Production Blog (Spectacle)
Spring 2021
Blog Post 8 (4/1/21)
The second render pass has been completed. Unfortunately, difficulties arose with the supernova effects and my computer's capabilities. I will need to scrap my current work on the supernova simulation and start from square one, with considerations taken to make it use less time and disc space. One possibility would be to create the supernova bigger, then scale the image sequence itself during compositing. Since the current simulation starts at a single point, this would allow for a much smaller amount of much bigger voxels, which would help reduce the strain on my computer.
Despite this setback, I was able to set up the different takes in Houdini and save out new Pyro simulation files. Additionally, all the lighting has been updated, so all shots where the animation is complete have been rendered out with both the simulation and lighting corrections, as shown above.
Blog Post 7 (3/25/21)
A first render pass has been created, with all shots rendered except for the final shot. The current pass has no denoise filter or anything else applied to it, the lighting used to emphasize the humannoid features is inconsistent, many character animations are yet to be polished, and certain parts of the Pyro as shown above will be in the wrong location at the beginning of a new shot due to the characters changing positions. This can be corrected by creating takes in Houdini, within which all the animations are changed to smoothly lead into the shots concerned.
The next step will be to create the supernova effect for the final shot. After that, character animation will be polished, allowing for the Pyro to be re-simulated and new renders with consistent lighting to be created.
Blog Post 6 (3/11/21)
Pyro VFX have been created for both the Dwarf and Giant stars. They have undergone a relatively decent amount of polish, but they could be improved if there is time later on. For now, both pyro sims have been fully cached, meaning that they are saved as files on disk and no longer need to be calculated by the program. If changes are made later on, these caches will have to be resimulated.
Additionally, some test renders have been run. Some obstacles were encountered, but they have been mostly overcome now. It appears that it will take about 40s on average to render one frame, resulting in a total render time of about 18 hours. This can be broken up as needed, so the entire film can be rendered across 2 or 3 nights.
The next priority is to create polished electro VFX, polish the animations already in place, then start rendering a first pass ASAP to identify any potential issues.
Blog Post 5 (3/4/21)
Some development on the various VFX, mainly pyro, has begun. These will remain rough, "blocked-out" versions momentarily, to ensure that each desired effect is at the very least present before refining them.
Blog Post 4 (2/25/21)
At this point, both character animations and camera positions have all been blocked out. Some interpolations between keys have been polished to get an idea of the workflow, but most polish will come later.
Blog Post 3 (2/18/21)
I have completed my Giant rig as well, with the same controls as seen in the Dwarf rig. The nodes present in both rigs have been cleaned up and optimized to allow for easier editing in the future if necessary.
Blog Post 2 (2/11/21)
I have completed my Dwarf rig, with full controls allowing switching between FK and IK for the arms and legs, as well as switching the space that each FK control transforms in.
Blog Post 1 (2/4/21)
I have compiled all of my current renders/shots with my animatic into a story reel to showcase my total progress.
Fall 2020
Blog Post 7 (11/11/2020)
Using what I have learned while researching various options for surface deformation and pyro VFX, I applied some test effects to one of my rough character models. The video above shows a render of those effects applied to Dwarf. The render did not come out exactly as I expected in regards to the body's coloration, but I know what I can do to fix that in the future. Overall, I feel a lot more confident in the visual style that I will be going for in this animation, and I am excited to move forward with it.
Blog Post 6 (11/3/2020)
I have been working on blocking out the first several shots of my animation. I will be constraining my rough models to rough character rigs soon. The hope is that my rigs will be tied to control objects, and those controls will not change, while the rigs and character models will still be subject to change in the future.
Blog Post 5 (10/27/2020)
I have completed the rough models for my Dwarf and Giant characters. I had considered making them both look more human than alien, but I ultimately decided that a slightly alien look is exactly what I want. I also feel confident that my current topology makes a good basis for potential edits when finalizing the models.
Blog Post 4 (10/14/2020)
I have completed a test render of what I would like my final VFX on the star humanoids to look like. I know that I will need to refine this further later on, but it serves as a basic structure and visual style to use going forward.
Blog Post 3 (10/6/2020)
I have started a rough model for my Dwarf character using subdivision surfaces. So far, I feel that it matches closely to what I imagined, which makes me consider using this type of modeling rather than using metaballs, which is what I originally thought the final models would be made of. My next steps going forward will involve creating final orthos for both characters, then using those to get better, more accurate rough models for both Dwarf and Giant.
Additionally, I completed my animatic and videomatic by now. Both are subject to some revisions to get better timing down, but I feel confident that they both provide good bases for moving forward and blocking out the animation soon.
Blog Post 2 (9/24/20)
I spoke with my musician, Jake Hyland, about the project. I gave many different examples of the sort of feel that I would like my animation to have, and we theorized a lot about different possible instruments and moments to consider for the music. We will talk more in the near future, but we have laid out much of the initial groundwork necessary.
Blog Post 1 (9/14/20)
I have drawn up my initial character concepts and used their designs for my storyboards. As of right now, I feel like my project, which I have tentatively titled "Spectacle", is going to be very fun to work on. I do worry, however, that it may be too ambitious. I have many ideas for VFX in my head, but I will most likely need to cut back on some of them in order to have enough time to complete the project. I also may need to rework the character designs. My original plan was that they would be vaguely humanoid and somewhat alien, but it has been suggested that I may want them to look completely human in order for them to be more relatable. Essentially, there is definitely a lot of work and revision ahead of me, but I am hopeful for this project!