School of Fish - Which technique to use?

#18

After a few renders and a few tests this is a new version. It seems the renderer messed up a few frames so i don’t have the whole simulation here. But i have a preview if you want to have a peek.

Let me know what you think. I am trying to stay away from using the Maya ocean to actually cast real caustics. As i believe it would take more time to render. I just want to add to a bit more to the credibility of the school of fish.

The caustics on the floor of the sea are actually a 2D ocean texture from maya mapped in the light and animated with a oceantime = sin(time) expression.

Here is the latest version.

http://www.magmafx.com/wip/fish/School_Sim_v6.mov

Xavier.

#19

Hey Xavier. I like it a lot. Congratulations. :thumbsup: I only have to point one thing though. I think this time, the fish are a bit dark. I mean, I know undersea ilumination comes from above and you get things with less light, but I think it would be better if the fish where a bit more lit in the darken areas(Like the last test with glow that you showed us). I hope I made my self clear.

-S

#20

Simply SuperBBBBBB… The way its orientation is really nice…

regards,
-Baran

#21

Well thank you very much for your comments and suggestions, baran, stucky, bonedaddy, sturmkim, stev.

I’ll post another version soon around wednesday, as it seems i have some glitches in the render.

Cheers!

Xavier.

#22

Really, really loving it. The only thing that still throws me off is the simplistic background – the staid color and the pretty solid volumetrics. The caustics helped, but it still could use a little oomph, you know?

That said, this looks really, really great. Very professional. Good work!

#23

Cheers BoneDaddy!! Thanks for the comments!! It’s nice to know that i did a good job!

So here is the latest version that might be the final. Keep in mind my first objective was to do a good simulation for a school of fish. I know the background is kind of empty…i’ll probably add coral later but i have to show this on wednesday to my, maybe, future employer.

I removed the pop i had at 2 seconds at the beginning.
The fact that my render was always different and popping sometimes…well guess what, is that i DIDN"t cahce the particles. Duh!

As a new thing in the render, I just added specs floating in the water.

“Right-Click” and “Save As” - Simulation_v9

http://www.magmafx.com/wip.html

Enjoy!

And let me know your comments!

Cheers people,

Xavier.

#24

Again, looks great, dude. If you’re doing this as a work sample for some company, don’t let them just have it – if they absolutely have to have a copy, give them a watermarked copy or something. Never work for free. They should totally hire you on the basis of that, if that’s what they’re looking for.

#25

Bonedaddy, thanks for the reply.

I’ll put the file on DVD, and i will not actually have them have the maya file, if that’s what you meant. Or should i even put a watermark on the video file itself?

#26

Man that’s great stuff. Good luck on the job. You have the skills thats for sure eh? =)

#27

Well, I don’t know this company. I am just wary of places that want you to do some “sample” work for them, you hand it over, they use it, and you never get paid for it. If they’re not super-picky, they may be fine with what you’ve already made, and be perfectly happy to gank it for their purposes. I’d watermark the video, so that they couldn’t just take it and plug it into whatever they wanted to use it for. But I’m a mite paranoid.

#28

Definately don’t give them it for free. Watermarking it is a good idea imo. Most definately don’t give them any scene files unless they have hired you.

I know an FX guy that did a week long FX test: Designing a tornado. He sent them all his work, and they decided not to hire him. You know what happens next… He sees his tornado on TV 6 months later.

(Yes… He tried ot go after them, but they had folded by the time it aired)

#29

I got the job!!!

I am starting on the 5th! YESSS!!! Woohooo!!

Moving on from games to tv/film …raahhh!!! Finally!!

#30

I missed out on this thread earlier but it looks fantastic

can you say where you’re going yet? Or did I miss that part?

#31

Woo! Congrats! Richly deserved of course. :slight_smile: Where did you get hired? Can you say?

#32

Hey guys!

I got hired in an FX Studio here in Montreal. It’s a small place but it is still a great place for me to learn TONS! The place is called D.A.M.N FX.

  • something completely different, but i am also attending the Massive Black workshop!!! Yess!! Can’t wait for that! -

Thanks for your feedback Bonedaddy, Stucky and everyone! :slight_smile:

Cheers!!!

Xavier.

#33

Right on! I took a look at their website – some nice stuff! Hope it’s a cool place to work.

You’ll have to let us know how the Mudbox demo is!

#34

hey!

fantastic simulation you did here. I know this thread is kind a old, but hopefully someone can answer my queston tho. there is one thing I didn´t quite understand ->

“The particles are moving around the sphere’s surface with a runtime expression where at each frame the goalV is incremented of 0.01: goalV += 0.01”

where is the right place to put this expression into? do I have to create a Per-Particle Goal Weight? or is it in the Array Attributes - goalPP or goalWeight0PP? I´d appretiate any help from anyone!

#35

it’s a PP goal weight (i presume) - as the U and V run from 0 to 1 the particles will travel in the V direction around the sphere as the goalV increases. You can also just stick a black to white ramp on goalV, so at the beginning of the particles lifespan they begin at one side and die at the other.

hope this makes sense, someone else can probably explain it much better than me…

#36

Dude,

That is a great first run. Looks very good already. I am sooo impressed. I wish all my first runs looked like that.

Thanks for the insight on how you did this as well.

:bounce:

#37

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