Hi Manuel, thanks for chatting with us. We always like to begin by finding out a little bit about artists’ backgrounds and what led them to this career. What can you tell us, and I’m very interested in the meaning behind the ‘50gradi’ name…

Hello you guys, my name is Manuel, aka 50gradi, I am a 23-year-old, who lives in the south of Italy. In reality, I never imagined I would undertake this path, it wasn't intentional...but since I was a child, my passion for art has expressed itself in my life, from painting to digital art, from photography to video editing.

At the age of 14, I chose to pursue the photography sector. Once I finished my high school diploma, by working on a few projects I was able to put some money aside. Unfortunately, I was still too far away to be able to afford the famous Hasselblad XPAN, so I decided to assemble my first PC.

I have always loved 3D, especially in cinematography; I loved watching the behind the scenes of the films that struck me the most, for example Avatar, directed by James Cameron...I was only 8/9 years old when I saw that film for the first time, I was amazed. I never thought about working in this field, or maybe I never thought about it enough, for me it was like black magic... incomprehensible.

But at that time, around 2017/2018, I followed and still follow sacred monsters like Andrey Lebrov, Stuz0r, Beeple... and I said to myself: Amazing!! How can a single person manage to do all this? After meeting Andrey on his YouTube channel, I decided: Ok, I want to try it, it seems too fun!!

Since then, the love for photography has never ended, and accompanies my journey into the world of 3D, which in addition to being my job has become my greatest passion.

We loved the latest Bvlgari project that you have been sharing. Could you talk us through how INSYDIUM’s products came to be a part of the plan?

The Fused suite was present in almost every scene. The project had many changes during the working process, but everything from the beginning had to be based on three main aspects: Destruction, Birth and Elegance.

Each landscape was created with the simplicity of TerraformFX, starting from the first that can be seen in the first seconds of the video, up to the final phase with the writing engraved in the ground. With a few modifiers and some noise, combined with various blend modes you can come up with an excellent landscape.

Still in the first seconds of the video, as "trivial" as it may seem to create rocks from scratch, the TerraformFX suite has a feature called tfRock which simplifies everything, saving you a lot of time.

For the Destruction concept, I needed to create simulations of exploding rocks, along with lots of debris and smoke particles; I was helped with this by xpShatter, X-Particles and xpExplosia. Thanks to the ease of xpShatter's SelectionTags, creating particles was child's play.

In all of this I also needed to give a touch of elegance to the concept of destruction, creating a procedural texture in Octane Render that gave the idea of a stone containing diamonds, diamonds contained in the rings.

For the concept of Birth and beauty, I asked myself: what better than the birth of a flower? The flower and its animation were created using both what Maxon Cinema 4D and Taiao offered, so there was a good mix between the two softwares which led me to a really good result. I'm very proud of how the flower scene turned out.

X-Particles also, in this scene, helped me to best highlight every single frame thanks to two types of simulations: the first for the pollen, falling and resting on the petals, and the second for the release of the latter flying and pushed by the petals. The protagonist of the project, the two Bvlgari Rings, is presented from the union of these two topics.

Looking at your portfolio on social media, you have quite a range of work. Do you have a favorite type of simulation to work on?

This question makes me a little uncomfortable, it's a bit like choosing whether you like a nice plate of pasta with homemade sauce or a nice carbonara better. Jokes aside, the real strength of the INSYDIUM suite allows the user to run simulations of any type, offering a wide range of options and modifiers without ever getting lost throughout the creative process.

This is because the entire system is already set up in an artistic and intuitive way, helping you to quickly see infinite possibilities. If I have to admit it, X-Particles has a special place in my workflow, you can do anything with it and you can really implement it in almost any project.

 

 

So, do you begin with the idea for the artwork or do you sometimes think – Oh, I love working with Taiao (for example) – and THEN look for a project that would fit that well?

Sometimes I open Cinema4D and stare at the blank screen for hours while listening to good background music, so yes, sometimes I start immediately with a concept and, from there, I try to roughly sketch out the compositions that I imagine I would create. Other times, however, it happens that I open INSYDIUM and start playing with it, trying to dissect the plug-in, saving each project in different folders.

This was useful to me because I happened to say during some projects: OK, maybe that simulation created the other day could really fit very well here. At that point, we move on to the refinement phase, in order to best adapt the simulation for the new scene.

Moving on from this can you tell us, from the INSYDIUM Fused collection, which is your favorite feature to use and why?

As I said before, X-Particles has a special place in almost every project of mine. I love how the emitters divinely intertwine with the various modifiers; you can do anything with it.

You can create fine dust, sand, rain, condensation, bubbles of any kind, abstract shapes... I also find the use of advections very fun and impactful, of how xpExplosiaFX and emitters combine to create wonderful movements.

So yes, I would say that one of my favorite features that I use constantly is the use of emitters. They are very powerful tools which, in addition to creating various types of simulations, help me to deliberately dirty up the scenes where I deem it most appropriate. This is because dirt and noise help to highlight the image in all its forms, and in this the X-Particles section reigns supreme.

Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us, Manuel. What one piece of advice would you give an aspiring motion designer?

Everything I can recommend is based on my experience and that first and foremost only you can believe in the path you want to create. I managed to reinvent myself when I said: I have to learn a new art form from scratch; for me it was more than a job, it was like a mission.

To an aspiring Motion Designer, I can only say to aim high and work hard, this for me was the key to everything. Find a mentor to follow, look for 4-5 Artists who reflect what your vibes might be, and create your style from there.

Create your style without tiring yourself more than necessary, give yourself time and don't rush, otherwise you risk not getting the desired result. Do what you love and, if what you love is not too popular with current trends or not at all, don't let this demoralize you; if you work well they will notice you and you will always find your market share.

Don't let anyone intimidate you, much less your competition; think about it, almost all of us started when the competition was already well established... and yet, if you want it all the way, you will always be able to take your space.

Give your best. Giving your best doesn't mean destroying yourself, giving your best means being okay with yourself when you close a project, a scene, a frame, a drawing, a video, the last breath before pressing the camera trigger.

Remember, you can't give more than you have, it's impossible, but giving less than you have is unacceptable for yourself.