A Cool Tutorial and A Cool Website

I might be catching you off guard with this one, but - I found something cool on reddit! This week it was a tutorial I found on /r/VFX on how to create the HUD (heads-up display) from Iron man, aka the cool hologram stuff you see when Tony Stark puts his helmet on. While the tutorial was pretty fast moving and involved a lot of things I had never seen before, I liked the light humor throughout it and it kept me engaged. Engaged enough to make it to the 5:45 mark that is, when the maker of the tutorial shows off his website. I went over to productioncrate.com to check it out and I found some pretty cool stuff there. They have lots of cool video FX and royalty free audio you can download, as well as some tutorials (although I haven’t yet looked at any of the tutorials besides this one). To download things you need to make an account, but a free account can still give you access to download some pretty cool stuff. I’ll definitely come back soon to check out exactly what I can get with a free account and see whether a pro account is worth it. Because in the grand scheme of things, $40 per year for a full-access account can save me a lot of time and help make some things a lot cooler.

VFX Before and After

This is a cool video I came across on Facebook earlier today which shows the evolution from green screen to the big screen. I think it's really awesome to see how a scene was shot versus how it ends up being presented to the audience. I feel like a lot of times we take things for granted and don't think about the work that was put in to make film happen and this video helps to point out that work.

https://www.facebook.com/dima.koslowski/videos/871221469654052/

Film Riot

Film Riot is a YouTube channel that deals with all aspects of filmmaking. If you have not checked them out you seriously should. I have watched hours and hours of their videos and to be honest feel like I have learned more about filmmaking from this YouTube channel than many of my film classes over my four years here.

The videos feature Ryan Connolly, the host, with appearance from his team as they tackle various aspects of professional filmmaking as simply as they can. The videos include the final result of what they tackle, and then through hosted explanation, they explain how they did what they did. They are quite thorough and easy to follow and learn. They also have some DIY videos for making cheap filmmaking gear on a budget. They have a store where they sell a variety of different assets, make gear recommendations, sell merchandise, and more. They are a fantastic and useful channel and I highly recommend you sift through it, you will definitely learn a lot.

Film Riot:

Youtube | Twitter | Store

The Making of "Pacific Rim" Motion Graphics

One thing about motion graphics that is fascinating to me is how the initial drawings and ideas become the end product. After surfing the internet on things related to our class I stumbled upon this one which I found to be pretty interesting, although it is short I do think it's helpful for someone like me, with little experience in graphics, to see a general work flow from ideas to the final product. In this video the audience is shown in a non specific way how the artists idea's translate to the screen in the movie "Pacific Rim". Although this is not a tutorial or a breakdown of how the graphics were created, I think it gives good incite into how the artist has to prepare to combine what they are planning to create with what the director has envisioned and shot.

Learning 3D in Maya and Max

3D modeling and animation is something that I really wish. We have learned a bit of Maya in class, but I wish we could have taken more time to really go in depth with the program and make more 3D animations using it. But thanks to this class I have scratched the surface of Maya, and I am planning as a personal project to learn as much about it as I can to take my VFX to the next level.

But besides Maya, there is another program that I have been desiring to learn and try: 3Ds Max. Its another program very similar to Maya (they both come from Autodesk). And in some ways, I feel like I know how to use this program, and I haven't even used it yet. 

I think the reason for this bold claim is because I watched this particular mini series on YouTube from BrandonJLA about learning 3Ds Max. Brandon is famous for being the 2nd in command to Freddie Wong on YouTube back in the early 2010s. They post a lot of cool videos that have a lot of VFX and 3D animations. The programs that they use to make their videos are After Effects and 3Ds Max. Both of these programs are very comment among YouTube and Independent filmmakers. But like any 3D program, many have found it intimidating to learn 3Ds Max. So Brandon takes the audience through the program, how to use it, how he learned it, and some of the pitfalls of 3Ds Max.

I've watched this series of videos a few times, and somehow I feel like I really understand 3Ds Max on at least a basic level. But I just find it humorous that I feel like I know it, and yet I haven't even used it yet. But I am planning to very soon. 

The only problem is that 3Ds Max is exclusively on PC. You cannot download it for Mac (unless you dual boot your Mac to run a Windows operating system, but that process can be very annoying). And as a Mac user, thats kind of annoying, especially when Maya can be used on both Mac and PC (which is ironic since both programs come from the same company). But hopefully I can dowload it on my familys PC back home (if the specs are at least the minimum that I need to operate it).

But that is a project that I plan to do over the break: learn more about and practice 3D in 3Ds Max and Maya.

If you want to learn 3Ds Max in the future, I highly recommend watching this mini series from Brandon: 

    

Roller Coaster Tycoon VFX

A YouTube channel I've been watching for quite some time now, AndrewMFilms just released a video I really enjoyed, A Fun Day in Roller Coaster Tycoon. AndrewMFilms periodically creates short videos like the one featured here, which always involve an impressive amount of high quality VFX, usually involving lots of CGI too. This particular video is based around the popular theme park simulation game "Roller Coaster Tycoon".

A Fun Day in Roller Coaster Tycoon

What I love about this video, is that it was filmed around a theme park, and only used After Effects and Cinema 4D. It's quite inspiring to me, to try and create something similar. I love how they've simply added and modified pre-existing rollercoaster's to create some cool and funny effects. Check out the making of video, shows some good insight.

Making of

Star Wars II CGI

With the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I've been looking back over clips from the prequels, interested in what went so wrong. One major factor which everyone attributes the prequels for mistakingly doing, is overusing CGI.

While I can appreciate more CGI than others (a strong bias which stems from wanting to work in the VFX industry), I can certainly only withstand a certain amount. And I agree the prequels and subsequent re-releases of the original trilogy went overboard. I came across the following featurette on how digital characters were used in replace of puppets.

It is an hour in length, I'm about 3/4's of the way though, but if you have some time I'd recommend giving it a watch. Understandably though you probably don't have time, so just check out the scene from around 8:47. It's interesting to see George Lucas' bias towards CGI and how he approaches it. I found it fascinating how the whole featurette feels slightly dull and lifeless, like the heart of filmmaking is missing.

Overall I think it's worth a watch, an interesting look into Lucas' mind.

Oblivion: Sky Tower Practical Effects

Oblivion is one of those Love it/Hate it type of movies, meaning that there are things that you can really like/love about the movie, and then there are things that arent so great. To get it out of the way, the not so great thing was the story, as it came off as weak and confusing to me.

However the redeeming factor of this movie (in my opinion at least) is the visuals. Everything looked so practical and realistic, even the CG and visual effects were very photo real compared to other Hollywood movies out there.

When I watched this BTS featurette about how they accomplished the Sky Tower in the movie, I was amazed at how practical they made it. They really wanted the actors to feel like they were really in that moment, rather than trying to interact with it via Green Screen set. They accomplished this look by capturing footage of the sky and clouds that they filmed at the top of a really high volcano. And then they took that footage and front projected it onto High Res Screens on the set.

This truly was a cool and very practical thing to do. It looks more real, the light from the footage helps illuminate more light into the set, and best of all, it would save VFX artists the headache of having to deal with green screen spill in the set, because that green would bounce around everywhere I imagine, and would be a nightmare to have to key out and make as real and clean as possible.

To see the Oblivion Sky Tower Featurette, check the video out here:

  

Lightsabers: The First Effect I Learned in AE

I've used After Effects since 2009, right before I started high school. I got into After Effects because I wanted to learn how to make my own Star Wars fan films, particularly involving the infamous lightsabers. I was inspired by a fellow VFX artist that I found through YouTube named Ryan Wieber. I first saw his famous youtube lightsaber fights titled: Ryan vs. Dorkman. Then I watched his tutorial from WAY back in the day (like early 2000s) on how to make lightsaber glows in Photoshop and After Effects. It inspired me to want to get after effects and start making my own effects for my movies. 

So I got an EDU discounted copy of AE CS4, and started making effects for my own videos. It did take some time for me to get use to the technique (let alone the program). I think I watched the saber tutorial at least a dozen times before I was able to memorize it by heart. And then I think it took about a year for me to understand the program in its most basic format. 

Here are some samples of my earliest saber effects in AE:

And then as the years went by I kept practicing with AE, and slowly but surely, I got the hang of making a good lightsaber. 

Here are some more samples from a few years after the previous ones:

But obviously, I couldnt just limit myself to lightsabers. I had to expand my skills to other effects. So then I started to watch tutorials from Andrew Kramer and Ryan Connolly of VideoCopilot and Film Riot. And I learned how to make all kinds of different effects.

Such as:

This particular post is not meant in anyway to show off anything or be a portfolio. I just wanted to share what my journey to learning After Effects was like, and what I did to learn the program. It took me a very long time to understand the program the way I know it now, and I'm still always learning new things about After Effects that I never really thought about in my earlier days. I'm in no ways a true master like Andrew Kramer is. I also really want to practice making effects and graphics in other advanced programs beyond just After Effects, like Maya (which we are learning in class currently), 3DS Max, Fusion, Nuke, and more.

I hope this post was inspiring in some way to those who might still be a little bit intimidated by AE. But dont worry, if you take some time and practice enough with it, make stuff that you think is cool (like I did with lightsabers), you'll get the hang of it in no time!

CG is (Not) Ruining Movies

I recently saw this video by the fine folks at RocketJump Film School (or Freddie Wong as some YouTubers might know him by) about using CG elements in films. A lot of people have said (and still do) that CG in live action movies just looks bad, and how it is better to shoot things practically (as in for real, captured in camera). But is this true?

In some aspects, yes CG doesn't always look great; it may look too animated or glossy and doesn't blend well. But that doesn't mean it's bad altogether. As Freddie points out in this video, the main reason we probably see bad CG and VFX is because the movies themselves are just bad altogether. But there are several movies that use VFX very effectively and people dont even realize it being CG elements. Things like adding cars to streets in a chase scene for example, majority of the cars in the scene are not real cars. They are CG cars that were rendered and utilized correctly in order to add to the story.

I think that the main point that Freddie is trying to make is that CG is simply a tool, a tool that is used to help enhance the story that a filmmaker is trying to tell. If that story is not good, then many other elements will start to look bad as well. The effects will call attention to themselves because the audience is not engaged enough in the story.

So in the end, what matters the most is having a wonderful story to tell to an audience, once you know you have a great story, use the tools you have at your disposal effectively; use the right mix of practical and visual effects in order to help tell your story and make it more engaging and more believable for your audience.

Putting yourself in a scene, and Rotoscoping

One of our new projects for class is to insert ourselves into a movie scene using green screening. This effect was something that was actually done on my favorite YouTube Show about filmmaking: Film Riot.

Film Riot is an awesome show that teaches you "the effects and techniques that go into some of your favorite Hollywood films." So everything from pre-pro to production and post production, they cover most everything that it takes to become a filmmaker. And from time to time, they teach you how to how to do some cool VFX using After Effects. One in particular is how to insert yourself into the scene of a film, or in their case the trailer for the first Avengers movie. Its a really fun tutorial, and the technique is almost exactly what we talked about in class, which covered lighting, placement, and motion. If you need another reference for how to do this effect, this is definitely worth watching!

Also, earlier this week, I found a really great article that talks about the history of Rotoscoping. IT goes from when the technique was first invented in 1915 by Max Fleischer when he created Out of The Inkwell to what we use it for now. I love using this technique to make lightsabers and other fun laser sci fi-based effects. If you want to check out the article follow this link here: https://www.rocketstock.com/blog/rotoscoping-from-early-animation-to-blockbuster-vfx/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_content=Rotoscoping:-From-Early-Animation-to-Blockbuster-VFX&utm_campaign=09-2015-facebook-posts

Deep Compositing

Have You Seen Those Amazing Composited Images In The Movies?
For a long time, the movie industry would hire visual effect houses to create these beautiful Scenes and add in elements to a movies story. Things like set extensions, overlays, masks and other sisual effects were often done by major names like Weta Digital, Animal Logic, MPC, ILM, FUEL VFX and others.


But what happens when after a shot is considered finished and now it's time to get the directors opinion? Often, when a shot is delivered to the main production studio, the directer with "I like the shot, but it would be better if..." "that character's face wasn't so dark?", or "if I could see through that dust cloud a little bit easier" or " if the camera were a little more to the left?" yadayadayada.....
Usually, these minor changes are the major headache for Visual Effect Compositors because they would make the small change. and have to render the entire scene to see if it was any better. (Just imagine how much time that would take on a major battle scene where hundreds of characters are fighting, and we need to just move one of the characters to the left!)

In 2010 a group of compositors reviled a remedy to this headache. After researching for a number of years, their solution is today known as Deep Compositing. In a Deep Composited image, every pixel in an image has not only a Red Green Blue and Transparency value, but also a depth value in the scene. This minor change makes the entire work flow unbelievably faster. The video below describes the concept:


Using Deep Compositing, making and update to a little part of the scene was now faster than ever before.
This Semester, I am taking an experimental Course in Maya Animation, and a majority of the curriculum is based on what technical achievement by some group of people made a program like Maya function the way it does today. In the same way I see that there are compositing techniques that are still being developed and seeing that research is still being done inspires me to continue my pursuits as an Emerging Media degree.

Matte Paintings, Photo-Realistic FX

We talked about how we are soon going to start to learn about using photos of birds, and animate and composite them in our scene to make them look life its actual video of birds actually moving rather than still images. And also add smoke or any kind of atmosphere to the composition to help blend all of the layers together so that it adds a little extra something to sell the effect.

This made me think of this particular tutorial about Matte paintings. Matte paintings are images that are used to add an element to a scene that otherwise doesn't exist. These are commonly used to extend a set or add things into the background of a scene to help make the world of the story more dynamic.

In this tutorial from Corridor Digital, Niko shows us how to make a mountain appear that doesnt actually exist, using simple photos, some 3D tracking, and adding some atmosphere to help make the mountain look like it actually was there in real life.

This also basically explains how compositing is very important in the animation/visual effects/CG process, as it uses multiple elements/layers and blends them together to make one impressive final result.

The State of VFX: A Documentary

Here is a short documentary "Life After Pi," about 30 minutes long, about the story of Rhythm & Hues and the state of other VFX houses. Many VFX studios struggle to stay in business when the business model in the film industry for VFX work is so unsustainable. Tax subsidies in other countries and the payments being fixed bids are hindering the VFX studios.

'Unbroken' VFX & Rotoscoping with Hybride

In the Angelina Jolie film, Hybride, a division of Ubisoft, takes the concept of VFX and rotoscoping to a whole new level. Given the complexity of recreation the Berlin Olympic Stadium as a virtual replica, Hybride needed to match the accurracy of the crowd in each of the 50 actions shot. But unlike the average CG crowd, Hybride needed to construct a tool that would allow the added flexibility required for the film's completion.

Considering the stadium’s size and numerous camera movements showcased throughout the film, the technique for creating the magnanimous CG crowd varied according to each camera point of view. On top of the varying camera movements, the size of the environment made it impossible to use a green-screen for most of the live actions scenes. As a result, the foreground plates had to be rotoscoped and integrated over the CG backgrounds. Hybride's technique allowed for greater freedom and speed for the camera operators when shooting action scenes from the foreground camera perspective. According to the director of photography, Roger Deakins, the main goal was to to always have the effects shows fit perfectly into pristine composted and lit shows to make up the live-motion portion of the film. The greatest amount of accuracy was required in the tracking and layout work in order to actively blend the CG elements to the rest of the camera shots. As a result of the crew's strong production ability, the production was produced with the highest quality possible.

SolidTrack

Have you ever wanted to conduct marker-less camera tracking for real-time visual effects and on-set visualization but didn't have the right equipment to do the job? A company called SolidAnim, one of the major leaders in virtual production products, introduced the latest version of camera tracking system for film and broadcast industries at CABSAT 2015.


SolidAnim is actively promoting the professional utilization of SolidTrack because it is the most accurate, real-time camera tracking solution for recording camera moves and data logging of camera moves on the virtual set. One of the most notable functions of the system is flexibility to filmmakers; allowing individuals to shoot both outdoors and indoors with the same high quality production results.

On top of the fact that it is highly mobile, can be set up within 10 minutes, and adheres instantly to a new environment, SolidTrack (as well as other SolidAnim systems) can meet the highest demands in terms of facial motion capture complexities; the eye tracking system is so powerful that it provides consistent and unparalleled motion capture abilities that give virtual characters more realism. This is a great product that is highly versatile and will be leading the motion capture industry within the near future; I would definitely recommend this to any filmmaker who strives to produce the best content in motion capture.

Life of Pi - Tiger

Creating a life-like tiger as a main character that must be pretty much all computer generated takes an insane amount of animation work. Everything needs to be exactly like a real tiger, down to the muscle patterns. The animators that worked on the tiger through Rhythm & Hues productions had access to real tigers for all the animating work they needed. They used real tigers in the film for only a total of 20 shots, everything else was done with the CG tigers they built. VFX supervisor Westenhofer explained that it was the most complex creature they had every animated. He said that the paws were the most challenging since they required the most amount of independent controls. Ths is the kind of animation that is truly awe inspiring, it just looks so real.

VFX in The Wolf of Wall Street: More Than You Think

This video shows how much CGI was really used in The Wolf of Wall Street, and what it was used for. It is amazing how much CGI they used in the film and it is amazing how well it was done. People only notice bad CGI; the greatest work is never appreciated because people believe it to be reality. The film used CGI to mainly enhance the backgrounds and manipulate the sets they filmed on. I was very surprised to see how everything was changed, I'm glad I came across this video. Everyone should take the time to watch this, you will be surprised. It really shows how powerful and effective CGI can be to compliment a scene, other than to make huge exploding action sequences.


The Wolf of Wall Street VFX Highlights from Brainstorm Digital on Vimeo.

Game of Thrones Green Screen

One of the shows that has won a bunch of recent Emmys for Visual Effects is of course Game Of Thrones. With such a vast, virtual, and magical world it's very important to have believable graphics.

Most of the structures in the show are computer generated, even though they shoot in exotic locations like New Zealand. The video below is a highlight real of some before & after effects consistently found in the show.

One of the things that amazed me was their ability to duplicate extras in the show. Many times they took a small platoon of soldiers and turned them into an army of thousands. It is so amazing how they can do this and create such a realistic army. I also loved the use of green screen curtains to eliminate certain pieces of unwanted terrain that were in the way of the shot. I had never thought about using green screen to get rid of things before.

Rodeo, the company in charge of the visual effects does a fantastic job of creating fantastical and amazing skylines, with crazy mountains, lights, and castles. It truly is a visually stunning show.

Unnoticed VFX Vs.Big Budget VFX

 Everyone always blogging and talking about the big blockbusters with huge budgets and amazing special effects that really stand out to the audience. But what about the smaller budget movies that have visual effects that people don't notice. The visual effect that are subtle that are hidden from the viewer. Wes Anderson  does a great job of this is "The Grand Budapest Hotel". For the people that don't know who Wes Anderson is, a American director and screenwriter. His films are known for their distinctive visual and narrative style. You might know him for the academy award for best animated feature for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" back in 2009. In the video below it shows the small sets that they went through from green screen to miniature sets but it shows more than just the miniature sets that went into this movie. 

For a big blockbuster like gravity it is no surprise that it has won seven awards and was such a hit in the box office. Alfonso Cuarón’s 3D space epic "Gravity" leads the 86th annual Academy Awards with seven wins, including the prize for best visual effects. Gravity has taken in $704.9 million globally including $270.5 at the domestic box office and $424.4 internationally. The video below talks about the film from script to screen and it really shows the narrative behind the dramatic story.