FXWars! THE SUPERPOWER!:Duy Nguyen, single shot, gag

#1

Hey all, after sitting on the sidelines for the last two fxwars I’d like to try my hand in this one. Due to my extreme inexperience, I’ll probably be approaching this project in a learning mindset for future fxwars. So, the shot will most likely be a single shot gag with something ridiculous simple, probably super strength (though i’m still floating ideas). Unless the videographers thread pulls through with some footage i’ll have to resort to my POS palmcorder for live action. Hope I’ve got the right stuff to finish.

Good luck to you all.

I didn’t get to finish (obviously), but I’ll throw in what I have just to spite those flippin render glitches :banghead:.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=D613F38169470260

Software:

-Maya 7.0 / Kiloton
-AfterEffects 7.0
-Photoshop CS2

What’s digital:

-Foreground ground of course.

I learned alot (about what not to do) and had some fun; that’s really all I asked for out of this project. Hope to be part of the next FXwars and to continue learning :thumbsup:

#2

go for it! The best advice I can give you is post as much as you can as often as you can and keep working on it the whole time, don’t wait until the end to start :wink:
Everyone on this forum is very helpful and can guide you through the steps you need. I think the videographer forum will pull through, I’m sure I’ll post something there in a little less than 2 weeks.

#3

This is an FYI for all teams:

ROBERTO’S BULLHORN: DATELINE FOR ALL RAW FILMED FOOTAGE TUESDAY JULY 26th

-R

#4

destruct- heh, I haven’t been following your advice very well have I?

Anywhat, my POS camera and computer aren’t on talking terms at the moment so I figured i’d take advantage of all the fabulous footage that’s been poppin up of late and try to get something progressive going till I can get my hands on some dv gear when school starts.

#5

hey that’s a cool start. I thought about this test, and it wasn’t until I sow your samples I realised that it’s going to be hard to resolve where the ripples on the bricks meet no ripples on the grass. What are you thinking for that?

#6

I’d prolly just extract the grass texture and extent the ground. I shouldn’t have to go nuts with the displacement or detail cause the view of the grassy area would probably be obstructed by a whole lot of dust and flying debris.

#7

…and I’m back.

Currently occupied with:

-dust rig
-stomp blast
-test rendering

Notes:

-I’ve tried out Mike Rhone’s Super Awesome Ultimate sprite Rig tutorial (which comes with a free dust sprite .iff image!) and I think it turned out quite nicely; one of my test renders can be found here (megaupload). In all probability (and if I can get my hardware renderer to behave) I will be using this rig (or many of them) in the final composite.

-Using Maya dynamics and my friend’s Kiloton rig (many thank-yous to Taylor Finnel); I have laid out the general stomp blast animation (megaupload). Although this particular look isn’t set in stone, I’m really leaning towards it. It may not be logically accurate (well as logically accurate super-human-powers can get), but if I merge it with the ripple effect I tried in my previous pre-vis the final effect might come out lookin fine.

-I have been having problems rendering (and flat out handling) the .ma scene I generated in Kiloton; I’ve been crashing Mental-Ray when I turn on motion blur, you can see in the test render I had to use software renderer to fill in the gaps.

-This is the first time I’ve used megaupload, so if there’s a better hoster then tell me what it is!

I’ve still got a ways to go, but that’s it for this update.

Crits, criticisms, and ideas are welcome.

#8

Say, that blastcode test looks cool! I’d say forget the ripple if it doesn’t work and just texture the blastcode really well.

#9

and I’m back…

 Currently occupied with:

-dust rig test #2 (megaupload download)
-testing renders

Notes:

-Had some time yesterday to start playing with the dust rig and I’m not entirely satisfied with how it looks. I think it looks too dusty for flying dirt that’s been under clay tiles, so I might end up ditching the sprites for instinced geometery or even do the dirt/dust in Kiloton.

-Maya still crashes when I try to render the blast or merge my project scenes together; I think my machine just isn’t up for that crazy ~60mb .ma blast scene. It’s not even that detailed a simulation. Oh well, I’ll try to see if Novodex’s Nima can be less taxing than Kiloton and achieve what I’m looking for (It’s a free beta, so why not try it out), if not, then I might have to use my schools workstations.

That’s it for today, C&C warmly welcome.

#10

Man that is an aweome shot, and a cool idea.
Where did you guys film it?

-R

#11

…and I’m back.

Roberto- The footage was actually provided by Ian Farnsworth (aka SoLiTuDe) in the videographers thread, so you have to ask him if you wanna know the shoot location.

    Currently occupied with:

-texturing
-rendering

Test clip download:

                                 [b][http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YCAE2F3S](http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YCAE2F3S)[/b]

Notes:

-Putting in great looking textures isn’t exactly on the top of my list, but I did make some simple dirt that I think I can work with. I actually don’t know how to make the underside of the debris dirty with maya (short of painting each piece one at a time) so if anyone can point me in the right direction then that would be awesome.

-Rendering is not going great. I got a bunch of flickering on the debris in the test render; granted I’m not rendering out in layers (yet), but shouldn’t a simple scene like this render fine in one pass?

-Don’t worry about the clay tile stuff in the test looking ridiculously malleable; it was just a cheap way to get flush cracks. I know now that soft quads don’t look right for tile stuff. I plan to use hard quads in the final.

To do list:

-fix the flickering
-roto a mask of the principal subject/ extract matte
-flying dirt dust?
-hard quad test
-sound design
-color correcting
-comp work

#12

That looks cool, but the animation of the chunks needs some more work. They are to floaty in the air, and need to land harder on the ground. They bounce to much. Things that are hard and heavy don’t bounce at all.

Your background plates are way to washed out in the whites. You may want to shot your video again, and try to set the film speed higher. If you try to match CG elements to those plates the brightness/contrast have to be to high.

Keep it up.

#13

Thanks for the crit(!); you’re totally right about the debris. It’s now on my to do list :thumbsup:

Even though the footage was provided by Ian Farnsworth (aka SoLiTuDe) and I have very little hope of shooting my own footage, the washed out whites you see in the test is probably my fault; my video compressor is not being very agreeable. Either way, I think it should be fine for my purposes.

#14

Just an FYI:
FXWARS 911 Call: Post here if you are SEEKING/ OFFERING LAST MINUTE help!

-R

#15

Blast test with less debris bounce and hard quads:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=20254C047E60AED9

C&C if something looks funky.

#16

That test looks really nice. Like the blastcode demolition, makes me want to get blastcode…

Would be cool to see it with a bit of motion blur?
Maybe also increase the friction a bit? Looks like they a sliding a bit on the surface. I guess it will be grass/dirt the rocks will hit, so bacicly they will not move after they hit the surface.

Best of luck, looks good:)

#17

Thanks for the comment H3ro.

I highly recommend taking the 15 day trial out for a ride; if you haven’t been exposed to a plug-in of this nature before, you’ll feel like a kid again 5 minutes in.

Would be cool to see it with a bit of motion blur?

My machine is not very strong, so I’ll finalize the animated geom before focusing on the render and its problems.

Maybe also increase the friction a bit? Looks like they a sliding a bit on the surface. I guess it will be grass/dirt the rocks will hit, so basicly they will not move after they hit the surface.

Yes, I think you’re right; back to the grind :D.

#18

Ok, I started on the roto of the principal subject today. By working on the rough mask I pulled, I can tell that the roto (on footage this low rez) is going to look wonky. I can’t get past 1 pixel edge feather else it looks really hazy :shrug:. Don’t crit this one; I know it’s very crude at the moment.

Subject alpha start:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=2C5054C115361F29

#19

This is an FYI to ALL teams.

ROBERTO’S BULLHORN: SUPERPOWERS DATELINE Three Weeks to go!

Also I Just wanted to check how you all are doing, and i there are any issues or questions please post on the thread i just posted.
-R

#20

I’m happy to announce that Frescalus aka Neil Kirby is going to help out on my dust/dirt problem. His experience is an invaluable addition to the entry.

Thnks Neil!