"New World" Tutorial by uto.vz

About me

Hi everyone, we’re uto.vz, a studio created by two brothers from Portugal.

First and foremost, we’d like to express our gratitude to CGAwards for inviting us to share the process behind our latest personal project, "New World".

My name is Ze Pedro, and today I'll guide you through all the stages of this project. It was a lot of fun, a learning experience, and an opportunity to explore new techniques.

About the Project

I'm a huge fan of cinema. The environments and landscapes featured in movies like 'Dune,' 'Blade Runner,' 'The Revenant,' 'Interstellar,' 'Avatar,' 'Star Wars,' and more have always had a profound impact on my creative process. Even during my time working as an architect, cinema remained a major source of inspiration.

It's amazing how much creativity our imagination can unleash. So, there's nothing better than immersing ourselves in films and letting our dreams take flight. This process is also an excellent way to study composition, color, light, and shadow.

Inspired by some of the greatest movies and TV shows, my aim was to envision a new world – a lush, dreamlike place. It's a story waiting to be told…

Software

In this project, I utilized a combination of tools and software, including 3ds Max, Chaos Corona, Forest Pack, Quixel Megascans, Tyflow for simulating the little flying insects, World Creator for generating background mountains, Photoshop for post-production, and After Effects for compositing.

3D Modeling

With the composition and light more or less completed, I knew I needed some primary focus, something that ‘d catch our eye and tell a story. I started to imagine something like we see in The Silo show (reference below), with a big tree and bushes.

The Silo (2023)

1st Image test, utovz.

However, I wasn't truly enjoying the scene and felt the need for something more captivating to break the monotony of the surroundings. Since I couldn't incorporate trees or vegetation, I began sketching new elements.

I initiated the creative process with a simple sphere and then proceeded to add intricate details and surfaces.

Landscape

The entire environment was crafted within 3Dsmax, with the exception of the background mountains for which I turned to World Creator.

know they’re not very visible in the animation/render, but this detail gives more depth and looks cool.

To create the grass and path terrain, I employed various small noise modifiers and the paint deformation tool. This approach allowed for easy manipulation of the plane, resulting in a more organic and versatile look.

All the greenery assets were sourced from Maxtree, while the rocks were obtained from Quixel.

With Tyflow, I added some flying insects, to help give a sense of life. They’re very subtle so they don’t interfere with the main focus.

Materials

We don’t have a lot of different materials.

Let's start with the greenery. All the assets I employed are from Maxtree, a choice that consistently delivers the best results for environmental elements and lends a high degree of realism to the scene. I carefully fine-tuned translucency, color saturation, and reflection in each asset's material. This meticulous adjustment process was essential to establish a harmonious and authentic balance among all the elements in the environment.

As for the terrain, I turned to Quixel Megascans. To achieve a more detailed and intricate surface, I harnessed the power of the Corona LayeredMtl for material blending. This technique allowed me to combine various soil materials, resulting in a rich and complex surface. The same approach was applied to the spaceship, using different materials in combination with masks to create an aged and abandoned appearance.

Composition

In the final composition and animation phase, I turned to After Effects. I added all the channels rendered, made color balance adjustments and contrast to refine the overall visual, created a smooth and subtle dust noise and added the shaking camera movement.

Conclusion

Thank you again to cgawards for the invitation and to everyone who invested time in reading this article. Hope you enjoyed and found some nice and inspiring tips and tricks. Any feedback or questions, you can always reach out in our Instagram.

Thank you guys.

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