Cityscape Set Design, Volume 1 Modeling by Tony Ianiro

Ready to jump from drawing boards to digital worlds? This workshop is your ticket to mastering environment design for film, VR, and games. You’ll learn how to take your 2D ideas and build them into fully realized 3D sets, blending your existing skills with powerful new tools.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Gather references and create concept thumbnails using photo-bashing.
• Design accurate architectural blueprints in Photoshop for 3D production.
• Build modular, production-ready 3D sets in Maya from 2D blueprints.
• Apply professional texturing, lighting, and camera setup in Maya.
• Render scenes with Arnold and package files for production.
• Composite renders in Photoshop, using them as foundations for illustrations.
• Integrate traditional 2D techniques with modern 3D workflows.

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Basic Photoshop knowledge, understanding of 2D concepts.
• Tools: Maya, Photoshop, Arnold.
• Hardware: A computer capable of running Maya and Photoshop smoothly.

📝 Description

This workshop dives into a practical workflow for creating detailed cityscapes, perfect for visual development in film, VR, and games. You’ll start by learning how to gather effective references and use photo-bashing in Photoshop to brainstorm ideas quickly. Then, you’ll move into creating precise 2D architectural blueprints that serve as the foundation for your 3D models.

The core of the workshop focuses on building a modular, production-ready 3D set in Maya. Tony Ianiro emphasizes a systematic approach, showing how to create reusable assets that can be assembled into complex environments. You’ll cover essential modeling techniques, efficient asset management, and how to think about scale and detail for a production pipeline.

The course also touches on the basics of texturing, lighting, and camera setup within Maya, preparing your scene for rendering. Finally, you’ll learn to render using Arnold and composite your renders in Photoshop, using them as underpaintings or foundations for final illustrations. This blend of 2D and 3D techniques is crucial for modern visual development roles.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• 2D artists and illustrators looking to expand into 3D workflows for film, VR, and video games.
• Visual development artists, concept artists, and environment designers with basic Photoshop skills.
• Traditional artists aiming to modernize their skillset and enter production environments.

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Tony Ianiro is a seasoned Visual Development artist with over 25 years of experience in animation, video games, and filmmaking. He’s worked as a Concept Artist, Previs Modeler, Set/Background Designer, and Lead 2D/3D Visual Development Artist. Tony has contributed to major animated films like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, as well as numerous TV series and AAA game titles with Electronic Arts. His extensive background makes him uniquely qualified to guide artists transitioning into 3D environment design.

🏁 Final Result

• A portfolio-ready 3D cityscape model, rendered and composited in Photoshop, demonstrating a complete workflow from 2D concept to 3D production asset.