Unlocking the Artistic Potential of Your Renders: Mastering the Magic of Diffusion
Unlocking the Artistic Potential of Your Renders: Mastering the Magic of Diffusion
Overcoming Frustration and Elevating Your 3D Artistry Through the Secrets of Diffusion
When artists begin working in 3D, they often face a common issue. They create images that just aren’t good enough and they don't understand why. This happens because your aesthetic sensibilities develop faster than your actual art skills, and that can be incredibly frustrating. Ira Glass from NPR has this great quote captured in this video called "The Gap":
But most aspiring 3D artists never hear this advice. Instead, they hit this wall of uncertainty and frustration and walk away with one or both of these false assumptions.
Their work isn’t enough because of some technical hurdles. There’s a software they are not using or there’s some magic “make pretty” button hidden in some submenu they haven't discovered yet.
They assume that all of the work toward their final image needs to be done in the original render. They fail to recognize what post-processing and compositing bring to the final image.
Only after years of experience do you realize that there are no “make it pretty” buttons. In fact, you learn 99% of the tools pretty quickly and the gap between you and the great artists really comes down to artistic craft.
So if it is not tools that you need to learn, what is it? For me, it’s learning different techniques in different situations through experience. And one of those techniques I’ve picked up along the way is utilizing diffusion in my work. I use in every single image I create and I will spend the rest of this article teaching it to you so you can improve your skills faster than I did.
What is Diffusion
Diffusion is a fundamental technique in image-making that is used to alter the appearance of a scene by creating a soft, dreamy atmosphere. This effect is based on the real-world photography effect of light diffusing as it passes through lens or filter. The resulting image contains a softening of highlights and a reduction in contrast. Diffusion is a powerful tool for filmmakers and animators because it can evoke specific emotions, enhance the mood of a scene, and even hide imperfections.
This technique has been around for a long, long time. Early filmmakers discovered that smearing substances like Vaseline or other greasy materials on the camera lens could produce a soft, dreamy, and romantic look. This was particularly useful for creating a sense of fantasy or nostalgia in silent films.
Lens diffusion continued to be a popular technique in Hollywood's golden age of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Cinematographers and directors employed it to enhance the beauty of stars like Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe.
As cinematography evolved, the use of lens diffusion became more sophisticated. Cinematographers began using specialized filters and lens coatings to control the diffusion effect, allowing for various creative possibilities. The diffusion effect could be adjusted to various strengths, depending on the desired mood of the scene. With the advent of digital filmmaking, the practice of physically applying Vaseline or other substances to lenses became less common. Instead, filmmakers started using digital techniques to achieve similar effects since it allows for greater control over diffusion and other visual effects.
When to Add Diffusion to a 3D Image
In short, I use this in every single image I create to some degree. Because even if you aren’t rubbing Vaseline on the lens of a real camera, you are still getting a slight softening of values in the bright part of an image. That’s just going to be one of those aesthetic qualities of a photographic image you don’t think about but will notice immediately when it isn’t there.
So the question isn’t when to diffusion but how much. For that, you need to go back to your foundation of storytelling as an artist. What mood are you going for? What feeling are you trying to elicit out of the viewer? Are you looking for something soft and calming? Then lean into the diffusion a little more heavily. Going for a starker, more contrasted look, lean way back on it because the diffusion will reduce the overall contrast of an image.
How Do You Do It?
Here is the question!
While I thought of writing a step-by-step process, I figured it would be better to show you. So here is my super quick demo on adding diffusion in Photoshop and Nuke.
Conclusion
While diffusion isn’t the magical, “make pretty” button new artists are looking for, it is something I add to almost every image to help create the look and aesthetic I’m ultimately trying to achieve.
3D News of the Week
A roundup of interesting 3D-related news you may have missed this week.
Unreal 5.3 is Now Available - unrealengine.com
Substance 3D Sampler Releases Update with Ai Texture Upscaling - adobe.com
Meta has a secret VR headset that may have a key advantage over Apple's Vision Pro - zdnet.com
How Digital Artist William Mapan Adapted an Early Paul Klee Abstract Drawing Into a Generative Series of Vivid Aerial Landscapes - news.artnet.com
Artist of the Week
3D Tutorials
3D Job Spreadsheet
Link to Google Doc With A TON of Jobs in Animation (not operated by me)
Michael Tanzillo is the Head of Technical Artists with the Substance 3D Growth team at Adobe. Previously, I was a Senior Artist on animated films at Blue Sky Studios/Disney with credits including three Ice Age movies, two Rios, Peanuts, Ferdinand, Spies in Disguise, and Epic.
In addition to his work as an artist, Michael is the Co-Author of the book Lighting for Animation: The Visual Art of Storytelling and the Co-Founder of The Academy of Animated Art, an online school that has helped hundreds of artists around the world begin careers in Animation, Visual Effects, and Digital Imaging.
www.michaeltanzillo.com
Free 3D Tutorials on the Michael Tanzillo YouTube Channel
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