A New Year Pirates Treat
Welcome back! I hope all of you had a wonderful Holiday season, and a sweet New Years. :) Please browse the new site, tell me if you like it or hate it, and any thing that might seem broken or disconnected (in all browsers!) At the moment I've been testing with Firefox, and things are looking good. The recommended resolution for vewing this website is 1280x1024 or greater. Some new additions to the website include a improved commenting system which include the ability to subscribe to comments and add your own avatars! I've also added the ability to browse this site from an iPhone, fancy. I think some images might need to be reduced in size for mobile capability, but if you're on a wi-fi network, it'll be quick. Also added are a Most Popular section of each category (when you view individidual posts), and independent entry views. There are a ton of changes under the hood which make it easier for me to add posts and other neat little things. Depending on what the immediate future holds, I may put up a small forum which ties into everything here. Give me your comments on that. It won't replace VFXTalk of course, but it might be interesting.
If you follow the extended entry link below, you'll find a nice holiday treat for you!
Below is an animated gif of a shot that I did for Pirates. It's one of those shots where you wouldn't know anything was added, but there was!
Here are a couple close-ups of the script used to create it. Unfortunately, I don't have one of the final script. I've also attached the final shot from the DVD, so you can see what this looks like in motion!
The shot called for the addition of miniature flag mast elements, as well as a different sky, and the pirate armada added into the background, as well atmospheric effects to blend things together better. Hard to believe, but this shot was completed with a minimal amount of rotoscoping. The biggest challenges were the integration of the mast elements with the live action plate and the translucency of the main pirate flag. Another similar shot that I did was the one below. This one involved a number of workarounds to achieve the look. There was more rotoscoping and paintwork done on this shot than the previous, but the technique to get the footage to sit in was the same.
This breakdown is New Year's present indeed! :)
Anyway just one question how you kept the amount of roto minimal for this shot?
Rahul
January 2, 2008 3:29 AM
Hey Rahul!
By lots and lots of delicate keying methods. ;)
Aruna
January 2, 2008 9:19 AM
hi aruna,
Thanks for sharing this.
Do you sometimes feel it's better to roto so you can be sure of consistency as opposed to noisy edges which may result via keying.
Do you > solve for a particular portion e.g mast >frame cycler>confirm
or check things all in one pass.
b
boomji
January 3, 2008 10:54 PM
Noisy edges usually come from harsh grain, which can be dealt with, to a certain extent. I much prefer keying to roto, when applicable, but on certain items it's much nicer to roto.
In terms of solving for the accuracy of items, I test each portion independently, divide and conquer, so they say, and it works. I lock down a section, render it, make sure it's right and correct, and keep on going.
Aruna
January 4, 2008 8:59 AM
Someday soon you gotta give usthe tip on those delicate keying methods :D and by the way I am still waiting for that tip regarding how to use the passes effectively while doing 3D compositing, which we have discussed in vfxtalk's forum sometime back!
Rahul
January 4, 2008 11:11 PM