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You may be forgiven for thinking that the Oculus Rift VR headset was created solely for use as a gaming device. That is no longer the case, as there are now lots of creation tools springing up, including VR sculpting and painting apps.

This project will show you how virtual reality can be used in a character concept pipeline. We will explain how to sculpt in VR and how to paint a character model, in this case a robot from a mining colony. We will be using a few concept sketches and paintings that are imported as reference planes. 

The final model and scene is 'photographed' in VR with a number of different lighting scenarios. These are then taken into Photoshop for compositing into a final render.

The software we will be using is Oculus Medium, which is an immersive virtual reality experience that lets you sculpt, model, paint and create objects in a VR environment. The software enables you to create expressive works of art, whether you're a total beginner, an aspiring creative or a professional artist. Using Oculus' Touch controllers enables the user to employ intuitive hand gestures and movement for a natural, tactile experience. The final sculpt will be a character that can be posed and exported with painted colour detail, for use in another app or for 3D printing.

01. Set up Oculus Rift

Take a while to get your VR legs before jumping in

The video to accompany this tutorial (which you can download here) is recorded in VR and the experience that you will see on screen is not representative of the full experience. Once you have your Oculus Rift and sensors all set up it would be beneficial to spend some time understanding how to hold and use the controllers. Open up Oculus Medium. The first video starts as we enter the Oculus Medium scene.

02. Import reference images

Find some robot concept art to use as reference

On your computer, look for the default Medium folder and look for a folder called _Import. In there you will find a folder for images and a folder for meshes. For this tutorial we bring in some robot character concept art to use as a guide in the scene. Pull back on the Support hand thumbstick and click the reference button at the bottom of the panel, which resembles a book. This will bring up the References panel. Click Import to add any images that have been saved to the _Import folder. They are now available to use as reference.

03. Add the reference imagery to the scene

Select 'Move with sculpt' for your reference images

After selecting the images you imported, they should appear in the VR scene. Pull back on the Support hand thumbstick to exit the reference panel. To move an image, click on one and it will display a green outline to show it is selected. Pressing the green button on your Tool hand will bring up options for the reference image. Now hit the green gear button and select 'Move with sculpt'. Move the reference image to a position that works for you and enables you to model in front of it, and repeat this for each of the reference images. 

You can also delete images from the scene using this options panel. If you don't select 'Move with sculpt' the image will lock to a position in the scene. This can be useful for adding signs and graphics to your VR scene.

04. Block out the base of the robot

Enable the mirror function to save time on your sculpt

We will do a very rough layout model. Push forward on your Support hand thumbstick to bring up the tool radial menu and make sure you have the Clay tool selected. Pressing the trigger on the Tool hand adds clay to the scene. As the robot is symmetrical, we need to enable the mirror function by clicking the yellow control panel button on the Support hand and selecting Mirror.

05. Change default stamps

You can customise the brush shape to suit your needs

We started sculpting with the Clay tool and with a default sphere shape. Although this is the most basic sculpting tool in Medium, it can be customised with a variety of different brush shapes. 

To change brush shape, press the green gear button on the Tool hand controller and at the top of the panel you will find the default brush shapes. Select one to make it the active shape at the end of your sculpting tool. Medium comes with a large catalogue of stamps, which are located in the menu below the default brush shapes.

06. Split the model into parts

Split your model into layers using the Cut tool

Use the Cut tool and slice up the model, which automatically creates a new layer for each part. Push forward with the Support hand thumbstick and select the Cut tool on the radial menu. Remove the head first by moving the line through the neck while pressing the Tool hand trigger down. If you have done it correctly the head will be in a separate layer.

07. Navigate layers

Make sure you know which layer is which

Pull back the Support hand thumbstick and make sure you have the Layers panel selected, the first button on the row of icons at the bottom. From here you can rename, delete and merge your layers. 

For example you can use the eye icon next to the layer to hide individual layers as you work. If you point your Tool hand at a part and hit the trigger, you will automatically select the relevant layer, indicated by the yellow highlight. To cut a particular layer, re-select the main layer and continue cutting the model into individual parts.

08. Adjust environment settings

With the scene settings you can configure the world to your liking

So far we have been using the default environment settings. You may want to configure your environment to suit your own style. To do this, pull back on the Support hand thumbstick and click the button that resembles the world. 

From here you can change the sun colour, adjust the sun brightness, turn off the Skybox and change the background colour. You can also turn off the ground plane and just see the background colour you have chosen. Configure the world to suit your style and play around with the settings until you are happy.

09. Adjust material settings

Each model per layer can have its own material, enabling you to mix things up

Seeing as though we are making a robot, let's change the material to a metal shader. You can set a material for each model per layer so you will have to choose each layer and adjust it to suit. 

To do this make sure you are on the Layer menu again, then select the part you wish to change the material of. With the layer selected, press the green settings button on your Tool hand. On this menu, change the material by clicking Metal at the top middle. Now you can change the roughness, diffuse settings and the occlusion of the material.

10. Pick a colour

Use the colour palette to choose colours, or just grab one you've already used with the colour picker

As we are about to start working on each layer at a more accurate level, we might want to change the colour as we go along. Make sure you have the Clay tool activated and click the colour palette button on the Tool hand. Use the picker from the top to select an existing colour from your sculpt, or select black or white. Any clay you add from now will be the colour you have selected.

11. Increase layer resolution 

Make your sculpt less blocky by increasing the resolution

For some areas of the model that carry a lot of detail, you may notice that when adding clay, the resulting brush stroke is blocky and jagged. To solve this, it is worth increasing the resolution of the layer. Go to the Layer menu. On the right-hand side, you can find the Increase Res option to increase the resolution of the selected layer. 

Every time this is done, the layer bounding box gets smaller, increasing the density of the voxel grid. Doing this in a physically large layer could result in it being cropped to fit inside the bounding box.

12. Apply clay in strokes

Create a continuous brush stroke by holding down the Tool hand trigger

If you hold down the Tool hand trigger with the Clay tool selected and move your hand, this will create a continuous brush stroke. This can be changed by pressing the green gear icon on the Tool hand and selecting a single stamp at the top right of the panel. You can also enable line mode, which will lock the brush stroke along a line that protrudes from the Tool hand.

13. Define the shape of the torso

Use sphere and cube brushes to create the chest and abdomen

To begin creating the detailed parts of the robot we will make a start with the torso. Looking at the reference start building up the shape using the library of stamps at your disposal.

Make sure mirror is activated as shown earlier. Use a combination of the sphere and cube brushes to create the form of the chest and abdomen. To subtract parts of the model double-click the green gear button and the colour of the shape at the end of the tool will turn red. This will now remove clay from the sculpt and can be used to create shaped recesses in the sculpt surface.

14. Use the line mode to add bars

Lay down protective bars in line mode

At the bottom of the torso we want to add some protective bars. Use the cube stamp for a hard edge and go into tool settings and select the line mode. Lay down the bars and make sure they intersect where needed. Edges can be neatened by using the subtract clay mode in conjunction with the line tool to remove clay from the sculpt and to add a chamfer to the edges of that layer.

15. Utilise stamps

Try combining stamps to create interesting effects

Press the green gear button to bring up the Tool Options menu. There are a large range of stamps available, arranged by category. For this project we will mainly be using the Mechanical stamps. When using a stamp, the shape added will reflect the resolution of the layer you stamp it on. Try a range of stamps in add and subtract modes to create interesting shapes.

Next page: Finish off your VR character

16. Create the shape of the head

Build your robot head out of mechanical stamps

Make sure you have the head layer selected and pick some stamps that give you a cylinder and the rim for the shape of the head. Mechanical stamps are a great place to start for stamps of this nature. For the top of the head layer we use the subtract mode to create the hollow in the top. Use basic square shapes to add the grids at the front. This is best done with the 'single' brush mode.

17. Add shoulder pads

Put the shoulder pads in their own layer so you can position them separately to the arms

The shoulder pads can be created using some of the built-in stamps. Choose a shape that reflects that curved shape and apply to a new layer. This means you can position the shoulders separately to the arms. The shoulder pads on the concept appear to have a rough surface, so we can add the rough texture using a basic Clay tool with an organic stamp. Using the 'surface' mode found under the Brush Options menu, the brush can be applied directly to the surface of the model. The stamp will follow the surface normals. 

18. Define the shape of the arms

Change the brush size with the Tool hand thumbstick

The arms are made up in the same way as the rest of the sculpt. The best stamps to use here are still the Mechanical ones. Start by creating some cylinders using the line brush method to create the basic arm structure. Remember you can push forward or pull back with the Tool hand thumbstick to increase and decrease the size. 

Add a lot of visual interest with really complex stamps and make sure that the layer resolution is set high enough before adding clay in order to avoid rough or jagged edges.

19. Establish the shape of the hands

Model the hand separately from the arm if that makes life easier for you

The hands are made using a combination of stamps. Add a block of clay to represent the base of the hand. Add in lots of disk shapes to represent the knuckles and each finger joint, followed by small cylinders to represent each finger bone. Add a thumb on the side in the same way. You can split the model down further if you like and use the Cut tool to separate the hand from the arm. 

We only need to make one arm and leg as we will be duplicating and mirroring the limbs across the world axis.

20. Define the shape of the legs

Check to make sure your legs pose looks good from the side

The legs are comprised of very simple shapes, compared to the upper body. They are basically a group of cylinders with some complexity to add detail. Make sure when you are building them that you get the pose correct from the side. Adding cogs and wheel shapes among other greeble to the back of the knee gives the sense of a functioning robot joint.

21. Determine the shape of the feet

Adjust the position of the feet to ensure that the pose maintains balance

The feet of the robot are essentially a metal cage. Using a cube or square stamp, select the line brush mode. Begin to create the base shape of the cage, remembering to adjust the layer resolution as needed to ensure that the edges are crisp. Keep adjusting the position of the sculpt's feet to ensure that the pose maintains balance. To do this, select the foot or leg layer you wish to move, then using the inner grips of the controllers, you can move that layer around independently from the rest of the model.

22. Add high levels of detail

Use the Smooth tool to cover up seams and jagged edges

Once the shapes for all the layers have been defined, any additional details can be added, as well as sharpening any edges which are jagged due to low resolution. The Smooth tool can also be used to blend any seams together, where different brushes meet. Remember to make sure that layers don't clip due to bounding boxes shrinking when increasing resolution.

23. Photograph inside Medium

There are plenty of options for capturing images and footage of your sculpt

There are a few methods to capture images from inside Oculus Medium. You can capture stills, record video or record live scenes for playback in VR. These methods can be accessed by pressing the yellow control panel button on the Support hand. 

When capturing a photo or video, the camera can be locked to the sculptor's hand, to follow the headset or free float in the scene. This last method is useful as you can take multiple exposures of the same scene using different materials or lighting setups in a way that is similar to multi-pass rendering. These 'passes' can be combined to create interesting effects in Photoshop.

24. Paint and comp

Take lots of photos them comp them in Photoshop

In the Control Panel there is a Photo button. Lower the FOV to 0 to stop distortion. Lock the Photoframe to the world with the small Globe icon. Hit the Photo button to take a picture. Now move the lighting and retake. Keep repeating until you are happy. These images were brought into Photoshop where I composited them using the VR Photographs and layer blend modes.

25. Export for other programs

Medium can export in FBX and OBJ formats

The options for export can be found by pressing the yellow Control Panel button on the Support hand and selecting Export. The options include the ability to reduce polycount through a process called decimation, which involves setting a target polycount that the application will try to match. 

The formats you can export as are FBX and OBJ with the ability to export colours as a texture map or by vertex colour. With these options you should be able to export the file in a format that most software is able to read. 

This article was originally published in issue 228 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 228 here or subscribe to 3D World here.

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There’s really no limit to how much you can learn when it comes to drawing and painting animals. However, this workshop will be less about how to draw anatomy and technical approaches and more about how to boost your art and take it to the next level.

Spending too much time working on mastering techniques and lead you away from prioritising stories and original approaches, resulting in strong painting skills, but fewer good ideas. Mastering the skill of creating personal art can significantly boost your own commercial artworks.

This workshop will give you some useful tips and tools, so you can turn up your art and character designs a notch. After all, every artist wants the viewers to care about their art. Hopefully, these tips can help you make progress in that direction.

01. Repeat, repeat, then repeat again

It takes a lot of goes to get the perfect sketch

I rarely nail a sketch at the first attempt, so don’t be afraid to produce several revisions. I’m a perfectionist (for better or for worse), so over the years I’ve developed a habit for revisions. It’s become a good habit, because I’m not only improving with every sketch I make, but I also end up with lots of versions I can go back to, merge together with a new one, and create the best possible results.

02. Be creative with your selfies

Selfies are a perfect source of references

Study yourself in the mirror, or record yourself on video. It’s beneficial to make creatures feel more human, which can be influenced by our own expressions. I like doing this, since I get an excuse to make funny faces without being questioned by people who think they know better.

03. Study real animals

There are a fair few animal videos on the internet you can study

Watch photos, online videos and nature programmes, study your own pets. Why not try recording them in different situations? After all, a frozen frame from a video is much more authentic and natural than a staged photo.

04. Be personal

Use your life to inform your art

Your memories and life experiences are priceless. Find your inspiration and tell your own stories through your characters or creatures. What makes you smile, laugh or cry? Consider adding your own pet to your art, or maybe something funny and embarrassing? I tend to draw lots of horses, foxes and cats, since I used to be one of those typical girls who hung out a lot at the stable, and the fox is a common animal here in Sweden. And I see our two silly cats doing stupid things every day, so it’s hard not to get inspired by that!

05. Don't be afraid to ask 'what if...?'

Keep your work spontaneous

Take my piece with the tiger chasing the balloon for instance. It all started with that tiger alone, reaching for something. I wanted to try something different, and started thinking that it would be hilarious to paint something about a tiger and a scared balloon. Totally random! Asking “what if?” helps you explore more ideas, for creating interesting creatures and characters.

06. Know your anatomy

Anatomy can be accurate and exaggerated

The anatomy doesn’t have to be 100 per cent perfect. But it does still has to be believable. Luckily, many animals share similar anatomy, so you only need to figure out the significant features of the specific animal you’re drawing: proportions, posture, significant details and so on. The bones and limbs are attached in a similar way, so if you learn how to draw one animal, you’ll get a shortcut to a bunch of other ones, too.

07. Play with light to add story

Lighting can communicate different moods

Try out different variations before settling on the final one. Think about the mood, and ask yourself, what do you want to say with your piece? Cute or romantic pieces work well with a sunny, backlit magic hour light, while dark, hard shadows may be more suitable to indicate danger. Study colour scripts for films to see how the studios have solved certain situations and moods. Using actual photos as a base for colours is also helpful if you want to create realistic lighting.

08. Remember Pinterest can inspire, but also trap

Don't get sucked into the world of Pinterest

Don’t get too caught up in browsing other artists online for inspiration. Sites like Pinterest or gallery sites like ArtStation are great for boosting your own inspiration, but I would always say to use your own stories and ideas as a base. This is something I’m constantly working on.

09. Include a sense of interaction

Interactions are a brilliant way to tell a story

I like art where you can see some kind of emotion in the characters, because that’s something we all can relate to. The characters or creatures can be cuddly, comforting, angry, sad… It doesn’t really matter, as long as you feel something. Take the painting I Love You Bro (above) for instance: some couples have said to me that they remind them of their kids, or even themselves.

10. Use strong body language

Body language says as much as a facial expression

It all starts with definite body language, so try to nail that before diving into the details such as facial expressions. To help do that, try to imagine how your character would pose themselves if it didn’t have a face. I know that sounds a bit creepy, but it makes sense, since body language tells you much more than one might think. Play around with different poses in your rough sketches, then you’ll be able to pin-point which one will be the most suitable to tell your character’s or creature’s story.

11. Paint glossy, realistic but cartoony eyes

12. Ensure that viewers can relate to your paintings

Timing can make a piece relatable

With my Hobbit cats piece, people could relate to it because it was funny and familiar. I even used my own cats as models. Things just suddenly fell into place – my cats resembled Bilbo and Gollum! It’s not a coincidence that I painted this during the same time as The Hobbit was showing at the cinemas. The timing was perfect and inspiration struck hard.

13. Use economic brush strokes

Transparency can make brush strokes look more confident

One way to make paintings or sketches look cleaner is to lock the Transparency on some of the layers and keep painting within brush strokes. I do this a lot to keep things nice and clean, and the brush strokes look much more confident. This technique can also be a lot of help when painting hair or fur. You’ll gain more control over smaller strains of hair, whiskers, eyebrows and so on.

14. Visualise the line of action

Lines of action are useful for conveying moods

Try to think of your character or creature as one simple line of action and build the pose around that. This goes hand in hand with my tip on body language (see number 10). Straight lines indicate a more aggressive pose, while softer curves exude a sense of calm.

15. Work with a limited colour palette

Single colours really leap of the screen

Experiment and see what complementary colours work with your piece. I like to decide on one significant colour and let that be the most saturated one. And I pick a less-saturated complementary one to support it. The fastest way for me is to start with a monochromatic painting and save the bright colours to the last. Or just settle with the monochromatic scheme.

This article was originally published in issue 140 of ImagineFX magazine, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Subscribe to ImagineFX here.

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Hey, it’s OK to be a dummy sometimes; especially when it comes to the complexities and nuances of the increasingly vast Adobe Creative Cloud suite. So as a creative (or indeed anyone whose career or hobbyist interests rely on making things with image and text that look clear and pretty) what better gift than the power of mastering these essential tools?

What’s great about this particular well-known brand of reference guides is that it’s written by experts, rather than writers speaking to experts (so in this case, designers). As such, the tips and guidance are spelled out in a way that’s not only comprehensible to those in the design industry, but in a way that is tailored to those looking to work in it. 

The authors Jennifer and Christopher Smith certainly have pedigree: Jennifer is a UX consultant, designer, educator, and author of 12 or so books on digital imaging and web publishing; while Christopher is president of the American Graphics Institute and author of numerous books on web, interactive, and print publishing technology, including many official Adobe training guides.

Seven mini-books

Adobe Creative Cloud All-in-One For Dummies (Second Edition) is divided into seven mini-books across a hefty 800 pages, and covers InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Photoshop CC, Acrobat Pro, Adobe Bridge, and Adobe XD. While there’s no doubt this book is aimed more at those at the beginning of their creative software journey, it’s undoubtedly helpful for those already proficient in their tools. 

There's advice on using advanced features, and of course, helping a Photoshop whizz incorporate other tools and work across different programmes to make their lives easier and their work sparkle. 

What’s potentially off-putting for a book about how to design well is that it certainly isn’t the most beautiful, or indeed well-designed book we’ve ever seen: the icons are ugly; and the typographic decisions leave a lot to be desired. 

It’s also slightly misleading to bill the title as as 'all-in-one', when it doesn’t actually cover programmes like Lightroom, Premiere Pro and After Effects. But in fairness, it’s probably wise to master the less complex programmes before tackling moving image and animation software. 

Adobe Creative Cloud All-in-One For Dummies is certainly aimed more at the beginner end of the spectrum, although there’s definitely a few gems in here for the more advanced. However, it might take a bit of slightly frustrating rifling through this hefty tome to get there.

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With the new year upon us, we can’t think of a better way to refresh your workflow with our brilliant masterclasses and workshops at Vertex, our event to bring the CG community together!

We have a broad range of sessions to attract any artist and they’ve been carefully curated. From games and VFX through to VR, we’ve covered all the bases including character concepting, real-time creation and more. 

You’ll be able to take away skills to upgrade your skills immediately with leading industry pros and learn from the world’s best creative studios no matter which area you specialise in.

Glen Southern - Creation for VR, in VR

VR genius Glen Southern will be showing the process of concepting a character, using tools such as Oculus Medium in his ‘Creation for VR, in VR’ workshop. 

This will cover initial setup, learning the UI and setting good practice rules for working in this space, then will look at sculpting in 3D, using stamps and navigating with your body and hands, as well as texturing and output for other formats, including 3D printing.

Adam Dewhirst - How to build a human in one day

Modelling supervisor Adam Dewhirst from The Mill New York will teach you how you can create a digidouble in less than 24 hours in his workshop ‘How to build a human in one day’. 

Using a range of techniques from photogrammetry and mesh wrapping to The Mill’s custom human rig, Dewhirst will delve into The Mill’s ‘master human set up’, and highlight how they’re investigating the future challenges of CG human models.

Saddington Baynes - Mass customisation of visual imagery

Saddington Baynes CEO Chris Christodoulou and senior digital artist Marc Shepard will present everything you need to know about the mass customisation of visual imagery and discuss how technology can help creativity to flourish. 

The duo will demonstrate the technical backbone and processes that sit behind mass customisation, alongside the tools and software that can help artists work faster (with emphasis on Maya and Nuke).

A High Elf from Total War: Warhammer

Danny Sweeney – Total War: WARHAMMER character development

From Creative Assembly is character artist Danny Sweeney who will reveal some of the workflows and challenges of working on the game Total War: WARHAMMER 1 & 2. 

Sweeney will talk about the character development pipeline and techniques at Creative Assembly, as well at how some of the High Elf, Dark Elf, and Skaven units were developed, re-purposing existing assets, detailing your high-poly sculpts, creating hair and fur within technical limitations, creating ragged cloth, getting the most out of your UVs and more.

Bader Badruddin – A Blue Zoo masterclass in Cartoony CG Character Animation for TV

Blue Zoo series animation director Bader Badruddin will be revealing the animation secrets of the award-winning studio.

Badruddin will take you through a shot from beginning to end showing you the thought process behind animating a character shot in a short amount of time without sacrificing quality. 

Forget everything you were told about how to animate and get ready for a fresh new way to approach your work.

Mike Griggs - 3D fundamentals workshop

CG generalist Mike Griggs will bring his 20 years of CG experience to Vertex in his 3D fundamentals workshop. 

Following his popular Bootcamp, Fundamentals and Basics sections in 3D World, Griggs will guide you through the process of laying down the foundations of becoming an efficient and effective artist.

Don’t miss out, book your ticket now at vertexconf.com. There are still some amazing workshops we’ve yet to announce so keep an eye on our website, where you can also find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more.

Read more:

• Why Vertex is a must for CG artists
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User experience is not magic. You don’t run a simple test that Becky the marketing intern read a blog about once and uncover quick-fix solutions to generate huge growth. UX strategy is a science: a science that has been around since long before the first computer blipped into existence and long before UX became a buzzword. 

All scientific theories begin as a hypothesis. The assumption of purpose. Why are these events happening? Then you test the hypothesis by collecting data to validate or invalidate the hypothesis. It then becomes a theory.

• 10 essential tools for freelance UX designers

A theory is a validated explanation of why something is happening. A theory is not based on bias, nor is it based on what 
the loudest person in the room is saying. It’s based on factual data collected through a replicable method.

Without that structure, it’s easy to run a test and fallback on confirmation bias, or data manipulation, to get the feedback you want. That’s not how this works. We don’t control the outcome. We find a means to communicate the complex nuance of user behaviour in a simple way. Sometimes the data proves us wrong and that’s OK. The goal isn’t to always be right; it’s to uncover the facts.

Google User Explorer is a great first step in formulating ideas on what users want and how they expect to find it

User data solutions like Google Analytics rely heavily on assumption. You can export records and use a service like IBM Watson to find correlating trends. However, don’t confuse data with fact. Predictive modelling or assumptions are the first step, but they don’t answer the golden question of why. Why a user is motivated to take an action is the central focus of UX.

This is the inherent problem with user experience. Everyone thinks they have all the answers. UX then becomes guided by perception bias. 

Think of it this way. The sales team thinks they know what customers want to buy and the marketing team thinks they know how to convince customers they want it. Management has an approved budget based on what 
they assumed the teams would need a year ago and it likely didn’t include budget for UX research. Sound familiar?

Each organisation, department or employee has their own perspective on what should be done based on their own experience with customers. The problem is they’re all right. The bigger problem is that they’re all wrong too. 

Organisations that fall into this perception trap often find themselves avoiding the conflict of a heated debate and try to serve everyone. The problem with trying to serve everyone is that you’re not serving anyone. 

The job of user experience is to remove that bias and help the group to understand a bigger picture: the needs and expectations of the customer. So how can we reframe the conversation and make it less about opinion? Let data do the talking.

Collecting data

The process of collecting data is misunderstood by the vast majority of people. It does not need to be devoid of emotion, nor does it need to focus strictly on usability. What it needs to have is a purpose. 

What kinds of data are you collecting and why? There are two core types of data to collect:

• Qualitative: Non-numerical, emotional feedback from participants – think first reactions or personal opinion-based feedback. What you liked and why, and descriptions instead of numbers. Qualitative = quality.
• Quantitative: This is numerical, scientific feedback – 'Perform this action and rate the ease of completing the action on a scale of one to 10'. This is the basis for systems like Net Promotor Score (NPS). Quantitative = quantity.

Quantitative data

If you’re tasked with creating a baseline for customer satisfaction on member sign-up or checkout in a shopping cart you’re going to need quantitative data. This lets you collect unbiased numbers that show a clear progression from where you began to where you ended months or years later. This is crucial in showing the importance of investing in UX within an organisation.

Many organisations will see the initial improvement and not understand the value in retesting. Seeing an increase in signups, revenue or drop in support requests is fantastic but there are many variables that could influence results. Attribution is your friend. It’s also the friend of the departments that you will be working with to showcase explicitly that the testing performed and subsequent changes were validated.

This goes back to the scientific validation we discussed earlier. Collect the data, make the change and validate that the change was accurate. If it wasn’t, create a hypothesis as to why it wasn’t and begin again. The trick is to always try to prove something wrong. 

Qualitative data

If you’re redesigning a consumer facing website without a long-term UX plan it may be okay to focus on qualitative feedback: descriptions and emotions. This works well for design-centric UX like landing pages for marketing or blogs. This does not work well for long-term strategy as trends are fluid. What works today for a tested demographic may not work well next year, so be careful.

Set up targeted questions to get feedback on crucial pages in your UX flow

Qualitative feedback is harder to distil into strategy because what users say they want and what they actually want are two completely different things in most cases. It requires a lot of foresight into when to peel back the layers of feedback and dig deeper with follow-up questions or facilitation. 

Without the context of motivation, you become trapped in a feedback loop. This tends to lead down the perception trap again. If you’re stuck without direction you will try to find meaning in the data by applying bias. Once that happens, you focus on the wrong meaning and the data becomes useless.

Finding the right meaning

Let’s take a look at another example: Tenants in a New York office building would complain because, in their opinion, there was too much time in-between pressing the button and when the elevator would arrive, ding and open. Several tenants threatened to move out. 

They wanted a faster elevator to solve the problem. This is qualitative feedback and emotional responses. Management requested a feasibility study to determine cost and effectiveness, which means hard numbers and quantitative data.

A different perspective from someone in the psychology field focused on the tenants’ core needs by digging deeper than their initial feedback. They 
ignored the numeric feedback of the financial study because it was not cost-effective to replace the elevator and rebuild the structure to accommodate the tenant’s suggestions.

Once you understand the needs of your customers you can quickly map out the most intuitive path to their solution

The psychologist determined that finding a way to occupy the tenants’ time would offset this frustration. They suggested installing mirrors in the landing area. The manager agreed due to the low cost and quick fix to see what would happen. 

Miraculously, the complaints stopped. Now you see mirrors installed in hotels and office lobbies throughout the world as a cost-effective way to appease the frustration of elevator users. Your data is only as valuable as the questions you ask and to whom you ask them.

Asking the right questions

Let’s assume you are in the process of redesigning a website for a client. You’ve been asked to perform a user test to help define the direction the design needs to take. Think broad stroke details: colours, fonts, layout, sizing and so on. You propose a qualitative test. 

Don’t compose a questionnaire for the survey without thinking about how a user may first respond. This is why you need to formulate your hypothesis first. It provides important direction.

If you want to collect feedback on three website homepages you could run a set of questions and repeat them for each. The repetition is important for collecting similar feedback on each website. But what would those questions be exactly?

If you test 10 participants and eight of them come back with completely different feedback it makes your job harder than it needs to be and falls back on bias to prioritise the data. Ask questions that are very pointed to get actionable feedback. 

• Instead of asking 'What do you like about the homepage?' ask 'Without scrolling, do you know what this website is marketing?'
• Instead of asking 'What do you like about the menu navigation?' ask 'Looking at the menu, is it clear this website has information on careers?'

You also have to factor in how you propose the questions. Is the question that you’ve asked leading them toward the goal itself? 

For example:

• Leading: 'Find the careers link in on the top of the page. Click on it to view information about the available careers.' 
• Less leading: 'What link at the top of the page would you click on to view information about the available careers?'
• Ideal: 'How would you expect to locate information about the available careers on this website?' 

Instead of guiding the user towards a goal, you are moving the decision-making back onto the user themselves. From this, you will get a better understanding of how that user, and their specific demographic segment, will expect to navigate the website. If you asked one of the first two questions you lose out on all of that data. It’s not always about the question you ask, but how you ask it that defines the result.

If you are unable to compose such defined questions, you are moving too quickly through the process. Take a step back and think about the pain points of the users in which you’re trying to communicate. Each decision you make should be working toward providing an effective solution for not only the business but their customers as well. 

Organisational UX maturity

At Candorem we have a straightforward system for understanding the UX maturity of our clients. This enables us to quickly define the need for additional data collection, what type of data to collect and how quickly we can begin providing guidance. It’s also a great way of understanding the existing perception of the value of investing in UX. This can also break down into four core levels of data that they will have available for us to start assessments.

• Level 1 data: Google Analytics 
and heatmaps
• Level 2 data: Curated customer data (email, gender, location and purchase history by customer segment)
• Level 3 data: Customer survey data (likes, dislikes, ratings and interest levels), anonymous website recordings
• Level 4 data: User testing sessions, customer persona profiles and quantitative data

Businesses will have some variation of what we’ve outlined above. If they don’t, get them set up with Level 1 and allow adequate time for collection of some low-level data. Mining this data is crucial in creating your own hypothesis. 

When an organisation unfamiliar with the nuance of UX defines the goals for a project without supporting data to guide them, it limits the potential outcome. Setting a goal is easy, but defining the right path takes time and experience. 

Increasing revenue is not a goal, it’s an idea. Set specific goals like increasing revenue ten per cent for a segment of customers aged 24-35 that are shopping for a specific category of product. This consists of specific requirements that can be tested to generate a hypothesis, validated to create a theory and initial baseline, and then retested to validate the plan for growth over time. 

User experience is about understanding the needs and expectations of your customer and collecting the necessary data to tell the story in an unbiased way.

This article originally appeared in net issue 298; subscribe here.

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On 23 June 2016, the UK voted in favour of leaving the European Union and putting restrictions on the free movement of EU citizens into the country.

While Parliament is currently collating its report from an inquiry on ‘The impact of Brexit on the creative industries, tourism and the digital single market inquiry’, some are already considering the effects that Brexit will have on the VFX and CG industries.

The creative industries

According to the Creative Industries Federation (CIF), the creative sector makes £87bn a year that would be at risk if we were to restrict immigration and movement, due to the industry’s heavy reliance on freelance staff, many of whom are from the EU.

A survey of 250 firms conducted by the CIF found that three quarters of companies employed EU workers and two-thirds said they could not fill those jobs with British recruits.

With the potential restriction of talent from EU countries, the visual effects and animation industry in the UK will undoubtedly be heavily affected.

In 2014, the then-business secretary Vince Cable said: “The UK’s creative industries are amongst the strongest in the world, worth £71.4 billion per year to the UK economy and supporting more than 1.7m jobs. Visual effects and games in particular are a great British success story.”

UK & Ireland is also currently the largest market for animation in the EU with average 30.5 million admissions between 2010 and 2014.

Impact on employment

In a recent interview with 3D Artist, Blue Zoo cofounder Tom Box said: “We noticed that out of everyone that applied for animation roles in our studio, less than 10 per cent were of a standard we’d consider ready for employment.”

“I heard same from other studios too. This is tens of thousands of people which is crazy when there’s a skills shortage and studios are struggling to recruit. This will be amplified with Brexit closing off freedom of movement because an average 35% of studios’ staff are non-UK.”

According to Creative Skillset, employment in the VFX industry is expected to reach 7,600 in 2022 with the gross value of production in the UK expected to rise from to £323m by 2022.

Some of the shots in Star Wars: The Last Jedi were completed by UK studio Jellyfish Pictures

The level of EU talent

Phil Dobree, head of Jellyfish Pictures, said in an interview with The Guardian: “If the industry is among the world’s very best it is because it has easy access to the very best. More than 30% of people working in the UK sector, including at Jellyfish, are EU nationals. Brexit could wreck that.”

Jellyfish Pictures recently completed work on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as well as having previously worked on Black Mirror and Rogue One.

“We have EU animators, modellers, riggers, lighters, compositors, CG supervisors,” Dobree said to The Guardian. “All the key skill areas. From Spain, Italy, France; from junior to very senior. These people are difficult to train and extremely sought after.”

“Often, when you’re doing a short-term job – a commercial, a TV series – you need people for a month or two.”

“Right now, we can fly them in pretty much the next day. So what happens after 2019?”

Opportunities abroad

On Sky News, Manuel Reyes Halaby, a computer graphics supervisor, said that the uncertainty over his immigration status has made him consider other options.

“It makes me feel uncertain about what is going to happen, so you start checking out other possibilities.”

“There are all the other places in the world you can work, and there’s a lot of work going on, so you always tend to have more cards up your sleeve.”

While the UK is currently a global powerhouse for visual effects, if the talent from the rest of the continent cannot live and work in the country, then they will simply look for opportunities elsewhere and take the quality of work with them.

As Dobree concludes in The Guardian, “Britain’s CG and VFX industry will simply move on.”

Scott Ross will be speaking at Vertex about VFX after Brexit

Hope for the future

But at a select committee culture secretary Karen Bradley says, it’s not all doom and gloom: “I have met a number of people in the creative industries – I’m not going to say who they are as it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say – who have told me that they’re not worried about the loss of freedom of movement because they believe the sector will thrive.”

At Vertex 2018, Digital Domain cofounder and industry veteran Scott Ross will discuss British VFX after Brexit with 3D World Editor Rob Redman. 

Ross will offer up his insights into the way studios are managed, people/talent are recruited, trained, cared for, as well as the logistics of modern VFX houses. 

He will look at what is considered to be a threat: the workforce, which is historically a migratory one and how non-UK nationals might find that they are just as able to work for the big studios as they do now but also how a non-EU based trade deal could open up opportunities for other partnerships.

Listen to his expert views at the Olympia, London on 13 March. Book your ticket now at vertexconf.com, where you can find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more.

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From pencil drawings to bold photography, this year's best album covers showcased a huge range of styles. It was a year where album covers sparked debate (three releases in the first half of the year prompted us to ask whether we had entered the era of bad graphic design), and it seems the way in which music artists package and present their work is more important than ever. Take a look at our pick of the best album cover designs from the past 12 months.

01. Björk – Utopia

Utopia is a strange and inspiring work of art

Björk returned with her ninth studio album this year, and as one of the most visually compelling artists around, her album cover artwork was of course breathtaking. The Icelandic songwriter teamed up with self-taught artist and musician Jesse Kanda, who has previously worked with the likes of FKA Twigs and Arca. 

02. Girlpool – Powerplant

Jaxon Damme produces another illustrative wonder for Girlpool

Jaxon Damme has worked with LA duo Girlpool for the past few years, producing hand-drawn, interesting designs that depict different characters in a childlike, inquisitive manner. This latest design – for their second album Powerplant – saw the band steer away from bright and bold colours in favour of a more subdued, doodle-like illustration that reveals more depth the more you look at it.

03. Thundercat – Drunk

The shot for the cover was taken in Flying Lotus' pool

This 70s-style album cover for Thundercat's 'Drunk' certainly catches the eye. The vinyl edition also features individually designed sleeves for each side with artwork created by the musician's friend, Atlanta illustrator and comedian Zack Fox. The photograph for the main cover was taken in Flying Lotus' pool, with Thundercat telling the Independent that the shoot "felt totally natural".

04. Gingerlys – Gingerlys 

Notice the band name and title written in graffiti font

Comic book artist and illustrator Eliza Walton created this brilliant album cover art for Brooklyn-based five-piece band Gingerlys. Depicting a city scene with bold shapes and striking characters, Walton's choice and use of colour is perhaps the biggest thing to take away from this work. The graffiti font used for the band name and album name is also a particularly nice touch.

05. Beck – Colors

The Deluxe Vinyl edition cover features a central hexagon die cut with varied coloured shapes

Speaking of his creation, album cover artist Jimmy Turrell said that Beck commissioned both him and Steve Stacey to create the entire visual representation of his latest album. Packed full of bold colour, Turrell says he and Stacey looked back to their youth for inspiration, considering what stimulated them visually as kids. The Deluxe Vinyl edition allows fans to remove and change pieces to create their own bespoke cover.

06. Julien Baker – Turn Out The Lights

The freehand font style complements the painting style of this sleeve

This painted cover for Julien Baker's second album is as beautiful as they come. Using a colour palette that's perfect for the emotional vulnerability present in Baker's songs, it's a design that seamlessly flows through to the vinyl sleeve design, with illustrative flowers delicately placed throughout. 

07. Wolf Parade – Cry Cry Cry

A simple but extremely successful design for Wolf Parade

Marking the Canadian's band first album in seven years, Wolf Parade's Cry Cry Cry is a great example of how simple linework and straightforward graphic design can produce an album cover that is not only successful but striking. The grid-based layout is a classic style but one that works especially well here – particularly when it comes to the bold colour choice.

08. Half Waif – form/a

Half Waif also featured in our 2016 best album cover round-up

We featured Half Waif's 2016 release in our roundup of the best album covers 2016 and songwriter Nandi Rose Plunkett has once again produced a beautiful album cover for her 2017 EP form/a. The cover photograph was taken by band member Adan Carlo and hand-stitched by Chilean artist María Aparicio Puente, who is known for her avant-garde embroidery. 

09. Little Simz – Stillness in Wonderland

McKay Felt created this immersive illustration for Little Simz

This in-depth album cover illustration for UK artist Little Simz is strikingly detailed, offering an emotive look into the inspirations of the album. The design shows Little Simz's head split open, revealing trees from the roots below her chin, and surrounded by a cityscape of her hometown of London. It was created by McKay Felt, who has previously worked with Thundercat and Flying Lotus.

10. Moses Sumney – Aromanticism

A simple photograph speaks a thousand words in this album design

Not featuring the name of the artist or album on the cover art is always a risky move but sometimes, the image speaks for itself. This statuesque, beautiful photograph of Sumney in a blank and bare room is perhaps a metaphor for the album's deeply moving content. The fact we are unable to see Sumney's head in the piece also makes it much more stimulating and intriguing.

11. Brother Ali – All The Beauty In This Whole Life

This album cover art was a created by hip-hop head Daud Sutton

Classical Islamic geometry was used throughout the packaging for rapper Brother Ali's latest release. Adorned with arabesque ornamentation it was created by Daud Sutton.The english lettering was done by Qasim Arif, and Rhymesayers – Ali's record label – in-house designer Alex Everson.

12. St. Vincent – Masseduction 

St. Vincent chose model Carlotta Kohl to feature on her album cover

This bold album cover art set off the beginning of St Vincent's – aka Annie Clark's – visual representation for the whole Masseduction campaign. The model used in the photograph was Carlotta Kohl, who also features in another campaign photo with Clark. Placing Kohl off-centre, to the right-hand side of the cover is a brilliant choice.

13. Caddywhompus – Odd Hours

Illustrator Max Seckel creates beauty in rare places

Acrylic artist Max Seckel works primarily with subdued, pastel tones, and he uses his work to explore the beauty of the everyday. Weaving the outdoors with the indoors, his work juxtaposes material items against lush, natural settings. This piece for Caddywhompus is particularly striking. Placing the band name and album title in the sign is a great touch.

14. Lorde – Melodrama

Artist Sam McKinniss and Lorde reportedly bonded over their love of Prince

Brooklyn-based artist Sam McKinniss painted this intimate, blue-lit portrait of Lorde for her second album cover. Inspiration for the piece came from the album itself, which is all about 'nighttime attitudes' and the before-and-after of city parties. McKinniss worked from a photograph taken of Lorde in a friend's apartment in Brooklyn.

15. Jay Som – Everybody Works

A mismatch of images makes this Jay Som cover stand out

This screenprinted, primary coloured album cover art was used for Jay Som's debut album Everybody Works. Featuring layered imagery that combines an owl's face and soccer balls, the fresh, unique approach is what makes this design stand out. The overlapping imagery on top of an otherwise classic layout makes for a modern approach.

16. Feist – Pleasure

Feist runs towards colour in this album cover art

The front cover of Pleasure is adorned with bougainvillea, its vibrant colours contrasting against a darkened sky that pretty much perfectly sums up the album's shifting tone – of seeing the light despite the darkness shrouding your mind. Feist was living in Los Angeles last winter and drove past the bougainvillea building almost every night; it was two weeks before her eureka moment. 

17. Alvvays – Antisocialites

A National Geographic photo was used for this cover art

Canadian band Alvvays used a National Geographic photo for the cover of its second album. The original photo was taken by B. Anthony Stewart, and enitled 'Campers await breeze to sail fiberglass dinghies, Camp Sebago Wohelo, Sebago Lake, Maine'. The updated version features bright colours and a high contrast.

18. Jane Weaver – Modern Kosmology

The font used on Modern Kosmology is as inspiring as they come

It's this album cover's use of typography that really makes it stand out. The mirrored writing and complimentary colours mean it maintains its impact no matter which angle you view it from, while the soft font chosen for the album's title at the bottom contrasts nicely with the rest of the design choices. It's a brave and bold design.

19. Hand Habits – Wildly Idle (Humble Before The Void)

An album cover design that's both flat and deep

Featuring Hand Habits – AKA Meg Duffy – sitting strong and nonchalant, in an abstracted room, this is an album cover design that's both flat and deep. Using bright colours for the walls of the room and then black and white, blurry imagery for Duffy and her belongings makes for an emotive reckoning and a design that stays with you long after you've looked at it.

20. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN

Lamar's cover art was one of the most controversial designs of 2017

Love it or hate it, the release of Kendrick Lamar's album DAMN. was an album cover design that made waves in both the design and music communities. It sparked a huge range of 'DAMN.' memes that spread across Twitter and saw Lamar's design beginning to break down the wall between himself and the audience.

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Giving your portfolio a quick once-over to freshen it up is always a great idea, and as we start a new year, what better time is there to get on with it? We've made it dead easy for you, by having a look at the portfolios of some heavyweight designers to see what they do particularly well. 

So here are five quick – genuinely quick – tips to smarten up the way you present your work to the world.

01. Cut, kill, destroy

Shelby Hipol's portfolio site only features his best work

This is one of the tougher tips to follow, but it's possibly the most rewarding. If you've got your portfolio looking pretty lean as it is, further cutting is going to be hard, hard graft. Do it anyway. 

Cut, kill and destroy 10 per cent of whatever you think of as being finished. Portfolio 20 pages long? Get it down to 18. Got 40 projects on your website? Make it 36. You have to exercise caution here, as you don't want your body of work to appear too light. But, generally speaking, give your portfolio one last brutal edit and it'll really sing.

Check out the portfolio site of Shelby Hipol, the NYC designer currently at McCann NY: there's no wasted word or image here. We're guessing Hipol could easily triple the content on his portfolio. But he mirrors its minimal design by only including his very best projects.

02. Tell a new story

Herbert Matter's portfolio site opens with a bold intro image

The simplest way to refresh your portfolio without adding any new work to it is this: rearrange what you've already got. Think of it like a film. Screenwriters talk about 'plot points' – the tent poles upon which they hang their story. You can tell a new story by simply moving around your plot points, which are your projects. 

This method works particularly well with physical portfolios, but the principles work just as well online. Should your career-defining work go first or last? Do you really want your favourite project lost in the middle? What's the very last thing you want the reader to see?

Check out the portfolio site for the late Herbert Matter. It starts with a big, bold intro page. You enter and then land on a video about his visual language. It's the story of his life and his work.

03. Be an agent provocateur

George Lois' website features a prominent carousel of quotes endorsing him

It doesn't get much quicker than this: make a list of your most satisfied clients, your favourite commissions, the design teacher who gave you the best grades. Email them and ask for a recommendation, a quick quote explaining how creative you are, or how you brought the project in under budget, or how you never missed a lecture and smashed all of your exams.

Go steady with it. You definitely don't want to overdo this. But the odd recommendation can make a big difference to a potential client or possible employer.

Check out the portfolio site of the legendary designer George Lois: "the agent provocateur who triggered advertising's Creative Revolution," goes one quote on his front page. How could you resist looking through his stuff after reading that?

04. Make it easy to use

Ryan Booth's site gives a concise rundown about him, key clients and awards on one page, with clear links to his key projects and contact details

You could have a lean, well-organised portfolio, complete with plenty of great recommendations from clients. But one really obvious thing could be letting you down: is you portfolio easy to navigate? 

If your portfolio is online, don't sacrifice usability for overly convoluted or gimmicky design. If you have a print portfolio, think about page numbers, chapter headings, colour co-ordination, maybe even a ribbon bookmark, anything that helps the reader out. Hopefully, whoever's reading it will be looking at your work more than once, flicking from this project to that one and back again. Do them a favour. Make it easy to read, chronologically or otherwise. 

Have a look how Ryan Booth does it: about, clients, recognition – all on the homepage. Done. Simple. Really easy. You know who he is and what he's done and you don't need to click into loads of different pages. 

05. Don't look like your dog just died

Ed Fella's handwritten-style portfolio site puts his photo centre stage

This one's open to debate. But, at time when more people are familiar with our Twitter name than they are with our face, a photo could make all the difference. A proper photo, that is. Not an illustration. Not a multilayered photo-manipulation thing. And definitely not some arty, clipped, black and white shot in which you look like your dog's just died. A portrait – head and shoulders. 

A photo can stop your portfolio looking cold and clinical, and help the reader get a feel for who you are. Sometimes it's nice to see the whites of a person's eyes. 

Look at the veteran designer Ed Fella. Click on his site and you get a real feeling for who he is and what he does. And his photo helps with that.

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Industry experts reveal what it takes to succeed in the games industry in ImagineFX 157 – on sale now!

Computer games graphics and art styles have come a long way since Pong and Pac Man, and there are plenty of opportunities for artists to get involved and shape how digital worlds look. Take Raphael Lacoste for example, the art director behind the huge Assassin's Creed series. We talk to him to discover how he tweaks the world around him into an immersive space that players can spend hours exploring.

Buy issue 157 of ImagineFX here

Elsewhere in issue 157 we look inside Giorgio Baroni's sketchbook and discover why he likes to mix concepts from the past and the future, plus in his workshop, Elijah McNeal shows you how to create a futuristic weapon. On top of that there's reader's art in our FXPose, and reviews of all the latest tools and books. Bursting at the spine with creative inspiration, you won't want to miss ImagineFX issue 157!

Check out what's in store with a look at the lead features, below.

Never miss an issue: Subscribe to ImagineFX here

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Small is beautiful

Discover what life is like in a small studio

Small studios have got their work cut out for them. Not only do they have to compete with triple-A studios, but they also have to achieve amazing results with fewer people. It's not all hard work though, as we find out when we chat to artists from small games studios and discover their unique benefits.

The Art of Assassin's Creed Origins

Art director Raphael Lacoste reveals what it takes to make a virtual world

Reality is all around us, so why try and recreate it? That's the thought process of Raphael Lacoste, the art director behind the phenomenally successful Assassin's Creed franchise. Discover how he uses reality to create new environments with our in-depth interview.

Artist portfolio: Jesse van Dijk

Explore the world of Destiny 2's art director

With his work as a video game art director, Jesse van Dijk wants his work to be three things: relatable, memorable, and surprising. While it's rare for one image to nail all three, a voyage through his portfolio reveals how he successfully created a "mythic science-fiction world" for Destiny 2.

Create your own character IP

Create a playable avatar with this workshop

Ever thought about creating your very own video game character? With this workshop from concept artist and illustrator Devon Candy-Lee you'll learn how she creates an avatar with a character and an identity all of its own.

ImagineFX is the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews.

Special Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to ImagineFX for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly...

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As with any component-based library, managing state in Vue can be tricky. While the application is small, it’s possible to keep things in sync by emitting events when values change. However, this can get brittle and prone to errors as the application grows, so it may be better to get a more centralised solution in from the start.

If you’re familiar with Flux and Redux, Vuex works much the same. State is held in one centralised location and is linked to the main Vue application. Everything that happens within the application is reflected somewhere within that state. Components can select what information is relevant to them and be notified if it changes, much like if it was part of its internal state. A Vuex store is made up of four things – the state, getters, mutations and actions.

Changing state

The state is a single object that holds all the necessary data for the entire application. The way this object gets structured depends on the project, but would typically hold at least one value for each view.

Getters work like computed properties do inside components. Their value is derived from the state and any parameters passed into it. They can be used to filter lists without having to duplicate that logic inside every component that uses that list.

The state cannot be edited directly. Any updates must be performed through mutation methods supplied inside the store. These are usually simple actions that perform one change at a time. Each mutation method receives the state as an argument, which is then updated with the values needed to change.

Mutations need to be synchronous in order for Vuex to understand what has changed. For asynchronous logic — like a server call — actions can be used instead. Actions can return Promises, which lets Vuex know that the result will change in the future as well as enabling developers to chain actions together.

Getters work like computed properties do inside components. Their value is derived from the state and any parameters passed into it

Working with commits

To perform a mutation, they have to be committed to the store by calling commit() and passing the name of the mutation method required. Actions need to be dispatched in a similar way with dispatch().

It’s good practice to have actions commit mutations rather than commit them manually. That way, all updating logic is held together in the same place. Components can then dispatch the actions directly, so long as they are mapped using the mapActions() method supplied by Vuex.

To avoid overcomplicating things, the store can also be broken up into individual modules that look after their own slice of the state.

 Each module can register its own state, getters, mutations and actions. State is combined between each module and grouped by their module name, in much the same way as combineReducers() works within Redux.pport.

Speed up the first load to improve performance

By default, the entire contents of the application end up inside one JavaScript file, which can result in a slow page load. A lot of that content is never used on the first screen the user visits. Instead it can be split off from the main bundle and loaded in as and when needed.Vue makes this process incredibly simple to set up, as vue-router has built-in support for lazy loading.

const AsyncAbout = () => import(‘./About.vue’);
const router = new VueRouter({
  routes: [
    { path: ‘/about, component: AsyncAbout }
  ] })

Vue supports using dynamic imports to define components. These return Promises, which resolve to the component itself. The router can then use that component to render the page like normal. These work alongside code splitting built in to webpack, which makes it possible to use features like magic comments to define how components should be split.

Want to make your website faster?

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Jason Lengstorf is a developer who is all about improving performance in his code and his work life. To find out more why not attend his workshop at Generate New York from 25-27 April 2018. Here he will be teaching strategies and techniques for improving perceived load times, as well as actual load times, using only front-end techniques including:

• The skeleton loading pattern
• Better loading for static assets
• Lazy loading
• Service Workers
• Better build processes and more!

Want to join Jason? Then get your ticket now

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Sometimes getting back to the basics is vital to staying on top of your game, as renewing your skills can reinvigorate your passion and you never know, you may just find an option or method you hadn't noticed or tried before.

In 3D World's Essentials column each month, Vertex speaker Mike Griggs delves into the fundamental elements of 3D, which cross the boundaries of application, to reinforce your knowledge and open you up to essential tools that are the bedrock of being a 3D artist.

The Knife tool

It may go by many names: knife, slice or cut to name but a few, but effectively the implementation is the same – it cuts through polygons and edges to either split objects up or to create new boundaries within a mesh from which to create new geometry. 

A good slicing tool should enable an artist to cut either in a way that is sympathetic to the existing geometry or has the ability to slice through everything due to a creative decision.

Some cutting tools offer the ability to create gaps when slicing; this can be really useful for all kinds of modelling tasks, especially when the software can cap the open cuts. This is because in most 3D applications meshes are seen as shells rather than being solid; there are some applications that can see meshes as solid, but you’ll find that they are usually limited to CAD and sculpting applications.  

Some applications offer the ability to create curved slices, which is useful for creating organic shapes, and if the application has the ability to place images in the viewport as a guide, using a curved knife tool is a great way to match reference.  

The other area where a cutting tool can be useful is in defining polygon flow on meshes that are going to be animated, as well as for making sure that n-gons are divided into quads or triangles for model export.

01. A simple Cut

While it may seem easy to just use a slice or knife to cut across a plain mesh, be wary of creating geometry that can cause issues later in the modelling process. The classic example would be creating an n-gon (a polygon with more than four sides) which when subdivided creates a different shape than the one that was expected. The cut tools can be used to divide any problem n-gons into quad or triangular polygons.

02. Split objects

While a knife or slice tool simply cuts through an existing geometry, there may be options in the software to suit your desired workflow. Some applications allow the object to not be directly split, which is useful if the model is being retopologised. Other options enable the choice of removing one of the cut elements, which is handy when creating new meshes as quickly as possible, without the need to delete unwanted elements.

03. Create gaps

Some pieces of software come with the ability to create gaps when cutting a line. This can be a huge time-saver, especially when ‘caps’ are added to fill the ends of the cut, creating new geometry. As ever, you need to be mindful with any technique for adding geometry – make sure it is creating polygons that are flowing correctly for the final use. The knife or slice tool can be used to ‘retopologise’ any potential problem areas back into the desired flow.

04. Curved slices

While most knife or slice tools can offer cuts based on points across a surface, one of the most creative tools available in some applications is a curved slice tool. This function is especially useful in sculpting applications where it is analogous to using a real cutter when working with clay.

Learning how to manipulate the curve is key as every application has a different way of adding intermediate points in the curve. 

More from Mike Griggs at Vertex

Mike Griggs will be holding a workshop at Vertex on 3D fundamentals. 

But why do we need to learn the fundamentals for 3D when surely the software has become so good that the basics are irrelevant? The truth is that as the tools for CGI have become more powerful it enables one artist to now have the potential skill set of a studio from 10 years ago.   

The real world has a lot to teach CG artists; for example learning how a camera works is directly transferable to setting up a shot in 3D, while life drawing is key to sculpting and character animation. A good CG artist should see a computer and its software as just another tool amongst many, which will let their talent shine and enable them to create more and better work.

To book a ticket to Mike Grigg's workshop at Vertex 2018 head over to the Vertex site, where you will find information on all the day's activities, from keynote talks to the panel discussion and recruitment fair.

You may be interested:

1. The ethics of digital humans

2. Scott Ross at Vertex

3. Why Vertex is a must for 3D artists

View the full article

It's important that designers have a solid understanding of the rules of typography,  but that doesn't mean there isn't room for some creativity. Just as with any area of design, certain typographic approaches become fashionable or fall out of favour. These can be due to technological advances, or one piece of design proving to be so effective it spawns lots of imitators and a trend develops.

To create this roundup, we spoke to some of the top names in the business, and asked them for their thoughts on the biggest typography trends of 2017, as well as their predictions for what would be hot in 2018. Here's what they said...

01. Serif fonts

Chobani's new look brings warmth to fonts

"One typographic trend that I predict will be popular in 2018 is the use of warm, 1970s-evoking serif typefaces," says Jeremiah Shoaf, a freelance designer and founder of Typewolf. "I think this is a reaction against the cold, sterile neo-grotesques like Helvetica that seem to be dominating the design landscape."

Shoaf comments on the recent Chobani rebrand as a prime example. "Its new bespoke typeface has a retro charm that brings to mind ITC Clearface and Bookman, two typefaces that will forever be associated with the good vibes of the 70s," he smiles.

02. 90s-inspired type

Could we be seeing more retro fonts like 2017's Formula 1 rebrand?

"2016 was all about geometric sans typefaces," says art director Rick Banks. "This carried on to some extent in 2017 (Moonpig, Sky Sports rebrand) but much less so. This year we have seen an increase in serifs (Southbank Centre, Chobani, and Medium rebrands).

"I think next year we will see designers reacting more against geometric type . I think brands will want type with more character and standout value. It wouldn't surprise me if we see more 90s inspired typography – following on from the new F1 logo."

03. Custom type

Text editors like Atom are popular with coders

Dalton Maag founder and type designer Bruno Maag agrees with Banks. "Geometric sans typefaces continue to dominate the typographic landscape, but we can see a trend toward more condensed designs with a grid-like structure," he comments. "It also seems as if there is a resurgence of 70s inspired type, such as the new F1 identity."

Maag also mentions a rise in the use of open source fonts in digital environments. This is thanks to a dramatic improvement in quality over the past few years, but also offers the benefits of (potentially considerable) cost savings, and means designers can avoid having to navigate the complexities of licensing for digital usage on a number of different devices. However, it does limit the role type can play as a brand tool.

"We can see in-house design teams increasingly championing custom font solutions to close the gap between brand expression and controlling technical and logistic aspects of font usage," Maag continues. "A further trend in [custom] type is to involve scientific research on aspects of accessibility, and designers have to concern themselves with science."

04. Colour fonts

Black is so last year

"I think colour fonts (see FontMaker by FontSelf) will be a big hit in 2018. The user-friendly interface and the possibility to add colour as another dimension to typography represents a huge opportunity for designers and brands to add identity to their designs," says typographer Alex Trochut.

"The fact that not only Illustrator but also Photoshop will support colour fonts opens up a door to create photographic typography, which represents a whole new canvas to play with. I'm very excited to see what are the good results coming out of this new technology."

05. No trends

Anthony Burrill urges designers to forge their own route

"I don’t think there are typographic trends any more; if there are I find it hard to identify them," says designer and print maker Anthony Burrill.  "Depending on who you follow on social media, type foundries, designers, lettering artists, graffiti artist, there are numerous trends that simultaneously coexist. Scroll through your Instagram feed and you’ll see historic type examples rubbing shoulders with the latest type animation techniques." 

He acknowledges that this can be overwhelming, but offers some solutions to help you out. "Is possible to navigate your way through this visual avalanche. Seek out work that you connect with. By gaining more in-depth knowledge it’s possible to have a meaningful relationship with type design, rather than being dazzled with the latest technique. 

"Seek out work that informs your own work and inspires you, and use it as a launch pad for your own creativity. It's important to stay informed and have an opinion about work by other designers, but even more important to develop your individual response and approach to work."

Related articles:

• 7 new typography tools for 2017
• The 8 biggest typography mistakes designers make
• The rules of responsive web typography

View the full article

You're reading Postcards: First Sneak-Peek, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+!

Now that 2017 is almost over, we are ready to show you what we’ll release in 2018. It’ll start with the release of Postcards, a tool that will help you to create and generate beautiful emails/newsletters for your website. It’s designed for any kind of business.

View the full article

Another year has ended and the tooling landscape has become simultaneously more exciting and complex. It seems that every month there’s a new post about the convoluted and intimidating nature of the JavaScript tooling ecosystem. 

There are countless new libraries, frameworks, plugins, build-related tools, and so much more, released every month, each claiming to help you improve your productivity or solve a specific development problem.

To start the year off right, we’ve done the legwork for you, weeding through 12 months worth of new releases and updates to bring you five of the newest, most practical and exciting options for JavaScript coders, designers and full-stack developers.

01. KUTE.js
http://thednp.github.io/kute.js
JavaScript animation engine with performance as its primary feature. This one grabs your attention immediately due to the gorgeous and super-smooth animation on the home page. The API looks elegant and well worth trying out.

02. Timeline.js
https://ilkeryilmaz.github.io/timelinejs
A jQuery plugin with a twist on the carousel component, for the specific use case of creating a carousel timeline (ie a slider that progresses based on chronological points) with lots of visual and functional customisation options.

Tools like Timeline.js can revolutionise the way you develop with JavaScript in 2018

03. SweetAlert2
https://limonte.github.io/sweetalert2
Fork of the original SweetAlert, this is a replacement for native JavaScript popups like 'alert()' and 'confirm()'. The modals are attractive, responsive, customisable, and accessible.

04. Muuri
https://haltu.github.io/muuri
JavaScript API for responsive, sortable, filterable, and drag-and-drop Masonry/Packery-style grid layouts. The demos are really nice and there are lots of options available to customise the grid for different layout types.

05. Infinite Scroll
https://infinite-scroll.com
Unlike most of the rest of this list, this is an old tool but it’s been rewritten for version 3. New version includes URL changes while scrolling, no jQuery dependency, and lots of optional settings via a clean API.

Want to learn more about JavaScript? Full-stack JavaScript developer Wes Bos will be going through what's new in JavaScript at our own web design event, Generate New York, on 25-27 April 2018. You can view the full lineup in all its glory, and book your tickets now, at generateconf.com. We can't wait to see you there!

Join at to find out what's new in the world of JavaScript

Related articles:

• 21 top examples of JavaScript
• 12 common JavaScript problems answered
• 20 JavaScript tips to blow your mind

View the full article

Mozilla has patched one critical vulnerability in its Thunderbird email client along with two bugs rated high.

View the full article

Houston, Texas, was a city obsessed with three things: sports, money and guns. Greg Ruth tried to fit in. As a boy, he'd go to football games. He liked to critique the "outfits" and would ask fellow attendees which team they thought had the coolest team badge, or the neatest helmet design. They answered him with blank stares.  

• 50 tips that will make you a better illustrator

Watching other people play games was "epically dull", so his mind would wander. He thought about nuclear war, laser blasters and falling in love with women from outer space. Back at home, a shag carpet became a furry space beast on which GI Joe figures acted out sprawling melodramas. He read Raymond Chandler, Ray Bradbury, the Dune series by Frank Herbert and pulp novels, and he liked big band music.

Superego-Egoid - "I count this as a symbolist image of myself, rather than a self-portrait. I think this was only my second graphite piece"

He watched B-movies and Star Trek reruns, and Abbott and Costello marathons. He spent much of his childhood withdrawing into an imagined world – a skill that he'd use in adulthood to build a career as an artist. 

"I hid from Texas," he says. "I didn't belong in the nest into which I was hatched. So art became the other world into which I could flee to safety, until I was able to actually flee."

A freaky Conan

Conan - "Another cornerstone for me, this time with the estimable Kurt Busiek. Until Indeh, I learned more doing this series than any other as to what comics could and should do well"

Ruth fled to Brooklyn and attended the Pratt Institute, an art and design school, where he tried architecture and fine art, before finally establishing himself as a comic book artist. 

He now lives in Massachusetts, and recently created a comic with Ethan Hawke, but previous to this, a music video with Prince and a picture book with Barack Obama. Ruth works on film art and book covers, and wrote his own New York Times bestselling graphic novel. He also created a new, weekly, self-initiated illustration, which became The 52 Weeks Project. 

Agatha's Mirror - "One of my favourite pieces. It was for a short story entitled Dragonkin. It got left because it skewed a bit too young for the story inside. It’s tough when you have to reject a good piece despite its merits"

Ruth's busy. Working across so many different disciplines can pose problems. He once drew two comics simultaneously for Dark Horse, both 22 pages, the final issue of Freaks of the Heartland and the first issue of Conan: Born on the Battlefield. The workload alone was tough, but tougher still was the clash of genres. 

With Freaks, Ruth knew the story inside out – what he describes as a classic small-town gothic-horror story. He'd established a colour palette, a narrative rhythm. Conan, on the other hand, was a pulpy adventure book, garish and raucous in every way. 

For the first issue of Conan, he tried a Freaks-style approach. It didn't work: "Sometimes when you're making breakfast and dinner at the same time, you end up with pot-roast omelettes and fresh jam on your asparagus. It ain't so great. Nowadays, I have a better grasp of my own limitations."

Freaks of the Heartland - "This was my first collaborative full-length graphic novel with Steve Niles. It was a sparse script that let me rush in and fill every corner, and a defining book for my time in comics"

Ruth didn't find his groove until well into the second issue of Conan. So now, when working on a big job, he focuses on it entirely until the project begins "cruising on its own". He may take a book cover or some editorial work – particularly if one project complements the other in some way – but mostly he tries "not to cross the streams". 

He also likes to create a soundtrack for big graphic novels. This way, he can listen to music to help him get into the mood, tone and themes of the narrative. It's helpful if he does have to take a break to work on something else. "When I pop the soundtrack on, coming into work, I get right into the world of it." Some gigs, however, are just too good to turn down… 

Prince the cheerleader

"Why would any human-shaped person say no to Prince?" Ruth says. He helped create a video for the legendary musician in 2004 – one of his favourite ever jobs. He created the dark, moody world in which Prince and his band perform. When the money men got twitchy about some of the video's themes, Prince stepped in and funded the project with his own money. 

"Prince pretty much left us to go nuts on that," Ruth says, "and was our biggest cheerleader and defender." 

Not every client is like Prince. He made another music video for American singer-songwriter Rob Thomas, which was "much more of a corporate affair". His work in films – where some actors have the power to veto the posters he creates – can be equally restrictive. 

"The movie industry," Ruth says, "likes to repeat what's proven to work, even if it's simply chasing diminishing returns or risking derivativeness."

Indeh Battle Skull Cave - "One of the first big sort of adventure-epic attempts with graphite. Ethan Hawke and I wanted to tell a different story than the usual us-against-them battles that dominate stories of white settlers invading tribal lands. But violence aplenty happened."

Greg recently accepted a job to design the poster for Ethan Hawke's 2018 film Blaze. "Ethan let me go crazy as I can," he says. They have a good working relationship. His current project is Meadowlark, his second graphic novel with the actor-director. While on a book tour for the first, Indeh, the pair tossed around ideas for scenes, images and characters, which grew into what's set to be an "epic crime melodrama".

Indeh worked the other way round. Ethan initially pictured it as a film, so the final story came from a 300-page script. "More an act of pruning than growing," Ruth says. 

"I kind of love the differences between the assignments. There's something really invigorating about tackling new ways of thinking and seeing, and it all dovetails nicely into my overall work ethic of always seeking to tackle projects that scare the shit out of me."

Daredevil for Mondo - "This one was a total lark. I just woke up one day and had this exact image in my head, drew it, posted it and it went wild, surprisingly. Mondo got in touch about doing a print and had this cool idea about using red paper."

Ruth wakes up at 5am and works until around 6pm, breaking in between to take his kids to school and bring them home again. There's the odd all-nighter here and there. But sticking to this routine helps Ruth with his huge workload. "Inspiration or The Muse," he says, "comes more often if it knows where to find you."

Darkly things

Indeh - "My favourite graphic novel and the hardest thing I’ve ever done, with a new creative partner I never expected to have. This book opened my eyes and changed my life."

Being so prolific has a practical purpose, too. Ruth aims to be recession-proof. If picture books are going through a slump, he has film work. If the movie work dries up then there are book covers. Having different sources of income also means that he's able to work on the graphic novels he really wants to work on. 

Ruth is currently developing a picture book, a script, more book covers, more movie posters, another graphic novel of his own, another 52 Weeks series… he's as busy as ever! But Ruth doesn't like to overthink what it is that he's trying to achieve. Instead, he tries to remember who he's making art for in the first place. 

"I honestly try to avoid over-analysing my work. I think this comes from being at Pratt and having that Clement Greenbergian, modernist bullshit crammed down my throat.

"The audience is, in many ways, everything. Not so much to serve their assumed desires, rather to try and force me into an outside perspective, so that whatever I'm doing lands and reads. You have to be both the fan and the creator."

This article was originally published in issue 153 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Buy issue 153 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here.

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If you've ever been on a boat or ship at sea, you might recall the smell of the sea air, the salty spray on your lips and the physical effort required to compensate for the rolling and pitching motion.

For this workshop, I decided to recreate these sensations in the studio using a combination of sketches and photo references, but mostly drawing upon my own vivid memories of what it feels like to be at sea.

• 5 things you need for oil painting

For me, capturing feeling and energy is more important than 'photographic' visual accuracy. I'm interested in recreating the emotions that the original experience unleashed.

I never sit down to paint, this enables me to use my whole upper body to inject more energy. I also step back frequently to get a more objective view. So for this exercise, I hope you will also enjoy getting a bit more physical.

01. Break the ice

Start off with a thin wash of colour

Quickly cover the canvas with a thinned wash of colour. This will also create a sense of unity to the finished piece. I've used a warm yellow ochre to help prevent the later layers of blues and greens from looking too cold. Work fast and loose!

02. Lightly sketch in the composition

Use brisk, diagonal sweeps to sketch in the composition

Decide early on where your focal points will be and aim to place them with a strong diagonal arrangement. Using a large brush, quickly sweep some blue/grey colour into the sky area. Diagonal sweeps are dynamic to the eye, which is exactly what you want when representing movement.

03. Blend in sky colours

Stipple some white into the sky tones and blend the edges

Using the same large brush, pick up some white and stipple it into the blue/grey while it's still wet, blending the edges softly. This white will also blend nicely with the ochre background colour to give a range of natural cloud colours.

04. Sweep in the waves

Use a palette knife to sweep in the shapes of the waves

Pick up a roll of the dark sky colour on the edge of a palette knife and, using the knife on its side, sweep in the rough shapes of the waves. Stand back from your canvas and use your whole arm to do this with an energetic rocking motion.

05. Rock your body

Build up wavelets with an overlapping zigzag rocking motion

Switch to a small brush and continue using an overlapping zigzag rocking motion to build up the pattern of small 'wavelets' that make up the bigger wave shapes. As you work down the canvas, change to larger brushes so that the brush marks indicate that the waves are closer to the viewer.

06. Have patience

Bring in some thinned turquoise then leave your painting to dry

Begin introducing some thinned turquoise to your zigzag pattern, remembering that colours appear less intense towards the horizon. Don't use too much paint at this stage or it will obliterate the ochre that is peeping through and make the water look too solid. Now leave your piece to dry. This keeps the structure intact and prevents the colours becoming muddy.

07. Let it flow

Try tilting your canvas so that the paint runs and bleeds together

When the underpainting is completely dry, you can be more creative with the next layer. Add colour thinned with painting medium to make it more transparent. I often tilt the canvas so that the paint runs and bleeds together, creating fluid effects that are appropriate when painting the sea. It can be messy, but it's fun! Don't be tempted to move your piece until it's dry, or your 'runs' will change direction.

08. Sculpt the wave crests

Add the crests of the waves with a palette knife loaded with thick white

I use a palette knife loaded with thick white to sculpt the crests of the waves. I gently touch the knife onto the canvas at the highest point and then quickly sweep it down the face of the waves in just one pass so that the effect stays clean and fresh.

09. Make an atmospheric horizon

With a dry brush and some upward strokes you can create a misty horizon

Take a clean dry brush and softly 'stroke' the horizon, blending some of the sea colour upwards into the sky to create distance and a nice misty effect where sea and sky blur into one.

10. Define with contrast

Make your painting more dynamic by adding in some darker areas

Adding back in darker areas helps lift and define the whole image again, making it more dynamic and interesting. The more different tones there are in the waves, the more movement they will seem to have.

11. Create an action point

Sweep some of the white from the main wave upward to create a point of action

The very top of the main wave is the focal point of this painting, so this is where I want to imply the most energy and create a point of action – the moment that the wave is starting to break. Sweeping some of the white upwards and slightly backwards implies it's being carried on the wind.

12. Add foamy details

Add some foam patterns, following the structure of the underpainting

Using a rigger brush loaded with a highlight colour (a pale sea green), I lay in the foam patterns, following the structure of the underpainting. The holes in the pattern are more open on the vertical of each wave and then flatten out back to the zigzag shape on the horizontal.

13. Make bubbles

Practise this tricky technique before trying it for real

Use a fan brush loaded with some of the foam pattern colour mixed to the consistency of single cream. Hold the brush a couple of inches from the canvas and draw a palette knife across the top of the bristles to make a spattering of air bubbles. This can take a bit of practice so try it on a sacrificial canvas or board first and don't overdo it.

14. Sea spray

Use the same spattering trick to add some sea spray

Using the same technique, spatter the crest of the wave. This time I've used pure white as it's the focal point. It also appears brighter here, being backlit against the sky. Mix the paint slightly thinner here to create finer, misty speckles. Again, practise before you add to your piece!

15. Add the final transparent glaze

Give your painting extra depth with a transparent turquoise glaze

Let the painting dry fully before you do this last stage. Mix up a glaze of transparent turquoise using plenty of painting medium. Be aware you will need hardly any paint to tint the glaze – it's better to add more pigment gradually if you need it. Applying this glaze over the dry sea areas will create a translucent effect. This creates optical depth in your piece by deepening  the dark areas and enriching and unifying the lighter foam colours.

This article was originally published in issue 12 of Paint & Draw, the magazine offering tips and inspiration for artists everywhere. Buy it here.

Related articles:

• How to create a realistic oil painting of nature
• Improve your brushstrokes in oils
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A more efficient workflow is the obvious benefit of improving your speed sculpting technique, but that’s not the only advantage; it can also boost your creativity, helping you to produce even more interesting and vibrant work.

Of course, the key to perfecting your technique is usually practice; for example, if you want to sculpt anatomy quickly and confidently, the best way to achieve this is to do lots of sketching exercises to help you master human and animal anatomy.

You can also learn from expert artists, such as The Mill New York’s modelling supervisor, Adam Dewhirst to really help you with your workflow.

At his debut workshop at Vertex, our event to bring the CG community together, Adam explains how to create a digidouble in less than a 24 hours, using a range of techniques from photogrammetry and mesh wrapping to The Mill’s custom human rig. His workshop is on 13 March at Olympia London, so don’t miss it.

In the meantime you can learn about 6 top tips to boost your speed now! 3D artist Liudmila Kirdiashkina has revealed some of her tricks for powering up her modelling speed, so check them out below!

Violet Firefly by Liudmila Kirdiashkina

01. Assign hotkeys to the frequently used commands

It makes sense to create keyboard shortcuts not only to the most frequently used tools, but to such actions as changing display/shading modes, switching between different selection methods and opening various editors. You can modify default hotkeys and assign combinations that are more convenient for you.

Though it takes only a couple of seconds to open a menu and find the command you need, these micro pauses distract your attention from the modelling process itself. For speedy modelling you have to stay focused all the time.

02. Utilise custom scripts and plugins 

Various scripts and plugins not only expand the range of your modelling options and tools, they save a good deal of time as well. 

For easy access custom scripts can be placed on a shelf, bar or drop-down menu, depending on the program. You can go further and assign keyboard shortcuts to the scripts you often use.

It’s also worth installing some plugins for smooth integration between your modelling, texturing and rendering software. 

These plugins will give you advanced export/import options, preserve more data about your model or scene and allow direct jumping between different applications.

03. The preparation stage – gathering references 

It’s advantageous to have a clear idea of your future model before you start making it. 

Collecting relevant and good-quality references can be a challenge on its own. I prefer going to Pinterest when searching for inspiration and interesting ideas, and I always find images and links to something very suitable yet unexpected.

It’s better to pay attention to real-life photos rather than images done by other artists. Installing a reference-image viewer (such as PureRef) may also facilitate your workflow, as it is great at putting together numerous files.

04. Step-by-step modelling – look from different perspectives 

Start modelling with simple primitive objects. Avoid jumping into too many details at the very beginning. 

It’s better to refine geometry gradually, keeping all parts at the approximately same level of details. Think about the overall visual style of the model and try to keep it consistent while adding particular details.

Occasionally change the scene lighting or shading modes and try out various materials, as this can give you a better feel for the model and helps to reveal weak spots or flaws in the geometry.

05. IMM brushes and model sets 

Model sets can be utilised in any program, and in ZBrush it is possible to save them as Insert Multi Mesh brushes, which is super convenient. 

Various model packs are great for making quick 3D concepts and blocking out rough shapes.

It is also a fast method to experiment and add interesting details to your 3D sketch, especially if you don’t have any 2D drafts and you are about to model something on the fly. 

I find it timesaving to create a quick 3D sketch in ZBrush as a guideline and then export it to another 3D modelling application for clean topology creation.

06. Efficient time management 

Don’t forget about some general yet effective rules of time management, especially if you do freelance work and have multiple deadlines. 

To begin with, list everything that needs to be done and define the priority of your objectives, then set realistic time limits to each task and allocate time for several breaks. 

Even if you are short of time, it’s necessary to occasionally step back and assess what you have done so far.

Once all your goals are set, concentrate fully on one particular task, try to avoid distractions and keep in mind your time constraints.

Adam Dewhirst will be presenting his workshop at Vertex, our debut event for the CG community. Book your tickets now at vertexconf.com, where you can find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more.

Read more:

• Which CG discipline is right for you?
• How to digitally sculpt in ZBrushCore
• Why Vertex is a must for CG artists

View the full article

The new issue of 3D World is out now and it's full of inspirational insights into the latest visual effects and animation projects, as well as the best tutorials and reviews to help you improve your art and make the most of your tools.

Here's some of the great content you can expect to see in the new issue, on sale now.

Buy 3D World issue 230 here

Feature: ILM on The last Jedi

We sit down to talk with the guys at ILM to discover some of the secrets behind the making of the latest instalment of the Star Wars franchise. Find out how they approached creating light sabres and furry alien creatures.

Feature: Massive Saddles Up

Massive, which sprang from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is a huge help when trying to generate believable hordes of Orcs and Goblins, but also human groups and now, even mounted cavalry. Read about the company, the software and get a kickstart in creating your own crowd sims.

Training: Create an Alien Pirate

In this tutorial, Darrell Abney of ILM takes you through the process of creating this exceptional alien pirate character, which is also our cover star this issue.

Training: Make a game vehicle in Cinema 4D

In this tutorial you will learn how to model and render a game concept vehicle using Cinema 4D, including some excellent tips on creating meshes, setting up materials and lighting the scene.

Training: Q and A

Our regular Artist Q&A section is here, and this issue we have answered your questions on many topics, including a common one on how to use ZBrush to generate custom vector displacement maps.

3D World is the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 230 here or subscribe to 3D World here.

View the full article

Often, it's the simplest effects that look the most striking, and neon text is one such project. It's also much easier to create a neon effect that looks realistic than you might think. While this entire tutorial only uses one background image, your brain tricks itself into seeing this as a real, functioning neon sign – that's the power of Photoshop CC's layer styles. 

• Get Adobe Creative Cloud

The fact that this entire project is build from scratch – from the font to the colours of the glow, to the eventual animation – means that there's a lot of scope for creativity. You can choose exactly what you want every part of this effect to look like.

Neon is really popular right now online. Showing off saturated tones against a dark, muted background is a great way to present a landing page, a logo design or a header, and it's easy to animate your work and save it as a GIF with a low file size. Let's dive into how to create it. 

01. Start creating the font

Use Photoshop's Pen tool to draw your first letter

Create a new document 550x550px in Photoshop, and bring up the grid by hitting cmd/ctrl+'. Create a new layer and with the Pen tool, sketch out your first letter. Leave gaps in the character, as this is going to be a neon-style typeface. Once you're happy, hit Stroke within the Paths tab to draw in the letter.

02. Work through the alphabet

Don't forget about the special characters

Create as many characters as you want, with the Pen on a new layer each time. If you want to, add in some special characters, such as currency symbols, punctuation and accented letters. Follow the same basic style that you started with, so your font is cohesive.

03. Move into FontCreator

There's a free trial of FontCreator available if you need it

If you have High-Logic FontCreator, this is the part where you can turn your characters into a font. If you don't, a free trial is available. By pasting each character into FontCreator, we can create a useable typeface for Photoshop.

Work your way through FontCreator by double-clicking each character and pasting in your Pen-drawn work. Make sure that each letter is on the same baseline. 

04. Kern your text

Always double-check your kerning

Kerning is the space between each of the letters (for more information, take a look at our typographic glossary), and the Auto-kerning option within FontCreator is what naturally spaces out your letters so that the font looks neat. Try this option and make sure each letter looks good together.

Once it's complete, export your font and install it into your computer. This will automatically add it to Photoshop CC. 

05. Set up a Photoshop document

Use our suggested palette or create your own

Create a new document in Photoshop. On a new layer, create a colour palette by using a big brush. We went with #501d26, #af273d, #f74663, #ffdae1, #35e985 and #b2dcc4.

Then find a suitable background image and drag it into Photoshop. Create a new layer, fill it the deep red colour, and duplicate. Set one layer to Multiply, and one to Colour. Create a Brightness/Contrast layer and set to -75 in Brightness. Duplicate this and mask the centre for a vignette. 

06. Input the text

Type in some text and rasterise it

Grab the Type tool and select your font (if you didn't create a font earlier, just place in each letter individually). Spell out your text, before ctrl+right-clicking the layer and selecting Rasterize Type. 

07. Create a glow

Give your text a bit more depth with a lovely bevel

ctrl+right-click the layer, and go to Blending Options > Outer Glow. There, input an opacity of 50%, a spread of 5% and a size of 63px. Now, you can see your neon text beginning to look a lot more realistic. Choose a bright colour.

Click on Bevel and Emboss, still in the Layer Styles option. Choose Depth: 250%, size: 5px, Soften: 2px. Use the Highlight and Shadow modes to add a little more depth to the text, and play with these options until you find the right mix. 

08. Play around with shadows

Don't mess up your Outer Glow with your drop shadow

For the Inner Shadow, choose the same bright colour you picked for the Outer Glow. All you'll need to edit here is the size, depending on how big the text is. Alter this and leave all other values at 0. 

As the neon text is going to be sitting off the wall slightly, we're going to need a subtle drop shadow, but not too much as we don't want to compromise the Outer Glow. Use a low opacity, and give this one some more Distance and Size. 

09. Light it up

Make sure that the string follows through all of the characters

Go to the text layer, Ctrl/right-click and choose Copy Layer Styles. Click on the animal layer, Ctrl/right-click and choose Paste Layer Styles. Double-click on the FX icon and turn the pink colours to green for a little contrast to the text. 

Grab the pen tool and create a string through the neon text and the animals that you've created. Make sure that it follows through all of the characters, and then stroke with #808080, with a 2px brush selected with 1% spacing. 

10. Add a drop-shadow

Give the string a bevel and a bit of drop shadow

Go to the Blending Options for the string you've just made. Head to Bevel to give it a subtle shape, and give it a subtle drop shadow, too. The variables here depend on the size and shape of the string you've created, so just experiment to see what works.

11. Create an 'off' version

Now make a non-glowing copy so you can create a flickering effect

Let's create a layer of text that isn't glowing, so we can animate a flicker on some of the letters. Duplicate the text layer, then hide the Outer Glow style. Set the Inner Shadow to #808080, then alter the Lightness of this layer to -50, using Hue/Saturation (cmd/ctrl+U).

On the glowing text layer, grab the Marquee tool and select a few letters you want to switch off briefly in the animation. Make duplications of this layer, with these letters masked out until you have sufficient layers to create an animation.

12. Animate your design

Export as an animated gif and you're good to go

Go to the top-right of Photoshop and select Motion as a Workspace option. The animation timeline will appear at the bottom; here, you can define which layers are shown or hidden at for however long you want them to be. 

Create new frames along the bottom with various letters either glowing or not glowing, depending on whether the layer is visible or not. Set the time of each layer's animation using the little arrow on each frame, too. Save as a GIF using Save For Web.

This article was originally published in issue 267 of Web Designer, the creative web design magazine – offering expert tutorials, cutting-edge trends and free resources. Subscribe to Web Designer here.

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Freelance 3D artist and Vertex panelist Maya Jermy shows you how to master VDM. She will be appearing at Vertex as part of the panel on digital humans.

Vector Displacement Mesh (VDM) is a 3D sculpt used as brush building blocks that enables undercutting when drawing on a model’s surface. But what exactly does it mean? 

The simplest way to understand it is to start with alphas. Alpha textures are greyscale images that we often use for sculpting fine-detailed patterns like wrinkles and skin pores. Without them we would have to painstakingly draw the details on by hand, one by one. 

Alphas are awesome and quite efficient to use in combination with bushes, but they are basically flat images with black values, and they do not support undercuts and overhangs, which limits what can be done with them. 

However, Alpha 3D stores the information of all XYZ axes and does not have any vertical elevation restrictions. By definition, it is 3D as it uses VDM in its system. 

All you need to worry about is the polygon density to enable proper projection of the Vector Displacement Mesh onto your model. As I see it, Alpha 3D is an alpha with 3D information, or, a 3D sculpt plastered onto a plane and used as an alpha on steroids. 

1. Sculpt the swirl

 

To start off, we first need to get a canvas, so head to Lightbox> Project>MISC and select the Brush 3D template. With a clay brush selected, build a little hill in the middle of the canvas, more or less to the size of the swirl. Now, with the radial symmetry on and DamStandard brush selected, start sculpting the grooves and peaks of the swirl shape.

2. Fix distorted edges

 

Make sure to stay away from the edges of the plane. If you accidentally mess up the edges, you have to fix them before saving the VDM: mask the edges, invert mask, go to Tool>Deformation>Relax Plane Grid or Morph to Grid, depending on the level of damage caused to your plane. This should reshape the edges and add more geometry.

3. Save out the VDM

 

To save out your sculpt as a VDM, you need to select a brush that can save all the information contained in your model. With Chisel3D selected, open the Brush palette, select Create and click on Create MultiAlpha Brush. This automatically creates a new Chisel brush out of your model. Your current Alpha texture now contains a VDM of the sculpt with a 3D mark in top-left corner.

4. Save out the brush

 

In order to now save out the brush and create an icon for it, open a 3D sphere and turn it into a polymesh. Divide it a few times and drag out your VDM. Position the sphere to capture the icon, go to the Brush palette, hold down the Alt key and click on SelectIcon. With the icon generated, you can finally save it out with Brush>Save As. Rename your brand-new brush and it is done!

Learn more from Maya Jermy at Vertex

Maya Jermy is a regular contributor to 3D World and has years of industry experience, working across various fields.

She will be at Vertex 2018, taking part in our panel discussion, along with other industry veterans including Chris Nichols and Brett Inerson, where the future of digital humans is the topic.

Make sure you get your chance to be there for the discussion, as well the workshops, recruitment fair and all the other activities we have throughout the day. Visit the Vertex site to book your tickets, from the free expo ticket, to the access all areas passes.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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1. Why Vertex is a must for CG artists

2. The ethics of digital humans

3. Scott Ross at Vertex

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Researchers have identified a vulnerability in a Huawei home router model that is being exploited by an adversary to spread a variant of the Mirai malware called Okiku, also known as Satori.

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I spent my early, bohemian years in fashion design amidst the best pencils, watercolours, markers and pens. I kind of miss those days, but once I made the choice to move to the Wacom Cintiq 13HD, there was no going back.  

My education started in an art institute, we’re talking ‘90s when all the internet was geek stuff, so my training was analogue. Also, after having obtained my fashion design degree in the early 2000s, I got my first job in the fashion industry without knowing anything about computer arts. Imagine a primitive woman looking at fire, that was me all those years looking at you Photoshop wizards.

The truth is that anybody can handle a major change if they have the will to do so. In early 2016, I began shifting my career from fashion design to visual storytelling for advertising and editorial purposes, becoming a digital artist at the same time. Once I learned Photoshop basics such as layers, swatches and brushes, transitioning to digital was just a case of applying the number one rule for illustrators: just draw, draw, draw.

01. Do your research

Cafforio’s digital working space. Research on current fashion and colour trends is vital before starting a piece

Without an idea, preferably a good one, no digital nor analogue brush will help. My process is inextricably linked to research. This research usually generates a moodboard in the form of filling my working space with pictures from runways and Post-it notes, then the creation of one or more characters that I try to give a soul to, even before creating their physical features.

I always try to tell an entire story in the single frame I have at my disposal, leaving the rest to the imagination of the viewer. Once I have my research and idea sorted, I get started on the more technical aspects of digital illustration.

02. Set up for online and print use

Choose your specs wisely

Unless otherwise specified by the client, I usually start my projects by creating an A1 canvas at 300dpi, which means 7016 x 9933 pixels. In terms of colour management, sRGB colour profile is a good starting point for all purposes: your work will be web/monitor ready and giclée/lithography adaptable. 

That’s because an illustration may have several lives that cannot be foreseen, as in the case of my award-winning piece Alice in Wonderland. Born for Instagram, it was subsequently lithographed on a number of magazines and on an art catalogue, fine art printed for a signed edition, reproduced on lenticular panels, and so on.

03. Build up a strong composition

After the research stage, Cafforio digitally sketches directly on her Cintiq

The first thing to do is avoid ‘white sheet panic’. How? I fill the background layer with colour, usually one picked out from the fashion palette of the season I’m working on. That coloured background will better bring out the black and white of my character’s complexion. 

After that, I select my favourite tools – the pressure and tilt sensitive tools of Wacom’s pens and Kyle T. Webster’s Photoshop brushes are simply incredible working together – then start to pencil sketch what I’ve got in mind, cutting and adjusting it to best fit the shooting angle.

One of the first huge advantages of digital sketching directly on your Cintiq with the help of layers is repositioning at will. When I’m happy with the composition, I can give the client a first visualisation of what is going to be later highly refined. In minutes. And this also leaves me a lot of room to manoeuvre in case of disagreement, without having to start from scratch.

04. Use layers effectively

Cafforio repositions layers to find the best fit throughout her workflow

You might think an illustration seems like a big job, but actually it’s just hundreds of small jobs. Each of my illustrations can contain several hundred layers, depending on its complexity. The only limit is the hardware used. In my experience, working at high-resolution, a basic Apple Mac Mini can easily manage a couple of hundred layers without slowing down.

My illustrations have a group of layers for each element of the illustration. The face, hair, arms, hands, eyes, neck, mouth, dress, accessories, and so on, are all folders containing a bunch of layers for the foundation, chiaroscuro (light and shade), and details. Working like this will allow you to go in to your image surgically on demand. This is important because small modifications are always around the corner and a happy client is a regular client.

05. Use 50 shades of everything

Pantone colours form the basis of Cafforio’s colour spectrum, but she fine-tunes the colours at the end of the piece to add her own narrative

Experience in fashion makes you realise how important understanding, and possibly forecasting, colour trends is. You might want to learn about how colour fidelity matters for a commercial artist, and will ideally become good at visualising products that customers will want.

It’s really fun to mix analogue watercolours and other pigments, and this can be a good way to learn about colour. On the other hand, Pantone palettes, regularly published in .ASE format, are universally recognised as standard colour reproduction systems. 

In terms of rules about using colour, remember that nothing is set in stone. We live in the real world, not in a giant colour control cabinet that is ISO 3664 compliant. We are doing visual storytelling here, not designing a logo, and we’re not talking to machines after all. Learn the way, then find your own way. 

I start with Pantone colours as a foundation, then add chiaroscuro and details, generally with Kyle T. Webster’s watercolours. But in the final stages of the project, some global colour fine-tuning to add my vision of the narrative is required.

06. Resist shortcuts

Cafforio tries to resist ‘Photoshop ominipetence’, preferring to make changes by deleting and redrawing layers

Now that I’m done, I’ll probably want to make some small changes. For example, I don’t like the mouth because it’s looking a little crooked. But I don’t use the Liquify Filter, I hide the mouth Layers and draw it again. If I need to add shine to some jewels, I don’t even think of using Actions. I draw sparkles.

There is nothing wrong with trying some Photoshop shortcuts, especially when dealing with tight deadlines, but it is essential to resist the temptation of Photoshop omnipotence.

Here’s the thing: getting lazy and cutting corners won’t help you become the next Sergio Toppi. And this world already has enough Photoshop gurus. Just remember the first rule for illustrators: draw, draw, draw.

This article originally appeared in issue 272 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy issue 272 here or subscribe here.

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