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Behind the Scenes: Avatar of A Man

2020-04-16

V-Ray for Maya

Behind the Scenes Avatar of A Man 43

Fox Renderfarm, your TPN-Accredited render farm, bring you a production process sharing from the 3D artist Lee Guagua about the use of V-Ray for Maya to make the film and television model "Avatar of An Old Man". This is a realistic character production process, I hope that some skills and methods in this production process can help everyone.

Inspiration

Before making a production, you must choose a reference and get inspiration, whether it is a CG artwork of another person or a real person. In the process of the overall shape of the character, you must choose a reference. This is very important. You can get inspiration or you can refer to the process of making your own.

Behind the Scenes Avatar of A Man 1

Head blocking

The base of the head is the basic model used in ZBrush, and using the existing head model as a starting point can save a lot of time.

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Head carving effect

Head sculpting requires a long accumulation of experience. Facial dissection is a very important basic knowledge. Only on this basic knowledge can there be good works.

After the overall shape is sculpted, next are some secondary shapes, continue to adjust the transition, add a richer sense of muscle to the model, make the character look more natural, and finally add pore details.

Behind the Scenes Avatar of A Man 3

Costume carving

Regarding the production of clothing, I want the character to look like a gentleman, so I found a lot of middle-aged European and American men as a reference basis for reference, and then made a little clothing matching, which is more retro in style. My plan is to put on a sweater with a shirt and jacket.

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Clothing renderings

Some textures on the clothing can be properly added using Noise and texture brushes, and then the carved head and the reduced subdivision surface number of the clothing can be imported into Maya for integration.

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After importing Maya, you can first change the perspective of the camera, and then change the Film Gate to 35 mm full aperture, and the middle distance portrait Film Gate is about 35 mm.

Then split the UV of the model, and then enter Mari to draw a color map and XYZ replacement.

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In fact, the number of faces of the model does not need to be as much as it is used now, because the renderer will have a subdivision agent when rendering, and then there will be replacements, as long as the model does not have obvious edges or corners, otherwise it is not good to add node shape changes.

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Mari

XYZ displacement drawing

Before Mari draws the texture, subdivide the model, otherwise, the model imported into Mari will have hard edges, which is not conducive to observation. Mari supports models with very high surface counts. If you want to draw more delicate textures, you can also export a model with a higher subdivision level to Mari in ZBrush.

Then import the XYZ replacement material at hand into Mari's Image Manager for texture drawing.

The next step is to create a 16-bit channel because the XYZ material is 16-bit, the size is modified, and then start drawing XYZ texture.

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It is actually very simple to draw XYZ texture. Just place it in a good position, and then project with Wrap, Clone Stamp, Blur and other tools. The most difficult thing is to position in the mouth. Here, you need to project with UV mode, and then use the Wrap deformation tool to fine-tune it.

One is the projection of large areas of texture in the ears and the back of the head, which is to use Tile continuous texture to stack up. Convenient and fast, pay attention to the value of Tile, and the size is reasonable. (If the XYZ material is too large, it can also be cropped in Photoshop, which relatively reduces the burden on the computer)

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Color map drawing

In the same way, create a new 8-bit channel to draw a color map.

Because it is a middle-aged male, I used a group of matte images with relatively matching ages to map. The details of the face of middle-aged men vary a lot, so it is recommended to find corresponding materials to map. For young women, you can use small The Dull Picture of the child.

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After drawing the basic color texture, it is necessary to adjust the hue and color distribution of the wave. First of all, the human face is divided into three colors, the forehead part is yellow, the cheekbone part is reddish, the jaw and the masseter are both Cyan side. During the adjustment process, make full use of Mari's mask and adjustment layer functions.

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Now I have to draw the highlight map together. This step can be done after the test because I don’t know the performance of the XYZ and the matte map in the renderer. Of course, some excellent artists can draw directly.

Here you need to use the previously drawn XYZ replacement, give it a Copy Channel, select the green channel display, and one is to add a one-level adjustment layer to strengthen the green channel XYZ contrast so that you can draw rich highlight details.

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Several highlights on the face require obvious highlights. The first is the forehead, brow arch, and then the nose and cheekbones. The most important thing is the mouth. It might look Sexy like this. Finally, Mari's work is completed. At this time, you must export the drawn texture.

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It should be noted that when exporting, if the texture drawn in Mari is Udim multi-quadrant, then pay attention to the named suffix in the export settings. Mari automatically recognizes Udim, so the $ Udim after the name cannot be deleted, otherwise, the exported pictures will be stacked together.

Test rendering

Test the performance of the texture. It should be noted that before the test, you need to go to ZBrush to export the normal map of the replacement and clothing, and then go to Substance Painter to make the clothing material.

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After completion, test to see the effect of displacement and color rendering. First, connect the material node and use the V-Ray renderer.

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The most important thing to note here is that after importing the texture into Maya, you need to change its color space, otherwise you will make mistakes. Then, add the replacement node of V-Ray and the subdivision node of the renderer.

Start rendering

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Substance Paint makes clothing materials,

Manufacture of specific materials for apparel jackets.

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First, create a new Layer layer and give it a basic intrinsic color. I am used to adding a noise-like generator to this layer. The normal strength of Matfinish Grainy can not be too strong, a little weak, it can make it a little basic sense.

Secondly, I found two procedural textures for large details. The first one is to make the material have a large area of dark changes, and the second one is similar to the texture of leather.

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Then continue to give it a textured texture, the normal intensity is slightly higher, worn out, there can be only one texture, this is slightly monotonous,

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Finally, the processing of the leather edge is mainly to add a little wear and tear, as well as some miscellaneous points, although the rendering may not be seen. The roughness of the worn edge should not be too high, lower than the overall. Then you can add a layer of AO to make it feel bulkier. Of course, this sense of volume can also be achieved in the renderer. Games are more commonly used. Then export the texture into Maya rendering.

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XGEN hair articles

Hair making

When making hair beards and eyebrows, it is best to go to ZBrush to sculpt a rough shape that can be referenced, which helps to create curves.

Or if you are familiar with ZBrush's Fibermesh, you can also brush the hair directly in ZBrush, and finally guide into Maya to directly generate the guideline.

First, reduce the surface of the ZBrush model and import it into Maya, turn on the magnet adsorption, and then click the curve directly under Shelf to create the curve on the model.

After the curve is created, because the curve is adsorbed on the surface of the model, you need to adjust it so that the root of the curve is slightly inserted into the scalp, otherwise, the rendering may be interspersed.

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Then use Select First CV and Last CV to select the root or top of the curve, and then open the soft selection to pull the root of the curve toward the scalp a little.

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After the curve part is adjusted, we can select the scalp model to create the Xgen project file.

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The next step is the process of adjusting the guideline. You need to find more references during production, and open and refresh the hair from time to time to see the adjustment effect.

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The first step is to draw a Density Mask to the hair to control the hair growth area. (Remember, reference is important!)

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After the Density Mask is painted, you can continue to add a Region Mask to divide the hair if you can.

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After these basic steps are completed, you can start making nodes and expressions.

First, add a Clumping to it. This allows hair to have a basic clustering effect.

Of course, this node should not be too much. It depends on the effect. Then, after adding the Clumping node, there may be hollowing out and other situations in some places. Here you need to go back to the front and continue to guide the relationship.

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When adding the Clumping node, pay attention to the hair at the ear position, it is easy to intersect with the ear, then you need to carefully adjust the direction of the guideline, and then cooperate with the Clumping Mask to process.

Next, trim the hair to make the length of the tail of the hair change. Then add a few layers of Noise nodes to it, the look of two or three layers, the feeling of flowing hair is also made by this node.

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Production of sweat

The production of sweat hair, beard, eyebrows, and eyelashes are basically similar to hair, and hair will use another model of Xgen.

First, copy one on the head, and then delete the invisible areas and the areas where the eyes and the mouth are not fluffy.

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After creating the Groom mode, Xgen will grow a large area of guidelines on the face.

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If you can't see the guidelines you created, it's because Groom mode is different from Splines to view the guidelines.

Groom's view is to check Visibility under Grooming.

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Width and Length below this panel adjust the width and length of the guideline. Then look at how to adjust the tip and tail of the guidewire.

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After the adjustment of the foundation, these guidelines are given the direction of growth, and the fluff does not grow vertically like thorns.

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Use the tool Bend under Grooming to follow the direction of the facet joint to brush the direction of the guideline.

In this way, the guideline is almost the same. Finally, add Modifiers.

Also, trim the fluff and add a cut. Then add another Noise to make the hair stand up a bit.

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Finally, look at the effect.

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There is also a cardigan, which is also directly generated using the Groom mode. It is the same as the fluff, except that its Noise intensity needs to be increased.

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This completes all the hair.

Because of the hair material, V-Ray is used for rendering. V-Ray has its own hair material. Then adjust the parameters, and add the appropriate node control.

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Finally, integrate and render the final effect.

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The Creation Analysis of A Sci-Fi Scene

The fast cloud rendering services provider and GPU &x26; CPU render farm, Fox Renderfarm will share with you a creation analysis of a sci-fi scene.Share the creative process of this piece of "Airport". The general idea is that the idea - modeling - lighting - material - rendering - synthesis, this is the production process that everyone is used to. Softwre used: 3ds Max, Zbrush, V-ray.Scene points:First of all, these are very important, scene work, especially for large scenes. Several key points are very important. Space, light and shadow, scale, composition, and color are all issues to be considered in large-scale operations. Difficult place. The "space" relationship can be roughly understood as the far and near reality. "Light and shadow" is the most important part of the big scene operation. The reason why the scene is true or not depends on the light and shadow. The "proportion" and "composition" are the framework of the scene. . "Color" is only the color.1. The ideaThe formal process of doing things should be the first-in-the-concept design, and then the production of different precision models in front, middle and far according to the composition.The idea of this work comes from a CG animation of science fiction. The original idea was to build on the ground and make a block, as shown below: A large number of abandoned cities and vehicles, the architecture is more traditional, are contemporary architecture, adding some science fiction spaceships, but later found that this atmosphere is not enough. It’s a disaster scene to get rid of the spaceship. So I made changes. The building still retains the contemporary taste, adding more military feelings and some iron shelves, as shown below: But this work doesn't look like science fiction, so it's all pushed off and new. (However, these pictures are kept as other types of works)2. ModelingThat is to want a retro, sci-fi feeling, then collect a lot of reference pictures, Transformers, war machines and so on. Later I thought about it. The building does not have to be built on the ground. It can be created directly in the sky with a ship. The aircraft carrier fits the vintage taste you want. Because this scenario is large, but the total number of models is high, the optimization of the model is crucial. The model is divided into far, medium, near, and three levels in the scene composition. When doing the model, the different levels of the model have different precision and number of faces. The aircraft carrier deck is here. It belongs to the level of the medium and long-distance. The model details are relatively simple. Only the accurate proportion and shape can be used. In order to make the smooth flow, it is best not to have too many model objects and perform the same material. The model material is the same as the model. All the models are attached together, and then converted to Eesh, so the smoothness of the operation will be greatly improved. The aircraft carrier model is finished, because it is not the aircraft carrier to do the sci-fi scene, so only the reference element of the aircraft carrier is used. The lower part of the ship does not need to be done. The deck is ready to start the initial composition, as shown below: The original composition of the building is too high, there will be a feeling of looking up, in order to highlight the scene, the vision can be expressed, raise the camera, and make it into a slightly overlooked composition. After the composition is completed, the model begins to expand to the surrounding model based on the aerospace building, and the model of the different levels is also based on the near three scenes. The aircraft carrier deck is very empty when it is not on the plane, adding rails, train guns, and some racks to make the model richer and fuller. In addition to enriching the model of the current main building of the aircraft carrier, the distant model and the phase sequence of the sub-deck model are used to enhance the sense of space and highlight the level. Figure: As seen in the above figure, the basic main body model architecture has come out, mainly divided into three layers, the number of models near the camera is slightly higher, the farther the model is, the lower the model, and so on.The final main model is completed, and the most common mistake in large-scenario operations is the random heap model. The model is too dense and has too many details. Therefore, the combination of “whole” and “tight” is especially important, including the character design. Try to use a large overall design to make a piecemeal and intensive design, so that the scene has emotions and will be breathable. (Now many big scenes are all full of details covering the whole picture, or all of them are big details without any details) as shown below: The main building is completed, the number of faces is already high, and the computer is running very slowly. This is inevitable. The big scene is very demanding on the machine. Therefore, it can only be selected by sub-project files. The works are mainly divided into two project documents. After the main building is finished, it is rendered into a PNG image, or as a proxy object.Create a new software window, directly render the PNG image, or add it to the new software window by proxy. It is recommended to use the method of rendering the PNG image for reference. Because the number of faces is too high, the proxy mode is easy to report. Figure: This not only saves the number of faces, but also is very stable, and can also be a good reference for composition. Then we started making the model of the second project file.The following is intended to be made into a mountain, the building above and below the mountain, the mountain model because it belongs to a far-reaching scene, the requirements are not so high, directly in the PS made a black and white displacement map to replace the general mountain structure, and then enter ZBrush for some subtle Debugging. The lower-rise buildings are relatively dense and cumbersome. The work of one building and one building is very large, and the number of faces is not well controlled. Some small plug-ins can be used to achieve the desired effect.The plugins are the same, here are some of the previous tutorials, haha, the same effect. Intensive building with a building cluster plugin, Gerrble. CUT cut command to cut the new line. Go to the face object set and select Squeeze. Complete the above operation and add the building group plugin command. The building group plug-in can only do some simple building effects and some layouts. It is basically enough in the long-distance scene. After the urban building layout is completed, some whole-piece models are added, and the pavement elements break up the structure.The substructure is basically completed, you can make some adjustments and add some elements according to your needs, but you must pay attention to the composition, so that the picture is full and not too tight.Once the model is complete, start testing the lights.3. LightingBecause the scene is very large and there are too many models, I have omitted the material step directly. I intend to directly render it into a white mode through channel synthesis and post-overlay. The material representation in this scene is not so important. In the first place. The sci-fi scene is relatively tough, and the light selects the VRay sun light plus the Vrayligh's curved top mode. The main light source selects VRay sun light, and VRayligh's curved top mode light is used as sky light.4. The materialAfter the lighting is debugged, the material is given a material ball. The material is VRaymtl (VR standard material), the color is gray by default, and the inverse color channel is added to the Falloff program. The inverse color is set to 0.6. The attenuation black and white RGB is set to 0.0.0 57.57.57. As shown below: 5. RenderingThe rendering test is shown below, the first is the main building rendering test, and the second is the foreground building rendering test. Light and shadow projection information effects are quite satisfactory, and relatively realistic. Rendering testing is a cumbersome process, repeatedly adjusting the position of the light until it is satisfactory (mainly because the rendering speed is too slow, and each test has to wait a long time).The following is the rendering of some channels, this scene mainly uses reflection, AO, color, Z, these channels. As shown below: 6. SynthesisEnter the PS for primary synthesis. Stack the AO and color channels in a superimposed manner, then collapse the layer to enhance contrast.Find a texture as a whole and add it to the texture.This way the whole scene has some graininess and basic texture. Then there is the long work of painting textures. In fact, the method is very simple. Just use this image as a UV expansion, and add corresponding textures, pull, match, overlay, and paint on it. Then add snow, dirty, light and other elements. Adding the background in the process of adjustment makes the picture more complete. Of course, this is the initial background. Just for a simple look, the final effect still needs to be repeated and the material is finished.So after the material is finished, enter the final stage of synthesis. Layer oneLayer two The third layer is more full of the picture, the story is stronger, and some models of the spacecraft are made. The spacecraft model refers to the spacecraft in the ninth district. The fourth layer joins the pigeons, the smoke, and the snow fluttering in the sky highlights the atmosphere of the scene. The final overall color, enhance the light effect, and finish. Of course, in the process of synthesis, I also tried a combination of various versions, watch the following picture: Final renderings:Fox Renderfarm hopes it will be of some help to you. It is well known that Fox Renderfarm is an excellent cloud rendering services provider in the CG world, so if you need to find a render farm, why not try Fox Renderfarm, which is offering a free $25 trial for new users? Thanks for reading!Author: Zhang Huanhuan

2022-07-06

Interview with Iavor Trifonov from Chaosgroup for the Future Cooperation

2018 must be a big year for Fox Renderfarm, we sincerely hope to cooperate with more 3d software and renderer companines as much as we can, that's why we communicate with them so positively and discuss about the future cooperations and benefits for both parties. Here is the detail interview with Iavor Trifonov from Chaos Group as below:Iavor Trifonov,Vice-President Cloud &x26; IntegrationsChaos GroupFox Renderfarm: Since the establishment of V-Ray in 1997, the growth and global presence of V-Ray has gained attention from various industries, especially CG industry. Tell us more about V-Ray's global influence and users usage worldwide.Chaos Group: From the very beginning, our goal has been to help people visualize anything and everything. And this means more than just pushing the technology. V-Ray is a result of listening to and working with artists and designers directly. It’s important to really understand the daily challenges creatives face and see what we can do with our development to help, and move rendering forward. Today, V-Ray is prominent in multiple industries worldwide. V-Ray’s Academy Award-winning rendering technology is still developed with the same goal of helping artists and designers.Fox Renderfarm: Share with us about V-Ray's current brand awareness and situation in China.Chaos Group: V-Ray is very popular in the architectural visualization industry in China, but people probably aren’t as familiar with our company name — Chaos Group. There are many resources online for learning V-Ray, and the V-Ray community is very supportive. Our main developers are also very involved online since we take feedback very seriously. The new V-Ray Next for 3ds Max beta is the latest example of how we listen to our customers, and work to provide features that save time and hopefully make your life a little easier.Fox Renderfarm: Share with us regarding the product development strategy and promotion in the near future?Chaos Group: At the moment, our key development revolves around the completely upgraded and optimized rendering inside of V-Ray Next. We’ve already got a few blog posts actually that highlight some of the new features of V-Ray Next and there are more articles in the works. You’ll also see us at events worldwide and this year we’re excited to host our very own special event dedicated to artists and developers - Total Chaos.Fox Renderfarm: How about your thoughts on cloud rendering service and how it can benefit CG artists?Chaos Group: Cloud rendering is something that gives the smallest studios the same firepower that big studios have enjoyed for some time now. Anyone’s computer can be a supercomputer, thanks to the ease and power of cloud computing. Deadlines are inescapable in a studio environment, and having access to rendering in the cloud can take a lot of pressure off. Plus you don’t have to worry about large hardware expenses, not to mention maintenance. This also frees up computers for design work, and costs related to cloud rendering are easily tracked and can be billed by the job.Fox Renderfarm: How can Chaos Group work with Fox Renderfarm and what are the benefits that Chaos Group can offer to Fox Renderfarm's customers?Chaosgroup: Fox Renderfarm is one of Chaos Group’s main render farm partners in China as well as in Asia. As an authorized partner, Fox Renderfarm receives dedicated support from Chaos Group both in terms of account management and technical optimization expertise. This allows Fox to react quickly when helping customers and resolve even the most complex workflow issues with the help of Chaos Group’s developers.Moreover, Chaos Group and Fox are also looking to partner on initiatives related to the educational institutions in China which will lead to opening excellent opportunities to thousands of Chinese students interested in becoming V-Ray professionals. Boosting the awareness of V-Ray among Chinese users from as early stage in their professional careers as possible together with expanding the availability of Chaos Group’s products across China is at the very core of the partnership between both companies. We’re excited to have such a strong partner in China and we look forward to helping the CG industry in China with Fox Renderfarm.Fox Renderfarm: Originally started as Atmos Blender, then the first release of V-Ray for 3ds Max in 2002. Up to date, various mainstream 3D software is well-supported by V-Ray. V-Ray has been around with us for almost 21 years! Tell us about the new features and highlights of V-Ray that we can look forward to in 2018?Chaosgroup: We don’t want to reveal too much yet, but we’re very excited about the V-Ray for Unreal beta which just recently started. We’ll have more big news in regards to other V-Ray Next products in the near future to share with you as well!(Check our interview with MAXON and Isotropix if you are interested.)

2022-07-01

V-Ray for Maya Tutorial: A Cute 3D Cat Emoji Making Process

This article is organized by Fox Renderfarm, a well-known render farm in the CG industry, and shares the process of making a 3D version of a cute emoji package from 3d artist Bao Xiaoge. The software used is Maya, V-Ray, etc. The inspiration for the creation comes from a mobile game, and the prototype is very cute, so I want to make it a 3D dynamic version. The overall is very simple, and there is no technical difficulty.ModelingThe model production is not complicated. Because the surface of the prototype is smooth and the structure is few, it is more efficient to make directly from the simple basic block. So I chose to use the box as the base model to start making and then used the basic polygon modeling: starting from the points and lines to adjust the outline, we must pay attention to the line to be uniform. And remember to check the model more so that no obvious defects appear after smoothing.If you still feel dissatisfied with the model later, you can also use the moving brush in the Maya sculpting tool to make fine adjustments.Another thing to note is that in the model stage, you need to take into account the bone binding, such as the elbow needs to do bending movements, then the line segmentation of the elbow part should be sufficient. And the parts that need to be squeezed and deformed also need more segments to avoid problems such as model interpolation during animation.RiggingThe rigging part is also very simple, without using deformers or the like, but using the most basic bones. Note that when you create a bone, remember to repair the bone axis. Generally, the X-axis points to the next bone, and the Z-axis is the rotation axis. The operation is as follows:Turn on axial display: Select all bones and click Display-Transform Display-Local Rotation AxesRepair the axial method: Select the bones, switch to the Rigging tab, and click Skeleton-Orient Joint.The final axis is shown below:And the hand bone part uses Spline IK because Spline IK is really simple to use, especially for novices.After adjusting the final binding effect:AnimationThe main difficulty of animation is to make the feeling of soft and cute Q bombs. In order to achieve this purpose, some very basic but useful techniques are used in the animation:Keep the same volume: Keep the same volume when squeezing and stretching the body. Simply put, squeezing becomes a cake, and pulling will become a bar.Follow and buffer the action: the body moves first, and the eyes move later (because the kinetic energy transmission of the fluid is different from that of a rigid body)The shape of the eyes also needs to be squeezed when squeezing (such as closing eyes)To sum up the above three points, a gif was drawn. Although it is very simple, you can basically see the effect of the above three points.What, too fast to see clearly? Here is the slow version. Pay attention to the volume change and eye movement.As long as you keep the three points above, the overall animation will be very flexible and cute, and you only need to add a little detail.RenderingThe V-Ray renderer was selected for rendering. The part of the light is to weaken the ambient light as much as possible and let the light stick be a part of the light source. Because the character is waving a light stick in his hand, it will form a lighting effect at different angles during the movement, which is really suitable as a moving light source. Not only does this increase the atmosphere of the scene, but the changing colors will also make the whole picture more dynamic.The remaining lighting arrangements choose to use three rectangular lights, of which the light source above the head is the main light, and the other two light sources are the auxiliary light. The three lights are disconnected from the ground so that the lights will only illuminate the character itself without letting The scene becomes very bright, let the lighting of the scene be left to the light stick!The production of the material part is very simple. It is a mixture of Lambert material and luminous material. Since most of the body is covered by hair, a very simple Lambert gray-black material is used, while the cat's claws and eyes in the ear part are a blend of glowing materials.To make the color change dynamically, here we choose to directly control the color to achieve keyframe control. Of course, you can also use the time axis to control the Ramp UV sampling output color, as shown in the figure below. The advantage of this is that the color control is more convenient, color transition and playback speed and better control.As long as the production of hair is simple and quick, the function can be used. So choose to use V-Ray Fur. Just a few parameter adjustments can produce the effect. V-Ray Fur's basic functions are also very comprehensive, making small fluff without close-ups perfect.If you observe carefully, there is no hair in the eyes and ears of the character. I use the mask map to control the growth range of the hair. I can also use the map to control the color and other parameters. Of course, the model must be divided into UVs first.After doing this, you can render. And you will find that the above productions are all basic processes without using too many skills and operations.Above is all you need to know how to make this cute 3D kitten emoji, we're sure you can make it! If you need a rendering service, why not try us at Fox Renderfarm, we have been the leading cloud rendering services provider in the industry for many years. Don't understand why you need a render farm? Then why not find out what is a render farm? Fox Renderfarm continues to bring news of modelling with various 3D software, so feel free to follow us!

2022-06-02