Comping in the way

Shot 6 comp



Shot7 with GI pass

Shot9 final test comp

Shot7 CC

Shot9 testcomp

not easy, Its getting there.



Cleve

Arcade Hand-In Countdown Schedule

A random meal and a bit of a chat and this is how we've scheduled the final 4 weeks of the project.. It's going to be tough, "No Rest For The Wicked".. But I'll all be worth it.. 

Week 6

Set Extension Shots Rendered For Dummy Geo Reference (Shots 6,8,9) //  Cleve

Dummy Geometry (inc. 3D Trees, 3D Car) // Ben & Cleve

-Order shots in levels of complexity

Trail and Explosion Particles // Ben

-Emitting from the existing cubes.

Light Interaction (Point Instancing, transferring colour from the cube) // Ben

Shading.

-Invaders // Cleve

-Cubes (Textures, Map Library) // Cleve

-Shot 6 Global Illumination, due to cube proximity to the camera // Ben

Week 7

Apply 3D and System to Scenes // Ben & Cleve

Flipbook Edit for Sound Guys // Cleve

Light Matching for Invaders, Shooters etc.. // Ben & Cleve

Scene Rendering Take Set-up’s. // Ben & Cleve

Start Rendering // Ben & Cleve

Drinking under 5 pints // Ben & Cleve 

Week 8

Light Matching for Invaders, Shooters etc.. // Ben & Cleve

Scene Rendering Take Set-up’s. // Ben & Cleve

Compositing // Cleve

Week 9

Compositing // Ben & Cleve

Final VFX Edit with Sound.

Drinking Alot // Ben & Cleve

Premonition Composition Preposition For Mid Term Criticism.

We were hoping to get this shot out for the mid-terms, but the dummy geomoetry of the street to such a long time to sculpt.. So here a measly  MPlay render showing the composition of the shot.. Ben:P

 

Shot4 CC

shot9 CC

Shot8 CC

Shot1 CC

shot6 CC & Extension

Gonna replace the building on the right hand side as well. could not download maps coz credits run out.... Ready to comp!

Cleve

Logo Shaded

This lovely piece of crappy metal will appear in the shot2....maybe...
What do you think Ben?

C

Shoot-Um Up

The good guy..!! This shooter fires off slightly varying coloured bullets, currently particle driven.. But I'm hoping to link the emitter to CHOPs and the keyboard so we can fire them manually..!! I love being a Geek..!! Ben :P

Final Edit

Magic UFO You Know..

Pixelated spaceship model.. Method:::::: Basic polygon model, then, here's the magic..!! Use the IsoOffset SOP, set the Output Type to "Tetra Mesh" and the Tetra Type to "Cubes", and hey presto a cubic version of your original model.... Ben :P

Multiple Expolsion Test

This is a test uses a Copy SOP to 1: copy the space invaders onto scattered points.. 2: select a random explosion. 3: select a random explosion start time.. Right I'm not heading to a BBQ, it is Sunday... Ben :P

Over Cooking..!!

This was another test I did in the early hours of the morning. I think I was going mad at that point inputing all the cubes (The method I mentioned in the previous post). But it took along time to cook/simulate and to be honest both Cleve and I agreed, it's way too much.. Over Cooking People, Be Ware..!! Just though I'd share the video..! bEn :P

Pixelated Impacts.. At Last..!!

It's been a tough week but I think it's paid off... I've got my head around Rigid Body Dynamics.. They are a bitch..!! These simulations are based upon bringing in each cube of four, separately into one RDB Object.. As you can see they are a lot of cubes, as at the moment it's not overly procedural.. in fact barely. I don't think I'll have time to do that, but I only really need to do it once, and then I can apply the that setup cube to each environment... In the following video's you'll see the larger cube falling, and then on contact break into smaller cubes, and then smaller cubes again. This gives a real pixelated look, that of the explosions in the game. Also video two has a few more developments::: the colour switching on impact (this won't be applied here but shows the principles for the in sky, invader explosions). Also in example two I've used a For Each loop to bevel the edges of each cube (making them look less CG), this is also where the cubes are coloured at random within a range.... Ben :P

Multiple Mayhem.. But Mild Success..

Ok... I'm having some mild success with multiple breakups.. This test is with a larger more dense cube. I found that the glue strength parameters needed to be majorly tweaked to get a result. This time I've referenced the colour values in the 'Glue Impulse' parameter in the RDB State.. The 'Glue Impulse' is:

"The amount of force that has accumulated on this object so far. You can set this value explicitly. This can be used to reset glue impulses at certain times, or to force the breaking of the object."

I inputted the following:

point("..:block_`$OBJID-5`/Geometry",0,"break",0)*5000

This basically give's a difference in impulse according to the colour. And the *5000 is used as a multiplier to make the colour values further apart.

Check the test out anyways.. you can see more of a multiple break-up as the cubes hit both steps and then the floor..

Glue By Animated SOP Colour Initial Test

Again this is a development in my voyage to producing the conceived system. Colour animated at SOP level is passed into DOPs via a custom attribute. This can then be used to define glue strength. At this stage the individual blocks still have minds of there own, but are generically controlled by there colour values. In this case the darker the colour the stronger the glue strength. (although stupidly I change the colour to pink after the simulation processed. I like pink, not as much a Coen though..Pink Curtains, enough said..!!!).. The main success was to see at least something colliding once, and then breaking again.. this occurs in just one section. To the left, a set of three cubes break off and the proceed to break up again.. a battle won, but it's a hell of a war.. DOP's can be mean..!! Ben :P

Impulse and No. of Collisions BreakUp Tests

I did these last week but didn't get around to exporting them ready for the blog... So basically these are two test I did demonstrating two potential methods of affecting the breakups.. Obviously the actually cubic breakup itself isn't as I want, but they show the principle of some key DOP operations.

1: This is based on the dopfield operation.. the expression is as such..

if(dopfield("../../AutoDopNetwork","aa_rbdglueobject1",
"Impacts,"Impacts",0,"impulse")<=10000,-1,$F/0.9) ..

this basically calls upon the impulse of the impacts (how hard they hit), and if the impulse is less or equal to 10000, the keep the glue strength solid (-1), if not then take the current frame number and divide it by 0.9 (I did this so the glue would decrease over time)..

2: The second test is based on dopnumrecords...

if(dopnumrecords("../../AutoDopNetwork","aa_rbdglueobject1",
"Impacts,"Impacts")<=2,-1,10000) ..

dopnumrecords record the amount of collisions the rigid body object have with the static objects. In this case I've set; after two collsions give a glue strenght of 10000. Meaning if two or less collisions occur the glue will be have the solid value of -1.

Ben :P

Rough Edit

Invader Hit Test

This is an initial test for the impact of the bullet on the space invader... Oh by the way I've created a "Space Invader" digital asset...!! It will allow us to select the type of invader, the speed of animation, thickness, and construction type.. The construction type basically will allow us to have the majority of invader as solid objects.. and the other option of 'Individual Block' construct will be used for the specific explosion animations... Check out the initial explosion anyways.. Ben :)

Old School

We have decided to keep true to the animation of the Space Invader's within the game. This may appear crude, but the sophistication will come once impacted... Ben :)

Invaders shader comp test

did not match the camera so... in some area the invader is brighter than the background...anyway, The shader will has this sort of transparency on the edge which can has a bit continuity after they get lit up by the bullet.

Cleve

Shooting in Hammersmith 2008/06/27,28

Shooting in Bournemouth 2008/06/29

Shader test for invaders in the sky

Ive decided to use frosted glass for the whole year:). The principle of the shader is to have a mild colour and appropriate mount of transparency. After the invader get hit in the sky, the mild colour of the invader will decide the colour of the light it will have.

Im trying to make a convincing shader that can have interaction with the beautiful sky we've already got in the footage and make sense that it can be lit up.

Still have got lot of problems at the moment, will keep tweaking tomorrow.

Cleve

Invaders London Scouting

These are a few of my photo's from our London location scouting adventure... We basically decided to stick around the Hammersmith area because we felt it was similar enough to Bournemouth town centre, but different enough to give the impression of a larger city... Ben :)

First comp test

It should be a happy day.
definitely not perfect, but getting there. dont worry the texture is just a random pic.

Cleve

First shader test

Based on frosted glass

hopefully gonna be the right direction

coz we've decided to fake 3S shader in comp. the most important thing is to get the right volume pass of the cubes to simulate the object light. The attenuation in glass shader does the job perfectly.

Cleve

Bournemouth Location Hunt

Here are some photo's we took whilst scouting for photo's in Bournemouth.. Since then we've been to London (photo's will be uploaded soon), and actually filmed. And surprisingly it's turned out pretty dam well... We'll keep you posted... !!  Ben :)

Refs

sorry for the late buddy. got some thing to deal with these days. will be finished by tomorrow.
here are references we've got for Arcade


light impact on environment




cinematography reference

Block & Roll

I've completed my initial test with Rigid Body Dynamics..
The video shows a large cube breaking up into smaller cube.. Very rough for now but you get the ides.. The fun has only just started.... ben :)

Son Of A Pitch Invasion

Well Cleve and myself have just pitch our idea.. which is..

A really life 'Space Invader' Invasion... !!

We'll keep true to the look of the space invaders, but on being struck they'll transform from there dark cubic appearance, into smaller colourful glowing cubes. With each further collision those cubes have within the scenes, they'll be broken into smaller and smaller cubes (like the blog title banner).

So by the end, a city will be littered with cubes, creating a beautiful, colourful, and generally sexy aesthetic.. x

Ambitions but we're both genius' (well Cleve anyway)

We'll keep this blog updated with all are project progressions, so check back to see what's going on.. And why no one from outside the MA Digital Effects course can contact us for the next to months :)  zzzZZzzzzZZZZZZ....

A copy of the presentation is viewable HERE... 

Bye For Now 

Ben :)