3D

  • Started
  • Last post
  • 38 Responses
  • PhanLo0

    • brb - manipulating my spleen
      I've had Nomad on my iPad for like a year and never touched it lol my interest in 3D at home has dropped to almost zero.
      face_melter
    • Heh, I heard zbrush is coming to ipad soon so I guess everything else dies at that point.kalkal
    • I'm hoping to get an iPad soon, so really want to try it, I like the idea of reasonably pain free texturing.PhanLo
    • This app has turned into a zBrush competitorNBQ00
  • Nairn2


  • islandbridge0

    @Centigrade
    I would go with AMD chipset. Maybe a AMD Ryzen 7 7700x or something close. You would also need a AM5 socket motherboard ( B650 would do the trick), which is a bit pricy but that would make it upgradeble for some years to come.
    Then i would buy a 6800xt (high end last gen graphics card) which is pretty damn good all round graphics card. Good value for the money... lacks good Realtime raytracing but that shit´s overrated atm anyway. ... and then some DDR5 RAM, a 850 Watt psu and a case to stuff it all into and you should be good to go.

  • Centigrade0

    If one was to dip their toes into 3D what is a good basic setup to do it? I don't want to spend $5,000 on a computer just to try it out. I don't need 60fs at 5K. Just some OK performance for building environments in Unreal. Would an old gaming rig off of FB marketplace do the trick (maybe $800)? Or would I likely just get the same crap performance I get off my Mac?

  • NBQ000

    Houdini 20 reveal, full keynote

  • Nairn1

    Might be handy for some of you three dimensional cunts:

    https://f3d.app/

    "F3D (pronounced /fɛd/) is a fast and minimalist 3D viewer. It supports many file formats, from digital content to scientific datasets (including glTF, STL, STEP, PLY, OBJ, FBX, Alembic), can show animations and support thumbnails and many rendering and texturing options including real time physically based rendering and raytracing."

  • NBQ000

    *insert wow gif here*

    • Another https://www.youtube.…NBQ00
    • Tech's interesting, but Jesus Christ, I feel like I'd have to put my brain on hold to listen to any more of these two chumps beyond a couple of minutesNairn
  • PhanLo0

  • monNom1

    I'm going to chime in and say blender. Kind of .

    The cycles render engine, while being fantastic and accurate for external scenes, doesn't do really well out of the box when you have say, a sun lamp shine through a small window and then light up a room with bounce lighting. It's too few samples and too many bounces for a noise-free render. However you can do some tricks like baking low-res lighting for your walls, and having that texture emit light into the room (essentially acting as bounce lighting), while a different material catches the light in the camera-view. Use lightpaths node to switch.

    There's also eevee "real-time" render that can give quite good results with very fast renders, provided you bake light probes and reflection maps to simulate GI.

    The biggest thing I think it has going for it is the huge community and YouTube tutorials. It's free so barrier to entry is low and there is a plethora of quality content you can learn from.

    Blender.org

  • NBQ00-1

    Remember when (Discreet, now Autodesk) Flame ran on $1 million dollar SGI machines in the 90’s? It used to be THE VFX finishing and compositing tool for high-end projects, movies and commercials. I wonder how many studios are still using it today as Nuke gained a lot of popularity in the last decade.

    But it’s amazing that this powerful tool still exists and runs on Macs. MacOS & Linux, but no Windows (wut).


    • 3DS Max still doesn't run on a Mac. I'd have considered switching 2 decades ago and certainly now, but nope.formed
    • What I find truly amazing is how little has changed in 25 years of 3D (my time). Still takes a day, at least, for a good rendering to finish.formed
  • shapesalad2

  • NBQ001

    Has anyone used the app Spline yet?

    Seems pretty cool and simple. And what’s great it offers a browser version too.

    https://spline.design/

  • utopian0

  • monNom0

    This person is getting really close.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/…

  • SimonFFM0

    @CyBrainX

    Thanks for the link to this software.
    - - -

    @kingsteven

    This metahuman approach you suggest sounds the most feasible for me. Having a software do the lighting part for me and I retouch a little here and there in Photoshop to match some things better.

    I assume, I won't be good enough to create something that would be ready for printing, but it would be ok for me, if I could at least produce a little photo set in picture sizes like 600x900px for my website.

    The pandemic will probably take until mid of 2022, so I need to do something not to get forgotten.

    - - -

    @monNom

    Highly interesting, thank you!

    I have watched a YouTube video about the silver ball a few weeks ago, unfortunately I cannot find it anymore, so I guess I have told YouTube not to display videos from this channel anymore (my own fault).

    It was interesting to see how they utilize this ball. When you're not in this business this is pretty amazing to watch.

    The textures look amazing, too.

    After all, you convinced me that my challenge is a bit too high and that I won't be able to do it. But at least, I can write a blog article about it and about the 'Uncanny Valley'.

    Thanks for the great contributions and help, guys!

    • nice, you can sign up to early access for metahuman creator here: https://www.unrealen…kingsteven
    • unreal have said they want to get everyone access but as its a web app they are buffering access so it new users don't overload the serverskingsteven
    • the further you go down this route you will need to learn modelling software but it takes a few weeks in Blender just to get the basic key commands downkingsteven
    • i think you could find unreal easier for this purpose and you can fall back on photoshop skills to fill the gaps. will report back if i get accesskingsteven
    • I saw there were some exported meta-humans added to quixel bridge if you want to jump in now.kingsteven
    • Today I bought a female model for Blender and experimented a bit. I was able to undress her, but that was about it. It is way too complex for me.SimonFFM
    • its definitely worth spending a few days just learning the movement key commands, snapping the cursor to origin/ objects, switching between orthographic andkingsteven
    • perspective views. once you can control the viewport it gets a hell of a lot easier.kingsteven
    • 3d is a steep steep STEEP learning curve, and very technical. It is also undoubtedly the future for commercial imaging. Look at automotive.monNom
    • It's just so much cheaper to produce an image in software than to go on location with a crew and equipment.monNom
    • and as the tools continue to improve, it's going to eat everyone's lunch. Now is a good time to dive in.monNom
    • ^ this is why I had the idea to be the first to be able to offer this with nudes. But hell, the learning curve is steeper than I could imagine...SimonFFM
  • SimonFFM0

    During pandemic I am without work, kind of. Today I asked myself if I could create a series with an avatar. Realistic looking, so no one knows, she isn't human. I would place the nude model in landscapes that I photograph, the way they do it in CGI with cars often these days.

    I know there are insta accounts with avatars, such as:
    https://www.instagram.com/lilmiq…

    Creating humans is super, super complicated and rendering takes ages, I know. But is it possible to purchase a ready made 3D model somewhere?

    Is it possible for a newbie like me to learn such stuff? And what software would I need?

    I am speaking of photo-realistic stuff, not 1990s computer games look.

    Seriously asking for advice, please.

    • I haven't used Daz but I hear good things about it.
      https://www.youtube.…
      CyBrainX
    • unreal's metahuman is out today on early access, i found it quite hard to get the demo model working but i imagine a lot of tutorials will appear in the nextkingsteven
    • while for cinematography. you're biggest worries would be landscape and clothing - but you don't have to worry about that :Dkingsteven
    • there's probably something better out there tbh, something along the lines of poser (which will get you realistic poses - not necessarily realism)kingsteven
    • Maybe it will help if you describe what you are planning to make. Do you have any examples? It's hard to picture given your bg.CyBrainX
    • I would love to create a photo set like the way I would shoot it for PB. Pool/villa scenario, girl chilling by the pool, posing on a table, whatever.SimonFFM
    • I fear, it will be near to impossible for a newbie like me to create a photo-realistic rendering of a girl. It would be nice to at least try it out, though.SimonFFM
    • Checked examples of Poser SW, they look like computer game figures. I want them to look real. Maybe as real as an instagram girl, but almost real. Non-avatar.SimonFFM
    • if i get access to metahuman creator i'll let you know... a workflow where you use photos as backgrounds, light and pose metahumans in unreal engine to matchkingsteven
    • then export and comp in photoshop could work. there's a lot of hype around metahuman so you also tap in to that for promo...kingsteven
    • You run up against the "Uncanny Valley" effect the closer you try to get to real. I dont know if anybody is making images that might be mistaken for your photosmonNom
    • There is some very sophisticated effort required to get good results.
      https://www.youtube.…
      monNom
    • The challenge is almost exclusively in the shading/lighting. You can make a non-realistic model believable with good shading/lighting.monNom
    • Something like this, shot on location, should help you match scene lighting. https://www.vfx-ball…monNom
    • These textures should help your shading
      https://texturing.xy…
      monNom
  • face_melter2

    The software isn't all that important - they all do the same thing. For interiors the priorities are the quality and number of features - furniture, accessories, architectural detail etc. and the placement and type of lighting. After that you need to get the camera angle and exposure correct.

    Creating interiors is a lot harder than people realise - you have a ton of things to consider - way more than exteriors - how certain furniture works in certain environments, what materials to use for floors and walls and how they affect the light - dark floors will suck in light and make things appear darker, changing the environment, whereas a light walls and floor will bounce light and make the room appear brighter. Then what type of lighting to use - hanging, fixed, fluorescent, LED, panel...

    I almost always rely on sunlight and camera exposure to light a scene. Fewer light sources means less chance of noise in your render. Natural light always looks a ton better than interior electric light and is more pleasing to the eye. I hardly ever use interior lighting to completely light a scene because it is a total pain in the ass to balance correctly without blowing it out to compensate for dark corners or ending up with weird shadows. Of course I can bake the light and tweak it after to maintain the same luminance and reduce the glare, but it generates noisy renders.

    I have been doing architectural 3D for well over 10 years and interiors still give me the fear. I always get an architect to help make the decisions and we discuss what goes where and how they want the room to feel. One huge hurdle is finding good 3D models of specific furniture. Manufacturers normally have files to download but they tend to be low quality for use in Autocad or whatever.

    For software we use 3ds Max and Corona Render, but any modeller and physical renderer will do the same job - for interiors you do very little modelling (unless you are building everything from scratch), all the work is placing assets and moving them around.

    • Interesting points there. Aren't you supplied with assets for materials as well?CyBrainX
    • Great notes, thank you.CGN
    • Depends where you get the asset from. We generally make our own fabrics and use stock/modified metal and plastics from the Corona library.face_melter
    • Damn. Best feedback post I’ve seen in a while. I needed to do some interiors stuff a ways back and this feedback is bang on correctGnash
  • grafician0

    Didn't Google of all companies had a basic 3D tool that did just that?

    I maybe this one: https://www.sketchup.com/

  • i_was0

    Cinema 4d ?

    • Ummmmmm - he said 3d.bulletfactory
    • I second C4Djohnny_wobble
    • There's nothing specifically better about C4D for room environments but in general, you get the largest community, good supply of plugins and renderers.CyBrainX
    • and the best integration with After Effects.CyBrainX
  • formed0

    Personally, interiors aren't harder than interiors and can often be easier because you can frame the image. GI works so well these days it's not that difficult to make a clean image.

    The interior design will be crucial, though, so if you aren't an interior designer you might start thinking about that (I am an architect and have also been working with interiors for a long, long time).

    For exteriors there are far more variables - landscaping (is it 3D or done in post?), vehicles, where does the sun come from, time of day, reflections, etc.

    For software, as f_m notes, most software does the same thing these days. We use 3DS Max with Vray mostly because there are so many assets available. Need a certain chair? Turbo Squid probably has one you can buy.

    Sketchup is very different than the other players but is fast for those not used to 3D (I've been using Max for 23 years now) and there are plenty of rendering plugins now. You won't be able to do animations, etc., but that's a whole other discussion.