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andybiz_2004
11-09-2004, 01:51 AM
Hello fellow forum members,

I have a small little project that my group is doing. We’re modeling the new BMW 5M luxury sedan. The model of the car is almost finished. We are using both 3D StudioMAX 6.0, Maya 6.0 & Kaydara’s PBX plug-in to interchange formats between MAX & Maya. The modeling of the car is done in Max, while the scenery is going to be done in Maya. Final rendering of the movie will be done in Maya, rendered as Targa image stills & later composited in Adobe Premiere 6.01.

In our storyboard, we proposed that the BMW should drive on a scenic road with rolling slopes of greenery on both sides of the road & the sky above. Then the car is to drive into a tunnel for about 100meters & out of the tunnel back into the scenic road with lush greenery. I know Maya & am in charge of creating the scenery & ceiling lights in the tunnel as the car drives into it, while my friend knows MAX & is modeling the BMW.

What is the best/fastest way to create the scenery & the tunnel drive through & how should I animate it? Should the BMW be stationary all the time while I animate the road, scenery, grass, sky, tunnel, tunnel ceiling lights so that it passes behind the car? How do I do this without killing the render time? I need it to render as quickly as possible. Many thanks in advance for your helpful advice.

Regards,

Andrew
WhiteRabbitObj
11-09-2004, 02:17 AM
Having the car stationary while the environment itself moves it a very bad idea. Just move the car! To do what you want, just model the environment like you would anything else. Paint Effects might be the best for a lot of the scenery along the road. Since you will have a lot of motion blur if the camera is following the car (and you choose to do things the right way), then you can skimp on details on the sides of the road. This will save a lot of render time. You can most likely just render out stills of plants/trees/whatever, project them onto cards, and then place the cards into the scene, elminating most geometry.
andybiz_2004
11-09-2004, 02:36 AM
Thanks for your advice. So, I should animate the car instead of the sceneries. But as in real sceneries of a car driving on a scenic road, the road should pass under the car very quickly, while the sceneries on both sides of the road & sky should pass by slowly because they are far away. How do I simulate this "fast-road-moving-below-car" & "slow-scenery-and-sky" passby? I see this as the most challenging aspect of the rendered animation. THanks again & any other forum members who have experience in this, please do contribute.

Regards

Andrew
stallion151
11-09-2004, 02:59 AM
have the camera really close to the ground, maybe give it a hint of direction blur in the texture or put in a render layer with motion blur.
andybiz_2004
11-09-2004, 06:29 AM
Thank for the helpful advice. But since the BMW will be moving on the road, we plan to have the virtual camera follow closely behind the car & slightly above it & maybe the camera rotates to the front to show the front of the car as it moves. Then the car will move through an enclosed tunnel where I will put some sort of flouracant area lights on the ceiling or lights @ the sides of the tunnel as the car zooms by. How do I render the motion blur as a separate layer? From what I know, rendering motion blur can take an extremely long time.

Thanks you all for your suggestions.

Andrew
stallion151
11-09-2004, 09:55 PM
yes it does, i meant put the object, car or road or scenery on a render layer and then render that layer with motion blur, composite on and yada yada. Do a search on render layers for more advice on how to get the best out of that, and motion blur.
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