CG Toolkit 2017 Semester 1

[nickgcgtoolkit]

Progress Update 3

Since the last progress update, i haven’t spent a lot of time on the project. I’ve been caught up with another project. though now being ahead on that project I will be focusing on the project for the next week or more. for the next couple of weeks, i look to re-colour and balance the images for the matte paintings then build the 3D objects to be used in the project, then more or finishing touches after that.

since the last update, the only change that I made or work on the project was rearranging the planes to better suit my new idea for the project.

The biggest challenge that I'm having at the moment is getting the planes to work with the camera as I'm having trouble with them clipping through each other and not working well when being moved in Z space.

[nickgcgtoolkit]

Progress Update 2

Since the last progress update, I’ve completed building some assets to use in the project. whilst still researching and studying other matte painting works. I also have a much clearer vision of what I want the final outcome to look like, which was something I was having trouble with since the beginning of the project, whilst I’ve always had a rough idea of what I wanted the final outcome to look like never had a definitive final goal.

BAsed on time estimates from the first progress update, I’m a little behind at the moment which I feel is due to not having a clear vision of the final outcome. For the remainder of the semester I plan on:

Week 10: build 3D assets to be used in final outcome

Week 11: Begin compiling matte paintings into an unreal scene and layering them out. adjusting paintings in photoshop if necessary 

Week 12: finalise 3D models and texture and add to the Unreal scene and build lighting in the scene.

Week 13: final touches on the project, move into after effects for some final effects.

Progress since the last update:

Since the last update, I have created two dozen different matte painting also compiled them in unreal and began layering them out. I have been a little negligent of the project so far and look to spend more time each week on the project than the expected 12 hours a week.

[nickgcgtoolkit]

Assessment 2 - Milestone 2A

Here is a rough test on what ive got so far. there are a few issues that im looking at resolving.

rough layout of the images at the moment. also started looking at putting some 3D objects into the scene to see how they look and interact with the other objects. 

Also at the moment, the setup for the material is basic and I looking at doing more with it just have had time this week.

The process used to create my images for the matte painting was to mask out the part that I wanted to use then soften the edges within the mask, for the moment as I haven't gotten an around to colour balancing the images just yet I've just unsaturated them for the purpose of this milestone. I've also added a filter to the images that help take some of the detail out and makes them a lot softer. Overall this week was a leap forward in my project as i have direction on what i want my project to look like. also looking into matte painting more and realising that you can achieve good matte painting in unreal itself  whilst combining 3D into it without having to add any secondary programs for merging 2D and 3D

[nickgcgtoolkit]

Assessment 2 - Progress Update 1

confirming that I will be pursuing the visual effects development path more specific the first option of using matte painting to create set extensions/replacement.

 looking through other resources on the internet looking at other matte paintings and found that game of thrones season 1 is one of the best for the result that I would like to produce. 

looking at estimates for time i look to spend weeks 7,8,9 and possible 10 building my matte painting skills whilst building the matte painting i would like to use. then weeks 10, 11 and 12 combining my 3D environment with my matte painting, whilst adjusting or building more matte paintings. then the final week, week 13 adding and creating some visual effect in after effects to tie the final render together. 

[nickgcgtoolkit]

Assessment 1 - Final Documentation

Reflection

throughout assessment one, I have developed and expanded my understanding of the pipeline in unreal. The first thing I learned with unreal is that the ability to render a final image and other various passes of the same animation with little to no time which is a great change from rendering in Maya where it can take hour to render a sequence and if there is an error you may have to start the render over. the second thing that learned from assessment 1 is the use and versatility of the art tool, I found this to be a great tool for use in both Maya and unreal as it allows you to create a quick character and test animation and how the character may interact with the world in unreal. The third thing we learned about was using render passes to create visual effects in after effects through using the different render passes to help break down a shot without having to render with different things visible each render. and finally, we learned about using lighting to create and set moods in unreal.

Examination of knowledge i have gained and would like to further:

during assessment 1 i developed my understanding of the real time pipeline and how having a clear vision at the start of project i great when building a project. the ability to bring in rough animation to see how they interact with the world was good to see and can be good for building sets/worlds as you can lose sight of the overall purpose of the world. though the knowledge that i have gained that I look to develop further is using render passes in after effects and other programs to create interesting visual effects. 

Chosen Specialist stream for Assessment 2 

VIsual effects development -  1, i chose this path as i feel it best aligns with my interest and desires.

Goal for Work in the industry

I would like to work as Digital Matte Painter in the industry as looking into what this role does aligns with something I've always wanted to do which is build worlds/environments that could never exist and would enjoy the challenge of building things that could never be real or feasible.

Knowledge and skill needed for Digital matte painter

some skill that i will need is familiarity with photoshop, some base 3D programs, the use of nuke software for 2.5/projected environments and some time spent developing landscape drawings and colours(going out and drawing during certain times of the time to capture different lighting and colours)

Improvement over the semester

throughout the semester i will need to develop my understanding of colour, lighting, and composition to help gain and improve as a digital matte painter. as well as an understanding of the new software.

Starting points

https://magazine.artstation.com/2017/04/matte-painter/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYJHIAIrIos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwx5gM67loM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EU7Om5utlM

Mixed media - Future goals

[nickgcgtoolkit]

WIth this is weeks task I had already formed some base knowledge on lighting in unreal.  after completing the task of creating lighting for the animation I looked to mess around and play with the lighting settings. with a better understanding of lighting in unreal, i was able to create more different lighting scenarios that helped me better understand the creating and manipulate lights. This weeks task also saw the returning of render passes and using them in after effects. this was good as this time around I gained a better understanding this time around which helped me create the final result seen here. If I had more time for this weeks task I would have liked to see how I could get lighting to work with a rain particle system I'm working on for virtual environments, to see how I could make the lights and rain affect each other, seeing how different light temps and colours can be affected by the particle. 

for earlier on the work flow when working with lighting it should be considered what kind of lighting/mood you are trying to create in your animation as this would best allow for building the lights in the unreal. 

I don't have much experience with building lights in other programs but from what I could gather it is much easier to build and manipulate lights in unreal compared to other 3D software but also change them on the go with little to no hassle.

Lighting Experimentation 1

here is a lighting setting with the temp of the lights lowered to 5000k

Lighting Experimentation 2

here is a lighting setting where I changed the colour of the light them selves to create/change the mood of the image.

Lighting Experimentation 3

here is a lighting setting i created with using three different lighting temps that i feel work well together as when they are combined that create great hight lights, mid tones and shadows on the model. 

Lighting Experimentation 4

here is a lighting setting where i changed the temp of the lights to 12000k to create a white neo light feel.

After Effects Process

once i had my three render passes i moved into after effects and begin making and creating my final result.i began by layering the final image pass as a base, then grabbed the base colour pass and used the color key effect to remove 2 out of the 3 base colours and repeated this process 2 more times to break down the shot into 3 key components, that being the sky, building, and character. with this done I was able to create the cut to the block colours and cartoon/vector art style on the character. 

[nickgcgtoolkit]

This week we looked at introducing character and character animation into unreal engine. To begin this week i had a lot of trouble trying to get the ARTv1 from the epic-games market place to work. I looked around to see what could be causing the issue with it but had no luck, i was especially confused as i was following along with the video tutorials. though today(monday 14th) i realised that i had been putting the usersetup.py in the wrong script fold. i had been putting it in the location on the drive maya is installed on rather than the my documents file path. once i had fixed this error of mine i set to work on understanding how to use ARTv1 in maya and moving between maya and unreal.

though from this weeks task i realised that all the models that are used by the art tool are rather basic they still have massive potential for use in general animation and in unreal. Like with the only needing to create one skelton/mesh and then applying multiple animation to the same skeleton and the same the other way.

I think that using the ART tool early on in the production process is best for a pipeline as it allows animators to work with a base model and start build an animation backlog that can be altered later if need be. but it also allows animators to see how the character and animation will interact with the world that they create.

Time breakdown

Troubleshooting - 7-8 hours

working-3-4 hours

experimenting- 1-2 hours

as stated at the start spent alot of time trying to make the art tool work. but looking to spend more time playing around with the tool.

[nickgcgtoolkit]

Render Passes

Here I have the different render pass I created using unreal. 

First up is the combining of the three render passes. though I wasn’t quite able to get the banner/AE object to work I plan on looking into it more to see where I went wrong as it would be something that id like to play with more. 

secondly is the render pass containing the base colour render

third is the depth render of the scene, I feel like this is where I was having troubles when I moved into After Effects, I intend to look at the depth rendering to see where I was going wrong.

and lastly, i have the final render which I’m really happy with.

[nickgcgtoolkit]

Reflection

Before starting this project/assignment, my knowledge was limited when it came to working in unreal engine. I had only imported and created a scene using models outside of unreal. though with having completed the majority of the grey boxing for the scene I was very satisfied with the result that I was able to produce whilst still learning and adjusting to the building in unreal.

I found the process of grey boxing fun, you are able to achieve good results in a lot less time than traditional modelling. which is nice for creating a rough layout of a scene or environment, but I also enjoy the simple appeal of grey boxing and its style. I like the fact that you could grey box a scene and test out camera movements with ease, unlike other 3D programs where the task can be long and tiring. 

Through some trial and error at the beginning of the project, I found that getting the scale set up right at the start makes life easier in the long run. I did this by creating a cylinder that was the average height of a person (170cm) to then compare to the structures that I was creating.

The render time using unreal is great I had no trouble rendering out the final images sequence in 10-20 seconds which made seeing results or changes in the final version good. But also real times’ ability to always run smooth and not get caught up in frame drops really is nice compared to sometimes in other 3D packages. 

Break down of the week

5-6 hours build and adjusting to Unreal

2-3 hours looking at Epic games out on sequencer and various other videos.

1-2 hours reflecting on the process and what I had done for the week and looking at what I would like to have done by the end of next week.