So after tweaking with matte painting stuff for a bit the past few days I was able to complete two and figure out the workflow for the rest... and for the rest of the compositing phase....
So I went through and exported stills from each of the sets that needs a matte painting... I brought them all into an AE project and grouped them accordingly...its 16 sets total in which I'll make at least 2 matte paintings for each one...
So starting tomorrow I'll go through and start on completing the matte paintings... once they are done for all the sets... then I'll start from the beginning of the film and Composite all the sets in order.... I won't render as I go as I'll probably make some discoveries as I work and I wont make the same mistake I did on the last film where I was too eager to make "final renders" and I would keep going back and changing things bringing up the need to re-render over and over...
For the matte paintings I render a still from the set that needs a bg... then I bring it into Photoshop and bring in my pre-rendered 3d assets... like hills, clouds and things like that... I arrange them all in Pshop then save that file.... deleting the set fg layer of course.... then I bring that into After Effects as a composition... tweak it as needed to match the fg plate... BUT how do I lock it to a shot with a moving camera?! So on the shots with camera moves I save an AE file out of C4d...that brings the camera in AND I created BG "Sky tracker" lights in C4d that stand in for the Bg plate......So all I have to do is make the matte painting bg layer a 3d layer... then copy the position of the "tracker light" and paste it on the the bg layer... then its where its supposed to be in 3d space in AE so its locked to the camera move AND its far enough away in 3d space so its doesn't do any weird parallax stuff...
So after I do that for each shot... I add all the atmospheric fx, the dof blurring if need be... any special fx and the final color correction and look...
Doing this kind of work...especially alone... is all about WORKFLOW... I never jump into the work until I've figured out the workflow first... In the past I would get all excited and start working before getting the workflow down... but in the past I wasted a lot of time too 0_o
Spend more time at the head planning and working out potential problems and once you start working it will much less stressful and a lot more fun...
Professionals get the workflow down before getting down to serious work... amateurs jump into serious work with only that initial spark of inspiration to guide them.... on longer projects that spark will burn out and they'll go WHERE THE FAWK AM I??! and the project will probably never get done in less than ten years... WHEN you get the workflow down its like having a glow in the dark MAP with you at all times with a glowing red dot showing you where you are and where the goal is.......
So its our choice...wander the dungeon with only a lil candle thats gonna burn out soon?... or take the time to create the master MAP and step into that dungeon already knowing our way?
So whenever you see me throwing dubs... that W is for WORKFLOW as well as WEST SIIIIIDE!
So I went through and exported stills from each of the sets that needs a matte painting... I brought them all into an AE project and grouped them accordingly...its 16 sets total in which I'll make at least 2 matte paintings for each one...
So starting tomorrow I'll go through and start on completing the matte paintings... once they are done for all the sets... then I'll start from the beginning of the film and Composite all the sets in order.... I won't render as I go as I'll probably make some discoveries as I work and I wont make the same mistake I did on the last film where I was too eager to make "final renders" and I would keep going back and changing things bringing up the need to re-render over and over...
For the matte paintings I render a still from the set that needs a bg... then I bring it into Photoshop and bring in my pre-rendered 3d assets... like hills, clouds and things like that... I arrange them all in Pshop then save that file.... deleting the set fg layer of course.... then I bring that into After Effects as a composition... tweak it as needed to match the fg plate... BUT how do I lock it to a shot with a moving camera?! So on the shots with camera moves I save an AE file out of C4d...that brings the camera in AND I created BG "Sky tracker" lights in C4d that stand in for the Bg plate......So all I have to do is make the matte painting bg layer a 3d layer... then copy the position of the "tracker light" and paste it on the the bg layer... then its where its supposed to be in 3d space in AE so its locked to the camera move AND its far enough away in 3d space so its doesn't do any weird parallax stuff...
So after I do that for each shot... I add all the atmospheric fx, the dof blurring if need be... any special fx and the final color correction and look...
Doing this kind of work...especially alone... is all about WORKFLOW... I never jump into the work until I've figured out the workflow first... In the past I would get all excited and start working before getting the workflow down... but in the past I wasted a lot of time too 0_o
Spend more time at the head planning and working out potential problems and once you start working it will much less stressful and a lot more fun...
Professionals get the workflow down before getting down to serious work... amateurs jump into serious work with only that initial spark of inspiration to guide them.... on longer projects that spark will burn out and they'll go WHERE THE FAWK AM I??! and the project will probably never get done in less than ten years... WHEN you get the workflow down its like having a glow in the dark MAP with you at all times with a glowing red dot showing you where you are and where the goal is.......
So its our choice...wander the dungeon with only a lil candle thats gonna burn out soon?... or take the time to create the master MAP and step into that dungeon already knowing our way?
So whenever you see me throwing dubs... that W is for WORKFLOW as well as WEST SIIIIIDE!
Workflow FTW!
ReplyDeleteis this blog part of your work flow? lol
ReplyDeletedo you use a tablet? and west side connection agreed.
ReplyDeletesmart thoughts you put there, when i'm reading this its like i'm looking into a mirror, if only i read it a while ago and not lose my time with this noob mentality 'let do this' , instead the pro mentality 'how'.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to get to see the compositing part in a tutorial later on. I'm trying to keep up with your schedule, creating my own little short as you go on with the tutorials. Still need to build another set and get another character rigged, but I'll be ready towards the end of the next week.
ReplyDeleteSome stills already on my blog. check it if you like, or stay tuned for the finished, shiny piece!
future remix/collaboration high concept: M dot VS Zdot:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkVcDdJivCs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8V3zPBSyPI
おい、息子!起きろ!I m making a blue liquid giant bear with the stars within ^ ^ じゃあな。
ReplyDeleteLike Cristoph I´m seeing your tuts wrote a script, did some sketches and start model for a short. All this information is going the be usefull at compositing time. Keep on teaching Master D
ReplyDelete@Christoph @Imaginario aight tite! I didn't know if anyone was following along with the tutorials as no one had commented on the last two videos so I decided to wait a little and let people get into it before I do the rest
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to follow along the tutorials but I've been busy with school work lately (and a little bit of gaming...)
ReplyDeleteI SHALL CATCH UP
Same as Reyori here! lol..
ReplyDeletethough I'm not getting the hang of this college..