A Comprehensive Guide on Product Visualization in Blender & Octane Render

Introduction

Back in 2003, I started as an intern at the Secretariat of Social Communication of The Court, doing newspaper clippings, scanning, and cleaning the images for their website. I knew nothing about the craft or any software available. It was my first contact with Photoshop, and I loved to discover that new world. I started to learn more about that tool in workshops that occurred in my town at the time. Four years later, in 2007, I graduated in Advertising from UNIDERP University in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul state.

In 2013, I started learning 3D with MODO by Luxology. I was mesmerized by being able to turn things around in a virtual environment. Before, almost all my 3D skills were self-taught, and then I had an opportunity to exchange experience with my peers in the industry.

First Steps in 3D Modeling

Initially, I needed a way to make money with 3D by learning something that would not be too time-consuming. I started learning product visualization. At the time, I thought that visualizing bottles would have faster returns than creating characters and monsters.

Even though I graduated in advertising, I have worked with graphic design for about 15 years, all the while learning Photoshop and 3D. I was living the best time of my life. For about 3 years, I worked with my great friend, Marcolino, who studied 3D with me. We constantly helped each other with new findings or projects. Back then, it was too hard to find good MODO tutorials.

My first product in modeling was an iPod Nano 3rd generation, which I made using a tutorial on PSDTuts.

I was thrilled to see the light bounce on the surface of the product and to model different shapes with full control and plenty of possibilities. I always saw myself as a technical person focused on details. However, after some time, I learned to let go of some of the technical aspects. We can’t see all the details in the final images. However, sometimes it is the fine elements that are critical for a realistic look.

In the process of learning 3D software, I realized that I needed to see the details closer, so I bought a magnifying glass. With this tool, I could examine the micro-textures that helped me replicate it. That was when I realized that the tiny details make a huge difference in the whole product. At this point, what was initially the means to make money became my true passion, and I decided to specialize in that field.

When I started to study photography, me and my girlfriend, who was a Graphic Designer as well, had a studio, which we called the Ricebean Studio. In the beginning, we had a client who presented us with books in exchange for our services. We started to research all kinds of books on design, photography, and lighting. One of them was Light, Science & Magic by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, and Paul Fuqua. That book is a must-have for those who want to learn how to create lighting. It teaches how light works in the physical world, and how to light different types of material, shapes, people, etc. That book blew my mind. After reading and applying it, my lighting skills and perception were greatly improved.

In addition to learning independently, I have a reliable net of great professionals who are my good friends, and we consistently support each other. 

Mastering Blender

Soon after, Foundry bought MODO from Luxology, and I felt that the software was not improving anymore. It seemed that new tools were created while neglecting the old ones, with numerous issues needing attention.

Another great friend of mine called Mazola, who also came from MODO, was using Blender for a couple of years. He suggested that I migrate from MODO to Blender, which was rapidly developing at the time. Also, the program offered a fast-track learning curve to the basics and was lighter than MODO. I didn’t dare to even open the software for a year. I began using Blender in 2018 and, once started, instantly regretted not getting into this software sooner.

My friend Mazola helped me a lot to understand some of the Blender features. I also started to search for tutorials on YouTube. My experience with MODO assisted me greatly: when I needed to know something specific, I just typed the tool or action that I knew in MODO with the word Blender at the end, and it always worked out. I discovered that the language of 3D software is mostly the same. At some point, I didn’t want to watch full tutorials and focused on solving specific problems instead.

MODO has nodes, but I always use its shader tree, which works with layers like Photoshop. I started to use nodes when I began to study Octane for MODO, but at that time, I was through with the software and gave up on using it.

When I dug more into Blender, I had to learn how to use it properly, so I bought a subscription to Unhide School. It is an online school for digital artists with all types of professionals teaching how to use specific software. I chose two courses: Shading in Blender for Beginners and Lighting in 3D and Lighting Techniques by Rafael Vallaperde, one of the directors of Lightfarm Studios. The course on lighting is basically the knowledge of the book Light, Science & Magic in a nutshell. After that, I was able to transfer my shader tree knowledge to the nodes.

I have not mastered the software yet. I intend to get more into animation in product visualization, so I will need to learn other things inside the software that are new for me.

I believe that Blender’s strongest sides are its fast learning curve and light viewport. Also, the program is free, which makes it available for everyone. And the most important aspect is that there is a great community around it. Everybody seems inclined to share knowledge, and you can find absolutely anything that you want to learn on YouTube.

Creating Realistic 3D Models

3D modeling involves a lot of observation, knowledge of how to build material from scratch, understanding how light works in the real world, and trying to mimic that in a 3D environment. I believe that it is important to have a little bit of patience to try to understand the shapes of the product to avoid mischaracterizing it. It is crucial to not change anything shape-wise. I usually say that a 3D model should have some imperfections added to it so that it does not look like an illustration. In that aspect, it is different from retouching in Photoshop, which is aimed at removing imperfections.

One way to ensure that each 3D model perfectly represents the product is we have the technical drawing in our hands. Knowing how to read such drawings is another important skill. Sometimes we do not have the real product available as the client needs a 3D model to launch it. In this case, we only have the technical drawings and some material references.

Having a real product is important to consistently represent all details only visible on the material side of things. I work with a pachymeter, which is an instrument for measuring thickness. Using this tool in combination with technical drawings and a magnifying glass is the best approach to perfectly examine, analyze, measure, and thus, reproduce the product.

When I’m building up the shader, I always put the product in a hard light so I can see how the texture reacts to it. I also take a bunch of photographs with the camera flash. It helps me to better understand the material. Sometimes, I have two or three samples of the same product so I can cut it in half if it is possible. This gives me a better impression of the product’s thickness. Putting all these details inside Blender makes the lighting look photorealistic. 

Organizing Workflow

I used to be a Graphic Designer working in design agencies, and that allowed me to build a great network in my field. Some of the work comes to me through those agencies, some arrives through Behance, Facebook, and Instagram. I always post my work on social media, which maintains engagement with my profiles. For the last few years, I have also been working with different studios in Brazil and other countries. By doing this, I keep expanding and building on my partnerships.

At the beginning of the working process, the client, agency, or studio reaches me asking for my proposal. I usually send out offers suggesting a timeline of 5 weekdays for the customer to review my proposal and get back to me with a response. I tend to consider the need for milestones to change, so I include this elaboration in my offers. Every once in a while you face the need to have a clear understanding of how the timeline changes based on anyone’s delayed responses or deliveries due to unforeseen events or emergencies. Having such provisions helps us avoid inconvenient surprises. I make sure our timeline is up to date and everyone involved is up to speed on things, whether we have been able to keep it intact or had it adapted as a result of unexpected and impactful events.

Once the client, agency, or studio’s approval and samples are sent, and if there is no technical drawing provided, I begin to take measurements to produce my own drawing by hand.

After that, I start modeling. As soon as I have lighting applied to the scene, I send the clay render for review and approval. If the feedback from the client is positive, I finish the lookdev and render with post-production. Once that phase is approved, I follow the final steps that include delivering the products in layers and separating shadows and the background.

I’ve never enjoyed following a routine. Working as a freelancer allows me to escape it – I always have various projects and work with different people as well as learn skills from other professionals.

Modeling a 3D Cup of Hot Chocolate

I modeled the cup from a simple cylinder and used a photograph as a reference to enhance its shape. The wing was just an extrusion following the shape that the client wanted.

For the unwrapping, I cut the wing in half and cut the edges attached to the cup. To create the main part, I separated the base and the inner part. After that, I cut the body of the cup in half.

Milk & Foam

For the milk, I prepared a real beverage and took a bunch of photographs in my kitchen while adding chocolate powder to the milk. I also made a few shots of espresso to visualize the foam properly. After that, I composed all the relevant photos to achieve the shape that I was looking for.

I separated the top part from the rest to open the UV map.

For the chocolate, I made two different renders using various shaders and utilized Photoshop’s Mask tool to compose them. I could have done the masks in Octane Render, but the rendering was not taking too long, so I decided to use Photoshop, which is much faster.

My workflow in Blender depends on the project. If I don’t have technical drawings to guide me, but the physical product is available, I start to measure all the main shapes, the radius of the curves, and, for instance, count the details of a lid. Then I go to Blender and start adding those shapes respecting the distances I got from the measurements. After that, I connect the shapes with the bridge tool and adjust the product’s shape to stick to the actual measurement as closely as possible. To double-check, I add subdivision to make sure that the 3D shape matches the size of the real one and then I start detailing it.

For shading, I use close-up photos of the product and a magnifying glass to see fine details to reproduce the micro-texture. The model should mimic the real texture in macro-vision. 

In Octane, I mostly use procedural textures to imitate real-life materials. Sometimes I need to take photos and use them as maps as well. I also work with ACES workspace as it has a more natural look of the lights and colors with more depth. For visualizing food, I follow the same process. However, food’s shape gives me more freedom to work with as I can only respect the approximate size of the real product.

Overall, my main tools are a magnifying glass, a camera, natural light for photos, rulers, a pachymeter, and my eyes. The challenges in creating this hot chocolate model were mostly texture-wise. Making the chocolate and the foam look believable gave me a lot of work. I consider following a different workflow next time. 

Career Plans

I intend to always keep improving my skills on the software that I use and keep pushing myself to get better in every new project that I work on. Every time I have a more comfortable schedule to work on a project, I recreate the shaders that I already made in the past. This helps me to discover new ways to do it and speed up my whole process in the future.

I was working on a project for a big brand in Brazil from late January until late April. I cannot disclose the details yet, except for the fact that the project will be out at the end of the year.

I have also been working with Crunch Punch, a brand from Estonia, and KitKat. Both are already in my portfolio, and were both fun projects to work with. However, I faced a lot of challenges with those.

I cannot say that I can call anything a secret to the work of a 3D Artist, as a lot of people do the same thing and even better than me. In my portfolio, I try to show things that matter in every project – close-ups of textures, wireframes, and samples of before and after with post-production. The most important aspect is a really good thumbnail, as it is responsible for bringing people to view the project. Also, it is crucial to give credit to all the people who work with you on each project.

In my opinion, the key is observation. Try to keep your eyes peeled for every little detail. Try to reproduce those details from macro to micro. That way, those details will provide a more realistic look on your renders when you see a product from a long distance.

On the technical side, I would focus on lighting and photography. Following great product photographers is a good way to learn the secrets of how real-life objects look. Try to mimic a real photography studio and see how different materials react to the light. As I have already mentioned, I highly recommend the book Light, Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, which is a really good guide that helped me a lot.

You can see my other works by visiting my website, Behance, Instagram, ArtStation profile, LinkedIn, and Cara. 

Rafa Mota, 3D Artist

Interview conducted by Theodore McKenzie