Project Review: 3D Concept Designs for Key Art- Maze Runner: The Death Cure 2018 PART I

 

This Design was the largest part of the project, as it was a full city shot with a rock cliff out front [ rendered separately]. The file was quite large, and a long render at 160Mb's.

This is the Z-Depth pass that is used as a mask for post effects. De-saturation, Fog, or Camera Blurring can be done in post which is much faster and gives the designers more control so re-renders are kept at a minimum.

This Screen Grab shows the massive lighting I had in the scene with the streetlights and inside the buildings to achieve the look. You will also notice the Cebas Final Render Rectangular lights I put on each billboard to get a nice glow on the environment as well.

This camera view Screen Grab is in a basic Clay shader to show off the models geometry.

This pulled back birds eye view Screen Grab is a Clay shader, that shows I only build what is seen. Also you will notice the details drop off as they get farther away from camera I learned that on my first job from the miniature artists doing practical effect for the Mazda MX-6 work here.

This  birds eye closer view Screen Grab shows the little cars and streetlamps down below.

This is the second view on the full city build I rendered out using Cebas Final Render.

 

 This Screen Grab is a Clay shader view for the second render in the city build. You will see it was cut down slightly for the final as they did not need the bottom area. I frequently over-render so the Art Director can slide it around, and this was done for that purpose.

A closer Screen Grab shows that the details were centered around the billboard and the buildings. To the Left in frame it was a much simpler build as it was darkened out quite a bit in the final, so no need to put more time into it. The nice part of 3D is it can be embellished later.

 

This last Screen Grab shows that I placed the two building very close at an angle to get just the right amount of detail for the still render.

The next concept was the Maze, a stylized render of the city as an actual maze. I used mid-rez 3D assets for this as it was a long shot render for the views asked for.

 

The Z-Depth Mask I provide if the client wants to use it.

 

Screen Grab is a Clay shader shows the models are relatively simple, but they are build not mapped for windows and details so I get better lighting controls with an actual 3D surface.

 

 An elevated view Screen Grab shows a little bit of a curb I built so I could match the maze design itself with the building plaement.

This lower angled Screen Grab shows some of the wall details and staircases and railings that were added in as it was a foreground object.

 This last render is a top down perspective render from camera of the maze. The most graphic piece in the project.

This Z-Depth was used in post for saturation effects.

This last Screen Grab shows the simpler build-out for this render. I built around 24 unique 3D Models used in the scene.

Project Review

3D Concept Designs for Key Art- Maze Runner: The Death Cure 2018

PART I

Client:  20th Century FOX via BOND
Project Date:  August 2017.
Direction: Patrick Dillon.

        I was hired for a project in August 2017 by Patrick Dillon from BOND to build out some concept pieces for the Maze Runner series of films, and this work today was for Maze Runner:Death Cure that was released the following year in 2018.

 

        In PART I for the 3D Conceptual Design work I did for Entertainment Advertising is for the Posters, the Key Art pieces. 3D Illustration is about half of my work, with the other half being 3D Logos.

 

     There were two basic concepts I was tasked to focus on for my work; one was close in the city itself with giant electronic digital billboards that would have "Wanted" posters on them for the main characters who are on the run. The second concept was to build out a circular maze of the city for a more graphic approach. 

 

      For each concepts I did a number of renders at different angles. This is is the biggest advantage to using 3D Illustrations, as you have the ability to build it once, and render it multiple times.

      As a traditionally trained 2D Artist / Designer, I have had to re-draw designs for multiple angles. In fact in my first Automotive Design Classes at both College for Creative Studies and at Art Center College of Design, this was the first assignment we were given in Transportation Design 1, by both Bill Robinson at CCS, and Harry Bradly at ACCD to see if we understood and thought in a dimensional manner.

 

     As a Behind the Art aspect to this post, I again threw in screen grabs showing the base mesh and surface details without lighting or textures in a flat Clay material in 3DSmax. 3D Models are the first step in any good 3D illustration and built out details always are there to catch lighting. 

    I also can send the preliminary images out to the agency before the time consuming Lighting, Texturing, and Rendering step. This assured us that I am on the right track before investing a lot of time into a piece that is high concept.

     I work project to project currently, be it a half day to weeks or longer.  My Linkedin Profile button on the right column has all my contact details in there along with in my experience section here, with links back to samples on my blog. 

    That Google search widget window up top in the Blog page itself is helpful for finding work going back to 2009 with over 6300+ posted images and growing here.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

                                 Cheers, THOM