Hossein Alfidehfard pays attention to the details

Hossein Alfidehfard is a mechanical engineer who initially started his career in the design for manufacturing field. The first 3D modelling software he learned was CATIUA, but getting introduced to KeyShot and product visualization sparked his interest in rendering, and he learned Blender and zbrush as well. Hossein says KeyShot was a huge game changer, helping him realize his passion for CGI. 

I have loved creating and crafting since childhood. After learning physics in high school this love grew more into something more serious: an ambitious career. Especially because I was very good at geometry. I spent more time at university learning technical drawings and that’s why I chose design for manufacturing in the first place rather than learning fluid mechanics etc. Along the way I learned CATIA and then it was a blessing to see how I can present my ideas in the most eye catching way possible with KeyShot. Even as a newbie I knew combining art and engineering can result in something greater. It took me a while to learn, but I enjoyed every little step during this journey.

My favourite projects are almost every personal project that I did because I love getting out of my comfort zone in the modelling and rendering phases. But if I had to choose a few, I’d say my Gibson Les Paul guitar animation and Porsche Taycan animation are my most beloved ones. The Les Paul was later featured on the KeyShot Studio splash screen, and the Porsche Taycan animation played an important role in my portfolio, which helped secure my dream job at the biggest design studio in the UK. Creating the typewriter visualization for Freewrite (Moby Dick version) was absolutely delightful, because I could visualize and capture the story behind the device while showing the design without limits. Of course, all of these projects were rendered completely inside KeyShot Studio.

I use KeyShot in almost every step of the process. The second I start modeling the object from the blocking stage I frequently import my files inside KeyShot to see it under various lighting setups and I also do like to apply simple materials as well. The more I go forward and the model begins to take shape, the more I repeat the process. In the final stages, before I finish, I add surroundings to my scene as well. I love to create all geometry scenes. Not only does this help me achieve better looking results and reflections, but it also helps me to create more materials. Sometimes it can be challenging, but every time I find something new. Even after all these years, I still learn. 

KeyShot Studio has developed markedly during the past few years, making visualization more interesting and easier for everyone. There are many great tools that I personally like and use a lot, like the UV unwrap tool (which enables me to UV map CAD models as well), edit geometry, Material graph and geometry nodes. It has an easy lighting setup and adding pins on HDRI is great. The recently added Image Styles (Photography mode) adds more realism to the image and seeing them take effect in realtime is amazing. But in my opinion the most underrated option is the “Rounded edges” option. It adds subtle details, which has a massive impact on the rendering and it’s super easy — I don’t need to micro fillet the edges on my 3D file beforehand and I can tweak it directly inside Studio and change the value to get my desired look.

When you get into the visualization field, you continuously improve your skill of looking around more and focusing on the details. There are millions of inspirations around us, but we just miss them if we don’t pay attention. Sometimes we can also benefit from a bit of push from more experienced designers. This does not mean we need to do exactly what they say, but we can mix their advice with our own imaginations.

KeyShot Studio users around the world have the best community in my opinion. In my early days of using KeyShot, I constantly uploaded my renderings and I always got feedback from experts who were so kind to answer my questions. Not only did this help me understand in detail, but I got inspired by their artwork too. In my early days, if I found an image attractive I tried to capture the exact look. To do so, I had to look more closely and when you’re able to recreate an image that you see, then you can create what you imagine because you’ve learned the fundamentals and the ways of achieving realism.

There is always more to learn, so try to render different subjects like automotive, architecture, clothing, food, character, products,  etc. You don’t need to be perfect in all of them, but in each attempt you learn new things that help you to use them in the area that you actually need.

“I use KeyShot in almost every step of the process.”

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