Starting from a room, walking out with headsets of hyper reality. Games to play on the way. https://youtu.be/mM4r2o-9kN4?si=kNFIeGs8VOnsQPbz
A green screen footage to show virtual world Unreal engine for green screen to put futuristic city How is the building going to be constructed? add dinosaurs for CGI in a museum, cooking on am induction with recipe
CAR REFERENCE FOR THE HYPER REALITY
FEEDBACK : Moodboard, storyboard, presentation (Dreaming hyperrealistic) Environment, what is the city gonna look like, narratives. Check: A day made of glass
Modelling a flying car/Air Taxi
I really like modelling; I think with the time I am getting better at adding specific details which I really didn’t care before. I think its the details that make any model look better. The more you focus on small details the better it looks. For this model I want it to look exactly like it is in the picture. So far I have worked on making it symmetrical and adding every single detail as it is in the picture. For its tyre, I checked this tutorial on making the honeycomb for spheres.
I have been working on this model as I love modelling, and I feel I have quite improved on my modelling skills and I should use that in my FMP.
I am thinking of painting this in Maya itself as it doesnt need lot of detailed textures. Also my plan was to add some advertising content on the car, so might do that in substance painter or photoshop.
this is what it looks like in the render with physical sky lights
Adding details in the interior. This is something I am doing for the first time. I never worked on interiors, so it is quite fun and new to learn. I need to learn how we add more color in one single geometry. I used to do it in blender.
This is how it looks after adding all the materials in the maya itself. Quite satisfied, but the main task is to blend it with the real footage. Also I got a perfect canary wharf HDRI from poly heaven as I am going to use the footages from there itself.
I have collected some footages to check the track and placement of the car. I am planning to do tracking in Nuke and then exporting the same to Maya.
For the last term I didn’t really work on tracking, so I think it is going to be difficult to track so many scenes I have planned according to the script. Currently working on resolving tracking issues with footages.
I have been working on tracking the above the scene and I realized, there is need of markers on the floor which could help me track the planar that is closer to the camera. At present camera couldn’t track the floor maybe because of the texture. Also I could have shot the scene where we have some type of markers on the floor.
I tried tracking another footage, and it did a pretty good job at it. But it is still not the one like in the previous shot. I might use this as one of the shot.
Exporting the tracked scene to maya.
Checking lights in the render.
It blends quite well with the background. I can use this as one of the scene in my story. My next task is to show this as a taxi in my story. I recorded few shots in the morning on the street and I tracked them so that I can put the car in it.
I was looking for the spots where I can find more markers or points to track on the road. And this is one of best spots I got. It also has a taxis only written on it, which perfectly matches my requirements. Those markers on the road helped me to get a good camera track. I will be adding the character in this, the Actor of the story. I Might add the character shot in front of a green screen so that will help me to add more overlays.
I am working on elements to get the render and for some reason the render is missing some of the frames so I rendered the missing frames separately.
Missing frames
when done the composition, I realise the glass material is too transparent that makes it look empty cars. I would reduce the transparency also change the colour, maybe that works. The second thing I need to change is the rotation angle of the car. at the start it doesn’t look as if it going in the right direction. After changing these 2 thing, I would re render it.
I am also adding another taxi in the above footage. Below are the credits mentioned for the same. I downloaded it from sketchfab.
“VTOL Air Taxi” (https://skfb.ly/oTzIW) by Annelida is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Tracking one more scene where I want to show a close up shot of the cab when someone wearing headset is wearing it. I shot the scene from two angles and tried tracking both of them.
I am not quite satisfied with this track as it is in the wrong orientation. Putting a car in it might be difficult. And also I dont know if we can change the orientation of the car. So I tracked another scene.
This is how the second shot looks like. if I could work better on this I would maybe reshoot this with the actor in it.
A good decision is to check the render before you render out the whole sequence using render farm. This closeup scene made me do back and forth with maya and nuke and number of renders. The lights were working pretty good in the previous scene when I rendered. but I realized, no its not working well. Fixed the lights and the shadows.
This is how it looks after n number of trails. I think the size of the car has to be fixed and the shadow catcher plane. The scene I tracked has much smaller scale than the car I built. I scaled the car down to match the size. I was wondering how lights are not working well. It is now I have realized it was because of scaling the whole car down.
The size looks much better. The interior light, render quality still needs to be fixed.
Thats the final rendered comp.
I want the third scene from the perspective if a viewer if he is seating inside a building. I took a shot with the help of a friend who works in canary wharf.
This is the one of the frame of the shot. I could track it, but I am not enough satisfied with the track. It has given me pointes too far from the camera. i want the car to pass close to this glass. The challenge is to roto the spaces in between and to put back the glass effect on it. One of the issues with this is, it is the evening period in scene and it has got lights which I will have to make sure I get reflections on the car.
For this scene I scaled up the size of car. while for the other scenes I reduced the size of it.
I used the card and added constant. With the help of merge node, I could reduce the transparency.
Working on renders from the render farm.
I couldn’t find some of then files even when the monitor shows it has been rendered and completed. This has happened before. I have rendered missing frames separately to fix it.
FEEDBACK: try reflections using an image with overlay on car, from outside. Can put a Cg character – ( I feel that would affect the script theme as I am not using any other CG character) by Paul: add one more car flying from backside
FEEDBACK: Match the grains, whites and black with the background fix shadows using samples and rendering single frames.
I want information to pop on building in my first footage. I am using After effects to create panel effects as it is easier to create effects.
This is not clearly visible. I will need to find some references to display these panels. I took some references from you tube videos which I have added on my mood board.
This is the final look. I still need to take render of the cars and also some color grading. I had to reshoot the footage of booking a cab as I planned o put a green screen footage of the actor in it. But as Manos suggested to take it in live footage I reshot the footage and now working on its track again.
This is how the new shot looks like. Camera tracking used to be quite challenging for me, but in this project, I’ve finally overcome that hurdle. I feel more confident now, and I’m no longer afraid to experiment with it. One of the most crucial aspects was setting up the camera accurately for tracking, including alpha masking, camera lens details, and lens distortion. Working on these details made me realize how essential it is to follow this process carefully to achieve the best results.
After track results.
I have been working on two different scenes together. For the cab closeup view from the building, I have to show the reflection of the building in the car.
it is a bit challenging to do. I have never done this before. Roto was not working on this maybe because I have done the merge operation. I also tried premultiplying it, but it didn’t work. The last option was to render it out and then do the roto.
After roto results. added edgeblur. This is how it looks, but I am not quite satisfied with the results. I think it needs more color correction or fixing merge bending modes.
Got it!!Now I think the reflection looks good. Still the reflection on the front side glass is missing. and adding that would also look good. I think this is good enough for this shot. I would still be adding some more cars in the same scene.
I am almost finished with the above scene. I added few more cars in the background also added some holograms to make it look more hyperealistic. for all the scenes that I worked on, I feel the most important part to do as post production would me to add more and more holograms. In the above closeup shot that is from a perspective of a person sitting in the building looking at the car. Added a hologram on the table.
Adding some holograms.
Adding more cars in the background.
Booking a taxi scene is also done. Added the holograms. Fixed the defocus. Blurred the background when the car arrives. rendered the shadow and the car separately.
For the above scene, I added few more cars. Also from the feedback, cars should be seen as different sizes. Fixed that and it looks much better now,. I am kind of not liking these panels as they are not matching with my other two shots. Also it needs more holographic information to make it look hype realistic.
I have thought of rewriting the whole story, depending on the scenes I have created. Working on the script as well. I plan to show it as a world of 2050 which is very different to today. People stop using there phone and now have adopted to wearing virtual headsets.
This is how it turned out. Found the footage of exactly like the concept I had in my mind. I wanted some connecting dots to the building. added a card to the tracked scene and placed the footage on it. card seems to be having issues, as I placed two cards. Also this scene has a bit different lighting than the other two. need to work on grading. for the cars flying, I need to add blur effect to the cars that are behind the front ones. I am still not sure how I am going to do that. I remember somewhere we used a Zdefocus node when Gonzalo taught us. And it resolved the issue.
Node graph so far.
Feedback for the renders:
Size of the car has to be made very tiny : re-render it. Also the blue lines needs to be done masking
To remove the unnecessary hologram at the back of the wall Change the start and the end of the car coming in the frame.
make the center of hologram to the actor’s headset.
Did the changes reccommended. Removed the hologram from the closeup shot of a car. added a globe hologram downloaded from pixabay to make it look like someone is working in the office with headset on.
I wanted to add one more scene to the whole scene. This is one of the random shot I took while walking and I thought about adding some information of holograms and information to the scene. I was a bit worried if I could just track the scene. but I think I am getting better at it. Most important part while tracking is I feel the LensDistortion and the mask alpha to track the scene. This has helped me so much with tracking.. I took a footage to put as a background for the frame from pixabay. Did the editing in After effects. Markers on the path also helped the track get smoother.
The initial idea started with doing something that will promote advertising using vfx. But when I started working on it I felt, I wanted to work more on my compositing skills. After working on all these scenes I am more confident on using Nuke now. I always liked to do modelling but compositing was a difficult task for me. I worked more on my compositing, fixing renders, lights and reflections. So eventually I changed the story according to the work I wanted to do and practise more on rather than being very specific about doing one particular script.
The story now goes like, how our everyday life and habits will change in 2050. It starts with introducing the story name on the screen saying ” Are you ready for 2050?” And it then begins where the actor leaves home with his headset on leaving behind his phone on the table, showing its the time we not use mobile phones anymore. Walking towards the taxi he can see and access the information panel. People will be using air taxis, how they will look in the air and the last scene where we can see a perspective of a person working in his office conference room and can see the air taxis. To end the story, I used the rewind as if its just a imagination and the story ends with a glitch.
Overall I am satisfied with the renders but I think I could have done much better at making it a good story, with a good start and end. I thought of keeping it short and not too long so that whatever I work, has to be the best of my efforts. It also helped to me to get reviewed from the professors before time and make the necessary changes. The more the changes and renders I did , I could see better results for the scene. If I look at the whole video, I think it still lacks colour grading and correctness. It was fun to work on the project and to see it turn out into a whole story video of the concept I visualized.
In the first few weeks, our focus was on researching our possible dissertation topics and analysing how to structure our dissertation proposal. As well as Nigel also told us how to construct a properly framed thesis, as well as giving an account of example arguments as well as the academic nature of the thesis.
Thesis Proposal Structure A thesis should contain all the following sections:
Research title or question
Draft Introduction
Key words searched.
Draft literature review
A draft chapter
General outline of each chapter
Indicative bibliography
In any research proposal, the goal is to present the author’s plan for the research they intend to conduct. In a research proposal, the author demonstrates how and why their research is relevant to their field. They demonstrate that the work is necessary to achieve the following:
Filling a gap in the existing body of research on their subject
Underscoring existing research on their subject, and/or
Adding new, original knowledge to the academic community’s existing understanding of their subject
Types of research
Quantitative research. This type of research provides numerical data (analysed using mathematical methods or statistics). It is an empirical research that explains trends so it is more objective.
Qualitative research. This type of research produces findings without using quantitative methods and it is more subjective. It explores the perception, feelings, or ideas of people,
Choosing your topic will involve a considerable amount of initial research. Research involves locating key sources. There are two kinds of sources:
a) Primary or original sources. These could be a mediaeval manuscript, a poem, a photograph, the records of an institution, a dress, an interview…
b) Secondary or interpretative sources i.e. papers/articles/books written about a subject. Each source/text is written/produced from a perspective and has a specific function.
Researching about starting a business in VFX industry, what comes first in my mind is the heavy budget that is required to produce a film. There must be ways to improve things without always investing in so much. Studying about the films that were truly memorable and made on a very low budget would improve me as an efficient artist. The idea is to consider the topics related to films with low budgets and turned out to be successful hits.
TOPIC NAME: Case Studies of Successful Low-Budget VFX Films: Analyzing Notable Indie Films and Lessons from DIY VFX Projects
Topic for Critical Practice Thesis: Ethical business practices for sustainable development.
Preparation for first tutorial:
· A research question or title Ethical business practices for sustainable development.
· An Abstract 50-100 words
This study focuses on the integration of sustainable development with the profitability, for a company. Through a comprehensive review of multiple companies who have adopted the sustainability growth as an integral part of the business, it showcases the ideal framework for companies to promote long term sustainability. The study presents effective solutions and examples for companies looking for sustainable initiatives to maintain the moral principles for greener practices.
· A structure indicating chapter headings and subheadings.
Chapter 1: Introduction objectives questions Significance of the study Chapter 2: Literature review Definition of ethical business practices Chapter 3: Theoretical framework Chapter 4: Methodologies Chapter 5: Analysis and findings Chapter 6: Conclusions
· Show development on Literature review.
· A bibliography
Feedback: To be more specific on the VFX business and its sustainable practices and to put proper citation of words taken from different papers and websites.
Updated Topic: Ethical business practices in VFX Industry
Due to multiple sources of information for the critical source topic, I couldn't choose the right topic.
Ideas to choose the topic:
1: VFX other than films: Taking this as a topic I think has a too broad aspect. In my opinion taking VFX as a topic in one particular field other than movies can be too narrow.
2: Measuring ROI of VFX-intensive Advertising Campaigns I think as a VFX artist, I support VFX driven ads as the best source for higher ROI. This shifts my focus to only see the good sides of vfx in advertising. I would prefer choosing a topic where I can explore varying fields as a VFX industry.
3: The Evolution of Virtual Production in VFX Studios. Virtual productions in VFX is something I always wanted to explore. This topic makes me answers the questions for choosing a topic for critical report. It definitely motivates me to research and discover more about it.
Research gate: Bao, Yanrong. (2022). Application of Virtual Reality Technology in Film and Television Animation Based on Artificial Intelligence Background. Scientific Programming. 2022. 1-8. 10.1155/2022/2604408.
Proquest E book central
ProQuest Ebook Central – Reader The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures VES, Jeffrey Okun and VES, Susan Zwerman Page 330
copying Harvard Citation [Okun, VJ, & Zwerman, VS (eds) 2020, The VES Handbook of Visual Effects : Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures, Taylor & Francis Group, Oxford. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [25 May 2024].] research materials
Taking notes from the documents provided Create a story. Set the scenario. How does it end? Pose a problem. Outline the issue. what resolution is required? Ask a question Ask us if we know enough. How do we learn?
Bao, Yanrong. (2022). Application of Virtual Reality Technology in Film and Television Animation Based on Artificial Intelligence Background. Scientific Programming. 2022. 1-8. 10.1155/2022/2604408.
Zwerman, S. and Okun, J. A., eds. (2021) The VES Handbook of Virtual Production. New York: Routledge.
Zwerman, S., & Okun, J. A. (Eds.). (2010). *The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures*. Burlington, MA: Focal Press.
Westminster Research (2021) VFX – A New Frontier: The Impact of Innovative Technology on Visual Effects. Available at: https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/ (Accessed: 12 June 2024).
ACM. Virtual Production in Action: A Creative Implementation of Expanded Cinematography and Narratives. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/ (Accessed: 12 June 2024).
Creating a Storyboard:
Also include: the topic you have researched and the benefits of this research.
Draft Storyboard:
Imagine a world in fast forward from the time Virtual production was not used to the time now, where it has become integral part of vfx industry. From the old movies to the very new, unforgettable ones.
The story begins with Jurassic Park How the technology changed Use of green screens and postproduction works Highlighting the issues Introducing Virtual production Need to learn and adapt What is the future?
Collecting all the visuals from different sources.
Script:
Minghan :Hi bro, how are you doing?
Mahadev: Good, Good
Is it a plastic bag?
Minghan :yeahh (Pause)
You know these plastic bags are just so convenient. Who cares about reusable ones?
Mahadev :
I do
Using reusable bags is so important for the environment.
Its about making small changes for a better future
Minghan
Oh come on. Whats the harm in using platic once in a while
Mahadev : Imagine a world where everyone thought that way. Our cities would turn into chaotic messes, covered in plastic waste. Pollution would choke our air, and wildlife would suffer immensely.
Minghan : Thats so true, What have we done?
Mahadev: Small choices can make a big difference. Choosing reusable over plastic isn't just about convenience; it's about preserving the beauty of our planet for generations to come.
Mighan : You’re right. I never looked at it that way. Maybe it’s time for a change.
we had a great time shooting for our script. I took on the primary role of shooting and directing the video. I was responsible for conceptualizing the scenes, setting up the shots, and ensuring that the footage captured the intended narrative and quality.
I have to create a green city symbolizing the sustainable environment: Setting up the buildings as mesh’s to grow plants on it. Trying blender to create the plants growth.
Didnt turn out as expected
Getting started with houdini, so that I can use simulation for plants if needed
Quick notes:
G, h - to focus the object in viewport panel
Space H - to focus the object in viewport panel
T - transform, R- rotate, E - Scale
Right part of the node - Display flag
pops- Particle Operators
Minghan has done the green part, on what I was planning to do So moving forward to main composition, putting together all the shots.
Editing the intro effect – THE BAG CHOICE edited all the clips together, as per the script and the dialogues Sound FX – Pixabay
The task is to put together all the files edited by others, and some more effects. But its challenging as everyone does the node graph in their own style and some files are missing. Might have to plan for some more efficient way to work together and make it work
Updates from the group chat
Trying to understand and organize the script so that I can work on adding the effects temporarily
Putting together works from everyones’s file
Garbage disposal:
Trying to fit the building in, the work done by yifang but its quite difficult as there are different things infront of the building like cucle and cars. I trid putting it on to the card and a normal placement as well but it doesnt fit well with the whole scene. I am still figuring out the ways I can fix it. for now I am going ahead with rest of the things.
adding the building in the scene is quite a task. I was doing it in the previous file but due to too many nodes in the same file it is taking very long to proceed and load. Now I have started with a new file to put the building in.
Adding smoke to the plastic waste Tracking the spots and adding the smoke.
This was the final color grade and look.
I did not get the concept of adding broken building in the scene. Communication among the team members was difficult as some of them do not understand English. overall, I am not at all satisfied on how it turned out. I think all of us had better concepts in our mind and couldn’t express it to each other. Also we did not wok properly in a given timeframe so at the end it was difficult to do the changes and ask everyone in the group to do specific tasks.
Also one major issue I faced is the working on Minghan’s nuke file. Due to some of the nodes the script took around 3-4 mins for every single frame to load, which made it even more difficult to do the changes and look for how it has been edited. I added the butterflies as manos said, not too many. I downloaded a footage and roto-ed out 2-3 butterflies to be added in the scene and not all of them to avoid the gaudiness.
Initial Idea: To create a commercial advertisement for the use or promoting an application using cool effects, transitions in animation, vfx for green screen and some motion graphics to show the use of the application.
I have selected an app, CARUDYOG, which is into selling of secondhand cars. The idea is to promote the working of the app and why it is better than other apps, with the help of a short video, using different techniques.
SCRIPT:
SHOT 1:
Hey there, car owners!
Forget the hassle of negotiating with just one buyer.
If you're thinking about selling your car and want top dollar, we've got the perfect solution for you!
Introducing CARUDYOG, the ultimate platform that connects you with multiple buyers, all competing to give you the best value for your beloved ride
(transition from one platform to another showing CARudyog)
SHOT 2:
Host:
With CAR UDYOG, selling your car is an easy Job.
Here's how it works: simply download the app, enter your car's details, and watch as potential buyers start bidding for your vehicle. It's like having your very own car auction right at your fingertips!
. With our app, Choose the offer that suits you best, and let the selling begin!
These are some of the initial references for the background I want to model. The left side images show the old garage and old styles of doing the business. The right side image shows transition into CARUDYOG.
heres the first render to analyse the references and the overall size and placements of objects in the scene.
Here’s another sample modelling and putting a sample green screen image to take a look on render dimensions.
Adding more details Plants:
Unwrraping for plants
starting with a new file as the previous one has got lot of glitches because of the animations and no proper grouping of objects.
Initial Modelling Texturing in substance
Automatic texture import from substance “https://youtu.be/F3c0BLv2pRk?si=tnYOG1tyKp_JwvaN”
Using Mocap for animations:
Combining character animations from mixamo: “https://youtu.be/b5vsjV66nAs?si=6YpwwuiLE5v8VOJ_”
Using Mocap retargeting
Working on a footage in Nuke to be added to show how a live auction of cars would look like:
This is shot by me The plan is to add bidding across different locations in the shot to show how the auction works, it is for the script part where it says [watch as potential buyers start bidding for your vehicle. It’s like having your very own car auction right at your fingertips!]
This is what the tracked footage looks like. I think this footage will not work for what I have planned.
Tracking the scene and putting 3d elements to check the accuracy.
Checking with the track to place elements to add and modify the attributes
Working on adding a 3D element here
I had this Idea of putting something as a character in the footage to show there will be multiple buyer across different locations in the city: And this is what I came up with:
Thought of a quick modelling in Blender: So I got the red and white colors to focus more on the logo colors.
Here’s the nodes for the tracking
I can use 2D tracking and 3D tracking both to add more of the characters in the footage. But I think using 3D tracking can help me using more of dept details and more options to relocate the card in scene.
Using the same scale for the cards might help to show the distance between two different points
As per the feedback from Manos, I have thought of changing the characters to different faces which would make a better difference. Following are the references I look forward to creating the faces of characters.
Characters I modelled
Adding the bidding number plates
Editing details for animation and motion graphics to show the details of the app Adding these details to my footage where I talk about how to use the app.
Using After effects to add the graphics. As I find it easier to use for motion graphics work.
Fixing The animation files as it is having issues with textures and working on lighting.
Trying on taking different camera angles
I have been trying to do the animation for the last part of this scene, where I want different characters to pop up, showing the best offer they have for the car.
Unfortunately this has been the 5th failed attempt to render the Mixamo characters.
This for some reason is not taking textures properly. I tried to fix it in hypershade but failed to do it. I might try to fix it again or else I will have to go for another character from some other website. The other two characters I used in the script are working fine and render the textures properly.
I thought it might be my laptop issue. This render is from remote desktop. I think it is Mixamo issue or maybe it allows only 2-3 downloads.
After checking with multiple characters and different setting, I came to the conclusion that it is not the render settings that is affecting the render, rather it is the cosine and reflectivity in hyper shade that made the difference.
Re-Animating the character
So this has been a constant issue while working on these mixamo character files. It shows that it has been corrected properly but after the render it always has this glossiness even after changing so many settings. After many trials I realized it was the specular value in the hyper shade that needs to be changed to fix this issue and a lot of other values.
I am quite satisfied with how it turned out. I could have done a better job with the initial part of the script. Animation and lighting are something I need to learn and progress more in. For this project I think I did a good job at the script and imagining the scenes properly. I avoided doing the mistakes I did for the previous projects. Taking help of more references and real-life measurements was something that was missing in my works before. Also tracking the scene for the city area was quite interesting. Did lots of changes wherever needed. What worked for me in this project was proper storyline, studying more reference styles, a clear idea on what I want to make and regular discussion with course leaders is I think one of most important part of the process.
Export buffer compression – allows you to buffer through frames
E – emd frame T – track CTRL + left click and press T track Select the track – where it stops – adjust the tracking frame – retrack – press T
config – horizon control – image controls- enable control lables – colour control enables
ALT + right click – to select points
ALT + C – to see the tracking results
Deviation browser- how accurate your track is
calc – all from scratch
05/02/2024 – Week 2
deviation browser for image control panels
Turn On image control enabled Static camera shots Two ways to do the static camera track for points –
1 : put tracking points – and frame – track again the same point from the other frame – splining through the frame – tracks the point automatically 2 : Put tracking point – track another similar static point
fixed camera position – if you used tripod
Adjusting the lens distortion – Adjust parameter of the camera
Create Different groups for points to export to maya
Object track is for the 3D object and camera track is for the footage
Face tracking – points should be mirrored to the opposite side of the face
For my term project, I’m working on creating a special virtual world where people can have presentations and work in unique spaces. Imagine it like a magical metaverse. In this virtual place, I’ll be designing different spots, buildings of workstations, kind of special desks for people to use. We’ll also make beautiful displays for products, just like in a shop or museum. Also there will be a lovely outdoor area, like a park! It’s going to be a fantastic adventure in the world of virtual spaces.
Developing a virtual metaverse where people can access creative workspaces, product displays, and even explore outdoor environments. This project aims to offer a diverse and immersive virtual experience for presentations and work, combining different settings such as workstations, product galleries and outdoor spaces.
Designing the building
Creating a platonic mesh for sample buildings
Designing the basic layouts for building model
Layout to design general environment
Thinking of references to arrange the buildings
Reference for the building covers
Working on texture paint using substance
Deciding on colour shades
This looks better as ivory shade is a new modern architecture colour. Black is used to make the grille stand out with the building as in highlighting it.
Using wooden texture for poles but I think this is too dark and I would prefer going to lighter shades as we add trees , the overall look would be anyways enhanced.
Exporting textures to maya
Render in Arnold skydome
Checking with lights and HDRIs
Deciding on the setup to do the lighting and render
Importing meshes into unreal
Adding textures to the meshes imported from substanceAdding base and plants in unrealAdding water bodyseparating out the glass material mesh to apply glass material on itAnd this is the final lookChecking different HDRI images
Lecture: Rendering with Movie Render Queue (continued)
WEEK 9
Introduction to Sequencer and Movie Render Queue (MRQ)
MRQ- Movie render queue
Movie Render Queue is a successor to the Sequencer Render Movie feature, and is built for higher quality, easier integration into production pipelines, and user extensibility.
Plugins needed
Movie Render Queue
Movie render queue render passes
Plugins needed for rendering in video formats
Important Concepts:
Aliasing In CGI
Deferred rendering
colour space
WEEK 8
Cameras and Post Process Volume (PPV)
WEEK 7
Lighting and Global Illumination Systems in UE5
WEEK 6
Landscape Material, Introduction to Water and Foliage Systems
creating landscapesusing different tools to create landscapeUsing ramp tool to create slopes
WEEK 5
Materials part 2 and Intro to Landscape
ORD – occlusion, roughness, displacement
WEEK 4
Building assets from Quixel Bridge
importing assets and using quixel bridge content
WEEK 3
Asset Gathering and Intro to Modeling Tools
Blueprints – Unreal Engine approach to Visual scripting
Shortcut Keys
G – hide objects temporarily Ctrl + Space bar – Content browser W – move E – rotation R – Scale Ctrl + G – group Objects Shift + G – ungroup
Shortcut keys
Snapping Tools
Using content browser assets and props
To reduce lag and increase performance of unreal
Go to settings - Engine settings - set post process to medium and then rechange it to epic once done working
Settings
GPU visualizer
Type command profileGPU
The colored bar represent how much processing time each thing needs to go to the gpu each of the individual
Epic Games marketplace, launcher and introduction to Quixel Bridge
Quixel Bridge plugin for Unreal Engine gives you full featured access to the Megascans library within the Level Editor. You can browse collections, search for specific assets, and add assets to your Unreal Engine projects.
Launching Bridge in Unreal Engine
Click the Content dropdown in the toolbar and select Quixel Bridge.
From the top menu, select Window > Quixel Bridge.
From the Content Drawer, right-click and select Add Quixel Content.
If you can’t find Quixel Bridge as directed above, select Edit > Plugins. Type Bridge in the search bar, and click the checkbox to enable the plugin.
You may be prompted to restart Unreal Engine for the changes to take effect.
Temperature LightingHow Red and blue lghts decide the temperature
using color temperature with the arnold lights
for shadow uh use arnold shadow matte material
\
SKY DOME LIGHT
IN ORDER TO RENDER CREATE CAMERA FROM FRONT VIEW
AOV’s in render settings are importants \ specular to add as the object is metallic\
add custom ambient occlusion for variation in shadows
WEEK 9
Maya Animation
Principles of Animation
Timing and spacing
Squash and stretch
Anticipation
Ease in And ease out
Follow through and overlapping
Arcs
Exaggeration
Solid drawing
Appeal
Straight ahead action
Secondary action
Staging
Auto keyframe toggle Animation preferences
WEEK 8
Maya rigging & IK
IK – Inverse Kinematics
FK – Forward kinematics
changing pivot
Parenting – select child and then parent and press P
Another way to parent – select parent – then child – Animation – constraint – parent
Creating IK handles
IK handles for hands
Human IK
Rigged inbuilt model
definition
controls
Skin Binding
Using quick rig
Creating Bones and then IK handles adding controllers for the overall movement with proper alignment
Adding Bones
Creating IK handles
Adding controllers
WEEK 7
Texturing with Substance Painter
WEEK 6
Texturing UV
WEEK 5
Organic modelling pt2
WEEK 4
Organic Modelling
project and bring a mood board with references
For my term project, I’m working on creating a special virtual world where people can have presentations and work in unique spaces. Imagine it like a magical metaverse.
In this virtual place, I’ll be designing different types of workstations, kind of special desks for people to use. We’ll also make beautiful displays for products, just like in a shop or museum.
Also there will be a lovely outdoor area, like a park, and even a galaxy to explore! It’s going to be a fantastic adventure in the world of virtual spaces.
Putting Smoke and adjusting the smoke color with the background:
I tried the colorspace ybcbr to match the shade of the smoke with the background, but I am not sure if it is what exactly it should look like. Matte painting can be done in Nuke and photoshop both, but for now I am using photoshop because I still get a little bit confused with the nodes and adding more nodes might confuse me more. But I will definitely try to do it in nuke as well!
Tried Photoshop generative AI to generate broken wall and fire and this is what the results are.
Adding smoke in the background I used blur node to make it look like it is far away from the camera.
I was trying the building collapse effect but I couldn’t do it the building in the background. So, I put the ready footage of the collapsed building. and added the bullet hitting effect.
added a bomb blast effect to make it look like it blasts after the hit
Adding smoke in the middle part and applying a little less blur to show it is closer to the camera than the previous one Here I think I should work on the roto part of the front area which is closer to the camera But if there has to be more smoke coming in front then the smoke and the roto edes would not matter much.
Adding more fire in the closer areas.
Adding the grey and black shades on the wall to show the burning effect.
Adding the fire for the window And the card for the photoshop AI generative image of a broken building
Use retime node – to change the speed of footage OFlow – used to manage the speed with three different options
Kronos: another tool to slow down elements TimeWrap_loop – to make the footage run through all the timeline even if it has less number of frames relative to the main footage
T_OverStack Adding fake Motion blur – depending on how close the pate is to the camera
Using expression to edit the luminosity
Fibonacci glow adds more details compared to the normal glow node
Week 13 – London city part 2
Haze and Depth techniques
First Technique: smoke LumaKey
Issues with this We didnt treat the color in the background of the smoke we just kept the alpha
Second Technique: Luma key Inverted
Third Technique: smoke LumaKey log
Loglin node operation (loglin or linlog)
Fouth technique: relight smoke [way to add colors to the smoke]
Adding average of both the plates: avg of the bg on to the fog light
Matte painting – use project 3d node – project it onto the card
WEEK 12 – London city
Project Idea: try to change the look of the footage using stock footages, textures, smoke, etc to show the city is under attack.
References for before and after of the footage: What to do – tracking, projections, smoke, fog and no CG
Smoke composition: Fire, depth, grade of the smoke, motion blur.
Planning your shot Process: Match move – extract camera, position, cards, placement. Matte Painting – how to damage the building. Next week – how to add smoke. last week – Grade the shot Lower third and animation of the TV news channel
Camera trackers edit: Mask – mask alpha. Focal length – known. Length -film back preset – film back size Settings: Increase number of features Error max – Min length – 3 Delete unsolved. delete rejected. use a point to decide the ground as we do not have a lot of information of the ground.
Let’s pretend a point is a ground (take one point on the ground) Define the scale distance. select last point. and define the axis.
WEEK 11 – Particles
CG Machine
WEEK 10 copycat
Intrinsically both node types are identical, both a GROUP and a GIZMO are the very definition of “Nodes within Nodes
The key difference in the two is, a GIZMO is a reference in node that is stored externally to the NUKE script, and a GROUP node, is saved inside of the NUKE script, and can also be saved as a ToolSet.
Glint node – poster line effect
Two ways to add the content to the group 1: manage user knobs, add labels 2: open the pencil above, drag and drop also we can drag and drop from one node to another if the pencil is turned on
What is a CopyCat? CopyCat is a Machine Learning Node which alows to artist to train their own network
WEEK 10 – Matte painting
Gizmos and Tools
WEEK 9 – Motion Vectors
The Smart Vector toolset allows you to work on one frame in a sequence and then use motion vector information to accurately propagate work throughout the rest of the sequence. The vectors are generated in the SmartVector node and then piped into the VectorDistort node to warp the work.
Smart vector – export write
WEEK 8 – Remove Markers
UV map – are just the representation of axis in Nuke We use U and V instead of X and Y just to not get confused with the letters U & V are representation of X & Y in nuke, we dont need to actually import the 3D model in Nuke instead we cancopy the information in a UV map – so it is generally red and green channel that shows X and Y and blue is Z which is not availablee in UV map
It is a 2D wrapped version of a 3D model, so if you import a a texture i Nuke, you can direstly map it on to the UV map of a 3D object
We can work on textures in compositing with the help of UV map, just like a cheat, instead of re-rendering the textures
Removing markers – clean up
Regrain – to put back the grain on the node Plate grain – To just show where the grain is Normalised Grain – flat grain pattern Adapted grain – takes the shadows, midtones and highlights of the grain
Image Frequency Separation Preserve and Reuse Details During Clean Using roto paint for low freq and high freq: Low Frequency – light of the face – light and shoadows High Frequency -Details of the face – for the details
Interactive_ligth_Patch – to remove markers Using transform of the node – divide and multiply and taking the average of the transformed area
Curve tool – to manage the change in light We copy values from maximum luma value of curve tool node – copy link (crop the area which has maximum changes in light) Go to grade node – gain – paste absolute
Curve tool – copy minimum links – paste on the lift of grade node
Home Work – Green screen removal
Green Screen Space Man
WEEK 7 GREEN SCREEN
Clamp node : can be used to keep the channel values between 0 to 1 and not more than that even when we multiply two channels.
Denoise : plate gets soft – you loose some details
Core – base – hair
ADDITIVE KEY is not an actual keyer but it is an image blending technique used to recover fine detail in difficult areas such as wispy hair, soft trasparencies and motion blur If combined with a good matte, edge treatment and despill can create very good results to better integrate your plate to the bg Additive Key manipulates lightness values in the fine details and ADDS it to the bg under the foreground plate
To remove green screen – first we remove the despill Keylight (green channel =1) – merge(minus) – (A-B) – (keylight – original footage) – got the despill – saturate it down to zero – roto out the areas you dont want to remove green despill from
Roto Invert the eyes from saturation
– By minus Original from despill plate you get the luminosity lost by removing green – Desaturate that values to remove unwanted colors – Multiply the bg over those luminosity values – Plus it over original to add bg in the trasparencies
Addmix – used to adjust the alpha at the edges
Week 6 Green Screen
Hue correction- to change one colour and replace with another. R-sup – R- suppres used to manage alpha
Keyer – we can select different channels and select different areas of the same image – using keyer operation channels. YPbPr is the analog video signal carried by component video cable in consumer electronics. The green cable carries Y, the blue cable carries PB and the red cable carries PR.
R = HUE: Hue literally means colour
G = Saturation: Saturation pertains the amount of white light mixed with a hue.
B = Luminance: Luminance is a measure to describe the perceived brightness of a colour
IBK stands for Image Based Keyer It operate with a subtractive or difference methodology. It is one of the best keyers in NUKE for getting detail out of fine hair and severely motion blurred edges
IBKcolour – remove the man and keep the background IBKgizmo –
IBK stands for Image Based Keyer It operate with a subtractive or difference methodology. It is one of the best keyers in NUKE for getting detail out of fine hair and severely motion blurred edges
Colorspace is used to convert Liner channel to HSV channel HSV stands for hue saturation value. R = HUE: Hue literally means colour. G = Saturation: Saturation pertains the amount of white light mixed with a hue. B = Luminance: Luminance is a measure to describe the perceived brightness of a colour
HueCorrect – can be used to replace a colour with another one. HueShift – can be used to shift one colour with another. Keyer Operaion – can help select one particular channel of image to convert it to alpha
Nodes used to remove Green screen:
Green despill – is not about removing the green color or the background its about removing the green spill that the character is having.
Shot – keylight – green channel to 1 – merge the difference (A – B) – removes the green spill – then we desaturate it – and Merge back the shot (A + B) – we have removed the spill
Week 5 CG Nuke Machine
If the shot is approved by all the departments then it is compositors responsibility to match the rendered comp with the surrounding – that is the line between the departments.
Lens distort works only in Nuke X – if you export it as an STMap you can use it in other versions also.
To match whites between images – Grade node – White point – select pixel – press ctrl select Gain- select color pixel you want in to the grade node gain point
To match black points Grade node – black point – select area select lift – select area
Grade – whites and blacks Color Correct Hue correct – to select particular color and desaturate it – ctrl + alt – select the particular color need to be desaturated
UV pass – retexture
WEEK 4 – Multipass composition
Layer contact sheet
ID map – to change different elements in the comp footage
KeyID node – to select one colour from the ID Normal pass – red, green , blue channel info can be used to relight the footage AO pass – to produce contact shadows Motion vector – to adjust motion blur
Multiply comp- subtractive method remove the channel from the original footage – that is subtract it – using shuffle node – grade AO – merge Multiply Other channels – merge plus
Unpremultiplying channels help keep edges intact and not affect it
Position Pass – The position pass represents the 3d scene in color values. Red is the x coordinate, green is y, blue is z. You can use a Position ToPoints node to visualize it in the 3d space. A depth channel stores the distance from a point in 3d to the position of the camera (and will be moving with the camera)
WEEK 3 – Multipass composition
What is multipass compositing?
It allows you to break down your shot into separate elements, such as diffuse, specular, and reflection passes, and work on each one individually. This not only gives you more control over the final look of your shot but also saves time and effort by eliminating the need for re-rendering the entire sequence.
precomp – creating a sequencing in a project, made in project Select write node – then press R You need not compute lensdistort every time – it makes the computer processing slow
Put Lens distort only to the elements that will be added or the patches that will be removed and put the len redistort back before merging the whole footage
Types of Projection – Patch Projection
– Coverage Projections
– Nested Projection
-Combination of all above
.abc – alembic file import – to import animated footage in 3D form
Projection Artefacts: Smearing: An image smearing or striking across the glancing angle of the object. Doubling: When a matte painting projects onto a multiples geometry Resolution: Not enough resolution in the painting because of the camera getting to close
The Objective of unbuild the beauty and rebuild it via the passes (channels) is to have an higher control of every pass and grade it according to the background image When we build a cg beauty we simply combine information of highlights, midtones and shadows. Passes naming is different depending on the render engine. This information is contained in the passes (channels). We use the shuffle node to call out of the exr the channel that we need. The rule to follow to rebuild the cg asset is ALWAYS plus lights and ALWAYS multiply shadows Diffuse + Indirect + Spec + Reflections + AO * Shadows * Every pass should be graded separately A final grade can be applied to the entire asset if needed + stands for Merge plus * stands for multiply merge
Ctrl + shift – replace the node with other node
shake node – to disconnect
HOMEWORK
copying alpha of roto and alpha of corner pin?
in the third technique is the project node projecting every frame onto the card as in frame by frame, as we have not used framehold?
Removing Markers
Issue resolved: rotopaint should be rechecked for all the frames
why do we use project 3d node in nuke? One of the handy feature of the Project3D node in Nuke is that we can quickly texture a geometry in Nuke through the use of camera projection
WEEK 2
Nuke 3D Matchmove advance
Different techniques of Camera projection
Lens distortion detect the grid – solve – put the lens distortion
Technique 1:
3d patch – project on mm geo
HOLDING THE PATCH
Point cloud generator
PCG – analyse sequence – track points – (viewer should be connected to source node) –
double click the camera – delete rejected points – vertex selection – add group – change vertex selection to node selection – select group — bake selected group to mesh
The Project3D node projects an input image through a camera onto the 3D object.
we added the roto paint on the card as image we added in last project
blue camera is used to project the texture to the card that is taken from the rotonode to tell the camera that this texture is from
Technique 2
HOLD THE CAMERA
Holding camera
USE replace for the roto
uncheck – it will make the roto part alpha and not the whole image
TECHNIQUE 3:
3d patch – project UV
sCALINE RENDER OPTIONS
merge mat – same as merge in but in 3D
Model builder, point cloud generator – can only be found in NukeX
Project 3D node
WEEK 1
Nuke 3D Matchmove
avoiding reflectons in the footage, like water reflections, mirrors, using roto for better tracking of a 3D scene
to see the tracking points – mask – source alpha – settings – preview
Camera node
– mask -Mask alpha prevents the masked areas to be tracked
attaching the mask input to mask out the reflection areas
settings
– number of features – 500
– refine feature location – check X
– preview features check X
press – Track
press – solve
Error – 0.9 – to solve the errors
Panel – Auto tracks – error max – press F on graph – reduce max error- delete unsolved – delete rejected – solve error has been removed
camera tracker – export – scene (in option) – create
Tracked cameraShift select pointsdefning the scale adding a 3D elementadding the card checker board to the groundTracking cone is a custom node added here
Adding grid
Point clod generator in X old version
Point cloud generator – analyase sequence track points
hit deleteselect vertex
select group and then bake selected group to mesh
This connected to point cloud generator baked node can help to export the camera axis to maya from nukeModelBuilder node
Lens distortion – detect – solve – undistort Use same lens distorton that you used to detect the distortion copy paste same lens distort – Redistort
WEEK 10
Real scenarios in production
1: Review your work 2: Stages in post-production Temps/Post viz – rough versions of how a shot is going to look like Trailers Finals QC –
Software project management
1: Google docs and sheets – free 2: Ftrack – you can get all the project details, latest updates and all the information and data related to the project.
3: SG Shotgun Shot Grid is a project management software owned by Autodesk. Shot Grid is primarily used for visual effects and animation project management in television shows and movie production and video game development.
Grain matching – ensuring that all of the elements in a composite, including those which were digitally generated, look like they were shot on the same film stock
When connected to a Scene node, the ScanlineRender node renders all the objects and lights connected to that scene from the perspective of the Camera connected to the cam input (or a default camera if no cam input exists). The rendered 2D image is then passed along to the next node in the compositing tree, and you can use the result as an input to other nodes in the script.
WEEK 8
Channels and depth channels
Bounding box –
Everything you measure in Nuke is about Pixels and not m/cm
Using Defocus to emulate a shot and not Blur Blur gives a smudgy look whereas defocus if more of a filmy shot look
How to control the mid ground, foreground and background dept / blur
Depth channel- Visual representation of depth values for foreground midground and background
ZDefocus – used to control depth channel of an image
Changing the Focal point to decide which area you want to focus
Changing the depth of field of the focal point to adjust the area of focus
To find out how smooth you want the progression
layers
WEEK 7
Match moving – point tracking
2D TRACKER
This is a 2D tracker that allows you to extract animation data from the position, rotation, and size of an image. Using expressions, you can apply the data directly to transform and match-move another element. Or you can invert the values of the data and apply them to the original element – again through expressions – to stabilize the image.
This is the general process for tracking an image:
1. Connect a Tracker node to the image you want to track. 2. Use auto-tracking for simple tracks or place tracking anchors on features at keyframes in the image. 3. Calculate the tracking data. 4. Choose the tracking operation you want to perform: stabilize, match-move, etc.
Tracker – is an information of data that is moving in X and Y
2D track – tracking in X and Y 2.5 Track – getting the illusion of tracking in perspective 3D – match move ( matching movement in X, Y and Z) Nature of the shot will be deciding what tracker we can use
2 ways to extract the data in X and Y 1: add the tracker data in the plate that needs to be tracked and change the tranform setting of tracker
2: Creating another node with the help of tracker, copying the data into match move node. Match move – 1 point copying the transform data
4 point tracking Match move 4 points – if the plate has slight variation in rotation and scale copying all the data – T R S
Test Planar Tracking
Filtering and Concatenation
Filtering Algorithm
Image filtering algorithms exist to help us define what happens to our pixel values as we transform & process our images. In this article, we’ll break down all the image filters we have available, and what they’re doing to our images in Nuke.
Ctrl – pixel value Ctrl + shift – average value of the pixels
Choosing a Filtering Algorithm – https://learn.foundry.com/nuke/content/comp_environment/transforming_elements/filtering_algorithm_2d.html
Reformat node comes with the fliter option which helps us decide how we are gonna work with the pixels of the plate
Transform is a super useful node that deals with translation, rotation, and scale as well as tracking, warping, and motion blur.
Concatenation – nuke reads all the information one by one and then gives the results.
CONCATENATION
Concatenation is the ability to perform one single mathematical calculation across several tools in the Transform family. This single calculation (or filter) allows us to retain as much detail as possible.
WEEK 6
Merging and color matching
WEEK 5
Learning about Rotoscopy
The key workflow of rotoscopy is we want to generate an alpha matte from the roto node and use that alpha to cut our footage or play
We can do that in three ways
1:
Streamlines Workflow
Normal node stacking
Input the plate that you want to roto into the background input of the rotor node
Draw the shapes and keep the output to alpha
Set the premult to alpha as well
That way we have both the alpha channel of the roto node and the rgb channel of the original plate existing on the same string but not yet multiplied
2:
Branched way
Here you have roto on a different plate
You create a copy of alpha channel of the original plate
We use copy node which copies the alpha of original plate along with b input to the roto node (alpha)
And then we use the premult to add the alpha channel we got to the original plate
3:
Using merge node
Using merge instead of copying
It does not actually copies the alpha channel instead it just cuts down the alpha channel from A stream to the B stream
1:Streamlines Workflow
Benefits – you have a streamlined workflow Limits – you cannot transform the node easily it will affect the rgb channel as well
Premult: Is used to multiply the alpha channel with the rgb
2:Branched way
Benefits: it gives a bit more broken-down workflow of our script
Basic nodes for Rotoscoping
Roto Node: The fundamental tool for rotoscoping. You can add paths matching on the object. To create a Roto node, press O.
RotoPaint Node: This node allows for painting directly on the footage, facilitating the rotoscoping process. Using multiple RotoPaint nodes can be heavier compared to Roto nodes.
Shuffle Node: The Shuffle node is vital for manipulating input and output channels. It is particularly useful when you need to remove an alpha channel. Simply disconnect the alpha channel from the output layer.
Remove Node: This node empowers you to select the specific channel you want to remove.
I/O Points: Adjacent to the play button, the I/O button allows you to set intro and outro points within your composition.
Calculate motion blur in Nuke: 24 frames per second, 1/60 shutter speed > 24fps/60=0.4
Employ nodes like ‘EdgeDetect’ to create an outline of alpha, ‘Dilate’ to reduce or expand the alpha, and ‘FilterErode’ for alpha manipulation using filters. ‘Erode’ comes in handy when fine-tuning the outline with minimal changes (1-2 pixels).
Ensure that alpha values remain within the 0 to 1 range for accurate compositing.
Understanding how smaller shapes are important and how we can do it the right way. The shape I used for the T shirt part didn’t work out very well and I changed its shape every other frame so it turned out to be a very jiggle kind of animation. So I used a smaller shape at the shoulder part and made sure that it follows the track and not to change shape from what the shape at the origin was, as a result I realised that it is much easier and accurate even if we have to take lot of shapes.
WEEK 4
Intro to Digital Compositing and Nuke software interface
There are different types of softwares used for compositinf and editing.
Fullframe processing : play the video on full frame File name > videoname.####.exr = start from videoname.0000.exr Press render button> can set the frame range(input, global, custom) to render
TRAVEL
Short video describing your travel to understand the angles of videography, lights, focus and its importance in the footage.
WEEK 3
Cinematography Foundation II
Mise-en-scene
: The arrangement of everything that appears in the frame, such as actors, lighting, location, set design, props, costume, etc. A French term that means “placing on stage”. It is the filmmaker’s design of every shot, every sequence and ultimately the film. It is the tool filmmakers use to convey meaning and mood.
One of the most important aspects of the mise-en-scene is composition. Composition is the creative and purposeful placement of every element in the shot.
Every composition decision starts with the dimensions and proportions of your frame which is called as Aspect ratio. 2.35:1 is the standard of most films.
Screenshot of film Parasite (2019)
Every frame is basically two dimensional with the X, Y axis, but the Z axis can be shown as depth of the frame. To emphasize the Z axis could create depth and make the screen less boring and flat.
Screenshot of film Parasite (2019)
Rule of thirds is one of the conventions used to create a harmonious composition. It helps balance the frame and people pay attention to the size of the elements in the frame.
Screenshot of film Parasite (2019)
High angle: when the camera is placed above the eye line, it makes the subject look powerless and weak.
Screenshot of film Parasite (2019)
Low angle: when the camera is placed below the eye lien, it makes the subject look confident, powerful and in control.
Intensity: The brightness of the light. The measurement establishes our exposure settings in camera which we set in F-stops.
Quality: Soft/Hard light. Shadows are key to understanding quality of light.
Screenshot of film Parasite (2019)
Hard light will produce harsh shadows with defined edges and little fall-off. The source of it could be the sun, candles or light bulbs.
Screenshot of film Parasite (2019)
Soft light spreads very quickly and produces soft-edged shadows. The source of it could be over casted skies or windows.
Three factors can control either hard or soft.
Size of source: small sources make hard light and big sources make softer light.
Distance from subject: the further away from the subject, the harder the light. The closer to the subject, the softer the light.
Filtering: filtering light through a diffuser or bouncing it off a surface makes it soft.
Screenshot of film Parasite (2019)
Angle: The foundation lighting set up used in filmmaking is Three points lighting.
The convention tells us to put a main light (Key light) 45-degree angle towards the subject, a second auxiliary light (Fill light) at 45-degree angle opposite the key light and a third light behind the subject (Backlight).
Colour: Every light has its own native colour temperature or colour cast.
Colour grading is the process of manipulating the colour and contrast of images or video to achieve a stylistic look. There are colour schemes for colour grading
Complementary colours
Colour scheme from a shot of film La La Land (2016)
Analogous colours
Colour scheme from a shot of film La La Land (2016)
Colour scheme from a shot of film La La Land (2016)
Moodboard – Time
Designing a moodboard related to the concept of ‘time’.
For this I chose some of my favourite pictures from my camera roll that replicates TIME for me.
1: Depicting a long way to go. 2: Timeless architectures. 3: Peagon running for his next hunt for survival. 4: just showing time waits for none 5: Every moment, making sure sky is the limit for any work you do.
WEEK 2
Cinematography Foundation
Cinematography: The word from Greek, means “drawing movement” Cinema is the art of moving images, yet it could be said to be simply made up from a series of still images, or A story told in pictures.
Exposure is vital element of a picture. If I took a picture with the correct exposure, making some under or over exposure pictures is easy, however, the opposite is quite difficult.
The correct exposure value (EV) is a combination of three elements: ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed
image about ISO and film speed
ISO stands for “International Organization for Standardization”.
ISO refers to the sensitivity of film to light and it is measured in numbers. The higher number, the more sensitive to light. At first, it was only for film camera though, it was adopted by digital camera. As high ISO makes a picture too grainy, we try to use the lowest ISO value as possible according to the lighting conditions of the scene.
Image about aperture
Aperture is known as F-value or F-stop. A large f-stop equals a small aperture opening, which lets through a small amount of light. A small f-stop equals a large aperture, which lets through a large amount of light.
Image about Depth of Field
We can adjust Depth of Field using aperture. A large F-stop increase the depth of field(Deep DoF) and a small f-stop decrease the depth of field(Shallow DoF).
Shutter speed is the length of time the camera shutter is open, exposing light onto the camera sensor. It controls motion in the image. The slower shutter speed the brighter and blurred picture is taken.
Information about the picture
We can check the metadata of the picture on camera and phone including ISO, shutter speed, and so on. Even if I forgot the setting of camera, I can check it later.
Frame rate is the amount of individual frames that the camera captures per second. 24fps/25fps is the standard for video on web or film as those look the most natural to the human eyes. For live TV or sports, 30fps is common. 60fps, 120fps, and higher frame rates are used for recording video to be played back in slow motion.
NTSC(National Television System Committee): 30fps and it used in North America and Japan.
PAL(Phase Alternating Line): 25fps and it used in Europe and South East Asia.
Angle of view is the extent of the scene captured by the camera. Changing the Focal length, changes the angle of view. The shorter the focal length the wider the angle of view. If I shoot everything through 8mm, it makes hard to focus on particular thing(appropriate for landscape). 50mm lens is similar to the normal view seen by the human eye.
Digital file format is a type of standardized encoding to store digital video data on a computer. The file format container includes video and audio data.
MP4: Most digital devices and platforms support which is the most universal video format around. MP4 is appropriate for unprofessional videos such as Instagram, Youtube, etc.(not for film)
MOV: Developed by Apple, it is the video format specifically designed for QuickTime Plyaer. However, it takes up significantly more space as its quality is usually so high
AVI: AVI video format is one of the most versatile video formats. However, with such high quality, AVI video format file size is large, which is more conducive for people to storage and archival than to stream or download(DNxHR/DNxHD).
ProRes: a high quality, lossy video compression format developed by Apple. It is used in post production that supports up to 8K. it is widely used as a final format delivery method for HD broadcast files in commercials, features, Blu-ray and streaming.
