Turntable rendering I made to add the rexes into my demo reel. Read on to see the whole process.
I started with a T-Rex skeleton model I found on CreativeCrash.com made by Joel Anderson. With his permission, I proceeded to add volumes all over the skeleton using Zspheres in ZBrush.
Next I used DynaMesh, and sculpted muscular structure and the overall shapes, trying to decide the look I was after. A few days of that, then I added high-res detail, including scales and wrinkles, mostly using the Standard brush with the Drag Rectangle stroke and several scale alphas. I used different brushstrokes to add variation, including Raking, Crosshatching, and Spray strokes in a circular pattern to add vague detail, and then masked and carved using the Dam Standard brush.
After sculpting, I used the ZRemesher to add some guides and speedily created a passable retopologised mesh. I exported this as an obj to make my UVs in Modo, then took it back into ZBrush to project all of my sculpting detail from my DynaMesh onto the new mesh with UVs and subdivisions.
Next I Polypainted and used Cavity Mask, which enhances the look of the wrinkles and scales. I generated a displacement map and base texture map, then flattened the model to reflect the UVs and apply the displacement. I applied various materials onto the model and exported them as layers in Photoshop to create the final diffuse texture map. The final step was to integrate it with the photo!
I rigged and paint weighted my mesh in Maya right on top of Joel's skeleton rig and created various poses for the integration using a cube as position reference to define where the rexes would be looking.
Successful 3D/photo integration requires aligning your software camera properly with the real-world camera. I had the tripod height from the shoot and Chris’s RAW images had the frame size, focal length, camera and lens type data.
I input these parameters in my Modo camera and one of the photos as my environment colour set to frontal projection through the same camera. This enables me to see the backplate in the render preview window.
Once I had the T-Rexes positioned and scaled, I created a directional light for the sun and set the shader of the ground plane to Shadow Catcher. For an ideal integration, it’s best to shoot a spherical panorama at your photo location. (I had to make do with HDR sphericals I could find online to approximate the lighting and reflections.) I rendered out several passes for compositing. In Photoshop, I used the Import Files Into Stack Script to bring in all the renders. (Adjust the layer order, opacity and mode to suit.) I also brought in the clean backplate photo and used that as my base, with the backplate above, then a layer for sand effects, then the bridal party in the foreground. On top are overall effects. I use several ID passes and paint masks to enhance the shadows and highlights and voila.
The finished image went viral online, reaching #1 on Reddit and being featured on CGHub, the Foundry, and Huffington Post, among many others. I was contacted by the editor of 3D World to writeup the making, which is included in more detail in 3D World issue #180. Thanks for reading.
