October - 2009
In this edition:
- Infestation
- Animeeple <-> LightWave 3D
- Picture of the Month
- Social networking and LightWave
- Trainspotting
- Linear Workflow
"Infestation" is a TV movie regularly showing on the SyFy channel since it premiered in the cinema at London's Frightfest in August. NewTek spoke to the show's VFX Producer PJ Foley from Dilated Pixels, based in Hollywood, about his involvement in the project. Foley was in charge of making sure the VFX were created and delivered - mostly by ensuring that each of the 14 artists could do their jobs at peak times during the project. This included various tasks, such as completing CG work himself and compositing to building machines for artists to use. There are over 300 FX shots in the show that took a little over six months to generate.
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Check out these Dilated Pixels demo reels that showcase more of Dilated Pixels' work on the show: http://dilatedpixels.net/demoreel/ http://dilatedpixels.net/composites/
David: The answer isn't straightforward enough yet, but Leslie at Animeeple really wants to improve the workflow so I hope that the guide I wrote here isn't always going to be needed.
| Here's a quick test he did, following his own guide. "The animation is straight from Animeeple, I only changed the Y position of the character to fix the contact points on the floor. I know the deformations are horrible, but remember, this is meant to illustrate how fast you can get an animation from Animeeeple to LightWave, tweaking afterwards is easy". And here is the scene file he made: ANMP Acrobatics Reoriented. It will slot into the content folder, download it, along with the guide, below. |
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Neil MacCormack constantly posts stunning imagery to the NewTek forum - if you would like to see his posts, feel free to search for threads started by: bearfoot in the LW v9.6 Gallery or LW - Gallery - Finished forums. NewTek particularly like this one from his most recent batch because if reminds us of the heady days of San Francisco in the 1970s - with Star Wars, Chris Foss and 2000 A.D. We spoke to MacCormack about his inspiration: "Syd Mead is a definite inspiration for my work, but I am also inspired by 2D artists such as Craig Mullins, Barontieri , Sparth etc." NewTek: And do you sketch first and then fill in the gaps in LightWave, or doodle in LightWave itself? MacCormack: "It varies, sometimes I doodle, sometimes I have a clear picture either in a sketch or in my head about what I want the image to look like - you abide by certain composition and color rules but the rest can be totally free-form. This image is one of those."
In addition to NewTek's thriving forum there are plenty more resources on the Web for LightWave users. Two that are particularly dear to NewTek: 1) Social networking site Facebook, which has a LightWave 3D fan page, where plenty of users contribute images and video to the gallery. 2) Micro-blogging service Twitter with the @lightwave3d feed, which contains news and constant updates of what is happening in the LightWave world. You can access Facebook to simply by clicking the link below. You can improve access to Twitter if you use Firefox as your browser by installing the add-on echofon (formerly Twitterfox).
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Above: Thalys Metamorphosis
555Labs in Paris produced a television commercial called "Thalys Metamorphosis" for THALYS through the ad agency, Proximity BBDO. The whole thing was completed in six weeks - from storyboards to final render. Cedric Magne – also known as Khan973 on the forum - explained that the goal was to show all the features in the new THALYS train - its design, the food menu, the various onboard technologies and its speed. This was created using 100 percent LightWave by two artists with one post-producer using Adobe After Effects. |
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London's Darkside Animation made this 1:20 minute film announcing new lines and trains for Britain's Network Rail. The film received a lot of airtime on UK TV. The film couldn't have any specifics like recognizable buildings, etc. in the backgrounds because the whole project is still in the planning stage. Nick Scott directed the film and wanted a huge contrast between the photorealistic drafting table at the start of the film and the more stylized train. Twelve people at Darkside worked on the film over a period of two weeks from start to HD finish, which includes adding music written specifically for the film.
Below: Network Rail concept
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Linear workflow and gamma correction are going to become more important in an upcoming version of LightWave. Matt Gorner had perfect timing when he created a simple guide to linear workflow and what it means for your rendering.
Video: The Beginners Explanation of Gamma Correction & Linear Workflow
(for HardCORE members, Matt has made a new video describing the process as it pertains to LightWave HC in the HC forum)
Discussion thread for this edition of the newsletter on the NewTek forum
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