Archive for the ‘3D’ Category

Thoughts: A new job and new experiences await!

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

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Life is funny.  Things are going one way and then ZING!  Off you go in another direction.  That onomatopoeia was meant to represent me changing direction slightly.  

 

On Sunday my car had major problems leading me to crash at my sisters house for a few days (hence the lack of an update) and it looked bad . . . very bad.  As soon as you have engine problems on a car with 235,000 km’s you start to think in mid 4 figure amounts.  I had had an interview the previous Friday and I was stressing a little about a possible move with a massive car expense and not much sleep was coming my way.

 

 

I iz a happy cat!

I iz a happy cat!

As it turns out, it was a relatively minor problem with the car (considering what I thought could go wrong), I was offered the job at a decent wage doing cool stuff in a great new city and I will be teaming up with one of my very good friends from Animalia again!

 

Soooo to cut a medium length story slightly longer: I will be starting with compositing and VFX on children’s animated television show with Ettamogah Entertainment down in Melbourne in mid-June.  I am really looking forward to it as I will get a chance to get my hands on some new-ish (for me) software for some production experience.  While I have used Maya and After Effects for personal projects, I am chuffed to get down and dirty with them with the possibility of some suh-weet houdini action as well.  All this is good for you, dear readers, as there will be a broader range of tips coming your way!

 

And, in a great twist, I will be working with my good mate Rodrigo Guimaraes again!  Rodrigo and I started on the same day together back on Animalia and we (and the other compers) had a blast hanging out together on the project, so it is with a glad heart that I will see my Brazilian mate again.

 

Throw into the mix a move to Melbourne, a very funky city and things are looking very exciting indeed.

Tips: Making a basic skydome in Autodesk Maya

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

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8mins 52secs, 33meg Quicktime 840×526 h.264 mov

 

SKYDOME!!!  Yeah boyeeee!  Okay, this is a pretty basic tutorial, I admit it, but it is a bloody useful one, especially if you don’t know Maya.  Did you also notice how many comma’s I used in the last sentence.  That is Very Bad Grammar if English is not your native language.  Luckily you are here to talk about visual effects and not English (although I did teach English in Japan for a year, shhhhh, don’t tell them about my grammar).

 

Anyway, this technique is certainly no secret.  I originally found this on a website somewhere, but they didn’t really explain it too well and didn’t even have screenshots so I had no idea what the hell they were talking about.  On Animalia the compositors had to make their own skydomes quite a few times as they often weren’t provided for us.  We sometimes got them on moving camera shots (and most of the bloody shots were moving!) but there was also a library of regular matte paintings, mostly painted by Dudley Birch.  Luckily, a few of the compositors I work with were also Maya guys, so they showed me how to operate Maya on at least a basic level to pull in shots, strip geometry and make a skydome, so thanks to John Kitching and Rodriogo Guimaraes for the info.

 

 

 

Thoughts: Getting involved with fanfilm projects

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

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Okay, okay.  You may have strong feelings about fan films.  Me?  I am kind of up in the air as I have seen some shockers and I have seen some amazing work.  Either way though they always involve people who are doing it for the sheer love of making something that they believe in and are willing to get off their bums and give it a shot, and I always give that two thumbs up.

 

Check out the recent Half Life 2 fanfilm “Escape From City 17 – Part One” which has been doing the rounds recently.  Short, sweet, focused and with very passable VFX all made for $500.  As far as I know most of the hero 3D models are meshes straight from the game.  The match-moving is top notch which opens up a lot of possibilities for set-extensions.  If you have solid tracking, suddenly you aren’t limited by what you see.  Having said that, the locations were well chosen and more importantly, the whole thing captures the atmosphere of Half Life 2.  I will go on record as saying that Half Life 2 has been the most immersive game experience I have yet had.  So much care was taken with everything, from the look to the models, to the texturing and, possibly the most overlooked factor, the sound.

 

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3D: Useful 3D skills for the VFX compositor

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

 

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I mentioned in my last post that a lot of compositors come from non-3D backgrounds.  Being a 2D medium, compositors often come from working with Photoshop or editing software such as Avid and Final Cut Pro.  As such, a lot of compositors might not have a full appreciation of the 3D pipeline.

 

As I suggested, my opinion is that whatever your job in the pipeline, it is a good idea to have at least cursory knowledge of the skills that bookend your position.  That way you will be able to communicated effectively with your workmates and be more efficient.

 

Sometimes, depending on the production, you may find yourself needing particular minor things done and you need them done quickly, not when someone finally has a chance to get to them.  The following are reasonably basic skills that can really help out a compositor:

 

Import match-moved camera data.

At some point, if 3D is being integrated into live action, a Match Move artist (using something like PFTrack or Boujou) will have produced a final locked-off match move solve and camera setup that is being used by the 3D guys.  Knowing how to, at the very least, set projects and open files in Maya is something that everyone in VFX should know.

 

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