enhanced from earlier releases of the software and are now similar to those in ZBrush. This makes it effortless to go between the two applications while also helping Sculptris to serve as a stepping stone toward mastery of ZBrush. Availability The new version of Sculptris is currently available as a free download at: www.pixologic.com/sculptris Experienced Sculptris users and first timers alike are encouraged to try out the new release, have fun playing with it and, most importantly, make great artwork. All are invited to share their creations in the Sculptris forum at ZBrushCentral. The forum provides a common ground for Sculptris artists to share and communicate with other Sculptris users, as well as the many industry-leading artists who frequent ZBrushCentral. For more info, images, videos, features and specifications visit: www.pixologic.com/sculptris For more info about ZBrush, visit: http://www.sharbor.com/vendors/PLO.html About Sculptris Sculptris was originally developed by Tomas Pettersson before being acquired by Pixologic in 2010. Tomas continues to spearhead its ongoing development, creating a 3D sculpting and painting tool that is as easy to use as it is powerful. Sculptris is currently provided as a free tool for artists of all skill levels and backgrounds. About Pixologic Founded in 1997, Pixologic Incorporated develops and markets innovative software tools for the film and video, games and illustration markets. Pixologic is privately owned and is located in California, with offices in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and France. Safe Harbor Computers to Exhibit at 2011 IVA Filmmakers Expo
Waukesha, WI – June 7, 2011 – Safe Harbor Computers, a leading supplier to video and 3D animation professionals, today announced that they will be exhibiting at the 5th annual Illinois Videographers Association Midwest Expo, June 28, 2011. Demonstrating unique features of the Atomos Ninja, alongside the power of Safe Harbor’s custom-built Tsunami and Mac Pro workstations, attendees will experience hands-on benefits of the latest hardware and software. The Atomos Ninja, a rugged and portable 10-bit field recorder for video cameras and DSLRs with HDMI, will be mounted to a Sony video camera for demonstration purposes. The battery-powered unit takes the live uncompressed HDMI feed from a camcorder and saves it to a 2.5" hard drive in the 10-bit ProRes format with 4:2:2 quality, bypassing the compression cameras use when saving HD video to tape or memory card. The captured ProRes files can then be immediately edited in Final Cut Pro without Log and Transfer or any type of transcoding needed. The ProRes clips will also play in Premiere Pro CS5.5 for PC users. Functionality will be demonstrated on both platforms. Also featured will be Safe Harbor’s custom built Tsunami workstations powered by Adobe Production Premium CS5.5 and NVIDIA Quadro by PNY. The Mercury Playback Engine at the heart of Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 is NVIDIA GPU-accelerated, 64-bit native, architected for the future—enabling users to work more fluidly on projects in SD, HD, 2K, 4K, and beyond. Safe Harbor staff and experienced video editor Jeff Pulera will be available for questions as he demonstrates this powerful setup with the Atomos Ninja. An Apple Mac Pro workstation will also be on display with unique configurations tailored to specific editing needs. Literature, raffle prizes, exclusive show specials and coupons will be available to all attendees at the Safe Harbor booth. Jeff will also be discussing the various performance levels of Tsunami and how Safe Harbor can work with customers to meet specific needs and budgets. Show attendees will be able to visit the booth, talk with video professionals, and learn how the Atomos Ninja, with an optimized workstation from Safe Harbor, helps to maximize production workflows. This year's IVA Expo features:
More information and registration is available at http://www.ivaexpo.com/. About Safe Harbor Celebrating 24 years of business, Safe Harbor has become one of the most trusted resellers in the multimedia industry, providing quality products and outstanding customer service to a wide range of creative artists. With a clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate website, Safe Harbor has built a reliable reputation as an industry leader. Look to Safe Harbor for quality editing and animation software and hardware, as well as for a professional and personable experience. Safe Harbor's Ready-To-Edit Tsunami Workstations are extremely high-quality, highly reliable systems backed by renowned customer service. All components are brand-name, non-OEM products and carry full manufacturer warranties - proprietary drivers or technology are never used. System boards are certified compatible by capture card manufacturers. Each system must pass rigorous testing procedures and a full burn-in period before it is shipped. For more information, visit: http://www.sharbor.com About Illinois Videographers Association Established in 1996, the Illinois Videographers Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the continuing education of all videographers from professional to amateur. Monthly meetings on various videography topics and trends are held at The Double-Tree Suites in Wood Dale, IL.
Interview with ILM: How ZBrush Contributed to Creative Process Behind "Rango"
From the moment you saw that first teaser with the wind-up toy fish flying across the highway, you were probably intrigued by Rango – the smash animated film starring Johnny Depp as its titular hero. Released on March 4, 2011, Rango has been a terrific success. In fact, it's the highest-grossing film of 2011 worldwide so far! A large part of the film's success is the artistry behind it. George Lucas' famed Industrial Light & Magic took the helm for the movie's animation, with a result that Roger Ebert described as "respects the tradition of painstakingly drawn animated classics, and does interesting things with space and perspective with its wild action sequences." There is no doubt that Rango has a visual style all its own and Pixologic was thrilled to be able to speak with the art team behind the movie to learn how it came about.
Rango marks ILM's first foray into feature-length animation. What inspired you to take on a project like this? GEOFF CAMPBELL, Model Supervisor - Rango: I'd say most artists at ILM have had a desire to try our hand at a full length feature animation for years but because of our effects background no studio had offered until Gore presented us with Rango. Honestly I think we had this idea that it would be a lot harder and longer process than it actually took. But Rango was a fantastic film to work on. Hard work, but lots of fun. There was also excitement from the outset that this was a Gore Verbinski film with Crash McCreery as Production Designer. Many of us had worked with Gore and Crash on the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films so were big fans from the outset. Could you introduce us to the artists on your team and a bit about their backgrounds? GEOFF CAMPBELL: We call our group of modelers and texture artists the Digital Model Shop or DMS for short. It's really a continuation of the original ILM Model Shop from the Star Wars days. We have a truly dedicated team of artists, some of whom have been with us pre-digitally and others who joined us when we were crewing Rango.
Maybe the best way to introduce the artists is to match some of them up with their models:
We also had some great help on our Theatricalus wardrobe from HonWui Yap, HuaiYuan Teh and Joana Garrido, from ILM Singapore. What are the differences between the visual effects work that ILM is known for and making an animated movie? GEOFF CAMPBELL: Well we thought the main difference with a hundred plus characters would be lighter meshes there was also a perception that animated characters should be lighter and cleaner because they're more stylized. It actually turned out they needed to be higher res than we originally planned. Gore had us reference films like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and The Man with No Name, and Crash brought up to ILM a wardrobe of old western-style clothing complete with sweat and salt stains under the arm pits and threadbare shirts and pants. Although these characters were more stylized than the realism we had achieved on the Pirates of the Caribbean films, our approach to modeling was pretty similar. For example, we even shared between the characters a parts library of worn threads that we could apply to the edges of coats to break profile, along with ZBrush displacements and other tricks. The attention to photo-realism; hair, fur, feathers and bad skin was the bar, but it all had to work within the context of the characters. Matching realism on effects films mostly comes down to precisely matching the reference of the actor both for modeling and facial work starting from scanned data of the actors. The characters in the town of Dirt were looser and a lot more fun because we were sculpting them to match Crash's artwork and not actors, with a few exceptions including Doc, played by Stephen Root. In his case, the artwork was designed with Stephen in mind, and Gore asked us to put a little more Root in the sculpt.
What are the differences between the visual effects work that ILM is known for and making an animated movie? MICHAEL KOPERWAS: While we have lots of experience putting characters into real scenes, Rango represented a new frontier for us in terms of character and animation, and our facial pipeline had to fit. The 120-odd characters all needed some level of articulation and a whole lot of expression. When we were initially planning the show, there were characters expected to be considered 'easy builds' because they only had one line, even though it happened to be full-screen. For something like that to be feasible in our budget, we had to adjust our facial animation system in a few ways. The goals of an animation system are to be easy to use, and easy to author for. FACS is a well-known facial system, but it's designed to help identify what muscles are used in a facial expression. What we've done in our proprietary system, Fez, is flip the problem around and think about how someone intuitively thinks they should animate a face. Our modelers create animatable poses that move the face in ways an animator can intuitively interact with and that's standardized across characters. That allows us to transfer animation easily, but mostly makes it easier for animators to jump in and be familiar with the setup right away.
How were the characters in the movie inspired? How did they evolve from concept art to finished figure? GEOFF CAMPBELL: Crash's artwork had a lot of humor in each drawing but also brought out a sense of desperation with each character in a town where the water had run dry. You could see in their eyes, the loss of their crops and livelihoods. You could virtually feel the dryness in their throats. The question would often come up as to what type of animal a particular character was but Crash would tell us not to worry about species but to stick with matching the 'character' of the artwork. That was an important part of keeping each unique and intriguing. You might not know or care what kind of lizard Bad Bill was but you'd remember the menacing look in his eye. In a way, we had to switch off the analytical side of our brains that comes with doing effects work and search out the qualities and character traits in the 2D artwork. Crash and the ILM Art Department did a great job providing the DMS and look development artists with detailed references of everything from the wear and tear on the clothing to the types of pocket watches, ailing skin, fur, eye glasses, hair styles, guns of the old west etc. The research was incredible. The general flow was to sculpt and texture a three-day ZBrush maquette for each character and after approval, start in on the asset. A first pass model was sent to rigging while the model asset continued to be refined, hair and fur splines added, scales added, UV's laid out etc. Once the finished model had gone to paint, the modeler would start on the facial library. We had a few weeks for each character model including wardrobe and two weeks on average for making our facial libraries. Rango and Beans were special cases because they continued in a design phase throughout pre-production. Beans had an original design but Gore, Crash and Jim Byrkit (who was head of story) still didn't feel they had found their Beans. The design needed more exploration. I made a number of trips to LA to sit with them and do quick ZBrush sculpts based on their drawings. In Crash's original artwork she was pretty sullen and unattractive but we were searching for some of that Margarita Lozano sex appeal — without going too pretty. She was already in shots when Gore had us add a gap in her teeth to offset her smile.
How many characters total are in the film? How much time did you have to create them? GEOFF CAMPBELL: It's funny but I'm not sure anyone did a final count. I'd say roughly 120, including background rodents and townsfolk but of those there were 30-40 hero characters. On every show there are usually maquettes created, but in this case as co-creators we were trying to go straight from Crash's 2D artwork to finished model. That's dangerous because you eat up time trying to get the topology right, the interior of the mouth, hair, fur, UV's etc. before Gore and Crash have had a chance to sign off on the basic proportions. So without lengthening our model timeline, we squeezed in ZBrush maquettes at the beginning of each model build. Mia Lee was the first to throw together a maquette with textures that she did it in three days, yet with such accuracy that production in LA thought it was a finished model ready for shots. Everyone did an amazing job keeping to the three-day schedule and knocking out exquisite maquettes. It would have been a tremendous challenge had we not had ZBrush because you needed to work sculpturally without concerning yourself with topology, and the tool set in ZBrush was perfect for this work. After the three days, the modelers had different workflows but basically you'd have a couple weeks to flesh out the geometry in Zeno, our proprietary software and Autodesk Maya. We had created a wardrobe library that has a lot of the more generic clothing but most of articles were constructed for each individual character. We also have our own hair/fur pipeline in Zeno that made it pretty easy to style and groom the various characters. Modelers, texture artists and look development artists combined their talents to give the characters the mangy, greasy, patchy, hair and feathers that bring a slightly disturbing realism.
Which character was the most challenging and why? KRIS COSTA: I would say that both the Spirit of The West and the Mayor were challenging in similar ways. The biggest challenge here was the translation from Aaron McBride's 2D concept art to a 3D model, using a very stylized likeness to portray the "man with no name" for the Spirit of The West, and Crash's artwork along with reference of John Huston for the Mayor. The models went through some iteration until we found a sweet spot between realism and stylization. It's the kind of beautiful weirdness that surrounds the whole movie, where you have stylized characters covered with exquisitely detailed and realistic shaders, textures and lighting. The concepts in general were beautifully weird and translating them into 3D was quite a lot of work, but it seemed like once we reached that goal, everybody felt inspired to push further and that's what we did. On top of this, video reference was used to capture key facial expressions of the actors. Our process was to hand-sculpt these facial expressions using the reference as a guide.
PATRICK GAGNE: The displacement on Bad Bill was pretty challenging because of time constraints. But in a way that helped push me to work quickly by making alphas from the geometry-modeled scales and re-projecting them all over Bill's body. Another challenge was putting together layers of scale sculpts in the maquette phase to get exactly what Tim and Crash were looking for without too many iterations or losing time. ZBrush's layers were a helpful tool for this. The Rattlesnake Jake maquette was challenging because of his size. We needed to see him posed in his coiling position to assess what was working and what was not, but with his scales as part of the sculpt. To do this I made a quick ZSphere rig to get him coiled and then made a tileable UV map which gave me the ability to quick-sculpt the scales on his body with the alphas. So I was able on the fly to resize the scales, stretch them or whatever Tim was looking for by playing with the value of the tiles, or playing with the UV's in Maya so the normal map extracted by ZBrush was changing in real-time. I remember that being pretty helpful in our interactive sessions with Gore and Crash because we were able to lock down the size of the scales on the fly. Which character would you say was the most fun? How so? GEOFF CAMPBELL: Pretty much all of them! Gordy the town drunk was one of my favorite turntables, modeled by Patrick, but there were also Boseefus with his mullet and skin condition, and Mia's elegant-looking one-legged cowboy, Slim. One of the most fun was Lucky. SUNNY WEI: Lucky had funny short limbs with an asymmetrical face and the bandages from his many accidents that made him so unique and funny. His extremely large eye and head made him challenging. I can not stop myself from smiling whenever I think about him. After seeing him in the shots playing with the gun, this nontraditional character makes me laugh again and again.
Did you encounter any surprises during the production? How did you handle those? GEOFF CAMPBELL: Mid-way through production there were a few surprises like needing to model twenty eight new rodent variations in a week and a half for the bat chase. For that we set up some ground rules. For example: Changes to topology could only be sculptural with no CV reordering; mixing and matching wardrobe; careful sculpt changes to the faces with our facial libraries from the source character loaded, so you could push the new face and interactively back off if it started to break the facial library. These were all cheats to meet the deadline but they helped a great deal. Mark Siegel and I had fun plowing through the models and coming up with new characters. Mark also brought a lot of tricks to merge textures and cleanly transfer guns and holsters from one character to another. Basically, we were looking for ways not to impact the other disciplines like rigging and texture, since our asset budget was already spent.
I've read that the actors actually wore costumes and at least to an extent acted out the movie. Was any video of that recorded for you and if so how much did it inform your work? KRIS COSTA: Absolutely! We had video reference for all shots and we also used old movies as reference for some of our characters. The videos were not only reference for our animators, but also for our modeling team. The Spirit of The West was originally sculpted with a recognizable facial expression. This expression was used to "sell" the character, but it was also incorporated into our shape library. In the end, we were able to recreate that very same facial expression by dialing in the right sliders. The communication between the modeling and animation department was key. Ultimately, the videos were a great resource for the animators to mine for bits of business and little awkward moments created by the actors. Costumes on the other hand were incorporated to the concepts, way before we translated them into 3D models. Johnny Depp is usually a very animated actor to begin with. What was it like to turn him into a lizard? JUNG-SEUNG HONG: From the beginning there were three main concerns for Rango's facial performance. First off, he had very large eyeballs covered by reptilian flesh, with tiny eye openings around the pupils. Since eyes are the most important window for expressions and his eye openings were so small, we decided to give his circular eye wrinkles (covering his eyeballs) many different shapes that would mimic recognizable eye shapes such as sad wrinkles, angry wrinkles, surprised wrinkles, and so on. They would act much like our own eyebrows to help convey Rango's emotions. Second was to give him the capability of having a somewhat elastic facial performance without too much stretching on the scale textures. We knew Rango was going to be played by Johnny Depp and the storyboards had showed wildly cartoonish expressions. So there was a lot of time spent making sure individual shapes would have a good traveling distance as well as nice falloff. Third, we realized that we would have to give his eyes the movement of a chameleon, which meant that eyes would have to rotate with folded wrinkles forming dependent on the direction of his gaze. We even went to the Academy of Science in San Francisco to shoot reference material of chameleon eye movements to use as a guide. Since Rango's eyeballs were asymmetrical and had weirdly rounded forms I had to make a ton of shapes hidden from animators that would automatically help the movement of the eyes by pushing the surrounding eye sockets and the eyeballs themselves while they rotate. At what point did you decide to use ZBrush in the production and why? GEOFF CAMPBELL: We knew we were going to use ZBrush early on for much of the displacement but as I mentioned earlier, the maquette phase that we didn't plan for made the greatest impact in keeping us on schedule. Our first round of characters was taking a fair amount of time so we were looking for a way to get things on track. Using ZBrush to quickly sculpt and texture maquettes for a basic client buy off on model proportions was the missing ingredient. It's ironic that by fitting in three days of previously unscheduled work, we actually trimmed weeks off our schedule but those three days of ZBrushing meant the client knew what they were getting up front and the modeler could then concentrate on fleshing out the finished character. How was ZBrush used? FRANK GRAVATT: As a sculpture, Rango was a little bit different from other sculpts I'd done before. For one, his symmetry ended at his clavicle. His head and crooked neck would be completely sculpted on; no symmetrical sculpting here. The extremeness of his asymmetry really added to his wonderfully weird look and quirky personality. I think the real challenge of the sculpt was capturing the wackiness of Crash McCreery's 2D illustrations in a three dimensional model. Each piece of art he had done of Rango had its own individual bit of awesome craziness to it. Bringing the looks together into one character that our team, Gore Verbinski and Crash would agree on was quite the task to model. And this is before any ZBrush work was done. Once the model was approved I then had to figure out what type of scales to put on him. As I learned there are as many varieties of scales and patterns as you can imagine. Ultimately, Crash provided the art for these patterns, which fit the character so well. Zany scales, who would have thought! With the design of Rango's scales established, the next area to solve was how to apply them seamlessly across different ZTool files: arms to torso, torso to neck, etc. The solution was to bring .obj bridges of the body into ZBrush. I'd clean up the gap with scales on the bridge and then re-project this work back to the separate SubTools.
How many artists worked on the characters? How many of them used ZBrush? GEOFF CAMPBELL: We had about fifteen modelers and a dozen texture artists working on characters and each modeler doing their own ZBrush maquettes. About thirty main characters went through the maquette phase. Does ILM have any dedicated ZBrush artists on staff? How important is it to you for an artist to have ZBrush skill? GEOFF CAMPBELL: It was important that all our modelers take advantage of the best tools out there for working quickly and efficiently when sculpting rapid prototypes and maquettes. In that sense we're all dedicated ZBrush artists but our pipeline requires a lot of proprietary, artistic and technical skills as well. Which version of ZBrush was used for Rango? We were using both versions 3.5 and 4.0.
Was ZBrush used for environmental assets? If so, what role did it play? RYAN CALLOWAY: Yes! Using different tools and techniques in ZBrush we were able to sculpt sharp, realistic rock features. We could easily create anything from large scale, chunky features to subtle surface details. All of this would then get written out to displacement maps and applied to the models. Artists would share tools back and forth. If one of us made a new alpha in ZBrush or found a new brush and settings that worked well for rock details, we'd call each other up and say, "Hey, I just made a brush that's perfect! I'll send it to you." What worked best was creating a generic, rock alpha from sculpting on a simple plane and using the Standard brush with DragRect stroke to stamp that alpha (or a few good, generic ones) all over the model. The crevices and open faces of rock were really the selling points. Turns out that's where all the juicy details live! For one sequence in particular, there were these rock mounds that, without displacement, just looked like piles of melted ice cream. There was a lot of back and forth with Crash and Gore, partly because there wasn't a clear direction as to what exactly the rock was supposed to look like. Rock is incredibly more complex than I'd ever thought! That's where ZBrush came into play - we brought in the base mesh and quickly cut in details and broke up the silhouette. At that point we were really using ZBrush as a design tool. What is your favorite ZBrush feature? RYAN CALLOWAY: My favorite thing about ZBrush is the user interface - it takes a little getting used to but that's been my experience with all 3D programs. Once you get comfortable with the ZBrush interface, it's really convenient. If I'm sculpting away at a model I don't want to have to dig through menus and windows for the tools or buttons I need. Pixologic made everything very readily available and even customizable. It's like when I'm working on a clay sculpture and have all of my tools laid out on the table in front of me - when I want a new one I just pick it up and use it. Simple. KRIS COSTA: My current favorite feature in ZBrush is the HD geometry. The amount of detail I can put on my models is impressive and the ability to export displacement maps that can be rendered showing all this fine detail is essential when creating very complex creatures, without the need to split my model into multiple SubTools. GEOFF CAMPBELL: I love the brushes, especially the Clay and Trim Dynamic brushes. The Clip tools are also a lot of fun for hard surface models. FRANK GRAVATT: Favorite tool... is still Project All. GIO NAKPIL: My favorite tool is TransPose.
What was a typical day like on this project? GEOFF CAMPBELL: In pre-production a typical day would start with dailies to review turntables, followed by model rounds where we'd meet at artists' desks to go over the work. Then plenty of meetings and phone calls during the day to keep everyone on track with the latest developments. By 5:00 p.m. you try to get any new work checked in so Look Dev can set off renders with all the latest modeling and paint. During production, there are always model fixes, more shape library updates and refinements to facial expressions. This is followed by shot correctives where modelers and sim artists divvy up shots that are close to finalizing and make animated shape correctives to fix any penetrating geometry. We also do correctives when animated shapes can't go far enough, for example mushing Rango and Bean's lips together when they kiss which took about fifty shapes to get it just right. A job with ILM is often considered to be the holy grail of CG work. What recommendations would you give to the artist who has his eye on working for you one day? GEOFF CAMPBELL: My advice would be to send in your work and apply. You just never know; you might be exactly what ILM is looking for at that time - right skill set, level of experience, timing, etc. The company's needs change all the time and there are many contributing factors to who's the right person for the job. It's not always about which artists have the most years of experience or films on their demo reels. Applying is at the very least a proactive step in the right direction. Also, it doesn't hurt to be able to do multiple tasks, for example modeling AND texturing. Timing is important. Often artists send in their work and then don't hear back which can be discouraging but it helps to be persistent and not let it get you down. Sending in new work or updated work every couple of months keeps your work on top of the pile. It keeps you visible for when the right opportunity does come along and we're looking to crew a show. What do you like to see or look for in a demo reel? GEOFF CAMPBELL: There's a lot of great work on ZBrushCentral and the Pixologic website. I think what stands out the most are the finished posed pieces. Often modelers work really hard on a character but leave out the most important part by not breaking symmetry on the face. I don't think there's any such thing as a successful character with perfect symmetry. Flaw in beauty as well as in the hideous depends on those anomalies. I think that's what makes the characters of Rango so appealing. They're not "Hollywood" with symmetrically chiseled faces; they're asymmetrically flawed like the rest of us. Is there anything else you'd like to say while you have our attention? GEOFF CAMPBELL: This was an incredible crew to work with. Everyone brought their unique talents to the table and the fact that we had never done a film like this before made it all the more rewarding.
Please join us in thanking Geoff and his entire team for their time sharing in this interview, as well as congratulating them on a job well done! We certainly hope that ILM will be doing more feature length animation in the future. Thank you also to ILM and Paramount Pictures for consenting to share this interview with the ZBrush community. Pixologic Releases GoZ Update 1 for ZBrush 4
ZBrush is the leading 2D/3D digital sculpting application, integrating and expanding all processes of artistic imagination and digital creation without the usual technological restraints. ZBrush's instant feedback and real-time response makes working within ZBrush feel like real-world sculpting and painting, allowing the artist complete freedom of expression. This is exemplified by a plethora of groundbreaking creations and images in blockbuster movies, games and many other industries. ZBrush and Go! With GoZ, artists can seamlessly connect ZBrush projects with other applications, sending assets to and from ZBrush with the click of a button. This makes it exceptionally simple to use other programs for CAD-style modeling and animation while also staying inside ZBrush’s customizable user interface to conceptualize, create, complete and render high quality artwork quickly and efficiently. Use each program for its strengths and move smoothly between the two. GoZ Update 1 for ZBrush 4 now brings Photoshop support. As part of its commitment to expanding the capabilities of GoZ, Pixologic has added Photoshop support as part of GoZ Update 1 in addition to expanding support for new versions of its previously supported applications. For those that have the Extended version of Photoshop CS4 or CS5, GoZ now makes it possible to paint directly on to the model's texture rather than using PolyPaint. As a result, texture painting can be completely independent of the model's resolution. Paul Gaboury, 3D Applications Engineer at Pixologic explains:"By simply clicking the GoZ button you can send the model and its texture to Photoshop. There, paint whatever you like in full 3D. You can even flatten the map and paint in 2D - with or without a visible wire frame! When done, you can send your model back to ZBrush via GoZ and the texture will automatically update so that you'll be ready to continue working." With GoZ there is no need to invest time in setting up shading networks for normal, displacement and texture maps. With a single click of a button, GoZ will transfer the mesh to a GoZ-enabled application of choice and instantly set up all the appropriate shading networks. Upon sending the mesh back to ZBrush, GoZ will automatically remap the existing high-resolution details to the incoming mesh. GoZ will take care of simple operations such as correcting points & polygons order as well as more advanced operations that require complete remapping. The updated mesh is immediately ready for further detailing, map extractions and transferring to any other GoZ-enabled application. Software supported by GoZ
*Note: Mac users need to use the 32-bit version of Photoshop. For the latest GoZ information visit: www.gozbrush.com. Pricing and Availability ZBrush 4 (for Win and Mac) is available from Safe Harbor Computers here: http://www.sharbor.com/vendors/PLO.html About ZBrush ZBrush is an integrated modeling, texturing, and illustration environment. ZBrush's innovative set of real- time, sculpting, texturing, and deformation tools is used in major film studios and game companies worldwide. It is also used extensively in concept design, comic illustration, toy and collectible industries, rapid prototyping as well as scientific illustration. ZBrush's instant feedback and real-time response makes it the most natural feeling digital sculpting tool available today. As a stand-alone application, ZBrush offers tremendous flexibility and appeals to a wide audience. About Pixologic Founded in 1997, Pixologic Incorporated develops and markets innovative software tools for the film and video, games and illustration markets. Pixologic is privately owned and is located in California, with offices in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and France. Announcing ZBrush 4 Release 2
Pixologic has recently announced a new update, ZBrush 4R2 (ZBrush 4 Release 2) - it will be a free upgrade to all registered users. While this exciting new upgrade is still in development, Pixolator has released preview images from the new BPR renderer - a full 32-bit floating-point HDR pipeline. BPR in Z4R2 is capable of rendering high quality images while utilizing improved materials, lights, and environment mapping. More information regarding its release date will be made available when beta-testing phases are reached. Best Preview Render The BPR renderer in the next version has been updated to a full 32-bit floating-point HDR pipeline. BPR in Z4R2 is capable of rendering high quality images while utilizing improved materials, lights and environment mapping. Test renders of wristwatch created in ZBrush 4 (Click here to see the wristwatch movies):
Render of Motorcycle also fully created in ZBrush 4 (Click here to see the motorcycle movies):
Also new to Z4R2 is the LightCap/MatCap designer. LightCap (Light-Capture) is similar to MatCap (Material-Capture) but is applied directly to the environment, not to a particular material.
Easily incorporate sculptures into an HDR background by using R2's ability to apply shadow to the background-plate as well as auto-generate LightCaps to simulate the environment lights and reflections.
Both LightCaps and MatCaps can be utilized by the real-time preview renderer, providing the ability to use 'fancy' lights, backdrop and materials while sculpting your mesh! More Z4R2 previews and information will be available at a later date. Click here to see the forum announcement with larger images. Pixologic unveils ZBrush Version 4.0 (for Win and Mac) at Siggraph 2010!
Pixologic, Inc., makers of the award winning ZBrush is pleased to announce that it will be unveiling the latest software in the Pixologic line - ZBrush Version 4.0 (for Win and Mac) at Siggraph 2010 show Los Angeles Convention Center 27th-29th July 2010. Pixologic also announced that following the 'sneak preview' at Siggraph 2010, ZBrush 4.0 will be available to the public for purchase and download on 8/9/10 (Monday 9th August 2010). Those visiting the Siggraph exhibition floor will have the opportunity to pre- purchase a special edition package of ZBrush 4.0 at the Pixologic Booth! ZBrush is the leading 2D/3D digital sculpting application for artists today and is used extensively in the film, game, toy and collectible industries as well as scientific illustration. Pixologic will be hosting hourly demonstrations at Booth #709 where attendees, users and newcomers will see and explore the latest exciting ZBrush 4.0 features, presented live by industry renowned character modeling artists and supervisors- from Disney Animation Studios, Blur Studios, Naughty Dog and other top film and gaming studios. View the Pixologic/Siggraph 2010 page for a complete list and profile of presenters:
Jimmy Golding, Marketing Director at Pixologic commented: "This is the 10th anniversary year of ZBrush! We are looking forward to a very exciting show and the opportunity to reveal the latest features of ZB4 to our fans, community, newcomers and future talent." Pricing and Availability ZBrush can be purchased and downloaded online from Safe Harbor at http://www.sharbor.com/vendors/PLO.html. About ZBrush ZBrush is an integrated modeling, texturing, and illustration environment. ZBrush's innovative set of real- time, sculpting, texturing, and deformation tools is used in major film studios and game companies worldwide. Its instant feedback and real-time response makes it the most natural feeling digital sculpting tool available today. As a stand-alone application, ZBrush offers tremendous flexibility and appeals to a wide audience. About Pixologic Founded in 1997, Pixologic Incorporated develops and markets innovative software tools for the film and video, games and illustration markets. Pixologic is privately owned and is located in California, with offices in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and France. Pixologic Launches ZBrush Industry Pages
Los Angeles, Calif. - Pixologic, makers of ZBrush, has launched its ZBrush Industry pages highlighting the creative and practical application of ZBrush in the work place. The ZBrush Industry section links examples of production flow method and working practice, clarifying how ZBrush's features, sculpting, and illustration capabilities are being applied and implemented according to specific industry needs. ZBrush is a key component in the workflow for a growing network of companies, artists, designers, modelers, illustrators, and hobbyists applying 2D and 3D integration and innovative application to their respective industry sector requirements. Making an impact in movies, VFX, and gaming video industries, ZBrush is also used for illustration, figure creation, and concept design in 3D printing, toy manufacturing, dentistry, jewelry design, science, and medicine. The ZBrush Industry pages show other scenarios and business models where the creative application of ZBrush is benefiting and rewarding artists and their clients. The company also created a "Your ZBrush Industry Post" link to a forum thread, inviting ZBrush artists and professionals to share their stories and discuss experiences and novel ways in which they are using ZBrush in their respective fields of work and professional endeavor. A variety of learning tools are available for ZBrush (Win/Mac) ranging from introductory to advanced skill levels, with 100 + video (with voice over) available to choose from free of charge. ZBrush is available for as low as USD $519.99 and can be purchased and downloaded online at http://www.sharbor.com/vendors/PLO.html for both Windows and Mac platforms. Safe Harbor Computers Now Carrying Craft Animation Line
Waukesha, WI – April 1, 2010 – Safe Harbor Computers, a leading supplier to video and 3D professionals, today announced that they are now offering the Craft Animations product line, helping users streamline production times by nearly 90 percent, saving both time and money. Based on cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and autonomous control systems, Craft Director Tools simulate the complex physical behavior of cameras and 3D vehicles such as helicopters, cars, airplanes, boats and motorcycles. Craft Director Studio extends creative possibilities by eliminating the time-consuming tasks of key-framing, scripting and rigging. Users gain the experience of a new era of animation with an opportunity to create natural motion paths on-the-fly, optionally with the use of an input device, gaining instant gratification through highly realistic interactive real-time animation. Utilized by high-profile companies world-wide such as Pixar, Digital Domain, Lockheed Martin, Nasa, Digital Dimension and Toyota; Craft Director Tools streamline production, enhance realism and increase creativity for users in the visual effects, game development, forensic reconstruction and architectural design industries. Availability Requirements About Craft Animations
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