MakingofMaleGreenFrogbyMassimoRighi,ItalyWeb:www.massimorighi.com

IntroductionHi,mynameisMassimoRighiandIamfreelanceCGartistfromItaly.

WhatI'mgoingtodo,istotryandshowyouthemainstepsofhowI'vemademy"MaleGreenFrog"image.I'veusedMaya8formodelling,MentalRayforrenderingandPhotoshopforthetextures.

Thegoalformewastonotonlycreateaphoto‐realisticrender,butalsoa3dmodelforanimationpurposes,withouttheuseofZBrush(orsimilarsoftware)andwithoutaddinganykindofpost‐worktothefinalrender.

Thefirstthingwastodosomeresearchtofindsomegoodreferences,havinginmindthefinalresultIwantedtoachieve.Iwasn'tabletofindalltheviewsofthesamefrogthatIwanted,soImixedalotofdifferentfrogsinordertomodelthemainshape.

I'vestartedbuildingthelow‐polyfrogusingasimplepolygonplaneandI'veextrudedtheedgesfollowingthereferencepics.I'vethenmodelledthemainbodyleavingholeswherethelegsareconnected.

Afterthat,Icreatedthelegsandthenjoinedthemtothebody.

AsyoucanseefromtheWIPpicbelow,I'vebuiltonlyhalfofthefrogsothatIhadonlyhalfoftheUVmaptodealwith.

Oncehappywiththelowpolymodel,itwasthetimetomaketheUVmap.

Forthemain(half)bodyandtheleg,I'vemade2cylindricalmaps,forthefeetI'veused2planarmaps:1fromthetopviewandonefrombottomview.I'veusedasimplecheckerappliedtoalambertshaderforcheckingtheoverallprocesswhiletweakingtheUV's.

AfterthatI'veduplicatedthehalfandcombinedallendingupwith1.960polygons,quitegoodforthelowpolymodel(thisthencanbeusedasacagefortherigging/animationprocess).

I'vethanduplicatedthefrogkeepingthelowmodelinanotherlayer,andI'vemadethehigherpolyversion(about30.000poly)doingapolysmooth.FinallyI'veaddedsomedetailsusingtheMayasculptingtoolstryingalwaystofollowthemainreference.

Usingphotosandfreehand(I'veusedaWacomtablet)I'vemadethetexturesinPhotoshopeach2048x2048.I'veappliedthetexturetothefrogbutI'venoticed(Iwasexpectingthat:P)thatsomeofthetexturesseamsneededtobeadjusted.I'veusedthebuilt‐inmaya3dpaintforthat,usingtheclonetool.

WhenthecolortexturewasmadeI'vecreatedthespecular,bumpanddiffusemapfromthat.

Nowwasthetimeforsettingupthescene.I'vecreatedasimpleplanewhereIplacedthefrogandI'verotateditabout17°(I'vedonethatforthefrogtoo).FortheplanetextureI'veusedaphotomadebyme,I'vecroppeditabout1300x900,I'vethanmadethebump.

I'vecreatedacameraandI'veenabledthedepthoffieldonit.AsyoucanseefromthegrabI'vemadeadistancetoolplacingonelocatorinthepointoffocusonthemodelandtheotherlocatorinthecameralens.I'vethanparentedthatlocatortothecamerasothatwhenIwasmovingthecameraalsothedimensionvaluewaschanging.

BeforeworkingonlightingI'vemadetheshadernetworks,oneforthemainfrogandonefortheeyeballs.AftersomerendertestI'vedecidedtouseforbothcasesablinnshaderwithaTranslucencevalue=1.

ForthelightingsetupI'veusedanHDRIprobeand3lights:1point‐light(raytraceshadow)and2spotlights.

FortheMentalRayrendersettingsI'veusedamitchellfilterwithasamplelevelmin=1max=3,RaytracingandFinal‐Gather.

Hereisthefinalrenderofthefrog.

Iwanttothanksallforreading,hopingitwillbesomewayhelpful:)