Friday, January 3rd, 2020 Posted by Jim Thacker

Master new 3D and VR workflows for mech design


The Gnomon Workshop has released Designing a Piloted Combat Mech, a guide to concept design workflows for movies, games and VR, recorded by artist Ara Kermanikian.

Over the course of more than 10 hours of video training, Kermanikian reveals his own workflow for concepting and designing a combat mech, including new virtual reality workflows for blocking out shapes.

Master real-world hard-surface concept design workflows using 3D and VR tools
As visual demands escalate and project timelines shrink, concept design work for entertainment projects is increasingly done using 3D – and now virtual reality – tools.

During the video training, Kermanikian reveals how to use both, blocking out the mech in VR modelling tool Oculus Medium, then sculpting and retopologising it in ZBrush, using KitBash3D libraries to add detail.

The tutorial also covers texturing the mech in Substance Painter, rendering it in KeyShot, and compositing and post-production work in Photoshop.

The work is structured according to a real-world production workflow, beginning with research into the specifications for the mech in order to generate an overall vision 3D sketch.

With the initial concept approved, the mech is divided into functional parts and broken out into projects for each part, before the components are combined into a complete model for further detailing.

Kermanikian also explores how to render the finished mech into compositions for delivery to the production teams for design reviews and any further iteration necessary.

About the artist
Ara Kermanikian is a concept designer with a focus on futuristic character, vehicle, and set design for film, games, television, advertising and VR worlds.

As well as his client work, he is an educator at ArtCenter College of Design and Otis College of Art and Design, and is working on his second book, Polysculpting, via Design Studio Press.

Pricing and availability
Designing a Piloted Combat Mech is available via an online subscription to The Gnomon Workshop, providing access to over 300 detailed tutorials. Subscriptions cost $49/month or $490/year.

Read more about Designing a Piloted Combat Mech on The Gnomon Workshop’s website


Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by Gnomon.