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Interview with Jian Xu

Can you tell us a little about your occupation and background and how you came to be where you are now?

Hi, I am very pleased to be interviewed by 3DTotal. I have worked in the CG industry for ten years as a 3D artist and I'm currently the art director and founder of UDA Shanghai China.

Many of your characters have very realistic skin. How do you go about creating it and what kind of set up do you use in Max?

Thanks. To start I will search for a lot of references online or take photos myself, and observe details which are helpful for creating the texture. I also do many test renders to try to perfect a good quality skin effect.

What type of material setup do you employ and what are the maps you use to build the skin texture?

When I make skin I usually use a mental ray SSS material. I use three maps for the texturing: one for overall Diffuse coloration, one for Bump and a third one for the overall specular weight.

There is a mixture of work in your portfolio, from realistic through to caricature and cartoon. What do you feel are the most challenging aspects to each of the three styles?

Different styles have different challenges. A realistic style for me is the most challenging, because

everybody knows how humans look. Any small inaccuracies are instantly recognized and cause the work to appear unrealistic. I therefore have to know the structure and texture of the subject very well.

Doing caricatures is also a very interesting style. The most challenging part is deciding how to exaggerate your character, and yet still allow people to realize who it is. I don't only need to decide on the characteristics to exaggerate, but the lighting, camera and textures all add to the caricature appearance as well and make the image more fun.

When doing a cartoon image I think the design is important. Good design leads to successful work. Normally cartoon styles are pure with no need to emphasize specific details.

What guidelines would you offer anyone wishing to model realistic humans, considering how much anatomy varies from person to person? And what do you feel are the crucial things to get right?



I think when making models of realistic humans you should closely follow references - the closer the better. I don't think you need to consider anatomy too much during the early stages, but more the exact integral shape. After that you can focus on some of the details.

Eyes are a crucial feature in any form of portraiture and a focal point that viewers are repeatedly drawn to when looking at an image. How do you go about creating such convincing eyes and do you have any key tips?
Yeah, eyes are the most important feature! I developed a good habit when I worked on posters. Characters must look at the camera to make them feel powerful. I do a test on my characters, which is to cover their left eye to see if the right eye is looking at the camera. I then do the same to the right eye.

As for modeling the eyes, I don't make them totally circular, but instead a little elliptical. I will make two parts for the eye: one is the eyeball and the other is for reflection.

With regards to your female nude, did you create the texture and wrinkles once she was posed and what was the most difficult aspect to get right?

Yes, first of all I made the pose and then focused on the wrinkles and created UVs specifically for that pose. The most difficult part was choosing the best pose for my reference as I wanted to show a woman's beautiful shape.

What type of lighting setup do you use to create such convincing renders and what have you found to be the best types of light to use if any?

I prefer to use area lights, which look more like real life. You can also use them to imitate reflections.

Do you render out a number of passes? How much post work do you do for the benefit of stills?

Actually I do not make many passes; sometimes I only render passes like hair, specular, Z-Depth and shadow.



Of all your portfolio pieces, which are you most proud of and why?

Oh it's hard to say! I am proud of every image, although maybe I'll be most proud of one I have not yet done.

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