Bernadeta Daukšaitė, 3D Support Team Lead at CGTrader: “Uniqueness remains an important factor in the design industry’s future”

“I’m a bit of a nerd.” These are the opening words of Bernadeta Daukšaitė, 3D Support Team Leader at CGTrader, the company behind Moderly, in our interview – and as nerds ourselves we’re delighted to say, welcome to TechFinitive!

“I think I’m pretty good at both design and technology so that’s where I was focusing my career on from quite an early age,” Bernadeta added. She went on to study Multimedia and Internet Technologies in Vytautas Magnus University between 2013 to 2017, which included a stint as an intern working as a 3D graphic designer.

She also spent time “volunteering in various tech events and participating in hackathons [and] game jams”. If you’re wondering what game jams are, these are hackathons where you have to create a working game within a set time – typically 24 to 72 hours. As Bernadeta talks about below, one jam she was involved in gave her team two days.

As Bernadeta’s day job involves CGTrader’s own CGDream AI image generator (she joined CGTrader after graduating), we can’t think of anybody better to talk about the role of AI tools in the fast-moving world of creative design. “Whenever some new software feature is out I instantly test it and if I find it useful, of course, I’m going to integrate it into my workflow,” she told us.

If you take away even a fraction of Bernadeta’s energy and enthusiasm from this interview, it will be time well spent.

When thinking of your creative process, at what point does technology come in? What role does it play in different stages, from concept to final design?

Technology plays a great part in the creative process and I’d say I’m using it almost instantly once the idea pops up. If I have a somewhat clear idea in mind, I may start by taking some notes in the notepad and gathering reference images, as well as generating some concept images with AI tools. If the idea is a bit vague, I’ll start with ChatGPT trying to define it better or Googling some similar examples to learn from. I might also ask friends to help with brainstorming together using some online teamwork graphic tool making diagrams or simply idea dumping. When the idea is formed, the other part of the creative process begins, that is realisation.

As a 3D designer I don’t use much of traditional drawing methods, I tend to begin with digital tools right away. Once I have reference images gathered I start with building a 3D model block out – it’s like a rough draft built with simple 3D shapes and less detail. Later on, depending on the project, many different software products can be used – from sculpting and 3D modelling apps to texturing tools and game engines. Up until the final design, the technology is in every step, at least in my workflow, and I’m always looking for some new tools and scripts to make the job more efficient.

What was the most challenging project you’ve worked on in which technology played a critical role?

Creating a game during Game Jam was quite challenging and the use of technology definitely helped a lot here.

Our team of three people have been using AI tools here for everything – generating ideas, programming, music, concept art, etc. We only had 48 hours to create a playable game, so there really is no time for perfecting. AI helps with tasks that require something done in batches, like a bunch of 3D assets which you only need to fix a little later. It also helps with many other graphic design tasks like banners, UI elements, map and character concepts, video editing.

Since AI tackles those tasks we can focus on more enjoyable ones, such as figuring out how to make those results given by AI work in our game in the most exquisite and logical way. In other words, perfecting the bits.

Recommended reading: Could you shoot a movie in Midjourney?

What trends in graphic design are you most excited about right now, and where do you see the industry heading?

I don’t mean to be repetitive, but AI is what I’m the most excited about.

Generating images with AI has never been easier, it can be used not only for concept art but also for marketing content, photo enhancements (no more blurry and low-quality photos!) and much more. Not to mention never-ending quality improvements.

Photos generated with AI are now sometimes difficult to tell from real ones. I’m sure the same soon will happen with AI videos. I’ve also noticed some technological improvements in the AI area of game development 3D model creation.

AI is really a powerful tool to help designers do their jobs faster and I’m sure it will continue to make people’s lives easier. However, I think uniqueness remains an important factor in the industry’s future and while AI can generate amazing images, it sometimes may seem a bit repetitive and recognisable, lacking creativity or struggling to achieve complex logical scenarios, so I hope it will be solved in the future.

Generative AI art has taken the graphic design space by storm – what are your views on the use of tools like Stable Diffusion, Leonardo, Midjourney and others?

These tools are amazing! I’ve tested all of the listed and my personal favourite is CGDream.ai. Some tools may be better at following the prompt, and some give more creative or realistic results, while CGDream seems to have it all, it even has the 3D to image feature and a really wide selection of Lora filters. It’s astounding how many capabilities such tools can bring: you can use image style and structure transfer features, image-to-image, upscaling and image-to-3d.

Related reading: Everything you need to know about Midjourney

With the rise of AI and automation in design, how do you see the role of a graphic designer evolving in the next few years?

I think designers might become more like quality assurance specialists or something related to curating AI work in the future. Of course, the industry will always be in need of highly skilled designers, whether you’re good in a specific unique style or maybe you have mind-blowing, extraordinarily creative concept art ideas and think outside the box, which we know AI can’t achieve yet.

Many creators are afraid of losing their jobs, but I think AI will create even more. Designers have creative skills which can be useful when checking, guiding and refining what AI is creating. Not any person can do this, but one that has a good eye on aesthetics, composition and other design rules.

What tools or software do you find indispensable in your daily work, and why?

ChatGPT – really useful for generating ideas. CGDream – for generating images and concept art. Adobe Photoshop – for tweaking those images when needed. Blender, Autodesk 3ds Max – for 3D modelling. Discord – for feedback and communicating with other designers. Also occasionally depending on a project I use Premiere Pro or After Effects for videos, slicer software Cura for 3d printing, Unity game engine – when working on a game, Zbrush for sculpting, CAD software for more accurate 3D modelling projects.

Related reading: Dennis Lenard, CEO of Creative Navy: “Graphic design is blurring the lines between reality and symbolism”

What advice would you give to aspiring graphic designers looking to break into the industry today?

Don’t be afraid of AI, use it to your advantage to help do your tasks. Since the AI field is improving constantly, make sure to be up-to-date by reading blogs, tech news or watching some recent videos.

Also, as a beginner graphic designer try to find your unique style to be more distinguished from other designers, you might get noticed more easily.

Don’t forget to occasionally search for cool features, workflows and optimisation methods to make your work easier and more interesting, I’m sure 3D modelling skills in addition to graphic design wouldn’t go to waste.

How do you stay updated on the latest design technologies and software advancements, and how do you decide when to integrate new tools into your workflow?

I read AI and design-related news and blogs, browse tech forums and watch the most recent videos almost daily. Whenever some new software feature is out I instantly test it and if I find it useful, of course, I’m going to integrate it into my workflow. Especially now when a lot of tools are implementing AI or improving in their AI area, it’s really interesting to find something new and groundbreaking. I still remember the tedious ways of removing background or selecting, and cropping objects in Photoshop, now it’s basically just a single click.

Since I do 3D modelling, I sometimes use AI tools to generate base models, just because it’s faster, I’m also planning to use it to 3D print a few miniatures for my small diorama project. Anyways, obviously, if the tested feature is giving good results and improves efficiency or optimises the workflow in some way it’s a no-brainer whether to choose to use it or not.