Actually, it's kind of interesting what 3D animation programs can do these days. Of course, it's also maddening as there is no end to what you need to learn to operate them. I'm sure for some people it's super easy - but I'm not a computer programmer, so some of these things take me a little longer to do.
Well, that and I find that a lot of amateur CGI artists figure out how to do something, but then don't go all the way with it. So, instead of a really great final shot you get something that looks like really bad CGI. Now, I'm not saying that I do really good CGI, but sometimes it takes me a little longer to get stuff done because I keep trying to see if I can make it look just a little more realistic. I don't think I'll ever really be happy with a finished shot - I just try to refine it as much as I can before I feel like I have to call it done.
With 'Preservation' that time is fast approaching. I have a number of FX shots still to do, and I want them to look great. So, I'm working toward that end. But I am keeping conscious of the fact that I also NEED to get this film done SOON. It's already been 3 years.
So anyway - back to the title of this post - I've been working on a specific shot for 'Preservation' over the last two days. It's a shot where the killer rams his machete through the abdomen of one of the characters. Weee! Horror movies! Anyway, I've managed to model the torso and machete in the computer, and animate the blade moving through the abdomen. I've been able to use the animation program's physics simulations to make the abdomen model "deform" as the machete pushes through it. Like I said before - it's not 100% where I would take it if I had all the time in the world, but I think I can probably live with it.
I've rendered out that animation (rendering is the process of having the computer draw each frame and save them to be able to play back in a movie file) and I've composited the animation into the live action background plate that we shot on location. That was completed yesterday.
Today I spent some time work on fluid simulation. Pretty cool, but very complex. The computer is able (based on settings and other things that you tell it) to simulate various fluids and how they flow, etc. So using that I've created a "blast" of blood to shoot out of the wound with the machete blade. It's a separate animation that I rendered today, and composited into the shot from yesterday. I think it looks pretty cool. You can judge for yourself.
Now, it's not quite finished yet. It still needs color correcting, and I'm going to add some more blood to the blade itself, as well as adjust some of the texturing/shading on it. And this frame may look a little blurry, but that's because the actual moving shot has a zoom in here, and there's motion blur on it. It's a little dark, but it's supposed to be to match the lighting of the live action shot.
So, that's what I've been up to lately. Still writing on 'The Chrononauts'. Getting closer to a draft of that. Have a meeting on Wednesday with Nick to go over whatever I get written up to that point.
In the meantime, I have a couple more shots to do for the machete scene and then I can put that to bed.
Feels pretty good.
Catch ya later!
Rob
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