Hollywood VFX making and Advanced Video Tutorials

30 Badass Video Game Cinematics

2011-08-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

No, this article isn’t about teaching you how to create computer generated content. It’s about enjoying the already created content. We went out and grabbed all the amazing cinematics we could find and put them in one giant collection. This collection has something for everyone, from amazing action scenes to beautiful worlds. You can use it as inspiration, a ‘little’ break from work or even a replacement for movie night!

Some people may find certain things inappropriate or won’t be able to handle the violence in some of these cinematics. We made sure there wasn’t any real horror in here, but there’s still a large amount of blood and violence in some of them. If you don’t want to see this type of thing, the descriptions below the cinematics may give you somewhat of an idea of what to expect.

Also make sure to enable 720p or 1080p for Youtube, because it will enhance the experience even more and allow for full screen viewing.

1. Aion

Source: NCSOFT

We start off with a cinematic about the war in the magical world of Atreia. This action packed trailer shows off the humans fighting against the Balaur, the protectors of humans that decided to take over control.

2. Alpha Protocol

Source: Digic Pictures

The Russian mafia is coming up the stairs to kill you, because you’re interrogating a very important guy. What should you do? Well let’s see…

3. Assassin’s Creed 2

Source: Digic Pictures

Just stunning, stop reading this and start watching the wonderful cinematic. Venice was never this beautiful and action packed!

4. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Source: Digic Pictures

Same makers, same quality and same level of detail as the cinematic above. This time we see Rome in all its detail and now we don’t get to see just one assassin in action, but a whole group. Still not satisfied? How about a whole plaza full of people, multiple guards getting fought, horses, beautiful faces and animations?

5. Batman: Arkham City Trailer 1

Source: Blur Studio

We see that the joker is sick as always, but just in a different way. This time he got locked away in Arkham city from all the good people. And at the moment he’s controlling the streets with Harley Quinn. Like always, they’re up to no good.

6. Batman: Arkham City Trailer 2

Source: Blur Studio

When you watch something that is computer generated, you can often see that it isn’t real. However some computer generated content makes people doubt if it is real or not, a trailer like this.

7. Bioshock 2

Source: Blur Studio

Big Daddy, big sister? What’s going on here? Well a ‘lovely’ girl lost her ‘nice’ doll and someone jealous, who absolutely wouldn’t hurt the little girl, tried to steal it. Luckily the big ‘people’ came to the rescue! Or did they?

8. Bioshock Infinite

Source: Blur Studio

Guy gets thrown out of a flying building. A flying building that is part of a beautiful flying city. How cool is a flying city? Enjoy the view!

9. Bodycount

Source: Guildford Studio

An enormous guy who’s armed to the teeth, is enjoying a can of unknown soda. Then suddenly a huge scary object comes from the ground and all hell breaks loose, at least that’s what we expected.

10. Brink

Source: Blur Studio

Yes, yes, again (big) guys with a lot of (big) guns. Bit of a cliché, but this time it isn’t all about the action. Well most parts are, but we also see some free running and all kinds of customization options along with all the killing.

11. Call of Juarez: The Cartel

Source: Blur Studio

Modern day cowboys! Cowboys used to fight for gold, nowadays they fight for drugs, money and guns. Pack this all into one cinematic and like the comment says it “looks badass”!

12. Civilization V

Source: Digic Pictures

He, a mysterious leader, had a dream about “the glorious future of his people”. In this dream he saw all kinds of wonderful things: from Vikings to pyramids being built. But there were also bad things: people suffering from war. This wasn’t a normal dream, this was the future of his son! Enjoy the dream.

13. Crysis 2

Source: Crytek

Yes, we know this isn’t visually as nice and spectacular as the rest, but you must look at the whole picture. It’s still nice looking, but the music adds a lot to the experience. This just shows how important it is to see everything in a cinematic, not just the visual part.

14. Dante’s Inferno Trailer 1

Source: Blur Studio | Warning: Contains Nudity

You are a Templar Knight and your wife gets murdered, what should you do? 1. Grieve 2. Travel through the nine circles of hell to find her soul. Of course option 2! Let’s go save your wife’s soul and give our regards to Lucifer if we see him on the way down.

15. Dante’s Inferno Trailer 2

Source: Blur Studio

Same story as above, but this time shorter and way more action packed. He doesn’t even wait for a second to strategize, so that he can successfully save his wife. Nope, he jumps right into it, into hell!

16. Darksiders: Wrath of War Trailer 1

Source: Digic Pictures

Meteor clusters hitting the earth? Hell, Heaven and earth in a massive war? Yes, but you forgot to ask about the horseman that came to balance everything out. You are that horseman and you need to take on hell AND heaven. Like hell alone wasn’t bad enough!

17. Darksiders: Wrath of War Trailer 2

Source: Digic Pictures

How many times have we seen a hero jump into a huge monster and then we need to guess what happens next. Even in this collection we get to see it two times. Why? Because it’s still looks cool and leaves you to imagine the rest. At least it also has something unique, a horse that has smoke for hair and feet that leave a trail of fire.

18. DC Universe Online Trailer 1

Source: Blur Studio

We have already seen Batman and the Joker, but this time all the other meta-humans join them in a enormous fight.

19. DC Universe Online Trailer 2

Source: Sony Online Entertainment

Upgraded Batman gets betrayed by his ‘friend’ Luthor. He does this by stealing a box filled with so called exobites, something that gives you superpowers, and then escapes while leaving Batman with all the bad guys.

20. Dead Island

Source: Techland

This cinematic got a lot of attention from the media, because it was something different, something fresh. It has its own kind of style and the whole cinematic is played backwards. Yes backwards! The different media outlets even played it in the right order, but that made it just a generic cinematic.

21. Deus Ex – Human Revolution

Source: Eidos

Where do we start? Everything is just so good: It’s long, has beautiful animations, beautiful modeling, intriguing story, badass action, good music, nice special effects, everything! This certainly is one of our favorites.

22. Diablo III

Source: Blizzard Entertainment

A very solid cinematic. This is achieved by two things, first is the music and the voice. They support the visuals very well. The second thing is that the visuals consist of beautiful buildings, humans, demons and much more.

23. Dragon Age 2

Source: Digic Pictures

A pretty standard boss battle, with two super strong ‘guys’ fighting each other. Everything looks great and it’s a nice cinematic full of great action. We especially like the ending, where things get spiced up a little.

24. Dragon Age: Origins

Source: Blur Studio

Same world as in the previous cinematic, and again it’s filled with action. It isn’t as beautiful as the previous one, but there was a two year gap between them. It’s interesting to see the differences between the two, and what can be done better in 2011, then in 2009? Let’s see.

25. Driver: San Francisco

Source: Ubisoft Reflections

High speed chase between a ruthless criminal and the cops, luckily the ‘hero’ detective comes to the rescue. The art style is a bit different then we normally see and it’s quite nice. This different art style combined with the action chase makes it a fun cinematic to watch.

26. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Source: Bethesda Game Studios

This time a very short cinematic, but still.. Have you ever seen a stone dragon? Well we haven’t, and we surely have never seen one breathe stone shaped fire before. Then there’s the great music and sound, which makes this cinematic very nice.

27. Empire: Total War

Source: Creative Assembly

It’s war, it’s Total war. That’s what the cinematic shows, a total war. From sea to ground battles, to revolutions. And all this ‘told’ from a general’s viewpoint with excellent visuals.

28. Fable II

Source: Blur Studio

Come on the journey of this little bird and see the wonderful world of Fable through a bird’s-eye view. It even reminds us of this line of text: “I’m like a bird, I only fly away” (Nelly Furtado, I’m like a bird)

29. Fable III

Source: Blur Studio

I’m like a chicken, no, that doesn’t sound too good. Well this time they changed the bird, to a chicken. This chicken escapes from its cage. From here on out it gets in all kind of funny and bizarre situations. The visuals are top notch and they make the chicken really feel alive.

30. Final Fantasy XIII

Source: Square Enix

To end this part of the collection, we come to something totally different. No more big guys with big guns, fighting this time. Instead we get an amazing intro in the magical world of Hydaelyn. Yes, at first everything seems a little weird, but after a while you’ll wish you were in this magical place.

Dynamic Grass Simulation In 3ds Max

2011-08-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial by author Chandan Kumar, you’ll learn how to create a dynamic grass simulation in 3D Studio Max. This effect can be achieved rather quickly using Max’s built in Hair & Fur modifier, which allows for dynamic interaction between objects, creating a convincing, realistic result.

Video

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

Create A Detailed City With 3d Studio Max & Ghost Town

2011-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to build a detailed city in 3d Studio Max using the Ghost Town plugin. For those of you who are unaware, Ghost Town is a script that procedurally generates cities and urban environments in only a few clicks, and features a number of options. Such as low or high poly buildings, road layouts, vehicles, trees, facades and an easy to use material and texture system. Let’s take a look!

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Quick Guide To The Ghost Town Script

Hello Everyone,

The main purpose of this guide is to solve some of the confusion & errors that we will face while using this plug-in, these are as follows:

1 – Grid System

Always remember to build surfaces, geometry or shapes between the blue & red lines, otherwise the script will not work and will cause errors in the final output.

2 – Material Library

Always remember to update the material library before making a city or any other structure.

3 – How to start Building?

While building any city, always remember to draw it using the plugin grid. Then select the shape and click Setup>Build (here the plug-in will ask you to set the system to metric/cm? Click “yes”.) After this, we’ll finally get the city to build.

4 – How to add any object to the ObjLibrary?

To add geometry to your object library, just build your required geometry on the grid. Select it, then select your required category > name your geometry > save. After that always update your texture library before applying it to the current scene.

5 – How to add any random texture to your material library?

Download any texture and click the “Add Texturemaps” button under the “Materials” section in the plug-in. This will allow you to select and use your desired texture. After everything is done, always remember to update the material library or your will receive errors.

6 – Below is a common error you’ll face while using Ghost Town

>Building…
City number = 2
Redrawviews=false
LoPoly=true
> Starting build…
> Filtering small faces…
— Runtime error: EPoly face index out of range: < 1 or > 0: 1

To solve this error please update your material library as soon as you open the plug-in in 3DS Max or you will receive this error.

Visal Effects : 100 Years of Inspiration

2011-06-08T02:04:00.000-07:00

Unlock the Mystery of the Lume Shader in 3DsMax

2010-11-07T07:05:00.000-08:00

In today’s quick-tip tutorial, Chandan Kumar walks us through how to enable and use the incredibly cool Lume Shader in 3Ds Max. Let’s take a look!

Video 1

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Create a Show Opening Using 3Ds Max & After Effects

2010-11-01T08:03:00.000-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Video 1

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Video 2

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

Video 3

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

Assembly/Disassembly with Particle Flow in 3Ds Max

2010-07-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

Tutorial Details

Software : 3Ds Max
Difficulty: Intermediate
Completion Time: 1 hour
Required Script: Via ScriptSpot.com

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Being creative with the dynamic systems in our 3D applications can produce stunning, exciting and elegant results. In this tutorial, Sachin Joshi walks us through one such example using Particle Flow in 3Ds Max, showing us how to assemble and disassemble objects within your scene.

Video 1

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How to Simulate a Torn Flag Animation using 3ds Max and After Effects – Day 2

2010-07-23T01:34:00.000-07:00

Tutorial Details

Software: Autodesk 3D Studio Max
Difficulty: Intermediate
Completion Time: About 1 hour
Additional Files/ Plugins: Genarts Sapphire for After Effects

In this 3ds Max tutorial you will learn how to generate a torn flag animation using cloth simulation, and also how to combine all of the elements, such as the flag, debris, and dust, in order to create to the final scene in After Effects.

Video 1

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

Quick Tip: Asset Tracking in 3Ds Max

2010-07-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

Tutorial Details

Software: 3Ds Max
Difficulty: Easy
Completion Time: 10 minutes
Ref/Scene Files: None

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

If you work with more than one computer, keeping track of textures and scene files can be a nightmare! In this quick-tip, Benoit Staumont takes us through his ingenious solution to the problem. Utilising both Max’s Asset Tracking functionality and some command-line shortcuts, today’s tutorial shows you one way of managing your files across all of your Windows PCs.

Video 1

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

G.I Rendering Techniques in 3Ds Max

2010-07-23T01:29:00.000-07:00

Tutorial Details

Software: 3Ds Max
Difficulty: Beginner
Completion Time: 1-2 hours
Scene File: GI_Test_Scene.zip

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Model presentation is a crucial step for every artist when building their portfolio. In this tutorial, Ben Tate takes us through a few techniques for creating a global illumination or “clay” render using 3Ds Max and it’s 3 common render engines – the scanline renderer, Mental Ray and finally V-Ray. He’ll also look at implementing additional lights, adding color variation, removing noise, and how to add image based lighting using HDRI images.

Video 1

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Video 2

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

Video 3

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

The Skateshop’ – A PFTrack, Maya & AE Workflow, Day 2 – Premium Tutorial

2010-07-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

Tutorial Details

Software Used: Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop
Difficulty: Intermediate/Advanced
Completion Time: 1-3 hours

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In the second part of this detailed 3-day Premium tutorial series, Alvaro Castañeda continues showing the workflow he uses to integrate CG elements with live action footage – a key aspect of Visual Effects work ‘The Skateshop’ is an unmissable tutorial for anyone looking to learn a PFTrack, Maya and Maya Composite

Breakdown of Day 2

With the footage tracked, and the skateshop modelled, it’s now time to move on to first creating the UVs and then texturing our skateshop!

‘The Skateshop’ – A PFTrack, Maya & AE Workflow, Day 1 – Premium Tutorial

2010-07-23T01:27:00.000-07:00

Tutorial Details

Software Used: PFTrack, Autodesk Maya, Adobe After Effects
Difficulty: Intermediate/Advanced
Completion Time: 1-3 hours

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Breakdown of Day 1

Today we’ll start by processing the footage into something we can use throughout the whole process. We’ll then track the footage, and finish by importing it into our 3D application to help us build our 3D models.

Create a Cool Looking Ink Effect using FumeFX, 3ds Max, and After Effects

2010-06-10T22:23:00.002-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial you will learn how to use particles systems with FumeFX and Krakatoa to create a very cool looking Ink dispersion effect inside of 3ds Max. Then, once the effect has been created and rendered, you will also learn a couple of neat compositing tricks to create the final video in After Effects.

Video 1

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How to Simulate a Torn Flag Animation using 3ds Max and After Effects – Day 1

2010-06-10T22:23:00.001-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

This tutorial is Day 1 in a series – Day 2 Coming Soon...

Video 1

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This tutorial is Day 1 in a series – Go to Day 2.

Composite a 3D object into video footage with Boujou, Maya and After Effects

2010-06-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Matchmoving is a visual effects technique that allows the insertion of computer graphics into video footage. In this tutorial we’ll start by taking a look at how we can track our footage using Boujou. We’ll then jump into Maya and use that tracking information, along with a custom HDR image, to create and render a 3D object which we can insert into the scene. We’ll then use After Effects to composite the 3D object into the original video. The techniques used in this tutorial can be applied to almost almost all of your 3D integration shots.

Step 1

First we need to convert our video into sequence of images so that it can be read by Maya and Boujou. Open After Effects and go to “File > Import > File…”.

Step 2

Navigate to your footage, select it and click “Open” to load the video into After Effects.

Step 3

To create a composition with the same characteristics as our source footage, just drag the video to the new composition button.

Step 4

You should now be able to see the video along with it’s timeline.

Step 5

We now need to change our composition’s frame rate to match the frame rate in Maya. Go to “Composition > Composition Settings…”

Step 6

As the frame rate for this footage is 30fps, I’m going to set the frame rate to 30 frames per second and click “Ok”.

Step 7

To render the video, go to “Composition > Add to Render Queue”.

Step 8

Once the render queue has opened, click on the word “Lossless” in the output module section.

Step 9

In the output module settings, select “JPEG Sequence” from the dropdown and then press “OK”.

Step 10

Click here to change the name of your rendered image sequence.

Step 11

Select the folder where you want your sequence to be rendered to (remember that we’re going to be creating a lot of images!) Now change the name of your video to match this format : “Name of your video.[####].jpg”. The “.[####]” is extremely important as it ensures that our images are named sequentially. Also, make sure that you use a dot and not a under score in the filename, as Maya won’t recognize the sequence if it is not in the above format.

Step 12

We’re now ready to render the sequence, so click “Render”.

Step 13

Open Boujou and click on “Import Sequence”.

Step 14

Find the sequence that you rendered with After Effects, select the first file and click “Open”.

Step 15

Click on “OK”.

Step 16

Click on the “Edit Camera” button.

Step 17

We need to make sure that Boujou is working with the same frame rate as our sequence, so change the frame rate to 30 and click “OK”.

Step 18

Click on the “Track Features” button.

Step 19

I usually leave the settings as default, so just make sure “All frames” is active and click on “Start”.

Step 20

Boujou will now start the initial tracking process.

Step 21

Now that Boujou has finished, we have 2-dimensional tracking data for our shot. However, in order to integrate a 3D object into the footage we need to calculate the position and rotation of the camera. To begin this process, click on the “Camera Solve” button.

Step 22

Make sure that “All frames” is active and click on “Start”.

Step 23

Boujou will now start calculating the scene camera’s position and rotation.

Step 24

Once Boujou has finished tracking, we now need to align our scene to match the footage. Scroll through the video and select 2 or more points that lie in a straight line, in this case on the tabletop. These points will form our X-axis.

Step 25

Click on the “Scene Geometry” button.

Step 26

Click on “Add Coord Frm Hint”.

Step 27

Select the X-axis from the “Type” dropdown and click on “Connect to Selected”.

Step 28

With our X-axis in place, we now need to define at least one other axis so that Boujou can correctly orient our scene. Close the previous window and now select 2 or more points that lie in a straight line, but at 90 degrees to our X-axis. This will be our Z-axis and in this case travels away from camera across the tabletop.

Step 29

Click on the “Scene Geometry” button.

Step 30

Click on “Add Coord Frm Hint”, select the Z-axis from the “Type” dropdown and click on “Connect to Selected”.

Step 31

If you can confidently select points in order to calculate the Y-axis, do so and repeat the process as before, making sure to select the Y-axis from the “Type” dropdown before clicking “Connect to Selected”. In this scene, we’re unable to select Y-axis points so we’ll move straight on to the next step.

Step 32

Click on the “Scene Geometry” button, then click “Update Coord. Frame” and close the window.

Step 33

Activate the “Ground Plane” checkbox in the overlay tab on the bottom-right of the Boujou window.

Step 34

We can now see the floor plane that has been calculated for our scene. It should stay in place throughout the video (try scrolling through the footage to make sure that this is the case.) If it does not however, repeat steps 24-31 above, choosing different points to orient your scene.

Step 35

To make sure that our track is correct, we’re going to create some test objects. Click on the “Add Test Objects” button.

Step 36

Select the object of your preference and close the window, I usually choose “Ladybird”.

Step 37

Play the video to see if the object stays in place throughout. As with the ground plane overlay, if your object does not sit correctly within your footage, your scene might not be oriented correctly. If this is the case you should repeat steps 24-31 above choosing different points for each axis.

Step 38

We now need to export our tracking information to Maya. To do this, go to “Export > Export Camera Solve”.

Step 39

Browse to your project folder and choose a filename, change the export type to “Maya 4+” and then make sure the move type corresponds to your footage. As this footage was shot using a handheld camera, I’ve chosen “Moving Camera, Static Scene”. With this done, click “Save”.

Step 40

After opening Maya, go to “File > Open” and open the file that we just exported from Boujou. Your viewport should look similar to this image.

Step 41

In the menu at the top of the active viewport, go to “Panels > Perspective > Camera_1_1”.

Step 42

We will now be looking through the matchmoved camera created for us by Boujou.

Step 43

Go to “Create > Text” and click the option box.

Step 44

Enter your text and use the available options to add bevels to the text object. Click “Create” when done.

Step 45

As we aligned our scene within Boujou, our new text object should automatically sit on top of the table in our original footage.

Step 46

Rotate, scale and position the text as desired, making sure that it remains sitting right on top of the grid.

Step 47

Go to “Window > Rendering Editors > Hypershade”.

Step 48

Select “Create Mental Ray Nodes” from the dropdown on the left, and click “mia_material_x” in the “Materials” group to create a new material.

Step 49

With the new material still selected, press “Ctrl-A” to open the attribute editor and change the diffuse color of your material to your desired color, in this case a red/orange. We also want to change the following options : Reflection Color to grey, Reflectivity to 1.000, Glossiness to 0.350 and Glossy samples to 0.

Step 50

Close the Hypershade. Right click our text object in the viewport and go to “Assign Existing Material > mia_material_x1″ to apply our new material to the text.

Step 51

Open the “Render Settings” window.

Step 52

Select “mental ray” from the “Render Using” dropdown. Now change the following options in the Common tab : Choose a file name prefix (in this case I have added a folder structure before the name itself to ensure that the files are saved to the correct location,) change the image format to TIFF, change the “Frame/Animation ext” to name.#ext, set the “Start frame” and “End frame” values to match that of your animation, select “Camera_1_1” from the “Renderable Camera” dropdown, and make sure that the rendered image size matches that of your footage (in this case I have selected the HD 1080 preset.) With that done we can now close the render settings window.

Step 53

We now need to make sure that Maya’s frame rate matches that of our footage. Go to “Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences”.

Step 54

In the “Settings” category change the time to match that of your footage. Here I’ve selected “NTSC (30 fps)”. Click “Save” When done.

Step 55

Re-open the Render settings window.

Step 56

In the Quality tab we need to change the following options: set the “Max Sample Level” to 2, “Multi-pixel Filtering” to “Gauss”, activate “Jitter”, “Raytracing Reflections” and “Refractions” to 3, “Raytacing Max Trace Depth” to 6, set “Motion Blur” to “Full” and set the “Motion Blur By” value to 2.000.

Step 57

Go to the “Indirect Lighting” tab and create an Image Based Lighting Environment. Then activate “Final Gathering” and change “Accuracy” to 200, “Point Density” to 0.100 and “Secondary Diffuse Bounces” to 2.

Step 58

If the attributes editor isn’t visible, click “Ctrl-A” to activate it. Click the folder icon next to “Image Name” and browse to your HDRI file.

Step 59

Go to “Create > Lights > Area Light”.

Step 60

Making sure that the light is selected, go to “Panels > Look Through Selected” in the menu at the top of the active viewport.

Step 61

Position the light so that the shadows cast will match direction of the shadows in the original footage.

Step 62

Go to the Attributes Editor with the light selected and activate “Use Ray Trace Shadows”. With this done, change the “Shadows Rays” to 15.

Step 63

With the light still selected go to “Edit > Duplicate”.

Step 64

Select the duplicated light and go to “Panels > Look Through Selected” in the menu at the top of the active viewport.

Step 65

Position the new light at the same height but on the opposite side of our text. This helps to produce softer shadows in the final render.

Step 66

Go to the attributes editor of the new light and turn off “Use Ray Trace Shadows”.

Step 67

In the active view menu go to “Panels > Perspective > Camera_1_1”.

Step 68

Now we need to create a surface to act as a shadow-catcher. Go to “Create > Polygon Primitives > Plane”.

Step 69

Move and scale the plane so that the shadows of the text will fall within it’s boundaries.

Step 70

Go to “Window > Rendering Editors > Hypershade”.

Step 71

Select “Create Maya Nodes” from the dropdown on the left, and click the “Use Background” material in the “Surface” group. This material allows our plane to receive shadows and reflections, but ensures that we can still successfully composite the final render on top of our original footage.

Step 72

With our new “Use Background” material selected, go to the attributes Editor and reduce “Reflectivity” to 0.

Step 73

Apply this material to the plane, by right clicking the plane object and selecting “Assign Existing Material > UseBackground1″.

Step 74

We’re now going to double-check that our objects sit exactly on top of the groundplane. In the menu at the top of the active viewport, go to “Panels > Orthographic > Side”.

Step 75

Move the objects into position if required.

Step 76

Go back to the “Camera_1_1” camera.

Step 77

Create a test-render of the scene by clicking the “Render” icon in the main toolbar.

Step 78

You can see in our render how the object integrates perfectly within the scene. If the shadows are cut off at this point, close the render view and scale up your shadow-catcher object. Make sure to do another test-render to ensure the problem has been fixed.

Step 79

Select the “Rendering” menu from the main toolbar dropdown and go to “Render > Batch Render” to begin rendering the sequence.

Step 80

When Maya finishes the rendering process jump over to After Effects and go to “File > Import > File…” .

Step 81

Navigate to find your newly rendered sequence, select the first frame and, making sure that the “TIFF Sequence” option is active, click on “Open”.

Step 82

A window asking for the alpha channel will pop up. Select “Straight – Unmatted” and click “OK” to import the footage along with it’s alpha channel.

Step 83

We now need to import the original video sequence. Go to “File > Import > File…”.

Step 84

Browse for the sequence of images we initially rendered out from After Effects, select the first frame and, making sure that the “JPEG Sequence” option is active, click “Open”.

Step 85

You should now see both sequences in the project bin.

Step 86

Drag the .tif sequence we rendered from Maya to the new composition button.

Step 87

Now drag our original .jpg sequence into the composition we just created, making sure to position it below the .tif sequence.

Step 88

Our two layers are now composited together in the viewport.

Step 89

If you zoom in, however, you’ll notice that there’s currently a glitch. This is because whilst the foreground sequence begins on frame 1, the background sequence begins on frame 0.

Step 90

To correct this error, zoom into the time line using the small slider at the bottom of the screen, and drag the green bar representing our background sequence 1 frame to the left.

Step 91

With this done, you can now see that the glitch has now disappeared.

Step 92

All we need to do now is render the video. Go to “Composition > Add to Render Queue” and set your desired output options.

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Model a High Rez Domed Fountain Structure in 3ds Max

2010-05-31T21:26:00.001-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In this intermediate level modeling tutorial, you will follow Ben Tate as he demonstrates how to create a deatailed domed structure and water fountain in 3ds Max.

A combination of both poly modeling and spline modeling techniques will be used to complete the structure and the water fountain. You will learn quick and efficient methods to build detailed molding pieces, utilizing simple extrude and bevel techniques, as well as combining spline profiles and the lathe modifier, as well as creating and positioning objects using the Array tool, and applying smoothing groups to your models.

Video 1

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Composite A Live Action Jet Flyby – CG Part

2010-05-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

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Quick Tip – An Intro to VRay RT

2010-05-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

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2010-05-17T20:18:00.001-07:00

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Fixing Lens Distortion in PhotoshopFixing Lens Distortion in Photoshop

2010-05-06T09:29:00.001-07:00

In this slightly expanded Quick Tip we’re going to take a look at fixing lens distortion caused by the camera lens. We’re be offering a quick, ten minute overview of the complete workflow and also understanding the process of fixing chromatic aberrations and vignetting.

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Topics Covered

Using the Lens Correction Filter to fix perspective and distortion
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Model a High Rez Domed Fountain Structure in 3ds Max

2010-05-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In this intermediate level modeling tutorial, you will follow Ben Tate as he demonstrates how to create a deatailed domed structure and water fountain in 3ds Max.

Video 1

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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

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Create Realistic Condensation on Glass with Maya Paint Effects

2010-05-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Adobe Design Premium CS5 software offers you complete creative freedom without sacrificing precision or quality, whether working in print, web, interactive, or mobile media.

In this Maya Quick Tip tutorial, you will learn how to create realistic looking condensation any object, specifically cold glass, and then quickly render it for a nice polished final effect using Maya Paint Effects.

Step 1

Model your glass object. It could be a bottle, window, or anything that gives you the feeling of coldness.

Step 2

Switch to the “Rendering Menu” by pressing “F6″ on your keyboard, select the object, and then go to “Paint Effects > Make Paintable”.

Step 3

Open “Visor” by going to “Window > General Editors > Visor”.

Step 4

Select “Surface Bubbles” from the list.

Step 5

Start drawing the bubbles on the object’s surface. If the bubbles direction is reversed, simply undo, select the object, then go to “Edit NURBS > Reverse Surface Direction”, or “Normals > Reverse” if the object is made with Polygons. Now draw again. Note: To control the brush size, press “b” and hold while moving your mouse Left or Right.

Step 6

When you have finished drawing your bubbles, you may need to edit the following properties:

Sample Density: Increases or decreases the bubble density.

Surface Offset: Controls the distance between the object and the bubbles.

Smoothing: Smooths the bubbles path (underlying curve).

For me, the Density = 0.6, the Surface Offset = -0.010, and the Smoothing = 10.

Step 7

After that you can also add some tiny bubbles to fill in the empty area.

Step 8

Now you can render you scene using “Maya Software” or “Mental Ray”.

For Maya Software Render, adjust the “Specular” and “Depth Shadow” attributes in the “Attribute Editor”. This will allow the “strokeSurfaceBubbles” brush to get a better render.

For Maya Mental Ray Render, convert the Paint Effects to Polygons, and use “Mia_Material > Glass Presets” for the bubbles on the surface. You can use IBL to give reflections too if you like.

Quick Tip: Simulating Chains using Reactor in 3ds Max

2010-04-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Adobe Design Premium CS5 software offers you complete creative freedom without sacrificing precision or quality, whether working in print, web, interactive, or mobile media.

In this short tutorial, you will learn how to simulate chains, necklaces, or pearls using an easy and very efficient method with reactor in 3ds Max. After watching this, you will be able to simulate chains in just a few short seconds, a skill which can prove to be very useful in countless different situations.

Step 1

To make things easier, I have already created a chain and a deflector cylinder for you, so now let’s just see how to do the simulation. Open “Chain.max” if you are working with 3ds Max 2010, if not, import “Chain.obj” into your scene.

Step 2

In the “Front” viewport, create a “Line” along the chain. This “Line” will be the object that you actually simulate, while the chain is driven by it using a “Skin” modifier.

Step 3

Select the “Line”. In the “Modify” panel, “Selection” rollout, click the “Segment” button, and select the existent segment of this spline. This segment needs to be subdivided to be able to simulate the “Line” with reactor.

Step 4

In the “Geometry” rollout, set the “Divisions” spinner to ‘40′, and click the “Divide” button. This operation subdivides the selected segment by adding the number of vertices specified by the spinner…in this case ‘40′.

Step 5

In the “Modify” panel, add a “reactor Rope” modifier.

Step 6

In the “Properties” rollout, change the “Rope type” to “Constraint”, because you don’t need flexibility, and enable “Avoid Self-Intersections”.

Step 7

Select the vertex from the top, and in the “Constraints” rollout, click the “Fix vertices” button.

Step 8

Now, you need to include these objects into “reactor Collections”, to be able to simulate them with reactor. With the “Line” selected, go to “Animation > reactor > Create Object > Rope Collection”. Now the spline is included in the newly created “Rope Collection”.

Step 9

Select the “Cylinder”, and add it to a “Rigid Body Collection”.

Step 10

Go to “Animation > reactor > Create Animation”, to create the animation of this rope. You can also watch the simulation in real-time, by selecting “Preview Animation”.

Step 11

After a few seconds the simulation is done, and the “Line” acts like a rope. Go to Frame 0, select the Chain and add a “Skin” modifier to it. In the “Bones” section, click the “Add” button and select the “Line”.

Step 12

Play the animation. Now the chain is animated, and driven by the “Line”.