Artist Highlight: Mario V, Creator of Cronos-7 Visitors
Recently, we announced the launch of Cronos-7 Visitors, a collection of 7,777 zany, colorful, and curious alien NFTs. While the entire collection was conceptualized, designed, and created by 3D artist Mario V and his own team, we are extremely proud of the amazing work he has done. The collection is powered by Daz Studio, so we were thrilled to partner with Mario and help execute the collection’s public offering in partnership with Crypto.com.
The collection is now live! Show your support for Mario and mint your Visitor at crypto.com!
What Makes Cronos-7 Visitors Special
Like previous 3D collections we’ve worked on, Cronos-7 Visitors is another refreshing step away from traditional 2D NFTs you’ll typically find right now. Each NFT is carefully designed, textured, and rendered with awesome HD detail. Not only that, being able to offer NFT holders the ability to download 3D files for their Visitors is a great perk.
There is a rich story behind the Visitors that continues to unfold over time as we humans learn more about this race, where they came from, and why they’ve chosen Earth as their new home. The collection is full of variety, including 9 Themed Limited Collections. Each Limited Collection features a unique theme made up of rarer NFTs that feature traits you won’t find elsewhere in the collection. Some themes include ninjas, vampires, and space troopers to name a few.
One of the main highlights of the collection is the 21 Visitor Legends, which are entirely 1-of-1 characters, rendered with beautiful detail by Mario. With all this variety and some awesome homages to pop culture, there’s sure to be something for everyone to connect with.
Introducing Mario AKA Strangefate
Mario V. first discovered Daz Studio in 2016 while looking for an alternative to creating video game art. After a number of years working as an artist in the games industry, he was reaching a point where he wanted to create 3D art without so much worry about performance, or operating within a strict workflow.
Daz Studio proved to be a great alternative for his artistic expression. “It felt familiar right away, like a blend of a game engine, renderer, and animation package,” Mario said, reminiscing of those early days when he first learned how to use Daz Studio. “It was easy to learn and use, and I believe they had just integrated Iray at the time. I loved the results I got with Daz Studio and have been using it ever since for all my projects.”
Mario has been involved with the Daz community throughout his Daz journey and loves to share his work in the Galleries and connect with other artists in the forum. You may even come across his work under the username Strangefate.
Mario’s Inspiration for Cronos-7 Visitors
When the idea first came to create a 3D NFT collection, Mario says he was looking for a way to create art while also finding a new technical challenge, something his NFT collection allowed him to do in abundance.
Mario tried quite a few ideas (including more apes) before he stumbled upon the idea for Cronos-7 Visitors. Among his early test renders, this project outshone the rest. He was smitten by how natural, quirky, and playful these characters were right from the start. Coincidentally, this also coincided with the Pandemic occurring at the same time, and Mario believes that was also a source of inspiration. As the Visitors face difficulties adapting to their new home on Earth, they do so with positivity and approach it in their own unique ways, much like how Mario and the majority of the world adapted to the unique struggles we all faced during that time.
“It was honestly a very rewarding experience all around,” Mario said. “Seeing the collection come to life and develop its own personality is very rewarding.”
Daz Studio’s Role in Mario’s Work
Daz Studio was there with Cronos-7 Visitors from the beginning. Mario and his team relied on Daz’s large library of characters and assets to test and implement all the ideas they add, generating results quickly. Each Visitor was created using modified and re-textured Daz characters.
“This is an area where Daz Studio really shines,” Mario said, as he described his technical process. “Daz Studio lets us modify content inside Daz Studio or another 3D package, while still preserving all the rigging and controls. There were times when I considered doing some post-work in other programs, but in the end, it was always simpler and much more efficient to bring everything into Daz.”
Stay Up-to-Date With Mario’s Future Projects
If you’ve appreciated this artist highlight and want to stay up-to-date with Mario and his future projects, consider following and liking his work on ArtStation.
If you love these wacky aliens as much as we do, join the community by following the official Cronos-7 Visitors Twitter, connect with us about the collection in the official Daz 3D Discord, and save the date for the collection’s official launch on Crypto.com on June 2nd, 2022!
