Here is the tracking and the final movie.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Compositing 2: Lesson 3
For lesson 3, we had to composite different aspects together to create one cohesive shot. First, we tracked footage in SynthEyes of a woman moving her head. Once the track was complete, we brought it into Nuke along with the other CG elements - the armor, the armor texture, scratches, dust, and a background. From there, our job was to comp everything together and color correct so that the shot flowed smoothly. I had a little bit of a hard time understanding certain aspects of the assignment, such as how to animate the light in the helmet. However, I was able to fairly quickly figure out the mistake and fix it. Overall, the scene is a little dark, but I am pretty happy with the final result. All of the assets were provided, I just put everything together.
Here is the tracking and the final movie.
Here is the tracking and the final movie.
Labels:
3D,
Animation,
Compositing,
Motion Builder,
Nuke,
SynthEyes,
Tracking
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Compositing 2: Lesson 2
The second assignment for Composting 2 was based in Nuke. We learned how to use Nuke's Motion Builder for this. I must say, this was more difficult than project 1 had been, mainly because of Motion Builder. I had a hard time lining up the points of the geometry correctly so that everything was in scale and proportion. Still, I am pretty happy with the overall result.
Here is the shot with the texture applied and with a simple checkered board applied.
Here is the shot with the texture applied and with a simple checkered board applied.
Labels:
3D,
Animation,
Compositing,
Motion Builder,
Nuke,
Tracking
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Compositing 2: Lesson 1
For the first assignment of Compositing 2, we had to use SynthEyes to track a shot. SynthEyes was a little crazy to learn at first. It was very different from what we are familiar with, but overall, it was easy to pick up. The tracking itself was not too difficult once I got the hang of it. I'm pretty happy with the end result.
Visual Effects 2: Houdini Fluids
Here is the flipbook and render of my Houdini Fluids assignment for Visual Effects 2. For this assignment, we were allowed to do whatever simulation we wanted, as long as it was something we had not done before. Because I still don't know much about Houdini, I decided to stick with that program, trying out the Fluids side instead of the Pyro. I chose to running water from a sink because I knew that Fluids have to have millions of particles in order for the water to look correct. This way, I could still try water but keep my computer from blowing up. I was surprised at how fast water actually runs out of a faucets. I suppose that I had just never really paid too much attention before. Still, I think that my simulation may run slightly fast. Other then that, I am fairly happy with out it turned out.
Below, you can see the plan that I wrote up before starting the simulation.
For this assignment, I will be simulating water running from
a sink faucet. To start off, I will model a simple sink in Maya. The sink will
include the bowl, the faucet itself, handles, and a raised stopper. Once this
is done, I will import these assets into Houdini as one mesh. I know that I
want the fluids to hit the sink and bounce off, just like they would in the
real world, so I will select the sink mesh and turn it into a Static Object
under the Rigid Bodies tab
To start
the fluid simulation, I will create a sphere to emit from, and then under the
Particle Fluids tab, select Emit Particles to create the fluid Flip Tank. This
sphere will be placed under the faucet opening. To adjust the flip tank size and shape, I will
go into the flipsolver and change the Box Shape numbers. To change the
position, I will adjust the Box Center I will size this to fit only the area
that I need – from the faucet to the base of the sink. Next, I will go inside
the AutoDop Network in order to adjust the motion. Before adjusting any motion,
though, I must first change the Visualization of the fluid to Particles inside
the flipfluidobject. Once that is done, I will lower the Particle Separation to
create a more detailed and interesting splash. If I find that the splash is not
going quite as fast as I want, then I will raise the gravity of the fluid.
Once I have
the motion looking nice, I will then move onto the shading of the water. The
first thing that I must do is set up a light. If a light is not projected onto
the fluid, then I will have a hard time adjusting the settings for an accurate
portrayal of water. To do this, I will create a simple Directional Light and
aim it towards the sink. Once this is done, I will adjust the shader by turning
the Cloud Density to 0 in the uniformvolume node. This is because the fluid I
am making is transparent water, not a type of smoke. After that, I will move
onto the color. Inside the basic liquid node, under the Diffuse tab, I will
adjust the Base Color to be a slightly less overpowering blue. Also, I will make
sure that the Color in the Reflection tab is lighter than the Base Color. Once
that is done, I will make sure that the Index of Refraction under Settings is
set to that of water – 1.33.
After I
have all of the motion working correctly and the shading matches that of water,
then I can render out my sequence and create a Flipbook of my simulation.
Here is the simple sink prop that I modeled for the scene.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Visual Effects 2: Houdini Pyro
Above is the flipbook and render of my Houdini Pyro assignment. For our next project in Visual Effects 2, we had to use the Pyro option in Houdini to create fire. I chose to create a torch, for this one. I had much more trouble with this assignment than the first one. Overall, I just have a harder time understanding Houdini, but I did try my best. I could use a lot of work, though. The fire itself is too large to be a real torch. Also, it fluctuates too much. Still, the color is fairly nice
Here is the plan that I typed out before starting.
For this assignment, I will be making a torch fire. To start
off, I will model a very simple torch in order to have a prop in the scene to
add to the effects of the fluid. Once the models are placed and scaled
correctly in Houdini, I will then start the fluids by creating a torus to emit
the Smokeless Flames. Setting up the container is the next step. This must be
done before adjusting the motion of the fluid. I will adjust the Division Size
so that the container has more resolution. I will also make sure that the
voxels remain square in order to not cause distortion. For even more control
over the motion, or if I wanted to view a certain part individually, I can go
into the Pyro node attributes for the container.
Next, I
will adjust the motion of the fluid so that the flame looks more believable. I
will do this in they Pyro Solver of the AutoDopNetwork. Under the Simulation tab, I will start by
adjusting the Timescale in order for the fire to move faster. However, because
of this, I will need to also adjust the substeps of the fluid in order to not
lose detail. I will also make the flames shaper, or more crisp, by lowering the
Temperature Diffusion. The Cooling Rate will be raised in order to keep the
flames small and contained.
Continuing
on with the movement, I will go into the Combustion tab and slightly adjust the
Gas Release to cause a small burst for the initial ignite. I may also look at
adjust the Ignition Temperature, to make sure that the flame starts burning on
frame 1, and Flame Height, in case the fluids need to be taller. To finish up the motion, I will go into the
Shape tab and adjust the Confinement. This will create the swirling effect of
the flames that we see in torch fires.
Once the
motion is all done, I will move onto the shading. Going into the Shop network,
I will start by adjusting the color in the Color tab. I will switch Constant to
Artistic, so that I can create the strong color variation of fire. If needed,
this is where I would do any type of color correction before rendering. After
the material has been finished, the only thing left to do is to complete a
memory cache of the simulation and render. I will do this by creating a camera
for the render view and then creating a Mantra-PBR node. From here, I will set
up my render options and render out an image sequence. This sequence will be
taken into either After Effects or Nuke and be exported as a movie file.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Visual Effect 2: Maya Fluids
Here is the playblast and render of my assignment for my Maya Fluids project. For this, we simply had to make a fluid container in Maya and adjust the attributes to fit our reference. We were required to do some sort of fire, so I chose to do a fireplace. Overall, I am fairly happy with the result. It could definitely be a lot better, though.
Here is the plan that I wrote out before starting. As always, it's best to have a plan before doing anything.
For this assignment, I plan on making a fluid fireplace
scene. To start off, I want to model simple props for the scene. These will
include a fireplace mantle, a grate, and a large log for the fluid to be
emitted from. These models will be simple and quick because more time should be
spent on learning the dynamics of fluids then modeling. Once all of the assets
are placed in the scene, I will create a fluid container to fit the size of the
fireplace cut out by changing the size and resolution in the Container
Properties tab. This way I can make sure that the fluids are contained to the
specific area of where a real fire would take place. Also, having the fluid
container match the direct size of the fire will cut down on simulation time.
From here, I plan to turn the log
model into a fluid emitter. Once the log is emitting fluids, I will start by
adjusting the density. The fire needs to stay someone transparent, but if it is
too transparent then it will appear as smoke. Raising the density should fix
this. I will not adjust the heat very much, if any, because I don’t want the
fire to rise very much. The same will be said for fuel. Because this is not an
explosion, I do not want to add fuel to the fluid dynamics.
Next, I will go into the fluidShape
tab and adjust the motion and shape. Here, I will adjust the Boundary in order
for the simulation to not cap off at the sides. I will also pay attention to
the Dynamic Simulation. I will adjust the Simulation Rate Scale, in order for
the simulation to play faster. This will help to speed up the flames. Continuing
on with the finer details of the motion, I will move to the Content Details.
Under this tab I will raise the Dissipation to shorten the lifespan, slightly
adjust the Diffusion, and raise the Density Tension so that parts of the flame
can flicker and break off. I will also try the Swirl option under velocity.
Still, this is an option that will only be slightly adjusted, because the fire,
for the most part, will stay stationary. Ultimately, this section will take a
lot of tweaking for me to find a shape and motion that best matches the
reference. Most of my time will be spent on this section.
Once the motion follows the
reference as closely as possible, then I will move into the shading of the
fire. Under the Shading tab, I will change the Color to black and adjust the
Incandescence color ramp, because fire is self-illuminating. I will also make
sure that I add a small amount of Glow to the shading. Because fireplace flames
are thinner at the bottom than at the top, I will adjust the Opacity ramp in
order to match the reference. Once I am finished adjusting the shading
attributes, and I notice any pixilation issues, then I will slightly raise the
Shading Quality. After all of the fluid dynamics are finished, the only thing
left to do is to add an illuminating point light, texture the props in the
scene with a lambert, and then finally render.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
November Classes
For this month, I have Visual Effects 2 and Compositing 2. I don't necessarily enjoy either visual effects or compositing, but I will try my best in each class!
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