This video collects all of the assignments that I have made in the last term including Nuke and Maya. Generally, I have learned a lot in the last term and I become more and more confident in Nuke and Maya after finished these works. I am excited to get into the next term.
All posts by Yingyi Cao
Final Exercise
I made two shots during the holiday and reviewed what I learned last semester. After finished this assignment. I have become more confident in Nuke.
As usual, I denoise the background original video first which is better for me to track in the next steps. and then roto the astronaut as the foreground. for the rotoscoping, I have to be patient and careful to avoid wabbling on the edge. I divided it into three pieces for roto, bag, head as well as the shoulder. And adjust the location for every 10 frames. The final step of rotoscoping is to match the color of the background and foreground.
Another part of the exercise is Clean up and Tracking. The first step is to track the denoised file and create the Matchmove node. Then remove the chimney by using Rotopaint in one frame. Next is to roto this frame and premult as a reference. It worth noting that when you using FrameHold, you have to set the frame that you just changed as the reference frame. Like the image shows. Otherwise, you won’t get the result.
Here is the Process
Outcome
Shot 2
The macking process is quite similar with the first shot. It aims to make me more familiar with these nodes.
Process
Outcome
About the VFX industry-week 6
Look development artist
The workflow of look development artist:
Look development artist will start their work when they received ideas or concepts about appears from a director at the pre-production.
They might start brainstorming ideas and be able to provide the director with an early design version. In the early stage, it is mainly the 2D works. It aims to experiment with different colors, shape atmosphere, and place lights searching for the various mood that can help tell a story. Once they received 3D models and references, they can create different shading variations by using these objects.
As a look development artist and technical skills, you also need to understand theoretical knowledge. Colorspace is one of the essential parts. Sometimes you may not get the result in the final products because of the incorrect use of colorspace. In the second, maintain the continuity of the lens. Be careful not to show inappropriate scenes. Lastly, start simple and keep it as soon as possible. Do not waste time if you can get the desired look in more straightforward ways, of course, choose it. Time and results are much crucial than others. You have to save time for the rest of the steps for other departments.
- Lighting artist
The lighting artist’s duty in the VFX industry is quite similar to the lighting artist on set. Both of them use light to create an atmosphere, tone, and mood. The difference between the two jobs is that lighting artists in the VFX industry have to control lighting in the computer, which means that they need to master basic theoretical knowledge and practical skills in 3D programmers, such as V-Ray, Arnold, and Redshift.
In general, the duty of lighting artist is quite simple. They need to put the light into the scene. However, the VFX industry’s difficult part is that they have to organize lighting in the 3D software because lighting is more operable in software.
In the 3D programmer, artist can use the following methods to control the light objects.
Apart from 3D light artist, there is also some light artist work for 2D project. 2D animation also needs light to make it more vivid. Otherwise, the picture will become rigid and boring. Recently. There is a new tool that was created by Les Films Du Rouge. The new technology can help the artist finish a fantastic amount of work in not much time and reduce cost.
Here is the demonsration of new tools
- Prep artist
Prep artist work with the Compositor. They prepare cleaning footage for Compositor. They clean the dust or electric pylons, which are useless in the frames.
As prep artists, they should be good at painting using a graphics tablet, have a high level of VFX programs such as Maya, Photoshop, and particularly Nuke. Besides, they should be methodical and thorough.
The workflow of the prep artist is to receive all of the assets from other departments first. Then remove the unnecessary items in the shot and arrange them carefully to help prepare plates for compositors.
- Compositing Artist
The compositing work with lighting directors and VFX artist. They are responsible for the final frames. The compositing artist collects digital assets like models, matte-painting, and live-action footage to bring them into the final shot and arrange them reasonable and believable.
As a compositor, they should be knowledgeable not only for the compositing programs but also for photography. For example, understand cameras, cinematography, and how films are made. Besides, they should have the ability to work under pressure because they are the final step in the post-production. They probably will not have much time after the earlier steps are complete.
2D Clean up- week8
In this session, we focused on clean up. For me, this is the most complicated part of this term.
In this footage, I replaced the exterior view of the window and cleaned a small part of the curtain on the right.
For me, the initial work was quite difficult. Because the unfamiliar new node makes me panic. Once I understood how the node works, I tried it several times and then did the following exercises.
Maya week6-7
ADD DETAIL AND COLOR IN MUDBOXF
For this session we have leadrned how to sculpture and color the mask.
Here is the outcome and process.
Maya-week5
ADVANCED MODELLING
For this week , we are aimed to advance our model to add teeth and horn.
Maya-week8
RENDERING AND COMPOSITING
This is the final step of creating mask. In this session we would put the modle into the environment. We would need to foucus on:
- Light adjustment
- Adjusting camera angle
- Rendering
Here is the outcome
Here is the final shots.
I love to work in Maya. But there is a problem that I am not sure if I can remember the whole making process or making it again independently. Because it is quite complicated. Mabey, I need more exercise in the future. But for this project, I learned a lot.
Planartrack-week7
Conntinuing on last week’s session, we learned how to tracking ore object by using 2D track node. In this session we have learned Planartrackd in Nuke.
Here is the practice work.
UPDATE THE RESULT
Tracking-week6
In this session, we have learned 2D tracking. It is a simple way for us to add an image or video into another shot.
The new node:
Track node can help us to extract animation data from the shots. Then we can apply the data directly to transform and match-move another element. If the object which you have added into the shot starts skewing weirdly, we should change the different point. Before you tracking, do not forget to set the reference frame.
In addition, we should denoise the original footage before we start tracking. This step can make tracking data more accurate.
Transform, Rotation, Scale, Translation, and crop. These nodes are used to adjust the images, which can make the new element looks more reasonable.
Color Match- week5
For this week we have learned color match.
NODES
- Grade: It is used for both adjusting contrast and brightness.
- ColorCorrect: The ColorCorrect bode is used to make quick adjustments to contrast, gamma, gain, and offset.
We can consider the color correction as three parts Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows.
Here is the practice.
The sceond practice