Archive for the ‘Maya’ Category

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Thoughts – Entering forum “challenges”

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

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Quick post with a suggestion to maybe throw your hat into the ring with one of the various different challenges that CG websites often run.

Challenge city. Population you.

Challenge city. Population you.

At the top of the pile you have ones like the current “Secret Agent” challenge over at CGTalk. This is a pretty high-end comp and the prizes reflect that. I mean, if you are entering to win a Boxx workstation, a copy of Maya and Houdini Master, Intuos 4 etc etc, you better be ready to bring your A-game!

VFXTalk used to run challenges but they seemed to have dried up, although I noticed that Alejandro Villabón over at Green Soda has started up some challenges. No prizes, but we should be looking at sharpening our skills.

Me? I am looking at submitting some work for the latest lighting challenge over at CGTalk. Again, there are no prizes, but that’s not really the reason to enter these kinds of things. The main attraction for me is that there is usually a focus (in this case lighting), you are provided with the scene or base elements (like the green screen for the Green Soda challenge) and you are given a time limit. For me, having the time limit and restrictions is great because like so many of us, I get started on some ideas I have, run out of steam and shelve the project. If there is a simple challenge with a deadline, there is more chance I will actual finalise something.

So, look around and enter some challenges to . . . errrr, challenge yourself!

Posted in Maya, Thoughts | 2 Comments »

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.

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Posted in 3D, After Effects, Compositing, Maya | 2 Comments »

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.

 

 

 

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Posted in 3D, Maya, Tips & Tricks | No Comments »

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.

 

(more…)

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Posted in 3D, After Effects, Compositing, Maya, Nuke | No Comments »

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