How a CG Master Creates an Eye for VFX

Could this be the most complex CG eye ever created? Let's break down the work of Mike Cauchi.
Check out Mike's KZbin channel: / mikecauchiart (more links below)
Mike is a senior lookdev and groom artist working in VFX, his knowledge is considerable and of use to anyone working in any 3d industry that deal with character art. Catch Mike's full interview at outgang.studio: outgang.studio/lecture/mike-c...
Mike's Artstation: www.artstation.com/michaelcauchi
Mike's website: www.mikecauchiart.com/
References:
Limbus anatomy: • Anatomy of the Limbus ...
Iris anatomy: • Iris Anatomy
Astigmatism: • ASTIGMATISM vision vs ...
During Mike's full interview we discuss:
- Sculpting a face and using tertiary (skin pore) detail maps from 3d Scan Store (Not sponsored).
- Using UDIMS vs traditional unwrapping.
- Understanding skin shaders and discussing optimal subsurface and roughness values.
- How he created the smoke transition on the coat.
- Creating fabric fuzz and microdetail tileable maps.
- Using Yeti in Maya to create eyebrows and beards.
- Everything you ever want to know about hair anatomy and hair shading.
- Extremely detailed exploration of CG eye construction and eye anatomy.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction, Project Presentation
05:53 The Role of a Lookdev Artist
10:00 Eye Construction
15:47 Limbus
18:56 Iris: Pupillary Rough & Fibers
22:55 Iris: Stroma
31:18 Red Eye Effect
34:17 Conclusion

[@MikeCauchiArt]

It was a pleasure to have this chat Laura! I hope people find this useful, i'm happy to answer any questions in the comments if you guys have any :)

[@balenwalker8209]

This is really awesome and was fun to learn about. I know this is on the extreme side and you mentioned that eyes are typically less complex in film. Do you have any good recommendations on eyes for film, like artists to look at or good tutorials? I feel like I have a bit of a disconnect in the basic geometry set up and shader areas. Seems I mostly just have fun sculpting the iris and call it good haha. I really enjoy these realistic renders. Thank you for the knowledge and look forward to more!

[@MikeCauchiArt]

@@balenwalker8209 A much more conventional approach for eyes that looks great this this post by Sefki: (I can not post URLs, but go on to the artstation of Sefki Ibrahim and look for THE SILVINA PROJECT: PART 2) The iris itself is a super simple geo with texturing doing a bulk of the work. For 99% of cases this is all you need, it's not 100% accurate but it does result in a much more simple time when working on it, which makes it much much easier to really push the quality super far. This is a fairly old example of Sefkis work so I have no doubt he has refined his approach since, but this is the most recent documentation I can find from him. There's only one thing I can find that is "wrong" with it (It lacks limbal SSS when lit from the side in the turntable he put, but his setup 100% supports it so my guess is it was some kind of arnold bug stopping it from showing up) The truth it, eyes still haven't really been "solved" by the industry. Every studio has a different approach almost per project when they have to make high end assets. I recommend just experimenting and seeing what works best for you ! Best of luck with your projects dude 🙂

[@alexiushill7983]

So good Mike ! Thanks for sharing ☺️

[@balenwalker8209]

@@MikeCauchiArt Greatly appreciate the recommendation and response. Eyes may not have been solved yet, but work like yours is definitely helping to bridge that gap. Again, really incredible stuff!

[@mardenhill]

thanks for the insight!

[@iskato914six]

excellent eye chat Laura and Mike. learned quite a lot about the correct anatomy of the human eye. Thank you!

[@newnengates3764]

My god the level detail is jaw dropping. I hope I can get to this level. Nerdiness is amazing!

[@krzysztofgryzka]

Wow, what a great interview! Thank you for your work and for sharing this lecture. Many thanks to Mike; your work is incredible.

[@sunnydayal85]

Mike's approach for his job is phenomenal ❤

[@sandrinehetreux8339]

Thanks Laura and Mike for precious advices on workflow. Really inspiring!

[@Outgang]

Our pleasure Sandrine!

[@MaryCarrozzino]

That was super informative and so fun to watch! I love Mike Cauchi's work! The course he made about xgen grooming for FlippedNormals was very valuable to my journey!

[@MikeCauchiArt]

Thank you so much, i'm glad you found it helpful!

[@workflowinmind]

Mike is truly an amazing CG Artist!

[@joechapman8208]

Amazing work, and that portrait of FKA Twigs at 4:40 is perfect

[@guepardiez]

This is an eye-watering level of detail.

[@Outgang]

I see what you did there

[@TheSatzy6699]

Nice chat session, truly enjoyed !!!

[@sf4603]

So interesting, even though this is self indulgently complicated the more you know about the thing youre trying to fake the better you can fake it!

[@pieterrall1289]

Wow Laura, amazing work by Mike.

[@sebastianraffaele657]

Incredible master class!

[@DizzleEdits]

Amazingly interesting interview, thank you

[@lalunafate]

This was fascinating

[@Skycers]

Wow this is very specifically wonderful!

[@Outgang]

Thanks Sky!

[@guepardiez]

This is an eye-opening video.

[@guxiangguse]

Great work!

[@jpjapers]

There was a guy on cgtalk that did something like this YEARSS ago. A good decade ago. And achieved really really nice results.

[@MikeCauchiArt]

Are you talking about the "Crossing the uncanny valley" project by Kybel? His results are crazy but I didn't see anything about the eye construction? Edit: Found his part on eye construction. He used a much more standard setup, not quite the same as what I was trying to do in my project (That does not mean I think mine is better, for clarity, his results are far better than mine visually in most lighting)

[@jpjapers]

@@MikeCauchiArt That's the one. He did some incredible stuff at the time with the tools available. It sucks that most of the images went offline. Your eye stuff is incredible. I hadn't finished the video when I commented but when I posted I assumed the video was going to cover the eyelashes and skin etc. I've had the same thought as you before about constructing an anatomically correct eye but never had the time to start it. Plus my sculpting skills are lacking. I'm a 3D visualiser and concept artist for mostly architecture, film sets and theme parks so it's kind of out of my wheelhouse.

[@MikeCauchiArt]

@@jpjapers Yeah I have no idea how he did the stuff he did in 2011-2014. I also am in awe at the fact he had the willpower to work on a project for so long, I feel like giving up once I pass 4 months on my own stuff XD

[@andreasnoutschmidt9964]

That. Is. Insane. Wow.

[@KillerTacos54]

Incredible!

[@mikekhayat9487]

very very cool and insightfull

[@motionvex2214]

Excellent !

[@sonnyrikhi]

beautiful . work and this chat both.

[@potts995]

He surely has an eye for detail!

[@monkeystealhead]

Two nerds going ham.

[@Outgang]

Hell yes.

[@akagarbi]

"... which is less than my Elden Ring playtime." Instantly subscribing.

[@AnatomyAcademy]

Wow this was such a great video - I learned a lot from it

[@grayfox8904]

Any content from Laura is appreciated

[@mircealuchita1215]

Wow 😲

[@me.account9690]

Which software

[@user-od3ri9rm2l]

Wow!11 Super!!!!

[@derlijuniorfotografo]

The girl in the righ is just CUTE OMGG

[@the-birbo]

Almost there. Just a few parts that look really bad like the flatness of the pupil and the weird coloring under certain lights that make the whole thing look flat

[@MikeCauchiArt]

Can I ask what you mean by "flatness of the pupil"? I'm happy to keep improving the eye setup in future projects, so any pointers (even if just visual notes) are handy

[@EvaFrise]

@@MikeCauchiArt I think they meant the topmost layer of the iris that even on sculpting is flat, at least that what I was thinking while watching this video. Probably physically accurate but not very visually stunning, all just opinions though, some people have unbelievably flat eyes and some rly deep and interesting ones, great job btw, if I ever would want to get to the bottom of this, I would definitely watch this video again

[@MikeCauchiArt]

@@EvaFrise Ah yeah if he meant the iris I absolutely agree. I never really got in to proper disp breakup and the texturing is way too basic right now like we said during the call. One day i'll give it another go and hopefully not burnout before the texturing stage again :P

[@MustafaBerkeGureltol]

Quite weird, though. I have 0.5 astigmatism on one eye, and none on the other. But I never saw lens-flare looking streaks like the one at 28:09 . What I see is more like a doubled image, one of whom looks like an extremely faded and fairly dislocated copy of the actual one.

[@MikeCauchiArt]

Oh that's interesting, wonder if the streak is something that shows up if both eyes have a similar astigmatism?

[@MustafaBerkeGureltol]

@@MikeCauchiArt Hmm. I don't think so because the optometrist that Laura cited shows the effect directly to a camera, which has a single lens(or eye, so to say). The only time I see the streak is only when I squint my eyes, but that happens on both of my eyes.

[@reeeyou]

@@MustafaBerkeGureltol i have 0.75 astigmatism but i wore normal glasses without astigmatism prescription for a long time cause i thought its normal… anyway, wearing normal glasses that corrects short sightedness (without astig pescription) i see those light streaks but they look like crosses cause i usually see 2 or 3 of them from each light source. Without glasses they are just blur and double vision-ish kinda.

[@vladt5636]

damn

[@ultimamateria1604]

28:50 That word is called LOCs

[@me.account9690]

Just some normal 99+ years experience right there

[@lolthisnerdsaidmemes]

AHHHH Too much stuff in such a small amount of time.... But love it...

[@ADI-xp4qe]

Eye see 👁️

[@brontemcgillis2773]

trying to figure out what actor this reminds me of

[@brontemcgillis2773]

figured it out. it's paul giamatti

[@sephirothcloud3953]

Very detailed eyes, crap basic iris in the end. Would have spent more time making a different iris

[@tunameydan]

You are unhuman!

[@Spookatz.]

-ly skilled!

[@deadx5581]

Laura Gallagher, a boy or a girl, what gender was they/them during birth? I am confused

[@HalkerVeil]

Just can't get over how dead it still looks. Not his work, but all simulated eyes.

[@HappyFhantum]

So many jobs in such a short period of time. Is this normal in this industry? If I saw your work history on a CV, I'd pass because I'd assume you wouldn't stick around for more than a few months.

[@MikeCauchiArt]

Moving around is pretty normal in VFX, although I've never left a company within a few months. I was at MPC for 3 and a half years, then at blue zoo for over a year, then MPC again for 10 months, and now at digital domain. Its pretty normal to see artists with a couple months at different studios, as many VFX house will hire for short projects and only renew if they need them.

[@Dark.Drawinn]

I’m so confused is that the girl with the deep voice or trans or

[@JackBlackUa]

Good work and experements with anatomy but saying the truth it's useless. First of all final rendering deppends on light (right position and tuning in scene). So much polygons that can be seen in 8k portrait?!. Realistic look can be done with almost low poly and good normal and specular maps. Nobody knows what human eye has "specification"... density, transparency, reflection and more. It can be done easy in rendering but almost imposible or very hard in dynamic scene to look like real one. But good work after all.

[@AerysBat]

Beautiful and inspiring work!

[@unnf9971]

Not really. It's a nice eye nonetheless.

[@advladart]

"NOt ReAlLy"