CgTalk:FXWars! TESLA - Challenge:24 - WE ARE LIVE

#1

THE WORLD OF TESLA
“The man who invented the twentieth century”

“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter — for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way. He lives and labors and hopes.”

— Nikola Tesla.

“Within a few years a simple and inexpensive device, readily carried about, will enable one to receive on land or sea the principal news, to hear a speech, a lecture, a song or play of a musical instrument, conveyed from any other region of the globe.”

— Nikola Tesla, foreseeing the creation of Internet and cell phones.

VISUALIZATION WAR
BY Roberto Ortiz

The worlds of Tesla is an open FX-Wars challenge. It is designed showcase the beautiful mind of the 19th century genius Nikola Tesla

Who is Tesla?
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) physicist and electrical engineer, inventor of the radio, AC Motor, and Tesla Coil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

THE CHALLENGE:

Visualize the creations of this man.
And trust me there are many…
You may do a simple simulation of a Tesla Coil or you may do a visulaization of one of his many Tesla Coil or you might do a scientific visualization of his [color=white]Wardenclyffe Tower .[/color]

Hell you might visualize some of his more extreme ideas like the RAY GUN or the Earthquake Machine.

Imagine you have been tasked to do a series of visualizations for a documentary in the HISTORY CHANNEL. This means that how the science looks and feels like is key.

Here are some of the ideas you might help visualize:
[ul]
[li]TESLA COIL (Do a realisti representation of an AC coil)[/li][li]RADIO[/li][li]AC MOTOR[/li][li]RAY GUN(a fully finctional ray gun )[/li][li]EARTHQUAKE MACHINE (Imagine a visualization of mechanical oscillator at work)[/li][li][color=white]Wardenclyffe Tower .[/color] viusalization[/li][/ul]

If you want a preview of what can be done, check out some of these videos
(Click Link for video)
[ul]
[li]Nikola Tesla - The Forgotten Wizard[/li][li]TESLA COIL[/li][li]TESLACOIL[/li][li]Nikola Tesla in The Prestige[/li][li]RAY GUN[/li][li]EARTHQUAKE MACHINE[/li][li]Nikola Tesla: The Missing Secrets[/li][/ul]One of the key of the challenge, for all entry types, is to do believable visualization shots. Any method and technique can be used to produce the shots (3D models, matte painting, live action, photographs etc) so good integration of the elements is key. Like the last challenge this is an excellent opportunity for compositors to try their skills. (But a a composite is not a requirement)

At the end pf the challenge a finished entry that looks EXACTLY like the kinds of scene we could see in a science documentary (live action OR animated) so keep in mind that the keys are realism and feeling You will have ONE MONTH to do the challenge.

THE CHALLENGE:
Simulate a series of visual effect shots (diagrams or either exterior or interior shots

Keep in mind that the entry can be set in ANY time period, and the style of the project can be either in a realistic or campy.

DATELINE:

MARCH 31,2009
The announcement for this mini challenge will be posted in
-
(After that You have ONE MONTH to do the challenge.)

TYPES OF ENTRY:
You may do one of these types of entries:
[ul]
[li]TRIBUTE[/li][size=2]Think of the visual FX sequences from films like Frankenstein, Buck Rogers (1930’s), The Prestige.
[/size]
[li][color=darkorange]FREEFORM ENTRY[/li][/color]The core requirement for this type of entry is to have fun.

[li]VFX SHOT[/li][size=2]This is your chance to test your compositing skills .You need to use a REAL background plate (clip or sequence).[/size]
[/ul]But keep in mind the key thing that I expect to see in all entries is GOOD VISUAL EFFECTS…

CHALLENGE SPECIFIC RULES:
[ul]
[li]No work taken DIRECTLY from an existing tutorial. You may use an existing tutorial only for reference.[/li][li]You may use a pre existing model, as long as you give credit to the creator. If you cant model, use simple shapes, since we are interested in the simulation. (But teams are encouraged, and if you are a modeler, you can make your model available)[/li][/ul][color=white]Voting:
(We will select by an open vote )
[/color]You may vote for:

[ul]
[li]Best WIP THREAD[/li][li]BEST Animation(If Any)[/li][li]BEST COMP WORK (If Any)[/li][/ul]
[color=darkorange]And the big one of course

[/color]
[ul]
[li]BEST VISUAL EFFECTS[/li][/ul]The winner will get bragging rights and a small banner
designed by me.
_______________________________________

GENERAL RULES:
[ul]
[li]The animation and visualizations must have been done AFTER the topic has been announced.[/li][li]You may use stock previously shot footage for background plates and VFX elements.[/li][li]IF you use footage for a VFX sequence it must be raw NOT contain any Visual Effects.[/li][li]WIP are encouraged if they are posted in ANOTHER thread. Please provide a link to them on this thread.[/li][li]WIP thread should be posted on the FXWARS Forum forum and should follow[/li]the following naming convention: FXWars! Flying Car MY NAME ENTRY TYPE (TRIBUTE, FREEFORM, VFXSHOT), (Note: Group entries are allowed)
[li]It is Recommended that Final movies should be rendered at 320 x 240 or 640 x 480 in QuickTime* format (Sorenson Compression), but other resolutions and formats are allowed. * (The animation format is open for discussion.)[/li][li]The animation should follow the following naming convention:[/li]MYNAME_FXWARS(RESOLUTION).mov. And please add your name at the beginning and end of the animation, and if you can, also add a small non disruptive watermark during the animation.
[li]If for some reason, you can’t host movies, sequential images (Thumbnails size 160 x 120 ) are accepted.[/li][li]You are STRONGLY encouraged to add your entry to You Tube. If interested, please contact the Roberto Ortiz.[/li][li]Please add a brief text description about your piece.[/li][li]The artist also has to post total length of time it took and program used.[/li][li]Collaborative pieces are accepted and encouraged, but Teams entries must have a identifying banner and a name. Shot lists should be included with the entry.[/li][li]Individuals participating in a team CAN have their own individual entries.[/li][li]Post on this thread your link to your WIP thread and your FINAL piece.[/li][li]You can add multiple entries, as long as they have different WIP threads.[/li][li]Freelancers CAN participate in more than ONE entry[/li][li]All Teams members & Freelancers will get screen credit for in the title cards for participation[/li][li]Only participants who follow the rules and submit a final entry will be elegible for the voting process.[/li][li]The moderators reserve the right to taken down any thread.[/li][/ul]
REFERENCE:

Nikola Tesla - The Forgotten Wizard
TESLA COIL
TESLACOIL
RAY GUN
EARTHQUAKE MACHINE
Nikola Tesla: The Missing Secrets

-R

#2

Mmm that’s not an easy one! (if there are easy ones…)

Doing some tests now, but I will probably have too much work to participate in a real entry. :frowning:

And if anyone has an idea of how to get a realistic looking 3D lightning, please share! Even if I’m quite satisfied with what I get in compositing, It would rock to have something in 3 dimensions.

#3

Well, I don’t use it, but I believe maya has a built in lightning generator. It did when i tried 6.0 anyway. same place as the built in fireworks. It was really easy to use too, just place one end at the start and one at the end. If you want something more advanced just google maya/max lightning plugins.

#4

I just checked the maya doc, and that feature looks a bit old. I guess it would be a piece of cake with houdini L-systems. Unfortunately I use 3ds max! :smiley:

The 2d way should be enough to get something believable I suppose .

#5

Ah, a tribute challenge to a great man!

#6

Hey ulb, I recall there was a tutorial in 3dworld by Peter Draper where he created a plasma ball (something like an inverted lo-profile tesla coil). The tutorial was straight forward even if you haven’t touched Pflow before.

You can check his website http://www.xenomorphic.co.uk or contact him, very pleasant fella, will surely reply to you and help you.

Have a go on it…

Cheers

#7

Well the whole concept of FXwars rests on the fact you don’t use plug-ins/built in systems to generate the major effect the wars is about. I don’t mean ‘don’t use plug-ins’ i mean don’t go out looking for lighting gens when you need to generate lighting, explore particle avenues, spline’s with noise on them, comping with cards and baked textures.

Good luck all!

#8

So is after effect’s lightning out?

#9

Ok, so I am in. Resp. we are (doe is joining me on this ride).

I will mainly focus on creating the lightning system for the coil, using ICE in Autodesk Softimage 7.5. I am not going to use any prebuild setups, as I think that’s exactly why people should be joining this: Use your technical and creative juices to create an effect!

#10

I kinda disagree here:

I think it is a bit like saying its cheating to do smoke in fumefx. Of course the goal is to improve and do some research, but using plugins is just a way to try to get the best effect.

I used Zap from sapphire plugins to do my first test, and there is still a huge amount of work to do afterwards. I’m still thinking about ways to do lightning in 3d with 3dsmax, but I don’t feel like developping my own complex plugin.

My goal here is to improve my skills by achieving the best effects I can do with the tools (and the time) I have.

#11

Hi,indeed REALY NICE CHALLENGE!

Can we do a [color=white]Wardenclyffe Tower in a science fiction mode.For example more sofisticate and in a futuristic background?[/color]

#12

Fine, as long as there is some connection to tesla…

#13

Thanks man! Let the fun Begin!:buttrock:

#14

You state that the challenge is based on his projects but those of us walking the path know about all of his works that are not included in history’s pages.
If i send you proof of some much more interesting works of his that he did for the military and thier joint effort with the other races at certain underground bases, can i use that as a basis for the piece i want to do for the challenge?

#15

For example:
the image you used for the challenge with Tesla sitting calmly reading a book while tens of thousand of volts of electricity are shooting all over the room.

Why is he sitting so calm reading a book?
This is what i am talking about. The works of esoteric arts that the government does not want you to know about.
Raw magnitite and it’s ability to harness and create torsion fields around triangulated areas drivin by space itself.
The truth of the matter goes so much deeper and i would love to showcase one of these “forbidden” works if it is allowed.

I can provide proof, hard cold facts and documentation and even some brief video proof of these projects in action.

#16

Fringe science was a big part of the man…

Go at it!

:slight_smile:
-R

#17

Hrm, haven’t done an FXWars challenge in forever and this one sparked a few ideas on my end. I’m in, and I think it’s going to be a tribute to a very old, very classic film.

–T

#18

It is nice to see you again.
I am looking forward to your entry.
-R

#19

I forgot that you helped out on the “simple life” short that Kirt was heading up. Thanks for the reminder on your reel!!!

#20

Thank you.

For those that are curios,
Here is a very small taste for my piece that i’ll be doing for the challenge.
I am a theoretical physicist in my normal life away from CG.
The Free DC Energy Machine which i have named the Sobas Generator is the finished work
of Tesla’s magnet motor utilizing the “Sacred Geometry” together with how the earth naturally upwells energy.

Here is a small sample of background information into this free energy generator.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4355/Tesla-The-Tesla-Magnetic-Car-Engine

Of course this is a small scale version of what we “those of us on the path” are trying to accomplish against the better wishes of the world dominators the Illuminati.

The finished Sobas Generator Can be Pre-visualized here where i first released the dynamics of the device.
http://www.projectavalon.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7551
(read the second page of that thread for images)

So The CGSociety will see the first visualization of this generator that will soon be spread across the world.