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Making a Gothic Castle With Strong Silhouettes in Cinema 4D

On November 4th, CG Boost announced the winners of its 19th 3D challenge, Moving Castle Challenge, which was sponsored by the TPN-Accredited cloud render farm, Fox Renderfarm. We are so proud to have an interview with the champion of the Moving Castle Challenge, Kay John Yim, a Chartered Architect based in London, specializing in Architectural Visualization/CGI. His artwork, The Mirage Castle: a Fantasy War Tale, received unanimous praise from the judges as its beautiful composition and strong silhouettes. - Kay John Yim - Chartered Architect based in London - From: Hong Kong - Artwork Caption: Set in the medieval times, "The Mirage Castle" was a mysterious city built on top of a gigantic rhinoceros, bringing both war and civilization to all the cities it conquered. Its every movement exerted immense force to the earth and the atmosphere, creating haze and sandstorms that covered its trace. The Mirage Castle: a Fantasy War Tale © Kay John Yim Clay render © Kay John Yim Fox Renderfarm: Hi John, thank you so much for accepting our interview again! How do you feel about winning 1st place in the CGBoost’s Moving Castle Challenge? John: Thank you so much for having me again! It was truly my honor to take the 1st place in the Moving Castle Challenge! Fox Renderfarm: What software did you use throughout your pipeline? John: I used primarily ZBrush, Cinema 4D and Redshift to create this image, however I am gradually transitioning to Houdini at the moment, as its fully procedural workflow allows me to iterate much faster. Fox Renderfarm: What’s the inspiration behind your award-winning work? Any references? John: I was inspired by the compositions and color palettes of Napoleonic romanticised war paintings for my entry. Unlike most works that I have done (which are mostly set in present) – my entry was set in ancient times, and I intentionally reference war paintings to create a painterly look as opposed to a photorealistic aesthetic. Fox Renderfarm: The silhouettes are really excellent. How did you make it? John: For the Moving Castle itself, I picked Gothic Architecture intentionally for its iconic silhouette - Gothic pointed arches and flying buttresses are easily recognizable from a distance, so I could iterate without worrying too much about camera positioning. I then experimented with more and less foreground characters for optimal composition, and tested various camera positioning and cropping to best convey the Moving Castle’s colossal size. Fox Renderfarm: A depth pass with color makes the image great and readable even from a very far distance, which is well received by the judges . How did you design it? John: The final scene consisted of 3 primary levels of layering - the Moving Castle, the army marching on the sunflower field, and the protagonist knights - all embedded within a large fog VDB. The challenge brief gave me an opportunity to experiment with fog VDBs extensively, which I believe was essential to add depth to a scene of drastically varying sizes. Fox Renderfarm: Which is the most challenging part of this work? How did you overcome it? John: As the Moving Castle was completely fictional, setting the scale and proportions between the rhino and the castle was the most challenging part. Ultimately the scale was primarily based on the camera positioning more so than realistic (gothic) architecture to arrive at a clear silhouette. Fox Renderfarm: How did you finish the texturing? John: Most of the textures are from Megascans with added noises and amplified AO (Ambient Occlusion). I kept most of the shaders and textures fairly simple, with the exception of the sunflowers - which have exaggerated SSS (Subsurface Scattering) to create a painterly aesthetic under sunlight. Fox Renderfarm: Lighting is also a vital part, how did you control it? John: I used the sun as a hard backlight, to create separation among the layers of subjects and the background. The fog VDB scattering color is slightly tinted to add interest and intrigue to the Moving Castle and the army. Though not physically accurate, I think it complemented the sunflower field well. Fox Renderfarm: In terms of the rendering part, did you meet any difficulties? John: My rendering time skyrocketed when I first added VDBs to the scene, so I stayed away from VDBs until I had finalised the general scene layout. If you wanna know more about John, there’s another interview we’ve done with John Creating an Amazing CGI Project Staged at Hagia Sophia in ZBrush. Please hit the link to know more!

Pack Your Virtual Bags & Get Ready for SIGGRAPH Asia 2020

The 13th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia will take place in a fully virtual format from 4 – 13 December. The annual event, which rotates around the Asian region in normal circumstances, attracts the most respected technical and creative people from all over the world who are excited by research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education and emerging technologies. As the long-term partner of SIGGRAPH Asia, Fox Renderfarm hopes you enjoy Asia’s largest Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques virtual event! The theme for this year’s SIGGRAPH Asia ‘Driving Diversity’ will take on a new meaning as SIGGRAPH gives our diverse group of worldwide technical and artistic contributors the opportunity to connect with and inspire new communities. “My team and I are committed to delivering a strong SIGGRAPH Asia 2020 that celebrates this year’s innovation, advances and achievements in computer graphics, interactive techniques and beyond,” said Jinny HyeJin Choo, the SIGGRAPH Asia 2020 Conference Chair. With the event going virtual this year, more from our global community will be able to come together and participate in new and innovative ways and drive forward the forefront of our field. So don’t miss out on the very first virtual @SIGGRAPHAsia conference on CG, VFX, VR, AR & InteractiveTechniques. Experience 200+ On-demand sessions & 80+ live and premier sessions from 4 – 13 Dec. Here's The Schedule At-A-Glance: - From 4 December: Over 200 pre-recorded sessions will be available on-demand, allowing attendees to learn and review presentations prior to the scheduled live Q&A sessions. - 10 – 13 December: Over 80 live & premier sessions such as Keynote, Featured Sessions, Q&A Sessions with the respective Program Contributors, will be scheduled during these 4 days. There’s still time to register for SIGGRAPHAsia 2020 by click here. See you there!

Creating an Amazing CGI Project Staged at Hagia Sophia in ZBrush

On October 30th, Fox Renderfarm announced the winner of our Halloween Treat, Kay John Yim, a Chartered Architect based in London, specializing in Architectural Visualization/CGI. His 3D Trick Art “Ritual” is an amazing CGI project staged at Hagia Sophia, standing out for its excellent composition and lighting. Ritual © Kay John Yim Clay render © Kay John Yim Here’s the interview between John and the TPN-Accredited cloud rendering services provider Fox Renderfarm, in which he talked about how he made the wonderful render. - Kay John Yim - Chartered Architect based in London - From: Hong Kong - ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/johnyim Fox Renderfarm: Hi, John! Thank you so much for accepting our interview! Could you give us a brief introduction about yourself? John: Sure! I am a Chartered Architect based in London, specializing in Architectural Visualization/CGI. As a 3D enthusiast growing up in Hong Kong, I always have an extreme admiration for people working in the film and game industries – for all the surreal photographic and photo-realistic CG contents they produce. It was only until the recent COVID-19 lock-down that I began exploring 3D techniques outside of the realm of architecture – creature sculpting & grooming, character design and cloth simulation for instance. I started working on personal projects to experiment with colors and lighting in addition to learning new techniques. Fox Renderfarm: Congratulations on winning Fox Renderfarm's Halloween Treat with your excellent 3D Trick Art “Ritual”, how do you feel about that? John: Thank you! I feel honored to have won the Halloween Treat, and I look forward to participating in future Fox Renderfarm render challenges! Fox Renderfarm: What’s the inspiration behind your artwork “Ritual”? John: My intention was to create an atmospheric image with a narrative open for imagination. “Ritual”, like many of my personal CG projects, was built upon real locations - which in this case was the interior of the Hagia Sophia. Having been constructed and retrofitted as both a mosque and a church over the course of 1,500 years, I found the unique fusion of Christian and Islamic elements at the Hagia Sophia mesmerizing and enigmatic, hence the perfect backdrop for storytelling. The character was inspired by a YouTuber “Taylor R” - who introduced me to Japanese Lolita fashion, a fashion style of which I found formal yet very suiting for my intention. I Was A LOLITA For A Day (Modelling in Japan) Fox Renderfarm: How long did you take to finish the work? John: It took me about a week to finish, during which I spent most of the time testing different color palettes and lighting ideas. Fox Renderfarm: The lighting is excellent, feeling like in a wonderland. How did you design the lighting? John: Thanks! I took inspiration from the John Wick movies – starting with complementary colors and generally shifting the color spectrum to arrive at a convincing lighting & color combination. John Wick (2014) - Official Trailer - Keanu Reeves I used candles and chandeliers as the primary light sources, while avoiding CG fake lights. I personally believe realistic lighting setups produce more believable and relatable renderings, regardless of whether it is a fantasy or photo-real quality that I am after. Fox Renderfarm: How did you make the stylized character? Any references? John: The character was blocked out in C4D and sculpted in ZBrush, in reference to Gothic Lolita Dresses – modern adaptations of Gothic Victorian Fashion. Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? And how did you solve it? John: Framing was probably the most challenging – as the character and the architecture vary quite a lot in scale, it was difficult to position the camera such that they were both readable while not competing for focus. My solution was to use depth of field to separate the character’s silhouette from the backdrop, at the same time re-emphasizing the sense of space by carefully positioning chandeliers, candles and blue ambient light throughout. Fox Renderfarm: Technically and visually, which is your favorite part? And why? John: My favorite part is the depth of field and the bokeh that comes along with it– they add extra depth to the image and create additional room for imagination. Fox Renderfarm: Could you briefly tell us your educational and work experience along your CG journey? John: I got into CG rendering back when I was studying architecture in University, where everyone has to present architectural concepts with renderings on top of conventional 2D drawings. CAD softwares like Rhino, AutoCAD and Revit were essential tools of trade within the architectural industry, tools that I have been using for over 6,7 years until I struggled with the limitations of rendering packages available at the time. C4D ended up being my choice for work for its stability and ease of use for animation/motion graphics. Since then I have been using C4D and Redshift as my primary rendering/modeling tool for both work (architectural visualization) and personal projects. I am constantly experimenting with new softwares to up my quality and efficiency – my current passion lies in Houdini 18.5 and the procedural magic that it empowers! Fox Renderfarm: Do you have any recommendable learning methods to improve professional skills? John: For someone getting into C4D and Redshift, “Greyscalegorilla” is a great place to start. Beyond that, I think understanding 3D itself (concept of UV, VFX pipelines etc.) is much more important than learning what a particular button does, as modern software is advancing so quickly nowadays. “Hugo's Desk” has great videos that explain the in and outs of CG renderings in a VFX pipeline. Apart from understanding the technicality of 3D, studying photography and cinematography can definitely go a long way - I think I personally learn more about rendering by watching movies than watching tutorials, back when C4D Redshift was in beta stage. Fox Renderfarm: Have you ever tried Fox Renderfarm’s cloud rendering services? If yes, how do you like it? John: Yes, I have used Fox Renderfarm recently for a personal project – I really like it as I think it has one of the most user-friendly UIs among the multiple render-farm services I have used. The support I get is also really responsive and helpful! Fox Renderfarm: Anything else you would like to share with CG enthusiasts? John: I will be releasing CG art regularly – please follow me along with my CG journey on my social media channels! :) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k_johnyim/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jy.yimkay