FXWars! "Frakenstein's Castle"!: Dexter Ng, Hybrid

#1

Get it here
Mirror here
(please try the first link before getting it from the mirror, it’s my website and I really don’t want the bandwidth to go over the roof, many thanks :slight_smile: )

Here’s my entry, took me one month, on and off, to finish everything from previz to compositing. Suppose to be a hybrid entry, yet due to time contraints I have only managed the exterior. Thanks to Roberto for the free music link :wink:

Everything, except sound effects and music, were done by me.

Modeling, animation and rendering in Lightwave3D, textures done in Photoshop and compositing done in After Effects.

PS: Can anyone please tell me how to get rid of the black outlines around the castle? The RGB pass was rendered to TGA32 with alpha channel, but somehow the composition lost its transparency supposedly due to one of the layers, therefore I had to use a travelling matte in the final composition to make the background transparent, then I get this dark outline.

#2

Finished the bridge, 12 hours of work.Actually the camera doesn’t go that near to the bridge but anyway…

C&C welcomed :thumbsup: Gonna start working on the castle after this.

#3

[left]Wow. That bridge looks incredibly detailed but I guess 12hours of work can do that. I can see you’re very dedicated to this so all I can say is keep it up! It’s shaping to be a great entry :slight_smile:
[/left]

#4

HEy! very detailed! and very nice mapping!!!
cool start!Did you have 2d concept of your castle?

#5

Roz: Thanks! :wink:

OZ: No I didn’t sketch out a concept per se, although I have a rough 3D sketch to outline the key structures…which you can see in my previz video in the first post. :wink:

Updates:
Added more detail to the bridge…its done and I’ve moved on

Parts of the castle

It has been a slow weekend (I actually started on the tower, but I wasn’t happy with it so I switch to the castle for a change of pace) so I guess I better pick up speed if I want to meet the deadline. Keep the critiques anc comments coming :slight_smile:

#6

these models are coming along very nicely! definitely going to watch this thread…

#7

Castle is completed…I suppose. I’m gonna keep looking at it to see if there’s anything I should add.

The renders are rendered in the previz scene to see if the model is detail enough for the camera, motion blur and test lighting, hence the blur and bluish tint.

Gonna start on the vegetation and terrain.

#8

Great entry so far…
I would leer a bit more on the castle when the camera is approaching, but besides that
minor objection you are doing great.

BTW if you are looking for a soundtrack for your piece, go here:

http://www.freeplaymusic.com

-R

#9

great work! i like the detailed models and textures, how will you create such a big amount of trees and still keep it renderable??

#10

Roberto: Thanks for the link!

Jelmer: Good question, I’m thinking the same thing. The most probable solution would be rendering in passes…lots of passes.

Unfortunately, this will be an exterior only entry as it is becoming obvious that I might not even finish the exterior animation in time :sad:. But as I have invested considerable effort in this I wil probably see this through even if I don’t make the deadline.

I’m working on the terrain before the bridge. Hopefully I’ll solve the problem on populating the terrain with vegetation and post something before the weekends.

#11

I was actually thinkning about the tree myself, if I were going to do it I would create a line of trees in front then on the back have a giant mesh with a texture on it. This way it seems like there are a lot of trees.

So it may look something like this :

With textures and lighting, this could work perfectly from a far away view.

#12

Thats a great idea, albeit only suitable for distant shots. My main concern right now has to do with the part when the camera is flying through the forest where there’s little space to cheat. So, I’m looking for suggestions to optimize the trees while still making it look good.

For the distant trees, I might use your suggestion or simply use cardboard trees…or render them into the background matte painting.

#13

hey Dexter

Great detaled Modelling … its really very good … and as the reply to ur thinking in the other thread by ‘Hellboy’ … me and my team is also there in this challege and i think 2 more r participating… if u want u can chaeck our thread… Heres the link

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=412273 CHECK PAGE 5 for the FINAL MODEL

#14

looking neat m8 :thumbsup:

#15

you might find this eon challenge thread interesting for the tree part, good luck.

#16

I did away with the trees beside the road leading to the bridge and replaced it with a graveyard.

Here’s what I have so far…

forest road (1.5MB Sorenson 3)

Planning to add some ground fog to the grass, but that’ll havta wait.

C&C welcomed :slight_smile:

#17

I love the camera motion, and the work you have done so far.
And I admit that fog effects will add a LOT to this shot, but dont let it obscure
the wonderful modeling work you have done.

Good job so far.

PS Are you planning to use any music on it?
-R

#18

very nicely modeled! and while i loved the trees, i love the graveyard, and i can understand why you would change it. wonderful so far, cant wait to see more!

#19

I wasted 2-3 days trying to get the darn trees to look good at such close distance, apparently the scene became so heavy it wasn’t workable at all, at least not on my computer, so I had to change it to a graveyard. :shrug: The rendering took less than a day and then composited in AE.

Roberto: I’m more worried about getting the visuals done, so while I plan to put in some sound and music, it’ll have to wait.

Thanks for the kind words :wink: I’m working on the castle grounds now.

#20

I’m rendering the basic passes right now and its gonna take 2-3 days before I go into compositing. Effects passes (fog, smoke, fire, sparks) will be rendered after these passes, and I’ll try to get them done before the deadline. Otherwise I’m gonna just post what I have.