Precision and Personality – Interview : How Reza Mortazavi Reimagines the Objects We Know

Introduction

Hi Reza, thank you for joining us! Could you start by telling us about your background and what sparked your interest in 3D art and look development?

Hi, I started my journey at the university where I was studying Architecture. After some time, I got interested in 3d and visualization since we had to use programs like 3dsmax to showcase our designs.

Your portfolio showcases a passion for product visualization and detailed textures. What drew you to specialize in this area, and how has your journey evolved over time?

I was always fascinated by the details in the day-to-day objects we use. After some time, I tried to create those objects in 3d and put more time into case studying them. Nowadays, I try to create more complex assets but with the same level of detail.

Specialization & Work

You’ve worked on recreating iconic objects, such as the Nokia 3310. Could you walk us through your creative process for such projects, from initial concept to final render?

Nokia 3310 was one of the most popular phones back in the day. I wanted to pay my homage to it by creating it in 3d. I started to gather lots of references from websites like eBay and Amazon to study the shape of the phone before starting 3d modeling it.
After gathering references and studying them, I modeled the phone as closely as I could to the images that I’ve found. Shortly after I’m somewhat happy with the model, I started UV unwrapping process inside RizomUV, which helped me to be as quick and efficient as possible.
Texturing inside Substance Painter was the next step for me. In this stage, once again, the reference images helped a lot. I have tried to make the textures close to the references that I have gathered, and on top of that, I added my own touch to them.
Lighting, rendering, and the LookDev part were done inside Cinema4D and the Octane renderer. Both of the software allowed me to be quite fast and not wait too long for renders, which no one likes. 

For the compositing, which was quite minimal, I used Davinci Resolve.

Collaborating with studios like Storm Studios VFX must have been enriching. Can you share a memorable project from your time there and the challenges you faced?

Working at Storm Studios is like a dream that came true for me. Being surrounded by so many talented artists every day helped me to learn quite a lot about the whole VFX pipeline and work on very cool projects like The Electric State.

Technical Workflow & Tools

Your work involves creating detailed textures and bringing models to life. How do you approach UV mapping in your projects, and what tools do you find most effective for this process?

For my personal project, I almost always used RizomUV. UV mapping is known to be quite boring and time consuming.
From my point of view, with the tools that are packed in Rizom, it makes the process quite the opposite and enjoyable.

Efficient UV unwrapping and packing are crucial for high-quality textures. Could you share your strategies or preferred tools for optimizing this aspect of your workflow?

I always try to put seams in my models as low as possible to avoid obvious lines in my texturing process. One thing that I always liked about Rizom is that, if you select auto seams, it will give you quite close to the final result that you have to fine-tune some by manually selecting it.

Are there specific features in your chosen UV mapping tools that have significantly improved your workflow? How do they compare to other solutions you’ve used?

As I mentioned earlier, Rizom is packed with tools that make the unwrapping process fast and less painful. Among all of the features, UV packing is my favourite one.  

Breakdowns & Insights

Your recent project on creating a lead glass from scratch demonstrates your attention to detail. Could you provide insights into this project and the techniques you employed?

The purpose behind the project was to create a procedural displacement map for the lead glass without spending time modeling it. I tried to create that pattern from scratch inside Substance Designer to have full control over the look of it. For the lookDev part, I chose Blender to quickly create a simple shader and see my end result.

For artists aiming to enhance their UV mapping and texturing skills, what advice or best practices would you recommend based on your experience?

There is quite little to no shortcut in this work, but one of the best things that you can do is probably studying other artists’ works and writing down what made their work appealing to you. 

Closing

Looking ahead, are there any exciting projects or new areas of expertise you’re eager to explore in the near future?

At the moment, I am more and more attracted to collaborating with other artists to bring to create interesting projects.