Last term, part 1
Realized that I never posted anything from last term. LAME.
Nuke. There are always a crap-ton (technical term) of Nuke assignments in a VFX class, rather than a large/term-long project.
Blue screen removal: added noise (aka clouds for the cam to fall through… wheeee!), roto to correct the blue screen removal inadequacies around the legs and cord.
Source assets:
Final video:
Compositing: We got to learn about shuffling & compositing. Basically, you shuffle out different render passes of an image (specularity, shadows, lights, depth, highlights, ambient, etc – there can be a lot). With each shuffled, you can manipulate/adjust each thing independently of the others to maximize the final result.
Original image, pre-shuffle:
I added a glow to the lights, but a specific color glow to the robot wires, etc., and used masking to create the glow reflection in the floor; darkened the room and changed the backlighting. I added smoke, because reasons. Post-shuffle composite:
Fake 3D: Take a 2D image of a hallway and fake a 3D camera movement in it. BAM:
MOAR VFX! SO CHEEZY! Hey… lets play spot the fake thing… Ok, so here’s what I did. Took the original video and generated a 3D space using motion trackers to define a ground plane, etc. Once the 3D environment was established, I plonked a spherical primitive into the scene and found a relatively appropriate texture (Why, yes, that is a ridiculously large thermal detonator. Do you have detonator envy? YEAH, YOU DO!), added a shadow. It’s kinda lame, but it was fun in-class exercise and could totally be more awesome with more time to clean up the shadow and color correct… add some snazzy gun fire, etc.
This was our ridiculous final… some doofus decided that in order to make the kid freeze over the pool while the lady walks by, adjusting her suit, they should put a partial green screen behind her for no apparent reason. BTW, this was a real job brought to one of the Ai staff to fix. They wanted to make it cheap. That did not so much work out. FYI… It is MUCH harder and more expensive in human time and effort to remove green screen plus its reflection (aka spill) from people and puddles and metal than it is TO SIMPLY USE THE ROTO TOOL TO CREATE A FREEZE FRAME FOR PART OF YOUR VIDEO. Also… if you are going to use a green screen where the objective is to remove all the green and replace it with something else DON’T HAVE YOUR SUBJECT WEARING AND CARRYING GREEN BECAUSE THAT WILL ALSO BE FIXED ONLY WITH EXTREME TIME AND CARE.
Thus ends the lesson in common sense.
Original cannon ball with freeze frame already completed (water motion reinstated in final video):
Sample of original woman walking by:
Final composite. Painful, le sigh, but got rid of the green junk LIKE A BOSS:
TBC…
club logo?
Assignment: design a club style logo. So… yeah. I’m not a super sports person, really. But I am a lit nerd (among other nerdish endeavors). I decided to make a “club logo” for Jane Austen a la something that might be seen in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series of literary superfans. I used deer pics to illustrate the head & incorporated some blending tools; made a custom brush for the wall & used a clipping mask to confine it to the type design.
I used the crest & colors of George Austen (Jane’s dad) for inspiration….
to make this…
concert tour poster
Storm Large poster for my digital illustration class prior to printing. I decided to make a general tour poster rather than a specific concert poster. I originally had info on the tour dates, but the instructor preferred it without… and the instructor = the customer, who is ALWAYS right. 
AutodeskMaya… I hate you, but you do good things
SO. Last term was pretty brutal. I was taking two 3D modeling classes in different softwares at the same time: Cinema 4D and Maya. My advice… NEVER DO THAT. C4D is the easier to use software. It is not quite as customizable, but it is a little faster to do things and stable. When you see 3D effects on TV like ads with crazy 3D, animated logos, some CG animation and effects – most of that is done in C4D. Maya is used more for high budget film CG and effects. This is the entertainment version of software from the same people who make AutoCAD for architects and engineers, etc. It is an intense program that does so much, but is also a finicky bitch that you would like to have die in a fire. It was a 100 level class in which we learned the basics of storyboarding, building a scene (literally and conceptually), lighting, texturing, and animation. So when you watch this video, know that it took about 3 months to make (minus 2 other classes, full-time job, and the occasional break for food/sleep/sanity) – I built pretty much everything. The plants are mainly paint effects, because using them was part of the class… and that was the best use of them, really. Sadly, they kind of “twinkle” in the animation, which I don’t really care for. The character was provided by the professor, because character building and rigging for movement is wicked advanced. My finals week, I slept one night out of five… so that was how that term went. But here it is… There are a few things that I could go back in and play with, but overall I’m happy with what I did.
Some Perspective
Cinema 4D assignment: fake a 3d environment using images and camera projection tools. Basically, I found a good drawing with linear perspective, by deviantArt user MonicaHolsinger. Then I got my angle set up and added a camera from which to make the projections. Once I had that, I started adding planes to correspond to the surfaces in the image (floor, ceiling, and visible walls). I created a new material and put the image on it, then linked it to the camera to project it on the planes.
I wanted to put in some kind of animation, so I added another camera, some dynamics and bounced a shiny ball across the hall… of course, I would have to complicate my life. I use the boule to cut holes in my walls and added cubes for the midway lockers on either side, I added semi transparent planes with a little noise texture on them to blend the open side halls. Good fun. Then it was just managing the bounce and whatnot. Woo!
Cinema 4D
So here is my first real beauty shot from Cinema 4D. We had to model a minimum of 3 objects. It took several evenings and I actually modeled 6 things, but you only see 3.5 because that was what was worthy of capturing (and met the assignment requirements). Fun… Definitely more user-friendly, even if not quite as capable a program, than Maya – which I am also taking a class in right now (oy), but our term will be cumulative into one animated short so you will have to just wait for that.
Cut. It. Out. Finally. And professionally.
So, funny story…
I took digital video editing with FinalCutPro 4 at the NW Film Center in 2004… just for fun. Our first assignment was to cut together the rushes or dailies from an old episode of “Gunsmoke” …basically an exercise to familiarize the class with the basic functions of FCP. I had fun, but couldn’t find any good sound effects for the fight scene, so I tried to throw everything else in that I could.
Serious respect for anyone who has cut together an action film. It is not easy to match motion and continuity in a fight scene. For realisies.
Assignment 2 was to make a video haiku with image, sound and text. It went something like this…
Assignment 3 was to create a portrait of __________. Whatever. I hate open-ended junk like that. So I did a portrait of someone trying to come up with an idea for a self-portrait.
Ugh. I still hate that thing. On the other hand, it is the only footage, that I know of, of my Shams… I miss him and it is totally awesome to have captured that moment in time.
RIGHT. So fast-forward 8 years after I decide to go back to college for a second BA… for Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. Of course, I have to take Intro to Editing with FinalCutPro 7. Our first assignment… cut together the rushes or dailies from an old episode of “Gunsmoke” …basically an exercise to familiarize the class with the basic functions of FCP.
You are not having déjà vu. It was the same assignment. Also, the exact same footage. I was like… um… really? Yes, really. But, whatever! It has been 8 YEARS, so I needed the refresher. I did some different stuff. You’re welcome, world.
I really liked our second assignment. It was crazy. Take at least 5 found videos and cut together a video collage into something meaningful (at least to you), i.e. there should be some sort of coherent theme. We used the Prelinger Archives online… totally free old news reels, home movies, and those etiquette shorts made from the 30s-70s, etc. SO AWESOME. I got a little distracted. Eventually, I did put something together and I quite liked it.
THE FINAL: Take raw footage from this super-cheesy 70s bank robbery film and do whatever we want with it… so long as we add some sound elements and it is at least a minute and a half long.
My mom helped my find the BEST 70s music. So. Magical. Composer: Lalo Schifrin, specifically take from music he composed for the 60s-70s TV show “Mannix” … more famously, he composed the theme song for “Mission: Impossible” (the original TV show).
OHMANILOVETHISMUSIC!
So, that was my FinalCut experience. I’m not in love with it. I like playing with visual effects MUCH more. So that’s good that it is my major then. Since I like it. You will see. Next up is from our intro to After Effects. I heart this program. Hard. In the face.
Internet Defense League
Launches today to protect our rights:
“The Internet Defense League takes the tactic that killed SOPA & PIPA and turns it into a permanent force for defending the internet, and making it better. Think of it like the internet’s Emergency Broadcast System, or its bat signal!
When the internet’s in danger and we need millions of people to act, the League will ask its members to broadcast an action. (Say, a prominent message asking everyone to call their elected leaders.) With the combined reach of our websites and social networks, we can be massively more effective than any one organization.
We’ll keep in close touch with groups like the EFF and Public Knowledge to identify threats and opportunities. We’ve also got a subreddit. This will get formalized more soon, but for now we’re definitely targeting ACTA in June and CISPA as it re-emerges in the Senate.”
