Clownfish in Sea Anemone

3D Modeling & Rendering | Illustration

A freeform 3D sculpt of the orange clownfish (Amphiprion percula) placed within its natural home of a sea anemone in an underwater environment.

Client : Prof. Nicholas Woolridge, University of Toronto

Format : Textbook image

Tools : Cinema4D, ZBrush, Adobe Photoshop, Procreate

orange clownfish in sea anemone

Process Work

  • Sketch

    There are many species of clownfish. I decided to sculpt the Amphiprion percula which can be distinguished by a thick black edge outlining their fins.

  • 3D Sculpt

    I sculpted the fish in Zbrush using mainly the Dam Standard and Clay brushes along with a custom alpha brush for the detailed scales.

  • Test Renders

    I experimented with different arrangements of lighting and render settings in Cinema 4D to recreate a realistic underwater environment for the clownfish. The sea anemone was created using C4D’s hair material and textured with a hand-painted map.

  • Hand-Painted UV maps

    I used Adobe Photoshop to paint various maps to fine-tune the transparency, specular highlights, specular colour, etc. of the fish in the final render.

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