This week I did plots, animations and shots of fish and paper. In order to make the animation reach the most natural effect, I found a lot of reference materials, such as how the paper is blowing in the wind, the movement of fish swimming. This aspect of work requires me to have a lot of patience to adjust the action of each shot, so that the action of each shot can be coherent. The next two videos are animations I made. There are still a lot of adjustments which I need to do in the animation.
Since there are two shot that the fish pushs paper in the water, the vfx designer makes this effect in Houdini. Then I compose it and fish in maya.
the director of cinematography and I set up the cameras of some shots this week and made the first shot in the film. The first shot is the most important one that catches the eye. I made an animation of the bell. The bell was blown by the wind. In order to achieve the best visual effect for this shot, the director of cinematography and I specially built this shot with bamboo leaves. At the same time, I did several lighting and rendering tests in order to get the best rendering results, and to help the whole film to set a basic visual effect.
The vfx designer lets bamboo, flowers and grass be blown by the wind in Houdini, then export them as abc. I put them in the maya file of the scene. In the shot, we can see the beautiful shadow on the table and groud.
This week’s lesson is again about green screen picking, but it is different from the content of last week since the material of the woman has more details, especially the flowing hair. We need to adjust more different appropriate keylight, and extract the color around the hair in order to achieve more detailed hair.
Lighting artists, also known as lighting TD, are mainly responsible for arranging and adjusting virtual lights in 3D scenes of animation, movies and games, increasing the authenticity of rendering, maintaining continuity and the atmosphere required by each scene, such as color and mood; at the same time, they also need to master some external elements, especially time and weather. Therefore, 3D lighting artists need to cooperate with the look development artist to produce assets in the environment and test the rendering effect; meanwhile, they should also work with compositors to ensure continuity between shots.
Fig. 2
3D lighting artists are the most important and indispensable part of the 3D production process since their output is the final effect of the rendering; therefore, their responsibilities are complicated. First of all, 3D lighting artists need to know how to create and select different combinations of light sources according to the reference or conceptual art in order to arouse the correct emotion, use light to set the mood of the scene, add luminous elements to create a magical or futuristic feeling, and represent the real attributes of the scene, such as the time of day. 3D Lighting artists also have to learn the use of volume light settings, including the development of shadows and cucoloris; at the same time, they should use shadows to create the depth and realism of the scene. The color and direction of all light sources in the scene need to be carefully checked. Then, lighting artists should be responsible for creating efficient rendering settings, setting non-lighting passes and AOV passes, and rendering farm use; therefore, if students want to develop in the direction of 3D lighting artists, they should first learn how to use various renderers in different 3D software, such as Maya, Nuke, Arnold, Redshift, Vray and Renderman; meanwhile, they should also have a sharp artistic vision, be proficient in physics-based rendering, have a deep understanding of color, shading, lighting and image, and have experience in effectively processing and assembling complex scenes.
Fig.3
Fig.4
In addition, character lighting and environment lighting are different. Character lighting is used to set lights for characters or assets, including three-point lighting, wood lighting, eye lighting, Rembrandt lighting, and so on. This is a very important and unique light as the shadow, light and specific design elements can make the characters look lifelike, such as capturing the shape of face, the whiteness of teeth and the wetness of eyes; actually, if the light does not illuminate the character correctly, the effect of rendering may look monotonous, unnatural and dazzling.
Fig. 5 Interior lighting work in Arnold, Shuaib Ahmad
Instead, in the aspect of environment lighting, artists should add light and shadows to the scene in order to make it look as realistic as possible. Lighting artists should understand how light and shadow interact in the indoor and outdoor daylight and night scenes in real life, simulate natural lighting involves the perception of the surrounding environment of the scene, the soft illumination from the sky, the direction of the sun and the indirect light mixed with different colors; at the same time, they should also have a deep understanding of the light and shadow in underwater scenes, snow scenes, foggy scenes and other scenes.
If I want to become a 3D lighting artist, I need to spend time on improving my lighting skills and collecting lighting materials of different environments, weather and objects. Although this position does not involve a lot of modeling and texture work, it is also very challenging.
List of figures
Fig.1, Fig. 3 – Fig. 4 Available at: https://www.exp-points.com/asking-the-legends-of-lighting-art
Fig. 2 Available at: https://dreamfarmstudios.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-lighting-fundamentals-for-3d/
Fig. 5 Ahmad, Shuaib, Interior lighting work in Arnold, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rAAWyJ
Green screen is one of the key features of nuke. We can use the Keylight node to extract the color of the areas which need to be erased, such as green screen; at the same time, we can adjust the different keylight nodes according to the details of the materials, and merge them to get a fine image. Then we can add additional material to the blank area.
This week, my job was to make and build the main scene, which required flowers, grass, rocks, bamboo and trees. I first made a small pond by the side of the pavilion with several different rocks. Then I made about three or four kinds of flowers and grass and put them on the side of the rock and the pool. At the same time, the main scene is surrounded by bamboos in order to create the environment with an ancient Chinese style. Meanwhile, I did a light test and a render test to preview the shots and visuals in the movie.
We learned more about how to use 3D tracking to add footage to a video. I found a lot of materials of flowers and vines to modify the whole space. Because the space in the video is like a square, and the camera has an Angle rather than a level view; as a result, I need to adjust the card exported from the 3D tracking points to fit the angles of different areas in the space, and add shadows, in order to make the materials be more natural and reasonable in the overall view. I feel like I’m making progress, but I’m still looking into more features of 3D tracking.
Environment artist, a comprehensive position, responsible for creating most of the assets and visual effects in the environment of animation, film and game. The content of their work includes 3D modeling, sculpture, texture and design. The environment artist should create and build a 3D digital environment based on conceptual art, real world reference and scanning because there are many scenes in the creative world of animation, movies or games that cannot be shot in real life or do not exist at all, such as historical scenes, science fiction scenes or outer space. The environment artist needs to be skilled in using assets to set scenery; therefore, this position is usually filled by 3D modelers.
Fig. 2 Medieval Village, Sourav Kumar
Fig. 3 Medieval Village, Sourav Kumar
As an environment artist, the first thing to master is to make various types of models and texture maps according to art settings and reference materials, such as hard surface or organic model; as a result, not only should the environment artist skillfully use different 3D production software, especially maya, zbrush, substance painter, Unreal Engine, etc., but they also have to know the overall process of building the environment in order to avoid problems, duplicate work and delay the process of the project. At the same time, due to a large number of assets in the scene, there will be a large quantity of meshes and texture maps which is possible to lead to slow rendering or game bugs. Meanwhile, the environment artists should also learn how to optimize the topology, polygonal subdivisions, UV mapping and mesh fixes of assets in the scene in order to reduce the rendering pressure, or let the game run normally at a controlled frame rate. In addition, not only do environment artists need to master a variety of software technologies, but they also have to accumulate experience in various aspects, such as a deep understanding of architectural elements, environment and props. In this aspect, the environment artist should have a keen eye on landscape, urban planning and geography, constantly study and sort out the reference materials of the real world, and produce the elements and textures required by different visual styles for the purpose of helping promote the development of the story or game plots. At the same time, the environment artist also needs to develop their creativity and imagination to build a fantasy world, and add cohesive and visual elements to the game. Furthermore, team cooperation is also the most important professional quality that environment artists must have since the production teams of movies or games are very large, and have many different positions, including directors, screenwriters, programmers, concept designers, etc; therefore, actively communicating with others and listening to others’ feedback is one of the essential skills that environment artists need to exercise.
The environment artist has become an indispensable position in the production of animation, films and games. Although some studios offer the entry level position of environment artists, applicants must also show their proficiency in software, creativity and high-quality unique art works in the portfolio to let recruiters know that candidates can quickly enter the work of the project. The survey reflects some problems which I have to improve, especially the accumulation of real world materials, creativity in visual style, and lack of complete and high-quality art works. For the following study and creation, I have directions and goals of improvement and development.
List of figures
Fig.1 Kurabi, Mike, Ancient Cathedral, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xYly14
Fig. 2 Kumar, Sourav, Medieval Village, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z59WQX
Fig. 3 Kumar, Sourav, Medieval Village, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z59WQX
This week, I was working on the pavilion model and material. I found some material to use as a reference, then made the model and UV in maya, and made the material in substance painter.
