This was a writeup I posted on Twitter. You can find the original thread here. My thought piece was received well in the community, and I'm grateful and humbled to say that it led to tangible change!
--Before I get into this, I just want to preface everything w/ that it is not my intention to be disrespectful to other designers, or belittle them and their work. My goal is for designers in Smash to reflect on their work and develop creatively, pushing our designs and industry as a whole forwards. If it sounds like anything else at any point in this, I'm sorry I honestly just really suck at talking--
First off I wanna thank Moist Jifour for making awesome work and helping other designers figure out how to do stuff with Blender thanks to his tutorial. He DEFINITELY started the trend with his incredible Moist graphics and it's great to see. You're definitely raising the bar my guy. You can find him at @jifour98_ and his youtube video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FXFn7yD7jo&t=1s
Lately I've noticed a lot of the Smash design space has featured 3D renders! It's opened up so many neat possibilities - the audience gets to see their characters in dynamic and interesting environments and poses without having to painstakingly greenscreen them. However, I feel that lately designers are becoming more comfortable with the models 'carrying' the work by themselves - and it's honestly a shame. There's so much potential for awesome, creative, groundbreaking graphics but currently we're seeing a bunch of models and text slapped on a graphic without considering basic things.
Let's look at a few examples of recently released blender work and break down some of the problems I see in them.
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Gonna critique these together as they're made by the same designer (I think)
26RISING PLACEMENTS
https://twitter.com/26_Rising/status/1642953287639900180/photo/1
https://twitter.com/26_Rising/status/1642953287639900180/photo/2
Peach:
☑ Lighting and render quality is ok here.
☑ I'm assuming the mountain and reddish climate was chosen because it's called Battle for the South. It's an attempt at context that I appreciate, but I think it could have been executed more creatively.
☒ The mountain is really low resolution and it clashes hard with the render.
☒ Not really sure why March is abbreviated but April isn't - could just remove st and nd at the end for there to be space. Actually, what's the purpose of the dates to begin with? People know that the event happened around the time that it's posted (which is generally the only time people have eyes on these type of graphics).
☒ Random leaves? They're super vibrant green leaves, it doesn't make sense for them to be in this climate. Perhaps if they were recolored to orange, it would be more passable. Not recoloring makes this feel really rushed.
☒ Readability of the text at the bottom is not great.
Pikachu:
☑ Funny sunglasses
☑ Slightly better looking backdrop, but doesn't really have any context besides black/red.
☑ Readability of text is much better here due to the color of the backdrop.
☒ The model is ugly and has weird folds either due to the pose or the lighting.
☒ Why is the GCC controller so small? Pikachu is small and has smaller hands than humans. The lack of lighting on the GCC indicates that it was pasted in Photoshop rather than rendered in - making it look kinda wonky. There are better ways to execute this.
☒ Major Upset logo on this one but no BTFS logo on the other?
In general, I would like to see more than models + basic background + text. If not, at least execute well on the elements that are there.
MAJOR UPSET TOP 8
https://twitter.com/BackinBloodSSB/status/1642929962415161345
☑ Cool background, fits the context
☑ Render poses are cool
☑ Color pass filter helps but could be executed better
☒ Lighting is inconsistent with some character's faces fully lit and others not despite being next to each other
☒ No actual theme or unique layout. This is the commemorative piece that celebrates the end of a multi-day major event - I personally don't think slapping on some models, add a color pass filter and calling it a day does it proper justice. Ask for more money if it takes more time.
☒ The entrants and placements are pushed fully into the margins with the char icons squeezed on. Does entrant count even need to be there for a major? What could you do with the space that removing it provides?
LVLUP EXPO TOP 8
https://twitter.com/VGBootCamp/status/1627448738024226816
☑ Probably got pushed out very fast
☑ Cool posing, models themselves don't look bad
☒ No background or context
☒ Formation gives the impression that Amsa got 7th not 1st (Fox is the biggest and frontmost), can be executed way cooler too instead of weird staircase. If you need more time ask for more money, these major events and orgs can afford it I promise.
☒ Font choice is meh
☒ Sponsors are incredibly small, can't read their logos
☒ Lighting hurts my eyes around the top because of the oversaturation. Needs to be worked on
☒ Doesn't really feel like there's much heart in it
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Here's an example of really awesome work with Smash renders (although the designer did NOT use Blender, he used cinema4d and photoshop and StudioSB)
TEMPLE TOP 8
https://twitter.com/LYLIVN/status/1436336158439403520
☑ Background is a literal Temple, perfect context and it doesn't look low-res.
☑ Angle is looking 'up' at the champions creating a sense of aboveness to them
☑ Placements are pretty seamlessly integrated in both the positioning and the text
☑ Lighting for characters in the front is beautiful and the renders + posing looks good
☑ Funny crown
☒ Lighting for characters in the back could be more evenly distributed
☒ LeoN is hard to see in general, maybe increase the contrast a bit around on him
? Perhaps could use some of the bottom space for text, maybe move the Temple logo there?
This is an example of a major Top 8 graphic with -heart-. I actually like the decision to not include text because it's cool that I remember who they all are just from watching the event (and the names are in the associated twitter post) but I can see arguments as to why it's no bueno.
MOIST LVL UP EXPO FINALDAY
https://twitter.com/jifour98_/status/1627395202938814468
☑ Lighting and models look absolutely PRISTINE. BEAUTIFUL.
☑ Great font pairing
☑ No text is pushed to the margins or insanely hard to read
☑ Cool backdrop, no relation to event but doesn't really matter for this particular context
☑ Dope anime ref, great poses. Fox pointing gun at the camera is raw. A lot of heart
? Perhaps some of the sponsor stuff could be sized up if you move the renders a bit up? Final day is pretty readable even if there's a fox more on top of it.
Honestly the execution on this was just insane. Can't wait to see how you push the boundaries more.
SUMMIT TOP 8
https://twitter.com/GraphicsVistal/status/1640435961610788867/photo/1
☑ Background perfectly fits the theme of the event, most of it looks good too
☑ Renders themselves look good
☑ TROPHY!!!
☑ Themed sidebar was a good way to write out the names without pushing them to the margins of the piece. Texture in the bg elements of it were tastefully added. Great stuff
☑ Choosing to have the characters looking up sends a neat message of hope
☑ Sakura petals in the foreground are well positioned and high quality
☒ Some textures ended up being really not it. The ground texture is ugly and low res, and what is going on w the IC's shoes and jackets?? Maybe replace the ground with tiling or something a bit more grand than just well, low poly grass.
☒ Posing could be marginally better. For example, Mario's victorious pose is kinda covered up by Sephiroth. Snake is just laying there.
☒ The temperature seems a bit -too- cool to the point where it drains a bit of the life out of the char's outfits. Just my opinion but I could be wrong.
Overall this piece had a lot of heart and thought put into it. The designer definitely felt the importance of their task and did an amazing job rising to the occasion.
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TLDR: I want to see more HEART, originality, and care w lighting/posing/texturing when it comes to these Blender render graphics.
I understand that sometimes these problems are due to time concerns or rates or whatever. Going into that would be a super long writeup on how the landscape has changed significantly in terms of prices and what consumers want, designers undercutting each other and racing to the bottom with prices, etc etc. but that's not what I want the main focus of this post to be. I just want y'all to 1. Know that renders are not a replacement for thoughtful composition and heart and 2. Be inspired to combine mediums and break new ground with your gfx work!
Sol