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Making of “Atom-Eater”
3D Concept Design by : Vitaly Bulgarov
Introduction
I had a great pleasure to contribute an article to Ryan Hawkins’ Vertex 3 this year and one of the goals I had in mind was
to maximize the educational impact for it by trying to cover topics that are usually left behind the screen and hopefully
go beyond describing the pipeline and toolset. I was particularly interested in sharing my thinking about the concept
design process that starts in your head way before you turn on your computer. That’s why I chose to write an article
about creating a personal design piece for which I also released a time-lapse video recently. Since the video ( link here
https://youtu.be/Yi6Rg4RaIR4 ) visually covers the actual steps taken to create this piece, I can focus the attention of
this article towards either the things that were left behind the screen or describe more specifically the steps that aren’t
visually self-explanatory. So let’s get started!
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About “Black Phoenix Project”
“Black Phoenix Project” is an ongoing concept design exploration, centered around a fictional robotics corporation,
that develops its products in a not so distant future. It’s a playground for both experimental entertainment design
ideas as well as for more grounded in reality concepts. With the “Atom-Eater”, I wanted to expand its line of robotic
designs with more agile prototypes that use synthetic muscle actuators and overall feel more organic than the blocky
early “Black Phoenix” robots.
The Idea
It all starts with an idea. I know it’s a cliché thing to say, but realizing the importance that you need a clear idea first
will help you to avoid getting into the trap of creating something flashy that has no depth or meaning beyond its flashy
look. This is one of the reasons why you can find it a bit easier to work for a client with a clear goal/direction in mind
than to do your personal work when you can do anything you want but don’t really know what it is that you exactly
want to do. Every idea worth pursuing should have a “hook”. A hook is, at the same time, an attribute of an idea and
a story-telling instrument that should be easy to explain and is something that will make a concept either fresh or fun
or visionary or all of it together.
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A good habit to develop is asking yourself “what’s the hook?” and “why is this worth exploring?”. It all goes back to the
good old “form follows function” or “good design needs to solve a problem”, but with the entertainment design field,
it doesn’t have to be so black and white. If I see something in nature that I find fascinating, either visually or functionally, that alone can be enough to inspire my daily tasks as a concept designer and help to unfold design possibilities as
I move through the process. The same thing happened with the “Atom-Eater” design. I was fascinated by an animal
called ant-eater and how its seemingly gimmicky anatomy actually makes perfect sense when you find out about the
environment it deals with as well as goals it needs to achieve to survive. Inspired by that, I decided to create a robotic
design that would be heavily inspired by ant eater’s anatomy. Deciding on that was one of the first important steps in
concept design process which already helped me to move forward with that. At the same time, there was a need to decide what this thing would actually do and why this design would need this kind of body structure to perform its tasks.
That’s when I thought about the other idea I had, which was to explore a futuristic, quadruped, robotic platform that
could be used for such applications as cleaning up radioactive or toxic waste. Also, after a few years of following as
well as doing work in the robotics field, I realized that a modular robot with an “open platform” (meaning it can be
equipped with tools depending on the tasks it needs to perform) would be a much more desirable product in the future which is an appealing idea even for a sci-fi theme. That’s how a basic foundation for the “Atom-eater” concept
was formed. It would be an “open platform”, four-legged robot with anatomy similar to an ant-eater and it could be
a radioactive disposal cleaning robot, that could use its elongated head and sensors to reach hard-to-reach locations,
hence “Atom-Eater”. I knew exactly how it would look like at the end, but it established the boundaries within which
the final design could unfold and that was enough for me to know that I could work on it in a way that would minimize
the potential waste along the way. By “waste”, I mean any 3D part that is modeled and then deleted, something that
is usually an expensive thing to do for a 3D concept artist.
The reason why I wanted to spend some time talking about all this front-end thinking is that any concept worth exploring is usually a product of not just “pulling the vertices” time, but the time spent beforehand on the idea itself. That’s
where taking notes is a critical tool. You can use any media/format for it that you want. I constantly write down notes
for either ideas on the current projects or future project or non-existing project in a Word document or on my phone if
I’m not in front of my computer. I would sincerely recommend this habit to everyone as it will save you time when you
actually get to modeling stage.
Staying Creative and Focused
I find it very difficult to maintain a proper balance between staying creative and focused all at the same time. It intuitively feels contradictory to one another. That’s why there are a few of tricks I’m using when trying to stay on target, get
things done quickly yet stay open for design opportunities that arise as I move through the modeling process. Most of
these tools are coming from basic time management techniques. Once the overall foundation for the Atom-Eater idea
was established I spent some time writing a list of items I wanted the design to include. This is the time when the real
concepting is happening, but it’s just still in my head. Writing it down (whether it’s on paper or a document) makes it
tangible and gives it energy. I would write things like:
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Cybernetic muscles
Hard mechanical feet
Head-side flexible robotic arms with mechanical claws/hands
Partially exposed hydraulics in legs
Multiple mechanical “eye” openings looking in different directions
Soft pad lower leg protection
Soft “skin” material that protects internal mechanics
Since I already knew its body would be based on an ant eater, there were no questions about the overall proportions,
flow of the head, body, and the tail. Giving each part a challenging, but realistic deadline for its completion was the key
to moving ahead through each part and stage without getting stuck trying to get that one part perfect. Usually my philosophy is captured by this law of forced efficiency: “There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always
time to do the most important thing”. This leads to a critical step which is defining what would be the most important
elements of the design and how much time you want to spend (or have to spend) on the whole concept. After that,
it’s a matter of committing to getting it done within that time frame. I found out that it is easier to stay focused and
at the same time be creative when I divide the chunk of work I have to do in smaller portions, all the way to smaller
actionable steps and then for a given time frame focus only on that area avoiding the temptation to jump throughout
the design trying to refine it evenly everywhere. This also means that before I’d start working I’d budget such technical
steps like how much time I want to spend on retopology of a part (Zremeshing), etc.
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That way by the time I finish writing the design item-list it would turn into a detailed plan with each item having a
deadline. Even if it ends up taking more time than I planned, it would be much better to work in defined passes using
the plan as a road map, going from part to part, making consistent progress than taking a risk of getting stuck on one
part trying to get it “right” and ending up spending all the time just on that. I believe that any work tends to fill up
the time available for its completion. To take advantage of that, I try to spend my first 25-30% of all the time I have
for the entire concept on the three most important areas/elements of the design. That way I would still have time to
make consistent progress on the rest of the design. But knowing that the most important parts of it are already done
would make you more relaxed and less pressured by the passing time and upcoming deadline, therefore letting you
be more creative. It’s an interesting balance that can first feel awkward, tricky, and mechanical, but when becoming a
habit can help to take on big projects with a challenging deadline without feeling stressed out which is important for
getting the creative juice going.
Pipeline and Overall Process
After writing down the initial idea and describing the visual targets of the design, it’s time to actually create the thing
in 3D. Here are the further stages I went through: Building a 3D blockout from a primitive in ZBrush using Dynamesh
feature
Subdividing the blockout 1-2 times for initial refinement pass of the big shapes in ZBrush with no attention to details yet. Basically, it’s just quick indicating where the future details are going to be placed and what direction the
flow will have.
Adding initial details using pre-modeled kitbash parts assigned to IMM brushes
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What’s really great about this approach is that you can use ZBrush Transpose tool to bend the parts to make sure they
flow along the organic surface.
Retopo-ing the model using Zremesher feature
Exporting the models from ZBrush into a polygonal modeling software (in this case Softimage XSI) . Finishing off the
surfaces and finalizing the integration between the parts using mostly SUBD-based poly-modelling tools. This was the
longest stage consisting of these substeps: Taking advantage of Zremeshed geometry and cutting body surfaces in
separate parts
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Adding details, applying thickness
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Integrating details added in ZBrush with the layers of body surfaces
Adding a few Non-SUBD parts (Feet and a few hydraulic parts)
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Separating meshes per material and assigning material groups
Look-Dev in Keyshot
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Final Rendering in Keyshot
Quick Post-work in Photoshop
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The pipeline and used software varies from project to project. For example, I started using CAD modeling software,
Moi3D, more and more not just for industrial design projects, but also for entertainment designs when I need hardedge mechanical parts with a very realistic machined-style look. But for this concept (mostly because of its organic
style) it was enough for me to rely on older tools that I have been using for years: Zbrush and Softimage XSI. In terms
of modeling techniques, these are the approaches I used for creating Atom-Eater:
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Digital Sculpting
SUBD Poly modeling
Non-SUBD Poly modeling
Sculpting was done in Zbrush using its awesome Dynamesh feature. The power of it is that you can get a nice organic
shape that establishes overall flow of the future design in minutes by just using Move brush and Standard brush starting from a sphere (or in this case from a cylinder) and using Shift to smooth the form along the way.
For SUBD (quad-based topology with supporting edges) and Non-Subd Poly modeling technique, I used Softimage XSI,
but you can use any other 3D modeling software you’re comfortable with like 3D Max, Modo, Maya, etc. Most of the
work was done using SUBD-based topology to allow subdividing the mesh before rendering to get smoother surfaces
and micro-fillets from supporting edges. For concept work, you don’t need to do that unless you need the specific
look that SUBD modeling can give you. With this design, I needed that organic flow with tight transitions and surface
tension that is difficult for me to achieve using any other approach.
Non-SUBD Poly modeling was also done in XSI as it is a very fast way to “fake” the machined look that is hard to get
with subd-based approach. Some of the mechanical parts and also Atom-Eater’s feet were modeled that way. The biggest advantage of this approach is that you can disregard the topology and basically “Boolean” your way out. What I
like about XSI Booleans operations is that you can apply those on objects that have n-gons and open edges (holes) in
it and still make it Boolean while keeping the history live, so you can change the position of the operands to change
the output of final Boolean.
ZBrush Insert Multi Mesh brushes
Zbrush IMM brushes were very helpful in terms of accelerating the design/modeling process. Right after I finished a
rough 3d block-out, I started applying Insert brushes with assigned pre-modeled mechanical parts. That helped me
to populate the models with mechanical details very fast while placing the parts correctly along the normal of the
surface, which is something ZBrush IMM brushes are very good at. You can find out more about mechanical parts I
created here: www.3dkitbashstore.com
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Small Tips&Tricks that Make the Difference
ZBrush:
Another super helpful Zbrush feature I used for this project was ZRemesher. The zremeshed blockout of the AtomEater’s body became a great quad-based base for further SUBD-based modeling in Softimage XSI. I would zremesh a
section of the Atom-Eater, for example head, then I would bring it to XSI, relax the topology, re-arrange the flow of the
edgeloops in some areas using XSI’s “slide” along the surface with Proportional Modeling On (similar to Soft Selection).
That patch of geometry would become a foundation which I would refine using polygonal modeling tools, add thickness to it, as well as seams and other details.
Non-SUBD modelling:
30deg auto-smooth. When modeling using Booleans and N-gons in a polygonal software, one thing you’ll start noticing will be artifacts that are the result of surface shading continuity throughout a coarse topology. One of the ways to
fix that is to apply to a lower angle threshold value to a normal angle autosmooth in order to “break” that continuity in
a curved or non-straight surface. In XSI, it’s in Geometry Approximation panel – Discontinuity Angle of Polygon Mesh.
In 3D max, the modifier is called Smooth. And in Maya, the command is called Set Normal Angle. Usually when I use a
non-subd approach, I just set a 30deg. Angle value from the start.
Split edges or Separate polygons for non-SUBD geometry. If a lower degree auto-smooth doesn’t help to fix the problem you can always just disconnect the surface or edges to abrupt the surface continuity and get rid of the artifacts.
SUBD Modeling:
Relax Tool. I use Relax tool quite a bit when building smooth surfaces with a lot of polygons in it. The thing is you don’t
want to spend too much time tweaking a lot of vertices by hand because of how time consuming it is to make nice
transitions by hand when dealing with heavy geo. The general rule is, if you have to pull more than four vertices into a
specific configuration, that usually means there is already a redundant step.
The beauty of SUBD modeling is in what happens when you subdivide the geo, so let the computer do the math and
try to keep mesh as simple as possible and only add geo when and where it’s needed. You can subdivide geometry and
add more details, but before you do, make sure you’re happy with the overall form and how the surface flows because
as soon as you subdivide it and add a few details on top, it will be difficult to change topology on the fly because of
how many new polygons were created in subdivision.
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Adjacent Selection. Another tool I use a lot is adjacent selection, especially adjacent selection from polygons to edges.
This helps me to quickly select the edges without actually clicking at them. So I recommend applying Adjacent Selection commands to hotkeys that are easily accessible. I’m using it every time I need to add supporting edges to newly
extruded polygons since the edges adjacent to those polygons are the ones that need to be tessellated with parallel
edgeloops.
Render prep work:
I usually do all the materials separation work before I import the model to Keyshot. So with the Atom-Eater, I created
a few materials with different colors in XSI and applied them to model parts accordingly. The main goal here is not to
get the colors right, but just get the proper separation of materials for the future work in Keyshot. That way, when I
import the model in Keyshot, all the parts are linked properly together to a material they belong to, which makes it
easy to start working with the shaders.
Keyshot:
One of the ways to efficiently use Keyshot in look-dev stage is to import the model in lower resolution first. When I was
done with the Atom-Eater model, I first imported it in Keyshot without subdividing it. That way the initial test renders
were much faster so I could I iterate on materials and lighting settings much faster. Once I was happy with shaders/
lighting, I subdivided the model two times in XSI and imported a final version of the mesh for the final renders.
Using Keyshot’s Rounded Edges feature allows you to get micro-fillets without the need to build them in geo. This is a
very quick and efficient way to give a more realistic look to your mechanical models and works especially well on nonSUBD parts with a lot of hard edges.
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