See some spectacular illustration here, as animator and illustrator Chris O’Riley continues to hone his craft and meet artistic challenges head-on, armed with the latest tools in NewTek’s LightWave 3D.
See some spectacular illustration here, as animator and illustrator Chris O’Riley continues to hone his craft and meet artistic challenges head-on, armed with the latest tools in NewTek’s LightWave 3D.
Artist Chris O’Riley can never predict what his next project will be, but he is always certain of one thing: the tool he will use to achieve it. For nearly two decades, he has been tackling various animation and illustration assignments from major news outlets and advertisers, growing and expanding as a digital artist, using NewTek’s LightWave 3D.
O’Riley explains :
The very nature of magazine work is that the subjects are always different, often wildly so … One week, it’s a 3D environment image depicting a military engagement for a major news source; the next week it’s a satirically stylized product for a business magazine story
The very nature of magazine work is that the subjects are always different, often wildly so … One week, it’s a 3D environment image depicting a military engagement for a major news source; the next week it’s a satirically stylized product for a business magazine story 
On the advertising side, his projects have ranged from automotive work for Porsche, sport drink images for Pepsi, and modeling work for Harley Davidson to product shots for cosmetics companies like Avon and Clinique.
Solved with Software
As a graphic design student in college, O’Riley was instantly interested in 3D modeling and animation; yet, illustrating detailed scenes with accurate perspective by hand was always challenging. He soon learned, and became fascinated by, what was possible with 3D software—and he continues to be impressed with the capabilities of his 3D tool of choice to this day.
O’Riley test-drove a few 3D packages before settling on a favorite: LightWave 3D.
I quickly took to its more Spartan user interface … I always enjoyed (physical) model building—using my hands, woodworking, carving, etc. — and LightWave’s minimalistic user interface appealed to me because it didn’t get in the way. Some programs seem try to do too much, others not enough; LightWave strikes just the right balance. More than any other program I used before or since, working in LightWave feels like I’m using my hands.
Hands-on Artist
A majority of O’Riley’s magazine work, for Time and other well-known news sources, involves presenting ideas in new, clever, humorous, or satirical ways. He explains:
The same is true of his advertising work, which often involves fleshing out several different concepts for an ad agency to present to its clients.
Sample images here can be clicked for enlargements!
O’Riley admits:
Very rarely do project deadlines measure more than a few days, and can be just a few hours in some cases … Without the speed of LightWave’s modeler, that would be impossible.
LightWave’s subdivision-surface modeling tools enable O’Riley to quickly mock up low-resolution ideas or concepts, which can later be refined and rendered at high resolutions without the need to rebuild or remodel anything.
Fast and Powerful
When Porsche was launching its Panamera sedan, the company called on O’Riley to produce several eye-catching images for its debut. The artist needed to summon his creativity and imagination for the important project, rather than spending time wrestling with, and potentially having his workflow bogged down by, extremely large data sets; and so, he turned to LightWave 3D to handle the auto maker’s original CAD (computer-aided design) files.
O’Riley recalls
When deadlines can be measured in mere hours, speed and efficiency are absolutely critical … Here, again LightWave excels, with a powerful tool set and a refined user interface that allows me to focus all my efforts on the task at hand.
I’ve worked with other modeling software and it seems that I have to go through more steps or add numerous third-party plug-ins to accomplish the same thing I can achieve in LightWave out of the box … LightWave has always allowed me to create everything from photorealistic to stylized renders in one all-inclusive package. LightWave has what I need built-in and, with a few tools and good problem-solving, there’s nothing it can’t do.
The artist also considers his 3D software package of choice to be “comparatively light” on system requirements. “I could run it at all on my early, modest computer systems, and now, it’s extremely fast on the latest hardware,” O’Riley says. “That speed is essential for tight deadline work where clients can, and will, ask for major revisions at the last possible minute.”
Mastering Modifications
Revisions are an essential part of virtually any artistic or production work flow, and especially important in O’Riley’s high-profile work. “The feature that singularly changed and improved my work flow the most has been VPR interactive previews,” he says, crediting the Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR) introduced in LightWave version 10.
Continued Evolution
A majority of O’Riley’s work is as a one-man crew. He enjoys working in a team and the opportunity it affords him to learn from others with different talents and experience; yet, at the same time, he takes pleasure in the satisfaction of solving unique problems that comes with working solo. By singularly facing and overcoming challenges with each new and unique project, O’Riley continues to learn and to hone his craft.
O’Riley states
The artist is particularly pleased, albeit for the time being, with a fly image he recently produced for Digital Modeling, a new book by William Vaughan, co-owner of Applehead Factory and creator of Teddy Scares and Tofu, The Vegan Zombie.
Of several insects, the first insect (a wasp) was modeled in sections which were just placed together, the second (a mosquito) was modeled as a single, seamless mesh — to capture far more detail. The texturing on this latest insect image was vastly improved, through the extensive use of weight and UV mapping. Camera effects, such as depth of field, also greatly enhanced its realism.
Camera Compatibility
Photography plays a big part in O’Riley’s work, whether compositing CG elements into a photographic background or capturing images for texturing or reference. The artist also often uses mapped polygons or simple shapes set to “unseen by camera” in LightWave to cast reflections of photographic elements on 3D elements to be combined later. As always, the particular techniques O’Riley uses depends upon the details, requirements, and deadlines of a project.
It’s exceedingly rare that I run into an effect that can’t be created using LightWave’s standard tools, and the rare times I do, a solution usually exists in the form of a plug-in or L-Script. With the tendency today toward multiple packages, each with its own subset of tools, it’s refreshing that NewTek still includes everything in one single, affordable package.
Full Circle
O’Riley started his career in the 1990s producing animations for myriad instruction videos alongside an aerial photographer, until he was introduced to Time Magazine’s art department. What he thought, at the time, would be little more than the odd illustration job in between animation projects turned into 13-plus years of using LightWave for print images in magazines and advertising.
O’Riley says. As magazines transition from paper to pixels, he is increasingly asked to create animated versions of his illustrations for the magazine’s tablet edition.
To see more of Chris O’Riley’s artwork, visit 
NewTek LightWave 3D® combines a state-of-the-art renderer with powerful, intuitive modeling and animation tools. LightWave 10 is designed to support the creative process, providing the artist with the ability to interact in real time with 3D content, to work seamlessly with the full range of software applications in production pipelines and to render on unlimited render nodes. LightWave is enjoyed worldwide, as a complete 3D production solution for visual effects in film, television, broadcast graphics, print, games, visualization, and the Web, and is responsible for more artists winning Emmy® Awards than any other 3D application. NewTek LightWave
Awesome video demo NewTek LightWave Video Features
Benefiting producers and artists with cost-effective and groundbreaking technologies, NewTek is a worldwide leader in 3D animation and special effects tools, portable live production and video editing including LightWave 3D®, the TriCaster™ product line and 3Play™. NewTek has won numerous industry accolades, including two Emmy® Awards. NewTek products have been used in feature films and television shows, including “Avatar,” “TinTin,” “Repo Men,” “V,” “Fringe,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “The Fairly OddParents” and more.
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