Category: VFX Fundementals Unit

For the start of this class we again looked at working in the 3D scene and worked a little bit with the 3D environment by placing a card to represent the wall and see if we could add something to the wall. We added a color-wheel, I moved this in the 3D environment to the card that will be in the same place as the wall in the video.

We also woked with the RotoPaint to patch up things that we want to remove out of our scene. This is also what we did last term but now we conclude this with the 3D camera we use. As shown in the images below we put an framehold on the video and the camera we added and Roto out the parts we want to remove. As an example he showed us how he removed a pole that is shown on the scene, I adapted to this and try the same but then with the red door. This door had what I assume are emergency exits plates on them and got rid of these

After this he also showed us how to create a 3D mesh for our 3D scene so we can get a clear vision of how we move through the 3D space in the video. For this we use the Point cloud generator node which crates a calculated number of points that track how the camera moves through the space. After using this we add the possion mesh node under this This leaves us with a almost completely closed off mesh of the 3D scene. (see images below)

We can also create our 3D mesh scene by tracking the points and creating a baked group. The bake will pop up as its own node called baked mesh, The is in my opinion a little clearer for the eye since this wont be a almost solid mesh but will show us an open mesh of where the streets would be and where the buildings are. (see images below)

As you see in the 2 meshes above that they are both quite rough sketches and this not always works for the best. You can also just use the camera tracker tool and create your own 3D cards to fill up different elements in your scene. As shown below I have tried this for the different doors. the right door was shown in class as an example and I added 2 extra examples on the left side to understand what I was doing.

For the homework we had to start on the scene he gave us. In this scene we kind of had to recreate an example he had shown us during class. This was to add 2 floors, one for the foreground and one for the background and also a wall for the background. In his example he also added some 3D objects, so for mine I added 2 cubes in the foreground and a circle in the background as a example as well. and lastly I added the red tracker pointers to the walls and the ground directing at the already physical placed in the scene.

With all these new techniques learned we got given another example of a scene were had to work with the camera tracker. In this scene Gonzalo showed us some examples he did which were creating the different cards in the scene and a door replacement. He told us to play around with this scene and see what we would be able to implement in the area that we think would work in the scene.

I searched online and found 2 different animal images that I thought would fit in the scene. I also went on my Ipad in procreate to create a graffiti like text to add to the total image.

Below this text you see how I made the scene in Nuke. I created a camera track and used the camera to implement the cards in the right places. I color correct and graded the 2 images to where it would fit better in the scene. I also gave the images some cracks with the rotoscope to give it a little bit more of a raw edge. I used corner pin to slide the image to the right position and put them next to each other on the wall. To give the scene a little bit more of a story I wrote down ‘People are animals’ and placed this text over the two posters.

Match-movement is used in nuke to track a camera movement of a video. This is used so that we the software understands where the camera is going based on a camera tracker. This tracker calculates all the movements the camera makes based on different points throughout your scene. When you track the movements you will be able to add 3D objects into your scene as desired. In nuke you can change from your 2D scene to your 3D scene using your TAB button on your keyboard.

In class we added the 3D camera tracker and removed all the tracks that were not tracking correctly. You will end up with a lot of green lines that show the path of the track. in your scene you will be able to visualize the floor selecting the different floor dots and connecting this to it being a floor. After this you can add different 3D objects into your 3D scene.

We played around with it during he class and got this added to our homework to play around with. I added a flooring to the base of the image and 2 cylinders. I connected this to a checkerboard grid so you can see it visibly in the scene. The card I used is representing the road through the scene and the 2 cylinder blocks I placed on this are shown to really get a clear image of the movement of the scene and where these objects are suppose to stay put in place.

For the last few weeks, we worked on the hot air balloon festival. This is a project where we used the balloons we made in Maya (I recreated the hot air balloon from scratch) in a template given to us (the background everybody uses) We were told to add our own composition to this, for example, we were told to add a spaceship or some rockets.

For my composition, I went with the sea life above ground. this idea I got this from Coldplay’s Up & Up video. I found these green screen images of different sea animals and added these to my project. The last time I showed a composition of my idea for the hot air balloon festival it was still a very basic overview of my idea. throughout the weeks I added my recreated hot air balloon that in my opinion is more to my liking for a hot air balloon. I think it also fits better in the scene than the hot air balloon I made before. Also when you look in the background you still see the building that will fall to the ground due to the particle force created by the orca. But now I also added the different buildings around it so it won’t be looking like a weird lonely building. After adding everything I needed to color correct everything so it all fitted a bit better into the image.

In the nodes, you can see how I added the different files that I found and a part where the particles have been put into the nuke file. I had to work with keylight to remove the green screen background and Rotoscope out different parts of the buildings so it would fit the mountain. As for the particles that move together with the orca swimming through the sky. In the end, I did these particles in Maya since it is still too difficult to create this in Nuke. I created a particle trail in the exact shape I wanted it to go in the video. I added the hot air balloon video in Maya to see the right path the orca would go in.

In this week’s class, we got extra material to work with. Gonzalo gave us a nuke file where we got an example of the different techniques we did over the last few weeks. He gave us this video where he removed and added different parts. On the left, you see a word added on the heater, in the top middle the emergency exit gets removed and on the lockers you see the yellow poster getting removed. and lastly, a paper on the board gets removed. I removed the only paper that is still on the wall and added a different poster on the lockers. In the video, you will see these changes happening. Even though we got given these different tools to erase or add different things, I still had a littlest of a difficult time. I feel that over these weeks we learned a lot of different things and I feel myself growing in the understanding of this new program I learn to work with called nuke. Even though I learned a lot I still feel that I am not nearly as good as I want to be. I have to practice more of these kinds of things so I can create whatever I like.