A customer sent in this series of beautiful renders lit in Cinema 4D. They are lit entirely with Global Illumination and the Greyscalegorilla HDRI Studio Pack. So great to see the variation of styles. Plus, I adore that coffee cup model.

I wanted to give you a quick update regarding the transition to Cinema 4D R13 and the Greyscalegorilla Kits and Packs. We have been doing some testing and everything works exactly the same in R13 as in previous versions. Just install the .lib4d file as you would with previous versions and everything will work exactly the same as in previous versions.

HDRI Studio Pack and Physical Renderer
We did encounter one issue with the HDRI Studio Pack in R13 when using the “Seamless Floor” with Physical Render. There is a rendering issue where the shadows disappear. This will be fixed in a free update of the HDRI Studio Pack very soon. Hopefully in the next few weeks. If you are an existing user, keep an eye out on the blog and in your Email inbox for the download to the free update

In this tutorial I show you how to model, texture and light a simple gum-ball machine using primitive shapes and deformers. I also set up a dynamics system to fill the machine with gum balls and light the machine using HDRI and the Sky Sampler. Then, we head in to Photoshop to do some final color correction.

Final Render

I have been working on adding flicker free animation presets to the upcoming HDRI Studio Pack V1.5. Many of you have asked how to get clean, fast rendering HDRI renders, and I’m excited to finally get this out soon. I’m hoping to launch it tonight or tomorrow morning. In the mean time, take a look at some animated Lego carnage lit and rendered with HDRI Studio Pack and the new Flicker Free GI Presets.

Introducing HDRI Studio Pack Version 1.5. It includes 17 more HDRI Studios you can use to light your scenes and renders. It’s fully compatible with Cinema 4D v13 and the new Physical Renderer. But, I’m most excited about the new animation presets that make it easy to render flicker-free animations using global illumination. If you have ever tried to get GI working with animation, you know how tricky it can get. I built presets that I think find the balance between render time and quality for your next render.

What’s New?

16 new HDRI Studios to choose from
GI Animation Preset for flicker free GI renders.
Fully Compatible with R13
R13 Physical Render Presets

Animation Preset Examples

Renders made using the Animation Preset Studio

17 Brand New HDRI Studios

Learn More about the HDRI Studio Pack

Existing HDRI Studio Pack Users

Existing users will get an email sent to the email account that was used to purchase the HDRI Studio Pack. If you haven’t got it yet, send us an email and make sure to include the original email that was used to purchase the Pack and we will send you a new download. Be sure to download the update within FIVE DAYS from now or the download will expire.

I think you will love the new version. Keep rendering.

In this quick video, I wanted to show you some of the settings for the Animation Preset that is part of the HDRI Studio Pack. I go over how to clean up grain in your renders, if you really need to, and also how to adjust the animation settings to give you the best looking renders in the least amount of time.

Animation Preset Examples

We have officially tested all of the Greyscalegorilla Products with the new Cinema 4D R14 and everything is working great. However, we had one small texture issue with City Kit. A free update (V1.21) has been sent out to everyone who purchased City Kit either directly or though a bundle. Check your email or the email of the person that purchased it for you to get your download link to the update. Please update no matter what version you are on, just incase.

Emails have already been sent out. However, if you did not receive it, please contact support. Be sure to include the email address you used to purchase the product or a copy of your receipt so we can send your update there.

Thanks again for using Greyscalegorilla Products, Kits, Packs and Plugins. We love hearing how they help you get your work done faster or make it even easier to make it beautiful. Stay tuned for more free updates of our products.

In This Tutorial, I will show you how to get brighter, more natural lighting in Cinema 4D using a few different techniques including, Linear Workflow, Gamma, Color Mapping, and HDRI Bounces. Try these techniques to help make renders less contrasty and give your lighting a more real-to-life look.

Tutorial

Learn More About Linear Workflow Here

It’s a big day for HDRI, Image Based Lighting, and Cinema 4D. Greyscalegorilla just released an update and a brand new collection of HDRIs that allow you dozens of ways (over 140 actually) to light your animation or render in Cinema 4D. Great lighting can easily be overlooked in 3D, but I hope these tools make it easier for you to make great looking renders. I hope you have a few minutes to watch and read about what’s new and to see if it’s a good fit in your workflow.

HDRI Studio Pack Update

HDRI and Global Illumination has been a huge part of my lighting toolset over the last few years. If you have followed allong with some of the latest tutorials, you may have seen my HDRI Rig being used all the time. It comes with the HDRI Studio pack and it’s been my number one lighting tool of choice lately. Well, I just updated the HDRI Rig in the latest HDRI Studio pack with some really cool new features that we have been wanting to add to make it even easier to make great renders.

Helpful new features like a Preview mode, reflective floor and an instant fill slider allow you to tweak and adjust your lighting and background just right for that perfect render. You can see all these features in action in the demo video below. Of course, all of these things are included in the latest update to the HDRI Studio pack.

Please check out the demo below or visit this tools page to see if it’s right for you.

HDRI Studio Demo Video

New HDRI Collections: Pro Studios

I am also announcing a brand new HDRI Collection called “Pro Studios” that features over 70 MORE HDRIs that can be used with the HDRI Studio Pack mentioned above. Think of it like an add on pack that gives you even more lighting options to choose from when lighting your scene.

These HDRs were captured and developed by real lighting artists that work profesionally in 3D lighting and compositing. They have a TON of detail and work really well in creating different types of looks in your scene. I made a short video below that shows off some of these studios.

You must have HDRI Studio to use the new Collections. It’s $69 for the new Collection and I have been using it in many of my recent renders you have seen on the site. Visit the new page for more details.

HDRI Collections Demo Video

Get Them All With A New Bundle

Finally, the HDRI Bundle. You can get both the updated HDRI Studio Pack and the new HDRI Collections: Pro Studios for only $119. This is $20 less than the price will be tomorrow. Get both of our HDRI Tools for one price and get over 140 different custom lighting studios to add reflections and light to your scene. Visit the Bundle Page for more details.

Learn More About HDRI Studio Pack

Learn More About HDRI Collections: Pro Studios

Visit The Bundles Page

Thank You

Thanks for taking time to check all these new tools out. Image based lighting has become our number one way to light recently and I hope these new tools find their way into your creative toolset. Thanks again for checking this all out.

Note To Current Customers Of The HDRI Studio Pack

Current customers should have received an email with a free link to the latest update. Please contact Support if you haven’t received it yet. Don’t forget to include the email you used to purchase the HDRI Studio Pack originally.

In this tutorial, I show you a quick trick I use to clean up the edges of white renders. I often use these white renders on my websites, and having anything other than white on the edge will show the seam. It’s a simple trick using levels, but it helps you find any pixels that aren’t pure white and paint them out. I was using this this morning and thought it may be helpful to make a quick video. Hope it helps.

Tutorial

Follow along as John Dickinson from Motionworks breaks down this Oscar animation he made with Cinema 4D and some of our favorite GSG Tools. He also goes over some really subtle and nice compositing tricks to give your final render that nice glossy shiny look. See the full breakdown here.

A customer sent in this series of beautiful renders lit in Cinema 4D. They are lit entirely with Global Illumination and the Greyscalegorilla HDRI Studio Pack. So great to see the variation of styles. Plus, I adore that coffee cup model.

David Luong is currently a Senior Cinematic Artist II at Blizzard Entertainment, He’s been working in the visual effects industry for nearly 8 years. He currently does lighting, compositing, and matte painting for Blizzard’s cinematics on games such as Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and World of Warcraft. He previously worked on films such as Night at the Museum, Superman Returns, and Underworld Evolution at Rhythm & Hues, Luma Pictures, and Disney Toon Studios. David Luong is one of three artists featured in the newest d’artiste book from Ballistic Publishing. He also teaches CGSociety.org’s online Photo-Real Matte Painting workshop.

How important was your formal education in getting to where you are now, especially in contrast to the self teaching you were doing when you first started?

A lot of people asked me if formal education is important to getting a job in the VFX industry.  What’s good about formal education is that it’s structured, and it gives you time to develop your own style due to the long period of being in school (2-4 years).  The teachers are hit and miss, but the ones that are really good tend to push you harder, and make your life a little harder.  Sometimes you might hate them, but in the end, you’ll understand why they were so hard, and the higher level difficulty is a good introduction of how it might be on your real job. Good teachers also impart their knowledge to you well, and want to see you succeed.  They encourage team work and getting you to understand what works, and what doesn’t on the job.

Teachers in school are also a great source of networking too, as they are usually working professionals.  They can refer you to another studio or recommend you to someone, growing who you know in the industry.  Being a small industry, this is very invaluable.  So I think formal education is valuable, although it tends to cost too much for the education, especially in private school.  I would recommend taking as much as you can in community or junior colleges before going to an art school if you’re going the formal route.  Paying maybe $100 an English class at a community college instead of paying about $2,000 at a private art school with equal or even better education in a community college is a no brainer.  Coming back to the education I got, it was great because it did allow me to gestate my own style, and meet lots of friends and industry professionals. My senior portfolio got me lots of recognition and thankfully, I got a job shortly after graduating.

Compared to learning on my own when I first started, the formal education gave me the direction and focused structure I needed.  It also gave me a direct pathway to doing what I loved to do, while also not just thinking of it as a hobby.  I also invested a ton of money for student loans, so it made me not want to fail even more to.  When I was learning Photoshop on my own, there wasn’t really anyone else to give me feedback or learn a little bit extra from.  It was all myself, and what was available through books or the limited Internet at the time.

So for me, it was important to have the formal education in the end.  I just wish it didn’t cost so much money.

What got you started using Cinema4D and how does it help day to day work?

I had first heard about it from other digital matte painting artists on how easy it is to use for 3D projections and integrating some 3D movements in your shots.  It wasn’t until last year actually, that I started  using C4D more regularly.  When using Maya, I found the process convoluted and way more complicated than it should be to setup a projection. I taught Maya in my CGWorkshop, and I could see my students struggle getting the shader setup, and the extra little technical difficulties that came with Maya for a projection setup.   I also didn’t like it, and so it was time to experiment with C4D.

I used some C4D at work a couple of years ago, and the UI interface as well as the camera and projection setups seemed pretty easy to follow.  I really love how artist friendly Cinema4D was compared to bigger packages such as Maya or 3DStudio Max. I started with R13 last year, and then soon after, R14 was released, and now R15. We still use more Maya at work, but for my personal projects and for teaching the CGWorkshops, I’ll be using only C4D, Nuke, some After Effects, and Photoshop.  The default  rendering engine is pretty high quality, and if I had to up it up, I would use the Physical Renderer.  There is a huge community who create plugins and makes life easier for you by creating better workflow and efficiencies using Cinema4D, such as the great people at Greyscalegorilla.

What Greyscalegorilla tools do you use and how do they affect your workflow?

I started learning how to use CityKit, Light Kit Pro, and the HDRI Studio Pack.  Light Kit Pro I use the most, as it’s so simple to bring in light rigs from the tool and quickly light the objects in your scene with easy sliders and parameters you can adjust. I love the soft boxes in the kit, and the sun light rig which includes an environment light to shade your shadows with.  These are easy, one click imports to your scene.  If I wanted to get some reflections going in certain objects of my scene, the HDRI pack is just as easy to implement in my shots.  Usually bringing in an HDRI will automatically set a decent optimized render preset to use, giving you nice Ambient Occlusion, Global Illumination, or good shadow and ray trace samples.

The other major tool I use from Greyscalegorilla, especially in one of my matte painting tutorials for the d’Artiste: Matte Painting 3 book, was CityKit.  The team at GSG really made an amazing, fast generating city tool, which also gives a great amount of customization such as adding in your own textures, your own hero models and many other things so your city can stand out.  For my book, I created a few simple shapes, which I moved around to create a good composition, duplicated a few blocks, and added a couple of custom hero twin buildings.  I also created a circular city in the sky that was a tweaked version of one of the presets you can do in the CityKit.  Just playing with some customizations, and I got something that looks unique.  After I lighting the city using the Light Kit Pro, then rendering that out in C4D, I brought it back into Photoshop for further tweaking and texturing to give it a more photo real look.

Without these tools, I think C4D would be still great for the artist, but I’d definitely be slower.  They’re well worth buying and using for your own personal or professional projects.

When I first started using C4D on my personal work, there was no greater resource out there to learn it than from the Greyscalegorilla website.  Their videos are excellent, and very well narrated by Nick Campbell as well as Chris Schmidt.  They would give examples that the community would ask for, and just by watching them do it, and following the steps, you can really take that knowledge and apply it to other things you want to do.  Also each of their tools you buy, comes with instructional videos by the team which covers a great deal on how to use it and the why’s and how’s of it.  Going through the GSG tools was just what I needed to learning how to use C4D on my own projects.  It was pretty much exclusively GSG tools that got me up and running last year. I had almost no other prior  training before I used GSG, and now each of the matte paintings in the d’Artiste: Matte Painting 3 book used their tools in one form or another.

What would you say was your first foot in the door to the industry? Any advice as to how to maximize your chances for landing that first gig?

I’d say my first foot in the door would be working as a rotoscoping/digital paint artist at Luma Pictures.  It was in 2005 for Underworld: Evolution.  They had liked my creativity in my demo reel and my persistence to wanting to work there.  It’s a bit of a story, but I was so eager to work at my first big job for the visual effects industry that I essentially went to work on my first day before I was actually hired.  There was some confusion as why I was there my first day, but eventually, I was hired that day thankfully since they did need more workers and  they liked my reel previously.  Now looking back, I shouldn’t have done that probably, but it seemed to have worked out!  I wouldn’t recommend doing what I did though to get your foot in the door.

I’d say just keep being persistent which was key, emailing, following up, calling if they allow that (but most studios don’t) or having inside friends that can refer you in.  Always be respectful and have a personality that can work well in a team.  Without that, you’ll just be someone who is good that can work only well by yourself.  That’s not what a studio would like.  Keep your ego down, and if you think you’re good,  let that shine through your work and by elevating the work of others. If you don’t get hired somewhere you want, such as your dream job, keep working at it through other studio work or getting the experience necessary to finally apply and work at the place you want.  If you aren’t working at all, keep brushing up on your knowledge, keeping up your contacts and knowing what the industry is doing nowadays, and learn from free communities such as Greyscalegorilla!

What are some of your favorite tools while working on Matte Paintings?

Photoshop is the key tool I use for matte painting.  The second, is probably my own camera.  I shoots the majority of my own textures and reference footage to be used later in matte paintings.  This is usually from vacations and going out to places. I’m usually the weird one who stops and shoots multiple angles or shots of a building or a certain tree, a texture on the ground, while everyone else is walking up ahead in a group.  Other tools I use is Maya, although it’s mostly Cinema4D now for the 3D side, as that’s strong enough for matte paintings for me.  For 3D projections, Nuke seems to take the lead now if I don’t need to do a full environment, which is 90% of the time for matte painting. The speed and ease of setting up projections in Nuke, as well as compositing in there is just the best in the industry right now.  I even matchmove in it, which was what I did for the Monolith City matte painting in the book. After Effects if I need to do some more linear layered based compositing.  Those tools are all sort of standard I’d say.  Can’t think of anything that isn’t off the shelf that I use really.

What are some highlights/challenges of teaching? How is teaching online?

I started teaching for CGSociety.org in January 2008.  They asked me to teach after loving what they saw in my submissions for the d’Artiste: Matte Painting 2 book that came out in 2007, which had 6 of my pieces published in them.  I was very honored for them ask me out of all of the artists out there.  But I gladly accepted, which was also something I had never done before: teaching. It was another great challenge for me, could I teach what I knew and guide the next generation of artists to do work  with the high quality of standards in the industry? I hoped so, and luckily, many of them are now working in the industry and are doing just fine!

The format of the CGWorkshop I teach is all online.  It’s an 8 week course, and when I initially taught it more than 5 years ago, everything from 2D Photoshop work, to After Effects, Nuke and then to Maya all rolled into one.  Now, it’s broken up into two  workshops as of last year when I revamped the course.  The first one is strictly dealing with foundations, concepts, composition, value, and what makes an image striking according to the student’s own styles through my guidance.  There was no 3D in it at all, but if the student knows some 3D, I wouldn’t bar them from using it as long as most of their image is in the 2D realm.  The second course, which will deal with 3D projections, and some matchmoving/modeling/lighting/rendering/compositing to get the matte paintings moving in a shot.  That I haven’t taught yet, which will begin in March 2014.

For me, this format is ideal due to the fact that I can post my prerecorded videos, then the students can view them, and work on them any time they want to. It’s not bound by any time frame (except for when it’s due at the end of the week for assignments, and the major projects at the end of the workshop in 8 weeks).  So there are a big number of international students who take my course. All they have to know is enough English to understand my instructions and critiques.  Otherwise, the image is really universal,  and by me giving visual feedback through paintovers, students really get the idea of what works and what doesn’t for their matte pantings.

The flexibility of not having to be in any country or any timezone is the most appealing for the workshops.  It also can’t really be “pirated”, as the single most useful part of the workshop is the  teacher giving direct and fast feedback to the student work in high attention and priority.  There may be videos and lectures in the course that you can download or distribute, but the biggest help is the feedback as well as the practice through the material.  That also brings up another point, students that take my class get the most benefit if they engage themselves in participation instead of just lurking in the shadows.

At the end of my workshop, I choose the top 6 matte paintings, and promote them heavily on my website, my social network, and so does CGSociety on their websites.  It gives the students an extra incentive, and some friendly competition to get their work done on time, and to do it the best as possible. I know not all students can complete the work I give in the workshop, due to them being busy at work or school, so I also offer any students who didn’t get to finish their work to continue working and email me their progress.  To which, I will fully and actively support just like I did in the 8 weeks of the workshop, and for life.  I also offer an alumni lounge where all past students get automatically enrolled in free, to continue their education in a safe, private forum that I also help moderate.

I’ve met so many great students around the world while teaching these past 5 years.  It’s so wonderful to see that I’ve impacted the community and given back what I know from my experiences at work and referring them to other people who need good artists  as well.  I’m sure the GSG guys feel the same way in giving back to the community. I”m thankful to use their teachings to apply in my new book as well!

Any particular artists that inspire you?

Dylan Cole is a huge inspiration for me while I was in school, as I saw his matte paintings in the first d’Artiste: Matte Painting 1 book back in 2004. I’ve got to meet him in person a couple of times, and I even got to feature one of his personal works for my section of the Matte Painting 3 book, which was a real treat.  He started out as an intern at ILM, and then worked as a senior matte painter for Weta Digital on Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.  So many beautiful shots he created while he was there that I’ve long admired. He is now the newly announced Co-Production Designer for Avatar 2, along with Ben Proctor, which is the highest title an artist can get for a movie in the art department.  He’s an awesome artist that totally deserved that!

The other artist that has inspired me was the team at Blizzard Cinematics while I was in school as well (and well before that playing Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft 2 in highschool).  There wasn’t’ a particular artist there as it was a team that worked on the cinematics.  Each time I saw a cinematic while playing a Blizzard game, I told myself “I want to work there some day and  need to keep working on my skills until I get to work there.”  The music, the voice acting, the cinematography, and the visual effects just made me fall in love with 3D animation.

What is your favorite project you’ve worked on so far?

The favorite project I worked on is probably at Blizzard, on the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King cinematic back in 2008.  It was directed by Jeff Chamberlain, and I was working early on with a skeleton crew.  Sheng Jin was my lead on the show, who is a fantastic lighter/compositor as well as well skilled in other disciplines of the CG pipeline.  The team was small back then, so I was able to come on as an artist who got to push more of the creative side.  I got to do some concepts to explore Arthas’ look through lighting and painting, as well as shot setups and lighting scenarios with Sheng.  I did some matte paintings as well, and finished shots through lighting/compositing.  Afterward, I had some down time, so I got a chance to work on some of the poster work that marketing used for various prints and posters for the game.  The creative freedom while being able to work in a team and ping our ideas back and forth with Jeff, our director so fluidly, is what makes me come back to this cinematic as my most fond memory professionally.

How was your experience doing D’Artiste: Matte Painting 3?

The Ballistic Media guys asked me late December 2012 about the possibility of working on the next beloved d’Artiste: Matte Painting book in the series. The last one was in 2007, so they thought it was time to bring it back.  I thought about how much work it would do to work on the book after hours, while still balancing life load, a full time job at Blizzard, and teaching online for CGWorkshop at the same time.  It was another huge honor to partake in such a project, but I had to be realistic in what I could do.  After much thought, I figured I could balanced it and accepted wholeheartedly into what will become a huge under taking.  It’s a big stressful situation to get your work translated into a book that will be on print forever, so you really want to get it perfect.  All of my tutorials had to make sense, and have the concepts in there work for most beginners and intermediate users who wanted to get more out of their work.

They also wanted us to get our professional work in there for the personal gallery.  To get the licensing for book published (and them knowing that I would get profit from this) was the biggest factor in taking 4-5 months to get approval on my Blizzard matte painting work. There were definitely some bureaucratic hoops I had to jump through, and I had to be very proactive in getting the paper work done or else it would be too late for the book publishing.  In the end, it was well worth it.  As the book by all three of us artists should sit well with the other two books in the series.  I’m proud to be a part of such history and pedigree of previous artists.  I’m also happy to see Blizzard Cinematics standing right a long side other previously featured film art such as those from The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars.

The tutorials themselves, took about 2 months to complete each, with Skyward Life being the easiest, and Monolith City being the hardest.  I wanted Skyward Life to be more of a beginner piece, followed by Ivory Castle which got a little harder, and then with Monolith City, which is a fully animated matte painting tutorial.  Then another 2 months for editing, and proof reading/layout to get it looking the best possible with the publisher.  And now, it’s just marketing and getting the word out there.

Also 50% of my proceeds from d’Artiste: Matte Painting 3 will go towards Friends of Orange County’s Homeless Pets charity.

What is your favorite Matte painting you’ve done and why?

My favorite matte painting I’ve created is probably Monolith City, which is one of the tutorials featured in the book.  I wanted to have my dog, Xena in it, and have her looking out into no where, which would later be replaced with a matte painting, and an alien city in the back.

The matte painting base plate was shot using my iPhone camera in a field.  I then matchmoved it in Nuke, brought it into Cinema4D for 3D city building.  Then back to Photoshop to work on the ground matte painting and further texturing of 3D elements.

Back to Nuke for projetion, then back to C4D for additional animated ships to add some life to it.  Then back to Nuke for final compositing.  It was real fun to do all of that, and to document how to do it for the book tutorial. 

Lastly, what is the best response for Zerg when Terran has turtled up three bases and is going with a heavy mech build?

Great question! Terran has a tendency to build “Helm’s Deep” for their bases.  To break their defense in those turtling situations, go the Baneling Bust route, and build up Baneling that would wreak havoc on their front defenses, as well as building Zerglings to get right in their directly to their mineral patch to destroy their economy, while at the same time, having Hydralisks. Don’t forget to bring a detector in case they have banshees!

Davidluong.net

facebook.com/ackdoh

Happy Holidays from all of us here at Greyscalegorilla. Thank you so much for joining us this year to learn and play and create. To celebrate, I wanted to re-render an old scene file from 2009 using some higher quality render techniques like GI for animation, blurry reflections, and also finally render it HD.

From all of us here at Greyscalegorilla, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Original Low Rez Render

Perfect lighting and reflections in seconds. That’s what HDRI Studio Pack is all about. We just launched the latest version of HDRI Studio Pack today. It includes new still and animation presets specifically designed for Version R15 of Cinema 4D.

HDRI Studio Pack presets give you ready-to-render scenes that are perfectly optimized for speed and performance with Global Illumination. Watch the “What’s New” video below or visit the HDRI Studio Pack Page to learn more about HDRI Studio Pack and what’s new in this latest version.

What’s New In Version 1.9

Some Example Renders and Animations from HDRI Studio Pack

This is a free update. Current HDRI Studio Pack owners will get an email with a link to the new version.

Learn More About HDRI Studio Pack

You may not have noticed it, but we quietly launched a brand new Greyscalegorilla Store about two months ago. We have wanted to add some features that our old store system just couldn’t handle. So, we decided to build our own store to give our customers and our support team a better experience. We kept it quiet for a bit just to be sure everything was working the way we wanted. But now we think it’s ready for it’s big launch.

So, what did we change?

Well, we added a few new features that we have always wanted. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that we added to help make everyones life quite a bit easier and to make customer support even better for everyone. Here are three things though, that I think will make the biggest difference for our customers.

1. Automatic Updates and Downloads

Get access to your software anywhere at any time with our new Updates Page. Now you can get a new download or update to the software you have purchased through us with less hassle. Just enter the email you used to purchase your software and receive an email with links to everything you have ever purchased from us including free updates.

Not sure you have the latest version of one of your plugins? Use the same page and be sure you are all up to date.

Visit The Updates Page

2. Build Your Own Bundle

Now you can build your own bundle in the GSG Store. Just add more to your cart and the discount will automatically be taken off your total price. Buy two products, get 10% off. Buy three and get 15%, Buy four or more and get 20% off. The more you buy the more you save.

Not sure what to get? You can choose from some of our pre made bundles below.

Get The Lighting Bundle

Get the Everything Bundle

3. New Product Pages

We updated the product pages to be able to show off more about what our plugins and packs can do for you. We added a better “In Action” section that shows off how our customers use our products in real world projects. The new design also adds a “Featured Video” so you can see how each plugin works just by clicking play.

Check out the New Store Page

That is just a few things we have been working on behind the scenes to make our customer experience a bit better. Let us know what you think and if there is anything we can do to make things even easier for you.

Thanks so much to Dave and the team for making this new store a reality.

I really appreciate those of you who have supported Greyscalegorilla. It means a lot.

We made a new download of HDRI Studio Pack just for R16 users. If you use R16 and HDRI Studio Pack, you can download a new version at our Updates Page right away. Watch the video above to see what is new in the R16 version.

What Has Changed?

1. We fixed a Floor Reflection bug that some people have been getting with R16. Now floor reflection works perfectly.

2. We changed the way scene files load into the scene in this new version. Now, new HDR Rigs are brought in to a separate scene file instead of coming in the current scene. This isn’t an ideal workflow, but it fixes a texture problem that Cinema 4D has.

3. We also included new R16 Animation and Still presets that work exclusively with the new Reflectance channel.

Don’t have HDRI Studio Pack? Learn what it can do for your renders.

Credit List
Agency: Sony Pictures Entertainment Television UK
Channel: The Vault / Sky 366 & Freesat 501
Channel Managers: Stefanie Faleo / Alex Herron
Motion Designers: Simon Williams / Joseph Lattimer / Paulo Abreu / Borham Lee
On Air Manager: Scott Pickup

Joseph. Thanks for answering a few questions about your latest piece, The Vault.
First off, what is your title and where do you work?

I work at Sony Pictures Entertainment Television UK (in London) as the Senior Motion Designer. I’m also in the process of setting up a creative company I’ve Co-founded (fancylampcreative.com). We’ve got all sorts of fun stuff going on and will be launching our first app next year.

What was the most challenging thing about this project?

As a small creative team we’re often snowed under with briefs and tight deadlines, so it’s challenging to find the necessary time to polish things off to our standards. With a team of motion designers popping on and off of a range of projects, it is key to stick to original concept and guidelines we’d set out to accomplish in the re-brand.

With a fun brief and such a bold/graphic idea, a project like this quickly gets legs to stand on as everyone in the team helps grow the idea and gets excited about the visuals. With such a reflective finish, we sometimes find flickering on the renders, which we still aren’t entirely sure how to prevent (Any tips?!).

How did you use Greyscalegorilla tools in your project?

The Greyscalegorilla hdri-studio-pack continues to be a huge saviour for me. With the tight deadlines involved in broadcast graphics, having a pre-rigged light kit saves me a lot of time in getting the right render. It’s also been a great tool for communicating our ideas properly to clients, as they sometimes have trouble visualising things but the studio pack immediately gives them a better look at our vision. Any extra time that I save here can be devoted to perfecting my graphics and strengthening our output, which I really appreciate.

Since graduating, I’ve always been part of a small creative team where we are expected to see projects through every stage. I love this mentality, but we’ve certainly had to quickly learn new skills and troubleshoot as we go. The Greyscalegorilla community has been an invaluable tool for us for training and support.

I love that dinosaur texture. How did you make that look?

This guy was actually pretty easy… all I did was play around with some stamp tool presets in C4D. I think its very important to make any object as personalised as you can – I stear clear of the generic 3D feel and try to customise everything as much as possible. You have to maintain that human element to your work, no matter what software you use.

What was the clients process in this piece?

Our channel managers act as clients, and we’re lucky enough to have built good working relationships throughout our ongoing projects together. This generally works in our favour as they trust our knowledge of their audience and really see the difference in our work when the sky’s the limit. Open-ended briefs are both a blessing and a curse, but if time allows for it – we love to come up with something crazy and learn something new in the process.

Thanks for the interview and for sharing some behind the scenes, Joseph.

You can follow Joseph on Twitter and online.
Twitter: @JosephLattimer W: Josephlattimer.com

It’s time for Siggraph 2015 in LA. Chris and Nick will be there presenting at the Maxon Booth again this year. So be sure to stop by if you are in town for the big event.

Chris will be talking about unique ways to use the Hair system in Cinema 4D, and Nick will be talking about how to use X-Particles and HDRI Studio Pack to make a realistic thirst quenching render.

Can’t make it to LA? Don’t worry, Cineversity will be streaming our presentations and all the other great presenters over at C4DLive. Check C4DLive for the full schedule.

Hope to see you there or in the chat on C4D Live!

HDRI Everywhere

HDRI lighting is quickly becoming my favorite way to instantly add light and great reflections to a Cinema 4D scene. Instantly pick from perfect studio or real world lighting and easily swap entire lighting looks in seconds just by picking a new image.

Of course, when it comes to choosing the right look, the more HDRIs the better. Having more lighting choices helps you pick out just the right look for your next render and give you the ability to try and match the mood you are going for.

Buying a lot of HDRIs to use in your work can become an expensive proposition. Many of them costing hundreds of dollars. Especially if you want to use them commercially.

Many of these HDRI packs consists of only skies. Skies are good for VFX work or architecture renderings, but for motion graphics, we need much more interesting and varied reflections and lighting.

What if there was a way you could have access to over 150 HDRIs for less than the cost of one HDRI pack?

The Image Above Is Lit Entirely With The “Creative Office” HDRI from The Commercial Locations Collection

Introducing Greyscalegorilla HDRI Collection

We combined over 150 beautiful 360 HDRIs into one affordable price. With Greyscalegorilla HDRI Collection, you get access to all of our HDRIs and more as we make and collect them. Like all of our products, you can use these images in your renders commercially.

We have picked only our favorite HDRIs to include in this collection. And, as it grows, we will add even more variation for any type of project you have moving forward.

The Image Above Is Lit Entirely With The “Studio 68″ HDRI from The Pro Studios Collection

OK, So What Does It Cost?

HDRI Pro Collection costs $99 $69 per user per year and includes one year of free downloads. That means, as we come out with more packs, you will be able to download them and use them right away for up to one year from your purchase date. Think of it like the ultimate HDRI of the month club.

The Image Above Is Lit Entirely With The “Empty Table In A Bar” HDRI from The GSG Summer Collection

To celebrate the launch of HDRI Pro Collections, we are offering 30% off to any of our current HDRI Studio Pack customers. Gain access to our current collection and watch it grow as we add more and more HDRIs over the next year.

That’s only $69 for the first year. The sale ends Sunday At Midnight. That’s less than a fifty cents per HDRI!!

Own a studio? We offer bulk pricing. Contact us and we will get you a bulk discount on multiple licenses.

What is the resolution of these HDRIs?

These HDRIs are curated from different photographers all over the world, so their resolution varies. We have 3000px x 1500px images all the way up to GIANT 8000px x 4000px images included now with probably even more variation to come. All of the images included have been taken, tested, and optimized for use in 3D lighting and reflection.

The Image Above Is Lit Entirely With The “Studio 31″ HDRI from The Pro Studios Collection

What If I already own one of your add on packs?

If you already own one of our HDRI add on packs, look for an email from us soon that will include a link to get Greyscalegorilla HDRI Collection for a reduced price.

Don’t own HDRI Studio Pack?

Get HDRI Studio Pack and Greyscalegorilla HDRI Collection together during the sale this week for only $185.40. That’s over 200 HDRIs combined!

Get Both HDRI Studio Pack and Greyscalegorilla HDRI Collection And Get…

• HDR Studio Rig And Browser to easily change between different HDRIs
• Seamless Floor Studio for perfect shadows and backgrounds.
• Global Illumination Presets for fast, flicker free rendering.
• HDRI Training
• Over 200 HDRIs to choose from with more on the way.

Get HDRI Studio Pack And The HDRI Collection Together And Save

Light your next project with real world light using Greyscalegorilla HDRI Collection.

Visit the GSG Store to learn more about Greyscalegorilla HDRI Collection