Introduction
What follows is a series of video guides - organised into categories that align with the core stages of the 3D Matchmove & CG Compositing pipeline:
- Matchmove: Tracking and Solve
- Reconstruction
- Lighting
- Blocking
- Compositing and Rendering
- Preparing your Edited Submission
AIM
Is to better expedite student skills development in the complex area of VFX, with a more granular approach to VFX training. In order for students to fully harness and explore these powerful, free-to-use programmes, they need a solid base in the core fundamentals of all VFX and CG production.
Software you will need
Importantly, please make sure that you use the same version that is being demonstrated in sessions and in the guides below. This version is 3.3.1 LTS.
The following links take you directly to the correct download for your Operating System/Hardware:
Files you will need
I have created a singular download in the form of a Zip file. Simply download the whole zip file; unzip it once it is downloaded; and, place the new, unzipped folder somewhere safe on your computer.
If moving from machine to machine, please make sure to back up the folder before doing so, at the very least the PROJECTS folder (this is the only folder that will really change and holds data specific to your project)
The Folder has been set up with sub-folders inside. BACKGROUND PLATES for the Videos; 3D MESHES for the Greeble Kit; LIGHTING DATA for the HDRi Lighting captures; a PROJECTS folder ready for you to save your projects from Blender; and, an EXPORTS folder for your renders. Please save iteratively!
The entire folder that contains everything you need is a 4 GB zip file, which is quite large but typical for VFX/Film production work of this nature. This said, once it is downloaded once, you should not need to do it again. I would recommend that you download using the university internet system as this has a very fast network indeed or give yourself plenty of time to download it from your accomodation.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Since the creation of the HDRi lighting data file, Blender has improved its handling of .EXR files. To this end, a newly optimized HDRi lighting data file has been created. Please download the file below and add it to the 'Lighting Data' subfolder in your main project folder. This is the file you should use for the Lighting of this scene.
Your Background Footage and 3D Assets
Background Footage or 'Plates'
The footage needed for the VFX shot can be found within a subfolder entitled: 'Background Plates'.
'Summer Rural Lane' (SONY 001)
Textured 3D Assets
Inside your unzipped folder, you will find a sub-folder called: '3D Meshes'. Inside this folder is one Blender file. All you need to do is look at the image below, note down the name of the pieces you like, and then append that piece into your project later on in the process (you will be shown how to do this in the workshops).
Each of these models has been hand modelled and painted by myself - Jon Holmes - in preparation for this project, so there are new issues of copyright.
Using Greeble or Kit Bash kits is a very common practice in the Games and VFX industries and is a good way to help you start your VFX/composting work, without the need to become a 3D modeler as well. They can also add valuable production value to your film work. That said, if you would like to learn to 3D model and texture paint like this, then you could make this your focus following this project/year. You never know, you could be creating your own Kitbash kits for others to use?!?
NOTE: You can start to brainstorm ideas now - even before you start the process of matchmove - by looking at the pieces and starting to thing how you could combine them together to create a structure(s) that denote the core theme of the project
The focus here is on accuracy and professionalism, but you are encouraged to be creative also and to use the core assets - Greeble Kit - to build a Droid based around the theme of: 'Batteries Not Included'. Models can be scaled, duplicated and moved around the scene.
Quote from 'Module Assessment Guide'
This is just one of the potential "millions" of variations you could build with these assets to represent the theme of the brief
Video Guides that support the content of the weeks' workshop content will be published at 17:00 Thursday. These guides do not cover all content covered in the workshops, but provide a support mechanism from which to recap and make reference when completing your tasks.
WEEK 1
Matchmove Process
Tracking
1 | Introduction | Setting Up the Project
2 | Tracking | Conducting your First Track
3 | Tracking | Tracking 'Patterns' with a Short Life
4 | Tracking | Tracking other Scene Elements using 'Zero Weight' Trackers
'Solving' the Shot
5 | 'Solve' | Triangulating and Refining the Data
WEEK 2
Reconstruction
6 | 'Reconstruction' | Aligning the Matchmove Data
7 | 'Reconstruction' | House Keeping and Tidying Up
Lighting
8 | 'Lighting' | Setting up the INDIRECT lighting
9 | 'Lighting' | Setting up the DIRECT lighting
WEEK 3
Lighting and Blocking
10 | 'Lighting' | Creating Custom 'Shadow Catchers'
11 | 'Blocking' | Importing or 'Appending' models into the Scene
WEEK 4
Compositing and Rendering
12 | 'Compositing' | Compositing Nodes
13 | 'Rendering' | Optimise Render Settings and Export 'Beauty' Render
14 | 'Rendering' | Export 'Clay' Render
15 | 'Rendering' | Export 'Trackers' Render
Preparing your Submission
'Editing' | Preparing your submission
Even though you might be used to editing in Premiere, DaVinci Resolve has all the functionality you need to complete your showreel, and it does it in a really simple, efficient and powerful way. In fact, I edit all of my showreels in Resolve.
'Stretch and Challenge' for your future development
As an optional extra for your future development outside of this assessment activity - especially for those interested in VFX - below is a detailed breakdown of one possible workflow that allows you to combine your final Blender composites with Adobe After Effects to add further wear and tear to your scenes, using multi-pass scene referred .EXR image sequences and auto Camera Tracking.
PLEASE NOTE: This video will be released after the submission deadline, so as not to add pressure and additional requirements to you.