You’ve seen the DVD artwork and the pictures, and you have the object in your content directory, but what about the artist who created this alien creature? Well, wonder no more. Lino Grandi, 3D artist and creator of the “Piranha Alien,” answered a few questions for us about this interesting creature:
NewTek: What was the concept behind this creature?
Lino Grandi:
Rob asked me to create a quadruped, sci-fi creature rig in LightWave. It was a big honor for me to work with him. Rob has really changed the way people look at LightWave.
NT: How did you approach modeling the "Piranha Alien?"
LG:
The model was sculpted and retopologized in 3D-Coat. When creating organic models, using specialized software, such as 3D-Coat or ZBrush for sculpting, is extremely important, and the data interchange with LightWave is perfect.
NT: Why do you use LightWave?
LG:
I use LightWave because of its unique workflow. You can build very complex rigs without much effort, animate a low cage version of the mesh, see the detailed displacement in real time in the same scene and not have to use weight-maps for skinning. Plus, you get a beautiful render!
NT: Briefly describe your workflow.
LG:
I start with a 2D or 3D concept (you can easily sketch shapes in 3D-Coat). When the basic shape is done, I start detailing the creature. Then I build a cage object using the retopology tools. Being able to separate the artistic part (the sculpting) and the technical part (retopology) is something absolutely useful. You can free your mind and just create shapes without thinking of how quads are distributed, and then build a very good polyflow model on the shape. Once the creature is ready, I export the model and the displacement maps to LightWave, where I can finally rig, animate and render the character.
NT: Does the “Piranha Alien” star in your LightWave 10 Rigging: Revealed DVD? If so, tell us what we will learn about your process.
LG:
Yes, watching the DVD, you'll be able to rig the “Piranha Alien” in LightWave. You'll learn basic and advanced rigging concepts, and discover how easy building a setup in LightWave can be.
NT: What is your creative inspiration?
LG:
Science fiction is the topic I love most. Movies, such as the “Alien Saga,” “Avatar” and Japanese Anime Sci-Fi, and video games, such as StarCraft are for sure, a big source of inspiration for me ... not to mention, my huge collection of action figures!
Some of Lino Grandi's creatures, rigs and animation can be seen on his YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/linograndi
The color and texture of the “Piranha Alien” model was created by Leigh Bamforth, the artist behind the “Alien Emissary” model.
