ISSUE 31
July 2013
3D
ArtD
irect.c
om
SYLVAIN CHEVALLIER
ANDY WELDER
FANTASY & SCI-FI ARTIST IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
BRYCE ● VUE ● TERRAGEN ● POSER ● MOJOWORLD ● CARRARA ● DAZ STUDIO ● CINEMA 4D ● 3DS MAX ● BLENDER ● LIGHTWAVE
TARIK KESKIN—DESIGNING THE INTERIORS OF OUR FUTURE
3D Art DIRECT
2
3D Art
Paul Bussey
Editor & Conference Director
Front Cover Artwork : “Eden Archives I” by Terek Keskin
Mickey Mills
Assistant Editor
Danny Gordon
Conference Manager
Copyright © 2013 3D Art Direct. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Podcast
Our monthly fresh inspiration for 3D artists available on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Podcast feed:- http://3dartdirect.com/feed/podcast
Magazine
Sign up to our mailing list to get each new magazine
delivered to your inbox.
3dartdirect.com
3d Art Live
Live webinar based conferences for
3D Digital Artists
3DArtLive.com
FANTASY & SCI-FI ARTIST IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
3
3D Art Live Events
Live webinar based conferences for 3D Digital Artists
04
Interview : Sylvain Chevallier
With Sylvain Chevallier, a Vue artist living and working in
France, it is rare to find the kind of diversity of subject and
genre found in Sylvain’s Cornucopia gallery. Whether he’s
rendering a Fastback Mustang, a deep space mission, or an
Italian Villa, it’s obvious he brings a passion for the image
regardless of the topic.
Interview : Tarik Keskin
A modern student of the world of architecture and 3D Space, Tarik
Keskin studies at Doğuş University, Istanbul. His futuristic vision of
living on Earth and traveling in space is shared in an outstanding and
eye catching style with the help of 3DS Max and Mental Ray.
22
06
36
Interview : Andy Welder
“There, on sheer endless afternoons, I discovered Sci-Fi and
Surrealism...Writers like Jack Vance, Larry Niven and Isaac Asimov,
painters like Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Carel Willink and Escher
presented me an alternate reality...…those years are the foundation
of my Terragen work”
4
www.3DArtLive.com
“Animating Nature”
Vue Animation Masterclasses Webinars : Saturday 3rd –4th August 2013 at 20:00 BST
(15:00 EDT and 12:00 PDT)
By Michel Rondberg and Drea Horvath from D&D Creations™
Introductory Session (free)
Introduction to animating nature
Wind and atmosphere
Atmospheric effects (rain, snow, particles)
Forest/Jungle scenes with beautiful Sunbeams
Optimize Scenes for Better Resource Handling
What is slowing my frames down?
Diagnose and cure
Optimizing ecosystems
Mesh optimization
Scene optimization
Strategic Rendering: Settings for Speed and Quality
Determining a strategy for your goals
Strategies for 100% CG renders, 100% nature
Strategies for CG + real life footage (Film)
Suggested strategies speed vs. quality
Render setting starting points
http://3dartlive.com/vueanimation
5
Paul Bussey
Editor & Conference Director
2
Coming soon….
New live conference for Poser and Poser Pro users
A whole set of webinars throughout one weekend just for the
Poser community
Top well known presenters demonstrating live from their
desktops
Engage live with presenters and other attendees
Get updated on the new conference www.3dartlive.com/poserexpo
6
3DA: Welcome to 3D Art Direct – glad you
could join us for a look at your work and
discuss your zeal for Vue and your journey to
and through 3D Art.
SC: Hi, I'm glad you given me the
opportunity to share some of my pictures in
your magazine, really thanks for that and I
hope you will like them!
3DA: So tell us about your early journey to
art. Where you one of those artsy children,
always drawing on something?
SC: Mmmmm - artsy child, I don't know,
but when I was young, I had always a pencil
in my hand, I remember I loved to draw
Walt Disney characters or robots, later I've
founded a passion in graffiti, the spray can
was a good friend!! Then I was attracted by
photography and 3 years ago, I've discovered
the CG world!
3DA: You mentioned you always had an
interest in photography and astronomy. Tell
us about that. Do you try to bring a
photographer’s eye to your art?
SC: Astronomy was a long time passion for
me, I had 2 telescopes (a 105 mm Newton,
and a 305 mm Newton GoTo). I loved moving
in the countryside with them, but because
the lightning pollution, I have sold them and
I admit, I have regrets!!
There are few subjects
as diverse as art. Set
aside all the various
mediums where
traditional artists hone
their skills, whether a
fine canvas strung
across a wooden frame,
a concrete sidewalk and
a block of chalk, or
anything between, art’s powerful draw, no pun
intended, is rooted in its diversity.
The world of 3D digital art is no different. Although
the software platforms are defined by a few key
companies and a host of add-on suppliers, the
diversity comes from the artists themselves. For
every artist behind a keyboard and mouse, you’ll
find such a diversity of talent level, subject matter,
genre, color range, scope and technique to keep
even the most discerning eye entertained.
We are joined this month Sylvain Chevallier, a
Frenchman and Vue artist living and working in
France. It’s rare to find the kind of diversity of
subject and genre found together in Sylvain’s
Cornucopia gallery. Whether he’s rendering a
Fastback Mustang, a deep space mission, or an
Italian Villa, it’s obvious he brings a passion for the
image regardless of the topic.
THE CITADEL
7
ANNO 1713
8
For the photography, I had the chance to meet a
neighbor who is famous in fashion shots. I
learned a lot with him in composition, lightning
and choice of the colors. I loved to go on his
studio. After, I've started to retouch some of his
pictures in Photoshop, and I started my trip in
digitals pictures and now, I'm here!
3DA: One of the things that caught my eye in
your gallery is your fascination with American
muscle cars. Where does that come from?
SC: I've always been fascinated by those cars,
the bodies shapes, the incredible sounds of their
V8, asphalt eater!!
3DA: You picked up Vue three years ago and are
basically self-taught. Tell us about that
experience, what got you to Vue and how you
went about learning.
SC: I had the “flash” when I've bought the first
issue of our 3d mag where I saw Drea Horvath
and Dominic Davison pictures.
It was fantastic and I caught the V.A.S. (Vue
Addiction Syndrome!!) I've started to play with
Vue alone, but to understand well the software
and when I was blocked, I watched some
GeekatplayStudio tutorials (great place btw),
after was the practice who made my skills.
3DA: How has being part of the Cornucopia
community helped you grow as a 3d Artist?
SC: I've found here some great artists with really
eye catching and inspiring pictures and the
“Making-of” section too. But essentially is on the
Vue gallery group on Facebook I've grown more.
If you have a moment, take a look on it!!
(Thanks to Barry Marshall who is the admin of
this great group)
3DA: Along those lines, who are some of your
Cornucopia peers who have influenced your work
along the way?
SC: Wow, there is too many to name them all!
They have all influenced me! It is on Vue group I
found them, they have all their own style, some
are better in composition, some in lightning,
some in textures and materials etc., but they do
all great renders!
3DA: The French are known for great works of
art. How have you been influenced by the art
world around you?
INTERVIEW: Sylvain Chevallier
BRIEFING CAM VIEW
9
BAVIERE
10
I've wanted a really minimal picture without to many colors, I had this cyborg and this vehicle. The composition and the picture came alone.
THE MACHINES
JAPONISANT
11
SC: Thanks for the French! I like a lot travelling
on the web to find my inspiration, photo, video,
don't really care of the style as long as it's eye
catching. I really like to watch all I have all
around me. I'm in love with the light, especially
the golden moments of the day.
3DA: Let’s take a look at some of your work. Tell
me about The Machines. For some reason this
one just leapt off the page. The strong black and
white pallet touched off with the hint of red is
stellar. The power is in its simplicity.
SC: Indeed, as you said, sometimes the power is
in simplicity! I've wanted a really minimal picture
without to many colors, I had this cyborg and
this vehicle. The composition and the picture
came alone.
3DA: A really nice composition is Japonisant.
What was your inspiration and how did you put
this one together?
SC: My inspiration was the blossoming moment
of the plants and trees in Japan, and their
traditional architecture. I’ve used some
Stonemason's props and some Xfrog trees for
doing it.
3DA: Chronicles of Darkness is very middle-
earth like. I really like the narrow depth of field
on this. What technique let you focus the field to
that sliver of sharpness?
SC: Me too, I like it! For this one, I've used the
classical photography rule who want the focus on
the eyes, I've just duplicated the iris and I've
locked to camera to it, the blur is done entirely
with Vue.
3DA: I like The Little. This tiny droid seems a bit
weathered. Is that something you did or did the
model come that way? How did you do the blur
in Photoshop?
THE LITTLE
CHRONICAL OF DARKNESS
12
FROM THE BLOCK
13
EXTRACTION SITE
THE HOLE
14
SC: This model come from Stefan Morrell aka
Stonemason site, the textures are with it. I've
just photo-shopped them to do variation maps
for the highlights, reflections, and bumps. The
only material I've made is the glass on the
drone!
For the blur, I made two renders, one with and
one without the drone. I generated the alpha
mask of him and the global DOF of the render
without the “Little”. Then, in Photoshop, I applied
the depth of field and the directional blur in the
first picture, and, in the second, I cut the drone
with the alpha mask. Then I put it on the blurred
render.
3DA: Another of your sci-fi images that stood out
is From the Block. It reminds of Coruscant, home
of the Star Wars Galactic Empire. What was your
inspiration and how did this image unfold?
SC: Yes, it's that! I've used again Stonemason's
props except for the character, I've wanted to
focus on it with a little blur to avoid an overladen
picture. The goal was to see the cyborg looking
this futuristic city with all the life around it. For
that the traffic and the smoke have an important
role.
3DA: Keeping with the Sci-Fi theme, Extraction
Site is a strong image with a depth and scale that
is difficult to achieve. I think your composition
with this one is spot on. Tell us about this one.
SC: For this picture, the atmosphere does 90% of
the work. To show this sense of big scale it was
important to have something in the foreground
(here, the terrain with the truck and the
characters), and something far to the horizon
(the extraction site). The planets have an
important role too, to avoid an empty sky and to
have a more Sci-fi look, I've achieved this render
in Photoshop with a little gamma correction and
with the use of the depth of field pass.
3DA: Birmanie is another of your diverse images
INTERVIEW: Sylvain Chevallier
15
with a subtle quality some might overlook.
There’s a lot of detail here and the cultural add-
ins like the temples in the background and the
riverboat. Tell us about what inspired you to go
here and what was your biggest challenge?
SC: This picture is inspired by a friend who have
travelled around those countries. The pictures he
made were fabulous, so, I started one! the
biggest challenge here was the variety of the
vegetation. I don't remember well but there is a
lot! One ecosystem layer per plants species for
more control on the distribution. The rest is a
only a composition work!
3DA: I’m curious about your production process.
Do you always start with a vision and build out
there, or are you more of a draw and let’s see
where it goes kind of designer?
SC: I always have the picture in my head. With
time I find the best solution for doing it.
Sometimes I'm making dozen of renders to have
the goal I want and sometimes one or two is
enough. But I have a notebook to write the
modifications I need to put in a picture.
3DA: What is your computer setup you use
mostly for your work?
SC: I don't have a big setup. My machine is an
I7 2600k with 16 GB ram and a 560 GTX TI
graphic card. My screen is a Samsung
SyncMaster, SA300 23 inches. I also have a
Wacom Intuos 3M (“my preciouuuuuus” as
Gollum said.). That's all!
3DA: What kind of things would you like to
tackle next as a 3D artist?
SC: I don't know really, I like it all. I've never
made archviz picture, so maybe that! A beautiful
modern house in a countryside environment with
a photo realistic look could be nice!!
3DA: And finally, what three tips would give a
digital art newcomer?
SC: Three tips? There is more than three, but the
more important are for me:
- Look, study and understand all around you how
the light is working on objects and you will
better. It's really important for a good picture,
photorealist or stylized!
- If you share your work, you are expecting for
comments and feedbacks, so , take them, they
are always constructive, good or bad.
- And the most important, HAVE FUN and have
your own style!
BIRMANIE
www.3dartdirect.com/sylvain
16
MISSION TO CAMP BASE
17
TEMPLE OF SERENITY
MISSION TO CAMP BASE
18
INTERVIEW: Sylvain Chevallier
MT. MAJESTIC
RUST IN PEACE
19
BAJAUS SULAWESI INDONESIA
20
DRIVE
DEUDEUCHE
21
COPS
LITTLE ITALY
22
3DA: Welcome to 3D Art Direct.
TK: Hello there, I'm glad to be here with you.
3DA: So what brought you to the world of Architecture?
TK: I've always been fascinated with buildings, and especially how I feel in buildings or spaces. I knew that someone created that particular space and it made my feel relaxed, or made me imagine or go somewhere else in my head, so I decided to do the same thing, create spaces that people would feel themselves in a different world, elsewhere.
3DA: Who are some of your peers in the architecture world that have influenced your style?
TK: Zaha Hadid is the first name comes to mind. I really admire the way she sees it, influenced by the nature, she really interprets nature in amazing ways. Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Zimmerman and Emre Arolat are big influences too.
3DA: It’s apparent you have a strong eye for design. What are some of your best sources of inspiration?
TK: Nature and thoughts about different space and time continuums are my best sources for inspiration. And the concept of being "elsewhere". I try to start thinking about nature when creating my designs, they are fluent, organic and shiny. Then it becomes something else, a different place, the difference is it is not
Architecture - the process and product of
planning, designing, and construction, usually of
buildings and other physical structures. In days
past it meant sitting at a drafting board with
pencil and protractor, templates and T-squares, to
draw, annotate, measure, mold, shape and design
the way we live. That was then – this is now.
With the advent of Computer Aided Design,
pencils were replaced by mouse and tablet, paper
by bits and bytes on a storage device. Architects
today claim ownership of multiple disciplines
including mechanical and civil engineering,
computational modeling, materials science, art
culture and technology, among others. In many
ways the very foundation of the way we live and
interact is rooted in the structures around us..
In the pure sense of the word, architecture is art.
They co-exist in a world of line and curve, color,
texture and form to create functional space that is
also visually attractive. When artist and architect
collide in modern three-dimensional software
some amazing things can happen.
We are fortunate today to sit with a modern
student of the world of architecture and 3D Space.
Tarik Keskin studies at Doğuş University, Istanbul.
His futuristic vision of living on Earth and traveling
in space seemed the perfect fit for 3D Art Direct.
CITY OF DELUSION
23
in our space and continuum, it is somewhere else. I think I like to think the idea of when someone looks at it they can be there too, in a way, detached from reality.
3DA: You mentioned that you created maps for the video game Counter Strike. How did you get into that and what was that like?
TK: That is a funny story. I was a kid really, and played CS. I don't know why, but somehow I wanted to create spaces that I saw in the game. I think even in that time I had the idea of being elsewhere, I wasn't fully aware of that then, but that was it.
3DA: Besides being a great designer you are a
BLIND FAITH
SPACE WEAPONDARY
24
musician as well. Doesn’t this go right to the core of you being a creative person all around, and the architecture is just a natural extension of your art based foundation?
TK: Of course, I really do not seperate them, I look them both as "creating stuff". But music is different in a way. Because music is a performing art, you are on stage and you are performing what you feel in front of a crowd. So when I play drums at a gig, I feel that energy and that, is something else, different then "creating stuff", it is something bigger, stronger, and isn't describable at all.
3DA: You use 3ds Max and Mental Ray as your core 3D tools. What is it about these packages that got you to use them in your work?
TK: 3ds Max is for modelling, and Mental Ray is a rendering engine. 3ds Max is a very widely used software in modelling and animation, some the major filmmakers use that software for animations. Mental Ray is the default rendering engine included in 3ds Max, which is an industry standard for rendering animations. It is more used for animations than it is used for still images.
3DA: Let’s get into some of your work. I’d like to start off with your Peregrine Falcon images, specifically Club Elsewhile. In your gallery you mention your inspiration being Mass Effect 2. Tell us about Peregrine Falcon, what it is, and where Club Elsewhile fits.
TK: Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal living on earth. You can google it to find out how fast she can fly. I named my design after this very nice bird, basically the ship Peregrine Falcon is an interstellar or intergalactic transportation vessel, making very long trips between spaces. Club Elsewhile is one of the many floors of the ship, and it is a club... Elsewhile refers to the shift of time, when the vessel is cruising, it's speed is higher than the speed of light, therefore there are some complications about time when it's in between places. So you are in elsewhile or otherwhen when you are on that ship, hence comes the name Club Elsewhile.
3DA: While we’re on the Falcon, let’s step over to Cyryogenics. One thing that strikes me about your work is you tend to have very curvy, open spaces. This is a great example of using light and space to build your environment. Tell us about this area.
TK: That section of the vessel is for people who prefer to be unaware of the voyage they take, they experience a shift of time, in other words if the voyage lasts three Earth months, that three months is missing from their lives, because they are in a cryogenic state of sleep. And about the space, yes it is very curvy and open, and the only
light sources are the stars nearby, and translucent walls that let the light through inside. When there is no stars at all, walls become self-illuminated.
3DA: I also like the Falcon’s Library. It’s kind of the same structure as Cryogenics, but the warmer lighting gives it more of a cozy feel where the cooler light found in Cyrogenics has a much more clinical feel to it. How do these differences in light play into your design as you do your architectural design.
TK: Lighting is the key of a space. If there no light, then there is darkness. If there is darkness, there is no space relatively. Cryogenics Lab has a lighting setup that feels like it is a clinical laboratory, while the library floor has a warmer lighting setup, which makes people feel calm and relaxed, because the function of a library is to have a quiet, calm space where you can read or study whatever you would like to read or study. So, every particular spaces have to be designed
PEREGRINE FALCON—CYROGENIC
25
PEREGRINE FALCON—CLUB ELSEWHILE
26
very carefully, depending on functions and needs.
3DA: Ionizer Silos is an extraordinary piece with so much going on. It’s practically photo-realistic. The subtle glass reflections I think is what really sets this work off. How difficult was it to achieve such realistic reflections in the glass objects?
TK: It is all about experimenting with different materials. That's a technical aspect of the work.
You have to experience with materials to get it exactly how you would like to see it. And there are some pre-made materials in Mental Ray that works great without any frantic efforts as well. So when you do all this, it may look like photorealistic if you want it to look photorealistic. Post-process is also an important matter in photorealism by the way.
3DA: The Taurus IV Meeting Room is another
INTERVIEW: Tarik Keskin
27
example of how you used lighting and shadow to your advantage. Thinking about how you begin one of these environment pieces, tell us about your process. As a trained architect what is the balance you try to achieve between function and form, use and appearance?
TK: Okay that Functions versus Form discussion began in 80's, with the current Deconstructivism, architects like Hadid or Gehry had always been
criticized for their designs, because basically they only had form, and not function. 80's were very unfortunate for architecture, because of this debate. In my opinion, function always comes first. You would design a toilet which may look like a sculpture of an ancient dragon, and if you do this you can't actually place the toilet in it, therefore people won't be able to use it and instead they will go to the forest to... You know.
PEREGRINE FALCON—LIBRARY
28
INTERVIEW: Tarik Keskin
TAURUS IV—MEETING ROOM
IONIZER SILOS
29
Well that's funny when you say it like this, but that's really the truth. Form should always follow the function. If you have set the functions right, then you can put them in any form you would create. Take a look at tunnels ants dig deep into the ground, they have an amazing form, but that form comes from the function that ants need. Nature tells us it all.
3DA: Tell us about your Space Lounges: Rouge & Blue.
TK: Lounge Rouge was designed before Lounge Blue, and in both I thought of them as umm, kind of places to pass the time. They are built on minor connecting ports where vessels dock in to refuel or etc.
SPACE LOUNGE: ROUGE
SPACE LOUNGE: BLUE
30
3DA: Terminal Frost is one where I want to get into the functional aspect of the space. According to your DA gallery you refer to this being a docking station on Pluto. Walk us through the space if you could. I’m guessing by the sheer expanse of this chamber it’s outside in the environment and the transportation units on either side is to shuttle passengers from the dock to the station interior.
TK: That is correct, they are the shuttles come and go between the main docking station and the terminal. At the docking station, there is a waiting area, an exchange office and a café, named Frost Café. There are two gates, two docking points for the vessels. On the right side of the terminal, there are two pedestrian bridges, the lower one leads to the docking floor, and the other one leads to the waiting area. These bridges are for those who prefer to walk the terminal instead of taking a shuttle.
3DA: The last one I wanted to ask you about is Space Suite H-305. We can only imagine what long-term space travel would be like. Do you envision a concept like the ocean liners of the day where your quarters are in conjunction on your rank or social status dictates the space you end up living in and how do those issues play out in architectural design?
TK: That's an interesting question. I don't take up seriously any economic system, capitalism,
socialism, communism etc... I mean we have no idea what system we would have in the future. When doing this piece, I thought of it like a four star hotel, if it was to compared to today. Beyond all of this, I do think and line up with that architecture should always serve to people of all socio-economic levels. Architecture should serve to humanity. Today we are starting to see examples of this, and I believe in the future we'll see more and more, and I just hope that we'll have better standards in terms of spaces that we live in.
3DA: If the Autodesk programmers came to you and asked you to help them design the next generation, what would be your first choice for a new feature geared towards architectural design?
TK: They already have software that are extremely powerful and effective for today. But for the future, I would ask them to give me a spacious room with devices that allowed me to draw touchable holograms with the movement of my hand, and at the same time rendered photo-realistically in zero delay.
3DA: You mention on many of your images you use Photoshop and After Effects in post work. What does After Effects bring in that you can’t do in Photoshop?
TK: After Effects has a plug-in named Optical Flares, which does not exist in Photoshop, it's a great lens flare plug-in that is used in most of the
INTERVIEW: Tarik Keskin
TERMINAL FROST
31
movies or videos you see.
3DA: What is your hardware configuration?
TK: I have a desktop computer, pretty powerful, 8 cores processor running at 4.2 Ghz, 16 gigs of ram, and Nvidia GTX550ti. I also have a Macbook Pro, to see the colors as true as possible and to see how it would look if I print it. I make final adjustments of the images on the Mac.
3DA: What’s next? Where do you see yourself in five years?
TK: I really don't know, I think I will continue to work freelance, maybe study a Master's Degree in Spain, which is the heart of the architecture right now. I'm also planning to enter architectural competitions and make my living on them for some time, before I start my own company.
3DA: What advice would you give a newcomer to the study and practice of architecture design?
TK: Observation is vital. Observe, analyze, think profoundly and try to understand. Look to the past, to move on to the future, and to not to recreate something that is already done. Draw, no matter what it is, whether some random lines or a sketch of a church. Draw and let the pen find its way, do not try to control it with your hand; try to control it with your mind.
3DA: Thank you for spending some time and sharing your work and experience with us.
TK: You are very welcome, it has been a good experience for me too. Take care.
BIO-RESEARCH
You can find Tarik on the internet at:
siamon89.deviantart.com/
www.tarikkeskin.co/
www.facebook.com/tarikkeskinofficial
Tarik also chases a music career. He is the drummer for the band Manto:
www.myspace.com/mantoband
32
33
EDEN ARCHIVES 1
34
INTERVIEW: Tarik Keskin
EDEN ARCHIVES 2
EDEN ARCHIVES 3
35
CHELIDONIA
SPACE DOCK
36
Born 1954 in
Scheveningen, The
Netherlands, my very
early years were
spent at the beach
and the dunes: They
were right across the
street! At the age of four my parents moved to
the coalmining region in the south -east of the
Netherlands. Most of my teenage years were
spent in the bookstore to town, with comfy seats
and folks that did ask if you did like the book,
instead of asking "Do you want to buy it?" There,
on sheer endless afternoons, I discovered Sci-Fi
and Surrealism...Writers like Jack Vance, Larry
Niven and Isaac Asimov, painters like Salvador
Dali, Rene Magritte, Carel Willink and Escher
presented me an alternate reality that somehow
did sooth the longing for the sea. Those years
are the foundation of my Terragen work. Art
theory was something that came as part of my
college education in the late seventies. The
eighties to me were a long period of
unemployment followed by work as a
cabinetmaker. I did do quite a number of oil
paintings in those years and gradually shifted
from surrealism to a more abstract style inspired
by the Bauhaus period. Fave artists from that
period are Klee, Miro and Kandinsky Other
influences are the years I travelled across Europe
working as an exhibition builder, in particular the
landscapes I did see while traveling in a small
van from one exhibition to the other. After a
severe back injury that left me unable to work in
the 90’s I had a lot of extra time on my hands,
this is when I was introduced to the world of
computing.
Andy Wachelder
LIGHTEN UP
37
3DAD: We are very
happy to have with us
today digital artist
Andy Wachelder aka
Andy Welder, Andy
welcome to 3d art di-
rect.
AW: Thank you 3D
Art Direct for the invi-
tation!
3DAD: We see look-
ing through your gal-
lery at Renderosity
that you are influ-
enced by Sci-Fi Fan-
tasy as well as surreal
and thought provok-
ing works. What got
you into these gen-
res?
AW: A very nice
bookshop where you
could sit down in a
comfy chair, have a
tea and read the
books for sale. That
was in my teenage
years in the early
seventies and posters
were booming busi-
ness. The bookshop
also sold these and
that was the main
reason for me to
come there at first. I
spent hours thumbing
through the collection with reproductions of Salva-
dor Dali, Renee Magritte, Escher and Carel Willink.
They also had a very nice collection of Sci-fi
books. Not that I had any idea of what Sci-fi was,
I was only familiar with comic books about the
Green Lantern, Superman and so on. But the co-
vers of the books did grab my attention with their
surreal scenes. And so I started reading them,
there, in that bookshop. Also there was this "Yes"
3DAD: There is a fine-tuned quality that is pre-
sent in all your work, was this something that
came naturally?
LAICHZEIT
38
AW: Partially, I think, it came from looking at so
many good artworks and reading about art: You
could say I absorbed art theory while looking at
art. What also did help is the fact that I'm an
autistic and tend to notice details that others do
not notice. This attention for detail is something
that does return in anything I do, sometimes ad
absurdum; I'm the kind of guy who does paint
the veins in the corners of a life sized eye while
working on a painting at ten meters above the
ground... In Dutch they call it
"Kerkenwerk" (Work for the Church) because the
only one that will ever notice those details is
God, who sees all, and the priest.. *grins* Also
things I'm working on do really grab me, I'm so
absorbed by what I'm doing everything else
escapes me; you could say I'm totally focused
and I can spent hours, sometimes even days,
working on getting one detail right. Let's say I
have a forest scene and want a sunlight spot in a
particular place; Terragen offers several ways to
achieve that: I can play with the position and
intensity of the sun, generate new cloud fractal
seeds and move the clouds up or down, generate
new seeds for the populations of vegetation
objects and play with the density of the
population and move them around. There's a lot
to fiddle with and that's what I'll do till it's right.
It's a good thing TG2 can do cropped renders so
there's no need to render the full picture again
and again.
3DAD: You are primarily a Terragen artist today.
Were there any other applications that you
experimented with before settling in with TG? If
so what were they?
AW: Besides from an occasional excursion to
INTERVIEW: Andy Welder
URCHIN VALLEY
39
MojoWorld, which is still installed on this machine
btw, I never really tried anything else. I did tinker
with the free copies of Poser, Bryce, Vue and DAZ,
who didn't? But I gave up on them because , hon-
estly, the struggle of getting familiar with these
new interfaces, new concepts and synonyms was
too much for me. Being accustomed to classic
Terragen the way TG2 did look came as a huge
shock because of the totally new interface and
setup. The first time I did open it there was sheer
panic! The thought of having to master thát made
me feel like the ground I was standing on col-
lapsed! Yup, I can be such a wimp at times. I do
like MojoWorld a lot and though the interface is
not really my thing: If there would be no Terragen
MojoWorld would be my choice application for
rendering landscapes. For now my MojoWorld ren-
ders are strictly private, I will never post them be-
cause there is not enough Andy in them to make
them mine. Maybe after my retirement there's
time to really get acquainted with MojoWorld…
3DAD: Early on who were some of the artists that
inspired you to create and grow as a 3d artist?
AW: To name a few joshus_hund, heikoh,
prutzworks, Rich2, hillrunner and some more but
who's names Just to name a few .joshus-hund:
The detailed surfaces and crisp atmospheres in his
renders still can take my breath away. heikoh:
Magnificent mountains and he was the one who
showed me the possibilities of TG cloud creation.
Rich2's terrains did inspire me to experiment with
WorldMachine, also I liked his dense atmospheres
a lot. Prutzworks for me is the one who brought
poetry and humor to Terragen renders: "Weg van
de velden, weg van de zee" is possibly the best
example. "Away from the fields, away from the
sea" and that from a Dutch guy? That still makes
DER RAMMSTEIN
40
Smile! Even his alias is humor: to tinker, to
piddle, to potter, messing around
3DAD: Terragen Classic was and still is a great
landscape application that excels at realistic
procedural treatments of terrains. This early
version had its own internal terrain generator
that was very useful, however didn’t have the
ability to create highly detailed terrains that the
current version can. Many artists preferred to use
3rd party terrain generators like World Machine or
Leveller. Was this the case with you? If so which
program do you prefer to work with and why.
AW: For a very long time there was only
Terragen for me, I did experiment a lot with the
built-in tools like BMP import and the Sculpt tool.
Also got nice results with the "Merge" function.
And I did often use someone else's terrain,
classics like Hillrunner's "Flojoa" and Prutzwork's
"Weg van de velden, weg van de zee". Those
terrains got me interested in MojoWorld btw
because I found out they were exports from MW
worlds! And then there was Rich2 with his
WorldMachine terrains so I started experimenting
with that. WorldMachine was a great program
though a bit intimidating, to me that is, because
I felt some mathematical background was
required to understand what those filters were all
about. And I had practically none... But pushing
sliders and changing valuesand connecting nodes
in different ways without really knowing what I
was doing still resulted in very nice terrains. And
then there came this Johannes Rosenberg aka
Cajomi who was looking for testers to take part
in testing his new terrain generating software
called GeoControl. Right from the start I felt
INTERVIEW: Andy Welder
SANDBLASTED
41
connected to this program and it really did in-
spire me. http://www.geocontrol2.com/
e_index.htm
3DAD: Sandblasted is a great example of what
GeoControl can do. Walk us through the creation
of this piece.
AW: Not only is "Sandblasted" a great example
of what GeoControl can do, the way it was creat-
ed is also a good illustration of the way I do ap-
proach renders, the way I work in general. The
whole terrain is based upon the use of the
"Displace" layer method and the fact I read an
article on sand dunes and their displacement
through the environment. Now, natural looking
sand dunes are extremely hard to create, in fact
I still haven't found software that's capable of
that, but after this "Displacement" setting be-
came available to the beta-testers I just wanted
to give it another try and go for realistic dunes
thinking this filter might do the trick. The first
results were very disappointing, there was noth-
ing that even remotely did look like dunes but I
also realized that, if I forgot about dunes, the
terrain formations did look kinda cool and had
potential. To emphasize certain aspects I slowly
started changing values here and there until I
was satisfied with the terrain in Geo Control.
Then I started doing some renders in TG and got
another disappointment because the terrain did-
n't look that great from a traditional POV: Cam-
era hovering a short distance above the ground
and pointing at the horizon. That made me try a
POV similar to the camera position in GeoCon-
trol: Orthographic. Also I did decide to use the
GC color scheme for the surface The result did
surprise me in a very positive way. From there it
was a matter of fiddling with the distribution val-
ues for the surface layers and tuning other sur-
Another Canyon
42
Face properties. Oh, and I did ad haze to
emphasize the height differences more. That was
an observation I made at that period: To bring
out the depth in a landscape best not use a clear
atmosphere but ad some haze because that will
accentuate the distance between terrain features.
3DAD: The guys at Planetside have put a lot of
time an effort over the years to improve
Terragen from the days of Version v.9. Along
with all the improvements comes a completely
different UI. What were your initial thoughts
when first opened TGD/Version 2?
AW: Like I touched on before: Sheer panic
though the node based was kinda familiar from
the WorldMachine interface. But like with World
Machine I figured it would require knowledge of
mathematics and as a former
cabinetmaker I never got beyond
Pythagoras. Thanks to the
Planetside forum for pointing me in
the right direction because it turned
out my initial fears were
unnecessary and my basic approach
of moving sliders bit by bit and
experimenting with changing values
soon paid off. I.e. the moment I
could visualize how fractal
displacement worked in a 3D space
was of great importance for my
approach of surfaces and terrain:
INTERVIEW: Andy Welder
FERN GULLY CROSS ROADS
43
This understanding came from playing with
spheres and planets like in "Where once the gods
did roam”
3DAD:The Learning curve is somewhat steep with
this current version; however the results achieved
are quite impressive. For many artists forums play
an essential part in learning new applications, was
this case with you?
AW: It's my advice to anyone who seriously
wants to get somewhere with the software of their
choice: Go visit forums!! There's so much to learn
from the other visitors.... If there wouldn't have
been the Planetside forums I sure would have giv-
en up on TG2.
3DAD:Ok let's talk about some of your v2 work,
Fern Gully Crossroads is an exceptional image
with a great mood and really shows of what this
application can do. What got the ball rolling for
this?
AW: A typo! Seriously .. While working on a new
render I made a typo with the value for the dis-
placement of displacement mask, so instead of a
shallow trail I suddenly was looking at a deep can-
yon.
3DAD: Naboo Palace is a crisp render with a high
level of realism both in foliage as well as lighting.
What are some of your personal tricks for our
readers in creating realism?
STONGAE BEACH Naboo Palace
44
AW: Again I think that's largely my autism. Last
weekend I had a nice discussion with an another
autistic I know and , though he's creative in
other ways, also is known for the high level of
detail in his work. Bottom line of our
conversation was: "Why, if wé see all those
details and how everything is connected and
intertwined, is it possible that other people don't
have access to that same information?". It's as if
people take a book, look at it from all sides and
after doing so, state they've read it. In "Naboo
Palace" I made some adjustments to the camera
and lighting settings that did reflect an
observation I made while standing outside the
office smoking a cigarette: Even with backlight
the shadows in a patch of forest still showed a lot
of detail and the shadows certainly were not as
dark as with the default settings of TG2. From
then on practically none of my renders was done
with those settings on TG2 default.
3DAD The Toy Shop is a very intriguing piece,
abstract and very well presented. What technics
did you use and what were your inspirations?
AW: The Toy Shop is based on the play with two
aspects "Transparency" and "Scale", a short Sci-
Fi story of that name (where aliens did collect
artifacts and would put them on display for their
offspring to play with) and a lot of memories:
Memories of a real toy shop that was inaccessible
for the poor kids like me and where they had
those highly detailed toys on display in glass
boxes. And my fascination for those glass balls
filled with water and artificial snow and a
miniature landscape or building. And fish tanks I
still have and ant colonies. I had got me busy for
INTERVIEW: Andy Welder
Where once the gods did roam
45
hours looking at
those industri-
ous creatures.
And I combined
that all with the
observation that
things in glass
displays look
like so much
more... The
glass in the ren-
der is mimicked
by adding a wa-
ter shader to a
simple plane ob-
jects' surface
and setting eve-
rything involving
displacement to
zero and every-
thing concerning
transparency to
the max. You
get good "glass"
that way and extremely long render times....
3DAD: We talked earlier about Terragen Clas-
sic’s limitations in terms of detailed terrain gen-
eration; this is certainly not the case with version
2. Where once the gods did roam is proof of
this.. Talk us through its creation.
AW: Like with so many of my renders the base is
merely a matter of associating and playing
'round with elements Terragen 2 is offering: In
this case it's the 'Planet' object and the 'Fake
Stones' shader. While playing with TG2 I com-
bined the fact you can scale down planets and
scale up stones so I did combine small planets
with large fake stones. And isn't toying with
planets and their inhabitants what gods are sup-
posed to be doing to kill time? At least, that's
what is told in the ancient Greek and Roman reli-
gion. That's also why there is that classic temple.
And the clouds are there because a lot of things
that do concern gods are shrouded for/to (?) us
mortals, isn’t it? From this example I think it is
clear free association is an important ingredient
in my renders. The fact that the clouds did help
to create a sense of distance was another reason
to use them. Without the clouds it was hard to
tell where one rock/planet/sphere ended and the
other began.
3DAD: Mojocanyons and Mojolith Moon have
some wild Mojoworld type displacements. You
mention at your gallery at Renderosity that these
are modifications to a displacement node ar-
rangearrangement created by Richard Street aka
Rich2.Tell us about this.
AW: Like so many TG enthusiasts I'm scared by
those blue nodes and have no real clue on what
they do, leave alone how to use them. So I'm
very glad if there's someone who can put them
to use and does share this with the community.
Rich2 did a lot of "field work" and combined blue
nodes in such a way that even a mathematical
nitwit like me could create those fantastic terrain
features by adjusting a few values The fact he
grouped nodes on function and result and labeled
them accordingly was very helpful too, a kind of
"... For Dummies". Like with the Moog synthesiz-
er: You didn’t need to understand how the ma-
MOJO CANYONS
46
Chine was doing it (though that did help), all you
had to do was turn some dials, move some
sliders and push some buttons and there you are:
Music! Or noise... Well, I like to think I found
ways to create music with Rich2's setup.
3DAD: Speaking of Renderosity, you where the
Terragen moderator there for several years and
more recently crowned Artist Of The Month for
July 2012. You have done so much for the
Terragen community over there. What was your
reaction when you heard the news?
AW: Being nominated for AOM came as a big
surprise because even though I thought I did do
decent TG renders I found lots of other folks'
renders were way better and they were far better
candidates for an AOM nomination. Markal for
instance is someone who's work I think highly of.
And then there's this guy, Danny_Gordon, who's
quickly developing into one of my favorites. But
because I don't comment a lot on other people's
work (because I have a hard time finding the
right words) I figured the more "active" members
would be the ones to be voted for.(?is this
english?) Oh boy, was I wrong!
3DAD: Lets talk hardware for a second, what
kind of set up are you currently running?
AW: Nothing fancy: A machine build around an
AMD Phenom2 X4 955 CPU running at 3.2 GHz, a
Zalman CPU cooler, the motherboard is an ASUS
M4N98TD, very good in dealing with heath with
lots of heat sinks, 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM and a
GeForce GT610 VGA card with 2GB RAM steering
a 24" monitor. Added a few extra coolers to deal
with the heat produced while rendering. The sys-
INTERVIEW: Andy Welder
MOJOLITH MOON
47
-tem is considered sluggish nowadays but it's the
system that I use to work on my TG renders.
Most of my final renders however are done on a
laptop with an Intel i3 quad core so my main
machine is still available for other things then
Terragen. And it doesn't matter rendering on the
notebook takes longer, I have time. Also render-
ing on the notebook gives me the option to take
it with me and let it run in the climatic controlled
server room at work, a welcome option during
hot summer days.
3DAD: Lastly what advice would you give some-
one interested in getting started with 3d digital
arts?
AW: "If you want to go "realistic" forget realistic
settings"? Honestly, I don't know what to tell
someone because, hey, I'm autistic so my refer-
ences are mildly put "Odd". But I'll give it a try..
Go outside as often a possible: Make long walks
through nature, follow the same route (very im-
portant!) and whenever you're out there soak in
whatever you see, notice how changes in the
light do change everything ,not just the color of
the sky but also the color of the vegetation, the
color of the shadows and last but not least how
the mood changes. And keep your eyes open,
even when doing chores around the house. I.e.
when I’m out on the flat roof hanging laundry
out to dry I always take the time to look at the
sky to see how the clouds change, how the light
changes and how it differs depending on the time
of day. Notice how atmospherics like fog, haze,
chasing clouds paint new views on the same ter-
rain. What I said about haze and depth earlier on
is an example of what I learned from observa-
tion: Walking through the flat heather fields on a
clear, sunny day, I noticed that though I could
see details several kilometers away the "sense"
of depth/distance was more prominent on a hazy
day because now some terrain features stood out
instead of being swamped by all the surrounding
details. And very important too: Don't look at
photographs of landscapes that much, n, not if
TOY SHOP 1
48
you want to create realistic landscapes: A photo
lens is not the human eye! You can use
photographs as a source of inspiration but the
details have to come from what you did see with
your own eyes. And experiment with the settings
of Terragen, or whatever software you use: Don't
assume the default settings are what's always
best. Default exposure values are rarely seen in
reality.
3DAD You have been very active over the past 10
years creating and inspiring, what will we see
from Andy Welder in the years to come?
AW: That's a guess for me as well. The last
months, due to the lack of inspiration, I spent
quite some time looking at my previous renders
and found there are some themes that do lure me
into a deeper exploration of those themes I.e. the
meta-realistic theme I find tempting and it has
already been the inspiration for two new renders:
"Underworld" (already posted at Renderosity) and
another one without title and not fully completed,
yet. And I'm dying to do some seascapes but to
do so will require a lot of study on waves and
foam, or maybe I'm lucky and some whizz-kid
comes up with a good clipfile.
3DAD: Andy thank you for taking the time to
speak with us. We have enjoyed your work for
years. We look forward to all your future
endeavors
AW: Thank you 3DAD for your interest in my
work. “Live Long And Prosper”
Andy Welders Renderosity Gallery—> http://
www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?
page=3&userid=186481
Andy Welder GeoControl Gallerie http://
www.geocontrol2.com/gallerie_AndyWelder.htm
INTERVIEW: Andy Welder
BACKROAD BLUES
49
SILENT RUNNING - LEAVING ORBIT
50 3D Art Direct : Be Inspired By Digital Art Issue 30
BAJAUS SULAWESI INDONESIA : SYLVAIN CHEVALLIER
