CGI - magazine cover with high added value

Highly realistic computer graphics for print jobs with real added value

What if you need to write an article about producing a high-quality magazine cover, but the cover itself hasn't been produced yet?

Well, you have to think about CGI first, but - and this is the hardest part - you also have to be able to understand every single effect used for that particular cover in advance of production and be able to reproduce every decoration, material, pigment and varnish to end up with realistic visuals of the final product. In the best case, there should be no differences between the CGI version and the real version produced later.

To achieve this, you need a great understanding of value-added print production and the interactions that all the materials and processes have on each other, and you need to be able to replicate this in your CGI program.

All three images were rendered at a killer resolution of 8000 x 6000 pixels to get the most brilliant final result possible. So your hardware must also be well equipped to render such large and detailed images with lots of reflections, refractions, matte surfaces and transparencies in a reasonable time.

The good thing about this job was that we were also responsible for print production and production management for the wrap-around cover, so the pieces came together in the right way.

In the end, the results were stunning and the cover, article and illustrations were ready just-in-time. After the print job was completed, we took the time to compare the final real-life job with our renderings, and we found only tiny differences. So it was a great job and satisfying in every way.

The cover was produced at Bretschneider using Carta Allura from Metsä Board, foils from Kurz with great tools from Hinderer & Mühlich (hot foil, micro embossing and blind embossing), pigments from Merck, varnishes and coatings from Weilburger and the fantastic graphic design from G.A.S..