The key for photorealistic vegetation, besides correct tools, is understanding how it behaves, what it does, what it smells like.

Juan F. Canestri

Country: Argentina
Age: 31
Job: Architectural Visualization Artist
Website: www.phrogstudio.com
SocialMedia: www.facebook.com/phrogstudio

ABOUT STARTING CAREER IN 3D FIELD

I think it all started when I was around 10 years old, do you remember Paint? Well… I used to draw entire cities with people, cars, streets, lakes, houses and buildings pixel by pixel, i spent days on each city, I wish I had some jpgs saved but its ancient history now. Both my brothers are architects and a few years older than me so when they installed 3ds Max and at that time, the brazil engine, I was fascinated. I grew up with 3d but it took me a while to realize that it was the only thing I wanted to do. Like most coworkers I taught myself, watching and learning from the best artists I could find. Wouter Wynen´s tutorials where my introduction later on to the 3d world.

ABOUT MANAGING TEAM PROJECTS

We work as a team now, hoping to get a little bit bigger each year. My brother takes care of the architectural modeling, being an architect…I´m an industrial designer so I take it from there. All my work and extra modeling is done inside max with the assistance of a few plugins like floor generator, mighty tiles, forest pack, adv painter, Randomizer, Glue! I think its pretty important to use these kind of assistance to keep the scene as random as necessary. I try to keep post production as low as i can, just a few touches to brighten the image up in photoshop and that’s it. I find very hard to delegate, but its an important part of the workflow. Additional software? Zbrush and Marvelous designer!!

ABOUT PHOTOREALISM IN 3D RENDERING

I think that the most important thing is to have a reference of what you want to achieve and an understanding of how things work, not only the settings in vray but how does light works, how does the material works, what it does or doesn´t do when light reaches it. Watch Viscorbel and Ronen Bekerman but also pay attention to whats going on out there, on the street.

ABOUT CREATING VEGETATION

I don’t think I have any personal know-how for creating photorealistic vegetation and plants, at least not one that can be a breakthrough from all the monsters out there that are doing it. I use Forest Pack, it gives you a total control over your vegetation, you can randomize it at a level beyond real, but what it also can do is randomize the leafs material, and that is the key to achieving photorealistic vegetation, apart from my previous statement, is trying to see it for yourself and understanding how it behaves, what it does, where it goes and what it smells like.

ABOUT FUTURE OF 3D INDUSTRY

My personal plan is simply keep learning, keep practicing until I achieve all my Viz goals, and then… keep going. As for my forecasts for 3D industry, I don´t want to sound crazy so close to the end, but I think that in the architectural segment for example it could be real size models in augmented reality for clients to actually walk into their unbuilt house, jaja… you never know…