Month: February 2021

HOUDINI – WEEK 05

This week is all about smoke and fire. We learn how to create a smoke simulation, like a fireplace.

We start from a circel and scatter to create points with then we create the attribute density and we visualize it.

After this we create a dopnet for the solver. In this case, we use pyrosolver which will help to create a better simulation in this case. We add as many nodes as we need, like gaswind, turbulence, etc. To create the movement of the smoke that we want.

Once we are okay with the simulation we can dopimport the solver, and with the volumevisualization we gave emission to the smoke with the attribute temperature which will create the fire. We modify as we need and then we can file cache the simulation and either do a flipbook or render it out.

Here you can see what it would look like in the final render:

This is a flipbook of the simulation:

Advance and Experimental VFX Animation and Techniques MA Visual Effects Mehdi Workshop Term Two

HOUDINI – WEEK 04

Week 04 is dedicated to render with arnold in Houdini. We used the simulation we did of the test geometry smashing the hammer on the floor.

Arnold in Houdini works as it works with Maya, you just need to make sure that the materials you apply to the objects are arnold materials.

For the particles, we create a material that over time changes color and becomes more transparent. This is the result of the render.

Advance and Experimental VFX Animation and Techniques MA Visual Effects Mehdi Workshop Term Two

HOUDINI – WEEK 03

In this week we focused on procedural modeling. The idea is to build a wood cabin to later on destroy it with simulations.

We started with a box to do the basic shape of the cabin. Then we deleted all the faces but the ones on the bottom and top to extrude them and like this we create the floor and ceiling. At the end I merge it with some supporting base.

We do the same for the wood planks that are gonna build the walls of the cabin. We create a simple box that we transform and position, then with a copy node we copy as many times we need, and with the node transform we put it in place.

Then with we create the windows and door and with a boolean node, we subtract it from the geo that we already have to create the doors and windows.

Then we merge it all together and create a simple geomatry to fill the wholes created for the door and windows.

And with the node rbdmaterialfracture we prepare the geometry to be destroyed. We can see how is it gonna look with an exploded view.

We create a group of the selection called inactive that we are gonna use to set those primitive selected to not be destroyed by the simulation.

Before proceeding with the simulation, we separate the differents materials so they destruct in different ways since we have wood, concrete, and glass.

And after that, this is the end result.

Collaborative Unit MA Visual Effects Term Two

3D PROJECTION

Today we are learning a bit more about projections and we will proceed to transform this still image in to a video.

This is the result of the video.

Here we can see the nodes I used. We project a frame hold and we create a Scene to be able to reproject creating a small movement with the camera.

Here we can see it in the 3D viewport.

At the end I used this video to comp a 3D object creating a track with the video I created before. And we can see the result here.

Collaborative Unit MA Visual Effects Term Two

CRYPT

This is also a 3D tracking practice but with this one, we are collaborating with the Maya class to implement and integrate a 3D model that we came up with to after work on the compositing part of the process.

So first is what we have done already to the clip, track it, and create a clean plate of the video. All of this process you can find it in the post about CLEAN PLATES.

While we are creating the patch, we can start modeling what we want to implement in the scene. First, we looked at some references, I chose these images of a steampunk-style machine/motor.

This is where I start modeling it. Here you can see different stages of the process. From the first model to texture and lighting.

After we had the model created we can export the camera and track from nuke to import it in Maya so we can render the model with the right camera and make it move along side the clip.

We also create some shadow catchers to try and match the light from the video we have. As well as some planes with a aishadowmatte material to cast shadows on the walls and floor.

As you can see I have duplicated some of the geometry to fill up more the room.

With all this set up we can proceed to render the model and after import back in to nuke and do the compositing part of the project.

Once in nuke I start to work on the roto for the clip, otherwise, the model would not look like is in the room at the end.

And then we combine both the clip with the model I created for the final result.

This is how it looks at the end.

Collaborative Unit MA Visual Effects Term Two

3D TRACKING WITH NUKE

3D tracking with nuke is a very straightforward process that is used for a lot of techniques like 3D projection, create clean patches of a plate after use it to integrate other models/textures.

Here you can see the original plate that I choose for this practice. I like it because it was an alley with some movement on the back that later can be removed or something. Also, it has a post that passes through right in front of the camera and it would be a good practice to remove it. At least the one thing I’m gonna need to do is rotoscope it out to be able to create patches behind it.

After we denoised the plate and made the right adjustments like some sharpening or grading to make it easier to track, we can proceed to do the track.

As you can see I do some treating before the track, and roto out some areas that could cause some problems.

This is the part the I did the roto were the tracker wont affect.

Then is just a manner of selecting some points and create cards or 3d objects to see that the track is working and also to later work on that to replace it with a patch. Here you can see how the track work. Later on it will be improved and you will see the result at the end.

As you can see in the previous images, we have the roto of the post that I’m putting back on top with a merge node so it passes in front of anything I create behind him. And I also show you the solve of the track, where the purple points selected are the ones that I’m setting as ground points so it knows where the ground is, this will help places patches or anything.

Here I create some patches on the background removing the people to have a clean plate without anyone on it.

The image on the right are the patches to remove the people and the ones on the left are what’s the next step that I’m working on it, remove the close up post that is passing in front of everything with different projections. Here is the end result that I have now.

Advance and Experimental VFX Animation and Techniques Mehdi Workshop Term Two Uncategorised

HOUDINI – WEEK 02

For the second week, we started to look more at particles and how they work. Using test geometry that we can found in Houdini we created particles that would follow the animation of this object/geometry.

With the node scatter we created points all over the geometry and then delete the ones that we didn’t want to create any particles.

We created a popnet for the popsolver node where we would apply or the forces necessaries for the particles to move the way we want them to move.

After that we copy the particles to spheres and gave it color before merge it with the original model.