Best Still: Her Eventual Hesitation
Inspiration is everywhere. You might even find it on a nearby street. Indeed, when Marek Denko first saw the yellow Volkswagen Transporter parked in front of the home of his daughter’s English teacher, he decided to immortalise it in his next private 3D artwork. “Her Eventual Hesitation” won this year’s public vote and thus the 2016 animago AWARD in the Best Still category.
At first, Marek didn’t have a clear concept for his image and instead focused on simply modelling the Transporter. He used photos he’d previously taken of the camper as references. And, seeing as many details were needed to create the desired photorealistic look, this task was enough to keep him busy for starters. As soon as the 3D model was finished rendering, he placed the vehicle in a hilly natural landscape.
But Marek was quickly bored with the empty scenery, because it offered him few opportunities to carry out fine detail work. So he left the natural setting and moved his vehicle into the city, where he came up with a background story on the subject of “leaving the world behind”. With this idea in mind, he spent two days testing concepts and playing with new angles and lighting for the camper. Ultimately he liked the light of an early, rainy summer morning the best, and he livened up the scenery with a male character he based on his own appearance, using reference photographs of himself.
It’s no Ferrari, but it’s reliable
The image was created using 3ds Max, with Marvelous Designer for the protagonist’s clothing and V-Ray for the rendering. Marek has positive experiences using the Chaos Group’s render software: “V-Ray is not the Ferrari among engines, but it’s a reliable medium that works for all types of functions”. In the rendering process he used BF/BF (Brute Force) for the first time instead of his usual BF/LC (Brute Force/Light Caching). According to Marek, the resulting longer rendering times were definitely worth it: “The image has many details and no single light source, which means that the lighting, shading and shadows worked better with this method and I was able to make the most of all the details. The rendering time using six machines was roughly half a day”.
High-res tests
Marek devoted most of the time working on “Her Eventual Hesitation” to modelling, texturing and shading the models. It was the ground, above all other things that presented the greatest challenge. He had to generate the ground in a high-res quality in the test phase and place all the objects onto that, because in a low-res quality he couldn’t see if all the reflections worked. “In terms of the lights, I basically copy what I see. If the pre-work is done successfully, then the lighting almost always works, too”, says the artist.
A man needs a project
Marek Denko has created many private stills in his almost 20-year career as a 3D artist. “A man needs something to do, and if he doesn’t have a specific project, he dies”, he explained after the animago AWARD ceremony. As soon as he gets a new idea for an image, he first makes a rough sketch and then, after changing and shifting it many times in Photoshop, when he gets the feeling that the overall composition works, he invests his free time in completing the final draft. “After working for months on the same image, I’m no longer in a position to see its magic. But my years of experience have shown me that I have a good eye, an eye that I have to trust. Still, at some point during the process, I can no longer really judge the quality”, explains Marek.
However, the most difficult task when completing a private still is perseverance, that is, the ability to work for months on an image and ultimately get it done. Marek gets himself motivated each time by visualizing the positive feedback he often gets after publishing an image. But he also finds this stage very difficult: “It breaks my heart when I have to finally let go of the project, because it means I can no longer change anything”. An additional side effect of the popularity of his images is the attention they generate for his work, which often results in new contacts and projects.
Is she going to show up?
And now, dear readers, it’s up to you to decide: Is our hero’s girlfriend going to show up and join him on his big adventure or is he going to set out by himself?
About Marek Denko
Marek Denko is a 3D artist from the Czech Republic known for his thematically sensitive stills that are always created with a high level of photorealistic detail. Together with Peter Sanitra, he operates a studio in Prague that bears the ironic name NoEmotions. Among the studio’s clients are Blur Studio, Method Studios and Tendril.
(Mirja Fürst)