Computers

The incredibly detailed 3D art of Cornelius Dämmrich

The incredibly detailed 3D art of Cornelius Dämmrich
An alternate angle render of 52HZ
An alternate angle render of 52HZ
View 35 Images
An unfinished variation on the 52HZ piece
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An unfinished variation on the 52HZ piece
The final, complete 52HZ
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The final, complete 52HZ
An alternate angle render of 52HZ
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An alternate angle render of 52HZ
Another different angle on 52HZ
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Another different angle on 52HZ
A closer look as the crazy detail in 52HZ
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A closer look as the crazy detail in 52HZ
An early work from Cornelius Dämmrich called Until The Light Takes Us
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An early work from Cornelius Dämmrich called Until The Light Takes Us
A work-in-progress screenshot from 6088AD
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A work-in-progress screenshot from 6088AD
A work-in-progress screenshot from 6088AD
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A work-in-progress screenshot from 6088AD
A work-in-progress screenshot from 6088AD
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A work-in-progress screenshot from 6088AD
An unfinished render of 6088AD
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An unfinished render of 6088AD
Interesting black and white variation on 6088AD
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Interesting black and white variation on 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
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Detail zoom-in from 6088AD
The final complete 6088AD
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The final complete 6088AD
A split image between the fully rendered Haze image on the left and the incomplete render on the right
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A split image between the fully rendered Haze image on the left and the incomplete render on the right
Zoom in on detail from Haze
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Zoom in on detail from Haze
Zoom in on detail from Haze
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Zoom in on detail from Haze
Zoom in on detail from Haze
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Zoom in on detail from Haze
An early incomplete render of Haze
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An early incomplete render of Haze
The complete final version of Haze
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The complete final version of Haze
Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
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Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
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Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
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Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
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Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
Mercury - detail zoom in
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Mercury - detail zoom in
Mercury - detail zoom in
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Mercury - detail zoom in
Mercury - detail zoom in
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Mercury - detail zoom in
Mercury
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Mercury
View gallery - 35 images

In a world where 3D digital imagery is ubiquitous, it takes a lot to stand out from the pack. Berlin-based artist Cornelius Dämmrich is a CG artist creating stunningly detailed three-dimensional vistas inspired by a variety of sci-fi and dystopian films.

Dämmrich's work perfectly straddles the hyperreal sensibility intrinsic to CG art with a conceptual artist's eye for detail. Each painstakingly composed image takes the artist months to create, and the result are single-frame artworks with so much visual information you can zoom in and out to create an entire story from just one picture.

The final complete 6088AD
The final complete 6088AD

The latest piece from Dämmrich is called 6088AD. The artwork (above), showing a solitary astronaut standing in an industrial laneway ominously monitored by an armed robot, was generously released with a large amount of supplementary content. A video accompanying the piece offers a breakdown of all the visual elements illustrating the enormous volume of work that goes into such a detailed creation.

Dämmrich is also cleverly selling a supplementary tutorial to accompany the work, which includes over eight hours of timelapses, 1.5 hours of video commentary, three step-by-step tutorials, a soundtrack and a 3D Scene with all the assets and textures.

6088AD Breakdown

Another extraordinary piece from the artist shows an astronaut hovering in front of an illuminated phone box in a foggy, abandoned car park. Called 52HZ, an accompanying video shows how many alternate variations can be snapped from the single, giant 3D visualization.

And for those interested in the nerdy details, Dämmrich notes on his website, "The scene took around 7.5 gigabytes of vram on two GTX Titan Xs and contained about 21mil polygons. The wide shot was rendered at 8000x4800px and took over 50h to render with the Octane 3.0 Alpha for Cinema 4D."

The final, complete 52HZ
The final, complete 52HZ

As well as fascinating earlier pieces, such as Haze and Mercury, Dämmrich worked with Dr. Masahiro Ono from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2015 to create a series of sci-fi-inspired concept spacecraft. Dubbed Comet Hitchhiker, the concept is designed to be able to orbit and land on small bodies such as comets and asteroids.

Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL
Comet Hitchhiker, Dammrich's collaboration with NASA JPL

Take a look through our gallery for a deep dive into Dämmrich's amazing work and check out his website for full info on tutorials, plus some free image elements for budding CG artists.

View gallery - 35 images
2 comments
2 comments
sk8dad
Wow!
ptim
Amazing! Digging the hidden message to Nvidia in 6088ad:
"Hello Nvidia! Could you endorse me with Quadro cards? This takes so much VRAM & M6000 (???gb) would be nice. Lots of love - the artist"