3D Backgrounds?

[kip]

i went back to reading some of the more “popular” webtoons & i was struck once again by how many 3D backgrounds they used lol
personally i think they can look really nice if you have the right art style to match to it (i personally do not)

i was wondering if anyone actually knows what program they use? i know sketchup is quite popular in the forums, but to be honest, i’ve used sketchup in the past and it doesn’t seem the least bit intricate enough

[darthmongoose]

There are a lot of options for this. Sketchup isn't ideal due to rather stringent licensing rules, so some options would be:

Blender - it's a free modelling program, takes a bit of learning about how to place objects in your scene and different lighting modes, but it's obviously the most flexible option. Probably get some free models from Turbosquid or similar and set them up.

Unity or Unreal Engine 4: Game engines, both of them have online resource shops with loads of assets you can buy or download for free and the ability to place them in a scene, set up lighting and render out images.

Clip Studio: Handy because it's already a comics-focused program where you can do all your panelling and everything too, it's set up with the sort of cel-lighting you might want in a comic by default and it even has options to turn the 3D into linework for you. Probably the easiest option, but lacks as extensive a catalogue of resources as some of the others.

As a general rule, if you feel like just using the 3D straight-off won't suit your work, a good option is to not just render it out and use it straight off as your background, but instead to trace over it with your own lines and add flourishes for a more natural feeling and avoid the clinical, weirdly hard edged and pristine look, or tendency for rounded surfaces to have visible polygons of a lot of cheap 3D assets. This way you get the helping hand on perspective and consistency 3D offers, but it still looks in-keeping with the rest of the art.

[tchotchkeco]

I do 3d modeling as a hobby, and never use it in my comic.Personally, I really enjoy Blender. Its free but you can do a lot with it. The learning curve can be a bit hard for first 3d modelers but once you're past it then you can kinda do anything on it. I hear a lot of good things about Maya, but I personally never used it. Though the easiest way to do it might be to use Clip Studio as you can do all the drawing in one place.

[lwflouisa]

I had considered using Google Sketchup a while back. The reason I don't is because it's google.

I might look into Clip Studio.

[IdiotWithPencil]

i went back to reading some of the more “popular” webtoons & i was struck once again by how many 3D backgrounds they used lol

it always takes me out of the story -_-, I know it's for time reasons but seriously it's just so jarring, even more so when you see some do it well, without just plopping the background without any touch-ups.

i was wondering if anyone actually knows what program they use? i know sketchup is quite popular in the forums, but to be honest, i’ve used sketchup in the past and it doesn’t seem the least bit intricate enough

Mostly SketchUp, though if you have the time you could use Blender and make just squares(or render the buildings or free from assets stores) and draw on top of it, I think that would give you a more immersive comic instead of just plopping 3D models

[lwflouisa]

And using computer generated stories isn't jarring? Especially for those who know how such things work?

[indagold]

I use maya personally since I was trained in it, cinema4D seems easier to use but if you're a hobbyist I guess blender can work. I usually use toon shaders and gradients to make the backgrounds seem more cartoony, best way to get it seamless is painting over them. I used to render them with shaders but it always ended up looking too weird, guess thats a mistake for beginners.

[IdiotWithPencil]

are you talking about this?

I went to https://www.plot-generator.org.uk and since I am not answering all those questions I just put it all to random please enjoy my short story generated by a computer with random info: "Two Kind Uncles Boating to the Beat A Short Story by IdiotWithPencil Molly Bishop had always loved derelict Plymouth with its zany, zealous zoos. It was a place where she felt jumpy. She was a charming, energetic, tea drinker with ample lips and curvy fingernails. Her friends saw her as a wonderful, wet…

I did that for fun, the story was funny and random
I mean just read this thing

"They looked at each other with active feelings, like two fresh, fancy flamingos singing at a very thoughtful dinner party, which had trance music playing in the background and two kind uncles boating to the beat."

that hilariously stupid X'D

did you think I was using that thing to actually make a story?
are you high or are you just that naive? XD

Edit: I would use it to make a surreal funny badly drawn parody comic, but a serious story? not enough weed in the world could make it work XD

[IdiotWithPencil]

I usually use toon shaders and gradients to make the backgrounds seem more cartoony, best way to get it seamless is painting over them.

I think this should be the way you use it, like use 3d models to jump the step of perspective construction

This thing takes too much time, finding the fades points and diagonal points and drawing the distancing squares Horrible I tells ya. So you jump this step and save up about 1 to 2 hours in construction, and you can jump right into detail and character drawing (also please people add shadows to your characters and don't just stick them like stickers, it's super obvious and looks horrible)

[indagold]

Yeah this was a mixture of 2D and 3D that I did for one of my comics. You gotta know a bit of 3D to know how to cheat it.

[NickRowler]

Uncle Mugen (who does cool VN backgrounds) uses Sketchup.

[kip]

let’s please not turn this into a discussion about whether 3D models a good choice or not, you can make a seperate thread for that if you want
@lwflouisa , @IdiotWithPencil throwing personal insults is kind of inappropriate.

by the way, thanks for all the responses! very cool and informative haha
i guess it surprised me how similar they all looked, so something like blender/maya always seemed too... dynamic, to be it? but it’s totally possible everyone’s just mostly using the same assets too, lol

[RyzaCobalion]

i mean 3D backgrounds are good if you want to use them for perspective or reference. That's how i have been using them.

[BobbyjoeX]

people are most likely cleverly using stuff in the clip studio assets store but if they are making the models themselves, it is most likely blender, despite it not being industry standard, it is a powerful little program and really gets bad rep for being free.

heres a set of videos i found on using blender, i really like them

[rajillustration]

I think it looks cool when the line quality matches your own. Personally I don't have any backgrounds that are complicated enough for the render, so I just use digital rulers to get the perspective right, but I have a particular project that is entirely buildings and I am not drawing that thing. I like Blender, since Blender lets you render the line quality to be just the way you want, and that's really cool--but it takes some finangling so I'd only do it with a scene you see a lot in your comic and with a scene that is pretty complicated. Blender has it's own learning curve--and I took Maya classes in school for a few years so it was fine for me to switch to, but it's pretty overwhelming at first, even if you've done 3D in the past.

But, the best thing about Blender (well not the best thing but a great thing) is that you can download it free on Steam, so that way it's always the current update. A godsend.