All posts by Shuang Lyu

Maya – Week 03

Maya Term 02

We learned how to do an animation of this flywheel with constrains

First is to create the base model.

I created two locators, and snapped them to the center point of the two small pistons. Moving the flywheel locator under the flywheel is to let the locator follow the flywheel when it rotates.

The principle of doing constrain is to select the target that will take control first. I used aim constrain and point constrain to allow each part follows the movement of the flywheel one by one. I aim constrained the piston locator with the piston group first, and then I aim constrained the flywheel locator with piston sleeve group, lastly I point constrained the flywheel locator with the piston group.

The Belt

Next, I created the belt with a pipe polygon and stretched it into a belt shape. It’s very tricky to align the vertices with the two handles. I need to rotate some vertices more towards the center to smooth it. It took me some time to align the vertices.

Texture

I created a grid in hypershade and increased the value of Repeat UV to 40. In UV Editor, in order to make sure it’s nice and clean, the edges need to be scaled inwards to be straightened. The UV shell was scaled and rotated to fit the grid.

There was a problem that the texture was stretched if I smooth it. That is because the subdivision is not enough, so I inserted a couple of edge loops to smooth it.

Although it looks good on this side, the other side is not perfect. It still has the same problem and I don’t know how to solve it.

Animation

A tricky way to animate the belt is to animate the texture, just to key the value of Offset. So there will be only the texture moving, but it looks like the belt is moving.

In Shape Editor, I created a top bend shape and a bottom bend shape. I dragged the vertices of top bend down, and the vertices of bottom bend up. I want to make the two points move up and down while the belt is moving, so that the belt will not be moving mechanically, and it will look more realistic. I set keys for the two bends, and I added more keys in Graph Editor.

Now it moves more like a real belt, and it looks elastic and smooth.

Group Project

Maya Term 01

In this project, my job was to create a CG teddy bear in Maya. I learned how to build it from simple blocks of different parts of the body separately, and then put them all together lastly. I created the legs and the body separately, and I bridged and merged the edges to merge them into one polygon. I also learnt how to manage the topology, since it’s not a regular shape, I had to cut and insert edges to make sure that there are no triangular faces.

After I’ve done the base modelling, the biggest challenge was to create the fur. I’ve never used XGen in Maya before so I had some issues with the values and attributes. The hair was not dense enough and it looked not puffy.

And then I also realised that I should create the fur on a duplicated shape of the base model, and deleted the faces on eyes, mouth, and the foot. In this way, I could avoid the fur was covered in those areas, which I don’t want to see that.

At first, I only added one Clumping in XGen so it looked not very dense, I wanted to have more clumps. After some researches and suggestions from my classmate, I figured out to add more layers of Clumpings to achieve the effects that I wanted, and also what some modifiers do and how to generate them, such as Noise and Coil. This process took lots of time just to adjust the values and wait for the test renders back and force.

Final Render

Nuke – Week 06

Nuke Term 01

Since the running guy has a very large movement which makes it hard to roto the body, I have to roto each part of the body separately. So I broke the roto shapes into four parts, one spline for the head, another spline for the upper body, and two more splines for the arms and forearms.

I started with tracking the head to make it easier to roto, and then I linked the tracking information under the Roto Nodes to allow the roto shapes following with the tracking.

Critical Report – Research

Film Language

In 2009, when ‘Avatar’ came out people were shocked and amazed by the realistic visual effects in the scenes. The CG characters with blue skins and elf ears, the virtual fantasy environments, the CG creatures, which the audiences had never seen before. It has been one of the most influential VFX films around the world. After that, Sci-Fi films are becoming the mainstream in the film industry.

But as more and more VFX blockbusters come out, I found that most Sci-Fi films are getting similar. The films are losing their creative story-line and is jammed with fancy digital effects. Some people begin to feel bored with watching these films. I also found some voices online that the VFX cannot be separated with Sci-Fi films, if there is no VFX there wouldn’t be the great success in Sci-Fi films today. I’m going to find out how VFX affects the films and why VFX is important to filmmakers.

Job Roles – Week 11

Job Roles

After the research of the all VFX job roles, I now have a better understanding of what exactly these roles do, especially in production management department, onset department, and technical department. There are two positions interest me most. One is Modelling Artist, the other is VFX Editor.

3D modelling is always interesting to me, and I enjoy creating different things that come from real life or something I like in a film, animation or in a game. I used to do compositing in the last two years, and now I want to explore more in 3D direction. I found myself enjoying 3D modelling more than compositing after the graduation of my previous college. And I’ve seen a lot of fantastic works from different 3D Modelling Artists online, I wish I could create something like that too.

I found some 3D models that I like from ArtStation. I like how the models are stylised.

I’m also interested in VFX Editor, but it’s the client-side VFX Editor. As far as I know, client-side VFX Editor usually works onset when the live-action shooting is going on, which is why it attracts me a lot. Instead of sitting in the studio everyday, I would like to walk around and to see what it’s like in a large VFX production shooting.

Job Roles – Week 8-10

Job Roles

VFX Editor

The VFX editor works closely with producers to manage all incoming and outgoing media. They are responsible for constantly tracking and updating shots as production goes on and changes are made. VFX editor needs to keep up with the work flow due to everything in production is continuously changing.

Client-side VFX Editor works onset to make sure everything is captured correctly for the VFX is able to be integrated effectively. The in-house VFX Editor work with client-side VFX Editor to assure the VFX artists in post-production get everything that they need to do their work for the VFX project.

Chris Kowal who works as a VFX Editor in Method Studios explains what this role will do. He points out that his jobs in Editorial are different everyday, which is why he loves being in this department. Although everyday has no exact same works to do, he is mainly responsible for updating cuts and doing cross referencing to ensure everything is up-to-date for the artists

My VFX job: VFX editor

Data input/output (I/O) technician

The Data input/output (I/O) technician is in charge of managing the files and data information on computers , which includes organising, transferring and storing the files and data. Due to there is always a plenty of data such as high-quality video files and digital 3D animation files need to be processed, the VFX companies need Data input/output (I/O) technicians to manage the computer storage and retrieval systems, including company hard drives.

https://www.elranchito.es/recruitment-2/i-o-technician/

Concept Artist

A concept artist designs visualisation and creates art for characters, creatures, vehicles, environments, and other creative assets. Concept art is used to visualise ideas so that other VFX artists can create their work from the concept arts for production. Everything you see in video games or animated films had to be designed by a concept artist first. This includes weapons, props, vehicles, characters, clothes, buildings, interiors, etc.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-20-a-brief-guide-to-becoming-a-concept-artist

Previs Artist

The Previs Artist designs pre-visualised shots and sequences of a project. They work under the creative direction of the Visualisation Supervisor to decide shot composition, staging, lighting and camera language including movement, choice of camera lens and framing. In pre-production, visualisation occurs before the production begins. During this step, the Previs Artist tests the idea of a project, its concept, the unfinished script, examines information about the camera’s location and movement.

https://www.realtimeuk.com/blog/the-detailed-guide-to-previs/

Job Roles – Week 07

Job Roles

Rigging TD

Rigging TDs work closely with 3D Modellers, and they are in charge of creating digital skeletons for the 3D models, which will be used by Animators for their character’s movements later on. When Rigging TDs receive facial shapes and expressions of characters, it’s their duties to figure out how the characters move. They receive feedback from Animators after testing the rigs, and are responsible for any required fixes.

Some key skills include programming or coding skills with Python and C++, as well as experience with CG software such as Maya, Houdini, 3DMax. Rigging TDs need to have an excellent understanding in musculature, movement and timing.

Creature TD

Creature TDs will find creative and technical solutions to build the software for the artists to develop rigs and simulations like fur, feathers, and skin for their creatures. According to the size of the studio, they may be required to do rigging which includes creating systems of skeletons and muscles for animators.

In Outpost VFX studio, they require their Creature TDs to have some key skills such as, be familiar with rigging tools in Maya, Python scripting skills, as well as highly knowledgeable in Houdini.

VFX Producer

They gather the VFX team and other technical artists, set schedules for them, and manage the budget. And then they work closely with production crew in live-action projects. They are involved from early discussions, bidding and shot breakdowns, through to ensuring the final result is in high standard as required and the projects come in on time and in budget.

I found some links to requirements of this role from different studios’ recruitment.

https://vfx-montreal.com/job/vfx-producer-2/

https://axisstudiosgroup.com/careers/jobs/vfx-producer/

https://jobs.jobvite.com/double-negative-visual-effects/job/oRuz5fwJ

Production Manager

The Production Managers supervise the work of Production Coordinator and are responsible for managing artists, schedules, and daily tasks. They will work between the VFX Producers and VFX Supervisors. The Production Manager is the bridge of all aspects of production and post-production.

An article of the interview with Chelsea Mirus on The Rookies reveals how is it like to work as a Production Manager.

https://discover.therookies.co/2022/01/05/career-advice-working-as-a-vfx-production-manager/

Job Roles – Week 06

Job Roles

FX TD (Effects technical director)

FX TD generates digital effects such as, explosions, fire, smoke and water in 3D software, who works under the management of the visual effects supervisor. They are in charge of supervising the particle and fluid effects for VFX sequences. FX TD

FX TD needs to understand how to manipulate particle or fluid systems. Many effects require FX TD to have the ability of programming to go beyond the base setups and to create more complex FX system.

This article on LinkedIn tells more about this job role, what skills and qualifications does a FX TD need to have, and the specific responsibilities.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-does-fx-technical-director-do-entertainment-industry-bisbey

Some examples can be found in Franco Pizzani’s works, who works as a FX TD in Vancouver.

TD (Assistant technical director)

They assist other TDs in the pipeline, provide technical advice and support for artists, and get information of each department on the needs. Assistant technical director will work closely between software developers and other artists. They also need to manage data information such as, disk usage, file transfers, converting and resizing files.

The following job post of this position from DNEG studio describes what this role is like. This position will gain the opportunity to focus on the specialised field as a Pipeline TD and experience the leadership role. In this job post, TDs are also required to have strong Python scripting skills.

Software Developer

They use programming skills to build systems for technical directors (TD) to use and modify, so that TDs can meet their specific needs in VFX projects. Their responsibilities are developing and maintaining software as well as integrating tools into the existing pipeline. I found that most VFX companies require this job role to be capable with Python scripting.

Some evidence can be found in these companies:

1. DNEG

Full link: https://jobs.jobvite.com/double-negative-visual-effects/job/owHw7fwA

2.MPC

Full link: https://www.showbizjobs.com/jobs/moving-picture-company-junior-software-developer-vfx-in-london/jid-rjve00

Pipeline TD (Pipeline technical director)

Pipeline TDs make sure that every studio member has the tools they need to complete the shots, and if not, they need to code them. Pipeline TDs should alway be ready to solve the technical issues to ensure a VFX project runs as smoothly as possible. They need to be highly knowledgeable in providing software solutions as the problems arise.