Making Of “VargaStyle” By B1neural Studio

Hello, my name is Diode and i will try to express myself clearly and help you to understand the process behind a project. I will talk from every task i’ve made to complete this whole scene generalizing concepts, as they require some prior knowledge of the programs, as 3Ds Max and V-Ray. because it would be difficult to explain everything detailed in this kind of Making Of’s. Here i leave you some of the images that i’ve produced from this scene and let’s start. Hope you all like them!

Well, i’m starting to talk a bit of my main inspirations for this project. In fact, i’m fully addicted and a lover of the work of Peruvian artist Alberto Vargas (1896-1982), and somehow i always wanted his works filled with an interior scene in 3D, as well as classic furniture in a retro and vintage style.

This was one of my favorite projects of all time, because i felt really inspired by this artist  and is unique style. It was a very interesting project to work on. It was motivating to work choosing a specific theme and decoration, in this case, it was even better because it was a great project added to the B1neural Portfolio too.

Linear Workflow is one of the most important aspects for you to work with V-Ray. It is used to change the color gamma. For this, you can access (Customize > Preferences > Gamma & LUT) and activate the gamma value to 2.2. You can also turn Affect Colors Selectors if you want to. Finally we put 2.2 to the imput of the bitmap, and leave the output to 1.0.

Note : LWF is a technique used to control the smoothness of the clarity of the shadows cast in the correct rendering and visualization of both materials as in the scene editor.

The modelling of this scene was not one of the most difficult since i work in this area, but most of it was done by creating simple boxes and modelled them in an Hard-Surface Modelling process. One of the most important thing that you have to have in mind is when you start modelling, be sure if you are using the right Units Setup. It’s one of the most important aspects to have in mind when starting a new project, because it will affect all your process since the modelling until setting up the DOF in your camera, for example.

In the case of the Chesterfield Sofa, i’ve used a pre-made model. I only changed the seats of the model to give more smoothness and appearance of an used seat. We all know that when you are in a rush for finishing a project, one of the best possibilities to get a very detailed and realistic modelling in the furniture, like in this example, it to buy or download some free models, and then give them your own personal touch.

In the textures, i’ve used very basic materials and applied some UVW Mappings only, and adding some effects like dirt maps on the bitmaps to give to the models a worn, used and dirty look.

And here i leave you some of the settings i’ve prepared to create the material for this particular model

BKF Chair

For this particular model, i’ve changed all the material too. My main purpose was to create a simple and beautiful material which it’s near from the materials i’ve seen in the reference images of this chair. here is one image that shows all the details of the textures and material that i’ve used to achieve an realistic look.

Some screens of the materials settings for this model, using only basic maps and achieving the realism with the right reflection maps, bumps and displacement maps.

Brick Wall

I’ve wanted to give to this scene a particular look, which describes the artist that was the main inspiration for all this. For that purpose, i’ve created the following maps to create a fully procedural texture to the walls. I think that the main feeling for this was to create a unique, original and realistic wall, to get the feeling that the people who lives in this house, had a real fascination with the artist.

And here is a screen where i show you the maps created and how i made the settings for this particular material

And here i left you some of the procedural materials i’ve created exclusively for the scene. One of the most important things to create simply, beautiful and realistic materials, is to have a very good knowledge of how the materials works in V-Ray Engine.

In this case, i’ve used a very unusual lighting system. Because back in these days, most of the artists are using the so famous HDRI’s and Sunlights or even Direct Lights to represent an artificial sun system. But for this special scene, i’ve done all the lighting only with simple V-Ray Lighting Planes, mixing some different tones and temperatures, to achieve the illumination i’ve wanted since the beggining.

And here are the settings i’ve used for the Physical Camera from V-Ray. I personally prefer this camera because i think it’s much close from a real camera. You can define the settings as you wish and it’s very close from managing a real camera, indeed.

So here are the settings for the camera. As you see, nothing special. In my opinion, i’ll give you my honnest advice. Spend some time trying to understand how the camera settings works, because it can give you a so much better result after understanding some of the main funcionalities.

All images from this scene were rendered with V-Ray 1.5 Sp2. Here i leave you my settings. One of the main tricks is to try to equilibrate a the best quality possible, in the less time you can. For that purpose you need to know how the filters and Indirect Illumination works. for example.

For all the renders i’ve used one important tool wich is the V-Ray Frame Buffer. It can help you change the contrast through the curves, in this case i’ve adjusted the curve this way :

It’s possibilities are not so much, but it can help you to improve a minimal contrast and valuable colors to the next process, post-processing.

For the post-processing process, i’ve used some filters plugins for Photoshop like NikColors Plugins ( White Neutralizer, Reflector Effects and Glamour Glow) . Then i’ve done the DOF pass in the Photoshop with the help of the ZDepth Map which was obtained in the V-Ray Render Elements, and Then used a bit of Lens Blur from Photoshop too.

So i hope you can find this Making Of helpful as i was helped by inumerous other great tutorials and Making’s too. The trick is to spend more time and beeing really with very attention to the details in every task. and of course, to achieve some knowledge in each task you do in every project. I hope to continue working for the people who wants and likes my work too. Cheers!

First of all, a big thank you to Diego for the time, speed and availability for this interview and for all the willingness sharing with us some professional content and experiences. Above all, we hope that you continue with the greatest success in your brilliant career as CG Studio!

Official Page :

http://www.b1neural.com/

Making Of Content – B1neural
Still Images – B1neural
Making Of Final Composition – Tiago Alexandrino