https://vimeo.com/65820776
This is the link to the final film. Once I rendered the final sequences in Nuke, I used AfterEffects to put them all together. I also quickly created end credits on Photoshop and added it to the AfterEffects comp.
Once the film was done I took my time and created a breakdown of it in AfterEffects:
https://vimeo.com/65830235
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Compositing - field
To comp the field scene I built exactly the same tree as in the ruins scene. the only difference are the settings on the ColorCorrect nodes.
However, when I looked closely I was getting a shadow on the forest in the background. This happened because when I was modelling the ground plane in the beginning I had image plane on and ground continued behind it even though I couldn't see it. To fix it I could remodel the ground plane and rerender only the shadow pass or roto the shadow out. I chose roto. I added new node and rotoscoped the shadow.
I added Roto node just after the Read node with the shadow sequence.
I also added several more Constant nodes to enhance the shadow colors,
This is how the tree looked like in the end
However, when I looked closely I was getting a shadow on the forest in the background. This happened because when I was modelling the ground plane in the beginning I had image plane on and ground continued behind it even though I couldn't see it. To fix it I could remodel the ground plane and rerender only the shadow pass or roto the shadow out. I chose roto. I added new node and rotoscoped the shadow.
I added Roto node just after the Read node with the shadow sequence.
I also added several more Constant nodes to enhance the shadow colors,
This is how the tree looked like in the end
Shadow Problem
I realized that my ground plane wasn't big enough to cast shadows at the beginning of the animation. So I had to add more stuff to it. Here it is how it looked before and after:
Before
After
I didn't add to much stuff as I needed to work quick in order to finish it before the deadline. I added just enough to make shadows believable.
I didn't add to much stuff as I needed to work quick in order to finish it before the deadline. I added just enough to make shadows believable.
Compositing - ruins
Once the animation was finished and rendered, it was the time to comp everything together.
To comp it I used Nuke.
First, I imported all of the renders and using ShuffleCopy node created new channels for each except the render with subsurface scattering passes. I comped them separately.
Then I added background sequence. I created the sequence in AfterEffects, as it gave me much quicker way of doing it. I just had to take into account the timing and when the fly sits on the bucket to synchronize it with the break. I used Copy node to still have an access to the channels I created earlier.
This is how the composition looked like at this point:
Then, using ColorCorrect and Merge nodes I added shadows, ambient occlusion and color corrected the fly.
This is result:
Once this was done I added subsurface scattering renders. I built new tree beside the old one and for this one instead of using ShuffleCopy nodes I used Merge nodes and set them to add. That will gave me the same result as the MasterBeauty. I also had to use specu;arity renders twice to strengthen the result.Once new tree was complete I merged it with the old one.
This is how it looked combined:
As you can see, I had huge premultiplication problem. The black outline got thicker and thicker with every new render.
To solve it I had to use Unpremult node after each sequence and change each sequence Color Space to Raw Data. With those changes the result was much better.
I had similar problem with shadows. I was getting white outline around them. This is because I used Multiply mode when merging them together. Once I changed the mode to Screen, the outline disappeared. but the shadow was bright, so I had to use Constant node with very dark color to fix that problem.
Lastly I added wing specularity. For some reason it didn't render with the other passes, so I had to create a separate render layer and render it on its own. Then I merged it exactly as I merged the subsurface scattering tree.
And here it is how it looked like:
Finally, I added ColorLookup node at the end of the tree to give everything more film look.
And this is the final result of the composition:
To comp it I used Nuke.
First, I imported all of the renders and using ShuffleCopy node created new channels for each except the render with subsurface scattering passes. I comped them separately.
Then I added background sequence. I created the sequence in AfterEffects, as it gave me much quicker way of doing it. I just had to take into account the timing and when the fly sits on the bucket to synchronize it with the break. I used Copy node to still have an access to the channels I created earlier.
This is how the composition looked like at this point:
Then, using ColorCorrect and Merge nodes I added shadows, ambient occlusion and color corrected the fly.
This is result:
Once this was done I added subsurface scattering renders. I built new tree beside the old one and for this one instead of using ShuffleCopy nodes I used Merge nodes and set them to add. That will gave me the same result as the MasterBeauty. I also had to use specu;arity renders twice to strengthen the result.Once new tree was complete I merged it with the old one.
This is how it looked combined:
As you can see, I had huge premultiplication problem. The black outline got thicker and thicker with every new render.
To solve it I had to use Unpremult node after each sequence and change each sequence Color Space to Raw Data. With those changes the result was much better.
I had similar problem with shadows. I was getting white outline around them. This is because I used Multiply mode when merging them together. Once I changed the mode to Screen, the outline disappeared. but the shadow was bright, so I had to use Constant node with very dark color to fix that problem.
Lastly I added wing specularity. For some reason it didn't render with the other passes, so I had to create a separate render layer and render it on its own. Then I merged it exactly as I merged the subsurface scattering tree.
And here it is how it looked like:
Finally, I added ColorLookup node at the end of the tree to give everything more film look.
And this is the final result of the composition:
Monday 20 May 2013
Animation - field
Next shot was much simpler to animate. I divided it into three sections:
1. Fly in
2. Turn around
3. Fly off
Once the old background broke and new one was revealed the fly was confused and wants to check what's going on.
In the fly in section I animated it looking around in confusion. Once the fly lands I added a lot of bend into the legs to show the weight of the character.
For the turn around I used the exactly same method as in the turn around in the previous shot. This time it was even easier, because the fly didn't have to crouch on six legs.
The fly off was very similar to the fly off in the previous shot. But this time the fly was happy and calm. For starters I added a lot of anticipation before the take off. As the creature flies into the distance I scaled it down instead of moving it in Z axis.
1. Fly in
2. Turn around
3. Fly off
Once the old background broke and new one was revealed the fly was confused and wants to check what's going on.
In the fly in section I animated it looking around in confusion. Once the fly lands I added a lot of bend into the legs to show the weight of the character.
For the turn around I used the exactly same method as in the turn around in the previous shot. This time it was even easier, because the fly didn't have to crouch on six legs.
The fly off was very similar to the fly off in the previous shot. But this time the fly was happy and calm. For starters I added a lot of anticipation before the take off. As the creature flies into the distance I scaled it down instead of moving it in Z axis.
Animation - ruins
I started animation with the ruins scene. First I blocked out the poses of walk cycle. The main poses were already there as I used them to create the storyboard and the animatic. The walk was quite challenging as I have never animated any four legged creatures before. But by observing animals I figured out how they move their limbs and animation process was quite straight forward. I also made a head turn to show that thy fly has noticed something. Here is a playblast:
Then, I made the fly to turn around looking for something. This was even more challenging because I made it crouch on six legs. However, it wasn't a walk cycle anymore and I could play with different approaches. Here is a playblast of my best result:
After that I animated fly walking towards the bucket and punching it. The walk was all right. I used exactly the same technique as in the beginning. The punch in the animatic, in my opinion, was to exaggerated, so I made it more subtle. However, I didn't like the outcome. I also animated background visibility. Once the fly punched the bucket it disappears, because when the background breaks I don't want any shadows.
I didn't like the punch, so I went to speak with my tutor and he advised that the punch is not necessary at all and doesn't even fit with the character. He suggested to try something else. So I made thy fly sit on the bucket instead. And it worked much better.
Lastly, I animated the fly flying away. The flight isn't smooth as I wanted to make it fill dizzy and panicked. Thy fly goes off the screen, so the background and lighting can change and I won't have any issues with the character.
Then, I made the fly to turn around looking for something. This was even more challenging because I made it crouch on six legs. However, it wasn't a walk cycle anymore and I could play with different approaches. Here is a playblast of my best result:
After that I animated fly walking towards the bucket and punching it. The walk was all right. I used exactly the same technique as in the beginning. The punch in the animatic, in my opinion, was to exaggerated, so I made it more subtle. However, I didn't like the outcome. I also animated background visibility. Once the fly punched the bucket it disappears, because when the background breaks I don't want any shadows.
I didn't like the punch, so I went to speak with my tutor and he advised that the punch is not necessary at all and doesn't even fit with the character. He suggested to try something else. So I made thy fly sit on the bucket instead. And it worked much better.
Lastly, I animated the fly flying away. The flight isn't smooth as I wanted to make it fill dizzy and panicked. Thy fly goes off the screen, so the background and lighting can change and I won't have any issues with the character.
Wednesday 24 April 2013
Animatic
Once the storyboard was complete, I moved the key frames around in Maya and created the animatic. By making the animatic I could focus just on timing of the whole animation without worry about animation principles and other stuff. To make the animatic to work I had to add few more poses, because once I moved the key frames around, the Fly was flipping in between the keys. Once everything was cleaned up I focused on animating the background. I've done it in After Effects and I took the time to make it look good as I'm going to use it in the final animation.
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