Step into "After the Rain," a breathtaking visualization that combines architectural and street 3D photography and marks a turning point for Carla Laurini. Her first foray into independent exterior environments after years spent honing her craft in studios is a testament to artistic growth. Driven to push her boundaries in lighting and composition, Carla sets her sights on a captivating scene: a London skyscraper bathed in the golden hues of a post-rain sunset. Enjoy the article!
About me.
Hello 3D Community,
It's a pleasure to share my project with you. My name is Carla Laurini, and I am an Italian 3D Artist based in Austria. I come from an engineer and architectural background, but I have always loved the 3D world. It's been four years since I moved into the Archiviz field, and I am currently expanding my knowledge to game environments.
About The Project.
After the Rain is my first personal exterior project after working for some studios, my main goal was to test my lighting and composition skills and learn new techniques. In my mind, I wanted to do a London skyscraper at sunset.
Software Used
I used 3ds Max, Corona Render, and Adobe Photoshop for the software. I also used the ItooSoftware plugins Forest Pack and Railclone.
References.
I collected different references to work on, but what caught my eye was the work from Lunance Studio. From there, I started my work, adding my personal touch.
Modeling.
Since my main goal was to focus on lighting and composition, I modeled just a bit, mainly the streets. The buildings are free assets, and others are from Evermotion and Artstation.
Composition.
After I collected the main assets, I started to focus on composition. Many people can struggle with this, but in the end, it’s just about trying and trying, studying composition principles, and practicing. In my project, I tried different ratios and compositions until I reached something good for my hero-building, following the third rule of composition.
Here is a video tutorial explaining the basis for the Rule Of Thirds in filmmaking and photography.
Materials.
I practiced different techniques for the material here. The main ones were the wet asphalt and the sidewalk. I didn’t want the classic shiny asphalt that is a bit wet that we usually see; I wanted something more realistic, like the puddles that we see in the real world after the rain.
To do this, I mixed two techniques. The first was to create a simple dry sidewalk material, and the second was to mix a layered material with mirror material. As a mask, I used vertex color to have more control over where to put the wet sidewalk (for example, I wanted the part near the buildings to be drier).
After this, I added the rain puddle material and assigned it to a plane intersecting with the sidewalk plane.
Lighting.
The lighting setup was simple, using Corona Sun and the new Corona Clouds. Even so, I did many tests until I achieved the final result. I wanted my building highlighted, and for this, I used some tricks, like black boxes behind the camera, to get stronger shadows around the other buildings.
Post Production.
I added 2d people in post-production, worked on color balance and contrast, and intensified reflexes. You will see the result in the GIF below.
Summary.
I hope you have enjoyed this article.
Thanks for your time, I hope you enjoy the process. If you have any questions, just contact me through my social media below!
Kind regards,
Carla Laurini.
About the artist
Carla Laurini is an Italian 3D Artist based in Austria. She comes from an engineer and architectural background but has always loved the 3D world. It’s been a few years since she moved into the Archiviz field, and she's currently expanding her knowledge to game environments.
