I'm glad to share my interview published by foxrenderfarm after my nomination for the CG Architect 3D Awards!
Fox Renderfarm: Hi, Jesús, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself?
Jesús: Sure! I'm Jesús Gómez San Emeterio, an Architect and 3D artist from Spain dedicated mainly to Architectural visualization and to narrate what is in my head with CGI in my free time.
Fox Renderfarm: How do you feel about being nominated in The CGarchitect Architectural 3D Awards?
Jesús: I feel really proud and recognized, it was the first year that I participated and it was really emotional when I saw my name with the best studios around the world.
Fox Renderfarm: What’s your inspiration for this amazing interactive artwork? And why did you create the work in an interactive way instead of just still imagery? How do you feel about the differences between still imagery/video and interactive Archviz creation?
Jesús: I think that interactivity is a new way of experimenting unbuilt Architecture. When I do a still image, for example, I always try to express something, to make the viewer see through my eyes for a moment… And there is a beauty in that. Interactivity is more related to exploration, it allows the viewer to experiment the space with freedom and I'm sure that every person will do it differently.
Also, from a technical point of view, you can add much more information, like to see where are you located with the planimetry in real time or change materials, lights... and see how the space changes with your decisions for example.
I like both ways of communicating architecture, they are very different and unique.
Fox Renderfarm: Why did you select this interactive artwork to participate in the competition? Which part of the artwork do you like the most?
Jesús: Through last years I did a few little demos, testing and learning Unreal Engine. I thought that this work shows what I learned in a bit more professional way, so it was the only one that I presented.
The part I liked the most was when I could make changes of materials and see how the space turned into something different in the blink of an eye with photoreal quality, it is like magic!
Fox Renderfarm: Could you introduce the layout and lighting of this master bedroom?
Jesús: Sure. All is bake lighting. It is composed by a stationary directional light (sun) visible at the bed and an atmospheric fog + HDRI captured by a Sky Light.
I share the lightmass values used in this project, as you can see the static lighting level scale is really low and gives high precision in the light calculation over the meshes.
Post Process Volume has a big impact on Unreal Engine as you can see in the picture. The cool thing about it is that all changes in real time, so it gives you the opportunity to be focused on the art direction.
Fox Renderfarm: We discovered the decoration and the furniture are beautiful and coherent, did you refer to any style or artist?
Jesús: Thank you! I think that everyone can appreciate the interior design when you put some effort into it and use it as another tool for communicating ideas. In this case was a personal design.
Fox Renderfarm: How long did it take you to finish the work?
Jesús: That's a tricky one as I did it in my free time, maybe this master bedroom could take some weeks, but behind it, there are months of “trials and errors”, researches, frustrations and small successes that I can't even count.
Fox Renderfarm: What’s the most unforgettable and interesting part of the creation process?
Jesús: The best part I think was to be able to see the same scene with a very different perspective with a successful migration from offline rendering to Unreal with interactivity.
Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? And how did you solve it?
Jesús: Of course, I met any possible difficulties, I think, fixing textures, dealing with lightmap errors, when everything works, be unable to compile the project due to unknown Unreal memory things...
Through one way or another, every issue has a solution. In my case, I had to research a lot, hours of YouTube tutorials that maybe not solve it directly, but it is related to the problems and so on, it is a hard way to learn things.. but somehow it works and I learned a lot during the process.
Fox Renderfarm: How long have you been in the architectural visualization career? And how did you make the decision to step into this career?
Jesús: I finished my studies as Architect when I was 23, then I directly started to work in an interior design company in a 3D team where I learned a lot and months later I moved to a studio of architecture being in charge of the whole visualization process for 6 years until now.
And They were intense!
__Fox Renderfarm: Who or what project inspires you most in this industry? __
Jesús: A friend showed me the Third and the Seventh (by Alex Roman) in the university, that was a mind-blowing moment and it look impossible to me, it was really inspiring.
Fox Renderfarm: As an outstanding architectural visualization artist, what do you think are the qualities that will make a great artist greater? And what do you do to enhance your professional skills?
Jesús: Oh wow, thank you! I think that not only as an artist, but in life, a good attitude, being constant, kind and humble with people around you is really important because you can probably learn something from everyone and it is the only way to do it.
What I do is never stop learning and trying new workflows or software that can be useful, and transform that new knowledge into something as a little personal quest. For example, if I try Substance Painter: okay, let's create an asset and paint it to the end as a final product, or if I try a new render engine: well, let's create a good illustration or a little animation clip! I don't know if it sounds stupid, but it helps me during the process and later to look back and see what I could do with that tool or whatever.
Fox Renderfarm: What’s your next step?
Jesús: Well, I don't know much about steps, but in my experience, if you work hard to do what you like most, things happen one way or another, so that's my plan! Keep working and learning to become a better Architect and CG Artist every day.
Fox Renderfarm: Any other things you want to share with CG enthusiasts?
Jesús: Have fun and do what you love to do!
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