COOK UP A CG ROYAL DISH

Discover the techniques and software used to produce this delicious selection of CG food

- Shayan Shamlou

My passion is everything that exists in the CG world, and I spend all of my time in this field. Reading magazines, working with many different types of software, and getting acquainted with plugins that can help me progress more and more.

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to simulate a food dish scene. The idea for this render started when I saw some tasty pictures on the internet. This Royal Dish image is a personal project, and I decided to try something a bit different.

To get started, we need a great reference that we can find by searching on the internet, going to a restaurant, or even watching the food channels.

The design, detail and also colour variation in this scene are very important elements, because we are aiming to create a dish that’s so attractive, it’ll make everyone hungry! A variety of software is used to achieve a beautiful and realistic scene, which you can see in the different stages of the final rendering process. Let’s get started!

01 UNIT SETUP AND BASIC MODELLING

Before we begin, the most important part of modelling is the correct unit setup. I set centimetres for this project.

In this scene, I decided to use a wooden plate for the food. So I went to Megascans, and also decided to place a bread model next to the plate, to give a good balance of brown colour. I used a steak model and changed the material to give it a juicy look, to reinforce the sense of hunger.

02 NAPKIN SIMULATION