After my failed attempt at the BiPlane crash landing the other day I decided to go for the shot again. This time I used Demolition Master with Thinking Particles for the destructions, the enabled me to use dynamic fracturing on my animated plane model which make the destruction look more realistic.
Here is a Max Viewport Preview of the Destruction:
I had some trouble exporting but later realised that was my error! What I did was save a Max file out and merge it into a new scene, then scale it down a little and then export that out as a .SD Cache into another MAX scene where I added the Fume FX simulation.
The Fume FX Sim was done using and Object emitter emitting of the fragments exported from Demolition Master. The sim was reasonably high res so I got some nice detail in the fire.
Here is the Fume FX Preview:
I then brought the elements back to After Effects where I used RSMB for the Motion blur as well as correcting the Fume Render to look more realistic.
I got some more time tonight to finish this creature.
I first added some more skin detail using Stamps and Stencils in Mudbox this really helped bring it to life a bit more!
Then I painted the texture map which was great fun! It took longer than the process of sculpting. I first painted a light green base colour to represent the blood then I painted veins and bruises. Then with a very soft brush I painted the details on with stencil maps.
I then exported this to Maya at a lower Sub-Division Level, where I added the eyeball in ( An asset I made for a previous project) and then exported it back to 3DS Max for the Render which was doing using Mental Ray.
Here are some Screenshots:
I took a small Time Lapse video which I will upload ASAP.
I wanted to have a go at doing a World War One plane crash. So I used a 3D Model of a British RAF Biplane I have had for a few years. Its quite low poly which was good for the Destruction Simulation.
I used Rayfire to have the plane break apart on impact. There is no animation on the plane, the motion is driven by an animated wind force which pushes the plane to the ground which the activates the destruction (Which is using Interactive Demolition in Rayfire).
For the Fire and Smoke I used FumeFX which all the fragments grouped into one object they all emit fire on impact. The Grid resolution is relatively low but as this was a test I wanted a quick turnaround as I have another scene which needs to be rendered!
I Then rendered the shot. I rendered the Geometry separate as well as a separate Fume FX Pass and a Global Illumination (GI) pass.
I am not very pleased with this (thats why its not on Vimeo) but now I know what to fix next time, Instead of it just setting on fire there needs to be an explosion on impact maybe some smoke tendrils as well. Also the sim needs to be higher res. Also maybe lower the Rayfire Gravity so the fragments fly higher in the air to create more sense of scale.
Here is the 3DS Max Viewport Preview:
And The Final Shot
As Always Thanks For Looking!
I am starting college next week so I will have little time to work on shots through the week so if my blog seems a bit quiet that is why. But I have some big plans for a VFX Sequence I would like to work on. I am going to start the RnD Soon! Stay Tuned!
About a month a go RealtimeUK and Barefoot VFX did a amazing Trailer for the onlien game, World Of Tanks. In the trailer we see some of the tanks go smashing through trees and hedges as they are on there way to battle. It looks so amazing you can see the ripping branches, a lot of leaves been shredded from the bushes is totally amazing!
So I had a go at it, I actually put the final result on Vimeo but was not happy with it so have took it down to re do it.
Here is a screenshot of the first test though!
My Method Was:
Firstly I created an animation of a tank rolling up a hill in 3DS Max, the tank is not rigged so i was just rotating it and positioning it on the angle of the hill and then key-framing that, so it looks like its moving across the terrain.
I then exported my scene to Maya where I created some paint effects Bushes. I then converted them to Polygons and used nCloth to simulate the collision between the tank and the leaves. It worked out well because the leaves and branches were seprate objects then combined into one so when they were simulated the leaves split apart from one another and it looked awesome with all the leaves flying around. I also key framed my gravity to start only when my tank hits the hedge therefore my hedge is still until the tank collides.
For an experiment I also used PullDownIt for Maya to create a fence that the tank was to smash through however this did not work out due to there was no way for it to interact with the nCloth simulation so it looked very fake!
One main problem I found with nCloth was that when I wanted to use say to bushes getting hit by the tank then for one I would have to create two different Nucleus Solvers as if they were under the same solver the gravity would not work. So I created two different Nucleus's each had key-framed gravity so when the tank impact the hedge the gravity is activated. However the nCloth Collison mesh only works with one Nucleus?? So I don't understand how you can create multiple solvers but then the collision will only work with one?? Anyway so I had a brainwave,what I did was create a brand new solver with NO gravity enabled and then over each hedge I put a gravity field which was bounded and positioned over the hedge. Then I key-framed each one of there gravity strengths to start when the tank hits. That worked out great. Here is a Screenshot of that:
I would then export all of this Back to 3DS Max for the render. Screenshot Below.
For this Shot, I got the Idea after watching Battleship.
I wanted to have the shredder destroy a Super Stallion like in the Film but have only just got a Model of one which I am going to texture in an upcoming blog post! So I used a US Army Humvee Model I downloaded from thefree3dmodels.com
I used 3DS Max along with Thinking Particles and Demolition Master for the destruction. I spent a lot of time getting the look right.
For the Motion Blur I used RSMB in After Effects to save time rendering out motion blur.
The next step would be to use Fume FX for and impact explosion.
So far this week I have been working on a Personal Project of making a CG Mushroom Cloud and then putting it into some Live Action footage.
I started by watching a lot of other peoples attempts at nukes on Vimeo/YouTube and to be honest there's more bad than good! I also watched a lot of nuke videos on YouTube.
I wanted to leave the Dust Wave out for now and just focus on the mushroom cloud. My first attempt went pretty well and was well revived on Vimeo. I used a Fume FX Grid Using about 4GB of Ram and the particles were been emitted of a Tours and then deleted after 4 frames. I did not adjust the time-scale as to save sim'n like 400 frames I could just re-time it in Twixtor in After Effects. This was the result, A little to fast.
Also I did a Second Sim the next day and it looks a lot better, it still has some problems though!
Next I did a second sim at around the same resolution this time I integrated it into some Live Action Footage I shot on my Canon 550D, At Captain Cooks Monument (A Local National Park, Its very nice!) I did a 2.5D Track of the footage in After Effects and then added my Sim render into the footage, I added Glows and altered the Hue's and Saturations as well as the Levels and The Curves. I then Added a Grade On top for a more nuclear look and also a Overexposed Glow for the Blinding Flash.
Here's the Final Shot:
I hope to revisit this Nuke project in a bit and add a lot more detail and realism like a shock wave, Dust Cloud/ Shockwave maybe some Smoke Tendrils and also Environment Destruction.
About A week ago I started doing some tests and RnD for a small fully CGI Seqence I would like to work on over the next few months. I wanted to see if my ideas were possible with my current skills.
The sequence came to me after watching Ice Age 4. I am not going to say to much, as I for one don't know If I am gonna be able to pull it off yet. Also I have not finished the shot list so the whole sequence could change completely who knows!!??
Its clearly about Penguins! I was lucky to get a really good penguin rig in which I animate in Maya and then export back to 3DS Max.
Quick Breakdown of the RnD Reel 0:05 My First Penguin Animation Attempt, A Playblast from 3DS Max 0:08-0:15 Two Fluid Sims of a Penguin Swimming done in Realflow, One Meshed One Just Particles 0:15-0:24 Penguin Turntable 0:24 and 0:44 Penguin Melting Simulation in Realflow, No Scripts! 0:29-0:34 Mammoth Walk Cycle 0:35-0:43 Wet Fur/ Feathers Simulation using 3DS Max Hair And Fur WSM 0:48-0:54 Penguin Live Action Integration Test. Using 3DS Max and Mental Ray.
*Update* Due to the amount of other VFX Work I am trying to focus on It will be unlikely that this sequence will be produced. Maybe in the future though. Who Knows?
