Steampunk Myths and Legends Entry: Ricardo Tobon

[rtobon]

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A few colleagues and I are entering the Steampunk group video challenge with our own interpretation of the Ancient Greek myth of Icarus.
We will use a combination of live action, 3d and matte paintings for the visual effects of the piece.
We started on the project a few weeks ago, but where only able to figure out a timeline that will allow us to finish the project by the proposed deadline in the last few days.

The following artists compose the team:

Andrey Drogobetsky
Chris Staricha
Christian Velez
David Wolgermuth
Destiny Bradley
Jason Yacaus
Jorge Mussi
Judha Konigsberg
Macklenan Hasham
Owin Valle
Pedro Flores
Ricardo Tobon
Timothy Ramos

Here is the first swing at the character design. We already decided that we want a more ?western-cowboy-pioneer-steampunk? kind of look. This first concept by Christian Velez came out a little to ?city dweller - steampunk?. We will post the corrections very soon.

[rtobon]

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Here is a quick sketch by Macklenan Hasham helping the team explore the interaction between the character and the environment. More images on this subject coming soon.

[rtobon]

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Here is a more finalized concept for the Icarus character.
On our approach to the myth, Icarus is a young woman.
The final look might differ slightly depending on the actress and what we can physically build for her.
Christian Velez made this concept image.

[Lemog]

Impressive Team ! :deal:

I don't know if you need much wishes :scream: hahaha

In any case, the first concept sketches are promising... that promit to be very interesting...

...really appreciate the originality of your Ikarus... very different than the old one I've made many years ago... yours is more comfortable and pleasant to watch :cool:


... I keep plugged... best of luck for you all guys :wavey:

[AdamTSC]

Nice character concept, definitely has the Steampunk feel.

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1230618642_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1230618642_large.jpg)

Thanks a lot for the encouraging words!

The team is very enthusiastic about the prospect of combining live action, hand made props and CGI for this project.

Here are a few sketches of Icarus rocket pack. Dave Wolgemuth did the sketches for it and he already started making the physical prop. I look forward to posting images of it as he progresses with it.

[adib]

Nice drawings! And the team is a big one! Good luck in the challenge!:beer:

[arcaneg]

great concept art! I wonder how your environment will look like ;)

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1230699544_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1230699544_large.jpg)

Thanks to everyone that has been following this thread.
Here are a few sketches of a steampunk house that we want to have as a background element for the environment.
Jason Yacalis made these sketches; he is also working with Christopher Staricha on the 3D Model of the house.

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1231220737_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1231220737_large.jpg)

Here is the block out of the physical prop for Icarus rocket pack. Dave Wolgemuth is building the physical prop.

[ivanisavich]

Oh wow...that's awesome!!! You're really going the whole way!

[rtobon]

Thanks!
We are trying our best.
You never know how all the elements will come together until the very last minute especially under such tight deadline but we will give it our best shot.
It’s been an awfully fun challenge so far though!

[doffer]

Yeah, it looks really cool! Way better than my icarus interpretation, judging on your artwork so far.
It's always nice to see when people doing real elements as well. Gonna be great to see the result.
Good luck and great work so far :)

[rtobon]

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This is the actress for our video. Her name is Alex Restrepo. We still need to do a few steampunk enhancements to her costume.

[rtobon]

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Here are a few pictures from the preliminary shoot. We did this shoot in order to figure out the cinematography of the piece a little better.

[Pyke]

Reminds me of The Rocketeer...

Perhaps taking a look at that movie will give you some ideas on how to 'fly'?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5yABf322jo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-16jZ3yWeE

Im sure there are better examples if you look around Youtube. ;)

[ru-bonsai]

wonderful!


we are doing a lot of live footage compositing in our project too, I'm very curious about yours...

go on with that!

are you going for a realistic compositing?

very cool props!

[rtobon]

Thanks!

There is something really cool about combining live footage and CG elements. I like full CG too, but sometimes physical solutions work best.

For the composting we are starting in the realistic realm, but we are going to stylize it a little, try to give it a little of a fantasy look.

[rtobon]

Absolutely! We did take a look at the Rocketeer.

Thanks for the recommendation!

We are also taking a look at a lot of Matrix clips as well as Heroes.

We will probably end up doing a hybrid of all those styles.

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1231902584_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1231902584_large.jpg)

This is a quick composition block out that Pedro Flores did with one of the preliminary shoot images. This quick block-out is meant to help us figure out cinematography, color scheme and feel for the piece.

[rtobon]

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Here is an image of the progress of the physical Rocket Pack prop. The prop is being built by Dave Wolgemuth.

[rtobon]

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Here are some finished steampunk props for the Icarus Costume. The goggles where done by Judha Konigsberg and the knee pads by Marcus Scarsella.

[andreasng]

icarus is a chick? nice.

amazing to see that a team actually "makes" stuff. in real life... wow

[rtobon]

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Here is the finished Jet Pack. This prop was created by Dave Wolgemuth.

[rtobon]

Yes, Icarus is a girl in our version of the myth. We will post the finished costume very soon.

Thanks again for the encouragement!

[Lemog]

Nothing to add, this project is very exciting ! congrats... I'm impatient to discover more :beer:

[BUZZFX]

Wow Ricardo this is going to be good!

[rtobon]

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Thanks once more to everyone for their encouragement. It keeps the team going!

Here is a picture of Alex Restrepo who is the actress for the piece in full costume.

[rtobon]

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Here are some pictures from our project?s primary shoot. We did the shoot a few days ago.
More pictures of the shoot coming up soon!

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1232680973_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1232680973_medium.jpg)

Here are some pictures from our project?s primary shoot. We did the shoot a few days ago.
More pictures of the shoot coming up soon!

[AIR]

Awsome, seems like lot of fun, and lot of hard work to!
Keep it up guys!

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1232765123_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1232765123_medium.jpg)

Thanks to everyone that has been following this thread!
Here are a few more images from our primary shoot.

[ivanisavich]

Looks awesome! But damn...she's gotta be sweltering in all that gear!

[Heleb]

This looks amazing, looks so professional, does the equipment belong to you or have you hired it, or do you work for a film company?

[rtobon]

The performer did get a little hot in the costume.

Fortunately Dave Wolgermuth did a great job designing and building the jetpack so most of it is hollow. This makes it somewhat light for the performer to carry.

Also, we where very lucky to have really nice weather during the shoot. It was very sunny but the temperature was not too high. This is the advantage of shooting in January. The disadvantage whatsoever was the light went down pretty quick.

The equipment was borrowed from the University.

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone!!!

[rtobon]

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Here is the digital stunt double of Alex Restrepo. The model was sculpted by Jorge Mussi.

[visionmaster2]

great model, and the proportions look as good as the original !

.

[Lemog]

Very interesting to follow :thumbsup:

[musi]

It is a big and complex project you are doing, guys!
progress is looking very good.
Do you have any integrated shots yet? There is very little time left. Not to stress you... :)
I have a little comment to your digital double: her arm pits are pinched very high up. I guess it's a result of joint deformation from the modeled t-pose. I would suggest bringing clavicle just a little down and modeling a corrective blednshape to bring that area down and natural.
But then it depends on how you are going to use your double - if it's a distance shot then don't use your time on it :)

Good luck finishing!

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233110116_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233110116_medium.jpg)

Comparison between Actress and Digital Double.
Actress: Alex Restrepo
Sculptor: Jorge Mussi

[rtobon]

Thanks a lot to everyone that has been following the thread.
We do have a little few shots that are close to done. We will post them as soon as we have them.
Great idea on the corrective bledshapes. We will try it out as soon as the motion capture – animation is done. Not to sound like a slacker but with the deadline crawling in fast, we want to make sure that extra work that we put in is going to affect the look of the final piece.
It’s going to be a crazy week!!!

[rtobon]

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Here are some images from the mocap shoot.
More work coming soon.

[Martijn81]

Am looking forward to some of your animated shots and to you final animation, they must turn out awesome with this professional approach:D Goodluck with the last bits!

[Lemog]

I'm impressed :eek:

[FrizzleFry0]

I love the progress you guys have made so far. The prop for the jetpack really came out nice too. I can't wait to see the final product when it's finished. Keep up the great work guys!! :applause:

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233282214_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233282214_medium.jpg)

Here is a concept Matte Painting and look exploration for our piece by Pedro Flores.
Macklenan Hasham made the Matte Painting that we are going to use for the productions shots under Pedro's art direction. I will post the final Matte Painting very soon.

[DarkoV]

That is really nice mattepaiting. All the dirt and smudges over the picture add a lot to the atmosphere of the pice.

[Lemog]

I like much this kind of mood... I'm impatient to watch more... especially all together in action :wip:

[monart]

look's very nice :) it's one of my fav :)

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233431490_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233431490_medium.jpg)

Here is the Motion Capture / Animation of the take-off shot.

The performance was done by Alex Restrepo.

Motion Capture, Tracking, and Animation was done by Ricardo Tobon (Me, je, je, je).

Steam Effects where done by Owin Valle.

Pedro Flores made the whole thing look photo-real!

Link to movie:

http://www.ricardotobon.com/pages/SteamPunkChallenge.htm

[rtobon]

The hyperlink does not seem to be working on the previous post.

Let me try it again.

Play Movie (http://www.ricardotobon.com/pages/SteamPunkChallenge.htm)

[Lemog]

That works... impressive and perfect mocap at first view... of course... it's always too short :scream:

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233547212_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233547212_medium.jpg)

Here is the Intro Shot of our piece. There will be minor color corrections to match the rest of the short, but for the most part this shot is done.

The team is working feverishly at the moment to get this thing done!

I will post some new stuff soon.


Play Movie (http://www.ricardotobon.com/pages/SteamPunkChallenge.htm)

[Gmora7]

This project is coming along great! So far the WIPs shown are well done and have a unique style. I look forward to seeing some of the 3d matte paintings in comp! :bowdown:

[rtobon]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233725088_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/23/17275/17275_1233725088_medium.jpg)

So this is it!

There are tons of stuff we would like to do to our video.

We actually will make lots of corrections and additions to it, but they will not make part of the challenge.

Time is up! Last call! All that Jazz!

I want to acknowledge Dave, Mak, Pedro and Owin. This guys rock harder than a Ninja with and electric guitar! This last submission could have not been possible without their hard work.

It’s been insanely fun competing with such talented artists. Our hats go of for the crazy-insane talented production teams!
We are also amazed by the one-man army production powerhouses that we have seen.

I want to

Best of luck to everyone!

Team Icarus Combust!!!

(Flame effects).


Play Video >> (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/steampunk/player.php?entry_id=100730)

[cmdrpi]

:thumbsup: I am glad you guys made it!!! Your entry is really good!
It has got this feel of old movies to it. Some kind of Dalí/Bunuel feeling.
And it is absolutely well done! :)

[Thiago-Pires]

Great Movie!!

Congratualtions to all the team!
Very nice 3d and live action too!!


Good luck to you!!:buttrock:

[rtobon]

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to check our submission.

We truly appreciate the encouragement.

There are a lot of corrections we would like to make to our video, but such is life, you live and you learn.

I want to reiterate how amazed I am when I see the submissions from the other teams and artists that participated in this challenge!

There are some truly amazing inspiring works of digital art among the submissions for this challenge.

I feel inspired and humbled at the same time by this experience.

My favorite thing about the whole experience was the sense of community and healthy competition that was carried all throughout by all the teams.

Thanks again to everyone for all the encouragement!

[Lemog]

Huge work so far... congratulations to the big team... of course... the major crit for me is that's too short... that give the envy to watch the total film :D

Well... it's anyway a true professional realization... BRAVO :applause:

[rtobon]

Thanks Lemog!

It was the encouragement of the forum members like you that forced us to put the final all-nighters that kept us in the race.

I said it once and I said it again. I am amazed by your work! You are a one man production house!

[Lemog]

... You are a one man production house!
hahahaha :D :scream:... thanks... good to laugh in the early morning (here of course) :beer:


...and I hope to see more productions of you soon :deal:

[musi]

This is looks like a professional production to me!
Very nicely integrated cg and life action, well done, team Icarus!
:thumbsup:

[rtobon]

Thank you so much Sasha!

I really liked your team’s submission too.

Great look and animation!

[Martijn81]

The movie looks great, I like the old feel to it! Nice 3D and live action integration. Congrats finishing this movie with your team and goodluck with the judging!

[davidbw]

I just wanted to take sometime to thank everyone who has looked at our submission and gave us feedback on the project. Seeing your work was inspiring to us and we applaud each and every one of you who choose to submit and compete. Good luck with the judging and we look forward to seeing more art from each and every one of you. The more we share the more we inspire each other.
Good Luck :thumbsup:

[andreasng]

hey guys well done. It is a daring act to try and implement real life footage into cg stuff. And i think you did a great job.
There is one place where you change angle on icarus and the sky is the same, thats a shame, you must have been under loads of pressure.
The shot where ms. icarus is flying towards the screen for a couple of seconds, it would have added some action if you put some smoke in behind her.

It's nice to see how thorough the "3d matte" is in the making of. Would have loved to see more of it in the full feature.

cool guyS! well done

[Mackcg]

Thanks andreasng,

The matte painting was fun to paint and set up in Nuke. Some fun R&D in the development of the pipeline. The best aspect being how quickly I could edit and generate updates based on critiques from the rest of the team.

The pressure was definitely on. In some cases from those special ladies with a few choice words about the late hours :beer:.

I must say I enjoyed the immersive quality of your project [Someone just walked by while watching it and proclaimed its sweetness]. Great creative adaptation of the old man and the sea. Def. a book I like to keep on my shelf.

Cheers!

Mack,

[DanHaffner]

Amazing how nice this looks! Great work to everyone that worked on it!

[dclugent]

Amazing work. I'm proud to have teachers like this :)

[DanHaffner]

Amazing work. I'm proud to have teachers like this :)


Agreed x1,000,000

[rtobon]

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and encouragement!

These things make all the hard work that we put into the piece worth it.

We will start corrections on the piece next month and will post the new version as soon as it is done.

Thanks again to everyone that took the time to review and comment on our piece.

[Fess]

Congratulations on this piece Full Sail University.

Job well done


-J

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