When an image spills forth emotion that draws you in, you know the creator can capture the essence of the design perfectly. That’s exactly what Mikael Lugnegård is capable of. Mikael is an incredible Digital Artist from Sweden, developing design ideas and concepts using KeyShot as part of his trademark rendering process. He has a passion for automotive and transportation design, creating compositions and visualizations for clients such a RED, cmiVFX, SCANIA Truck and many others. We talked with Mikael about his passion, his process and find out more about how he uses KeyShot.
Mikael Lugnegård / Lugnegård Design
Modeling software used:
Maya / modo
Mikael has always had a passions for expressing his creativity in different ways. “Creativity is vital for me, it makes me happy, it motivates me, it keeps me pushing my skills and having fun at work!” Mikael says, “I think this is one of the reasons why I like KeyShot so much. It lets me be creative!”
It wasn’t long before he decided to pursue a way to apply his desire for creating. “About 10 years ago I read an article about a Swedish designer named Lars Falk (now at Volvo Cars), in a Swedish design magazine called Form.
“I thought it sounded very exciting, so I began to investigate what industrial design was all about.”
From there, Mikael began his studies at UID in Sweden. “My main interest wasn’t problem solving or innovation. It was the form, communication and concept development.
“This led me more towards concept design & concept art than into industrial design. I love making images and creating visuals that really pop and make you stop and have one more look.”
“My passion is design and images that tell a story. It does not really matter what is being depicted.”
Mikael told us more about the process he uses to create the images of his ’79 Coupe. His background in photography plays an important role in how he captures the vehicle. “I do a lot of photography, and thought that it might be cool to work in a similar fashion within KeyShot. I ended up using the same fixed focal-length as on my Canon system together with a narrow depth of field, i.e a wide open aperture, for the camera setting in KeyShot.”
Mikael decided on KeyShot for several reason. “KeyShot is stable, fast and very easy! I love speed! The advantage of working in real-time is huge! It’s such a great way to quickly evaluate your design and get a good understanding of how it’s working out. Honestly, there is not much to choose from for those of us running Mac who want real-time rendering. Sure, KeyShot works great to create awesome images of Maya and modo models, but I want the benefits of a real-time renderer when it comes to testing different lighting rigs and material combinations. Here, I feel that KeyShot is very fast and user-friendly. I have been working in KeyShot for a long time and can’t see how I would manage without it.”
“KeyShot has made a huge difference to my workflow by making it far more intuitive and creative. The power lies in the simplicity and huge number of presets. Good renderings are a result of hours of tweaking, good reference material and fun. KeyShot is fun and yet very powerful! By allowing me to work fast, I can try ideas very rapidly, creating a large amount of material in a very short time. This triggers my creativity and sharpens my eyes. I also save time by seeing and knowing what I’ll get before I push “Render”. I usually only run a render job when working with DoF (Depth of Field) or Emissive materials. Otherwise the real-time render view does the job just fine.”
“It’s very important for me not to be hindered by my software. KeyShot is the direct opposite. DoF is as easy as ever, labeling is a no-brainer, Material presets are high-quality–the list goes on. All this together has helped me improve the quality and finish of my work, resulting in happier clients and more work.”
“I’m not sure if my rendering process is much faster today, but it sure is better and more creative with a much stronger outcome.”
