{"id":2535,"date":"2022-09-13T13:38:41","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T13:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salarydistribution.com\/machine-learning\/2022\/09\/13\/concept-designer-ben-mauro-delivers-epic-3d-trailer-huxley-this-week-in-the-nvidia-studio\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T13:38:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T13:38:41","slug":"concept-designer-ben-mauro-delivers-epic-3d-trailer-huxley-this-week-in-the-nvidia-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salarydistribution.com\/machine-learning\/2022\/09\/13\/concept-designer-ben-mauro-delivers-epic-3d-trailer-huxley-this-week-in-the-nvidia-studio\/","title":{"rendered":"Concept Designer Ben Mauro Delivers Epic 3D Trailer \u2018Huxley\u2019 This Week \u2018In the NVIDIA Studio\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note: This post is part of our weekly <\/i>In the NVIDIA Studio<\/i><\/a> series, which celebrates featured artists, offers creative tips and tricks, and demonstrates how <\/i>NVIDIA Studio<\/i><\/a> technology accelerates creative workflows.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

The gripping sci-fi comic Huxley<\/i><\/a> was brought to life in an action-packed 3D trailer full of excitement and intrigue this week In the NVIDIA Studio<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

3D artist, concept designer and storyteller Ben Mauro has contributed to some of the world\u2019s biggest entertainment franchises. He\u2019s worked on movies like Elysium<\/i>, Valerian<\/i> and Metal Gear Solid<\/i>, as well as video games such as Halo Infinite<\/i> and Call of Duty: Black Ops III<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Mauro has met many inspirational artists throughout his storied career, and he collaborated with a few of them to bring Huxley <\/i>to life. He called the 3D trailer a year\u2019s worth of work, worth every minute spent \u2014 following his decade-long process of creating the comic itself.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHuxley\u201d introduces a vibrant, futuristic world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Mauro\u2019s fantastical, fictional world, two post-apocalyptic scavengers stumble upon a forgotten treasure map in the form of an ancient sentient robot, finding themselves amidst a mystery of galactic scale.<\/p>\n

In designing Huxley <\/i>the comic, Mauro worked old-school magic with a pad and pencil, sketching characters and environments before importing visuals into Adobe Photoshop. His NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 GPU provided fast performance and AI features to speed up his creative workflow.<\/p>\n

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Early concept art of \u201cHuxley.\u201d \u201cWhat has become of me?\u201d it thought.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The artist used Photoshop\u2019s \u201cArtboards\u201d to quickly view reference artwork for inspiration, as well as \u201cImage Size\u201d to preserve critical details \u2014 both features accelerated by his GPU. To finish up the comic, Mauro turned to Blender software to create mockups and block out scenes with the intention of later converting back to 3D from 2D.<\/p>\n

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Camera shots were matched in Blender.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With 3D trailer production in progress, matte painter and environment artist Steve Cormann used Mauro\u2019s Blender models as a convenient starting point, virtually a one-to-one match to the desired 3D outcome.<\/p>\n

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Advanced modeling in ZBrush.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cormann, who specializes in Autodesk 3ds Max software, applied advanced modeling techniques in building the scene. 3ds Max has a GPU-accelerated viewport that guarantees fast and interactive 3D modeling. It also lets artists choose their preferred 3D renderer \u2014 which in Cormann\u2019s case is Maxon\u2019s Redshift, where combining GPU acceleration and AI-powered OptiX denoising resulted in lightning-fast final-frame rendering.<\/p>\n

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Applying textures in Adobe Substance 3D Painter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This proved useful as Cormann exported scenes into Adobe Substance 3D Painter to apply various textures and colors. RTX-accelerated light- and ambient-occlusion features baked and optimized assets within the scenes in mere seconds, giving Cormann the option to experiment with different visual aesthetics quickly and easily.<\/p>\n

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All of the hero characters were textured from scratch by artist Antonio Esparza and team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Enter more of Mauro\u2019s collaborators: lead character artist Antonio Esparza and his team, who spent significant time in 3ds Max to refine individual scenes and generate the staggering number of hero characters. This included uniquely texturing each of the characters and props. Esparza said his GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GPU allowed him to modify characters and export renders dramatically faster than his previous hardware.<\/p>\n

Esparza joked that before his hardware upgrade, \u201cMost of the last hours of the day, it was me here, you know, like, waiting.\u201d Director Sava \u017divkovi\u0107 would say to Esparza, \u201cTurn the lights off Antonio, we don\u2019t want to see that progress bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u017divkovi\u0107 turned his focus to lighting in 3ds Max. His trusty GeForce RTX 2080 Ti GPU enabled RTX-accelerated AI denoising with Maxon\u2019s Redshift, resulting in photorealistic visuals while remaining highly interactive. This let the director tweak and modify scenes freely and easily.<\/p>\n

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City scenes were brought to life using Anima, a simple crowd-simulation software with off-the-shelf character assets.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With renders and textures in a good place, rigging and modeling artist Lucas Salmon began building meshes and rigging in 3ds Max to prepare for animation. Motion capture work was then outsourced to the well-regarded Belgrade-based studio, Take One. With 54 Vicon cameras and one of the biggest capture stages in Europe, it\u2019s no surprise the animation quality in Huxley <\/i>is world class.<\/p>\n

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Visual effects were added in Adobe After Effects.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u017divkovi\u0107 then deployed Adobe After Effects to composite the piece. Roughly 90% of the visual effects (VFX) were accomplished with built-in tools, stock footage and various plugins. Key 3D VFX such as ship smoke trails were simulated in Blender and then added in comp. The ability to move between multiple apps quickly is a testament to the power of the RTX GPU, \u017divkovi\u0107 said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the RTX 3090 GPU for the extra VRAM, especially for increasingly bigger scenes where I want everything to look really nice and have quality texture sizes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Photorealistic details create an immersive experience for the trailer\u2019s viewers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Satisfied with the trailer, Mauro reflected on artistry. \u201cAs creatives, if we don\u2019t see the film, game, or universe we want to experience in our entertainment, we\u2019re in the position to create it with our hard-earned skills. I feel this is our duty as artists and creators to leave behind more imagined worlds than existed before we got there, to inspire the world and the next generation of artists\/creators to push things even further than we did.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Concept designer and storyteller Ben Mauro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Access Mauro\u2019s impressive portfolio on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHuxley\u201d the movie is in development.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Huxley<\/i> is an entire world rich in history and intrigue, currently being developed into a feature film and TV series.<\/p>\n

Onwards and Upwards<\/b><\/h2>\n

Many of the techniques Mauro deployed can be learned by viewing free Studio Session tutorials on the NVIDIA Studio YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Learn core foundational warm-up exercises<\/a> to inspire and ignite creative thinking, discover how to design sci-fi objects<\/a> such as props, and transform 2D sketches into 3D models<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also, in the spirit of learning, the NVIDIA Studio team has posed a challenge for the community to show off personal growth. Participate in the #CreatorsJourney challenge for a chance to be showcased on NVIDIA Studio social media channels.<\/p>\n

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?\ufe0fIt’s time to show how you’ve grown as an artist (just like @lowpolycurls<\/a>)!<\/p>\n

Join our #CreatorJourney<\/a> challenge by sharing something old you created next to something new you’ve made for a chance to be featured on our channels.?\ufe0f?\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Tag #CreatorJourney<\/a> so we can see your post.? pic.twitter.com\/PmkgOvhcBW<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NVIDIA Studio (@NVIDIAStudio) August 15, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Entering is easy. Post an older piece of artwork alongside a more recent one to showcase your growth as an artist. Follow and tag NVIDIA Studio on Instagram<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> or Facebook<\/a>, and use the #CreatorsJourney tag to join.<\/p>\n

Get creativity-inspiring updates directly to your inbox by subscribing to the <\/i>NVIDIA Studio newsletter<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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