VFX1 DD1410: Conclusions

When these projects were started in September, there were a lot of ideas on how to approach the sequences, a lot changed throughout the process, techniques didn't work, easier ways were found and skills were developed. This blog post is a quick conclusion on each of the sequences, about what challenges they posed, and what would be done differently if they were to be attempted again.

Car Colour Correct (Still)
This was the very first sequence attempted, this is because on paper it was the simplest to do, and the skills learned from this piece, could be transferable to the pan piece. The most difficult part of this piece, was the windows and the shadow. The windows were difficult because of the method used, it was too complicated. It turns out that a simpler method was used in the pan piece to do the windows, which was the rotopaint method. The still piece does use rotopaint to give the windows a glare, but the method of actually getting the right image behind the windows was made much trickier than it had to be, in this piece the windows were roto'd, then transformed, then blurred and edge blurred before the rotopaint was even brought in. So if this were to be done again, the one thing that would definitely be changed is the method behind fixing the windows. As for the challenges that the shadow posed, again it was to do with the method used, in this one the shadow was roto'd separately to the car, where as in the pan shot, it was roto'd along with the car and rotopainted. The shadow in the still was rotopainted in the end to blur out the edges, but because it was roto'd separately, it needed its own colour correct node. So if it were to be done again, the shadow would be done in the same way it was in the car pan piece.

Car Colour Correction (Pan)
This sequence put forward a fair through problems, pretty much all of them do to with tracking. Through most of the process, keeping the car in place whilst the footage moves was constantly bringing up new challenges. Most of these could be solved through adjusting the tracking, but there is something wrong with the tracking, that makes the car jump ever so slightly, and the problem doesn't appear to want to be solved through adjusting, or created new, trackers. There is also some lens flare in the footage, which could explain why there is a problem with the cars tracking. If this piece were to be done again, the first port of call would be sorting out why the car jumps, and how to fix it. Apart from that, the sequence has turned out quite well.

The Altar Sequence
The altar sequence put forward many challenges, from rotos going across many frames to blue screens with annoying creases through them. Lets start with the rotoing. The rotoing was simple, but it was difficult to keep them accurate across lots of frames, sometimes trackers would work smoothly, but with the footage not being of the highest quality a lot of the time they didn't, so they couldn't be properly linked with the rotos. In the first and last shot the trackers did work properly, so they could be used with the rotos. Through personal error more than anything is why the rotos look inaccurate after that point. The blue screen shots in front of the dragon statues and the altar required hold out mattes around the characters, this was difficult because of how much the characters move throughout these shots, which makes tracking them accurately impossible. So the one of the main things that would be improved on if this piece were to be done again would be the rotoing and this could be achieved simply by putting aside more time to make sure that they are as accurate as possible to get the best results. The biggest problem was the blue screens. The crease going along the bottom of the blue screen was one of the most difficult because it meant that it needed its own keylight to sort out, on top of keylights for the dragons and the altar, and certain characters, it makes the shot very messy. It makes it difficult to get rid of the halo effect that happens around anything in front of the blue screen. Maybe it could have been done better with the IBK keyer node, or maybe with less keylights. Either way, the blue screen is the weakest part of this sequence.

Forest Fight Sequence
The forest fight was much simpler than the the altar sequence, the IBK keyer sorted out the blue screen very well, the only thing that proved annoying was the rotos. This is because the footage isn't very clear in many shots, and the object being roto'd is very small in certain frames, which makes it very difficult to keep the rotos accurate. Also since the roto shots require the rotos to stretch across lots of frames, which without the assistance of a reliable tracker, has to be done by hand, and as a result of that, the rotos are not nearly as accurate as they could be. So if this piece were to be done again, more time would be put aside to make sure the rotos are as accurate as possible.

So in conclusion, some of the problems that have been encountered during this process can be sorted once the necessary skills have been developed through practice with the Nuke software, there are a vast about of tools in Nuke that haven't been used during this process, and only by putting in the time and effort can these tools to put to full use and the true potential of Nuke can then be used to get the best results. Other problems, like the rotoing can be avoided in the future through better time management, which is something that will definitely get better by the time the next assessment is issued.

VFX1 DD1410: Breakdowns

The brief states that a 30 second video artifact is needed with each of the sequences. This means that a video breakdown needs to be created that is a minimum of 30 seconds long. This is a fairly simple process, but at the same time it is very time consuming. To create a breakdown, the sequence needs to be written out and imported into Adobe AfterEffects.

The first step is to open the sequence in Nuke and read in a write node (see picture below).

The way the write node works is that it renders out the frames in the shot into a sequence of still picture images (see below).

To use the write node, plug it into node just like the viewer, then attach the viewer to the write node to make sure that what the right thing is being written. What is seen in the viewer is what is being written. After the write is attached, in its properties (see picture below), go into the file section and select where the write needs to save the shot too, and what the intended name is. It is important to use the right naming convention, the best way to be sure is to use the .#. The amount of hashes that are used depends on how many digits are in the shot, an example is if the shot is frames 344-345, .### would come after the file name (or .## if the frame range was 62-99). Then end with .jpg, which is one of the best naming conventions to use.

The next step is to click render, turn use proxy off if a proxy hasn't been selected and type in the frame range and select OK.

Now the write node will write out the shot in an image sequence and it will be accessible from the folder that was selected to save it to.

Next import the image sequences into Adobe AfterEffects and arrange the shot that were written into whatever order works best to create a decent breakdown.

VFX1 DD1410: Forest Fight Sequence (Shots 6-15)

The final part of the brief (seen in the link below this paragraph) states that for the final ten shots of the forest fight sequence, a blog post needs to be created describing what visual effects should be put in place in the shots, and how they could be achieved. The shots consist of brief conversation and the beginning of a fight between two characters, with other characters in the background.

http://www.darthspockvfx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/vfx1-dd1410-brief-02-fight-and-forest.html

Lets start with Shot 6:

The image below is the example that is going to be used for this shot:

First of all, the shot will need stabilised, this can be achieved by placing a tracker on the shot. The trackers could be placed in the positions shown below (represented by red markers):

The stone wall that the trackers are attached to doesn't move throughout the entire shot, so it is perfect to use as a tracking point.

What also can be done to this shot is give the children some powers. Without talking to the director it is impossible to know exactly what he or she wants done to the shots. What could be done is to make it look like the main girl is emitting energy from he hands, as if she is getting ready to fight (see picture below, represented in blue):

The best way to do this would be to roto the girls hands and then use a particle effect to represent the energy. Then a roto should be made around the rest of her incase the energy in her hands gives off any kind of glow on the rest of her. It is probably worth doing a roto around a small area around her hands to show rays of lights coming off them (see picture below, the body roto is represented in pink, and the area around the hands in green):

Shot 7:

The picture below is the frame that is going to be used as an example:

This shot consists of the character doing some sort of martial arts arm movements, possibly to intimidate his enemy. What would be good to do to this shot is to take some frames out between his arm movements, that way it will make his arm gestures look much faster, as if they are snapping into place. As you can see in the picture above, the main male character appears to have some sort of minions, it isn't very clear in this shot but they are wearing black masks with faces on them (this will become clearer in future shots), what would be really good to do is to put some sort of effect on their eyes. Possibly make their eyes red (see below).

This will make them look much more evil, and with the footage being for a children's television show, it is the type of visuals that children like in their cartoon villains. This red eye effect can be achieved by rotoing around their eyes and using a form of colour correction or bring in an image of a demonic eye. Then use the eyes as a tracking point and track through the rest of the shot.

Shot 8:

The still picture for this example is below:

The shot consists of frames like the one above, and other frames that are very similar to those shown in Shot 7. To begin with, like in the last shot where this girl was seen, she could emit energy from her hands, preparing for battle (see below).

 Just like before, this can be achieved by rotoing the hand, and using a particle effect, the her body can be roto'd and a glare can be added from the energy and a roto around the hands can be created to show rays of light. The shot is also fairly shaky, so it can be stabilised by reading in a tracker, using the trees as tracking points (shown in the picture below, represented by the red markers).

As for the other frames, where we see the main male character again, like before frames can be taken out to show more snappier movements and red eyes can be added to his minions/bodyguards.

Shot 9:

The still frame for this shot is below:

This shot shows the main male character setting his guards loose on his enemies. Just like with the other shots that involved his minions/guards, the continued theme of them having red eyes would be cool to continue. What would also be good would be to have his hands start to generate energy from his hands, as if he is about to attack (see picture below).

Just like with the energy emitting from the girls hands, this can be achieved by rotoing his hands, adding in some sort of particle effect, then roto his body in case any glare comes off his and hands and finally roto the area around his hands to show the odd ray of light. What would also be good for this shot would be make him look more evil, by added black electronic energy pulsing around his hands (around the red energy). This could be achieved by reading in the sequence of the electricity/lighting, transforming the lightning so that it is on top of his hands and finally using the reveal tool on the rotopaint node to fill in between the gaps of the lightning to show his hands behind it. Perhaps even a lightwrap could be used to make it look more real around his hands.

Shot 10:

The image below represents a still frame from the shot:

This is a very short shot that just moves from the main girl to the rest of the characters. In this shot to keep the continuity, the energy would be pulsing from her hand, so the usual rotos and particle effects would be used. The shot is also quite shaky, so it needs to be stabilised, there isn't anything that really stands out through the hole shot, so it would be best to select one or two of the characters as tracking points and then edit the track by hand.

Shot 11:

The picture below is still example from this shot:

As seen in the picture below, it is a forward facing shot of the main male character and his two guards, so for this one, to run with theme of the other shots with him in them, his guards will have red eyes and his hands will emit red energy with lightning going around them.

Shot 12:

The picture below is the still example from this shot:

In this shot the camera cuts to a side view of the main female character in purple, with two of the villains guards walking past her, for this shot the guards will have their usual red eyes and it would look good if they were slightly out of focus (so she is the center point of the shot). To do this it would take a simple roto around the female character and one for the background too and the addition of a blur node. The picture below the rotos around the character (represented with light blue for the character and green for the background) and the guards red eyes. The picture only shows a very rough idea of where the rotos would be. The actual rotos would have to be much closer, and would have to be animated to follow the character throughout the shot.

Shot 13:

The picture below is the still example for this shot:

In this shot the villain sets his minions/guards onto his enemy. For this shot, the guard will have his usual red eyes, and it would be cool if his staff started to emit its own energy, like it is a magically powered weapon. This could be easily achieved by rotoing the weapon, using a particle effect and animated the roto so that it follows the weapon through the shot. The energy could also be animated to start off near the center of the weapon, and expand towards each end as the shot goes on so that by the end of the shot, the whole weapon is covered. This again can be achieved by animating the roto. Also a lightwrap could be added to make it look like the energy is all the way around the weapon.

Shot 14:

The picture belo is a still example from this shot:

In this shot the main character looks as if she is turning to tell her companions to run. For this shot her hands will still have the blue energy signature just like in the previous shots. As usual this will be achieved by rotoing her hands, using a particle effect, rotoing her body to replicate a glare/glow and a roto around the area around her hands to create rays of lights using some sort of colour correction node. The shot could also be stabilised using the same tracker points as seen in Shot 6.

Shot 15:

This is a still example from the shot:

This shot shows one of the villains guards attacking the main female character. He swings his weapon (the staff) at her head and she ducks out of the way. For the main villain, he will still have his red energised hands with lightning around them, charging them, and by the end of the shot, after his guards attack has missed, he will unleash this energy at the female character. The pulsing/charging could be achieved by using a particle effect and the unleashing of the energy/lightning can done in the same way as the lightning around his hands is done, buy reading in the sequence, transforming it into position and rotopainting out the extras. As for the guard, he will have his usual red eyes and his weapon will be charged with energy. It would also look good if the energy was pulsing up and down and around the weapon, as if it is alive. This is be done by using a particle effect and animating to move throughout the shot. 

To make the shot feel a bit more fast paced, like with when the main character was doing his arm movements in Shot 7, frames could be taken out to make it look like the guardian is swinging his weapon faster, and in return, she ducks faster (this can be made to show the skill of both the hero character, and the villains).

That is the final shot of the forest fight sequence, these are just a few examples of how these shots could be composited to make them look visually good. It all depends on what the director wants, for example, he or she might right want something simple, no effects anywhere, just stabilising the shots possibly some minor grading and colour correction.

VFX1 DD1410: Altar Sequence, Blue Screen and Close Up Shots

The altar sequence piece requires rotoing, tracking, transforming and keying. As seen in the previous blog post regarding this piece (see link beneath this paragraph), this blog post is regarding the four blue screen shots involved with this piece.

http://darthspockvfx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/vfx1-dd1410-altar-sequence-rotoing.html

Lets take a look at the first blue screen shot, this is Shot Two, the shot consist of one of the female characters looking up at a blue screen (see picture below).

The first step is to create rotos around the girl and the surrounding area, this is to be used with the keylight nodes later.

Now as seen in the picture below, three keylights are brought in, an inner, an outer, and a final one for the character, this has been named Shot Two Keylight.

Lets start with the inner keylight.

This is the inner keylight showed in the alpha channel:

Next, the outer keylight:

Now finally, the Shot Two Keylight (this is the one used to get the most detail on the character to prevent any blue screen spill):

The next step is to read in an image to use as a background, after the image has been read in a reformat node needs to be read in to scale the image to the same size of the footage. Merge the reformat node with the Shot Two Keylight.

View the merge, and the image will now be in the background.

The next three blue screen shots (Shots Four, Six and Eight) are all pretty much the same, it is the group of children standing in front of the dragon statues and altar with a blue screen behind it. The only thing that changes is the positions of the children. Shot Four is going to be used as the example in this blog post (the footage for this shot is below).

Lets start with the inner keylight:

Now the outer keylight:

After this, individual keylights are made for the dragon and altar (with the children in front of it), the boy, the girl who walks in and the crease along the bottom of the blue screen.

The Dragon and altar (the picture shows the keylight with the roto attached to it):

The Boy:

The girl walking in:

And finally the crease:

Merge all of the keylights together:

Just like the last blue screen shot, a background is needed, so the background needs to be read in and reformated.

 Just for a bit of variety, a magenta image has also been used to show that two images that are completely different colours can both work.

There is still a bit of spill coming through, in particular in the left hand bottom corner. So a roto node is brought is, roto'd around the spill, and used as a mask.

Finally, a hold out matte needs to be created around the children.

And that's it, the same thing applies across the next two blue screen shots, they may need a little bit of adjusting slightly and the hold out mattes for the children need to be adjusted for the children's new positions in the shot.

There are three close up shots throughout this sequence, these are shots three, five and seven. Shot five (see reference picture below) doesn't need anything done to it.

Shots Three and Seven both need to be stabilised, this require a tracker node and a transform. Once the shot has been tracked, the transform is used to scale in the shot so that the picture stays in shot now that it has been stabilised (see the example shots below from shot seven).

That's all of the altar sequence shots done, the next step from here will be to make sure that off of the rotos in each shot have a lifetime that applies to the frames in that shot. This can be achieved by selecting the roto, going into its properties, selecting life, and give it a specific frame range (see picture below).