THE ART OF DROIDS
How Autodesk’s ART renderer brought a fan-project to life
S elf-taught artist and Star Wars fan, video game producer Paul Johnson has crafted a niche for himself amongst film fans with his series of Star Wars themed renders and projects.
“Like many in the entertainment industry a massive influence on me entering this field was Star Wars,” says Paul. “I guess I was at the perfect age when the first film came out, seven years old, and it has been a big creative influence and inspiration ever since.”
With each new Star Wars project, Paul has aimed to teach himself new techniques and hone his self-taught CG abilities. Modelling and rendering the droids from his favourite film franchise looked like a great way to improve his skills.
“Initially I did R2-D2 as I figured he is a cylinder with a half-dome on top, how hard can that be? I imagined it would be an easy introduction to modelling,” explains Paul. “Well, as it turns out, R2 has a lot of hidden details. Once I started to research the droid I found that a significant amount of the modelling I had done was not accurate. That then started me on a cycle of madness that goes on to this day. With every new updated blueprint – the guys over at the R2builders club have done an amazing job of researching and documenting every measurement and part – and render engine I move onto, R2 comes over with me and I update him.”
R2-D2 updates
Paul is quick to admit to his obsession with R2-D2. Each time the artist looks to test a new render software or update he pulls his model off the virtual shelf and gets to work.
“With each new render software update R2 comes along for the ride. On each of the new iterations, these new adjustments can be done fairly quickly as the majority of the workload is texture updates. Normally after a few hours, I can have whole ‘new’ R2type droid as it is, for the better part, decal updates, a paint over.”
While many turn to expensive renderers for their projects, as a hobbyist Paul needed something more affordable but which offered good results for finishing hard surfaces. He turned to the under-used ART (Autodesk Raytracer) inside 3ds Max 2017.
Paul explains: “As this started as a hobby and time is limited, due to work commitments, I wanted a render system
that takes very little setup and is easy to use. It has the added advantage of being a physical material system, which means I can continue to improve my workflow while also starting to look at other tools that support a PBR setup, which could help. In ART, I really like the shader functions. You can keep it simple or, if you wish, open up the advanced options and go as complex as you like or understand.”
Paul’s render setup is fairly simple. For the droid images on these pages Paul used three directional lights with HDR for reflections. “With ART, this is very quick and easy to get going with, and people should definitely play with the new Physical camera options,” Paul suggests.
Paul has also learned to make better use of a post workflow, using Photoshop and After Effects. Before discovering this new ART, Photoshop, and After Effects workflow, Paul says, “I would spend hours going back and forth with the various render systems trying to get everything looking just right. This was back in the early, good old days when I was using mental ray, which led to hours of frustration trying to figure out workarounds and still not achieving a look I was completely happy with.” Complicated details The Star Wars look Paul was aiming for in his renders is one familiar to all fans. “There is definitely a Star Wars style, and of course it’s a snapshot of its time and technology. Before CG, filmmakers were building and filming real physical models, and all lit in the real world,” says Paul. “They really packed an amazing amount of detail into each and every ship, droid or set, and, at the time, it was something we had not really seen before. Encompass this with the imperfections of the matte effects of the day and it’s this that is the crux of creating a Star Wars style. Heavy contrasted, brightly lit ships, broken down droids and space stations that look like they could do with a good mopping; nothing is clean.”
A further influence on Paul’s passion projects are the behind-the-scenes photographs and footage from the making of the films that have emerged in the last few years as everyone craves more insights into how these classic movies were shot.
“I try to capture that 1970s film feel and look, and there is abundance of photographic material showing the models and other pieces in situ ready to be filmed or being filmed, so from that you can see how they were lit, their sizes and what distance the camera was from the model and so on, so as a starting point I try to recreate this in my setup as much as possible,” says Paul.
THERE IS DEFINITELY A STAR WARS STYLE, AND OF COURSE IT’S A SNAPSHOT OF ITS TIME AND TECHNOLOGY, BEFORE CG Paul Johnson, video games producer
Paul has streamlined his ART render workflow to ensure he gets the relevant render layers needed to work in post more efficiently to achieve this Star Wars look.
Finishing touches
Photoshop was the go-to tool to finesse the final renders. "It saves me hours of adjusting within the renderer itself, there are lots of little corrections and additions I work up in Photoshop, such as noise removal, enhancing detail that wasn’t evident in the raw render or quickly fixing any mapping errors, adjusting levels and exposure, adding colour grading, compositing, and various blur types,” says Paul. “And sometimes, as well, there is my vain attempt at painting in additional details and backgrounds.”
Paul says there is an abundance of fantastic photography plug-ins and software that are fully editable and have helped towards achieving the film look he’s been after in his droid renders. “I did some research and playing around, and found a selection of tools that worked best with my workflow, this again saved valuable time in getting the desired look,” he says. “I use the Google Nik Collection [www.google.com/
nik collection] primarily for sharpening and bringing out detail in my renders, and then I colour correct, grade and tone via curves. It has a great selection of editing tools, and lots of great presets to get you started.”
Turning these references into an authentic-looking R2-D2 droid became a double-edged sword for Paul, both the most fun he’d had on the project and the most challenging. With so many references, across seven films, it became a puzzle.
“There are many versions of R2 across the trilogies, so I was going back and forth for much of this, one piece of reference from one film would contradict another, so I went with the elements I preferred,” says Paul. “So I have a bit of a mix from across the movies, but for the better part R2 is based on the A New Hope version… oh wait, I forgot about the hell that was his blue paint on his panels, that was a joy to try and get looking right.”
Ultimately this ‘hell’ was the most rewarding part of the project for the artist. “This is the fun part,” explains Paul. “Adding the imperfections and weathering, not just in the textures, but on the model itself by adding misalignments to the geometry, damaged pieces and things like that. The real droid was made by a bunch of guys back in the 1970s who had no idea how big the film was going to be, so he was knocked together – brilliantly, I might add – and got knocked about considerably, which all added to his character.”
Paul hasn’t stopped at his favourite droid R2-D2, however, his collection of renders now extends to a number of astromechs from Star Wars: Rogue One, including R5-SK1, R2-BHD and C5-B5.
So what’s next for the Star Wars obsessed artist? “I am working on a BB-8 droid, so maybe one day he will take over from R2-D2… did I just say that?”
PHOTOSHOP SAVES ME HOURS OF ADJUSTING WITHIN THE RENDERER ITSELF. THERE ARE LOTS OF LITTLE CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS Paul Johnson, video games producer