MAYA | ARNOLD | SUBSTANCE 3D PAINTER | PHOTOSHOP
Mohammad Hossein Mohammad Salehi walks us through his process for creating a dramatic shot
AUTHOR
Mohammad Hossein Mohammad Salehi Mohammad has worked in the animation industry for seven years. More recently he has been studying and working on his texturing, shading and look development skills, which he enjoys developing on a daily basis. artstation.com/salehi_3d
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When I was listening to music, a new idea for a shot came to my mind. It was an image that would show loneliness and sadness at the same time. With that, I took my notebook and started writing.
First, I listed all the elements that I wanted to be in the scene. I then chose the mood I wanted to work with and came up with the backstory behind the image, before starting to sketch and put my ideas on paper.
01 INITIAL MODELLING
After collating all the different references I needed, I began the modelling process, first creating the whiskey glass, cigarette packet and ashtray. To begin, I made each of the objects separately in different scenes, then imported them all into a single new scene. This method helps me make any tweaks easily.
Each object has its own story. To capture greater realism, think of the backstory for each element before placing them into your scene; where it’s been and what has happened to it. For instance, what I had in mind for the cigarette box was that it had been in a woman’s coat pocket or been held in a hand for too long, and had lost a bit of its shape. Try to be loyal to the details, such as the bottom corners of the pack’s plastic wrapping being folded. Although you can’t see it in the final render, it was made nevertheless.
02 CREATE TEXTURES
For the cigarettes and ashtray I used Substance 3D Painter, while the other objects were textured with Maya. For the texture of the ashtray and cigarettes, I preferred to use a live reference that was available to me. One of the challenges I faced for this step was not being able to find a whole image of the packaging for Camel Filters from the 1940s, so I used Photoshop to combine the pictures I’d found to create the entire box. Initially I had no idea for the pattern and colour of the ashtray, but when you’re struggling for an idea or reference you need to just improvise, so I used the mug on my desk for the object’s design.
03 DEVELOP SHADING
Shading is my favourite task. I started out with simpler objects like the cigarettes and ashtray, and saved the most challenging ones for last. Using AI Standard Surface in Maya, there are two essential parameters in working with Transmission to make glass. The first is IOR (I
