NOVEDGE blog

The Edge: Gavin Goulden, The Game Master.

Today we we talk to Gavin Goulden, the author of our March Book of the Month, about his work and inspiration.

Novedge: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do.

Gavin Goulden: My name is Gavin Goulden, I am the lead character artist on Bioshock Infinite and have contributed art assets in the past to titles such as Dead Rising 2, The Bigs 2, Dragon Age: Origins, F.E.A.R. 2 and Damnation.  My main focus is on character art (modelling, texturing and rigging) for games on current generation platforms. I also have a keen interest in creating art pipelines, teaching character art, and toy sculpting. On top of the the game projects that I have been a part of, I have contributed dozens of articles to 3DArtist and 3DCreative magazine as well as authoring The Swordmaster.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

Gavin Goulden: Throughout my career, I have been involved with nearly a dozen titles ranging from “kids games” to first person shooters. As part of that, three big projects stick out to me. My most recent project, which should be on store shelves soon, was BioShock Infinite. While on BI, I created many of the general population seen in the game as well as enemies you encounter during combat scenarios. During this project I also entered a lead role which required me to start managing schedules, maintaining best practices, and conversing with other departments about their needs and what our team could do for them. This is, by far, the biggest project I have been apart of – though I can't go into too much detail about it – it was certainly rewarding.

Before joining the team, I was working with Capcom on Dead Rising 2. While on DR2, I took care of many “psychopath” characters, player outfits, and weapons seen in game. Definitely a fun project given the genre – Who doesn't like zombies?

Before Dead Rising 2, I was working with Blue Castle Games (which later became Capcom Vancouver) on 2K Games' The Bigs 2. While I am not a sports fan, this project taught me so much in the way of structuring a team, managing schedules, working within a pipeline, etc. that previous projects did not. So, while not exactly a game that I would play on my own, the entire experience helped lay down a foundation of lessons that I still practice today.

Novedge: What software do you use? Why?

Gavin Goulden: On a day to day basis I use 3ds Max, Zbrush, and Photoshop. I generally supplement these programs with more specialized apps like CrazyBump, xNormal, and Wings 3D. For the most part, I'm just a creature of habit. The work flow for game assets, especially characters, generally requires the same exporting point, or at least a common ground so that problems are not introduced for other departments. So, for that, we are all required to use the same software as a project standard. 3ds Max has generally been the accepted program for the studios I've been with, along with Maya which I previously used for the same reasons. Zbrush and Photoshop, for pretty much the same reasons, they are industry standards.

For the more specialized programs, I tend to use them because they are just quicker and/or more efficient than what is out of the box when it comes to major applications. Like the baking speed (and the need to not have to load models into a viewport for baking) within xNormal saves hours of work, Wings takes less time to unwrap objects, CrazyBump produces nice cavity maps in seconds – it's just quicker and easier.

Novedge: Your book, 3D Masterclass: The Swordmaster in 3ds Max and ZBrush, is our March Book of the Month. Can you talk about how it came about?

Gavin Goulden: The Swordmaster was a long running series for 3DCreative. I was originally approached by the magazine to do a few short articles covering the process of current generation character art. Once I was approached, I jumped on the opportunity. I had written a bunch of smaller articles in the past, and tutorials roughly covering my process in a few pages – but this time I really wanted to go in depth. And I did. Eventually, we realized that we were producing A TON of content which would make a great book. So, we added even more information, created a set of new renders, bonus material, and brought all of the pieces together.

Novedge: How do you find inspiration to stay ahead of the curve? 

Gavin Goulden: I think there's a few different things going on here. Where I find “inspiration” is the same place I found it as a kid doodling poor renditions of imps from DOOM, and Spider-Man. There are things that I nerded out over which have shaped my personal tastes that still have some degree of influence over the choices I make now. As a kid, I wanted to be the guy who created these characters, that was the dream and, in a way, I still am that person – it's just that now I get to do it as my career. What “motivates” me to do that and to stay where I am within my industry is that I am extremely competitive. I always want to stay relevant, I don't want to fall behind. I've worked incredibly hard to be where I am now, so, if I didn't pay attention to the next great thing – I would be doing a disservice to myself.

Novedge: What are some of the rewards and challenges of working as Lead Character Artist?

Gavin Goulden: My goal is to make life easier for everyone. By establishing and maintaining a process that empowers artists but also encourages quicker turnaround times and easier iteration, everyone can walk away happy – and that's a good feeling. One of the challenges I face, personally, is that eventually you will have to say, “No” which can be tough. Sometimes, there just isn't enough time or resources to do everything you had hoped to do – which is common on all projects.

Novedge: What is the best advice you have ever received?

Gavin Goulden: While I don't think I've ever had a heart to heart conversation with someone and received a solid life lesson, I do think that the collected advice regarding portfolios from the game art community has been incredibly valuable and is a mindset that I try to share with people breaking into the industry. Simple things that, to an industry veteran, may seem obvious but may be slightly shocking to students. The biggest point that stands out to me is that you are not competing with your classmates and the ones in your immediate circle of artist friends. You need to consider yourself in the same market as the ones you idolize, like the people in your reference folder could be looking for the same job as you. While it's one thing to be the top of your class, there are other people out there who have years of work under their belt applying for the same job opening. You need to wow potential employers. You need to learn to self edit and really compare yourself to heavy hitters. Rather than having an expansive portfolio full of school projects, life drawing, and works in progress , you need a handful of solid pieces that are relate-able to the projects you want to be a part of and better than artists in the industry that currently have the job you want. Not a lot of schools will tell you that, and it can be a little demotivating – but it is a competitive industry where you need to stand out of the crowd.

 

Learn more about Gavin's work on his website and blog and don't forget to connect with him on Twitter.

Gavin's 3D Masterclass: The Swordmaster in 3ds Max and ZBrush comes out in June. Read about it here.

Looking for your own copy of ZBrush, Maya and 3ds Max? Get them from Novedge: Tools to Design the Future. And don't forget to join us on Facebook.

The Edge: Vincent Gault's Avatar

Vincent Gault is not only a talented artist, but has a great sense of humor. Here he is eating "angrily" a cricket candy!

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and what you do.

 Vincent Gault: Hey, my name is Vincent Gault, I am (now) an Art Technical Director  and (sometimes) a game designer at UBISOFT. I was lucky enough to start my career at UBISOFT Montreal five years ago, and I have now been part of the Barcelona studio team for one year.

Basically, my job is to make sure that the artists I work with can unleash their talent, within the reality of real-time constrains. Thus, it is a collaboration with the art team to define what we want to achieve, and how we can do it.

Novedge: Ubisoft is known for working with new technologies. How do you find inspiration and stay ahead of the curve?

Vincent Gault: There are two aspects to this.
From a technical point of view, we indeed have to stay up to date with the evolution of different technologies, and how it can be relevant for us, or if it can fit with actual hardware capabilities.
Artwise, it's easy to find an infinite amount of inspiration nowadays. I am trying not to focus only on videogames or CG art : photography, classic art,movies,  sculpture, etc... There so much to look at !
Of course the other games, and all the indie game community, are a great source of inspiration as well.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

Vincent Gault: I had the opportunity to work on Far Cry 2, James Cameron's Avatar, Just Dance 3,  and more recently on Sports Connection.

Novedge: What software do you use?

Vincent Gault: With the engineering team, I mostly use 3ds Max, ZBrush and Photoshop.
They are really powerful and well known softwares.
3ds Max is used at lot at UBISOFT. I like the fact that the scripting language is really powerful, and that it allows me to build interesting tools for the artists.
While I don't consider myself as a good artist, I just love ZBrush and I do some scripting in it as well: this software has no limit, except the imagination of the artists. I am lucky enough to be in close contact with the Pixologic team, as I was one of the tech beta tester of the 4th version.

Novedge: How many people do you usually coordinate? What are the rewards and challenges of leading a team?

Vincent Gault: I don't directly lead people, but rather, the tech side of their job. It can vary from 3 to 10 people. I think the reward comes from the mutual respect you can build with a team: in order for people to follow my guidelines, and sometimes to accept making some concessions on their work, they have to trust me and to be sure that if I ask for these concessions, it's because the result will be better in the end.
There is no real leadership, without a relationship based on mutual trust and respect.

Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field?

Vincent Gault: A lot! Optimizing the production pipeline, so the artist can focus on art rather than anything else is the final goal.
Also, real time lighting and rendering, will be one field that will greatly improve in the coming years.

Novedge: What would you say to young people who want to work in the video game industry?

Vincent Gault: Be passionate about what you do, but stay open to any kind of art. Mastering your art is more important than the tools you are using. 
Go on the net and look at the best artists you can find. Train a lot, post your work online to receive feedback: it can be hard sometimes, but it's one of the best way to improve.
Don't put only Orcs and Space Marines in your portfolio ;-) 
Show that you have your own style, but also that you are able to adapt to different kinds of art directions.
Participate in a small game project: it may be one of the best and most relevant experiences for your portfolio. Between the indie and mobile market, it's now easier than never.

 

You can read Vincent's writing on his blog, in French, or follow him on Twitter and Google+.

To find out more about 3ds Max, ZBrush and Photoshop, check out Novedge: Tools to Design the Futurefor great prices, users' reviews and advice.

The Edge: Juraj Talcik's Perfect Room.

You might have noticed Novedge is undergoing some design changes (check out our new webinar slides!). On this blog, we have been publishing two interviews every week for the past couple of months. This series of interviews is now called The Edge as we talk to people at the edge of knowledge, innovation, new businesses and art.

Novedge: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do

Juraj Talcik: My name is Juraj Talcik and I am the co-owner, with Veronika Demovicova, of a small visualization studio based in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. We are creative partners and longtime friends who shared architectural studies together, which is great help in the type of work we do, since our prime customers are architects and property developers. The core of our business is creating high-end promotional 3D visuals of unbuilt spaces and designs, although we wager into other types of work as well, providing supplementary services in small graphic design and website creation.

Novedge: You have a solid presence on Facebook. As a new business owner, how important is it to show your work on social media, enter competitions and be published?

Juraj Talcik: Although I believe media presence (esp. social media) is still secondary to producing exceptional quality of work, it’s an incredibly important aspect of the current global economic market. Various fields including ours are over-saturated with strong global competition and it’s important to communicate your uniqueness. While a lot of traditional forms of business can thrive off hear-say and personal recommendations, digitally-based companies with globally based customers need to put themselves out there in order to reach new customers. A solid media presence across multiple channels helps you push your work into broader and longer internet limelight in times when attention spans are reduced greatly by the over-abundance of content. Apart from Facebook, we have a strong following on Behance and Vimeo, both sites showcasing original content. I noticed that for most the hardest thing is to maintain these channels, which for me is play. I greatly enjoy sharing my work and experiences and giving back to the community, by giving advice and posting images alike.

Novedge: What software do you use?   

Juraj Talcik: The primary software in our workflow is 3ds Max from Autodesk, due to its versatility, relative easiness of use and for being literally the industry standard, which is important because it lets us connect it to various other tools being developed which both expand its capacity and also make our work easier. We use 3ds Max to model individual assets such as furniture, and then assemble the whole scene inside it, probably 90% of our time is spent inside. Our renderer of choice is currently V-Ray. We use it mostly for same reason as 3ds Max, it's the industry standard, it’s been greatly developed and is compatible with various other tools. Last but not least, is Adobe Photoshop, used in post-production stage, from color grading to photo montage creation. One special software that’s been in our pipeline for quite a long time and makes us stand out quite bit is Marvelous Designer, a cloth simulator that helps us create life-like assets of various furniture. We also currently test technologies from real-time segment, namely Unity and CryEngine3.

One important thing I would like to mention is that although we build strongly upon the newest technologies, we never lose sight of the most important aspect of our work, and that is communicating design with the right ideas, choosing the proper visual language and storytelling. Technology is only the tool that helps us achieve these goals.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?  

Juraj Talcik: Our most successful and recent project is The White Bedroom, which was a non-commercial endeavor started when we were asked by 3D Artist magazine to write up a complex tutorial on the creation of furniture using cloth simulation with Marvelous Designer software. Alongside it, we created our first animation for it, which ended up being quite successful and was even chosen by Vimeo in the Staff Pick category. It was watched by more than 150,000 people in the first week. In our work we always try to bring uniqueness to each project and this is realized both on the style and the technology front. Marvelous Designer is definitely our most popular feature tool, for which we are well known.

Novedge: How do you find inspiration to stay ahead of the curve? 

Juraj Talcik: I consider it very important to seek inspiration outside of your field. Find ideas and translate them to your benefit. For us it means surfing through a lot of photography of various sort, from commercial to documentary to artistic, advertising, movies, literature and even computer games. If you focus too much on what your direct competitors are doing you end up in a chasing race that can’t be won and your work will slowly become just another copy, and therefore inherently worse. I see it happen so often. Second, just like most designers, I strongly enjoy what I do, and when work is fun for you, you improve quickly. Nonetheless, I am a very competitive person, so I am still aware of how others are doing, but I keep doing my own thing.

 

Novedge: What are some of the rewards and challenges of owning your own business? 

Juraj Talcik: The biggest reward is freedom. The biggest challenge is responsibility. Freedom enables you to fit work within your own lifestyle, which by itself makes you a quite happy person. And you can pursue the direction that you wish to explore in business. I am an adventurous person and always wished to be my own boss. I also feel good as a leader, motivating others in their pursuits. Responsibility is something that keeps you awake at nights when others already cleared their minds of work. It never keeps you satisfied, always being hungry for advancement and improvements. It’s a never-ending challenge, and although it makes for a more stressful life, I would not swap it for security.

 

Would you like to see more of Juraj's work? Check out his website, Facebook, Vimeo and Behance Channels.

To find out more about 3ds Max, Marvelous Designer, V-Ray and Photoshop, check out Novedge: Tools to Design the Future for great prices, users' reviews and advice.

Interview with Saad Alayyoubi, Founder of SaGa Design: "This industry is still in its infancy, but the road ahead looks incredibly exciting for all of us"

Remember this incredible 3D printed Siri case for the iPhone? We asked Saad Alayyoubi, the designer behind it, to tell us a bit about his work and his company SaGa Design.

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and your company.

Saad Alayyoubi: I am a designer trained in architecture, and I’ve always been interested in creating inspiring work that crosses disciplinary boundaries. When I was a teenager I spent most of my days working on drawings and oil paintings, and ever since I can remember I have always had a passion for aesthetic beauty, both in the natural world and in our human artifacts and constructions.

After college I worked for several years as an architect for a large firm called KPF, where I was a member of project teams tasked with creating massive cultural centers, hotels and office skyscrapers. I enjoyed the work, but felt somewhat frustrated at the time that most of the key design decisions were made, understandably, by the experienced senior partners. Young designers, including myself, were mainly assigned to the technical execution of the partners’ vision, and would have to spend decades working our way up the corporate ladder before we had any real creative freedom.

At the time, 3D printing was still a relatively unknown technique used for prototyping architectural models, but all of us making these prototypes sensed that imminent change was on the horizon, as the technology continued to rapidly improve. I loved the creative expression the technology enabled, as I watched the intricate, digital architecture models I had created come to life in powder form inside the 3D printer. All the years I had spent honing my digital skills in college could now be translated outside the computer screen and into the physical world.

I waited for the day when commercial 3D printing would become viable as a means to create my own physical products: the technology had to both be capable of producing a high-quality material finish, and also relatively affordable for mass market consumption. As soon as I started to see this happening, I began experimenting with the various material offerings and formed my own studio, SaGa Design, dedicated to building beautiful 3D printed products and concepts. I have since expanded the scope of SaGa to include all artistic endeavors that I embark on, and it is now essentially a portal for the expression of all my thoughts and ideas. I would like to also create a blog someday soon associated with the website, to engage with other designers and thinkers on the problems and ideas of our time.

Novedge: What inspires you? 

Saad Alayyoubi: The sources are almost infinite. In terms of my worldview, a big part of my thinking was shaped by the writing and ideas of the late Carl Sagan. He was a brilliant scientist and philosopher, expert at articulating who we are as a species, and how we could begin to understand our place in the universe and the meaning of our existence.

In terms of artistic creativity my sources of inspiration continue to evolve every day, but in terms of classical art I have always been deeply inspired by Caspar David Friedrich, Frederick Church, and William Turner. In terms of more contemporary artists, there are so many it’s actually impossible to even condense the list to a reasonable format…The information age has really enabled us to recognize incredible artistic talent from all corners of the globe, and from people of all ages. I’ve seen astounding works of creative photography and digital art from kids as young as 16.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

Saad Alayyoubi: I’m currently working for a multi-disciplinary design firm in midtown Manhattan, Experion Design Group, where I do everything from architectural renderings to website design and even user-interface design for mobile software apps. I spend most of my non-office hours continuing to expand my design portfolio of creative work, and most recently have been interested in improving my abilities as a digital matte-painter.

I start with a quick 15 minute sketch in Photoshop, to capture a certain mood using color and light. I then create a rough 3D model of the scene, to get an understanding of depth and some reflection layers which I can use to overlay on the base sketch. In the case of the project below, the 3D model also incorporated an idea for some floating architectural elements, which I scrapped in the final painting in favor of a pure landscape scene. I love working on dreamscapes such as this, creating an evocative scene from pure imagination; in my next few digital paintings I’ll be looking to implement more 3D elements that lend a more surreal, other-worldly atmosphere to the scene.

I am also still working on several new 3D-printing concepts, but many of these are still work in progress and will be revealed in the near future. I’m waiting for the next technological leap in the manufacturing process, when we can create 3D-printed objects at much larger scales (e.g., for use as furniture pieces) with multiple embedded materials and integrated electronics. These technological capabilities are inevitable, it’s only a matter of time, and I’m designing concepts now to pre-empt their arrival and try to envision how they can potentially be used to create physical objects that were never before possible.

Novedge: What software do you use?

Saad Alayyoubi: I use many of the same digital tools that other architects and designers of our generation use, including 3ds Max, Rhino, ZBrush, Sculptris and Photoshop. I really enjoyed experimenting with ZBrush on some of my iPhone case designs, and I will be looking to use it more extensively for future 3D work that involves highly organic, detailed and intricate forms. In terms of 3D printing materials, I really like the smooth, polished finish of glazed ceramics. To be quite honest, I’m eagerly awaiting the day when it will be viable for us individual designers to create entire, full-fledged 3D-printed custom body panels for cars and motorcycles. Many of the designs I’m working on at the moment are custom vehicle shells, and it will be amazing to one day have the material finish of such 3D prints rival the creations of the major exotic car manufacturers.

Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field, now or in the future?

Saad Alayyoubi: Besides some of the aforementioned ideas, I have been speaking with a lot of designers recently about where the technology might evolve in the near-term future. One of the ideas I am most excited about is the notion of complete democratization of physical products. It may be possible that 3d-printing will enable anyone to have almost any physical object they can imagine, irrespective of any notion of “price” beyond the pure commodity cost of the physical material. If 3D-scanning technology improves to enable flawless 3D capture of a physical object, and 3D printing simultaneously enables an almost exact replication of that object, imagine what the disruption this would cause the retail sector, and the idea of a "luxury product".

Besides this, I also have some friends working on 3D printing technology in the context of aerospace engineering, seeking, for example, to use 3D printing to enable the on-demand production of materials by a robotic rover on the moon or mars. This industry is still in its infancy, but the road ahead looks incredibly exciting for all of us.

 

Read more about Saad Alayyoubi and SaGa Design on his website and find his 3D printed designs on Shapeways.

And if you are interested in 3D printing, don't forget to read our interview with Chris Anderson.

Interview with James Coleman: "What started as a result of not being able to move more than a few meters a day has ended being in a very strong position teaching one of the most powerful 3D/CAD render engines in the world."

I discovered James Coleman's work on Twitter and invited him to talk about being a student in England and becoming a certified instructor of Maxwell Render. Little did I know James had needed all his determination to study and work while battling a rare disease.

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and what you do.

James Coleman: I am a student of product design, currently in my last year at the University of Brighton. I also teach fellow students at the University and I have my own YouTube channel with tutorials on Maxwell Render.

 

I studied physics, electronics and maths (pure & mechanics) at college when I was 17, and chose to study mechanical engineering in university. Then something happened that would, for better or worse, shape the rest of my education forever. In 2007 it was discovered that I had a condition called chronic hypersensitivity that affects 300,000 in the UK, and the root cause is still unknown, as is a cure. The recovery period is approximately half the patient's age, in other words, I still have 5 years of recovery ahead of me, but at least I now have a diagnosis and I am receiving treatment.

Once I found out about my condition, I started to use my spare time to make 3D models of spaceships in SketchUp and decided to change my course to Product Design Bsc.

Novedge: How did you get into teaching? 

James Coleman: Whilst in my second year, my renders kept garnering attention, and I started showing groups of students how I made them. Then I setup some lectures in the afternoon. The first was hugely successful and I became the official Maxwell Render Mentor at the University of Brighton Center for Design Technology. When Next Limit announced their certification program I signed up immediately!

In the summer of 2012, I set up my Youtube channel and started recording basic tutorials, things like resolution and focal length, with the occasional overview of certain setup techniques. I also upload tutorials based on the questions my students asked me most frequently.

Then one day I was looking for inspiration for a new tutorial and I saw that VizPeople had released a free model of a DeLorean DMC12, which has always been one of my favourite cars. By coincidence, Maground had also recently released a free HDRI set with environment and backplates on hdri4u.com. I decided to strike while the iron was hot, and I made a series of tutorials involving setting up the model and then rendering it in a variety of different environments. The DeLorean Series got the attention of cadjunkie.com, which I was already a fan of. I ended up producing 10 free and 6 premium tutorials for them, Studio Lighting Techniques In Maxwell Render. The series went on to great acclaim, and like the DeLorean tutorial, continues to be one of the most popular videos on my channel.

 

Currently I am working on the tutorial series’ Maxwell Render Hot Tips and What Not To Render. There’s currently a new video in each playlist every week and there will be until April.

Novedge: Your university didn't have instructors to teach you how to render using Maxwell Render. How did you learn?

James Coleman: I learned by doing: I spent my time using the program, looking for answers in online forums and  watching online tutorials. 

Novedge: What software do you use? 

James Coleman: I started out with SketchUp all those years ago for one very simple reason: it was free. I can’t remember exactly where I first heard about it, but I do remember using it with friends and learning from each other. It was also really helpful that SketchUp didn’t have high system requirements, the interface and the “sketchy” style made it approachable, and although it was designed for architecture, we used it for whatever we liked.

After I became frustrated with the limited modeling tools in SketchUp, I started searching for a more advanced alternatives. 3ds Max has a huge reputation on the web, but is only available on Windows, and I use a Mac. I heard about Cinema 4D and downloaded the demo. I loved it’s interface and I understood the basics almost immediately. The tutorials available online were extensive and it wasn’t difficult to find an answer to a problem. I decided to keep it and I’ve never regretted it. I still use it today when making quick drafts, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone starting out in product design, but plenty of other students on my course use it for animations, and for times when they need to make a model quickly and easily. 3ds Max is also popular with Windows users as an alternative to CAD centric software.

The CAD software we use at the university is less a matter of choice and more a matter of logic. SolidWorks is practically a requirement on CVs at the moment. Rhino is also available. When I started the course, I found Rhino to be more similar to Cinema 4D and hence I preferred it at the time. But now that I’ve used both for years, I always open SolidWorks before Rhino when I need to make a prototype, even for models with complex curves.

When I first became interested in photorealistic rendering, V-Ray was very appealing to me, but once I actually had V-Ray for Cinema 4D, I realized that I didn’t want to spend a lot of time adjusting settings, I wanted to spend more time designing and modeling. A few internet searches later and I found Maxwell Render. When I first tried it, it was still version 1, and it won me over in terms of ease of use and quality. One of the first images I ever made showed the model casting a shadow on the floor, when the only lighting in the scene was an HDRI. I’d never seen that before and it was enough to make a lasting impression. I dabbled between Cinema 4D’s own render engine, V-Ray and Maxwell Render for a while, but when Maxwell Render 2 was released I didn’t look back. For me it still delivers fantastic results, whether the image is complicated or simple, very easily. 

And something I wish someone had told me when I started: whenever you see a render that really impresses you, 10-25% of all the work that went into making that image came from Photoshop, which is why it is also another vital tool in my arsenal of software. Alien Skin Exposure is a plug-in for Photoshop that I couldn’t work without, it mimics the effect of certain types of photographic film, but with a lot more control and subtlety than Instagram.

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?


James Coleman: The most surprising thing about my product design course is that we focus on teaching communication, technology, professionalism, history, etc. It’s a doctrine that actually I agree with. Not just because it follows Dieter Rams’ principles, but also because we have the rest of our lives to design, so we might as well use the time now to make sure we know how to do it right, and then later on we can be eccentric if we like. Very often in product design, designers can get too caught up in the aesthetics of a product and forget about ergonomics, engineering, or any other topic. That’s not what’s taught in Brighton, and that's what makes it stand out from other, more “arts” based courses.

One project I enjoyed was making a “Revolutionary” product, with the tag-line of “It doesn’t look like a “X”, but it does what a “X” does”. I was inspired by one of my favorite ideas in product design, “the new application of an existing technology”, and because we were so pressured to design something that would be completely revolutionary, I decided to include some technologies that were theoretically possible but not available yet. I based the project on audio loudspeakers, because the technology in them hasn’t really changed for nearly 150 years, they’re still as electrodynamic as they were when they were first invented. The end result is the Levitating Superconducting Speakers concept. 

After starting to use Maxwell Render 2, one of my projects was to identify a product which exhibited evolutionary design, and to continue that design onto its next generation. For my project I chose the Kodak Brownie, despite being out of production since the 1970’s, its design when it was discontinued was very similar to when it was originally conceived at the beginning of the century. Kodak would often make special edition cameras for major events and I immediately themed the project around the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games. The project was small and it only took a few weeks to complete, but it went on to be featured on Yanko Design, and after that it was very popular on the web, I still see the occasional tweet about it! I put the amount of public interest in the project down to the quality of the renders. I approached Kodak to see if they would be interested in taking the project further, and although they weren’t interested at the time, they invited me to contact them about employment upon my graduation.

Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field (now or in the future)?


James Coleman: I think predicting the future has never really involved specific technologies, but instead looking at habits, lifestyles and routines, and then the technology is left to catch up. Touch screen technology, for example, was mostly a gimmick that had little real world value, until you could touch simultaneously in more than one place at once, and it was applied to a mobile phone. In hindsight it seems obvious that that’s how it should be used. So predicting specific technologies that will be developed, find a niche, and become cheap enough to be in common use, is much more difficult than imagining overall work flows and customs. My Levitating Speakers involved several different technologies that are not commonplace yet, or do not exist at all, including superdiamagnetic levitation, wireless power transfer, and flexible screens. It is certain that these technologies will develop over time, in fact when the project was completed, wireless speakers were still revolutionary, but now AirPlay is commonplace. The question is, will there be a benefit to having Levitating Speakers?

3D printing has got a lot of press lately regarding its potential. I agree that one day we may have 3D printers in every home, and in one end you would put waste, and then products, food and other luxuries will come tumbling out of the other. I think that one day, we will have “Star Trek” style replicators, powered by electricity which will probably come from fusion reactors. But not within my lifetime. At the moment, 3D printing and rapid prototyping often seem limited to making spare components when objects break. Even then they have to come from 3D files made by a professional. Consumers will want to be able to print complete objects, like kettles, laptops or phones. Even though 3D printers which are capable of making multi-coloured objects, and printing multiple components connected together have existed for some time, as someone who has worked with 3D printers for many years, I think we still have some way to go. But when we are there, they will change the world in ways which no one has yet imagined, and copyright and piracy laws will once again be brought into question.

In my particular area of interest (medical design), there are plenty of issues which are commonplace and well known. Drug resistant infections, obesity related complications, and aging population are the three problems which I expect to encounter in my design career. In much less than a century, certain bacteria have evolved to become almost immune to many typical antibiotics. If this trend continues, product design will have to play a major role in increasing the hygiene of hospital environments. Anti-microbial materials such as copper are already seeing a comeback, and although cloth bedsheets interwoven with silver (again for its anti-microbial properties) is a hugely expensive concept at present, if it becomes cheaper than treating patients, it will become a reality. 

Despite being prepared for these trends, I don’t think there is anything that can or will prepare me for the problem of ageing population. There are practical, medical, and ethical issues where product design will be called upon to help. These issues are nothing new, but will be exaggerated in the future. With higher demand, and larger markets, products specifically for the elderly will become more commonplace, and inclusive design will have more influence over everyone. This effect is visible now, for example with non-step access to buildings being a legal requirement, and this trend shows no sign of stopping.

Novedge: What are your plans after graduation?

James Coleman: My ideal job would be a product designer at a company specializing in the medical industry. My overall impression of the purpose of product design is to make our lives more efficient, where is that more important than when well being, potentially lives, are at stake? Medical staff are often overworked and underpaid, and then they have to use equipment made by the lowest bidder. Then this equipment will not be updated unless it breaks or is recalled (the standard that dictates the design of an IV drip stand is nearly 50 years old, and has never been updated). And with humans living longer and getting fatter, the market is just going to get bigger (some pun intended).

My family is a big reason I feel this way. Three generations have in some way or another worked in the medical industry. I’m not brave enough to be on the front line like they are, but I wouldn’t mind sitting back at a comfortable distance and making the equipment that they use everyday a little bit more efficient. 

Most of all, though, I’m going to recover from the condition that has practically dictated my life for the past 5 years. It’ll take another 5 years to be completely rid of it, but I’m looking forward to being able to walk to places without running the risk of being housebound the next day. I’m looking forward to working to improve the services that have served me for so long.

Autodesk Smoke 2013: Q&A with Marc-Andre Ferguson

Autodesk recently released Smoke 2013, the video editing software for Mac that combines editing and effects. I asked Smoke expert Marc-Andre Ferguson to answer a few questions.

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and what you do 

Marc-Andre Ferguson: I am the Smoke Product Evangelist at Autodesk. My role is to spread the word to the editing community about the new Smoke, how it can revolutionize their editing and effects workflow, save them time and money, and enhance the quality of their productions.

My job involves staying current with industry changes and trends, playing an active role in Social Media circuits, giving product demonstrations and talks at industry events and trade shows, such as Final Cut User Groups, NAB and the like, as well as creating compelling content for users getting acquainted with Smoke.

 

Novedge: How did you become a fan of Autodesk Smoke? 

Marc-Andre Ferguson: When I finished my film studies in 1995, I opened an editorial boutique with my brother, Productions Imagène. We had an Avid, a ProTools and a beefy Mac for multimedia and print work. The local Discreet Logic reseller heard about us and came to "check on us" periodically, showing us how we could upgrade our production value by moving our effects and finishing pipeline to Smoke. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford one back then.

Then I had the chance to work with then-designer and trainer Patrice Cormier on Smoke 3.0, and I was hooked. For the next ten years, I longed to get back to it while I did most of my editing and finishing with a combination of After Effects and Final Cut Pro, with a bit of Shake thrown in there.

In 2008, I was approached by Autodesk to join the Smoke Product Design team, for my expertise in FCP editorial workflows, and I eventually led the design effort for porting Smoke to the Mac platform. Ever since I have been proud and thrilled to help put Smoke's powerful effects tools in the hands of editors who previously did not have access to it.  

Novedge: What set-up would you recommend to best take advantage of Smoke? 

Marc-Andre Ferguson: When we went to the drawing board to design Smoke 2013, we wanted to make sure people could use it on a variety of configurations, from laptops to iMacs or MacPro workstations.  So there's no big list of hardware requirements.  That said, I'd recommend some kind of dedicated, high-performance storage with a good, fast connection.  In Smoke you can work with native HD and even 2K/4K media, so while you could work off of a FireWire drive or other attached storage, the bandwidth you get over something like Thunderbolt is a real benefit.  Smoke is also a 64-bit application, so it will take as much RAM as you can throw at it.  In our demo configurations we like to have 16GB of RAM installed to provide a good, fluid workflow. 

Most compositors wouldn't be caught dead without their tablet, and Smoke's user interface was originally designed to maximize the use of a tablet. For color grading, we support the Avid Artist Series panel.

Novedge: What file formats are supported by Smoke? Can timelines and files be imported to Smoke from other programs? 

Marc-Andre Ferguson: Smoke supports most professional video and file formats, such as camera originals from Sony, Panasonic, RED, ARRI, GoPro and Canon. We also support virtually all QuickTime formats , like ProRes, and Avid DNxHD files.  If you're working with another NLE such as Apple's Final Cut Pro or Avid Media Composer, you can bring entire timelines into Smoke including multiple layers, effects references and native media.  A lot of Smoke users like this workflow, as they can edit in one application and dedicate Smoke to post production.  It really just depends on the requirements of the project. 

Novedge: How does Smoke support collaborations between editors? Can multiple editors work on the same clip in the same project?

Marc-Andre Ferguson: Absolutely.  Collaboration in creative workflows is vital.  In Smoke, we've built-in networking and project sharing tools that let editors work across multiple workstations on projects or quickly move project assets between workstations.  Projects can be shared by using a "remote login" feature - where one editor will attach to another computer running Smoke over a network connection.  All clips and renders happen over the network, so the faster the network, the better the performance.  Or editors can move folders, data sets or individual clips between workstations if they need the performance of working off local storage.

And if projects need to move between multiple computers or multiple facilities running Smoke, there's a unique archiving feature in Smoke that allows you to snapshot a timeline, set of clips or entire project including original media files and intermediate renders and versions.  This snapshot can be restored on another Mac running Smoke and the project can continue exactly where the previous editor left off.  By the way, archiving is also a fantastic way to save a project and all its assets after a job is delivered.  If a client ever comes back for changes or to update, you can pick up exactly where you left off with the same original media, metadata and render files.  It's really pretty cool.

Novedge: What are your favorite editing tools? 

Marc-Andre Ferguson: In Smoke, my favorite editing tools are the FX Ribbon and Gap effects.

When you apply an effect to a clip in the timeline, it shows up in the FX Ribbon, right above the top-most track. This way, you can quickly apply changes to a selected clip's effect, without the need to move to another panel or open a window.

Effects can also be applied to a group of clips by using a Gap effect, which users might call an Adjustment layer. Not only can you apply color correction and masks (for example to create a vignette effect), but also more elaborate ConnectFX setups, saving you a lot of time.

Novedge: How does Smoke work in true 3D space?

Marc-Andre Ferguson: 3D is something that Autodesk knows a lot about.  From our 3D design and visualization products to 3D content creation tools like Maya and 3dsMax.  What makes us unique in professional video is that a lot of the 3D knowledge and capabilities extend into what Smoke does.

Even if you are just compositing flat layers - like a greenscreen shot over a background image - in Smoke you can build the composite in X, Y and Z space.  So you can create simple parallax effects between flat layers in 3D space by simply moving them in relation to the 3D camera inside of Smoke.  Or if a client wants to add a 3D title to their video, using Smoke, an editor can simply create, extrude and texture 3D text right inside the compositing tools of Smoke.  And in both cases, editors can add multiple lights with 3D lens flares and effects, cast shadows, you name it - and the beauty of Smoke is that it's as fast and interactive as simple 2D text in other tools. 

If you really want to go deep in 3D space, Smoke even allows you to bring in 3D models and geometry using the FBX interchange format.  So imagine you've got a 3D character or animated title designed by someone working in Maya.  Instead of rendering out flat passes to reassemble in 2D space, editors have the option of bringing in the actual geometry right inside Smoke.  In most cases, you'll want to use a combination of 2D layer passes and 3D effects, but with the flexibility to add true lighting and texturing effects, the results you can achieve with Smoke are dramatically  better than what you get in a traditional layer-based compositor.  

Novedge: What are Smoke's audio editing capabilities?

Marc-Andre Ferguson: Smoke has all the tools you need to create a broadcast-quality stereo mix. With clip-based rubber band editing to EQ, filtering and compression, Smoke can tackle a basic mix easily.

 

Novedge: What other software or plugins do you like to use with Smoke? 

Marc-Andre Ferguson: The only plugins package available for Smoke is GenArts' Sapphire, which brings over 70 effects to the Smoke editor's palette. Smoke is also compatible with a variety of third-party packages.

For example, you an import 3D and planar tracking data into Smoke's compositor, from Mocha Pro, Syntheyes or PFTrack.

With PluralEyes 3, you can sync video and double-system sound easily and export an XML file that can be brought into Smoke.

Telestream's Episode Pro now lets you access Smoke's Media Database in order to export clips and sequences from Episode to a plethora of formats.

 

Find out more about Marc-Andre Ferguson on his blog and keep an eye on our webinar series as we are preparing a webinar on Smoke on Wednesday May 15th.

Interview with Joseph Drust, Character Artist: "By far Zbrush is the tool that has changed how I work the most"

If you are a ZBrush user, you have probably already heard Joseph Drust and his video tutorials. He is not only a wonderful artist, but also a great teacher. We asked him to share a little about his work and his passion for character design.

Novedge: Tell us about yourself and what you do

Joseph Drust: I am a Character Artist for Ubisoft residing in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Growing up I always knew I wanted to do something with art. In High School I wanted to be a graphic designer/product designer (work on design elements for retail packaging etc..) I also played A LOT of games; pretty much anything I could get my hands on (One Must Fall 2097, Quest for Glory, Madden, X-Com, Doom, Quake, Raptor:Call of the Shadows, and anything on a Nintendo system.)  I never really thought about games needing artwork until my senior year when my drafting teacher by the name of Stephen Satterwhite said "You enjoy playing those games so much why don't you make art for them." Until that point I had never thought about games needing artwork to exist.  After that all my artwork through college shifted to having something to do with games (along with any elective courses I could take.)
I have been creating character art for video games for over 10 years.  I have worked on projects such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Ben 10 Alien Force, Earth Defense Force Insert Armageddon, and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.                

 

Novedge: What inspires you?

 Joseph Drust: There is no sole item that inspires me.  I have a large library of Art Books that I reference constantly, then a dedicated folder on all the computers I use that is home to any image I find appealing on the internet and right-click save.  I use these two resources quite frequently to find inspiration. I feel that the wider range of art you expose your mind to, the better art you will produce. I also find a lot of inspiration in nature, focusing on patterns and structures that organically exist. For most of the work I produce, I try to establish functional realism and lore. I think this is a product of creating military characters for quite a bit of my career. Now the list of Artists that inspire me changes constantly, some of the artists I have been enjoying following recently (their philosophies and art) are Danny Williams, Andrew Jones, Derek Stenning, Kris Kuksi, Odd Nerdrum, and Maarten Verhoeven.

 

Novedge: What is a recent project that you worked on?

 Joseph Drust: When working in games, production cycles can sometimes go on for years before the product ever sees store shelves.  The most recent game I worked on that shipped was Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. I was tasked primarily with modeling the high-res and low-res customizable headgear objects that the player could select in multiplayer.

 

 

At home during the late evenings after my toddler goes to sleep I continue working on various other projects in my shop. Most of the time I am up till the wee hours of the morning sculpting, kitbashing, recording tutorials, writing zplugins, or painting something. The Piggyson Steam Series (kitbashed vinyl KidRobot Munny's) has been one of my larger fully tangible endeavors  I am currently working on creating a new line of those and some larger scaled steampunk style robots (that function of course).

 

 

 

Novedge: What software do you prefer and use? Tell us why.

Joseph Drust: The main software I use daily for digital sculpting is ZBrush. Then I also use 3ds Max (varying versions pending on what the project requires), Photoshop, xNormal (for map baking), Headus UVLayout, CrazyBump, Marmoset ToolBag, and occasionally Marvelous Designer. I am always on the lookout for new software or tools to help speed up my production pipeline and let me do more art and less technical processes. Most of the tools that I use are related to my production pipeline (sculpting, generating retopology, unwrapping, map baking, and previewing).

 

By far Zbrush is the tool that has changed how I work the most on a day to day basis. Before Zbrush my day to day job was pushing and pulling single vertices, and turning edges inside of 3ds Max.  With the release of Mudbox  (before Autodesk acquired it) I was instantly hooked on digital sculpting. After AutoDesk acquired Mudbox there was a lull period for the program and I had a friend by the name of Abraham Valdez that convinced me to give Zbrush a try. After getting used to the Interface I never went back.  I've been using Zbrush for about 80% of my working day since then. It's a excellent tool and it keeps getting stronger with every version release. So now I go to work and sculpt with a Wacom Stylus rather then move single vertices with a mouse. I was a Zbrush fanboy even before I started creating tutorials for them :) 

 

Novedge: We are big fans of your tutorials. How did you get into teaching? What do you like the most about it?

Joseph Drust: I'm glad you enjoyed the tutorials! I hope they were useful!  My desire to teach started back in college. At the time it was extremely hard for me to find any information on creating game assets. I spent most of my time doing trial and error attempts for a lot of the processes (this was back in the Quake1/Half-life1 mod era.)  When I got my first game job, I was fortunate enough to be able to stand behind an artist by the name of Eric Armstrong.  In a period of one week of 'over the shoulder' learning I had every single question I had about creating game art answered.  After that, I decided that when I could I would help distribute my knowledge of game art to others.  My first open forum for tutorials was with the original Ghost Recon.  I set up a FAQ page that covered how to mod Characters, Weapons, and Vehicles to Ghost Recon.  Users could email me questions and I would reply with diagrams and 'how to' steps if necessary.  Back then there were a lot of little things you had to rotate/place/label in order to get items running in game.  From there I started giving talks at local schools and writing tutorials. The tutorial writing eventually was upgraded to video and that's were we are now.

The thing I like the most about teaching is the ability to share knowledge. I find that if I can share knowledge with someone, then they have the potential to do something that I may not have thought about, then if they share that knowledge the cycle continues.  This also directly relates to inspiration; giving others information to help them create better art that in return inspires.

 

 

Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field now or in the future?

Joseph Drust: Even just since I have been in the gaming industry the field has changed considerably. I see the character creation process in the industry continuing to move to more traditional methods (but of course with Undos and Symmetry.)   The 3D printing is taking off as well (in the future maybe having the ability to go to Sears and have a part for your lawn mower 3D printed right there!), and so is 3D Scanning (the resurge of photogrammetry.)  I see the usage of 3D printing, digital sculpting, traditional sculpting, and scanning to be intertwined as standard practice for character creation. 

In other technology I personally would love to see the removal of the UV mapping process/requirement for game assets. Never having to create a UV map would be great, someone needs to get on that ;)

 

To see more of Joseph Drust's art, visit his website.

To learn more about the latest ZBrush release, register for our webinar here.

To learn more about Marvelous Designer, watch our most popular webinar to date.

Discover and learn with Novedge's Best of the Best Webinar Series.

Race to Advanced Support on Autodesk Suites with this Free Upgrade.

I am proud to announce that Novedge is offering a very special deal on many Autodesk Suites. You can see the full list here. From now until the end of January, when you buy a full suite with maintenance, we will give you a free subscription to Autodesk's Advanced Support. This upgrade will give you access, for one year, to "unlimited, priority, one-to-one, extended hour global phone support from senior Autodesk support specialists."

If you are thinking of purchasing seats for one of the suites in the special, take advantage of this offer before it expires. There is always so much to learn and and this premiere level of support from Autodesk is the best way to connect with their amazing team.

And don't forget to become a member of WikiCAD, our online community for users of Autodesk products and plugins. You can sign up here, and connect on twitter and Facebook to participate in forum discussions, connect with other design professionals, read the latest news and discover new videos and projects.

Rhino 5 Has Arrived!

The wait is over: McNeel today announced the release of Rhino 5.

If you are working in Beta, you should have already received an email from McNeel letting you know when your current version expires. Secure your new license right away from Novedge.

If you are buying a commercial license, you can save when buying before February 26th, 2013.

Wondering about the new features? If you haven't yet, check out Novedge Webinar #3  and #43 on what is new in Rhino 5. You can also find a complete list of new features here.

An important note for Rhino 4 plug-ins users: most Rhino 4 plugins, scripts and related products, including Brazil and Bongo, will work with a 32-bit Rhino 5, but not with a 64-bit Rhino 5. You can also check the system requirements here.

Do you have more questions? Shoot us an email at sales@novedge.com

Novedge at the San Francisco Autodesk Gallery

Yesterday we had the pleasure of taking a tour of the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, with Jeff Farr, Autodesk Senior Partner Manager. 

So much of what we use and interact with has been designed with CAD software and often with an Autodesk software.  We saw samples of designs from different applications, from architecture, to film and entertainment, from product design to 3D printing technology.

Below are some of the highlights of our visit.

Here's the model of the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California, by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SMO). 3D printed models were widely used to plan the building, making the use of natural light a central feature of the cathedral. Software used: AutoCAD, DWF Viewer, 3ds Max, CSI SAP2000 Nonlinear, CSI SAFE, form-Z, PTC Mathcad, Rhino3D, S-CONCRETE, SOM Proprietary Image Processor.

3D printed model of the Shanghai Tower by Gensler.

Applications for the gaming and entertainment industries, including a motion capture suit, used in movies like Avatar.

The Pi Cycle, by Pi Mobility, an electric bike that Cristiano couldn't resist trying! Software used: Inventor, 3ds Max, Showcase

More fun with a car driving simulator, taking Cristiano to a virtual Golden Gate Bridge.

At the end of the visit, we saw a 3D printer and some samples created with it.

From entire action figures printed all at once, to actual usable tools, 3D printing is an exciting new technology.

As a parting gift, we sat at the photo station to get our "3D" photo taken.

Here's Cristiano's photo in Autodesk 123D Catch, ready to be 3D printed!

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, take some time to visit the Autodesk Gallery. There's a guided tour every day at 12:30 pm, to hear more about each project.