The CGMood "Home" Challenge is an international computer graphics competition: one theme, a single image, 3D artists from all over the world competing on their ability to turn an idea into a photorealistic scene. In 2023 the theme was "Home". We entered with a project titled "Homesick", and we won it.
This case study tells the story of how that image came to be: from the initial concept to the final post-production. It's also the most direct way to show the method we apply every day to our clients' renders, where the same criteria - light, atmosphere, composition - make the difference between an image that's correct and an image that stays with you.
The concept: the home that awaits us
The starting point wasn't technical, but a reflection on the competition theme. From there came the idea of "Homesick", the longing for home.
Cities ever more crowded, apartments ever smaller and more claustrophobic. Are these the homes that await us in the future? Tight, cramped spaces where all that's left is to dream of nature, our true home.
The image stages an opulent interior saturated with design objects - the consumerist side of today's and tomorrow's society - into which holograms of nature break in. The vegetation isn't real: it's projected, simulated, longed for. A home full of things and empty of nature, where green survives only as an image. The stated visual reference is the science-fiction imagery of Blade Runner 2049.
The creative process
Homesick took about two months of work, from April to June 2023, documented step by step. Here are the main phases.
Behind the scenes
From concept to final image
- 1Scene setup and lighting studyApril 2023
First composition tests, lighting combinations and the first holographic effects that would become the heart of the image.
- 2Concept and compositionApril 2023
Defining the holographic nature and the interior layout. The room shifts from a cluttered space to a curated environment full of design furniture, to emphasize the opulent, consumerist side.
- 3Interior design and sci-fi referencesApril 2023
Designing the interior with a science-fiction imagery inspired by Blade Runner 2049, and fine-tuning the textures and composition of the holograms.
- 4Modeling and detailsApril 2023
Adding details and textures, water on the glass, the machine that generates the holograms. The space deliberately gets smaller, to amplify the claustrophobic feeling.
- 5Atmosphere and colorMay 2023
The final balance between colors, atmosphere and composition. The holograms of nature invade the home.
- 6Post-production and final imageJune 2023
Final references, last checks and delivery of Homesick, the definitive image.
Tools and technique
The image was built in Cinema 4D, rendered with Corona Renderer and finished in Photoshop. The trickiest part wasn't the modeling, but making two different natures coexist in the same scene: the physical matter of the furniture and the immaterial light of the holograms. All the work on atmosphere and color - what gives the image its tension - came in the final passes, between scene optimization and post-production.
It's the same approach we use in renders for architecture competitions: technique is the foundation, but what wins is the ability to tell an idea in a single image.
What this means for those who work with us
A CG competition has no clients and no commercial constraints: it's the most honest test bench for measuring a studio's technical and creative level. Winning the CGMood Home Challenge tells us the method works when only the image counts.
The same method - concept, light, atmosphere, post-production - is what we put at the service of our clients' projects, from interior and exterior rendering to the visual communication of architecture and design products. If you have a project to bring out, let's talk about it.