Earlier in the year, we held our first-ever contest focused on challenging 3d artist participants to make creative and informed use of lighting and composition techniques in their favorite 3d software, using a selection of our finest food scans. Our selection of scans of the contest was made available to the participants for free, and of course, our free library was at everyone’s disposal in case any additional assets there helped accentuate the entries. The criteria were evenly halved between the creative interpretation of the theme and technical skill. While all the entries tickled our CG taste buds, we ultimately selected three winners whose works we deemed the tastiest of them all!
With us now are two of the winners, and in this little write up we get to know them a little better, as well as find out what they have to say about their experience in the contest, and what they have to say about working with our food scans.
Without further ado, we present to you our contest winners, Pawel Biskup and Adam Bęczkowski. Bon appetit!
Tell us a bit about yourself – Where are you from, and how did you first get started as a 3d artist?
Adam Bęczkowski: My name is Adam Beczkowski. I’m 29 years old and live in Koszalin, the northern part of Poland. My adventure with 3D graphics was not obvious. As a child, I thought of the computer only as a device on which I will play computer games. But with time I was interested in slowing down the videos I recorded and then editing them. But it was still not enough for me. I started to be interested in special effects and creating an imaginary world, which made me learn more about computer graphics. I successively started to learn about 2D graphics programs and then I started to work with 3D graphics.
Pawel Biskup: My name is Pawel Biskup, I run CREO-3D studio, I come from Kluczbork (Poland). I became interested in 3D visualizations in 2015 when I bought my apartment and wanted to arrange it before starting renovation, I was looking for some (3d design) software that would allow me to do so, but I didn’t find any cool yet free software until I came across a Cinema 4d demo that really reminded me of Photoshop where I felt pretty good. I didn’t have much of an alternative when it comes to software because it works on MAC OS and Apple devices for many years. While learning the software, I have chosen to model the objects that I have at hand like a turntable, vinyl recorder, chair, sofa, or bed. I did it until it resembled the original, now I can very quickly choose the method that will allow me to model the object in 3d. This modeling is one of my favorite areas in the whole 3d environment.
Currently, I work on Cinema 4d r21+ Corona Renderer software, Marvelous Designer, Substance package, and postproduction in Photoshop.
Is this your first time creating food shots? What were some of the challenges you faced creating your entry?
Adam: I think this is my first work with the composition of the food itself. Usually, this kind of work appeared but more as an addition to the background visualization of the interior. The challenge was primarily the idea for the work. From what I remember from the rules and regulations I could use any model from your side, but I decided that I will do the work only with the products that you indicated in the example on the competition website. Therefore, the range of possibilities to present a tasty composition has narrowed down a bit.
Pawel: This is my first realization with food (I hope not the last one). I had already had the idea for a competition project in my head for a few days before the start, I made it up before bedtime, getting up and writing only the content on a piece of paper. I wanted to get a tropical climate from the very beginning, I wanted the project to be covered with greenery and fruit. In total, I spent about 16 hours on the project for both versions. The only challenge was to create a second version of the competition work because I had to simulate the arrangement of objects in the bowl so that they look natural, so I learned how to simulate a fall while taking into account weight.
What did you learn from participating in our challenge?
Adam: I appreciated the quick work with the scanned models. Importing – loading textures – setting materials and working practically ready. I spent most of my time setting up the composition and lighting.
Pawel: I learned a different perception of visualization not only as a craftsman but also as an artist and that it is worth doing projects for fun.
How did you like our food scans? Anything we could have done better?
Adam: The food scans are pretty good. I do not know much about this market. Maybe add a few masks to the textures to make it easy to separate different elements on the model? For example, separate the olive from the meat. And in the future, you need to keep track of technological advances so that the scanned models are created with even more detail, and with even higher resolution textures.
Pawel: I like the scans very much, but in some scans, there could be an additional volumetric or transfluency map, lately I’ve been using them very often, it adds some imperfections and always helps me fill the scene.
Tell us about your entry – what was your thought process behind it?
Adam: I wanted to do the work only from the models that were listed on the main page of the contest. My thought process was to make a good, realistic, and TASTY looking composition. Judging by the second place I think I managed to realize something of these guidelines. 🙂
Pawel: I sat down to the project on Sunday after lunch, I had an idea of what to include in the project, As I mentioned earlier I wanted it to be a rather tropical climate covered in greenery with a lot of moving elements with a motion blur effect, the idea was also to add a delicate fog but in the final effect I gave it up.
How would you categorize yourself as an artist? What subject matter do you prefer to work with?
Adam: I try to produce various projects, but I think I like the projects related to product visualization and 3D animation most. Although the second one is more time-consuming it gives a lot of fun, because the “boring” static image starts to bring life.
Pawel: It seems to me that I’m more of a craftsman, because furniture is a common theme in my work, although I like to bite some artistic theme. I love to create whole interiors and products for clients when I have a free hand and can let myself be carried away by fantasy. I also like photography and it often happens to me to take pictures of my surroundings and show products in a natural, not arranged environment.
What are you up to now?
Adam: Since 2015 I have been running a one-person business under the name Slice Cube.
Pawel: At the moment, I have two interior designs on my wallpaper and a few beds to model, as I mentioned above, I love interior design. Here’s a link with the latest realization for clients (living room with open kitchen and mezzanine).
Where can we follow you or see more of your work?
Adam: I encourage you to visit my website www.SliceCube.com. You will find there all the most important links to my works. You can also find me and my company fan page on Instagram, Facebook, Behance, and Youtube.
Pawel: I have all my best projects on my website www.creo-3d.pl and Behance. I try to publish something from time to time on my Facebook fan page.
What assets would you like to see more of in an asset library?
Adam: Tidy models of plants, animals, and people are never too much. Maybe you will make something towards it? Let me know when a new product comes on the market.
Pawel: You could surely create more assets of the surroundings like trees or trunks or plants for houses. Good plants are always a product that nicely fills the scene you design.
Any tips for fellow 3d artists?
Adam: Do not give up if something does not work out for you. If someone starts the adventure with 3D computer graphics I encourage you to do only what you are interested in. Specialize well in this, and then gradually expand your knowledge of other areas, techniques or software. It’s nice to be a generalist, but the scope of learning at the beginning may discourage you. If you already have a lot of experience in 3D graphics, I wish you and yourself to exceed the next challenges and improve your skills.
Pawel: Search for your style, get inspired but do not copy, and always learn from the best. In addition, I can tell you to observe the world as it is and then recreate it.
And there you have it! A hearty serving of the meat and potatoes of our conversations with our winners. These two 3d maestros have proven their mettle in the hot kitchen of our online competition, and emerged victors. We enjoyed digesting their amazing renders, and we highly encourage you to keep an eye out for these up and coming artists – we certainly will!
If you find yourself in need of some high-quality interior scans and models, have a look through our asset library over at 3dbee.it.
Here are some honorable mentions from the other participants:
We hope you enjoyed this quick read, and we wish you well on your 3d journey. See you at the Hive, and keep on buzzing!
– The Bees
author: Marco Dinglasan
