Beyond Photoshop
10 Select the Ellipse shape tool and ensure that it is set to create Paths and that the Add To Path Area operation is enabled in the Tool
Options bar. Shift-drag to create a perfect circle on the canvas that represents a large afro-like mass at the top of her head. You can
position the path as necessary by clicking and dragging it with the Path Selection tool. Also, if you need to resize the path, you can
press Control-T (or Command-T) while the path is selected. When the transform bounding box appears, you can Shift-drag a corner
point inward or outward to proportionately alter the size. When you’re happy with the transformation, press the Enter key to apply it.
11 Control-click (or Command-click) the ellipse path in the Paths palette to load it as a selection. Return to the current layer in
the Layers palette. Select the Gradient tool again and use it within the selection to fill the shape with gradients of colors sampled
from neighboring areas of skin on underlying layers. You will use the radial gradient method exclusively, and don’t deviate from the
foreground to transparent preset or you’ll fill the entire selection. Generally, a good working method is to start with darker gradients
around the edge, where appropriate, then create lighter, more centralized gradients on top of these. Try to avoid covering the eyes or
brows with gradients. However, if this is necessary, that is fine. We will mask the layer next.
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12 Press Control-D (or Command-D) to deactivate the selection, and click the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette
to mask the layer. Target the layer’s mask in the Layers palette. By default, when you create a mask and edit it, the foreground color
becomes white and the background color becomes black. Press the x key to invert them so that black becomes the foreground color.
Use the Gradient tool to create a few small black-to-transparent gradients within the mask, overlapping areas on the canvas where the
flesh-colored gradients obscure her eyes and brows.
13 Create a new layer and ensure that it is targeted in the Layers palette. Select the Clone Stamp from the Toolbar and ensure that the
All Layers method is selected from the Sample menu in the Tool Options bar. Now what we want to remedy at this point are things such as
blemishes on her face and bits of stray hair. Use the same method you used previously to clone out her straps within the Smart Object. Find
an area and Alt-click (or Option-click) a bit of clean flesh right beside it. Then paint over the offending region. Vary brush sizes and opacity
settings as necessary. Sample often, and use a soft-edged brush preset for best results. Again, don’t rush this part of the process or you’ll
regret it later. Do not remove all the details, such as her freckles; these will help the image feel realistic and human after we’re done.
However, spend a fair bit of time cleaning up stray hairs around the eyebrows and removing any wrinkles from her neck.
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14 Now select the Blur tool from the Toolbar.
Specify a soft, round brush tip preset and
ensure that the strength is set to 100% and
that the Sample All Layers option is enabled
in the Tool Options bar. Use the Blur tool to
paint over regions of her face that could use a
little smoothing yet do not need to be replaced.
Find regions that are slightly wrinkled or
porous. Increase and decrease the strength as
necessary and alter the diameter of the brush
tip as you go.
15 Create a new Levels adjustment layer by
choosing Levels from the Create New Fill or
Adjustment Layer menu at the bottom of the
Layers palette. In the Adjustments palette, simply
drag the middle slider to the right a little to
darken the midtones in the image overall. Next,
create a new Selective Color layer by choosing
the Selective Color option from the same
menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. In the
Adjustments palette, choose Neutrals from the
Colors menu and then increase the amount of
cyan and black slightly within the image. Save
your file at this point.
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16 In the History palette menu, choose the New Snapshot option. When the
new Snapshot dialog box appears, choose the Merged Layers option. Don’t
worry about the name, it can remain set to Snapshot 1 because we’re going
to name the file later when we save it. Click OK. You will see your snapshot
appear above the list of history states in the History palette. Depending on
how you have the History Options set, there could be another snapshot of
your image in its original state. In any case, click the new snapshot at the
top of the History palette and then click Create New Document From Current
State at the bottom left of the History palette. This will open a document from
your snapshot in a new window. The original file remains open in the window
behind it.
17 In the new snapshot file, select the Crop tool from the Toolbar. Click and drag to draw a rectangular cropping area that surrounds
the head but crops out the lower portion of her chest and all the negative space at the right of the image. Press the Enter key to
crop the image. Select Image Mode RGB from the menu to convert the image to RGB from CMYK. This will help the accuracy of
the preview when we get into Cinema 4D. Choose File Save As from the menu and save the file in .psd format as [Link].
Close the file and return to your working file in Photoshop. All of the layer will be merged, but don’t fret. All you need to do is scroll to
the bottom of the History palette and click the very last state at the bottom. This will revert the file to the state it was in right before you
merged it. After you click this state, the layers will all become visible in the Layers palette once again.
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PART TWO: Getting set up in Cinema 4D
18 Launch Cinema4D. Initially you will only see a single, perspective view in the
viewport. To remedy this, click the icon in the upper-right corner of the viewport.
This will change the workspace to a four-up view, not only allowing you to see
the perspective view but also showing you top, front, and right views at the same
time. The first thing we’re going to do is bring our [Link] file into
the perspective window to use it as a template while creating 3D objects in the
scene. Click and hold the Scene Objects button in the top Toolbar to temporarily
open the Scene Objects palette. Click the Background Object to create new
Background Object within the scene. You will see the Background Object appear
in the Object Manager at the right of the interface.
Not Using Cinema 4D?
If you are following along with the
Photoshop portion of this chapter only, you’ll 19 Next, choose File New Material from the Material Manager menu at the
find the finished Cinema 4D renderings bottom left of the interface to create a new material. Double-click the new material
included in the downloadable project files to open the Material Editor. Click Color from the list of options at the left of the
Material Editor. In the resulting color options, click the horizontal bar to the right
for this chapter. Simply open them as they of the Texture option and navigate to the [Link] file you created. Close
are referred to by name in the text and you the Material Editor window and then drag the material from the Material Manager
can follow along with the 3D portions of this at the bottom left of the interface directly onto the Background Object in the
chapter. Object Manager to add it as a texture tag to the object. You will immediately see it
appear in the background of the perspective window, but it will be distorted.
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20 To remedy the image distortion, we need
to alter the render settings. Before you go to
the render settings, however, you should note
the exact pixel dimensions of the image in
your material. To see the dimensions, you can
either double-click the material in the Material
Manager to open the Material Editor or, if
you double-click the Texture tag in the Object
Manager, you’ll see the information displayed in
the Attributes Manager. The Texture section will
display the pixel dimensions directly beneath
an image thumbnail. If you’re looking in the
Material Editor window, ensure that you select
the Color option from the left, if it isn’t already
targeted, and you’ll see a very similar display to
that which is shown in the Attributes Manager.
Make a note of the actual pixel resolution. Yours
will likely be a little different than mine.
Cinema 4D files
If you want to follow along with the project in
this chapter, yet the prospect of working with
Cinema 4D is daunting or unappealing to you,
don’t fret; the completed Cinema 4D files are
included in the downloadable project files for
this [Link] Cinema 4D files are saved as
projects, which include all textures [Link]
file that contains all the objects we created for
the model’s face is in a folder named model
[Link] other file that contains the background
elements is in a folder named model 2. You
can open these files in Cinema 4D and peruse
all the elements. You can also render directly
from these files if you like.
21 Choose Render Render Settings from the main menu at the top of the interface. In the Render Settings window, click the
Output option at the left. In the Height and Width fields, enter the exact pixel dimensions of the image texture in your material. You will
immediately see the image displayed in the perspective viewport change to its proper aspect ratio. Close the Render Settings window
for the time being. Now that the Background Object has been added to the scene, we can enable or disable the visibility as necessary
as we work. Generally, it will only need to be visible from time to time to ensure that the angles of our objects will match up with the
perspective of the image.
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22 Click and hold the Scene Objects button in the top Toolbar to open the Scene Objects palette. Select the Camera object to add a
camera to the scene, and then release the mouse button. You’ll see a camera immediately appear in the scene. We’re not going to use
the camera just yet, so for the time being we’ll simply hide it. In the Object Manager, double-click the top visibility dot to the right of your
camera object. The dot will turn red, and although the object continues to exist in the Object Manager, it will be hidden from view.
Toggling views
Using the function keys from F1 through 23 Now that we’re editing the visibility of objects within the scene, we should
to F5 will allow you quickly toggle through direct our attention to the Background Object as well. Begin by double-clicking
the main views in the viewport. These are the bottom visibility button to the right of the Background Object. It will turn red,
the four views that are present when you but it will remain visible in the scene. This actually hides the visibility of the object
are viewing four at a time. F1 shows the when the scene is rendered. Although we have quite a bit of modeling ahead of
us, now is as good a time as any to hide it in future renderings. Remember, this
perspective view, F2 shows the top view, F3 Background Object is going to be used only as a guide; we don’t want it visible in
shows the right view, F5 shows the front the finished art. Also, it is less visually distracting to simply hide the Background
view, and F5 takes you back to a four-up Object from view when it is not being used. To do this, simply double-click the top
view. Visibility button to the right of the Background Object in the Object Manager. Now
that you’ve hidden both objects within the scene, it will appear empty, but it is not.
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PART THREE: Working with 3D shapes
24 Click and hold the Primitive Object button in the top Toolbar to open the Primitive Object palette. Select the Sphere Object and
immediately you’ll see a Sphere Object appear in the viewport as well as in the Object Managers. In the perspective panel of the
viewport, click the icon in the upper right to view the perspective panel only. We’ll edit the Sphere in a single pane only for the time
being so that we can view it much larger as we work. For what we’re going to do, we do not need the other three panes visible just yet.
We can always switch to a four-up view again at any point by clicking the same icon in the upper right.
25 Now, although we are starting with a sphere, we’re really going to alter the
geometry of this shape so that it becomes something else altogether. This shape
will surround the left eye in the Photoshop image. Bear that in mind while you’re
working, but don’t dwell on matching it up perfectly just yet. First we’ll create a
compelling object, and then we’ll align it nicely afterward. Click the Make Object
Editable button in the Toolbar at the left. Then choose the Polygon tool from the
Toolbar at the left. Click a polygon near the left side of the sphere to select
it and then use the axis handles to move it away from the rest of the object,
stretching it out. Try this again with another polygon to a lesser degree.
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26 After moving some individual polygons, click the
Point Tool button in the Toolbar at the left. This will
allow you to select and edit individual points on the
shape. Now, as you did previously with individual
polygons, select individual points and then use the
axis handles to move them around, modifying the
shape even further. After experimenting with moving
individual points, click the Edge Tool button in the
Toolbar at the left. This will allow you to select
individual edges and then move them around in the
same manner.
A bigger impact
By combining a Selection tool with the Polygon tool, we can alter the object drastically by moving a series of points at once.
1 Click and hold the Live Selection button in
the top Toolbar to reveal the Selection palette.
Select the Lasso option when the palette
appears. Next, click the Point Tool button in the
Toolbar at the left.
2 Click and drag over the area near the
front of the sphere. This action will select
all the points in your selected area. When 3 Use this same method to select only the
the axis handles appear, drag the red one, innermost four points within this cluster
the X, toward the back of the scene. of modified points and drag them even
further back along the X axis. This will
create a smaller, deeper recessed area
within the shape.
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27 Have some fun editing the shape using these
methods. Feel free to tweak points, polygons,
and edges as you see fit. Also feel free to use
the navigational icons in the upper-right side
of the image to rotate, reposition, and zoom in
or out of the view as you work. Clicking the far-
right navigational icon will revert the interface
to a four-up view. You will likely find it beneficial
to work on your shape in views other than just
the perspective view. This will give you a better
grasp of the way the shape appears in 3D space
and provides more control while editing. To work
in a different view, simply click inside that panel
and continue to edit the shape.
A nondestructive workflow
Always remember that files are constructed
in a modular and editable manner in Cinema
4D. This means that although you have
placed your manipulated sphere inside a
HyperNurbs object, you can still edit the
sphere independently of the Nurbs object,
and vice versa. Think of it as a similar
procedure to placing a layer inside a group
in Photoshop. While the group contains
the layer and has an effect on it, the layer
can be edited on its own; the same holds
true with the group. Furthermore, you
can remove a layer from a group at any
28 Click and hold the HyperNurbs Object button in the top Toolbar to open the point in Photoshop. This is also true for
Nurbs Object palette. Select the HyperNurbs object to add this object to the scene.
In the Object Manager, drag it to the top of the hierarchy if it is not already there. the sphere object within the HyperNurbs
Then, in the Object Manager, drag the sphere object onto the HyperNurbs object. object in Cinema 4D and holds true for any
This will make the sphere object a child of the HyperNurbs object. The HyperNurbs child/parent relationship within the Object
object will gently smooth out all the sharp edges of your manipulated sphere Manager.
object, giving it a more organic appearance.
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