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Master MODO portraits

We talk to freelance 3D artist Alberto Ezzy about his upcoming 8-part tutorial series that will reveal how to create convincing character portraits using MODO and MARI...

We talk to freelance 3D artist Alberto Ezzy about his upcoming 8-part tutorial series that will reveal how to create convincing character portraits using MODO and MARI...

Alberto Ezzy is a talented 3D artist currently freelancing from Belgium. Working from home as a 3D generalist, his daily tasks can include anything from modeling, texturing, shading, lighting and rendering, to shooting his own photographic textures. He also enjoys the post-production stages of his projects, for which he often uses NUKE and Photoshop.

Over the coming weeks, Alberto Ezzy will be writing a series of in-depth tutorials for 3dtotal covering the creation of 2 of his popular portrait projects created using MODO and MARI: The Fisherman, and My Kiwi Friend. "Ive been wanting to really test and master two things in MODO that I had never tried out before," Alberto explains. "Skin and hair!"

Over the course of 8 tutorials, Alberto will reveal key secrets and techniques for an unclamped lighting workflow in MODO, as well as tips and tricks for skin and hair shading. He will also uncover how to get convincing-looking eyes on scanned models, plus show how MARI fits into the 3D workflow. The guides will also take a look at how to combine different Render Outputs from MODO in Photoshop for perfect post-production. "In retrospect, the greatest challenge was creating the eyelashes," he offers. "I first duplicated them on a curve, but I didnt like the result, so I ended up placing, rotating and scaling them manually, one by one."

Ten24 supplied 2 scanned models for Alberto to work on for these projects. It was like a 'getting to know someone' process," he suggests. "Once you import and see the model looking back at you, you start thinking: Where are you from? What do you do in life?" Alberto's gut reactions were that the male scanned model felt like a melancholy fisherman old, yet still strong. The female scan reminded him more of a backpacker, perhaps on a road trip
in New Zealand!

"My artistic goals were 'less is more'," Alberto continues. "I wanted the scanned detail in the models, and the skin, to be the center of attention. I tried an earring for the fisherman, and a tattoo for the girl, but they were distracting. I also decided on two different lighting setups: Physical Sun for the Fisherman, and Studio Lighting for the girl."

To create these 2 incredible images, Alberto employed the help of MODO, Photoshop, and MARI. "As for my hardware," he explains, "my AMD FirePro W9000 graphics card was the ultimate joy to get me through these projects without any hassle. The scanned models are very polygon-heavy, and if you add stuff like sculpting, hair, and environments, a high-performance graphics card is a must-have."

AMD has created one of the most powerful workstation graphics cards available. The W9000 allows the GPU to process geometry data at a rate of twice per clock cycle, helps ensure the accuracy of your computations, and gives you the ability to work with enormous texture files - up to 32TB in size!

AMD has created one of the most powerful workstation graphics cards available. The W9000 allows the GPU to process geometry data at a rate of twice per clock cycle, helps ensure the accuracy of your computations, and gives you the ability to work with enormous texture files - up to 32TB in size!

Alberto hasn't always used MODO, though. "A long time ago, I used to be a LightWave and 3ds Max user, but once MODO was released, it was love at first sight!" he proclaims. "Its just so intuitive, and fun. To me, thats very important having fun! I didnt like modeling that much before MODO, but now I love it. And that Preview Renderer? Oh my god,
its incredible!"

For Alberto, sharing techniques with the community couldn't be more inspiring. "It feels great and very rewarding to be part of such a community," he says. "It can be very inspirational. I particularly like the fact that if you have a question or you run into a problem, chances are theres a likeminded soul on this globe whos willing to help you out within a few minutes. The number of geniuses at work in this industry is staggering. I have so much admiration for the programmers who create and write the software that the artists use every day!"

Alberto Ezzy will reveal how MARI was used to texture-paint this beautiful female character model

Alberto Ezzy will reveal how MARI was used to texture-paint this beautiful female character model

Top techniques for creating perfect skin and hair in MODO will be shared in Alberto Ezzy's upcoming tutorial series

Top techniques for creating perfect skin and hair in MODO will be shared in Alberto Ezzy's upcoming tutorial series

It's easier than you think to incorporate MARI into your 3D workflow. Alberto Ezzy will show you how in the coming weeks!

It's easier than you think to incorporate MARI into your 3D workflow. Alberto Ezzy will show you how in the coming weeks!

When working with scans, it's important to create eyes that will capture the soul of the character  Alberto Ezzy will explain how in his upcoming guide for MODO

When working with scans, it's important to create eyes that will capture the soul of the character Alberto Ezzy will explain how in his upcoming guide for MODO

Stay tuned to 3dtotal for Alberto's 8-lesson tutorial series - coming soon!

Related links:

Discover MODO
Learn more about MARI
Review the FirePro W9000
Enjoy more free MODO tutorials from 3dtotal

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