Marco Lazzarini and the Gates of Ortygia - ArchViz extraordinaire!
Hi everyone, my name is Marco Lazzarini and I’m a 3D artist. I’ve always been passionate about art! I’ve devoted myself to traditional painting, especially oil on canvas for many years. When I saw, for the first time, the amazing images one could create with 3D software, I became thoroughly fascinated with 3D art and now, it has been almost 13 years since I started dabbling in this area to say that I have achieved some remarkable expertise on it. I am now a specialized Architectural Vizualizer but I also love to jump over quite often to other 3d graphic fields. My major skills are in lighting and shaders. I love them! If you are curious about my art, you are welcome to take a look at my website after this reading (www.3dlink.it).
Cebas: Thank you so much Marco for giving Cebas your testimonial today. Let's start by letting us know something about a current / recent project that you were really excited about.
Marco: Over the years I’ve participated in many interesting projects but one that I’m particularly attached to is THE GATE. A project of passion. The 3D reconstruction of the ancient city gate at the entrance of Ortygia, an island that is the historical centre of my hometown, Siracusa, in Sicily. The original gate was destroyed in 1893. This project has for me a great emotional value, in that it’s a homage to my homeland, to the places that saw me grow up, but that, unfortunately, I had to leave. And it was the nostalgic feeling I had for the colors, the lights and the atmospheres that are now lost but that used to accompany me when I was a child, that led me to this subject.
The Ortygia Gate of Sicily by Marco Lazzarini. Rendered with Moskito.
Carvings and water reflections, render with passion to feel the passing of time.
Cebas: What were the most difficult aspects of this project?
Marco: I took care of all the aspects of the project, from modeling, to the realization of the textures, up to the post-production, which I made with photoshop. I didn’t find any particular difficulties because the scene is quite simple, except maybe for some architectural details.
One thing that I found hard was the research of authoritative sources: because the gate no longer exists physically since a long time ago, I had to embark in a challenging historical research to gather all the information I needed for the 3D version.
Ortygia in snow. moskitoRendered.
Cebas: Which were the cebas visual technologies used in your project and how did you use our software to achieve the desired effects?
Marco: For this project I used Moskito Render. I was curious to find out how complex scenes of my 3d model could be managed by this GPU render (and by my old video card, a Nvidia GTX 460 with 2GB of RAM), and I had created a very detailed geometry, using a variety of complex shaders with numerous textures. I have to say I didn’t encounter any problems during the work and I am totally satisfied with Moskito. Apart from MoskitoRender, I also used finalRender and finalToon, which I love.
Above line and illumination effects using a combination of finalRender and finalToon.
finalRendered, the old meeting the new in this interior by Marco.
Cebas: What features in particular helped you achieve your goal(s) and did you find it easy to use?
Marco: What surprised me the most about Moskito was its great compatibility with shaders and light natives of 3dsmax and Mental Ray, along with its simplicity of use and the total absence of artifacts in the generated images. Thanks to all this, in THE GATE I could work as usual, exercising my imagination without thinking of the limitations that normally affect GPU renders.
Cebas: Can you give us some insights about the architectural world where we believe is highly competitive in terms of winning contracts, how important are architectural design and visualization to clients?
Marco: Today visualizations are an integral part of architectural projects. They’re a big help for project leader and their teams, because they enable them to see the idea and verify its functionality. Moreover, they allow the project creator to communicate the project effectively to the client through photo realistic representation, which is obviously handier than the interpretation of a CAD project.
Marco's visualization of modern interiors. finalRendered.
Cebas: Referring to question 5. as an experience designer, how do you ensure you give your clients the best winning design in terms of artwork?
Marco: I put a lot of passion in every project and I try to give my best always. The love I have for this job, the experience I built over time, along with my artistic background, I believe it’s a good mix and it allows me to make images of a high standards and quality.
'The new office' - finalRender.
'The kitchen' - finalRender + finalToon.
'The Pub' - finalRender.
Cebas: In your view, with the amount of talents we have in the architectural market, how can a new graduate bring their skills set to a higher level to surmount the competition?
Marco: This is a good question but I’m not sure I have the right answer. What I feel I can say is, as in every field, when you want to excel, you need a lot of passion and practice, you need to be perseverant. You don’t stop improving and you have to keep up to date. Another important thing is, you need to be able to listen to negative criticism more than the positive one.
Cebas finds Marco's dark Sicilian humor in the above finalRendered 'Villa' and
the below moskitoRendered 'dark side of the mirror' !
Certainly reminiscent of dark dungeons and the dragon game scenarios!
Cebas: In your view, what is your wish for cebas render software looking into the near future, that is not currently doing for you?
Marco: I’m very satisfied with Cebas softwares. They allow me to easily create images of high quality and offer total control on every technical front. What I’d like in the future is that Cebas develops even faster software, because I notice that project leaders are increasingly striving for crazy deadlines and it has subsequently become harder to make them happy.
Cebas: What projects can we expect from you in the future (if you're able to tell us).
Marco: I can’t show you anything right now, but I’m making some backgrounds for a series of Fantasy-style photographs. After many chairs and windows I’m linking a variety of creatives such as 3d insects, mushrooms and moss ?... but do check back at www.3dlink.it !
Old Siracusa at night. Rendered with Moskito.
Thank you so much Marco Lazzarini! Cebas finds you a most dedicated artist bringing your experience into 3d art and matching it with Cebas technology has created wonderful effects !
Visit http://3dlink.it to view some of Marco's lovely oil on canvas.