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Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.
I found digital painting and photography helped me a lot with my understanding how how light works. Also a must read is this tutorial: http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm That finally made me "get it".

Also understand the power of blue light vs yellow light. I at least use that a lot in making things pop out for me and provide contrast. Blue tends to recede while yellow/orange tends to pop out at you. Also look at Gustave Dore's work to see how he uses lights and darks to create dimension.

You've got to realize that when you are lighting you are actually painting the surface. It's a lot like learning how to render a surface with a pencil. There are a lot of different ways to express an idea. There is reality, and then there is expression. I think you have to have a good grasp of both.

Also you might play around with a camera to see how light interacts. Get close to a window, that's blue light, and then take an incandescent bulb and light your face or another subject. Notice the difference in the quality of the light and the effect it has on your subject.

If you have a DSLR you can really play with the individual settings to see how light is affected. You can play with white balance, and different things. I think in CG you are really emulating what the camera sees, not necessarily what the human eye sees. We are trained to know what a photograph looks like. In the end of course, it's all pixels on the screen.

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Handiklap
Aug 14, 2004

Mmmm no.
This was done back in 2007, not sure how I missed it

:nws:holy gently caress.:nws:

Handiklap fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Mar 13, 2009

Useless
Sep 13, 2003
I'm keeping three or four fingers crossed you get a buick up the ass before the night is over.
Starting to make some progress on the lighting. There was a little moment of epiphany when I went "Hey, I can use more than one or two lights!" and proceeded to go hog wild. I'm surprised the render time didn't go through the roof.

I'm still not really happy with it, but it's far better than before. Thanks to everyone for the feedback and especially Hinchu for the advice and paint-over. Next - time for some more modeling and detailing, then either back to finish lighting or to start the texturing. And at some point I have to model and rig that drat smoker, and that's going to be a whole other boatload of learning to do.

Comments and crits welcome as always.

Useless
Sep 13, 2003
I'm keeping three or four fingers crossed you get a buick up the ass before the night is over.
I forgot to mention, the pole by the guardrail is where the smoker figure will stand, I just wanted a rough idea of scale.

Oh yeah, and a quick question - how would I make the lighting in the windows "blow out" as Hinchu recommended? I tried adding volumetric light on my sun as well, but ended up with no light at all. Must try again later and get some light dust reflections in the main beam.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Ahahah Handiklap, I marvel that it's so lifelike, while groaning at the same time that someone has accurately replicated a terribly lit real-life photograph.

Useless: 'Do it in compositing' is pretty much the standard answer. But Max does have a few shaders built in that will generate the bloom in the render itself.

http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/specular_bloom/specular_bloom.htm

This covers all the basics.

Alan Smithee
Jan 4, 2005


A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...

Handiklap posted:

This was done back in 2007, not sure how I missed it

:nws:holy gently caress.:nws:

I scrolled past that going "okay saucey reference photo, now let's see the model"

"where's the m-ohhh...."

Useless
Sep 13, 2003
I'm keeping three or four fingers crossed you get a buick up the ass before the night is over.
Still more playing with lights and modeling. I really should be doing something else on a Friday night.

le capitan
Dec 29, 2006
When the boat goes down, I'll be driving

Useless posted:

Still more playing with lights and modeling. I really should be doing something else on a Friday night.



That's better, but I'd go bluer with the light. Also try messing with the intensity and the far atinuation or maybe adding multiple lights outside if you haven't already.

also also the secondary lighting on that boiler thing on the left should be a little softer i think.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qypqwcrO3YE

I havent seen anyone play with just shapes and form in 3D for quite awhile this was quite entrancing.

Kirby
Dec 2, 2005

Low Altitude Flyer

Useless posted:

Still more playing with lights and modeling. I really should be doing something else on a Friday night.



i think a lightsource coming up from under the walkway would be tops

ceebee
Feb 12, 2004
DOMINANCE WAR HAS BEGUN

http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/dw/4/rules/en.php

So! Who's entering this epic war with me?

GFBeach
Jul 6, 2005

Surrounded by wierdos
Jaguar McGuire blog has been updated. This update includes new sections of our workreel as well as a concept render of the film's opening shot to demo our 2D/3D integration.

We just finished up the quarter at SCAD. We've gotten everything finished up to where, were this a real 2D/3D production, we'd be shipping it off to Korea (to use my teacher's exact words/sarcasm). All the 3D assets are finished, 2D roughs have been drawn for each shot, and now we're moving into final production. The whole film was intended to be done in one quarter, but it's grown enough in scale to necessitate a second quarter. Hey, more power to us if we can pull it off.

This is the first time I've worked in a production environment and I have to say it was a blast. It's nice to be able to work in your areas of specialty (or branch out into some new ones), versus my other classes at SCAD where you're expected to be able to do everything all by yourself. :suicide: I'll probably be animating the 3D elements in a few of the shots next quarter as well as tweaking the shaders or other parts of the 3D pipeline.

Unexpected EOF
Dec 8, 2008

I'm a Bro-ny!

Akaikami posted:

DOMINANCE WAR HAS BEGUN

http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/dw/4/rules/en.php

So! Who's entering this epic war with me?

Ugh, I have to use software from EARTH?

Lame.

Old Man Mozz
Apr 24, 2005

I posted.

Akaikami posted:

DOMINANCE WAR HAS BEGUN

http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/dw/4/rules/en.php

So! Who's entering this epic war with me?

I've been pimping this out to every student at my school, so I'd better enter. pretty excited cause this is my first year.

sigma 6
Nov 27, 2004

the mirror would do well to reflect further

SynthOrange posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qypqwcrO3YE

I havent seen anyone play with just shapes and form in 3D for quite awhile this was quite entrancing.

That's great. I think people forget 3d can be amazing in abstract art as well.

I also plan on entering dominance war. Should be fun.

Useless: Nice progress on that render.

sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Mar 16, 2009

brian encino man
Nov 19, 2008

Akaikami posted:

DOMINANCE WAR HAS BEGUN

http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/dw/4/rules/en.php

So! Who's entering this epic war with me?

Hmm I'm very tempted to at least give this a go. I'll post some concepts hopefully in the next few days.

ErIog
Jul 11, 2001

:nsacloud:
I'm just getting into doing 3D work. I'm taking a motion graphics class this semester for my film production major, and we have the option of using Motion, After Effects, or any other program we would ever want to use including Maya and Blender. So since it's free, I opted to use Blender for my work, and I wasted most of my spring break banging around inside its crappy interface. I've learned how to get around in it pretty well now, and I'm progressing very smoothly on the motion graphics assignment which is just a logo stinger for our university using the assets provided. So, I didn't actually model anything for this assignment. It's an illustrator file that I imported, cleaned up, lit and futzed into an animation.

Now for all of the little annoyances, I've found that I actually like Blender. I tried to use Maya the other day, and I found it absolutely retarded. There appear to be no contextual buttons, and so most of the buttons in the interface will do absolutely nothing if you click on them in a given moment. So why do those buttons need to be there if they don't apply?

After I'm done with this logo stinger, I want to get into learning to model properly. I did the dice tutorial last week without too much trouble. Am I setting myself up for this all to end in tears if I learn to model in Blender? I'm not really looking to get paid for this at any point. It's just a fascination of mine that tends to work well with my other film interests. 3D would be a good planning and storyboard tool since I can't draw.

Bape Culture
Sep 13, 2006

Fuckkkkk, I have a project due thursday and all the other groups have mad awesome animations. What program can I use to take the model videos I have and make it cool? Like add music and some effects transitions etc?
Something that looks amazing and is easy to use preferably.

Unexpected EOF
Dec 8, 2008

I'm a Bro-ny!
You know what? As dangerously under-qualified and as terrible as I am? I'm going to enter Dominance War. It looks like fun.

le capitan
Dec 29, 2006
When the boat goes down, I'll be driving

A5H posted:

Fuckkkkk, I have a project due thursday and all the other groups have mad awesome animations. What program can I use to take the model videos I have and make it cool? Like add music and some effects transitions etc?
Something that looks amazing and is easy to use preferably.

after effects?

Thanks for posting the link to Dominance War. I think i'll take a stab at the 2D challenge.

International Log
Apr 3, 2007

Fluent in five foreign tongues!
Grimey Drawer
Hey, guys, you know how they always have those photoshop threads in which they add something to an existing image a goon made? I'm just thinking the logistics in terms of 3d here, like file formats and stuff.

ideas:

Goonmansion?
Goonbase?
Goontown?

Well anyway, something to think about.

edit: car


Click here for the full 1800x992 image.


edit2: I know the model is crap, by the way. I'm just doing some lighting stuff. Might repair the model one day.

International Log fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Mar 16, 2009

ErIog
Jul 11, 2001

:nsacloud:
Wasn't Goontown already done in pixel form?

Sigma-X
Jun 17, 2005

Unexpected EOF posted:

You know what? As dangerously under-qualified and as terrible as I am? I'm going to enter Dominance War. It looks like fun.

I'm going to do it too if work doesn't kick my rear end too badly.

Handiklap
Aug 14, 2004

Mmmm no.
Here's my bike I started modeling. As an exercise I think I'm going to attempt to model everything in complete detail, including wiring and internals (motor, brakes, carbs, etc.)


Click here for the full 800x600 image.



Click here for the full 640x480 image.

floofyscorp
Feb 12, 2007

Unexpected EOF posted:

You know what? As dangerously under-qualified and as terrible as I am? I'm going to enter Dominance War. It looks like fun.

Me too, I don't have the excuse of having to work on my degree this year so I'm drat well going to finish too!

Bloody Wanker
Dec 31, 2008
First time i post something here, yay!

Anyways, i finished this a few days ago. It's based on a concept by Cory Strader for the game Natural Selection 2. I think it came out so-so, a lot of it could've been done better but i don't want to put anymore time into it. For what it's worth, i learned a lot from making it.


Click here for the full 1600x1200 image.



Click here for the full 1600x1200 image.

Hazed_blue
May 14, 2002
I really like your diffuse. Nice coverage, and good detailing on the scratches.

Is this rendered with a single smoothing group? There seems to be some normal goofiness going on with a few of the flat panels. The specular map also seems to be fairly close in content to the diffuse in some key shiny areas; metal specular should be pretty even in tone, with no traces of ambient occlusion. You can really make the light reception pop if you make sure that there's appropriate contrast and difference between your diffuse and spec maps.

Foran
Apr 19, 2008

Garry's Mod is an Art
As someone who is semi-new to the Animation/Modeling software that currently exists, I realize that there are many to choose from. For the past two years, I've been using Maxon's Cinema 4d. While it is good for general modeling, there are few good tutorials or lessons for it. Many of them require plug-ins that cost money which I can't afford. I've been looking at 3dsMax and Maya, but those also carry an insane price. Can anyone recommend to me an alternative to C4D that doesn't cost me money I don't have?

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

There's always Blender. Completely free and open source. Has its own oddities, but not more so than any other 3d package.

wayfinder
Jul 7, 2003

Hazed_blue posted:

I really like your diffuse. Nice coverage, and good detailing on the scratches.
I disagree, I think the scratches and the wear are overdone. It looks like it's spent years in a box with 30 other metal toys, getting shaken about every day. Not like a full-size vehicle anyway.

Handiklap
Aug 14, 2004

Mmmm no.

wayfinder posted:

I disagree, I think the scratches and the wear are overdone. It looks like it's spent years in a box with 30 other metal toys, getting shaken about every day. Not like a full-size vehicle anyway.

I thought the same thing, but I think it would translate a lot better if the color wasn't so vibrant, as if it had seen it's fair share of sun fading.

Heintje
Nov 10, 2004

I sing a song for you

Rsugar posted:

As someone who is semi-new to the Animation/Modeling software that currently exists, I realize that there are many to choose from. For the past two years, I've been using Maxon's Cinema 4d. While it is good for general modeling, there are few good tutorials or lessons for it. Many of them require plug-ins that cost money which I can't afford. I've been looking at 3dsMax and Maya, but those also carry an insane price. Can anyone recommend to me an alternative to C4D that doesn't cost me money I don't have?

Houdini has a free learning addition available for download on their website, and it's node based like C4D. I won't lie though, it's poly editing and character animation tools aren't well developed as yet though. For making other cool stuff like things blowing up, particle effects and crazy procedural stuff it's The poo poo.

I'm working on demo material for the new version so when v10 is released in around a month I'll pimp it here some more.

International Log
Apr 3, 2007

Fluent in five foreign tongues!
Grimey Drawer

Heintje posted:

Houdini has a free learning addition available for download on their website, and it's node based like C4D. I won't lie though, it's poly editing and character animation tools aren't well developed as yet though. For making other cool stuff like things blowing up, particle effects and crazy procedural stuff it's The poo poo.

I'm working on demo material for the new version so when v10 is released in around a month I'll pimp it here some more.

So whats the learning curve on houdini? Always wanted to make awesome particle things, but when it comes to learning, i'm dumb.

olblue
Nov 9, 2003

...lets go exploring!
Fallen Rib

DefMech posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for good intermediate Max Particle Flow tutorials/examples? I've just started seriously studying it this week and I've found a bunch of "baby's first particle system" tutorials and extremely sophisticated scripted examples, but not a whole hell of a lot in the middle. I can't help feeling like I'm missing something out there.

hit up https://www.xenomorphic.co.uk - Pete knows his beans (and particles)

Heintje posted:

Oh I disagree, when you get over 300k it starts to lag whenever you want to even select vertices. They need to rewrite the viewport engine IMO.

Pretty much any other package will handle it better than max, even sketchup probably. Rendering is not too bad but the godawful lag is just not worth it with general tasks.

Not especially - Im modelling a 40k venerable dreadnought at the moment - its about 700,000 polys and fully animated plus the scene contains a few particle systems and is lit and Im having no problems - this is using a 8200 quadcore and a 9600gt with only 2 gigs of ram - plus Im running a recording app whilst Im building it. Saying Max cant handly high poly was true in ye olde days of yore however using the layer manager and proper naming standards so that you are working only with the piece you need to work on means I can work comfortably with multimillion polygon models without any particular effort.

example > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ENYDZowIrM - This piece isnt finished yet, this is from last week and the piece should be ready to roll out tommorow. At this stage the model has 450,000 polygons approximately and I can work on it with no lag getting about 40-45 fps rotating it and editing it. Animation in the viewport for preview is realtime.

olblue fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Mar 18, 2009

Listerine
Jan 5, 2005

Exquisite Corpse

Heintje posted:

Houdini has a free learning addition available for download on their website, and it's node based like C4D. I won't lie though, it's poly editing and character animation tools aren't well developed as yet though. For making other cool stuff like things blowing up, particle effects and crazy procedural stuff it's The poo poo.

I'm sure you're restricted in what you can say about the upcoming version 10, but can you comment at all on improvements to poly modeling, and will they continue the apprentice HD for version 10?

Heintje
Nov 10, 2004

I sing a song for you
^^^ Yeah seperating things into layers and being smart about it is the way to go, what did you use for the cloth in that anim btw, it's working well.

Listerine posted:

I'm sure you're restricted in what you can say about the upcoming version 10, but can you comment at all on improvements to poly modeling, and will they continue the apprentice HD for version 10?

Yeeeah can't say too much about 10 but unfortunately the poly tools are still pretty horrible. I've been having probs with topology and their equivalent of doing smoothing groups like in max. I might hunt down the dev responsible for that area and give them a big list of the basic things that could be done better. They still work though and once you are used to the shortcut keys for zooming around and selecting it's OK.

Yup apprentice HD 10 is going ahead as far as I know :) If you have the v9 HD I think you have access to the H10 beta but I might be mistaken.

edit:

International Log posted:

So whats the learning curve on houdini? Always wanted to make awesome particle things, but when it comes to learning, i'm dumb.

Well, I'm not gonna lie, you have to be pretty quick upstairs to switch to a procedural workflow if it's not what you are used to. Particles are actually pretty easy- they run nice and fast and so you get instant feedback. It becomes a little trickier when you need to govern how various forces interact with the particles- there is no tick box for "increase with age, up to a value of 10". The way you would do that is by typing
code:
 clamp($AGE, 0, 10) 
into the force amount or multiplier box. (Don't quote me on that code but you get the idea).

And if the force was acting too quickly over age you just go back and change it to
code:
 clamp($AGE*0.5, 0, 10) 
THEN you can right click that channel box (where you typed it) and go 'copy parameter', go to lets say a drag operator (because you want lots of drag at the start of the $AGE) and go 'paste copied relative references' which puts this into the channel:
code:
ch("../ForceOperator/forcemult")
To make lots of drag at the start, but under a value of 15 modify that to:
code:
clamp(1/ch("../ForceOperator/forcemult"),0,15)
Phew, hope you get the idea of what I was saying there. Now whenever you want to go change the way the Force op is doing things, drag will automatically adjust for it.

I can recommend these tutorials for you if you want to see how these things work:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/product.php?productid=3431&cat=117&page=1

I'm doing a pretty big scene at the moment with about 1.2m polys being influenced by a sim. It's really cool that I can bundle up all these different systems in the one file and selectively look at different bits while working. It means I can really control my memory footprint when things get that size.

Heintje fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Mar 18, 2009

Travakian
Oct 9, 2008

Slightly OT, but still on Houdini -- they're currently holding a contest; essentially best comp (most realistic as well as most entertaining) created entirely using Houdini Apprentice (free) wins a free copy of Houdini Master and PFTrack ($13.5k US value). Might want to consider it if you're learning; so far there are no entries, so may be a good push to keep going.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1442&Itemid=226

Heintje
Nov 10, 2004

I sing a song for you
On that note, in addition to the sideFX forums this is the other big place to talk about Houdini: http://forums.odforce.net/

sigma 6
Nov 27, 2004

the mirror would do well to reflect further

Travakian posted:

Slightly OT, but still on Houdini -- they're currently holding a contest; essentially best comp (most realistic as well as most entertaining) created entirely using Houdini Apprentice (free) wins a free copy of Houdini Master and PFTrack ($13.5k US value). Might want to consider it if you're learning; so far there are no entries, so may be a good push to keep going.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1442&Itemid=226

Wow. I knew about the contest but I didn't realize there were NO entries so far! SideFX also offers free workshops at their Santa Monica location.

I try to go as often as possible, so PM me if anyone wants to meet up for it.

Heintje: The scripting and expressions is the hardest part IMHO. Procedural workflows are becoming more and more common. Lots of compositors use nodebased workflow these days.

NodeJoe for example.

sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Mar 19, 2009

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cubicle gangster
Jun 26, 2005

magda, make the tea
Node based/procedural workspaces are fine, on a small scale. Material editors, compositing, image editing, particle flow.

But a whole 3d and animation package based around it, with already sketchy modeling tools?
gently caress THAT.

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