That is just not right! That is so far beyond any heart model/render I have seen (or made myself) all the others are embarrasing by comparison. Well done sir!
I may say...all the possitive feedback certanly motivates one to put up more material:) The tecnique is that I constructed the hole image in photoshop first. That is...In different layers i painted up specular/ static shadow and highligt and so on to make sure that it fitted all together before I even started up maya.This was done partly from using photographs and lots of cloning and then I also painted in some extra details. When I was finished with the Image I projected it on to a siple plane in maya. The projects deadline didnt allow for good uv-mapping so working with projections was the obvious choice. After that I modeled the geometry...kind of like when you are doing imagebased rendering. For this particular project I knew that I was never going to se the other side of the heart, therfore it was sufichent with modeling from on side, so I could don 180 sweep around it atleast. The heart now looked great in a stillframe... but not in animation...it was to static. To make it look good in animation I also whent in and constructed a displacement map/a bump map and a specularmap. The I used a selfconstructed hdri image to get the sharp reflections on the heart. An occlusionpass were also done to get the final touch during the animation sequence. If there are some more questions I,l be happy to answer them. Does anyone know if there are someway to post animations on this site? Take care fellow artists...and thanx again for the feedback.... /Michael
1) Your painted textures (I mean the painted textures before you started modeling)
=> was this done for preplanning e.g. compositing etc.
OR are these maps the actually used textures onto your final heart model?
2) a) Are the render results like shadows came all from your painted textures, OR did u use a lighting setup.
b)If the Subsurface scattering effect is not painted, could you post your shading network/settings (I guess u used misss fast skin then)
3) What do you mean by selfconstructed hdri? Just a hdri fake or a real photo taken.
4) Did you use maya native shaders (like Blinn), or mental rays shader?
5) Could u post your textures to get an idea of your textures?
1: I used them for the final render. I knew that I only needed to model the heart from one angle so I did most of the texturing work before starting maya.
2: a combination... partly painted shadows (Incadecence) pass and a final gather pass that I multiplyed in comp. SSS is painted.
3: Hdri fake.
4: Only the good ol blinn was used;) Sometimes, the simplest things are sufficent...something I tended to forget before. One can be overwelmed with all the new features that is coming... but in the end, its all about the final frame... and the esiest/fastest way to get there, has often little to do with a complicated shading network.
5: Yes, when I have the time I will put up a tutorial. They will be included there.
I have a friend who's a pediatric cardiologist, who basically wrote the book on the subject (textbook that is). I am going to have him take a look at this. I have always told him that Maya is a great teaching tool for medicine. Is there any chance that you're going to build out the other parts of the heart? I am sure he could use it in his lectures, if you're willing to share your work. It's a good cause, might save some little baby's life :)
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