This week I have continually improved matchmove in 3DEqualizer. Obviously, doing matchmove in 3D Equalizer is not easy since we have to track the correct points in the scene but there are always some bugs. I retrace the unstable tracking points; At the same time, I added some tracking points on the ground. Finally, because I reduced Brower’s Deviation to 0.47, the 3D tracking of this scene became relatively stable. I exported maya files with models and cameras from 3DEqualizer and provided CG lead to build scenes in maya.
In order to create a bell tower, I did much research and looked for many reference online. I prefer to build a European-style clock tower. It doesn’t need to be serious like big ben. It’s just a cute and simple bell tower in a small town, so I design it to have three parts. The first part is the main building with windows and door, the second floor has four large clocks on four walls, and the third floor is a arched pavilion with a large bell inside. Meanwhile, I add some simple European pattern on the walls, pillars and clocks.
Model
London has a lot of historical European architecture, which gave me a lot of inspiration, especially when I designed the door. Around the door, I designed a frame that connects the pillars, so that the door can be integrated into the whole building.
I’ve always been interested in making hand-drawn style animations with non-photorealistic rendering, such as Arcane and Spider Man. What I need to find behind the scenes of this kind of animation is to understand their production process and methods. At the same time, I am going to find some conceptual design of animation and hand-drawn illustrations to observe the texture of hand-drawn strokes. But I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to define my topic. I hope I can find some interesting directions along the way.
This week’s topic is using 3D Equalizer to do 3D tracking. It’s a pretty new technique for me, and help me to understand the process about how to combine 3D file with the actual scene. In 3D Equalizer, we need to set the points on the marks in the scene in order to create a basic camera for tracking.Then we can change the hue or exposure of the scene since this way can help us to create more tacking points and make the camera’s tracking be more stable. We can check if the camera is stable according to the lines and data in Deviation Browser.
If we finish the 3D tracking in 3D Equalizer, we can export the nuke file from 3D Equalizer, and check the camera in nuke.
The topic of my personal assignment is plant growth. I want to study how to make animations and special effects of plant growth. This visual effect was a particularly important part of my graduation project. I looked up some methods online. The best way is to use geometry nodes in blender. At the same time, I will design and make a bell tower, let vines grow on this bell tower. Moreover, the visual style of this animation is cel shading. I will make 2d style textures on 3D models. These are my references.
This collaborative project was very interesting and difficult, because not only did it test my skills of 3D and post-production, but also exercised the communication and collaboration between me and my teammates. My partner and I have encountered some problems in the cooperation process of 3D production.
First of all, the software I mainly used was Maya, and the classmate who was responsible for special effects used Houdini. Between the two pieces of softwares, the conversion and use of assets is an important part of the process. Since the VFX designer needed to create effects in houdini with the assets I made, then he would export the created effects to me to create shots and render in Maya. However, during this process, we have encountered that the exported files from maya are not available in houdini, or the files from houdini are static in maya, or maya will flash back. Especially when we worked on the effects of paper, we had a serious problem. Paper effects files exported by the VFX designer in houdini can not be rendered in maya, and would cause maya to flash back. This was a problem we had for a long time, because we were worried that we couldn’t render the key scene where the fish pushed the paper to the bottom of the pond. This problem would affect the overall plot of the film. We tried various methods, but the VFX designer used a very special way to solve it. He imported this file into houdini and exported it, then I was able to render the effects of paper in maya. However, we immediately ran into a new problem, the new effect’s model did not have uv. I can’t divide the UV in maya because that would make the UV change with the effects. Finally,I transfer and copy UV between two identical objects in maya; as a result, I copied a paper model, then divided the new UV and copied it onto the effect’s model.
Moreover, the visual style of this film is realistic. I spend a lot of time in rendering and post production to create realistic and beautiful images. If I want to do color-adjustment in nuke, I need to adjust the lighting and render settings in maya, especially aov. This is very important because aov allows nuke to get the most out of it to get the best visual effect in the film. I often use cryptomatte in nuke. We need to import the rendering sequence of the crypto object into nuke and connect the cryptomatte. Finally, we can select any object in the frame to adjust the color from this node. Because there is no guarantee that every object will get the best rendering effect, we need this method to adjust the frame of the film. This collaborative project is meaningful for me. If there is time later, I hope I can improve the parts that I am not satisfied with in the film.
This week’s focus is on making the work of the Machine Garage. I didn’t use the teacher’s machine material because I had some different ideas. Since there were a lot of bricks in the video, I thought of the door of the Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. I wanted to synthesize a door like this in the video. In maya, I make models and animations to get the material I want. Then I import the rendered images into the nuke file I made earlier to do 3D tracking and color blending. Although there are still some problems to be solved, I’ve gained a lot of experience with 3D tracking in nuke.
This week, we’ve rendered a few shots. The art director and I adjust the tone and visual effects of the film’s picture in nuke. The following three shots are the ones I have adjusted so far. These three shots are in different scenes and plots, and the following shots and pictures will be adjusted according to the visual division and tone of these three shots, in order to achieve the same overall style of the film and make the connection between each shot more natural. My work on this part took a long time, and was fortunate to get the visuals I wanted.
At the same time, vfx designer creats and renders ink in Houdini. I compose this ink and render sequence in nuke. Since there is only one ink, I create some different kinds of ink in nuke.
The content of this week’s class is to modify the figure in motion. We need to use the smartvector node to track the movement of the portrait. Through this function, we can change the portrait at will, such as adding tattoos, scars or removing moles on the face; at the same time, these added materials can also follow the movement of the portrait to change.
Process
But I had some problems when I was doing my homework. If the motion amplitude of the portrait is too large or the time is too long, the added material will deform greatly, resulting in failure to modify the portrait. At the beginning of the video above, the woman’s moles are removed. However, after frame 50, there is an obvious deformation in the erased part. I have tried many times and failed. So I used the method of roto to remove moles from women’s faces.
Process
I had a similar problem with devil man. But I watched some tutorials, and found that we can adjust the parameters of the smartvector node to adjust the tracking of the portrait’s motion. Although there is still a little bit of the above problem, it can be mitigated by choosing the right number of reference frames. In this video, I made this man’s face look like a viral infection or burn; at the same time, I put fire in the man’s eyes.
