courses

Katana Fastrack episode 01 /  by Xuan Prada

Here it is, the very first episode of my series "Katana Fastrack", available to all my exclusive patrons.
This is an introductory video where I'm going to give you an overview of what this course is all about. I hope you like it, it is going to be a lof of fun!

You will learn:

- Where Katana fits in the pipeline
- The most important concepts of Katana's workflow
- How to prepare assets for Katana
- The importance of look-dev recipes
- How to create a very basic recipe

Check it out on my Patreon feed.

A bit more photogrammetry /  by Xuan Prada

Just a few more screenshots and renders of the last photogrammetry stuff that I've been doing. All of these are part of some training that I'll be teaching soon. Get in touch if you want to know more about it.

More photogrammetry stuff /  by Xuan Prada

I'm generating content for a photogrammetry course that I'll be teaching soon. These are just a few images of that content. More to come soon, I'll be doing a lot of examples and exercises using photogrammetry for visual effects projects.

Digital Tutors: Rendering a Photorealistic Toy Scene in Maxwell Render /  by Xuan Prada

My new tutorial on Digital Tutors will be available very soon. Watch here the sneak peek.

See more: digitaltutors.com In this tutorial we’ll create a photorealistic image using digital toys and photos. Throughout these lessons we'll look at the steps required to create detailed UV mapping and high resolution textures for 3D assets. We’ll learn how to use image based lighting and gather photography information on set. We'll then use Maya, UV Layout, MARI and Maxwell Render to create all the materials. By the end of this course you will have learned how to create photorealistic textures, shaders and lighting for live compositing.

New Tutorial Release – Creating HDRI Environments for 3D Lighting /  by Xuan Prada

My new course for Digital Tutors in out.

What you will learn

In this series of tutorials we will learn how to create HDRI environments for 3D lighting and use them in Maya and V-Ray to light a 3D asset.Throughout the training we will cover the whole lighting process and creating a complete shot from scratch. We will start shooting HDRI on set and we will finish the final shot in NUKE, integrating a 3D asset in a real environment.

 

By the end of this tutorial you will be able to shot your own HDRI panoramas and create 3D light rigs to light your own projects.

Check it out here.

Texturing for VFX film projects. Case study /  by Xuan Prada

These are the key points of an introduction lecture which I gave about texturing for VFX film projects.
We used different assets on the class but this is the only one which is not copyrighted and I can show here.
I created this asset specifically for this course.

Summary

- Check the model.
- Render a checker scene.
- Decide about the quality needed for the textures. Is it a hero asset?
- UV mapping.
- Organization methods.
- How many UDIM’s?
- Photo Shoot.
- What kind of lighting do I need?
- Accessories. (Color checkers, tripod, polarized filters, angular base, etc).
- Bakes. (dirt maps, dust maps, UVs, etc).
- Grading reference images. Create presets.
- Clean reference images for projections.
- Create cameras and guides in Maya/Softimage for projections.
- Adapt graded and cleaned reference images for projection guides.
- Project in 3D software or Mari. (Mari should be faster).
- Work on the projections inside Mari. (We can use Photoshop, Mari or both of them. Even Nuke).
- Create  a 16 bits sRGB colour textures.
- Test colour channel in the light rig.
- Create a 16 bits gray scale specular textures.
- Create a 16 bits gray scale bump textures.
- Create a 16 bits gray scale displacement textures.
- Create a 8 bits gray scale ISO textures.
- Look-Dev blocking.
- Import the light rig.
- Create a basic pass.
- Checker render (matte).
- Checker render (reflective).
- Create clusters.
- Block materials.
- Look-Dev primary.
- Set up diffuse.
- Set up specular and reflections.
- Balance materials.
- Look-Dev secondary.
- Set up bump.
- Set up displacement.
- Rebalance materials.
- Set up ISO’s.
- Look-Dev refinement.
- Rebalance materials if needed.
- Create material libraries.
- Render turntables.