Remember: although optimizing textures size, lights and “general rendering setting” speeds the work, overdoing it, can ruin the end result.

Marwan Saliba

Country: Lebanon
Age: 40
Job: Freelance Architectural Visualization
Website: marwanmsaliba.com
SocialMedia: www.facebook.com/marwanmsaliba

Why have you decided to work in 3d-field? When have you started? Where did you study?

I’m self taught, I was always interested in 3d and started my first commissioned projects in the year 2000.

What is your usual workflow? Which plugins and software you use? Do you make all the project yourself or delegate some parts of it?

My most used software are 3ds Max, VRay, Mudbox and Photoshop. I prefer not to use cut outs, therefore the majority of my scenes are full 3d and I use Photoshop for post production. Till now I never needed to delegate parts of my projects.

What your consider most important in creating photo-realistic lighting and materials? Any advice for the students just starting to learn 3D?

To get realistic results, one must observe how materials are in real life, the placement of lights to achieve nice contrast is important too. Using photography as reference is a good start. Although optimizing textures size and lights/”general rendering setting” speeds the work, overdoing it can ruin the end result.

Do you have any personal know-how for creating photo-realistic vegetation and plants?

Plugins like Multiscatter help a lot in achieving realistic and good results as long as there’s a good and right amount of variation. As for the models they should be well detailed and with good materials especially the ones in foreground. Again using real life and photography as reference is very important.

What are your plans for the future? What forecasts you can make about the future of 3d-world in general?

Regarding 3D my plans for the Future are to keep getting better at what i do. 3D is becoming more and more important and present in every aspect of life-as an artist, virtual reality is among the most interesting use of 3d in my opinion. The more the software and hardware are advancing the less the artists worry about the technical side and unleash their creativity.