Last time I posted about the concept art created by Phoebe for our main character in our collaborative group project. Here is the 3D model created by Fan from 3D animation. He modelled the character and made sure the UV is correct so that Jesse can start working on the textures for the model. I will be working on a basic rig and we went to the green screen room in school to try out motion tracking. you can see some example videos below of the process for the motion capture data. Masi will start working on the cleanup of the motion capture we did. While he was working on it we discovered that there was too much to clean up in the MoCap and that it had to be more exaggerated. We booked the green screen room again to redo the MoCap work we worked on.
Main street view draft
Since our scene is quite complex I decided to start on some of the scene to see how it would look in the end. I started off with trying to make the main street using downloaded assets (FREE 3D Asset Kit: Neo City – KitBash3D). For one of the shots we need one side of a somewhat big street where the main character will be walking. Using the assets I created the image you see above this text, I have to do the Main Street again since it does not really work with the alleyway I created as well. It is too busy and it has to many polygons so it would take for a long time to render.
alleyway top view
The 2 images you see above and under this text are images of how the alleyway will look. It is still a work in progress but it is somewhat what the scene will be looking like. (of course with added textures) Because we don’t have a lot of time left we also decided to work with these assets for the end scene. The 2 views are also like the views shown in the storyboard.
For this class homework we had to green screen out the video given to us and add the background to it. I used the technique of the IBKColour and IBKGizmo node. First I created the IBKColour and tried to make it as an matched up green screen plate then I added the IBK Gizmo to get the green screen part separate and get the right alpha for the scene. I color graded the plate to match it a little bit more with the chosen background.
At the top of the screen there is a microphone that sometimes pops up in the screen, I removed this microphone using a simple Rotoscope and stencil this over the scene there the green screen is already removed. I did not have to do many extra things to the Rotoscope since it is a small area that the microphone pops up in.
Lastely I merged the foreground and background together and gave the background a little bit of an defocus to make the foreground image stand out more and give it a bit more realism.
We have to do research in what kind of roles we are looking for in the visual effects industry. We have been given a link to a VFX industry careers map that concludes the different roles you are able to take as an VFX artist. for this research we have to pick 3 roles that I would want to do after this course. Two of the three roles have to be entry level roles and the third will be a non-entry level role.
The second job role I choose is also one of the entry level job roles, VFX environment artist, also known as environment modeller, visual effects artist and 3D artist. First I will talk a little about what an environment artist job does using the online career map guide and then I will talk about why I picked this one.
As an environment artist you create a scene/surrounding that is CG made for an actor to move around in. These are environments that are too difficult to create in real life. A 3D environment will be created using different modelling and sculpting tools. Often a concept art is delivered to them as a reference to go off of. An Environment artist works in an earlier stage of the 3D part in the VFX pipeline. After the create environment is created it can be moved on to the texture artist for the elements to be textured.
This is one of the entry-level job roles that I am interested in. as well as the modeling artist this is near the beginning of a bigger project in the industry. The first reason I came to UAL to do VFX was that I took a huge interest in 3D design because I went to a 3D art festival in the Netherlands called: Playgrounds. In this event there are multiple 3D design speakers that will speak about there work and show how they make some things. One of the artists I remembered well from that festival is Leon Tukker. Leon Tukker is an Environment artist that creates these massive scenes that I take great inspirations out of. I want to be able to create these same scenes. This job role kind of also links with the 3D modelling job role I choose. As I said over there as well: I want to create real-surreal images that look powerful and can be a combination of CG and real life.
So far I have worked in quite a few 3D programs but always smaller-sized models. Now I want to have a deeper look into the scenery and create things that I will be proud of showing in my reel.
As seen above this text I also have taken inspiration from another artist that I want to show as an example. The artist shows a good example of how to put together an environment and create a small scene that tells the viewer a story in a few seconds. The story can be to own interpretations but I believe will link to almost the same story line, immaculate creations I would say.
During the making of this job role, I got even more interested in working as an environmental artist. But also if I would not be able to do this as my job I would still be interested in creating this for my own showreel and build a portfolio like this.
After the meeting last meeting we had I started to work on some models that can be used for our project. We decided to combine some downloaded assets (that we can edit a bit) for the street and some own made objects. I first just started out by creating some building layers that would be easy to copy, past into having multiple layers. Buildings tend to look the same throughout the bottom level and the top level. below this text I have to examples of what I used for a reference and below that the created layered building I made in Maya. One is a little bit more detailed than the other. This was a start of how to make these buildings but I think There still more needed to be created. These would be good for a few background imagery. These don’t need to be very detailed since they would be far away from the focus point of the camera.
Other things I have tried it making some of the objects needed in the scene. When looking at the storyboard and the Cyberpunk city aesthetic you see a lot of the outside stair railings going up various of buildings. so I tried to recreate such a stair so we could add these to our made buildings but also to the assets that we downloaded. Since our world is an cyberpunk world one of the things that is also very important to this is the hanging signs/boards in front of store that points to what the store might be.
Here is also a reference video on a street of a cyberpunk city. This is the kind of aesthetic that I would want to recreate in this Collaborative project. This small street has lots of amazing details and concludes a fantastic scenery of a cyberpunk environment. Where the floating car is stalled is a small alleyway. I think this is a good reference of the alleyway we would want to create for our own scene.
We have to do research in what kind of roles we are looking for in the visual effects industry. We have been given a link to a VFX industry careers map that concludes the different roles you are able to take as an VFX artist. for this research we have to pick 3 roles that I would want to do after this course. Two of the three roles have to be entry level roles and the third will be a non-entry level role.
The first Job role I have chosen from the career map is an entry level job, modelling artist, also known for doing CG modelling, Character artist, modeller and 3D artist. First I will talk a little about what a Modelling artist job does using the online career map guide and then I will talk about why I picked this one.
A modelling artist will create different models using digital tools such as sculpting brushes and physical graphics pen and tablets. Modelling artists work at an early stage of the CG and 3D part of the VFX pipeline. They create 3D models that later can be animated and textured. They have to be good at certain things to work well in the company or studio they work for. these listed things are: art (able to draw), Interpretation (able to create 3D model of 2D brief), Knowledge of 3D modelling programs, Organisation and Collaboration.
This is one of the entry level roles that I am quite interested in. It is the starting line of a bigger project and has a broad spectrum of different objects that you will be able to work on. One day you will be working on an organic plant while the other day you can make buildings or characters. For myself I would state that I am quite good at figuring out how to make the right model for the right occasion. I have practiced with modelling Characters and create different lifeless object (weapons or so). I would love to create real-surreal imagery that looks powerful in an final project combining real life and CG together. One thing that I am also able to do is create 2D images, having this skill helps me to make a sketch of what I would want to create in 3D. So far I have worked in C4D, Zbrush and Maya so I still have a lot to learn (mostly also in these programs itself).
There are many works which conclude a 3D modeller to work on that I find very aesthetically pleasing. For this sometimes the 3D artist ofcourse also does his own texture to make the whole image look perfect. But not only that but also the work they make take lots of time and practice. the details on various models is something I have to learn to think about for a longer period of time and also getting the right references. Here are some example of modeled inspirations that I would like to level in.
These are two artist that work as modelers and create impressive 3D imagery that would fit in different surreal situations. It feels like they are telling a story through their art. the details on the models are immaculate, in my opinion they give their work a breathtaking experience. Reflecting on myself I need to pay more attention to what I want to create and what the story is in the single model I am creating. even the simplest of object that are modeled have a story important to the scene. So I have to think about what that will be in my work and pay closer attention to my surroundings and resources.
For this weeks class we learned how to place CG objects in a composition and figured out how to grade and color correct the object so that it will fit into the plate we are working with. This months work is the Garage project we have been working on in this project we have to add a machine given to us by Nick. After that we also have to add our own environment in the scene to give it our own feeling.
Gonzalo gave us a ready made file so we could explain what we had to do for the machine step by step, one of the steps was to work with Multipass Comp, The 3D model given to us is rendered in Arnold so it is an Arnold multipass. In class we got shown how to work in the specular direct and indirect. after looking into the nodes and changing the grading we use merge plus to add it all to our comp.
diffuse direct + indirectSpecular direct + indirectSSSsplit channels in the comp
We also got shown the how to give the model a proper shadow area. The shadow is a n important part to add, these are area shadows over the machine so it looks less fake in the entire scene. When adding the shadow you need to use the multiply merger to add this to your scene. The shadows will give the object more like a 3D feeling to it.
nodeswithout shadowwith shadowWith shadow in comp
We also got shown to add the relighting and the re-texturing of the object. we got given 3 options on which texture we wanted to add to the scene, as shown I choose the option shown in the nodes image. and as for the relighting we used different passes to help us get the right alpha and then screen merge it so we could add it to a grade and give it a little bit extra lighting
Re-light nodesre-texture nodes without re-lighting and re-texturingwith re-lighting and re-texturingre-lighting and re-texturing in comp
We also have an master CG where we added basic grading to change the basic color of the machine given to us. we used the technique of basic grade matching. for this you pick 2 different colors in your plate, one being dark and the other being a light point.
nodesWithout Master CGwith Master CGMachine in the comp
As a group we had another meeting on Thursday, 3 February a few of our group members had to wok on some thing for this meeting. Since we decided on our story last meeting we needed a story board and a main character for this weeks meeting. Lee, Fan, Phoebe and I were going to sit together to discuss the character and to create a story board. Mainly Phoebe and Fan for creating the concept of the character and me and Lee to talk about the story and draw a storyboard. Aside from that Eddie, Jesse and me also had to talk about how the environment is going to be and what are key points that we have to add in the scenery.
Storyboard by Li
Before the meeting I sat down with Lee to create a storyboard to give an impression to the rest of the group. Since this project is starting off with the research I did and the small story I told I gave him my vision of the broad lines I wanted it to look like. In my vision it is this guy living in a cyberpunk world walking down the usual street. He is overwhelmed by all the rich technology that his universe uses. he comes across an alleyway where he turns to a 2D-animated portal that will show a completely different universe, one with nature an specifically the lotus flower. from this point we created the storyboard step by step, where in the discussion with Lee we decided to add a few extra part such as kicking the can and checking his e-mail.
Order of the storyboard (use reference image above):
panning down from rich city view
panning down on poor city view
character shown walking down his street
stopping abruptly
gets a message on his ‘phone-glasses’ (about for example rent due date (late))
Angry and kicks a can
goes to pick up the can he just kicked in front of an alleyway and looks inside
sees something out of this world, a portal
walks in to the alleyway
goes towards the portal investigate (gets drawn to the aura)
goes to touch the portal
sees his fingers change to human fingers (view: 3D cyberpunk world look towards 2D portal)
puts his entire hand in the portal (view: 2D world look towards 3D cyberpunk world)
We brought this to our meeting on the Thursday and Lee gave the presentation about the story board by explaining every step you see in the image.
BackSideFrontFront, colored
For the main character of the story Fan and Phoebe mostly sat together to talk about the character. Me and Lee added is some small parts but left the main sketch to Phoebe and Fan’s vision. There where only a few things that we would have to keep in mind linking it to the storyboard. one being that he gets a notification on a screen like thing that covers his face (we decided on him wearing a mask as a group). Also at least one of his arm has to be robot/cyborg like which is going to be the hand that will reach for the portal and lastly it has to be kind of human like proportions, this concludes better with the story that he would touch the portal to become human again. If he would for example have too long arms it would be a little bit off putting of a transition.
Phoebe drew the character concept art and gave us a little bit of a story on the choices she made. she based her design on a ex-police officer (concluding why he is wearing that shirt) and based a lot on it being quite detailed to fit the cyberpunk theme we go for.
We are starting a new 4 week project for our Maya classes. This project is going to be about we make an oddly satisfying animated video. You can find all these kind of videos online on youtube for example. These videos that are very pleasing to the eye show an animation loop that will have a perfect fit through different objects. In the video just below there are many examples of these oddly satisfying videos.
Nick showed us an example he created himself, this draft was made with the effect of MASH. MASH Utilities are a set of helpful tools that either function on or are aided by MASH networks. don in this utility space you have many different effects you can use on a simple object. Nick gave us the example by using the replicator and the curve. You first start by changing the distribute in a way you like (by making a grid or a radial, kind of like the duplicate special). When you get something you like you can give it different types of effects.
Using the replicator it will [as it says] replicate the MASH that you created using the distribute editor. this will create more versions of your created MASH. Look at the ‘replicator and distribute’ image to get an understanding of what this looks like.
The other example Nick gave us was with the MASH curve where you can also use a simple 3D object and make the MASH follow a spline, this could be random or linear. look at the image below ‘Follow the spline’.
Mash effect
So these two images below are my try of using the MASH tool to see if I want to include this in my satisfying machine. I created the 2 types of MASH with a simple cube to start with and see what I could come up with. Using this tool was quite easy to understand, you get a nice menu where you can choose different effects to apply on your MASH. The fun thing about the MASH is that you are able to animate every little part in your MASH. For the circle I tried to randomize the rotation of the cubes and give them a trail. I am still a bit uncertain on how to use the trail in the MASH but I think it adds a nice bit of flow in the animation. I also made some swirly ‘tornado’ using the distribute and the replicator to replicate my first MASH. This was a good class to get to know the tool and play around with it so for testing out the effect I quite understood what a few of the different assets did.
Follow the splineReplicator and distribute
Thinking about the oddly satisfying project I tried to figure out what I wanted to do for my satisfying animation. I searched around on Youtube / Pinterest to get different inspirations on what people had done for their own satisfying animation. one of the inspirations being the video that is at the top of this block. I had a bit of a difficult start to finding something that I wanted to create, there are many different ways on how to create a satisfying machine which was a little bit overwhelming for me. In the end I came up with the idea to create a wave loop animation in where there is a small boat that will stay still in the center of the wave simulation and will goo up and down according to when the waves will appear. The two images below give a reference of what I am trying to create, click on the pinterest links on the images to go to the animation/video.
Starting off with my idea I tried to recreate the wave animation shown in the left inspiration image. This wave is also created with what Nick learned us in class, MASH. The first test I did was with a cube and added a MASH to this, from here I assigned the MASH to show as a grid and made it were it is x 24 by z 24. Then I started to follow a tutorial on how to create a wave motion. It is the tutorial shown above this text. To create this wave the tutorial shows that you need to use the OFFSET, in the MASH menu this creates a controllable tool that you can modify and move to create the waves I want for my scene.
First Test version wave in Maya
I also recreated the wave I made and adjusted the grid size and the shape, the shape in this version is formed as a cylinder with a low polygon count, you can see this version in the video above. For the results of the shape I prefer the cylinder shape since in my eyes this looks a little bit more organic and a wave is a very flow motion ‘shape’. As for the gird I think there are too many and it is a little bit too long, this makes for a few problems where I am having trouble to get a correct loop going. So I decided to make a new version with the cylinder shapes but a smaller grid size, This version is shown below. I still have to change a lot of things in the wave motion since the shape of how the wave goes is not entirely correct/ how I would like it to be, It has to broad of a flat surface and the wave is too cylinder. The tutorial shows that you also can create your own shape. This will be my next step for this satisfying video.
During this class we were talking about how CG is used in Nuke. We see depending on the CG built we are giving how many more channels we have instead of only RGB. This will help us work better on the model that we get and be able to create better lighting, tones and shades. For our lightings we need to merg is down with the plus merge and if we are doing shadows we will need to work with the multiply merge node. This is a given to us by Gonzalo. During this class we learned all about the AOV’s.
Nodes example during class
AOV’s (Arbitrary Output Variables) are primarily use of the passes that create additional outputs for your render. We got given an example during class to work on. This example was a little legocar that was on a real life street. As for the Lego car image we got with different outputs. These output are for example the indirect, diffuse or specular (see the nodes above). We got to play around in these nodes to create a realistic looking Legocar in the scene given to us. So we grabbed those different outputs and graded each individual pass as we please with a grade.
uneditededited
For this class we also got homework for next week. It was a little bit the same as the lego car but then with a different Car and a street/plate of our choice. The image just below this texts shows you the different outputs of the CG model given to us by Gonzalo.
Nodes for car grading
For this we also got an example node system going on and we could use this for giving the car. I used this example and tried to match the car with the chosen background. So again I graded the different outputs I was given and tried to match the greenish glow that the background has. The first image you see below this text is the image of the car in the chosen scene but then unedited. The one below that image has been the one I added, for color I think I have done a good job blending in the car with the plate. the only thing that is a little bit off is where it shows the glow part of what would be the light reflecting off the car.
