FX WARS: Invasion: ScottageCheese (Freeform)

[RobertoOrtiz]

Jay!

Welcome to the fold.
If you need any shots in the Washington DC area, drop me a PM.
-R

[ScottageCheese]

Cool Robert, thanks for the help.

So, thinking of opening with a shot of earth, a slow push in... with some creepy music playing... leading into the first shot of the saucers....

All done in Nuke, used 3d spheres in Nuke and just mapped the usual earth textures you can find online.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Earth_002.jpg

**** Sorry guys, my provider's servers crashed or something, it's been on and off, so if links and pictures are down temporarily, I appologize. ****

[ScottageCheese]

So... I have a 1st pass at my Tokyo at night shot.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Tokyo_001.jpg


www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/Tokyo_002.mov (http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/Tokyo_002.mov)

(10 megs) my compression skills suck.

I think I'm going to call it quits on the saucer... I spent a little too much time on those light spikes that come off camera at the top, but very happy with the way it came out.

Now i want to animate all the lights below, blinking red lights on buildings and towers, m,aybe helicopter or plane in the far far distance... just to give it a little movement.

[ScottageCheese]

Here's a better view of the saucer I got going on...

Still working on the shading/textures... not sure how close up I'm going to get on this yet.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/UFO_occ.jpg

[Rickmeister]

Looks pretty cool so far! I like the classy U.F.O. design.

[jussing]

Holy F! I thought I had my mothership designs all worked out, but seing yours I might have to go back and improve it!

Looking great there.

- Jonas

[ScottageCheese]

I can't take credit for the UFO design, I mearly ROCK at ripping things off... haha (And even then, it's not that great of a detailed rip off)

Inspiration from Spielberg's "Taken" mini series...

http://www.scifi.com/taken/images/Taken07_1024.jpg


http://www.galactic.no/rune/ufo2crach.jpg

http://www.scifi.com/taken/images/Taken08_1024.jpg


Cool mini series, if ya havn't seen it.

[jussing]

LOL. :)

But yea, that looks cool and no, I didn't see it.

- jonas

[Gmora7]

Hey Scottage your project is coming along well! Best of luck.

[Rickmeister]

Well... at least the thing you ripped off looks cool... you could ripped something else off that looked like shit. But you didn't, so thats a plus ;)

I've heard things about Taken, but never really watched it. I spend my time watching 4400 instead. But I might check it out after all...

[ScottageCheese]

...See, and I thought the 4400 was lame... Taken had more suspense I think.

Soooooo....

Moving onto my "Destroyer of Worlds" bomb... I imagine it dropping out the center (how original) of the saucer, and falling slowly, enough time to do 2, maybe 3 shots of it.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/bomb_001.jpg (http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/bomb_anim_001.avi)

^ click image for anim test ^


All done with 1 fluid gradient, just frequencies animated over time, and rotation on the whole grad sphere. I'm sure there will be other stuff over this, particles, 2d displacements... might start it out peaceful and serene, white ball, and then have it grow violent and plasma'y like at the end? Who knows. I need to see it over a plate.

Going for a lil Star Trek IV tribute if i can make it work... Have a beam of light between it, and the craft. Maybe even have it sing "whale"?

http://www.jammersreviews.com/images/misc/voyage/probe.jpg

not the best pic, sorry....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4343mfQ5Cpw

jump to 2:55 to get a good look at the probe.

[ScottageCheese]

Light and comp still test. I imagine that "MY" version of aliens are a very clean beings. Hence the chrome, spotless ship. (Ok, so i suck at shading!) But i found a sweet aerial of San Francisco, figured it would look cool in a reflection on the ship.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/dropdabomb_001.jpg


the bomb is still a work in progress... i'll try and get a test render of this soon.

Thanks for the crits guys. Keep them coming. Still need some ideas for the blast. Might only have time for old school, sphere shaped shockwave. What'cha think?

[ScottageCheese]

It's been pretty quiet this FXwars, where is everyone?

So I don't have much, been working a lot, but thought I would show.... something. I realized my FXwars was lacking, well, FX... so been working on what potentially will be my explosion. Most likely comped between some buildings, or maybe over a city (above rooftops), havnt decided yet. Used a fluid again. Will most likely add some secondary hardware particles in there somewhere.


LINK TO MOV (http:///www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/PlasmaWave.mov)


http:///www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Wave_001.jpghttp:///www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Wave_002.jpghttp:///www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Wave_003.jpg


LINK TO MOV (http:///www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/PlasmaWave.mov)

[ScottageCheese]

O yeah, and I also revisited my earth comp.... It will be a slow push in. 1st shot of my edit.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Earth_003.jpg

[Gmora7]

The energy ball is coming along, Are you going to add something similar to solar flares orbiting it, that would look cool. The earth shot looks good, I know it's a WIP but trying more bump or displacement to it. Especially the clouds.

[ScottageCheese]

Yeah if there is time, I would like to do the earth shot in a 3d app. Right now it's all in Nuke. Just using 3d spheres and texturing them. maybe i could fake it in Nuke, but yeah, displacements, or even bumps would help a lot. ....time permitting, i'll totally fix that. Thanks for the feedback

The explosion will be fast, and I imagine it will be pretty close to camera, and then cut to a wide shot of the city, all blown out from exposure. I doubt I'll get around to ACTUAL DESTRUCTION. Lots of faking

[Gmora7]

You can displace it in nuke. Just set your sphere to be bicubic, raise the resolution and use your image. The displacement is luminance based so adj the paremeters to your likeing. You will get a render hit though... but i'll look good!

[ScottageCheese]

Yeah Gmora7, that displacement is awesome, however... machine cant take it... my sphere is at like 100 x 100 segments... Trying the shot in maya now, just didnt want to deal with all the render passes.

As RnD continues... been watching a bunch of SWEET ( yet terrifying ) Atomic bomb footage. Thought it might be cool to insert a quick, ground level shot when the alien bomb drops. Its amazing how something made of metal, steel even, turns to playdo when a nuke goes off. The nerd inside me loves that, but the humanitarian in my hates it.

Eventually a street corner, with maybe a building in the background. Mail box, maybe some newpaper thingies, trash can. This will be a heavy scene. Hope i can finish it with the rest.

2.9 megs

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/Blast_test_001.avi (http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/Blast_test_001.avi)


http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Blast_test_001.jpg (http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/movs/Blast_test_001.avi)

[ScottageCheese]

Started YET another shot... all my work is still in RnD phase... dont have any shots done yet.

But first shot of the UFOs on earth, will be New York. Figured a statue of liberty shot would say "New York" enough. Plus, much easier than making a UFO reflect in thousands of windows.


First and last frame of the shot.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Liberty_001.jpg

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Liberty_002.jpg

[chrisbeaver]

Awesome progress so far! Will you/do you have the ocean reflecting off the bottom of the ship? (and a note on that -- I've never seen Taken before, so I just associated it with a giant hubcap until I went for a second look at Page 1 :D)

Really looking forward to seeing how yours turns out.

[ScottageCheese]

Yeah the ocean is in the reflection already. Gotta love Google Earth, took a nice 2k snap shot of Liberty Island... thats whats reflecting in the ship. First half of the motion, you see lots of grass/brick reflecting, and then passes over water, and reflections go more blue.

[RobertoOrtiz]

Heads up!

Fxwars Invasion: Two Weeks To Go (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=139&t=644080)

[ScottageCheese]

wow, that's not a whole lot of time. hahaha.

Either way, I'll post my WIP edit anyways at the end.

[RobertoOrtiz]

Heads up!

Fxwars Invasion: ONE WEEK To Go (July 3rd!) (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=139&t=647143)

[ScottageCheese]

There's no way I'm going to make it... haha

[chrisbeaver]

Every time I hear Journey's "Wheel in the Sky" on the radio I think of this thread :buttrock:A lot can happen in a week, man!

[RobertoOrtiz]

There's no way I'm going to make it... haha
How much time you need?

[ScottageCheese]

About 8 more weeks and 3 more people?

Is that doable?... hahaha... Naw, what I got so far will do, not my best work, but not my worst.

[ScottageCheese]

So been kinda busy at work. Only have stills to show at the moment, my machine at work and at home wont render these out of nuke (Bad Allocation error.... RAM?), maybe i gotta sneak them on the farm at work late at night.

Shot of Paris lighting up. Tried to frame it so i wouldn't have to do too much on the shot. Running out of time, using comp tricks, left and right. Might add a flock of birds in the FG. and then a dust/sound wave hits the cam. But the blast is pretty far in the distance.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Paris_001.jpg

my second destruction shot... of New York... 2 frames here, sorta first and almost last of the shot. Big flash, and then the city is burried in cloud of dust (Wasnt really going for atomic bomb destruction, maybe it just vaporized organic material like War of the Worlds) But I think it works with the buildings poking out the tops.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Wide_Blast_01.jpg


http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Wide_Blast_02.jpg

And the last shot, a quick pull out from like, high orbit, to almost a full shot of the earth. With pops of light all over the place, showing all the major cities being attacked. And I'm over powering the lights on the surface, so you can see them shut down when the bombs go off.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/Earth_Closing_001.jpg

Most of my shots are at like 75%. May not get to complete any of them.

If I do "Tornado"... for sure it will be one shot................ maybe 2.

[Gmora7]

Crunch Time!!

[Rickmeister]

I most certainly do hope you'll finish this! From the frames you showed us it is looking very good!

[BusterHymen]

Incredible work on this one. I really hope you get it finished. Even if you don't manage to get all the shots completed, I would sure love to see what you can get done.

[ScottageCheese]

Thanks guys, been throwing another comp togther, of Big Ben in London... all foggy and creepy... I'll try and post it tonight.

Edit also looking pretty solid thus far, just need to finish about 3 more shots. I'm hoping its a slow work week.

[snicket]

Looking Great. Just out of curiosity what programs do you use?

[ScottageCheese]

I'm using Maya2008... Mental Ray, basic stuff. And then comping all in Nuke, and the earth shots were done with Nukes 3d scanline renderer, all in Nuke.

One last shot of thier "arrival"... Got New York so far, Tokyo, and now I'm doing London.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/BigBen_01.jpg

I'll be rendering the rest of the day/evening. Maybe a .mov of it by late tonight/tomorrow morning.

[maksy]

It looks creepy to me..nice progress ;)

[RobertoOrtiz]

Heads up

FXWARS INVASION (Post you Final Entry ):July 7th Date (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=139&t=648200)

-R

[ScottageCheese]

Wow, that's coming up quick...

I might have to just cut and run with that i got... maybe Sunday i can put a few hours into it.

[raylistic]

how did u create the blastwave?

[ScottageCheese]

Hey Raylistic,

I just used a Maya Fluid gradient. For both the spherical blue shockwave, and for the bed of cloud cover. No sim, just animated textures, and scale attributes.



Here's the cloud cover, with the implode animated over time, to give it the effect its emitting from the center. And then with animated "texture time" over that. This was a pretty long render. I did most of my passes at 1280x720

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/cloud_cover.jpg



Building tops matte below, also used to radial blur to create a drop shadow onto the cloud/dustwave.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/cloud_matte.jpg

here's the 2 combined, with the drop shadow added. And a lil motion/radial blur added ontop.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/cloud_final.jpg


And my two blast waves. Spherical and a Flat, ring shape. Same deal, animated textures on a fluid gradient. Only instead of implode, i just reverse the effect, so it bubbles out.

http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/sphere_wave.jpg

the flat, is practically the same as above, scaled flat, rotated, with different "texture time" values.
http://www.scottagecheese.com/FXwars/imgs/flat_wave.jpg

Hope that helps Raylistic. I also painted some mattes, for the water surface, also painted a matte for the faces of the building that would recieve light from the dropping bomb. And then a HUGE LENSE FLARE to cover up all the other crap i never finished... hahaha

[raylistic]

Hi, will you be participating in the tornado challege? I am looking forward to your participation. I am joining in too! I am a maya user and a nuke user, so it will be cool if 2 people using the same softwares can participate! SO maybe we can exchange ideas and techniques as well.

[RobertoOrtiz]

Congratz!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/robertoortiz1/FXWARS/cupfx.gif

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