Home » 2010 » March » 7 » Making of Le Patisserie by Adriana Salinas
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Making of Le Patisserie by Adriana Salinas
Hello, firstly I would like to thank CGArena for the opportunity to publicize my work on their website. I would like to clarify that this is how I personally executed this project however, other professionals may use their own methods in achieving the same or better results.
The inspiration for this Project was a small French restaurant, Le Petite Zinc, which I came across while searching the internet for Art Nouveu images and information on an artist I admire very much, Alphonse Mucha, whose work is typical of the period. I started working on the patisserie, but became so enthusiastic and I ended up designing the whole street. The intension was to give the whole scene a 1900s feel.
References
I usually spend a considerable time searching for references and considering every detail I will include in the artwork. Thanks to Google it was fairly simple locating images to reference for the scene as a whole.
If I couldn’t find exactly what I am looking for any specific design elements, I sketched by hand to visualize before I started the modeling. For example, when considering the photos I had found I changed the urban distribution to create a plaza outsidethe restaurant. I wanted to pierce the scene with light filtering through the tree which created shadows that gave depth and volume to the final image.
Modeling
The modeling in this scene is nothing special, mostly the boxes, Spline and Editpoly (plus Boolean and some objects made by Lathe). I started modeling the front of the Patisserie. You can see I have modified the door from the original picture, I felt it would look better this way and then I could light it better once the camera is positioned.
The door frames are boxes with enough subdivisions and then a Noise modifier so that the wood does not appear too perfect, more natural. The door is flat line modeled with the opening modeled after. The form is very specific.
I transformed it using Editpoly and then extruded the contour. I centered this figure on the door blank and then used a Boolean to cut the shape into the door. With a new line, once again, I drew the shape of the relief on the door and gave volume with Loft. I did the same for the form on the lower section of the door.
For the friezes I used a plan with the necessary subdivisions to simulate ceramic and then transform it using Editpoly and finally a Bevel by polygons. I used the same method for the glass.
As I could not find a doorknob I like to draw one and then modeled based on the drawing. With a line I drew the contour of the knob and then transformed it using Editpoly. Using Extrude and Bevel I gave it more body and the applied an FFD (Free Form Deformers) to arch it a little and finally used Meshsmooth. For the base of the knob I used the same method.
Acid etched glass is very characteristic of this style. The iron frame is made with lines to which I applied the Sweep modifier.The windows are made of line, and then transformed with Editpoly and lastly Shell modifier. All the ornaments of the awning and outdoor pendant lamp are made in the same way.
I think the more detail you incorporate in the image; the more realistic will be the final image.
As for the building, hotel and walls I used the same system to draw all lines, with the window openings done in Editpoly and Shell. I turned again to Editpoly to make the cuts where the extrusions and moldings sit. Curved moldings for windows were done with Line and thenSweep modifier. The railings are made using the same method as the details on the awnings, line and sweep.
I tried to save polygons so that mostly repeated things are transformed by Proxy. Fireplaces are lines, then modified with Sweep and transformed using Editpoly. I then select some polygons to model the joints of the fireplace. I try to add as much detail as possible; this is what excites me throughout the process.
Other scene elements are very simple to model using boxes and primitives with modifiers. For example, to the curb did a box with many subdivisions, select the edges and they did a Chanfle, moved some vertices to deform a little, then a bigger and brighter Noise meshsmooth. I changed the position for, which is not very homogeneous.
Vegetation
The climbing plants came from GW Ivy Generator (http://www.guruware.at/main/). In my experience this free plug-in is very useful. The good thing about it is that you can use it with any climbing plant that generates branches and planes (which are the leaves.) What I do is build the plant with the plug-in then transform it with Editpoly and it automatically separates the ID of the leaves and branches. To make it easier you can select detach leaves and some planes. These planes will then be flowers when you apply the texture.
What took more work was the tree I worked on several versions, none of them very good. I started modeling with Onyx tree, but it wasn´t very lifelike. So I opened it in 3d Max and used it as a basis to model the trunk and thicker branches. I erased the Onyx tree and was left with some twigs. Selecting some large branches I distributed these twigs with Scatter. Then, hiding the trunk and large branches, I distributed the smaller twigs with leaves, previously modeled with Scatter. Then using UV layout, I mapped the texture of the trunk.
Texturing
The texture of the image took me a while. Most are images that I download from CG Textures (www.cgtextures.com) and others found browsing the Internet amended using PhotoShop.
Basically the method used for this image was: get the map of the objects and paint or adjust the textures in Photoshop...
First I extracted the map into Photoshop looking for the right texture. Then, as for the window, I cut and tailored the texture for each rod of the blind so they were not all the same. Then I ‘dirtied’ thetextures which would naturally deteriorate over time and layered them with black and white paint for an uneven appearance. I realize that you don´t see much of the blinds but I tried to make them just as authentic in every detail. For the roofs, instead of using Bump I used a normal map with a plug-in for Photoshop, the NVIDIA Normal Map Filter which is free. (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html)
In some cases I used a material called Mix but usually I used the method previously described. Sometimes I changed the textures several times until I was happy.
For all the walls I used VRayDirt with a texture, like Diffuse. I did this because the VRayDirt takes on aspects of Ambient Occlusion (AO), which as well as staining and dirtying gives the ability to give shade to thetextures, a characteristic of AO and gives more accuracy to the final image.
Light, Camera and V-Ray Parameters
For lighting I usually use the VRaySun and VRaySky. I use gentle sunlight and adjust it using VRayLight Dome. Doing it this way creates a little noise in the image that I like and give realistic look. This is not very scientific but I like the results I get.
I used the VRayPhysicalCamera with fairly normal values. Using this camera because the community usually shoots the orange if the sun is very low but I do not like much because it distorts the colors. The parameters of VRay are very common; I use them for almost all of my images.
The buildings completing the scene are Hotel by Proxy, which is next to the Cake Shop, using different textures. The stones used in the street, those are textures with a displacement map, the corner this plane curve, a little down and put on another plane to make a puddle of water. The grass was created using VrayFur. I tried other ways too but this was the most convincing.
Post-Production
Post production was done with Photoshop. I duplicated the image, I then raised image brightness and contrast, and I de-saturated it, and then applied a Gaussian filter. The final layer was Linear Dodge layer at 12% opacity and I was finished.
I hope you will find this useful. Again, my special thanks to CGArena.Visit my blog - http://demumy.blogspot.com
