Fantastical Canvases Blend CG and Photographic Elements How Uli Staiger uses Cinema 4D, Photoshop, Redshift and more to create impossible visual teases and riddles.
A professional photographer since 1987, Uli Staiger mastered portrait, landscape and advertising photography before finding his way to CGI.
Today, Staiger’s personal projects are fantastical, hyperreal canvases, created using a Sony Alpha 7r Mk ll, Photoshop, Cinema 4D, Redshift, Substance Painter and BodyPaint 3D.
Working from his studio in Berlin, Staiger’s clients include international advertising agencies, brands and publishers. Also an author and trainer in digital compositing and 3D design, he holds in-person workshops and digital tutorials. We asked Staiger to tell us about himself and a few of his favorite artworks.
Tell us a bit about your path to 3D art.
Staiger: Photography is a huge field, and after six years of professional studio and freelance experience, I knew what I wanted to focus on, and I needed more technical input and theoretical knowledge.
I started using Photoshop in 1996. I was getting my master’s degree in photography at OSZ1 in Potsdam, and I began to mix my advertising work with landscape photography.
Cinema 4D was a logical continuation of my Photoshop work, and I taught myself to use it in 2007 when I needed to create nonexistent objects. I created all my models and shaders in C4D and, since then, I have evolved my 3D artistry with BodyPaint 3D, Substance Painter and Redshift.
Please describe how you develop your ideas.
Staiger: Inspiration can be hard to explain, but I enjoy following my ideas and learning new things. I try to look at the world with fresh eyes as if seeing things for the first time.
Hyperrealism is definitely a part of my creative approach and a vehicle for me to make people stop and ask themselves: ‘Is that a real photograph or not?’
Once I have an idea, my first tool is always a pencil. My drawings indicate where all the elements of the image have to be placed and whether they should be photographed or modeled. Often photography is part of the image, and I always try to take the perfect picture using my mirrorless Sony Alpha 7r Mk II and a 24-70 mm lens.
After that, Photoshop and Cinema 4D are essential. The most important tool, besides all the modeling and texturing tools is BodyPaint 3D. Substance Painter is also a great option when it comes to worn, old materials, and it’s a pleasure to paint directly on the mesh.
I now render with Redshift, because of its overwhelmingly natural look, options to work with light and because it’s rock solid — even when your GPU runs out of memory.
Describe some of your work for us.
Staiger: I am a huge fan of the American concept artist Doug Chiang, and he was an inspiration for my Monopod project. Looking at Doug's work, you don´t know if it is old or new, a machine from the past century or an object from the 24th century.
The Monopod in Chiang’s book “Mechanika”, was created long before anybody started riding on Segways or hoverboards. I contacted Doug and asked him if he would mind if I used the Monopod as a basic design that I could build on in Cinema 4D. He liked the idea and gave me permission.
I developed all the parts and materials based on a series of drawings and reference images. I made it look like a heavy machine because I wanted it to fit in with the dystopian urban landscape. Starting with a worn, bluish-gray finish as a base, I painted on the rusty parts, an approach that makes it possible to create very realistic surfaces. To increase the drama even more, I used motion blur when rendering the wheel.
I photographed the street scene aiming for the perfect dynamic angle — close to the street so you really feel the asphalt. When I returned to shoot it during a thunderstorm that I captured the right dystopian feel.
Combining the 2D backplate and 3D object is easy in Cinema 4D. And using multiple render passes, I can export the rendered image to Photoshop and individually adjust the reflection, lighting and shadows. Doing that allows me to melt the rendered object into the photographed background.
What’s your Shark piece all about?
Staiger: In March 2020, Coronavirus canceled all my workshops in Germany and other countries and placed my whole business in jeopardy. So I had enough time to picture the moment when a dangerous situation jumps in your face, literally out of nowhere.
I enjoy modeling a lot, so I started creating a new image called Shark. Inspired by a kitchen I had in Berlin 30 years ago, I modeled all the details in Cinema 4D — flowers from the ’70s, a Vaillant Combi boiler and some pizza boxes.
The idea would never have worked without Cinema 4D’s ability to simulate physical processes. I animated the fin moving through the kitchen table, producing all these little broken pieces using the Voronoi Fracturing feature, which was perfect for that job. The fin also piles up the tablecloth in a realistic way, driven by cloth simulation tags.
Finally, I added the self-portrait, the only photographic element. I was really happy when somebody asked me why I didn’t clean up my kitchen before taking the picture of it. Yes!
What advice do you have for aspiring visual artists?
Staiger: Your imagination is a huge reservoir of ideas that can become images. Even if some people regard fantastical images as fake or untrue, I say working with CG is not about altering reality. It’s about exploring your imagination. Working from scratch and starting a project with a simple cube is comparable to a painter who starts with a white canvas.