Import layer masks in Mari 2 /  by Xuan Prada

Lets say that importing masks in to Mari 2 created in other software, is something very common and all the texture artist out there do every single day.

I’m talking about painted masks in Photoshop or Nuke, or baked masks in Maya, Softimage or just cavities, occlusions and other important maps generated in Zbrush or Mudbox.

Using all these programs and more is something pretty normal in any VFX boutique nowdays.

When I started working with the first alpha version of Mari 2 I found a bit tricky the way to import maps generated in others software packages in to Mari as layer masks.

The way to paint layer masks in Mari seems to be pretty straightforward but as I said if you want to import a texture as layer mask you need to follow some steps.

I’m pretty sure that if you are a new Mari 2 user you can’t find how to do this before spend some time struggling your mind to figure out how to do this simple thing.

I spent probably more than 30 minutes to find this out and just realize that a lot of texture artist are having the same problems to find a way to do it.

So, follow these steps to import layer masks in to Mari and save your precious time :)

And of course, if you have another fastest way to do it, I’ll be glad to hear it.

  • Import you mask as new layer.
  • Add a reveal layer mask to the layer that you want to mask with your imported map.
  • Make a mask group.
  • Double click on the mask group icon to open the masks window.
  • Drag your imported mask layer to the list.
  • Remove the previous mask created by default.
  • Yo can invert the mask if needed.
  • Done, your imported mask is working perfectly.

Percy Jackson 2: Sea of Monsters /  by Xuan Prada

I’ve been working quite hard on this over the last few months at MPC London.

New trailer for The Lone Ranger /  by Xuan Prada

The new trailer for The Lone Ranger has been released today, and it looks superb!
I worked on this project for quite a while at MPC.

Dark Shadows VFX breakdown /  by Xuan Prada

MPC has published the VFX breakdown for Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows. You can see some of my texturing work on that project.
Enjoy.

Worl War Z trailer /  by Xuan Prada

Did you watch the new World War Z trailer?
I worked on this movie while ago at MPC London.

Just run :)

New Iron Man 3 trailer /  by Xuan Prada

The new spectacular Iron Man 3 trailer is out.
I was helping out the texturing and look-dev teams at Trixter while ago.

Hope you like it.

Normalize textures in Softimage /  by Xuan Prada

Just a quick video tutorial where I talk about my process to normalize textures in Softimage. Spanish audio.
Do you like to see my tutorials in English? Send me a line.

Cheers.

Zbrush displacement in V-Ray for Maya /  by Xuan Prada

It is always a bit tricky to set up Zbrush displacements in the different render engines.
If you recently moved from Mental Ray or another engine to V-Ray for Maya, maybe you should know a few things about displacement maps extracted from Zbrush.

I wrote down here a simple example of my workflow dealing with that kind of maps and V-Ray.

  • First of all drag and drop your 16 bits displacement to the displacement channel inside the shading group attributes.
  • Maya will create a displacement node for you in the hypershade. Don’t worry to much about this node, you don’t need to change anything there.
  • Select your geometry and add a V-Ray extra attribute to control the subdivisions and displacement properties.
  • If you exported your displacement subdividing the UV’s, you should check that property in the V-Ray attributes.
  • Edge lenght and Max subdivs are the most important parameter. Play with them until reach nice results.
  • Displacement amount is the strength of your displacement and displacement shift sould be half negative than your displacement amount if you are using 16 bits textures.
  • If you are using 32 bits .exr textures, the displacement shift should be 0 (zero).
  • Select your 32 bits .exr file and add a V-Ray attribute called allow negative colors.
  • Render and check that your displacement is looking good.
  • I’ve been using these displacement maps. 16 bits and 32 bits.

The Lone Ranger - Super Bowl TV Spot /  by Xuan Prada

Vray sss test /  by Xuan Prada

Just testing Vray’s SSS shader for realistic skin look-dev purposes.
I ended with the theory that would be quite simple to set-up a nice, realistic and cheap SSS shader for human and creature assets. I love the raytraced solid scatter, but with complex models I can’t get rid of some of the artifacts in the SSS channel.
I will post more quite soon.

  • To achieve better results, I like to combine SSS shaders with Vray Mtl shaders which have better solutions for speculars and reflections. With this method the reflection of the surface is controled by BRDF instead of the poor spec control of the SSS shader.

Iron Man 3 new material /  by Xuan Prada

New Iron Man 3 material including an awesome official poster and the new teaser trailer for the Super Bowl.

Kyle Cooper interview /  by Xuan Prada

Inspiring interview to one of the most respectable title designer of our times.