Lauren Brady, Author at REALTIME

Have you met 3D artist Tom?

Tell me a little bit about yourself?

I’ve been working in CG (3D, animation, effects and compositing) since 1997, and before that as a hobbyist for some time. I studied engineering at college and uni, but have always had a love of art and enjoy the fact that my role lets me combine all my physics and engineering knowledge with art and animation. I’m married and a father of three (now pretty much grown up) children.

What’s your role at REALTIME?

I’m a CG Generalist – which means that I don’t specialise in any one area, but do a bit of everything. Because I’m familiar with the whole of our process from start to finish, this puts me in a good position to drop in anywhere I’m needed, and also to look at how new tools and methods can be incorporated in our workflow. Also, when we have smaller simpler jobs in that don’t require a full team to complete, I’m often able to take these on single handed.

So what does an average day consist of for you?

Most of my days are spent on production or research and development, so I spend almost all of my time solving problems in front of a PC.

What’s been your favourite project to work on and that you’re most proud of?

My favourite project is always the last one we’ve finished – I have a very short memory! Recently I’m pleased to have helped introduce the team to software and methods that I think have made improvements in both environment and character work. Like most CG artists I have a particular love for anything to do with characters, so it’s been great to get my teeth into both the Smite trailers and the Mummies TV series.

I also did a World of Tanks XBox trailer for E3 on my own when I first started at REALTIME – I love that my son watched it on the E3 coverage on his XBox and got all excited!

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how did you get around it?

Every few days we meet big challenges, the biggest of which I encounter are usually to do with software problems or limitations. I try very hard to test as many features of our intended workflow as possible before we get too far into production, to try to identify what problems may occur, but sometimes we just have to get inventive and find a work around at the last minute. Personally I enjoy tracking down why something doesn’t do what you expect, and the puzzle solving that’s sometimes required to get back on track.

What have you learned since you’ve been working here?

Whilst I had a “solid” understanding of both cloth and fur in CG, I’ve had the opportunity to spend much more time practicing and refining those skills in the past year.

What’s the best thing about working at REALTIME?

At REALTIME we get to work on amazing projects – it’s great to be part of such a talented team.

Tell me a fun fact about yourself?

I ride motorbikes and I play banjo. Rarely at the same time though.

Iron Man David Weaver – Personal Project

Our very talented 3D Asset Supervisor David Weaver has been working on his Iron Man project for a few years now and we’re really impressed with what he has done, so wanted to share it with you.

Here is a little of what David had to say about his mammoth project…

Around 2009 I wanted to push my 3d knowledge, so I set out to create a film quality Iron Man model. I did the usual and got lots of references and started modelling. As time went on I’d look at it and think that I could do better, so I’d tweak certain parts and completely redo others from scratch, all the while still gathering more and more references.

I’d leave it alone for several months at a time and do other projects. Using the new techniques I’d learned, I’d go back to the Iron Man model and redo parts . This cycle repeated itself for about 4 years when I was finally happy that I’d got it as close to the movie as I’d ever get it.

Then came creating the shaders in VRay which went exactly the same way. I’d do some test renders and think it looks great, but when I’d go back to it a few weeks later I’d say to myself “What were you thinking? This is nowhere near close enough” so I’d tweak them some more…for 2 years. The shaders were always improving with each iteration and as I hadn’t set myself a deadline, I was always keen to see how far I could push the realism. I had an idea of the standard I wanted to reach and I was prepared to work on it until I’d learned enough to reach that standard.

Initially I set up a 2 layer system for the paint, a base layer and a clearcoat. Then I learned about a blending technique from Grant Warwick where several shaders are blended together in order to achieve a more realistic reflection, so I remade all of my shaders. The results were a lot better, but then I had to manage 6 layers instead of 2; 3 for the base and 3 for the clearcoat. This meant a lot more work when it came to fine tuning the reflections and glossiness amounts. Thankfully, Chaos Group implemented the GGX BRDF in VRay 3.1 which meant I could keep the more realistic look of the multi layer blended method, but I was back to only having to change 2 layers again, so again I remade all of my shaders.

It’s at the stage now though where I’m almost ready to put it down for good and call it ‘done’. I don’t think anything created in this industry is ever finished, only abandoned. I’ll always be looking at it and seeing areas for improvement but I think working on it on and off for 6 years is more than enough time for one character!

Iron Man Mark III – WIP 1 from David Weaver on Vimeo.

Stu Bayley does live talk!

Our amazingly talented Art Director Stu Bayley shared some of his knowledge with Atlas of CG during a live talk this Saturday.

He discussed how to take an in game asset and make into a full cinematic character using SMITE’s Thor as an example and explained our new approach to matte painting used on World of Tanks: Rubicon X.

You guys asked some great questions so Stu was able to give lots of advice on how to find your path in the CG industry and improve yourself as an artist, while reviewing some of your portfolios.

We would like to thank everyone who watched along live, but if you didn’t get a chance can see the full webinar below…

Let us know what you think!

Established in 1996 REALTIME are CGI, animation and VFX specialists, with a focus on gaming, automotive and broadcast. We have 2 UK studios that house 50 permanent artists with the ability to scale up to 100 for the big projects. We go the extra mile to create cutting edge content capable of transporting the viewer. Whether we are immersing gamers in distant alien worlds or placing buyers in the driving seat of their perfect car, we don’t just make visuals, we craft belief.

Smite trailer hits a million views in it’s first week!

REALTIME’s latest production, ‘Smite: Battleground of the Gods’ has played a significant role in cementing Hi-Rez Studios’ game as a major MOBA player – currently the world’s most popular gaming genre. The trailer is continuing to notch up an increasing viewership on Youtube since it was launched ahead of the ‘Smite World Championships’ held in Atlanta during the third weekend of January. With a prize fund of over $2.6 million USD, the third largest in e-sports history, the event helped create a tremendous buzz online for the game as it was streamed to millions of viewers around the world on streaming video platform Twitch.tv. The broadcast event heavily featured clips from the trailer at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts venue where the organisers had placed many other printed Marketing Assets created by REALTIME.

2015 looks likely to be another year of tremendous growth in e-sports and in particular for MOBA titles which are now its dominant gaming genre. Although the majority of these games are PC based, Smite will have a huge advantage over its MOBA competitors when it moves to XBOX One later this year. Thanks to its third person view and unique art style, the game is likely to appeal to a whole new audience of gamers who are keen to learn more about the MOBA genre.

Ever wondered how a Mummy was made?

Ever wanted to find how to bring one back to life?

Luckily, in the digital age, it’s not as hard as you might believe! We’re hosting an event at one of Manchester’s premier media event locations ‘Onthe7th’ at Media City.

http://www.onthe7th.co.uk/on-the-7th/

Come along and learn how RealtimeUK created over 30 minutes of life-like character animation for a six part TV series called ‘Mummies Alive’ which uses the very latest in CG technology production techniques.

The event will be held on Thursday July 16th between 4:00pm and 11:00pm. Don’t worry – there won’t be any real Mummies, just our Lead Artists, Directors and Producers who will all be on hand to demonstrate the work and talk about how we achieved it.

There will be a free bar and canapés, as well as a chance to experience the latest technology in facial scanning.

To get a ticket, please visit our Eventbrite page:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mummies-alive-with-realtimeuk-tickets-17563555066

Building on 23 years of experience in CGI, animation and VFX production for the Automotive and Games sector has helped Realtime build an efficient Visual Effects pipeline. We are now utilising the VFX expertise we have gained in the games and automotive sectors in the television and film industries.

With two UK studios, Realtime are able to tackle large scale episodic TV series or feature films. We have delivered series for the BBC, National Geographic and UKTV and are currently working on episodic series for Sky, BBC America and HBO.

Why not ask what we can do for you? Contact Jono on [email protected]