Final Breakdown

Final Breakdown of shots. Including bloodshot eyes...

Render Passes

Time check 1:11am at Nanyang Polytechnic... Got chased out twice by TSO.. Persevere on.

Managed to get some render passes for Breakdown

AO

Diffuse

Matte

Reflection

Specular

Got some for Alien Ship as well...

Alienship AO

Alienship Incandescence

Alienship Reflection

Apparently, I am having problems with file format as those file Ive rendered out from Nuke were not able to play. Realized some typo error by Nalini (Thanks Nal!).

End result not quite expected. Still very insecure with Color Correction and Grading. This takes a good sense of color and detailing for one to master the technique. Im just going for a simple light tone screen effect as my scenes are fairly bright and washed out.

Using After Effects to do the final editing and compiling of scenes...

Here's a sneak peek of Shot 3...

Render Mode On

Ive been rendering non-stop for the past 4-5 days. My PC have been clocking at approximately 2 frames rendered per hour and we're talking about 300 to 500 frames to render!! And Im using my new Nvidia Quadro 600 1 GB Graphics Card, which is an entry level card for rendering purpose, and cost me a bomb, about $500! So far its, been doing a fantastic job, am not too sure how other cards will hold up. Rendering is definitely expensive!!!!

// Percentage of rendering done: 0 (D:/Sdvfx/Affan VFX Project/scene/AlienShipwithMissile/images/MasterBeauty/CruiseShipTest01.038.iff)

I'm having some problems with Shot 3 render, Frame 58, 59, 60 and 61 which did not rendered properly. Im really not sure how it happenes. Will have to render the frames again.

Also, for frame 74-75, there was a sudden change in frame, not too sure why also. Pretty frustrating when you have to wait for hours and things doesn't turns out fine.

Rendering problem. Image suddenly appeared with scan lines for frame 58, 59, 60, 61.

Working on Shot 2, animating the Alien Ship animation and missile launch sequence.

Rendering seems good. 3 frames within 20 minutes. Not surprising as there are lesser objects in the scene (no lightings (using IBL), no effects (just adding light glow streaks) and lesser frames (100 frames). I am creating a Cloud Simulation using Maya fluid containers, a cloud sim plus a sky fog to add some mist.

As they say, the sky is the limit.

Adding a purplish glow to my missiles. Seems like it suited the Alien kinda missiles.

For my Render Setting, I added Final Gather and adjusted the Primary Diffuse Scale. Also, included Render Passes for AO, Incandenscence and Reflection as that would be fine for Comping later in Nuke.

Previsualisation 2

Last 2 days to submission... The heat is on...Final push...

Got the Effects up.. Still can be improved but at times like this, I am more than happy..Added additional buildings plus did some lightings.

For building texture maps, I downloaded some free texture maps and did some adjustments to the UV and resize to scale.

 

Next, im finalising my alien ship texture. Since im planning my ship to have the organic look, I am not touching anything on UV maps, simply using fresnel effect and environment maps, plus additional lighting. It will have a very clean and reflective look which is what I am targeting on.



Next, animating the ship and add clouds to the scene.....

Previsualisation

Managed to get some playblasts  up.

 

I'll be working the shots in reverse order. Focusing entirely on Shot 3 first as that will the crux shot. Need to get the eplosions, smoke, debris right for Effects. The missiles also need to be timed to sync with explosion and fracture bodies.

Some of screen shots of the building explosion in different camera angle. These are only fractured body shots using entirely in Maya. Im having problems with Houdini therefore decided to use Maya for the fractures.

Research 2 - All about the location

Being a novice in Photography and definitely a goon in Videography, I'm not expecting to be taking super duper HDRIs nor breathtaking video shots. Well, at least Im adventurous enough to go and view the Marina Bay Sand. On a boat!

I've decided to use the MBS skyline as my opening shot where the Ship will be flying over. Got some photographs as well using my Canon DSLR cam.

Ok enough of the gawking and ooh aahs.

My 2nd and 3rd Shot will comprise of a unknown spot so I won't be needing high-def quality. I'm looked at some building pictures and how buildings get destroyed.

Most likely I would use a CG Object of a building and blend in an image. High chance of doing Matte Painting on buildings. We'll see how it goes...

Research - Live to Inspire

Focus is key now.

I've done some research in looking for an alien spaceship model and these are some pictures I've downloaded free from Google Images. Just to get some ideas and inspiration on the kind of spaceship I am looking for to use in my final scene.

These kinds of alien look, bulky-shaped, creepy creatures only found in the deepest part of the ocean, gives a sense of mystery, scare and uneasiness, typically of how an alien would be.

The creatures' shape and body are usually embodied onto ships, crafts and air transports which we humans get inspired from.

Based on these ideas, I've streamlined my final considerations for the CG Objects.

Managed to get a free stock 3D model from a 3D Site (can't remember the name, definitely not TurboSquid). Did a convert from .obj to fbx. and bring it onto Maya.

Did some testing with the lighting, rendered out in Mental Ray with Physical Sky setting. Did some testing to the texture, not too good in texturing though but that would suffice for now. Focus would not be on 3D Model or Texturing.

Ok lets get down to business...