SECTION 1: PREVIZ
FOR LANDSCAPES

Regardless of what kind of scene you are going to create and how prominent the machinery in it will appear there are some basic concepts to consider that will help improve the final render, These start with your choice of software. Some are better than others at hard surface modelling, while others excel at adding effects and the surrounding landscape. Get the package that is going to do the job that you want. Then take a look at the concepts of colour temperature, depth-of-field, the art of composition, the choice of focal length for the camera and finally the burgeoning demand for stereoscopic 3D.

Software choice – from beginner to studio, the apps for creating 3D machines

Composition – how you arrange the elements dictates the overall impact it has

Render camera lenses – the choice of camera focal lengths and the field of view effect

Depth-of-field – how to use it to balance the foreground subject and background detail

Colour temperature – a guide to colour temperatures and what suits machine scenes

Stereoscopic imagery – the various options for taking your scenes into the next dimension