Building Immersive 3D Scenes with Cinema 4D

Cornelius Dämmrich is known for his ultrarealistic and extremely detailed environmental images. Often taking months or more to complete, his images are so packed with detail, incredible textures, and beautiful cinematic lighting, it is hard to look away.

Inspired by his youth in the former East Berlin, and extensive reference imagery, Dämmrich uses Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Octane, Fusion360, Black Magic Fusion, and Substance 3D to create complex, thought-provoking dioramas that suggest dystopian narratives.

We talked with Dämmrich about how he came to be a 3D artist, his thoughts on software, and his creative process.

How did you find your way into the world of 3D art?

Dämmrich: Back in 2003 or 2004, I was 15 years old and got a copy of Cinema 4D R8, and I began to experiment with 3D, engaging in friendly competitions to see who could design the coolest skyscraper and such. It was all in good fun, a mere hobby at first, working on rather mundane projects but I found the three-dimensional aspect intriguing.

Describe your creative process, and the tools you use primarily.

Dämmrich: Before I start building the larger world, I gather various elements that will be in the scene. I often include posters on the walls and books scattered around. Eventually, I realized I couldn't just reference existing works due to copyright issues and the need for originality. This led me to create snippets from a fictional world, drawing on aspects of my own life to enrich the scene.

One example of this fictional world involved the song “Delpher” by Amon Tobin, a drum and bass musician known for his sound design. After determining that the song's name didn't have a significant awareness outside a company in the Netherlands, I adopted it as a fictional brand which you will see throughout my scenes on objects of various types like phones and cars.

The development of the visual story or the world often occurs organically during the construction of the scene. Initially, my focus is purely on the visual composition, like envisioning an alleyway with a striking contrast of orange and blue buildings. The underlying narrative or the specifics of the world take shape gradually as I delve into the minutiae of the scene. Spending extensive time on each detail, from the direction of pipes to the content of posters, naturally leads to a deeper narrative layer.

I always block out the scene in Cinema 4D and then start to replace the primitives with actual assets that I either buy or build myself in Cinema 4D, Fusion360, or ZBrush. From there, I unwrap them with RizomUV before bringing them into Substance Painter to create PBR textures and I render everything in Octane. I always render with AOVs and I comp the whole scene in Black Magic Fusion. Next, I use film emulations and plugins for Halation, Filmgrain, etc. to make it look like a hyper-realistic photograph.

How do you achieve the traditional film stock look in your work?

Dämmrich: My background doesn't include film or photography. I learn from filmmakers I find online who are passionate about discussing various aspects or their work and their processes to achieve certain visual aesthetics. For example, over time I have found film grain and halation effects move the image towards a film look, and though this might not always appear flawless, the overall effect enhances the appeal of the image.

My experience mainly lies in creating short breakdown videos of my scenes, none longer than two minutes each. This process has been instrumental in learning and refining my technique, especially in framing and leveraging the unlimited possibilities 3D offers. In 3D, you essentially have access to the ultimate camera setup with all conceivable lenses and sensors at your disposal, allowing for a level of creativity unattainable with physical cameras.

My fascination extends to the cinematography of films, observing the choice of cameras, lenses, and the visual cleanliness or rawness. This interest in the technical aspects of filmmaking and the deliberate introduction of flaws and imperfections found in traditional film photography shapes my digital creations, giving them a distinctly filmic quality.

How do you feel software has changed over the years since you began in 3D?

Dämmrich: The software landscape has undergone a tremendous expansion over the last two decades, offering a multitude of options compared to the past. Reflecting on earlier times, external render engines were a rarity, and the choices were limited to the main 3D software packages. And dedicated texturing software was virtually non-existent, except for Cinema 4D's BodyPaint3D. Simplicity was more or less the hallmark of that era.

Today, the situation is entirely different. There's a wealth of resources for learning, and software is available for nearly every specialized field you might be interested in. Whether it's simulation software for fluids, various render engines, or software for cloth simulation, the possibilities are endless.

Tools like Octane and Redshift have simplified processes that were once complex and time consuming. Learning V-Ray in the past, for example, required months of dedication to understand just the DMC sampler settings alone, not to mention all the other features and functions.

Do you think today’s software has changed how artists work?

Dämmrich: I don’t think so, and I think there is a misconception about the amount of time required to create complex scenes. When I started with 3D, I was inspired by artists like Toni Bratincevic and Marek Denko , who were creating really elaborate environment pieces. I always assumed that they must have had some sort of plugin or a secret technique that made everything look great and come together really quickly.

But, over the years, I learned that when there's a particularly great 3D artist who does things where you think, 'Wow, that's crazy! That has so much detail, and it's so rich.' I now know it usually just takes a lot of time to build the scenes. People who start with 3D now are not used to that because they grow up in a world where everything is engineered to be very fast paced. I think it's necessary to acknowledge that things just take a long time if you want your image to look really good.

Is there a project you’re working on now you want to tell us about?

Dämmrich: I just finished a series of still images called "Remnants" that depicts artifacts from a failed, fictional space program and in a couple of days, my very first music video will be released.

Lewis McGregor is a content writer and filmmaker from South Wales.