3D Artists Interview – Marti Miller
May 21st, 2008We are glad to announce that today we start a series of interviews with the most popular 3D artists whose works were presented in two of our sensational posts - “22 of the Most Striking 3D Robots Ever!” and “The Most Striking 3D Robots Ever - Part 2″.
Today all of the fame and glory is for Marti Miller - the author of a work called “Cyborg Head 02″ from the second part of our review. There’s also a 3D sports car Model that Marti has made - also something outstanding.
You may also want to check out his DeviantArt portfolio. By the way it’s a great interview of a truly skillful and yet modest author. Anyways, enjoy - here goes the interview!
* * *
First of all, I’m from Estonia (small country, south of Finland). Currently I work as a system administrator at the Estonian National Library, so 3D modeling is mostly just my hobby.
1. For how long are you in 3D Art and what was your first work?
I’ve been doing 3D art for about 6-7 years now. Not continuously though, sometimes making long breaks, sometimes modeling for several months, every day for 7-8 hours… so it depends. The one below is not exactly my first work but pretty close to it.
2. How important is it for you? Is it your primary activity or is there anything else that you do for living?
3D is not my primary activity. 3D is my hobby, because I like to model what I want and when I want. 
3. What are your major principles for doing a great 3D Model?
My main principle is attention to details. Details in the model’s mesh and textures. Usually my main goal is to make model as realistic as possible. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time to experiment with textures and lighting. It can be quite frustrating at times, but if the result turns out satisfactory, it’s a reward in itself, so I forget the time and effort put into project right away.
4. Are there any special works that you would like to share with our audience?
Special works? Hum, I have about 2-3 long term projects waiting for the “right time”. Unfortunately I don’t have any good looking renders to present to the audience yet. Mostly test-renders. Besides, my principle is not to present any half-done renders, only the final “thing”. Hopefully I get enough time soon, to complete those projects.
5. What would your suggestions be for our audience and for 3D beginners? What are the typical mistakes to avoid while producing a good 3D Model?
Most common mistake beginners make is to ask more experienced artists what their “secret” is for making good models. The answer is - there is none. Everybody uses the same tools, same software. It’s just the difference in experience, that’s all. Beginners should start with the basic tutorials. Those which are supplied along with the software are usually the best and very thorough, teaching every aspect of the particular software package, they choose to use.
6. How did you make your works looks like real objects? What’s your secret?
My way of making models look real (in my opinion that is) is to make textures as real as possible. Model itself should be well built as well of course, but with textures it is sometimes easier to conceal small mistakes or make model look more detailed as it really is. As for lighting - I mostly use HDRI images as a light source, but the key is to choose the right image to do the job. Since I really like metallic surfaces it’s twice as hard. First you need to make the lighting right and real looking (shadows etc), second is adjusting it so that light reflecting off metal would look real as well. Therefore lots of test renders and playing around with setting are needed.
7. Terminator 2 is probably your favorite movie? Could you please describe the process of Terminator’s head creation shortly if you can remember it?
I’m not exactly a fan of the movie, I just like the cyborg itself so much. As for the model, I wanted to do it a long time ago. Made several versions as well, which were getting better, but not good enough. So I decided to do one very detailed and as realistic as possible to end the “ordeal” once and for all. The model is not an exact copy of the original though. I made it a little meaner, changing the shape of the eye sockets and eyes a little.
Creation process itself is a pretty simple subdivision modeling, made part by part, not the whole thing at once (as in boxmodeling). Mostly made according to screenshots from the movie and posters, which was quite hard because the shooting angles and dim lighting conditions made it nearly impossible to see all the details needed. So I needed to improvise from time to time. Eventually I got some photos (360-degrees) of life-sized replica of the head, but unfortunately it happened when the model was pretty much finished, so I didn’t make any major changes at that stage. Although I now think that maybe it was for the best, because now my model is not 1:1 copy. Sort of my version of the Terminator.
As for the textures, I first decided to make it shiny and new-looking, but soon realized that it’s rather boring and made it look sort of battle-worn and dirty instead. Textures came out quite large, so I had to upgrade my computer in order to render the model in high-res (old computer just crashed
Here are 2 renders:
Cyborg 001 (click on the image for medium-resolution version):
Cyborg 002 (click on the image for medium-resolution version):
8. Away from the computer screen and work, how do you spend your free time?
Unfortunately my free time involves computer screen as well - most of the time I play PC games, RPG-s usually.
Damn, I’ve got to find a new hobby… 
9. What is your major source of inspiration and what helps you make such great models?
Inspiration usually comes from the things I do and see - movies, computer games and books.
* * *
I told you it’s a great interview - now you see it yourself. We hope Marti will finish all of his unfinished works - these surely will be striking ones.
Until that time we will keep posting interviews with other 3D artists that we think are worth your attention. Be sure to check back soon to find more interesting stuff.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:53 am
The terminator is great!
Does anybody know where I can get similar textures?