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.
Entry by Pawel Biskup, 1st PlaceEntry by Adam Bęczkowski, 2nd Place
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:
By Léandre Hounnaké, our 3rd PlacerBy Michael MedvediBy Cameron Bailey
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!
This month we’ve been focusing on adding to our asset library some succulent veggies, sweet confectionaries, fruit from all walks of life, and other essentials for visualizations that need a good peppering of food assets in general. This is especially good news for 3ds Max and Corona users, as we’ve begun to integrate translucency and SSS into the automated material set up, to give Corona renders that extra touch of tastiness.
These scans have been optimized for quad oriented topology and come with complete spec/gloss texture sets. Without further ado, here’s a taste of the round-up of our 3d assets for July!
Fruit scans
Whole halved or quartered, this month’s fruit scans have what you need for various scenarios involving Mother Nature’s sweet stuff. We also added some scattering maps for sliced fruit to help you capture the surface characteristics of the outer and inner areas.
Vegetables and roots scans
Our produce for July consists of fresh greens, tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, and more! We’ve also added some SSS for Corona to these scans as needed. If you need to prep for a busy kitchen scene, these assets are perfect additions to the stew!
Bread and sweets scans
For the sweet-tooths out there, we’ve prepared various pastries and cookies this month. We’ve got buns with some creamy toppings, custard-filled cookies, and eclairs for a start! We’ve also added more additions to our bread collections with some bread rolls topped with seed, filled with cheese, and more. Geometry optimized as always, to prevent too many digital calories!
Browse our full 3d asset library of food scans and furniture models
To top all this off, we’ve also launched our first-ever contest! We’re offering some of these assets for free for a limited time, for you to whip up something delicious! We’ve rounded up some prizes that just might make your mouth water as well! Read our announcement for more details!
We hope you enjoy our new collection of food assets for this month. As always, happy creating from all of us at 3DBee.IT!
We’re excited to see what you create with the 3d models and scans in our asset library, and we hope that through in the use of our service your interior visualizations become a much more productive experience.
Topping Up Your Balance With Credits
Our assets are purchased through a credit system. To avail of credits, simply head over to https://3dbee.it/, login, and select “my account” in the header.
The account page is where you can keep track of your balance, and purchase more credits.
Hit the “buy credits” button to purchase credit packs or an annual subscription.
An annual subscription not only allows you unlimited downloads of assets but also $100 worth of rendering credits over at our mother company, GarageFarm.NET.
Select Add to cart to make your purchase, and proceed to checkout to seal the deal!
*If you’re still unsure about making a purchase, search for the FREE assets we have in the library to download free 3d models and test our service out.
Downloading assets
There are two ways you can add our 3d models and scans to your scene: By downloading them directly from our website or by using our asset management app.
Downloading directly
Once your balance has been updated, head over to the asset library by clicking the “asset library” on the header of our page.
Select an asset you want and on the popup, simply hit “add to my library” to get your copy.
After hitting “add to my library” you will see the prompt as shown above. Hit “buy asset” to confirm the purchase.
You will receive this prompt once the purchase is complete. At this point, you may now hit “download” on the pop up to save the asset locally.
You will receive your asset as a zip folder containing an FBX, and the maps assigned to each Material ID on the mesh.
The maps are numbered according to the material ID, and for additional guidance for more complex assets, you can refer to the included .xml descriptor file.
From here you can import the FBX to your DCC and link the maps accordingly.
Downloading from the 3DBee app
Our App currently supports 3ds Max from 2016 up, and the following render engines:
Scanline
Corona
V-Ray
F-Storm
Arnold
We also have working support for SketchUp with the V-Ray engine and encourage you to give the app a go if this is your DCC of choice.
In the “my account” page, you will find links to the app installer for your operating system. Simply click on a link to receive the file.
Installing the app is straightforward, and the install wizard will help you along.
Once the 3DBee App is installed and launched, be sure to launch either 3ds Max or Sketch Up and load your scene. In the app, log in with your account credentials and browse through our assets.
When you have found the one you need, select it and hit the blue button on the app’s toolbar.
The button will be named either “buy” or “add” depending on whether you have already purchased the asset, or if it is available for free.
When hitting “buy” you will be prompted to confirm your purchase. Check “use real money” (this just means you will be spending credits) and then hit “confirm and buy”.
The asset will download and once the download is complete, you may select on the preview on the right side of the app, and drag it into your scene.
Position your asset where you like and left click to confirm the placement.
That’s it!
We highly recommend taking advantage of the app so you won’t need to manually set up shaders and textures for your assets.
If you aren’t a Max or SketchUp user, feel free to download directly from our site, and sit tight! Support for more DCCs is on the way!
Thanks for reading, and we hope to hear from you soon!
As we’re slowly nearing the end of this unfortunate global ordeal, and into an uncertain future, the question of how we regain our bearings looms over us all. We at 3dbee.it are just as uncertain, but we’ve been working to prepare ourselves, and you, for new projects that need doing, and (we never thought we’d say this) new deadlines that need beating.
We’ve put together some bundles of 3d assets suited to add that extra touch of detail to your visualizations, and are offering them at the cost of a couple of coffees!
Without further ado we present to you our discounted 3d asset bundles:
The Coffee Lover Bundle
Nothing tops off a pantry like the essential ingredients for that sweet, sweet brew of liquid motivation. In this bundle is everything you need for a good cup of Jove, from an espresso machine down to the beans.
The Baker bundle
What gives off that special lived-in in vibe to your home kitchens? Some food and appliances! The baker asset bundle contains some of our bread scans, a container, and a dainty retro toaster among other things. Here are the assets in detail.
The Juicer Bundle
Renders of springtime out in the patio, or a garden cocktail party would be perfect for this asset bundle! Accentuate your scene with some fresh fruit, pitchers and glasses, and a blender to depict home in the midst of a pleasant get-together.
The Collector bundle
Tabletops, shelves, counters, or nightstands – what wouldn’t benefit from some lovely figurines? Add even more visual interest to your interior close-ups with this fine assortment of figures and statuettes.
The Modern Chair bundle
Chairs chairs chairs, deceptively simple but a real-time guzzler to model, and you’re bound to need a few. Worry no more! This bundle is comprised of various options for your seats and could come in handy for almost any room visualization.
Little Tyke Bundle
A collection of essential modules for a quick child’s room for expecting clients! Furnish a Child’s room in no time with this themed bundle!
The Burgundy Bundle
Created based on The Anchorman franchise, this 3d asset bundle has all the components for a Parlor, Cabin, or generally any manly man cave that needs some quick sprucing.
Market Haul Bundle
A modest paper bag filled with various fruits and vegetables might seem trivial, but this could easily be what turns your render from a simple visualization into a living breathing story! Honey, I’m hooooomee!
As always our library continues to grow, and we’ll be coming up with more solutions with your asset needs, so stay tuned, and most importantly, stay safe!
Furnishing an interior visualization is no easy task, and the time it would take to determine AND hand model the right assets for a room can easily take much longer than preparing the room itself. Thankfully, third party asset providers are here to help shorten this part of the pipeline.
Our very own DJ shows how with our assets and online asset manager, it is now possible to get through the furnishing process for your projects even faster, thanks to our app’s automatic shader generation feature for V-Ray. No more hand linking textures! Hooray! Sit back and enjoy the video!
[00:15] Hello, my name is DJ, and I’ll guide you through a quick tutorial on how to use the 3DBee app to create a photorealistic bedroom visualization using 3ds Max and V-ray. So, let’s have a look at the interface first.[00:27] The left column is for navigating through the assets—different browsing, different categories. The main window in the middle is a browser that can be viewed with thumbnails. Let’s check our free category. To download any asset, you just need to press “add” and “download,” then the downloader will start the process. Once it’s downloaded, you can just drag and drop to your Max scene or merge it. It will be added with all the textures applied and materials set up. Pretty convenient; on the right hand, you have some detailed preview of each asset you pick. You can read about the polycount and other details of the mesh, as well as browse through its preview images.
Render Engines
DJ:
[01:20] To make our bedroom, let’s first select the render engine that we’re going to use. Our app right now supports the most popular render engines like V-Ray, Corona, and Arnold. For this tutorial, I will use V-Ray. Let’s set up in 3ds Max render settings. Let’s pick v-ray render and let me show you.[01:46] (For Render Setup) I just pick Scanline Renderer and added some assets. I’ll need to delete them and add them once again after selecting B-Ray as the render engine because, otherwise, the materials might not work perfectly.
[2:01] I picked a paid asset for “bed” because it fits my design scheme more—you can also check the free bed, it’s also very good—I use this one because it has this gray and black covering, and I want to keep my room in this minimal kind of color palette. So, you can see that having this and the “Material Picker” tool; you can see the shaders are all set up and ready to go.
Adding Room
DJ:
[02:32] So let’s add the room. Because “bedroom,” as the name suggests, consists of a bed and a room! We already have a bed, now let’s add the room from our free assets category. Just drag and drop. Easy-peasy, like that. Now just position this using the gizmos, pressing “w” activates the move tool in 3ds Max.
Adding Camera
DJ:
[03:01] Now let’s add the camera to have a look at our 3D scene. We must have the camera to view the models through and render them out. So, we will add V-Ray physical camera (PhysCamera001) for that. It defaults at the zero-level of the axis, so let’s raise it up a bit by selecting both the camera and the target. Now, let’s pick the camera up to a good fourth viewport for our final rendering preview. For now, let’s leave it like that—or maybe just adjust the settings a little bit.[03:47] Let’s change the focal length of the camera because, right now it’s in standard lens. In such a small interior, if you would like to photograph and see a little bit more of the interior, you would use a wide-angle lens, which has a shorter focal length. Let’s adjust this and also pan the view a little bit. Let’s make sure the vertical tilt of the camera, the perspective shift is taken care of by enabling the automatic adjustment for this. Auto-vertical tilt correction and it will sure that the vertical lines are parallel to the camera edges. Let’s hit render and see what happens.
[04:35] And… Some of you might have guessed that it will be a pure black screen. Don’t be discouraged by this because we already added new models.
Let the Sunshine in
DJ:
[04:47] But we need some light inside the room, so let’s add a “V-Ray Sun” for this. Let’s click “yes” on the environment map in standard settings for now and let’s position the sun up, so it shines down through the window inside our room. The glass is already set to transparent. Everything’s ready for rendering; let’s just make sure that the Exposure Control is also set up. …And let’s render now.[05:20] Oh, I forgot to change the viewport to view under the physical camera. Lock it, so that we don’t have to worry about this later. And… as you can see right now, there’s some light in the room. You can see it’s a little bit over burnt, we’ll take care of that later. As for now, we will adjust some basic exposure settings in the V-Ray frame buffer so let’s hit “Exposure” here and let’s drag it a little bit down so that everything isn’t just like, overexposed, so you can see what’s going on here: Pretty basic empty room with a bed. Let’s enhance this by adding some furniture and arranging the bedroom.
Arranging the Room
DJ:
[06:14] So let’s have a look at our library, wanting to ensure we add to our nice, cozy bedroom a rug that will tie the room together. And we have a colorful piece right here.[06:32] Let’s pick that black commode here, five credits, but you can also do that with the free assets. I wanted to make the design a bit more sophisticated for this interior.
[06:48] As you can see, you can buy assets for a pretty low price, but if you pay for each asset, you can buy credit packs of twenty-five or fifty dollars to pick individual assets and buy them in the app. I highly, highly recommend buying an asset subscription, which is on sale right now. Grab it while it’s really cheap and you will have access to the whole library of assets without limitations; the asset library is ever-growing, so a year subscription is really worth the price. It’s already full of assets and, in a year’s time, it will grow larger in numbers. Cool assets are added every week.
[07:41] So let’s place a nice cabinet here as well. You can add hearts to each model you really like, and you can filter by categories in the left panel. There are favorites down below. You can view the ones you marked with a heart. Pretty useful if you want to pick specific assets that you are going to use often, You can drag from the middle window or from the asset preview.
[08:18] So, to place it, you can use also the Place-in-Position tool, but it’s adapting the model according to the normal of the face—corresponding upwards toward the face it sticks to, so it can be quite unpredictable sometimes—but if you get used to it, it’s pretty useful and it makes sure that the asset is really standing on the surface. Now, we just need to rotate it. Press “e” on the keyboard into the rotate gizmo.
[08:54] That’s a lighting fixture. I already downloaded this before, so I’ll just drag and drop and add this to my scene. May have to wait a bit and… there you go. Let’s drag it upwards. Now let’s use the snapping tools. Right-click the properties and set it to “stick to faces,” maybe, and now, when I drag this around my scene, it will automatically stick to faces of other elements.
[09:42] But right now, you can’t see it in the viewport. Let’s adjust the camera a bit. We can put it upward. Right now the snapping is irritating so I’ll turn it off, and… I’ll just drag it upwards. There you go, you can see the lamp right now in the shot. Now, adjust the focus a little bit more so we can see the whole room in the shot.
[10:19] Now let’s search for some shelving. There’s a nice rack here in black and white colors. I’ll drag and drop this one. I have one piece of it which I’ll just copy and position next to each other so you have a nice arrangement of shelving modular units. You can do that by holding the shift button and then dragging. Now confirm, make a copy of the object and rotate it along the y-axis—90° and 180°. Let’s just drag it upwards and, there you go. You have a nice kind of Tetris vibe setup for the shelves.
[11:19] Now for the bedside tables and some lamps for reading in bed. Pick a nice lamp here and…
[11:39] Okay choose here. Down below, we have bedside table three. I really like it. Let’s drag—oh, first we need to buy and download.
[12:01] Though it has a little bit of a lag while adding, but, you know, 3ds Max has to add all the materials and textures loaded onto the scene. It takes quite a while depending on your computer setup, but it shouldn’t take very long. And I really like this lamp, the modern one.
[12:45] Now, the lamp is standing on the bedside table. I’ll just pick both these assets and copy them together so, with CTRL, you can select multiple assets. Just do the same as with the shelving: press “Shift” and drag it by the axis and, okay. Use the “Tools” roll-down menu and find the mirror tool. By default, it’s set in the x-axis and that’s okay for us right now as it fits our design perfectly. So, I guess we have the basics of the room set up.
Fixing the Overburns
DJ:
[13:27] Now, let’s hit render to see how our interior looks like. But now you see these overburns here where the sun shines in and that needs some fixing. Let’s look at what we can do to improve our rendering. One of the crucial things to remember about creating realistic lighting is that the materials that you use should keep realistic values; that is, for example, white walls should not be 100% white in the RGB space.[14:04] So we’ll fix this. Let’s have a look at where the wall’s materials are. It’s in the “ID8” of our multi-material. Right, okay, this is the one. I can see the white walls and the “Diffuse” setting here is set to a maximum white color in the RGB space. It’s too bright; it just behaves unrealistically—a perfectly white thing. There’s no such thing in the real world as 100% white. So it’s just incorrect values in the PBR workflow. Let’s also try decreasing the power of the V-Ray Sun a little bit. We’ll set this to a quarter and increase the size. The size of the sun is responsible for the sharpness or softness of shadows. The default setting gives quite sharp edges for the shadows and right now, they ought to be blurrier.
Adding Decorations
DJ:
[15:09] Okay, so now let’s add some decorations. I decided to remove the lamp and just add a plant instead. Because we already have lamps next to the bed, so I think some greenery would add a little bit more life to our interior. Let’s place the palm right in the corner. Looking nice, but it’s quite big and kind of like, it doesn’t fit into this tight interior. Let’s try rotating it, positioning it a little bit. The assets are provided as they are, sometimes, you need to adjust them a little bit to fit your specific scene.[15:48] So let’s have a quick tip on that: how to manage shapes so our leaves don’t go through the wall. Let’s get rid of these additional headphones that were accidentally added… To fix this I will just isolate the view of just the palms so by CTRL + clicking the palm and the interior. Right now, I’ll isolate the selection. This makes me see only the object selected. I have a clear view of what I’m doing, so let’s search for a modifier, “FFD cylindrical” (FFD(cyi) 4x6x4). It gives us a lattice shape around our object and will serve as a deforming cage for our geometry. I’ll just move the whole lattice above a little so it doesn’t affect the pot, just the leaves. Right now, I’m picking the points in the lattice and just scaling them as usual objects—scale, move, and transform the points, just as any other geometry in the scene, and adjust this shape proportionally according to your liking and needs. It gives quite good control and doesn’t destroy the inner geometry of the object.
[17:30] It stays as it was, but now just a little bit deformed. We could do some more adjustments. I’ll also get to the “Editable Poly” below that a little bit and correct the leaf sticking out with the freeform tool. Yeah, just like that. Right now, if you go to the upper modifier it applies even more deformation. It kind of fits right now; it’s a little bit tighter and fits our bedroom.
[18:16] Let’s do some corrections here with the headphones. Place them nicely on the corner and add some more stuff. Decorations are the category that I’ll browse through. I’ll add some sculptures, figurines, stuff like that. Maybe some candles as well. You know, random stuff that people put on shelves to decorate the room—make it look cozy and welcoming, instead of empty space with just furniture. I’ll just pick some and download these. Let’s speed up through this process.
[19:12] The objects added are added in an incorrect real-world scale. So, you can see this head was quite a small figurine. I will place it on the shelf and try to make it a little bigger, so you can always adjust the assets to fit your design. Nobody will ever know that this head was a small object. I want it to be a bit bigger and it will work in my scene. Right, so now, just to position this on the viewport… It’s closer to the object now. Press “E” to scale the object. Make sure you have the right scaling mode. I’ll just make sure that it’s proportional in scale with all the objects and drag them up. A bit bigger and rotate a bit. It’s in the top view, right now we can’t see the face. We can do a profile view.
[20:43] Let’s add the candles. When we’re adding things to the shelf, I’ll maybe, just for convenience, I’ll zoom in a little bit with the view. Let’s place the candle first and—it’s quite far away, it’s hard to see. So, let’s change the view and camera to perspective. Right now, we’ll leave the camera where it is and manipulate the viewport the way we need it—now, make it closer here and simplify the candle. It’s here and now, use the positioning tool like this. Place it on the shelf.
[21:44] Now, let’s repeat the trick of copying the object and, to make the three candles uneven, I’ll just scale this one and the third one for three different-sized candles of the same type. You can see it looks better and it will fill our ceiling a little bit more than a single candle. Pretty nice.
[22:21] Now, sometimes, it’s good to avoid a perfect setup, like everything is super even, because that’s not how things are in real life. Make sure that even if it’s tidy, don’t make it like, super perfectly tidy, because it will be unrealistic. So, let’s try to introduce a little bit of realistic chaos into our scene.
[22:54] Let’s make this a bedroom for a horse lover. We have two horse figurines here to decide from. Let’s put one here. There’s another one, there’s also an angel, an—oh, a starfish—whatever to fill our shelves and not leave them empty.
[23:29] Yeah, so let’s throw in another horse figure and put it on the commode next to the windows. We just need a little bit of position correction… yeah, now you can see the photos as well, not just the frames. Yeah. I think it’s quite nice and now the second shelf needs something too.
[24:04] Okay, we’re standing there. Maybe let’s make it the angel. Ah, this bell looks nice. Let’s download this and it’s just the same trick as with the candles.
[24:31] Using isolated selection is quite nice if you want to just focus on a specific part of the scene and not have to worry about everything else getting in the way.
[25:03-25:07] Let’s end isolate mode and see how that shows up.
[25:07] Less empty now, I’ll throw in some shoes. Let’s look at “Fashion” and see some shoes to pick from. I like this one; I’ll squeeze a pair of shoes next to the bed. I suppose you would want—when you rotate it a little bit, like that, and now also copy this and use the mirror tool to have the opposite shoe here. Now I’m just rotating. Give some variation, randomness, to this scene, so that it looks more natural. As you can see through the camera—yeah, I think that looks nice.
Another Brick (in the) Wall
DJ:
[26:34] Okay, so one last thing I want to do with this scene is to make the feature wall of white brick. So to do that, we’ll just separate this wall from the rest of the objects. Let’s go to the modifiers, “Editable Mesh,” and let’s pick “Polygon Mode,” so that we can select every polygon. Choose between Vertex, Edge, Polygon, and Element. Element is for bigger selections.[27:00] We’ll choose “Polygon,” we need it to select and control every piece of this wall. Now, let’s press “Detach.” Let’s detach this from the wall, now it’s a separate object. We can now select this on the wall. Let’s create a material for this. So, let’s go to the material editor and let’s add Materials -> V-Ray -> VRay Mtl. So, the basic setup. Let’s plug in quickly a few bitmaps and we’ll use bitmaps from CC0 textures so you can apply any kind of textures you have in your drive.
[27:57] I’m using “VRay NormalMap,” and then plugging a normal map that’s a regular bitmap. While loading normal maps for V-Ray, it’s good to override the Gamma to “1.” It’ll just work better but plug it in to mount the map. Now you can see it gives us a nice little bump. I use the AO from this picture as the color map, but I’ll also plug in color correction, here. Plug it in and I’ll just tweak the values, like make it brighter… maybe less contrast, so that we have just a kind of a white wall with bricks. Just a basic material, nothing fancy. Now, I’ll just plug this into one of the slots, make an instance and name this material “Brick Wall.”
[29:06] Now we can apply this material to our wall. Just by dragging from these dots to the viewport, it should work just fine. As you can see, this is just a gray image because the wall is not correctly UV unwrapped.
[29:28] Let’s quickly add the modifier. Let’s type in “UV Map,” set to default shading, hit render, and see how it looks like right now. It’s looking pretty nice, but I don’t really like the framing of the shot, so let’s have another look at the camera. Let’s select the object on the camera and go to the rotate tool and look at how it’s rotated. You can see on the x-axis it’s almost 90°.
[30:03] Select the target of the camera, move it just slightly, so that it’s correctly positioned. Now, let’s move the camera with the target. Let’s move both of these and move slightly toward the door. I still don’t like the viewing angle. So, I’ll choose the preset “APS H (Canon)” and not 18 [for focal length], but maybe, let’s go crazy. Fifteen mm focal length, I think it’s better. It’s showing a little bit more of the interior, a little bit more of the lamp, and generally, a better frame.
[30:50] Also this thing that bothers me a little bit that’s happening behind the window… We’ll set up for a shot from different angles so let’s pick “Element,” do this, and we’ll get this and move it closer. Now it’s feeling better. Okay now, some trees. Something to show in the background.
[31:25] I guess we’re ready to go for the final render. Let’s have a quick look at the settings. The setup is for HDTV resolution and the GI setting is for interiors; for the primary engine, it’s best to use “Irradiance Map.” You can experiment with others but this is probably the most used.
[31:48] Light Cache for our secondary engine. For the “Irradiance Map,” let’s do it low for now. For “Light Cache,” the subdivs are by default at 1000. You can settle the noise threshold for the rendering to stop…
(voice fades; music interlude).
[32:35] That’s it. The final result. Of course, you can always improve it and play around with the assets, change different layouts, this is just an introduction of how to quickly make an artist picture. You can see that it took less than an hour.
[32:51] (Repeated, in slo-mo) Less than an hourrrrr.
Keeping up with the CG industry requires keeping your eye on many happenings, from technology to popular entertainment, but some of the less central aspects of the world of 3d design can easily fall through the cracks, especially if your focus is on modelling lifeforms. Unless your creation exists entirely in the wild, you’re going to need to design an interior for it to inhabit, and an interior design styles list is always a good place to start! To aid you in your quest to design a fantastic interior we have taken the time to research and narrow down some of the most popular interior design styles of our time.
1. Minimalist
Originating from around the 1920s, minimalist interiors took inspiration from multiple sources, including the now-Microsoft Paint reminiscent De Stijl art movement (1917–31), architecture by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the simplicity of traditional Japanese design; a design style that for better or for worse has continued to pop up ever since. Taking a “less is more” approach, it focuses on functionality and very clean lines. An abundance of boxy shapes would make 3d modelling this style pretty straightforward. UV Mapping would be a breeze, and the use of plain neutral colours almost turns Texturing into a Paint Bucket exercise. However, with the right use of lighting the overall aesthetic can be much improved. A (in)famous example of minimalism is the former Bel Air mansion of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, in which Mr West might have believed he was a fresh heir to some throne somewhere.
This style first arose during the 1930s in the Nordic countries, pulling from the natural beauty of the surrounding fjords, snow, and mountains. Named after 1954–57’s influential design show which toured the US and Canada, the Scandinavian style is characterised by functionality, simplicity and clean lines. In stark contrast to the sharp angles and plain textures of its predecessor, this style showcases a variety of textures and oftentimes almost sculptural fluid lines that turn the furniture into a work of art. Scandinavian design holds a benevolent and inspiring philosophy beyond just being cosy and aesthetically pleasing; its main purpose is to improve daily life via the promotion of high quality eco-friendly sustainable products easily accessible and affordable to people from all walks of life. It achieves this goal with natural materials such as wood, aluminium and steel, as well as a mindful use of plastic. Its colour palette is built upon a foundation of white and grey tones. A famous example of Scandinavian design is the Ovalia Egg Chair, which was first exhibited at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair in 1968.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, the USA was looking to reinvent itself. Heavily inspired by Scandinavian design, and via the creative use of new materials such as plywood within industrial design, the US was able to shatter long-established trends and swiftly modernise its design industries. And so a style was born that has withstood the test of time and remains a ubiquitous addition to many an interior to this day. Coined in the mid-’80s, “mid-century modern” encompasses some of the most iconic pieces in modern interior design. With its clean lines, organic simplified forms and focus on functionality, mid-century modern perfectly blends aspects of minimalism with contemporary design. Dazzling hues of blues, greens and rusty browns are the order of the day with this ever-appealing style, making it fit well within vibrant and eclectic designs, such as those created by professional interior designer, Chris Billinghurst. A great thing about mid-century modern is its versatility. It easily compliments a variety of design styles while still providing a distinct look, thus making it an excellent addition to any interior design project, as well as a great choice in one’s search for quality 3d assets.
One of the broadest design terms, “Modern” encompasses a number of style variations. It shares some traits with contemporary interior design so can be easily confused. This style presents a tendency for open floor plans and monochrome palettes such as black and white, with careful use of primary colours like blue, red and yellow in order to provide striking colour contrasts. The word “sleek” is often used to describe this style, referring to its use of elegant, smooth shapes and glossy materials such as metal, glass and steel. A characteristic of this style is a lack of clutter, however, this does not mean it shies away from adornments such as framed art or photographs on the walls. These interiors are usually complemented by an area rug sporting either a single colour or geometric patterns.
As described by Homedit, contemporary design refers to what is being produced here and now and forever remains in a constant state of flux, whereas Modern is an era-specific style, with some saying it refers to the 1920s-50s and others stating Modern refers to 20th-century interior design as a whole. In contrast, contemporary design does not adhere to any single era nor style, it has no qualms about cherry picking appealing elements from the past and turning them into something new. It can be found sharing a similarity with Minimalism by way of its penchant for straight lines, yet unlike Minimalism it does not shy away from texture. Expect glass, steel, wood and either large or numerous windows providing a lot of natural light; basically, a clumsy introvert’s hell. The design of artificial lighting has become an artistic statement, so you’ll have a hard time finding a regular light bulb in this kind of interior. Like Modern, this style currently shows a bias towards open floor plans and area rugs. No one knows for certain where this style is headed next, and that’s exactly what makes it fresh and exciting.
Within interior design you’ll usually find the terms beach, coastal and nautical referring to the same thing. Like the Scandinavian style, it pulls design inspiration from its surroundings, but does so far less subtly and does not shy away from accessories. Coastal interiors provide their inhabitants with a relaxing beach-inspired environment that makes you feel close to the ocean; in other words, an unfortunate environment for anyone terrified of drowning (reasonable), sharks (unreasonable), or the Kraken (?). Either light or dark wooden floors, wicker chairs and linen or rattan upholstery are a staple of this design style, with a colour palette built upon a white or sandy backdrop complimented by oceanic blues, greens and sandy yellows. With the various accoutrements pulling inspiration—or pulled directly from—the sea, viewing this type of interior becomes a game of I Spy where the mystery object is usually a seashell, or sometimes even a swordfish.
Ahh, Bohemian; a minimalist interior designer’s worst nightmare, as this style looks messy on purpose. Bohemian has come to describe an artistic person who’s socially unconventional, with a familiar example being members of the 60’s hippie movement. Reflecting an adventurous and carefree spirit you may find furniture and light fixtures from a variety of eras, plus items of various origins picked up during the inhabitant’s travels. No two Bohemian interiors are exactly the same, but there are a few common features most share. This may be the most consistently cosy of all the interior design styles, characterised by comfortable seating areas, globally inspired rugs, tapestries, collection displays and maybe a floor pillow or ten. Vibrant colours and rich patterns are the order of the day in this interior, often giving off nomadic and ethnic vibes, inspired by the likes Mexican, Morrocan and tribal design – actual tribal, not Westernised “tribal”. As to materials you’ll often find animal hide, metal accent pieces, as well as lots of textiles (and we mean lots).
With this appreciation for interior design ideas and style origins, you can go forth with newfound knowledge of what clients may be looking for to up your 3d design game even further. If the idea of modelling some of these furniture designs seems a little too daunting, whether it be to lack of time or experience, there is always the option to download high-quality photorealistic 3d assets, such as those found on our pride and joy, 3DBee.IT.
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