Amir Hossein Ghasemi: 3D environment artist interview

My name is Amir Hossein Ghasemi. I’ve been working in the animation industry for almost eight years and my expertise is in character and environment modeling, and I can take a concept to 3D render. I have experience making any style of environment, from a realistic to a stylized one. I also have programming skill such as python, C/C++, C# and I created a third-person shooter game project in Unity for my thesis.

"Beyond the Valley" is based on an original artwork by Kevin Gnutzmans. I made my base model in Maya like columns and gates, then added details in ZBrush. I made all of the plants, trees, and so on, in SpeedTree. I used Substance Painter for texturing and Substance Designer for a custom pattern. I used ACES color space for a better color gamut. Then I used the Mash system in Maya for scattering grass and flower. My friend Sadegh Mahdavi made clouds with a fluids system, lighting, and rendering with Arnold in Maya. He also composited in Nuke.

This project gave me more control over SpeedTree and I could create any plant I wanted with it. My main challenge in this project was to create ivy and I was satisfied with the result. I also learned new things in the Maya Mash that I can use in my future projects.

Maya is my main software. Also, I use ZBrush, Substance Painter, Substance Designer, SpeedTree, Mari, Arnold, Nuke, and Marvelous Designer. And I recently started learning Blender.

I usually post my work on Instagram and Artstation. I follow many pages on Instagram such as 3dtotal, substance3d, 80.lv. These pages help me a lot for learning and inspiration, and it makes me to know other artists.

I have ambitions to be an environment lead in a great company. I prefer to work on fantasy and stylized projects. Also, my goal is one day to work in Pixar or Blizzard.

Rafael Grassetti is a character designer and I learned many things from his tutorials. Pedro Conti is the best 3Dartist. Alex Alvarez is a great 3D environment artist and I learned many things from his tutorials. Mehrdad Isvandi is a talented guy in this industry. He is now art director at Walt Disney.

I intend to develop and challenge myself with new projects. I have tons of ideas but now I’m so busy working on several animation projects. I'm currently preparing a tutorial on "Beyond the Valley." I have recorded the entire production process. It will be released soon.