Parametric Art Systems

Parametric Art Systems from Denis Kozlov on Vimeo.

The video spans about a decade of work and much more of research. Below I’ve gathered some links providing additional details, examples and explanations.

More videos:
vimeo.com/211742962 - Procedural Aircraft Design Toolkit
vimeo.com/703402772 - Procedural Creature Generator

The key article covering my vision, process and approach. I’ve notably advanced in each since the time of writing, but still find it largely relevant:
the-working-man.org/2018/04/procedural-bestiary-and-next-generation.html

A general overview of the technology involved (at the time of writing my primary 3D tool being Houdini). No prior knowledge required:
the-working-man.org/2017/04/procedural-content-creation-faq-project.html

The initial 2015 essay noticed by ACM SIGGRAPH:
the-working-man.org/2015/04/on-wings-tails-and-procedural-modeling.html

While the above links mostly focus on 3D part of the work, below is my secret weapon often and easily overlooked: batch image processing (typically with compositing tools like Nuke or Fusion)

The basic principles:
the-working-man.org/2014/11/pixel-is-not-color-square.html

And examples of more advanced techniques:
the-working-man.org/2015/08/render-elements-normals.html
the-working-man.org/2015/11/render-elements-uvs.html

Hope you enjoy!

Procedural Bestiary and the Next Generation of CG Software

In the previous essay “Procedural content creation F.A.Q.” I’ve claimed that it would take few months to assemble a full-scale creature generator. So I took those months and did it – introducing Kozinarium v1.0 v1.5:

Procedural Creature Generator from Denis Kozlov on Vimeo.

Procedural systems I’ve been developing during the recent years served different purposes, not the least one being exploration of how far one can go in formalizing the visual art, expressing its language in machine-readable terms. “Quite far” is the answer I’ve got, and today I’d like to share my vision of the next generation of artistic tools which could empower anyone to render their imaginations with almost the ease of thought. But first, let’s take a look at how these procedural systems are made.

Procedural Content Creation F.A.Q. - Project Aero, Houdini and Beyond

I’ve finally found the time to put together a long-requested video demo for Project Aero and would like to use this opportunity and answer some of the questions I’m often hearing in its regard.

Procedural Aircraft Design Demo from Denis Kozlov on Vimeo.

What is Project Aero?

Project Aero is the software I’ve developed for rapid design of aircraft concepts. The video above demonstrates its main features.

 What does “procedural” mean?

In a wider sense it means “automated” - created algorithmically by a computer (rather than manually by a human operator or sampled like a scan or a photograph). Here are the good places to learn more:

Evaluating a Particle System: checklist

Below is my original manuscript of what was first published as a 2-piece article in issues 183 and 184 of a 3D World magazine. Worse English and a bit more pictures are included. Plus a good deal of techniques and approaches squeezed between the lines.

Part 1

Most of the 3D and compositing packages offer some sort of a particle systems toolset. They usually come with a nice set of examples and demos showing all the stunning things you can do within the product. However, the way to really judge its capabilities is often not by the things the software can do, but rather by the things it can not. And since the practice shows it might be not so easy to think of all the things one might be missing in a real production at a time, I have put together this checklist.

Flexible enough software allows for quite complex effects 

like this spiral galaxy, created with particles alone.

On Anatomy of CG Cameras

Anatomy of a CG Camera

The following article has first appeared in issue 180, and was the first in the series of pieces I've been writing for a 3D World magazine for some time now - the later ones should follow at a (very) roughly monthly pace as well. These versions I'm going to be posting here are my initial manuscripts, and typically differ (like having a worse English and more silly pictures) from what makes it to the print after editing. Try to enjoy.

Two Killer Tips for Mastering Any Software

RTFM. Please.

At different stages in the career I've been paid for working in Houdini, Nuke, 3DSMax, XSI, Fusion, Maya, Shake, Blender and After Effects among the other applications. I've been using Lightwave, 3D-Coat, Combustion, Rayz and so many other things. Not even mentioning programs like Photoshop, Corel Draw or Inkscape here. Of course I'm not the master in most of them, but I think I'm OK with learning new software, and here are the two tricks I know.