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.
Another concept image of Horstmann within his environment. This one is made up of twenty or so other images that have been sliced up, masked, transformed and merged into one image. I have also worked into the image with Photoshops painting tools. I think this image is lacking some detail around the periphery but overall it’s beginning to take shape. The coloured tendrils stand out really well despite the deep blue saturation within the shadows and darker areas.
Click for larger image.
Tags: adobe, color, colour, concept art, environment, flutter, hadrill, horstmann, lamp, light, photoshop, tendrils
A Siege of Colour | Aaron | Comments (2)|
The glowing tip of a gentlemans cigarette whispered a few ideas… “Why not?” he said… “Well maybe I will” I muttered with soft regard… And here are a few concept ideas for ‘La Smokey Trails’.
The above three images were produced using Photoshop. I’ve used a reference image off the web as a background image (blurred for a little depth). The butterfly is from a previous test render, which has been rotated and sheared for a better angle. The smoke has been produced with a mix of painting and smudging techniques and built up with additive layering.
The idea is that the butterfly and background remain the same so I can focus on residual form of the butterfly. These examples are variations of a smokey trail left by the butterfly as it waltzes through the air… Hmmm… I like them… I think I need to work on some that are less ethereal… More of a solid edge, maybe try out some liquid or ink like versions. All of these ideas are easy to produce in 2D but trying to animate these in 3D is going to be a little more complicated. If I go with the smokey trails I’ll probably be using FumeFX in 3ds Max, if the inky spill works well I might say hello to Realflow for some liquid lovliness… It’s been a while.
