3D Thumbnailing to final concept process. Thoughts & Discussion?

**jHofer** · November 30th, 2007, 05:20 PM

Hey all, I'm currently working on my Masters project which partly involves creating concept art from roughly blocked in 3D images. One big example of the process that inspired me to investigate this approach was (forgive me I forget the artists name):

I was curious to know if there have been threads that discuss this process/method more in depth? I've tried searching the forums with phrases like "3D thumbnailing", "3D sketching", "drawing from models", "sketching from 3D models", etc. with no luck. Perhaps some of you may recall some threads and saved the links?

Or if anyone has had experience with this method and would like to start discussion on the topic, I'd be thrilled. I'd also provide credit within my Thesis documentation to any threads discussed or linked. I'd be most grateful to anyones time and thoughts they can provide on the subject.

-hofer

**thinairart** · December 6th, 2007, 05:58 PM

I have not seen other threads about this method, but it looks interesting. I guess my question regarding this method would be speed to completion and software expense. The forums here are loaded with awesome digital concept art produced with a Wacom Tablet + Painter/Photoshop, and often at fairly fast speeds. Do a forum search on 'speed painting' for examples. So although I find the idea very interesting, especially for complex environments, I wonder about the time frame required to complete a complex work flow, versus what a skilled concept artist can do relatively quicky in paint software, or traditional media.

I guess it depends on what kind of problems you feel this approach could address. I would think highly detailed and accurate concept designs, such as architectual/engineering illustrations might be a good fit, and as 3d/cad applications are a big part of that workflow already, software/hardware would not be as big an issue.

**jHofer** · December 18th, 2007, 02:43 PM

Hey reidaj, thanks for the reply. I wonder if this thread should be moved? Since it's more digital related than fine art studies. Hrmm...

I'm interested in speeding up work flow with regards to architectural layouts. Having the ability to created a quick scene and move a camera around seems very helpful. As sometimes my thumbnails don't get as a creative of an angle as my camera allows.

My biggest challenge/hurdle is creating mechanical/geometric structures/machines. I can get the point where I gesture these structures and objects in but, when it comes time to polishing the details, I get lost/over whelmed. I know how to render if I can see photograph (illustrator trained...) of what I'm to paint, but I don't like to rely on that method (cheating?). Since I'm creating materials on my own as a concept artist, I seem to hit a roadblock with how to get to a finished state in such complex scenery.

Here are a few examples of the 3D thumbnail to concept process I've been going through:

(scenes created using primitives in 3D Studio Max)

For the structural images I've been staying in black and white. I can adjust value/shape/texture more easily this way. Ideally this step would not be needed though if I could just paint the colors I need.

(This last image I'm going back and forth on how to resolve it. The middle ground mountain structure probably needs to be pushed back further. Also the foreground doesn't seem to transition from the snowhill/slop to the far distant middle ground. Perhaps some distant objecst to relate scale? I'm not sure on the large silver arch either.)

I like the way this process is going, since laying out perspective shots can be time consuming on paper. It feels a lot faster for me. However, taking such complex scenes to a finished/more finished state I could use lots of advice/fresh eyes on.

I appreciate any advice/thoughts/tips/comments/critiques!