Palais Garnier: A CGI Fantasy Cinema 4D and Redshift take center stage in Kay John Yim’s elegant CG fantasy.

An architect by day and CG artist by night, Kay John Yim melds his personal and professional worlds in dazzling digital fantasies set in architectural gems. “Garnier: A CGI Fantasy” is a balletic dreamscape that pays homage to the opulent history of the Palais Garnier, home of the Paris Opera and Paris Opera Ballet.

Celebrating the 19th-century architectural masterpiece, the personal project recreates the grand staircase, a central feature of the Parisian landmark. Characterized by classical grandeur, timeless narratives and cinematic qualities his main tools were Cinema 4D, Rhino, Redshift, Character Creator and iClone.

We asked Yim, who goes by John, to tell us about his path to digital art, what attracts him to classical architecture, how he created this CG fantasy and the relationship between his digital art and architectural work.

Yim: I began to explore digital art and 3D software during my high school years in Hong Kong. Through my personal practice in art and design, I developed an obsession with well-proportioned spaces. When I studied parametric architecture at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, the growing impact of computational and emerging technology on the architectural industry further reinforced my interest in 3D.

This led me to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London where I grew to appreciate its unique blend of well-preserved classical and modern architecture. I currently work at Spink Partners, primarily on high-end residential projects in a contemporary classical style.

CG skills are becoming increasingly important in architecture as they provide architects with powerful visualization tools that offer a high-quality representation of space, material and lighting. When the COVID lockdown came to London, I used the extra work-from-home time to study landscape and architectural design through CG. I challenged myself to recreate and depict some of my favorite architectural environments in fantastical settings, which led to the creation of my ArtStation portfolio.

Yim: Through my professional work, I have learned to appreciate the principles of classical antiquity in architectural design. I am particularly drawn to the rationality and timelessness of medieval, gothic and Baroque architecture, and find that recreating these styles in CG helped me deepen my understanding of design.

The Palais Garnier caught my attention for its unique blend of Baroque, Palladian classicism and Renaissance architecture. A perfect subject, I extensively researched and gathered references, including architectural drawings, photographs, YouTube videos, etc., before beginning my project.

Yim: I always aspired to use ballet dancers in this project because of their thematic connection to the Palais Garnier. Also, people add a sense of narrative and convey the scale of an environment, emphasizing the grandeur and majesty of classic architecture, making it more impactful and memorable for the viewer.

To create the Garnier fantasy, I first had to learn to design lifelike people. I started an experimental project “Ballerina” with a simpler interior space as the backdrop, which allowed me to focus on animating the character and experimenting.

I used Character Creator and iClone for character animation, and Marvelous Designer and Houdini for cloth simulation. After six months of trial and error, I finally finished “Ballerina” and could begin work on Garnier.

Yim: My workflow is divided into three main stages: environment, character, and rendering. I used Rhino and Cinema 4D to create the palace interior. Rhino is irreplaceable for its intuitive use in 3D CAD modeling, whereas Cinema 4D is the most efficient scene-assembling software providing seamless integration with Redshift, my preferred renderer.

To ensure accurate scaling, I used drawings and photos as background textures in Rhino and Cinema 4D while tracing and modeling architectural elements. Rhino was used to model all curved surfaces because of its NURBS modeling capabilities, which allow for perfect curvature. Cinema 4D offers versatility during the early stages of modeling, as its MoGraph tools, such as Loft, Lathe, and Sweep, allowed me to efficiently create procedural columns, pilasters, cornices, and arches using imported curves from Rhino.

To create the grand staircase, I focused on one symmetrical side at the beginning, using cloners to create the steps and add balustrades and balusters along the curve. I then used the Instance tool to create a mirrored copy in real-time.

While assembling the scene in Cinema 4D, a point cloud sectional model on Sketchfab was a helpful reference to ensure the proportions were correct. Additionally, YouTube video tours were valuable for determining camera angles and viewpoints.

Finally, Redshift's fast IPR enabled me to preview elements and entire scenes in real-time, and its advanced settings allowed me to fully optimize the rendering speed for each project. Although Redshift is not a real-time renderer, its fast IPR feels like photography, allowing me to fully concentrate on my work.

Yim: Building on what I learned from the “Ballerina” project, I used Character Creator to design the body shape and skin texture, importing them into iClone for animation. The animated characters, along with their skin textures, were then imported into Cinema 4D via Alembic.

Character Creator's procedural skin textures, combined with Cinema 4D's versatile material management and Redshift's Random Walk Subsurface Scattering (SSS), make CG character rendering more efficient than ever. Random Walk makes skin material setup simpler, producing more lifelike results under different lighting conditions. This has opened many possibilities, including the closeup shots in "A CGI Soul," allowing me to bring my characters to life.

Yim: I have learned more about design in the past three years of modeling personal projects than I did during seven years at university. By paying attention to detail, constantly iterating, sharing my work online and receiving criticism, I have learned so much about composition and lighting that I can apply in my professional work every day.

One of the key takeaways from this project is the importance of scene optimization. Cinema 4D's material system with its object manager allows multiple projects to be opened in tabs, enabling quick material application, copying, and pasting between files. This is especially useful for larger scenes like Garnier, and the same approach helps me to break down an architectural visualization project into individual Cinema 4D files for each room, only using Redshift Proxies when a series of rooms are needed in the view.

There is also a role for virtual environments in architecture. “An Unreal Diorama: Gallery of Great Battles at Versailles Palace” was a personal project in which my goal was to learn Unreal Engine’s game production pipeline and associated CG software to create a photoreal environment.

I have since used Cinema 4D in combination with UE4 to create virtual environments for professional projects. Hopefully, with advancements in technology, I will be able to use virtual spaces to accelerate my design process and bring believable yet fantastical immersive experiences to viewers.

Yim: I have a lot to learn about CG, but I do have three main tips. Do not rely solely on tutorials; get hands-on experience with projects and choose more intuitive software that allows you to focus on craft rather than on technicality.

Seek mentors for feedback. I am fortunate to receive a lot of feedback from senior architects, which contributes to improving my work. If personal mentors are not available, Facebook groups like VWArtclub can be helpful. It’s also good to participate in online CG contests to receive constructive criticism.

Embrace iteration rather than scraping ideas. That is the best way to approach good composition and design. There's always room for improvement, and iteration will bring you closer to a well-crafted and more polished piece.

Yim: I recently added a new project to my YouTube channel called “Masquerade.” It is my first CGI short, and it was inspired by the Palais Garnier theatre. The most challenging project yet, I experimented with Cinema 4D’s Pyro and Unified Simulation System and motion capture for character animation and I’m looking forward to doing more of that.

I am also eager to deepen my knowledge of Houdini, which has become an essential tool for character animation. I really look forward to utilizing its powerful FX tools in combination with Cinema 4D and Redshift for both professional and personal projects.