Category: A Siege of Colour
Scene Mockup – Pipeline Test
May 15, 2010 4:44 pm
This is a relatively rough version of a final rendered frame. It has been modelled, textured, lit, rendered, comped and graded to a level that is comparable to what I expect to achieve for the final frames. It’s not normally that important to go through this process if you have a pretty good idea how it all needs to be rendered and what you need to do in the comp. Every project is different, and every project I seem to work on has some special dietary requirements that aren’t always obvious until you have tested the rendering pipeline from beginning to end. For the amount of lens effects I hope to use, if perhaps only to experiment with, require a 16bit z-depth and only by going through the full process was I aware of this. Therefore, I have had to implement this into my pipeline. I have tested using TIFF’s, RPF’s, ond OpenEXR’s and due to file size and flexibility I’ve chosen to add OpenEXR into the pipeline. It doesn’t really require any additional setup as, 3ds Max and After Effects now come with OpenEXR support but Photoshop does however require a plugin, which is available to buy from fnord along with some additional plugins for After Effects.
Anyway, this is the kind of look I was aiming for. The challenge was trying to achieve something close to the developed concept artwork I created just after the new year. This particular composition required a different overall colour but it’s definitely in the right direction. Oh, some objects are actually floating, that’s not a bad lighting solution and there’s another iteration of detail to go into the environment yet.
Environment Reference Sketches
May 2, 2010 10:59 pm
Some sketches of Antarctic hut reference imagery. Scott’s bunk, box of penguin eggs, etc.
Horstmann Reference Sheet
April 29, 2010 11:59 pm
This is a reference sheet I used to make Horstmann. There are some other lamps on here for a variety of reasons. The chap on the right is George Carwardine, the inventor of the anglepoise lamp. The chap on the left is Charles Terry, son of the founder of Herbert Terry Ltd.
Populating The Environment
April 27, 2010 7:47 pm
The environment is slowly being populated with all f the updated objects. Textures being added and models being worked on.
Blue is a darkness weakened by the light
April 21, 2010 11:10 pm
Should your glance on mornings lovely
Lift to drink the heaven’s blue
Or when sun, veiled by sirocco,
Royal red sinks out of view -
Give to Nature praise and honor.
Blithe of heart and sound of eye,
Knowing for the world of colour
Where its broad foundations lie.
— Goethe
Macklin Street Mood Board
April 12, 2010 9:09 pm
This is one of the mood boards for the design and feel of Horstmann’s environment. It’s made up of images taken from Macklin Street taken a while ago with Jim. I build many mood boards for many purposes but the main use is as a quick reference of what things should look like. Even though I have a very clear understanding of what everything should look like and the overall feel, it is easy when working closely on a shot to get caught up in very specific details and lose sight of the overall. I constantly use reference imagery to compare what I’m working on with what I originally set out to create. Coming from a fine art background I’m very used to looking closely at the real world and analysing how different surfaces react to light in different ways or how objects look but there are always details you don’t pick out until you try to recreate those things from scratch. There really is no better way to learn someones face than drawing it, scrutinising every tiny wrinkle and imperfection before capturing it on paper.
3D Ready
April 8, 2010 11:14 pm
After completing my first stereoscopic production in the role of stereographer I feel excited to continue working in stereo in my personal work. I’m excited to apply the techniques and knowledge I have gained to ‘A Siege of Colour’ and to build more upon my understanding of how depth affects the cinematic language I am still trying to decipher.
Moving On
March 22, 2010 11:43 pm
This is a render from 3ds Max of the bunk… The textures hold up really nicely close up as well. Below this image is the proxy version that was built for the previsualisation. There are a number of alterations to the shape and detail on most parts of the objects but the overall shape and dimensions must remain similar due to the animation and positioning of cameras and objects during the previs. If the matress was much higher than the proxy version then Horstmann would not be able to reach his head over it as he does in one of the shots. Therefore special considerations must be made before changing the overall shape and size of objects, the knock on effects could be much more important than the initial reason for changing it.
I’ve been spending pretty much all of my awake hours at work just recently so ive not done much here at the lunar workshop. The bunk is complete though and now I’m moving on to the steps just behind the bunk… An exciting time is indeed upon us.
I’m developing some interesting methods of texturing that I’ve not encountered before on tutorials or forums so I think i’ll post some of the methods up here for the gentle chaps and ladies who may be interested in such of the like.
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Send me something funMy name is Aaron Bradbury. By night I'm a short filmmaker, a lover and a fighter. By day I'm a cg artist, tea drinker and enigma. You can find me here and there.
