How can I give my sci-fi characters a realistic look?

Tomi replies I don’t usually worry too much about realism or how useful designs could be in a real life, therefore my main point is trying to find a nice flow of different forms and shapes and by doing this a realism emerges in the model.

Modelling is by far the most time-consuming part, my character bust pictured here is modelled with 3ds Max. I use Mudbox to sculpt some minor parts, like the neck area. I start by blocking out the main shapes, and then begin to play around with the details. Doing it this way means I create elements as I go, in time I have gathered a huge library of different nuts and bolts of my own so there’s no need to model these separately. I also love to recycle geometry from earlier projects, too.

Rendering is done with V-Ray and most of the materials are fairly simple, with different glosses and colour variations. Not a single piece is unwrapped, everything is done using Box, Planar or Cylindrical mapping options because I find it is quicker to do it this way.

When it comes to the compositing I render out the typical passes and composite them with eyeon’s Fusion. Fusion is a great tool for working with a linear colour space and very good for adjusting the overall colours in a render.

After this I take the render into Photoshop. I blend in different textures and paint where necessary. It’s also fun to try different render passes in obscure ways and mix these up with blending modes. Even if you’re trying to attain a level of realism don’t be afraid to experiment.

At the final stage I add in the z-depth, different filters, chromatic aberrations and vignettes and anything that comes to mind – the thing is there should be a little bit of everything, but on a really small scale, to get that ‘real’ look.