3D and 2D Techniques for 360 degree Panoramic Illustration by Nick Hiatt

When time is of the essence and you’re faced with illustrating challenging scenes, there are tools and techniques that can significantly expedite your workflow. In this 3.5-hour workshop, art director and matte painter Nick Hiatt demonstrates how DAZ 3D’s free models and asset libraries can be utilized to swiftly block out environments and convey a story.

Throughout the workshop, Nick walks through the process of efficiently laying out scenes in Maya, rendering in Redshift, and ultimately finalizing and creating 360-degree images in Photoshop. By employing a combination of 2D and 3D techniques, Nick’s training encompasses the entire process, starting from selecting and modifying the physical attributes of DAZ’s Genesis models—such as age, skin, hair, eyes, and wardrobe—and exporting assets into Maya for cleanup, texture application, and material assignment.

Nick reveals how to quickly block out scenes using simple cubes and basic models, and demonstrates the use of environmental models and HDRIs to design lighting and shadows that complement the narrative. The training also covers rendering in Redshift and performing paint overs in Photoshop for elements like smoke, fire, and final details. The workflow concludes with the creation of a spherical 360-degree image that fully immerses the viewer in the illustration’s narrative.

In fast-paced production environments where tasks can vary widely, mastering techniques like the ones showcased in this workshop can enable you to rapidly block out, light, and paint complex environments within tight deadlines.